Michael Winterbottom Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Michael Winterbottom has devoted much of his filmmaking career to revisiting real-life events through works blurring the boundaries between documentary and drama to various degrees.  

Rachel Weisz and Polly Stokes are taking their slate to Fremantle.

Naman Ramachandran Paramount’s “Bob Marley: One Love” debuted atop the U.K. and Ireland box office with £6.9 million ($8.7 million), according to numbers from Comscore. Universal’s animation “Migration” dropped a spot to second place with £2.7 million in its third weekend and now has a total of £13.5 million.

The Trip despite calls from Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan to film one in America.The show, which sees the pair play fictional/exaggerated versions of themselves and indulge in their love for celebrity impersonations, ran for two series on BBC Two between 2010 and 2014. Two more followed on Sky Atlantic and Sky One, with the most recent being 2020’s The Trip To Greece.Last summer, Coogan said that he and Brydon should make another series ahead of a meeting with Winterbottom.“I think certainly there will be more stuff to say, because middle age is different to just getting old,” said Coogan at the time.

Actor Samantha Morton is set for special recognition at the Baftas on Sunday (February 18) as the Academy has awarded her a Fellowship. Samantha, who is widely regarded as one of the standout actors of her generation, said “As a proud BAFTA member I am honoured, profoundly humbled and grateful to BAFTA for giving me this award".

EXCLUSIVE: Greenwich Entertainment picked up U.S. distribution rights to the Tel Aviv-set political thriller Shoshana from BAFTA-winning filmmaker Michael Winterbottom (The Trip, A Mighty Heart). 

Ellise Shafer “Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” breakout Tom Blyth has found his next starring role in a new film adaptation of Ernest Hemingway’s seminal novel “A Farewell to Arms.” Directed and written by Michael Winterbottom (“Welcome to Sarajevo,” “Wonderland”), the film stars Blyth as protagonist Frederic Henry, a young volunteer ambulance driver for the Italian Army during World War I who gets wounded and falls in love with his nurse. Produced by Fremantle, Revolution Films and Passenger, “A Farewell to Arms” is set to start shooting in Italy later next year.

Tom Blyth is set to follow in the footsteps of Gary Cooper, Rock Hudson and George Hamilton to star in Michael Winterbottom‘s new adaptation of Ernest Hemingway’s classic novel A Farewell to Arms.

Naman Ramachandran Bangladeshi filmmaker Nuhash Humayun’s “Pett Kata Shaw” won best international feature at the 31st Raindance Film Festival‘s jury awards. British documentary filmmaker Kit Vincent won best U.K.

More than 2,000 figures from the UK’s arts and culture world have signed an open letter calling for the immediate cessation of Israel’s blockade and bombing of Gaza.

The London Film School has appointed Chris Auty as its new Director. He will take over from Neil Peplow and start his new role in November.

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.

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.

UPDATED with latest: The Toronto Film Festival began September 7 in Ontario with opening-night movie The Boy and the Heron, from Oscar-winning filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki. It kicks off a lineup for the fest’s 48th edition that includes world premieres of GameStop pic Dumb Money, Netflix’s Pain Hustlers, Taika Waititi’s Next Goal Wins, Kristin Scott Thomas’ Scarlett Johansson pic North Star, Chris Pine’s Poolman, Michael Keaton-directed Knox Goes Away, Anna Kendrick’s Woman of the Hour, Atom Egoyan’s Seven Veils, Michael Winterbottom’s Shoshana, Grant Singer’s Reptile, Viggo Mortensen’s The Dead Don’t Hurt, Lee Tamahori’s The Convert and Alex Gibney’s doc In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon.

