Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
David Lynch’s legacy, Carey Mulligan makes music and is an asteroid.
Let’s go!
To our readers in LA being affected by the fires, our heart goes out to you. Please stay safe.
The world just got a little less weird.
Director, writer, and filmmaking giant David Lynch has sadly passed away at the age of 78 after several years battling crippling emphysema. Lynch was a fundamental force in cinema, a towering iconoclast who bent the entire artform with his creativity, possessing a level of imaginativeness born out of his subconscious like nothing anyone had ever seen.
Famous for his off-kilter films, that were wild at heart and weird on top, Lynch has had truly a storied career, including:
Eraserhead (1977)
His first feature-length film an independent surrealist film that became a cult classic
The Elephant Man (1980)
Received his first Oscar nomination for Best Director for this biographical drama
Trailer - a cripplingly brilliant horror film about human dignity
Dune (1984)
After rejecting George Lucas’ offer to direct the third film in the original Star Wars trilogy, he directed the original adaptation of the futuristic space opera
Blue Velvet (1986)
The suburban neo-noir thriller that introduced the world to Isabella Rossellini
Dennis Hopper at his most terrifying clip.
Mulholland Drive (2001)
The Naomi Watts-led surrealist mystery has become a beloved film for all fellow cinephiles.
Silencio! What if the real world is a nightmare?
Twin Peaks (1989-1991)
Murder mystery series turned supernatural that he created and directed that was both a commercial and critical success that resulted in spinoff shows and even a movie (Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, 1992)
The strangest scene ever committed to TV (red room scene)
Some of the most high-profile names in Hollywood have written tributes.
Actor Kyle MacLachlan (Twin Peaks, Dune, Blue Velvet) for many years acted as a muse to Lynch, sharing an incredibly heartfelt message:
“I will miss him more than the limits of my language can tell and my heart can bear. My world is that much fuller because I knew him and that much emptier now that he’s gone.”
Francis Ford Coppola:
“I am astounded and heartbroken I can’t express with any words the profound loss of the great David Lynch, my friend.”
Steven Soderbergh:
“He’s one of those filmmakers who was influential but impossible to imitate.”
Nicolas Cage:
“A singular genius in cinema, one of the greatest arts of this time or any time. He was brave, brilliant, and a maverick with a joyful sense of humor. I have never had more fun on a film set than working with David Lynch.”
Steven Spielberg:
“I loved David’s films. He was a singular, visionary dreamer who directed films that felt handmade. The world is going to miss such an original and unique voice. His films have stood the test of time and they always will.”
Lynch had a short cameo as director John Ford in Spielberg’s The Fablemans (2022), which is now the last time he will be seen on screen.
He was able to balance this unusual and intoxicating mix of surrealism and humor, steeped in the iconography of the cultural zeitgeist, in which he proved mystery can be found in the most mundane of places. A voice for the outsiders, the misunderstood, and the curious, the world will very much miss the magical David Lynch.
For More:
David Lynch as John Ford (clip).
Laura Dern delivers the “Wild at Heart” line in Wild at Heart (Palme d’Or winner 1990).
The owls are not what they seem (clip).
THE INDUSTRY TLDR
Ronnie Yeskel (casting director: Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction) passed away at the age of 76.
Louis Leterrier (dir: Fast X, Transporter 1,2) sets his next project, 11817, starring Greta Lee.
Suzanna Makkos exits Warner Bros to join Disney as head of comedy for ABC Entertainment and Hulu Originals.
Sony’s Adrian Smith, President of Domestic Distribution, is retiring after 35 years.
New trailers for Neon’s The Monkey and Netflix’s final season of You.
Carey Mulligan stars in an instrumental role in Focus Features’ The Ballad of Wallis Island.
Sterling K. Brown plays the president’s bodyguard in Hulu’s Paradise.
Joel McHale joins Scream 7 as Mark Evans, husband to Neve Campbell’s Sidney Prescott.
PGA drops Best Picture nominations, which have a high correlation to the Oscars Best Picture winner.
Berlin Film Festival reveals its Panorama section.
Jacob Elordi comes to Berlin in the upcoming The Narrow Road to the Deep North.
Briarcliff Entertainment is releasing a very sweet film about the end of the world, When I’m Ready.
Netflix’s Surviving Black Hawk Down (prod company: Ridley Scott’s RSA) is a harrowing documentary that explores the real-life events of Scott’s Black Hawk Down.
Spike Lee’s next project is Liberty, about a group of military cadets on one crazy night in NYC.
One of the most talented modern French Directors, Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Amélie, Delicatessen), is set to direct Changer L’eau Des Fleurs (Change the Water of the Flowers).
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
Emmy-nominated casting director and frequent Quentin Tarantino collaborator Ronnie Yeskel has passed away at the age of 76 after a long battle with cancer. Behind the iconic castings of films like Reservoir Dogs (1992) and Pulp Fiction (1994) and shows like L.A. Law and Curb Your Enthusiasm, her resume is lengthy and very impressive. Her critically acclaimed career as a casting director has solidified her legacy and she will be very missed.
