Notizie

Exclusive: We understand that Oscar winning filmmaker Susanne Bier is in negations to helm Warner Bros.’ Practical Magic 2 for the studio. A deal isn’t done quite yet.

The movie would reteam Bier with both Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock. The helmer worked with Bullock on Netflix’s Bird Box, and with Kidman on the HBO series The Undoing and the Netflix miniseries The Perfect Couple. Bullock is reprising her role as Sally Owens, while Kidman is coming back as Gillian Owens.

The original 1998 movie, which grossed over $47M stateside, followed two witch sisters, raised by their eccentric aunts in a small town, who are faced with closed-minded prejudice and a curse which threatens to prevent them from ever finding lasting love.

Akiva Goldsman, who co-wrote the original, is returning to write the screenplay. Bullock and Kidman are producing with Denise Di Novi.

Bier’s collaboration with Bullock, Bird Box,...

Susanne Bier is someone who has spent her career examining the fraughtness of emotional connections being put under pressure-cooker situations. She made a name for herself with films like After the Wedding and Brothers, both about family bonds being ripped apart by explosive secrets. She gradually moved into television, where she crafted high-stakes thrillers like The Night Manager and The Undoing, extending her touch into diverse genre fare. In between those two phases, she achieved mainstream Hollywood success with In A Better World, a 2010 film that broke through to America and won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, and it's a fitting introduction to her body of work.

Set in Nantucket, “The Perfect Couple” portrays a rarefied, 1% version of America in which people have staff and use “summer” as a verb. Which is precisely why director Susanne Bier turned down the offer to direct Netflix’s adapt tion of Elin Hilderbrand’s novel when producer Gail Berman first approached her.

“It’s not my world,” says Bier, the Danish director whose films “After the Wedding” and “In a Better World” were nominated for Oscars, and who won a directing Emmy for the 2016 Tom Hiddleston spy thriller “The Night Manager.”

Berman and screenwriter Jenna Lamia persuaded Bier to change her mind. With the show set to start shooting in a few months and no cast attached, the director wasted no time reaching out to Nicole Kidman. They’d worked together on the HBO limited series “The Undoing,” and now she offered her the role of moneyed matriarch Greer Garrison Winbury.

How much of yourself would you compromise to live in the lap of luxury? Would you take the plunge if the path to Easy Street was as simple to walk as marrying into a seemingly ordinary but twisted collective of Stepford-like siblings led by a deranged matriarch and her equally disturbed husband? As Netflix‘s The Perfect Couple trailer unfolds, Amelia Sacks (Eve Hewson) is about to find out.

Here’s the official synopsis for The Perfect Couple courtesy of Netflix:

Amelia Sacks is about to marry into one of the wealthiest families in Nantucket. Her disapproving future mother-in-law, famous novelist Greer Garrison Winbury, has spared no expense in planning what promises to be the premiere wedding of the season — until a body turns up on the beach. As secrets come to light, the stage is set for a real-life investigation that feels plucked from the pages of one of Greer’s novels.

"The minute they feel they're losing control, they burn it all down." Netflix has launched the main official trailer for a new murder mystery whodunit dark comedy series titled The Perfect Couple. It's arriving for streaming later this week if anyone wants to find out what really went down. The series is adapted from the book of the same name written by Elin Hilderbrand, and all of the episodes are directed by the talented Belgian filmmaker Susanne Bier who also made Bird Box for Netflix in 2018. When one lavish wedding ends in disaster before it can even begin - with a body discovered in Nantucket Harbor just hours before the ceremony - everyone in the wedding party is suddenly a suspect. The wedding is cancelled until the cops figure out who the killer is. Any ideas? The Perfect Couple stars Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Eve Hewson, Dakota Fanning, Jack Reynor,...

Netflix has released the official trailer for The Perfect Couple, which will premiere globally on the streaming service on September 5, 2024.

Based on the book by Elin Hilderbrand, the series is directed and executive-produced by Susanne Bier. Bier’s film credits include Brothers (2004), After the Wedding (2006), In a Better World (2010), and Bird Box (2018). Her TV credits include The Night Manager (2016), The Undoing (2020), and The First Lady (2022).

In The Perfect Couple, Amelia Sacks is about to marry into one of the wealthiest families on Nantucket. Her disapproving future mother-in-law, famous novelist Greer Garrison Winbury, has spared no expense in planning what promises to be the premiere wedding of the season — until a body turns up on the beach.

As secrets come to light, the stage is set for a real-life investigation that feels plucked from the pages of one of Greer’s novels. Suddenly, everyone is a suspect.

The six-episode series stars Nicole Kidman,...

Exclusive: LA-based production outfit The Screen Company, headed by producer David Brown (The Fallout), is launching a domestic distribution and sales arm.

Distribution arm ScreenReleases will handle third party acquisitions and look to partner with filmmakers on projects in the development phase. Brown says the company will seek projects across all genres and budget ranges.

Former UTA exec Mike Rose has been brought aboard as Chief Operating Officer (COO) to oversee day-to-day operations at the new division and handle acquisitions. Rose, who most recently served nine years at UTA as Head of Story, has also previously worked at Disney, TWC, Miramax, and CAA.