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: 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.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Riz Ahmed will be honoured by the Locarno Film Festival where the latest short in which the British actor appears – titled “Dammi” and directed by French auteur Yann Mounir Damage – will world premiere. Ahmed, who earned an Oscar nomination for best actor in 2021 for his performance as a drummer who suddenly goes deaf in Amazon’s “Sound of Metal,” will be feted by the Swiss fest dedicated to indie filmmaking cinema with with its 2021 Excellence Award Davide Campari, which pays tribute to film personalities who have left their personal stamp on contemporary cinema. “Dammi,” which was teased at Cannes, is an experimental work, broadly on the theme of immigration and identity, produced by French fashion brand  AMI, founded by Alexandre Mattiussi, and also starring Isabelle Adjani, Souheila Yacoub, Sandor Funtek and Suzy Bemba. The buzzed-about short will screen at Locarno’s 8,000-seat Piazza Grande, on opening night, Aug. 2, during the ceremony at which Amed will receive the award.

Steve Coogan has said that he and Rob Brydon should make another series of The Trip.Appearing on his co-star’s Brydon & podcoast, the Alan Partridge star revealed that he was meeting with their director Michael Winterbottom on the day of recording, giving the biggest indication yet that they will make a fifth series of their mockumentary.“I think certainly there will be more stuff to say, because middle age is different to just getting old,” said Coogan. “I think we should do another one, at a time and place to be determined.”Brydon added: “I always say to people, if Steve is still alive in 10 years, I would [do another series].

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.

UK director Michael Winterbottom has suggested that his 2022 Gaza documentary Eleven Days In May had a tougher time securing a UK broadcast partner following an article in the London-based Jewish Chronicle linking his Palestinian co-director to Hamas.

Playwright and screenwriter Christopher Hampton, producer David Parfitt, Dune costume designer Jacqueline West and directors Lynne Ramsay and Michael Winterbottom are to set attend the Qatari Doha Film Institute’s ninth talent incubator event Qumra in March.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent The Doha Film Institute has recruited an impressive mix of film directors and talents comprising Christopher Hampton, David Parfitt, Jacqueline West, Lynne Ramsay, and Michael Winterbottom who will hold master classes and act as mentors during its upcoming Qumra Arab industry incubator. The event, which is back in person after a two-year hiatus, will run physically March 10-15 in the Qatari capital of Doha, followed by an online program March 19-21. Qumra, which means “camera” in Arabic, blends together a creative workshop, co-production market, and festival elements. The event, now at its ninth edition, was established by the Doha Film Institute (DFI) to help foster first and second works, mostly by Arab directors and to create curated networking opportunities between the Arab and international film communities.

Fremantle has promoted Christian Vesper to the newly created position of CEO of global drama.

Fremantle has promoted Christian Vesper to CEO of Global Drama, handing him oversight of a number of scripted labels acquired in the past few months.

EXCLUSIVE: Fremantle has acquired True Detective and This England exec Richard Brown’s Passenger, with Brown landing a role within the super-indie’s Global Drama division.

Naman Ramachandran The crisis of leadership Britain has been plunged into over recent years merits sustained study as a cautionary tale. But it demands deeper and sharper analysis than is available in “This England,” a curiously indifferent six-part miniseries notionally centred on former Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s handling of the initial coronavirus outbreak, currently limping out on Sky’s U.K. arm. When Winterbottom’s Revolution Films announced the project (originally titled “This Sceptred Isle”) last year – with Kenneth Branagh unveiled as the project’s Johnson – speculation was rife. Would the series be an ensemble satire, along the lines of Winterbottom’s rambunctious “24 Hour Party People”? Or an artfully sober inquiry, in the vein of the director’s Amanda Knox-inspired “The Face of an Angel”? In fact, it’s neither: what we’ve got is a hurriedly assembled primetime procedural that undermines its claim to rigorous accuracy from the off by misspelling the name of Johnson’s soon-to-be-wife Carrie Symonds in its opening credits.

Sir Kenneth Branagh when he was not in character as Boris Johnson on set of the Covid drama. Formerly titled This Sceptred Isle, the six-parter follows the 58-year-old’s tumultuous first months as prime minister, leading up to the beginning of the coronarvirus pandemic and subsequent lockdowns. Covering one of the most challenging periods in recent history, the series, co-written and directed by Michael Winterbottom, will also include stories from the medics and care workers working on the frontline.

