Exclusive: Mike Goodridge has been on a rare journey. Not many in the industry can boast a CV that includes running a trade publication, an international sales company, a film festival and being the producer of multiple Cannes Film Festival movies.
Goodridge, the former editor of Screen International, CEO of Protagonist, and artistic director of the Macao Film Festival, is on the Croisette this year with Un Certain Regard thriller Santosh. In the UK-Germany-France co-production by filmmaker Sandhya Suri, a government scheme sees newly widowed Santosh (Shahana Goswami) inherit her husband’s job as a police constable in the rural badlands of Northern India. When a low-caste girl is found raped and murdered, she is pulled into the investigation under the wing of charismatic feminist inspector Sharma.
Filming begins this summer in Asia on Good Chaos/Nine Hours production for Netflix The Ballad Of A Small Player, Ed Berger’s...
Goodridge, the former editor of Screen International, CEO of Protagonist, and artistic director of the Macao Film Festival, is on the Croisette this year with Un Certain Regard thriller Santosh. In the UK-Germany-France co-production by filmmaker Sandhya Suri, a government scheme sees newly widowed Santosh (Shahana Goswami) inherit her husband’s job as a police constable in the rural badlands of Northern India. When a low-caste girl is found raped and murdered, she is pulled into the investigation under the wing of charismatic feminist inspector Sharma.
Filming begins this summer in Asia on Good Chaos/Nine Hours production for Netflix The Ballad Of A Small Player, Ed Berger’s...
- 5/16/2024
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire and Shang Chi: And The Legend Of The Ten Rings star Fala Chen is joining the previously announced Colin Farrell (The Banshees of Inisherin) and Tilda Swinton (The Killer) in Netflix and Ed Berger’s (All Quiet On The Western Front) upcoming feature The Ballad of a Small Player, we can reveal.
The story follows a high-stakes gambler who decides to lay low in Macau after his past and debts catch up with him. Along the way he encounters a kindred spirit who might just hold the key to his salvation. Production is due to start in Asia this summer.
Rowan Joffe is adapting the script that is is based on the novel by Lawrence Osborne. Mike Goodridge is producing through his Good Chaos banner along with Berger for his Nine Hours banner as well as Matthew James Wilkinson for Stigma Films.
The film...
The story follows a high-stakes gambler who decides to lay low in Macau after his past and debts catch up with him. Along the way he encounters a kindred spirit who might just hold the key to his salvation. Production is due to start in Asia this summer.
Rowan Joffe is adapting the script that is is based on the novel by Lawrence Osborne. Mike Goodridge is producing through his Good Chaos banner along with Berger for his Nine Hours banner as well as Matthew James Wilkinson for Stigma Films.
The film...
- 5/13/2024
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Following Raw and Titane, Julia Ducournau has set her third feature with Alpha. Though no plot details have been unveiled this far, Golshifteh Farahani and Tahar Rahim (A Prophet) will lead the film, Deadline reports. “Alpha is Julia’s most personal, profound work yet, and we are looking forward to a global audience discovering the story with as much excitement as we did,” said Filmnation and Charades, while the producers added, “Alpha is a new page in Julia Ducournau’s corpus that is both very consistent with the previous ones and entirely new in its tone.”
Following All of Us Strangers, Andrew Haigh is stepping up to a major studio project with a Leonardo da Vinci film set up at Universal Pictures. The film is based on Walter Isaacson‘s 2017 biography, which showed “how Leonardo’s genius was based on skills we can improve in ourselves, such as passionate curiosity,...
Following All of Us Strangers, Andrew Haigh is stepping up to a major studio project with a Leonardo da Vinci film set up at Universal Pictures. The film is based on Walter Isaacson‘s 2017 biography, which showed “how Leonardo’s genius was based on skills we can improve in ourselves, such as passionate curiosity,...
- 5/3/2024
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Tilda Swinton is joining Colin Farrell in Edward Berger and Netflix‘s The Ballad of a Small Player, we can reveal.
The story follows a high-stakes gambler who decides to lay low in Macau after his past and debts catch up with him. Along the way he encounters a kindred spirit who might just hold the key to his salvation. Production is due to start in Asia this summer.
Rowan Joffe is adapting the script that is is based on the novel by Lawrence Osborne. Mike Goodridge is producing through his Good Chaos banner along with Berger for his Nine Hours banner as well as Matthew James Wilkinson for Stigma Films.
The film marks the first project under Berger’s creative partnership and global first-look film deal with Netflix, via his company Nine Hours.
Swinton has recently been in production on Pedro Almodovar’s The Room Next Door and has...
The story follows a high-stakes gambler who decides to lay low in Macau after his past and debts catch up with him. Along the way he encounters a kindred spirit who might just hold the key to his salvation. Production is due to start in Asia this summer.
Rowan Joffe is adapting the script that is is based on the novel by Lawrence Osborne. Mike Goodridge is producing through his Good Chaos banner along with Berger for his Nine Hours banner as well as Matthew James Wilkinson for Stigma Films.
The film marks the first project under Berger’s creative partnership and global first-look film deal with Netflix, via his company Nine Hours.
Swinton has recently been in production on Pedro Almodovar’s The Room Next Door and has...
- 4/30/2024
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Werner Herzog has revealed he’s part of the voice cast of Bong Joon Ho’s forthcoming animated feature, according to Variety. The fully CGI animation is a deep-sea adventure, featuring creatures and humans, specifically following an invertebrate deep-sea fish who believes he’s suffering from spinal disk herniation. One can learn more here about the project.
Peter Greenaway has begun shooting his untitled new feature in Lucca, Italy, with Dustin Hoffman, Helen Hunt, and Sofia Boutella leading the story “of an intelligent man whose final big adventure is intended to be his death. He wants to make it elegant and sensible. Tidy, with as few loose ends as possible,” Deadline reports.
Following up Last Night in Soho, Edgar Wright has set his next feature with the long-in-development Paramount remake of The Running Man, with Glen Powell set to star, Deadline notes, reportedly beating out the likes of Ryan Gosling,...
Peter Greenaway has begun shooting his untitled new feature in Lucca, Italy, with Dustin Hoffman, Helen Hunt, and Sofia Boutella leading the story “of an intelligent man whose final big adventure is intended to be his death. He wants to make it elegant and sensible. Tidy, with as few loose ends as possible,” Deadline reports.
Following up Last Night in Soho, Edgar Wright has set his next feature with the long-in-development Paramount remake of The Running Man, with Glen Powell set to star, Deadline notes, reportedly beating out the likes of Ryan Gosling,...
- 4/15/2024
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Colin Farrell encabezará un emocionante thriller ambientado en el mundo de las apuestas.
De acuerdo con Deadline, Colin Farrell protagonizará la película de Netflix “The Ballad of a Small Player”, del director de “Sin Novedad en el Frente”, Edward Berger, y Rowan Joffe (“Before I Go to Sleep”) adaptará el guion, basado en la novela de Lawrence Osborne.
“The Ballad of a Small Player” sigue a un jugador de apuestas de alto riesgo que decide pasar desapercibido en Macao después de que su pasado y sus deudas le alcancen. Por el camino se encuentra con un espíritu afín que podría ser la clave de su salvación.
Farrell ha estado últimamente en activo tanto en la pequeña como en la gran pantalla, con su serie noir “Sugar”, de Apple, estrenada recientemente en la plataforma de streaming. A finales de este año, se estrenará la esperada serie de Batman en Max, “El Pingüino...
De acuerdo con Deadline, Colin Farrell protagonizará la película de Netflix “The Ballad of a Small Player”, del director de “Sin Novedad en el Frente”, Edward Berger, y Rowan Joffe (“Before I Go to Sleep”) adaptará el guion, basado en la novela de Lawrence Osborne.
“The Ballad of a Small Player” sigue a un jugador de apuestas de alto riesgo que decide pasar desapercibido en Macao después de que su pasado y sus deudas le alcancen. Por el camino se encuentra con un espíritu afín que podría ser la clave de su salvación.
Farrell ha estado últimamente en activo tanto en la pequeña como en la gran pantalla, con su serie noir “Sugar”, de Apple, estrenada recientemente en la plataforma de streaming. A finales de este año, se estrenará la esperada serie de Batman en Max, “El Pingüino...
- 4/10/2024
- by Marta Medina
- mundoCine
Deadline is reporting that Colin Farrell is now slated to star in the new project from Edward Berger, the director of the Academy Award-winning All Quiet on the Western Front. Farrell will be the lead in The Ballad of a Small Player, which will be a Netflix original. While Berger directs, Rowan Joffe has adapted a script that is based on the novel of the same name by Lawrence Osborne. Mike Goodridge is on board to produce through his Good Chaos banner, as well as Berger through his Nine Hours banner, along with Matthew James Wilkinson. Berger currently has a first-look deal with Netflix, which this movie will be the start of.
