Noticias

Zorro and Expats are the big shows coming to Prime Video in January. The former is what Amazon are calling a “bold reinterpretation” of the classic hero El Zorro for 2024. Starring Miguel Bernardeau as Diego de la Vega and Renata Notni as Lolita Marquez, it’s definitely an intriguing-sounding action-adventure series, with a ten-episode first season based on the iconic character originally created by Johnston McCulley all the way back in 1919.

Meanwhile, upcoming drama series Expats is based on the bestselling 2016 novel The Expatriates by Janice Y. K. Lee, and follows “the vibrant lives of a close-knit expatriate community” in Hong Kong. Nicole Kidman has been known for picking the right kind of shows to lead in the past, so let’s hope this is another banger for the actress, who is also on board as an executive producer here.

Here’s everything coming to Amazon Prime Video and Freevee this month.

Oscar-winning actor Lupita Nyong’o is stepping into an executive producer role to support Sudan’s second-ever Academy Award international feature film submission, “Goodbye Julia.”

The timely film, directed by Sudanese filmmaker Mohamed Kordofani, takes place just before the 2011 secession of South Sudan and won the Un Certain Regard section’s Prix de Liberté (Freedom Prize) at Cannes.

“‘Goodbye Julia’ is a powerful representation of the conflict happening in Sudan right now, which affects millions of lives across Eastern Africa,” Nyong’o said in a statement. “Mohamed Kordofani and the filmmakers present the issues in a beautiful, deeply personal way. I’m honored to lend my voice to help bring this film’s message to the world.”

Nyong’o, who played played Nakia in Marvel’s “Black Panther” franchise, will next be seen starring in Paramount’s “A Quiet Place” horror franchise spinoff “A Quiet Place: Day One,” written and directed by Michael Sarnoski.

Sudan has submitted Mohamed Kordofani’s Khartoum-set drama Goodbye Julia for Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards.

The film made history in Cannes this year as the first Sudanese film to play in the festival after it was selected for Un Certain Regard.

Its premiere took place just weeks after fighting broke out in Khartoum due to a clash between rival generals, which has led to the deaths of 5,000 people and uprooted seven million people.

Since Cannes, the film has also played at Karlovy Vary in its Horizons section and will make its Mena premiere at Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival in October ahead of a theatrical release in the country on October 25. It has also been selected for the BFI London Film Festival.

The selection was made by the Sudanese National Committee which is operating in exile.

Alaa Karkouti at Mad Solutions, which is handling world sales,...

Oscar-winning All Quiet On The Western Front director Edward Berger told a Venice masterclass on Sunday that he hoped the Hollywood strikes would be resolved soon for the sake of everyone working in the film business.

“I am terrible judge of it because I am not at the heart of that. First of all, the DGA has made a deal with the Producers Guild, the AMPTP and we can continue to work together,” he said when quizzed on his thoughts about the industrial action.

“I hope the two parties can find a common way very soon, and I think it will be very soon, where everyone feel treated fairly and everyone can go home and feel good about what they do and live off it. We’ve had strikes before and they always get resolved.”

Berger was talking in a joint Venice masterclass with Canadian director Philippe Fardeau, organized by the festival’s industry-focused Venice Production Bridge.

The German director also spoke in sympathy for film professionals being impacted collaterally by the strikes as productions are put on hold.

“To me, it’s mainly about the people who now, the grips, the electricians, who are not able to work and need to continue working. I hope we can resolve it soon,” he added.

“Philippe and I are going to be fine. I am sure Margot Robbie is going to be fine if she doesn’t work three months… even the prop rental houses are suffering right now.”

Berger and Fardeau also shared their thoughts about the future of feature film in a multi-platform world.

“It’s always that big question that no one really can answer and my anxiety towards the future cinema, I can’t let that get in the way of creating my next film.” said Fardeau.

“What I know is that literature and theatre has been around for 2,000 years. So those are probably okay. And what we’re really talking about is format and where we look at films.”

Berger picked up on Fardeau’s words.

“He said that wonderful sentence that his anxiety about the state of cinema is not going to keep him from making his next one. There’s going to be a ton of filmmakers who have exactly urge,” he said.

Referring to himself as a “terrible optimist”, Berger pointed to the recent success of Barbie and Oppenheimer and cited Francis Ford Coppola’s celebration of their success.

“I read this wonderful headline by Coppola… they’re two movies that brought people back to the cinema in massive way and they’re wholly original movies,” he said.

The Oscar-winning director named Yorgos Lanthimos’s Venice Golden Lion Contender Poor Things – which is already generating early awards buzz – as another original film with the same potential.

“I saw a movie, Poor Things, here. I’ve never seen anything like that before. It blows my mind. It actually wants to push me away, but pulls me in at the same time and never lets me go until I celebrate it at the end,“ he said.

“I can guarantee you that that film will be super successful because it’s new, it’s different, and we’ve never seen it before and it’s bold,” he said.

Back in the fall of 2003, Femi Oguns — then a working British actor who had appeared in a number of well-known U.K. TV shows — was on the streets of London handing out flyers for his yet-to-open school.

