Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
Golden Globes’ AI, Charlize Theron’s Apex, and Angels.
Let’s go!
If you enjoy today’s edition, please hit the like button or leave a comment.
The slippery slope.
The Golden Globes just announced new rules for their 2027 show and beyond that allow for AI to creep in, stating:
“The use of artificial intelligence (AI), including generative AI, does not automatically disqualify a work from consideration, provided that human creative direction, artistic judgment, and authorship remain primary throughout the production process.”
Compare that to AMPAS’s, the governing body of The Oscars, much stricter recent rule update. For the acting categories, only roles that are:
“demonstrably performed by humans with their consent will be considered eligible.”
In the writing category:
“the rules codify that screenplays must be human-authored to be eligible.”
What the Golden Globes have done is allow the first whisper of AI slop to permeate. My deep fear is that very soon, this will become more and more commonplace until all the award bodies, which have recognized human excellence since their inception, will begin to crown the creativity of machines.
Matthew McConaughey, in a now viral town hall clip, stated that he believed there would soon be a “Best AI Film” or “Best AI actor” category.
Already, AI is creeping into performances without our knowledge. Some use cases are so specialized that they’re innocuous, like the overblown Adrien Brody The Brutalist scandal. But others are more real.
In a recent conversation I had with Riz Ahmed, he shared that in his recent film, Hamlet, they used an AI tool for ADR called Flawless AI.
“I’m against it replacing human creativity or jobs… we filmed the ghost speech in English, and afterward we were like it has to be in Hindi… he’s speaking to him from eternity in a timeless place.”
So instead of going back to the location and re-filming the scene, they just captured the actor re-filming his portion, doing his monologue in Hindi, and then used AI to comp his lip movements to the original footage.
At the same time, the Academy has just given a Scientific & Technical Award to dxRevive Pro, a tool that restores noisy/unusable on-set dialogue using a neural network.
Right now, these are truly just helpful tools. But it’s a slippery slope until the beauty of human performance gets eroded, then replaced.
THE INDUSTRY TLDR
Starz Q1 losses deepen, Sony Pictures FY2025 sees gains and losses.
Charlize Theron reunites w/ Apex director on Universal’s Six Clean Kills.
The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon showrunner David Zabel signs with AMC Studios.
Warner Music Group gives Paramount first-look access to its artist roster.
Rooney Mara joins Paris-set psychological drama Quest for Love.
Jeff Daniels & Joel Edgerton star in Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s Netflix anti-AI thriller.
Neon’s Ryûsuke Hamaguchi film All of a Sudden sells to 26 countries.
Dan Aykroyd returns to Ghostbusters as EP on Netflix’s animated series.
Benh Zeitlin directs Hold On to Your Angels starring Jessie Buckley & Paul Mescal.
Studiocanal develops Freida McFadden’s new thriller, The Divorce.
Yesterday’s correct answer: 42 is a film, and the meaning of everything (all of above).
65% got it right.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
Charlize Theron is back on the run. Theron will produce and possibly star in Universal’s Six Clean Kills from director Baltasar Kormákur. They just collab’d on Netflix’s Apex, which saw Theron hunted in the wilderness by a mad Taron Egerton. No word on the plot for this new film.
A police drama from the Walking Dead creators. David Zabel (Showrunner: AMC’s The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon) signs a long-term deal with AMC Studios and has just sold a gritty cop drama to Netflix. The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon is a perfect blend of European gothic and the zombie apocalypse, highlighting ruined landscapes and wastelands. It would be interesting to see what Zabel can do with a gritty police series – maybe even a blend of modern Western genre would be perfect.
Warner Music Group has struck a first-look, multi-year deal centered on theatrical films inspired by the label’s artists with Paramount. From David Bowie to Madonna and more modern artists like Dua Lipa or Charli XCX, Paramount now has access to the company’s massive roster for biopics and future scripted features.
The Oscar-winning classic western High Noon (1952, trailer) gets exclusive adaptation rights scooped up by Teton Ridge Entertainment (The Moment). From producer Stanley Kramer (Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner), the film was led by the innocently sweet Grace Kelly and Gary Cooper as a steadfast, formidable, funny town marshal forced to face an outlaw all on his own.
A legend is back. Dan Aykroyd, the writer and star of the original Ghostbusters (1984), is returning to the franchise as an EP on the latest animated Ghostbusters series. Netflix and Sony Pictures Animation are steering the wheel. Netflix announced that there is also an animated movie in the works.
Mini Tidbits:
Stuart Ford (Producer: Hacksaw Ridge) and Miguel Palos (EP: Hit Man) sign 3-year extensions as CEO and COO of AGC Studios (Prod Co: Netflix’s Hit Man). Their upcoming slate includes a Netflix doc like Tinder Swindler (2022) & Netflix game show.
IATSE is striking the second season of the live-action YouTube series CoComelon: The Melon Patch. The crew union announced the picket after an unsuccessful attempt to unionize the production.
Peacock is developing a murder mystery, Keep Your Friends Close, EP by Leo Richardson (Wri: Netflix’s You) and Garcelle Beauvais (NYPD Blue). Based on the book, the show follows a mystery regarding the murder at the West Hollywood Moms Club.