The plot synopsis for The Ballad of a Small Player, according to Deadline, reads,
“The story follows a high-stakes gambler who decides to lay low in Macau after his past and debts catch up with him. Along the...
The plot synopsis for The Ballad of a Small Player, according to Deadline, reads,
“The story follows a high-stakes gambler who decides to lay low in Macau after his past and debts catch up with him. Along the...
- 4/10/2024
- by EJ Tangonan
- JoBlo.com
Colin Farrell continues to keep busy, with the Oscar-nominated actor set to star in Edward Berger’s next feature for Netflix.
Farrell will play the lead in The Ballad of a Small Player, which is based on author Lawrence Osborne’s 2014 novel of the same name. Berger (All Quiet on the Western Front) will helm the movie from a script by Rowan Joffe (Before I Go to Sleep). Filming is set to begin this summer in Asia.
The Ballad of a Small Player centers on a high-stakes gambler who is dealing with debts and his questionable past while trying to keep a low profile in Macau when he meets a kindred spirit.
Producers include Berger for Nine Hours, Mike Goodridge for Good Chaos, and Matthew James Wilkinson for Stigma Films. The Ballad of a Small Player is the initial feature under Berger’s first-look deal with Netflix.
Berger directed Netflix...
Farrell will play the lead in The Ballad of a Small Player, which is based on author Lawrence Osborne’s 2014 novel of the same name. Berger (All Quiet on the Western Front) will helm the movie from a script by Rowan Joffe (Before I Go to Sleep). Filming is set to begin this summer in Asia.
The Ballad of a Small Player centers on a high-stakes gambler who is dealing with debts and his questionable past while trying to keep a low profile in Macau when he meets a kindred spirit.
Producers include Berger for Nine Hours, Mike Goodridge for Good Chaos, and Matthew James Wilkinson for Stigma Films. The Ballad of a Small Player is the initial feature under Berger’s first-look deal with Netflix.
Berger directed Netflix...
- 4/9/2024
- by Ryan Gajewski
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Exclusive: Colin Farrell continues to build on a busy dance card as the Oscar-nominated actor is set to star in Netflix’s The Ballad of a Small Player, with Edward Berger directing. Rowan Joffe will adapt the script that is is based on the novel by Lawrence Osborne. Mike Goodridge will produce through his Good Chaos banner along with Berger for his Nine Hours banner as well as Matthew James Wilkinson.
The story follows a high-stakes gambler who decides to lay low in Macau after his past and debts catch up with him. Along the way he encounters a kindred spirit who might just hold the key to his salvation. Production is expected to start later this year.
The film marks the first project under Berger’s creative partnership and global first-look film deal with Netflix, via his company Nine Hours.
Farrell has worked of late on both on the...
The story follows a high-stakes gambler who decides to lay low in Macau after his past and debts catch up with him. Along the way he encounters a kindred spirit who might just hold the key to his salvation. Production is expected to start later this year.
The film marks the first project under Berger’s creative partnership and global first-look film deal with Netflix, via his company Nine Hours.
Farrell has worked of late on both on the...
- 4/9/2024
- by Justin Kroll
- Deadline Film + TV
The searing drama The Forgiven is being released on DVD & Blu-ray on 12th December and to celebrate we are giving away a Blu-ray. Written by John Michael McDonagh and based on the bestselling book by Lawrence Osborne, The Forgiven is an unflinching look at the perils of Great Gatsby-esque Western decadence that recalls the likes of White Mischief and The Sheltering Sky, and Variety describes as a “thorny modern parable”.
Award-winning director McDonagh has lined up a formidable cast for his powerful tale of tragedy and redemption set in Morocco. Leading actors Ralph Fiennes (BAFTA-winner for Schindler’s List) and Jessica Chastain (Oscar-winner for The Eyes of Tammy Faye) are joined by Matt Smith (House of the Dragon), Christopher Abbott (Possessor), Abby Lee (The Neon Demon), Caleb Landry Jones (Get Out) and Saïd Taghmaoui (Wonder Woman) for a compulsive drama that plays out against a foreboding desert backdrop.
Speeding through the...
Award-winning director McDonagh has lined up a formidable cast for his powerful tale of tragedy and redemption set in Morocco. Leading actors Ralph Fiennes (BAFTA-winner for Schindler’s List) and Jessica Chastain (Oscar-winner for The Eyes of Tammy Faye) are joined by Matt Smith (House of the Dragon), Christopher Abbott (Possessor), Abby Lee (The Neon Demon), Caleb Landry Jones (Get Out) and Saïd Taghmaoui (Wonder Woman) for a compulsive drama that plays out against a foreboding desert backdrop.
Speeding through the...
- 12/15/2022
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
John Michael McDonagh's gorgeous adaptation of the Lawrence Osborne book is a thing any serious film collector will treasure, and there's plenty to discover on rewatching it, time after time. The only other thing on this disc is the theatrical trailer, but it's still a good purchase.
The one criticism due here concerns the scene selection system, which is pretty to look at but tricky to use. Ultimately, you're as well just to play the film and skip through it to find what you want. This is a minor issue, however....
The one criticism due here concerns the scene selection system, which is pretty to look at but tricky to use. Ultimately, you're as well just to play the film and skip through it to find what you want. This is a minor issue, however....
- 12/11/2022
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Ralph Fiennes and Jessica Chastain play a couple en route to a weekend of debauchery in the desert in this morality tale from John Michael McDonagh
Beneath the garishly brittle portrait of ghastly westerners lording it up in Morocco, there’s a low-key, brooding quality to this accomplished if somewhat inert screen adaptation of Lawrence Osborne’s 2012 bestseller. Written and directed by John Michael McDonagh, whose screen CV includes The Guard (2011), Calvary (2014) and War on Everyone (2016), it’s an anxiously moralist tale of crime and punishment, revenge and resolution, played out against a broad-strokes, culture-clash backdrop that brings a tang of spiteful satire to the deeper discussions of good and evil.
“It’s a long way to go for a party, but then they’re more your friends than mine.” So says David (Ralph Fiennes), a British doctor with a blemished record whom we first meet aboard a boat to “l’Afrique” with his wife,...
Beneath the garishly brittle portrait of ghastly westerners lording it up in Morocco, there’s a low-key, brooding quality to this accomplished if somewhat inert screen adaptation of Lawrence Osborne’s 2012 bestseller. Written and directed by John Michael McDonagh, whose screen CV includes The Guard (2011), Calvary (2014) and War on Everyone (2016), it’s an anxiously moralist tale of crime and punishment, revenge and resolution, played out against a broad-strokes, culture-clash backdrop that brings a tang of spiteful satire to the deeper discussions of good and evil.
“It’s a long way to go for a party, but then they’re more your friends than mine.” So says David (Ralph Fiennes), a British doctor with a blemished record whom we first meet aboard a boat to “l’Afrique” with his wife,...
- 9/4/2022
- by Mark Kermode, Observer film critic
- The Guardian - Film News
Fans of John Michael McDonagh should find much to love in the writer/director’s fourth feature, The Forgiven, but it lacks the refined structure, likeable characters and charred heart of his earlier work.
Based on a novel by Lawrence Osborne, The Forgiven tells the tale of stuck-up, married couple, David (Ralph Fiennes) and Jo (Jessica Chastain), who travel to Morocco to attend a lavish party thrown by wealthy friends, Richard (Matt Smith) and Dally (Caleb Landry Jones). En route, David accidentally runs over a teenage boy, Driss (Omar Ghazaoui), and is forced to face repercussions of the event while partying with pals. The police are convinced it was an accident but when the late boy’s father, Abdellah (Ismael Kanetar) arrives, David is forced to accompany him to help bury his son and face further consequences.
McDonagh’s latest is, for the most part, engrossing with striking performances from its A-list cast,...
Based on a novel by Lawrence Osborne, The Forgiven tells the tale of stuck-up, married couple, David (Ralph Fiennes) and Jo (Jessica Chastain), who travel to Morocco to attend a lavish party thrown by wealthy friends, Richard (Matt Smith) and Dally (Caleb Landry Jones). En route, David accidentally runs over a teenage boy, Driss (Omar Ghazaoui), and is forced to face repercussions of the event while partying with pals. The police are convinced it was an accident but when the late boy’s father, Abdellah (Ismael Kanetar) arrives, David is forced to accompany him to help bury his son and face further consequences.
McDonagh’s latest is, for the most part, engrossing with striking performances from its A-list cast,...
- 9/2/2022
- by Daniel Goodwin
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Director John Michael McDonagh, author Lawrence Osborne and the stars of the film discuss personal salvation, simplistic critics and why ‘you can’t build a culture out of non-stop moral hysteria’
Everyone loved John Michael McDonagh’s first film, The Guard, with Brendan Gleeson as a sloshed cop. They admired his second, Calvary, in which Gleeson played a priest reconciled to his own murder. His third, a black comedy with Alexander Skarsgård and Michael Peña, was mostly loathed. McDonagh anticipated these reactions, he says in a pub in south London. He had assumed people would like his first two, “and War on Everyone was meant to be divisive”.
