Black Mirror: Blankie for Our Times
Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
Black Mirror. Apple’s F1. Piggy.
Let’s go!
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In an era of technological and geo-political uncertainty, Black Mirror seems more salient than ever.
Thankfully, we have a trailer for the 7th season which will release on April 10th.
The show’s prescience, since it premiered on the UK’s Channel Four in 2011, has allowed viewers to preview our emerging dystopian-tinged society, even if it terrifies them:
Season 1/2011
Predicted Apple Vision Pro’s ability to record moments in 3D and re-experience them as memories. (Apple video)
Season 2/2013
Predicted the ease at which the presidency can be obtained by TV stars
White Christmas
Season 2/2014
Predicted Smartphone's ability to erase someone in photographs
But over a decade before Charlie Brooker, the creator of Black Mirror, saw into the future and wrote the first episode of the series, he was stuck in his personal past, agonizing over failed relationships.
He went so far as to lie on his couch and turn the TV sideways so he wouldn't have to sit up. He noted:
“[I was like] a woozy sea lion.”
He turned his cynical focus to watching non-stop British reality shows and talent competitions. Out of this was born TVGoHome, an alternate-TV Guide-type blog that he would update with his own made-up ironic TV shows.
The blog gained mass popularity, Booker was ultimately hired by Channel 4 to write the TVGoHome series…
So it seems as if he was just one good idea away from breaking into the industry.
As we navigate collective tumultuous times, TV and film, like Black Mirror, play a vital role in offering a preview of our reality, making impending changes less disconcerting.
For More:
Black Mirror Season 7 trailer. Featuring Awkwafina, Paul Giamatti, Rashida Jones, Rosy McEwen, Cristin Milioti, Will Poulter and Issa Rae.
TVGoHome: Daily Mail Island (full episode), was the germ of Black Mirror.
Charlie Brooker explains the White Christmas episode of Black Mirror - video.
THE INDUSTRY TLDR
Apple releases a full trailer for F1.
Barry Jenkins is in talks for his first sci-fi, The Natural Order.
Daniel Radcliffe joins Tracy Morgan and Tina Fey in an NBC comedy pilot.
Nikki Glaser is back to host the Golden Globes in 2026.
Chloë Grace Moretz is haunted by demons in The Edge Of Normal.
Peter Sarsgaard joins Apple TV+’s Neuromancer.
Phoebe Dynevor (Fair Play) is in talks to replace Alicia Vikander in M. Night Shyamalan’s upcoming romantic thriller.
Succession’s Matthew Macfadyen leads the drama series Legacy of Spies.
Berlinale’s Little Trouble Girls sold to Kino Lorber for North America.
Magnolia Pictures acquired Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted.
Neon releases a teaser for their TIFF People’s Choice Award The Life Of Chuck.
Oscilloscope takes US rights for Diciannove which premiered at Venice.
Gravitas Ventures has obtained North American rights to I’m Beginning to See the Light.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
Apple’s need for speed.
If you think the stakes are high in F1 for Brad Pitt (first full trailer), as he executes high-octane turns with director Joseph Krosinski’s (dir: Top Gun 2) put-you-in-the-driver’s-seat camera work, they’re even bigger for Apple.
Apple’s recently had some underwhelming box office performances:
Argylle (2024)
$200 M budget
$96.2 M worldwide box office gross
Fly Me to the Moon (2024)
$100 M budget
$42.2 M worldwide
Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)
$200 - $300 M budget
$158 M worldwide
Napoleon (2023)
$200 M budget
$221.4 M worldwide
F1 is budgeted at $300 M.
Let’s hope it makes a ton of cash so Apple can continue to make risky big budget originals at a time when only Warner Bros (the distributor of F1) seems to be risk averse enough to do this. At least Apple has a net worth of $3.26 trillion, about 120x bigger than Warner’s $27.17 billion.
F1 release date: June 27th.
Barry Jenkins goes Sci-Fi. The Moonlight/Mufasa: The Lion King director is in talks for his next project, The Natural Order:
Cast: Glen Powell
Studio: Universal
Synopsis:
A sci-fi thriller centering on the search for eternal life.
No other details are known at this time, but an interesting choice for Jenkins.
Mini Tidbits:
Nikki Glaser is back to host the Golden Globes in 2026. She crushed a few months ago with her hilarious monologue. You can watch the full thing, or we’ve conveniently fast-forwarded to the Adam Sandler Timothée Chalamet moment.
Got Milk? Babygirl comes to Max on April 25th after bringing in $28.2 M domestic and $63.9 M worldwide (Kidman films tend to overperform internationally). Good results all around for A24.
It was the best of times it was the worst of times for the VFX industry. After Technicolor, MPC and Jellyfish shut down this month, Cinesite just raised $215M. The company is behind shows like Netflix’s Dark and The Witcher. We don’t say this often but thank you to the bankers that believed in financing (NatWest Corporate Bank led the round).
Plus Gold Tree (post-studio: Al Pacino’s upcoming Lear Rex) received a $1bn investment from Malka Group.
Two Book deals: MGM & Black Label:
https://theindustry.co/p/mgms-sicily
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
Chloë Grace Moretz is haunted by the demons of childhood. No, it’s not a Carrie sequel, but instead The Edge Of Normal.
