What a world Paolo Sorrentino creates. The Italian director called one of his movies – the one that won the Oscar for Best International Film – “The Great Beauty,” but that could have been the title of lots of them, definitely including “Parthenope,” which premiered on Tuesday in the Main Competition section of the Cannes Film Festival.
In this case, the great beauty could be the film’s title character, a stunning young woman named after a mythological siren inextricably linked with the city of Naples. It could also be the world she inhabits, a sun-drenched coastal city on the Tyrrhenian Sea in the Mediterranean. And it could just as well be the aura that Sorrentino’s movies create, languorous and exquisite and, much of the time, gloriously sad.
“Parthenope” isn’t a Sorrentino breakthrough by any means, but a recapitulation of many of his obsessions. His last film, 2021’s “The Hand of God,...
In this case, the great beauty could be the film’s title character, a stunning young woman named after a mythological siren inextricably linked with the city of Naples. It could also be the world she inhabits, a sun-drenched coastal city on the Tyrrhenian Sea in the Mediterranean. And it could just as well be the aura that Sorrentino’s movies create, languorous and exquisite and, much of the time, gloriously sad.
“Parthenope” isn’t a Sorrentino breakthrough by any means, but a recapitulation of many of his obsessions. His last film, 2021’s “The Hand of God,...
- 5/21/2024
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
Audrey Diwan is attached to direct “The Marriage Portrait,” based on the novel by award-winning Northern Irish writer Maggie O’Farrell, best known for “Hamnet.”
Variety hears that the project will see the fast-rising French auteur team with two of Europe’s leading arthouse producers in Ireland’s Element Pictures (which has three films in Cannes’ official selection this year) and Italy’s Wildside (which has competition title “Limonov: The Ballad”). Film4 helped develop the feature.
Set in 1500s Renaissance Florence, “The Marriage Portrait” — which was published in 2022 — follows the fictional tale of young duchess Lucrezia de’ Medici, a sheltered 16-year-old who has spent her life locked inside the city’s grandest palazzo. But when her husband takes her on an unexpected visit to a country villa, it occurs to her that he has a sinister purpose — he intends to kill her.
Diwan, who has just completed the post-production of her...
Variety hears that the project will see the fast-rising French auteur team with two of Europe’s leading arthouse producers in Ireland’s Element Pictures (which has three films in Cannes’ official selection this year) and Italy’s Wildside (which has competition title “Limonov: The Ballad”). Film4 helped develop the feature.
Set in 1500s Renaissance Florence, “The Marriage Portrait” — which was published in 2022 — follows the fictional tale of young duchess Lucrezia de’ Medici, a sheltered 16-year-old who has spent her life locked inside the city’s grandest palazzo. But when her husband takes her on an unexpected visit to a country villa, it occurs to her that he has a sinister purpose — he intends to kill her.
Diwan, who has just completed the post-production of her...
- 5/14/2024
- by Alex Ritman and Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
In a big strategic market swing, The Mediapro Studio is creating new U.S. headquarters in Los Angeles to double down on U.S. and English-language production for the U.S. and global market.
Laura Fernández Espeso, The Mediapro Studio CEO, has also confirmed Juan “Jc” Acosta, the ex high-flying Paramount exec, as head of the newly created division, The Mediapro Studio U.S./Canada.
Based out of Century City, the new U.S. operation will develop, produce and distribute for a global market English-language scripted, non-scripted reality and entertainment, documentaries and features, said Fernández Espeso, Variety’s 2024 International Media Woman of the Year.
That’s exactly the same broad-based production model that The Mediapro Studio has in Spain and Latin America, she noted.
The Los Angeles operation will incorporate existing Tms offices in Miami and New York, as well as Grup Mediapro’s new production facility at Great Point Studios in Yonkers,...
Laura Fernández Espeso, The Mediapro Studio CEO, has also confirmed Juan “Jc” Acosta, the ex high-flying Paramount exec, as head of the newly created division, The Mediapro Studio U.S./Canada.
Based out of Century City, the new U.S. operation will develop, produce and distribute for a global market English-language scripted, non-scripted reality and entertainment, documentaries and features, said Fernández Espeso, Variety’s 2024 International Media Woman of the Year.
That’s exactly the same broad-based production model that The Mediapro Studio has in Spain and Latin America, she noted.
The Los Angeles operation will incorporate existing Tms offices in Miami and New York, as well as Grup Mediapro’s new production facility at Great Point Studios in Yonkers,...
- 5/13/2024
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
The Mediapro Studio is opening a new US/Canada headquarters office in Los Angeles and has appointed Juan ‘Jc’ Acosta as its head of operations for the market.
The new office is part of a push to increase the production and distribution of English-language content – including scripted series, reality and entertainment programming, documentaries and features – by the company, the production division of Spain’s Mediapro communications group.
The Los Angeles office will act as the centre of US operations for The Mediapro Studio, which already has staff working at the Miami and New York offices of Grup Mediapro (which also...
The new office is part of a push to increase the production and distribution of English-language content – including scripted series, reality and entertainment programming, documentaries and features – by the company, the production division of Spain’s Mediapro communications group.
The Los Angeles office will act as the centre of US operations for The Mediapro Studio, which already has staff working at the Miami and New York offices of Grup Mediapro (which also...
- 5/13/2024
- ScreenDaily
Euro Gang Entertainment, the company launched last year by Hollywood veterans Gianni Nunnari and Simon Horsman (“Legacy: The True Story of the L.A. Lakers”) is ramping up operations in Italy through a partnership with Rome-based Alfred Film, the young shingle co-founded by experienced producers Roberto Amoroso and Maria Theresia Braun.
The Euro Gang deal with Alfred currently comprises three feature films and an English-language TV series that will shoot in Italy and elsewhere, according to a statement.
Founded in 2020, Alfred Film – which is named in homage to Alfred Hitchcock – is focused on commercially-driven quality projects such as their mainstream comedy “Tre di Troppo,” directed by and starring Italian comedy draw Fabio De Luigi, which grossed €4.7 million ($5 million) at the local box office and is the third highest-grossing Italian film of 2023.
Amoroso is a former creative director at Sky Italia, where during a long stint at the pay-tv platform he was...
The Euro Gang deal with Alfred currently comprises three feature films and an English-language TV series that will shoot in Italy and elsewhere, according to a statement.
Founded in 2020, Alfred Film – which is named in homage to Alfred Hitchcock – is focused on commercially-driven quality projects such as their mainstream comedy “Tre di Troppo,” directed by and starring Italian comedy draw Fabio De Luigi, which grossed €4.7 million ($5 million) at the local box office and is the third highest-grossing Italian film of 2023.
Amoroso is a former creative director at Sky Italia, where during a long stint at the pay-tv platform he was...
- 4/5/2024
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Last year, actress Penélope Cruz set up a joint production venture, Moonlyon, with Madrid-based The Mediapro Studio at the urging of its CEO, Laura Fernández Espeso, a rising star in Spain’s fast-expanding media sector.
“It’s been an amazing connection from the first,” Cruz says, about her working relationship with Fernández Espeso, Variety’s International Media Woman of the Year.
It was no surprise to anyone that Cruz chose Fernández Espeso as her partner: Lifting up female talent in Western Europe and beyond has been a huge part of Fernández Espeso’s mission since she took the reins of the busy production studio five years ago. At her direction, the company, which has 30 production houses, has capitalized on the growing demand for TV series that can travel across the world. Fernández Espeso has steered the effort for the company to make its productions more saleable by lensing in English.
“It’s been an amazing connection from the first,” Cruz says, about her working relationship with Fernández Espeso, Variety’s International Media Woman of the Year.
It was no surprise to anyone that Cruz chose Fernández Espeso as her partner: Lifting up female talent in Western Europe and beyond has been a huge part of Fernández Espeso’s mission since she took the reins of the busy production studio five years ago. At her direction, the company, which has 30 production houses, has capitalized on the growing demand for TV series that can travel across the world. Fernández Espeso has steered the effort for the company to make its productions more saleable by lensing in English.
- 3/29/2024
- by John Hopewell and Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Sterlin Harjo’s FX pilot The Sensitive Kind has added 8 actors to star alongside executive producer and lead Ethan Hawke.
They are Keith David (American Fiction), Siena East (Sex Lives of College Girls), Jeanne Tripplehorn (Big Love), Tim Blake Nelson, Scott Shepherd (Killers of the Flower Moon), Tracy Letts (Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty), Kyle Maclachlan (Twin Peaks) and Macon Blair (Oppenheimer).