Ari Elan Lewis, who has worked at Confluential Films, Netflix, Universal and John Legend’s Get Lifted Film , has also joined and will serve as Head of Acquisitions and handle international sales.

Brown says of the strategy behind the company: “We will not prolong Mg payments over...

The Screen Company, a new full-service production, sales and financing entity, has launched with the debut of ScreenFund, its dedicated financing division.

CEO and producer David Brown announced the company’s formation, which aims to provide a wide range of services for both major studio and independent projects. Operating as a parent entity, The Screen Company will offer a comprehensive suite of services including financing, completion bonds, production payroll, collection accounts, international film sales and U.S. distribution. The company’s structure is designed to streamline the production process by providing multiple essential services under one roof.

Industry veteran Chris Cole has been appointed chief operating officer of ScreenFund. Cole brings a wealth of experience to the role, having served as a producer of feature films and television, as well as a media and entertainment consultant. His background includes executive producer roles on co-productions with major studios and streaming platforms such as Warner Bros.,...

[Editor’s note: The following story contains some spoilers for Elin Hilderbrand’s novel “The Perfect Couple”]

It’s a beach read starring all of our favorite murder mystery staple actors — and it doesn’t get much better than that.

The upcoming Netflix series “The Perfect Couple” brings together alums from “Big Little Lies,” “Ripley,” and “The White Lotus” for yet another vacation gone awry. Nicole Kidman leads the novel adaptation, based on Elin Hilderbrand’s bestseller, as matriarch Greer Winbury whose son is getting married… only to find someone in the wedding party dead on the big day.

Jenna Lamia is the writer and showrunner, with Susanne Bier directing. Bier previously worked with Kidman in another novel adaptation “The Undoing” (2020), and also directed the series “The Night Manager” (2016) and “The First Lady” (2022), plus films “Brothers” (2004), “After the Wedding” (2006), “In a Better World” (2010), and “Bird Box” (2018).

Author Hilderbrand is executive producing, along with Lamia, Shawn Levy for 21 Laps Entertainment,...

Ron Simons, who had a busy if low-key TV acting career before making his greatest impact producing such acclaimed Broadway plays as Thoughts of a Colored Man (2021) and the 2022 revival of for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf, died Wednesday. The four-time Tony Award winner was 63.

His death was announced by SimonSays Entertainment, the production company he founded in 2009. A cause of death was not immediately available.

“It is with heavy hearts that we share the unexpected passing of our beloved, blessed, and highly favored friend, Ronald Keith Simons. Funeral details will be forthcoming,” the production company said in a statement.

The Classical Theatre of Harlem said in a separate statement, “We are heartbroken to learn of our friend and former trustee Ron Simon’s passing. Our thoughts are with his family. Ron has left behind an unmatched legacy on Broadway and beyond. We will...

Following a highly successful collaboration on Hulu’s Pam & Tommy, Sebastian Stan and Lily James are set to reteam on Let the Evil Go West, a psychological horror thriller from director Christian Tafdrup (Speak No Evil).

north.five.six. reps the film’s international rights and will introduce it to buyers at Cannes, while CAA Media Finance and UTA Independent Film Group arranged the financing and will handle the domestic sale.

Let the Evil Go West follows a railroad worker who stumbles upon a fortune under deeply disturbing circumstances. As horrifying visions and manifestations drive him toward madness, his wife becomes convinced that an evil presence has attached itself to their family.

Xc Vs penned the script. Tim and Trevor White are producing under their Star Thrower Entertainment banner, alongside Mark Fasano and Nathan Klingher for Gramercy Park Media, which is also financing the film, and Allan Mandelbaum.

Exclusive: Zosia Mamet is set to co-star alongside Ann Dowd in upcoming horror thriller The Undertaker’s Children, producer and seller The Exchange has announced as it rolls out sales at the EFM.

Mamet, whose credits include the HBO TV series Girls and The Flight Attendant, has been seen most recently in Columbia Pictures action-sci fi picture Madame Web.

Inspired by real events, The Undertaker’s Children is about a reclusive undertaker (Dowd), who is forced to take in the children of a deceased distant relative.

When the older sister uncovers her sinister plan to get rid of them, she contacts a child welfare nurse (Mamet), pleading for help. As things escalate, the girl has no choice but to escape with her brother before helps arrives, unleashing an evil that knows no bounds in the process.

Alex Gayner makes his directorial debut on the movie, after working as a second...

Peter Garde, European film financing vet and frequent collaborator of filmmakers like Lars Von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg, has died aged 67 in Fakse, Denmark, after a long battle with cancer. Garde’s wife, Nanna, confirmed the news to Deadline alongside his close associates, Peter Aalbæk Jensen and Anders Kjærhauge.

Garde began his education in finance in the small town of Store Heddinge in Denmark, where he was a student set to become a banker. He ultimately went on to start his own financial exchange company.

