News

Exclusive: Sofia Carson (Purple Hearts), Kyle Allen (A Haunting in Venice), Sebastian De Souza (Fair Play), and Connie Britton (The White Lotus) have signed on to star in The Life List, a new Netflix rom-com from writer-director Adam Brooks.

Based on the 2013 novel by Lori Nelson Spielman, The Life List‘s logline is as follows: When Alex Rose’s (Carson) mother sends her on a quest to complete her childhood bucket list, it takes her on a journey that will make you both laugh and cry as she uncovers family secrets, finds romance, and discovers herself along the way.

Liza Chasin is producing for 3dot Productions. The film falls under Chasin’s first-look deal with the streamer, announced in 2019, which also covers her upcoming Morocco-set love story Lonely Planet starring Laura Dern, Liam Hemsworth, and Diana Silvers. Exec producers of The Life List include Hutch Parker,...

Jennifer Lawrence, who won the Academy Award® in 2012 for Best Actress, Silver Linings Playbook, starred in the summer’s biggest comedy. It currently has a worldwide box office gross of $84,981,563 and is 70% fresh at Rotten Tomatoes.

Synopsis

Maddie thinks she’s found the answer to her financial troubles when she discovers an intriguing job listing: wealthy helicopter parents looking for someone to “date” their introverted 19-year-old son, Percy, and bring him out of his shell before he leaves for college. But awkward Percy proves to be a real challenge, and time is running out. She has one summer to make him a man or lose it all.

Blu-ray™, Digital, And DVD

• Special Features

o Outtakes & Bloopers

o A Motley Crew: Meet the Characters

o A Little Wrong: Making No Hard Feelings

Blu-ray™ and DVD include a digital code for the movie and bonus materials as listed above, redeemable via Movies Anywhere for a limited time.

Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence just goes for it in the raunchy, R-rated trailer for No Hard Feelings. Lawrence desccribes Gene Stupnitsky (Good Boys) and John Phillips’ script as the funniest she’s ever read, and it’s obvious in her performance that she was all-in on the physical comedy and playing a woman who seduces a 19-year-old virgin.

“I guess I like cringe humor,” said Lawrence in an interview with EW. “I do like the idea of comedy that makes people uncomfortable. I love when people are watching through their hands, through their fingers. Nothing makes me happier. And I love a lot of the stuff that Harold Ramis did, his movies.”

In addition to Jennifer Lawrence, the comedy stars Andrew Barth Feldman, Laura Benanti, Natalie Morales, Hasan Minhaj, and Matthew Broderick. Lawrence, Alex Saks, Naomi Odenkirk, Marc Provissiero, and Justine Ciarrocchi produced, with Kerry Orent and John Phillips executive producing.

Late last year, Jennifer Lawrence had returned to her indie roots as she starred in an intimate character drama titled Causeway, which dealt with grief, forgiveness, acceptance, and moving on. Lawrence will be venturing into lighter-hearted material, still meant for mature audiences, but in a different manner. She is starring in the raunchy comedy, No Hard Feelings. The title is a double entendre, which plays on the concept of her character being hired to take the V-card of a socially awkward college-bound teen by his concerned parents.

The comedy comes from Gene Stupnitsky, who had co-wrote 2011’s Bad Teacher and 2009’s Year One. He recently helmed Good Boys, which was a shake-up of an American Pie-esque movie, only this time involving younger boys, and their ultimate goal was to kiss a girl. Here, Stupnitsky once again plays with conventions in a script he co-wrote with John Phillips, who had produced...

Jennifer Lawrence is looking to acquire a car by any means necessary in the first trailer for Sony’s upcoming comedy No Hard Feelings.

In the footage that dropped Thursday ahead of the film’s June 23 theatrical release, Lawrence plays Maddie, a down-on-her-luck Uber driver who loses her vehicle. In a turn of desperation, she responds to an ad placed by a couple looking for someone to date their shy 19-year-old son, Percy (Andrew Barth Feldman), before he heads to Princeton in the fall.

The trailer shows Maddie trying to loosen Percy up by encouraging him to drink and skinny-dip. But her efforts clearly don’t go as planned, as he accidentally injures Maddie more than once.

“This kid is unfuckable,” Lawrence’s character laments.

During a night out at a classy restaurant, Maddie offers Percy wisdom about not feeling pressured to impress others. “The best part about getting older...

After Jennifer Lawrence returned to her indie roots with the intimate character drama Causeway, the actress is now venturing into much lighter material with the raunchy comedy, No Hard Feelings. The film’s plot was generally under wraps, but Sony has now released the trailer that reveals the zany nature that would give the movie a firm seat next to comedies like American Pie and The 40-Year-Old Virgin. Variety reports on the new red band trailer that gives us all the dirty goodness.

The trailer shows Lawrence as a promiscuous Uber driver named Maddie, who is on the verge of losing her house, and her means of transportation was just towed. In desperation, she answers a Craigslist ad from wealthy parents who are looking to help pry their son, Percy, out of his shell just before he goes to college. The parents proposition Maddie to give their son one hell of a “date,...

Jennifer Lawrence shows off her comedic chops in the new trailer for “No Hard Feelings,” the comedy from Columbia Pictures and “Good Boys” director Gene Stupnitsky.

