Matthew McConaughey and a Flaming Bus
Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
Matthew McConaughey’s disaster, Amazon’s Mass Effect, and a bunch of dogs.
Let’s go!
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Matthew McConaughey is the unsung hero of disaster films.
From films early in his career, like Reign of Fire (2002), to the more recent Interstellar (2014), McConaughey has a gift for personalizing large-scale chaos. He will now star in Paul Greengrass' (dir: Captain Phillips) disaster film, The Lost Bus.
The film chronicles California’s deadliest fire, following Kevin McKay (McConaughey), a bus driver who navigates a school bus full of 22 children through a terrifying inferno.
In the trailer, McConaughey grapples with the primordial conflict of self-interest versus public responsibility in a way that is spiritually similar to Interstellar (2014). In that film, Earth is subjected to an extinction-level famine that forces McConaughey to abandon his family to blast off in search of a habitable planet.
It’s wild to see McConaughey return to large-scale movies, as he carried so many two decades ago:
Reign of Fire (2002)
$60M budget
Sahara (2005)
$160M budget
Fool's Gold (2008)
$70M budget
The difference is that he now approaches the material with a renewed sensitivity garnered from his work in indies over the past decade.
McConaughey explained the impetus for this synthesis at Sundance in 2013:
“I feel like I’ve done a version of rom-com and action roles before. Or I feel like I can do that tomorrow morning. And I think I’ve done enough of that for now, and I want something that I don’t think I can do tomorrow morning. I want something that scares me.”
Greengrass’s ability to add soul to disaster films could solidify McConaughey's return to the mega-budget universe.
For More:
The Lost Bus teaser.
The cosmically profound Interstellar trailer (featuring a very young Timothée Chalamet).
Disaster Dragons. The campy but classic Reign of Fire (2002) trailer.
THE INDUSTRY TLDR
Amazon MGM taps Star Trek Beyond writer Doug Jung to showrun Mass Effect series.
Lionsgate acquires She Rides Shotgun, a thriller starring Taron Egerton.
Craig Brewer (Hustle and Flow) will direct the Snoop Dogg biopic for Universal.
Netflix shareholders vote to oust longtime board member Jay Hoag.
Hulu greenlights The Untitled BriTANicK Pizza Movie.
Prime’s Étoile is cancelled after 1 season.
Mia Goth joins Ryan Gosling in Star Wars: Starfighter, directed by Shawn Levy.
Lucy Liu’s passion project, Rosemead, premieres at Tribeca.
Rob Riggle to star in The Pirate King, a PTSD redemption dramedy.
Sovereign starring Nick Offerman marks an impressive debut from Christian Swegal.
Mubi acquires Cooper Raiff’s Hal & Harper, co-starring Mark Ruffalo.
Jim Jarmusch’s Father, Mother, Sister, Brother, starring Adam Driver, will premiere at Venice.
7 Dogs, a Saudi action thriller from Bad Boys directors Adil & Bilall, drops first teaser.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
Doug Ju's Star Trek chops seem like a fit for Mass Effect. Jung has been attached as showrunner for Amazon MGM, and BioWare's Mass Effect series.
This has the bones to be as big as a Star Wars or a Star Trek.
With Mass Effect’s planet hopping and interpersonal politics, it wears its Star Trek influence on its sleeve, who better to handle than one of the writers of Star Trek Beyond (2016), the most imaginative of the trilogy.
No plot details yet, but the Mass Effect series is known for its sprawling sci-fi narrative, focusing on Commander Shepard's fight to save the galaxy from the Reapers in the original trilogy. There’s a ton of history that can be delved into, like a strong, interesting, developed species and planets, and tech.
Script by Daniel Casey (F9), but no word yet on the release timeline. With the fifth game being worked on, it seems unlikely we will see anything until 2026.
Check out the trailer and let your imagination go wild.
Gritty action thriller She Rides Shotgun has been acquired by Lionsgate, headlined by Taron Egerton (Kingsman) and adapted from Jordan Harper’s award-winning novel.
Synopsis:
A girl marked for death, must fight and steal to stay alive, learning from the most frightening man she knows- her father.
Fifth Season (Severance) is the production company. She Rides Shotgun will get a limited theatrical release on Aug. 1st.
Tidbit:
Netflix shareholders vote to keep 11 out of 12 of their board of directors. The outlier is Jay Hoag (founder: TCV, early investments: Netflix, Facebook, Airbnb). SEC filing details, available here, show that only 21.5% of shareholders have elected to keep Hoag. As per board rules, Netflix’s “The Board will consider Mr. Hoag’s resignation.”
