Author: Deadline

As Jon M. Chu takes on the cinematic event of the year, he’s keeping accessibility in mind. The Wicked director recently discussed creating “a fantastical world with a wheelchair user in mind” on the set of his feature adaptation of Gregory Maguire’s 1995 book and the Tony-winning Broadway musical, which features a handicap-accessible Ozdust Ballroom. In the musical, Elphaba’s (Cynthia Erivo) younger sister Nessarose Thropp (portrayed by Marissa Bode) is a paraplegic, who later becomes the Wicked Witch of the East, ruler of Munchkinland. Galinda (Ariana Grande) ultimately enchants Nessarose’s silver shoes to give her the ability to walk. Chu…

Alec Baldwin’s involuntary manslaughter case for the fatal 2021 shooting of Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was tossed out in July, but the Emmy winner is still trying to make sure the whole thing is truly over. In a filing Friday in New Mexico state court, lawyers for Baldwin requested that Special Prosecutor Kari Morrissey’s long-shot move to have the case reconsidered be firmly and finally shut down. “No basis exists to reconsider the Court’s decision,” says Baldwin’s attorneys led by Alex Spiro and Luke Nikas regarding their opposition to Morrissey’s request, which Judge Mary Marlowe Sonner has already rejected for being way…

Good afternoon Insiders, it’s time for you to get your weekly fix as we dive head first behind the headlines. Please read on, and sign up here. Netflix Dishes The Data Netflix Being transparent: Long-serving Netflix execs love to ruminate on the era when the company was a DVD mailing service, but what felt pertinent this week was the streamer’s more recent transformation into an outfit that is very much at ease with transparency over viewing data. The murky days of walled gardens and numbers being kept hidden from even the most in-the-know producers appear behind us, and Ted Sarandos…

Rome’s MIA Market has seen a 20% increase in submissions for its Co-Production Market and Pitching Forum, with 60 of the 600 received selected to be presented. The number of submissions rose from 80 to 90, with a 12.5% increase in the number of countries of origin. Genres span drama, docs, film and animation The popular Drama Co-Production Market and Pitching Forum has seen submissions up 6%, with 14 series projects from 12 nations presenting. Among the drama projects are Italian productions A Family Reunion (Riuione di Famiglia), a family thriller produced by Rosario Rinaldo for Cross Productions and written…

EXCLUSIVE: Jane Goodall is one of the world’s most renowned conservationists and foremost experts on chimpanzees. Her life’s work has been spreading knowledge about animals and the natural world, challenging what was historically a male-dominated scientific establishment along the way. Goodall’s work has drawn her admiration and respect from all corners, including from Leonardo DiCaprio, with whom she is an executive producer on upcoming film Howl. The live-action movie will tell the story of a dog and wolf’s joint battle for survival. It is the first picture from Promethean Pictures, the label created by Argo Films’ Richard Johns and E.…

Steven Knight has talked up the “mindblowing” Peaky Blinders movie cast, but he is keeping tight-lipped about the project as it gears up for production. Rebecca Ferguson and Barry Keoghan have joined Cillian Murphy, who will reprise his role as Tommy Shelby, leader of the eponymous Birmingham gangster family. Plot details of the Harper-directed feature are being held close, but Knight has previously told Deadline that the story will be set during World War II. Netflix greenlighted the Peaky feature in June. “We’ve announced Rebecca Ferguson, we’ve announced Barry Keoghan, we’ve got some more announcements coming,” Knight told the RTS London Convention.…

EXCLUSIVE: London and Paris-based production and sales company Film Constellation has unveiled a first teaser trailer for Charlie Chaplin doc Chaplin: Spirit Of The Tramp, directed by his granddaughter, Carmen Chaplin. The film, an intimate portrait of the comic icon from inside the family circle, will get its world premiere at the San Sebastian Film Festival next month. Th feature tells the story of Chaplin’s family as they embark on a journey into the Gypsy heritage that helped inspire his infamous and beloved character, The Tramp. It marks the first time the Chaplin family has collaborated so extensively on a…

The Property Masters Guild handed out its inaugural MacGuffin Awards tonight in Los Angeles, celebrating significant artistic achievements of property masters in film and TV. Winners lauded at the Belasco Theater included Best Picture Oscar winner Oppenheimer and nominee Poor Things, along with Emmy winners The Bear and The Last of Us. See the full list below. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One took the Contemporary Feature Film prize, with Oppenheimer and Poor Things winning for Period and Fantasy/Science Fiction, respectively. Other TV honored by PMG include Lessons in Chemistry, Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, That ‘90s Show and the now-wrapped…

DON’T LET’S GO TO THE DOGS TONIGHTSection: Gala PresentationsDirector: Embeth DavidtzLogline: Based on the book of the same name., Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight is a memoir by British-Rhodesian author Alexandra Fuller about her childhood in Africa during the 1970s and 1980s. Panelists: Dir. – Embeth DavidtzKey quotes: “The movie’s based on a memoir by the same name [by Alexandra Fuller], which is really the story of a young girl growing up in Africa, in Rhodesia, specifically at the time that the changeover happened from Rhodesia to Zimbabwe, and when they gained independence. I read the book and fell in…

Hello Insiders. It’s getting colder in Europe, but the news in TV and film has been hot and spicy in the week Taylor Swift endorsed Kamala Harris. Jesse Whittock here taking you. Let’s go, and don’t forget to sign up here. TIFF‘s Russia Doc Pulled ‘Russians at War’ director Anastasia Trofimova in Venice AFP via Getty Images War doc shelved: This year’s Toronto Film Festival had been surprisingly quiet until Thursday afternoon when the festival said it had paused upcoming screenings of Russian-Canadian director Anastasia Trofimova’s documentary Russians at War “effective immediately” after learning about “significant threats to festival operations and public safety.” The decision…