So he would be forgiven for having felt perky before the premiere last year of his fourth film. “I love watching the film!” he says. It’s an old-fashioned noir: tense, starry, good-looking. “So I was like: Everyone’s going to love it.
Everyone loved John Michael McDonagh’s first film, The Guard, with Brendan Gleeson as a sloshed cop. They admired his second, Calvary, in which Gleeson played a priest reconciled to his own murder. His third, a black comedy with Alexander Skarsgård and Michael Peña, was mostly loathed. McDonagh anticipated these reactions, he says in a pub in south London. He had assumed people would like his first two, “and War on Everyone was meant to be divisive”.
So he would be forgiven for having felt perky before the premiere last year of his fourth film. “I love watching the film!” he says. It’s an old-fashioned noir: tense, starry, good-looking. “So I was like: Everyone’s going to love it.
- 9/2/2022
- by Catherine Shoard
- The Guardian - Film News
Dir: John Michael McDonagh. Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Jessica Chastain, Matt Smith, Ismael Kanater, Caleb Landry Jones, Abbey Lee. 18, 117 minutes.
At what point does art’s stubborn (though not invalid) fascination with the inner mechanics of terrible people cross a line, and begin demanding we show mercy towards the truly irredeemable among us? It’s the problem that lies at the heart of The Forgiven, a somewhat on-the-nose title for a film that lines up for us a miniature troupe of the wealthy and perversely bigoted at leisure in Morocco, who feel free to say horrific things about the local population because they’re shielded behind the walls of a literal castle. The only Moroccans they speak to on a daily basis are the ones whose wages they pay. We watch these one-percenters scurry about like termites, spewing their awfulness, before one of their number undergoes a moral awakening and we...
At what point does art’s stubborn (though not invalid) fascination with the inner mechanics of terrible people cross a line, and begin demanding we show mercy towards the truly irredeemable among us? It’s the problem that lies at the heart of The Forgiven, a somewhat on-the-nose title for a film that lines up for us a miniature troupe of the wealthy and perversely bigoted at leisure in Morocco, who feel free to say horrific things about the local population because they’re shielded behind the walls of a literal castle. The only Moroccans they speak to on a daily basis are the ones whose wages they pay. We watch these one-percenters scurry about like termites, spewing their awfulness, before one of their number undergoes a moral awakening and we...
- 9/1/2022
- by Clarisse Loughrey
- The Independent - Film
The 2021 drama film The Forgiven, written and directed by John Michael McDonagh, had its theatrical release on the first of July. It is based on the 2012 novel of the same name by Lawrence Osborne. The film stars Ralph Fiennes, Jessica Chastain, Matt Smith, Ismael Kanater, Caleb Landry Jones, Abbey Lee, Mourad Zaoui, Marie-Josée Croze, Alex Jennings, Saïd Taghmaoui, and Christopher Abbott.The film follows the lives of the wealthy couple as they deal with the fallout from accidentally hitting and killing a local boy While the husband is focused on avoiding any legal penalties, his wife becomes obsessed with
Five Movies To Watch When You’re Done With “The Forgiven”...
Five Movies To Watch When You’re Done With “The Forgiven”...
- 8/16/2022
- by A.E. Oats
- TVovermind.com
Jessica Chastain and Ralph Fiennes in The Forgiven. Photo credit: Sife Elamine. Courtesy of Roadside Attractions and Vertical Entertainment
Jessica Chastain and Ralph Fiennes star as a wealthy couple who travel to Morocco for a posh weekend party at a remote desert location but when driving to their destination, they hit a local teen-aged boy in a fatal accident, with unforeseen and devastating consequences, in The Forgiven.
White privilege, particularly of the variety afforded the rich, is at the center of this thoughtful, thriller-like drama, as it explores the clash of cultures between these affluent Brits and the boy’s impoverished Bedouin family, as well as the toll it takes on the couple’s already rocky marriage.
We first meet the wealthy couple on a luxury speed boat streaking towards the Moroccan coast. David Henninger is a successful British plastic surgeon and Jo Henninger is his American wife, who was...
Jessica Chastain and Ralph Fiennes star as a wealthy couple who travel to Morocco for a posh weekend party at a remote desert location but when driving to their destination, they hit a local teen-aged boy in a fatal accident, with unforeseen and devastating consequences, in The Forgiven.
White privilege, particularly of the variety afforded the rich, is at the center of this thoughtful, thriller-like drama, as it explores the clash of cultures between these affluent Brits and the boy’s impoverished Bedouin family, as well as the toll it takes on the couple’s already rocky marriage.
We first meet the wealthy couple on a luxury speed boat streaking towards the Moroccan coast. David Henninger is a successful British plastic surgeon and Jo Henninger is his American wife, who was...
- 7/15/2022
- by Cate Marquis
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The Forgiven Review — The Forgiven (2021) Film Review, a movie directed by John Michael McDonagh, written by John Michael McDonagh and Lawrence Osborne and starring Ralph Fiennes, Jessica Chastain, Matt Smith, Abbey Lee, Caleb Landry Jones, Christopher Abbott, Alex Jennings, Marie-Josee Croze, Fiona O’Shaughnessy, Said Taghmaoul, David McSavage, Mourad Zaoui, Ismael Kanater, Imane [...]
Continue reading: Film Review: The Forgiven (2021): Ralph Fiennes and Jessica Chastain Are in Top Form in a Stylish Dramatic Thriller...
Continue reading: Film Review: The Forgiven (2021): Ralph Fiennes and Jessica Chastain Are in Top Form in a Stylish Dramatic Thriller...
- 7/4/2022
- by Thomas Duffy
- Film-Book
This review of “The Forgiven” first appeared when the film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2021.
A dark and dirty morality play where nobody’s very concerned with morals, John Michael McDonagh’s “The Forgiven” takes some extremely questionable behavior and makes it as intriguing as it is off-putting. There’s a lot of despicable stuff going on in this efficiently nasty drama from the Irish writer-director of “The Guard” and “Cavalry,” but in the hands of McDonagh, Ralph Fiennes and Jessica Chastain, you may actually find yourself caring for these people more than they care for themselves.
The film, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2021, is a timely piece of work based on Lawrence Osborne’s 2012 novel — it may focus on first-world problems, but that doesn’t stop it from delving into issues of white privilege, colonialism, casual racism and the conflict between the West and the Arab world.
A dark and dirty morality play where nobody’s very concerned with morals, John Michael McDonagh’s “The Forgiven” takes some extremely questionable behavior and makes it as intriguing as it is off-putting. There’s a lot of despicable stuff going on in this efficiently nasty drama from the Irish writer-director of “The Guard” and “Cavalry,” but in the hands of McDonagh, Ralph Fiennes and Jessica Chastain, you may actually find yourself caring for these people more than they care for themselves.
The film, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2021, is a timely piece of work based on Lawrence Osborne’s 2012 novel — it may focus on first-world problems, but that doesn’t stop it from delving into issues of white privilege, colonialism, casual racism and the conflict between the West and the Arab world.
- 6/30/2022
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
Exclusive: French American actor Saïd Taghmaoui has signed with Buchwald for representation.
Taghmaoui was most recently seen opposite Ralph Fiennes, Jessica Chastain and Matt Smith in writer-director John Michael McDonagh’s drama The Forgiven, based on the 2012 novel of the same name by Lawrence Osborne.
He’s also starred in recent years opposite Laurence Fishburne, Halle Berry, and Keanu Reeves in Chad Stahelski’s Lionsgate feature John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, and opposite Gal Gadot and Chris Pine in Patty Jenkins’ Warner Bros. superhero pic Wonder Woman.
Taghmaoui has also previously appeared on the film side in Brad Furman’s The Infiltrator, David O. Russell’s American Hustle, Stephen Sommers’ G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, Marc Forster’s The Kite Runner and other titles, appearing on the TV side in Lost, House of Saddam and Touch.
Taghmaoui co-wrote and starred in the 1995 French film La Haine with Mathieu Kassovitz,...
Taghmaoui was most recently seen opposite Ralph Fiennes, Jessica Chastain and Matt Smith in writer-director John Michael McDonagh’s drama The Forgiven, based on the 2012 novel of the same name by Lawrence Osborne.
He’s also starred in recent years opposite Laurence Fishburne, Halle Berry, and Keanu Reeves in Chad Stahelski’s Lionsgate feature John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, and opposite Gal Gadot and Chris Pine in Patty Jenkins’ Warner Bros. superhero pic Wonder Woman.
Taghmaoui has also previously appeared on the film side in Brad Furman’s The Infiltrator, David O. Russell’s American Hustle, Stephen Sommers’ G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, Marc Forster’s The Kite Runner and other titles, appearing on the TV side in Lost, House of Saddam and Touch.