After the success of Lars Von Trier’s Breaking The Waves, Garde was convinced by his close friend producer Peter Aalbæk Jensen to join Zentropa and help manage all the money that was pouring into the studio, which ultimately became the beginning of Garde’s long career with Lars Von Trier and Zentropa Studios’ films. He joined the company in 1997.

Garde was responsible for piecing...

Nikolaj Arcel and Mads Mikkelsen had similar trajectories on the international film scene, both beginning in their native Denmark. Mikkelsen made a name for himself with several Danish masterpieces from the directors Susanne Bier and Nicolas Winding Refn before heading to Hollywood and mastering a kind of intelligent and enigmatic villain. It's his Danish films, however, that remain his greatest work, from After the Wedding to The Hunt and Another Round.

Count A Royal Affair among them, as well. Directed by Nikolaj Arcel, the film found the two Danes developing a friendship and strong working relationship. Arcel himself would head to Hollywood and become attached to a giant blockbuster of his own, directing Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey in The Dark Tower. Seven years after they worked together, Arcel and Mikkelsen were both yearning for home, and have now collaborated on a grand historical epic, The Promised Land, based on...

There’s Violent Mads.. And Quiet Mads..

And now there’s Very Quiet Mads.

In his fifth Danish Oscar entry, “The Promised Land,” a Nordic pioneer Western from Nicolaj Arcel (Mikkelsen’s director from a decade ago on the nominated “A Royal Affair”), Mikkelsen delivers an almost silent, stoic, physical performance as captain-turned-potato-farmer Ludvig von Kahlen as he tries to tame the 18th-century Danish heath.

As the bastard son of a nobleman and his maid, making something of a piece of turf is the only way for the veteran to move up into the upper class. “He so desperately wants to become part of something that he hates, nobility,” Mikkelsen told IndieWire during a recent interview in Los Angeles. “They don’t deserve it. They haven’t worked for anything. He decides that he wants to be part of it.”

Back then people didn’t talk about their feelings. “His range of emotions is limited,...

When Lucasfilm announced that Mads Mikkelsen would play the main villain in "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny," there was much rejoicing. Over the last 20 years, Mikkelsen has established himself as a master of menace. He's a skin-crawling masochist as Le Chiffre in "Casino Royale," a deliciously evil master of the Mystic Arts in "Doctor Strange" and a creepily seductive cannibalistic psychiatrist in the frustratingly short-lived NBC drama "Hannibal."

That Mikkelsen could put a fresh spin on a character who'd been portrayed by such thespian giants as Brian Cox and Anthony Hopkins left viewers breathless. We thought we knew Hannibal Lecter, and we were so very wrong. Mikkelsen could've become a go-to Hollywood bad guy at this point, but he kept a foot in the Danish film industry that vaulted him to international stardom and turned in what is, to date, his best performance as a milquetoast high school...

The Zurich Film Festival, which runs Sept. 28 – Oct. 8, will honor the Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen with its Golden Eye award in recognition of his “successful career and versatility,” the Swiss event said Monday.

Mikkelsen will accept the award on Oct. 6, and will present his latest film, “The Promised Land,” which had its world premiere in competition at the Venice Film Festival this month. Nikolaj Arcel’s film was described by Variety critic Guy Lodge as a “lavishly upholstered historical romp,” and “a Danish Western, built on black-and-white moral binaries and a yee-haw sense of intrepid adventure.”

Lodge wrote: “Notionally rooted in historical fact, but embellished with storybook romance and flouncing cartoon villainy, this roundly enjoyable Venice competition entry finally owes all its residual gravitas (and at least half its considerable handsomeness) to the expressive woodcut visage of one Mads Mikkelsen.”

Mikkelsen will also take part in a Zff Masters discussion at the Zurich Film Festival,...

‘Back To Reality’ is a dark comedy from writer-director Anders Thomas Jensen.

TrustNordisk has acquired international sales rights to two upcoming features from Denmark’s Zentropa, including a new film from acclaimed comedy filmmaker Anders Thomas Jensen.

Jensen’s Back To Reality (working title) is a dark comedy, about a bank robber recently released from jail, who must unlock his traumatised brother’s memory to recover stolen loot.

Zentropa is producing the title, which is at script stage with no cast yet attached; Nordisk Film Distribution will release the film in Scandinavia. Producers are Sisse Graum Jorgensen and Sidsel Hybschmann for Zentropa,...

Veteran entertainment attorneys Eric Feig and Harry Finkel are joining forces to form Feig Finkel Llp, a new firm focused in film (including film financing and production legal), television, new media, licensing, merchandising, podcasts, and publishing.

They are joined in the venture by three partners: Panayiotis “Pano” Spanos, Andrew Barcello, and Riccardo Maddalosso.

“Feig Finkel is dedicated to protecting its clients’ interests with two underlying principles: integrity and creativity,” said Feig.

Feig – whose clients include William Zabka (Cobra Kai) and Martin Kove(Cobra Kai), writer Max Borenstein, David Berenbaum, Kamillion (Rap Sh!t), writer Ashleigh Powell (Nutcracker and the Four Realms), Noah Stollman (Fauda), Australian Director Elissa Down (Black Baloon, Ivy & Bean) writer Kc Perry and director Chris Eyre – will continue to focus on serving talent clients.