Here’s the synopsis:
Reeve LeClaire (Morentz) is still haunted from when she was held captive as a teenager by a sadistic man, but when her psychiatrist asks her to mentor a newly rescued survivor, she’s pulled into a chilling game of cat-and-mouse,
Personally, I loved Moretz in the underseen The Miseducation of Cameron Post (2018, trailer) - there was a quiet thoughtfulness to her that didn’t hold any trace of the rage and revenge we see from her in Carrie (2013) and Greta (2018). We’ll most likely see the latter, as this hails from director Carlota Peredea whose film Piggy (2022) was a cruel bloodbath of teenage anguish. XYZ Films produced and finances with production slated for the Spring.
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Daniel Radcliffe on NBC. Radcliffe joins Tracy Morgan and Tina Fey in an NBC comedy pilot, starring Morgan as a disgraced ex-football player seeking redemption.
Radcliffe’s character:
Arthur Tobin, an award-winning filmmaker who moves into Reggie’s mansion to make an immersive documentary about the one-time star running back.
This will mark Radcliffe’s 3rd ever starring live action TV role. First was pre-Potter when he played on PBS’ David Copperfield as a young Copperfield (poster image) and more recently in TBS’ Miracle Workers as an angel (trailer).
Written by 30 Rock alums Sam Means and Robert Carlock, the untitled show is produced by Universal Television.
Peter Sarsgaard joins Apple TV+’s Neuromancer: The 10-episode adaptation of William Gibson’s novel follows hacker Case (Callum Turner) and assassin Molly (Briana Middleton) in a high-stakes cyber heist. Sarsgaard will be taking on the role of John Ashpool, a man who artificially has prolonged his life over 200 years coming in and out of cryostasis to do so. In the novel Ashpool commits some pretty heinous acts, so it will be interesting to see Sarsgaard tap into that darkness and the mindset of a man who literally sleeps through life. Neuromancer is looking really intriguing and could be yet another sci-fi victory for Apple.
Tidbits:
Phoebe Dynevor (Fair Play) is in talks to replace Alicia Vikander to star alongside Jake Gyllenhaal in M. Night Shyamalan’s upcoming romantic thriller titled Remain. Production is starting soon, and we’d love to see this pairing as Dynevor is wonderful at standing up to egoists.
We like the trifecta happening here. Steve Buscemi plays a retired serial killer who helps Past Lives’ John Magaro write a book about serial killers while having feelings like his wife, Severance’s Britt Lower, may kill him. The trailer plays it like a straight psychological thriller with a dash of insanity. Psycho Therapy won last year’s Tribeca Audience Award and hits theatres and VOD on April 11th.
Succession’s Matthew Macfadyen is tapped to lead potential drama series Legacy of Spies in the works from The Ink Factory and Fifth Season. The English actor would star as secret agent George Smiley, a significant recurring character in a number of John le Carré novels. The project is described as an amalgamation of several of le Carré’s works and apparently already has a number of offers on the table in both the US and the UK.
David Dastmalchian guest stars, Peter Dinklage is Toxic and Skarsgard’s moment:
https://theindustry.co/p/dastmalchian-dinklage-skarsgard
FESTIVALS
Berlinale might be over but two films have sold…
Sexual awakening is ripe in Berlin Film Festival Perspectives FIPRESCI award-winner Little Trouble Girls. The film has sold to Kino Lorber for North America for theatrical and digital, and BFI for U.K. Warner Bros. Discovery bought broadcast rights in Europe.
Synopsis:
16-year-old Lucia joins Catholic school choir, befriends senior Ana-Maria. During choir retreat at convent, Lucia's attraction to a restoration worker creates tension with Ana-Maria and challenges her faith.
You may need to eat a sour grape after watching the trailer.
Inside the snaking halls of justice is the Berlin Film Festival Perspectives selection We Believe You. The film has sold to Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and 8 more European countries. With a tinge of A Separation, the film follows a mother who accuses her husband of a crime to win her children. Her full on panic attack in the trailer is gut-wrenching.
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT / INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Behold Neon’s teaser for their TIFF People’s Choice Award The Life Of Chuck.
An adaptation of Stephen King's novella of the same name it follows three chapters told in reverse about the life of an ordinary man named Charles Krantz.
It is a sweeter tale of kings with no secret sci-fi twist, the sheer emotionality of this caught everyone by surprise at TIFF.
The film stars Tom Hiddleston as Krantz as well as Karen Gillan, Jacob Tremblay, and Mark Hamill.
First look trailer.
It’s Italian youth and they're loose. Oscilloscope takes US rights for Diciannove (dir: Giovanni Tortorici), which had its world premiere in the Horizons section in Venice.
Oscilloscope stated:
“For a first-time filmmaker, Giovanni directs with an unbelievable amount of verve and confidence. He plays whimsically with so many different techniques that we couldn’t help but fall under his spell.”
For a kicker, Luca Guadagnino is the producer. No word on release date but here’s the half-Italian and half-English trailer.
Tidbits:
See-Saw Films (Slow Horses) is looking for a distributor for its English language remake of Trust No One (original trailer) which centers on a young head of a cybersecurity agency who battles against a leak. This seems like a fairly standard action thriller, even a little antithetical to their dysfunctional MI5 agents in Slow Horses, but definitely a wide audience on this one.
Steven Knight will produce Oasis Live ‘25, a film documenting Oasis' reunion tour, directed by Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace, with Sony handling global sales.
A first time director casts Noomi Rapace, Magnolia Pictures’ pick-up and a Darren Aronofsky doc:
https://theindustry.co/p/magnolia-rapace-aronofsky
ON THIS DAY
1933. Michael Caine born in London.
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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