Exclusive: David Hare, one of the UK’s foremost playwrights and a double Oscar nominee, is in an unsparing mood about the state of UK politics. This comes as leaders of the country’s two major parties parry in the cut and thrust of the July 4 general election.
Hare’s view, he tells Breaking Baz, is that there is in fact not enough cut and thrust, what with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak going to the polls “because he’s as fed up with this government as the rest of us.”
The dramatist, director,and screenwriter tells me that the Tories are coming up daily with “harebrained” election promises while Labour, its chief opponent, “is trying to be sober, say nothing and do nothing.”
He fears, though, that Labour is taking up “a defensive crouch“ when it should be thrusting.
“Something always goes disastrously wrong unless you are active and on...
Hare’s view, he tells Breaking Baz, is that there is in fact not enough cut and thrust, what with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak going to the polls “because he’s as fed up with this government as the rest of us.”
The dramatist, director,and screenwriter tells me that the Tories are coming up daily with “harebrained” election promises while Labour, its chief opponent, “is trying to be sober, say nothing and do nothing.”
He fears, though, that Labour is taking up “a defensive crouch“ when it should be thrusting.
“Something always goes disastrously wrong unless you are active and on...
- 6/3/2024
- by Baz Bamigboye
- Deadline Film + TV
The Oscar-nominated novelist, screenwriter and essayist Nick Hornby below writes a special tribute for Deadline commemorating Jenne Casarotto, his agent for nearly 30 years, who died on February 29 aged 77.
The industry titan, who co-founded leading British talent agency Casarotto Ramsay & Associates in 1989, was eulogized today by family, friends and close colleagues at an event named a Celebration of the Life of Jenne Casarotto in the Queen Elizabeth Hall located in London’s Southbank Centre.
Private Eye editor Ian Hislop welcomed guests. Agent colleagues Abby Singer, Mel Kenyon and Jodi Shields spoke of working with Jenne, her son Mark Casarotto commemorated his mother, and producers Jeremy Thomas and Tim Bevan and longtime director clients John Madden and Shawn Slovo told stories about the Jenne they knew and loved.
During the ceremony, it was announced that Casarotto Ramsay & Associates and the National Film and Television School have established The Jenne Casarotto Scholarship...
The industry titan, who co-founded leading British talent agency Casarotto Ramsay & Associates in 1989, was eulogized today by family, friends and close colleagues at an event named a Celebration of the Life of Jenne Casarotto in the Queen Elizabeth Hall located in London’s Southbank Centre.
Private Eye editor Ian Hislop welcomed guests. Agent colleagues Abby Singer, Mel Kenyon and Jodi Shields spoke of working with Jenne, her son Mark Casarotto commemorated his mother, and producers Jeremy Thomas and Tim Bevan and longtime director clients John Madden and Shawn Slovo told stories about the Jenne they knew and loved.
During the ceremony, it was announced that Casarotto Ramsay & Associates and the National Film and Television School have established The Jenne Casarotto Scholarship...
- 5/13/2024
- by Baz Bamigboye
- Deadline Film + TV
Nicole Kidman has captivated audiences with her spellbinding acting for over 40 years and has excelled in theatre, film, and television. Not only is she an accomplished producer but a five-time Academy Award nominee. Her role as Virginia Woolf in The Hours (2002) earned her the Oscar for Best Actress in 2002.
Born in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1967, she began her career in Australia as a teenager with roles in Bush Christmas (1983) and BMX Bandits (1983). Her performance in Dead Calm (1989) would grab the attention of Hollywood, and Tom Cruise, casting her in her breakout role as neurologist Dr. Claire Lewicki, in Days of Thunder (1990).
Her trajectory to establishing herself among Hollywood’s A-List continued as she starred alongside Cruise again in Far and Away (1992), mastered her comedic acting chops as an aspiring television personality in Gus Van Sant’s black comedy, To Die For (1995), and portrayed another doctor in the superhero film Batman Forever (1995), opposite Val Kilmer.
Born in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1967, she began her career in Australia as a teenager with roles in Bush Christmas (1983) and BMX Bandits (1983). Her performance in Dead Calm (1989) would grab the attention of Hollywood, and Tom Cruise, casting her in her breakout role as neurologist Dr. Claire Lewicki, in Days of Thunder (1990).
Her trajectory to establishing herself among Hollywood’s A-List continued as she starred alongside Cruise again in Far and Away (1992), mastered her comedic acting chops as an aspiring television personality in Gus Van Sant’s black comedy, To Die For (1995), and portrayed another doctor in the superhero film Batman Forever (1995), opposite Val Kilmer.
- 4/28/2024
- by Robert Lang
- Deadline Film + TV
How do you capture Jenne Casarotto? She was at the intersection of theatre, film and television. It all, seemingly, swirled around her.
Not just around her.
It was the brilliant team that she assembled at Casarotto Ramsay & Associates, the agency that’s been at the epicenter of UK arts culture for over three decades. Correction: The company’s reach extended far beyond the environs of London’s Soho.
One would see her in Venice, Cannes, Toronto and Sydney. One would not be at all surprised to be at a screening at, let’s say, Sundance, and there’d be a tap on the shoulder when the lights came up. “That was great stuff, wasn’t it?” She’d say gleefully.
It was a bit of a test because she’d expect you to be honest with her. Well, it was godawful, actually, and she’d nod sagely, her eyes twinkling behind her specs.
Not just around her.
It was the brilliant team that she assembled at Casarotto Ramsay & Associates, the agency that’s been at the epicenter of UK arts culture for over three decades. Correction: The company’s reach extended far beyond the environs of London’s Soho.
One would see her in Venice, Cannes, Toronto and Sydney. One would not be at all surprised to be at a screening at, let’s say, Sundance, and there’d be a tap on the shoulder when the lights came up. “That was great stuff, wasn’t it?” She’d say gleefully.
It was a bit of a test because she’d expect you to be honest with her. Well, it was godawful, actually, and she’d nod sagely, her eyes twinkling behind her specs.
- 3/7/2024
- by Baz Bamigboye
- Deadline Film + TV
Jenne Casarotto, who co-founded the London-based global talent agency Casarotto Ramsay & Associates and represented the likes of Tennessee Williams, Stephen Frears, David Hare, Terry Gilliam, Steve McQueen, Neil Jordan and John Madden during her long career, has died. She was 77.
Casarotto died Thursday in the U.K. of complications from a short illness, her firm announced.
With a career spanning more than 50 years, Casarotto was “an award-winning agent who was highly regarded throughout the world for her impeccable taste in writers and directors, unwavering dedication to her clients and for her calm and creative leadership,” Casarotto Ramsay & Associates said in a statement.
She and her husband, Giorgio Romeo Casarotto, launched the company in 1989.
Her illustrious list of clients — several of whom worked alongside her since their feature film debuts — also included J.G. Ballard, John Crowley, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Matteo Garrone, Christopher Hampton, Nick Hornby, Bob Hoskins, Neil Gaiman, Hilary Bevan Jones,...
Casarotto died Thursday in the U.K. of complications from a short illness, her firm announced.
With a career spanning more than 50 years, Casarotto was “an award-winning agent who was highly regarded throughout the world for her impeccable taste in writers and directors, unwavering dedication to her clients and for her calm and creative leadership,” Casarotto Ramsay & Associates said in a statement.
She and her husband, Giorgio Romeo Casarotto, launched the company in 1989.
Her illustrious list of clients — several of whom worked alongside her since their feature film debuts — also included J.G. Ballard, John Crowley, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Matteo Garrone, Christopher Hampton, Nick Hornby, Bob Hoskins, Neil Gaiman, Hilary Bevan Jones,...
- 3/1/2024
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Jenne Casarotto, co-founder of the London agency Casarotto Ramsay & Associates which represents some of the leading names working behind the camera, died on Feb. 29. She was 77.
“It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Jenne Casarotto, co-founder of Casarotto Ramsay & Associates,” said the company in a statement.
With a career spanning more than 50 years, Casarotto co-founded Casarotto Ramsay & Associates alongside her husband Giorgio in 1989, helping re-shape the agency landscape. The company’s roster would grow to include many of the world’s best-known writers, directors, creatives, literary properties and heads of departments across film, theatre and television.
Among her list of clients over the years were J.G. Ballard, John Crowley, the Dahl Estate, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Stephen Frears, Matteo Garrone, Christopher Hampton, David Hare, Nick Hornby, Bob Hoskins, Neil Gaiman, Terry Gilliam, Hilary Bevan Jones, Neil Jordan, David Leland, John Madden, Steve McQueen, Cynthia Payne, Neal Purvis,...
“It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Jenne Casarotto, co-founder of Casarotto Ramsay & Associates,” said the company in a statement.
With a career spanning more than 50 years, Casarotto co-founded Casarotto Ramsay & Associates alongside her husband Giorgio in 1989, helping re-shape the agency landscape. The company’s roster would grow to include many of the world’s best-known writers, directors, creatives, literary properties and heads of departments across film, theatre and television.
