David Levine Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Ben Croll Anonymous Content, whose recent productions include Paul Mescal and Saoirse Ronan’s film “Foe” for Amazon Studios, is looking to expand its international footprint, with new ventures planned in Poland, Germany and Australia, top execs announced on Wednesday. Speaking at a panel held at the MIA Market in Rome, Anonymous Content international president David Davoli and chief creative officer David Levine made clear their group’s vigor for global joint ventures, promising upcoming additions to a portfolio that boasts partnerships with companies in the U.K., France, Scandinavia, Spain and Brazil.

MGM+ has announced the acquisition of the two-part docuseries “In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon, debuting on the streamer on March 17 and March 24 at 9 p.m. EDT/PDT.

“We’re trying to introduce entirely new filmmakers into the repertoire of our company,” Anonymous Content‘s David Levine said today.

A former 60 Minutes producer claims she was falsely fired from the long running newsmagazine show last year, and now she’s suing CBS, CBS News and parent company Paramount Global for discrimination – and naming a lot of names.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Anthony Shim, the Canadian Korean director behind Toronto festival hit “Riceboy Sleeps,” is attached as writer and director of a film adaptation of “Offerings” an acclaimed Korean coming-of-age novel. Anonymous Content and Anthology Studios are to produce. “Offerings” tells the story of Dae, a young Korean American investment banker who finds himself back in his native Seoul as part of an international team brought in to rescue the country from sovereign default during the 1990s Asian Financial Crisi.

Jordan Moreau A live-action project set in the world of the popular sci-fi video game Cyberpunk 2077 is in the works, video game developer CD Projekt Red announced Thursday. There are few details revealed about the project — namely whether it’s a film or TV series — but it will be made with Anonymous Content, the media company behind shows like “True Detective” and “Mr. Robot” and films like “The Revenant” and “Spotlight.” CD Projekt Red, the developer of Cyberpunk 2077 and the popular Witcher video game series, is working with Anonymous Content Studios’ Head of Television Garret Kemble, Director of Development Ryan Schwartz and Chief Creative Officer David Levine on the Cyberpunk 2077 project.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Universal Pictures Content Group has acquired international rights to Elon Musk documentary “Musk,” directed by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney. It was announced during Cannes earlier this year that HBO Documentary Films had come on board to join the production and will release the film in North America.

EXCLUSIVE: The Veterans is launching international sales on upcoming UK period comedy Fackham Hall at Toronto and has unveiled first members of the ensemble cast.

As distributors and exhibition worries about major release date changes due to the ongoing strikes, good news continues to pop up with the dating of awards season adult titles, the latest being the Amazon movie Foe from Lion filmmaker Garth Davis on Oct. 6.

EXCLUSIVE: Anonymous Content has elevated four senior executives at the company including three within AC Studios, the premium independent film and TV production studio that sits inside Anonymous Content as well as a longtime executive in their Brand division.

EXCLUSIVE: Peter Sarsgaard (Dopesick, The Batman) and Mackenzie Davis (Station Eleven, Terminator: Dark Fate) have signed on to star in The Damning Of A Country Merchant, a horror pic from Anonymous Content, Two Independent Eyes, and Anti-Worlds, who have partnered to produce.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Anonymous Content has come on board California surf-themed animated feature adapted from illustrator AJ Dungo’s celebrated graphic memoir, “In Waves.” Produced by Paris-based Silex Films, “In Waves” marks the feature debut of Phuong Mai Nguyen (“Brazen”), and is being penned by Fanny Burdino and Samuel Doux, whose screenwriting credits include “After Love” and “The Origin of Evil.” The feature is produced by Priscilla Bertin and Judith Nora, co-Founders of Silex Films, alongside Charades and Nick Shumaker, Garrett Kemble, and David Levine who will executive produce on behalf of Anonymous Content.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent U.S.-Lebanese actor Tony Shalhoub, who played the “defective detective” on “Monk,” is set to star as former auto mogul-turned-fugitive Carlos Ghosn in a high-profile TV series directed by Michael Winterbottom. Ghosn is the French-Lebanese-Brazilian former CEO of automakers Nissan and Renault who in 2020 jumped bail and absconded to Beirut hidden in a music case on a private jet while on trial in Japan for alleged financial misconduct. Lebanon does not have an extradition treaty with Japan. The six-part series titled “Fall of the God of Cars” is written by Winterbottom, the prolific British director of “Welcome to Sarajevo,” whose TV work comprises hit sitcom series “The Trip” and, more recently, “This is England” starring Kenneth Branagh as Boris Johnson.

A dramatization of the life of Carlos Ghosn, the former Nissan/Renault CEO who escaped from arrest hidden in a music case, is in the works from Oscar-winner Alfonso Cuarón and This England’s Michael Winterbottom.

NEON has acquired the North American rights to Academy Award-nominated and BAFTA-winning director, Raoul Peck’s (I Am Not Your Negro) documentary Orwell, the definitive feature-length documentary on visionary author George Orwell, with the exclusive cooperation of the Orwell Estate.

Alex Gibney, the Emmy- and Academy Award-nominated documentary filmmaker behind “Taxi to the Dark Side,” “Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room” and “The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley,” will next set his sights on Elon Musk with “Musk,” described in the official announcement as “a definitive and unvarnished examination of multi-billionaire tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, SpaceX and Twitter.”“I have been working on this film, off and on, for some time and am hugely excited about it,” said Gibney in an official statement. “I am delighted by this extraordinary group who are working with me.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer Elon Musk will be the center of a new documentary from the unflinching Alex Gibney, the Oscar-winning director of “Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief.” Already months into production, Gibney announced the project on Monday saying he was “hugely excited” about tackling Musk on film. It is described as a “definitive and unvarnished examination of multi-billionaire tech entrepreneur and CEO of Tesla, SpaceX and Twitter.” Tech mogul Musk reached peak saturation in late 2022 when he completed a $44 billion acquisition of Twitter, promising to upend the platform’s user experience as well as restore “balance” to its user body (including the elimination of bot accounts, which Musk has previously said ran rampant on the site).