Having felt that his own experience at drama school had been stifled due to his race (he was one of just two non-white students in his year) and that there was a distinct lack of diverse talent in such institutions and a major gap in the market, he decided to launch a part-time alternative. It was to be somewhere, says Oguns — the eldest son of a British-born Nigerian mother and a Nigerian immigrant father — that would give “actors of color and from all different backgrounds the opportunity to celebrate their identity through acting.”

And so, having parked his own on-screen ambitions (although he would star alongside Helen Mirren in Prime Suspect soon after...

Summer isn’t over yet but HBO and its streaming arm Max are already moving on to fall. With its list of new releases for August 2023, Max is focusing on football! The American kind, mind you, not the actually footy kind.

August 2023 sees the release of two major football documentaries on HBO and Max. The first is the premiere of Hard Knocks on Aug. 10. The new season of long-running NFL training camp docuseries will center on the New York Jets, new employers of legendary quarterback Aaron Rodgers. On Aug. 23, Max will air the aptly named Bs High. The doc tells the stranger-than-fiction story of high school football team Bishop Sycamore, which pulled off one of the more notable sports scams you’re likely to ever hear about.

Not of the football variety but in keeping with the North American sports theme will be season 2 of Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty on Aug.

DeVaughn Nixon, Quincy Isaiah, and Delante Desouza in ‘Winning Time’ season 2 (Photograph by Warrick Page/HBO)

Hard Knock‘s new season focusing on the New York Jets and the second season of the original drama Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty join Max’s August 2023 lineup, along with Tracy Morgan’s latest comedy special. August’s schedule also includes the season finales of And Just Like That… and Warrior.

Rap Sh!t season two premieres on August 10th, and the new half-hour young adult animated series Adventure Time: Fionna & Cake arrives on August 31st.

Series & Films Arriving On Max In August 2023:

August 1

A Hologram for the King (2016)

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)

A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge (1985)

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)

A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988)

A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child...

Sudanese director Mohamed Kordofani’s feature debut “Goodbye Julia,” a timely morality tale that takes place just before the 2011 secession of South Sudan and won the Un Certain Regard section’s Prix de Liberté (Freedom Prize) at Cannes, has scored a raft of sales following its launch.

The first Sudanese film ever to screen in Cannes official selection, “Goodbye Julia” is the story of two women — one from the North, the other from the South — who are brought together by fate in a complex relationship that attempts to reconcile differences between northern and southern Sudanese communities in the currently war-ravaged country.

After being picked up by Arp Sélection for France just ahead of its Cannes world premiere in May, the well-received drama has now been sold by pan-Arab distributor Mad Solutions – which moved into international distribution with this title – to the following territories: Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands (September Film...

Exclusive: Egyptian-u.S. company Ambient Light has acquired North American sales rights for Sudanese director Mohamed Kordofani’s Cannes Un Certain Regard title Goodbye Julia, and is teaming with CAA to find North American distribution.

Egyptian producer and director Ali El Arabi’s Cairo and L.A.-based company Ambient Light is one of a number of co-producers on the film alongside lead producer Amjad Abu Alala, who works under the banner of Station Films.

El Arabi is best known internationally for his feature documentary Captains of Za’atari, about two Syrian boys growing up in a refugee camp in Jordan with dreams of becoming soccer stars, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2021.

The film was handled internationally by Dogwoof, which sold the film to Utopia for the U.S.

El Arabi explains that the lessons he learned through the U.S. distribution of Captains of Za’atari...

Khartoum-set drama Goodbye Julia will make history in Cannes this year as the first Sudanese film to play in the festival across its 76 editions.

Director Mohamed Kordofani belongs to a wave of filmmakers that emerged in the wake of Sudan’s 2019 revolution, ending the 30-year rule of dictator Omar al-Bashir.

Efforts to build a civil democracy have since stalled following a military coup in October 2021 led by General Abdel Fattah Abdelrahman al-Burhani, although pro-democracy activists had continued to protest until recently.

The rift between al-Burhani and rival General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo has dealt a fresh blow as their respective forces clash in Khartoum, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to flee in recent weeks

Goodbye Julia is not focused on Sudan’s recent history, but rather on events leading up to the 2011 South Sudan Independence referendum, in which 99% of the Southerners polled voted in favor of the region seceding from the north.

Mohamed Kordofani’s debut feature will premiere in Un Certain Regard.

Pan-Arab outfit Mad Solutions is moving into international sales and has acquired worldwide rights to Mohamed Kordofani’s debut feature Goodbye Julia, the first Sudanese film ever to be selected by the Cannes Film Festival.

The film will receive its world premiere in the Un Certain Regard section of the festival, which announced its lineup today.

Set in Khartoum ahead of Sudan’s division into two separate countries in 2011, the drama explores the differences between their two populations through two women hailing from the north and south of the country.