Taghmaoui co-wrote and starred in the 1995 French film La Haine with Mathieu Kassovitz,...
- 2/24/2022
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Roadside Attractions and Vertical Entertainment have co-acquired North American rights to The Forgiven, a starry thriller written and directed by John Michael McDonagh, which premiered at the 2021 Toronto Film Festival. Roadside will release the film in theaters next spring, with Vertical handling its digital rollout.
The Forgiven is based on the novel of the same name by Lawrence Osborne. It centers on wealthy Londoners David (Ralph Fiennes) and Jo Henninger (Jessica Chastain), who are involved in a tragic accident with a local teenage boy, after speeding through the Moroccan desert to attend an old friend’s lavish weekend party. Arriving late at the grand villa with the debauched party raging, the couple attempts to cover up the incident with the collusion of the local police. But when the boy’s father arrives seeking justice, the stage is set for a tension-filled culture clash in which David...
The Forgiven is based on the novel of the same name by Lawrence Osborne. It centers on wealthy Londoners David (Ralph Fiennes) and Jo Henninger (Jessica Chastain), who are involved in a tragic accident with a local teenage boy, after speeding through the Moroccan desert to attend an old friend’s lavish weekend party. Arriving late at the grand villa with the debauched party raging, the couple attempts to cover up the incident with the collusion of the local police. But when the boy’s father arrives seeking justice, the stage is set for a tension-filled culture clash in which David...
- 11/11/2021
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
"The Forgiven" has the feeling of a strong literary novel; the type you pore over after pouring yourself a glass of scotch rather than the type of mindless potboiler you read on the beach. And indeed, this multi-narrative, multi-character saga is based on a novel by Lawrence Osborne. I haven't read the book, so I can't comment on how faithful this adaptation is. But I was impressed with the overall literary feel of "The Forgiven;" a vibe that could easily translate to the printed page.
That's not to say this John Michael McDonagh pic is stuffy and slow. It moves at a steady...
The post The Forgiven Review: A Boozy, Biting Saga of the Haves and the Have Nots [TIFF 2021] appeared first on /Film.
That's not to say this John Michael McDonagh pic is stuffy and slow. It moves at a steady...
The post The Forgiven Review: A Boozy, Biting Saga of the Haves and the Have Nots [TIFF 2021] appeared first on /Film.
- 9/13/2021
- by Chris Evangelista
- Slash Film
Watching the intriguing and unpredictable adult drama The Forgiven, which takes place right in the heart of the High Atlas mountains in Morocco, I couldn’t help but think that if the 2012 book on which it is based were around a few decades earlier this would be the kind of movie Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor would have made. It is actually a film dependent on a strong star pairing, and Ralph Fiennes and Jessica Chastain certainly fill the bill as a somewhat bored married couple invited to spend the weekend at the isolated villa of a gay friend in the middle of the desert.
Based on the novel by Lawrence Osborne it is a story that pits the haves and the have nots, Westerners with money to spare versus local Muslims with nothing but miles of sand to traverse. On the one hand The Forgiven, written and directed by John Michael McDonagh and world premiering today at the Toronto Film Festival and with a title that even sounds like a movie Taylor and Burton might have made in the ’60s, is about that clash which happens solely due to a tragic accident that brings these disparate groups unexpectedly together. On the other hand it is about people from distinct and different backgrounds who deal with their own humanity in ways that couldn’t be more miles apart. It is a clash of cultures that serves on a very small level as something of a view for the world at large, one ultimately asking for universal understanding.
David Henninger (Fiennes) and his wife Jo (Chastain), a children’s author, are driving to spend the weekend at the elaborate and remote Moroccan villa (Willem Smit’s production design is aces) of their friend Richard (Matt Smith) and his gay lover Dalley Margolis (Caleb Landry Jones). Other kitschy guests will also be partying with no abandon there for the housewarming party of this renovated ksour in the middle of nowhere. Before they can arrive, David, not a terribly friendly man and a functioning alcoholic, gets drunk and winds up carelessly running over a young local man named Driss (Omar Ghazaoui), killing him. Not knowing what to do he takes the body to the house. Although a tragedy, this incident does not seem to dampen the mood, and is ruled an accident by authorities, perhaps favoring those with wealth vs those more expendable?
As the guests, a bourgeoisie bunch if ever there was one, go about their merry games, we get an ugly view of privileged western society where, despite outward appearances, they all seem to be dead behind the eyes if you ask me. There is also attractive American Tom Day (Christopher Abbott), party girl Cody (Abbey Lee), photographer Isabelle Peret (Marie-Josee Croze) and more drifting in and out of frame. The focus is primarily on David and Jo, he a lost cause and she potentially a decent person, if overdressed in evening gowns for the occasion, caught up in a dying marriage.
Things heat up considerably when Abdellah (an excellent Ismael Kanater), the father of the dead boy, arrives to identify the body. In a rare moment of remorse over causing this loss of a young man’s life, accident or not, David somewhat reluctantly agrees to accompany Abdellah and his group to the outer desert in order to bury the boy. Is this his version of atonement? It certainly adds a unique layer of tension to the story as he sets off in the car with this Muslim father of the boy he killed. Their interactions on the journey are the strongest part of the film.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…Jo opens up and shows emotional vulnerability as she falls into bed with Tom, ratcheting up the stakes when David returns, if he returns. We don’t really know how this will play out, and that is what kept me engaged right up to the very last moment.
In a directorial flourish I have never quite seen before, every single credit, including all the music cues and crew members, roll by at the beginning of the movie. McDonagh clearly has his reasons for that but it is disconcerting to say the least. I actually thought the link I got to watch the gorgeously shot movie (cinematography is by Larry Smith) was somehow unspooling backwards. I almost called the support line. Ultimately what McDonagh has wrought is a look into ourselves no matter what class we are in, and he clearly wants it to end with no ambiguity on that matter. Fiennes as a thoroughly unlikable man manages through his exceptional acting talent to show us how David may have a decent human buried deep inside. Chastain, who received the Actor award at TIFF today, is having quite a festival with The Eyes of Tammy Faye also premiering here this weekend on top of the HBO debut Sunday of her limited series Scenes From a Marriage. She brings extra dimension to a basically good woman who is trying to find any spark of life left in her. Smith, best known for The Crown, is perfectly cast as Richard, while Jones’ character is a little too weird to ever let the actor take it out of first gear. Best of all is perhaps is driver Anouar, as played by Said Taghmaoui, with genuine wisdom and smarts well above his pay grade. This is a rare and thoroughly adult drama offering much to think about.
Elizabeth Eves, Trevor Mathhews and Nick Gordon are producers. The production companies listed are House of Un-American Activities and Brookstreet Pictures. The print I saw was fronted by the Focus Features logo, but the title is being sold at TIFF. CAA is the sales agent.
Based on the novel by Lawrence Osborne it is a story that pits the haves and the have nots, Westerners with money to spare versus local Muslims with nothing but miles of sand to traverse. On the one hand The Forgiven, written and directed by John Michael McDonagh and world premiering today at the Toronto Film Festival and with a title that even sounds like a movie Taylor and Burton might have made in the ’60s, is about that clash which happens solely due to a tragic accident that brings these disparate groups unexpectedly together. On the other hand it is about people from distinct and different backgrounds who deal with their own humanity in ways that couldn’t be more miles apart. It is a clash of cultures that serves on a very small level as something of a view for the world at large, one ultimately asking for universal understanding.
David Henninger (Fiennes) and his wife Jo (Chastain), a children’s author, are driving to spend the weekend at the elaborate and remote Moroccan villa (Willem Smit’s production design is aces) of their friend Richard (Matt Smith) and his gay lover Dalley Margolis (Caleb Landry Jones). Other kitschy guests will also be partying with no abandon there for the housewarming party of this renovated ksour in the middle of nowhere. Before they can arrive, David, not a terribly friendly man and a functioning alcoholic, gets drunk and winds up carelessly running over a young local man named Driss (Omar Ghazaoui), killing him. Not knowing what to do he takes the body to the house. Although a tragedy, this incident does not seem to dampen the mood, and is ruled an accident by authorities, perhaps favoring those with wealth vs those more expendable?
As the guests, a bourgeoisie bunch if ever there was one, go about their merry games, we get an ugly view of privileged western society where, despite outward appearances, they all seem to be dead behind the eyes if you ask me. There is also attractive American Tom Day (Christopher Abbott), party girl Cody (Abbey Lee), photographer Isabelle Peret (Marie-Josee Croze) and more drifting in and out of frame. The focus is primarily on David and Jo, he a lost cause and she potentially a decent person, if overdressed in evening gowns for the occasion, caught up in a dying marriage.
