Author: Deadline

Prime Video is going even deeper into the YA genre. The Amazon streamer made a host of announcements around young adult films and TV shows today at an event in Ibiza, with Culpa Tuya star Nicole Wallace and its writer Mercedes Ron among those in the spotlight. As we reported here, Wallace has signed a talent deal with Prime Video, while Amazon outlined details of its fruitful relationship with Ron, who is currently in the process of having her Dímelo Bajito and Marfil book sagas turned into movie trilogies. Ron was onstage at the event showcasing a pact with Prime…

EXCLUSIVE: France’s Montpellier Mediterranean Film Festival, also known as Cinemed, and Beirut-based Arab cinema platform Aflamuna have unveiled the seven projects selected for its 4th project incubator event supporting independent filmmakers from across the Middle East and Africa. They include Palestinian West Bank director’s Bilal Alkhatib documentary My Name Is Khalil, a portrait of a young actor and filmmaker’s search for identity, having been named after a brother who died in the first Intifada. Syria also features strongly in the selection with Jalal Maghout’s animation Recordanza, about a young Syrian writer seeking a fresh start in Berlin, and Hanna Karim’s…

Celine Dion and Omar Sy have been announced alongside Benjamin Lavernhe, Antoine de Caunes, Clémence Poésy, Pom Klementieff and Alain Chabat for the French-language voice cast of High in the Clouds. Adapted from McCartney’s eponymous 2005 children’s book, the 3D animated family film follows the adventures of a teenager squirrel called Wirral who accidentally sparks a revolution against Gretsch, the bossy diva-owl who has banned all music from his town. Dion, Poésy, Klementieff and Chabat were also previously announced for the animation‘s English-language voice cast, led by Himesh Patel as Wirral and Hannah Waddington as Gretsch as well as featuring…

The creator of AI actress Tilly Norwood has put out a statement following a fierce backlash in response to news over the weekend that talent agents were looking to sign the AI-generated character. Tilly Norwood is the creation of actress, comedian and technologist Eline Van der Velden, CEO of AI-focused production company Particle 6, who has also just launched AI talent studio Xicoia. “To those who have expressed anger over the creation of my AI character, Tilly Norwood, she is not a replacement for a human being, but a creative work – a piece of art. Like many forms of…

Before Ethan Hawke was the four-time Oscar-nominated performer and writer he is today, as a young up-and-comer The Lowdown star crossed paths with Robert Redford during an audition for his 1992 period drama A River Runs Through It. Sharing a fond memory of that first meeting on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the established screen actor called Redford, with whom he became friendly throughout the years, “one of the heroes of my life.” The Blue Moon star paid tribute to both Redford and his good friend and collaborator, the late Paul Newman, citing both venerated performers as quintessential role models of what…

“Culture and cinema are under attack,” was the warning from mk2 Chairman Nathanaël Karmitz during a timely Zurich Summit panel on the topic of how the culture and entertainment sectors can navigate political interference and social media vitriol. Karmitz, a leading cinema owner and film financier in France, told delegates that the company had recently organized talks devoted to its movies but that social media abuse had made it a lot harder to continue with the events: “Now we have far right Twitter accounts that systematically attack everything about movies and French movies,” he said. “There are polemics around the…

EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros‘ original Leonardo DiCaprio movie from Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another, is posting previews around $2.5M with potential for upside according to sources. We keep hearing that advance tickets sales in cities continues to grow. Tonight’s estimated figure isn’t far from the preview night of DiCaprio’s last movie, Apple Original Films’ Killers of the Flower Moon, which posted $2.6M on its first Thursday evening, turning into a $9.4M Friday and 3-day of $23.2M. Now that was during the 2023 strikes when the cast couldn’t promote, not to mention that Martin Scorsese directed feature take of the…

Emma Watson has revealed how she struggled to adjust to Hollywood after Harry Potter. The British actress has taken a significant step back from acting since 2019’s Little Women, and in the past couple of weeks has participated in a couple of interviews about her self-imposed exile. Last week, Watson said she found the process of selling a movie “soul-destroying.” Now, in an appearance on Jay Shetty’s On Purpose podcast (see video below), Watson became emotional recounting her experience of film sets post-Potter. After playing Hermione Granger for 12 years, she said the J.K. Rowling franchise gave her a warped…

Sata Cissokho, who previously led acquisitions at Paris-based Paradise City, has been named as the new head of the Berlinale World Cinema Fund (WCF) and Toolbox Program. Her appointment marks a milestone moment for the WCF, which was headed WCF by Vincenzo Bugno for 21 years. Bugno, who was instrumental in establishing and growing the WCF into one of the world’s leading film funding institutions, announced his departure over the summer and completes his tenure at the end of 2025. Cissokho takes on a newly integrated role which will see her lead strategic development and oversee both the World Cinema…

Italy has selected Francesco Costabile’s drama Familia as its candidate for the Best International Feature Film category at the 98th Academy Awards. The biographical drama, co-written by Costabile, Vittorio Moroni and Andriano Chiarelli, is based on Luigi Celeste’s memoir Non sarà sempre così about his youth as a far-right militant, living in the shadow of domestic violence, with a criminal father. The drama world premiered in the Venice Film Festival’s Orizzonti sidebar in 2024.   The selection process overseen by Italian film body Anica involved 24 films submissions this year, which also included Gianfranco Rosi’s Below the Clouds, Pietro Marcello’s Duse, and…