Reese Witherspoon has been appearing in feature movies since 1991 and some of her best movies cover popular comedies to critically acclaimed Academy Award winners. Whether it's depicting real-life figures, completely original and relatable protagonists, or bubbly women who are never caricatures, Witherspoon has proven herself to be a talented actor with incredible range. Many may remember Witherspoon first from her appearance in The Man in the Moon as Dani Trant and since then, she has been frequently working and producing multiple projects a year. It’s a testament to her ability that she can jump in and out of demanding parts with little time in between.

Witherspoon has worked in rom-coms to hard dramas with notable directors and actors and has earned a trove of awards. She has been nominated twice for Academy Awards (winning once in 2006), four times for Golden Globes for acting in film (winning in 2006), and twice...

Exclusive: Cast has been set on Finding Forever, a UK romantic-comedy from writer-director Clare Anyiam-Osigwe.

Arnold Oceng (The Good Lie), Vanessa Donovan (The Truth) Tim Reid (Swagger) Brandi Harvey and Femi Oyeniran (The Intent 2: The Come Up) will lead the pic, which is set in a gospel church in London.

The story follows three best friends at different stages in their respective relationships: one is a serial dater (Oyeniran); another is in a fledgling marriage (Philips Nortey); and another is a bachelor (Oceng) newly engaged to Destiny (Donovan). Things take a turn as pressures from work and a nagging fiancée tip the groom over the edge.

Also joining cast are Georgia Curtis (Black Widow), Winston Ellis (No Time To Die), Ellen Thomas (Johnny English Reborn), Verona Rose, Vincent Jerome (Wonder Woman), Evelyn Duah (It’s A Sin), Kane L Pearson (Small Axe), Adi Alfa (The Intent), Wil Johnson (Fedz), Judith Jacob (No Shade), Frankie Clarence,...

LeBron James might be out of the NBA playoffs, but he’s still angling to be a big part of the summer entertainment season. That’s because HBO Max’s list of new releases for July 2021 is highlighted by a very special sequel.

Space Jam: A New Legacy premieres on July 16. will find LeBron teaming up with the Looney Tunes in a Warner Bros. IP-extravaganza. Can ‘Bron and the Looney Tunes beat the Goon Squad before Warner Bros.’ server steals LeBron “Bronny” Jr.’s soul (or something)? Let’s hope so. The two other major WB releases this month, No Sudden Move and Tom and Jerry in New York, both come to HBO Max on July 1.

HBO Max is also bringing some fun TV shows to its stream this month. The long-awaited Gossip Girl revival premieres on July 8. That will be followed by Mike White’s satirical limited series The White Lotus...

Summer is officially here and with it comes a surfeit of new movies and television shows available on HBO Max. Next month, the WarnerMedia streaming service will debut the long-awaited sequel to “Space Jam” with Lebron James taking the baton from Michael Jordan and the latest heist movie from Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh. But while those titles arrive, others depart, including “The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It” and “In the Heights.”

Ahead, highlights of the month ahead on HBO Max, plus the full list of July programming.

“No Sudden Move” (July 1): Directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring Don Cheadle, Benicio Del Toro, David Harbour, Kieran Culkin, Jon Hamm, Ray Liotta, and “Uncut Gems” breakout Julia Fox, among others, the heist thriller is set in 1950s Detroit and “enters on a group of small-time criminals who are hired to steal what they think is a simple document. When their plan goes horribly wrong,...

"You keep saying you want to write - but you work long hours for other authors." IFC Films has unveiled a new official trailer for the US release of My Salinger Year, a quirky new literary drama from Quebecois filmmaker Philippe Falardeau. This premiered at last year's Berlin Film Festival and is now opening in March. Based on the international best-selling novel, My Salinger Year follows Joanna a young aspiring writer who lands a job at J.D. Salinger's literary agency in New York City. She is assigned the tedious task of responding to the piles of fan mail that Salinger receives. Starring Margaret Qualley as Joanna, Sigourney Weaver as her boss, and a small cast including Douglas Booth, Seána Kerslake, Brían F. O'Byrne, Théodore Pellerin, Yanic Truesdale, Hamza Haq, and Colm Feore. It's a solid film about the relentless passion of writers. Here's the second trailer (+ ...

"Don't get stuck answering the phone, Joanne. You're a poet!" Mongrel Media in Canada has revealed the first Canadian trailer for an indie literary drama titled My Salinger Year, the latest film from Quebecois filmmaker Philippe Falardeau. Based on the international best-selling novel, My Salinger Year follows Joanna a young aspiring writer who lands a job at J.D. Salinger's literary agency in New York City. She is assigned the tedious task of responding to the piles of fan mail that Salinger receives. Starring Margaret Qualley as Joanna, Sigourney Weaver as her boss, also joined by Douglas Booth, Seána Kerslake, Brían F. O'Byrne, Théodore Pellerin, Yanic Truesdale, Hamza Haq, and Colm Feore. I caught this at Berlinale earlier in the year, and it's a solid film, an nice ode to writers and the mind it takes to be someone "extraordinary". Here's the official trailer (+ poster) for Philippe ...

Producer Bill Pohlad’s River Road Entertainment on Monday named veteran producer Kim Roth as co-president and chief financial officer of the company.

