Constellation Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor London- and Paris-based Film Constellation has boarded sales on 2D family animated feature “Carmen,” a contemporary adaptation of the opera, to be directed by 2023 Annecy Film Festival winner Sébastien Laudenbach. Variety revealed first details of the project last year exclusively.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent London and Paris-based Film Constellation has taken international sales on Egyptian director Abu Bakr Shawky’s hotly anticipated Saudi-set travel movie “Hajjan,” ahead of its Toronto Film Festival world premiere. “Hajjan,” which will launch from Toronto’s Discovery section, is a followup to Shawky’s first feature “Yomeddine,” which had the rare distinction of making the competition cut for Cannes.

EXCLUSIVE: Industry Entertainment co-founder Keith Addis is set to launch a new venture and he and former Industry colleague Michael Abrams are set to launch Constellation Media Group.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent London-based outfit Film Constellation has scored a first round of pre-sales on its upcoming family CG animated feature “The Growcodile” at the Annecy Animation Film Festival. “The Growcodile” tells the story of a young girl and her rather unconventional pet, a crocodile named Gilbert. The feature is being adapted by Luuk van Bemmelenfrom from the bestselling children’s book “Crocodile came within!” from renowned Dutch author Paul Van Loon. The animated film, which is expected to be delivered during the fourth quarter of 2025, has pre-sold to Poland (Kinoswiat), Eastern Europe (ProRom), CIS & Baltics (Volga), Portugal (Nos), Greece & Israel (Tanweer), Turkey & MENA (Italia Film), and Vietnam (Lumix), with several other territories under offer and in discussion. KMBO will release it in French theaters.

London and Paris-based Films Constellation head Fabien Westerhoff officially announced the launch of its in-house production arm Constellation Productions exactly a year ago, during the 2022 edition of Cannes.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor London- and Paris-based production, finance and sales company Film Constellation is launching sales on the remake rights of Spanish thriller “Fatum.” Directed by Juan Gualinanes and produced by Vaca Films, the outfit behind box office successes “Sky High” and “Cell 211,” “Fatum” was released in Spain by Universal Studios on April 28. Film Constellation has already reported sales to 50 territories on the original Spanish version. A compulsive gambler and an elite sniper’s destinies meet on a fateful day when the local betting house gets robbed. When a single gunshot is fired, the next 24 hours will set them on a race against time that will define their lives forever.

EXCLUSIVE: The Sound Of Silence director Michael Tyburski’s dystopian romantic comedy Turn Me On, starring Bel Powley and Nick Robinson, has wrapped principal photography

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor London- and Paris-based production, finance and sales company Film Constellation is launching sales on “Return to Reason,” the newly restored 4K version of an assembly of Man Ray’s four cult classic silent films, paired with an original soundtrack by Jim Jarmusch and Carter Logan’s SQÜRL. The film, which is produced by Marieke Tricoire at Womanray and Julie Viez at Cinenovo, will premiere in Cannes’ Official Selection as part of the Cannes Classics sidebar. Celebrating the 100th anniversary of Man Ray’s first film in 1923, “Return to Reason” is the first 4K restoration of Man Ray’s four surrealist and dreamlike short films, known as the first surrealist films, now accompanied by an exclusive soundtrack composed and performed by filmmaker Jim Jarmusch and musician Carter Logan’s band SQÜRL.

EXCLUSIVE: Principal photography has wrapped in New York state on COUP!, a period satire starring Peter Sarsgaard and directed by Austin Stark and Joseph Schuman.

EXCLUSIVE: Peter Sarsgaard (The Batman), Billy Magnussen (No Time To Die), Sarah Gadon (Alias Grace) and Skye P. Marshall (This Is Us) are starring in darkly comedic thriller Coup!, which has almost wrapped in the US.

EXCLUSIVE: Film Constellation has sealed a raft of deals on Spanish director Juan Galiñanes’s upcoming thriller Fatum, as it continues sales on the title at the AFM with a first promo.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Production, finance and sales company Film Constellation has boarded sales on the upcoming romantic thriller “Haunted Heart” by Academy Award winning director Fernando Trueba (“La Belle Époque,” “The Queen of Spain”). The film stars Academy Award nominee Matt Dillon (“The House That Jack Built”), Goya-nominated Aida Folch (“The Artist and the Model”), and Juan Pablo Urrego (“Memoria”). The English-language film is set to start shooting in Greece in September. The film is set on a beautiful remote island in Greece, where young and spirited Alex joins the team of a boutique seaside restaurant as their new waitress. Despite her femme-fatale charm quickly winning the heart of the charismatic Enrico, she instead falls for the enigmatic restaurant manager Max, a reclusive American, who settled on the island decades ago.

EXCLUSIVE: Fresh off multiple rave reviews last night, we can reveal that Altitude has secured UK and Ireland distribution rights to writer-director Georgia Oakley’s buzzy Venice, Toronto and London Film Festival-bound drama Blue Jean from London and Paris-based Film Constellation.

