Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
Colin Firth’s Noir, Nicole Kidman’s Thriller, and a bald banana.
Let’s go!
If you enjoy today’s edition, please hit the like button or leave a comment.
Today we have updates on three projects, in which people try to catch killers.
One stars an Oscar-winner, another a TV star, and a third is from a world-famous director.
First, Colin Firth has been cast in Apple’s TV adaptation of the late great Philip Kerr’s Berlin Noir. Firth plays a “Meticulous, anti-social and well-educated, brilliant but prickly murder detective with the Berlin Police.” That shares much DNA with many characters Firth has played, like in Pride and Prejudice, A Single Man, and The Railway Man (2013).
This hails from Conclave’s Oscar-winning scribe Peter Straughan, Doctor Who producer Bad Wolf, and Tom Hanks’ Playtone (Masters of the Air, Band of Brothers).
Second is Anna Chlumsky (actress: Veep), who has been cast in Top of the Rock, an Icelandic TV series. From Iceland’s Truenorth (prod co: Washington Black), the period noir series sees Chlumsky as a U.S. military police officer who uncovers a hidden world of secrets, lies, and political tampering after the suspicious death of a fellow American soldier.
In Apple TV+’s criminally underseen Smoke, Chlumsky loved snuffing out betrayal and deceit to expose the true criminal (Clip). She’ll star opposite Leslie Bibb.
Third, Michel Gondry’s new film Little Fears is getting released, at least in France, with The Jokers Films (distributor: Dear Stranger). The film is told from the POV of two little girls who discover a human skull in their garden.
Sounds a bit David Lynch to me, a la Blue Velvet, and this film from Gondry promises to be darker than his usual fare. That would be a beautiful evolution of his dreamy Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind energy. Logical Picture International (prod co: Coralie Fargeat’s Revenge) is selling at EFM.
For More:
So what gives with all these murder shows? There’s the fun SNL parody answer, which does a great job at capturing our craving to see these horrific events play out.
THE INDUSTRY TLDR
A24 drops seven figures on a spec erotic thriller with Nicole Kidman in talks.
Eddie Murphy + Eva Longoria to star in Amazon MGM’s Attachment Parenting.
Sony Pictures hires Stephanie Clark as SVP, Corporate Communications.
Keira Knightley leads dark class satire The Worst w/ Alicia Vikander.
Amazon MGM comedy Clashing Through the Snow adds Lukas Gage.
Billy Zane stars in horror-comedy Blood Rush as the devil’s son.
Dane DeHaan joins FX limited series Cry Wolf with Olivia Colman + Brie Larson.
Prime Video’s God of War casts Callum Vinson as young Atreus.
Shea Whigham joins Netflix Untamed (S2).
Four EFM packages:
Mother Courage w/ Naomi Watts, Odessa A’zion, Sarah Paulson.
A Body in the Woods w/ Emma Roberts.
Shredded w/ Emma Roberts; prod co: Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes.
Hombre al agua/ Wri/dir/star Gael García Bernal.
Sundance winner Josephine adds Goodfellas as int’l sales rep.
New England Toys stars Jason Schwartzman, Jim Gaffigan, & Jennifer Jason Leigh.
Film Movement acquires Barrio Triste for North America.
Obscured Releasing picks up Blue Film.
BBC Studios is developing a US version of Mammoth via Fox.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
A24 pays seven figures for a spec script of an erotic thriller with Nicole Kidman (Babygirl) already in talks to star. Few people have found themselves in a position like British actor Dylan Brady (The Diplomat), who previously had just one writing credit to his name but now sees his script ignite a major bidding war.
With a tone reminiscent of Kidman in Eyes Wide Shut, the story centers on a struggling actor who takes a nannying job for a big-time producer and her movie-star husband, plotting to exploit them for their industry connections, until the plan takes a dangerous turn.
A24 just last year won a seven-way bidding war for previously unknown writer Harrison Query’s Trigger Point, which, funny enough, is now at Netflix. It’ll be a while before we hear any production news for Brady’s spec, but congratulations are in order nonetheless.
We love The Johns. Producers John Davis and John Fox of Davis Entertainment are back with Attachment Parenting, starring Eddie Murphy and Eva Longoria for Amazon MGM.
Synopsis:
A psychologist couple whose parenting philosophy is put to the ultimate test when they’re forced to counsel a crime boss’s dysfunctional family while being held hostage at a hotel.
