Stephen Lang Thriller ‘Old Man’ Sells to RLJE Films (EXCLUSIVE)

Brent Lang Executive Editor Taylor Swift is about to become the hottest ticket at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. The singer and songwriting star will appear in conversation with TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey and introduce her short film, “All Too Well,” at the annual celebration of movies. “In Conversation With… Taylor Swift” will take place on Friday, Sept. 9, at 7 p.m. at TIFF Bell Lightbox, so start lining up now (only kind of joking). The event will mark the first-ever screening of “All Too Well” on 35mm. “We love the intersection of film and other art forms, and Taylor Swift is a brilliant visual thinker,” said Bailey. “We’re excited to hear Taylor’s version of how absorbing influences from cinema led to her creating ‘All Too Well: The Short Film.'”

Brent Lang Executive Editor “Causeway,” a new drama starring Jennifer Lawrence as a soldier adjusting to life after returning home to New Orleans, will premiere on Apple TV+ on Nov. 4. The streaming service also announced that “Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues,” a documentary about one of the founding fathers of jazz, will hit Apple TV+ on Oct. 28. Both films are world premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival, where the company is screening five features, the largest number of Apple Originals to debut at a single film festival. The Canada-bound Apple lineup also includes “Sidney,” a documentary about Oscar-winning actor and barrier-breaking star Sidney Poitier that is produced by Oprah Winfrey and directed by Reginald Hudlin; “Raymond & Ray,” which features Ewan McGregor and Ethan Hawke as half-brothers; and “The Greatest Beer Run Ever” with Zac Efron and Russel Crowe in a new dramedy from “Green Book” director Peter Farrelly.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and Media Brendan Gleeson, currently generating Oscar buzz for his work in “The Banshees of Inisherin,” is about to move from the west coast of Ireland to the seedy streets of Gotham City. The veteran character actor is set to appear in “Joker: Folie à Deux,” Variety has confirmed, alongside Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga, who play the clown prince of chaos and his main squeeze, Harley Quinn. Todd Phillips, who directed Phoenix to an Oscar in 2019’s “Joker,” returns as director. But whereas the first film played like a comic book riff on Martin Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver,” the follow-up is a musical, albeit more in the vein of “A Star is Born” than “West Side Story” or “Singing in the Rain.”

Causeway” (A24/Apple Original Films) Though Jennifer Lawrence had a juicy supporting role in Adam McKay’s disaster comedy “Don’t Look Up” last year, we have not seen the former Katniss Everdeen in the driver’s seat of a film since the one-two punch of “Mother!” and “Red Sparrow” (released in 2017 and 2018, respectively). She returns in earnest at TIFF with “Causeway,” about a soldier with a traumatic brain injury trying to readjust to normal life. 

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and Media Nicole Power has joined the ensemble of the upcoming Netflix drama series“Glamorous.” She will appear alongside the previously announced “Sex and the City” icon Kim Cattrall, as well as actor, singer-songwriter and YouTuber Miss Benny. In the show, Power will portray Mykynnleigh, a seemingly guileless corporate consultant who rolls into town to help make a business deal happen. Although she seems wholesome and unsophisticated, those appearances are deceiving as Mykynnleigh possesses a lot of backbone and business acumen. “Glamorous” tells the story of Marco Mejia (Miss Benny), a gender-nonconforming queer young man whose life seems to be stuck in place until he lands a job working for legendary makeup mogul Madolyn Addison (Cattrall). It’s Marco’s first chance to figure out what he wants out of life, who he actually is and what it really means for him to be queer.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and Media Sandbox Films and Gamechanger Films will develop “Under the Dream,” a new documentary feature that will be co-directed and co-produced by Saelyx Finna, Mia Imani and Laurie Polisky. The film is a creative documentary about the uncharted realm of dream technology and the Black-led movement to protect our minds at night. Gamechanger CEO Effie Brown, and Sandbox Film’s Jessica Harrop, head of production and development, and founding director Greg Boustead will be acting as executive producers on the project.   Sandbox is a documentary studio behind “Fire of Love,” a look at married volcanologists that debuted at Sundance before selling to National Geographic Documentary Films, and Gamechanger Films is a production company behind the upcoming A24 release “The Inspection.”

