Author: Deadline

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…

Amazon Prime Video has quietly removed artwork of James Bond after fans of the franchise noticed that 007 had been stripped of his firearm in all of the images. Deadline has confirmed that the original artwork was replaced by stills from the Ian Fleming spy movies over the weekend, following a social media backlash that coincided with James Bond Day on October 5. Prime Video declined to comment on the matter. On Friday, a number of Bond fans in the UK noticed that special Prime Video artwork had airbrushed out his gun. This included posters of Sean Connery’s Dr. No…

While discussing her Hamptons International Film Festival opener Eternity earlier today, Elizabeth Olsen acknowledged she “always” wants to return to the MCU “It is something that I love, and it’s something I always want to return to,” she said at a panel conversation, per People. “I think the thing that’s been so special about the last five years is I’ve gotten to do so much with the character that I never thought I would. There are still character through lines that have happened in the comics that I’d love to do that I think fans also want to.” Olsen continued,…

Taylor Swift’s preface of her new theatrical release — “The Fate of Ophelia” music video followed by lyric videos to each of her already record-breaking The Life of a Showgirl’s 12 songs interspersed with brief descriptions of her inspiration behind each song and brainstorming behind the music video — welcomes viewers to her next era, which she hopes will surprise them. For an intense fandom that received first news of a somewhat unexpected new album so close to the end of a behemoth concert tour followed by the singer’s engagement to Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, conjuring surprises…

EXCLUSIVE: It’s remembered as one of boxing’s most controversial title fights, and now a documentary feature will relive that fateful night. All-time great Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather Jr.’s victory over WBC Welterweight champ Victor ‘Vicious’ Ortiz on September 17, 2011 will be told in Re-Match, a doc from director Dexton Deboree (Unbanned: The Legend of AJ1, Best Shape of My Life with Will Smith). Frank Ariza’s production house, AF Films, and Spanish-British actress-producer Itziar Fay are producing. In the fourth round of a spiky fight, Mayweather knocked out reigning WBC champ Ortiz in controversial fashion. Ortiz appeared to be apologizing to…