The move came as part of a major reorganization at the production company, which also promoted Christa Zofcin Workman to co-president and chief operating officer.

“I am incredibly excited to re-energize River Road and its mission as a filmmaker-friendly home to extraordinary creative projects as well as a developer and producer of its own home-grown material,” Pohlad said in a statement. “So much is changing in the industry and in the world, but we remain optimistic and excited to have Kim and Christa leading River Road into the future.”

Also Read: 'Jurassic World: Dominion' to Resume Production at UK Pinewood Studios by Early July

Roth, who spent 16 years at Ron Howard and Brian Grazer’s Imagine Entertainment, joins River Road from Macro, a multi-platform media...

Exclusive: Bill Pohlad’s River Road Entertainment has hired veteran producer Kim Roth as Co-President and Chief Creative Officer and promoted Christa Zofcin Workman to Co-President and Chief Operating Officer, Deadline has learned.

Roth and Workman will work alongside each other to implement the vision and drive the overall strategy for the Oscar-lauded 12 Years a Slave and The Tree of Life studio, including developing and nurturing strategic partnerships within the industry. Roth will oversee the development and production of projects, while providing management and direction to the creative team. Workman will continue to oversee business operations, legal affairs and management of the company’s intellectual property.

“I am incredibly excited to re-energize River Road and its mission as a filmmaker-friendly home to extraordinary creative projects as well as a developer and producer of its own home-grown material,” said Pohlad. “So much is changing in the industry and in the world,...

A young secretary and aspiring writer's coming of age in the New York literary world of the 1990s is the subject of My Salinger Year, based on the successful 2014 memoir by Joanna Rakoff.

French-Canadian writer-director Philippe Falardeau, whose Monsieur Lazhar was nominated for an Oscar and who also directed the Reese Witherspoon vehicle The Good Lie, tackles the material with more enthusiasm than efficiency, as his protagonist has to figure out what she wants out of life on both the professional and private fronts while dealing with all the fan mail of the notoriously reclusive J.D. Salinger at an ...

A young secretary and aspiring writer's coming of age in the New York literary world of the 1990s is the subject of My Salinger Year, based on the successful 2014 memoir by Joanna Rakoff.

French-Canadian writer-director Philippe Falardeau, whose Monsieur Lazhar was nominated for an Oscar and who also directed the Reese Witherspoon vehicle The Good Lie, tackles the material with more enthusiasm than efficiency, as his protagonist has to figure out what she wants out of life on both the professional and private fronts while dealing with all the fan mail of the notoriously reclusive J.D. Salinger at an ...

Philippe Falardeau-directed drama to world premiere in Berlin.

The 70th Berlin International Film Festival is to open with Philippe Falardeau’s My Salinger Year, starring Sigourney Weaver and Margaret Qualley.

The Canadian-Irish co-production is based on the international bestseller of the same name by Us author Joanna Rakoff and will receive its world premiere at the Berlinale Palast on February 20.

Memento Films International is handling international sales, with UTA handling the Us.

Set in the literary world of New York in the 1990s, the story is about an aspiring poet, played by Qualley (Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood...

The 70th edition of the Berlinale will open with Philippe Falardeau’s anticipated “My Salinger Year,” headlined by a powerful female duo, Sigourney Weaver and Margaret Qualley.

Set in New York’s literary world in the 90’s, the coming-of-age story is based on Joanna Rakoff’s international bestseller and follows Joanna (Qualley), who leaves graduate school to pursue her dream of becoming a writer and gets hired as an assistant to Margaret (Weaver), the stoic and old-fashioned literary agent of J. D. Salinger.

Fluctuating between poverty and glamour, Joanna spends her days in a plush office and her nights in a sink-less Brooklyn apartment with her socialist boyfriend.

“We are delighted to open the 70th edition of the festival with a coming-of-age story that takes the viewpoint of the protagonist who has a fresh perspective, which is in no way naïve,” said Carlo Chatrian, the new artistic director of the Berlin Film Festival.

The Berlinale Special Gala of My Salinger Year by writer-director Philippe Falardeau will open the 70th Berlin Film Festival on February 20, 2020 at the Berlinale Palast.

Three-time Oscar nominee Sigourney Weaver, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood actress Margaret Qualley and Mary Shelley actor Douglas Booth star in the Canadian-Irish co-production about a college grad (Qualley) who takes a clerical job working for the literary agent (Weaver) of the renowned, reclusive writer J.D. Salinger, author of Catcher In The Rye. The film is based on the novel of the same name by U.S. author Joanna Rakoff.

Pic was produced by micro_scope (Canada) and Parallel Films (Ireland). Memento Films International handles international sales and UTA handles U.S. sales.

Berlin artistic director Carlo Chatrian said, “We are delighted to open the 70th edition of the festival with a coming-of-age story that takes the viewpoint of the protagonist who has a fresh perspective,...

Exclusive: TriStar Television is developing Alpha Girls, a Silicon Valley drama series based on Julian Guthrie’s praised new book, Alpha Girls: The Women Upstarts Who Took on Silicon Valley’s Male Culture and Made the Deals of a Lifetime.