Finkel brings years of experience specializing in independent film finance and production legal,...

Directed by Christian Tafdrup, horror film Speak No Evil is on the way from IFC Midnight and Shudder, coming to select theaters next month and streaming on Shudder September 15.

IFC Midnight’s release brings the film to theaters in NY and LA on September 9.

Watch the tense Speak No Evil trailer below.

In Speak No Evil, “On a vacation in Tuscany, two families – one Danish, one Dutch – meet and become fast friends. Months later, the free-spirited Dutch family extends an invitation to the more conservative Danish one for a holiday weekend getaway at their countryside home.

“However, it doesn’t take long before things gradually get out of hand as the joy of reunion is replaced with misunderstandings. The Dutch hospitality quickly turns unnerving for the Danes, and they find themselves increasingly caught in a web of their own politeness in the face of eccentric…or is it sinister…behavior.

Streaming

South Asian focused streamer ZEE5 Global and BBC Studios India have partnered to create a slate of Hindi-language originals across genres, commencing with series “The Broken News,” an adaptation of Mike Bartlett’s BBC show “Press,” directed by Vinay Waikul (Netflix’s “Aranyak”). The plot turns on two rival news channels based in Mumbai – Awaaz Bharati, an independent, ethical news channel, and Josh 24/7 News, which offers sensationalist and invasive journalism, and what transpires between the main characters in their quest for news. The cast includes Sonali Bendre, making her streaming debut, Jaideep Ahlawat, Shriya Pilgaonkar, Indraneil Sengupta, Taaruk Raina, Aakash Khurana and Kiran Kumar.

Archana Anand, chief business officer, ZEE5 Global said: “This partnership is in line with ZEE5 Global’s strategy to build a portfolio of unique and compelling stories from South Asia that continue to delight our viewers.” Sameer Gogate, general manager, BBC Studios India, added: “The...

Ahmad’s Darkland (2017), also sold by TrustNordisk, was selected for Fantastic Fest and was a box office hit in Denmark.

TrustNordisk has boarded international sales for Fenar Ahmad’s action thriller sequel Darkland: Case Closed.

The film is shooting now in Copenhagen with Dar Salim again taking the lead role. He plays Zaid, a truth-seeking anti-hero, who after seven years in prison is forced to return to the criminal underworld in his attempt to see his estranged 7-year-old son.

Ahmad’s Darkland (2017), also sold by TrustNordisk, was selected for Fantastic Fest and was a box office hit in Denmark.

Ahmad...

It’s no secret that many of the most successful European actors have had a split career when it comes to their film work — starring in small artistically appreciated dramas in their native countries, then coming to Hollywood on occasion to land a supporting role in a big budget film (and usually a much bigger paycheck). But few actors have had quite a gulf in their film careers as Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen. Originally trained as a ballet dancer, Mikkelsen gradually transitioned to film acting in his native Denmark, notably bringing a grace of movement to his small dramas there and later, a tough-guy swagger to his (usually bad-guy) roles in Hollywood. In our gallery above, we dive into the Top 10 Mads Mikkelsen movies ranked from worst to best.

SEEApril box office 2022 preview: ‘Morbius’ and ‘Fantastic Beasts 3’ are blockbusters to beat

Mikkelsen’s gallery of characters in Europe often captures...

It’s no secret that many of the most successful European actors have had a split career when it comes to their film work — starring in small artistically appreciated dramas in their native countries, then coming to Hollywood on occasion to land a supporting role in a big budget film (and usually a much bigger paycheck). But few actors have had quite a gulf in their film careers as Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen. Originally trained as a ballet dancer, Mikkelsen gradually transitioned to film acting in his native Denmark, notably bringing a grace of movement to his small dramas there and later, a tough-guy swagger to his (usually bad-guy) roles in Hollywood. In our gallery below, we dive into the Top 10 Mads Mikkelsen movies ranked from worst to best.

Mikkelsen’s gallery of characters in Europe often captures the lives of people with whom the audience can easily relate — a teacher,...

Exclusive: Vertical Entertainment has acquired the North American rights to the ensemble comedy Tankhouse, starring Christopher Lloyd (The Tender Bar, Nobody), Richard Kind, Tara Holt and Stephen Friedrich (This is Us & Nice Girl Like You), with plans to release it in theaters and on VOD on May 13th.

The supporting cast includes Alex Esola (After The Wedding), Austin Crute (Booksmart), Carolyn Michelle Smith (Russian Doll), Devere Rogers (My Spy), Joe Adler (The Maze Runner), Luke Spencer Roberts (The Package), Nadia Alexander (Blame), Rachel Matthews (Frozen 2), and Sarah Yarkin (Texas Chainsaw Massacre), as well as Joey Lauren Adams (Chasing Amy) and Andy Buckley (Jurassic World).

They’ve release a trailer for the film. Watch it below:

Tankhouse marks the directorial feature debut of Noam Tomaschoff, who co-wrote the script with Chelsea Frei (Dollface, The Moody’s). The film was shot on location in Fargo, North Dakota and Los Angeles,...