Things heat up considerably when Abdellah (an excellent Ismael Kanater), the father of the dead boy, arrives to identify the body. In a rare moment of remorse over causing this loss of a young man’s life, accident or not, David somewhat reluctantly agrees to accompany Abdellah and his group to the outer desert in order to bury the boy. Is this his version of atonement? It certainly adds a unique layer of tension to the story as he sets off in the car with this Muslim father of the boy he killed. Their interactions on the journey are the strongest part of the film.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…Jo opens up and shows emotional vulnerability as she falls into bed with Tom, ratcheting up the stakes when David returns, if he returns. We don’t really know how this will play out, and that is what kept me engaged right up to the very last moment.
In a directorial flourish I have never quite seen before, every single credit, including all the music cues and crew members, roll by at the beginning of the movie. McDonagh clearly has his reasons for that but it is disconcerting to say the least. I actually thought the link I got to watch the gorgeously shot movie (cinematography is by Larry Smith) was somehow unspooling backwards. I almost called the support line. Ultimately what McDonagh has wrought is a look into ourselves no matter what class we are in, and he clearly wants it to end with no ambiguity on that matter. Fiennes as a thoroughly unlikable man manages through his exceptional acting talent to show us how David may have a decent human buried deep inside. Chastain, who received the Actor award at TIFF today, is having quite a festival with The Eyes of Tammy Faye also premiering here this weekend on top of the HBO debut Sunday of her limited series Scenes From a Marriage. She brings extra dimension to a basically good woman who is trying to find any spark of life left in her. Smith, best known for The Crown, is perfectly cast as Richard, while Jones’ character is a little too weird to ever let the actor take it out of first gear. Best of all is perhaps is driver Anouar, as played by Said Taghmaoui, with genuine wisdom and smarts well above his pay grade. This is a rare and thoroughly adult drama offering much to think about.
Elizabeth Eves, Trevor Mathhews and Nick Gordon are producers. The production companies listed are House of Un-American Activities and Brookstreet Pictures. The print I saw was fronted by the Focus Features logo, but the title is being sold at TIFF. CAA is the sales agent.
- 9/11/2021
- by Pete Hammond
- Deadline Film + TV
If the vision of Jessica Chastain in a sleek Lbd sniffing coke and then vigorously bedding Christopher Abbott during a bacchanal in Morocco stokes your flames, then John Michael McDonagh’s “The Forgiven” is the movie for you. “I wish I wasn’t so worried,” she says before jubilantly downing another line of white powder. She wishes she were more worried about her husband, played by Ralph Fiennes, a selfish doctor who, during their now-derailed vacation stay at an old-time friend’s deliciously depraved party in the desert, has run over a Muslim child and failed to cover it up. She wishes she cared that he’s now been carted off to the boy’s Berber village in middle-of-nowhere North Africa to do penance by the kid’s father, and where he could possibly be hung and quartered. Will she miss him at all?
Working from a novel by Lawrence Osborne,...
Working from a novel by Lawrence Osborne,...
- 9/11/2021
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Have you ever noticed how, in Western culture, when referring to someone’s death, writers feel obliged to insert the word “tragic” somewhere in the sentence? Is there any other kind, a reader might rightly ask. Sometimes they mean “unexpected,” a kind of shorthand intended to show that the life in question was cut short before its time. But just as often, the phrase “tragic death” is simply redundant, a trite cliché intended to signify that the speaker isn’t some callous bastard.
Writer-director John Michael McDonagh recognizes that not all deaths are tragic. Some are merciful, others accidental; while many are unfortunate, on some occasions, people meet an end that could be described as “poetic” — or at the least, deserved. McDonagh (like younger brother Martin) is a brute-force moralist. Both siblings write scripts in which the term “reckoning” often applies, which is to say, movies and plays where atonement...
Writer-director John Michael McDonagh recognizes that not all deaths are tragic. Some are merciful, others accidental; while many are unfortunate, on some occasions, people meet an end that could be described as “poetic” — or at the least, deserved. McDonagh (like younger brother Martin) is a brute-force moralist. Both siblings write scripts in which the term “reckoning” often applies, which is to say, movies and plays where atonement...
- 9/11/2021
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
Based on a 2012 Lawrence Osborne novel that might well have been set (with only small changes) many decades earlier, John Michael McDonagh’s The Forgiven watches rich Westerners treat Morocco like their playground, scarcely noticing the poverty and disapproval surrounding their opulent parties. Imperialist-grade entitlement goes only so far in the modern world, though, and when one partyer accidentally kills a local teen, some kind of accommodation is going to have to be made.
Scripted, directed and acted with intelligence and panache, it’s a very grown-up film but never a bore, a morally alert drama that leaves the scolding to us....
Scripted, directed and acted with intelligence and panache, it’s a very grown-up film but never a bore, a morally alert drama that leaves the scolding to us....
- 9/11/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Based on a 2012 Lawrence Osborne novel that might well have been set (with only small changes) many decades earlier, John Michael McDonagh’s The Forgiven watches rich Westerners treat Morocco like their playground, scarcely noticing the poverty and disapproval surrounding their opulent parties. Imperialist-grade entitlement goes only so far in the modern world, though, and when one partyer accidentally kills a local teen, some kind of accommodation is going to have to be made.
Scripted, directed and acted with intelligence and panache, it’s a very grown-up film but never a bore, a morally alert drama that leaves the scolding to us....
Scripted, directed and acted with intelligence and panache, it’s a very grown-up film but never a bore, a morally alert drama that leaves the scolding to us....
- 9/11/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
This year’s fall festival season features a tapestry of in-person, virtual, and hybrid programming from Telluride, Venice, TIFF, and NYFF. One throughline: many of the most anticipated premieres — from “Dune” to “The Power of the Dog” — are arriving to festivals with distribution in hand.
Though the festivals have pared down the size of their lineups amid the pandemic, there’s still plenty for buyers to choose from, from discovery titles to those with bankable elements. Gastón Duprat and Mariano Cohn’s “Official Competition” features Antonio Banderas and Penélope Cruz in a rare appearance on screen together; it still has North American rights available ahead of its Venice premiere. In “Lakewood,” Phillip Noyce directs Naomi Watts as a mother racing to her child during an active-shooter incident, it premieres at TIFF. And “Beba,” a personal documentary from first-time feature director Rebeca Huntt, is catching early buzz as a potential TIFF breakout.
Though the festivals have pared down the size of their lineups amid the pandemic, there’s still plenty for buyers to choose from, from discovery titles to those with bankable elements. Gastón Duprat and Mariano Cohn’s “Official Competition” features Antonio Banderas and Penélope Cruz in a rare appearance on screen together; it still has North American rights available ahead of its Venice premiere. In “Lakewood,” Phillip Noyce directs Naomi Watts as a mother racing to her child during an active-shooter incident, it premieres at TIFF. And “Beba,” a personal documentary from first-time feature director Rebeca Huntt, is catching early buzz as a potential TIFF breakout.
- 9/2/2021
- by Chris Lindahl
- Indiewire
The 2021 Toronto Film Festival has booked John Michael McDonagh’s The Forgiven, starring Jessica Chastain and Ralph Fiennes, into Roy Thomson Hall for a gala screening in September.
On Friday, TIFF organizers also added Julia, the Julia Child documentary by Julie Cohen and Betsy West, into its TIFF Docs section, while Netflix’s upcoming series Colin in Black & White, about NFL quarterback and activist Colin Kaepernick growing up and co-created by Ava DuVernay and Kaepernick, joins the Primetime sidebar.
The Forgiven is a movie adaptation of Lawrence Osborne’s 2012 novel of the same name about a clash of worlds between Moroccan Muslims and Western visitors during ...
On Friday, TIFF organizers also added Julia, the Julia Child documentary by Julie Cohen and Betsy West, into its TIFF Docs section, while Netflix’s upcoming series Colin in Black & White, about NFL quarterback and activist Colin Kaepernick growing up and co-created by Ava DuVernay and Kaepernick, joins the Primetime sidebar.
The Forgiven is a movie adaptation of Lawrence Osborne’s 2012 novel of the same name about a clash of worlds between Moroccan Muslims and Western visitors during ...
- 8/13/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
The 2021 Toronto Film Festival has booked John Michael McDonagh’s The Forgiven, starring Jessica Chastain and Ralph Fiennes, into Roy Thomson Hall for a gala screening in September.
On Friday, TIFF organizers also added Julia, the Julia Child documentary by Julie Cohen and Betsy West, into its TIFF Docs section, while Netflix’s upcoming series Colin in Black & White, about NFL quarterback and activist Colin Kaepernick growing up and co-created by Ava DuVernay and Kaepernick, joins the Primetime sidebar.
The Forgiven is a movie adaptation of Lawrence Osborne’s 2012 novel of the same name about a clash of worlds between Moroccan Muslims and Western visitors during ...
