Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
Rami Malek’s Love, Michael Bay’s Fury, and Skyward.
Let’s go!
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Rami Malek blew me away in The Man I Love. This is the Ira Sachs film that debuted at Cannes last night.
He plays Jimmy, a star in the local NYC 1980s musical theater scene. The entire performance reminded me of this Blade Runner quote:
“The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long.”
Malek has warped his entire physicality for this role. The film opens with him trying to get into a comfortable reading position in bed. And the way he twists and contorts his body communicates not just his queerness but also that this is not an easy world for him to find comfort.
The trick of the film is that we open with him on a high note; he’s in fine form, commanding a room with his lively over-the-top imitations (John Wayne, women, and a granny - clip below).
But we know something is lurking, as Malek’s boyfriend, played by Tom Sturridge, knows that this creative mania can only last so long.
Watching Malek later lose his grip on reality in a way we haven’t quite witnessed is startling. He pushes so hard to keep his identity as a performer, but it’s as if he’s shown up to the wrong play; the cue mismatches betray that he’s losing his mind.
Malek has always been good at this type of work. His breakout, of course, was Mr. Robot, where he became disconnected from reality as a sort of technological paranoia that turned out to be true.
In The Man I Love, this turn is more tragic and more profound.
For More:
Clip of Malek in the film.
THE INDUSTRY TLDR
Universal taps Michael Bay for military rescue thriller Operation Epic Fury.
Ryan Condal extends exclusive HBO deal through 2029.
David Fincher’s Cliff Booth Netflix movie gets two-week global IMAX run.
Matt Damon eyed to replace Ryan Gosling in Daniels’ Universal sci-fi comedy.
Renate Reinsve joins Mia Hansen-Løve’s biopic If Love Should Die.
Quinta Brunson develops Betty Boop feature w/ Fleischer Studios.
Ciarán Hinds joins Amazon motorcycle racing drama Isle of Man.
Nicholas Braun cast in Ruben Östlund’s The Entertainment System Is Down.
Leos Carax sets dystopian Jenna Ortega feature Lily May B.
Tomorrow Studios adapts Brandon Sanderson sci-fi novel Skyward.
Media Res promotes Christina Malach to President of Scripted Series.
BBC develops new Hercule Poirot series for late 2027.
Yesterday’s correct answer: 4 actors played Jobs (Kutcher, Fassbender, Wyle, Long).
45% got it right.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
The newest Michael Bay big-budget movie is a heroic true story ripped straight from the headlines. The director is set to helm a Universal Pictures film based on the high-risk U.S. military rescue mission “Operation Epic Fury” that was planned to save two American pilots after their jet was shot down in Iran.
The film is perfectly tailored to the Pearl Harbor director’s sensibilities. Bay is commonly associated with hyper-patriotic military spectacle, oversized action, and sensory-overload heroism; the movie’s plot will follow the upcoming book by Mitchell Zuckoff hitting shelves next year.
Bay’s last collaboration with Universal was for the high-stakes Jake Gyllenhaal-led Ambulance (2022), with his newest military epic in the works as part of the Bay’s production deal with the studio.
Tidbit:
Ryan Condal (Wri/Showrunner: HBO’s House of the Dragon) renews his exclusive deal with HBO through 2029. Condal served as a co-showrunner for the first season of HBO’s hit show and has been the only showrunner for the past 2 seasons. The series has garnered more than 25M average cross-platform viewers per episode. Seems like HBO is believing in Condal to expand their Game of Thrones universe, with Condal EPing A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms as well.
Mini Tidbit:
Cliff Booth in IMAX. Netflix has announced that David Fincher’s Cliff Booth movie will get a two-week global IMAX run beginning Thanksgiving week before premiering on the streamer Dec. 23.
The owners of the Lord of the Rings IP, Embracer Group, are putting the rights of the LOTR and Tomb Raider franchises under a newly formed Fellowship Entertainment in Stockholm.
Renewals:
Apple TV’s Knife Edge: Chasing Michelin Stars for S2
E.P: Gordon Ramsay’s Studio Ramsay
Trailers:
Netflix’s Little Brother
Cast: John Cena, Eric André
Dir: Matt Spicer (Ingrid Goes West)
Release: June 26
First look:
Onward and Sideways
Cast: Laura Linney, Rhys Ifans (House of the Dragon)
Dir: John Madden (Shakespeare in Love)
U.K. Dist: BBC One
Release dates:
Blood Moon Rite 8
Vietnamese comedy
Release: May 22nd
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
Matt Damon is going to get goofy.
The Everything Everywhere All at Once directing duo Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s newest film, described as a “fun sci-fi action comedy” from Universal Pictures, is now eyeing Damon to replace Ryan Gosling.
Prior to Damon, Jack Black was also named for the part, and while I wouldn’t initially put these three in the same category, they’re each capable of elevated performances rooted in comedy, still filled with the depth and complexity the Daniels look for.
Set across both the ‘80s and the present day, The Daniels said the film involves “global warming, time travel, and a possible superhero angle.” Speaking with Daniel Kwan at SXSW, he told me it was actually an anti-time-travel movie.
Production is expected to begin this summer in LA and premiere Nov 2027.
Renate Reinsve is quietly becoming the actress everyone wants to work with.
Fresh off her Oscar nomination for leading Joachim Trier’s beautiful Sentimental Value, Reinsve is teaming up with acclaimed French filmmaker Mia Hansen-Løve for If Love Should Die, a biopic about pioneering feminist writer Mary Wollstonecraft.