Variety has been given exclusive access to the trailer (below) for Danish horror film “Speak No Evil,” which has its world premiere at Sundance. Sales are being handled by TrustNordisk.

The film follows a Danish family on vacation in Tuscany, where they befriend a Dutch family. Months later the Danish couple receive an invitation to visit the Dutch and decide to go for the weekend. However, it doesn’t take long before the joy of reunion is replaced by misunderstandings. Things gradually get out of hand, as the Dutch turn out to be something different than what they have pretended to be.

The film was directed by Christian Tafdrup, and written by Christian Tafdrup and Mads Tafdrup.

Christian Tafdrup describes “Speak No Evil” as a satirical horror movie. “Satirical, because it revolves around ordinary people’s absurdly recognizable ways of behaving. A horror movie, because the film is dark, evil and willingly foul.

Five top TV directors will reveal secrets behind their projects when they join Gold Derby’s special “Meet the Experts” Q&a event with key 2021 guild and Emmy contenders this month. Each person will participate in two video discussions to premiere on Wednesday, May 12, at 5:00 p.m. Pt; 8:00 p.m. Et. We’ll have a one-on-one with our senior editor Daniel Montgomery and a group chat with Daniel and all of the group together.

RSVP today to this specific event by clicking here to book your reservation. Or click here to RSVP for our entire ongoing panel series. We’ll send you a reminder a few minutes before the start of the show.

This “Meet the Experts” panel welcomes the following 2021 guild and Emmy contenders:

“Coyote”: Michelle MacLaren

MacLaren won two Emmys for producing “Breaking Bad” and received four other nominations. Other projects have included “The Morning Show,...

Exclusive: Just over a week before the 2019 Sundance Film Festival starts and After the Wedding writer-director Bart Freundlich has already notched one big deal.

Set to have the Opening Night film slot at the Robert Redford founded shindig, the Mozart in the Jungle helmer has signed with Wme for representation in all areas. The remake of The Night Manager director Susanne Bier’s 2006 Oscar nominated Best Foreign Film will have its world debut on January 24 in Park City.

Starring Michelle Williams, Billy Crudup, Abby Quinn, and Julianne Moore, who is Freundlich’s spouse, the new version of family drama After The Wedding flips around gender as well as location. Still set in India but now New York City too, the remake has the Manchester By The Sea star taking on the lead role played by Hannibal‘s Mads Mikkelsen in the Danish original. Both versions still focus on an orphanage...

Susanne Bier has a high-profile career that many filmmakers dream about. There’s the Oscar, the Emmy (for directing the six-part series “The Night Manager”), the Golden Globe (also for “In a Better World”), and the European Film Award (also for directing “In a Better World”). Two of her Danish-language features have been remade for American audiences. She was recently elected to the Academy’s board of directors.

She’s been working for nearly 30 years, moving from Dogme 95 luminary to highbrow auteur. Yet despite all this, she’s still not thrilled with the way the industry treats women directors.

“I mean, it’s not even benevolence, it’s sense,” Bier said in a recent interview with IndieWire. “Half of the world are women, and can we just please embrace that fact? Can we just please realize that movies, television, everything media, needs to reflect the fact that we are half the population?...

Don Kaye Dec 30, 2018

Director Susanne Bier tells us why Bird Box drew her to the sci-fi genre for the first time.

There is a frightening intensity and sense of helplessness in Bird Box, the apocalyptic new sci-fi/horror film available to watch on Netflix, which sets it apart from a lot of other efforts in its genre. Based on the book by Josh Malerman, the film is set in a world where civilization quickly falls apart due to the onset of a bizarre new threat: an unseen supernatural force that appears to each individual as their darkest fear, driving everyone who sees it to homicidal or suicidal rage.

The only answer is to move about the outside world with one’s eyes covered, a solution discovered by Malorie (Sandra Bullock) and the small band of survivors she finds barricaded in a house. Malorie, an artist, is pregnant and far from...

Chiwetel Ejiofor directorial debut, Hilary Swank sci-fi ’I Am Mother’, doc about Harvey Weinstein among roster.

World premieres of Chiwetel Ejiofor’s feature directorial debut The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind at Netflix, Bart Freundlich’s After The Wedding remake starring Michelle Williams, and the follow-up from the directors of Austrian mystery thriller Goodnight Mommy are among the Sundance 2019 feature film line-up announced on Wednesday (28).

Festival brass unveiled the Us and World dramatic and documentary competitions, the Premieres and Documentary Premieres rosters, and Midnight, Next, Spotlight and Kids. Sundance Film Festival runs from January 24-February 3.

Screening in Premieres alongside Ejiofor...

The 2019 Sundance Film Festival is creeping up on us, and major stars and filmmakers will head to Park City, Utah in January as competitive films and world premieres begin their roll-outs.

