Luc Besson Does Bonnie and Clyde
Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
Luc Besson’s Love Story, Reese Witherspoon’s doppelganger, and turning it up to11.
Let’s go!
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How appropriate for Valentine’s Day: Luc Besson made a Bonnie and Clyde-style film.
The Fifth Element director’s new work is June and John, which was shot on an iPhone during the pandemic and is selling at EFM.
Here’s the synopsis:
The story of John, a man of banal existence who runs into a woman both beautiful and mysterious: June. June catalyzes the stagnant life of John into a whirlwind of emotion and action. Will the pair last?
June opens John up to embracing life, which mostly involves robbing the rich at gunpoint. June is the manic pixie dream girl version of Besson’s La Femme Nikita (1990). If you haven’t seen it, Anne Parillaud plays a wild animal of a woman who gets turned into a secret agent.
Besson has made a career by crafting female characters who are not just talented killers but weapons of annihilation. This manifests figuratively in Lucy (2014) and La Femme Nikita (1990) and literally in The Fifth Element, where Milla Jovovich’s body is the ultimate weapon against evil.
In June and John, June’s allure isn’t just about igniting John’s stagnant life—it’s about pushing him to break his own moral codes for love. And therein lies the peril: when you let someone like that in, your identity can either burst into bloom or slowly crumble under the weight of their destruction.
For More:
June and John has the same kinetic energy as Besson’s earlier work, but the tone is much sweeter. Trailer.
The Fifth Element ending scene. Bruce Willis + Milla Jovovich, how saying “I love you” can save the world.
La Femme Nikita trailer.
THE INDUSTRY TLDR
Ruben Östlund (dir: Triangle of Sadness) has just lined up distribution for his latest project, The Entertainment System Is Down, starring Keanu Reeves.
Netflix is developing a live-action Dungeons & Dragons series with Shawn Levy (Deadpool & Wolverine).
Sony Pictures Entertainment Q3. Revenue is up. Profit is down.
Roku is popping champagne. They posted better-than-expected Q4 results.
International bestselling novel High Wire has landed at Apple TV+, with Ridley Scott’s company producing.
Lexi Minetree will play Reese Witherspoon’s iconic Elle Woods character from Legally Blonde in the Elle prequel series. The resemblance is uncanny.
Jeff Daniels is set to star in Apple TV+’s Dilettante as a cutthroat magazine editor. I smell shades of The Newsroom.
The Accountant 2 trailer just dropped. Ben Affleck plays an autistic accountant whose special interest is killing… again.
Berlin Film Festival’s latest gem is the dark cerebral The Kiss of the Grasshopper.
Urchin launches at EFM. It is Harris Dickinson’s directorial debut.
Some new additions to EFM are Russell Crowe’s Beast in Me and Selma Blair’s Silent. Full breakdown of EFM’s top projects here.
Geremy Jasper's (dir: Patti Cake$) new film is the rock opera O'Dessa. The post-apocalyptic film is coming to Hulu on March 13th.
Oscilloscope picks up Albert Birney's (dir: Strawberry Mansion) Sundance film, Obex.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
Ruben Östlund has landed the plane.
The double Palme d’Or winner (dir: Triangle of Sadness, The Square) has just lined up some excellent distribution for his latest project, The Entertainment System Is Down.
Here’s the line-up:
UK (Lionsgate Films)
Germany & Austria (Alamode Film / Wild Bunch Germany)
Canada (Elevation Pictures)
Also scored distribution for Australia, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland, Eastern Europe, Greece, Portugal, Baltics, Latin America, the Middle East, and China.
The film is being distributed in the US through A24.
The cast is also fantastic: Keanu Reeves, Kirsten Dunst, Samantha Morton and Vincent Lindon.
The Entertainment System Down revolves around a broken entertainment system on a transcontinental flight, creating psychological peril among the passengers.
Östlund elaborated:
“A study of how human beings interact in this little laboratory that is a plane [and] will look at how modern human beings are wrecked under these circumstances.”
Here’s a first look photo of Östlund on set.
Roll for initiative. Netflix is developing The Forgotten Realms, a live-action Dungeons & Dragons series, with Shawn Levy (Stranger Things, Deadpool & Wolverine) and showrunner Drew Crevello (WeCrashed), in collaboration with Hasbro Entertainment. The series is set in the vast Forgotten Realms universe, a central setting for Dungeons & Dragons since 1987, which inspired the 2023 film Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.
Essentially, it is the world that people think of when they think about dungeons and dragons.
Originally developed for Paramount+ with Rawson Marshall Thurber, the project was reworked after a strategy shift at the studio, leading Hasbro Entertainment to redevelop it under Crevello, drawing interest from Levy. Now set for development at Netflix.
This IP is probably one of the biggest, and if Levy and his team can figure out a way to slay this dragon, we could see a franchise as big as Star Wars.
Tidbits:
International bestselling author Candice Fox’s thriller novel High Wire has landed at Apple TV+ for development as a TV series. A fast-paced adventure story, High Wire set in the Australian outback, follows a former soldier racing against time to reach his dying girlfriend. Ridley Scott’s Scott Free is set to produce under their new deal with Apple.
Prime’s The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power is renewed for Season 3. Filming kicks off in the Spring.
Luca Guadagnino's (dir: Challengers, Queer) new film After the Hunt, starring Julia Roberts, is releasing October 10th.
TPC (financing: Longlegs) is getting into gap financing. Their first project was Gus Van Sant’s upcoming Dead Man’s Wire.