The Sensitive Kind is a Tulsa noir about a guy (Hawke) who knows too much. Roles for the newly added cast are being kept under wraps.
Harjo also serves as writer and director on the pilot, which he and Hawke executive produce with Garrett Basch. The project falls under Harjo’s overall deal with the studio behind the pilot, FX Productions. The order for The Sensitive Kind comes on the heels of Reservation Dogs ending its award-winning three-season run on FX.
They are Keith David (American Fiction), Siena East (Sex Lives of College Girls), Jeanne Tripplehorn (Big Love), Tim Blake Nelson, Scott Shepherd (Killers of the Flower Moon), Tracy Letts (Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty), Kyle Maclachlan (Twin Peaks) and Macon Blair (Oppenheimer).
The Sensitive Kind is a Tulsa noir about a guy (Hawke) who knows too much. Roles for the newly added cast are being kept under wraps.
Harjo also serves as writer and director on the pilot, which he and Hawke executive produce with Garrett Basch. The project falls under Harjo’s overall deal with the studio behind the pilot, FX Productions. The order for The Sensitive Kind comes on the heels of Reservation Dogs ending its award-winning three-season run on FX.
- 3/26/2024
- by Rosy Cordero
- Deadline Film + TV
Netflix has greenlit the limited series “Black Rabbit” starring Jason Bateman and Jude Law.
The series was originally announced as being in development at the streamer back in October 2022. With the greenlight announcement, it is also confirmed that Cleopatra Coleman (“Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire”), Amaka Okafor, Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù, and Dagmara Dominczyk will all star in the series alongside Bateman and Law.
The official logline for the series states, “When the owner of a New York City hotspot (Bateman) allows his turbulent brother (Law) back in his life, he opens the door to escalating dangers that threaten to bring down everything he’s built.”
Zach Baylin and Kate Susman created the series and serve as executive producers. Bateman will direct the first two episodes and executive produce along with Michael Costigan under their Aggregate Films banner. Law and Ben Jackson will executive produce via Riff Raff Entertainment.
The series was originally announced as being in development at the streamer back in October 2022. With the greenlight announcement, it is also confirmed that Cleopatra Coleman (“Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire”), Amaka Okafor, Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù, and Dagmara Dominczyk will all star in the series alongside Bateman and Law.
The official logline for the series states, “When the owner of a New York City hotspot (Bateman) allows his turbulent brother (Law) back in his life, he opens the door to escalating dangers that threaten to bring down everything he’s built.”
Zach Baylin and Kate Susman created the series and serve as executive producers. Bateman will direct the first two episodes and executive produce along with Michael Costigan under their Aggregate Films banner. Law and Ben Jackson will executive produce via Riff Raff Entertainment.
- 3/14/2024
- by Joe Otterson
- Variety Film + TV
Well-established Italian producers Mario Gianani and Lorenzo Mieli — who left their Fremantle-owned banners, Wildside and The Apartment, respectively, earlier this year — are returning to the growing TV and film powerhouse with their new scripted outfit.
The duo — who co-founded “The Young Pope” and “My Brilliant Friend” production house Wildside in 2009 before Mieli exited to set up The Apartment, which was behind the recent hit “Priscilla” — are yet to reveal details of their new company. But the pair have now signed a co-production deal with Fremantle that will see them collaborate on several projects.
Among those in production and post-production from the two producers are Paolo Sorrentino’s latest film, Kirill Serebrennikov’s “Limonov -The Ballad,” “Queer” by Luca Guadagnino starring Daniel Craig, the new film by Gabriele Mainetti, “Maria” by Pablo Larraín starring Angelina Jolie, plus the TV series “M. The Son of the Century” by Joe Wright and “Il Mostro” by Stefano Sollima.
The duo — who co-founded “The Young Pope” and “My Brilliant Friend” production house Wildside in 2009 before Mieli exited to set up The Apartment, which was behind the recent hit “Priscilla” — are yet to reveal details of their new company. But the pair have now signed a co-production deal with Fremantle that will see them collaborate on several projects.
Among those in production and post-production from the two producers are Paolo Sorrentino’s latest film, Kirill Serebrennikov’s “Limonov -The Ballad,” “Queer” by Luca Guadagnino starring Daniel Craig, the new film by Gabriele Mainetti, “Maria” by Pablo Larraín starring Angelina Jolie, plus the TV series “M. The Son of the Century” by Joe Wright and “Il Mostro” by Stefano Sollima.
- 2/29/2024
- by Alex Ritman
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Sebastian Roché (1923) is making his K-drama debut in Netflix’s Queen of Tears premiering March 9. He will portray Dr. Braun, a German doctor who has an interesting relationship with the two leads.
From Studio Dragon, Showrunners and Culture Depot, the series follows Hong Hae-in (Kim Ji-won), the third-generation heiress to Queens Group and the queen of department stores, who has been married for three years to Baek Hyeon-u (Kim Soo-hyun), Yongdu-ri village chief’s son and the prince of supermarkets. As the couple weathers a marital crisis, they discover a miraculous new beginning that rewrites their love story.
Additional cast includes Park Sung-hoon, Kwak Dong-yeon, Lee Joo Bin with a guest appearance by Song Joongki.
Queen of Tears is written by Park Ji-eun. Jang Young-woo and Kim Hee-won direct.
Roché can currently be seen in Paramount’s Taylor Sheridan series 1923 starring opposite Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren. He...
From Studio Dragon, Showrunners and Culture Depot, the series follows Hong Hae-in (Kim Ji-won), the third-generation heiress to Queens Group and the queen of department stores, who has been married for three years to Baek Hyeon-u (Kim Soo-hyun), Yongdu-ri village chief’s son and the prince of supermarkets. As the couple weathers a marital crisis, they discover a miraculous new beginning that rewrites their love story.
Additional cast includes Park Sung-hoon, Kwak Dong-yeon, Lee Joo Bin with a guest appearance by Song Joongki.
Queen of Tears is written by Park Ji-eun. Jang Young-woo and Kim Hee-won direct.
Roché can currently be seen in Paramount’s Taylor Sheridan series 1923 starring opposite Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren. He...
- 2/27/2024
- by Rosy Cordero
- Deadline Film + TV
Over the past few years Italian cinema has been making strides in the global arena and 2024 looks likely to bolster its international standing. New works by top auteurs Paolo Sorrentino and Luca Guadagnino will be launching from the festival circuit just as a fresh crop of directors comes to fore, starting with Margherita Vicario, whose first film “Gloria!” scored a Berlin competition slot.
Below is a compendium of new Italian movies set to hit this year’s fest circuit.
“Another End” – Gael García Bernal and Renate Reinsve (“The Worse Person in the World”) star as lovers caught in an unusual bind in Italian director Piero Messina’s sci-fi film “Another End” which is competing in Berlin. This second feature by Messina – whose first feature, “The Wait,” launched with a splash in the 2015 Venice competition – is set in a near-future when a new technology exists that can put the consciousness of...
Below is a compendium of new Italian movies set to hit this year’s fest circuit.
“Another End” – Gael García Bernal and Renate Reinsve (“The Worse Person in the World”) star as lovers caught in an unusual bind in Italian director Piero Messina’s sci-fi film “Another End” which is competing in Berlin. This second feature by Messina – whose first feature, “The Wait,” launched with a splash in the 2015 Venice competition – is set in a near-future when a new technology exists that can put the consciousness of...
- 2/17/2024
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Sarah Doole, the respected British drama exec whose credits included The Young Pope, My Brilliant Friend and Deutschland 83, has died of cancer. She was 63.
The announcement was made by Anton, the Paddington producer-financier that Doole joined last year to run its London-based TV operation. She was previously CEO of It’s a Sin producer Red Production Company and, before that, Director of Global Drama at Fremantle.
Fremantle Group CEO Jennifer Mullin said: “Those who had the pleasure of working with Sarah will know that she was a true creative, and a driving force. Her passion and her energy had no limits. She helped lay the strong foundations of our Global Drama business and was a brilliant leader. Our thoughts are with her family and friends at this time.”
Anton TV head Sangeeta Desai added: “Since her death, tributes have poured in from across the globe and I am overwhelmed...
The announcement was made by Anton, the Paddington producer-financier that Doole joined last year to run its London-based TV operation. She was previously CEO of It’s a Sin producer Red Production Company and, before that, Director of Global Drama at Fremantle.
