Leo Barraclough-Senior Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentHungarian writer-director Kristóf Deák, who won an Academy Award for best live-action short, has started shooting his debut theatrical feature, “The Grandson.”The coming-of-age drama, disguised as a crime thriller, with darkly comic undertones, will shoot for 40 days on location in Budapest.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentPicturehouse Entertainment has acquires U.K. distribution rights from FilmNation Entertainment for Justin Simien’s “Bad Hair,” which will be released in British movie theaters on Nov.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentAlbin Lewi, the artistic director of the international series festival Canneseries, unveiled the lineup for the event’s third edition Tuesday in Paris.The festival, which runs Oct. 9-14, will open with the world premiere of “La Flamme,” with star Jonathan Cohen in attendance.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentBeta Film’s drama “The Turncoat,” which was just honored as best TV movie at the Seoul Intl. Drama Awards, has scored a series of territory deals, including the U.S.The German miniseries, based on the bestseller by Siegfried Lenz and directed by Florian Gallenberger, winner of the Oscar for best live-action short, was sold around the world.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentWhile international film and TV shoots have been halted in South Africa for months due to a ban on foreign flights during the COVID-19 pandemic, members of the local industry have found a novel way to lift their spirits.On Thursday, hundreds of South African actors and crew members will come together to make a feature film centering on the “Jerusalema” dance craze that has swept the world.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentLondon-based sales and production company Film Constellation has scored multiple new deals on Natalie Erika James’ all-female Sundance horror hit “Relic.” The movie has now sold out internationally. Lauded by critics, the film opened in the U.S.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentThe U.K. is Europe’s top destination for Hollywood productions, with $3.75 billion spent on movies and high-end TV last year, followed by Hungary and Czech Republic.Countries including Romania, Poland, Belgium, Ireland, Bulgaria and Malta are upping the ante in the contest to bring international shoots to their studios.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentIn an internal note seen by Variety, Gary Davey, CEO of London-based Sky Studios, has revealed to staff that Cameron Roach is to step down from his role as director of drama at Sky Studios in the spring.In his memo, Davey wrote: “Cameron has decided to take some time out and spend more time with his family in Manchester.”Roach joined Sky Drama as commissioning editor in 2013, and worked across a range of titles including Sky Originals

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentWarnerMedia has acquired the rights to new animated show “Master Moley,” starring Warwick Davis and Gemma Arterton, for its children’s platform Boomerang in more than 100 countries across Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentThe boffo global box office for “Tenet” is proof of the public appetite for Christopher Nolan’s abilities as a filmmaker, but as the film opens in more countries and, gradually, the United States, familiar questions are being raised about the director’s idiosyncratic approach to sound, and its impact on how much — or how little — of the film audiences are able to comprehend.Messages posted on Reddit in the past week reflect some of the

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentThe singer Adele has been accused of cultural appropriation after sharing a photo of herself on Instagram with her hair in Bantu knots — a traditional African hairstyle.The photo, in which she is seen wearing a Jamaican bikini top, was posted as a tribute to London’s Notting Hill Carnival, which normally takes place this weekend, but was moved online because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentRussian World War II drama “Saving Leningrad” has sold to several major territories, including the U.S., the U.K., Germany, France, Japan, South Korea and China.The film was sold to Capelight for Germany and the U.S., Signature Entertainment for the U.K., Kinovista in France, New Select in Japan, iQIYI in China, Super Vision Trading in Taiwan, W&W Investments Holding in Poland, Eagle Pictures in Italy, Studio Show Entertainment in Sweden, and

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentSwitzerland has selected “My Little Sister,” starring Nina Hoss, Lars Eidinger and Marthe Keller, as its entry in the International Feature Film category of the 93rd Academy Awards.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentKate Winslet, Jennifer Hudson and Glenn Close have joined previously announced lead Daisy Ridley in the cast of VR animated film “Baba Yaga,” which will make its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival.Hudson is also an executive producer on the pic from Baobab Studios, which will make a push for the Oscar for animated short.The film plays in Venice on Sept. 2 as part of Venice VR Expanded, the Virtual Reality section of the event.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentLondon-based production, finance and sales company Film Constellation has come on board Cathy Brady’s debut feature “Wildfire,” which world premieres in the Discovery section at next month’s Toronto Film Festival.The film centers on sisters Lauren and Kelly, an inseparable pair brought up in a small town by the Irish border. Their lives fell apart with the mysterious death of their mother.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentThe Berlin Intl.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentThe Victorian fantasy series “Carnival Row,” starring Orlando Bloom and Cara Delevingne, has wrapped its post-COVID shoot in the Czech Republic. The series, produced by Amazon Studios and Legendary Television, is the biggest spending production ever to shoot in the country.The show’s second season began filming on Nov.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentVariety has been given exclusive access to the trailer of family drama “God You’re Such a P—k,” starring Heike Makatsch and Til Schweiger. Sales agent Picture Tree Intl.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentSales agent M-Appeal has closed distribution deals for LGBT coming-of-age movie “Cocoon,” the opening film of Generation 14Plus at the Berlin Film Festival, with the U.K. and several other territories.The film, directed by Leonie Krippendorff, stars Jella Haase and Lena Klenke.