Louis Leterrier (dir: Fast X, Transporter 1,2) sets his next project, 11817.
Official synopsis:
In an inexplicable situation, a family finds themselves confined within their home, unable to leave. As supplies dwindle, they must learn resourcefulness to survive and unravel the mysterious force trapping them.
Greta Lee (Past Lives) and Wagner Moura (Civil War) star. 3 Arts Entertainment (American Fiction, Chaos Walking) serves as the production company. Netflix will distribute.
No word on shoot dates.
Another day another boss has stepped down. Suzanna Makkos is leaving her position as head of Original Comedy & Animation at Warner Bros to join the Disney cult as head of comedy for ABC Entertainment and Hulu Originals. She will oversee comedy development and current series programming across Disney Entertainment Television’s ABC and Hulu.
With the position being vacant since May, Makkos will have her work cut out for her when she starts with her new company as early as next week.
Next to step down is Sony’s Adrian Smith, President of Domestic Distribution. He served Sony for 35 years and is retiring. Adam Bergerman, current EVP and General Sales Manager, will take his place. Bergerman has been at Sony for 27 years. Wild the amount of time needed to move up the corporate ladder.
You is back. The 5th and final season drops on Netflix on April 24th. If you want more of the pathologically loving Penn Badgley (Gossip Girl), then look no further than the new teaser, which takes us back to where the series all started: a bookstore in NYC.
New Trailers
Neon’s The Monkey (Trailer - extra bloody)
Starz’s Outlander Blood of My Blood (Teaser)
Pixar’s Win or Lose original series (trailer)
Canceled:
Apple TV+’s The Completely Made-Up Adventures Of Dick Turpin
Mini Tidbit:
Greta Gerwig scored big over Netflix, securing a 1,000-screen IMAX debut for her upcoming Narnia. The original deal she signed (pre-Barbie release) didn’t include theatrical release, but after her massive $1.45bn hit, that agreement was retooled. The film will arrive in Thanksgiving 2026.
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
Carey Mulligan stars in The Ballad of Wallis Island a comedic indie about a reclusive lottery winner (Tim Key) who invites his favorite band composed of musicians and former lovers (Caey Mulligan and Tom Basden) to reunite for a private show.
Carey Mulligan playing a musician definitely relates to her personal life, she is married to Folk Rocker Marcus Mumford. She also has a pretty great singing voice that she showed off in Shame and also in Inside Llewyn Davis, where she played another folk musician. We look forward to seeing her channel the musician's spirit in this quirky little comedy set on a fictional island in Whales. The film premieres at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival on January 25 and will have a limited theatrical release on March 28.
Tidbits:
Sterling K. Brown plays the president’s bodyguard, who finds the president (James Marsden) dead one morning… and, of course, is accused of killing him. He is then thrust into increasing bouts of conspiracy and subterfuge in the new trailer that hints at the supernatural. The new Hulu series Paradise will be available on January 28th. Brown has a humble gravitas (e.g. this scene in American Fiction) that is wonderful to see under pressure.
Joel McHale joins Scream 7 as Mark Evans, husband to Neve Campbell’s Sidney Prescott. Behind the scenes, a salary dispute after Scream 6 led to both Jenna Ortega and Melissa Barrera exiting. So Scream 7 looks to re-tool its premise and follow Scream 1's original protagonist and her family. Scream 7 will arrive in theaters on February 27, 2026.
FESTIVALS AND AWARDS
PGA Drops Best Picture nominations. As a predictor for Best Picture, this is more reliable than the BAFTAs (explored in yesterday’s cover story):
PGA/Oscar Best Picture Matches
7/10 (past 10 years)
14/20 (past 20 years)
Here are the PGA nominations in that category:
Anora
The Brutalist
A Complete Unknown
Conclave
Dune: Part Two
Emilia Pérez
A Real Pain
September 5
The Substance
Wicked
And last year, each of the ten PGA-nominated films was also Best Picture nominated for the Oscars. If that’s the case this year, it’s bad news for Amazon’s Nickel Boys and A24’s Sing Sing.
Full PGA list here
Also, check out the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) nominations here.
Berlin Film Festival reveals its Panorama section. A few projects caught our eye:
Lesbian Space Princess (Australia)
Dir: Emma Hough Hobbs, Leela Varghese
Synopsis: A space princess is thrust out of her sheltered life and into a galactic quest to save her bounty hunter ex-girlfriend from the Straight White Maliens.
Magic Farm
Cast: Chloë Sevigny, Alex Wolff (Hereditary), Simon Rex (Red Rocket)
Dir: Amalia Ulman
Synopsis: A media crew mistakenly ends up in the wrong country while trying to profile a musician. As they collaborate with locals to create a viral trend, relationships form amid an unfolding health crisis.
First look photo: Sevigny + horse
Also, one from Sundance that we’re looking forward to seeing is Peter Hujar’s Day by Ira Sachs.
Full Berlin Panorama list here. The festival runs Thu, Feb 13, 2025 – Sun, Feb 23, 2025.