The Oscar winner stars as Maddie, a woman on the brink of losing her childhood home if she doesn’t find a way to make money, fast. Out of desperation, she’s hired by a pair of helicopter parents to “date” their socially awkward 19-year-old son, Percy (Andrew Feldman), before sending him off to college.

The red band trailer begins with Maddie’s messy predicament: she wakes up one morning to find her car getting towed by a previous fling (“The Bear” and “Girls” star Ebon Moss-Bachrach) while another one-night stand is still inside. As an Uber driver without a car, she knows she’s in serious trouble.

Luckily, her friend (Natalie Morales) stumbles upon an online ad that reads, “Need a car? Date...

Sony has released the first trailer for the raunchy comedy “No Hard Feelings,” in which Jennifer Lawrence plays a woman who answers two helicopter parents’ Craigslist ad to sleep with their sheltered 19-year-old son before he goes to college.

The very R-rated trailer opens with Lawrence’s character Maddie approaching the awkward Percy at a dog adoption center, asking “Mind if I touch your wiener?” before revealing he’s holding a Dachshund wiener dog. On the brink of losing her childhood home, Maddie resorts to every last-ditch effort to fulfill the parents’ questionable request and sleep with Percy. She skinny dips, plies him with Long Island ice tea and, in one hilarious scene, kidnaps him in a van before getting pepper sprayed in the face.

In addition to Lawrence, the cast includes Andrew Barth Feldman as Percy, Matthew Broderick as his father, Laura Benanti as his mother, plus Natalie Morales,...

Actor and producer Stelio Savante is currently starring in the lead ensemble cast of three films currently slated for world-wide sales at the EFM at this year’s Berlinale.

Stelio Savante in Pursuit Of Freedom B photo credit James Burgess

The South African native is an American Movie Award winner and SAG Award nominee who most recently starred in Nathan Scoggin’s noir thriller What Remains (Gravitas Ventures produced by Ralph Winter) opposite Anne Heche in her final performance on film. Also starring opposite Academy Award nominee Frank Langella and Bobby Cannavale in the Lionsgate comedy Angry Neighbors produced by Academy Award nominee Kerry Orent, and opposite Nick McCallum in the noir thriller Find Her (Kdmg). The three films are being represented internationally at the European Film Market by Premiere Entertainment Group (What Remains), Playa Media Group (Angry Neighbors), and Talk Global Media (Find Her), respectively.

He was the male...

The American comedy ‘Angry Neighbors’ starring Frank Langella (Frost/Nixon), Stockard Channing

(Practical Magic), Cheech Marin (Born In East LA), Bobby Cannavale (The Station Agent)and Ashley Benson (Pretty Little Liars), is heading to the market at 2023’s Berlin Film Festival.

Written by James M. Bear and Hamid Torabpour (Under The Stadium Lights) and directed by Warren Brock, the key cast is rounded out by Katie Parker (Absentia), Jared Gilman (Moonrise Kingdom), Stelio Savante (What Remains), Cesar D’ La Torre (Muna), Danny Winn (Gaslit), and April McCullough (Yellowstone).

Based on the Harper Collins best selling novel ‘Lapham Rising’, ‘Angry Neighbors’ was recently released in US theaters by Lionsgate.

Jay Joyce of Los Angeles based Playa Media Group will be presenting the film to EFM global buyers for foreign distribution. “Hamid, Camille and their team have delivered a wonderful, well crafted comedy. With top notch performances from Frank Langella, Bobby Cannavale and Ashley Benson,...

“For Life” could soon be returning to life on IMDb TV.

According to sources, the up and coming streamer is poised to order a third season of the legal drama, which was canceled by ABC after two seasons back in May. The news comes just as IMDb TV has announced that it has struck a deal to stream Seasons 1 and 2 of the series on its ad-supported platform.

Series executive producer Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson was said to be instrumental in reviving the series, working with top leadership at Disney, like Hulu-ABC chief Craig Erwich, to find the show a new home. “For Life” was not a linear ratings breakout during its time on ABC but has been said to have performed very well in streaming playback on platforms like Hulu. Jackson’s hope is that putting “For Life” on a free AVOD service like IMDb TV will allow the show...

Over the course of his long career, Cheech Marin has toked up with Tommy Chong in umpteenth Cheech & Chong movies, hung out on the driving range with Kevin Costner in “Tin Cup” and rode shotgun with Don Johnson on “Nash Bridges.” But he’s never taken on a role quite like the one he’ll be playing in “Lapham Rising.” The actor will be lending his distinctive voice to role of Hector, a born-again evangelical and unapologetic capitalist talking dog. In case you’re wondering about his breed, he’s a Westy.

Marin joins a distinguished cast, which includes such heavyweights as Frank Langella, Stockard Channing, Bobby Cannavale, Ashley Benson, Katie Parker, Stelio Savante and Jared Gilman

Marin completed his voice work for the role recently in Santa Barbara. With its story set in the Hamptons, the film completed live-action principal photography on location in Minnesota before the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown went into effect.