Leo Barraclough Senior International Correspondent“Penny Dreadful” star Eva Green has fired back at allegations made in a lawsuit lodged at London’s High Court last week, alleging that the former Bond actor derailed £4 million ($5.22 million) sci-fi thriller, “A Patriot,” in which she was to star alongside Helen Hunt and Charles Dance.Green is currently embroiled in a legal dispute with producer White Lantern, which alleges that the production was forced to shut down when the actor walked away

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentThe Venice Film Festival has completed the lineup of its 77th edition with the addition of “Fiori, Fiori, Fiori!,” a short film shot during the lockdown by Luca Guadagnino, the director of Oscar-nominated “Call Me By Your Name,” and U.S. film “Run Hide Fight,” about a high-school massacre.Both titles will play in the Out of Competition section of the festival, which runs on the Lido as a physical event Sept.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentTony Hall, the director general of British public broadcaster BBC, has apologized for the use of a racial slur in a news report last month. He said it had made a mistake and had created “distress amongst many people.”The report, which aired on July 29 on the regional show “Points West” and on the BBC News Channel, covered an alleged attack in which a Black health worker in Bristol, England, was hit by a car.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentFormer Bond and “Penny Dreadful” actor Eva Green is being sued in London’s High Court for allegedly derailing a £4 million ($5.22 million) sci-fi thriller, “A Patriot,” in which she was to have starred alongside Helen Hunt and Charles Dance.A deal was announced in May last year for Green, whose recent credits include “Dumbo,” “The Luminaries” and “Proxima,” to play the part of Kate Jones, a captain in the Border Corps of a futuristic

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentDirector Michel Hazanavicius and actress Bérénice Bejo, Oscar winner and Oscar nominee respectively for “The Artist,” will present individual Masterclasses at the 26th Sarajevo Film Festival this year.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentThe Sarajevo Film Festival has shifted this year’s edition online, abandoning plans for a mostly physical event, as COVID 19 rates surge in Bosnia.In a statement, the organizers said the decision “confirms the Sarajevo Film Festival’s responsibility and commitment to its community.” The fest will run Aug. 14-21 as planned.The world premiere of “Focus, Grandma,” helmed by Bosnian director Pjer Žalica, opens the festival’s program.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentConstantin Film has acquired the rights to hit novel “Perfect Addiction,” set in the world of boxing, partnering up once again with producer Jeremy Bolt, with whom they worked on the “Resident Evil” blockbuster movie franchise, assassin action movie “Polar,” starring Mads Mikkelsen and Vanessa Hudgens, and the upcoming video-game adaption “Monster Hunter,” starring Milla Jovovich.The film will blend a “Rocky-esque underdog story and a salacious

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentVariety partnered with U.K.-based consultancy Ampere Analysis to delve into the top local and regional ad-supported and pay TV services that are competing with behemoths like Netflix and Amazon. For more, click here.Germany is Europe’s leading SVOD market, with almost 34 million subscribers, according to Ampere Analysis.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentNewImages Festival has unveiled the XR competition lineup for its 3rd edition, running at Forum des Images in Paris from Sept. 23-27.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentJohnny Depp’s legal team played a video in court Friday that they allege demonstrates that Amber Heard had been violent toward her sister, Whitney Henriquez.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentAmber Heard’s sister, Whitney Henriquez, told a court Thursday that she begged her not to marry Johnny Depp because of his alleged violence toward Heard.

Leo Barraclough Senior International Correspondent“Resident Evil” and “Shadowhunters” producer Constantin Film has renewed the contracts of its long-serving CEO Martin Moszkowicz and TV and digital chief Oliver Berben, and promoted Berben to deputy CEO.Moszkowicz has been CEO of Constantin Film since Jan.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentBad Wolf, the producer of “The Night Of” for HBO, “A Discovery of Witches” for Sky, and “His Dark Materials” for BBC and HBO, has optioned rights for the book “Coming Undone” by Terri White, editor-in-chief of Empire magazine, in a deal with Anna Pallai at AMP Literary.The production company, led by former BBC executives Jane Tranter and Julie Gardner, has secured the option for the “honest and unflinching memoir” – published by Canongate this

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentAmber Heard, giving evidence Wednesday at London’s Royal Courts of Justice on the 12th day of Johnny Depp’s libel trial against the publisher of The Sun newspaper, alleged Depp headbutted her the night before she appeared on James Corden’s “The Late Late Show” in December 2015.Depp is suing News Group Newspapers and journalist Dan Wootton for an article on The Sun website that described him as a “wife beater.” Depp denies that he was violent

Leo Barraclough Senior International Correspondent“This has been a hell of a year,” Gary Davey, CEO of Sky Studios, the production arm of Comcast-owned European pay-TV operator Sky, said Wednesday, contemplating the carnage caused by COVID.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentAmber Heard alleged in court on Tuesday that Johnny Depp beat her up on her 30th birthday.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentAmber Heard alleged in court Monday that during her relationship with Johnny Depp she was afraid he was going to kill her, and that he repeatedly threatened to kill her.