This is super fun. And if you want a sniff of how the Johns have worked with Murphy before (they produced Amazon’s The Pickup), just go to 34:45 in my interview with them, and you’ll hear a great Norbit Murphy story: https://theindustry.co/p/hugh-jackmans-song-sung-blue-producers
Mini Tidbits:
Sony Pictures has brought on communications exec Stephanie Clark as SVP of Corporate Communications. The Paramount alum will work on SPT’s nonfiction, kids programs, and scripted, including shows like Vince Gilligan’s Pluribus and The Night Agent for Netflix.
Don Argott’s 9.14 Pictures (Kelce) is currently working on a Bob Saget doc, taking a closer look at the late comic’s life.
Court TV has found a new home. The E.W. Scripps Co. is selling the network to Dan Abrams’ Law&Crime studio, part of media holding company Jellysmack. They will keep Court TV as its own brand, focused on high-profile trial coverage.
Marty Supreme is A24’s highest-grossing film of all time at $148.8M worldwide, beating out EEAAO, which took home $145M. It is also only one of four A24 films to break the $100M mark worldwide.
Renewals:
Fox’s Running Wild with Bear Grylls (for S9)
S1-4 on NBC
S5-8 on Nat Geo
Trailers:
Netflix’s 2026 Thailand slate
Netflix’s Virgin River (S7)
Release: March 12
Release dates:
Prod: James Ivory (writer: Call Me by Your Name, dir: A Room with a View)
Premiere: Cinequest opening night (March 10th)
Warner Bros. Spain’s Caza Mayor
Movistar Plus+
Release: 2027
The film follows an Iberian pig herder who comes home one night covered in blood, which could be an elaborate ruse.
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
The film may be called The Worst, but the cast is anything but.
Two-time Oscar nominee Keira Knightley is swapping corsets for cocktails in the comedic class satire and feature directorial debut of actor Simon Woods (Pride and Prejudice’s Mr. Bingley).
Knightley will star alongside Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina), Jamie Dornan (Belfast), and 28 Years Later breakout Erin Kellyman in the dark comedy that has been described as “wickedly entertaining”.
Synopsis:
Follows socialite Emily Fisher (Vikander) and her husband Max as they invite wealthy friends to their French chateau for the night, where clashing personalities and dark secrets turn the elegant gathering into chaos.
While Knightley is best known for her prestige period dramas, her characters often have a humorous side to them (clip), making a full-fledged dark comedy an unexpected but welcome evolution for the actress.
London’s Protagonist Pictures (The Brutalist) will be launching sales for The Worst at the EFM.
Mini Tidbits:
Lukas Gage joins Christopher Briney (actor: The Summer I Turned Pretty) in the Amazon MGM comedy Clashing Through the Snow. The film is being pitched as a modern Planes, Trains and Automobiles. Carlson Young directs (Upgraded). Big shoes to fill if it’s hoping to compare to the John Candy, Steve Martin classic.
Billy Zane plays the devil’s son in the 1880s American Frontier. He stars in the horror comedy, Blood Rush. Essentially, he plays a vampire that sucks the hopes and dreams out of the early gold rush pioneers. We have no doubt Zane will commit to the bit, with the same bravado that he did playing Brando recently (clip).
Dane DeHaan goes from Bears to Wolves. He joins FX’s limited series Cry Wolf, a psychological thriller led by Oscar winners Olivia Colman and Brie Larson. No word on DeHaan’s character, but we loved seeing his lighter side in Two Lovers and a Bear (2016).
Prime Video’s God of War series adaptation finally finds its lead. Young actor Callum Vinson (Peacock’s Long Bright River) will play the 10-year-old Atreus, the brave but stubborn son of Ryan Hurst’s Kratos. Video game adaptations are tricky, but the cast so far for the Amazon and Sony show has been very promising.
We like Shea Whigham in everything he’s in. Now he’s joining Netflix’s Untamed (S2). If you skipped out on the first season, Eric Bana plays a national park ranger whose murdered son gives the entire daylight drama an air of foreboding. Whigham plays a shady businessman who has also lost his son, so it’ll be interesting to see how the two collide. New setting: Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park. Kelly Hu also joins the cast.
CBS’s upcoming comedy, Eternally Yours, casts Broadway star Helen J Shen in her first on-screen role. Her performance in the six-time Tony Award-winning musical Maybe Happy Ending (clip) was the talk of the theater world all last year. In the CBS pilot, Shen will play the daughter of two five-hundred-year-old vampires.
FESTIVALS
Berlin film gains new sales rep:
No Salgas (Don’t Come Out)
Dist: ArtHood Entertainment (Snow and the Bear)
Int. Sales Rep: Alief (Strawberry Mansion)
Cast: Camila Issa (Are You Afraid of the Dark?)