Amazon Studio’s “The Report” will be released theatrically in the U.K. three weeks before it lands on the Prime Video streaming service. The Scott Z. Burns film tells the story of Daniel J. Jones, a U.S. Senate staffer who worked to reveal that truth about an “enhanced interrogation” program run by the CIA in the wake of 9/11. The U.K. release strategy mirrors that of the U.S., where the awards hopeful will be released in theaters two weeks before it hits Svod, starting Sept. 27.

Adam Driver, Annette Bening, Jon Hamm, Maura Tierney and Michael C. Hall star in the film. It is produced by Steven Soderbergh alongside Jennifer Fox, Scott Z. Burns, Kerry Orent, Michael Sugar, Eddy Moretti and Danny Gabai.

Curzon said that “The Report” will be given key positioning in the U.K. for awards season. It previously collaborated with Amazon on the U.K.

Actor Darrell Britt-Gibson, who appeared in the Oscar-nominated film Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, will co-star in the first and third installments of the Fear Street film trilogy, based on the R.L. Stine book series. Leigh Janiak is helming all three films, which will be distributed via the now Disney-owned 20th Century Fox. A release date has yet to be announced. Chernin Entertainment is producing the pics, with Jason Young overseeing the project on behalf of the studio. Britt-Gibson was one of the stars of the Robert Schwartzman-directed indie film The Unicorn, which had its premiere at 2018 SXSW. He’s also recurred on shows like HBO’s Barry and Fxx’s You’re the Worst. His next turn is Warner Bros Just Mercy biopic starring Michael B. Jordan, Brie Larson, and Jamie Foxx. Britt-Gibson is a client of Industry Entertainment and Gange Tyre Ramer Brown & Passman.

Emmy-winner Bobby Cannavale, Ashley Benson, Stockard Channing, and Catherine Parker (The Haunting of Hill House) will appear in Lapham Rising, a film adaptation of Roger Rosenblatt’s novel starring Frank Langella. First-time feature director Charlie Kessler is at the helm with production slated to begin this summer in Minnesota.

The story follows Harry March (Langella), a retired writer whose life starts to unravel when a multimillionaire begins building a mansion across from his quiet island home in the Hamptons. Up until now, he has lived peacefully with his talking dog, Hector, a born-again Evangelical and unapologetic capitalist. To Harry, the gargantuan mansion represents the fetid and corrupt excess that has ruined modern civilization.

Langella also serves as executive producer. Kessler is also producing with Kerry Orent, Mike Sobiloff and Winter State Entertainment’s Hamid and Camille Torabpour,...

Although he attached to the film a year ago, Frank Langella now finally is firmed to star in the Charlie Kessler-directed Lapham Rising, an adaptation of the Roger Rosenblatt novel. The film was going to shoot last year in the Hamptons, but funding fell into disarray. Now it has come back together with funding from Winter State Entertainment, and production will start this summer in Minnesota.

Lapham Rising tells the story of Harry March, a retired writer whose life starts to unravel when a multimillionaire begins building a mansion across from his quiet island home in the Hamptons. Up until now, he has lived peacefully with his talking dog, Hector, a born-again Evangelical and unapologetic capitalist. To Harry, the gargantuan mansion represents the fetid and corrupt excess that has ruined modern civilization. Which means, quite simply, that this is war.

Langella will work in the film between seasons of Kidding,...

Amazon Studios has acquired The Report, the drama written and directed by Scott Z. Burns that stars Adam Driver, Annette Benning, Jon Hamm, Ted Levin, Maura Tierney and Michael C. Hall. Pic tells the true story of Daniel Jones’ exhaustive six-year investigation into the CIA’s use of torture on detainees suspected of terrorist activities. Pic premiered Saturday at Eccles. UTA Independent Film Group and Endeavor Content brokered.

It becomes the second big deal for Amazon, which opened the festival marketplace paying $13 million for Late Night, a festival record for a U.S. only deal. The Report was $14 million but for worldwide rights. Pic will be released in awards season.

The Report is produced by Steven Soderbergh, Jennifer Fox, Burns, Kerry Orent, Michael Sugar, Danny Gabai and Eddy Moretti. Vice Studios is also a producer along with Unbranded Pictures.

It is one of several titles in hot contention for deals today.

“The Report,” a politically charged thriller about the CIA’s use of torture, has sold to Amazon Studios following its premiere at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, Variety has learned. The price is in the $14 million range and the pact is for global rights.

The film focuses on Senate staffer Daniel Jones (Adam Driver) and tracks his investigation into the spy agency’s “enhanced interrogation techniques,” a euphemism if ever there was one that covers everything from water-boarding to sleep and sensory deprivation. Jones prepares a devastating 525-page report that helps shift public support against the CIA’s use of these methods in the years following 9/11. “The Report” earned raves and Oscar buzz for its performances, particularly that of Annette Bening as Senator Dianne Feinstein. The real Jones earned a standing ovation when he appeared in Park City, Utah for the premiere. Scott Z. Burns, who wrote the scripts...

Exclusive: A feature film about the courageous U.S. activist Rosa Parks is on its way and it just may mark the first time a biopic about Parks will make it into this nation’s theaters. The filmmakers — Winter State Entertainment and a large producing team– are fast-tracking the project to go before the cameras in 2019.

