Everything Everywhere All At Paul Dano
Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
Paul Dano directs. Lilo & Stitch doubles. And…
Let’s go!
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I can’t get Swiss Army Man (2016) starring Paul Dano out of my head, and I saw it almost 10 years ago.
Now, Dano is reuniting with the film’s directors, The Daniels (Everything Everywhere All at Once), who will produce his “high-concept, original comedy” for Universal.
This will mark Dano’s sophomore feature as a director, which looks to be light years away from his first film, Wildlife (2018). That movie, which played at Cannes, TIFF, and Sundance, was a sensational family drama that found its heart in Carey Mulligan’s justifiable yet wild behavior during her decaying marriage with Jake Gyllenhaal.
A Dano high-concept comedy might hearken back to the tone of Swiss Army Man, which begins with a fart that makes you laugh and ends with a fart that makes you cry. Or it may be a different beast entirely, one of Dano’s creations. Recent casting choices include him playing a giant alien spider in Netflix’s Spaceman. So anything’s game.
And now, another weird and wonderful thing in our cinema multiverse…
Focus Features’ Bugonia, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos (Poor Things) and starring Emma Stone & Jesse Plemons, has released its first teaser.
Synopsis:
Bugonia follows two conspiracy-obsessed young men who kidnap the high-powered CEO of a major company, convinced that she is an alien intent on destroying planet Earth.
The film is an adaptation of the South Korean comedy Save the Green Planet (2003, trailer). There’s a profound wackiness that feels perfect for Lanthimos to envelop with his directorial tendrils (Bugonia teaser).
THE INDUSTRY TLDR
Lilo & Stitch sequel gets greenlit.
Ben Affleck & Matt Damon’s Artists Equity signs 3-year Sony distribution deal.
Amazon is developing No Sleep, an animated comedy.
Hacks creators sign new Warner Bros. TV deal.
Leo Woodall stars opposite Rachel Weisz in Netflix’s Vladimir.
Netflix orders Free Bert, a semi-autobiographical comedy from Bert Kreischer.
Jason Bateman & Jude Law play brothers in new Netflix series.
TIFF lineup includes films by Soderbergh and Nia DaCosta.
A24 reteams with Janet Planet director Annie Baker for new film Ancient History.
Street Fighter adds 50 Cent.
MGM developing American Hostage series with Jon Hamm.
Neon picks up Park Chan-Wook’s Venice hit No Other Choice.
Composer Lalo Schifrin (Mission: Impossible) dies at 93.
Damon G. Smith joins Abramorama as SVP, Creative Strategy.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
The Stich-uation: Disney's live-action Lilo & Stitch is on track to clear a billion ($915M so far worldwide), not only bringing back Disney's confidence in live action but basically immediately greenlighting a sequel.
Stitch 2 was recently announced by Disney, and I have a little inkling it might be in trouble creatively already. Lilo & Stitch live action, in many cases, created a 1 to 1 replica of its animated source material. Though the ending of the film was controversially changed.
Here's the thing: there was a Stitch 2 (Stitch has a Glitch) released in 2005, direct to video (trailer), and it absolutely bombed with a current 45% on RT. So the big question is, where does Disney go from here? Will it be a completely original story, or will they take a chance adapting less-than-stellar material? Will the nostalgia pangs still be there for something very few people saw or even knew existed?
Disney remakes are here to stay. This follow-up could add a bit of a wrinkle or maybe even a glitch?