Among her list of clients over the years were J.G. Ballard, John Crowley, the Dahl Estate, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Stephen Frears, Matteo Garrone, Christopher Hampton, David Hare, Nick Hornby, Bob Hoskins, Neil Gaiman, Terry Gilliam, Hilary Bevan Jones, Neil Jordan, David Leland, John Madden, Steve McQueen, Cynthia Payne, Neal Purvis,...
- 3/1/2024
- by Alex Ritman
- Variety Film + TV
Jenne Casarotto, who co-founded leading British talent agency Casarotto Ramsay & Associates in 1989 and repped some of the nation’s greatest talents, died Thursday following complications from a short illness. She was 77.
Casarotto died “peacefully, according to a statement from the agency.
Th 35-year-old outfit described its founder as a “visionary leader and a giant within the global entertainment industry,” saying, “With a career spanning over 50 years, Jenne was an award winning agent who was highly regarded throughout the world for her impeccable taste in writers and directors, unwavering dedication to her clients, and for her calm and creative leadership.”
Casarotto co-founded the London shop in 1989 with husband Giorgio and went on to represent some of the best-known and most successful writers, directors, playwrights, creatives and HODs in the business at an agency that has been at the forefront of the UK sector for years.
Casarotto’s enviable client list included J.G. Ballard,...
Casarotto died “peacefully, according to a statement from the agency.
Th 35-year-old outfit described its founder as a “visionary leader and a giant within the global entertainment industry,” saying, “With a career spanning over 50 years, Jenne was an award winning agent who was highly regarded throughout the world for her impeccable taste in writers and directors, unwavering dedication to her clients, and for her calm and creative leadership.”
Casarotto co-founded the London shop in 1989 with husband Giorgio and went on to represent some of the best-known and most successful writers, directors, playwrights, creatives and HODs in the business at an agency that has been at the forefront of the UK sector for years.
Casarotto’s enviable client list included J.G. Ballard,...
- 3/1/2024
- by Max Goldbart
- Deadline Film + TV
Jenne Casarotto, co-founder of UK talent agency Casarotto Ramsay & Associates, has died aged 77, the agency has confirmed.
Casarotto passed away “peacefully on Thursday, February 29 surrounded by her loving family, following complications as part of a short illness,” read a statement from the agency.
A major player in the UK agency landscape for several decades, Casarotto founded Casarotto Ramsay & Associates with her husband Giorgio in 1989. Her client list with the company included J.G. Ballard, the Dahl estate, Christopher Hampton, Tennessee Williams, David Yates, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Steve McQueen, Shawn Slovo, Neil Jordan, David Hare, Matteo Garrone and Cynthia Payne.
“I have...
Casarotto passed away “peacefully on Thursday, February 29 surrounded by her loving family, following complications as part of a short illness,” read a statement from the agency.
A major player in the UK agency landscape for several decades, Casarotto founded Casarotto Ramsay & Associates with her husband Giorgio in 1989. Her client list with the company included J.G. Ballard, the Dahl estate, Christopher Hampton, Tennessee Williams, David Yates, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Steve McQueen, Shawn Slovo, Neil Jordan, David Hare, Matteo Garrone and Cynthia Payne.
“I have...
- 3/1/2024
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: It is exactly 13 years to the day that Ralph Fiennes’ feature directorial debut Coriolanus – in which he also starred alongside Gerard Butler, Vanessa Redgrave and Brian Cox – world premiered to acclaim at the 2011 Berlinale.
The Oscar nominee and Bafta-winning actor has since directed Rudolf Nureyev biopic The White Crow and The Invisible Woman about Charles Dickens’ secret mistress, alongside appearing in another 40 films including The Menu, No Time to Die, The King’s Man and The Grand Budapest Hotel.
The Berlinale will support another first for Fiennes, this time via its European Film Market, as Cornerstone kicks off sales on the actor’s next directorial feature project, based on his first feature film screenplay.
Set against Fiennes’ native English county of Suffolk, the drama revolves around an eco-idealistic family, living on a farm in a beautiful natural landscape by the sea, whose fault lines are revealed when the daughter’s...
The Oscar nominee and Bafta-winning actor has since directed Rudolf Nureyev biopic The White Crow and The Invisible Woman about Charles Dickens’ secret mistress, alongside appearing in another 40 films including The Menu, No Time to Die, The King’s Man and The Grand Budapest Hotel.
The Berlinale will support another first for Fiennes, this time via its European Film Market, as Cornerstone kicks off sales on the actor’s next directorial feature project, based on his first feature film screenplay.
Set against Fiennes’ native English county of Suffolk, the drama revolves around an eco-idealistic family, living on a farm in a beautiful natural landscape by the sea, whose fault lines are revealed when the daughter’s...
- 2/15/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: “Peggy Ramsay used to say ‘agent’ is the most disgusting word in the English language,” ponders Adam Welsh, the founder of Divergent Talent Group (Dtg).
For a group of changemakers making their way through the UK’s bustling agenting landscape, the words uttered by Ramsay, one of the greats — who repped the likes of Stephen Poliakoff, David Hare and J.B. Priestley — don’t exactly chime.
These agents are spearheading the UK TV and film industry’s drive to improve representation for disabled talent, a minority that makes up 20% of the British population and yet is vastly under-utilized both on the small screen and behind the camera.
Welsh founded his agency devoted to repping neurodivergent talent in 2021. Sara Johnson and Julie Fernandez have recently joined Casarotto Ramsay in an intriguing dual role representing, training and developing talent, while long-time advocate Andrew Roach, whose clients include Britain’s Got Talent winner Lost Voice Guy,...
For a group of changemakers making their way through the UK’s bustling agenting landscape, the words uttered by Ramsay, one of the greats — who repped the likes of Stephen Poliakoff, David Hare and J.B. Priestley — don’t exactly chime.
These agents are spearheading the UK TV and film industry’s drive to improve representation for disabled talent, a minority that makes up 20% of the British population and yet is vastly under-utilized both on the small screen and behind the camera.
Welsh founded his agency devoted to repping neurodivergent talent in 2021. Sara Johnson and Julie Fernandez have recently joined Casarotto Ramsay in an intriguing dual role representing, training and developing talent, while long-time advocate Andrew Roach, whose clients include Britain’s Got Talent winner Lost Voice Guy,...
- 1/29/2024
- by Max Goldbart
- Deadline Film + TV
Natalie Portman was 16 years old when principal photography commenced on "Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace." She was a precocious talent capable of stealing scenes from Oscar winners like Al Pacino (in Michael Mann's "Heat") and Timothy Hutton (in Ted Demme's underrated "Beautiful Girls"), and now she was going to play the eventual mother of Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa in George Lucas' long-awaited, madly anticipated Prequel Trilogy. Career-wise, it was a part no actor her age could afford to turn down. The first film's blockbuster success was preordained; her image would be projected on movie screens all over the world, thus making her a global superstar.
There was just one problem: Lucas hadn't directed a movie in 22 years and wasn't keen on dealing with actors. He offered the helm on "The Phantom Menace" to Steven Spielberg, Robert Zemeckis, and Ron Howard, and asked playwright David Hare...
There was just one problem: Lucas hadn't directed a movie in 22 years and wasn't keen on dealing with actors. He offered the helm on "The Phantom Menace" to Steven Spielberg, Robert Zemeckis, and Ron Howard, and asked playwright David Hare...
- 12/9/2023
- by Jeremy Smith
- Slash Film
We will probably never see a motion picture phenomenon like George Lucas' "Star Wars" ever again. The United States was still shaking off its Vietnam War hangover in the mid-1970s, and while the top filmmakers of the New Hollywood were mostly attracted to edgy material that explored its characters' damaged psyches, audiences were in the mood to escape. Steven Spielberg's "Jaws" offered emphatic proof of this mindset during the summer of 1975 when it briefly became the highest-grossing movie in U.S. box office history.
Lucas' space opera was an altogether different kind of sensation. The briskly paced yarn about a young farm boy who discovers he might be the galaxy's savior ignited the imaginations of kids the world over, and Lucas deepened the viewer's immersion by employing an array of pioneering special effects and wildly inventive creature/production designs. "Star Wars" was world-building on a scale that matched "The Wizard of Oz,...
Lucas' space opera was an altogether different kind of sensation. The briskly paced yarn about a young farm boy who discovers he might be the galaxy's savior ignited the imaginations of kids the world over, and Lucas deepened the viewer's immersion by employing an array of pioneering special effects and wildly inventive creature/production designs. "Star Wars" was world-building on a scale that matched "The Wizard of Oz,...