There have been some projects in the past, but not a feature biopic: In the early 2000s, there was an Academy Award nominated documentary Mighty Times: The Legacy of Rosa Parks (2001) and then Parks herself collaborated on the TV movie The Rosa Parks Story which starred Angela Bassett as the mighty civil rights activist who refused to give up her seat in the whites only section of the bus in Montgomery, Alabama in the 1950s. In addition, Julie Dash and Invisible Pictures announced At The Dark End of the Street which was focusing on...

Exclusive: The Affair star Maura Tierney is set to co-star in Vice Studios’ The Torture Report, written and directed by The Bourne Ultimatum scribe Scott Z. Burns. Tierney will join Adam Driver, Annette Bening, Jon Hamm, Tim Blake Nelson, Ben McKenzie, Matthew Rhys, Jennifer Morrison, and Michael C. Hall.

Set immediately following the 9/11 attacks, the film focuses on the CIA’s extreme interrogation program on detainees during the war on terror. Tierney’s character is an intense, driven, somewhat vengeful Counterterrorism expert determined to get behind any program that promises to get the intel that will stop another attack from happening.

Steven Soderbergh and Jennifer Fox are producing alongside Burns, Kerry Orent, Eddy Moretti, Vice’s Danny Gabai and Michael Sugar. Vice is financing the project while UTA reps the North American rights.

Tierney, known for her roles on 90s sitcom NewsRadio and NBC medical drama ER, is currently starring...

The New York Television Festival has named its 2018 independent pilot competition selections to be screened for industry executives and fans at the 14th annual Nytvf running from July 14 to July 20. A total of 59 television and digital pilots were chosen spanning a range of themes and topics, from demons to beer.

This year, a record 72% of the selected projects include persons of color above the line, an increase from 56% at the 2016 festival. Additionally 70% of the pilots feature a woman in an executive creative role, with 53% created by women. This number marks the highest number of women in creator roles in the festival’s history, up from last year’s 50%.

The pilots will compete in multiple categories, including best comedy and best drama, judged by a mix of Nytvf screening committee members and Nytvf-hrts Next Generation committee members. The jury will crown the winners at a closing awards brunch on July 20.

Talent...

Tim Blake Nelson, Ben McKenzie (Gotham), Matthew Rhys (The Americans), Ted Levine (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom) and Michael C. Hall (Dexter) have boarded The Torture Report, the CIA drama written and directed by Scott Z. Burns from Vice Studios. They join previously announced cast Adam Driver, Annette Bening and Jon Hamm in the pic, which will be presented before buyers in Cannes via Imr International.

The plot takes place immediately following the 9/11 attacks and focuses on the CIA’s extreme interrogation program on detainees during the war on terror. The U.S. Senate Select Intelligence Committee released a 500-plus page report in 2016 detailing the shocking interrogation practices.

Production got underway last week in New York. Steven Soderbergh and Jennifer Fox are producing alongside Burns, Kerry Orent, Eddy Moretti, Vice’s Danny Gabai and Michael Sugar. Vice Studios is also producing and financing, with UTA repping the North American rights.

Tim Blake Nelson, Ted Levine, Michael C. Hall, Ben McKenzie, and Matthew Rhys have joined the independent CIA drama “The Torture Report.”

Previously announced cast include Annette Bening, Adam Driver, and Jon Hamm. Imr International is launching foreign sales at the Cannes Film Festival. Production began last week in New York.

Scott Z. Burns is directing from his own script. Vice Studios is producing and financing for the project, which centers on the CIA’s extreme interrogation program on detainees following the 9/11 attacks.

Along with Burns, producers are Danny Gabai, Eddy Moretti, Jennifer Fox, Michael Sugar, Steven Soderbergh, and Kerry Orent. UTA is repping North American rights to the film.

Burns has written screenplays for “The Bourne Ultimatum,” “The Informant!,” “Contagion,” and “Side Effects.” He was a producer on “An Inconvenient Truth,” which won the Academy Award for best documentary feature in 2006.

Nelson’s credits include “O Brother, Where Art Thou?,...

Steven Soderbergh producing Vice Studios CIA drama.

Imr will launch sales in Cannes next week on Vice Studios’ CIA drama The Torture Report starring Tim Blake Nelson, Matthew Rhys, Annette Bening, and Adam Driver.

Scott Z. Burns directs the feature, which began production began last week in New York and takes place immediately after the 9/11 attacks, and focuses on the CIA’s extreme interrogation programme on detainees during the war on terror.

Rounding out the key cast are Ted Levine, Michael C. Hall and Jon Hamm. UTA represents North American rights.

Steven Soderbergh and Jennifer Fox are producing alongside Burns,...

Adam Driver and Jon Hamm join the likes of Annette Benning and Jennifer Morrison in talks to join the CIA thriller The Torture Report.

The project is based on the CIA’s rendition and interrogation program following 9/11. Back in 2014, a 500-page dossier was released that revealed eye-opening accounts of extreme interrogation tactics performed on detainees, which was employed by the CIA post 9/11 during the war on terror.

Also in the news – Zachary Quinto updates on the future of the Star Trek film franchise: Three potential new scripts in the works.

