Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
Doug Liman’s Identity, Amy Adams’ Star Wars, and a rare breed.
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Doug Liman’s best work focuses on headstrong characters who dismantle institutions.
It’s Tom Cruise outsmarting the military in Edge of Tomorrow. It’s Jason Bourne taking down Treadstone.
So it’s not surprising that Liman’s next film focuses on the largest disruptor of the banking system: Satoshi Nakamoto, creator of Bitcoin.
Liman stated:
“I love David and Goliath stories. Killing Satoshi follows unlikely antiheroes taking on the most powerful people on the planet in an epic battle that strikes at the core of what is money and who controls it.”
Liman’s ethos for disrupting power structures extends to his off-screen endeavors.
Recently, he publicly torched Amazon’s decision to banish his film Road House to streaming. But not without a fight. He managed to get a copy smuggled onto Jeff Bezos’s private yacht for a screening.
It didn’t change their decision, but 12 months later, Amazon announced a big push for theatrical.
Liman stands both personally and professionally for a bravado that is channeled from a deep knowledge that all people are equal. And even though the world seems to impose hierarchies at every turn, it’s an illusion held up only by our collective belief. What Liman and his characters do so well is cause problems for powerful people. And that’s what we love to see on screen.
The team for Killing Satoshi is top-notch. Casey Affleck and Pete Davidson star. Nick Schenk (Gran Torino) writes. And Ryan Kavanaugh (co-founder and former CEO of Relativity Media) is financing/producing.
Filming kicks off in October.
For More:
Case in point, to make Bourne Identity, Doug Liman had to fly a plane into the mountains to convince the rights holder:
https://theindustry.co/p/how-jason-bourne-changed-cinema
THE INDUSTRY TLDR
HBO picks up The Fort Bragg Cartel from the former film head of HBO, Len Amato.
Amy Adams & Aaron Pierre cast in Star Wars: Starfighter.
Hilary Duff stars in Hulu’s Pretty Ugly.
Cole Sprouse joins indie dramedy Wake (2026).
Milly Alcock leads dark comedy Thumb.
Kristen Bell joins Universal’s Violent Night 2.
Nico Parker cast in Osgood Perkins’ The Young People.
TIFF Market highlights: Inground (John Cho, Alexandra Daddario), Babies (Anna Kendrick, Seth Rogen).
Neon backs Irish horror Hokum, starring Adam Scott.
Bleecker Street’s Bone Lake sells to 16 territories.
SNL cast exits: Michael Longfellow, Heidi Gardner.
Japan, Taiwan, and Tunisia submit their Oscar entries.
StudioCanal will distribute Mike Figgis’ Megadoc.
BBC acquires Apple TV+ comedy Trying.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
Former Head of Film at HBO for 14 years, Len Amato, is jumping back into the mix. He is EPing The Fort Bragg Cartel. The project originated as a book, which Amato and author Seth Harp sold the rights to HBO.
Synopsis:
A string of unsolved murders at America’s premier special operations base, and what the crimes reveal about drug trafficking and impunity among elite soldiers.
We’re excited to see Amato back at it!
Another executive jumping into the creative mix: Reed Hastings, co-founder and former CEO of Netflix, is EPing indie crime-thriller 52nd State.
Amy Adams & Aaron Pierre (Lanterns) join Star Wars: Starfighter's cast, including Ryan Gosling, Mia Goth, newcomer Flynn Gray, and rumored villain Matt Smith.
Pierre is on the rise with Rebel Ridge and upcoming roles in HBO’s Lanterns and Amazon/MGM’s Love of Your Life.
Adams, a six-time Oscar nominee, has struggled with recent critical misfires (Nightbitch), but she has a major sci-fi hit with 2016's Arrival.
Both of these new additions should be a great addition to the next big Star Wars project. Reportedly taking place 5 years after Rise of Skywalker (good get as far away from that mess as we can), it will follow Gosling's "Starfighter” as he tries to deliver precious cargo, a force-sensitive child.
