Author: Deadline

EXCLUSIVE: Academy Award nominee June Squibb (Eleanor the Great) is set to star opposite Emmy winner Alex Borstein in Turn the Lights Back On, an indie dramedy that we announced in June. Based on true events and inspired by experiences many families faced during the Covid era, Turn the Lights Back On centers on a family forced to confront decades of unresolved tensions while facing an unprecedented moment in modern history. The film, marking the feature debut of writer-director Dave Pantano, is described as being in the spirit of titles such as Little Miss Sunshine, August: Osage County and The Brothers McMullen. Borstein plays Emma, an exhausted elementary…

EXCLUSIVE: Chicago-area 4th grader Theo Leber has landed a starring role opposite Dwayne Johnson in Lizard Music, Benny Safdie’s adaptation of the 1976 novel by Daniel Pinkwater for Amazon MGM Studios and United Artists. The 10-year-old comes to the potentially career-making opportunity following a months-long casting process. Lizard Music marks his feature debut. A live-action/CGI hybrid, Safdie’s film follows a boy (Leber) left to his own devices who stumbles upon a secret late-night broadcast of lizards playing otherworldly music, a hidden door to the extraordinary swings open. His search for answers leads him to an eccentric and whimsical old man nicknamed The…

Luke Wilson is sharing an update on The Family Stone sequel that Tom Bezucha is writing.

Director S.S. Rajamouli‘s Varanasi is getting a first look at Priyanka Chopra in her new role. Two new stills from the upcoming film have been released, featuring Chopra as Mandakini. The new images were dropped as a celebration of Chopra’s birthday on Saturday, July 18. Varanasi takes place over thousands of years and in locations around the world, from Antarctica to Africa to the titular city in India. The action-adventure film stars Mahesh Babu, Priyanka Chopra and Prithviraj Sukumaran and is the follow-up to Rajamouli’s last feature, RRR, which won an Academy Award for Best Original Song for the acclaimed…

EXCLUSIVE: Production has wrapped on under-the-radar indie pic How The Cookie Crumbles, a coming-of-age R-rated comedy starring Giorgia Whigham (Ted), comedian and influencer Trevor Wallace (Busboys), Alyssa Milano (Charmed) and Shea Whigham (Boardwalk Empire). Shot in Vancouver, the project marks the feature debut of filmmakers Edward McDonald and Lucas Fraser. It is also the first feature produced by Range Media Partners co-founder Jack Whigham. The ensemble cast also includes Rohan Campbell, Bentley Green, Kaitlyn Kemp, Sara Demetree, Phoebe Petry and Jason Coulter.  The synopsis reads: “When Tatum (Giorgia Whigham) is sentenced to court-mandated community service, a high-strung family friend (Milano)…

Warner Bros. Clockwork is rolling cameras this fall on Nasty starring Jenna Ortega and Oscar nominee Rose Bryne. The project from filmmaker Mary Bronstein reteams her with Byrne, who received her first Best Actress Oscar nomination for the director’s If I Had Legs I’d Kick You. Nasty was a 2024 Black List screenplay by Isabella Jarosz, and it reps the scribe’s first script sale. Nasty centers around a prodigious athlete who is battling for a spot on the Olympics gymnastics team. However, she must overcome her biggest opponent: Her coach. Margot Robbie’s LuckyChap and Ortega are producing the project. If…

Daniel Radcliffe, Young Mazino, and Peter Dinklage have joined the cast of Netflix’s animated feature Steps.  The film is a reimagining of the Cinderella story and is directed by Alyce Tzue and John Ripa. Radcliffe will voice The Prince, Dinklage is Roderick, and Young Mazino is Gef.  Previously announced voice cast members include Ali Wong (BEEF) as Lilith, Stephanie Hsu (Everything Everywhere All at Once) as Margot, Amanda Seyfried (Mank) as Cinderella, Bette Midler (The Politician) as the Fairy Godmother, and Nikki Glaser (Nikki Glaser: Bangin’) as Priscilla.  The film’s official synopsis reads: Think you know Cinderella’s “evil” stepsisters? Think…

EXCLUSIVE: Emmy and BAFTA-nominated film and television director Bharat Nalluri has signed with Rain for management. A highly sought-after director for television, Nalluri has directed 14 pilots and first episodes for major international productions. He first gained international recognition directing the pilot episode of the critically acclaimed Spooks (MI-5), one of the BBC’s most successful modern dramas, which also helped launch the television career of then-not-well-known Matthew Macfadyen. Since then, Nalluri has launched numerous acclaimed series, including Shantaram for Apple TV, as well as Life on Mars, Hustle, Torchwood, The 100, and the critically acclaimed anthology series Little America. He…

Before Paramount has even swallowed up Warner Bros., the Melrose lot along with the former Boulderlight duo, J.D. Lifshitz and Raphael Margules under their new genre label, Paramount Primal, have taken the U.S. rights to the original screenplay of A Nightmare on Elm Street. The idea is to reboot the franchise at Paramount. New Line still has international rights. No writer has been assigned yet. The Wes Craven estate, which includes Iya Labunka and Jonathan Craven, licensed the U.S. rights to Paramount. How did this come to be when this has been a lynchpin franchise for New Line? Why are…

Wai Ching Ho, the actress known for playing Madame Gao in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, has died. She was 82. The actress’ Daredevil co-star Peter Shinkoda was one of several to react to Wai’s passing on social media, after playing Gao’s The Hand supervillain organization co-founder Kagenobu Yoshioka on the Netflix series from 2015-’16. “Just lost someone very special to me. She was one of the coolest. Thinking aloud,” he wrote in an Instagram post. “I won’t ever forget you. I learned every minute from you when we were together on and off set,” Shinkoda added in another post. “I…