- 12/2/2023
- by Jeremy Smith
- Slash Film
Sir Michael Gambon, the veteran actor perhaps best known for playing Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter film franchise, has died. He was 82. “We are devastated to announce the loss of Sir Michael Gambon,” his family said in a statement (issued by the actor’s publicist Clair Dobbs). “Beloved husband and father, Michael died peacefully in hospital with his wife Anne and son Fergus at his bedside, following a bout of pneumonia.” Born October 9, 1940, in Dublin, Ireland, Gambon began his acting career on the stage, making his professional debut in a 1962 production of Othello. He was soon spotted by Laurence Olivier and recruited for his new National Theatre Company. He would go on to star in several Shakespeare productions, top West End plays, and made his Broadway debut in 1997 in David Hare’s Skylight. Throughout his stage career, Gambon was nominated for thirteen Olivier Awards (winning three) and a Tony...
- 9/28/2023
- TV Insider
Michael Gambon, the veteran Irish-English actor of stage and screen known internationally for his role as Professor Albus Dumbledore in six of the eight Harry Potter films, died Thursday in hospital after a bout of pneumonia. He was 82.
A statement issued by the actor’s publicist Clair Dobbs said, “We are devastated to announce the loss of Sir Michael Gambon.”
“Beloved husband and father, Michael died peacefully in hospital with his wife Anne and son Fergus at his bedside, following a bout of pneumonia. Michael was 82. We ask that you respect our privacy at this painful time and thank you for your messages of support and love.”
In recent years, Gambon was best known internationally for the role of Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter films, which he played from 2004-11 after replacing the late Richard Harris.
Michael Gambon and Daniel Radcliffe in 2005’s ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire...
A statement issued by the actor’s publicist Clair Dobbs said, “We are devastated to announce the loss of Sir Michael Gambon.”
“Beloved husband and father, Michael died peacefully in hospital with his wife Anne and son Fergus at his bedside, following a bout of pneumonia. Michael was 82. We ask that you respect our privacy at this painful time and thank you for your messages of support and love.”
In recent years, Gambon was best known internationally for the role of Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter films, which he played from 2004-11 after replacing the late Richard Harris.
Michael Gambon and Daniel Radcliffe in 2005’s ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire...
- 9/28/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Michael Gambon, a protégé of Laurence Olivier and giant of the British stage who portrayed Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore, apparently with little effort, in the final six Harry Potter movies, has died. He was 82.
“The Great Gambon,” as Ralph Richardson once called him, died “peacefully in hospital with his wife Anne and son Fergus at his bedside, following a bout of pneumonia,” according to a family statement provided Thursday by a publicist.
Among the first group of actors recruited by Olivier for the National Theatre Company in the early 1960s, Gambon, a Dublin native, was nominated 13 times for an Olivier Award, winning in 1986 and ’90 for Alan Ayckbourn’s A Chorus of Disapproval and Man of the Moment, respectively, and in 1988 for Arthur Miller’s A View From the Bridge.
He received another one for his turn as a recently widowed businessman trying to reunite with his former mistress in Skylight,...
“The Great Gambon,” as Ralph Richardson once called him, died “peacefully in hospital with his wife Anne and son Fergus at his bedside, following a bout of pneumonia,” according to a family statement provided Thursday by a publicist.
Among the first group of actors recruited by Olivier for the National Theatre Company in the early 1960s, Gambon, a Dublin native, was nominated 13 times for an Olivier Award, winning in 1986 and ’90 for Alan Ayckbourn’s A Chorus of Disapproval and Man of the Moment, respectively, and in 1988 for Arthur Miller’s A View From the Bridge.
He received another one for his turn as a recently widowed businessman trying to reunite with his former mistress in Skylight,...
- 9/28/2023
- by Alex Ritman
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
André Bishop will conclude his 33-year leadership tenure at Lincoln Center Theater in June 2025 at the conclusion of the non-profit theater company’s 40th anniversary 2024-25 season.
Bishop, whose celebrated tenure as Lct’s Artistic Director and more recently Producing Artistic Director included the premieres of such acclaimed new works as Tom Stoppard’s The Coast of Utopia and Arcadia, Christopher Durang’s Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Wendy Wasserstein’s The Sisters Rosensweig, and The Light in the Piazza by Craig Lucas and Adam Guettel, to name a very few, announced his intended departure today.
“My years at Lincoln Center Theater have been happy ones,” he said in a statement, “and I will miss working with all my friends and colleagues. But the time has come, as it inevitably does, for the next generation to step in and step up. I look forward to that. Lct has...
Bishop, whose celebrated tenure as Lct’s Artistic Director and more recently Producing Artistic Director included the premieres of such acclaimed new works as Tom Stoppard’s The Coast of Utopia and Arcadia, Christopher Durang’s Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Wendy Wasserstein’s The Sisters Rosensweig, and The Light in the Piazza by Craig Lucas and Adam Guettel, to name a very few, announced his intended departure today.
“My years at Lincoln Center Theater have been happy ones,” he said in a statement, “and I will miss working with all my friends and colleagues. But the time has come, as it inevitably does, for the next generation to step in and step up. I look forward to that. Lct has...
- 9/22/2023
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Bohemian Rhapsody actor Ben Hardy and newcomer Jason Patel were kept apart during the pre-production phase of Unicorns, a love story between an Essex car mechanic and a South Asian drag queen.
It’s the new film co-directed by Sally El Hosaini (My Brother the Devil) and James Krishna Floyd (The Good Karma Hospital), and they took measures to ensure that the relationship Hardy and Patel depict in the movie, which has its world premiere Friday at TIFF, was fresh.
“All of our prep was separate,” Patel confirmed. “They didn’t want us to meet.”
Floyd said that the only time they saw each other was at the read-through, “but they weren’t allowed to talk to each other. We explained it to Ben and Jason and to the heads of department that if they spent too much time together before filming began, then it would be too familiar...
It’s the new film co-directed by Sally El Hosaini (My Brother the Devil) and James Krishna Floyd (The Good Karma Hospital), and they took measures to ensure that the relationship Hardy and Patel depict in the movie, which has its world premiere Friday at TIFF, was fresh.
“All of our prep was separate,” Patel confirmed. “They didn’t want us to meet.”
Floyd said that the only time they saw each other was at the read-through, “but they weren’t allowed to talk to each other. We explained it to Ben and Jason and to the heads of department that if they spent too much time together before filming began, then it would be too familiar...
- 9/8/2023
- by Baz Bamigboye
- Deadline Film + TV
George Lucas hadn't officially directed a movie in 20 years when he stepped back behind the camera for "Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace" in 1997, and it didn't take long for him to remember why, starting with 1980's "Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back," he'd left the business of shouting "Action!" and "Cut!" to hired hands.
Anticipation for a new, canonical, live-action "Star Wars" movie was feverish. Lucas had been teasing the possibility of a prequel trilogy for over a decade, and now he was set to tell the tragic saga of how a young Anakin Skywalker betrayed his wife, his mentor, and his fellow Jedi to become Darth Vader. The pressure was immense, but Lucas produced these movies independently of their distributor, 20th Century Fox. He could blow a release date deadline if he absolutely had to. The franchise changed Hollywood in 1977, and, with promised advancements in CG,...
Anticipation for a new, canonical, live-action "Star Wars" movie was feverish. Lucas had been teasing the possibility of a prequel trilogy for over a decade, and now he was set to tell the tragic saga of how a young Anakin Skywalker betrayed his wife, his mentor, and his fellow Jedi to become Darth Vader. The pressure was immense, but Lucas produced these movies independently of their distributor, 20th Century Fox. He could blow a release date deadline if he absolutely had to. The franchise changed Hollywood in 1977, and, with promised advancements in CG,...
- 8/19/2023
- by Jeremy Smith
- Slash Film
UK agency Casarotto Ramsay & Associates has named former Meta and Film4 exec Anna Higgs as Managing Director.
She will join in August, having most recently been Director of Entertainment Partnerships at Meta, which has been cutting staff as it seeks to reshape its business amid economic uncertainty.
Higgs is also the Chair of the BAFTA Film Committee, having been recently reelected. She was also The Night Manager producer The Ink Factory’s digital lead, Film4’s Head of Digital and worked at online channel Nowness. Further back she founded Quark Films.
Higgs joins a team of over 60 staff, who look after a client roster that includes Academy Award winning directors Steve McQueen, Edward Berger and Lenny Abrahamson; Academy Award winning writer Christopher Hampton; Mood creator Nicôle Lecky; Enola Holmes and His Dark Materials scribe Jack Thorne; playwrights such as Sir David Hare and Lucy Kirkwood; and several others. It...
She will join in August, having most recently been Director of Entertainment Partnerships at Meta, which has been cutting staff as it seeks to reshape its business amid economic uncertainty.
Higgs is also the Chair of the BAFTA Film Committee, having been recently reelected. She was also The Night Manager producer The Ink Factory’s digital lead, Film4’s Head of Digital and worked at online channel Nowness. Further back she founded Quark Films.
Higgs joins a team of over 60 staff, who look after a client roster that includes Academy Award winning directors Steve McQueen, Edward Berger and Lenny Abrahamson; Academy Award winning writer Christopher Hampton; Mood creator Nicôle Lecky; Enola Holmes and His Dark Materials scribe Jack Thorne; playwrights such as Sir David Hare and Lucy Kirkwood; and several others. It...