The project is to be written by The Bourne Ultimatum and Contagion scribe Scott Z. Burns. Vice Studios is producing the project with Danny Gabai, Eddy Moretti, Jennifer Fox, Burns, Michael Sugar, Steven Soderbergh and Kerry Orent.

Driver was last seen in the latest in the Star Wars saga, The Last Jedi. He will reprise his role yet again in Episode IX.

Annette Bening, Adam Driver, Jon Hamm, and Jennifer Morrison are in negotiations to star in CIA drama “The Torture Report.”

Scott Z. Burns is directing from his own script. Vice Studios is producing and financing for the project, which centers on the CIA’s extreme interrogation program on detainees following the 9/11 attacks.

Along with Burns, producers are Danny Gabai, Eddy Moretti, Jennifer Fox, Michael Sugar, Steven Soderbergh, and Kerry Orent. UTA is repping North American rights to the film.

Burns has written screenplays for “The Bourne Ultimatum,” “The Informant!,” “Contagion,” and “Side Effects.” He was a producer on “An Inconvenient Truth,” which won the Academy Award for best documentary feature in 2006.

Bening starred in “Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool” and “The Seagull,” which will premiere at the upcoming Tribeca Film Festival. Driver will again portray Kylo Ren in “Star Wars: Episode IX” and is also set for Spike Lee’s “Black Klansman.

Exclusive: Annette Bening, Adam Driver, Jon Hamm and Jennifer Morrison are all in talks to star in a CIA drama tentatively titled The Torture Report, which will be written and directed by The Bourne Ultimatum and Contagion scribe Scott Z. Burns. Vice Studios is handling the financing for this project, which focuses on the CIA’s rendition and interrogation program following 9/11.

Back in December 2014, the U.S. Senate Select Intelligence Committee released a 500+ page report detailing shocking accounts of extreme interrogation tactics performed on detainees, which was employed by the CIA post 9/11 during the war on terror.

Burns was previously attached to write and direct an HBO film based on investigative reporter Katherine Eban’s 2007 Vanity Fair article Rorschach And Awe, that exposed how the CIA hired two psychologists to build a torture program with the full knowledge and cooperation of the American Psychological Association. That project is no longer...

Frank Langella is set to star in Lapham Rising, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

Charlie Kessler is directing the adaptation of the bestselling 2009 novel by esteemed columnist and commentator Roger Rosenblatt, who also penned the script. Bcdf Pictures and the Kerry Orent Company are producing. The Hamptons shoot begins in early spring.

Lapham Rising centers on Harry March, a retired writer who lives peacefully with his talking dog, Hector, a born-again Evangelical and unapologetic capitalist. Their neighbor Lapham, an ostentatious multimillionaire who made his fortune on asparagus tongs, begins building a gargantuan mansion. Though Hector sees the undertaking as a symbol...

Exclusive: Frank Langella has signed on to star in the film adaptation of Roger Rosenblatt's bestselling novel Lapham Rising, with shooting scheduled to begin in the Hamptons in early spring. Charlie Kessler is directing a script by Rosenblatt, and Bcdf Pictures (Bachelorette) and the Kerry Orent Company (Money Monster) are producing. Lapham Rising tells the story of Harry March, a retired writer whose life starts to unravel when a multimillionaire begins building a…...

A Walk Among the Tombstones, starring Liam Neeson (Non-Stop, The Grey, Taken series) and Dan Stevens (The Guest, “Downton Abbey”) debuts on Blu-ray™ Combo Pack and DVD on January 13, 2015 from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. Based on Lawrence Block’s best-selling series of mystery novels and directed and written by Academy Award-nominated writer Scott Frank (Out of Sight, Minority Report, The Wolverine), A Walk Among the Tombstones is produced by Jersey Films’ Danny DeVito.

In this intense thriller, Liam Neeson plays Matt Scudder, an ex-nypd cop turned unlicensed private investigator who reluctantly agrees to help a drug trafficker (Dan Stevens) hunt down the men who brutally murdered his wife. When the Pi learns that this is not the first time that these men have committed this sort of twisted crime — nor will it be the last — he must blur the line between right and wrong as he races to track the...

Coming off the back of his acclaimed sophomore feature, All Is Lost, J.C. Chandor is about to go back behind the camera for his anticipated third film, A Most Violent Year.

Out in Park City, the film market has been heating up in recent days, and one of the biggest companies to make their mark so far has been A24.

The distribution/production company has been very much on the rise since their debut last year with Roman Coppola’s A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III, with releases including Ginger & Rosa, Spring Breakers, and most recently The Spectacular Now.

So it should come as no surprise then that they are keen to cement their status, announcing that they have acquired U.S. rights to Chandor’s A Most Violent Year, led by Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain.

The acquisition is their third at the festival, having already...

The busy distributor announced from Park City it has picked up Us rights to Participant Media’s thriller A Most Violent Year, Jc Chandor’s follow-up to All Is Lost.

FilmNation represents international rights and will be touting the project at the Efm next month.

Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain will star in the 1980s period story about an immigrant and his family trying to expand their business during a statistically violent time in New York. Shooting is set to commence shortly in New York.

A24 plans a fourth quarter wide release. Participant Media and Image Nation Abu Dhabi are co-financing, while Before The Doors’ Neal Dodson and Washington Square Films’ Anna Gerb produce with Chandor.

