Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
Ethan Hawke’s Woodstock, Leonardo DiCaprio’s Ed Wood, and a shithead.
Let’s go!
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Woodstock Film Festival, now in its 26th year, is one of Ethan Hawke’s favorite film festivals.
Upon accepting Woodstock’s Maverick award in 2022, Hawke stated:
“Events like the Woodstock Film Festival are some of the few places where films aren’t viewed as units of sale, judged on their value of commerce. The community building, idea sharing, and celebration of film as a medium that the Woodstock Film Festival fosters is invaluable to the lifeblood of the film community. I’ve been to many festivals all around the world, but this is one of my favorites.”
That’s why it’s great to see Woodstock attract a cohort of cinema lovers. It’s reflected in their slate, which features films that premiered at Cannes, Venice, TIFF, and Sundance, as well as locally shot hidden gems.
And the filmmakers who give post-screening talks emblemize what it means to be a true indie filmmaker:
Mark Duplass (Magic Hour)
Rebecca Miller (Apple TV+’s Mr. Scorsese)
Mona Fastvold, Amanda Seyfried (Searchlight’s Testament of Ann Lee)
E. Chai Vasarhelyi (Nat Geo’s Love + War)
Geeta Gandbhir (Netflix’s The Perfect Neighbor)
Charlie Polinger (IFC’s The Plague)
We’re excited to share with you that we will be moderating Woodstock’s State of the Artist Panel.
Participants include:
Tim Blake Nelson, who starred in the Coen Brothers’ last film together, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018), and has acted in:
Nightmare Alley (2021)
Lincoln (2012)
Minority Report (2002)
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
The Thin Red Line (1998)
Ellen Kuras, Oscar-nominated filmmaker who DP’d Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and made her narrative feature directorial debut with Lee (2023) starring Kate Winslet. She has won Sundance’s Best Dramatic Cinematography Award three times.
Tim Daly, an actor best known for his roles in The Sopranos and Madam Secretary.
The Woodstock Film Festival kicks off today and runs through Sunday, Oct 15th.
For More:
Woodstock Film Festival full lineup.
THE INDUSTRY TLDR
Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way developing a Bela Lugosi biopic at Universal.
Iconic movie poster artist Drew Struzan dies at 78 (Back to the Future, The Thing).
FilmLA reports on-location film shoots are down in Q3.
Emma Roberts to star in and produce Expiration Dates for Amazon MGM.
The Davenports YA adaptation from Gilded Age showrunner in the works at Amazon.
Daniel Goldhaber developing a new social thriller for New Regency.
Hugo Weaving stars in ABC’s The Great White, a legal dramedy from See-Saw Films.
Ben Foster to play Evel Knievel in The Stunt Driver.
Nicholas Braun joins road comedy The Shitheads.
James Norton to play Beatles manager Brian Epstein in Sam Mendes’ The Beatles.
Neon’s Orwell: 2+2=5 leads Critics’ Choice Doc noms.
Andy Garcia is directing Diamond with Brendan Fraser, Dustin Hoffman, and Bill Murray.
Sam Lavender (Film4 alum) joins Java Road.
Neon partners with Medan Partners for It Was Just an Accident U.S. release.
Independent Film Co. & Shudder pick up This Is Not a Test.
Strand Releasing acquires Venice Queer Lion winner On the Road.
Mubi’s My Father’s Shadow selected as the U.K.’s Oscar submission.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
Bela Lugosi Lives.
Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Davisson’s Appian Way is developing a Bela Lugosi biopic at Universal.
The biopic will follow Lugosi, a Hungarian horror actor most known for his portrayal of Count Dracula in the 1930s and onward. The writing team, Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, are no strangers to black-and-white B-movie behind-the-scenes. Alexander and Karaszewski wrote a similar biopic featuring Lugosi, Ed Wood.
Their film will portray a young Lugosi’s rise from Hungarian immigrant to Dracula icon and his decline after refusing Frankenstein.
While Ed Wood focused on Lugosi’s tragic final years and friendship with cult filmmaker Ed Wood, the new film will explore the earlier chapters of Lugosi’s life, giving us a peek into the mind of a figure who even today has a dark presence in popular culture, inspiring songs, vampire lore, and the classic vampire costume.