- 7/20/2023
- by Jesse Whittock
- Deadline Film + TV
Sexual obsession is well-worn territory for Erotic Thrillers, a subgenre that often features men who think with their libido rather than their brain. When you spend your life thinking about screwing, it tends to screw with your life.
This is the central premise of Josephine Hart’s 1991 novel Damage, which was transformed in the 1992 film of the same name, and, most recently, was adapted into the four part Netflix series Obsession.
In both adaptations, a wealthy, powerful, middle-aged married man becomes sexually obsessed with his son’s new girlfriend. They begin an affair, and the sexual desire costs the man everything: his job, his marriage, and the life of his son, who dies tragically when he falls over a banister after witnessing his father fucking his fiancé.
What’s interesting about both Damage and Obsession is how both texts adopt the tropes of an Erotic Thriller, albeit by substituting criminal or murderous activity for melodrama.
This is the central premise of Josephine Hart’s 1991 novel Damage, which was transformed in the 1992 film of the same name, and, most recently, was adapted into the four part Netflix series Obsession.
In both adaptations, a wealthy, powerful, middle-aged married man becomes sexually obsessed with his son’s new girlfriend. They begin an affair, and the sexual desire costs the man everything: his job, his marriage, and the life of his son, who dies tragically when he falls over a banister after witnessing his father fucking his fiancé.
What’s interesting about both Damage and Obsession is how both texts adopt the tropes of an Erotic Thriller, albeit by substituting criminal or murderous activity for melodrama.
- 5/30/2023
- by Joe Lipsett
- bloody-disgusting.com
April is the cruelest month, but evidently not for one-man shows starring Oscar nominee Ralph Fiennes.
The “Schindler’s List” and “Harry Potter” star’s sister Sophie Fiennes directs a film version of “T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets,” the stage production he brought to London and throughout the UK back in 2021. During the lockdown, Fiennes committed to memory the “Wasteland” poet’s four epic poems written during World War II about man’s relationship to time and the divine. His performance, praised as “magnetic” by The Telegraph, was filmed at the end of his run.
IndieWire shares the exclusive trailer for the film version, opening April 28 at the IFC Center in New York City, courtesy of Kino Lorber. An expansion in theaters nationally will follow.
Fiennes’ filmed performance of Eliot’s masterworks is a co-production between The Bath Theatre Royal and Royal & Derngate, Northampton and Lone Star Productions, Amoeba Film and Lonely Dragon Films.
The “Schindler’s List” and “Harry Potter” star’s sister Sophie Fiennes directs a film version of “T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets,” the stage production he brought to London and throughout the UK back in 2021. During the lockdown, Fiennes committed to memory the “Wasteland” poet’s four epic poems written during World War II about man’s relationship to time and the divine. His performance, praised as “magnetic” by The Telegraph, was filmed at the end of his run.
IndieWire shares the exclusive trailer for the film version, opening April 28 at the IFC Center in New York City, courtesy of Kino Lorber. An expansion in theaters nationally will follow.
Fiennes’ filmed performance of Eliot’s masterworks is a co-production between The Bath Theatre Royal and Royal & Derngate, Northampton and Lone Star Productions, Amoeba Film and Lonely Dragon Films.
- 4/5/2023
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
If you need to add a sense of gravitas to your project, or have a villain who needs to be deliciously evil with just a hint of twinkle in his eyes, there’s a pretty simple solution: hire Charles Dance video.For Diablo fiends, the fourth instalment in the hit game franchise is available for pre-order now, and you can even get a little early access by signing up to the beta now.
That gave Empire the perfect chance to dance the dance with Dance himself, talking through his many memorable roles – from his experience learning of Tywin Lannister’s death from a book-reading fan, to his… erm… unusual medical situation on the James Bond set.
We have to start with Tywin Lannister. You chose not the read the books, but those of us who had read them had him pegged as a bad guy from minute one. Did you...
That gave Empire the perfect chance to dance the dance with Dance himself, talking through his many memorable roles – from his experience learning of Tywin Lannister’s death from a book-reading fan, to his… erm… unusual medical situation on the James Bond set.
We have to start with Tywin Lannister. You chose not the read the books, but those of us who had read them had him pegged as a bad guy from minute one. Did you...
- 3/20/2023
- by Helen O'Hara
- Empire - Movies
Exclusive: Jesús I. Valles’ play Bathhouse.pptx has been awarded the prestigious 2023 Yale Drama Series Prize, with the honor’s judge Jeremy O. Harris calling the new work an exploration of “a queer history that is quickly being erased.”
The prize for emerging playwrights, now in its 16th year, was selected from more than 1,500 entries. As is the prize’s custom, Harris, the author of Slave Play and a Yale alum, was the selection process’ presiding playwright, or sole judge. Previous judges have included Edward Albee, David Hare, John Guare, Marsha Norman, Nicholas Wright, Ayad Akhtar and Paula Vogel.
“This is one of the most exciting speculative fictions I’ve encountered in years,” Harris said, “using a unique dramaturgy to explore a queer history that is quickly being erased. It brought to mind the works of many heroes like Samuel Delaney, Martin Crimp, and Kathy Acker.”
Winning playwright Velles said,...
The prize for emerging playwrights, now in its 16th year, was selected from more than 1,500 entries. As is the prize’s custom, Harris, the author of Slave Play and a Yale alum, was the selection process’ presiding playwright, or sole judge. Previous judges have included Edward Albee, David Hare, John Guare, Marsha Norman, Nicholas Wright, Ayad Akhtar and Paula Vogel.
“This is one of the most exciting speculative fictions I’ve encountered in years,” Harris said, “using a unique dramaturgy to explore a queer history that is quickly being erased. It brought to mind the works of many heroes like Samuel Delaney, Martin Crimp, and Kathy Acker.”
Winning playwright Velles said,...
- 3/16/2023
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
I used to think that directing was all about commanding – about knowing the answers to all the questions,” says Richard Eyre. “Now I feel the opposite.” Eyre, one of the titans of British theatre since the 1970s, has of course done his share of commanding in the past. Of Ian McKellen in one of the definitive stagings of Richard III. Of Daniel Day-Lewis in Hamlet, which saw the actor walk off stage mid-performance and never return. Of the National Theatre, throughout his 10-year stint as creative director between 1987 and 1997, when he championed the work of firebrand artists such as David Hare and Howard Brenton.
On screen, he cut his teeth on Play for Today before moving on to films such as 2006’s Notes from a Scandal and the BBC’s 2018 King Lear starring Anthony Hopkins and a cusp-of-stardom Florence Pugh. Now 79 years old, Eyre speaks to me over video chat...
On screen, he cut his teeth on Play for Today before moving on to films such as 2006’s Notes from a Scandal and the BBC’s 2018 King Lear starring Anthony Hopkins and a cusp-of-stardom Florence Pugh. Now 79 years old, Eyre speaks to me over video chat...
- 3/16/2023
- by Louis Chilton
- The Independent - Film
Ed Pressman was cool. And he had taste. He didn’t care what other people thought of a given project. If he thought it was cool, that was enough. He kept his own counsel; he was quiet. But if he wanted something, he let you know. He was not one to take no for an answer.
This helps to explain how he came to produce some 80 films over the decades. And he had not slowed down in recent years. When Ed and his son Sam came to IndieWire’s Cannes party two years ago, Ed found a quiet corner and worked his phone. Pressman died January 17 of respiratory failure, at age 79.
Look at the friends who showed up to speak at his Memorial at the Paris Theatre in New York last Thursday: Mary Harron, David Byrne, and Eric Bogosian, among others, plus video tributes from David Hare, David Gordon Green,...
This helps to explain how he came to produce some 80 films over the decades. And he had not slowed down in recent years. When Ed and his son Sam came to IndieWire’s Cannes party two years ago, Ed found a quiet corner and worked his phone. Pressman died January 17 of respiratory failure, at age 79.
Look at the friends who showed up to speak at his Memorial at the Paris Theatre in New York last Thursday: Mary Harron, David Byrne, and Eric Bogosian, among others, plus video tributes from David Hare, David Gordon Green,...
- 2/4/2023
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
Iranian actor Taraneh Alidoosti (“The Salesman”) is being released on bail from Evin Prison.
Nadereh Hakim Elahi, Alidoosti’s mother, revealed her release via an Instagram post.
The actor’s attorney, Zahra Minooei, tweeted about her release, saying: “Today, my client Ms. Taraneh Alidoosti will be released from Evin Prison after posting bail.”
The actor, who starred in four films directed by Asghar Farhadi, was jailed Dec. 17 after taking part in demonstrations to fight against the oppressive Iranian regime. She was also sanctioned for standing in solidarity with imprisoned Iranian filmmakers, notably Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof.
Over 600 artists around the world had signed a petition urging Iran to release the actor.