Naman Ramachandran In the wake of the death of Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday, the U.K. has postponed several scheduled events as a mark of respect. Sky has postponed the scheduled launch of Michael Winterbottom’s Boris Johnson drama “This England,” starring Kenneth Branagh, from Sept. 21 to until after the official period of mourning, to Sept. 28. The Premier League has postponed this weekend and Monday evening’s soccer games. The FA has confirmed that soccer fixtures across the Barclays Women’s Super League, Barclays Women’s Championship, the Vitality Women’s FA Cup, and the Isuzu FA Trophy, will be postponed this weekend and that all soccer fixtures across the National League System, Steps 1-6, including the Vanarama National Leagues, the Women’s Football Pyramid, Tiers 3-7, and matches across grassroots soccer in England will be postponed.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Fremantle Group CEO Jennifer Mullin and Fremantle Group COO and CEO Continental Europe Andrea Scrosati are set to deliver a keynote address at Mipcom. The session comes on the heels of Fremantle Group’s recent high-profile acquisitions, including Element Pictures (“Conversations With Friends”), Lux Vide (“Medici”), Dancing Ledge Productions (“The Salisbury Poisonings”) and Eureka (“Holey Moley”). alongside talent partnerships with globally-renowned creatives including Angelina Jolie, Neil Cross, Paolo Sorrentino, Luca Guadagnino, Michael Winterbottom, Jimmy Fallon, Sir Kenneth Branagh, Simon Cowell, Penelope Cruz, Pablo and Juan De Dios Larrain and Cara Delevingne.

When it was announced that Michael Winterbottom would be making a series about the first pandemic lockdown in the spring of 2022, many assumed—or perhaps hoped—that the politically committed director would be holding the British government to account. However, speaking to Deadline at the 38th Sarajevo Film Festival, 25 years after his acclaimed war drama Welcome To Sarajevo screened there, Winterbottom revealed that, in common with many of his fictionalized but factual feature films, the six-part Sky series This England , which debuts 21 September, will be an ensemble piece, taking a bird’s-eye view of the British authorities’ initial response to COVID.

Although British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced his resignation in July and will remain in power until his party chooses a leader, his legacy of incompetence will stick with him for years, if not the rest of his political career. But like Trump, who has received many kinds of satirical treatments— several actors parodying his oafishness on “Saturday Night Live”— and a kind of biopic treatment—Brendon Gleeson portraying the former last guy on “The Comey Rule”— Boris Johnson is getting a kind of biopic treatment in “This England,” starring BAFTA and Academy Award-winning actor/director Kenneth Branagh in the lead role.

Christopher Vourlias British filmmaker Michael Winterbottom says he has “no regrets” that the events depicted in his upcoming Sky series “This England,” which follows the COVID-19 response of outgoing U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government, did not include the turbulent period that led to Johnson’s resignation in July.Speaking to Variety at the Sarajevo Film Festival, where the director will be giving a masterclass on Friday, Winterbottom said it was his intention from the start to end the six-part limited series after the first wave of the pandemic, a decision that didn’t change with the dramatic events that forced Johnson to step down.“There are limitations in ending it there, but I still think that was the best idea,” the director said.

Naman Ramachandran Fremantle has scored a raft of sales on “The Trip” director Michael Winterbottom’s drama on outgoing U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, “This England.”The 88 territories closed for “This England” include Movistar+ (Spain), Viaplay (Nordics and Baltics, Poland and the Netherlands), Cosmote (Greece), OSN TV and OSN+ (MENA), M-Net (South Africa), BBC First (Australia) and TVNZ (New Zealand).

Sky’s Kenneth Branagh-starring Boris Johnson drama This England has been sold to 88 territories worldwide by distributor Fremantle.

Naman Ramachandran As the race to choose his successor heats up, broadcaster Channel 4 has revealed plans for a documentary series on outgoing U.K. prime minister Boris Johnson.