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and Media Russell Crowe will play a former homicide detective tasked with re-examining a brutal murder case from his past in “Sleeping City.” The Nickel City Pictures film marks the directorial debut of Adam Cooper, who wrote the script with Bill Collage. The film is an adaptation of E.O. Chirovici’s acclaimed novel, “The Book of Mirrors.” Cooper and Collage previously penned the scripts for “Assassins Creed” and “Exodus: Gods and Kings.” Crowe played Roy Freeman, who is undergoing a cutting-edge Alzheimer’s treatment. He is forced to grapple with the impact of an investigation from his former life after a death row inmate that Freeman arrested 10 years prior starts to proclaim his innocence. Intrigued and fighting to regain his memory, Freeman enlists his former partner to help him revive the case and discover the truth. Together, they set off to unravel a tangled web of secrets, forcing Freeman to make some horrific discoveries.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and Media After two years of exclusively virtual screenings, the Sundance Film Festival says it will be back in-person in 2023. The celebration of the best of indie filmmaking, which unfolds from Jan. 19-Jan. 29, isn’t abandoning its digital component. It will maintain a hybrid presence, allowing film fans who are unable to make the trek up the mountain to Park City, Utah, to participate in the event. But remote cinephiles won’t get to access to the newest arthouse films until the later in the festival. Beginning on Tuesday, Jan. 24, the festival will allow ticket-buyers to view select films online. The digital offering will consist of an on-demand, curated selection of the year’s feature films, including all competition titles (U.S. Dramatic, U.S. Documentary, World Cinema Dramatic, World Cinema Documentary, and Next), as well as other episodic work and short films. In the past, films would only be made available after their premiere. The 2023 festival will conclude with weekend screenings of the films that nab top prizes at Sundance. Those will screen on Jan. 28–Jan. 29, both in person and online. 

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and Media Katie Sinclair has been named the new head of development at Riff Raff Entertainment, the development and production company co-founded by Oscar-nominated actor Jude Law and creative partner Ben Jackson.   She joins from Blueprint Pictures, where her credits as a development executive include Martin McDonagh’s upcoming “Banshees of Inisherin,” which is seen as a major awards season player and will screen at both the Venice and Toronto International Film Festivals; “The Beautiful Game,” directed by Thea Sharrock; and Andrew Haigh’s “Strangers,” which stars Andrew Scott,  Paul Mescal, Claire Foy, and Jamie Bell. Sinclair has worked on “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” for Sony 3000 and Netflix. She has been heavily involved in sourcing and shepherding Blueprint’s slate of feature film projects. 

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and Media After Warner Bros. executives signed off on the risky decision to bankroll their $90 million look at the life of Elvis Presley with a little-known actor portraying the hip-swinging rocker, producer Gail Berman reached for her phone. She wanted to immortalize the moment for Austin Butler, the man who reportedly beat out the likes of Ansel Elgort and Miles Teller to land the kind of role that can make a career. “I needed to take a photo of all these people sitting around after they made a decision that was going to mark a major change in Austin’s life,” says Berman. “It was wonderful that they saw from his screen test just how good he was, and that they were ready to support him on this journey.”

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and Media IFC Films has acquired North American rights to “Four Samosas,” a romantic comedy set in the Little India neighborhood of Los Angeles. The film premiered at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival. IFC will release “Four Samosas” in theaters and on demand on Dec. 2, 2022.  Ravi Kapoor directs and Venk Potula (“Veep”) leads an ensemble cast that includes Sonal Shah, Sharmita Bhattacharya, Nirvan Patnaik, Karan Soni, Summer Bishil, and Meera Simhan. The film centers on wanna-be South Asian American rapper, Vinny (Potula), who along with three friends — all of them first-time thieves — plans to rob a grocery store owned by his ex-girlfriend’s father, in order to steal her wedding diamonds and disrupt her pending engagement. 

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and Media DDA is making a series of key hires and promotions. Ryan Langrehr recently joined the entertainment communications company as U.S. head of awards, based out of Los Angeles. He joins from Block-Korenbrot Public Relations and will work alongside DDA partner Dana Archer and awards strategist MJ Peckos, who formed an exclusive partnership with DDA in 2021 and collaborated on a slate of films in the international and documentary category. These included Spain’s “The Good Boss” and Germany’s “I’m Your Man,” both of which were shortlisted for international feature Oscars.  The DDA L.A. awards offering is a complement to the company’s existing U.K. awards business, which it says will offer studios and filmmakers a “cohesive strategy across both sides of the Atlantic.” The U.K. offering is led by Sam Ross in his newly upped role of director of awards, and his team works closely with DDA partner Neil Bhatt. In recent years, the DDA U.K. awards team has handled AMPAS and BAFTA campaigns and delivered successful campaigns for features, documentaries, animated movies and shorts. Sam has been instrumental in successful campaigns across Academy Award and BAFTA-winning films including NEON’s “Parasite” and BFI’s “After Love.” Additionally, the 2022 BAFTAs also saw nominations for “Happening,” “The Hand of God” and “A Quiet Place: Part II.” Their 2021 haul included BAFTA nominations for “Babyteeth,” “Dear Comrades,” “Mogul Mowgli,” “County Lines” and “The Present.”  