In an online campaign launched under the title “Justice for Taraneh Alidousti,” Mark Ruffalo, Pedro Almodovar, Penelope Cruz, Juliette Binoche, Alfonso Cuaron, Ken Loach Emma Thompson, Jason Momoa, Jeremy Irons, Kate Winslet, Marion Cotillard, Ian McKellen and Isabelle Huppert...
Nadereh Hakim Elahi, Alidoosti’s mother, revealed her release via an Instagram post.
The actor’s attorney, Zahra Minooei, tweeted about her release, saying: “Today, my client Ms. Taraneh Alidoosti will be released from Evin Prison after posting bail.”
The actor, who starred in four films directed by Asghar Farhadi, was jailed Dec. 17 after taking part in demonstrations to fight against the oppressive Iranian regime. She was also sanctioned for standing in solidarity with imprisoned Iranian filmmakers, notably Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof.
Over 600 artists around the world had signed a petition urging Iran to release the actor.
In an online campaign launched under the title “Justice for Taraneh Alidousti,” Mark Ruffalo, Pedro Almodovar, Penelope Cruz, Juliette Binoche, Alfonso Cuaron, Ken Loach Emma Thompson, Jason Momoa, Jeremy Irons, Kate Winslet, Marion Cotillard, Ian McKellen and Isabelle Huppert...
- 1/4/2023
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Dubai-based pay-tv and streaming service Osn has partnered with Arab film distributor Mad Solutions, the Red Sea Fund, and the U.K.’s Global Screen Fund, plus U.K. companies Corniche Media and Caspian Films, on Saudi multihyphenate Ahd Kamel’s long gestating feature film debut “My Driver and I.”
The production partnership for the feature was announced during a gala dinner at this week’s Red Sea Film Festival, which is taking place in Jeddah, where the film is also set.
Jordanian actress Saba Mubarak will star alongside regional acting talents, Qusai Kheder, Mostafa Shehata and Baraa Alem.
The feature is being produced as an Osn Original for its pay-tv and streaming network that will showcase the film for its Mena audiences. Mad Solutions holds all international distribution rights outside those Arab-speaking territories.
Kamel grew up in Saudi Arabia and moved to New York in 1998, where she studied at the Parsons School of Design,...
The production partnership for the feature was announced during a gala dinner at this week’s Red Sea Film Festival, which is taking place in Jeddah, where the film is also set.
Jordanian actress Saba Mubarak will star alongside regional acting talents, Qusai Kheder, Mostafa Shehata and Baraa Alem.
The feature is being produced as an Osn Original for its pay-tv and streaming network that will showcase the film for its Mena audiences. Mad Solutions holds all international distribution rights outside those Arab-speaking territories.
Kamel grew up in Saudi Arabia and moved to New York in 1998, where she studied at the Parsons School of Design,...
- 12/7/2022
- by Martin Dale
- Variety Film + TV
The American Film Institute (AFI) Board of Trustees will bestow his 49th AFI Life Achievement Award on Oscar winner Nicole Kidman at their June 10, 2023 ceremony at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. Kidman is the first Australian actor to receive this honor.
“Nicole Kidman has enchanted audiences for decades with the daring of her artistry and the glamour of a screen icon,” said Kathleen Kennedy, Chair of the AFI Board of Trustees. “She is a force both brave in her choices and bold in each performance. AFI is honored to present her with the 49th AFI Life Achievement Award.”
Kidman’s cinematic canon has spanned work with such filmmakers as Jane Campion, Sofia Coppola, Baz Luhrmann, Aaron Sorkin, Anthony Minghella, Sydney Pollack, Lars von Trier and Stanley Kubrick.
She was nominated five times at the Oscars –4x for Leading Actress for Moulin Rouge!, The Hours, Rabbit Hole and this year...
“Nicole Kidman has enchanted audiences for decades with the daring of her artistry and the glamour of a screen icon,” said Kathleen Kennedy, Chair of the AFI Board of Trustees. “She is a force both brave in her choices and bold in each performance. AFI is honored to present her with the 49th AFI Life Achievement Award.”
Kidman’s cinematic canon has spanned work with such filmmakers as Jane Campion, Sofia Coppola, Baz Luhrmann, Aaron Sorkin, Anthony Minghella, Sydney Pollack, Lars von Trier and Stanley Kubrick.
She was nominated five times at the Oscars –4x for Leading Actress for Moulin Rouge!, The Hours, Rabbit Hole and this year...
- 11/22/2022
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
Ralph Fiennes, who played Lord Voldemort in the Harry Potter film franchise, says the “verbal abuse” directed at Potter author Jk Rowling over her statements on trans women is “disgusting” and “appalling.”
“Jk Rowling has written these great books about empowerment,” Fiennes says in an interview with The New York Times‘ Maureen Dowd, “about young children finding themselves as human beings. It’s about how you become a better, stronger, more morally centred human being. The verbal abuse directed at her is disgusting, it’s appalling.”
Rowling has come under considerable backlash in recent years for her comments on gender identity and trans rights that have been interpreted as transphobic.
Potter actors Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint have publicly disavowed Rowling’s comments, with Grint, who played Ron Weasley in Warner Bros’ Harry Potter films, saying “Trans women are women. Trans men are men. We should all be...
“Jk Rowling has written these great books about empowerment,” Fiennes says in an interview with The New York Times‘ Maureen Dowd, “about young children finding themselves as human beings. It’s about how you become a better, stronger, more morally centred human being. The verbal abuse directed at her is disgusting, it’s appalling.”
Rowling has come under considerable backlash in recent years for her comments on gender identity and trans rights that have been interpreted as transphobic.
Potter actors Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint have publicly disavowed Rowling’s comments, with Grint, who played Ron Weasley in Warner Bros’ Harry Potter films, saying “Trans women are women. Trans men are men. We should all be...
- 10/25/2022
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Sixteen years since his last film “Little Children” peeled back the malaise and psychosexual dysfunction of suburbia, director Todd Field is back on the film festival stage with “TÁR.” Field has paddled around a suite of projects over the years, from a 20-hour Showtime limited series take on Jonathan Franzen’s tome “Purity” with Daniel Craig and David Hare, to a likely-never-to-happen adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s unfilmable western “Blood Meridian.” After adapting fiction for his last two films — Tom Perrotta’s novel “Little Children” and the Andre Dubus short story “Killings” for his debut feature “In the Bedroom” — Field returns to writing his own material.
“TÁR” is set to make waves at the fall festivals with stops at Venice and NYFF before Focus Features releases the whopping two-hour-and-40-minute film on October 7 stateside. Cate Blanchett stars as renowned (and highly fictional) composer Lydia Tár, in the film regarded as...
“TÁR” is set to make waves at the fall festivals with stops at Venice and NYFF before Focus Features releases the whopping two-hour-and-40-minute film on October 7 stateside. Cate Blanchett stars as renowned (and highly fictional) composer Lydia Tár, in the film regarded as...
- 8/25/2022
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Exclusive: Two-time BAFTA winner Bill Nighy is joining the Kaley Cuoco and David Oyelowo high concept thriller Role Play from Studiocanal, Picture Company and Amazon Prime Video.
Nighy steps in for Billy Bob Thornton who had to depart the project due to a scheduling conflict, we hear.
The Thomas Vincent directed pic revolves around a married couple, played by Cuoco and Oyelowo, whose life turns upside down when secrets come out about each other’s pasts. The role that Nighy is taking over for was under wraps, described as a mysterious stranger who encounters the couple. The movie is shooting in Berlin currently at Studio Babelsberg.
Cuoco received her second Lead Actress in a Comedy Series Emmy nomination yesterday for HBO Max’s The Flight Attendant.
Nighy received a BAFTA Supporting Actor win for his turn in 2003’s Love Actually as well as a BAFTA TV award for Best Actor...
Nighy steps in for Billy Bob Thornton who had to depart the project due to a scheduling conflict, we hear.
The Thomas Vincent directed pic revolves around a married couple, played by Cuoco and Oyelowo, whose life turns upside down when secrets come out about each other’s pasts. The role that Nighy is taking over for was under wraps, described as a mysterious stranger who encounters the couple. The movie is shooting in Berlin currently at Studio Babelsberg.
Cuoco received her second Lead Actress in a Comedy Series Emmy nomination yesterday for HBO Max’s The Flight Attendant.
Nighy received a BAFTA Supporting Actor win for his turn in 2003’s Love Actually as well as a BAFTA TV award for Best Actor...
- 7/13/2022
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
Following its acclaimed run at The Bridge Theatre in London, David Hare’s Straight Line Crazy starring Ralph Fiennes as New York powerbroker Robert Moses will make its Big Apple Off Broadway debut this fall at The Shed. Directed by Nicholas Hytner and Jamie Armitage, the play will run October 18-December 18.
The announcement was made Monday by producers Alex Poots, artistic director and CEO of The Shed; Madani Younis, chief executive producer of The Shed; and Tim Levy, co-director of the London Theatre Company.