Warner Bros. Discovery CEO may be landing at Amazon, Brillstein Entertainment gets a new agent, and the Paramount Global-Skydance merger clears a hurdle:
https://theindustry.co/p/wbd-brillstein-paramount
Roku Q4 Results & Sony Q3 Results. Roku should be very happy:
https://theindustry.co/p/roku-q4-results-and-sony-q3-results
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
Dust off your pink, Elle Woods is back! Reese Witherspoon herself announced who will be playing the younger version of her iconic Elle Woods character in the upcoming Legally Blonde (2001) prequel series, Elle, casting Lexi Minetree, a young actress who looks as if she could be Witherspoon’s own daughter (pictured above)!
Minetree has primarily worked in supporting roles in Law and Order: SVU and The Murdaugh Murders (2023).
Elle will follow Woods during her high school years before she went off to Harvard. Witherspoon will EP via her Hello Sunshine banner for Prime Video.
You can watch the super adorable video of Minetree first hearing the news from Witherspoon who posted the video to her Instagram account here.
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Emmy winner Jeff Daniels is set to star in Apple TV+’s Dilettante, a project from Warner Bros and Berlanti Productions inspired by Dana Brown’s 2022 memoir about working for famed Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter.
In the fictionalized coming-of-age story set in the glamorous and cutthroat “Golden Age” of magazines in New York in the ‘90s, Daniels will play a powerful magazine editor who takes in a young assistant.
His character is said to be based on part Carter and part Meryl Streep’s legendary take on Anna Wintour in The Devil Wears Prada (2006).
Daniels, of course, may be channeling his award-winning performance in the Max political drama The Newsroom (2012-2014, scene)… or it could be something new entirely. The latter sounds more exciting.
Tidbits:
Ben Affleck’s The Accountant 2 release info + trailer. Not just more of the same.
Ray Nicholson continues to make a name for himself in creepy horror. First, he was going all Jack Nicholson (his literal father) in Smile 2, and now he stars in Borderline. A psycho-thriller produced by Lucky Chapie (Barbie). Nicholson plays a man with borderline personality who breaks into the home of his favorite pop star (Samara Weaving) and keeps her captive while forcing her to marry him. There are a lot of other creepy shenanigans along the way, but the creep and charisma of Nicholson is electric (trailer). Magnet is releasing March 14th.
We loved Anna Baryshnikov in Loves Lies Bleeding there was a pure country innocence about her that just broke our hearts during the diner scene with Kristen Stewart (clip). Now Baryshnikov is headed to SXSW with Idiotka. No word on her role, but the film is set in the world of West Hollywood's Russian district during a reality Fashion Runway type competition show. First look of a flummoxed Baryshnikov. Julia Fox and Camila Mendes also co-star.
Brainstorm Media acquired North American rights to Tolga Karaçelik’s dark comedy Psycho Therapy, starring Steve Buscemi. It follows a writer befriending a retired serial killer. This will be Karaçelik’s English-language debut, and it hits theaters and VOD in April.
FESTIVALS
There is one more great gem in the Berlin Film Festival’s daily drop of new trailers: The Kiss of the Grasshopper (poster above).
Official synopsis:
Bernard, an eccentric man, lives with his sheep Fiete and has peculiar habits. His world is turned upside down when his father becomes ill. Bernard embarks on a surreal journey to regain stability and find meaning in life.
This is all about helping people let the sadness in. That’s the drive behind the violent acts of the two men in the trailer.
There’s one new project headed to EFM that caught my attention:
Cast: Frank Dillane
Writer/Dir: Harris Dickinson (Babygirl)
Domestic sales rep: Gersh + UTA
International Sales Rep: Charades
Synopsis:
Mike, a rough sleeper in London trapped in a cycle of self-destruction as he attempts to turn his life around.
It’s interesting to see Dickinson make the jump to behind the camera. If there’s one thing we know from Babygirl he is commanding.
Here’s our running list of the latest and greatest projects at EFM. Some new additions are Russell Crowe’s Beast in Me and Selma Blair’s Silent.
Plus some sales start rolling in, like Jacob Elordi’s The Narrow Road to the Deep North. Click below for more information:
https://theindustry.co/p/bad-boys-old-pals
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT
What if you turned Blade Runner to 11?
That Ridley Scott post-apocalyptic wasteland might look closer to what we find in O'Dessa, a rock apocalypse that has the soul of David Bowie’s Labyrinth.
The film is the brainchild of Geremy Jasper, who directed the mind-blowingly sonically amazing Patti Cake$ (2017), which was doused with similar magical realism.
Here’s the synopsis for O’Dessa:
Set in a post-apocalyptic future, O'Dessa is a rock opera about a farm girl on a quest to recover a family heirloom. Her journey leads her to a dangerous city, where she must use the power of destiny and song to save her true love’s soul.
Featuring 16 original songs!
Sadly, Searchlight sent this straight to Hulu as they may have deemed it a bit too weird for a theatrical release.
It will premiere at SXSW and then on Hulu on March 13.
Oscilloscope nabs Albert Birney (dir: Strawberry Mansion) Sundance film, Obex.
Here’s the scoop on this new film. It’s weird and hand-crafted:
https://theindustry.co/p/obex
Tidbit:
Miranda July, director of the eccentric indie Kajillionaire, sells something to Starz. For more on this story, plus info on Diablo Cody’s protege, Diego Luna as a director, and a special project from Shudder, click here:
https://theindustry.co/p/kajillionaires-starz-and-diego-luna
ON THIS DAY
1963. Fellini’s 8½ is released (Academy Awards Best Foreign Language Film 1964).
That’s all for the week. See you Tuesday.
Written by Gabriel Miller, Spencer Carter, and Madelyn Menapace.
Editor: Gabriel Miller.
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