Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
Cate Blanchett’s Gift, Dwayne Johnson’s Music, and moral capacity.
Let’s go!
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THE INDUSTRY TLDR
Cate Blanchett will star in and produce Sweetsick for Searchlight.
Dwayne Johnson stars in Lizard Music from director Benny Safdie.
Netflix orders Lena Dunham series Sex Act.
Rupert Murdoch hands control of his empire to son Lachlan.
Amazon MGM picks up Uma Thurman-starring ballerina survival thriller.
Netflix greenlights Crew Girl, a coming-of-age rowing drama series.
Disney hires Rudy Mancuso (Música) to direct Bob the Musical.
Amy Baer named President of Film & TV at Affleck & Damon’s Artists Equity.
Stuart Craig, Oscar-winning Harry Potter production designer, dies at 83.
Jessica Chastain boards Netflix mystery Heartland.
Lionsgate moving ahead with The Last Witch Hunter sequel with Vin Diesel & Michael Caine.
Paramount/Hybe’s untitled K-pop film adds Yoo Ji-tae, Tony Revolori & Gia Kim.
TIFF pickups: Adulthood (Republic) gets UK deal.
Brad Anderson (The Machinist) sets new psychological thriller Moral Capacity.
Daisy Ridley’s We Bury the Dead sold to Signature Entertainment for UK/Ireland.
Prime Video Australia extends deal with Sony & Roadshow.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
Two-time Oscar winner Cate Blanchett is set to lead a new Searchlight drama feature, Sweetsick, the directorial debut from Lady Macbeth (2016) writer Alice Birch.
Official Synopsis:
A mysterious woman with an uncanny power to perceive people’s deepest needs embarks on a personal quest, despite the toll her extraordinary gift takes on her own life.
Blue Jasmine (2013), Carol (2015), Tár (2022), Blanchett shines in arthouse dramas rich with psychological nuance. In Todd Field’s Tár (trailer), Blanchett, while not supernatural, had an uncommon power that lay in her genius and control over both music and people.
The Black Bag actress was most recently in Venice for the Golden Lion-winning Father Mother Sister Brother (trailer) premiere, a Jim Jarmusch multi-story ensemble drama.
Blanchett will also produce Sweetsick through her Dirty Films (TIFF’s Fingernails) banner. Shooting will begin in the UK and Greece this fall.
An intimacy coordinator that hasn’t been kissed. That’s the logline new series for Sex Act from Netflix.
The team is great:
Dir/EP: Lena Dunham
Wri: Raffi Donatich (Maude Apatow’s Poetic License)
Prod: Josh Godfrey (EP: Manchester by the Sea), Jeremy O. Harris (wri: A24’s Zola)
Attached cast: Sarah Paulson
Studio: Netflix
This is great territory for Dunham, whose work tends to explore the raw, beautiful, and awkward territory of all things relationship/sexual.
Want a sneak preview of what this will be like? Look up this episode of HBO’s High Maintenance.
In a drama worthy of a Succession episode, Rupert Murdoch has given his kingdom to his son Lachlan (his eldest boy!), cutting out his other children. Under Murdoch’s umbrella are Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Post.
In short, Rupert’s three other children felt Fox News was too polarizing and tried to take control of the company. Now they will step away and receive $1.1bn—each. Lachlan is the current chairman of Murdoch's News Corp and CEO of Fox Corporation.
Tidbits:
The female-led action flick Ballerina Overdrive is making a deal with Amazon MGM Studios for the U.S. streaming rights. From director Vicky Jewson (The Witcher: Blood Origin), the film follows a troupe of ballerinas who have to fight for survival, starring Lana Condor (Netflix’s To All the Boys franchise), Maddie Ziegler (My Old Ass), and Uma Thurman. The deal is expected to be around $12 M.
Netflix officially greenlights Crew Girl, a coming-of-age drama series from Thunderbird Entertainment subsidiary Great Pacific Media (Highway Thru Hell). The show follows a 16-year-old female rower, played by Netflix’s Kate Miku Martineau, who becomes the coxswain of a dysfunctional all-boys rowing team. Production is ongoing in Victoria, British Columbia.