Oscar-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney has his next doc as he is currently months into the making of Musk, a definitive and unvarnished examination of multi-billionaire tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, and Twitter. 

EXCLUSIVE: Anonymous Content is developing Ryan La Sala’s bestselling social horror novel, The Honeys, for film.

EXCLUSIVE: Robert Walak and Alisa Tager will be leaving their posts as Presidents of Film & Television at AC Studios, the independent film and TV production studio that sits inside Anonymous Content, when their contracts are up in a couple of months.

EXCLUSIVE: Anonymous Content and Federation Studios have appointed UBBA agent Rosalie Cimino as MD and producer for Anonymous Federation, their French joint venture.

EXCLUSIVE: Anonymous Content, Alexander Rodnyansky’s AR Content and The Atlantic have secured rights to journalist Peter Pomerantsev’s article for The Atlantic ‘We Can Only Be Enemies’ and will adapt it for film.

Betsy Brandt and Michael Park have joined the cast of Hulu’s psychological drama Saint X.

EXCLUSIVE: Leila George (Animal Kingdom) is set to star alongside Cate Blanchett and Kevin Kline in Disclaimer, a new psychological thriller series from Alfonso Cuarón for Apple TV+.

Lucy Simon, the Tony Award-nominated composer of Broadway’s 1991 musical The Secret Garden and sister of singer Carly Simon, died of breast cancer Thursday at her home in Piedmont, New York. She was 82.

following Len Amato’s departure.Orsi has been with HBO since 2003, when she began as an executive assistant. She eventually rose through the ranks to co-run the drama series development and programming department in 2016 with David Levine, who ran point on “Westworld” and “True Detective.” The role was president of HBO programming Casey Bloys’ first appointment.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer HBO drama chief Francesca Orsi has extended her contract with the Warner Bros. Discovery-owned pay TV channel through 2026, Variety has confirmed. As part of Orsi’s re-upped pact, she has been given the new title of executive vice president of HBO programming, head of HBO drama series and films. Orsi first joined HBO in 2003 as an executive assistant. She has been the solo head of drama series development and programming since her former co-head David Levine exited in February 2019. They were both appointed to the position originally in 2016. News that Orsi, a direct report to HBO and HBO Max content chief Casey Bloys, will be continuing her tenure at HBO comes on the heels of the enormous launch success for “Game of Thrones” prequel “House of the Dragon,” a series Orsi has played a big part in developing and marketing.

Penny Lane is to direct Mrs. America, exploring the changing role of American womanhood through the Mrs. America Beauty Pageant’s half-century history.

Naman Ramachandran Penny Lane (“Listening to Kenny G”) will direct “Mrs. America,” a documentary which will explore the changing role of American womanhood through the Mrs.

EXCLUSIVE: Former Disney exec David Levine is exiting kids entertainment powerhouse Moonbug Entertainment, Deadline has learned. The well-liked exec has been Head of Studios since December 2020.

Universal Pictures has entered into a first-look production deal with “The Notebook” author Nicholas Sparks to bring three of his more recent novels to the big screen, starting with last year’s runaway hit “The Wish.” Sparks and Anonymous Content will partner to produce three feature films for Universal, each one based on one of his most recent books, though only a film based on “The Wish” was announced on Tuesday. Zack Hayden will produce “The Wish” on behalf of Anonymous Content with oversight by Anonymous Content CEO Dawn Olmstead and CCO David Levine, alongside Theresa Park, Sparks’ longtime literary agent and collaborator, and Universal Pictures’ Vice President of Production Development, Lexi Barta.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Nicholas Sparks (The Notebook) has entered into a first-look production agreement with Universal Pictures, which will see him produce three features for the studio alongside Anonymous Content.

Hulu’s upcoming series Saint X is undergoing a major casting change. Victoria Pedretti (You) who had been tapped as the lead, has departed the psychological drama over creative differences. She has been replaced by Fear the Walking Dead‘s  Alycia Debnam-Carey on the show, produced by ABC Signature, which is shooting in the Dominican Republic.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterVictoria Pedretti will no longer star in the “Saint X” series at Hulu, Variety has learned, with Alycia Debnam-Carey stepping in to take over her role.According to an individual with knowledge of the production, Pedretti decided to leave the show over creative differences. The news also comes after it was reported that production on the series had shut down in the Dominican Republic after a large number of crew members walked off the show reportedly over a pay dispute.“Saint X” is based on the Alexis Schaitkin novel of the same name.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterLouis Partridge has joined the cast of the upcoming Apple psychological thriller series “Disclaimer,” Variety has learned exclusively.Partridge joins previously announced series leads Cate Blanchett and Kevin Kline and cast members Sacha Baron Cohen, Kodi Smit-McPhee, and Hoyeon.Based on the novel of the same name by Renee Knight, “Disclaimer” will star Blanchett as Catherine Ravenscroft, a successful and respected television documentary journalist whose work has been built on revealing the concealed transgressions of long-respected institutions. When an intriguing novel written by a widower (Kline) appears on her bedside table, she is horrified to realize she is a key character in a story that she had hoped was long buried in the past.

EXCLUSIVE: Anonymous Content is aggressively bolstering its unscripted television slate with a slew of new projects including music, sports, cooking, dating and documentary series.