Possibly most intriguing about the team behind this project, Claudio Miranda, DP for Top Gun: Maverick, will be shooting. Levy appears to be clearly leaning into Star Wars’ and Lucas' historic influence from World War II dog-fighting footage.
Set for release on May 28, 2027, a year after The Mandalorian & Grogu.
Tidbits:
Peacock joins Prime Video Channels bundle
MGM+’s new music series
A Sylvester Stallone film is becoming a series
For all the above tidbits and more, click here.
Paramount is reviving Call of Duty. The film had been in development since 2015 with Activision. It even had a full script and previsualization by 2017, but was stale by 2020. Here’s hoping the producer James Skotchdopole (The Revenant) can get this back on its feet!
Release Dates:
Prime’s Cocaine Quarterback (docu-series)
Prod Co: Mark Wahlberg’s Unrealistic Ideas
Release: Sept 25
Prime’s House of David (S2)
Release: Oct. 5
Trailers:
Focus Features’ Bugonia
Dir: Yorgos Lanthimos
Cast: Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons
Release: Oct 24
Neon’s The Secret Agent
Premiere: Cannes (winner: Best Actor, Best Director)
Star: Wagner Moura
Release: Nov 26
Netflix’s Wayward
Cast: Toni Collette
Release: Sept 25
ITV’s The Hack
Cast: David Tennant, Toby Jones, Robert Carlyle
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
Lizzie McGuire’s Hilary Duff is giving another TV show a try as the lead of Hulu’s Pretty Ugly.
The new series marks a reunion between Duff, Hulu, and 20th Television, who all previously worked on the short-lived offshoot show How I Met Your Father (2021-22).
In Pretty Ugly, Duff will play Miranda Miller, a stage mom dedicated to making her ten-year-old daughter the most successful child pageant contestant in the country. Production has not yet begun.
Duff isn’t the only former Disney star angling for an Act 2 of their career. Cole Sprouse (Riverdale) is joining the ensemble of Wake, an indie dramedy film. Sprouse will play one of four estranged siblings who unwillingly reunite for their father’s wake, and inevitably, are brought closer through the chaos. Slated for a 2026 release.
Tidbits:
What would you do if you received a severed thumb in the mail? That’s for Milly Alcock (House of the Dragon, Supergirl) to figure out in the dark comedy feature Thumb. Written by the winner of the Academy’s Screenwriting fellowship, Cesar Vitale, Alcock will play a lonely girl who dedicates her life to finding the hand the thumb belongs to. The actress could probably channel some of her obsessive tendencies from her Sirens (trailer) character for this interesting new project.
Kristen Bell (Good Place) and Daniela Melchior (The Suicide Squad) have joined David Harbour in Violent Night 2 for Universal Pictures and 87North. The sequel, directed by Tommy Wirkola, Harbour reprises his Jon Wick-style take on Santa. We don't yet have info on who Bell or Melchiorr will be playing, but with a planned December 4 release, I assume they are both on the naughty list. Violent Night 1 trailer.
Thomas Mann will play Alan Ruck’s estranged son in Lionsgate’s The Best Is Yet To Come. Admittedly, that’s a bit of a guess as Mann’s part is unnamed, but his resemblance to Ruck is uncanny. Mann just played Dennis Quaid’s son in Sovereign. Mary-Louise Parker also joins the cast w/ the already announced Matthew Broderick. Directed by Jon Turteltaub (National Treasure).
Mini Tidbits. New projects starring HBO regulars:
Nicholas Duvernay (White Lotus S3)
Nico Parker (The Last of Us)
Iain Glen (GOT)
One of the above stars in Mindy Kaling’s Hulu series. All that and more here.
FESTIVALS
TIFF Market has a host of hot projects:
Inground
Cast: John Cho & Alexandra Daddario
Prod Co: Ridley Scott’s Scott Free
Domestic Sales Rep: CAA
International Sales Rep: north.five.six. (The Surfer, Locked)
Synopsis:
A dad builds a backyard pool to bond with his son after divorce during summer. The fun construction project unexpectedly becomes a source of horror.
