EXCLUSIVE: The Gotham Group , which most recently produced Disney+’s Stargirl based on the bestselling novel, has made its latest book deal. It has optioned Christina Hammonds Reed’s upcoming debut YA novel The Black Kids , setting Rafiki helmer Wanuri Kahiu to direct and Allison Davis to adapt it. The novel, to be published September 1 via Simon & Schuster, is a coming-of-age story of a wealthy African-American teenager whose family gets caught in the vortex of the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Kahiu’s previous film Rafiki was banned in her native Kenya for a time ahead of its world premiere at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, where it made history as the first Kenyan film selected. It explored LGBTQ issues in a country that criminalizes homosexual acts between consenting adults. The film’s success helped Kahiu land gigs in the U.S. Now managed by Gotham Group, she is also set to direct Millie Bobby Brown in The Thing About Jellyfish for Made Up Stories, … [Read more...] about ‘Rafiki’ Helmer Wanuri Kahiu To Direct Gotham Group’s YA Adaptation ‘The Black Kids’
Harry styles one direction
BFI Sets $16m Cash Award To Fund New UK-Wide Film Education Strategy
The BFI today announced that it will hand out $16m (£14m) of National Lottery ‘good cause’ funding over three years to enhance film education for 5-18 year-olds across the UK. The cash award will be given to two UK-wide partners to deliver three targeted initiatives: BFI National Lottery Teaching with Film, BFI National Lottery Young Creatives, and BFI National Lottery Careers and Progression. Into Film, receiving $15m (£12.4m) over three years will work across all three programs, and National Saturday Club will receive $1.8 (£1.5m) for the same period to collaborate with Into Film to deliver Young Creatives. The BFI has said the $6m (£5m) award for Teaching with Film will result in a change of strategic focus for Into Film, the film education charity, seeing it prioritize introducing film education as a learning tool to be utilized across the entire school curriculum. Meanwhile, the $7m (£6m) Careers and Progression program will aim to provide and bolster the access … [Read more...] about BFI Sets $16m Cash Award To Fund New UK-Wide Film Education Strategy
Barbra Streisand’s First Memoir, ‘My Name Is Barbra’, Set For Fall Release
In a first-time first-person account of her life and career, legendary singer, actress, director and producer Barbra Streisand will publish her memoir, My Name is Barbra , on November 7, 2023 via Penguin Random House imprint Viking. The Penguin Group made it official on Tuesday, calling the tome “engrossing and delightful.” There have been dozens of books written about the now 80-year-old artist, but this will be the first to tell her story in her own words. And by account, it’s a lot of words. Pre-order listings have it clocking in at 1,040 pages. Fitting for a woman whose groundbreaking career has spanned six decades and included two Oscars, five Emmys, 10 Grammys, 11 Golden Globes and a Tony as well as countless other awards. Streisand is among the handful of EGOT winners and has one of the most recognizable voices in the history of popular music. She has been nominated for a Grammy 46 times. Her first Oscar was for Best Actress, in a breakout performance as … [Read more...] about Barbra Streisand’s First Memoir, ‘My Name Is Barbra’, Set For Fall Release
‘Blue Jean’: Read The Screenplay For Georgia Oakley’s BAFTA Nominated Debut
Editor’s note : Deadline’s Read the Screenplay series debuts and celebrates the scripts of films factoring in this year’s movie awards races. For her debut feature, filmmaker Georgia Oakley returns to 1980s Britain as Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government has introduced Section 28, a clause of the Local Government Act that seeks to prohibit “the promotion of homosexuality” by local authorities across the United Kingdom. At the time, protests were rife, but many gay women and men felt compelled to keep their sexuality a secret. Blue Jean , written and directed by Oakley, follows Jean, a school gym teacher who keeps her sexuality a secret from her colleagues. The threat is immediate and real: if exposed, her love life could cost her her job. However, Jean finds little sympathy from her girlfriend, Viv. Out and proud, Viv is part of a cooperative of similarly assertive lesbian women. Viv regards secrecy as a capitulation to an increasingly oppressive system. As … [Read more...] about ‘Blue Jean’: Read The Screenplay For Georgia Oakley’s BAFTA Nominated Debut
Haley Bennett First Image In Champagne Drama ‘Clicquot’ Revealed As WME Independent Sets EFM Sales Launch
EXCLUSIVE: WME Independent has unveiled the first image of Haley Bennett in the upcoming 19th Century champagne drama Clicquot ahead of launching sales on the title at the European Film Market . Bennett stars in the titular role of Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin Clicquot, who is popularly known in France as the “Grande Dame of Champagne”. This real-life historic figure defied convention to take over her late husband’s fledgling wine business in Reims in 1805 after being widowed at the age of 27. The production, announced on Deadline last year, is based on the 2008 novel The Widow Clicquot: The Story of a Champagne Empire and the Woman Who Ruled It by Tilar J. Mazzeo. Filming took place the French regions of Chablis and Reims last fall. Thomas Napper ( Jawbone) directs from a screenplay by Erin Dignam ( Land, Submergence ) and Christopher Monger ( Temple Grandin ). Other previously announced cast members include Tom Sturridge (DC Comics and … [Read more...] about Haley Bennett First Image In Champagne Drama ‘Clicquot’ Revealed As WME Independent Sets EFM Sales Launch
