Motion Picture: Mari Yamamoto Joins ‘Rental Family,’ Gloria Gaynor Biopic Announced
Rene Jean-Page - Steve Granitz
Action/Horror/Fantasy/Sci-Fi: Emmy-nominated actor Regé-Jean Page (Bridgerton, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves) has joined the cast of Steven Soderbergh’s “spy thriller” Black Bag. Written by David Koepp and produced by Casey Silver and Greg Jacobs, the film also stars Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett. The film comes from Focus Feature and is set to begin shooting in the spring.
The indie horror film The Grove is set to star Carl Anthony Payne II (Martin, Binged to Death), Acoryé White (Juanita, Under the Stadium Lights), Psalms Salazar (P-Valley), and Guxci (Night Games). The film follows a soldier’s homecoming taking a dark turn when forgetting to take experimental medication triggers a descent into madness. Co-directed and co-written by White and Patrycja Kępa, the film is set to begin production in Atlanta in April, and debut at the Dreamscape International Film Festival in September. White and Kępa return to The Grove after a collaboration on 2023’s Trinket Box; other Trinket Box creatives working on the film include executive producers Tru’Kessa S. Scott, Nelson E. Barnes Jr., and Kennan Walay.
Sophie Wilde (Talk To Me, The Portable Door) is in talks to star in a feature adaptation of the video game Watch Dogs. Coming from New Regency Pictures, the film will be directed by Mathieu Turi (Hostile, Gueules Noires) and written by Christie LeBlanc. While the film’s plot details are not yet known, Ubisoft’s video game follows hackers in fictionalized real-world cities. Margaret Boykin will produce the film for Ubisoft Film & Television, while Yariv Milchan and Natalie Lehmann will produce for New Regency Pictures.
Keegan-Michael Key (Wonka, The Super Mario Bros. Movie), Nat Wolff (Which Brings Me to You, Murder at Yellowstone City), Chukwudi Iwuji (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, The Split), and Thomas Jane (The Last Son, Hung) have joined the cast of heist thriller Play Dirty. Details on the four’s roles are not yet known; the film stars Mark Wahlberg, and has LaKeith Stanfield, Rosa Salazar, and Tony Shalhoub planned for roles. Based on Donald E. Westlake’s Parker novels, the film follows professional thief Parker (Wahlberg) on a quest for revenge. Play Dirty is directed, co-written, and executive produced by Shane Black. The film comes from a pact between Amazon MGM and Team Downey.
The heist film Dutch & Razzlekhan, based on a true story, is set to star Ariana DeBose (West Side Story, Wish). While DeBose’s role is not yet known, the film is based on the 2022 Business Insider article “The $4.5 Billion Question” about the $4 billion cryptocurrency heist by Heather “Razzlekahn” Morgan and Ilya “Dutch” Lichtenstein. In the film, Chloë Grace Moretz (The Peripheral, Nimona) and Lewis Pullman (Outer Range, Top Gun: Maverick) will portray Morgan and Lichtenstein, respectively. Both actors were also announced to be starring in the film, which is to be directed by Jon S. Baird (Tetris, Stan & Ollie) and written by Logan Miller and Noah Miller (G20, White Boy Rick).
Cynthia Addai-Robinson (The People We Hate at the Wedding, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power) is returning from 2016’s The Accountant for Amazon MGM Studios’ and Artists Equity’s The Accountant 2. Other creatives returning from the first film include stars Ben Affleck (Air), Jon Bernthal (Origin, American Gigolo), J.K. Simmons (Spider-Man: No Way Home, Being the Ricardos), director Gavin O’Connor (The Way Back) and writer Bill Dubuque. The sequel follows the titular character investigating the murder of Addai-Robinson’s character’s boss; Addai-Robinson reprises her role of up-and-coming Treasury agent Marybeth Medina.
Amid reshoots, the John Wick spinoff film Ballerina has added David Castañeda (The Umbrella Academy, The Guilty) and Sharon Duncan-Brewster (Sex Education, Dune) to its cast. The film follows a female assassin (Ana de Armas) trained in Ruska Roma traditions seeking revenge against those who killed her family. Also in the film’s cast are Anjelica Huston, Gabriel Byrne, Lance Reddick, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Norman Reedus, Keanu Reeves, and Ian McShane. After being delayed a year, the film is set to release on June 6, 2025.
