Good morning: In today’s edition of The Industry, we look at:
Robert Pattinson’s unholy evil, Zazie Beetz’s disappearance, Sony comes to the big screen, Lionsgate takes no prisoners and a skywalker.
Let’s go!
WINSLET AND HAYNES
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Todd Haynes is putting his trust in Kate Winslet.
The director-actor pair, who previously teamed on HBO’s Mildred Pierce, are back for a new HBO show: Trust.
Here’s the official synopsis:
In a story told from multiple, competing perspectives, a 1920s Wall Street tycoon amasses a sudden fortune but loses a beloved wife. Decades later, his attempts to control the narrative of his life are undone by a biographer who uncovers the ultimate secrets of the legendary marriage.
Haynes will direct and write and Winslet will star and EP.
No word on who Winslet will play, but we’re guessing it’s the Wall Street tycoon’s wife, Helen, who is a generous patron of musical artists. When the stock market crashes and the couple’s finances stay intact, their friends turn on them, which triggers Helen’s madness.
There’s an interesting dovetailing to Winslet’s Mildred Pierce character, who also was a self-destructively generous patron of her daughter’s musical talents.
For his part, director Todd Haynes burrows into the mind of his melodramatic female characters (recently on great display in May December), better than anyone.
The project seems to be in early development and is being produced by Killer Films.
For More:
Mildred Pierce trailer.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
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Sony makes a non-Paramount acquisition: Alamo Drafthouse’s 35 theaters for $200M. This news comes amidst Alamo Drafthouse recently shuttering 6 locations in Texas and Minnesota after their owner filed for bankruptcy after losing $1M in 2023. And previously filed for companywide bankruptcy in 2021 before being acquired by a private equity firm.
The Chief Executive of Sony’s Motion Picture Group, Tom Rothman, stated:
“Alamo Drafthouse has always held the craft of filmmaking and the theatrical experience in high esteem, which are fundamental shared values between our companies.”
Alamo Drafthouse CEO Tim League stated:
“They have a deep respect and understanding of cinema’s ability to both drive growth and create lasting cultural impact which aligns perfectly with everything Alamo Drafthouse stands for.”
It’s great to see studios realizing that cinema is a bankable distribution outlet and throwing them a much-needed lifeline.
Sony is coming off a big win with Bad Boys: Ride or Die, which is up to $120 M worldwide after its first week.
Grisham on TV! The acclaimed author’s best-selling crime thriller, The Rainmaker (1997), is being adapted into a drama series at the USA Network with Lionsgate and Blumhouse Television.
John Grisham’s David and Goliath tale was previously adapted by Francis Ford Coppola, who brought along with him a stacked cast of young Matt Damon and Claire Danes sharing the screen with greats like Jon Voight, Danny Devito, and Mickey Rourke (trailer).
After six years of trying to bring the book to television, writer Michael Seitzman (Code Black) will be penning the scripts.
Its official logline reads:
Fresh out of law school, Rudy Baylor goes head to head with courtroom lion Leo Drummond as well as his law school girlfriend. Rudy, along with his boss and her disheveled paralegal, uncover two connected conspiracies surrounding the mysterious death of their client’s son.
The Rainmaker greenlight comes following the resurgence of USA Network titles Suits (2011-2019) and White Collar (2009-2014), also legal dramas, that recently picked up massive popularity after being added to Netflix.
England’s most popular bear, Paddington, is returning to the big screen, but this time in Peru!
You can watch the newly dropped trailer for Paddington in Peru here.
The sweet trailer begins with Paddington munching on a marmalade sandwich in a photo booth, unsuccessfully taking pictures to use for his passport as he and his adopted London family, the Browns, are planning a trip to Peru, where Paddington was born.
The already beloved blue raincoat-wearing stuffed bear has skyrocketed in popularity after the success of the first two film adaptations, Paddington (2014) and its sequel, Paddington 2 (2017), bringing in a combined $509 M worldwide.
The fictional British bear was created by author Michael Bond, with the well-traveled bear’s stories going back as far as 1958!
Actors Olivia Colman and Antonio Banderas join in the third installment, Paddington in Peru, which will premiere in the U.S. on Jan. 17th, 2025.
Lionsgate’s option. Lionsgate TV has optioned Take No Prisoners originally a Vanity Fair article.
The series is being developed and showrun by Alexi Hawley (EP/Writer: The Rookie, The Following).
Synopsis:
Adam Ciralsky embeds with America’s top negotiators through 15 months of rescue efforts with the highest of stakes: liberty or death
Each season will present a fictionalized hostage scenario.
Tidbit:
Yann Demange is out as director for Blade (w/ Mahershala Ali in the titular role and Mia Goth attached). The project has been in development since 2019 and gone through a number of directors (Bassam Tariq previously) and screenwriters (Michael Green – Logan, Nic Pizzolatto – True Detective).
Demange director previously had the 2014 Sundance breakout ‘71 and later White Boy Rick (2018) starring Matthew McConaughey.
Louis Leterrier (dir: Fast X, Transporter 1,2) makes his animation debut, Chimera Brigade.
Official synopsis:
In an alternate steampunk reality set in interwar Paris, superhuman factions inspired by various European myths wage a secret struggle to control the destiny of the world, with figures like Doctor Mabuse and the Golem involved.
Leterrier is said to be applying techniques from his background in action to make the film feel unique.
Check out this first look still.
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
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Robert Pattinson is in talks to star in the remake of the psychological horror Possession (1981), with director Parker Finn (Smile).
Pattinson’s involvement as an actor is currently unknown, but he is attached to produce alongside Finn.