The rights deal, orchestrated by producer Cathy Schulman, is said to be TriStar TV’s biggest since TriStar Pictures President Hannah Minghella added oversight of the TV unit in January. Margaret Nagle (The Good Lie) will pen the adaptation for what is being eyed as an ongoing TV series. Schulman executive produces; Guthrie serves as a co-producer.

Schulman’s Welle Entertainment originally landed the rights to the nonfiction book by Guthrie, a New York Times best-selling author and Pulitzer Prize nominee, in 2017 in a bidding war that included Amazon, Universal and Smokehouse, among others.

Alpha Girls, released in May by the Crown Publishing Group, tells the true story of four...

Sigourney Weaver and Margaret Qualley are set to co-star in “My Salinger Year,” the big-screen adaptation of Joanna Rakoff’s international bestseller, which will be directed by Oscar-nominated Canadian director Philippe Falardeau.

Memento Films International (“Call Me by Your Name”) has come on board to handle international sales and is co-representing the U.S. rights with UTA Independent Film Group.

“This is a total crowd-pleaser that will draw a substantial audience,” said Tanja Meissner, head of international sales at Memento. “All the relevant ingredients are assembled: an irresistibly charming and tender story in which ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ meets the literary world.”

“My Salinger Year” will start shooting in Montreal and New York this Spring. Luc Déry and Kim McCraw from micro_scope are producing the film. The Canadian company’s critically acclaimed credits include Denis Villeneuve’s “Incendies” and “Enemy,” as well as Falardeau’s “Monsieur Lazhar,” which was...

Exclusive: Maven Pictures has optioned rights to a biography of Winston Churchill’s influential wife Clementine, written by the youngest of their five children Mary Soames, and have set Emmy-winning writer Margaret Nagle to adapt it into a feature film.

Maven principals Trudie Styler and Celine Rattray are partnering with producer Sayoko Teitelbaum on the project, which has the cooperation of the Soames estate. Nagle won one of her two Emmys for adapting the 2005 HBO movie Warm Springs about another influential statesman, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and his wife Eleanor.

Soames’ book, published in 1979, details her mother’s crucial role in Winston’s political; he often said England winning World War II would have been “impossible without her.” Fiercely independent, Clementine was known for her aid work across both world wars, organizing canteens for munitions workers during Wwi and serving as a chairman of the Red Cross Aid to Russia Fund...

Cyrano de Bergerac retelling to debut on streaming platform this year.

Netflix has pounced on Black Label Media’s high school rom-com Sierra Burgess Is A Loser starring Shannon Purser from Stranger Things.

Ian Samuels makes his feature directorial debut on the Cyrano de Bergerac retelling from a screenplay by Lindsay Beer. The story follows an intelligent teenager who falls into a romantic entanglement over mistaken identity and must team up with the popular girl to win her crush.

Rj Cyler, Kristine Froseth, Noah Centineo, Chrissy Metz, Alan Ruck and Lea Thompson star.

Black Label Media produced and fully financed Sierra Burgess Is A Loser and Black Label’s Molly Smith, Rachel Smith, Trent Luckinbill and Thad Luckinbill serve as producers

Netflix will debut the film on its streaming platform this year and brokered the deal with Endeavor Content.

Black Label Media’s credits include Sicario, 71, The Good Lie, Rebel In The Rye and Begin Again, and it served...

Author: Competitions

To mark the release of The Bleeder on 21st August, we’ve been given 2 copies to give away on Blu-ray.

The Bleeder is the true-life story of Chuck Wepner, a liquor salesman from New Jersey, who went 15 rounds in the stunning 1975 heavyweight world championship against the greatest boxer of all time, Muhammad Ali, and ultimately inspired the billion-dollar Rocky franchise. In his ten years as a boxer, Wepner endured eight broken noses, 14 losses, two knockouts, and a total of 313 stitches. But his toughest fights were outside the ring: living an epic life of booze, drugs, wild women, exemplifying incredible highs and extraordinary lows.

Featuring a fantastic cast led by Liev Schreiber (Spotlight, Ray Donovan) as Chuck, The Bleeder co-stars Naomi Watts (Mulholland Drive), Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men, The Handmaid’s Tale), Ron Perlman (Hellboy) and Jim Gaffigan (The Jim Gaffigan Show) and is directed by Philippe Falardeau (The Good Lie...

Rocky. Rocky II. Rocky III. Rocky IV….I could keep going and somehow we’ll end with Creed, but that doesn’t matter. What does, however, is who Rocky was inspired after, and what that man has to lay claim to fame.

Chuck Wepner is his name. He’s the man that went fifteen rounds in the ring with the man of the hour, Muhammad Ali. Chuck also happens to be the name of the new film coming out about his life in and out of the ring and show business. Directed by Philippe Falardeau (who had previously directed The Good Lie), the film stars Liev Schreiber as Chuck Wepner, Naomi Watts as Linda, Elisabeth Moss as Phyliss, Jim Gaffigan as John, and Ron Perlman as Al Braverman.