Participant’s Jeff Skoll and Jonathan King serve as executive producers with Joshua Blum, Kerry Orent and Glen Basner. Chandor is pictured on the set of All Is Lost.

Cross Creek Pictures President Brian Oliver and Exclusive Media’s Co-Chairmen Nigel Sinclair and Guy East announced today that principal photography has begun in New York on A Walk Among The Tombstones the new crime thriller starring Oscar® winner Liam Neeson (Schindler’S List, Taken). Joining the cast are Dan Stevens (Downton Abbey); Ruth Wilson (Anna Karenina); Boyd Holbrook (The Host, Milk); David Harbour (Snitch, End Of Watch); Mark Consuelos (American Horror Story); and recording artist / U.S. X Factor (season 1) fan favorite, Astro.

Written and to be directed by Academy Award® nominated Scott Frank (Out Of Sight, The Lookout), the film is based on one of 17 Matt Scudder novels written by crime novelist Lawrence Block. The Scudder series has been in print for over 40 years and translated into over 20 languages. The movie is being produced by Michael Shamberg and Stacey Sher, with their company Double Feature Films, with Danny DeVito and his company,...

Okay, so, sometimes in life, I can be a score-keeper -- someone who keeps track of what he gives and what he gets in return. An annoying quality, to say the least, and I'm sure my wife has your sympathy, but it's made me highly attuned to when and where credit is due.

Recently, I've been given two different credits on Royal Pains. I'd like to clarify just how much genuine credit is due me!

Producer: Mark Feuerstein

Uh, yeah, not sooo much. If my producer hat were shot off my head by a bunch of resentful line-producers tomorrow, the show would get produced perfectly without a scratch. I have definitely had a hand in helping to cast a bunch of roles on our show, and I certainly keep things positive and upbeat on set, but it's not like I'm on the phone all-day, like our Upm, Kathy Ciric who...

Chicago – This new HollywoodChicago.com slideshow features production stills for films in the recently released 2009 Universal Pictures film slate.

These 2009 Universal Pictures films include “Duplicity,” “The Wolfman,” “State of Play,” “Wild Child,” “Drag Me to Hell,” “Land of the Lost,” “Fast and Furious,” “Funny People” and “Cirque du Freak”. The release dates, cast lists and filmmaker information for these Universal films can be found below.

“Duplicity”

Release date: March 20, 2009

Genre: Caper

Cast: Julia Roberts, Clive Owen, Tom Wilkinson and Paul Giamatti

Written and directed by: Tony Gilroy

Produced by: Jennifer Fox, Kerry Orent and Laura Bickford

Executive producer: Ryan Kavanaugh

“The Wolfman”

Release date: April 3, 2009

Genre: Action/Horror

Cast: Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt, Hugo Weaving and Art Malik

Directed by: Joe Johnston

Screenplay by: Andrew Kevin Walker and David Self

Based on the motion picture screenplay by: Curt Siodmak

Produced by: Scott Stuber, Benicio Del Toro, Rick Yorn...

We have fresh synopses and updated cast and crew in from various Universal Pictures releases. Universal has a strong slate of upcoming releases including "Fast and the Furious," "Funny People," "Duplicity," "Drag Me to Hell," "Land of the Lost," "Wild Child," "State of Play," "The Wolfman" and "Cirque du Freak." Of these, I'm looking forward to "The Wolfman," "Cirque du Freak," "State of Play" and "Duplicity" the most. Starting with the Julia Roberts and Clive Owen starrer "Duplicity" and ending with "Cirque du Freak," here are the various synopses and cast and crew information. Duplicity - March 20, 2009 Genre: Caper Cast: Julia Roberts, Clive Owen, Tom Wilkinson and Paul Giamatti Written and Directed by: Tony Gilroy Produced by: Jennifer Fox, Kerry Orent, Laura Bickford Executive Producer: Ryan Kavanaugh Oscar® winner Julia Roberts and Clive Owen reunite for Duplicity, from writer/director Tony Gilroy (seven-time Oscar®-nominated Michael Clayton). In the film,...

• I don't think the crystal ball is that clouded this year...but the Oscar pools do end up getting a jolt. My picks aren't off the charts (only minor gamble is in the Best Actress category) - I'm thinking that the major PR campaign by Marion will reap the benefits. Below you'll find all the categories - personal opinion and predictions will be followed by Oscar winner commentary in tonite's blog...Enjoy! Best Picture "Atonement" (Focus Features) A Working Title Production Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner and Paul Webster, Producers"Juno" (Fox Searchlight) A Dancing Elk Pictures, LLC Production Lianne Halfon, Mason Novick and Russell Smith, Producers"Michael Clayton" (Warner Bros.) A Clayton Productions, LLC Production Sydney Pollack, Jennifer Fox and Kerry Orent, Producers"No Country for Old Men" (Miramax and Paramount Vantage) A Scott Rudin/Mike Zoss Production Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers"There Will Be Blood

...

The PGA on Monday announced producers attached to previously announced nominees in feature film and TV categories.

The names had been withheld pending completion of the the PGA's accreditation process.