Comedy/Dramedy/Musical: A trailer for Ramy Youssef’s upcoming comedy special More Feelings has been released. Topics in the special include the 2024 presidential election, the importance of prayer, and a childhood book report that changed Youssef’s life, among other topics. Coming from A24 and Youssef’s production banner Cairo Cowboy, the special will be released on HBO on March 23. Following 2019’s Ramy Youssef: Feelings, More Feelings will mark Youssef’s second special for HBO.
Jodie, the animated film that originated as a spinoff series of Daria, will not be moving forward with MTVE Studios. With the series - one that Comedy Central picked up in 2020 to pair with South Park - originally focusing on the characters of Jodie and Daria, the film eventually came to focus only on Jodie, with its plot following the character graduating college and beginning an internship. Tracee Ellis Ross voices Jodie in the project.
The North American rights to romantic comedy The Zombie Wedding have been acquired by Freestyle Digital Media, Allen Media Group’s digital film distribution division. Based on the interactive play, the film follows a wedding between a human and a zombie during the zombie apocalypse. The film is also the first to launch the Weekly World News IP-driven studio slate of films. In the film, Weekly World News reporters cover the wedding. Featuring Cheri Oteri (Saturday Night Live), Seth Gilliam (The Walking Dead), and Heather Matarazzo (Scream, Princess Diaries) in its cast, Freestyle Digital Media is planning to release the film in fall 2024.
Drama: A trailer for Greg Kwedar’s Sing Sing has been released. Starring Colman Domingo, Clarence ‘Divine Eye’ Maclin, and Sean San José, among others, the film follows a theater troupe putting on a play to escape the realities of incarceration. The film features a cast that includes formerly incarcerated actors and is based on a real-life rehabilitation program. The film will also be executive produced by Domingo, with Kwedar producing and developing the story and screenplay. Sing Sing is aiming to release in July 2024.
Mari Yamamoto (Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, Pachinko) will star with Brendan Fraser (The Whale, Killers of the Flower Moon) in Searchlight Pictures’ Rental Family. From Hikari (Beef, 37 Seconds), the film follows an actor working as the token American guy for a Japanese rental family company in Tokyo. Hikari will produce and co-write the film.
A Gloria Gaynor biopic is coming to Lifetime via Robin Roberts’ Rock’n Robin Productions. Released under Lifetime’s Robin Roberts Presents banner, the film will cover the 50+ years of Gaynor’s career, focusing on her rise to becoming America’s “Queen of Disco” and featuring her music, including the hit “I Will Survive.” Roberts will executive produce the film; it is the latest project to come from the Robin Roberts Presents banner for Lifetime after Stolen By My Mother: The Kamiyah Mobley Story and Mahalia. A part of Lifetime’s “Voices of a Lifetime” slate, the biopic is set to air in 2025.
Kiowa Gordon (Dark Winds, Blood Quantum) and Sera-Lys McArthur (Café Daughter, Outlander) have joined the cast of Jeremy Torrie’s Many Wounds. The film, a contemporary re-imagining of Lee Tamahori’s Maori film Once Were Warriors featuring indigenous communities in Canada, follows a young teenager (Skye Pelletier) becoming a warrior to protect his family while facing a colonial system forcing assimilation. Written, directed, and co-produced by Torrie, the film is drawn from his personal, painful experience growing up Indigenous in Winnipeg.
Documentary: The North American rights to the documentary Uncropped have been acquired by Greenwich Entertainment. The documentary focuses on the work of photographer James Hamilton, including his work at companies like The Village Voice, Harper’s Bazaar, and The New York Observer. The documentary is directed and produced by D.W. Young. Greenwich will theatrically open the film at the IFC Center in New York on April 26, with a release on digital platforms scheduled for May 7.
A documentary about Billy Preston, Billy Preston: That’s The Way God Planned It, still premiered at SXSW despite a fraud lawsuit. According to the complaint, the documentary goes against what was pitched and posthumously outs Preston, focusing on his sexuality at the exclusion of his accomplishments. The complaint also mentions the documentary including commentary about Preston’s homosexuality from someone who was a stranger to Preston. The documentary’s director, Paris Barclay, has called the lawsuit “meritless,” saying that it contains “homophobia” and “attempts at blatant censorship.” The film’s premiere at SXSW was put into question by the lawsuit, which called to stop the film’s exhibitions and screenings, among other items.