Films in the U.S. Dramatic Competition announced on Wednesday include Shia Labeouf’s “Honey Boy,” which stars Lucas Hedges as a young version of Labeouf, Naomi Watts and Octavia Spencer’s “Luce,” “The Sound of Silence” starring Peter Sarsgaard and Rashida Jones, “Them That Follow” starring Olivia Colman and Jim Gaffigan and Malin Ackerman and Tony Hale’s “To The Stars.”

“Crazy Rich Asians” star Awkwafina will appear in two movies heading to Sundance, including Lulu Wang’s “The Farewell” and “Paradise Hills,” with the latter also featuring Eiza Gonzalez, Milla Jovovich and Emma Roberts. Margaret Qualley and Gaffigan also will be seen in multiple films heading to the festival.

Also Read: Evan Peters Wanted a Special Effects...

The 2019 Sundance Film Festival has announced its entire feature film lineup for the January gathering. The festival has revealed its high-profile Premieres and Documentary Premieres selections in addition to the full list of films screening in four different competition sections, plus the forward-thinking Next section, the Kids lineup, and the Midnight list.

The 2019 feature film lineup includes a number of highly anticipated titles, including the Shia Labeouf-penned and Alma Har’el-directed “Honey Boy,” Joe Berlinger’s Zac Efron-starring Ted Bundy feature, Chiwetel Ejiofor’s feature directorial debut “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind,” Nanfu Wang’s latest documentary “One Child Nation,” the prescient doc “Knock Down the House,” and Alice Waddington’s wild-looking Nacho Vigalondo-written “Paradise Hills.” Plenty of Sundance alums are returning to debut new work, including Anne Sewitsky, Alex Gibney, Nick Broomfield, Justin Chon, Matt Tyrnauer, and Veronika Franz.

As is the festival’s tradition,...

Bart Freundlich‘s seventh feature film in After the Wedding – is a new (feminist?) take on Susanne Bier’s Efter brylluppet and it might allow him to return back to the good graces of Sundance – a lieu that showcased his debut film The Myth of Fingerprints (1994) and World Traveler (2001). After working mostly in TV, he reteams with his real life partner in Julianne Moore and Billy Crudup (with whom he worked on World Traveler and Trust the Man (2005) – further acting clout comes in the shape of Michelle Williams – who replaced Diane Kruger before heading into production back in May.…...

The Sundance Film Festival has gone through many changes in its 35 years, evolving from Robert Redford’s experimental incubator for independent filmmaking to the most influential festival event in the country. The 2019 edition is no exception: With Kim Yutani taking over as director of programming following the departure of longtime programming head Trevor Groth, much of the independent film community expects a lineup that reflects the shift in vision. Of course, Yutani still reports to Sundance veteran John Cooper, the festival’s director, and some Sundance movies will always be safe bets.

IndieWire’s annual Sundance wish list reflects much of the intel making the rounds, as well as some educated guesswork, based on various projects that have been submitted or seem likely to submit ahead of the festival’s deadlines. Last year’s hefty wish list included many films that make the cut, so take this overview seriously — but...

Michelle Williams, Julianne Moore, Billy Crudup, Abby Quinn star in remake.

Cornerstone Films has closed multiple key territories including Australia, Germany and Scandinavia on its English-language reimagining of After The Wedding following a heavyweight buyer response to the promo reel at Afm.

Michelle Williams (pictured) stars as an orphanage director in India who travels to New York to meet a potential benefactor. When the wealthy woman invites her to attend her daughter’s wedding, mysteries are revealed and worlds collide in a life-changing way. Julianne Moore, Billy Crudup and Abby Quinn round out the key cast.

Bart Freundlich directs the drama,...

Danish filmmaker Susanne Bier has bounced back in a big way. Her career came into sharp focus in the early aughts, but was minted later that decade when “After the Wedding” (2006; it made Mads Mikkelsen a household name) and “In a Better World” (2010) both scored Academy Award nominations for Best Foreign Language Film (“In A Better World” would win). She had done Hollywood in between (the underrated “Things We Lost In The Fire”; 2007), but she was poised for huge things when Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper had agreed to star in “Serena” just as both their stars were going supernova (Lawrence was already an Academy Award winner before the film’s release).

Continue reading Susanne Bier To Direct Nicole Kidman In ‘The Undoing,’ A HBO Limited Series at The Playlist.

This is a major coup for HBO — Susanne Bier has signed on to direct all six episodes of The Undoing, the network’s high-profile upcoming limited series starring Nicole Kidman and written by David E. Kelley.

Bier, who also will serve as an executive producer, has been at the top of every network’s list of director choices following her work on The Night Manager, which earned her an Emmy Award. She had been unavailable, working on her feature Bird Box; this marks her first TV commitment since The Night Manager and first for an American TV production. Like the British The Night Manager, The Undoing is a limited series with Bier as the sole director.

An adaptation of Jean Hanff Korelitz’s book You Should Have Known, The Undoing centers on Grace Sachs (Kidman), who is living the only life she ever wanted for herself. She’s a successful...

Emmy-winning director Susanne Bier has signed on to helm the upcoming HBO series “The Undoing.”

Bier will direct all six episodes of the series, which is based on the book “You Should Have Known” by Jean Hanff Korelit, in addition to serving as an executive producer. The series stars and is executive produced by Nicole Kidman.

