EXCLUSIVE: The After, the debut short from photographer Misan Harriman, best known for his portraits of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, will debut on Netflix on October 25 before screening at the London Film Festival.
04.09.2023 - 09:41 / variety.com
K.J. Yossman Netflix has set its first co-production with Swiss network RTS. The project, a French and English-language period drama titled “Winter Palace,” will chart the birth of winter tourism in the Alps as conceived by a Swiss hotelier and British aristocrat in the early twentieth century.
Based on true events, “Winter Palace” is centred around ambitious proprietor Andre Morel, who, in 1899, envisions a five-star luxury hotel that will remain open throughout winter. He convinces wealthy aristo Lord Fairfax to come on board, and the two find themselves battling demanding clientele, rebellious staff and a hostile climate to make their dream a reality. The eight-part series, which is based on an original story by Swiss producer Jean-Marc Fröhle, is being produced by Fröhle’s Swiss-based Point Prod (“Banking District”) and French outfit Oble Studios (“Fata Morgana”).
Lindsay Shapero has written the screenplay alongside Stephane Mitchell. Pierre Monnard has been lined up to direct. “Having just secured the perfect shooting locations, we are excited about the breathtaking landscapes and extraordinary places that viewers will get to discover,” said Fröhle.
EXCLUSIVE: The After, the debut short from photographer Misan Harriman, best known for his portraits of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, will debut on Netflix on October 25 before screening at the London Film Festival.
Trailer has dropped for Netflix’s Squid Game reality series, which launches November 22 with record prize money of $4.56M.
Nicola Roberts has opened up on the heartbreaking loss of Sarah Harding, almost two years on from her death. The Girls Aloud star died in September 2021 from breast cancer and two years on from the star’s death, her bandmate Nicola has opened up on the grief she feels. Fighting back tears on Good Morning Britain, Nicola shared how she feels that Sarah’s death is “not really that real” to her, as she imagines she’s still out there enjoying life.
Good Morning Britain viewers have sent messages of support to Nicola Roberts after she made an emotional appearance on the show. The Girls Aloud star was live in the studio of the ITV news programme on Friday (September 22) to chat to hosts Kate Garraway and Ben Shephard.
Jill Dando's death is one of the most high profile unsolved crimes in UK history, and her brother hopes to reignite public interest with a new Netflix documentary.
EXCLUSIVE: Netflix closed a $20 million deal on Hit Man, making the biggest deal at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival and of the year for that matter. After the Richard Linklater-directed noir comic thriller debuted to raves at Venice, the film was expected to fetch the biggest deal of the fall festivals so far. Hit Man did not disappoint. Hit Man stars Top Gun Maverick’s Glen Powell and Adria Arjona (Andor) playing the most unlikely romantic partners, in performances that will boost each of their careers. Especially Powell, who co-wrote with Linklater what will be a major star turn for him. Netflix got US, UK, Australia/New Zealand, India, South Korea, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Singapore, Philippines, and Iceland. There is also a theatrical component to the deal, I’ve heard.
Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Norwegian filmmaker Joachim Trier will next direct “Sentimental Value,” a family drama starring Renate Reinsve, who won best actress in Cannes for her role in Trier’s Oscar-nominated 2021 film “The Worst Person of the World.” “Sentimental Value” will follow Nora (Reinsve), an actor, and her sister Agnes, who are grieving the loss of their mother while their father Gustav reappears in their lives after a long absence. Gustav, a once-celebrated filmmaker, has written a script for a comeback movie and offered the main part to his daughter Nora, but she categorically refuses the role.
EXCLUSIVE: Bridgerton star Claudia Jessie has joined the cast of Jack Thorne’s Netflix series Toxic Town alongside Michael Socha (The Gallows Pole) and Joe Dempsie (Game of Thrones).
Alissa Simon Film Critic Britain’s official post-WWI administration of Palestine lasted from 1920-48 and is probably the UK colonial enterprise least addressed by its fiction filmmakers. But now prolific writer-director Michael Winterbottom (“The Trip,” “A Mighty Heart”) uses that complicated era as a backdrop to the compelling historical romance “Shoshana.” A passion project 15 years in the making and based on real people and events, the film employs the ill-fated, cross-cultural relationship between a ranking member of the British Palestine Police Force and a young Jewish woman to explore the way extremism and violence push people apart, forcing them to choose sides.