Fremantle Group CEO Jennifer Mullin said: “Those who had the pleasure of working with Sarah will know that she was a true creative, and a driving force. Her passion and her energy had no limits. She helped lay the strong foundations of our Global Drama business and was a brilliant leader. Our thoughts are with her family and friends at this time.”
Anton TV head Sangeeta Desai added: “Since her death, tributes have poured in from across the globe and I am overwhelmed...
- 2/12/2024
- by Max Goldbart
- Deadline Film + TV
Barcelona-based Grup Mediapro has promoted Laura Fernández Espeso to the post of general manager with oversight over not just The Mediapro Studio, where she currently serves as CEO, but the whole of the Group. The appointment is effective Jan. 1, 2025.
As Grup Mediapro’s No. 2, reporting to Mediapro co-founder Tatxo Benet, Group Media President and CEO, Fernández Espeso will oversee a company now streamlined in five business units, two new, focused on the Group’s principle revenue drivers.
Fernández Espeso replaces Juan Ruíz de Gauna who has had a stellar career occupying senior management positions from an early age at key companies re-shaping Spain’s modern media landscape as ongoing deregulation kicked in, at Antena 3 TV, Prisa’s Sogetel, Sogepaq and Idea, then Via Digital, Telefonica and from 2002 at Mediapro and its commercial broadcaster La Sexta.
Apart from Fernandez Espeso, other long-serving Mediapro execs have been promoted at the giant multimedia communications group.
As Grup Mediapro’s No. 2, reporting to Mediapro co-founder Tatxo Benet, Group Media President and CEO, Fernández Espeso will oversee a company now streamlined in five business units, two new, focused on the Group’s principle revenue drivers.
Fernández Espeso replaces Juan Ruíz de Gauna who has had a stellar career occupying senior management positions from an early age at key companies re-shaping Spain’s modern media landscape as ongoing deregulation kicked in, at Antena 3 TV, Prisa’s Sogetel, Sogepaq and Idea, then Via Digital, Telefonica and from 2002 at Mediapro and its commercial broadcaster La Sexta.
Apart from Fernandez Espeso, other long-serving Mediapro execs have been promoted at the giant multimedia communications group.
- 1/30/2024
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
Prominent Italian producers Mario Gianani and Lorenzo Mieli are exiting their Fremantle-owned companies — Wildside and The Apartment, respectively — in an industry shakeup expected to lead them to jointly form a new independent scripted content outfit.
Gianani and Mieli co-founded Wildside in 2009 and turned it into the powerhouse behind major global dramas such as Rai/HBO’s “The Young Pope” and “My Brilliant Friend,” to name a few. Wildside was aquired by Fremantle in 2015.
Mieli subsequently went his own way and set up The Apartment in 2020 under the Fremantle umbrella. Recent The Apartment titles include Sofia Coppola’s “Priscilla” and Pablo Larrain’s upcoming Angelina-starrer “Maria” about iconic soprano Maria Callas, amid a rich international slate.
A Fremantle Italy spokesperson confirmed the ongoing exits of the two top producers, adding that the separations are not acrimonious and that Fremantle is discussing “the ways in which we will will continue to work together.
Gianani and Mieli co-founded Wildside in 2009 and turned it into the powerhouse behind major global dramas such as Rai/HBO’s “The Young Pope” and “My Brilliant Friend,” to name a few. Wildside was aquired by Fremantle in 2015.
Mieli subsequently went his own way and set up The Apartment in 2020 under the Fremantle umbrella. Recent The Apartment titles include Sofia Coppola’s “Priscilla” and Pablo Larrain’s upcoming Angelina-starrer “Maria” about iconic soprano Maria Callas, amid a rich international slate.
A Fremantle Italy spokesperson confirmed the ongoing exits of the two top producers, adding that the separations are not acrimonious and that Fremantle is discussing “the ways in which we will will continue to work together.
- 1/19/2024
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Two of Italy’s top producers – The Apartment’s Lorenzo Mieli and Wildside’s Mario Gianani – are leaving their Fremantle-owned companies.
Between them, Mieli and Gianani’s companies have produced many of Italy’s most acclaimed features of recent years.
A Fremantle spokesperson confirmed their departures, describing the moves as amicable, and told Screen: “We are finalising a way to continue to work together in a different structure.”
Gianani’s Wildside is behind 2023 Italian box office smash There’s Still Tomorrow, as well as festival hits The Eight Mountains, Saverio Costanzo’s Finally Dawn and Disney+ series The Good Mothers.
Between them, Mieli and Gianani’s companies have produced many of Italy’s most acclaimed features of recent years.
A Fremantle spokesperson confirmed their departures, describing the moves as amicable, and told Screen: “We are finalising a way to continue to work together in a different structure.”
Gianani’s Wildside is behind 2023 Italian box office smash There’s Still Tomorrow, as well as festival hits The Eight Mountains, Saverio Costanzo’s Finally Dawn and Disney+ series The Good Mothers.
- 1/18/2024
- ScreenDaily
Two of Italy’s top producers – The Apartment’s Lorenzo Mieli and Wildside’s Mario Gianani – are leaving their Fremantle-backed companies.
Between them, Mieli and Gianani’s companies have produced many of Italy’s most acclaimed features of recent years.
A Fremantle spokesperson confirmed their departures, describing the moves as amicable, and told Screen: “We are finalising a way to continue to work together in a different structure.”
Gianani’s Wildside is behind 2023 Italian box office smash There’s Still Tomorrow, as well as festival hits The Eight Mountains, Saverio Costanzo’s Finally Dawn and Disney+ series The Good Mothers.
Between them, Mieli and Gianani’s companies have produced many of Italy’s most acclaimed features of recent years.
A Fremantle spokesperson confirmed their departures, describing the moves as amicable, and told Screen: “We are finalising a way to continue to work together in a different structure.”
Gianani’s Wildside is behind 2023 Italian box office smash There’s Still Tomorrow, as well as festival hits The Eight Mountains, Saverio Costanzo’s Finally Dawn and Disney+ series The Good Mothers.
- 1/18/2024
- ScreenDaily
Before getting out of the business of producing scripted content, Cinemax's lineup of shows was truly phenomenal.
The network brought great shows like Strikeback, Warrior (now on Max), and Banshee to life.
These shows were well-written, with great characters and stories. The action was top-tier, making action buffs weak on the knees with every sequence.
Banshee's narrative, storyline, direction, and enigmatic characters stood out. The show is one of the most underrated shows from the 2010s.
After seeing its lead male actor's phenomenal skills in a currently airing show, I was compelled to check up on the cast and see what they've been up to in the years since the show ended.
Antony Starr -- Lucas Hood
Relatively unknown at the time, New Zealand actor Antony Starr embodied the role of Lucas Hood.
Fresh out of jail after a robbery, becoming a regular citizen was the least of...
The network brought great shows like Strikeback, Warrior (now on Max), and Banshee to life.
These shows were well-written, with great characters and stories. The action was top-tier, making action buffs weak on the knees with every sequence.
Banshee's narrative, storyline, direction, and enigmatic characters stood out. The show is one of the most underrated shows from the 2010s.
After seeing its lead male actor's phenomenal skills in a currently airing show, I was compelled to check up on the cast and see what they've been up to in the years since the show ended.
Antony Starr -- Lucas Hood
Relatively unknown at the time, New Zealand actor Antony Starr embodied the role of Lucas Hood.
Fresh out of jail after a robbery, becoming a regular citizen was the least of...
- 12/16/2023
- by Denis Kimathi
- TVfanatic
In a milestone move, the board of Mediapro Group, has approved the departure of managing partner Jaume Roures, the best known face of the company who, since co-founding Mediapro in 1994, was instrumental in building the company into Spain’s biggest independent international film-tv player.
Taxto Benet, the other head of Mediapro, remains as company president and CEO; all other key figures at Mediapro remain in their posts, including Juan Ruíz de Gauna, director general, Laura Fernández Espeso, CEO of The Mediapro Studio, and Carme Anglada, head of communication.
Roures’ exit comes at request of Mediapro majority shareholder Southwind Group, which controls over 80% of the group and minority shareholder Wpp, according to a written statement issued Friday by Mediapro.
Announcing that “the void that Jaume leaves in the group is immense,” Benet also underscored Friday that “the inspiration and legacy that Jaume leaves behind are an irreplaceable part of Grup Mediapro...
Taxto Benet, the other head of Mediapro, remains as company president and CEO; all other key figures at Mediapro remain in their posts, including Juan Ruíz de Gauna, director general, Laura Fernández Espeso, CEO of The Mediapro Studio, and Carme Anglada, head of communication.
