Billions

EXCLUSIVE: Robert Eggers and his The Lighthouse star Willem Dafoe have found their next project on which to collaborate, with Dafoe in talks to join Eggers’ Nosferatu at Focus Features. Lily Rose-Depp, Bill Skarsgard and Nicholas Hoult already are on board, with Eggers writing and directing. Jeff Robinov, John Graham, Eggers, Chris Columbus and Eleanor Columbus are producing. In the new reimagining, Nosferatu is a gothic tale of obsession between a haunted young woman (Depp) in 19th century Germany and the ancient Transylvanian vampire (Skarsgard) who stalks her, bringing untold horror with him. Focus had no comment on the project. It is unknown who Dafoe will be playing. Not only does the project reunite Eggers and Dafoe, who worked together on The Lighthouse and The Northman, the project is a full-circle moment for Dafoe, who earned an Oscar nomination playing the Nosferatu creature in Shadow of the Vampire. Dafoe’s upcoming projects include two … [Read more...] about Willem Dafoe And Robert Eggers Eye Reunion On The Director’s ‘Nosferatu’

EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros Pictures Group has inked a multi-year first-look directing and producing agreement with two-time Oscar-nominated filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan , whose movies have grossed $3.3 billion at the box office. In a career spanning four decades, Shyamalan has the rare distinction of having film open at No. 1 in each of those decades. Most recently, he saw his seventh No. 1 opening at the box office with Universal’s Knock at the Cabin, which currently counts $40 million worldwide off a $20M production cost. The pact with Shyamalan comes amid a string of talent deals made recently by Warner Bros. Pictures Group co-chairs and CEOs Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy; previous first looks include with Akiva Goldsman’s Weed Road as well as two-time Oscar-nominated filmmaker Baz Luhrmann , both first reported by Deadline. Under the new agreement, Shyamalan and his Philadelphia-based production company Blinding Edge Pictures, run by president of production … [Read more...] about M. Night Shyamalan Signs Multi-Year First-Look Deal at Warner Bros, Sets ‘Trap’ At Studio

It looked like a good week for Fox News on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver today as the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and uncertainty in the financial world replaced the searing revelations resulting from Dominion Voting’s lawsuit against the Rupert Murdoch-owned cable newser on the HBO series. Well, at least for a while. Promising “not to bore you with every little detail,” Oliver proceeded to rip and tear into the intricacies of investing in long term Treasury bonds and the losses piled up by the now failed Santa Clara, CA based bank as interest rates have risen over the past year or so. “It’s essentially a classic story of a bank doing a lousy job of judging and hedging against risk,” the multi-Emmy winner stated. And then, while that prickly lawsuit and embarrassing text chains by Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity weren’t in the spotlight, Oliver went right back to taking a whack at the Fox News piñata. “That is so stupid, I’m almost … [Read more...] about John Oliver Guts SVB & Signature Bank Collapses, & Yes, There’s Another Fox News Shiv Too

Ratification of the new three-year WGA film and TV contract has been overwhelmingly — almost unanimously — approved by members of the WGA East and West, bringing to a close Hollywood’s most contentious contract struggle in a decade. Of the 3,647 valid votes cast there were 3,617 “yes” votes (99.2%) and 30 “no” votes (.8%). There were 9,441 eligible voters. The term of the agreement is from May 2, 2017 through May 1, 2020 . “Our success in these negotiations was due to a highly engaged and dedicated membership, working in tandem with a tireless and informed Negotiating Committee and an extraordinary Guild staff. We achieved new and significant gains that will help today’s writers even as they benefit the next generation,” said WGAW President Howard A. Rodman and WGAE President Michael Winship. “Our thanks go out to all of those who contributed to the process and to the thousands of our fellow writers who participated in the strike authorization and ratification votes.” … [Read more...] about WGA Ratifies New Film & TV Contract

Saudi Cultural Development Fund has officially launched its Film Sector Financing Program , offering financial support to local and international film companies that want to get involved in the country’s burgeoning cinema industry. The initiative, with a portfolio of $233 million (879M Saudi Riyal), was first unveiled in early 2022 as part of the country’s $1.1 billion IGNITE Digital Content Program, then teased again during the Red Sea International Film Festival in Jeddah in December. The program officially launched against the backdrop of the film-focused the Ignite the Scene event in Riyadh last week, organized by the Saudi Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. The CDF said in a release that the initiative is open to local and international companies and that its aim is to support the growth of a sustainable local film industry by empowering the private sector with financing packages that support local content and promote filmmaking. The … [Read more...] about Saudi Arabia Officially Launches $233M Film Sector Financing Program Aimed At Local & Int’l Companies