The limited nine-week engagement begins previews October 18, with an official opening October 26 at The Shed’s Griffin Theater as part of the venue’s fall 2022 season.
Hare’s play examines the questionable legacy of Moses and his enduring impact on New York. The play presents an imagined retelling of the arc of Moses’ controversial career in two decisive moments: his rise to power in the late...
The announcement was made Monday by producers Alex Poots, artistic director and CEO of The Shed; Madani Younis, chief executive producer of The Shed; and Tim Levy, co-director of the London Theatre Company.
The limited nine-week engagement begins previews October 18, with an official opening October 26 at The Shed’s Griffin Theater as part of the venue’s fall 2022 season.
Hare’s play examines the questionable legacy of Moses and his enduring impact on New York. The play presents an imagined retelling of the arc of Moses’ controversial career in two decisive moments: his rise to power in the late...
- 6/27/2022
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Dominic West Tells Us There Are “Tumultuous” Times Ahead For ‘The Crown’ During London Poetry Soiree
Exclusive: Dominic West, who portrays British monarch in-waiting Prince Charles in the upcoming fifth season of The Crown, has told us that season six, which shoots from August, “will be as tumultuous as it gets”, because it will explore the tragic death of Princess Diana.
Season five is already in the can and will stream on Netflix later this year.
West, star of TV hits The Wire and The Affair, and recent movie Downton Abbey: A New Era, spoke to Deadline on Sunday night during a poetry reading at London’s Delaunay restaurant.
The soiree, which included the recital of three T.S. Eliot poems, was held for The Josephine Hart Poetry Hour, an event established thirty years ago by Hart, the novelist, poet and a leading light of London’s literary and theater set until her death in 2011. Hart’s 1991 novel Damage was adapted for the screen by David Hare...
Season five is already in the can and will stream on Netflix later this year.
West, star of TV hits The Wire and The Affair, and recent movie Downton Abbey: A New Era, spoke to Deadline on Sunday night during a poetry reading at London’s Delaunay restaurant.
The soiree, which included the recital of three T.S. Eliot poems, was held for The Josephine Hart Poetry Hour, an event established thirty years ago by Hart, the novelist, poet and a leading light of London’s literary and theater set until her death in 2011. Hart’s 1991 novel Damage was adapted for the screen by David Hare...
- 6/27/2022
- by Baz Bamigboye
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Jeremy O. Harris, the Tony-nominated author of Slave Play, has been named the presiding playwright for the 2023 Yale Drama Series Prize, one of the theater world’s most prestigious playwriting prizes. As the presiding playwright, Harris, a Yale alum, becomes a judging panel of one to select an emerging playwright to receive the annual prize.
Harris joins the ranks of such previous presiding playwrights as Edward Albee, David Hare, John Guare, Marsha Norman, Nicholas Wright, Ayad Akhtar and, most recently, Paula Vogel.
“If only the entire theater world was as democratic, meritocratic, and pluralistic as the Yale Drama Prize,” said Harris in a statement. “There is an entire generation of playwrights who have been fighting to be heard – especially in light of the pause button pushed by the pandemic, and this is our opportunity to thrust a chosen few directly into the global cultural conversation. These are the next...
Harris joins the ranks of such previous presiding playwrights as Edward Albee, David Hare, John Guare, Marsha Norman, Nicholas Wright, Ayad Akhtar and, most recently, Paula Vogel.
“If only the entire theater world was as democratic, meritocratic, and pluralistic as the Yale Drama Prize,” said Harris in a statement. “There is an entire generation of playwrights who have been fighting to be heard – especially in light of the pause button pushed by the pandemic, and this is our opportunity to thrust a chosen few directly into the global cultural conversation. These are the next...
- 5/10/2022
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
The Oscars are a few days away, and I’m looking not only at the nominated actors’ performances this year, but at the stage careers that helped them develop and/or refine their skills to be eligible for Academy Awards. Half of this year’s Oscar nominees for acting were previously involved with Tony-nominated and other productions on Broadway.
For example, Ariana DeBose, the Academy Award Best Actress in a Supporting Role nominee, most-predicted on Gold Derby to win, cut her teeth on Broadway for a decade before she landed her nominated role as “Anita” in West Side Story. Her first Broadway job at age 21 was as a member of the ensemble of Bring It On in 2012, a Tony-nominated musical which required a lot of acrobatic dancing. Although it didn’t win any awards, Bring It On did have music and lyrics co-written by Lin Manuel Miranda with choreography by Andy Blakenbuehler.
For example, Ariana DeBose, the Academy Award Best Actress in a Supporting Role nominee, most-predicted on Gold Derby to win, cut her teeth on Broadway for a decade before she landed her nominated role as “Anita” in West Side Story. Her first Broadway job at age 21 was as a member of the ensemble of Bring It On in 2012, a Tony-nominated musical which required a lot of acrobatic dancing. Although it didn’t win any awards, Bring It On did have music and lyrics co-written by Lin Manuel Miranda with choreography by Andy Blakenbuehler.
- 3/21/2022
- by Susan Haskins-Doloff
- Gold Derby
Exclusive: The prestigious Yale Drama Series Prize for emerging playwrights has announced eight contenders selected for its first-ever short list.
Prize organizers opted this year to announce the short list, rather than the traditional announcement of the winning play only, to “better reflect the pluralism of its applicant pool, and to provide a broader context about the state of the American Theater at the emerging level.”
Also for the first time, the play selections were chosen by a six-member judging panel rather than one playwright. Past winners were chosen by such playwrights as Edward Albee, David Hare, Marsha Norman and Paula Vogel.
Each of this year’s six judges are all past winners of the Yale prize, and each read more than 250 playwriting contenders.
The eight plays selected for the short list are:
Jordan Ramirez Puckett’s A Driving Beat Lilly Camp’s All Eight Matthew Paul Olmos’ a home...
Prize organizers opted this year to announce the short list, rather than the traditional announcement of the winning play only, to “better reflect the pluralism of its applicant pool, and to provide a broader context about the state of the American Theater at the emerging level.”
Also for the first time, the play selections were chosen by a six-member judging panel rather than one playwright. Past winners were chosen by such playwrights as Edward Albee, David Hare, Marsha Norman and Paula Vogel.
Each of this year’s six judges are all past winners of the Yale prize, and each read more than 250 playwriting contenders.
The eight plays selected for the short list are:
Jordan Ramirez Puckett’s A Driving Beat Lilly Camp’s All Eight Matthew Paul Olmos’ a home...
- 2/25/2022
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Mark Ruffalo and Hugh Laurie are set as leads opposite Aria Mia Loberti in Netflix’s All The Light We Cannot See, a four-part limited series adaptation of Anthony Doerr’s Pulitzer Prize-winning bestseller, from Shawn Levy and Steven Knight.
Newcomer Loberti, who is blind, plays Marie-Laure, the blind teenager at the heart of the story, whose path collides with Werner, a German soldier, as they both try to survive the devastation of World War II in occupied France.
Ruffalo will play Daniel LeBlanc, the principal locksmith at the Museum of Natural History in Paris. Caring and clever, he’s determined to give his blind daughter Marie as much independence as he can while also protecting her – and the secret gem they carry – from Nazi occupation.
Laurie will portray Etienne LeBlanc, an eccentric and reclusive World War I hero suffering from Ptsd. Etienne is a nervous shut-in who records clandestine...
Newcomer Loberti, who is blind, plays Marie-Laure, the blind teenager at the heart of the story, whose path collides with Werner, a German soldier, as they both try to survive the devastation of World War II in occupied France.
Ruffalo will play Daniel LeBlanc, the principal locksmith at the Museum of Natural History in Paris. Caring and clever, he’s determined to give his blind daughter Marie as much independence as he can while also protecting her – and the secret gem they carry – from Nazi occupation.
Laurie will portray Etienne LeBlanc, an eccentric and reclusive World War I hero suffering from Ptsd. Etienne is a nervous shut-in who records clandestine...
- 1/10/2022
- by Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
Ralph Fiennes will lead the cast as New York City power broker Robert Moses in the world premiere of David Hare’s Straight Line Crazy at London’s The Bridge theater this spring. Nicholas Hytner will directed.
Straight Line Crazy, beginning performances March 16, 2022, opening March 23 and running through June 18, will reunite Fiennes, Hare and Hytner following their 2020 collaboration on The Bridge’s Beat the Devil.
Additional casting will be announced at a later date.
Described as “an account of the life of a man whose iron will exposed the weakness of democracy in the face of charismatic conviction,” Straight Line Crazy tells the story of Moses, who for forty years was the most powerful man in New York, creating new parks, new bridges and 627 miles of expressway until grass roots campaigns in the 1950s began to organize against his ideas of what a city should be.
Fiennes was last on stage in Beat the Devil,...
Straight Line Crazy, beginning performances March 16, 2022, opening March 23 and running through June 18, will reunite Fiennes, Hare and Hytner following their 2020 collaboration on The Bridge’s Beat the Devil.