Dir: Victoria Linares (dir. documentary Ramona)
Premiere: Berlin
Synopsis:
After her girlfriend’s death, Liz hides her true self until a weekend trip awakens forbidden desires. When her sexuality is exposed, paranoia and violence consume the group as her secret becomes deadly.
Four high-profile EFM projects. Two with Emma Roberts:
Mother Courage
Cast: Naomi Watts, Odessa A’zion (Marty Supreme), Sarah Paulson
Dir: Cody Fern (actor in American Crime Story)
Int. Sales Rep: Mk2 Films (The Secret Agent)
Synopsis:
A renowned actress faces mounting pressure during show rehearsals when her estranged sister suddenly reappears after three decades. Their unexpected reunion stirs up buried family tensions forcing both women to face their shared history.
A Body in the Woods
Cast: Emma Roberts
Dir: Stephen Cognetti (Hell House)
Prod. Comp: Dave Caplan C2 Motion Picture Group (Longlegs)
Int. Sales Rep: Manifest Pictures
Synopsis:
When Alice is left alone at her remote cabin to keep vigil over the body of an unidentified mine worker, unsettling disturbances in the dark lead Alice to fear the corpse may not be fully at rest.
Shredded
Cast: Emma Roberts
Wri/Dir: Josh Lawson (actor in NBC’s St. Denis Medical)
Prod. Comp: Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes (The Purge)
Int. Sales Rep: Protagonist Pictures
Synopsis:
Follows Eileen who enrolls in an intense gym class. When she quits, the deranged coach abducts and imprisons her in his training compound, forcing her through lethal workouts until she outwits him.
Hombre al agua
Int. Sales Rep: The Pool Films
Dir/Wri: Gael García Bernal
Cast: Gael García Bernal, Manuel García Rulfo (Jurassic World Rebirth)
Synopsis:
Thousands of kilometers apart, two married colleagues meet during a corporate crisis, sparking a passionate connection that makes them question their lives and choices.
One more EFM film:
Sundance documentary Joybubbles
Int. Sales Rep: Visit Films (It Follows)
Dir: Rachael J. Morrison (short film Elvers)
Synopsis:
Blind Joybubbles finds he can control phones by whistling specific tones. His discovery, born from loneliness, becomes foundational to hacking culture and tech history.
I loved Joybubbles. It’s light, breezy, but altogether fascinating. Mostly to see what an extraordinary source of magical warmth and hijinks was born of childhood trauma for the subject, Josef “Joybubbles” Carl Engressia Jr.
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT
Josephine, starring Channing Tatum, my favorite film at Sundance, brings on Goodfellas (Nouvelle Vague, Orwell: 2+2=5) as the international sales rep.
The film has not yet sold to a distributor for North America, but apparently co-domestic sales reps CAA and WME are in discussions. Read our full cover story breakdown here: https://theindustry.co/p/channing-tatums-soft-side
Writer/Director Blaise Beyhan has assembled a high-profile cast for his second feature, New England Toys. It’s a period thriller starring Jason Schwartzman, Jim Gaffigan, and Jennifer Jason Leigh.
This is wild, as Beyhan’s first feature, Callback, which had an equally impressive cast with Dennis Quaid, Jai Courtney, Hamish Linklater, and Willa Fitzgerald, has not been released.
Production on the 2nd feature is already underway.
Mini Tidbit:
Film Movement has acquired Barrio Triste for North American release. The Colombian film premiered at Venice’s Orizzonti section. Directed by Stillz (Bad Bunny Music Video Director) and produced by Harmony Korine’s EDGLRD. It’s very much akin to Korine’s work, as it follows four teens as they document their own rowdiness in a hauntingly poetic portrait of violence and loneliness. Trailer.
Starburns Industries (prod co: Neon’s The Actor, Anomalisa, Rick and Morty) has just promoted Paul Young to CEO. They’ve also raised some capital to push towards more film/series that blend live action and animation prowess. What does that mean? Just check out our interview with Anomalisa co-writer and Starburns Industries exec Duke Johnson: https://theindustry.co/p/the-actor
Obscured Releasing is on a bit of a bender. They just picked up Blue Film, centering on “a fetish camboy.” For release in theaters in May. This is Publicist RJ Millard’s new distribution company, which just picked up the North American rights to Starman and Westhampton. Blue Film seems like a twist of Sundance’s Sebastian, Netflix’s Heated Rivalry, and Kubrick’s unmade Blue Movie.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
BBC Studios is adapting its time travel series Mammoth to a US version…
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to The Industry to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.