This is the first feature in 8 years from director Aaron Katz, who made Neon’s stylish and psychological Gemini (2017).
Babies
Cast: Anna Kendrick & Seth Rogen (in talks)
Prod Co: Ridley Scott’s Scott Free
Worldwide Sales Rep: CAA and AGC
Financier: AGC Studios and Monarch Media (Hit Man)
Synopsis:
Struggling with the decision of whether or not to bring a child into the world, Annie (Kendrick) and her husband Aaron (Rogen) become instant co-parents when their newly-divorced friend moves into their home with her 3-year-old.
Written and directed by Seth Rogen’s wife, Lauren Miller Rogen.
Plus two others:
Doin’ It starring Lilly Singh. And Stake Out, co-starring Danny Huston.
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT
A Neon horror film starring Adam Scott?!
Neon and Waypoint Entertainment’s Cweature Features have joined Hokum, an Irish horror directed by Damian McCarthy and starring Adam Scott as reclusive novelist Ohm Bauman.
Set in a remote inn plagued by witchly legends, Bauman gets tied up in an escalating series of haunts. At first, this seems a really surprising turn for Scott, obviously jumping off his popularity in Severance.
But Scott has a small but mighty history taking part in horror films such as 1996's Hellraiser: Bloodline. His debut.
First look at Hokum.
Tidbits:
Bleecker Street’s survival thriller, Bone Lake, is going wide—internationally. The film sold to 16 territories, including Australia. Bone Lake follows a couple whose romantic vacation at a secluded lakeside estate is upended when they are forced to share the mansion with a mysterious and attractive couple.
Heidi Gardner will leave SNL after her 8th season. This is the most veteran member announced in this slurry of SNL departure announcements. Gardner was being compared to such greats as Kristen Wiig. This is likely more of a career move for her; she has multiple upcoming projects, including the Will Ferrell-led Judgment Day. Her breakout character. Clip.
Mini Tidbits:
Another SNL departure
A film starring Jojo Rabbit actress Thomasin McKenzie
Ann Wilson doc
For all the above tidbits, click here.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
More international territories are announcing their Oscar contenders.
Japan picks Kokuho (trailer). Set in the world of traditional Japanese theater (“kabuki”), the film follows a performer who seeks to achieve recognition as a living national treasure. Japan’s last international Oscar win was Drive My Car (2021).
Taiwan’s selection is Left-Handed Girl (teaser), produced by Shih-Ching Tsou, who is directing her first feature film after a number of collaborations with Sean Baker. Netflix picked up the film after its Cannes premiere. Streaming Nov. 28th after a theatrical run earlier in November.
Tunisia has picked Venice-bound The Voice of Hind Rajab. Mad Distribution (Inshallah a Boy) has Arab theatrical rights with Brad Pitt and Joaquin Phoenix as EPs.
StudioCanal picks up Mike Figgis (dir: Leaving Las Vegas) Venice Classics doc, Megadoc. StudioCanal has every territory except the US (Utopia). The doc centers on the tumultuous making of Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis. Figgis isn’t known for pulling punches, and the Megalopolis production was challenging and ambitious.
In an unexpected partnership, the BBC has acquired the Apple TV+ sitcom Trying (s1 trailer). The deal includes the first three seasons of the comedy, which follows a couple desperate to become parents. The comedy is the first of Apple’s originals to be commissioned outside of the States. BBC launches Sept. 8th.
Mini Tidbits:
UK’s largest post group
BBC Studios’ new drama label
Sony Pictures Canada deal
For all the above tidbits, click here.
ON THIS DAY
Ingrid Bergman born in Stockholm, Sweden.
Written by Gabriel Miller, Spencer Carter, and Madelyn Menapace.
Editor: Gabriel Miller.
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