Paramount Plus Forges Long-Term Partnership With French Studio Gaumont (EXCLUSIVE)

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentAs the Cannes Film Festival will announce its Official Selection on Thursday, Variety is starting to get a slightly clearer picture of what 75th edition will look like, though fewer titles than usual have leaked. Led by Cannes’ artistic director and general delegate Thierry Fremaux, the selection committee has been flooded with late submissions and is now in the thick of deliberations.Most surprisingly, according to two well-informed sources, there will even be a David Lynch feature film which has been completely off the radar and stars Laura Dern — either as a cameo or a supporting role — along with some other Lynch regulars.We already know the sun-dappled celebration will land several high-profile films from U.S.

Naman Ramachandran BBC Studios, Screenplay, Disney Plus Hotstar Pact for “Doctor Foster” Indonesian AdaptationBBC Studios property “Doctor Foster” is being adapted by Screenplay Films for Disney Plus Hotstar in Indonesia. “Doctor Foster” is the story of a doctor whose life implodes when she uncovers her husband’s infidelity. The show title in Indonesia will be “Mendua” (Between Two Hearts) and Pritagita Arianegara (“Surga yang Tak Dirindukan 3”) will direct.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentGaumont, the powerhouse behind “Narcos,” “Lupin” and “Barbarians,” has boarded “Le Prince,” a period mystery thriller series written by Charles den Tex and Paul de Vrijer (“Hunter Street”). Currently in development, “Le Prince” will be produced by Gaumont, as well as Stories, a label launched by France TV Distribution, and Dutch producers Paradise Media.

Paramount+ has acquired the rights to “Finestkind,” a crime thriller that stars Tommy Lee Jones and Ben Foster. Brian Helgeland, an Oscar-winner for “L.A. Confidential,” will both write and direct the film that will begin production later this month in Massachusetts.

Paramount+ has acquired Finestkind, the crime thriller from Oscar winner Brian Helgeland which stars Academy Award winner Tommy Lee Jones, Ben Foster, Toby Wallace and Jenna Ortega. A drop date later this year on the streamer is scheduled.

Emiliano De Pablos Munich-based Beta Film has closed a raft of major deals over Europe and beyond on Spanish TV dramas “You Shall Not Lie” and “La Fortuna,” two of the most successful recent originals produced by Movistar Plus, Spain’s biggest pay-TV/SVOD operator.Both series have been sold to Italy’s RAI and to HBO for its platform HBO Max for Eastern Europe, Benelux, the Nordics, Netherlands, and Portugal, among other territories.A six-part thriller by Pau Freixas, co-creator of “The Red Band Society,” “You Shall Not Lie” was sold to RTL Deutschland for Germany, where it will premiere on its streaming platform RTL Plus this spring.In France, the drama has been picked up by M6 with an exclusive window for its SVOD service Salto. Furthermore, Antenna TV secured rights for Greece and Cyprus, as well as Blue TV for Turkey.

Katherine Tulich Paramount Australia and New Zealand has greenlighted Helium Pictures’ eight-hour scripted drama “Paper Dolls” for Network 10 and Paramount Plus Australia. Production is set to commence in Sydney later this year and will premier on 10 in 2023.Set in 2000, “Paper Dolls,” which is produced by Helium Pictures, follows the meteoric rise and fall of fictional girl band Indigo, a manufactured pop group born on one of the first reality talent TV shows.The drama focuses on five women aspiring for pop stardom only to find their dream of fame compromised by what it takes to achieve it. At first competitors and then confidants, as Indigo achieves instant success and stardom, their secrets threaten to tear the band apart, particularly as one member, returning to the music industry, threatens to implode the group as she seeks revenge on a former record label that wronged her.

Caroline Polachek is pulling out of her remaining US arena tour dates in support of Dua Lipa after sustaining an ankle injury.Polachek has joined Lipa on the road in the States for the last month on the ‘Future Nostalgia’ arena tour, which has three dates left.In a new post on Instagram, Polachek revealed that she had an accident on her tour bus, where she fell down the stairs and tore her ankle.“Life comes at you fast..” she wrote. “i had a bad fall today down the stairs of our tour bus and tore my ankle, now back from the hospital but can’t walk on it for ten days.

EXCLUSIVE: Mather Zickel (Better Things) will star alongside Olivia Applegate, Clé Bennett, Zoé De Grand Maison, Nicholas Logan Sam Trammell and Jessica Frances Dukes in Michael Patrick Jann’s Western horror film Organ Trail for Paramount Pictures, which has wrapped production.

Manori Ravindran International EditorParamount is the latest studio to plant its flag in the ground at French TV drama festival Series Mania, where international CEO Raffaele Annecchino broke down the company’s international distribution and SVOD strategy.In a keynote moderated by Variety’s Italy and West Asia correspondent Nick Vivarelli, Annecchino detailed plans to focus internationally on premium SVOD service Paramount Plus and FAST offering Pluto TV, which has more than 64 million monthly users. Also in the mix to “compete with our ecosystem,” according to Annecchino, is Paramount’s JV with Comcast, SkyShowtime, which is launching in 20 European markets where Paramount Plus won’t be available.By the end of 2022, both Paramount Plus and SkyShowtime will be in more than 60 markets in Europe.

Manori Ravindran International EditorHBO is developing a long-awaited adaptation of Rohinton Mistry’s critically acclaimed, award-winning novel “A Fine Balance,” Variety can reveal.The seven-part series is being produced by “A Very British Scandal” and “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” producer Blueprint Pictures and “Anne With an E” outfit Northwood Entertainment. Ritesh Batra, who directed the late Irrfan Khan and Nimrat Kaur in “The Lunchbox,” is attached to both write and direct.The show would look to shoot in India from early June through November.First published by Canada’s McLelland and Stewart in 1995, “A Fine Balance” went on to win the 1995 Giller Prize and was shortlisted for the 1996 Booker Prize.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentKino Lorber has acquired North American rights to Mathieu Amalric’s “Hold Me Tight,” an engrossing family drama starring “Phantom Thread” actor Vicky Krieps. Co-produced and sold by Gaumont, the movie world premiered at last year’s Cannes Film Festival.Adapted from Claudine Galea’s stage play, “Hold Me Tight” follows Clarisse (Krieps), a mother who has abandoned her family for mysterious reasons and is coping with great emotional upheaval.

Edward Enninful, the editor-in-chief of British Vogue, has confirmed his recent marriage to editor and creative director Alec Maxwell. The wedding, which took place at Longleat House in Wiltshire, featured an A-list guest-list that included Rihanna, Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Victoria Beckham, Karlie Kloss, Diane von Furstenberg and Munroe Bergdorf. “Three weeks ago, before the world turned on its head again, I was lucky enough to experience the greatest personal joy I have ever known,” he wrote on Instagram on Wednesday.

EXCLUSIVE: Michael Patrick Jann has been tapped to direct the Western horror film Organ Trail for Paramount Pictures, with Olivia Applegate (Love and Death), Clé Bennett (The Man in the High Castle), Zoé De Grand Maison (Riverdale), Nicholas Logan (Dopesick), Sam Trammell (True Blood) and Jessica Frances Dukes (Ozark) signing on to star.