Roures’ exit comes at request of Mediapro majority shareholder Southwind Group, which controls over 80% of the group and minority shareholder Wpp, according to a written statement issued Friday by Mediapro.
Announcing that “the void that Jaume leaves in the group is immense,” Benet also underscored Friday that “the inspiration and legacy that Jaume leaves behind are an irreplaceable part of Grup Mediapro...
- 10/27/2023
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
The Mediapro Studio will shoot from November Season 3 of “The Head,” its biggest international hit, filming in the Sahara Desert with John Lynch (“The Fall”) and Katharine O’Donnelly (“Mary Queen of Scots), attached once more to star.
Olivia Morris also returns to her role as Rachel Russo, the morally conscionable daughter of ambition-crazed biologist Arthur Wilde, played by Lynch.
“The Head” Season 1 took place at an Antarctic research station cut off in winter, Season 2 on a hulking freighter at mid-Pacific’s Point Nemo, the most distant place on earth from nearest land.
“The locations for this series have been a fundamental part of the show itself, always in an inaccessible place,” Laura Fernández Espeso, The Mediapro Studio CEO, told Variety before talking at a Mipcom Media Mastermind Keynote on Tuesday.
“This time we’ll be shooting in the desert: ‘The Head 3’ will take place in an unknown place in the Sahara desert,...
Olivia Morris also returns to her role as Rachel Russo, the morally conscionable daughter of ambition-crazed biologist Arthur Wilde, played by Lynch.
“The Head” Season 1 took place at an Antarctic research station cut off in winter, Season 2 on a hulking freighter at mid-Pacific’s Point Nemo, the most distant place on earth from nearest land.
“The locations for this series have been a fundamental part of the show itself, always in an inaccessible place,” Laura Fernández Espeso, The Mediapro Studio CEO, told Variety before talking at a Mipcom Media Mastermind Keynote on Tuesday.
“This time we’ll be shooting in the desert: ‘The Head 3’ will take place in an unknown place in the Sahara desert,...
- 10/17/2023
- by John Hopewell and Liza Foreman
- Variety Film + TV
The company has also unveiled an Israel-based €150m fund for film and scripted TV projects.
With five films playing in competition, European production and distribution group Fremantle is enjoying a strong presence at this year’s Venice Film Festival.
Fremantle’s Ireland-uk label Element Pictures is behind one of the hottest films on the Lido this year, Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things, while Italian label Wildside produced Saverio Costanzo’s big budget Finally Dawn.
Another Fremantle Italian production label The Apartment, meanwhile, is involved in three films in competition – Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla , Stefano Sollima’s Adagio and Piero Castellito’s Enea.
With five films playing in competition, European production and distribution group Fremantle is enjoying a strong presence at this year’s Venice Film Festival.
Fremantle’s Ireland-uk label Element Pictures is behind one of the hottest films on the Lido this year, Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things, while Italian label Wildside produced Saverio Costanzo’s big budget Finally Dawn.
Another Fremantle Italian production label The Apartment, meanwhile, is involved in three films in competition – Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla , Stefano Sollima’s Adagio and Piero Castellito’s Enea.
- 9/8/2023
- by Tim Dams
- ScreenDaily
Gary Oldman has joined the cast of Paolo Sorrentino’s new film that is currently shooting in Naples.
Details about Oldman’s role in the still-untitled Italian-language drama are being kept under wraps.
Sorrentino’s 10th feature is about a woman named Partenope “who bears the name of her city but is neither siren nor myth,” as the auteur – who won an international Oscar in 2013 for “The Great Beauty” –put it in a statement to Variety in June, when the shoot started.
In Greek mythology, Parthenope, as she is known in English, is the name of a siren who having failed to entice Odysseus with her songs, cast herself into the sea and drowned. Her body washed up on a symbolic foundational rock where Naples lies. Neapolitans in Italy are also known as “Parthenopeans.”
“Her long life embodies the full repertoire of human existence: youth’s lightheartedness and its demise,...
Details about Oldman’s role in the still-untitled Italian-language drama are being kept under wraps.
Sorrentino’s 10th feature is about a woman named Partenope “who bears the name of her city but is neither siren nor myth,” as the auteur – who won an international Oscar in 2013 for “The Great Beauty” –put it in a statement to Variety in June, when the shoot started.
In Greek mythology, Parthenope, as she is known in English, is the name of a siren who having failed to entice Odysseus with her songs, cast herself into the sea and drowned. Her body washed up on a symbolic foundational rock where Naples lies. Neapolitans in Italy are also known as “Parthenopeans.”
“Her long life embodies the full repertoire of human existence: youth’s lightheartedness and its demise,...
- 8/30/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Being an independent producer was never easy. But these days, it’s near impossible. Even before the dual writers and actors strikes, changes in the international film and TV market had made life tough for the indies. Old models of art house moviemaking have been ravaged by a combination of decline in the specialty box office, the collapse of ancillary revenue for home entertainment and TV licensing, and the more recent pullback by streaming companies, who have begun to back fewer, and more mainstream, movies.
But one indie production company has gone from making just a handful of movies a year to dozens, finding a way to turn the turbulent new reality into a business model for making cutting-edge art house cinema that, shockingly, can actually turn a profit. It’s the company behind five of the most hotly anticipated titles at the Venice Film Festival this year: Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things,...
But one indie production company has gone from making just a handful of movies a year to dozens, finding a way to turn the turbulent new reality into a business model for making cutting-edge art house cinema that, shockingly, can actually turn a profit. It’s the company behind five of the most hotly anticipated titles at the Venice Film Festival this year: Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things,...
- 8/25/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Olivia Macklin and Dylan McTee are set to lead Paul Etheredge’s paranormal parenting thriller “Psychopomp” alongside Shawnee Smith, Avangeline Friedlander and Lily D. Moore.
The horror will spotlight Macklin and McTee as a couple who foster a “mute orphan” (portrayed by Friedlander). The child, however, has endured a calamitous past that will haunt the family.
“This act of love turns to horror when they find themselves besieged by a terrifying entity intent on destroying this newfound family from within,” reads the film’s official logline.
Macklin is best known for her role as Madre in the television miniseries “The Young Pope.” Additionally, she has starred in “Pretty Smart” and “Christmas Always Finds Its Way.” She’ll be seen next in Richard Lagravense’s “A Family Affair” led by Joey King, Nicole Kidman and Zac Efron.
McTee hails from Mike Pr. Nelson’s “Wrong Turn” and the TV series “Roswell,...
The horror will spotlight Macklin and McTee as a couple who foster a “mute orphan” (portrayed by Friedlander). The child, however, has endured a calamitous past that will haunt the family.
“This act of love turns to horror when they find themselves besieged by a terrifying entity intent on destroying this newfound family from within,” reads the film’s official logline.
Macklin is best known for her role as Madre in the television miniseries “The Young Pope.” Additionally, she has starred in “Pretty Smart” and “Christmas Always Finds Its Way.” She’ll be seen next in Richard Lagravense’s “A Family Affair” led by Joey King, Nicole Kidman and Zac Efron.
McTee hails from Mike Pr. Nelson’s “Wrong Turn” and the TV series “Roswell,...
- 7/26/2023
- by McKinley Franklin
- Variety Film + TV
Sky Italia celebrated its 20-year anniversary on Tuesday by announcing a rich slate of upcoming originals, including a second season of the Italian adaptation of “Call My Agent,” which will see “The White Lotus” star Sabrina Impacciatore joining the cast.
Impacciatore’s agent is Gersh and her management is Mgmt.
The Sky Italia originals slate comprises previously announced high-end drama “M. Son of the Century” by British director Joe Wright, alongside less lavish shows in various stages – most of which have international potential. It underscores how the Italian unit of the Comcast-owned pay-tv service continues to be a major Italian industry driver.
While Sky’s German unit, which is believed to be up for sale, has put production on pause, Sky Italia is cranking out Italian originals through the platform’s Sky Studios unit at a steady pace, showing no signs of a slowdown.
“We are at the level...
Impacciatore’s agent is Gersh and her management is Mgmt.
The Sky Italia originals slate comprises previously announced high-end drama “M. Son of the Century” by British director Joe Wright, alongside less lavish shows in various stages – most of which have international potential. It underscores how the Italian unit of the Comcast-owned pay-tv service continues to be a major Italian industry driver.
While Sky’s German unit, which is believed to be up for sale, has put production on pause, Sky Italia is cranking out Italian originals through the platform’s Sky Studios unit at a steady pace, showing no signs of a slowdown.
“We are at the level...