All inquiries from members of the press directed to Twitter ’s official press email now receive the same automatic reply: a poop emoji. Elon Musk , who bought the social media company for $44 billion last year, relayed the update on his own Twitter feed over the weekend. The 51-year-old billionaire’s report drew 80,000 likes and thousands of retweets and replies, some of whom posed the rhetorical question of how young Musk must be reveling in a poop joke. (Others noted that the barnyard stance on press relations for such a vast and influential platform is also not exactly the stuff of comedy). Since acquiring Twitter, Musk has elicited rounds of media backlash with several moves, including suspending journalists’ accounts and continually goading the media. “Some of the smartest people I know actively believe the press … amazing,” he wrote last month in one characteristic tweet. Last December, the accounts of journalist Aaron Rupar, commentator Keith Olbermann, … [Read more...] about Twitter Responds To All Email Inquiries From The Press With A Poop Emoji, 51-Year-Old Owner Elon Musk Reports

EXCLUSIVE: Emmy-winning writer/director/producer Karyn Kusama has signed with WME . Kusama currently serves as executive producer on Showtime’s Yellowjackets . The show garnered seven Emmy nominations in 2022, including Outstanding Drama Series and Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for Kusama’s direction of the pilot episode. Kusama previously helmed the Golden Globe-nominated film Destroyer starring Nicole Kidman that was written by her frequent collaborators, Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi. The trio’s banner, Familystyle Film, is currently under a first-look deal with MRC. Her feature credits include indie thriller The Invitation , as well as Jennifer’s Body , Aeon Flux , and her Cannes and Sundance-award winning debut, Girlfight. On the TV side, Kusama has directed episodes for such series as Billions, The Man in the High Castle , Dead Ringers, The Outsider , and The Mysterious Benedict Society, for which she won a Children’s and Family … [Read more...] about WME Signs ‘Yellowjackets’ EP Karyn Kusama

Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Alberto Carvalho issued another plea today for the Service Employees International Union Local 99 to return to the bargaining table in hopes of averting a three-day strike set to begin Tuesday. “We should not be depriving our students of an opportunity to learn,” Carvalho said in a statement Monday morning. “With hours to go, I continue to appeal to union leadership to return to negotiations. We can find a solution that dignifies our workforce and avoids an unnecessary shutdown of schools while protecting the long-term viability of the school system.” The union, however, continued to dig in Monday, vowing to stick to its plans for a three-day walkout of roughly 30,000 service workers, including cafeteria workers, bus drivers, custodians, special education assistants and other workers. The district’s powerful teachers union, United Teachers Los Angeles, has vowed to honor the picket lines, adding another 30,000 employees to … [Read more...] about LAUSD Strike: Public Schools To Close Tuesday As 60,000 L.A. Teachers & Campus Workers Stage Three-Day Walkout

With its contract talks with the AMPTP set to start this morning, the WGA is telling its members in a new video what to expect in the coming weeks amid an expected media blackout on the negotiations. “During these first two weeks, your Negotiating Committee and guild staff will be meeting with the companies’ representatives at the AMPTP headquarters in Sherman Oaks,” Kay Cannon , a member of the guild’s Negotiating Committee, tells members in the video. “We will be focused on presenting our proposals to the studios, and you won’t be hearing from us unless there is something of consequence to report. “There may be rumors or leaks to the press about what is going on in that room. Take these with a grain of salt,” she adds. “They are likely coming from the studios and are intended to scare or distract you, and to undermine our strength at the table. We know it might be frustrating to not know exactly what’s happening in that room when so much is at stake, but we’re just … [Read more...] about As WGA Contract Talks Begin, Union Tells Members What To Expect In Coming Weeks

EXCLUSIVE: Actor/director Tom Cavanagh is into gaming now — specifically, one that involves what you are searching for on Yahoo these days. The star from Ed and The Flash is set to host Hey Yahoo! , a new show for the Game Show Network that’s set to premiere early this summer. The half-hour game features two teams of three players which compete to guess what millions of people are searching for on Yahoo. Contestants are given the first half of a search, and then have to fill in the blank based on what they think America is searching for. For each correct answer, the dollar value of that answer is added to the team’s bank. At the end of three rounds of play, the team with the most money wins and will go on to the bonus round for a chance to add an extra $10,000 to their winnings. “With Hey Yahoo! we’re bringing together friends and family to fill in the blank with a modern twist, based on the billions of searches a year happening on Yahoo Search,” said … [Read more...] about Tom Cavanagh To Host ‘Hey Yahoo!’ For Game Show Network