The Academy has invited 534 to join their ranks. This brings the total number of AMPAS members to 10,143. Here are some of the standouts for who will be voting for next year’s Oscars:
Actors: Gillian Anderson, Dave Bautista, Yura Borisov, Rachel Brosnahan, Kieran Culkin, Stephen Graham, Ariana Grande, Paul Walter Hauser, Adam Pearson, Aubrey Plaza, Conan O’Brien
Casting Directors: Ann Goulder (We the Animals), Courtney Bright (Priscilla)
DPs: Lol Crawley (The Brutalist), Drew Daniels (Anora), Oren Soffer (The Creator)
Dir: Brady Corbet, Coralie Fargeat, Mike Flanagan, Rose Glass (Love Lies Bleeding), Halina Reijn (Babygirl), Jane Schoenbrun (I Saw the TV Glow)
Execs: Tom Quinn (Neon)
Producers: Alex Coco, Mike Goodridge, Michael Gottwald, Samantha Quan
Writers: Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar, Jeymes Samuel, and David Zellner
Congrats to everyone on our list!
Full details from The Academy here.
New Deals:
Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s studio, Artists Equity, has signed a theatrical feature film agreement. For the next three years, Sony will finance and handle worldwide distribution for any of the production companies' upcoming films. Artists Equity, which has most recently backed Jennifer Lopez’s Kiss of the Spider Woman, will have the option to co-finance. Interesting for them to sign a deal with Sony as they have projects all over town, The Instigators (Apple), The Accountant 2 (Amazon MGM), Small Things Like These (Lionsgate).
Following the season five renewal of Max’s hit Hacks, Emmy-winning co-creators Lucia Aniello and Paul W. Downs have signed a new deal with Warner Bros. Television and Discovery. Under the exclusive multi-year pact, the Hacks duo will develop and produce new television projects through their Paulilu Productions. This is an extension of their 2021 deal with the studio.
Tidbits:
Amazon MGM Studios is developing No Sleep, an animated comedy from writer Brian Schacter (Knuckles). The film follows two bear brothers who miss the year’s biggest party while hibernating. Knuckles was loved by those who love Sonic, and the show was praised for taking a few big risks.
Original U.K. thriller Baby Doll starring Game of Thrones’ Alfie Allen and Jill Halfpenny (The Feud) gets booked by Paramount+. The six-part series is based on a novel by Hollie Overton, following twin sisters whose lives are shattered when one of them is abducted by a beloved local teacher. From Clapperboard Studios (The House Across the Street), Baby Doll will be available exclusively on Paramount+ U.K. and Ireland.
CBS is developing Blanks, a new single-camera comedy from comedian Aaron Karo, who will write and EP. The show follows a serial dater facing a fertility crisis just as he meets the woman of his dreams. Karo’s previous projects include Lexapros and Cons.
MGM announces the first four episodes of American Hostage will be directed by Adam Arkin (Pig). Jon Hamm stars and reprises his podcast role as Fred Heckman, a 1970s radio reporter caught in a real-life hostage crisis. Created by Shawn Ryan and Eileen Myers, filming begins this fall.
Elizabeth Banks’ Brownstone Productions gets a first-look deal with Universal Television to develop TV for streaming and cable, including Pitch Perfect: K-Pop Idols. The comedy series written by Joel Kim Booster (Fire Island) will go to Peacock and follows the first all-American K-pop group.
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
Leo Woodall gets to play another role as the young man who seduces an older woman. Netflix has officially greenlit Vladimir.
Official Logline:
As a woman’s (Rachel Weisz) life unravels, she becomes obsessed with her captivating new colleague (Woodall), and goes hell-bent to turn her fantasies into reality.
20th Television is producing with Kate Robin (prod. The Affair) serving as showrunner.
Woodall is wildly watchable. He is slimy but charming in White Lotus Season 2, simultaneously making you feel safe but unsafe (clip). And of course, he has a good guy charm in Bridget Jones Diary 4 as he pokes fun at the age difference between himself and Renée Zellweger.
Netflix has cornered the balding comedian market: Following the success of his buddy Tom Segura and Netflix’s dark comedy series Bad Thoughts, Bert Kreischer, the Machine himself, has stepped into the ring.
Free Bert will be a six-episode co-produced series starring and created by Kreischer, playing a fictionalized version of his party-antic, alcohol-fueled self as he wrestles with his daughters getting accepted into an elite private school.