Drew Struzan, the iconic poster designer, has died at 78. His masterworks include:
Struzan had a way of foregrounding character while creating tension in the poster that was unmatched. Look at Michael J. Fox’s Marty McFly’s extreme trepidation as he stands on a road, partially on fire. Or Tom Cruise’s sly gaze that hangs over the call girl’s arched back.
Not just a mid-80s legend, Struzan also designed posters for the first Harry Potter film and War of the Worlds (2005)
Film production went up, and TV production went down this quarter. Here’s the breakdown of FilmLA’s data:
Q3 On-Location Shoot Days 2024 → 2025
Total: 5,048 → 4,380 Shoot Days (SD)
↓13.2%
TV: 1,817 → 1,441 SD
↓20.7%
Feature Films: 476 → 522 SD
↑9.7%
The feature film bump is partially due to 115 incentivized shoot days with the new CA tax credit.
While TV saw a drop, comedy shoots rose by 41%. Overall production remains far below pre-pandemic norms by nearly 40%.
Novel adaptations:
Emma Roberts is set to star in and produce Amazon MGM Studios’ adaptation of Rebecca Serle’s Expiration Dates. This is part of her Belletrist banner, which focuses on buying rights for books to adapt into films. It marks her latest literary adaptation following Space Cadet and Tell Me Lies. The book is a romantic drama that follows a woman whose relationships are preordained by mysterious notes predicting their end until one man defies her fate. We have been seeing various actors like Reese Witherspoon taking this book club approach to publishing to pretty lucrative effect, publishing books and promoting them in exchange for future rights. It’s a pretty good idea, and no surprise Roberts is following suit.
Award-winning mystery author Tom Ryan’s newest novel, We Had a Hunch, has been optioned by A+E Studios (You) for a TV series. Set in Massachusetts, the adaptation tracks a once-famous band of teenage detectives whose glory days were short-lived, and now they navigate secrets, nostalgia, and the shadows of their past. The scripted arm of A+E Networks, the studio has a long history of book adaptations, most notably Netflix’s The Lincoln Lawyer.
Tidbits:
Despite success with HBO, The Gilded Age showrunner Sonja Warfield and the EP of And Just Like That… Susan Fales-Hill is writing an adaptation of The Davenports for Amazon. The Bridgerton-like YA romance series tells the story of one of the wealthiest Black families, the Davenports, in early 20th-century America as their privileged children navigate love and relationships for the first time.
New Regency has acquired a character-driven thriller pitch from TIFF’s How to Blow Up a Pipeline (2022) director Daniel Goldhaber. While plot details have not been disclosed, Goldhabler will direct from a script he wrote exploring the societal differences between the 99% and the 1%. Meanwhile, Goldhabler’s remake of the cult horror film Faces of Death has not moved forward.
Focus Features acquires Obsession, the TIFF horror film, for $14M. They’ve picked up worldwide rights with Universal distributing internationally minus France, New Zealand, and Russia. The film will premiere in 2026. Why did Focus Features, known for prestige award fare like Conclave, The Holdovers, and Tár, pick up a horror film from a first-time feature director? Read our full breakdown: https://theindustry.co/p/focus-features-new-focus
Nooooooo! Disney spent $600M on the critically panned Star Wars blight Rise of Skywalker, which is nearly double its reported $275M budget. Including $200M in marketing, the total exceeded $790M. It now lives in infamy as one of the most expensive films ever. It’s no wonder Disney has been hesitant to bring the galaxy far, far away back to theatres. With Mandalorian and Grogu already looking like a wash, help me, Star Wars: Starfighter, you are our only hope.
Data Analysis Critical: Disney has taken its Tron: Ares bomb very hard ($33M domestic opening), reportedly retiring the franchise, and will not plan to make another. It’s a shame that, with our tech-focused world, this wouldn’t have resonated more deeply. This was Jared Leto’s passion project, and his poor box-office performance (Morbius) did not justify the lofty budget ($200M). Tron is logging out forever. But give it 20 years, no IP is dead forever for good or for bad.