The accrediting review and a related appeal process is aimed at determining which producers "performed a majority of the producing functions from development through production and post production," officials said.

Winners will be announced at the 19th annual PGA awards, set for Feb. 2 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

A complete list of nominees follows:

The Darryl F. Zanuck Producer of the Year Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures:

The Diving Bell and the Butterly (Miramax)

Kathleen Kennedy, Jon Kilik

Juno (Fox Searchlight)

Lianne Halfon, Mason Novick, Russell Smith

Michael Clayton (Warner Bros.)

Jennifer Fox, Kerry Orent, Sydney Pollack

No Country for Old Men (Miramax/Paramount Vantage)

Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, Scott Rudin

There Will Be Blood (Paramount Vantage/Miramax)

Joanne Sellar, Paul Thomas Anderson, Daniel Lupi

The Producers Guild of America Producer of the Year Award in Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures

Bee Movie (DreamWorks Animation)

Jerry Seinfeld, Christina Steinberg

Ratatouille (Walt Disney Pictures/Pixar Animation)

Brad Lewis

The Simpsons Movie (20th Century Fox)

James L. Brooks, Matt Groening, Al Jean, Richard Sakai, Mike Scully

The Producers Guild of America Producer of the Year Award in Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures

Body of War (Phil Donahue Productions/Mobilus Media)

Phil Donahue, Ellen Spiro

Hear and Now (HBO)

Irene Taylor Brodsky

Pete Seeger: The Power of Song (The Weinstein Company)

Jim Brown, Michael Cohl, William Eigen

Sicko (The Weinstein Company)

Michael Moore, Meghan O'Hara

White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (HBO)

Steven Okazaki

The David L. Wolper Producer of the Year Award in Long-Form Television

The Bronx is Burning (ESPN)

Joe Davola, Gordon Greisman, Bill Johnson, Mike Tollin

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (HBO)

Clara George, Tom Thayer, Dick Wolf

High School Musical 2 (Disney Channel)

Bill Borden, Barry Rosenbush

Jane Eyre (PBS/BBC)

Phillippa Giles, Diederick Santer

The Starter Wife (USA Network)

Jon Avnet, Josann McGibbon, Marsha Oglesby, Sara Parriott

The Danny Thomas Producer of the Year Award In Episodic Television - Comedy

Entourage (HBO)

Doug Ellin, Stephen Levinson, Julian Farino, Wayne Carmona, Rob Weiss, Denis Biggs, Lori Jo Nemhauser

Extras (HBO)

Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant, Charles Hanson

The Office (NBC)

Greg Daniels, Kent Zbornak, Marci Klein, Jerry Kupfer, Lorne Michaels, Jeff Richmond

30 Rock (NBC)

Robert Carlock, Tina Fey

Ugly Betty (ABC)

Salma Hayek, James Hayman, Silvio Horta, James Parriott, Marco Pennette, Ben Silverman, Jose Tamez, Teri Weinberg, Alice West

The Norman Felton Producer of the Year Award in Episodic Television - Drama

Dexter (Showtime)

Michael Cuesta, Sara Colleton, John Goldwyn, Robert Lloyd Lewis, Clyde Phillips

Grey's Anatomy (ABC)

Shonda Rhimes, Betsy Beers, Mark Gordon, Peter Horton, Rob Corn

Heroes (NBC)

Allan Arkush, Greg Beeman, Jim Chory, Dennis Hammer Gerrit van der Meer, Tim Kring

House (Fox)

David Shore, Katie Jacobs, Daniel Sackheim

Lost (ABC)

Damon Lindelof, Carlton Cuse, Jack Bender, Liz Sarnoff, Drew Goddard

The Sopranos (HBO)

David Chase, Brad Grey, Ilene S.

Screened at the Venice International Film Festival

VENICE -- There is nothing about Nicole Kidman's character Anna in Birth that suggests she is stupid, tormented or coming apart at the seams. Nonetheless, when a 10-year-old boy claims that he is the reincarnation of her husband, who died a decade earlier, it doesn't take long before she says, "Oh, right, yes".

You want to scream, like the boy seeing the emperor's lack of clothes. Birth is a paranormal mystery without a spine. It has no suspense because it has no belief in itself. It doesn't take the trouble to suggest any reasons for why an intelligent, upper class New Yorker should make the choices she does.

Kidman looks great in the film with an urchin haircut and beautifully cut clothes but the film has no payoff and there's nothing she can do about it. Fans waiting for another hit from the Oscar-winner will be disappointed.

Director Jonathan Glazer's first film was Sexy Beast, a different cup of tea that allowed Ben Kingsley to snarl all over the screen in Cockney Spain. Here, it's all Central Park West elegance and soft-spoken class.

The film opens with Anna's husband apparently dying beneath a bridge while jogging in the snow. Nothing is revealed about him or his widow but it apparently takes her 10 years before she's ready to contemplate another relationship, probably something of an Upper East Side Manhattan record.

When a 10-year-old who says his real name is Sean (Cameron Bright) shows up at her engagement party to Joseph (Danny Huston) and declares that he is, in fact, her dead husband Sean, it casts a bit of a pall over the festivities. If the screenplay bothered to establish something in Anna's makeup or emotional state that would help suspend disbelief then her gradual acceptance that the boy is who claims to be might not be so laughable.

