Tye Sheridan Joins Jude Law, Nicholas Hoult In Justin Kurzel’s Crime Thriller ‘The Order’ For AGC Studios

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film Critic In “Black Flies,” a movie that keeps working to get high on its own intensity, Sean Penn and Tye Sheridan play paramedics who spend their nights driving through hell (I mean, Brooklyn). There are countless shots of the two in their EMS van, riding along under the tracks of an overhead subway train — the exact kind of grungy Brooklyn boulevard that Popeye Doyle went smashing through in the famous “French Connection” car/subway chase. As Rut (Penn) and Cross (Sheridan) patrol the borough neighborhood of Brownsville, one of the poorest and most crime-ridden sections of New York City, those overheard tracks become part of the film’s meticulously oppressive visual design. The two have so little breathing room they can barely see the sky. After a while, though, you start to think: Don’t these guys everdrive down a side street? Like everything else in “Black Flies,” those subway tracks are stylish signifiers of doom that are a little too in-your-face.

Sean Penn and Tye Sheridan hit up the photo call for their new movie, Black Flies, during the 2023 Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals on Friday (May 19) in Cannes, France.

In Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire’s “Black Flies,” silence is as scarce a commodity as hope. Young first responder Ollie Cross (Tye Sheridan) learns very early on that the job comes with two partners: the one sitting next to you and the relentless cacophony of sounds that cut through the vastness of night as shears.

Black Flies,” the Sean Penn and Tye Sheridan film about emergency medical first responders, smacked the Cannes Film Festival in the face with a brutal world premiere on Thursday. Splattered brains, dead dogs, an addict giving birth with a needle dangling from her arm — these and a litany of other horrors confronted Penn and Sheridan, who play veteran and rookie paramedics, respectively, at the New York Fire Department. Interestingly enough, the black-tie screening at the Grand Palais enjoyed the dose of reality, giving the film a five-minute standing ovation. “We carry the misery,” a weary Penn tells Sheridan in the film of their chosen profession. That’s an understatement, as chaos unfolds neighborhood by neighborhood in a portrait of an unforgiving city.

Beware of black flies, they are the first to smell death. That is what rookie FDNY paramedic Ollie Cross is told by a colleague as he ventures into an abandoned apartment where a swarm is buzzing around a decaying dead body in a bathtub. It is clearly a metaphor for the job of first responders like Ollie and his partner Gene Rutkowsky who are also the first to “smell death,” repeatedly, on a job that takes its toll not just on those in need of medical help, but also on those who provide it.

Firebrand,” a period drama about Katherine Parr, the sixth and final wife of Henry VIII, has sold out internationally ahead of its world premiere on Sunday. Sources tell Variety that the film has sold into STXInternational for the U.K. and to Sony Pictures for most other overseas markets. FilmNation has sold remaining international markets to independent international distributors. In the U.K., Variety understands that Prime Video is in the process of buying the film from STX. This could mean that STX is handling a theatrical release, while Prime Video takes the film for streaming, or that the streamer will also handle theatrical in the territory. Sources indicate that Prime Video is also picking up streaming rights in a number of other international markets.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Director Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire spent more than a year in the back of ambulances, shuttling from one gruesome trauma to the next, as he shadowed EMTs in New York City to prepare for his new movie “Black Flies.” “This immersive approach is crucial,” Sauvaire tells Variety over Zoom, a week before he travels to the South of France to premiere “Black Flies” in competition at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. “If you don’t really know the reality of this job, it’s difficult to recreate it.” Adapted from Shannon Burke’s 2008 novel, the story follows Tye Sheridan as young paramedic Ollie Cross, who dreams of going to medical school. But he struggles to study as he is thrust into the intense and mentally taxing work of responding to emergency calls in Brooklyn. Sean Penn plays a hardened veteran, who teaches Ollie the ropes as they drive through New York City.

Ana de Armas is not stopping any time soon. The actress, who took a brief break from acting to visit her native Cuba, is back in the spotlight, landing a coveted role in the film “Origin of Species.”Ana de Armas’ emotional arrival in Cuba: Watch the teary-eyed reunionAna de Armas surprises a fan in a restaurant in CubaAna de Armas’s fun birthday celebration in Cuba: WatchA post shared by Saturday Night Live (@nbcsnl)Deadline reports that De Armas joins a stacked and award winning cast that includes Jude Law, Daniel Brühl and Alicia Vikander. “Origin of Species” will be directed by Ron Howard and is described as a survival thriller with a “darkly comic” edge, telling a story from two different perspectives.

EXCLUSIVE: Normal People and Where the Crawdads Sing star Daisy Edgar-Jones is the latest star attached to Oscar winner Ron Howard’s next movie Origin Of Species, which is a hot project at the Cannes market.

