Range Media Partners Signs ‘Orphan: First Kill’ Filmmaker William Brent Bell

Here’s our annual rundown of the 10 largest production awards given out by the British Film Institute’s Film Fund in 2022. Backed by National Lottery money, the grants are a key supporter of indie cinema in the UK.

Thom Bell, who helped to create the soul songs style that became known in the 1960s and 1970s as “The Sound of Philadelphia,” died Thursday in Bellingham, Washington. He was 79 and no cause of death was given.

EXCLUSIVE: RuPaul’s Drag Race winner Bianca Del Rio is returning for a third movie in the Hurricane Bianca franchise and will star alongside Willam Belli (A Star Is Born), Rachel Dratch (Wine Country), Thora Birch (The Walking Dead), Drag Race contestant fan favorite Vanessa Vanjie Mateo, and Doug Plaut (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt).

Cecily Strong got an Elvis goodbye on Saturday when host Austin Butler — who was later joined by the rest of the SNL cast — ended the show with a performance of “Blue Christmas.”

EXCLUSIVE: Range Media Partners has signed director Julie Taymor, who has worked across multiple mediums including film, television, theater, and opera throughout her esteemed career. Best known for directing the 2002 film Frida starring Salma Hayek, which won two Academy Awards and was nominated for an additional four, including a nomination for Taymor for penning the lyrics to the film’s original song, Burn It Blue” She was also the first woman in theatrical history to win Best Direction of a Musical at The Tony Awards for her adaption of The Lion King in 1998.

Five-time Golden Globe winner and 16x nominee Ryan Murphy is receiving the Carol Burnett Award at the 2023 Golden Globes.

EXCLUSIVE: Annet Mahendru has signed with Buchwald for representation.  

Melanie Martin is finally opening up about all things Aaron Carter, their son Prince, and her alleged feud with his estranged family.

Norma Rae, Places in the Heart, Mrs. Doubtfire, Forrest Gump, and Lincoln. But ask her how it feels to be an icon, and the 76-year-old gives a look and an answer that clearly thinks otherwise. “I find it kind of shocking," she says over Zoom.

It’s rare that a sequel competes in the International Oscar category, especially when the first part didn’t get selected. It’s a measure of Erik Matti’s latest film that, though it follows on from 2013’s Cannes Directors’ Fortnight title On the Job—or rather, starts in the aftermath—this second instalment stands alone. “The big difference between the two,” said Matti, “is that the first one was set in urban Manila, and the second one is set in the countryside of the Philippines, just to show two contrasts that exist within both worlds.”