Set on the eve of the French Revolution, the film will focus on the final 12 years of Wollstonecraft’s life and her journey to becoming one of the Enlightenment’s most radical thinkers.
The film continues Hansen-Løve’s pattern of ambitious but self-destructive women (Goodbye First Love), a dynamic that quite seamlessly aligns with the roles Reinsve likes to take on. Drawn to romanticizing messy women, she has a knack for making her characters feel honest.
Reinsve’s next film is A24’s Backrooms, which is already tracking a massive opening weekend.
If Love Should Die will pick up cameras this summer in Europe, with MUBI attached to produce and co-finance.
Boop! Quinta Brunson is set to star as the iconic Betty Boop in a feature film she is developing with her banner Fifth Chance Productions, Fleischer Studios, and Mark Fleischer, grandson of Betty Boop creator Max Fleischer.
Brunson’s ABC comedy Abbott Elementary practically revived the modern mockumentary genre, solidifying the Emmy winner as not only a sharp writer but one of Hollywood’s funniest leading ladies. Brunson has a natural ability to make optimism feel funny instead of naive, possessing a bubbly warmth that completely embodies who Betty Boop is.
Tidbits:
Oscar-nominated Belfast actor Ciarán Hinds is the newest addition to Amazon Studios' Isle of Man, a drama following an iconic motorcycle race starring Channing Tatum and Eve Hewson. A commanding character, from Game of Thrones to There Will Be Blood, Hinds has a gritty, weathered demeanor in every role he takes on, so while character details are being kept under wraps, he feels perfectly suited for a grounded racing drama. Production is beginning this week.
The anticipated 13th season of American Horror Story has just added to its ensemble with two returnees. John Carroll Lynch (Ballard) and Mat Fraser (Gangs of London) both starred in the series’ Freak Show back in 2015 and will now be joining franchise regulars Evan Peters, Sarah Paulson, Kathy Bates, and Jessica Lange for the next installment.
Nicholas Braun has been cast in The Entertainment System Is Down from Palme d’Or winner Ruben Östlund. His highly anticipated nightmare airplane film with an already stacked cast (Keanu Reeves, Kirsten Dunst).
FESTIVALS AND DOCS
Vaneast Pictures’ romantic period film, Prisoners of Paradise, gets North American distribution with Vantage Media (The Poet). The film stars Ellie Bamber (Nocturnal Animals) as a young woman sent to live under her uncle's guardianship, who finds unexpected love with a local laborer. Vantage has set the film for an August release.
Cannes Market addition:
Controllers
Int. Sales Rep: Myriad Pictures (This Tempting Madness)
Prod: Cassian Elwes with Elevated Films (Dead Man’s Wire)
Synopsis:
Follows two sisters isolated on a remote farm after an outbreak, raised to fear Controllers who can manipulate through touch, whose world unravels when a stranger arrives.
Full list of Cannes market films here.
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT
French filmmaker Leos Carax’s next feature, Lily May B is an end-of-the-world, dream-like drama with Jenna Ortega to star.
Synopsis:
Follows a little girl, a young woman, and a young boy, each holding a heavy secret, who meet in a dystopian world and ride a motorcycle through empty cities and forests, searching for their identities.
The synopsis has me giddy. If you’ve seen The Lovers on the Bridge (1991) or Holy Motors (2012), you know that Carax can inject a dark surrealism into seemingly normal settings. This is a wild inversion; he’s actually going to start with a dystopia. No question, this will lead to us seeing the many parallels to our world. I can’t wait to see his interpretation of this.
I believe the best film of the 2010s was his magnum opus, the Cannes premiering Holy Motors (2012, trailer). It takes Shakespeare’s “All the world’s a stage” to its oddest and most maximalist dimensions.
Filming on Lily May B begins next spring.
The producers behind Netflix’s One Piece, Tomorrow Studios, are set to adapt Skyward, the bestselling sci-fi novel from author Brandon Sanderson. Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. creator Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen will write the pilot of the adventure story centered on a dangerous planet where mysterious alien forces threaten humanity.
The Morning Show’s Media Res has just promoted Christina Malach to President of Scripted Series. Joining in 2023 as SVP of Development, Malach has overseen the development of Netflix’s Enigma Variations and her most recent venture, the hit Peacock miniseries The Miniature Wife. She will take on her new role within the indie studio’s leadership team immediately.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
BBC is in the works on a Hercule Poirot series. This is the famed detective from the Agatha Christie novels. Three or more seasons are already in the works with an initial release date of late 2027. Mammoth Screen (And Then There Were None) serves as the prod co.
Yves Montmayeur (Dir: The 1000 Eyes of Dr. Maddin, Best Documentary Winner for 2015 Venice Film Festival) is making Twist & Shoot Mister Suzuki, a documentary examining the life of Japanese cult filmmaker Suzuki Seijun (Dir: Branded to Kill)
Beach House Pictures (Singaporean Film Company) announces two new documentaries, Panda School and Secret Weapons of China’s First Emperor. Panda School follows a cohort of giant panda cubs at a conservation facility in China, narrated by comedian and actor Jimmy O. Yang (Interior Chinatown). Secret Weapons of China’s First Emperor follows how Qin Shi Huang, the emperor of Qin China, rose to power using military innovations.
ON THIS DAY
1990. Wild at Heart wins the Palme d’Or.
Written by Gabriel Miller, Madelyn Menapace, and Tony Jaeyeong Jeong.
Editor: Gabriel Miller.
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