And the Oscar Goes To… Stunts!
Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
Golden Stunts. Hidden Dragon. Dangerous Thread.
Let’s go!
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Our full breakdown on the Cannes 2025 lineup:
https://theindustry.co/p/the-cannes-lineup-2025
First casting, now stunts! In 2027, the Academy Awards will give an Oscar for achievement in stunt design.
Bill Kramer, the academy’s chief executive, stated:
“We are proud to honor the innovative work of these technical and creative artists, and we congratulate them for their commitment and dedication in reaching this momentous occasion.”
Throughout Hollywood history, stuntmen and women have risked life and limb to bring us entertainment.
Recently, many of the top stunt directors have turned to directing. Famously, Chad Stahelski (John Wick) and David Leitch, whose film The Fall Guy (2024) starring Ryan Gosling was a sleek way of showing off the hard work of the stunt community.
None of this would be possible without Buster Keaton.
The vaudeville-trained performer became a pioneering silent film director, famed for doing his own death-defying stunts and choreographing them with immense precision.
Keaton’s silent cinema work spanned him jumping into a waterfall to save a damsel in distress to outrunning the law by hanging onto a speeding car to a water tower emptying on top of him (this stunt in Sherlock Jr. broke his neck, although rumor has it he didn’t notice for a year.)
There are 100 members of the stunt community who are Academy members. Eligibility rules will be determined at a later date. And still, no determination has been made as to whether the award will be given during the telecast.
For More:
5 minutes of Buster Keaton stunts. Brilliantly executed and delightful.
The Fall Guy trailer.
Two stunt performers have already won (honorary) Oscars. Yakima Canutt and Hal Needham.
THE INDUSTRY TLDR
Amazon is developing a Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon series with Sony Pictures Television.
Paramount is moving forward with Man of War, a Western starring Samuel L. Jackson.
Melissa Aouate is now president of Blumhouse Television (Sharp Objects).
Cristiano Ronaldo and director Matthew Vaughn have launched UR•Marv, an independent film studio.
A LA judge ruled in favor of Sony in its lawsuit against CBS over distribution rights for Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune.
Amazon has officially greenlit Mike Flanagan’s Carrie series.
Nick Kroll and Andrew Rannells (Girls) can’t stop killing in Vertical’s I Don’t Understand You.
Wyatt Russell gives a heart-breaking performance in Sony Pictures’s Broke.
May Calamawy (Moon Knight) joins Lee Cronin’s The Mummy reboot.
Bestselling novel Bad Summer People is being adapted into a feature with Sarah Michelle Gellar.
Sew Torn is like Saw but for Sewing.
Philip Barantini (dir: Adolescence), is in negotiations to direct a film adaptation of The Alchemist.
Cineverse has picked up U.S. Rights for The Things You Kill.
NBC’s SNL is launching a British edition in 2026 with Sky.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
The year of Ang Lee adaptations. Amazon is developing a Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon series with Sony Pictures Television. This series follows the Crane-Iron Pentalogy books, which portray stunningly beautiful warriors and equally arresting tales of love.
Jason Ning will EP and write. He co-EP’d and wrote one episode of Netflix’s The Brothers Sun, which also starred Michelle Yeoh.
Roy Lee EP’s. He is one of the most prolific producer/EPs working in Hollywood right now whose work spans from studio fare like A Minecraft Movie and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire to indies like Strange Darling and Barbarian.
Ron Moore (For All Mankind) also EP’s.
Here’s the trailer for the Ang Lee original.
Samuel L. Jackson goes West: Paramount is moving forward with Man of War, a Western starring Jackson as a retired general who returns to his corrupt Georgia hometown and launches a battle against gentrification, racism, and a manipulative billionaire. Tim Story (Barbershop, Ride Along) is directing and producing, with a script by Oscar-nominated writer Sheldon Turner (Up in the Air). Jackson has experience in Westerns, notably through his frequent collaborations with Quentin Tarantino, having a supporting role in Django Unchained, and starring in The Hateful Eight, where he also played a retired Major from the army. Clip.
Jackson thrives with a pistol in his hand and a good hat on his head. Currently in pre-production.
Tidbit:
Lionsgate EVP and General Counsel Bruce Tobey has extended his role, signing a new multi-year agreement. As General Counsel, he leads the studio’s legal operations, including transactional matters, litigation, talent negotiations, copyright issues, and business partnerships. After spending 15 years in private practice as a transactional entertainment attorney, Tobey spent five years as a member of the senior management team at Paramount Pictures before later moving to CBS and then Lionsgate.
Former president and partner at Fabel Entertainment, Melissa Aouate, is now president of Blumhouse Television (Sharp Objects). Aouate will oversee Blumhouse’s scripted division, which includes the upcoming Nicole Kidman and Jamie Lee Curtis-led crime series Scarpetta for Amazon. Prior to Fabel she worked as an executive for Robert Zemeckis’ ImageMovers (Flight, The Walk).
Cristiano Ronaldo and director Matthew Vaughn have launched UR•Marv, an independent film studio aiming to blend innovative technology with traditional storytelling. They've completed two action films and are developing a third, all part of a new franchise. This venture marks Ronaldo's expansion into the entertainment industry beyond football.
An LA judge ruled in favor of Sony in its lawsuit against CBS over distribution rights for Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune. The court found Sony lawfully terminated the agreements in August 2024 due to CBS's unauthorized overseas licensing. CBS plans to appeal the decision. Bonus spin?
Michael B. Jordan's production company, Outlier Society, options another novel. First was the NY Times bestselling fantasy series The Empyrean for Amazon. Now they’ve got The House Of Last Resort, which they plan to make into a film. The book centers on those ultra-popular Italian tourist traps that lure foreigners to remote villages, promising a home for a single Euro. But, surprise, when the family shows up, they learn the house became a mass grave of sorts for priests who did some untidy things in the house.