Universal adds some Hustle to Snoop Dogg's Biopic: Long in development, the collab spurring a multi-year deal with Snoop's company, Death Row Pictures, has finally found a director. Craig Brewer (Hustle & Flow and Dolemite Is My Name) has signed on to direct and has started revising the script by Joe Robert Cole (Black Panther).
Far out man: Hulu has greenlit The Untitled BriTANicK Pizza Movie, a surreal comedy starring Gaten Matarazzo (Stranger Things) and Sean Giambrone (The Goldbergs). Written by former YouTube sketch stars turned SNL Duo BriTANicK, Brian McElhaney and Nick Kocher. The film follows two college loners whose pizza delivery trip becomes a psychedelic odyssey. With Stranger Things coming to an end, Gaten takes his affable weirdness for a spin. Currently in pre-production.
Suspiria scribe Dave Kajganich is brought on board to pen the stop-motion adaptation of the best-selling fantasy novel, Piranesi, by Laika Studios (Kubo and the Two Strings).
Trailers:
Disney’s Freakier Friday
Cast: Lindsay Lohan, Jamie Lee Curtis
Release date: Aug 8th
Andy Serkis’ Animal Farm
Dir/Cast: Serkis
Cast: Seth Rogen, Kieran Culkin, Glenn Close, Steve Buscemi, Woody Harrelson
Paramount+’s Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (Season 3)
Releaes date: July 17th.
Release dates:
Neon’s Sentimental Value
Cannes: Grand Prix (2nd place)
Release date: Nov. 7 (Awards Campaign planned)
Netflix’s The Hunting Wives (Acquired from Lionsgate/Straz)
Release date: July 21
Cancellations:
Prime’s Étoile - cancelled after 1 season
Creators: Amy Sherman-Palladino, Daniel Palladino (Marvelous Mrs. Maisel)
Fox’s Missing Persons Unit - cancelled after 3 seasons
Fox’s The Cleaning Lady - cancelled after 4 seasons
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
Mia Goth joins Star Wars.
The Pearl star, has reportedly landed a role that has been rumored to be an absolute wookie to cast. Most recently, negotiations fell through with Mikey Madison, and Goth has finally taken the space next to Ryan Gosling in Star Wars: Starfighter, directed by Sean Levy.
Star Wars is in a bit of a weird spot right now, and it seems multiple actors and actresses turned down this role. But mostly known as a horror queen, Goth brings a steely resolve and, dare I say, an otherworldly persona that fits in this world, be it Imperial, rebel, or even hell - just make her an alien. Starfighter will be here sometime in 2027.
Rosemead, starring Lucy Liu, premiered at Tribeca over the weekend (US Narrative Competition). A poignant story about family bonds, Rosemead navigates the complexities of mental health and the cultural stigma within the Asian American community.
The film is gut-wrenching, and Liu consistently demonstrates her profound emotional ability as an actress to a whole new level in this powerful film.
Hat’s off, as this was a seven-year journey to screen, with Liu as the producer.
Rob Riggle draws from his own life for new movie. Riggle is set to star in The Pirate King as a Marine veteran battling PTSD and addiction who finds redemption through a quirky community of pirate reenactors.
A real-life former Marine officer of 23 years, Riggle has expressed a deep connection to the story and its portrayal of veteran struggles. Mostly known for comedy, be it his stints on SNL, or probably most famously for this heated exchange with Will Ferrell in Step Brothers.
So Riggle is a very funny guy, and this might be a bit of a stretch for him. The Pirate King looks like it will still have laughs, but also a bit more heart than we have ever gotten from Rob.
Mini Tidbit:
Snowfall and Breaking Bad alum Emily Rios has joined queer dramedy, The Queerdos, from former intimacy coordinator Jenifer Yeuroukis. With a female-driven cast, the indie feature is just entering production.
Auntie Mame actress Pippa Scott has passed at 90 years old. The veteran actress had a career that spanned over six decades in film, TV, and on the stage. Her film debut was in the John Ford classic western The Searchers (1956, scene) opposite John Wayne.
New psychological horror feature Blind Owl casts scream queen Katherine Isabel (Hannibal) as its lead. Blind Owl follows a celibate lighthouse keeper (Armin Amiri) and his influencer wife Lily (Isabel) as he descends into madness. Production has started in Prince Edward Island, Canada.
Alessandro Nivola will play Calvin Klein in Ryan Murphy’s American Love Story, starring Naomi Watts as Jackie Kennedy. Nivola was stunning in The Brutalist as Brody’s American cousin, who is a hard-working businessman. It’s a good fit, as Klein is cut from the same cloth.
Here’s a Klein quote forever burned into my head from a gig I did for Anna Wintour:
“I had no money, I managed to convince a pattern maker, a sample hand, and a cutter to work at night and and on weekends with me to make my designs come true.”
