James Schamus Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Ellise Shafer Joaquin Phoenix, Elliott Gould, Chloe Fineman and more than 150 other Jewish creatives have signed an open letter in support of Jonathan Glazer’s Oscars speech. The list of 151 signees obtained by Variety also includes Phoenix’s sister Rain, three-time Oscar nominee Debra Winger, “May December” director Todd Haynes, “Sorry to Bother You” helmer Boots Riley, acclaimed filmmaker Joel Coen, “Room” director Lenny Abrahamson, “Arrested Development” star David Cross, documentarian Amy Berg, “Barbie” actor Hari Nef, legendary playwright Tom Stoppard, former Focus Pictures CEO James Schamus, comedian Kate Berlant, “You Hurt My Feelings” director Nicole Holofcener, “Secrets & Lies” auteur Mike Leigh, “Passages” filmmaker Ira Sachs, “Gossip Girl” actor and writer Tavi Gevinson, “The Princess Bride” actor Wallace Shawn, “Bottoms” director Emma Seligman, “Mistress America” star Lola Kirke, “Zola” helmer Janicza Bravo, “Broad City” stars Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson and IndieWire film critic David Ehrlich.

Australian Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning actor and producer Toni Collette (Knives Out) has been announced as a Master at the 10th edition of the Doha Film Institute’s Qumra talent incubator, running from March 1 to 6.

EXCLUSIVE: Pulitzer Prize-winning August: Osage County playwright Tracy Letts has signed with UTA for representation in all areas, the agency said today.

Rafa Sales Ross Guest Contributor As part of this year’s industry program at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), producer Ted Hope sat down with the festival’s artistic director Orwa Nyrabia for an in-depth conversation about his career in U.S. independent film, the future of the industry, and the ways in which filmmakers and audiences are “trained by major players to adapt and conform to a creative process that colors only between the lines.” Hope, who is at IDFA to support Vanessa Hope’s “Invisible Nation,” has navigated the independent filmmaking scene since the late 80s.

Carole Horst Minhal Baig’s “We Grown Now,” which bowed Sept. 8 at TIFF, follows Malik (Blake Cameron James) and Eric (Gian Knight Ramirez), two 12-year-old boys living in Chicago’s Cabrini Green housing project. It’s 1992 and the boys have loving homes overzealous and racist police, crime and an unthinkable tragedy burst through their childhood bubble.

Penelope Koechl will be this year’s recipient of the WGA East’s Richard B. Jablow Award for Devoted Service to the Guild. The honorary award will be presented at the 75th annual Writers Guild Awards ceremony at New York’s Edison Ballroom on March 5. 

EXCLUSIVE: Josué Guerra (Somos) has been cast as a series regular opposite E.J. Bonilla in FX pilot The Border, a drama based on the third book in Don Winslow’s bestselling Cartel Trilogy, from Daniel Zelman, (Damages, Bloodline), Shane Salerno (Salinger, Avatar) sequels and FX Productions. 

Clayton Davis With audacious directors, courageous actors and unforgettable stories that have touched the lives of cinephiles on a global scale, Focus Features has been a fixture in the Hollywood firmament for two decades.Since its inception, 14 Focus films have been nominated for best picture: “The Pianist” (2002), “Lost in Translation” (2003), “Brokeback Mountain” (2005), “Atonement” (2007), “Milk” (2008), “A Serious Man” (2009), “The Kids Are All Right” (2010), “Dallas Buyers Club” (2013), “The Theory of Everything” (2014), “Darkest Hour” (2017), “Phantom Thread” (2017), “BlacKkKlansman” (2018), “Promising Young Woman” (2020) and “Belfast” (2021).Marking the 20th anniversary of its first theatrical release, Variety is ranking the 30 best Focus Features films so far.In the summer of 2002, the arthouse studio released its first feature, “Possession,” a romantic drama with Oscar-winner Gwyneth Paltrow and Aaron Eckhart. Directed by Neil LaBute and adapted from the novel by A.S.

EXCLUSIVE: Scoot McNairy (Narcos: Mexico), Jack Reynor (Midsommar) and Emily Browning  (American Gods) are set to lead cast in psychological thriller Brightwater, which James Schamus (Brokeback Mountain) is aboard as executive producer.

