Good morning: In today’s edition of The Industry, we look at:
Matt Damon causes trouble, Skydance and Paramount breakup, Sausage Party TV, a Swiss Army Man producer, and a robot’s heart.
Let’s go!
MATT DAMON: A BOURNE INSTIGATOR
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Matt Damon reunites with The Bourne Identity (2002) director Doug Liman after 20 years in Apple TV+’s upcoming film, The Instigators.
The two exploded the definition of the action hero with their depiction of Jason Bourne, a cultural refresh from the slow decline of the Pierce Brosnan Bond films and the groovy Austin Powers spy films (yeah, baby! YEAH!)
Bourne’s vulnerability, combined with remorse for his past actions, set him apart from traditional action heroes and spurred a new era of entertainment in Hollywood that has persisted.
Liman explained working with Damon on their new, Boston-based, project:
“With Bourne, I was inviting Matt into my world. But with Instigators, I was very clear being dropped into Matt’s family. And all that history, good and bad, is on the screen.”
Here’s the official synopsis of The Instigators:
A desperate father (Damon) and an ex-con (Casey Affleck) are thrown together to rob a corrupt politician’s ill-gained earnings. But when the heist goes wrong, the two find themselves engulfed in a whirlwind of chaos, pursued not only by police but also by backward bureaucrats and vengeful crime bosses. So they go on the run with the help of one of their therapists.
The throughline of corrupt institutions in both Liman/Damon projects is clear:
- Bourne Identity (2002)
- Shadowy CIA Black Ops program
- The Instigators (2024)
- Bent politicians
Liman has a massively strong anti-authority bent, as seen very publicly in his spat with Jeff Bezos over the nontheatrical release of Road House (2024).
Damon shared:
“Doug is one of the most creatively tenacious people I’ve ever met. He just won’t stop until the movie is as good as it can be, and that is the best possible thing you can feel from a director. I trust him completely.”
We hope their shared drive to break conventions will add this to Liman’s pantheon.
The Instigators hits select theaters on Aug. 2nd (Wahoo!) before streaming on Apple TV+ on Aug. 9th.
For More:
A 5-second clip of The Instigators.
Watch how the original marketing for The Bourne Identity paints the movie like another generic spy film (trailer).
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
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No deal: Paramount ends talks with Skydance.
Here’s the official statement:
“[National Amusements Inc, (NAI)] has not been able to reach mutually acceptable terms regarding the potential transaction with Skydance Media for the acquisition of a controlling stake in NAI,”
The statement continues:
“NAI [National Amusements, Inc] is grateful to Skydance for their months of work in pursuing this potential transaction and looks forward to the ongoing, successful production collaboration between Paramount and Skydance.”
Cold.
This ends a months-long protracted discussion. Skydance had recently upped the buyout amount of money to controlling shareholder Shari Redstone to $2.25 bn.
Two new candidates have entered the ring, as detailed in yesterday’s edition.
Seth Rogen is back in a Sausage Party TV show. Sausage Party (2016), much like its namesake, was movie junk food, it was crass, and lowbrow, and the whole thing ended in an insane food “Orgy” which, had it not been animated food committing bacchanalist sodomy, would of been banned from every screen in the US, but it was absolutely hilarious.
Amazon agreed and partnered with Seth Rogen to bring all those hungry for some more Sausage Party: Foodtopia, a new 8-episode series following the aftermath of the film and what appears to be a temporary world domination (trailer). Most of the cast will make their triumphant return, including Rogen, Kristen Wiig, Michael Cera, David Krumholtz, and Edward Norton.
The series premieres on Amazon Prime on July 11th.
Tidbits:
Anne Rice (Writer/Novelist: Interview with the Vampire) is brewing something new. AMC Networks is expanding its Anne Rice universe with a new series, Anne Rice’s The Talamasca.
This series will explore a secretive organization that monitors and controls supernatural entities like witches, vampires, and werewolves. John Lee Hancock (dir: The Blind Side, The Highwaymen) and Mark Lafferty will be the writers, co-showrunners, and EPs, with Hancock also directing.
The Talamasca society has been featured in AMC’s previous Anne Rice adaptations, Interview with the Vampire and Mayfair Witches,” which sets the stage for this new series. The show aims to blend elements of a procedural spy thriller with the supernatural, further expanding the Anne Rice Universe:
Anne Rice’s The Talamasca is set to debut on AMC and AMC+ in 2025
Anita Moorjani’s NY Times bestselling memoir Dying to Be Me will be adapted into a feature from Wonder Street Entertainment (production company: Beasts of No Nation).
The international and inspiring hit 2014 memoir recounts how author Moorjani was miraculously cured of terminal cancer, just days after a near-death experience.
In Dying to Be Me, Anita freely shares all she has learned about illness, healing, fear, being in love, and the true magnificence of each and every human being.
The project has been in the works for a number of years but is only now moving forward with production after enlisting screenwriter Jenna Mirza Mattison (Fish Without a Bicycle).
The Boys is ending after 5 seasons. The 4th season kicks off on Prime tomorrow, June 13th. Here’s that trailer.
The Bear Season 3 dropped a new trailer. It premieres on Hulu on June 27th.
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
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Licorice Pizza’s breakout star, Cooper Hoffman, is in talks to star in the newest Stephen King adaptation, The Long Walk.
Dystopian thriller master, Francis Lawrence, most known for directing four of the five Hunger Games films, has signed on with Lionsgate for the feature of the King’s terrifying story.