Of course, since this is a dramatic version of real life events, it wouldn’t be a film without having Sylvester Stallone...

French-Canadian filmmaker Philippe Falardeau has actually been making movies for almost twenty years, but it wasn’t until about 2011 when he first started getting attention for his drama Monsieur Lazhar, which was nominated for a foreign language Oscar. Falardeau’s 2014 movie The Good Lie, didn’t get much notice despite starring Reese Witherspoon and being released by Warner Bros. Therefore, he hasn’t quite made the waves into Hollywood as his country-mates Denis Villeneuve or Jean-Marc Vallée (Wild).

Undaunted, Falardeau decided to take on the story of Bayonne, New Jersey boxer Chuck Wepner, who famously went up against Ali at the height of his success in the ‘70s and managed to go 15 rounds before the fight was called due to Wepner’s famed “bleeding” during fights. Wepner was alternately known as “The Bayonne Brawler” and “The Bayonne Bleeder.”

The movie Chuck stars Liev Schreiber as the famed boxer who would...

Of course, Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” (Disney) will dominate the box office this weekend. Just like it’s a given that “Avengers: Infinity War” will be Number One on May 4, 2018 and another “Avengers” film will top the charts on May 3, 2019, and so on to infinity and beyond.

This will be the 11th consecutive year that a Marvel title will spark the start of the four-month summer movie season; six were released by Disney. Marvel’s top four opening weekends have all arrived on this date, led by the first two “Avengers” titles.

The date is critical to why the “Guardians” sequel, expected to open to at least a $150 million, will likely open 50 per cent or more above the first one in August 2014 (adjusted to just over $100 million). That was by far the biggest hit of summer 2014 (actual gross $333 million, adjusted $364 million).

“Captain America: Civil War” last year opened to $179 million,...

A subgenre which has had a resurgence in the past few years in the boxing drama. Following Creed, Southpaw, Hands of Stone, and Bleed for This, another will arrive this year with Chuck, once titled The Bleeder when it premiered at Venice International Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival last fall. The latest drama from Philippe Falardeau (Monsieur Lazhar, The Good Lie) stars Liev Schreiber, Elisabeth Moss, and Naomi Watts and follows the life of New Jersey boxer Chuck Wepner who was the inspiration behind Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky character. Ahead of a release this May, IFC Films have now released the first trailer.

We said in our review, “The Bleeder looks a bit familiar. A film of browns and greens; disco music and ‘70s rock tunes; big haircuts and even bigger lapels. Indeed, in a way reminiscent of recent period efforts such as Black Mass and David O. Russell’s last two outings,...

Former Sudanese refugee Ger Duany, who's now an actor and appeared in the 2014 film The Good Lie, is familiar with the plight of refugees.

He moved to the United States as a teenager after spending years in an Ethiopian refugee camp. The 38-year-old is now a U.S. citizen living in New York City, and he spoke with The Hollywood Reporter about President Trump's recent immigration ban.

"I'm very distressed about it," said Duany, adding that he thinks people all over the world are upset about Trump's executive order temporarily barring citizens from seven predominantly Muslim countries, including Sudan, from...

The current crop of acclaimed Quebec filmmakers shooting feature films south of the border speaks to an unprecedented infatuation on Hollywood’s part with French-Canadian directors.

Among the heavy hitters: Jean-Marc Vallée (“Wild,” “The Dallas Buyers Club,” HBO’s upcoming “Big Little Lies”), Philippe Falardeau (“The Bleeder,” “The Good Lie”), Denis Villeneuve (“Arrival,” “Sicario,” the forthcoming “Blade Runner” sequel), not to mention Xavier Dolan, who’s currently shooting his star-studded English-language debut, “The Death and Life of John F. Donovan.”

But there’s another remarkably prolific, genre-bending Montreal filmmaker – an award-winning festival regular who has clocked in nine features, one medium-length production and shorts to spare over the last decade – who’s never shown much enthusiasm about dipping his toes in the American studio system. No matter how many prizes or festival selections his films rack up (Berlin, Cannes, Locarno and Sundance among them) or how many retrospectives film societies program about his work,...

When 54 Sudanese refugees filed a lawsuit in February 2015 against the writers and producers of The Good Lie, a 2014 film starring Reese Witherspoon about those who survived starvation, disease and militia attacks in Darfur to make their way to America, we wrote at the time the dispute was "potentially groundbreaking." Behold now a remarkable decision on Wednesday that could impact the way that research is conducted for feature films based on true stories. The plaintiffs in the case came forward with edgy theories about why, when they sat down with screenwriter Margaret Nagle back in 2003 and shared

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The Reese Witherspoon-aissance has had mixed success so far. The actress produced global hit “Gone Girl,” and won an Oscar nomination for the well-received “Wild,” as well as cropping up in “Inherent Vice;” but “The Good Lie” disappeared without a trace, and this summer’s “Hot Pursuit” failed to give her a comedy smash to sit with earlier films like “Legally Blonde” and “Sweet Home Alabama.” Nevertheless, the actress continues to mix work with top auteurs and self-developed projects, and she’s just found a potential doozy in the second category, as The Hollywood Reporter reveal that the actress is developing a movie, through her Pacific Standard company, about Ruth Handler, the creator of Barbie. The actress has optioned the 2010 Robin Gerber book “Barbie And Ruth: The Story Of The World’s Most Famous Doll And The Woman Who Created Her,” with Witherspoon likely to both produce and star.