EXCLUSIVE:  Verve has inked 3x Oscar-nominated filmmaker, producer and former Focus Features Features CEO James Schamus in all areas.

Malina Saval Associate Editor, FeaturesTwo esteemed film professors. Two wildly different cities on two different coasts. And countless ways in which both have contributed to the ever-expanding landscape of entertainment education in the United States — and the world over.

Dick Cavett has been named as the recipient of Writers Guild of America, East’s Evelyn F. Burkey Award for 2022. Late Night’s Seth Meyers will present the late night host, comedian and writer with the honor at the virtual WGA Awards ceremony taking place on March 20.

A mermaid’s life could hold the key to immortality in “The King’s Daughter.” The adaptation of Vonda N. McIntyre’s novel “The Moon and the Sun” sees a young creature captured by none other than King Louis XIV.

Octavia Spencer will be honored with the James Schamus Ally Award at the 2021 Outfest LA LGBTQ Film Festival.

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle EditorOctavia Spencer will receive the James Schamus Ally Award at this year’s edition of LGBTQ film festival Outfest.The announcement comes just after the recent news, first reported by Variety, that the Oscar winner has boarded the documentary “Right to Try” as a producer.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Former Focus Features CEO James Schamus, best known for producing Ang Lee’s Oscar-winning “Brokeback Mountain” and Lee’s other stellar projects, is debuting “Somos,” his first television outing, on June 30. The six-episode Netflix series is based on the ProPublica report “How the U.S.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Former Focus Features CEO James Schamus, best known for producing Ang Lee’s Oscar-winning “Brokeback Mountain” and Lee’s other stellar projects, is debuting “Somos.,” his first television outing, on June 30. The six-episode Netflix series is based on the ProPublica report “How the U.S.

Anna Marie de la Fuente James Schamus (pictured, left), the former co-president of Focus Features who is best known for his laureled producing partnership with multi Oscar-winning director Ang Lee, is creating his first TV series for Netflix Mexico.Schamus will serve as executive producer and showrunner for the series, which he co-wrote with Monika Revilla (“The House of Flowers,” “Someone Has to Die”) and author Fernanda Melchor (“Hurricane Season”).The series, whose storyline is under wraps,

Andreas Wiseman, Jake Kanter Lonon Film Festival Lineup Revealed The LFF has revealed its industry program, with speakers including Ava DuVernay, Jane Tranter, Ted Hope and Sundance director Tabitha Jackson. James Schamus will be take part in a panel discussion as part of the production finance market and there will also be spotlights on first films and new UK producers.

While the names Lee Atwater and Karl Rove may send shivers down the spines of progressives around the world, those two men are at the center of a new film from director James Schamus titled “College Republicans.” And this isn’t going to be your typical political drama. According to Deadline, Schamus has signed on to direct “College Republicans,” which will star Logan Lerman and Asa Butterfield as versions of real-life conservative figures Lee Atwater and Karl Rove.

Also Read: 'Indignation' Review: Logan Lerman Carries Philip Roth's Study in StubbornnessProducing the project are Likely Story’s Anthony Bregman and Peter Cron, The Black List’s Franklin Leonard, and Schamus through his Symbolic Exchange banner.

Mike Fleming Jr Co-Editor-in-Chief, FilmEXCLUSIVE: James Schamus has committed to direct College Republicans, a fact-inspired Dirty Rotten Scoundrels-style coming of age story about top Republican operatives.

Mike Fleming Jr Co-Editor-in-Chief, FilmEXCLUSIVE: Participant has boarded Abacus, the drama that Justin Lin will direct based on a script by Kenneth Lin (Star Trek: Discovery, House of Cards) and James Schamus (Indignation, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon). Participant joins as financier, and producer alongside Lin’s Perfect Storm Entertainment.

Global film and TV executives, including “Elizabeth” producer Alison Owen and “Shakespeare in Love” producer David Parfitt, have spoken out about Harvey Weinstein’s guilty verdict, calling it a “seismic” victory that will bring about immutable change.