Mini Tidbit:
Slate PR, one of Hollywood’s top publicity firms, is dissolving after 15 years. Four founding partners immediately launched Apex Public Relations, retaining clients and staff.
Amazon has officially greenlit Mike Flanagan’s Carrie series. We’re looking forward to his upcoming film, The Life of Chuck.
FX’s new season of Welcome To Wrexham premieres May 15.
China, the world’s 2nd largest film market, will moderately reduce the number of American films imported. No word yet on which films will take the hit. But for now, Marvel’s Thunderbolts* has been given the “OK” to play in China.
Apple TV+’s summer lineup. Here’s the trailer. Apple has been working hard to increase their 45M subscriber numbers (less than Hulu’s 53.6M subs), dropping their prices to $3/month. And hiring Jonathan Melber as head of licencing to expand their content offerings.
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
We love Nick Kroll. We love Andrew Rannells (Girls). But together, they are dynamite in Vertical’s I Don’t Understand You. It’s a comedy of errors as the couple vacations in Italy and accidentally keeps killing people (trailer). It’s big, goofy physical comedy, which Kroll and Rannells excel in. We could literally see this happening to them.
Release date June 6th.
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Wyatt Russell is broke. The Thunderbolts* actor stars in Sony Pictures’s Broke. It’s a tale of bareback bronco riding that goes from family tradition, with Dennis Quaid passing the torch to his son Russell, who excels until a horrible accident. It doesn’t leave him crippled but the emotional pain runs deep and Russell excels at not giving into his darker demons but letting those around him soothe and frustrate him (trailer). Rides off into the sunset of digital May 6.
Netflix’s Pride and Prejudice series casts The Crown’s Emma Corrin as the witty and deeply independent Elizabeth Bennet and The Favourite’s Olivia Colman as her intrusive mother, Mrs. Bennet. The duo will join Slow Horses’ Jack Lowden, already tapped to play Mr. Darcy, with Euros Lyn (Heartstopper) attached to direct. The six-part series is said to be a faithful adaptation of Jane Austen’s classic and is supposed to start production in the U.K. by end of year.
May Calamawy (Moon Knight) joins Lee Cronin’s The Mummy reboot. Produced by Atomic Monster and Blumhouse, the film is now shooting in Ireland. This is not unexplored territory, as Layla in Moon Knight, Calamawy already went toe-to-toe with Egyptian gods until she becomes an avatar herself. Cronin promises a terrifying, original take that is scarier than the original. It’s set for worldwide theatrical release on April 17, 2026.
Emma Rosenblum’s viral bestselling novel Bad Summer People is being adapted into a feature with Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) starring and EPing. The “deliciously sharp and addictive series” is being compared to The White Lotus as it follows a collection of colorful characters whose summer vacation takes a turn when a lifeless body is found washed up on the boardwalk. The script is being penned by No Good Deed’s Cara DiPaolo with Linden Productions (Family Switch) producing for A+E Studios.
Tony Cavalero, known best for his beloved Keefe in the Righteous Gemstones and comedy in general, has joined the cast of The Silence Game, a psychological thriller from writer-director John Rosman, currently filming in New Mexico. He stars alongside Sarah Yarkin and Nicholas Cirillo in the story of a young man drawn into a cult-like group obsessed with a terrifying ideology. A really interesting branch out for the actor as Gemstones takes its final bow.
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT / INTERNATIONAL NEWS
We don’t always see work that looks new and singular. But Sew Torn, an official selection at SXSW and Locarno, is like Saw but for Sewing.
Synopsis:
A seamstress gets tangled in her own thread after stealing a briefcase from a drug deal gone bad. In an escalating game of cat and mouse, her different choices lead to drastically different outcomes along the way.
There are surprisingly flashy POV stunts all centered around sewing.
Watch the trailer and have your synapses unspool.
Sunrise Films will release theatrically May 9th.
Philip Barantini is in high demand these days, and rightfully so. The director behind Netflix’s fourth-biggest English language series ever, Adolescence (trailer), is in negotiations to direct a film adaptation of the much adored novel The Alchemist written by Paul Coelho.
Legendary is producing the project, which follows protagonist Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who yearns to travel in search of a worldly treasure as extravagant as any ever found.
It’s no wonder Barantini is getting the gig. His ability to dig into a child’s psychology in Adolescence is brilliant.
Jack Thorne is writing the screenplay, shortly after he wrote the script for the third installment of Enola Holmes for Netflix and also directed by Barantini.
Sony’s TriStar Pictures is handling worldwide distribution, with Legendary eyeing a 2026 production start.
Cineverse has picked up U.S. Rights for The Things You Kill, deemed a must-see ahead of its premiere in Sundance’s World Cinema Dramatic competition. The Turkish-set psychological thriller from Iranian director Alireza Khatam follows a grief-stricken professor whose quest for vengeance unravels into a surreal, morally complex descent—drawing comparisons to Lynch and Farhadi.
Cineverse has a unique way of tapping into its audience, which allowed it to bolster Terrifier 3 to $90M worldwide with $80K spent on marketing. Their engagement of their audience into the dark genre of horror is sensational. Let’s see if they can work the machine for The Things You Kill.
LIVE FROM UK IT'S: NBC’s Saturday Night Live is launching a British edition in 2026 with Sky, bringing its live sketch comedy format to U.K. and Irish audiences. Lorne Michaels will executive produce SNL U.K., which promises a new core cast of British comedians. The series will stream on Sky Max and Now.
ON THIS DAY
1983. Gandhi wins Best Picture.
That’s all for the week. See you Monday!
Written by Gabriel Miller, Spencer Carter, and Madelyn Menapace.
Editor: Gabriel Miller.
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