- 7/4/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Roughly two years after his return to Naples for “The Hand of God,” Paolo Sorrentino is heading back to his hometown for another movie steeped in the lore of his native southern port city.
The still untitled film is about a woman named Partenope “who bears the name of her city but is neither siren nor myth,” the Oscar-winning auteur has revealed to Variety.
In Greek mythology, Parthenope, as she is known in English, is the name of a siren who having failed to entice Odysseus with her songs, cast herself into the sea and drowned. Her body washed up on a symbolic foundational rock where Naples lies. Neapolitans in Italy are also known as “Parthenopeans.”
Shooting on Sorrentino’s new film is set to start “at the end of June” and will take place in Naples and on the island of Capri.
Here is the film’s full director’s statement,...
The still untitled film is about a woman named Partenope “who bears the name of her city but is neither siren nor myth,” the Oscar-winning auteur has revealed to Variety.
In Greek mythology, Parthenope, as she is known in English, is the name of a siren who having failed to entice Odysseus with her songs, cast herself into the sea and drowned. Her body washed up on a symbolic foundational rock where Naples lies. Neapolitans in Italy are also known as “Parthenopeans.”
Shooting on Sorrentino’s new film is set to start “at the end of June” and will take place in Naples and on the island of Capri.
Here is the film’s full director’s statement,...
- 6/23/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Roman Polanski’s “The Palace” has been set for release in Italian theatres in September, prompting speculation that the controversial director’s black comedy set in a posh hotel in the Swiss Alps resort of Gstaad on the eve of the new millennium could be launching from the Venice Film Festival.
Italy’s Rai Cinema, which is a main backer of Polanski’s new film, has slated a September 28 local release date via its 01 Distribuzione unit for “The Palace,” which has an ensemble cast including Mickey Rourke, John Cleese and Fanny Ardant. Other key cast members include German actor Oliver Masucci (“Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore”); Portugal’s Joaquin De Almeida; the U.K.’s Bronwyn James (“The Dig”) and Italy’s Fortunato Cerlino (”Gomorrah”).
The Palace/Courtesy Rai Cinema
Besides announcing the release date, production company Eliseo Entertainment and Rai Cinema have also issued a dippy decadent poster...
Italy’s Rai Cinema, which is a main backer of Polanski’s new film, has slated a September 28 local release date via its 01 Distribuzione unit for “The Palace,” which has an ensemble cast including Mickey Rourke, John Cleese and Fanny Ardant. Other key cast members include German actor Oliver Masucci (“Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore”); Portugal’s Joaquin De Almeida; the U.K.’s Bronwyn James (“The Dig”) and Italy’s Fortunato Cerlino (”Gomorrah”).
The Palace/Courtesy Rai Cinema
Besides announcing the release date, production company Eliseo Entertainment and Rai Cinema have also issued a dippy decadent poster...
- 6/8/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
James Cromwell has done Ewan Roy proud. Fresh off his character’s scene-stealing speech on Sunday night’s episode of “Succession,” the actor who plays Logan Roy’s (Brian Cox) humble and morally conscious brother thanked the show’s writers for his big moment and expressed solidarity with the WGA strike.
“It begins with the words,” Cromwell wrote on Twitter. “Nothing happens without them. Sometimes, the writing achieves transcendence, but, in every case, it’s seminal. I got to a give a brilliant speech recently, which not only explicated my and my brother’s characters, it illuminated an entire narrative. This is what great writers do. And they need to be compensated in accordance with their contribution.”
Cromwell went on to say that “at the very least” writers “need to be able to provide for themselves and their families.”
“In this era of corporate greed and union busting, management seems to hold all the cards.
“It begins with the words,” Cromwell wrote on Twitter. “Nothing happens without them. Sometimes, the writing achieves transcendence, but, in every case, it’s seminal. I got to a give a brilliant speech recently, which not only explicated my and my brother’s characters, it illuminated an entire narrative. This is what great writers do. And they need to be compensated in accordance with their contribution.”
Cromwell went on to say that “at the very least” writers “need to be able to provide for themselves and their families.”
“In this era of corporate greed and union busting, management seems to hold all the cards.
- 5/22/2023
- by Kayla Cobb
- The Wrap
The Holy Grail, a character in “Mrs. Davis” observes, might be the “most overused MacGuffin ever.” From “Monty Python” to “Indiana Jones,” the mythical chalice is an easy shorthand for a magical object that motivates heroes and antagonists alike. Sister Simone (Betty Gilpin), a nun who spends her days mak- ing strawberry jam at an abbey outside Reno, is the latest protag- onist to set her sights on the Grail. She’s been assigned this quest by an artificial intelligence known as Mrs. Davis, which marries the menace of Skynet with the affable mien of Alexa. For reasons both principled and personal, Simone despises Mrs. Davis, but she’s been extended an offer she can’t refuse: If she finds the Grail and destroys it, Mrs. Davis will destroy herself. As the same supporting player notes: “Algorithms love clichés, and there’s no cliché bigger than the quest for the Holy Grail.
- 4/18/2023
- by Alison Herman
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Oscar winner Paolo Sorrentino (The Great Beauty) is due to start filming a new movie in June, we can reveal.
Set between the picturesque Italian island of Capri and Sorrentino’s city of birth, Naples, the movie will reunite the filmmaker with The Apartment producer Lorenzo Mieli after their collaborations on Oscar nominee The Hand Of God and series The New Pope, The Young Pope and Sei Pezzi Facili. Script comes from Sorrentino.
Plot details are being kept under wraps, but we hear the project will deal with “the human condition”.
Naples and its surrounding area were the setting for the director’s most recent film, 2021 drama The Hand Of God.
Contrary to a handful of online reports in the past week, we hear the film won’t be based on myths surrounding The Siren of Parthenope or star Gomorrah actor Giampiero De Concilio.
There’s no word yet...
Set between the picturesque Italian island of Capri and Sorrentino’s city of birth, Naples, the movie will reunite the filmmaker with The Apartment producer Lorenzo Mieli after their collaborations on Oscar nominee The Hand Of God and series The New Pope, The Young Pope and Sei Pezzi Facili. Script comes from Sorrentino.
Plot details are being kept under wraps, but we hear the project will deal with “the human condition”.
Naples and its surrounding area were the setting for the director’s most recent film, 2021 drama The Hand Of God.
Contrary to a handful of online reports in the past week, we hear the film won’t be based on myths surrounding The Siren of Parthenope or star Gomorrah actor Giampiero De Concilio.
There’s no word yet...
- 4/3/2023
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Andrea Scrosati, who is group COO and continental Europe CEO of Fremantle, isn’t too worried about various types of turbulence that are currently creating anxiety in the U.S. media market such as draconian cost cuts being made by juggernaut groups and the impending prospect of a Writers Guild of America strike.
Speaking in Italy at a film and TV conference organized by the Idm-Film Commission Südtirol titled “Less is More – What to Do When the Streaming Boom is Over” Scrosati noted that the effect of market consolidation in the U.S. and fear due to plunging stock market results that is prompting cost cuts at Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery certainly means that “some of the big buyers are in a conflict.”
Which, in turn, “makes it more complicated sometimes to have discussions.”
But, he said, “The amount of content that is required by consumers across the world is not going to change.
Speaking in Italy at a film and TV conference organized by the Idm-Film Commission Südtirol titled “Less is More – What to Do When the Streaming Boom is Over” Scrosati noted that the effect of market consolidation in the U.S. and fear due to plunging stock market results that is prompting cost cuts at Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery certainly means that “some of the big buyers are in a conflict.”
Which, in turn, “makes it more complicated sometimes to have discussions.”
But, he said, “The amount of content that is required by consumers across the world is not going to change.
- 3/31/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Brian Roberts, chairman and CEO of U.S. media giant Comcast, is traditionally a buyer and a builder, not a pump-and-dumper. Over the years, he has grown Comcast through bold M&a moves, snatching up NBCUniversal in 2011, DreamWorks Animation in 2016, and, in the company’s most recent mega-buy, paying around $39 billion for European pay-tv giant Sky, which operates three language divisions: English (for the U.K. and Ireland), German (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) and Italian.
With every deal, the goal was always to make Comcast bigger and better able to respond to or lead industry trends. Not all acquisition plans worked out. Roberts tried, unsuccessfully, to buy the Walt Disney Co. and, later, former Sky owner 21st Century Fox. Disney, of course, ended up snatching up large parts of Fox in 2018. In almost every case, Roberts and Comcast have preferred to hold and further build and grow businesses, trusting they will...