Bier won the Emmy for best directing for a limited series for AMC’s “The Night Manager,” with Bier having directed all six episodes of that series as well. Her film credits include critically-acclaimed works like “A Second Chance,” “Love Is All You Need,” “In A Better World,” “Things We Lost In The Fire,” “After The Wedding,” “Brothers,” “Once in A Lifetime,” and the upcoming “Bird Box.” She is repped by CAA, Brillstein Entertainment Partners, and Jackoway Tyerman.

In “The Undoing,” Grace Sachs (Kidman) is living the only life she ever wanted for herself.

“The Night Manager” filmmaker Susanne Bier has been set as the director for “The Undoing,” HBO’s next limited series from Nicole Kidman and “Big Little Lies” boss David E. Kelley, an individual with knowledge of production tells TheWrap.

Based on the book “You Should Have Known” by Jean Hanff Korelitz, the six-episode series stars Kidman as Grace Sachs, a loving wife, devoted mother and successful therapist whose life unravels when she makes discoveries about her husband’s past.

Here’s the official logline for the series: Grace Sachs (Kidman) is living the only life she ever wanted for herself. She’s a successful therapist, has a devoted husband and young son who attends an elite private school in New York City. Overnight a chasm opens in her life: a violent death, a missing husband, and, in the place of a man Grace thought she knew, only a chain of terrible revelations.

Cornerstone Films is handling sales on the title in Afm.

Screen can unveil a first look at Mia Wasikowska in Australian actress Mirrah Foulkes’ feature directing debut Judy And Punch.

Cornerstone is handling international sales at Afm on the title and is showing footage at the market. The film is a fictional origin story that turns the classic puppet show on its head. It is a subversive interpretation that sees puppeteers Judy and her husband Punch trying to resurrect their marionette show in an anarchic town on the brink of mob rule.

The Seaside Productions and Vice Studios feature is now in post-production.

As Playlist readers are quick to point out, most English-language remakes of foreign films are often pointless. If you want to see the best, perhaps most pure, version of a film, watch the original. But yet, we live in a world where English-language remakes are still all the rage, and sometimes, just sometimes, they become something special in their own right.

Continue reading First Look At Julianne Moore In The Remake Of Academy Award-Nominated Film ‘After The Wedding’ at The Playlist.

Julianne Moore holds back the tears in this exclusive first look from After the Wedding, Bart Freundlich’s English-language reimagining of Susanne Bier’s Oscar-nominated 2006 Danish drama.

The film — also starring Michelle Williams, Billy Crudup and Abby Quinn — follows the struggling director of an Indian orphanage whose past comes back to visit her after accepting an invitation to New York to the wedding of the daughter of a multi-millionaire potential benefactor.

Presented by Ingenious Media, Rock Island Films and Riverstone Pictures, After the Wedding ­— currently in postproduction — is being produced by Joel B. Michaels.

In Bier’...

Billy Crudup and Gugu Mbatha-Raw are set to co-star opposite Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Aniston and Steve Carell in Apple’s untitled morning show drama series.

Written by Kerry Ehrin based on an original idea by Media Res’ Michael Ellenberg and directed by Mimi Leder, the yet untitled series provides an inside look at the lives of the people who help America wake up in the morning, exploring the unique challenges faced by the women (and men) who carry out this daily televised ritual.

Tony winner Crudup will play Cory Ellison, the forward-thinking president of the news division at the network. Mbatha-Raw plays Hannah Shoenfeld, the whip-smart and charming head booker of talent.

Ehrin, who serves as showrunner, and Leder executive produce alongside Aniston and Kristin Hahn through Echo Films; Witherspoon and Lauren Levy Neustadter through Hello Sunshine; and Ellenberg through Media Res,...

Exclusive: The cast is of Little Women is coming together as production on this film is slated to being this month. Actress Abby Quinn has come aboard the latest adaptation from Greta Gerwig and Sony Pictures. Quinn will play Annie who, in the classic Louisa May Alcott novel, was Meg’s fashionable and wealthy friend.

She joins an impressive cast list that includes Meryl Streep, Timothee Chalamet, Saoirse Ronan, Laura Dern, Chris Cooper, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Eliza Scanlon, James Norton, Louis Garrel, and Bob Odenkirk.

Former Sony Chair Amy Pascal, Denise Di Novi, and Robin Swicord are producing. Andrea Giannetti will oversee the production for Columbia Pictures.

Quinn recently starred in the Gillian Robespierre-directed comedy Landline and will soon be seen in Paramount’s Bumblebee standalone film and After The Wedding, which stars Michelle Williams and Julianne Moore

She’s repped by CAA and Rebecca Kitt and Associates.

Michelle Williams will star as the late astronaut Christa McAuliffe in the drama “The Challenger,” centered on the 1986 Space Shuttle disaster.

Producers are John and Art Linson, and Argent Pictures’ Ben Renzo. Martin Zandvliet will direct “The Challenger” from Jayson Rothwell’s script. Argent partners Jill Ahrens, Ryan Ahrens, Drew Brees, Tony Parker, Michael Finley, and Derrick Brooks are executive producing the pic. Production is expected to start in May.