As it is, pretty soon Anna's sharing a bathtub naked with the kid and before long she's planning to run off with him, promising to marry him in 11 years when he turns 21. The boy, who seldom smiles and has a deep manly voice, scares Anna's husband-to-be enough that he goes berserk, smashes up the drawing room and gives the lad a beating. No one suggests that Joseph's violent over-reaction would give pause to most brides-to-be.

Lauren Bacall is on hand as Anna's mother but even her droll line-readings can do little to bolster things. And Anne Heche drops by as a shifty woman whose involvement with the boy may complicate things. But nothing hangs together and when it ends it simply disappears from your mind.

BIRTH

New Line Productions

Credits:

Director: Jonathan Glazer

Screenwriters: Jean-Claude Carriere, Milo Addica, Jonathan Glazer

Producers: Jean-Louis Piel, Nick Morris, Lizie Gower

Executive producers: Kerry Orent, Mark Ordesky, Xavier Marchand

Director of photography: Harris Savides

Production designer: Kevin Thompson

Editors: Sam Sneade, Claus Wehlisch

Costume designer: John Dunn

Music: Alexandre Desplat

Cast:

Anna: Nicole Kidman

Young Sean: Cameron Bright

Joseph: Danny Huston

Eleanor: Lauren Bacall

Laura: Alison Elliot

Bob: Arliss Howard

Sean: Michael Seautels

Clara: Anne Heche

Clifford: Peter Stormare

No MPAA rating

Running time -- 100 mins...

Like aces in the hole of a hand that's otherwise garbage, "Rounders" has a promising start but comes up a loser. Still, with an inherent attractiveness to those who -- like fans of "The Hustler" and every other male-sanctuary-revealing movie -- think they've entered an exclusive club with obscure rules and lingo, director John Dahl's film about professional poker players might bluff its way to respectable grosses.

Starring the transportable Matt Damon as fast Mikey McDermott, the best-looking young stud to ever shuffle his way to the top, the Miramax release (in competition at the Venice International Film Festival) will have a strong appeal to females, but its curious lack of romance is one of many aspects that indicate a shorter-than-hoped-for round in theaters. Post-theatrical prospects are somewhere between a straight and a flush.

Relying too much on narration and peopling the scenario with, of all things mundane, a Russian adversary and an unrepentant cheater -- or "mechanic" in the parlance of "rounders" (serious card players) -- the screenplay credited to newcomers David Levien and Brian Koppelman is not entirely inaccurate. But neither is it believable for long stretches, including the laughably bogus climax hinging on a detail that's so ridiculous even the poker novice might have trouble choking it down.

What helps the movie a great deal is the presence of Edward Norton, though his character, Worm, is the aforementioned mechanic out to take advantage of less-skilled or unsuspecting players. Alas, the storytelling skills used to insert him into the plot are highly suspect. But the talented actor is a scene-stealer in a movie that needs all the energy it can muster.

McDermott's tony, legal-eagle girlfriend (Gretchen Mol) has taken on the sucker's task of keeping him away from the underground games that have ruined him financially in the past, but it's hard to get worked up over this cliched relationship. She suspects that he's slipping, and we already knows she's right. Eventually, she folds and leaves him to win or lose without the love of a good woman.

With too many scenes that feature the rare bet-your-life-savings showdowns between two players and never adequately explaining how the preferred game of Texas Hold 'Em (a variation of seven-card stud) is played, "Rounders" is a whirlwind of scams, big-time defeats and legitimate triumphs. Some moments are genuinely risky for a commercial film -- like McDermott's finally showing Worm he won't make a career of cheating -- but some viewers may not completely fathom what's going on.

There's no mistaking the tiresome presence of John Malkovich sporting a Russian accent for a routine antagonist with the upper hand over McDermott until the finale. Martin Landau puts in an amiable appearance as a Berry Patch-running judge nurturing McDermott's lawyer ambitions (Berry Patch is an "easy game"), and Famke Janssen brightens things up as a poker-club owner who tries to help out whenever possible. John Turturro shows up in a few scenes as a career rounder with not much to do but offer grizzled-veteran advice.

Filmed in wide screen, the production is pleasing to the eye but Dahl needs to pay more attention to pacing. His fascination with all things poker is mildly infectious, but this movie is much too long for such a slight and predictable tale.

ROUNDERS

Miramax Films

A Spanky Pictures production

Credits: Director: John Dahl; Screenwriters: David Levien, Brian Koppelman; Producers: Joel Stillerman, Ted Demme; Executive producers: Kerry Orent, Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein, Bobby Cohen; Director of photography: Jean Yves Escoffier; Production designer: Rob Pearson; Editor: Scott Chestnut; Costume designer: Terry Dresbach; Music: Christopher Young; Casting: Avy Kaufman. Cast: Mike McDermott: Matt Damon; Worm: Edward Norton; Jo: Gretchen Mol; Teddy KGB: John Malkovich; Joey Knish: John Turturro; Professor Petrovsky: Martin Landau; Petra: Famke Janssen. MPAA rating: R. Color/stereo. Running time -- 120 minutes...