With every deal, the goal was always to make Comcast bigger and better able to respond to or lead industry trends. Not all acquisition plans worked out. Roberts tried, unsuccessfully, to buy the Walt Disney Co. and, later, former Sky owner 21st Century Fox. Disney, of course, ended up snatching up large parts of Fox in 2018. In almost every case, Roberts and Comcast have preferred to hold and further build and grow businesses, trusting they will...
- 3/17/2023
- by Scott Roxborough and Georg Szalai
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
New Disney+ original series “The Good Mothers,” which provides a fresh female take on the Calabrian mob, marks a case of truly organic collaboration between the U.K. and Italy to ensure that a great story didn’t risk losing an iota of authenticity.
The show, which is competing in the “Berlinale Series” section, depicts the Calabrian mob through the prism of three daring women inside the ‘Ndrangheta organized crime clan who collaborated with a female prosecutor and withstood the consequences of their attempt to escape its iron grip. It is produced produced by Juliette Howell, Tessa Ross and Harriet Spencer for London’s House Productions, which originated the project, and by Mario Gianani and Lorenzo Gangarossa for Rome’s Wildside, a Fremantle company, which helped to firmly root the story in its Calabrian context.
“Good Mothers” is based on a book by U.K.-based journalist Alex Perry and...
The show, which is competing in the “Berlinale Series” section, depicts the Calabrian mob through the prism of three daring women inside the ‘Ndrangheta organized crime clan who collaborated with a female prosecutor and withstood the consequences of their attempt to escape its iron grip. It is produced produced by Juliette Howell, Tessa Ross and Harriet Spencer for London’s House Productions, which originated the project, and by Mario Gianani and Lorenzo Gangarossa for Rome’s Wildside, a Fremantle company, which helped to firmly root the story in its Calabrian context.
“Good Mothers” is based on a book by U.K.-based journalist Alex Perry and...
- 2/21/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Sky has unveiled its Italian “Call My Agent” adaptation set in Rome featuring high-caliber Italian guest stars such as Paolo Sorrentino – in a side-splitting turn – and actor Matilda De Angelis.
The six-episode season is produced by Palomar, the Italian company controlled by France’s Mediawan which originated the hit show set at a Parisian talent agency.
In episode two Oscar-winner Sorrentino waltzes into the Rome agency called CMA with a “brilliant” new idea for a third instalment to his “The Young Pope” TV series.”
It’s “The Lady Pope” for whom the God-like director wants 1980s Italian disco queen Ivana Spagna to be cast in the titular role. And also Denzel Washington as the female pope’s chamberlain, and Madonna as her mother.
The gag was thought of by Sorrentino who spoofs himself with biting irony.
In real life De Angelis recently scored the lead role on the upcoming Italian...
The six-episode season is produced by Palomar, the Italian company controlled by France’s Mediawan which originated the hit show set at a Parisian talent agency.
In episode two Oscar-winner Sorrentino waltzes into the Rome agency called CMA with a “brilliant” new idea for a third instalment to his “The Young Pope” TV series.”
It’s “The Lady Pope” for whom the God-like director wants 1980s Italian disco queen Ivana Spagna to be cast in the titular role. And also Denzel Washington as the female pope’s chamberlain, and Madonna as her mother.
The gag was thought of by Sorrentino who spoofs himself with biting irony.
In real life De Angelis recently scored the lead role on the upcoming Italian...
- 1/19/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Anthony Hopkins has boarded Roland Emmerich’s gladiator series “Those About to Die.” The Oscar winner will play Emperor Vespasian in the Peacock drama, which is being produced by AGC Television and is written by Oscar-nominated “Saving Private Ryan” writer Robert Rodat.
Peacock handed a straight-to-series order for “Those About to Die” last summer. Set in the “complex and corrupt” world of gladiatorial competition, the show follows an ensemble of characters from all parts of Roman society who collide in the arena.
Hopkins is the first major cast member announced for the project. He will play Vespasian, a Roman emperor and rural upstart who claimed his throne after victory in a bloody ten-year civil war. An official synopsis describes the ageing Vespasian as “despised by the Patricians jockeying for position in the Empire and looking to supplant his heirs to the throne the first chance they get.”
In addition to directing,...
Peacock handed a straight-to-series order for “Those About to Die” last summer. Set in the “complex and corrupt” world of gladiatorial competition, the show follows an ensemble of characters from all parts of Roman society who collide in the arena.
Hopkins is the first major cast member announced for the project. He will play Vespasian, a Roman emperor and rural upstart who claimed his throne after victory in a bloody ten-year civil war. An official synopsis describes the ageing Vespasian as “despised by the Patricians jockeying for position in the Empire and looking to supplant his heirs to the throne the first chance they get.”
In addition to directing,...
- 1/18/2023
- by Manori Ravindran
- Variety Film + TV
Peacock will air series in the US. High End Productions holds European rights, AGC controls remainder of the world.
Anthony Hopkins has joined Roland Emmerich’s gladiator series Those About To Die for AGC Television.
Hopkins, who currently stars in Armageddon Time, will portray what is described as the “pivotal role” of the pivotal role of Emperor Vespasian in the epic drama that will air on Peacock in the US.
Production is scheduled to commence at Rome’s Cinecittà Studios in March. Robert Rodat, whose credits include Saving Private Ryan and The Patriot, wrote the screenplay to the series which takes place in the complex,...
Anthony Hopkins has joined Roland Emmerich’s gladiator series Those About To Die for AGC Television.
Hopkins, who currently stars in Armageddon Time, will portray what is described as the “pivotal role” of the pivotal role of Emperor Vespasian in the epic drama that will air on Peacock in the US.
Production is scheduled to commence at Rome’s Cinecittà Studios in March. Robert Rodat, whose credits include Saving Private Ryan and The Patriot, wrote the screenplay to the series which takes place in the complex,...
- 1/18/2023
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Prominent Italian producer Lorenzo Mieli has shepherded standout TV series such as “The Young Pope” and “My Brilliant Friend” as well as bringing Luca Guadagnino’s “Bones and All” to the big screen. Now he is taking his production company The Apartment to the next level by broadening its international scope.
While continuing to work with Italy’s top directors, including Guadagnino, Paolo Sorrentino, and Stefano Sollima, Mieli’s Fremantle-owned outfit is ramping up a high-caliber slate of film and TV projects, which have been announced, involving the likes of Sofia Coppola, Angelina Jolie, Pablo Larrain, Joe Wright, Florian Zeller, and “Peaky Blinders” creator Steven Knight.
Mieli, who is based in Rome, has secured Knight to work on two projects, both in pre-production: the Apple TV original series “Ferrari,” which is the biggest skein ever to be produced and shot in Italy, and Pablo Larrain’s biopic of iconic...
While continuing to work with Italy’s top directors, including Guadagnino, Paolo Sorrentino, and Stefano Sollima, Mieli’s Fremantle-owned outfit is ramping up a high-caliber slate of film and TV projects, which have been announced, involving the likes of Sofia Coppola, Angelina Jolie, Pablo Larrain, Joe Wright, Florian Zeller, and “Peaky Blinders” creator Steven Knight.
Mieli, who is based in Rome, has secured Knight to work on two projects, both in pre-production: the Apple TV original series “Ferrari,” which is the biggest skein ever to be produced and shot in Italy, and Pablo Larrain’s biopic of iconic...
- 11/28/2022
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Among the many Jude Law performances, his turn as the titular character in "The Young Pope" may be up there with his very best work. Created by Paolo Sorrentino, the series was an intimate, fictional look at the Catholic Church at the highest levels in the Vatican. It featured Law as Lenny Belardo, a relatively young cardinal, who is chosen as the first American pope, Pius Xiii. "The Young Pope" juggled several key dramatic themes that revolved around the complicated politics of the Vatican and the waning faith of its new leader. However, what it didn't really account for was how uncomfortable the pope's garbs were.
Seriously, Law had a difficult time moving around in the typical Pope Pius Xiii attire. Of course, the personal trials and tribulations of its main characters make "The Young Pope," and its follow-up "The New Pope," compelling even in its most dreary moments. But...
Seriously, Law had a difficult time moving around in the typical Pope Pius Xiii attire. Of course, the personal trials and tribulations of its main characters make "The Young Pope," and its follow-up "The New Pope," compelling even in its most dreary moments. But...