Mini Tidbits:
Fox Entertainment’s SVP of Drama Development, Mary Ann Wolf, is leaving the network after a little less than three years in her leadership position. Wolf has worked at all four of the big broadcast networks, with no word on where she will go next.
AMC Theatres CEO has announced he will re-release Diane Keaton’s Annie Hall (1977) and Something’s Gotta Give (2003). Starting this Friday, in 100 screens across the US.
Peacock’s anthology series Devil in Disguise has just selected the notorious “Night Stalker” aka Richard Ramirez as its season two focus. The streamer just this last year produced a two-part docuseries on Ramirez (trailer). Season one, centered on John Wayne Gacy, premieres later this week.
Next on Netflix: Podcasts. Netflix and Spotify have inked a deal whereby, starting in 2026, video podcasts will be available on Netflix. Genres range from sports to true crime.
Six-time Emmy-winning director Heather Hill has passed away. A pioneer of daytime dramas, Hill directed hundreds of episodes of The Young and the Restless (1988-2000), earning 13 Daytime Emmy nominations for her work.
Trailers:
20th Century Studios’ Send Help
Dir: Sam Raimi
Cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien
Trailer (a wonderful inversion of the boss/employee power dynamic)
Release: Jan 30, 2026
Bleecker Street’s Rebuilding
Star: Josh O’Connor
Trailer (one of my favorite films of the year)
Release: Nov 21
NBC’s Stumble (cheerleading sitcom)
Release: Nov 7
Apple TV+’s The Family Plan 2
Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Michelle Monaghan
Release: Nov 21
Sky’s Amadeus
Will Sharpe as Mozart
Paul Bettany (A Knight’s Tale) as Salieri
Release: Dec
I Am Curious Johnny
Trailer (doc on one of the most influential celeb photographers of all time)
Premiere: Rome Film Fest
Abramorama’s You Got Gold — A Celebration of John Prine
Release: Nov 28 (NYC Quad Cinema)
Release dates:
Netflix’s Being Eddie (Eddie Murphy doc)
Release: Nov 12
Row K’s Dead Man’s Wire
Dir: Gus Van Sant
Cast: Bill Skarsgård, Colman Domingo, Al Pacino
Oscar run: Dec. 12
Limited: Jan. 9
Wide: Jan. 16
Row K’s Poetic License
Dir: Maude Apatow
Cast: Leslie Mann, Cooper Hoffman
Wide release: May 15, 2026
Row K’s Cliffhanger reboot
Cast: Pierce Brosnan and Lily James
Release: Aug. 28, 2026
Row K’s Charlie Harper
Cast: Emilia Jones
Release: Sept. 25 2026
Sony’s Archangel
Cast: Jim Caviezel (Jesus in The Passion of the Christ)
Release: Nov. 6, 2026
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
Hugo Weaving is set to headline The Great White, a six-part ABC legal dramedy from See-Saw Films. He’ll portray a “brilliant but disgraced lawyer” whose unusual assignment of defending a dog on death row propels him toward redemption.
This will be Weaving’s return to Australian television after acclaimed performances in Love Me, The Dressmaker, and Hearts and Bones. He has always shown a lot of fluidity, showcasing range in both dramatic and eccentric roles.
There is an inherent sad clown angle to a man being forced to defend a dog in court that I feel like he would nail. It’s the redemption arc that will take a deft hand, as his scene partner will not be able to communicate in the human language, see even that sounds a bit absurd, but knowing Hugo, we will be crying by the end.
Ben Foster plays Evel Knievel in The Stunt Driver. Directed by Michael Dowse, The Stunt Driver chronicles daredevil Ken Carter’s (played by Jay Baruchel) 1970s attempt to jump a rocket car across the St. Lawrence River.
Foster is perfect for this.
Unhinged and cocky in Hell or High Water, and yet a profound sadness in him in the upcoming Christy. Just compare Knievel’s interview on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. He’s flashy but laid back (clip).
Ed Helms also joins the cast.
Mel Gibson found the actor to play Christ. Mel Gibson’s long-delayed The Resurrection of the Christ has begun filming at Rome’s Cinecittà Studios with a fully new cast.
Christ will be played by Finnish actor…
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