Noel Clarke, Arnold Oceng, Ashley Thomas, grime Mc Stormzy among cast.

Shoot is underway in London on writer-director Noel Clarke drama Brotherhood, the third film in the urban trilogy that includes Kidulthood (2006) and Adulthood (2008).

Clarke (Star Trek Into Darkness) will star alongside Adulthood collaborators Arnold Oceng (The Good Lie), Ashley Thomas (Cockneys Vs Zombies) and Red Madrell (We Still Kill The Old Way).

Jason Maza (The Hooligan Factory), Olivia Chenery (Legacy) and grime artist Stormzy – making his feature debut – also star.

The five-week shoot began Nov 23 in west London.

Unstoppable Entertainment and Maggie Monteith’s Carpalla Films produce the drama from BAFTA-winner Clarke, who has written the screenplay and will also direct.

Clarke will reprise his role as protagonist Sam in the continuation of the trilogy while Stormzy will portray new character Yardz. Further plot details are being kept under wraps.

Lionsgate is set to release in the UK in 2016.

Exclusive: The biopic about Chuck Wepner, a Jersey booze salesman and journeyman boxer who at age 35 went 15 rounds with heavyweight champ Muhammad Ali, has rounded out its cast. Jim Gaffigan, Michael Rapaport, Pooch Hall and Morgan Spector are stepping into the ring with The Bleeder for director Philippe Falardeau (The Good Lie). Liev Schreiber is starring as Wepner — a role he has wanted to play for years. Gaffigan plays John Stoehr, the ever-loyal best friend of…...

Macro, the new production and finance outfit launched by former WME partner Charles D. King, has hired producer and Imagine Entertainment veteran Kim Roth as president of production. She will oversee the slate of film and TV projects at the company that continues to ramp up since its launch earlier this year.

Macro recently closed its first round of funding, securing financing from lead investor Emerson Collective, Mnm Creative and others. King’s L.A.-based company, which is focused on content, distribution and engagement for black, Latino and multicultural audiences, has projects in the works from Ryan Coogler and Craig Brewer. It also just made a deal with Dope writer-director Rick Famuyiwa for a thriller about a seemingly unassuming but brilliant kid from New York’s projects who turns out to be the founder of a notorious hacker group.

Roth’s 16-year run at Brian Grazer and Ron Howard...

The story of the everyman who took on Muhammad Ali in a 1975 title fight is being developed for the big screen by the man who highlighted the tale with the 2011 documentary film The Real Rocky. Filmmaker Jeff Feuerzeig is writing the script for The Bleeder, along with Jerry Stahl (Bad Boys II) and Michael Cristofer (Casanova), and Deadline reports that Philippe Falardeau (The Good Lie) is taking the helm. In addition, Liev Schreiber is now confirmed as filling the lead role of professional heavyweight boxer Chuck Wepner, whose lengthy and notable career led to his acquisition of the nickname The Bayonne Bleeder.

The former U.S Marine had a mixed record in terms of successful appearances in the ring, when he got a shot at challenging the already legendary Muhammad Ali for the world’s Heavyweight title – a match that took place on March 24th 1975, at the Richfield Coliseum in Richfield,...

Mandalay Sports Media and Campbell Grobman Films will begin production this month in New York on The Bleeder, with Ray Donovan‘s Liev Schreiber to play heavyweight boxer Chuck Wepner, and Naomi Watts to play his wife Linda. Philippe Falardeau, the Canadian helmer of The Good Lie and the Oscar nominated Monsieur Lazhar, is set to direct a script written by Jeff Feuerzeig & Jerry Stahl and Michael Cristofer. Schreiber, coming off his third season as the title character in…...

Liev Schreiber and his wife Naomi Watts are set to play heavyweight boxer Chuck Wepner and Chuck's wife Linda respectively in "The Bleeder" for Mandalay Sports Media and Campbell Grobman Films.

The story follows the New Jersey liquor salesman and boxer who at age 35 got a shot to fight Muhammad Ali right after the infamous 'Rumble in the Jungle' bout. The 40-1 underdog Wepner surprised everybody when he became only the third man to knock Ali to the canvas.

Ali got up and pummeled Wepne until the fight ended, but Wepner became a folk hero and an inspiration for Sly Stallone's "Rocky" script. The film will also deal with Wepner's sudden fame and hard partying lifestyle.

Philippe Falardeau ("The Good Lie," "Monsieur Lazhar") helms from a script by Jeff Feuerzeig & Jerry Stahl and Michael Cristofer. Schreiber, Mike Tollin, Carl Hampe, Christa Campbell and Lati Grobman are producing and shooting kicks...

