Sam Mendes Reflects On His Love Of Theaters & Olivia Colman [Interview]

The Sun has said it regrets the publication of a Jeremy Clarkson column about the Duchess of Sussex and is “sincerely sorry”.

Avatar: The Way of Water‘s mega-publicized opening has brought movies back into the conversation, but movie-makers seem to have been lost in the mist. James Cameron’s persona is ablaze across the media but, by contrast, the very personal work of Sam Mendes, James Gray and even Steven Spielberg has done a fade-out in recent weeks.

Zachary Levi is clearing claims from fans that he is being recast as Shazam! amid the DC Universe shakeup following Peter Safran and James Gunn taking over as co-heads.

Brendan Fraser will receive the Spotlight Award, Actor at the Palm Springs Film Festival’s awards ceremony, taking place in person at the Palm Springs Convention Center on January 5. The award comes in recognition of the actor’s performance in the critically acclaimed A24 drama The Whale from filmmaker Darren Aronofsky.

Editors note: Deadline’s Read the Screenplay series debuts and celebrates the scripts of films that will be factors in this year’s movie awards race.

Filmmaker Sam Mendes (“1917,” “Empire of Light”) is about to make his U.S. television directing debut with a new comedy series at HBO called “The Franchise.” It will see Mendes team up with comedy writer/director Armando Iannucci (“Avenue 5,” “In The Loop”), likely best known to American audiences for the political comedy series “Veep” and the hilarious Soviet-era satire “The Death of Stalin.

The Franchise, a comedy pilot for HBO that takes a wry look at superhero moviemaking, has found its cast.

Call it the COVID effect: 2022 has been a year of directors returning to their past and reinterrogating it. Alongside prominent works of autofiction like James Gray’s “Armageddon Time” or Steven Spielberg’s “The Fabelmans,” there’s a less conventional but no less revelatory work that also emerged this year: Mark Pellington’s “Going All the Way: The Director’s Edit.” Note the semantics of the title.

Judd Hirsch has to be on the verge of making history. The Emmy and Tony Award winner is an ensemble member of Steven Spielberg’s “The Fablemans,” a movie that is almost guaranteed to earn a Best Picture nomination next month.

“Till” star Danielle Deadwyler will receive the Breakthrough Performance Award, Actress at the 2023 Palm Springs International Film Awards on Jan. 5, Palm Springs International Film Festival organizers announced Monday.The award will be presented at the Palm Springs Convention Center in the desert resort town east of Los Angeles, at the beginning of a film festival that will run through Jan.

“I’ve been very private about my private life, and I’ve never gone public with my private life until now,” Steven Spielberg said Sunday. It was the existential threat of the Covid pandemic at its most lethal back in 2020 that nudged his very personal family story to the big screen.

Taylor Swift will make her feature directorial debut with Searchlight Pictures, the company announced today. The acclaimed singer, songwriter and director has written an original script, which will be produced by the studio.

The National Board of Review today named the top-grossing film of 2022 as its Best Film of the year.

Best Film:  “Top Gun: Maverick”Best Director: Steven Spielberg,“The Fabelmans” Best Actor: Colin Farrell, “The Banshees of Inisherin”Best Actress: Michelle Yeoh, “Everything Everywhere All at Once” Best Supporting Actor: Brendan Gleeson, “The Banshees of Inisherin”Best Supporting Actress: Janelle Monáe, “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery”Best Original Screenplay: Martin McDonagh, “The Banshees of Inisherin”Best Adapted Screenplay: Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson, Ian Stokell, “All Quiet on the Western Front”Breakthrough Performance: Danielle Deadwyler, “Till”Breakthrough Performance: Gabriel LaBelle, “The Fabelmans”Best Directorial Debut: Charlotte Wells, “Aftersun”Best Animated Feature:  “Marcel the Shell with Shoes On” Best International Film: “Close”Best Documentary: “Sr.”Best Ensemble: “Women Talking” Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography: Claudio Miranda, “Top Gun: Maverick”NBR Freedom of Expression Awards:“All the Beauty and the Bloodshed”“Argentina, 1985”Top Films (in alphabetical order):“Aftersun”“Avatar: The Way of Water” “The Banshees of Inisherin”“Everything Everywhere All at Once”“The Fabelmans”“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery”“RRR”“Till”“The Woman King” “Women Talking”Top 5 International Films (in alphabetical order):“All Quiet on the Western Front”“Argentina, 1985” “Decision to Leave” “EO”“Saint Omer”Top 5 Documentaries (in alphabetical order):“All the Beauty and the Bloodshed”“All That Breathes”“Descendant”“Turn Every Page – The Adventures of Robert Caro and Robert Gottlieb”“Wildcat”Top 10 Independent Films (in alphabetical order):“Armageddon Time”“Emily the Criminal”“The Eternal Daughter” “Funny Pages” “The Inspection”“Living”“A Love Song”“Nanny”“The Wonder”“To Leslie”The NBR Awards Gala is scheduled

Their little quarterback! Patrick Mahomes and his wife, Brittany Matthews, couldn’t be happier after welcoming their newborn son.

For Avatar: The Way of Water filmmaker James Cameron, making a sequel to the world’s highest-grossing movie ever was “not a no-brainer” with the original 2009 movie providing “a lot to live up to.”  

Focus Features’ Spoiler Alert opened on six screens (in NY, LA, San Francisco) to an estimated $85k, or $14k per theater, in a crowded arthouse market. Strong exit polls and word of mouth – 94% in the top two boxes – could help built out this movie, which will likely be more audience-focused than awards-buzz driven.