‘Presumed Innocent’: Renate Reinsve, Peter Sarsgaard & O-T Fagbenle Join Apple TV+ Limited Series
EXCLUSIVE : Renate Reinsve ( The Worst Person in the World ), Peter Sarsgaard ( Dopesick ), and O-T Fagbenle ( The Handmaid’s Tale ) have joined the main cast of Presumed Innocent , Apple TV+ ’s upcoming limited series from David E. Kelley, J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot and Warner Bros. TV, where the company is based. They join previously cast Jake Gyllenhaal, who also executive produces, Ruth Negga, Bill Camp and Elizabeth Marvel. Inspired by Scott Turow’s courtroom thriller, Presumed Innocent is the story of a horrific murder that upends the Chicago Prosecuting Attorneys’ office when one of its own is suspected of the crime. The book was published in 1987 and was turned into a 1990 feature starring Harrison Ford in the role Gyllenhaal is taking on. As reimagined by Kelley, who is an attorney by trade, Presumed Innocent the TV series will be exploring obsession, sex, politics, and the power and limits of love, as the accused fights to hold his family and … [Read more...] about ‘Presumed Innocent’: Renate Reinsve, Peter Sarsgaard & O-T Fagbenle Join Apple TV+ Limited Series
Helena Bonham Carter Reteams With ‘The Crown’ Director Jessica Hobbs On Period Drama ‘The Offing’, Beta Launches Sales — EFM
EXCLUSIVE : Two time Oscar nominee Helena Bonham Carter is reteaming with The Crown director Jessica Hobbs on period drama The Offing , which Beta Cinema will launch sales on at next week’s EFM . Emmy winner Hobbs, who is currently directing HBO drama The Palace with Kate Winslet and Hugh Grant, has directed the second-most episodes of Netflix’s smash series The Crown , including multiple eps with Bonham Carter as Princess Margaret. Their new collaboration is an adaptation of Benjamin Myers’ well-received novel set in post war northern England. The film charts the intense and uplifting relationship between a teenage boy and a hard drinking, foul-mouthed, bohemian recluse called Dulcie (Bonham Carter). Casting is underway for the 16 year-old Robert, a shy, nature-loving son of a miner who sets out to see a little more of the world before he follows his father down the pit. Under Dulcie’s eccentric tutelage, his life opens up to food, girls, and the … [Read more...] about Helena Bonham Carter Reteams With ‘The Crown’ Director Jessica Hobbs On Period Drama ‘The Offing’, Beta Launches Sales — EFM
Ralph Fiennes’ ‘Four Quartets’ Gets North American Distribution Deal Ahead Of Stateside Bow At Santa Barbara
EXCLUSIVE : Kino Lorber has acquired all North American distribution rights to Four Quartets , the film version of the Ralph Fiennes -starring stage adaptation of T.S. Eliot’s seminal poem. Directed by Sophie Fiennes, the film will get its U.S. premiere at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival later this week followed by a theatrical release this spring. One of the giants of modern literature, the poet, playwright, critic, and editor T.S. Eliot is best known as one of the central figures of the Modernist movement in poetry. Consisting of four poems published over a six-year period – Burnt Norton, East Coker, The Dry Salvages , and Little Gidding , each titled after the landscape that inspired their writing – Four Quartets is widely considered Eliot’s masterpiece and the culminating achievement of his career as a poet, offering four interwoven meditations on the nature of time and the quest for spiritual enlightenment. Following the completion of Four Quartets … [Read more...] about Ralph Fiennes’ ‘Four Quartets’ Gets North American Distribution Deal Ahead Of Stateside Bow At Santa Barbara
Andrew Scott & Others Join Netflix’s ‘Back In Action’ With Jamie Foxx, Cameron Diaz
EXCLUSIVE : Netflix has added four to its action-comedy Back in Action , with Jamie Foxx and Cameron Diaz. The newest actors to sign on are BAFTA winners Andrew Scott (C atherine Called Birdy ) and Jamie Demetriou ( Cruella ), McKenna Roberts ( Euphoria ) and Rylan Jackson ( Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves ). Details as to the storyline and characters of Diaz’s first feature since 2014’s Annie are under wraps. But Kyle Chandler and Glenn Close are also aboard for roles, as previously announced. Seth Gordon ( Horrible Bosses ) is directing from his script written with Neighbors ‘ Brendan O’Brien. Producers are Jenno Topping, Peter Chernin and Sharla Sumpter Bridgett ( Ford v Ferrari , Hidden Figures ) for Chernin Entertainment, Beau Bauman ( Central Intelligence ) for Good One Productions, and Gordon for Exhibit A. Foxx, Datari Turner, O’Brien and Tim Lewis are serving as exec producers. Scott won his BAFTA for his work as the … [Read more...] about Andrew Scott & Others Join Netflix’s ‘Back In Action’ With Jamie Foxx, Cameron Diaz
Jennette McCurdy Signs With CAA
EXCLUSIVE : Jennette McCurdy , fresh from promoting her memoir I’m Glad My Mom Died , has signed with CAA . It comes as I’m Glad My Mom Died , which was published by Simon & Schuster last year, has spent the last 25 weeks on the New York Times best-seller list. McCurdy, who was one of the stars of Nickelodeon’s iCarly and Sam and Cat ostensibly retired from acting in 2017, having starred in Netflix series Between . She has focused on writing and directing including short films Kenny, The Grave, The McCurdys and Strong Independent Women. While she was promoting her book, she admitted that she would consider returning to acting if she wrote something for herself, her focus is on writing and directing. I’m Glad My Mom Died told the story of her career as a child actress and her difficult relationship with her abusive mother. It has sold nearly 2M copies. McCurdy is also repped by Mainstay Entertainment, Hansen, Jacobson, Teller, Hoberman, Newman, … [Read more...] about Jennette McCurdy Signs With CAA