Author: Deadline

Thirteen years after making her debut feature, Kiran Rao marked her directorial return with Laapataa Ladies (Lost Ladies), which has been selected as India‘s Oscar entry for the Best International Feature Film race. “It felt a bit like cycling, after not having cycled for a while,” Rao tells Deadline about helming her second feature film after more than a decade. “It takes a little while to find your balance, but soon you’re on your way. I had a crew that was not just young and enthusiastic, but also really driven by the film and deeply believed in what we were…

EXCLUSIVE: Universal International Studios (UIS) has shaken up its team with two promotions. CFO Rob Howard has become Executive Vice President and Kelsey Balance has been upped to EVP Global Scripted Series at the Day of the Jackal studio. Howard will expand his oversight beyond finance to the overall operational strategies and its production companies to support the studio’s international ambitions. Balance will take charge of the global scripted series team, developing shows for all platforms. Howard has been with UIS for five years working across finance. He joined shortly after Balance, who used to be Head of Programming at NBCUniversal’s…

Deadline Portrait Studio hosted talent on December 2 at the 34th edition of the Gotham Awards, held at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City. Talent from films nominated stopped by including director C. Mason Wells from Between the Temples; Keith Kupferer, Tara Mallen, and Katherine Mallen Kupferer from Ghostlight, Pamela Anderson and Gia Coppola from The Last Showgirl, Colman Domingo and the cast of Sing Sing. RELATED: Gotham Awards: A24’s ‘A Different Man’ Wins Best Feature; ‘Sing Sing’, ‘Nickel Boys’ Also Score – Full Winners List Other talent included Boyd Holbrook, Monica Barbaro, James Mangold, Timothée Chalamet, Elle Fanning,…

Ringside Studios is teaming with Tokyo Vice producer Alex Boden to create a production services business, as it boards Netflix Japan feature 10Dance. Tetra, which Gub Neal’s Ringside and Boden will jointly run, is offering a full range of service to high-end TV (HETV) and film productions, from co-production and physical production to creative management and executive producer duties. It will also look to access UK and European incentives through Ringside’s parent Newen Studios. Boden, known for productions such as Tokyo Vice and Sense8, will work with Ringside’s Lee Thomas (Industry, No Escape) at Tetra. This comes as Ringside joins…

Samuel L. Jackson wants to dispel a myth about the Academy Awards — namely the humility of creatives who say they are honored just by the reception of a nod. In a recent interview with the Associated Press promoting Netflix’s August Wilson adaptation The Piano Lesson, the MCU actor joked that he’s been in the business long enough to de-center the Oscars race, and any potential buzz or hype about a project or role, from his work. “Folks will go, ‘Well it’s just an honor to be nominated.’ No it ain’t,” Jackson said, eliciting chuckles from co-star Michael Potts and…

EXCLUSIVE: Xavier Samuel and Sonal Sehgal have been cast to lead The Great Departure. The film, from producer Arvind Reddy’s KVR Productions and directed by the Camera d’Or-nominated Pierre Filmon, is currently in post-production having shot entirely in India. Sehgal wrote the script during lockdown, with the film originally titled Travellers. Plot explores patriarchy in society through the prism of a man and woman who accidentally meet in Varanasi, and have very different experiences while on the same road trip as they fall in love. Samuel (Twiling: Eclipse) and Sehgal (Aashayein) star. “Growing up in a patriarchal society and yet with…

Silvia Pinal, an actress in Mexico’s Golden Age of cinema, has died. She was 93. Pinal had been hospitalized earlier this month for a urinary tract infection. Mexico’s Secretary of Culture confirmed Pinal’s death. “The Ministry of Culture of the Government of Mexico regrets the passing of leading actress Silvia Pinal,” read the statement posted on X. “With a career spanning more than six decades, she participated in more than 60 films and plays. Her legacy lives on as a fundamental pillar of cinema, theater and television in Mexico. May she rest in peace.” Pinal was born in Guaymas, Sonora,…

Mary McGee, the motor racing legend profiled in the Oscar-contending documentary Motorcyle Mary, died Wednesday in Gardnerville, Nev., according to her family. She was 87. “Mary embodied resilience, grace, and optimism,” McGee’s family wrote on Facebook. The post did not disclose a cause of death. “She was a historic athlete and a motorsports pioneer who embraced life’s challenges, cared deeply for others, and made time to brighten the lives of those around her. While we are deeply saddened by this loss, we are comforted knowing that her light will continue to shine in everyone she touched.” Motorcycle Mary, which held…

APC, Hat Trick & DCD Joins Forces For London Screenings A trio of distributors will join forces to showcase their latest wares at next year’s London TV Screenings. About Premium Content (APC), Hat Trick International (HTI) and DCD Rights will combine to introduce buyers to content at an event on Tuesday, February 25 at the Vue West End in Leicester Square from 4.30pm-7.30pm local time. APC co-founders Emmanuelle Guilbart and Laurent Boisse and HTI chief Sarah Tong noted how combing efforts would allow time-stretched acquisitions execs access to more programming during an increasingly busy week of international screenings. DCD Rights…

Having been in the limelight since she was 17 with the Pirates of the Caribbean films, two-time Oscar nominee Keira Knightley said she has since ruled out returning to the franchise world. “It’s a funny thing when you have something that was making and breaking you at the same time,” Knightley — whose fame was cemented at the height of the noughties with the initial trilogy and other fare like Atonement and Pride & Prejudice later on — told The Times of London in a new profile. “I was seen as sh– because of them, and yet because they did…