Welcome to the ever-shifting and oft-delayed world of indie filmmaking, with projects whipped by the seas of changing fortune and scheduling issues. One film, boxing biopic The Bleeder, has been waiting for its shot in the production ring for nearly four years now and appears to be coming together with a new director, Monsieur Lazhar/The Good Lie’s Philippe Falardeau. Back in 2011, we brought word that Liev Schreiber and Naomi Watts had signed on to star as boxer Chuck Wepner and his wife Linda, cannily going method by becoming a real-life couple in 2005 (all right, not that last bit, though they have been together since then). Wepner got his start in the ring when he boxed as a Us Marine before turning pro, becoming a popular fighter in New Jersey. But he never quite found real fame and fortune, earning the nickname “The Bayonne Bleeder” for some of his more serious injuries,...

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To celebrate release of The Good Lie on DVD, available now, we are giving 3 lucky WhatCulture readers the chance to win 1 of 3 copies courtesy of Entertainment One.

The Good Lie features heart-rendering and powerful performances led by; Oscar® winner Reese Witherspoon (Walk The Line, Wild) as strong and independent employment counsellor, Carrie; Corey Stoll (House Of Cards, Non-Stop) as Carrie’s boss and ex-husband, Jack; Arnold Oceng (My Brother The Devil, Adulthood) as ‘The Chief’ orphan, Mamere; Ger Duany (I Heart Huckabees, Isn’t It Delicious) as his orphan brother, Jeremiah; Emmanuel Jal (Africa United, War Child) as his other orphan brother, Paul; Sarah Baker (Tammy, The Campaign) as Carrie’s acquaintance and volunteer, Pamela; and introducing Kuoth Wiel as Abital, the orphan sister of “The Lost Boys”.

They were known simply as “The Lost Boys”. Orphaned during the Sudanese Civil War, a group of young refugees are given...

To mark the release of The Good Lie on 31st August, we’ve been given 3 copies ot give away on Blu-ray. The Good Lie features heart-rendering and powerful performances led by: Oscar® winner Reese Witherspoon (Walk The Line, Wild) as strong and independent employment counsellor, Carrie; Corey Stoll (House Of Cards, Non-Stop) as Carrie’s boss

The post Win The Good Lie on Blu-ray appeared first on HeyUGuys.

It's a good time to be a filmmaker from Quebec these days. With the international successes of the Quebecois directors- Denis Villeneuve (Incendies, Prisoners, Sicario and tapped to direct upcoming Blade Runner sequel), Jean-Marc Vallée (C.R.A.Z.Y., Dallas Buyer's Club, Wild), Philippe Falardeau (Monsieur Lazhar, The Good Lie), Quebec is once again recognized as a great incubator for cinematic talent. I discovered director/musician Stéphane Lafleur at this year's New Directors/New Films series. His lovely film Tu dors Nicole had me searching for all his previous films. Unlike the above mentioned directors, Lafleur possesses altogether different sensibilities: his droll, absurd humor and portrayal of loneliness are often akin to that of many Scandinavian filmmakers or Urlich Seidl or even early Tsai Ming-Liang. I had a chance to...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

You’ve no doubt heard about how Reese Witherspoon has re-engineered herself.

Last year, the actor known for her bubbly screen presence produced two decidedly sober dramas based on the bestsellers Gone Girl and Wild. The former was a hit that tapped into the angst surrounding modern relationships, and the latter not only earned Witherspoon a Best Actress Oscar nomination (she played the lead), but let her do things on screen that America’s former sweetheart had never done before, like appearing nude and taking drugs.

Combine those producing efforts with serious turns in recent films like Mud, Devil’s Knot, The Good Lie and Inherent Vice, and it looks like, at 39, Witherspoon is determined to do away with the funny blonde persona that made her a star.

Well, looks can be deceiving.

If you don't believe awards season runs 365 days a year look no further than the news today that Alcon Entertainment has acquired the U.S. rights to "The 33."  Based on the Copiapó mining accident in 2010, the new drama centers on 33 minters who were trapped for 69 days in a collapsed copper-gold mine in Northern Chile.  Their plight captured the attention of the world and, surprise, Hollywood came calling.  Independently financed by Phoenix Pictures and Half Circle, "33" is being distributed in Chile by 20th Century Fox, but not in the U.S. The news Alcon came on board and Warner Bros. will distribute makes this a somewhat unusual story. Alcon announced that WB will release "The 33" on Nov. 13 which is smack dab in the middle of Oscar season.  Warner Bros. marketing and publicity teams have three other films that are expected to be awards players; Scott Cooper's "Black Mass," Jeff Nichols...

Don’t write off Reese Witherspoon’s new Sudanese refugee drama as a mawkish, liberal Hollywood vanity project – it’s much more than that

Related: Reese Witherspoon: five best moments

I didn’t hold out much hope for Reese Witherspoon and The Good Lie. It comes from the same company, Alcon Entertainment, that gave us Sandra Bullock’s 2009 Oscar-baiter The Blind Side, and from a distance it looked as if it might traffic in more of the same: white ladies being heroically nice to unpromising black kids in big trouble, with a side order of all-out assault on the tear-ducts.

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