Author: Deadline

EXCLUSIVE: Watermelon Pictures – which was launched in 2024 by siblings Hamza Ali and Badie Ali with its roots in Palestinian culture and to amplify underrepresented filmmakers – continues to expand. The Chicago-based company has announced the appointment of Nabil Kazi as Executive Vice President of Marketing & Brand Development. The respected marketing and brand strategist previously held roles at The Walt Disney Company, 20th Century Fox, and Illumination Entertainment. His appointment comes as the company continues to grows its presence in the independent film and production space. In its second year of operations, the company is gearing up for…

EXCLUSIVE: The Coven, sales agent of Terrifier 3, has secured worldwide sales rights to thriller Violence, starring Halloween Ends and The Monkey actor Rohan Campbell, Malignant and The Recruit actress Maddie Hasson and The Order star Sarah Grey. Violence will play Brooklyn Horror Film Festival next week and will be on sale for The Coven ahead of this year’s AFM in Los Angeles. Genre vet Steven Schneider (Strange Darling) executive-produces. The synopsis reads: “Henry Violence, an anti-hero in an alternate 1980s world, becomes entangled in a brutal drug war as rival cartels battle for supremacy, forcing him to make difficult choices to navigate the treacherous…

The day should not go by without one more remembrance and appreciation of Diane Keaton. Nearly every obit today after news broke of her death at age 79 rightly had Annie Hall in its headline. And why not? It was that 1977 comedy classic that delivered Keaton her one and only Oscar, defined her fashion sense that carried on for her right to the end, and is being hailed as her greatest role. Woody Allen won the first two of four career Oscars for his screenplay and direction, and the film was named Best Picture. Diane Keaton was Annie Hall,…

Wicked: For Good will feature new original songs for Ariana Grande’s Glinda and Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba, which will expand their stories beyond their original stage play narratives, director Jon M. Chu said this morning during a session at Deadline’s Contenders London.  Speaking with Deadline’s Baz Bamigboye, Chu said he remembered watching one of the first performances of the original Wicked stage play and always preferred the play’s second half.  “I saw the show before everyone on Broadway, so I was sort of patient zero. I remember what it felt like to watch this new Stephen Schwartz musical. And I thought…

EXCLUSIVE: Wagner Moura, star of Kleber Mendonça Filho’s acclaimed Cannes Film Festival award-winner, The Secret Agent,  is scared of AI and how to deal with it. “Especially,” he warns, “the idea that the truth as we know it, it’s kind of over. That scares the s**t out of me.” He worries that when you see someone speaking in a video or a movie, and you hear their voice and see their face and “it’s not the person, and this is scary.” Then he asks: “Who can we trust?” Brazilian-born, Moura’s concerned too, as we all are, about erroneous information that’s put out…

EXCLUSIVE: Egyptian actor Ahmed Malek, who is best known internationally for his roles in Boiling Point and Swimmers, is soon to hit the big screen in Egyptian father and son drama My Father’s Scent. Deadline can reveal the first international teaser for the film ahead of its world premiere at the Warsaw International Film Festival this weekend, followed by its MENA premiere at Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival. In one of his weightiest roles to date, Malek co-stars opposite Kamel El Basha, who won best actor in Venice in 2017 for his performance in Ziad Doueiri’s The Insult. They play…

EXCLUSIVE: Tulsa-based genre specialist Firebook Entertainment has announced the official launch of its production division as its first original feature Every Heavy Thing heads to the Sitges Film Festival this month. The company has previously focused on the acquisition, sale, and theatrical distribution of elevated genre movies, although its CEO and co-founder John Moss has several EP credits on film such as Párvulos, The Ghost (An Taibhse), Dirty Boy, In the Flesh, Deathstalker, Junction Row, and The Muglur. Written and directed by Mickey Reece (Climate of the Hunter, Mickey Reece’s Alien), Every Heavy Thing stars Josh Fadem (Twin Peaks, Better Call Saul, 30 Rock) as…

EXCLUSIVE: Kat Steppe’s drama Sunday Ninth, about brothers who reconnect when one of them develops Alzheimer’s, was announced as a contender in Estonia’s Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival on Tuesday and Deadline can unveil the trailer. It is a first fiction feature for Steppe whose previous credits include the documentary series Food for Thought, Taboo and The Vatican. Josse De Pauw (The Passion of the Darkly Noon, Kursk) and Peter Van den Begin (King of the Belgians, The Barefoot Emperor and Adoration) play brothers Horst and Franz, who reunite after years apart. Horst is dealing with Alzheimer’s, while Franz is in debt, and sees his…