On Friday, TIFF organizers also added Julia, the Julia Child documentary by Julie Cohen and Betsy West, into its TIFF Docs section, while Netflix’s upcoming series Colin in Black & White, about NFL quarterback and activist Colin Kaepernick growing up and co-created by Ava DuVernay and Kaepernick, joins the Primetime sidebar.
The Forgiven is a movie adaptation of Lawrence Osborne’s 2012 novel of the same name about a clash of worlds between Moroccan Muslims and Western visitors during ...
- 8/13/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Producers of ‘Supernova’, ‘Yesterday’ and ‘Spencer’ among those with projects to receive investment.
The first three projects to benefit from a £1.2m investment fund, created by UK distributor Curzon, Australian outfit Madman Entertainment and Benelux firm Cineart, have been revealed.
The Curzon Cm Development Fund is backing Justin Anderson’s feature debut Swimming Home, whose producers include Andy Starke and Emily Morgan; Brady Hood’s Sweet Maddie Stone, produced by Laura Jackson and Paul Webster; and The Ballad Of A Small Player, written by Rowan Joffe. No director is attached yet to the latter.
Curzon, Madman and Cineart each have...
The first three projects to benefit from a £1.2m investment fund, created by UK distributor Curzon, Australian outfit Madman Entertainment and Benelux firm Cineart, have been revealed.
The Curzon Cm Development Fund is backing Justin Anderson’s feature debut Swimming Home, whose producers include Andy Starke and Emily Morgan; Brady Hood’s Sweet Maddie Stone, produced by Laura Jackson and Paul Webster; and The Ballad Of A Small Player, written by Rowan Joffe. No director is attached yet to the latter.
Curzon, Madman and Cineart each have...
- 3/18/2021
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
“Game of Thrones” prequel “House of the Dragon” has found more Targaryens.
The HBO series has added three more key players to its cast: Olivia Cooke, Emma D’Arcy and Matt Smith.
Cooke, known from Amazon’s “Sound of Metal,” is set to star as Alicent Hightower, the daughter of Hand of the King Otto Hightower who was raised in the Red Keep, close to the king and his inner circle. Described as “the most comely woman in the Seven Kingdoms,” Hightower has both “courtly grace and a keen political acumen.”
Cooke has several other upcoming projects slated for 2021, including feature “Pixie” opposite Alec Baldwin and sci-fi thriller “Little Fish” opposite Jack O’Connell. She also appears in this year’s “Naked Singularity” opposite John Boyega.
D’Arcy will star as Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, the king’s first-born, pure Valyrian-blooded child who is a dragonrider. Some say Rhaenyra was “born with everything…...
The HBO series has added three more key players to its cast: Olivia Cooke, Emma D’Arcy and Matt Smith.
Cooke, known from Amazon’s “Sound of Metal,” is set to star as Alicent Hightower, the daughter of Hand of the King Otto Hightower who was raised in the Red Keep, close to the king and his inner circle. Described as “the most comely woman in the Seven Kingdoms,” Hightower has both “courtly grace and a keen political acumen.”
Cooke has several other upcoming projects slated for 2021, including feature “Pixie” opposite Alec Baldwin and sci-fi thriller “Little Fish” opposite Jack O’Connell. She also appears in this year’s “Naked Singularity” opposite John Boyega.
D’Arcy will star as Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, the king’s first-born, pure Valyrian-blooded child who is a dragonrider. Some say Rhaenyra was “born with everything…...
- 12/11/2020
- by Elaine Low
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Focus Features has pre-bought worldwide rights excluding North America to Ralph Fiennes-Jessica Chastain starrer The Forgiven, which has finally wrapped shoot.
Joining the previously announced Fiennes, Chastain, Said Taghmaoui (La Haine) and Caleb Landry Jones (X-Men: First Class) in the drama are Matt Smith (The Crown), Christopher Abbott (The Sinner), Ismael Kanater (Queen Of The Desert), Marie-Josée Croze (Munich), Alex Jennings (The Crown) and Abbey Lee (Mad Max: Fury Road).
John Michael McDonagh (The Guard) directs and adapted Lawrence Osborne’s novel, which explores the reverberations of a random accident on the lives of an Anglo-American couple, their friends and the local Moroccans, who all converge on a luxurious desert villa during a decadent weekend-long party.
Below and above are two first look images from the anticipated project, which has been on quite a journey thanks to the pandemic.
In the first half of 2020 the picture shot...
Joining the previously announced Fiennes, Chastain, Said Taghmaoui (La Haine) and Caleb Landry Jones (X-Men: First Class) in the drama are Matt Smith (The Crown), Christopher Abbott (The Sinner), Ismael Kanater (Queen Of The Desert), Marie-Josée Croze (Munich), Alex Jennings (The Crown) and Abbey Lee (Mad Max: Fury Road).
John Michael McDonagh (The Guard) directs and adapted Lawrence Osborne’s novel, which explores the reverberations of a random accident on the lives of an Anglo-American couple, their friends and the local Moroccans, who all converge on a luxurious desert villa during a decadent weekend-long party.
Below and above are two first look images from the anticipated project, which has been on quite a journey thanks to the pandemic.
In the first half of 2020 the picture shot...
- 10/14/2020
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Lawrence Osborne, the Asia-based writer who has recently enjoyed a spate of film deals for his own novels, is poised to adapt Jon Swain’s Vietnam War-era memoir “River of Time.” Film rights to Swain’s book have been optioned by Indochina Productions for Osborne to script and executive produce.
Swain, an award-winning correspondent for the Sunday Times of London and Afp, went to South-East Asia, only 22 years old, having previously been in the Foreign Legion. Famously arriving in Pnomh Penh on the last flight out of Bangkok before the Khmer Rouge took power in Cambodia, Swain witnessed the Cambodian genocide. He covered Vietnam and Cambodia from 1970-1975, and became a key figure among the war correspondents based in the city.
The book, “River of Time” was released originally in 1997 and is Swain’s love song to a disappeared world, full of surprisingly influential culture. “The result is maybe the...
Swain, an award-winning correspondent for the Sunday Times of London and Afp, went to South-East Asia, only 22 years old, having previously been in the Foreign Legion. Famously arriving in Pnomh Penh on the last flight out of Bangkok before the Khmer Rouge took power in Cambodia, Swain witnessed the Cambodian genocide. He covered Vietnam and Cambodia from 1970-1975, and became a key figure among the war correspondents based in the city.
The book, “River of Time” was released originally in 1997 and is Swain’s love song to a disappeared world, full of surprisingly influential culture. “The result is maybe the...
- 6/26/2020
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
English novelist Lawrence Osborne, acclaimed for his enigmatic thrillers set in exotic locales around the world, is set to write a big-screen adaptation of Jon Swain's cult Khmer Rouge memoir River of Time.
Osborne will executive produce the project alongside Nicholas Simon, CEO of Bangkok-based film company Indochina Productions. The partners, sharing a passion for the source material, approached Swain directly to option the film rights. The deal was closed ahead of this week's first-ever Virtual Cannes Market.
River of Time has been described as the quintessential memoir of the Vietnam War era, centered mostly on events in Cambodia and ...
Osborne will executive produce the project alongside Nicholas Simon, CEO of Bangkok-based film company Indochina Productions. The partners, sharing a passion for the source material, approached Swain directly to option the film rights. The deal was closed ahead of this week's first-ever Virtual Cannes Market.
River of Time has been described as the quintessential memoir of the Vietnam War era, centered mostly on events in Cambodia and ...
- 6/25/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
English novelist Lawrence Osborne, acclaimed for his enigmatic thrillers set in exotic locales around the world, is set to write a big-screen adaptation of Jon Swain's cult Khmer Rouge memoir River of Time.
Osborne will executive produce the project alongside Nicholas Simon, CEO of Bangkok-based film company Indochina Productions. The partners, sharing a passion for the source material, approached Swain directly to option the film rights. The deal was closed ahead of this week's first-ever Virtual Cannes Market.
River of Time has been described as the quintessential memoir of the Vietnam War era, centered mostly on events in Cambodia and ...
Osborne will executive produce the project alongside Nicholas Simon, CEO of Bangkok-based film company Indochina Productions. The partners, sharing a passion for the source material, approached Swain directly to option the film rights. The deal was closed ahead of this week's first-ever Virtual Cannes Market.
River of Time has been described as the quintessential memoir of the Vietnam War era, centered mostly on events in Cambodia and ...
- 6/25/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
John Michael McDonagh’s The Forgiven has paused shooting in Morocco and crew have been flown home as a precaution against the coronavirus spread.
Ralph Fiennes, Jessica Chastain, Caleb Landry Jones and Saïd Taghmaoui are among the cast of the drama, which we originally revealed back in 2018. It is based on the novel by Lawrence Osborne, which chronicles the dramatic fallout following a random accident on the lives of an English couple, their friends and the locals who all converge on a luxurious desert villa during a decadent weekend-long party.