A documentary on Efe Obada is coming from Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jay William’s Improbable Media and North One Television. Obada, the longest-serving British player in NFL history, has played for the Washington Commanders and the Dallas Cowboys. At the age of 10, Obada became a victim of human trafficking; overcoming gang culture in South London, Obada found American football at age 21 and, four years after picking up football, would play in his first NFL game. Obada hopes to help others who have or are currently going through similar experiences through the documentary.
UK government
Industry Update: IATSE and the Hollywood Basic Crafts have made proposals on pension and health items, beginning bargaining with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. With bargaining expected to take place under a media blackout, it is expected that the unions will demand a streaming residual that will augment the employer contributions into the above items. The pension and health items are facing shortfalls in the wake of 2023’s entertainment industry strikes; the contract deadline is July 31.
The UK government has announced an indie movie tax credit for films that have budgets up to $19M. From April 1, the tax credit will be separate from another tax credit already at play, the film and high-end TV tax credit. Both tax credits will fall under the new Audio-Visual Expenditure Credit system. Additionally, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced a 5% increase in tax relief for UK film and high-end TV VFX. The government will consult on the tax relief’s expenditures and implement it through a Finance Bill in the future.
United Talent Agency (UTA) has revealed that to acquire UK agent Curtis Brown, the company paid over $55M in 2022. Brown’s parent company, Original Talent Limited, was acquired by UTA in June 2022. UTA’s UK earnings rocketed, with a 14 month period that ended in February 2023’s sales standing at £46.3M compared to 2021’s £3.7M - a twelve-fold increase. While the company’s last year losses before taxes were £14.4M compared to 2021’s £5.7M, it is understood that this was due to debt structuring.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced the winners of the 2023 Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting competition. Receiving $35,000 prizes and Academy mentorship while crafting feature-length screenplays, the five recipients and their project titles are Brent Delany with Brownie Mary, Harris McCabe with Nat Cady’s Boys, J. Miller with Slugger, c. Craig Patterson with Tah, and Kayla Sun with Boy, Girl, Fig.
Egyptian-born actor Ahmed El-Shenawi has passed away at the age of 75. According to his daughter, Eman El-Shenawi, Ahmed El-Shenawi passed away on Feb. 1 in Chelsea, London. With roles in 1978’s Midnight Express and Lars von Trier’s The Element of Crime, El-Shenawi also had a role in 1984’s Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. In that film, El-Shenawi plays a man at a banquet who announces a served dish as “snake surprise.” Before his role in the second Indiana Jones feature, El-Shenawi appeared in the 1978 miniseries The Thief of Baghdad and on British television with The Professionals, Cannon and Ball, Muck and Brass, and Danger: Marmalade at Work.
Barkhad Abdi has said he wants to write and direct. After his Oscar-nominated performance in Paul Greengrass’ Captain Phillips, Abdi secured representation with SMS Talent, built his resume and dabbled in entrepreneurship. Roles for the actor post-Captain Phillips have included parts in Eye in the Sky, Extortion, Good Time, and Blade Runner 2049. Abdi has also appeared in the series Castle Rock and The Curse. While he has supported himself as an actor since the 2014 film, he also wants to branch out as a writer and director, and be a voice for refugees in Africa. With a friend’s help, Abdi has written a script, Our Love Is Bigger, about the journey refugees take to the European mainland from North Africa. According to the actor, he is in awe of his past work but is still nowhere near where he wants to be.
The 2024 American Film Market is moving to Las Vegas. Rumors of the move began during the European Film Market in Berlin; the 45th edition of the event will mark the first time the event has not been held in Los Angeles. The 45th edition of the event will be held at Las Vegas’ Palms Casino Resort and is scheduled to occur through Nov. 5 - 10, 2024.
Talent agent Fatmata Kamara has joined Independent Artist Group. Kamara joins the company from the now-defunct A3 Artists Agency; other previous experience includes working at CAA and A3’s prior iteration, Abrams Artists Agency. She will bring her clients at A3 with her to IAG; some of those clients include Will Catlett (A Thousand and One, Constellation), Clark Backo (The Changeling, Venom: The Last Dance), Shahadi Wright Joseph (The Lion King, Them: Covenant), and Blu Hunt (The New Mutants, Sherlock & Daughter).