The Long Walk takes place in the future in which 100 teenage boys embark on an annual competition known as “The Long Walk.” The rules are simple: maintain a speed above 4 mph. Receive 3 warnings in an hour and you’re shot dead. The last one walking gets whatever he wants for the rest of his life. Under these grim circumstances, the boys develop deep friendships despite knowing that each of their friends’ survival is a threat to their own.
Young actor Cooper Hoffman, the son of the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, stole hearts as the ambitious and endlessly charming Gary Valentine in Paul Thomas Anderson’s critically acclaimed Hollywood coming-of-age Licorice Pizza (2021, trailer).
In 2023, Hoffman’s second experience acting was in Ethan Hawke’s Flannery O’Connor biopic, Wildcat, which had its premiere at the packed and very memorable 50th Telluride Film Festival.
As for what’s coming next, beyond possibly The Long Walk, it was announced this year that Hoffman would play the part of sports enthusiast television executive Dick Ebersol in the highly anticipated biopic SNL 1975.
Tidbits:
Lupita Nyong’o (Black Panther, 12 Years A Slave) explodes a cold mechanical heart with her warm performance in The Wild Robot. Director Chris Sanders (Lilo & Stitch, How to Train Your Dragon) stated:
“Roz [the robot voiced by Nyong’o] becomes a more dimensional being through this journey. Lupita’s acting is extraordinary but she can also modulate her voice in a very subtle way so that she goes through a shift throughout the film. [At the beginning of the movie, her voice has a quality that is] almost like a bolt that has been tightened. [As the movie goes along, she becomes] more expressive and relaxed.”
Here’s the gorgeous and moving 2nd trailer for The Wild Robot. Dreamworks releasing in theaters on September 27th.
Lily James (The Iron Claw) will play a fictionalized version of the founder of the dating app Bumble, Whitney Wolfe, a former Tinder employee who left to co-found Bumble, becoming a billionaire at 31 when it IPO’d, in a new film for 20th Century Studios.
First look still.
Shooting is said to start this year.
Hey, Trekkies, Paul Giamatti was just announced as Star Trek: Starfleet‘s season one villain. Giamatti is apparently a huge fan and jumped at the chance to be in the series.
Star Trek: Starfleet will be a new story following new cadets as they pursue their dreams.
Releasing sometime in 2025.
Sam Rockwell and Mark Berger of Play Hooky Productions are adapting Dave Wedge’s book, Blood & Hate: The Untold Story of Marvelous Marvin Hagler’s Battle for Glory, into a feature film. Rockwell may portray Pat Petronelli, who trained Hagler from an underdog in Newark to a world champion, battling against racism and the white supremacist-backed middleweight champion Alan Minter.
FESTIVALS AND RESOURCES
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Film Independent’s Documentary Lab. Through a series of meetings and workshops, the Documentary Producing Lab advances the careers of nonfiction filmmakers by introducing them to film professionals who provide advice and expertise on both the craft and business of documentary filmmaking.
The Documentary Producing Lab, held during the Fall, is designed for producers working in the nonfiction space. For one week, Fellows will:
- Meet creative and business consultants
- Learn strategies and practices
- Watch case studies with notable nonfiction producers
- Network with industry professionals
The Documentary Producing Lab accepts projects in active development, production or post-production.
Deadline Monday, June 17th. Apply here.
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT
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Lawrence Inglee joins Elijah Wood’s (mostly) genre horror production company SpectreVision as partner and president of production.
Inglee’s pedigree bends a little more into the magical realism/stylized drama genres:
- The Tale (2018)
- Underrated film
- Sundance premiere
- HBO bought for $10 M
- Trailer
- Swiss Army Man (2016)
- The Daniels feature debut
- Trailer
- Time Out of Mind (2014)
Inglee produced four films from director Oren Moverman (The Dinner, Time Out of Mind, Rampart, The Messanger) and for many years worked with Shane Carruth (dir: Primer, Upstream Color) on his abandoned feature Modern Ocean.
Inglee stated:
“SpectreVision is something rare in Hollywood—a true brand that is recognizable both in and outside of the industry. We want to work for something larger than ourselves, to continue building the company as a home for creative work that pushes the boundaries of what’s possible. If we’re doing it right, the movies we make should be similar only in their uniqueness, and that uniqueness should be definable with just one word: SpectreVision.”
SpectreVision is behind a few fan favorites:
- Color Out of Space (2019)
- Starring Nicolas Cage
- Mandy (2018)
- Starring Nicolas Cage
- A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014)
Their first project together is Rabbit Trap (starring Dev Patel). It centers around an audio team that hears an unearthly sound that awakens an ancient Celtic creature.
Tidbits:
Martin Scorsese’s love letter to cinema is the documentary Made in England. The trailer showcases two of his filmmaking idols, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger (dir: The Red Shoes, Black Narcissus), whose visceral experimental cinema clashed with industry norms.
Oscar-winning director Edward Berger (All Quiet on the Western Front) is directing a VR film for Apple Vision Pro, called Submerged. It’s no wonder why Berger was tapped. All Quiet on the Western Front feels ultra immersive with its chilling, poetic, hauntingly scored rendition of war.
The first look still looks wild.
Apple is asymmetrically spending on AI and Immersive content to keep consumers strapped into their latest product the Vision Pro, completing their content flywheel. We believe this may be a trend.
ON THIS DAY
1963. Cleopatra, directed by Joseph Mankiewicz and starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton premieres in NYC, then the most expensive film ever made.
See you tomorrow.
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Written by Gabriel Miller, Spencer Carter, and Madelyn Menapace.
Editor: Gabriel Miller.