Additional casting will be announced at a later date.
Described as “an account of the life of a man whose iron will exposed the weakness of democracy in the face of charismatic conviction,” Straight Line Crazy tells the story of Moses, who for forty years was the most powerful man in New York, creating new parks, new bridges and 627 miles of expressway until grass roots campaigns in the 1950s began to organize against his ideas of what a city should be.
Fiennes was last on stage in Beat the Devil,...
- 10/8/2021
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Annapurna Theatre’s Beat The Devil is now streaming for subscribers on Showtime in the United States, with additional territories to be announced.
The film is written and directed by David Hare and stars Academy Award, Golden Globe and BAFTA nominee Ralph Fiennes. It is based on the stage play of the same name that premiered at London’s Bridge Theatre. The stage production, commissioned by London Theatre Company and originally directed by Nicholas Hytner, saw Fiennes give one of his greatest performances in a sold-out run.
Beat The Devil recounts Hare’s experience contracting Covid-19 on the day the UK Government made the decision to go into lockdown. Suffering a pageant of apparently random symptoms, he recalls the delirium of his illness, which, mixed with fear, dreams, honest medicine and politics, creates a story of urgency and power.
The film is written and directed by David Hare and stars Academy Award, Golden Globe and BAFTA nominee Ralph Fiennes. It is based on the stage play of the same name that premiered at London’s Bridge Theatre. The stage production, commissioned by London Theatre Company and originally directed by Nicholas Hytner, saw Fiennes give one of his greatest performances in a sold-out run.
Beat The Devil recounts Hare’s experience contracting Covid-19 on the day the UK Government made the decision to go into lockdown. Suffering a pageant of apparently random symptoms, he recalls the delirium of his illness, which, mixed with fear, dreams, honest medicine and politics, creates a story of urgency and power.
- 9/3/2021
- by Bruce Haring
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: BritBox is to adapt Ml Longworth’s crime novels into a series titled Murder In Provence, in what is planned to be the first of many U.S. and UK co-productions for the BBC and ITV-owned streamer.
As previously reported by Deadline, Harlots and Ghosts producer Monumental Television had secured the rights to the books and attached Shelagh Stephenson, whose credits include Downton Abbey and Shirley, to write the series.
The project lands at BritBox as a series of three feature-length episodes, which will star Roger Allam (Endeavour), Nancy Carroll (The Crown), and Keala Settle (The Greatest Showman).
Allam stars as Antoine Verlaque, Investigating Judge in Aix-en Provence, while Carroll is his romantic partner Marine Bonnet. Together, they investigate the murders, mysteries, and dark underbelly of their idyllic home in the south of France. Their efforts are aided by Hélène (Settle), a detective and Antoine’s trusted confidante.
As previously reported by Deadline, Harlots and Ghosts producer Monumental Television had secured the rights to the books and attached Shelagh Stephenson, whose credits include Downton Abbey and Shirley, to write the series.
The project lands at BritBox as a series of three feature-length episodes, which will star Roger Allam (Endeavour), Nancy Carroll (The Crown), and Keala Settle (The Greatest Showman).
Allam stars as Antoine Verlaque, Investigating Judge in Aix-en Provence, while Carroll is his romantic partner Marine Bonnet. Together, they investigate the murders, mysteries, and dark underbelly of their idyllic home in the south of France. Their efforts are aided by Hélène (Settle), a detective and Antoine’s trusted confidante.
- 5/25/2021
- by Jake Kanter
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated actress Gloria Reuben has joined Echo Lake Entertainment for management in all areas.
Reuben is perhaps best known for playing the HIV-positive physician assistant Jeanie Boulet on the long-running ER series, a role that earned her the Emmy and Golden nominations. Most recently, Reuben starred in Sam Esmail’s acclaimed series Mr. Robot, as well as the short-lived Marvel/Freeform series Cloak & Dagger, and she can currently be seen in a recurring role on Showtime’s City On A Hill series.
On the film side, Reuben co-starred alongside Daniel Day-Lewis and Sally Field in the Steven Spielberg-directed Oscar-nominated film, Lincoln, appeared with Paul Rudd and Tina Fey in Paul Weitz’s Admission, and starred opposite Samuel L. Jackson in Reasonable Doubt.
Reuben received the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Play for her role as Condoleezza Rice in David Hare...
Reuben is perhaps best known for playing the HIV-positive physician assistant Jeanie Boulet on the long-running ER series, a role that earned her the Emmy and Golden nominations. Most recently, Reuben starred in Sam Esmail’s acclaimed series Mr. Robot, as well as the short-lived Marvel/Freeform series Cloak & Dagger, and she can currently be seen in a recurring role on Showtime’s City On A Hill series.
On the film side, Reuben co-starred alongside Daniel Day-Lewis and Sally Field in the Steven Spielberg-directed Oscar-nominated film, Lincoln, appeared with Paul Rudd and Tina Fey in Paul Weitz’s Admission, and starred opposite Samuel L. Jackson in Reasonable Doubt.
Reuben received the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Play for her role as Condoleezza Rice in David Hare...
- 2/3/2021
- by Amanda N'Duka
- Deadline Film + TV
Richard Sharp, the millionaire former banker on the cusp of being appointed as the BBC’s next chair, has used his first public appearance to praise the work of the British broadcaster and its role on the world stage — but he couldn’t help having a dig at recent Hugh Laurie series Roadkill.
Sharp was announced as the UK government’s preferred candidate for the £160,000-a-year role last week, and we got our first sighter of the soon-to-be UK broadcasting figurehead when he was grilled today by lawmakers who sit on Parliament’s Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee.
In good news for the BBC, Sharp — who must act as both cheerleader and antagonist of the BBC’s operations — said he is in favor of the license fee (calling it the “least worst [funding] mode”) and against government plans to decriminalize non-payment of the household levy, which the BBC has said...
Sharp was announced as the UK government’s preferred candidate for the £160,000-a-year role last week, and we got our first sighter of the soon-to-be UK broadcasting figurehead when he was grilled today by lawmakers who sit on Parliament’s Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee.
In good news for the BBC, Sharp — who must act as both cheerleader and antagonist of the BBC’s operations — said he is in favor of the license fee (calling it the “least worst [funding] mode”) and against government plans to decriminalize non-payment of the household levy, which the BBC has said...
- 1/14/2021
- by Jake Kanter
- Deadline Film + TV
In his latest podcast/interview, host and screenwriter Stuart Wright talks to Alistair Owen, author of The Art of Screen Adaptation: Top Writers Reveal Their Craft, about his picks for 5 Great Screen Adaptations – dipping into 5 case studies from the book:
Drive – Hossein Amini – how to write a great opening Atonement – Christopher Hampton – fidelity to the novel Pride & Prejudice – Deborah Moggach – importance of point of view / use of voiceover (compare and contrast with Andrew Davies’ TV version) Great Expectations – Sarah Phelps – how small changes can make a big difference (compare and contract with David Nicholls’ film version) Wild – Nick Hornby – the challenges of nonfiction
Hollywood. Netflix. Amazon. BBC. Producers and audiences are hungrier than ever for stories, and a lot of those stories begin life as a book – but how exactly do you transfer a story from the page to the screen? Do adaptations use the same creative gears as original screenplays?...
Drive – Hossein Amini – how to write a great opening Atonement – Christopher Hampton – fidelity to the novel Pride & Prejudice – Deborah Moggach – importance of point of view / use of voiceover (compare and contrast with Andrew Davies’ TV version) Great Expectations – Sarah Phelps – how small changes can make a big difference (compare and contract with David Nicholls’ film version) Wild – Nick Hornby – the challenges of nonfiction
Hollywood. Netflix. Amazon. BBC. Producers and audiences are hungrier than ever for stories, and a lot of those stories begin life as a book – but how exactly do you transfer a story from the page to the screen? Do adaptations use the same creative gears as original screenplays?...
- 11/9/2020
- by Stuart Wright
- Nerdly
In the new PBS series “Roadkill,” Hugh Laurie plays Peter Laurence, a conservative (both with a big and small ‘c’) who fights scandal after scandal to try and remain near the top of the greasy political pole.
There have been a handful of recent series depicting right-wing demagogues (think “The Comey Rule” in the U.S. and “Years and Years” across the pond), but Peter Laurence isn’t one of those.
Instead, “Roadkill” focuses on the kind of conservatism that has been in power in the U.K. for the better part of the last 50 years, according to creator David Hare.
“The last six governments in Britain have been Conservative. England is a conservative country, we vote in Conservatives whenever we can, that’s our default position. Yet it’s extraordinary how little fiction there is about them, it’s extraordinary how almost nobody studies them seriously,” Hare says.
Plenty...
There have been a handful of recent series depicting right-wing demagogues (think “The Comey Rule” in the U.S. and “Years and Years” across the pond), but Peter Laurence isn’t one of those.