More from DeadlineStephen Colbert Films Surprise 'Late Show' Monologue From Bathtub; Trevor Noah Goes Italian In Response To Coronavirus Crisis'Britannia': Sky's Historical Drama Shuts Down Over CoronavirusFox To Cover Insurance Premiums For Employees Enrolled in Company Plans
The film was due to wrap next week, but those close to the production told us today that the level of uncertainty around...
Ralph Fiennes, Jessica Chastain, Caleb Landry Jones and Saïd Taghmaoui are among the cast of the drama, which we originally revealed back in 2018. It is based on the novel by Lawrence Osborne, which chronicles the dramatic fallout following a random accident on the lives of an English couple, their friends and the locals who all converge on a luxurious desert villa during a decadent weekend-long party.
More from DeadlineStephen Colbert Films Surprise 'Late Show' Monologue From Bathtub; Trevor Noah Goes Italian In Response To Coronavirus Crisis'Britannia': Sky's Historical Drama Shuts Down Over CoronavirusFox To Cover Insurance Premiums For Employees Enrolled in Company Plans
The film was due to wrap next week, but those close to the production told us today that the level of uncertainty around...
- 3/17/2020
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
The Anglo-Irish filmmaker’s fourth feature, starring Ralph Fiennes and Jessica Chastain, began shooting last month in Morocco. Ralph Fiennes, Jessica Chastain and Caleb Landry Jones are set to star in The Forgiven, the fourth feature by acclaimed writer-director John Michael McDonagh. Principal photography commenced in the middle of last month in Morocco, the location in which the eponymous source novel, written by Lawrence Osborne, takes place. Said Taghmaoui rounds off the supporting cast. Marking a more mature project from McDonagh than his last, the irreverent Us cop satire War on Everyone, the film also reunites Chastain and Fiennes, who starred together as husband and wife in the latter’s adaptation of Coriolanus. The story follows the impact of a random accident on the lives of an English couple, who travel to the High Atlas mountains of Morocco for a party hosted by old friends in their lavish villa. The Forgiven is.
Berlin — Teaming two of the most energetic players on the new Spanish-language content scene, El Estudio and Infinity Hill are teaming to produce “Amor es Amor,” Rob Schneider’s Spanish-language movie debut as both an actor and director.
A comedy, “Amor es Amor” turns on Enrique Juarez, an up-and-coming Mexican telenovela actor on the verge of breakthrough as a leading man, who has to hide his true self in order to achieve stardom.
That includes creating a fake relationship with former pop sensation, Sofia. The mastermind behind the whole scheme is Julian Rodin (Schneider), a big TV network honcho, who is secretly having an affair with Sofia.
“Amor es amor” marks the latest turn in a career which saw Schneider debut in 1990 as a writer and soon after cast member on “SNL,” then break out out in movies in “Deuce Bigalow – Male Gigolo” in which he created one of his most famed characters,...
A comedy, “Amor es Amor” turns on Enrique Juarez, an up-and-coming Mexican telenovela actor on the verge of breakthrough as a leading man, who has to hide his true self in order to achieve stardom.
That includes creating a fake relationship with former pop sensation, Sofia. The mastermind behind the whole scheme is Julian Rodin (Schneider), a big TV network honcho, who is secretly having an affair with Sofia.
“Amor es amor” marks the latest turn in a career which saw Schneider debut in 1990 as a writer and soon after cast member on “SNL,” then break out out in movies in “Deuce Bigalow – Male Gigolo” in which he created one of his most famed characters,...
- 2/26/2020
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
The upcoming Cambodia-set thriller Hunters in the Dark, based on English writer Lawrence Osborne's acclaimed novel of the same name, has unveiled several key additions to its starring cast.
Hong Kong American actor Tzi Ma, co-star of Disney's upcoming Mulan, and Ellen Wong, best known for Netflix's Glow, have both boarded the project. Elodie Yung, familiar to Marvel fans for her performance as Elektra on Netflix's Daredevil and The Defenders, also has joined the film. They will co-star alongside Alex Pettyfer (Magic Mike, I Am Number Four), who was previously announced as the pic's lead.
The casting additions were unveiled Friday at ...
Hong Kong American actor Tzi Ma, co-star of Disney's upcoming Mulan, and Ellen Wong, best known for Netflix's Glow, have both boarded the project. Elodie Yung, familiar to Marvel fans for her performance as Elektra on Netflix's Daredevil and The Defenders, also has joined the film. They will co-star alongside Alex Pettyfer (Magic Mike, I Am Number Four), who was previously announced as the pic's lead.
The casting additions were unveiled Friday at ...
- 2/22/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The upcoming Cambodia-set thriller Hunters in the Dark, based on English writer Lawrence Osborne's acclaimed novel of the same name, has unveiled several key additions to its starring cast.
Hong Kong American actor Tzi Ma, co-star of Disney's upcoming Mulan, and Ellen Wong, best known for Netflix's Glow, have both boarded the project. Elodie Yung, familiar to Marvel fans for her performance as Elektra on Netflix's Daredevil and The Defenders, also has joined the film. They will co-star alongside Alex Pettyfer (Magic Mike, I Am Number Four), who was previously announced as the pic's lead.
The casting additions were unveiled Friday at ...
Hong Kong American actor Tzi Ma, co-star of Disney's upcoming Mulan, and Ellen Wong, best known for Netflix's Glow, have both boarded the project. Elodie Yung, familiar to Marvel fans for her performance as Elektra on Netflix's Daredevil and The Defenders, also has joined the film. They will co-star alongside Alex Pettyfer (Magic Mike, I Am Number Four), who was previously announced as the pic's lead.
The casting additions were unveiled Friday at ...
- 2/22/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Viacom International Studios (Vis) has signed an exclusive first look development deal with Infinity Hill. The companies will co-develop and co-produce a slate of Spanish-language features, filmed globally and utilizing international talent on both sides of the camera.
Infinity Hill is the new label from longtime Telefonica and Viacom exec Axel Kuschevatzky, one of the Spanish-speaking world’s highest-profile film executives, “Waiting for Anya” producer Phin Glynn and producer Cindy Teperman (“Animal”). With offices in London, Los Angeles and Buenos Aires, the label already has a multilingual slate of films in production, some of which were unveiled at November’s American Film Market.
The company’s first title, “The Doorman,” recently wrapped and stars Ruby Rose (“Batwoman”) and Jean Reno (“Leon”) and is directed by Ryûhei Kitamura. A Lionsgate U.S. pick up which has sold strongly in international, handled by Ddi, off a Berlin European Film Market bow, is produced by Glynn,...
Infinity Hill is the new label from longtime Telefonica and Viacom exec Axel Kuschevatzky, one of the Spanish-speaking world’s highest-profile film executives, “Waiting for Anya” producer Phin Glynn and producer Cindy Teperman (“Animal”). With offices in London, Los Angeles and Buenos Aires, the label already has a multilingual slate of films in production, some of which were unveiled at November’s American Film Market.
The company’s first title, “The Doorman,” recently wrapped and stars Ruby Rose (“Batwoman”) and Jean Reno (“Leon”) and is directed by Ryûhei Kitamura. A Lionsgate U.S. pick up which has sold strongly in international, handled by Ddi, off a Berlin European Film Market bow, is produced by Glynn,...
- 2/21/2020
- by Jamie Lang
- Variety Film + TV
I Am Number Four and Magic Mike star Alex Pettyfer is set to topline a film adaptation of Hunters in the Dark from noted author Lawrence Osborne.
The directorial debut of theater director Simon Evans, whose stage credits include the Olivier-nominated Killer Joe with Orlando Bloom, the film was written by Osborne from his own novel, which focuses on an Englishman adrift in Cambodia who is eager to sidestep a life of quiet desperation as a small-town teacher. Christopher Doyle, best known for his collaborations with Wong Kar-Wai, will shoot the project, which Double Dutch International is introducing at Afm.
"...
The directorial debut of theater director Simon Evans, whose stage credits include the Olivier-nominated Killer Joe with Orlando Bloom, the film was written by Osborne from his own novel, which focuses on an Englishman adrift in Cambodia who is eager to sidestep a life of quiet desperation as a small-town teacher. Christopher Doyle, best known for his collaborations with Wong Kar-Wai, will shoot the project, which Double Dutch International is introducing at Afm.
"...
- 11/9/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
I Am Number Four and Magic Mike star Alex Pettyfer is set to topline a film adaptation of Hunters in the Dark from noted author Lawrence Osborne.
The directorial debut of theater director Simon Evans, whose stage credits include the Olivier-nominated Killer Joe with Orlando Bloom, the film was written by Osborne from his own novel, which focuses on an Englishman adrift in Cambodia who is eager to sidestep a life of quiet desperation as a small-town teacher. Christopher Doyle, best known for his collaborations with Wong Kar-Wai, will shoot the project, which Double Dutch International is introducing at Afm.