Here is the official synopsis of Possession:
A woman starts exhibiting increasingly disturbing behavior after asking her husband for a divorce. Suspicions of infidelity soon give way to something much more sinister.
Pattinson would potentially play the husband (originally played by Sam Neill) and is a part that puts him a collision course with the bloody tidal forces of hell (original trailer).
Pattinson is no stranger to portraying characters in tense and unpredictable films:
- Cosmopolis (2012)
- A suicidal billionaire in an eerie drama
- Good Time (2017)
- Played a criminal in the Safdie Brother’s suspenseful thriller
- Trailer
- The Lighthouse (2019)
- Portrayed a 9th-century lighthouse keeper in the black-and-white psychological thriller
- The Devil All the Time (2020)
- Is the eerie town reverend in the gothic drama
- clip
The Possession reboot has caused a ferocious bidding war with several major studios (clip).
Tidbits:
Toby Jones joins Hijack Season 2. The first season saw Idris Elba as the corporate hostage negotiator stuck on a hijacked plane from Dubai to London. Elba’s ability to navigate across the plane’s various social stratifications from pilot to stewardesses to first class to business class to terrorist was exceptional. No word on the plot for Season 2, but Elba will reprise his role.
Jones, for his part, has had a prolific career, playing everyone from the house elf Dobby in Harry Potter to the high-ranking British intelligence officer in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011). His latest project with ITV, Mr. Bates vs. The Post Office, caused a UK scandal spurring a public outcry for miscarriage of justice at the post office.
Whether Jones remains on the side of good or evil in Hijack remains to be seen.
Moana finds their Moana.
After an extensive search, Disney has announced that Australian native, Catherine Laga’aia, will star as the titular character in the upcoming live-action Moana!
The teen actress will join Dwayne Johnson, reprising his role as demigod Maui from the original 2016 Oscar-winning animated film. The news comes shortly after the recent trailer. Moana 2 is set to open in theaters in November of this year.
The live-action Moana will begin filming this summer expected to make waves with its premiere in July of 2026.
David Mamet’s Hunter Biden script The Prince finds its cast:
- Nicolas Cage
- J.K. Simmons (Whiplash)
- Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad)
- Andy Garcia (Oceans 11)
Scott Haze (Old Henry) will play Parker, a Biden inspired character.
Here’s the synopsis:
Chronicles recovering addict’s journey through drug underworld, struggles with addiction, intense highs and lows, eventual path to sobriety.
Mamet’s best work is the play and subsequent screenplay for the acerbicly sharp-witted Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) starring Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Alec Baldwin, Kevin Spacey, Alan Arkin and Ed Harris (trailer).
The film is currently in production.
FESTIVALS
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Lesli Klainberg, president of New York’s Film at Lincoln Center (FLC) for over a decade, will step down after the 2024 New York Film Festival (NYFF).
Klainberg stated:
“My tenure at Film at Lincoln Center has been one of the most rewarding periods in my professional life.”
Klainberg expanded the center from 1 to 3 screens and brought in illustrious stars such as:
- Barbra Streisand
- Robert Redford
- Viola Davis
- Jeff Bridges
She also created FLC’s Artists and Critics Academies a student film program with free membership.
The board will form a search committee to find her successor, with Matt Bolish appointed as deputy director during the transition.
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT / INTERNATIONAL NEWS
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Warner Bros acquires Pedro Almodóvar’s first English language feature, The Room Next Door, for the U.K. and Spain. The film will star Julianne Moore, Tilda Swinton, and John Turturro.
Here’s the official synopsis:
The story of an imperfect mother and a spiteful daughter, separated by a great misunderstanding. The mother, played by Swinton, is a war reporter. While Moore will play an autofiction writer, friend of the mother.
Almodóvar said in a translated statement:
“The film talks about the limitless cruelty of wars, about the very different ways in which the two writers approach and write about reality, it talks about death, friendship and sexual pleasure as the best allies to fight against the horror. And it also talks about the sweet awakening with the chirping of birds, in a house built in the middle of a nature reserve in New England, where the two friends live an extreme and strangely sweet situation.”
Almodóvar has directed some of the most dangerously sexy foreign cinema, often starring Antonia Bandares and/or Penélope Cruz:
- Volver (2006)
- The Skin I Live In (2011)
- Trailer
- (a haunting personal favorite)
- Parallel Mothers (2021)
His films have been in competition at Cannes 7 times.
Warner Bros. will release The Room Next Door later this year.
Skywalkers is a daredevil documentary of two star-crossed urban climbing lovers who summit the highest skyscrapers.
The newly released trailer is death-defying. It’s like The Walk on cocaine.
The director and the producer Jeff Zimbalist previously directed The Two Escobars, which played at Cannes in 201o, and EP’d Invisible Beauty (2023), which was an official selection at Sundance.
Netflix bought the Skywalkers out of Sundance and will release July 19th. If you want to catch it in theaters XYZ Film will release July 12th.
Tidbit:
Kirill Sokolov returns with another horror comedy, They Will Kill You, starring Zazie Beetz (The Joker 2, Atlanta).
Here’s the official synopsis:
A woman takes a job as a housekeeper in a NYC high-rise, unaware of the building’s history of disappearances. She soon realizes the community is shrouded in mystery.
There’s a goofy, stylized brutality to Sokolov’s previous films No Looking Back (2021, trailer) and Why Don’t You Just Die (2018).
Skydance’s horror label Nocturna will serve as the production company for They Will Kill You, currently in development.
ON THIS DAY
1962. Lolita, based on Vladimir Nabokov’s novel directed by Stanley Kubrick is released.
See you Friday.
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Written by Gabriel Miller and Madelyn Menapace.
Editor: Gabriel Miller.