Also playing at Berlin is the Jacob Elordi and Ciarán Hinds series where they portray the same character at different life stages in The Narrow Road to the Deep North, a five-part Australian war drama directed by Justin Kurzel.
Director Ivan Salatićs’ sophomore feature, Wondrous Is the Silence of My Master (Otapanje vladara) will play in the competitive Tiger Competition in the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) in a couple of weeks. The trailer is picturesque and beautifully shot, which directly relates to the juxtaposition between showing a gentler side to a cruel 19th-century ruler, Petar Petrović Njegoš, during a harrowing time in Montenegro’s history. IFFR runs from Jan. 30th to Feb. 9th.
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT
Coming close to death makes you feel alive. There’s something about knowing that your days are numbered that can bolster your will to live. That’s the premise of When I’m Ready, which is quite sweet and profound.
Synopsis:
It's the end of the world. Seeking meaning and thrills in their last days alive, Rose and Michael embark on a cross-country road trip as a devastating asteroid threatens to wipe out life on Earth.
No one is more boldly distributing films than Briarcliff Entertainment (The Apprentice, Dogman), so it’s great that they’ve teamed up with Quiver (Daisey Ridley’s Cleaner) to take this to digital on Valentine’s Day.
Also, props to Andrew Ortenberg for writing the film and then casting himself as the lead.
Netflix’s Surviving Black Hawk Down (prod company: Ridley Scott’s RSA) is a harrowing documentary that explores the real-life events of Scott’s Black Hawk Down (2001).
Synopsis:
This documentary blends raw, immersive storytelling with first-person interviews from both sides of The Battle of Mogadishu in Somalia.
Gripping trailer.
Surviving Black Hawk Down drops on Netflix February 10.
Dark Star Pictures (Tiger Stripes) has acquired Marco Dutra’s Bury Your Dead for North American distribution. The Brazilian postapocalyptic film premiered at Sitges 2024 and follows Edgar Wilson (Selton Mello) on a perilous journey through a crumbling world. Produced by RT Features (I’m Still Here, The Lighthouse), it will tour U.S. festivals before a theatrical release this fall.
Alain Guiraudie universalizes his little world. His latest film, Misericordia, an official selection at Cannes, takes on rural subterfuge with penetrating honesty. And now it’s been acquired by Sideshow and Janus Films for US distribution.
Here’s the official synopsis:
Returning to Saint-Martial for his late boss's funeral, Jérémie's stay with widow Martine becomes entangled in a disappearance, a threatening neighbor, and an abbot's shady intentions.
Guiraudie stated:
“So I take the most satisfaction when my films, born of intimate experiences in the villages of Aveyron [a verdant and rural department of Southern France], can simply connect with audiences all over. Because that’s really the goal: We’re all trying to universalize our own little world.”
Here’s the trailer. Coming to US theaters March 21st.
Important tidbits:
Night Call, directed by Michiel Blanchart, follows Mady (Jonathan Feltre), a Brussels locksmith whose routine job turns perilous. Responding to an emergency call, he becomes entangled with a dangerous woman who stole from the wrong guy played with complexity by Romain Duris. The trailer mixes heart-pounding action with a frenetic pace as Mady runs for his life.
Night Call releases in theaters on January 17.
The show behind the show… Chazz Palminteri’s A Bronx Tale: One Man Show, the autobiographical stage play and inspiration behind the 1993 Palminteri and De Niro movie of the same name (film link), has been acquired by Tribeca Films for global distribution. Based on his own tumultuous experience growing up in the Bronx in the 60s, the filmed version of the one-man show will play in theaters and be available through VOD starting Jan. 28th.
Spike Lee’s next film is Liberty (IMDBPro link). Lee’s powerful work has shined each decade, so he is overdue for a 2020s hit.
Liberty logline:
A group of military cadets on one crazy night in New York City during Fleet Week.
The film is in the vein of The Last Detail (trailer w/ a young Jack Nicholson). Lee is producing and is said to be directing as well possibly. Rebecca Murga and Jalysa Conway will write the script.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
One of the most talented modern French Directors Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Amélie, Delicatessen), is set to direct Changer L’eau Des Fleurs (Change the Water of the Flowers).
Here’s the synopsis:
Violette Toussaint is the caretaker at a cemetery in a small town in Bourgogne. Her life is lived to the predictable rhythms of the often funny, always moving confidences that casual mourners, regular visitors, and sundry colleagues share with her. Violette’s routine is disrupted one day by the arrival of Julien Sole—local police chief—who has come to scatter the ashes of his recently deceased mother on the gravesite of a complete stranger.
The film is based on the bestselling book of the same name by Valérie Perrin.
Jeunet stated:
“When Valérie writes that death is like a dog slaloming between our legs, ready to bite us at any moment, I immediately visualize how I am going to put this into images.”
Although this film is supposed to be visually more mild-mannered, his best work was wildly colorful and visually imaginative:
Delicatessen (1991)
A doused in red, pathologically insane movie.
Amélie (2001)
Will melt your wild heart
Shooting will kick off in May.
ON THIS DAY
James Earl Jones (1931 - 2024) was born in Arkabutla, Mississippi.
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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