Renewals:
Netflix’s Temptation Island (for S3)
Fox’s Murder in a Small Town (for S3)
SNL UK (for S2)
Trailers:
Apple TV’s Cape Fear
Cast: Amy Adams, Patrick Wilson, Javier Bardem
Release: July 31
Paramount+’s Criminal Minds: Evolution
Release: May 28
Universal Studios’ Minions & Monsters
Cast: Allison Janney, Christoph Waltz, Jeff Bridges, Jesse Eisenberg
Release: July 1
HBO Max’s Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness
Cast: Larry David, Barack Obama, Michelle Obama
Release: July 26
French comedy-drama Shana
Premiere: Cannes Film Festival
Release: TBD
Hulu’s Alice & Steve
Cast: Jemaine Clement, Nicola Walker
Release: June 8
Netflix’s limited series I Will Find You
Cast: Sam Worthington, Britt Lower, Milo Ventimiglia
Release: June 18
Clips:
Japanese drama Nagi Notes
Premiere: Cannes Film Festival
First Look:
Neon’s Paper Tiger
Dir: James Gray (Ad Astra)
Cast: Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson, Miles Teller
Cannes Premiere: May 16
BBC’s Beatles drama series Hamburg Days
Release: TBD
Warner Bros.’ The Batman: Part II
Dir: Matt Reeves
Release: Oct 1, 2027
Release Dates:
Prime Video’s documentary Groundswell
EP/Cast: Demi Moore, Woody Harrelson
Release: June 5
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
Rooney Mara is on a Quest for Love, joining Irish writer-director Antonia Campbell-Hughes’ (It Is in Us All) newest feature. In the Paris-set psychological drama, Mara will play Maris, an “enigmatic, beautiful, violent mother” struggling to make sense of the fractured relationship she has with her estranged ten-year-old son.
Mara carries a quiet ache onscreen. From the icy intensity of her brilliant but troubled hacker in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) to her hauntingly introverted energy in Carol (2015), the actress has mastered playing unknowable women. Now starring as an imperfect mom whose charming and calculated exterior masks something far more destructive underneath, Quest for Love continues the actress’s fascination with playing emotionally vacant characters who are hard to trust but impossible to look away from.
HanWay Films is launching international sales at Cannes.
Netflix’s untitled anti-AI thriller adds Jeff Daniels, Joel Edgerton, and Caleb McLaughlin (Stranger Things) to the cast of Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s newest directorial venture, joining Rachel McAdams.
The ensemble is already closely tied to Netflix.
From McLaughlin growing up on Stranger Things, Edgerton starring in last year’s Oscar Best Picture-nominated Train Dreams, and Daniels leading the streamer’s miniseries A Man in Full (2024), the cast is quite strong.
Production will start this summer.
Tidbits:
Chris O’Dowd (The IT Crowd) stars in political thriller Ceasefire, set during the Northern Ireland peace process. Directed by Oscar winner Terry George (Hotel Rwanda), the film will follow an Irish-American journalist who brokers a secret backchannel between the IRA and the Clinton administration. O’Dowd is joined by a star-studded cast, including Jane Fonda, John C. Reilly, and Tom Hollander. Though he is most known for his comedic performances, we saw his range in tense roles like The Cloverfield Paradox (2018).
Shailene Woodley (Big Little Lies) to star in MRC’s erotic thriller Mother’s Helper. Written and directed by first-time feature director Bridget Moloney, the film will center on a woman (Woodley) struggling to balance work, kids, and marriage as she hires a handsome young man to help out at home. This is the second time Woodley is playing a mother character after the successful HBO series Big Little Lies. Her portrayal of a young single mother was heart-wrenching, and we are excited to see what she can bring to the erotic thriller genre.
Casting Tidbits:
Peter Gallagher
Marisa Tomei
Lizzy Caplan
All those and more here.
FESTIVALS AND DOCS
Neon’s All of a Sudden, directed by Ryûsuke Hamaguchi (Drive My Car), has sold to 26 countries, including the UK (Curzon), Italy, and Spain.
Tribeca Film Festival is rolling out the red carpet for founder Robert De Niro. To celebrate the 25th Anniversary, De Niro is doing some great talks. Check them out here.
Cannes Market additions include films with Kevin Dillon (Entourage), Allison Williams (Get Out), and Michelle Randolph (Scream 7). Here.
Mini sales rep tidbits:
Paradise City Sales
Goodfellas
+ BFI Slate
More info here.
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT / INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Hold onto your Benh Zeitlin. The wunderkind director of Beasts of the Southern Wild has a new film, Hold On to Your Angels, which is being touted as a return to form.
It will reunite Hamnet stars Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal. With Mescal as a crazed outlaw and Buckley as a wild collector of lost souls who is mad in love, set in the degenerating landscape of southern Louisiana.
There’s something about the magic realism fairytale of the home-stitched Beasts of the Southern Wild that resonated when it was released in 2012. Hold On to Your Angels also speaks to a love for a bygone way of life. So we’re confident that the trifecta of Zeitlin, Buckley, and Mescal, plus producers Alex Coco (Anora) and Brad Pitt’s Plan B, will make this exceptional.
CAA is selling at Cannes.
Tidbits:
American High (Prod Co: Pizza Movie) is reuniting with co-star Peyton Elizabeth Lee for comedy Second First Date. Matt Sacca, a former intern of American High and longtime collaborator, will write the film. The project idea came from American High’s founder, Jeremy Garlick, and the film follows a high schooler who spends a magical night with the guy of her dreams, only to discover he’s lost all memory of it the next day after a concussion.
The Housemaid author Freida McFadden’s next book, The Divorce, is getting the French treatment, with Studiocanal developing it. The thriller follows a woman whose seemingly perfect life is upended when her husband suddenly kicks her out.
Mini Tidbits:
Variance Films
Disney+ in Mexico
Das Boot
All those and more here.
ON THIS DAY
1963. Dr. No premieres in the US.
Written by Gabriel Miller, Madelyn Menapace, and Tony Jaeyeong Jeong.
Editor: Gabriel Miller.
Follow us on: Facebook | Instagram
Want to advertise with us? Email: clarke.scott@theindustry.co