Steven Soderbergh’s Elaborate Plan
Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
Steven Soderbergh, Darren Aronofsky, and Celine Song.
Let’s go!
Today’s cover story has a spoiler for Oceans 11 and contains plot information for Black Bag, given in the trailer.
Steven Soderbergh loves an elaborate plan.
It is the lynchpin of his films Ocean’s 11 (2001), Logan Lucky (2017), and now, Black Bag (2025). The lattermost is a spy thriller that is gloriously consumed with Michael Fassbender hunting down a mole inside a British counterintelligence agency, where one of the prime suspects is his wife, Cate Blanchett.
Soderbergh retains his sublime ability to make on-screen events feel propulsive and dangerous without ever filling us in on what is seething beneath the surface.
It’s what makes Ocean’s 11 so pleasurable when Andy Garcia realizes the casino vault he’s been watching on his security camera is a double.
Similar forces are at work in Black Bag, where we’re not being shown exactly what we think. And although it is less fun than the Oceans films, it gets its thrills from a new Soderbergh territory: how do you open your heart to love when your job is to hide who you are?
Each couple in the film (Fassbender/Blanchett, Back to Black’s Marisa Abela/Mank’s Tom Burke, Bridgerton’s Regé-Jean Page/Skyfall’s Naomie Harris) struggle to maintain healthy relationships. Their frustration at their inability for normalcy is a psychic cry that shades this spy thriller with notes of a romantic psycho-drama.
For More:
Black Bag trailer.
Andy Garcia’s face when he realizes he’s been bamboozled in Ocean’s 11 (clip).
THE INDUSTRY TLDR
MGM+ has greenlit The Westies, a crime drama by Narcos co-creators.
Darren Aronofsky is in talks to direct Netflix’s adaption of Stephen King’s Cujo.
The full trailer for Happy Gilmore 2 has arrived.
Macy’s optioned a book for a TV series.
Federal prosecutors indicted 47 Ronin director Carl Rinsch for defrauding Netflix of $11 M.
A Complete Unkown is sauntering over to Hulu on March 27th.
Netflix launches Sirens, a dark comedy limited series led by Julianne Moore.
Scream queen Maika Monroe (Longlegs) is taking on the romance genre in Reminders of Him.
Mix Tape won the SXSW TV Spotlight Audience Award.
Home Jacking is a new French series created by the writers of Netflix’s Lupin.
Well Go USA acquired North American rights to Yadang: The Snitch, a Korean crime-thriller.
Celine Song is the master of love triangles in her latest, A24’s Materialists.
Black Swan writer Mark Heyman will make his feature directorial debut with Pendulum.
IFC Films and Shudder have acquired U.S. rights to Forbidden Fruits.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
MGM+ has greenlit The Westies, an eight-episode crime drama from Narcos co-creators Chris Brancato and Michael Panes. Set in early 1980s Hell’s Kitchen, the show follows a brutal Irish gang as they navigate a fragile alliance with the Italian mafia while facing internal power struggles amid the construction of the historic Jacob Javits Convention Center. This will be Brancato’s third series for MGM after Godfather of Harlem and Hotel Cocaine. With all three previous shows dealing with the seedy underbelly of the Mob, drug running, and the cartel, respectively, this is another interesting exploration into a subject Brantaco has become incredibly familiar with. The Westies begins production in Toronto this July.
Darren Aronofsky got the Cujo bite. He is currently in talks to direct the Netflix adaption of Stephen King’s Cujo into a new feature film, with Roy Lee (Companion, Barbarian) producing and writers being sought. We’ll deep dive this if it locks. For now, imagine the psychological terror he could eke out of the 1981 novel about a rabid St. Bernard terrorizing a mother and her son trapped in a broken-down car. Original 1983 film adaptation trailer here.
Sappy Gilmore: The long awaited sequel to the funniest golfing movie ever made finally has a trailer, and it's kinda sweet I guess? We see and hear a more grizzled Adam Sandler; seriously, the man's squeaky voice has now become a rasp, returning to the timbs of unconventional golf hero, and aside from comedic yelling, this trailer is surprisingly light on jokes but heavy on nostalgia and cameos. Never underestimate Happy Gilmore, but watching this trailer, you can't help but worry it won't even get on the green.
Macy’s optioned a book for a TV series. It’s a big branded narrative TV play. They will seek to incorporate an early Macy’s executive into the NY Times bestseller they optioned, When Women Ran Fifth Avenue: Glamour and Power at the Dawn of American Fashion. Maybe this will be available on Chick-fil-A’s streaming service.
Renewals/Cancellations:
Renewal:
Paramount+’s Tusla King (for Season 3)
Prime’s House of David (for Season 2)
Cancellation:
Max’s Sex Lives of College Girls (after 3 seasons)
Want to predict the future? Disney+ is making this possible with an endless livestream loop of all 767 episodes of The Simpsons playing in chronological order. Looping around and around… around and around! Say that a lot like a MONORAIL!
A Complete Unkown is sauntering over to Hulu on March 27th. That gives it a 92 theatrical window after the film has minted $132 M worldwide. If you still haven’t seen the film, it's a remarkable portrait of an artist hyper-consumed with his craft to the benefit of the world and the detriment of those closest to him.
Federal prosecutors have indicted 47 Ronin director Carl Rinsch for allegedly defrauding Netflix of $11 million meant for his $55 M sci-fi series Conquest, which was never made. Instead, Rinsch spent the funds on luxury purchases, crypto speculation, and legal battles. Facing multiple fraud and money laundering charges, he could receive decades in prison.
NATO (National Association of Theatre Owners) rebrands as Cinema United.