EXCLUSIVE: Tye Sheridan is launching his new production company, Dogwood Pictures with its debut film, Black Flies, is set to play in competition at the 76th Annual Cannes Film Festival. Directed by Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire, the pic reunites Sheridan with Sean Penn after over a decade since Malick’s The Tree of Life. Sheridan first became involved with the film in 2018 and continued on throughout the film’s execution and release.

The Cannes Film Festival begins this week and with that also comes the Cannes Film Market, as you might suspect it’s an industry marketplace where various film projects are out to potential buyers, financiers, and distributors. One of those movies on the auction block is director Ron Howard‘s survival thriller “Origin of The Species” based on two different accounts of a true story.

EXCLUSIVE: We told you about Ron Howard’s survival thriller Origin of The Species last fall and the project now has a killer cast with Oscar nominee Ana De Armas (No Time To Die), Oscar nominee Jude Law (Sherlock Holmes), Oscar winner Alicia Vikander (Tomb Raider) and Golden Globe nominee Daniel Brühl (All Quiet On The Western Front) all attached.

“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” now out in theaters and James Gunn’s commitment to Marvel Studios complete, his full attention is now being turned to filling out the cast for his upcoming DC reboot “Superman: Legacy.”Gunn is now watching audition tapes and those in the mix for the role of Superman include Nicholas Hoult, David Corenswet (“Pearl”), Jacob Elordi (“Euphoria”) and Andrew Richardson (“A Call to Spy”), sources tell TheWrap.Additionally, sources say Emmy-winning “The Marvelous Mrs.

Filmmaker James Gunn (“Guardians of The Galaxy Vol.3“) is kicking-off his reimagined DC Comics cinematic universe with a reboot of the “Superman” franchise as the first big theatrical output from the newly formed DC Studios. While “Superman: Legacy” hopes to give audiences Gunn’s take on the Man of Steel, we’ve been anticipating the new casting for the reboot after it was announced that Henry Cavill would be stepping down as the main incarnation of the DC hero.

In today’s episode of Bingeworthy, our TV and streaming podcast host Mike DeAngelo gets to the occasional truth with Hulu’s hit period comedy series, “The Great.” Created by Tony McNamara (“The Favourite,” “Cruella”), the show follows the sometimes true rise to power and subsequent rule of Catherine “The Great” (Elle Fanning) in a chaotic and debaucherous 18th century Russia.

HanWay Films has boarded The One, an erotic thriller starring Melissa Barrera and Nicholas Hoult and will launch sales at the Cannes Film Festival.

Naman Ramachandran Melissa Barrera (“Scream VI”), Nicholas Hoult (“The Menu”) and Lana Condor (“Moonshot”) headline the cast of “The One,” from writer-director team Kevin Armento and Jaki Bradley. HanWay Films is handling worldwide sales, and will launch the film at the Cannes film market, with WME Independent and UTA co-repping the film for North America. “The One” follows Taylor (Barrera), who’s made a last-ditch effort to find love by becoming a contestant on a reality dating show. Now down to just herself and two other women competing to win the heart of Mason (Hoult), Taylor begins to feel the artifice of the show fade, and the game becomes terrifyingly real. Amidst the opulent beachfront setting, fairy-tale dates, and ever-flowing champagne, pursuit turns into obsession and rivalry turns into treachery as reality itself blurs.

EXCLUSIVE: Alison Oliver (Saltburn), Jurnee Smollett (Lovecraft Country), Marc Maron (To Leslie) and Odessa Young (The Staircase) have closed deals to join The Order, the crime thriller to be directed for Stuart Ford’s AGC Studios by Justin Kurzel, which is heading into production on Wednesday.

“Peter Pan & Wendy” — so the child actors on set remained genuinely afraid of him when he played Captain Hook.“[Director] David Lowery had the idea of really trying to encourage them not to see me when I wasn’t Hook,” Law, 50, said Tuesday on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.”“So I just stayed as Hook the whole time, which was an opportunity just to be really scary and mean. Sounds kind of awful,” “The Holiday” actor admitted.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Jude Law revealed on “The Tonight Show” that he stayed in character as Captain Hook any time he was on the set of David Lowery’s “Peter Pan and Wendy.” The Disney reimagining casts Law as the villainous Captain Hook. To ensure the child actors on set would be scared of Hook, Lowery instructed Law not to reveal his true self until after filming. “David Lowery had the idea of really trying to encourage them not to see me when I wasn’t Hook,” Law said. “So I just stayed as Hook the whole time, which was an opportunity just to be really scary and mean. Sounds kind of awful. I didn’t want to be talking to a little 6-year-old dude, and then suddenly, it’s like, ‘Right. You hate me. I’m Hook. I’m Hook.’ So, instead, I just stuck as Hook. And, yeah, a lot of the reactions you see in the film are their reactions to me for the first time, or as the man himself, you know?”