EXCLUSIVE: London and Paris-based production and sales company Film Constellation has inked pre-sales on family adventure animation The Last Dinosaur following its Cannes market launch.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentFilm Constellation, the London-based company behind Cannes’ Un Certain Regard highlights “Joyland” and “Harka,” is set to ramp up its production pipeline with the launch of a dedicated banner in Paris and a raft of ambitious new projects. Named Constellation Productions, the new outfit is on board to co-produce Quebecois director Jeremy Comte’s debut “Paradise” and Carmen Chaplin’s documentary feature “Charlie Chaplin: A Man of the World.”Created by Fabien Westerhoff in 2016, Film Constellation kicked off its production activities two years ago and is now taking it to the next level to invest on more promising talents, as well as develop original projects.

EXCLUSIVE: Film Constellation has boarded sales on debut feature Blue Jean, an identity drama set during Margaret Thatcher’s tenure as UK Prime Minister.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorInternational production, finance and sales outfit Film Constellation is launching sales at the Cannes Film Market on Sundance winner “Palm Trees and Power Lines,” starring Jonathan Tucker (“The Virgin Suicides,” “Charlie’s Angels,” “Westworld”) and introducing Lily McInery.The feature debut of Jamie Dack, who expanded on her 2018 Cinéfondation short of the same title, “Palm Trees and Power Lines” follows 17-year-old Lea as she meets Tom, a charismatic man twice her age who promises an alternative to her unsatisfying adolescent life. Quickly falling for his charm, Lea sees him as the solution to all of her problems, but as Tom’s grip tightens, his intentions become distressingly clear.

Joyland,” which is set to be the first Pakistan-made film in Official Selection at the Cannes Film Festival. Sales duties will be shared with WME Independent, which is is representing North American rights.The tale of sexual revolution sees a happily patriarchal joint family yearn for the birth of a baby boy to continue the family line, while their youngest son secretly joins an erotic dance theatre and falls for an ambitious transsexual starlet.The film is the feature debut of writer and director Saim Sadiq, whose previous short film “Darling” won the Orizzonti Best Short Film award at the 2019 Venice Film Festival and was acquired for worldwide distribution by Focus Features.

EXCLUSIVE: A year after its founding, CAA experiential entertainment affiliate Constellation Immersive has gotten a “significant” equity investment from 30West, a prominent finance and advisory firm.

Meghan Markle may not have featured her two kids in her hilarious new 40th birthday video, but she still managed to honor them in a special way.

EXCLUSIVE: Principal photography has started in Tunisia on contemporary drama Contra, set in the aftermath of the powerful anti-government protests that provoked a wave of change in the region, known as the Arab spring.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorProduction, finance and sales outfit Film Constellation has boarded international sales on psychological thriller “John and the Hole.” The film is directed by Spanish helmer Pascual Sisto, who was selected as one of the top 10 directors to watch by Variety this year, and is written by Oscar winning “Birdman” scribe Nicolás Giacobone, adapted from his short story “El Pozo.”Following the film’s Sundance 2021 competition selection, a virtual market

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorLondon-based production, finance and sales outfit “Film Constellation” has boarded international sales on dystopian sci-fi thriller “Settlers,” directed by Wyatt Rockefeller, and starring Sofia Boutella, whose credits include “Atomic Blonde,” “The Mummy,” the “Kingsman” franchise and “Star Trek: Beyond.”Boutella plays Ilsa, a refugee from Earth, who has settled with her husband and daughter on the harsh and arid terrain of a Martian outpost.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorU.K. sales and production company Film Constellation has scored a first slew of pre-sales at the European Film Market on upcoming English-language horror “The Twin” from “Lake Bodom” director Taneli Mustonen.“Discovery of Witches” and “Lights Out” actor Teresa Palmer stars in the lead role of a young mother devastated by the violent death of one of their twins.

Gallery: Lily Rose Depp: Style File (ELLE (UK))The film also stars Lance Gross, Tyrin Turner and Melissa L. Williams.

EXCLUSIVE: Nicola Adams, the Olympic boxing champion and LGBT icon, will be the subject of feature documentary Lioness: The Nicola Adams Story.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentFilm Constellation, the London-based production, finance and sales outfit, has acquired Natalia Almada’s timely documentary “Users,” which will have its world premiere at Sundance.“Users” is set to unspool as part of Sundance’s U.S. documentary competition section on Jan.

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 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.

Tom Grater International Film ReporterEXCLUSIVE: Film Constellation has boarded sales on Girls Can’t Surf, a feature doc from Christopher Nelius (Storm Surfers 3D, Tough Conversations).Set during the 1980s in the world of professional surfing, it tracks a band of renegade female surfers who took on the male-dominated sport to achieve equality.Surf greats featuring include Jodie Cooper, Frieda Zamba, Pauline Menczer, Lisa Andersen, Pam Burridge, Wendy Botha, and Layne Beachley.Director Nelius

By Elsa Keslassy

By Elsa Keslassy

London-based production, finance and sales company Film Constellation has boarded the critically-lauded “Relic,” the debut feature from Natalie Erika James. The film, which stars Emily Mortimer (“Shutter Island”), Robyn Nevin (“The Matrix Trilogy”) and Bella Heathcote (“The Neon Demon”), had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in the Midnight section.

By Andreas Wiseman

London-based production, finance and sales company Film Constellation has added Tim Sutton’s Berlinale title “Funny Face” to its international sales slate. UTA is representing North American rights.

By Amanda N'Duka