Aaron Paul’s Vendetta
Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
Breaking Bad, Mad Men reunion, and Sirat.
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The cover story contains spoilers for Breaking Bad.
We love seeing Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad) in a downward spiral.
Because there’s almost no other actor we root for more.
So it’s exciting that he will star in The Midnight Pool by James McTeigue, whose directorial debut was the dystopian V for Vendetta (2005).
The Midnight Pool synopsis:
After a deep personal loss, a disillusioned investigative journalist (Paul) becomes consumed with exposing an elite secret society, forcing him to confront both his shadowy past and a nightmarish new reality.
Paul has a way of resisting the call to duty better than most actors working today. We’re envisioning a first act where we see him enter the deep rut of stagnation, only to drag himself out, driving him toward justice.
It’s something on full display in Breaking Bad, where his character Jesse Pinkman loses his girlfriend (Krysten Ritter), and it breaks him to the point of becoming catatonic, unable to see the faintest shades of sunlight.
Paul stated:
“I love characters that are going through turmoil. To be honest, I love characters with conflict. I love characters who are really going through an emotional journey; whether it's a super-dark-crazy journey or a really relatable guy.”
The Midnight Pool looks to fall in the former category—let’s just hope it lets him drown a little, so we can watch him gasp back to life.
The film is launching at Cannes by CAA and UTA. Gramercy Park Media (The Surfer) is financing.
For More:
Do not call list Breaking Bad clip. Gutting.
THE INDUSTRY TLDR
Jon Voight proposes major incentives to bring U.S. production home, including a 10% federal tax credit.
Amazon MGM buys global rights to The Beekeeper 2 for $50M+.
Comcast names NBCU spinoff company Versant Media.
Apple TV+ renews The Studio for Season 2.
Jon Hamm & John Slattery reunite in R-rated Untitled Celebrity Pass Movie.
Margaret Qualley stars in Love of Your Life for Amazon MGM.
Anna Baryshnikov joins the Cape Fear series for Apple TV+.
Cannes official selection Sirat, produced by Pedro Almodóvar, premieres trailer.
Curzon acquires Cannes Official Selection Alpha by Julia Ducournau (dir: Titane).
The End of It stars Rebecca Hall & Gael García Bernal, launches at Cannes.
Fish, starring Tim Roth & Hunter Schafer, launches at Cannes.
Greenwich picks up Jessica Chastain-led Dreams by Michel Franco.
Willa acquires Queen of My Dreams, releasing June 20.
Ryusuke Hamaguchi to shoot All of the Sudden in Paris.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
Here are the highlights of Jon Voight’s proposal to bring production back to the US: https://theindustry.co/p/jon-voights-proposal
Amazon MGM buys worldwide rights to The Beekeeper 2 for $50M+. Miramax serves as. production company/financier for the sequel to the 2024 hit starring Jason Statham.
Timo Tjahjanto (Nobody 2) directs from a script by Kurt Wimmer. David Ayer, who directed the original, is in talks to return as a producer. The original follows Stathem as an elite killer who goes on a murder spree of tech bros after his friend is scammed out of all of her money and kills herself. It has a John Wick-ian esque mythology and some great Staham Action.
Filming begins this fall. The first one took $162.6 M worldwide, and if Amazon can hit that, it’ll be over the moon as the studio generally tries to recoup marketing costs before it lives on Prime.
Tidbits:
A Minecraft Movie’s Legendary Entertainment has hired Marisa McGrath Liston as EVP of Publicity & Communications. With more than 30 years of marketing and publicity experience, Liston, a former Lionsgate head, will now work across Legendary’s extensive media divisions overseeing all publicity, communication strategies, and execution.
Amazon’s Wings of Fire animated series has tapped Aaron Waltke (writer: Star Trek: Prodigy) as showrunner, EP, and co-writer, alongside author Tui T. Sutherland. The adaptation of the best-selling fantasy book series follows five dragonets destined to end a generations-long war.
Hossein Amini (writer: Drive), will rewrite DC Studios’ Clayface, directed by James Watkins and produced by Matt Reeves. Everything else is still staying on course, though. Filming begins in October in the U.K., with a release set for September 11, 2026.
Spinco is a thing of the past. The new Comcast and NBCUniversal spinoff company has been given the new name of Versant Media. Going into effect later this year, Versant will house multiple TV networks like MSNBC, USA, E!, and more.