- 11/19/2022
- by Marcos Melendez
- Slash Film
If we had to rank his best performances, Jude Law's turn as the titular character in HBO's "The Young Pope" quickly rises to the top. His filmography speaks for itself, but it is hard to compare to the work he puts into bringing the fictional priest to life. It's not that shocking, either. "The Young Pope," and its sequel series, "The New Pope," were both created by Paolo Sorrentino. The Academy Award-winning director worked closely with Law to develop Lenny Belardo aka Pius Xiii as a layered, heavily flawed religious leader. His disdain for a modernized church and obsession with unbridled fanaticism becomes a vessel to tell a personal story that eventually transforms the character for the greater good.
Across the first season and its sequel, Pius Xiii slowly but surely understands his place in the church and the grander scheme of the religion. His ultra-conservative approach to the...
Across the first season and its sequel, Pius Xiii slowly but surely understands his place in the church and the grander scheme of the religion. His ultra-conservative approach to the...
- 11/16/2022
- by Marcos Melendez
- Slash Film
Cristobal Tapia de Veer, who tapped into the sonic experience of Internet Age anxiety with the main theme for the first season of “The White Lotus,” wasn’t supposed to work on the show. Logistically, he was busy composing a snarling, delightfully unsettling score for the horror film “Smile”; thematically, the Season 2 jump from Hawaii to Sicily meant adjusting the dials on how the series presents its honey-trap of power and privilege in the titular 5-star resort. But “The White Lotus” couldn’t quite get away from Tapia de Veer’s work, and neither could he.
“They asked me to at least revisit the main theme,” Tapia de Veer told IndieWire. “Mike [White] told me some influences to fit in this new [season] in Italy, in Sicily, and that it would be nice to add some renaissance or Italian opera, or some renaissance instruments.” Tapia de Veer’s expertise with weaving vocal...
“They asked me to at least revisit the main theme,” Tapia de Veer told IndieWire. “Mike [White] told me some influences to fit in this new [season] in Italy, in Sicily, and that it would be nice to add some renaissance or Italian opera, or some renaissance instruments.” Tapia de Veer’s expertise with weaving vocal...
- 11/4/2022
- by Sarah Shachat
- Indiewire
Created and executive produced by Guillermo del Toro, the anthology series Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities is now available to watch in its entirety, as all eight episodes have been released through the Netflix streaming service. And director Vincenzo Natali would like you to know that there is a black and white version of his episode Graveyard Rats on there as well. You just have to go searching for it a little bit.
Natali took to Twitter to inform us, “A reminder: Graveyard Rats is available in glorious Black & White in the ‘Trailers & More’ section of the Netflix Cabinet of Curiosities menu. I like the color version but this is the way I intended it to be viewed. Colin Hoult’s cinematography is gorgeous.“
Here’s the info on that particular episode:
“Graveyard Rats”
Directed by: Vincenzo Natali (Cube, Splice)
Written by: Vincenzo Natali, based on a short...
Natali took to Twitter to inform us, “A reminder: Graveyard Rats is available in glorious Black & White in the ‘Trailers & More’ section of the Netflix Cabinet of Curiosities menu. I like the color version but this is the way I intended it to be viewed. Colin Hoult’s cinematography is gorgeous.“
Here’s the info on that particular episode:
“Graveyard Rats”
Directed by: Vincenzo Natali (Cube, Splice)
Written by: Vincenzo Natali, based on a short...
- 11/1/2022
- by Cody Hamman
- JoBlo.com
Click here to read the full article.
Visitors to the Rome Film Festival and Mia Market last month couldn’t have avoided them. They were everywhere in the eternal city: bright red billboards celebrating Cinecittà, the city’s legendary film studio. They weren’t promoting any new film or TV series shooting at the fame backlot. Instead the ads were part of a campaign, call it Cinecittà reboot, intended to return the Italian studio to its place atop the world stage.
Things have been quiet for a while around Cinecittà. Now the studio that write the history of international cinema with such productions as Ben-Hur, Cleopatra, Once Upon a Time In America and Gangs of New York, is looking to take back its place atop the world’s stage.
The new push comes amid a shakeup in the Italian film and TV industry, a market revolution in which Cinecittà intends to be a driving force.
Visitors to the Rome Film Festival and Mia Market last month couldn’t have avoided them. They were everywhere in the eternal city: bright red billboards celebrating Cinecittà, the city’s legendary film studio. They weren’t promoting any new film or TV series shooting at the fame backlot. Instead the ads were part of a campaign, call it Cinecittà reboot, intended to return the Italian studio to its place atop the world stage.
Things have been quiet for a while around Cinecittà. Now the studio that write the history of international cinema with such productions as Ben-Hur, Cleopatra, Once Upon a Time In America and Gangs of New York, is looking to take back its place atop the world’s stage.
The new push comes amid a shakeup in the Italian film and TV industry, a market revolution in which Cinecittà intends to be a driving force.
- 11/1/2022
- by Gianmaria Tammaro
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Netflix and Oscar winner Guillermo del Toro (The Shape of Water, Blade 2, Hellboy) have teamed up for the new anthology series “Cabinet of Curiosities,” a collection of live-action stories that Netflix says “is meant to challenge our traditional notions of horror.”
The series will debut Tuesday, October 25, launching a special four-day, double-episode event. Two all-new “Cabinet of Curiosities” tales will debut daily through Friday, October 28, when the entire collection of eight stories will be available to Netflix members around the world.
The debut cadence and themed nights are confirmed as follows: October 25 – Night One: “Scavengers” featuring episodes “Lot 36” and “Graveyard Rats” October 26 – Night Two: “Loners” featuring episodes “The Autopsy” and “The Outside” October 27 – Night Three: “Lovecraft” featuring episodes “Pickman’s Model” and “Dreams in the Witch House” October 28 – Night Four: “Visitations” featuring episodes “The Viewing” and “The Murmuring”
“From macabre to magical, gothic to grotesque or classically creepy, the...
The series will debut Tuesday, October 25, launching a special four-day, double-episode event. Two all-new “Cabinet of Curiosities” tales will debut daily through Friday, October 28, when the entire collection of eight stories will be available to Netflix members around the world.
The debut cadence and themed nights are confirmed as follows: October 25 – Night One: “Scavengers” featuring episodes “Lot 36” and “Graveyard Rats” October 26 – Night Two: “Loners” featuring episodes “The Autopsy” and “The Outside” October 27 – Night Three: “Lovecraft” featuring episodes “Pickman’s Model” and “Dreams in the Witch House” October 28 – Night Four: “Visitations” featuring episodes “The Viewing” and “The Murmuring”
“From macabre to magical, gothic to grotesque or classically creepy, the...
- 10/17/2022
- by John Squires
- bloody-disgusting.com
Created and executive produced by Guillermo del Toro, the anthology series Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities is going be released through the Netflix streaming service two episodes at a time later this month. The first two episodes will be released on Tuesday, October 25th, then Netflix will release two more episodes each day for the rest of the week. As of Friday, October 28th, all eight episodes will be available to watch. And today, Netflix unveiled the episode release order!
Here’s the list of episodes and their release dates:
October 25: Scavengers
“Lot 36”
Directed by: Guillermo Navarro
Written by: Regina Corrado, based on an original story by Guillermo del Toro
Cast: Tim Blake Nelson, Elpidia Carrillo, Demetrius Grosse and Sebastian Roché
Plot: A bigoted former soldier (Nelson) discovers a storage unit with a dark secret.
“Graveyard Rats”
Directed by: Vincenzo Natali
Written by: Vincenzo Natali, based on...
Here’s the list of episodes and their release dates:
October 25: Scavengers
“Lot 36”
Directed by: Guillermo Navarro
Written by: Regina Corrado, based on an original story by Guillermo del Toro
Cast: Tim Blake Nelson, Elpidia Carrillo, Demetrius Grosse and Sebastian Roché
Plot: A bigoted former soldier (Nelson) discovers a storage unit with a dark secret.
“Graveyard Rats”
Directed by: Vincenzo Natali
Written by: Vincenzo Natali, based on...
- 10/17/2022
- by Cody Hamman
- JoBlo.com
Italy’s storied Titanus studio, producers of myriad golden era Cinema Italiano works, is getting a reboot and reviving its production side with several projects in development, including a contemporary sequel of Dario Argento’s supernatural chiller “Phenomena.”
Established in 1904 by Gustavo Lombardo, Titanus was a true Italian major, which during the 1960s forged a partnership with MGM. They slowed down considerably from the mid-1960s onwards after Luchino Visconti’s lavish Sicily-set costumer “The Leopard” (1963), starring Burt Lancaster, Claudia Cardinale and Alain Delon, went way over budget. Since the mid-1980s the studio’s output has been on a much smaller scale, and primarily for TV.