Instead, “Roadkill” focuses on the kind of conservatism that has been in power in the U.K. for the better part of the last 50 years, according to creator David Hare.
“The last six governments in Britain have been Conservative. England is a conservative country, we vote in Conservatives whenever we can, that’s our default position. Yet it’s extraordinary how little fiction there is about them, it’s extraordinary how almost nobody studies them seriously,” Hare says.
Plenty...
- 10/31/2020
- by Will Thorne
- Variety Film + TV
Time to delight in watching the two British actors embrace the confidence and success that comes with experience
Perhaps you are having a top-notch 2020. Someone must be. But for the greater part of the population … not so much. Let us focus, therefore, on two welcome shining lights in the darkness – our Hughs. The homegrown talents of Messrs Laurie and Grant, specifically, which are currently on show in the popular new primetime dramas Roadkill (by David Hare) and The Undoing (by David E Kelley). Laurie plays the lead in the former – the villainous Tory minister Peter Laurence, all compelling charm without and lethal venality within.
Related: The Undoing review – Hugh Grant and Nicole Kidman start to unravel...
Perhaps you are having a top-notch 2020. Someone must be. But for the greater part of the population … not so much. Let us focus, therefore, on two welcome shining lights in the darkness – our Hughs. The homegrown talents of Messrs Laurie and Grant, specifically, which are currently on show in the popular new primetime dramas Roadkill (by David Hare) and The Undoing (by David E Kelley). Laurie plays the lead in the former – the villainous Tory minister Peter Laurence, all compelling charm without and lethal venality within.
Related: The Undoing review – Hugh Grant and Nicole Kidman start to unravel...
- 10/30/2020
- by Lucy Mangan
- The Guardian - Film News
We’ve been conditioned — mostly thanks to corruption, greed and a steady abuse of power — to mistrust politicians. For many, skepticism is such a deep-rooted emotion when it comes to the government, even being too trustworthy becomes suspicious. But you need not worry, that isn’t that case for Hugh Laurie’s Peter Laurence, the center of PBS Masterpiece’s saucy political miniseries “Roadkill.” Go ahead and bank on those instincts. What begins as a straightforward story unravels into an interconnected evening soap, better paired with gin than tea and crumpets.
When introduced, well-known political figure Laurence has just won a libel lawsuit. A smug grin from ear to ear, he’s off to discuss it with Mick the Mouth on “Alltalk,” a trashy radio show on which he appears weekly. It seems par for the course these days that a once guarded political figure could go off the rails...
When introduced, well-known political figure Laurence has just won a libel lawsuit. A smug grin from ear to ear, he’s off to discuss it with Mick the Mouth on “Alltalk,” a trashy radio show on which he appears weekly. It seems par for the course these days that a once guarded political figure could go off the rails...
- 10/29/2020
- by Rebecca Strassberg
- Variety Film + TV
She is set to reprise her role as the prime minister in a new series of the hit Scandi drama, but the actor is just as excited to share the limelight in David Hare’s new BBC thriller, Roadkill
Sidse Babett Knudsen had an ulterior motive for joining the cast of BBC One’s new political thriller Roadkill, playing the mistress of Hugh Laurie’s ambitious Conservative minister. Sure, she is a fan of Roadkill’s writer, David Hare (whom she describes as “one of the gods”); in her theatre group days, she would regularly make the trip from Copenhagen to London to see his plays at the Royal Court. But that’s far from the whole story. “One of my favourite shows of all time is Veep, and Selina Meyer’s obsession with Hugh Laurie’s character is one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen,” she says.
Sidse Babett Knudsen had an ulterior motive for joining the cast of BBC One’s new political thriller Roadkill, playing the mistress of Hugh Laurie’s ambitious Conservative minister. Sure, she is a fan of Roadkill’s writer, David Hare (whom she describes as “one of the gods”); in her theatre group days, she would regularly make the trip from Copenhagen to London to see his plays at the Royal Court. But that’s far from the whole story. “One of my favourite shows of all time is Veep, and Selina Meyer’s obsession with Hugh Laurie’s character is one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen,” she says.
- 10/16/2020
- by Ellen E Jones
- The Guardian - Film News
Despite the coronavirus production hiatus, there’s a wealth of international dramas launching at 2020 Mipcom. From Australia to the U.K., Variety rounds up 15 of the most anticipated international series debuting at the market.
Alice (U.K.)
“The Durrells” writer Simon Nye and star Keeley Hawes reteam for this black comedy about a woman coming to terms with the death of her husband. Nigel Havers and Joanna Lumley co-star.
Broadcaster: ITV; Distributor: StudioCanal
Alive and Kicking (Spain)
A coming-of-age tale about four teens escaping a psychiatric institution, “Alive and Kicking” is a YA drama that’s billed as a cross between “Stand by Me” and “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” – aiming to break down prejudices about teen mental health.
Broadcaster: Movistar Plus; Distributor: BetaFilm
Anna (Italy)
Adapted and directed by Niccolò Ammaniti from his acclaimed novel, this post-apocalyptic tale depicts a ravaged Sicily after an epidemic has wiped out adults,...
Alice (U.K.)
“The Durrells” writer Simon Nye and star Keeley Hawes reteam for this black comedy about a woman coming to terms with the death of her husband. Nigel Havers and Joanna Lumley co-star.
Broadcaster: ITV; Distributor: StudioCanal
Alive and Kicking (Spain)
A coming-of-age tale about four teens escaping a psychiatric institution, “Alive and Kicking” is a YA drama that’s billed as a cross between “Stand by Me” and “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” – aiming to break down prejudices about teen mental health.
Broadcaster: Movistar Plus; Distributor: BetaFilm
Anna (Italy)
Adapted and directed by Niccolò Ammaniti from his acclaimed novel, this post-apocalyptic tale depicts a ravaged Sicily after an epidemic has wiped out adults,...
- 10/12/2020
- by Tim Dams
- Variety Film + TV
The BBC and PBS Masterpiece have released new images of Hugh Laurie and Helen McCrory in Roadkill, a four-part political thriller written by Collateral’s David Hare and made by National Treasure producer The Forge.
Laurie stars as self-made, forceful and charismatic politician Peter Laurence, whose life is being picked apart by his enemies. Laurence, however, is shamelessly untroubled by guilt or remorse as he walks a high wire between glory and catastrophe.
“The story is in some regards about the price he is prepared to pay to get to the top position and the price that he forces everyone else to pay, principally his family but also those who pledge their loyalty to him,” Laurie said in a press pack accompanying the new stills.
Peaky Blinders actress McCrory plays the British prime minister in the series, which also stars Westworld’s Sidse Babett Knudsen and Dublin Murders’ Sarah Greene.
Laurie stars as self-made, forceful and charismatic politician Peter Laurence, whose life is being picked apart by his enemies. Laurence, however, is shamelessly untroubled by guilt or remorse as he walks a high wire between glory and catastrophe.
“The story is in some regards about the price he is prepared to pay to get to the top position and the price that he forces everyone else to pay, principally his family but also those who pledge their loyalty to him,” Laurie said in a press pack accompanying the new stills.
Peaky Blinders actress McCrory plays the British prime minister in the series, which also stars Westworld’s Sidse Babett Knudsen and Dublin Murders’ Sarah Greene.
- 10/6/2020
- by Jake Kanter
- Deadline Film + TV
PBS released the first trailer on Saturday for the new Masterpiece series “Roadkill,” starring Hugh Laurie as a scheming U.K. politician.
The four-episode series, set to premiere on Nov. 1, stars Laurie as Peter Laurence, a “self-made forceful and charismatic politician,” according to PBS’s description of the series.
“Peter’s public and private life seems to be falling apart – or rather is being picked apart by his enemies. As the personal revelations spiral, he is shamelessly untroubled by guilt or remorse, expertly walking a high wire between glory and catastrophe as he seeks to further his own agenda while others plot to bring him down.”
Created by Michael Keillor and written by “The Hours” writer David Hare, the series also stars “Peaky Blinders” alum Helen McCrory as well as Saskia Reeves, Iain De Caestecker, Pip Torrens, Millie Brady, Danny Ashok and Sidse Babett Knudsen.
Michael Keillor directs the series,...
The four-episode series, set to premiere on Nov. 1, stars Laurie as Peter Laurence, a “self-made forceful and charismatic politician,” according to PBS’s description of the series.
“Peter’s public and private life seems to be falling apart – or rather is being picked apart by his enemies. As the personal revelations spiral, he is shamelessly untroubled by guilt or remorse, expertly walking a high wire between glory and catastrophe as he seeks to further his own agenda while others plot to bring him down.”
Created by Michael Keillor and written by “The Hours” writer David Hare, the series also stars “Peaky Blinders” alum Helen McCrory as well as Saskia Reeves, Iain De Caestecker, Pip Torrens, Millie Brady, Danny Ashok and Sidse Babett Knudsen.
Michael Keillor directs the series,...
- 10/3/2020
- by Reid Nakamura
- The Wrap
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