We’re excited to see Nivola take on this role.
Peacock’s new drama The Five-Star Weekend, headlined by Jennifer Garner, will co-star Regina Hall. The upcoming series will adapt Elin Hilderbrand’s 2023 novel of the same name that follows a famed food influencer who suffers a devastating loss.
FESTIVALS
Jim Jarmusch’s Father, Mother, Sister, Brother starring Adam Driver will premiere at Venice.
Here’s the official synopsis:
Estranged siblings reunite after years apart, forced to confront unresolved tensions and reevaluate their strained relationships with their emotionally distant parents.
There’s a certain vagueness to that description that is both maddening and freeing. It puts the entire emphasis on the character and not the plot. And that’s what made Jarmusch’s and Driver’s first collaboration, Paterson (2014), so magnetizing.
Mubi distributes.
Mini Tidbits:
Charliebird premieres in US Narrative Compeition. It centers on a devoted music therapist at a children’s hospital in Texas. And, Charlie, the rebellious teen patient assigned to work with her, forms an unexpected bond (trailer).
Goodfellas Animation (Animal Farm) has closed a duo of deals. Annecy/Cannes Special screening films Little Amélie or The Character of Rain has sold to 17 territories, including Spain. Arco (Portman-produced time-traveling rainbow film) has been sold to 7 territories, including the Czech Republic.
Dutch Series Mania gritty drug relationship drama Putain (trailer) sells to Spain and Portugal.
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT
I just saw the premiere of Sovereign at the Tribeca Film Festival. Nick Offerman, Dennis Quaid, and Jacob Tremblay each give standout performances. However, the real star is first-time director Christian Swegal’s script.
The careful architecture of two fathers, one who perpetuates fringe theories (Offerman) and another who shows his son very tough love (Quaid), is navigated with extreme empathy. It allows us to form real feelings for Offerman despite him being mad as a banana. That’s because Swegal holds off on introducing the other father and son pair until roughly the midpoint.
Briarcliff releases July 11th (trailer).
Cha Cha Real Smooth’s Cooper Raiff’s acclaimed TV series, Hal & Harper, is acquired by Mubi for streaming with Lionsgate financing.
In a time when indie television is consistently overlooked, shortly after its Sundance premiere, the eight-episode family drama has defied the odds in scoring its new significant streaming deal.
The actor-filmmaker stars alongside Lili Reinhart, who plays his older codependent sister, and Mark Ruffalo as their charmingly manipulative father.
Hal & Harper will stream on Mubi this fall.
Tidbit:
Max’s Most Wanted: Teen Hacker, a four-part docuseries premiering in September, follows Finnish cybercriminal Julius Kivimäki, famous for hacking and cyber-bullying a variety of institutions and celebrities, including Elon Musk, PlayStation, and the FBI. From the trailer, he kind of seems like a Redditor gone mad with power, but don’t tell him we said that. Trailer here.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
The director duo behind Bad Boys, Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, have dropped the first teaser for 7 Dogs, a new action thriller.
Official Synopsis:
Interpol agent Khalid Al-Azzazi joins forces with Ghail Abu Dawood from the 7 Dogs crime syndicate to fight drug trafficking.
The Saudi-shot feature is led by major Egyptian stars Karin Abde Aziz (The Blue Elephant) and Ahmed Ezz (The Cell). Based on an original concept by Turki Alalshikh, chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority.
The duo is consistent in producing intensity-driven films with a strong visual style, and from the teaser, 7 Dogs seems to fall right in line.
Prime Video isn’t slowing down their true crime acquisitions, with the streamer picking up a trio of documentaries from Firecrest Films (Inside the Murder Trial):
The Orkney Assassin
Synopsis: A waiter was shot by a masked man in 1994 in the Scottish islands, and with the discovery of new evidence, there has been an arrest many years later
The Hung for Shannon Matthews
Synopsis: Explores one of the most well-known missing cases in Britain
Hunting the Tinder Predator
Synopsis: A two-part series spotlighting a man recently arrested and the band of women who fought to get justice
Prime will drop the latter two docs later this year.
Tidbit:
Canal+ has signed a first-of-its-kind distribution deal with Netflix. The French TV player will now launch the mega streamer’s content to 24 French-speaking countries across Sub-Saharan Africa, including shows like Stranger Things, Squid Game, and Emily in Paris. This continues Canal+ dominating streak in Africa with a reported 8M subscribers.
ON THIS DAY
1961. Michael J. Fox born in Edmonton, Alberta.
Written by Gabriel Miller, Spencer Carter, and Madelyn Menapace.
Editor: Gabriel Miller.
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