Disney has tapped Música filmmaker Rudy Mancuso to direct long-gestating comedy Bob the Musical. The story follows an ordinary man (Bob), cursed to live inside a musical. Mancuso, a self-taught musician and YouTube creative, premiered Música at SXSW 2024 and previously directed acclaimed music videos and Netflix collaboration Stories from Our Future. Don’t know about Música? The trailer is sonically absorbing.
Exec move:
Amy Baer will serve as the President of Film & Television for Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s artist-led studio Artists Equity (Kiss of the Spider Woman). Veteran producer Baer founded Gidden Media, which has produced films like Oscar nominee The Apprentice (2024) and Netflix’s Purple Hearts (2022). In her new role, she will oversee the studio’s complete portfolio.
Mini Tidbits:
Stuart Craig, the Oscar-winning British production designer behind all eight Harry Potter films, has died at 83. He earned Academy Awards for Gandhi, Dangerous Liaisons, and The English Patient, and helped shape the look of the Wizarding World across films and theme parks.
Unanimous Media, founded by basketball star Stephen Curry and Erick Peyton, has signed with CAA. The company hopes to continue to produce family, faith, and sports content, including Mr. Throwback, Goat, and Stephen Curry: Underrated. Trailer for Goat.
James Corden and Ruth Jones’ (BritBox’s Gavin & Stacey creators) new Apple TV+ series is titled The Choir. Corden and Jones will lead the eight-part series, filming next year.
Renewals:
Netflix’s Leanne (renewed for S2)
Acorn TV’s Irish Blood (renewed for S2)
First Look:
HBO’s The Chair Company
Co-creator: Tim Robinson
Release: Oct. 12
Trailers:
Netflix’s Wake Up Dead Man
Theatrical release: Nov 26
Streaming release: Dec 12
Roadside’s Dust Bunny
Cast: Mads Mikkelsen, Sigourney Weaver
Premiere: TIFF
Release: Dec 5
Fremantle’s Origin: The Story of the Basketball Africa League
ESPN bought domestic rights
Bell Media bought Canadian rights
Hen
Magnetizing fox chasing hen clip
Premiere: TIFF Platforms
Sales rep: Lucky Number (Palestine 36)
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
Jessica Chastain is streamer hopping.
The Oscar winner is set to lead Netflix’s mystery feature Heartland from director Shana Feste (Endless Love) as a former country star investigating the disappearance of her niece. Her casting news comes just two weeks before she stars as an undercover agent in Apple TV+’s The Savant.
Heartland seems like just the role for Chastain, who won a Golden Globe and SAG award for her performance as country musician Tammy Wynette (scene) in George & Tammy (2022).
Paramount Pictures and Hybe America’s K-pop movie adds three to its cast. From director Benson Lee (dir. Seoul Searching):
Money Heist’s Yoo Ji-tae
Tony Revolori (Spider-Man: No Way Home)
Gia Kim (XO, Kitty)
“A love letter to K-pop” the untitled project follows a girl auditioning to join a new musical group, it is expected to start filming soon.
Lionsgate is moving ahead with a sequel to The Last Witch Hunter (2015), despite its critical floppage and tepid box office. Vin Diesel will reprise his role as Kaulder, and shockingly, Michael Caine is reportedly set to return as Dolan; he’s apparently coming out of retirement for this!? While it’s great to see Caine return in his typical magnanimous, wise sage archetype, this was not well-regarded critically. Original Trailer.
Mini Casting Tidbits:
Simon Pegg
Christopher Lloyd
Carol Kane
A White Lotus star
For all the above casting news and more, click here.
FESTIVALS
TIFF Pickup:
Worldwide sales rights for TIFF’s Under The Same Sun, were picked up by Habanero Film Sales.
Synopsis:
A Spanish settler, his Chinese companion, and a former Haitian soldier work together to bring high-quality silk production to early 19th-century Hispaniola, in this emotionally charged, politically resonant historical drama.
From director Ulises Porra (Tigre). Trailer.
TIFF Market:
Dead Man’s Wire writer Austin Kolodney and Canadian production company Sauce Studios are bringing their new sci-fi film Josephine The Blanket to the TIFF market for sales. Drastically different from the Gus Van Sant festival heavy-hitter, Josephine the Blanket is centered on a science prodigy who finds a way to transfer her consciousness to her childhood blanket. The “genre-bending fantastical odyssey” will be Kolodney’s directorial debut. What a great premise!