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and Media Sister has enlisted “Pitch Perfect” writer and “Blockers” director Kay Cannon to work with best-selling author Taylor Jenkins Reid on a new original comedy film. Cannon will direct the film with Reid co-writing the script. The film centers around four childhood pals who get a drunken voicemail from their former best friend on the eve of her wedding day — confessing that she thinks she’s making a mistake — and set out to stop her wedding and rekindle the bond they once shared.  Ashley Rodger will co-write the film and produce the picture alongside Reid, Sister’s Co-Founder and Global CEO Stacey Snider, Ilda Diffley, Joanna Korshak, Brad Mendlsohn, Cannon and Laverne McKinnon. Shooting will start in the second quarter of 2023.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and Media Utopia has purchased global rights to “American Rapstar,” a look at the rise of SoundCloud rappers. The film, which screened at such major festivals as SXSW, DOC NYC, and the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival, pulls back the curtain on a group lo-fi young artists, who boast a rebellious punk energy along with their colorful facial tattoos and penchant for prescription drug use. It’s a rising generation of talent such as Smokepurpp, Lil Xan, XXXTentacion, Lil Peep and Bhad Bhabie, all of whom have disrupted the music industry and used new technologies to grow their audience. “American Rapstar” will begin streaming on Sept. 1, 2022 on Hulu. Utopia will present a global virtual screening via Altavod.com on Oct. 4, 2022 with exclusive bonus content available only on that day, before releasing the film on-demand on all platforms Oct. 11, 2022.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and Media Projected Picture Works, the production company founded by Sean Penn last year, has signed on to produce “Killers & Diplomats.” The political thriller tells the true story of four American missionary women who raped and murdered in El Salvador in 1980. It follows a young U.S. diplomat who cracked the case by cultivating an improbable source — risking everything to gather the key evidence. The film is based on an article by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Raymond Bonner. “Killers & Diplomats” is from writers Michael Nourse and John Tyler McClain, whose screenplay was featured on the 2021 Annual Black List. It was developed by producers Jordan Foley and Jonathan Rosenthal of Mill House Motion Pictures. Projected Picture Works partners John Ira Palmer and John Wildermuth are producing with Penn, Foley and Rosenthal. Ray Bonner will executive produce with Yeardley Smith and Ben Cornwell of Paperclip Ltd.  

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaScreen Media has nabbed North American distribution rights to “Virtually Heroes,” an action comedy that was produced by Roger Corman nearly a decade ago but was left without a home.The release of the film has been a long time coming. “Virtually Heroes” was an official selection of the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, but despite Corman’s legendary status as the Picasso of B movies, it never landed distribution.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and Media“All the Beauty and the Bloodshed,” Laura Poitras’s new documentary about artist and activist Nan Goldin, has sold to Neon. The indie studio acquired the film before it was scheduled to make its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival. It has also landed prominent spots at the Toronto Film Festival and the New York Film Festival, where it will get the centerpiece slot.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and Media“Take Me Out,” the Tony Award winning best revival of a play, will make a rare return engagement on Broadway after taking its final curtain call in June.The comedic drama about a star baseball player who comes out as gay and the impact that has on the team’s clubhouse, nabbed four Tonys, including a best featured actor in a play prize for Jesse Tyler Ferguson. It also generated a lot of buzz for its ample on-stage nudity (that aspect led the show’s producers to require patrons to lock their phones in Yondr pouches to prevent photos from leaking online).Ferguson will return for the production, as will Jesse Williams, the “Grey’s Anatomy” star who won raves for his lead performance. “Take Me Out” will open its doors on Thursday, October 27 at the Schoenfeld Theatre.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaShudder has inked a deal with The Boulet Brothers to expand their Dragula franchise with a new season, a new spinoff series and an additional special set to debut on Shudder over the next twelve months. The pact comes on the heels of “The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula’s” fourth season, which became one of Shudder’s most watched series of 2021.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaVerve has promoted Melissa Darman to partner.Darman, who joined Verve in 2014, started her career at ICM before pivoting to the studio system to work in comedy development at ABC Network. She then moved onto Lionsgate before joining Verve, where she has continued to focus on comedy during her time as an agent on the TV literary team.“Working at Verve continues to be rewarding on a daily basis,” Darman said in a statement.