EXCLUSIVE: Ryan Donowho (The O.C.) is set to topline Art of a Hit (fka Excelsis), an indie psychological horror film directed by Gaelan Draper that will begin shooting in France this month under a SAG Interim Agreement. Rounding out the cast are Rob Raco (Riverdale), Charlie Saxton (Hung), Tim Jo (This Is Us), Allie MacDonald (Under the Silver Lake), James Earl (White Men Can’t Jump), and David Valdes (Speechless). Draper and Saxton co-wrote and are co-producing under their Dewey & Bug banner.
EXCLUSIVE: Netflix has renewed Missing: Dead or Alive, the show that follows officers from the South Carolina sheriff’s department seeking people who have disappeared under troubling circumstances.
‘Vigil’ Season 2 Sells To Peacock & Others
Chris Evans is looking forward to his future family with his wife, Alba Baptista. A source tells ET, “Chris has been in love with Alba for a while. They share a special connection and are so happy
Geese have announced details of a new EP called ‘4D Country’ and released its first single – listen to ‘Jesse’ below.The release follows the band’s second album ‘3D Country’, which was released earlier this year via Partisan/PIAS.‘4D Country’ will be released on October 13 and feature a re-working of the title track from their recent album.Of its first single, which you can hear below, frontman Cameron Winter said: “‘Jesse’ started as a really fast song, then morphed into a slower, psych-ier, more soulful track.“It got left off of the album because we didn’t feel like there was a good place for it, but we’ve always really enjoyed playing it live.”Geese are currently midway through a UK headline tour, and play Glasgow’s King Tut’s tonight (September 10).See the remaining dates below.SEPTEMBER 202310 – Glasgow, King Tut’s11 – Dublin, Academy 212 – Leeds, Brudenell Social Club13 – Manchester, Band On The Wall14 – Nottingham, BodegaReviewing ‘3D Country’, NME said: “This is an album made by young people who’ve – quite literally – watched the world burn before their eyes.
The star of Netflix hit drama Top Boy, which is now airing its fifth and final series, says he would have preferred the show to have been written by a black writer, rather than a white industry veteran.
Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent While at the Deauville American Film Festival to present “May December,” Todd Haynes spoke to Variety, during a one-on-one interview at the Royal Hotel, about bringing Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore together in a film for the first time, provoking audiences and pushing against American conservatism. Haynes, who is attending Deauville with his producers Christine Vachon and Sophie Mas, also teased his next directorial effort starring Joaquin Phoenix, a “sexually explicit” movie telling a “love story between two men set in the 30s.” Loosely based on the story of Mary Kay Letourneau, the teacher who had an affair with her 6th grade student, “May December” has already earned awards buzz since world premiering in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, where it was bought by Netflix. In France, the movie will be released by ARP Selection in January.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is so fraught and thorny most filmmakers these days who are not of Israeli or Palestinian heritage or from somewhere nearby the region generally tend to steer clear of all the loaded burdens and pitfalls. Versatile filmmaker Michael Winterbottom, however, is braver and/or has less compunction about that—for better and perhaps for worse.
K.J. Yossman editor Michael Winterbottom’s production company Revolution Films is opening an Italian outpost, Variety can exclusively confirm. The production outfit, known for films and TV series including the Boris Johnson-inspired “This England” and the upcoming TIFF contender “Shoshana,” is in the process of setting up an office in the country, say sources with knowledge of the expansion.
EXCLUSIVE: Netflix has added to its UK drama commissioning team by hiring Best Interests EP Toby Bentley from AC Chapter One.
EXCLUSIVE: Four years after his last full-length feature — the black comedy Greed, starring Steve Coogan as a venal business tycoon — Michael Winterbottom is back, this time with a political drama set in Tel Aviv, based on real-life people and events that occurred during the 1930s, in the run-up to the foundation of Israel in 1948.