The tragedy took place when the Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, killing all seven crew members, including McAuliffe.

McAuliffe was a New Hampshire high school teacher who was selected to join Nasa’s Teacher in Space Project, and had been planning to conduct experiments and teach lessons from the Space Shuttle Challenger. She was posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor in 2004.

Williams has been nominated for Academy Awards for “Brokeback Mountain,” “Blue Valentine,” “My Week With Marilyn,...

Exclusive: Michelle Williams is set to star as Christa McAuliffe in The Challenger, a feature film about the 1986 space shuttle tragedy being produced by John and Art Linson and Argent Pictures’ Ben Renzo. Land of Mine director Martin Zandvliet will direct the biopic of sorts that is penned by Jayson Rothwell. A May 2019 production start is being eyed.

The Challenger will follow the true story of McAuliffe, a New Hampshire high school teacher who was selected to join Nasa’s Teacher in Space Project. She eventually became part of the astronaut crew on the Space Shuttle Challenger, which launched from Cape Canaveral on January 28, 1986. The shuttle exploded 73 seconds after takeoff, on live TV, killing all seven aboard.

McAuliffe’s memory and mission left a lasting impression and legacy on her family, community and teachers worldwide. Many schools have been named in her honor, and she posthumously received the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.

“We are more than humbled and extremely grateful for the opportunity to help tell the story of Christa McAuliffe and the Challenger mission,” Renzo said. “Christa McAuliffe’s legacy deserves the strength, courage, experience and humanity that Michelle Williams brings to the role. The entire Argent team is honored and eager to responsibly capture and share the events and personal journeys of those surrounding this important historical moment with audiences around the world to help remember and further appreciate the sacrifices Christa and rest of the Challenger crew made to further our journey into space.”

Argent partners Jill Ahrens, Ryan Ahrens, Drew Brees, Tony Parker, Michael Finley and Derrick Brooks are executive producing.

Williams, a four-time Oscar nominee including most recently as Supporting Actress for 2017’s Manchester By the Sea, is next up on the big screen in Sony’s Venom opposite Tom Hardy and Riz Ahmed. It opens wide Friday.

She also just wrapped production on Bart Freundlich’s After the Wedding with Julianne Moore, and now has now started work on FX’s eight-episode limited series starring Sam Rockwell as Bob Fosse and Williams as Gwen Verdon. That project hails from Hamilton’s Lin-Manuel Miranda and Thomas Kail, Dear Evan Hansen‘s Steven Levenson, Fox 21 TV Studios and FX Productions.

Williams is repped by Wme, Brillstein Entertainment and Bloom, Hergott.

A24 has acquired U.S. rights to “Gloria Bell” from FilmNation Entertainment and is planning a spring 2019 release, Variety has learned.

The deal comes in advance of the film’s world premiere next month at the Toronto International Film Festival. It had been expected to be one of the hotter titles available at the Canadian film gathering.

The film stars Julianne Moore and John Turturro. It is an English-language remake of Chilean director Sebastián Lelio’s 2013 breakout feature film “Gloria.” The plot centers on a free-spirited divorcée (Moore) who spends her days at a straight-laced office job and her nights on the dance floors of various Los Angeles clubs. After meeting Arnold (Turturro) on a night out, she finds herself thrust into an unexpected new romance.

A24 has built a reputation for backing edgy, auteur-driven fare. The indie studio nabbed the Oscar for best picture for 2016’s “Moonlight,” and has...

Michelle Williams is set to star in and produce “This is Jane” for Amazon Studios, sources familiar with the project told TheWrap on Tuesday.

The film, based on the Laura Kaplan’s book “The Story of Jane: The Legendary Underground Feminist Abortion Service,” will tell the true story of a Chicago woman who founded and ran Jane, an underground abortion service.

Kimberly Peirce (“Boys Don’t Cry”) will direct and John Lesher (“Birdman”) will co-produce the film.

Jane was a group in the late ’60s and early ’70s run by women who taught themselves how to perform abortions before Roe v. Wade made it legal. They helped more than 11,000 women get access to services denied by the medical community. Williams will play the role of Jenny, who founded Jane.

Williams...

Exclusive: Michelle Williams has been set by Amazon Studios to star in and produce This Is Jane, the true story of a Chicago woman who founded and ran the underground abortion service Jane. Kimberly Peirce is directing, and John Lesher, Williams and Peter Heller are producing.

The drama is based on Laura Kaplan’s nonfiction book The Story of Jane: The Legendary Underground Feminist Abortion Service. Jane was run by a group of women who taught themselves how to perform abortions in the years before Roe v. Wade. From 1968-73, they helped more than 11,000 women by providing safe – albeit illegal – services denied by the medical establishment. They also provided health education and counseling. Williams will play the role of Jane founder, known as Jenny.

Williams can currently be seen starring opposite Amy Schumer in the Stx Comedy I Feel Pretty, and she stars opposite Tom Hardy and Riz Ahmed in...