Renewals/Cancellations:
Apple TV+’s The Studio (renewed for Season 2) and
Apple TV+’s Trying (renewed for Season 5)
Apple TV+’s Acapulco (cancelled after Season 5)
Release dates:
Netflix’s Jay Kelly
Dir: Noah Baumbach (Marriage Story)
Cast: George Clooney, Adam Sandler, and Laura Dern
Release date: Nov 14
Lionsgate and Kingdom Story Company’s I Can Only Imagine 2
Co-star: Dennis Quaid
Release date: Feb. 20, 2026
Trailer for the first film, which grossed $86M worldwide
Amazon MGM’s How to Rob a Bank
Dir: David Leitch (Bullet Train)
Cast: Nicholas Hoult and Pete Davidson
Release date: Sep 7, 2026 (Labor Day)
Warner Bros.’ Practical Magic 2
Cast: Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman
Release date: September 18, 2026
The DGA Awards will be held Feb. 7, 2026.
Trailers:
Al Pacino plays an exorcist in XYZ Films' The Ritual, which plays like a psychological thriller (trailer). Theatrical release date: June 6th.
Netflix’s Dept Q from Matthew Goode (writer/dir: The Queen’s Gambit). Trailer. Releasing May 29th.
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
Two Mad Bros: Jon Hamm and John Slattery are reuniting for the first time since Mad Men in a new R-rated Hollywood satire from director David Wain, current working title Untitled Celebrity Pass Movie. The comedy stars Zoey Deutch as a jilted bride-to-be who embarks on a chaotic journey through L.A. after her fiancé cashes in on their celebrity hall pass. We don't yet know who Jon and John will be playing, but it will be exciting to see a return of the chemistry they cultivated as Don Draper and Roger Sterling (clip). Currently being shot in LA.
Coming off her super strong year promoting The Substance, Margaret Qualley is adding another leading lady role to her resume in Love of Your Life, an upcoming feature from cinematographer-director Rachel Morrison (dir. The Fire Inside). After a competitive bidding war for the script, Amazon MGM ended up on top with the female lead role, apparently even more coveted. Ryan Gosling is attached to produce, and Nyad (2023) scribe Julia Cox penned the script that has been kept pretty tightly under wraps. She seems like both a logical and capable fit for the mysterious Love of Your Life.
Tidbits:
Anna Baryshnikov joins Apple TV+’s Cape Fear series. Here’s the synopsis:
A storm is coming for happily married attorneys Anna (Amy Adams) and Tom Bowden (Wilson) when Max Cady (Javier Bardem), a notorious killer from their past, gets out of prison.
No word on who Baryshnikov will play, but we loved her in A24’s Loves Lies Bleeding. There was a pure country innocence about her that just broke our hearts during the diner scene with Kristen Stewart (clip).
Michael Schur's (showrunner: Parks and Recreation) Netflix half-hour comedy, A Man on the Inside, Season 2, starring Ted Danson (Cheers), adds David Strathairn as the most popular professor on campus. Season 2 will focus on Danson’s new PI assignment at a college. We loved Strathairn recently in The Luckiest Man in America as the acerbic game show producer. No word on production dates. Season 1 Trailer.
Caitríona Balfe joins Tom Hiddleston and Willem in Apple’s Tenzing. She will play a friend of Tenzing Norgay (leader of the Sherpa community that helped Edmund Hillary (Hiddleston) summit Everest). Caitríona is no stranger to stories of resilience and courage. In Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast, she delivered a powerful performance as a devoted mother navigating her family's safety.
FESTIVALS
We’re excited for Cannes official selection Sirat, which counts Pedro Almodovar as a producer.
The synopsis is simple with the power to be profound:
A father, accompanied by his son, goes looking for his missing daughter in North Africa.
The film plays like a combination of the Mad Max films, Sorcerer (1977), and Red Path (2024)… or just like the Burning Man festival. But the film feels wholly original. Here’s the trailer.
UK/Ireland distributor Curzon (Flow, Parasite) has scooped up Cannes Official selection Alpha, directed by previous Palme d’Or winning director Julia Ducournau (Titane).
The President’s Cake (Cannes Directors’ Fortnight) has sold to two territories, France and Benelux. The French distributor is Tandem (Armand).
Lighting up Cannes Market is a pair of great projects:
The End of It
Cast: Rebecca Hall, Gael García Bernal, Noomi Rapace, Beanie Feldstein (Booksmart)
Dir/Wri: Maria Martinez Bayona (debut film)
Studio: BBC Film
Studio: Mediarpro (Midnight in Paris, The New Pope)
US Sales Rep: WME
International Sales rep (minus Latin America): Bankside (Talk to Me)
Synopsis:
In a near-future world where ageing can be cured and death is now optional, Claire (Rebecca Hall) a former provocative artist approaching her 250th birthday, decides she’s had enough – she wants to die.
Fish
Cast: Hunter Schafer, Tim Roth
Dir/Wri: Carlo Hintermann (2nd unit dir: Tree of Life)
International Sales rep: Minerva Pictures (Lost Highway, Sharknado)
Synopsis:
A brilliant but reclusive art historian (Roth) who is undergoing a mysterious transformation: he is slowly becoming a fish.
