Author: Deadline

EXCLUSIVE: Sarah Michelle Gellar (Ready or Not 2: Here I Come) and Rudy Pankow (Outer Banks) have inked deals to star in Thud, a supernatural romance from director Mali Elfman (Next Exit), where they’ll respectively play the juicy roles of the Grim Reaper and the Devil. Based on an original screenplay by Noga Pnueli (Meet Cute), Thud watches as the Grim Reaper and the Devil meet cute at a three-day destination wedding, falling in love after colliding at the event, where they’ve each come to sow their own chaos. Set to shoot in Los Angeles with a California tax credit, the film will be…

EXCLUSIVE: Witchcraft Motion Picture Company has set plans to adapt Alone Time, a viral short film by director Rod Blackhurst (Dolly), into a feature film.  Originally directed and produced by Blackhurst and written by David Ebeltoft, Alone Time debuted online in 2012 and has since amassed millions of views across YouTube and Vimeo.  The feature adaptation is being developed by Witchcraft in partnership with Fever Dream, a private equity group that Witchcraft said approached them following the success of original internet IP-driven genre projects like Backrooms and Obsession.  The film follows Ann Saunders, a young New York professional whose carefully…

Turkish director Banu Sıvacı’s film Hear The Yellow swept the board at the 72nd Taormina Film Festival on Sunday, winning best film, director, actor and actress in ex-aequo. This year’s jury was presided over by Jane Campion, who was accompanied by The Piano actress Holly Hunter, costume designer Miyako Bellizzi (Marty Supreme), casting director Francine Maisler (Sinners), director Akinola Davies Jr.(My Father’s Shadow), Amazon MGM Studios Head of Global Marketing, Film, Series Sue Kroll, and Italian star Pietro Castellitto (The Predators). Hear the Yellow, which world premiered at the Berlinale earlier this year, stars Sevla Erdener as a singer who…

In the documentary Amazomania, which just screened at the DC/DOX festival in the nation’s capital, vintage footage shows a Swedish filmmaker and journalist in what appears to be a jungle setting, tying on his worn boots. A machete is suspended within easy reach, its long blade thwacked into a wooden post. Erling Söderström, the filmmaker-journalist, looks into the camera and declares, “We are a large troop of 26 men. Make or break, this is the last attempt to make contact with the Korubo. This has never been done before, that humans enter the Indians’ territory, land that they know very…

EXCLUSIVE: Inanna Sarkis (Maintenance Required) is set for a role alongside Phoebe Dynevor and Patrick Schwarzenegger in Beach Read, 20th Century Studios‘ adaptation of the New York Times bestselling novel from Emily Henry, which is shooting this month, sources tell Deadline. Reps for 20th declined comment. We’re told that Sarkis will play Shadi, the best friend of Dynevor’s January. She joins an ensemble that also includes the previously announced Andie MacDowell, Kevin Bacon, Kristin Davis, and Tig Notaro. In Beach Read, idealistic romance novelist January Andrews (Dynevor) and cynical literary fiction writer Augustus “Gus” Everett (Schwarzenegger) — rival authors with dramatically opposing worldviews…

EXCLUSIVE: The Lord of the Rings actor and SAG-AFTRA President Sean Astin is starring with Jeremy Piven (Entourage), Lorraine Bracco (The Sopranos) and Isabel DeRoy-Olson (Three Pines) in Will Rogers-inspired high school sports drama Will To Win. The project is the the first movie to be endorsed by the family of early Hollywood icon Rogers, the celebrated vaudeville performer who was born as a citizen of the Cherokee Nation and became known as “Oklahoma’s Favorite Son.” By the mid-1930s, Rogers was one of the highest-paid stars in Hollywood, but he died in a plane crash that same decade. Will To Win centers on a young…

EXCLUSIVE: Academy Award winner Geena Davis has inked a deal to join The Kellys, Amazon MGM’s new action film from director Brad Peyton and Thunder Road Films. No word yet on the role to be played by Davis. She joins an ensemble that includes Arnold Schwarzenegger, Liam Hemsworth, Kelsey Asbille, and Abby Elliott. Written by Peyton and Tze Chun, The Kellys follows Jack Kelly, a disgraced NYC cop whose wife, Molly, is taken hostage by terrorists inside an old armory building. He’ll have to join forces with the people he fears most to save her: His family. Earlier this week, we reported exclusively on…

20th Century Studios has released the first trailer for Whalefall, the adaptation of Daniel Kraus’ novel coming to theaters in October. The film — which stars Austin Abrams, Josh Brolin, Elisabeth Shue, John Ortiz and more — is described as The Martian meets 127 Hours, centering on a scuba diver in search of his deceased father’s remains. The diver gets swallowed by an 80-foot, 60-ton sperm whale and has only one hour to escape before his oxygen runs out. After giving up on life, the young man is surprised to find a reason to live in the most dangerous and unlikely of places. Brian…

The Les Arcs Film Festival has set Spain as the Country of Focus for its 18th edition running from December 12 to 19 in the French Alps. Under the focus, the festival will spotlight Spanish cinema in its programming while Spanish talent and projects will be showcased in different strands of the Les Arcs Industry Village, including its Coproduction Village and Works in Progress event. The choice of Spain follows a high-profile Cannes Film Festival for the country’s cinema industry with three films in the Main Competition – including La Bola Negra for which Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo won…

Tribeca Film Festival has responded after an offensive Palestine joke made by The Wedding Entertainer star Elon Gold at the movie’s Thursday premiere. In a statement, a festival spokesperson condemned the “offensive and unacceptable” joke Gold made to a red carpet influencer about being “raped by two Israeli dogs” while filming there, making light of the alleged systemic torture and rape of Palestinians in Israeli prisons. “The Tribeca Festival is aware of the concerns raised regarding a clip circulating on social media and unequivocally condemns the offensive and unacceptable remarks made by Elon Gold and Lizzy Savetsky at the premiere…