Other Pickup:
Buffalo 8 picks up pH-1 for North American Distribution. No word on the release date for this bottled-up political blackmail thriller.
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT
Brad Anderson, the director of the horrifyingly cinematic nightmare The Machinist, is directing a new film, Moral Capacity.
Synopsis:
James Fisher's affair with business partner Andrea leads to her husband Cliff blackmailing him with a murderous ultimatum. His therapist Dr. Torre gets involved, but harbors secrets of her own.
Dacre Montgomery (Stranger Things) will lead, with Diane Lane and Tim Robbins. Although you may not have heard of Anderson’s recent films, he pushes each of his characters to such psychological extremes that actors are attracted to his work.
Mini Tidbits:
Bleecker Street and Fox Entertainment Studios (prod co: Tubi’s Cinnamon) partner. They will release Amy Wang’s SXSW Grand Jury Prize-winning debut Slanted in 2026, a sci-fi satire about a Chinese-American teen whose drastic decision to have surgery to look white triggers devastating consequences for herself and her family.
Lily James (Downton Abbey, Relay) is launching Parados Productions, a production company championing women’s stories. In association with StudioCanal, James is starting the British company with film producer Gala Gordon (Hulu’s Swiped).
Gabriel Beristain, DP for Black Widow, will direct, shoot, and produce The Ráth and the Rock, an Irish-language indie TV series. It tells the story of 16th-century Gaelic chieftain Owney O’More, and will soon begin filming in Wicklow.
International sales agent Blue Fox Entertainment (Tubi original Sidlined) acquires two Tubi YA romcoms, How to Lose a Popularity Contest (with Ginny & Georgia’s Sara Waisglass) and Kissing Is the Easy Part, which’s currently filming.
Historical thriller and Cannes title Frontier gets North American distribution deal with Menemsha Films (The Conference). The Filmax WWII drama feature will get a theatrical release in Spain this December.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
UK distributor Signature Entertainment (The Toxic Avenger) has picked up two films for the UK/Ireland.
The first is Daisy Ridley’s zombie thriller We Bury the Dead (trailer). The post-apocalyptic film follows Ridley as a desperate woman searching for her husband in the aftermath of a catastrophic military experiment. Vertical (dist. Lee) is handling the North American rights.
The second is Adulthood, starring Josh Gad. It is premiering this week at TIFF. No word on release date. Rocket Science (The Gentlemen) is the sales rep. Deep Dive + trailer.
Prime Video Australia has struck a new streaming deal and an extension of its partnership with Sony Pictures Entertainment and Roadshow Films. From Sony’s 28 Years Later, the Austin Butler-led Caught Stealing, and the upcoming A Big Bold Beautiful Journey will drop on the streamer. Roadshow titles headed to Prime include Conclave, Osgood Perkins’ The Monkey, and Guy Ritchie’s In The Grey.
Mini Tidbits:
EST N8 has secured worldwide sales rights (excluding some Asian markets) to suspense drama Dear Stranger, starring Nishijima Hidetoshi (Drive My Car) and Gwei Lun-Mei (Black Coal).
Canadian scientist and media sensation David Suzuki is getting a biopic from Montreal’s Possibles Média (Venice’s Stereo Girls). Among the Uprising Trees (a working title) will begin with his childhood and detail the key public events that helped him become the environmental activist he still is today at 89.
Sherlock Holmes is getting the animated treatment by Harry King Television and Shrek (2001) producer David Lipman. Animated Sherlock (working title) will take inspiration from Nicholas Sercombe’s The Unexpurgated Adventures of Sherlock Holmes novels and will be targeted for adults.
Disney has entered a new agreement with Spain’s leading broadcast network, Atresmedia (prod. comp. Money Heist). Starting this month, Disney+ will carry more than 300 hours of Atresmedia programming.
ON THIS DAY
2001. Band of Brothers premieres.
Written by Gabriel Miller, Spencer Carter, and Madelyn Menapace.
Editor: Gabriel Miller.
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One of the most impressive movies I’ve seen - it really inspired to go after my passions - dj and write more