Plus an Anna Nicole Smith Biopic and a Dennis Quaid action film at the Cannes Market:
https://theindustry.co/p/cannes-market-2025
Three companies launching at Cannes:
Protagonist Picks is launching by Protagonist Pictures (Sales Rep: The Brutalist, Prod Co: The Outrun). It is a boutique label with a slate of edgy docs, rom-coms, and true-story dramas, including The Luckiest Man in America, led by Isabel Ivars (Dir of Sales: Protagonist Pictures).
Prestige International Pictures is launched by Carlos Rincon (EP: Dermot Mulroney’s Ruthless). The company will focus on sales, financing, and producing.
Aura Entertainment launches from Capstone Studios (Prod co: Riff Raff), Signature Entertainment (UK Distributer: Terrifier 3), and Ascending Media Group (Sales Rep: Ron Perlman’s The Last Victim). In addition to global sales and financing, they will aim to release 10-15 movies per year theatrically or digitally.
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT
Producer Basil Iwanyk (Sicario, John Wick 1-4) launched a new production company, Southland Stories, with radio host and TV presenter Charlamagne Tha God.
Their first project is True Threat starring Jonathan Majors. The project shares some DNA with The Raid, with Majors playing a vengeful father whose son was killed by a gang. Majors’ task in the film is to kill his way up a 20-story building.
This tracks for Iwanyk, whose cinema is propulsive and violent with a dash of character study, relegated to the first act.
Southland Stories will seek to encompass all genres as long as they elevate Southern stories.
Tidbits:
Happy Birthday IFC: IFC celebrates its 25th anniversary with a rebrand as Independent Film Company. And that’s the key here, wanting to emphasize the theatrical experience.
Greenwich Entertainment picks up Dreams. The film premiered at Berlin and stars Jessica Chastain and is directed/written/edited/produced by Michel Franco, whose previous Memory also starred Chastain. Dreams centers on the intimate romance between a wealthy socialite (Chastain) and a Mexican ballet dancer. No word on release date.
Willa is one of my favorite new up-and-coming distributors. Last year, they released my favorite film of the year, La Cocina, and this year, they picked up Queen of My Dreams, which premiered at TIFF and played at SXSW. June 20th theatrical release. Here’s the trailer.
Emerging producers Katherine Romans and Charlie Traisman have officially launched Madhouse Films, an indie production company seeking to champion underrepresented voices and stories with an exciting genre-bending slate ahead. Notably, Madhouse is an EP on the anticipated Forbidden Fruits, a film centering on the members of a witchy femme cult with a cast that includes Gabrielle Union.
HanWay Films is launching sales at Cannes for The Creep, a reimagining of Christopher Smith’s 2004 cult horror Creep, with Jasmine Jobson and UK rapper Aitch leading the cast. Smith returns as director alongside the original producers. Set in London’s underground, the film blends horror, and action with a modern twist. Production begins this autumn. Original trailer.
Kurtis David Harder has completed Influencers, a follow-up to his 2023 Shudder thriller Influencer. Cassandra Naud returns alongside Georgina Campbell in this identity-driven horror set in France. Launching sometime this year on Shudder.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Acclaimed Japanese writer-director Ryusuke Hamaguchi is working on his next film, All of the Sudden, the first since his Venice gem Evil Does Not Exist (2023). Led by a fabulous duo of Virginie Efira (Benedetta) and Tao Okamoto (The Wolverine), All of the Sudden will revolve around the bond between two women, a Japanese theater director and a French nurse.
Here is the Official Synopsis:
Two scholars exchange letters about chance and risk. As the philosopher falls ill, their academic correspondence evolves into intimate discussions about mortality and a deeper connection forms between them.
Hamaguchi is perhaps best known for his meditative international feature, the Cannes (Best Screenplay) and Oscar winning Drive My Car (2021, trailer) which, similarly to his newest project, depicted an unlikely but deep bond underpinned by a shared longines for connection ultimately giving an introspective look into the complexity of human relationships.
His first production outside of Japan or Korea, Hamaguchi is currently in Paris preparing to begin shooting All of the Sudden.
The BBC is moving forward with an adaptation of Andy West’s hit memoir about his life teaching in prisons, with a working title of Waiting for the Out. The greenlit series comes from Matilda: The Musical scribe Dennis Kelly and Black Doves producer Sister, with the BAFTA-nominated Josh Finan (The Responder) on board to play the lead, a character based on West.
Amazon has acquired rights to the Kaley Cuoco-led thriller Vanished in the UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Co-starring Sam Claflin and set in France, the series follows a woman entangled in mystery after her boyfriend disappears mid-trip. Filming is underway, with a Prime Video release expected next year.
ON THIS DAY
1997. The Fifth Element is released.
See you tomorrow!
Written by Gabriel Miller, Spencer Carter, and Madelyn Menapace.
Editor: Gabriel Miller.
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