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
From the creator of Maid, Netflix has set a premiere date for Sirens, a dark comedy limited series led by Julianne Moore and a strong female cast in an eight episode adaptation of writer and showrunner Molly Smith Metzler’s 2011 play Elemeno Pea. Moore is joined by White Lotus’ Meghann Fahy and House of the Dragon breakout Milly Alcock.
Official Synopsis:
Devon (Fahy) is concerned about her sister Simone’s (Alcock) unhealthy relationship with her new boss, Michaela Kell (Moore). Michaela’s cult-ish life of luxury is like a drug to Simon, and Devon has decided it’s time for an intervention.
Moore as a cult-like leader, is titillating, she felt like the master of her little family community in Todd Haynes' black dramedy May December (2023, trailer).
From the first look photos of Sirens, Moore is dressed in all white as the enigmatic socialite looking pensive behind a wooden podium (still).
You can sense the show's eerie tone, with Fahy looking extremely disheveled (still) and Alcock appearing very intimidating amongst a lineup of terrified uniformed women (still).
The LuckyChap (Barbie) series is set to premiere on Netflix on May 22nd.
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Scream queen Maika Monroe (Longlegs) is taking on a new genre as she is set to star in the Colleen Hoover film adaptation of the romance novel Reminders of Him. The heartbreaking but hopeful story follows a troubled young mother who yearns for a shot at redemption.
The Santa Barbara-born actress has famously made a name for herself in horror and psychological thriller films like It Follows (2014), Watcher (2022), and last summer’s $130 M grossing Neon horror Longlegs.
Love at First Sight (2023) director Vanessa Caswill is directing the film, which is set for a 2026 Valentine’s Day premiere.
Full Horse: Mariana di Girolamo (Ema), Tom Waits (Buster Scruggs), Ailín Salas (XXY), and Paola Giannini join Martin McDonagh’s Wild Horse Nine, alongside Sam Rockwell, John Malkovich, Parker Posey, and Steve Buscemi. We don't know anything about this movie, just that it has an amazing cast and it's shooting in the Easter Islands.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS / FESTIVALS
Supporting Actor, a Finish dark satire comedy series on Nelonen, has become very popular on the network, with some locals even calling it “their own White Lotus.” The series follows Aki Kurki, a struggling actor cursed to never land leading roles. This year becoming Finland’s most-watched scripted show. International remakes are in discussion, could this make its way to America? The trailer is in Finnish.
Home Jacking, a series created by Florent Meyer and Tigran Rosine, who were writers on Netflix’s Lupin, have sold their show to RAI, an Italian broadcaster. The series stars as a run-of-the-mill home jacking but twists into something much more deadly (trailer). No US/UK release date has been set.
International Sales Agent/Distributor ZDF Studios has grabbed international rights for Black Fruit, a series that premiered at Tribeca last year. The series follows the downward spiral of a black queer artist (trailer).
Well Go USA acquired North American rights to Yadang: The Snitch, a Korean crime-thriller starring Squid Game's Kang Ha-neul. Directed by Hwang Byeong-gug, the film follows an informant navigating drug lords and corruption. Debuts in South Korea on April 23 and North America this spring. Trailer here.
Australian-Irish co-production Mix Tape won the Audience Award in the TV Spotlight category at SXSW, where it world premiered. The Binge series, based on Jane Sanderson’s novel, stars Teresa Palmer and Jim Sturgess (Across the Universe) as a couple reconnecting through a song from their past. Directed by Lucy Gaffy and produced by Aquarius Films and Subotica, Mix Tape was among ten Australian titles at SXSW.
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT
Celine Song is the master of love triangles. Her feature debut, Past Lives, was Oscar-nominated for Best Picture last year and was a sublime portrait of how the intangible connections from our youth can cut across superficial borders.
That’s why her latest Materialists seems so interesting. There’s an inversion of those value systems at the start of the film, which follows a successful matchmaker, Dakota Johnson, who meets a unicorn-rich, handsome dude, Pedro Pascal (booyah!), but is tugged back to her past love, Chris Evans (who seems remarkable stripped down).
A24’s trailer flirts with a typical rom-com, but knowing Song’s work, this will be anything but. Materialists premieres in theaters nationwide on June 13th.
Mark is directing! Black Swan writer Mark Heyman will make his feature directorial debut with Pendulum.
The lineup has us salivating:
Wri/Dir: Heyman
Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Phoebe Dynevor (Fair Play)
Prod: Darren Aronofsky (Protozoa)
Prod: Jacob Jaffke (Dream Scenario)
Prod/Financier: C2’s Dave Caplan (Longlegs)
Domestic sales rep: UTA, CAA, WME
International Sales Rep: Black Bear
Synopsis:
A couple journeys to a retreat in New Mexico seeking healing. Patrick (JGL) grows skeptical of the retreat's leader as Abigail (Dynevor) falls under her influence. They wonder if the group's practices offer genuine healing or conceal a terrifying truth.
I’m guessing this will lean more on the “terrifying truth” side, given Heyman’s predilection for the grotesque (he also wrote 2023’s The Boogeyman). Production kicks off this month in New Mexico.
Tidbit:
IFC Films and AMC Networks’ Shudder have acquired U.S. and Canadian rights to Forbidden Fruits, a horror film directed by Meredith Alloway and set for a 2026 theatrical release. Starring Lili Reinhart, Lola Tung, Victoria Pedretti, Alexandra Shipp, and Emma Chamberlain, the story follows a secret femme cult operating in a small basement, which faces turmoil when a new recruit disrupts their dynamic.
ON THIS DAY
1964. Sean Connery's 1st day of shooting Goldfinger.
See you tomorrow!
Written by Gabriel Miller, Spencer Carter, and Madelyn Menapace.
Editor: Gabriel Miller.
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