Now led by former Disney Italy marketing chief Stefano Bethlen, who is Titanus’ general manager, the company – which has a 400-title library comprising early works by Italian masters such as Federico Fellini, and Visconti classics, alongside plenty of genre fare – is ramping up...
Established in 1904 by Gustavo Lombardo, Titanus was a true Italian major, which during the 1960s forged a partnership with MGM. They slowed down considerably from the mid-1960s onwards after Luchino Visconti’s lavish Sicily-set costumer “The Leopard” (1963), starring Burt Lancaster, Claudia Cardinale and Alain Delon, went way over budget. Since the mid-1980s the studio’s output has been on a much smaller scale, and primarily for TV.
Now led by former Disney Italy marketing chief Stefano Bethlen, who is Titanus’ general manager, the company – which has a 400-title library comprising early works by Italian masters such as Federico Fellini, and Visconti classics, alongside plenty of genre fare – is ramping up...
- 10/16/2022
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
On a cobblestone-paved square in the ancient town of Tivoli, north-east of Rome, in late September, a large crew is prepping to shoot a key scene in Italian period drama “La Storia,” which will be pubcaster Rai’s biggest event show next year.
Based on a bestselling novel by the late great Elsa Morante – whom “My Brilliant Friend” author Elena Ferrante often cites as her primary literary reference – “La Storia” is set during the final years of World War II and its immediate aftermath in Italy.
The eight-episode series, being unveiled by Beta Film to buyers at Rome’s Mia content market, stars Italian A-list actor Jasmine Trinca – who earlier this year was a member of the Cannes jury – as Ida, a single mother of two sons, who hides her Jewish heritage and fights against poverty and persecution.
The Tivoli square, where costumed extras are taking their positions, is a...
Based on a bestselling novel by the late great Elsa Morante – whom “My Brilliant Friend” author Elena Ferrante often cites as her primary literary reference – “La Storia” is set during the final years of World War II and its immediate aftermath in Italy.
The eight-episode series, being unveiled by Beta Film to buyers at Rome’s Mia content market, stars Italian A-list actor Jasmine Trinca – who earlier this year was a member of the Cannes jury – as Ida, a single mother of two sons, who hides her Jewish heritage and fights against poverty and persecution.
The Tivoli square, where costumed extras are taking their positions, is a...
- 10/14/2022
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Italian producer Lorenzo Mieli gave a spirited and often humorous rundown of his career as a producer working with directors such as Luca Guadagnino and Paolo Sorrentino during a keynote talk at the London Film Festival Monday.
Mieli is best known for his work on HBO’s hit TV adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend. His most recent credits include Guadagnino’s Venice-winner Bones And All and Sorrentino’s The Hand Of God.
However, Mieli revealed that his working relationship with Sorrentino goes back many years to when he was an executive at Fremantle and was tasked with producing the music competition show The X-Factor.
“I asked Paolo Sorrentino to be a judge on X-Factor. That was my first idea,” Mieli said. “Luckily for him, he said no, but he was tempted. We spent a few days talking about it. But that was my idea for The X-Factor.
Mieli is best known for his work on HBO’s hit TV adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend. His most recent credits include Guadagnino’s Venice-winner Bones And All and Sorrentino’s The Hand Of God.
However, Mieli revealed that his working relationship with Sorrentino goes back many years to when he was an executive at Fremantle and was tasked with producing the music competition show The X-Factor.
“I asked Paolo Sorrentino to be a judge on X-Factor. That was my first idea,” Mieli said. “Luckily for him, he said no, but he was tempted. We spent a few days talking about it. But that was my idea for The X-Factor.
- 10/10/2022
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
"In Cabinet Of Curiosities, acclaimed Academy Award-winning filmmaker and creator, executive producer and co-showrunner Guillermo del Toro has curated a collection of unprecedented and genre-defining stories meant to challenge our traditional notions of horror. From macabre to magical, gothic to grotesque or classically creepy, these eight equally sophisticated and sinister tales (including two original stories by del Toro) are brought to life by a team of writers and directors personally chosen by del Toro.
Guillermo Del Toro’s Cabinet Of Curiosities will debut Tuesday, October 25, launching a special four day, double episode Netflix & Chills Halloween event. Two all-new Cabinet Of Curiosities tales will debut daily through Friday, October 28, when the entire collection of eight stories will be available to Netflix members around the world.
The anthology series is created and executive produced by Guillermo del Toro; executive produced by Academy Award winner J. Miles Dale (The Shape of Water; Sex/Life...
Guillermo Del Toro’s Cabinet Of Curiosities will debut Tuesday, October 25, launching a special four day, double episode Netflix & Chills Halloween event. Two all-new Cabinet Of Curiosities tales will debut daily through Friday, October 28, when the entire collection of eight stories will be available to Netflix members around the world.
The anthology series is created and executive produced by Guillermo del Toro; executive produced by Academy Award winner J. Miles Dale (The Shape of Water; Sex/Life...
- 9/30/2022
- by Jonathan James
- DailyDead
Netflix and Oscar winner Guillermo del Toro (The Shape of Water, Blade 2, Hellboy) have teamed up for the new anthology series “Cabinet of Curiosities,” a collection of live-action stories that Netflix says “is meant to challenge our traditional notions of horror.”
Today, we have the official trailer that’s a straight-up explosion of nightmarish imagery that looks like a mix between “Tales from the Crypt” and “Twilight Zone” that pulls from Guillermo del Toro’s entire career from Cronos to Pan’s Labyrinth.
“From macabre to magical, gothic to grotesque or classically creepy, the eight sinister tales — including two original works by del Toro — will be brought to life by a team of writers and directors personally chosen by the Shape of Water filmmaker.”
The series will debut Tuesday, October 25, launching a special four-day, double-episode Netflix & Chills Halloween event. Two all-new “Cabinet of Curiosities” tales will debut daily through Friday,...
Today, we have the official trailer that’s a straight-up explosion of nightmarish imagery that looks like a mix between “Tales from the Crypt” and “Twilight Zone” that pulls from Guillermo del Toro’s entire career from Cronos to Pan’s Labyrinth.
“From macabre to magical, gothic to grotesque or classically creepy, the eight sinister tales — including two original works by del Toro — will be brought to life by a team of writers and directors personally chosen by the Shape of Water filmmaker.”
The series will debut Tuesday, October 25, launching a special four-day, double-episode Netflix & Chills Halloween event. Two all-new “Cabinet of Curiosities” tales will debut daily through Friday,...
- 9/30/2022
- by Brad Miska
- bloody-disgusting.com
Following The Young Pope, The New Pope, and The Two Popes, the time has officially come for the Woke Pope. In Viaggio, Gianfranco Rosi’s fascinating Rorschach test of a documentary, is also something of a People’s History of Pope Francis, pontiff since 2013, in that it largely consists of television broadcast footage of the man on his sundry global travels, though the filmmaker wisely deigns not to visualize his popular Twitter account. We don’t glimpse him from his own subjective point-of-view, as Fernando Meirelles and Jonathan Pryce attempted to show in their version; instead Rosi privileges what the global Roman Catholic membership and also what curious nonbelievers and secular onlookers observe—the dignified outer surface. And intriguingly enough, it’s a fairly flattering picture as one of the world’s oldest, most powerful institutions attempts some crisis PR in front of the contemporary world’s gaze.
Rosi, a...
Rosi, a...
- 9/21/2022
- by David Katz
- The Film Stage
Universal’s ‘Moonage Daydream’ and Sony’s ‘Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song’ both out.
Two modern music icons face off at UK-Ireland cinemas this weekend, with the release of David Bowie documentary Moonage Daydream and Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song.
Opening in 50 sites, most of which are Imax, Universal’s Moonage Daydream is a journey through Bowie’s creative and musical output. The film, which launched as an out-of-competition Midnight Screening in Cannes this May, is written, directed, edited and produced by US filmmaker Brett Morgen.
Moonage Daydream has the backing of the David Bowie estate...
Two modern music icons face off at UK-Ireland cinemas this weekend, with the release of David Bowie documentary Moonage Daydream and Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song.
Opening in 50 sites, most of which are Imax, Universal’s Moonage Daydream is a journey through Bowie’s creative and musical output. The film, which launched as an out-of-competition Midnight Screening in Cannes this May, is written, directed, edited and produced by US filmmaker Brett Morgen.
Moonage Daydream has the backing of the David Bowie estate...
- 9/16/2022
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
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