This is apparently the man who inspired Van Wilder, so you can imagine the chaos he could create at an educational institution.
Tidbits:
Marin Ireland, who plays the cynical undercover detective whose vocal cords get damaged in Apple TV+’s Dope Thief, joins Anima, a road-trip sci-fi drama starring Sydney Chandler (Alien: Earth) and Takehiro Hira (Shōgun). Maria Dizzia also joins.
Julia Hart will direct Don’t Say Good Luck, a Netflix comedy starring Melanie Lynskey (Yellowjackets), Max Greenfield (New Girl), Sunny Sandler, and Steve Buscemi. The film follows a young actress facing family turmoil while starring in her high school musical. Currently in production.
Martin Freeman will star in The Adam Trials, a psychological sci-fi thriller from Ben Ketai, reuniting with the director after StartUp. Freeman plays a father who turns to experimental nanotech to save his terminally ill son, with dark consequences. He also plans to EP.
Bill Camp (Presumed Innocent) re-teams with Apple for a series to play a police chief in Philly for an untitled series starring Liev Schreiber as a former soldier turned homicide detective.
Christopher Rodriguez-Marquette (Barry) replaces Jay Baruchel as small-town cop Jacob Merrick in Reacher Season 4. Baruchel apparently had to exit the series due to a personal matter. Rodriguez-Marquette apparently really impressed at his audition, getting cast the same day.
Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson joins Legendary’s Street Fighter film as Balrog, starring alongside Jason Momoa, Noah Centineo, Orville Peck, and now Andrew Schulz. Directed by Kitao Sakurai, this is shaping up to be the most muscled-out cast possibly ever.
Silver Bear-winning actress Paulina Garcia is a tour de force. Just watch her in Gloria (2013) to see her eruptive passion for life propel the film. She returns with Love is the Monster, where she plays a grandma near death in this tropical dystopia.
Viral TikTok singer Bella Poarch makes her acting debut in the new horror feature Six Till Midnight from music video director Andrew Donoho. The film will follow six strangers lured into a cryptic online game show.
Jason Bateman and Jude Law are brothers in this new Netflix series. First look photos.
FESTIVALS
The 50th Toronto International Film Festival is still months away, but we already have some of the lineup:
Dir: Steven Soderbergh
Cast: Ian McKellen, Michaela Coel, Jessica Gunning, and James Corden
Synopsis:
Follows the estranged children of a famous artist as they hire a forger to complete his unfinished works so they can be discovered and sold after his death.
Dir: Nia DaCosta (Candyman)
Cast: Tessa Thompson, Imogen Poots
Distributor: Amazon
Synopsis:
Henrik Ibsen's renowned stage drama from 1891 is reimagined in an epic and emotional way in this production, Hedda Gabler.
Dir: Alejandro Amenábar (The Sea Inside)
Distributor: Disney
Synopsis:
In 1575, the young Miguel de Cervantes is taken prisoner and sold to the fearsome Hassan, Bajá of Alger. While awaiting a ransom, he discovers an unexpected refuge in the art of storytelling...And he devises a daring escape plan.
Dir: Chandler Levack
Cast: Jay Baruchel
Synopsis:
A 24-year-old music critic gets romantically involved with members of an indie band she decides to publicize, set against Montreal's indie music scene in 2011.
Dir: Sung-hyun Byun (Kingmaker)
Distributor: Netflix
TIFF runs September 4–14, 2025.
Film Movement (distributor: Stranger Eyes) picks up US rights to Boxcutter, which premiered at SXSW (clip). In theaters later this year.
Nuremberg starring Russell Crowe sells to six countries for distribution, including Sky in the UK. In the US, it will be released by Sony Classics.
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT / INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Annie Baker (Janet Planet) is reteaming with A24 for her anticipated follow-up film, Ancient History.
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