"...
The directorial debut of theater director Simon Evans, whose stage credits include the Olivier-nominated Killer Joe with Orlando Bloom, the film was written by Osborne from his own novel, which focuses on an Englishman adrift in Cambodia who is eager to sidestep a life of quiet desperation as a small-town teacher. Christopher Doyle, best known for his collaborations with Wong Kar-Wai, will shoot the project, which Double Dutch International is introducing at Afm.
"...
- 11/9/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Los Angeles — Longtime Telefonica and Viacom exec Axel Kuschevatzky, one of the Spanish-speaking world’s highest-profile film executives, is teaming with “Waiting for Anya” producer Phin Glynn and Cindy Teperman (“Animal”) to launch L.A, London and Buenos Aires-based Infinity Hill.
A development-production-financing entity, Infinity Hill has unveiled a first film slate, with some some of the titles on offer at the American Film Market.
First up is “The Doorman,” starring Ruby Rose (Warner Bros.’ “Batwoman”) and Jean Reno (“Leon”). A Lionsgate U.S. pick up which has sold strongly in international, handled by Ddi, off a Berlin European Film Market bow, it is directed by Japan’s Ryûhei Kitamura. “The Doorman” is produced by Glynn, alongside Ddi’s Jason Moring, Immediate Film’s Michael Phillips and Smash Media’s Harry Winer.
Underscoring the film world’s new demands and consumer habits, first slate projects balance English-language projects – adaptations of...
A development-production-financing entity, Infinity Hill has unveiled a first film slate, with some some of the titles on offer at the American Film Market.
First up is “The Doorman,” starring Ruby Rose (Warner Bros.’ “Batwoman”) and Jean Reno (“Leon”). A Lionsgate U.S. pick up which has sold strongly in international, handled by Ddi, off a Berlin European Film Market bow, it is directed by Japan’s Ryûhei Kitamura. “The Doorman” is produced by Glynn, alongside Ddi’s Jason Moring, Immediate Film’s Michael Phillips and Smash Media’s Harry Winer.
Underscoring the film world’s new demands and consumer habits, first slate projects balance English-language projects – adaptations of...
- 11/7/2019
- by John Hopewell and Jamie Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: UK outfit Bad Penny Productions has optioned Brit writer Lawrence Osborne’s well-reviewed Cambodia-set thriller Hunters In The Dark.
Osborne and Ben Cookson (Waiting For Anya) will adapt the novel for screen. Producers on the feature will be Bad Penny’s Phin Glynn (Mad To Be Normal) and Daz Spencer Lovesey (Waiting for Anya).
The novel takes place in modern day Cambodia and sees an English teacher, Robert Grieve, win a satchel’s worth of money and decide to take a journey deeper into the wilder side of the country. Coming up against a scheming American, a crooked police officer and a darker side of Cambodia, Grieve follows his journey to a dramatic climax.
The film will be executive-produced by Norman Merry (The Nice Guys) and in association with post-production house Lipsync. Local production in Cambodia will be facilitated by Nicholas Simon (A Prayer Before Dawn) and IndoChina Productions.
Osborne and Ben Cookson (Waiting For Anya) will adapt the novel for screen. Producers on the feature will be Bad Penny’s Phin Glynn (Mad To Be Normal) and Daz Spencer Lovesey (Waiting for Anya).
The novel takes place in modern day Cambodia and sees an English teacher, Robert Grieve, win a satchel’s worth of money and decide to take a journey deeper into the wilder side of the country. Coming up against a scheming American, a crooked police officer and a darker side of Cambodia, Grieve follows his journey to a dramatic climax.
The film will be executive-produced by Norman Merry (The Nice Guys) and in association with post-production house Lipsync. Local production in Cambodia will be facilitated by Nicholas Simon (A Prayer Before Dawn) and IndoChina Productions.
- 9/5/2018
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Another critically acclaimed Lawrence Osborne novel is headed towards the big screen.
Oscar-winning producer John Lesher, whose Le Grisbi Productions shingle has a first-look deal at Amazon Studios, has optioned the English author's 2017 book Beautiful Animals, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
The psychological thriller centers on a pair of young, privileged Western women who stumble upon a sleeping Syrian migrant while vacationing on the Greek island of Hydra. The novel appeared on the cover of the New York Times Book Review upon its release last summer.
British-Irish director John Michael McDonagh (The Guard) is already underway on an adaptation...
Oscar-winning producer John Lesher, whose Le Grisbi Productions shingle has a first-look deal at Amazon Studios, has optioned the English author's 2017 book Beautiful Animals, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
The psychological thriller centers on a pair of young, privileged Western women who stumble upon a sleeping Syrian migrant while vacationing on the Greek island of Hydra. The novel appeared on the cover of the New York Times Book Review upon its release last summer.
British-Irish director John Michael McDonagh (The Guard) is already underway on an adaptation...
- 5/11/2018
- by Patrick Brzeski,Tatiana Siegel
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Another critically acclaimed Lawrence Osborne novel is headed towards the big screen.
Oscar-winning producer John Lesher, whose Le Grisbi Productions shingle has a first-look deal at Amazon Studios, has optioned the English author's 2017 book <em>Beautiful Animals</em>, <em>The Hollywood Reporter </em>has learned.
The psychological thriller centers on a pair of young, privileged Western women who stumble upon a sleeping Syrian migrant while vacationing on the Greek island of Hydra. The novel appeared on the cover of <em>The New York Times Book Review </em>upon its release last summer.
British-Irish director John Michael McDonagh (<em>The Guard</em>) is already underway on an adaptation ...
Oscar-winning producer John Lesher, whose Le Grisbi Productions shingle has a first-look deal at Amazon Studios, has optioned the English author's 2017 book <em>Beautiful Animals</em>, <em>The Hollywood Reporter </em>has learned.
The psychological thriller centers on a pair of young, privileged Western women who stumble upon a sleeping Syrian migrant while vacationing on the Greek island of Hydra. The novel appeared on the cover of <em>The New York Times Book Review </em>upon its release last summer.
British-Irish director John Michael McDonagh (<em>The Guard</em>) is already underway on an adaptation ...
- 5/11/2018
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Ralph Fiennes is in talks to star alongside Rebecca Hall, Mark Strong and Saïd Taghmaoui in John Michael McDonagh’s “The Forgiven.”
Elizabeth Eves will produce alongside McDonagh through their production company House of Un-American Activities. CAA, which arranged financing, is representing the Us rights, with Imr International handling the foreign rights and introducing the film to buyers at the Cannes Film Festival next week.
“The Forgiven” is an adaptation of the novel by Lawrence Osborne that deals with the reverberations of a random accident on the lives of an English couple, their friends and local Moroccans who all converge on a luxurious desert villa during a decadent weekend-long party. Production is slated to commence early next year in Morocco.
Fiennes is known for his roles in the Harry Potter series, “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” “Schindler’s List” and “The English Patient.” He will star in Etan Cohen’s “Holmes and Watson...
Elizabeth Eves will produce alongside McDonagh through their production company House of Un-American Activities. CAA, which arranged financing, is representing the Us rights, with Imr International handling the foreign rights and introducing the film to buyers at the Cannes Film Festival next week.
“The Forgiven” is an adaptation of the novel by Lawrence Osborne that deals with the reverberations of a random accident on the lives of an English couple, their friends and local Moroccans who all converge on a luxurious desert villa during a decadent weekend-long party. Production is slated to commence early next year in Morocco.
Fiennes is known for his roles in the Harry Potter series, “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” “Schindler’s List” and “The English Patient.” He will star in Etan Cohen’s “Holmes and Watson...
- 5/5/2018
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
British-Irish helmer John Michael McDonagh is gearing up to work on his next project with Ralph Fiennes, Rebecca Hall and Mark Strong.
On Saturday Imr International announced that Fiennes (The Grand Budapest Hotel, The English Patient), Hall (Professor Marston and the Wonder Women, Christine), Strong (The Kingsman, The Imitation Game) and Said Taghmaoui (La Haine, Wonder Woman) are in talks to star in McDonagh's latest, The Forgiven, an adaptation of the 2012 Lawrence Osborne novel of the same name.
Osborne's novel traces the effects of a tragic accident in the Moroccan desert on an English couple and Moroccan locals who all meet at...
On Saturday Imr International announced that Fiennes (The Grand Budapest Hotel, The English Patient), Hall (Professor Marston and the Wonder Women, Christine), Strong (The Kingsman, The Imitation Game) and Said Taghmaoui (La Haine, Wonder Woman) are in talks to star in McDonagh's latest, The Forgiven, an adaptation of the 2012 Lawrence Osborne novel of the same name.
Osborne's novel traces the effects of a tragic accident in the Moroccan desert on an English couple and Moroccan locals who all meet at...
- 5/5/2018
- by Katie Kilkenny
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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