Month: May 2021

Pieter Van Hees will direct the story about the infamous axe murders of the Borden family.

Chloe Sevigny and Kristen Stewart will help tell the tale of Lizzie Borden.

Pieter Van Hees, who helmed the 2014 film Waste Land, will direct the new untitled psychological thriller about the grisly murders of the Borden family. Bryce Kass will write the script.

Sevigny will play Borden, the strange and fragile woman who was infamously tried and acquitted for murdering her father and stepmother with an ax in 1892. The film will explore the events that led up to that night.

Stewart, who is in early negotiations, will play the Bordens’ live-in maid, Bridget Sullivan. Sullivan was a witness to the family tension, and may have been in the home when the murders were committed. She testified at the trial.

The crime was salacious and notorious for the age, inspiring children’s rhymes such as: “Lizzie Borden took an ax/and gave her mother 40 whacks/when the job was finally done/gave her father 41.” It also spawned many theories about who committed the murders and why; one theory insinuates that Borden and Sullivan were lovers.

Naomi Despres (Kill the Messenger) is producing, while Playtone is executive producing. The Solution is selling the project, which has no start date, at the upcoming American Film Market. WME is repping domestically. Borden’s tale has been adapted for TV and film, most recently the 2014 TV movie starring Christina Ricci.

Sevigny, who was previously attached to a Lizzie Borden project at HBO, starred on FX’s American Horror Story: Asylum and American Horror Story: Hotel. She won a Golden Globe for best supporting actress for her work on HBO’s Big Love, and her other credits include Bloodline, Portlandia and the film Electric Slide. She’s repped by WME and Brillstein Entertainment.

Since Twilight, Stewart has focused on indie fare, including Equals, the Drake Doremus film that premiered at Venice and then Toronto. Among her other recent credits are American Ultra, Still Aliceand Clouds of Sils Maria, for which she received a Cesar award (France’s equivalent for the Oscar). She has a slew of projects coming up including a Woody Allen film and Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, directed by Ang Lee. She’s repped by Gersh and McKuin Frankel Whitehead.

Kass is repped by Principato-Young Entertainment. Van Hees is repped by Zero Gravity Management.

#PieterVanHees #LizzieBorden #KristenStewart #ChloeSevigny #ZeroGravityManagement

Beasts of No Nation, ​which is being distributed by Netflix on October 16, is the most brutal war film in recent memory. It tells the story of boy soldiers used in the wars of West Africa, and virtually every scene is heartbreaking. Agu, a child of perhaps 10 or 11, flees his home after government forces shoot his family in front of him and he only barely manages to escape into the bush. There he is discovered by the forces of the man they call the Commandant, played by Elba with fascinating menace. Idris Elba’s performance is his masterpiece. He uses the intense glamour he possesses to portray a monster of glamour—a man whom children will follow into hell while starving. Initiated into a roving band of boy soldiers, Agu is trained to kill by exposure to horror. The boy soldiers, with their strange spells and their drugs and their love of machines, are based on real events, but they are reminiscent of nothing so much as the fantastical War Boys from Mad Max: Fury Road. They act as if they are already dead. In a sense, they are.

#BeastofNoNation #IdrisElba #CaryFukunaga

SundanceTV has set a co-production pact with Zodiak Rights for the Irish historical drama “Rebellion,” starring Brian Gleeson, Ruth Bradley and “Game of Thrones’ ” Michelle Fairley.

Project is billed as a five-part look at the birth of modern Ireland through the eyes of three young women. SundanceTV will co-produce with Zodiak. It’s set to air on Sundance and Ireland’s RTE next year. Deal was unveiled at Mipcom on Monday.

“Rebellion” is produced by Touchpaper Television and Zodiak Media Ireland with SundanceTV. Colin Teevan wrote the script, which will be directed by Aku Louhimies and produced by Catherine Magee. Exec producers are Teevan, Rob Pursey, Jane Gogan, David Crean and Clare Alan.

“ ‘Rebellion’ is a compelling drama rich with complex and inspiring characters, whose lives and homes are in the direst state of upheaval,” said Joel Stillerman, president of original programming and development for AMC and SundanceTV.

“Sharing this story about the history of Ireland and its people is so important to SundanceTV not only because it underscores our commitment to showcasing unique voices from around the globe, but also because we believe the struggles and triumphs seen throughout the series will resonate strongly with audiences today. We’re looking forward to partnering with Zodiak and RTÉ on bringing ‘Rebellion’ to life.

Arrested Development star Jason Bateman is returning to television as the star, executive producer and director of Ozark, a new series for MRC and Aggregate. Bateman is taking a dramatic turn with the hourlong Ozark, created by rising feature writer Bill Dubuque (The Judge). Details about the project are being kept under wraps but it’s said to take place in the dark and dangerous world of drug money laundering. The series takes its name from the location where it is set, the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri.

As director, Bateman will be very involved in establishing the creative vision for the series, working with writer Dubuque. The two executive produce with Mark Williams.

Ozark, which eyes a spring 2016 start of production, will be taken out soon by MRC to premium cable and digital outlets. The company is in the direct-to-series business, withOzark joining MRC’s existing pay cable/digital series, Netflix’s House of Cards, Starz’s Blunt Talk, and the upcoming The One Percent and Counterpart for Starz as well as Damian Szifron’s limited series The Stranger, which has not been shopped yet.

For the past decade, Bateman has been largely focused on features, only returning to TV to reprise his starring role on the new installment of Arrested Development for Netflix, which earned him a second Emmy nomination. Bateman’s second movie as a director, The Family Fang,in which he stars in alongside Nicole Kidman and Christopher Walken, premiered to strong reviews at the Toronto Film Festival earlier this month.

Dubuque recently sold to Universal his action-adventure pitch The Real McCoywith Chris Pratt attached to star. He also wrote next year’s The Accountant starring Ben Affleck for Warner Bros. Bateman is repped by CAA and Brillstein Entertainment Partners, Dubuque is with CAA.

#MarkWilliams #BillDubuque #JasonBateman #Ozark

Willem Dafoe and Alfred Molina will co-star with Gerard Butler in the workplace drama “The Headhunter’s Calling,” set to start filming on Oct. 26 in Toronto.

Mark Williams is directing from a script by Bill DuBuque. Voltage Pictures is selling international rights at the Toronto Film Festival and reports it has received an excellent response from buyers.

Butler joined the project on Sept. 3. He portrays a ruthless headhunter who arranges jobs for engineers and is well on his way to achieving his longtime work goal of taking over the company. His priorities shift when his 10-year-old son falls ill.

Dafoe is playing the role of the soon-to-be-retiring CEO of the recruiting company and Molina will be playing a lovable, unemployed engineer who has been beaten down by his career.

The film will be produced by Williams, Butler and Alan Siegel. Bill Dubuque and Danielle Robinson will serve as executive producers, along with Dan Bekerman of Scythia Films.

The deal was brokered by CAA on behalf of Butler, Williams, Dubuque and the production. CAA will also be handling domestic rights.

Dafoe recently starred in “The Great Wall” opposite Matt Damon. He’s repped by CAA and Circle of Confusion.

Molina recently wrapped on “Fun House” opposite Margot Robbie and Martin Freeman, and he can be seen in the miniseries “Show Me a Hero.” He is represented by WME Entertainment and Hyler Management.

FILED UNDER:

• Alfred Molina
• The Headhunters Calling
• Toronto Film Festival
• Willem Dafoe

Asian-American actors and those representing them are experiencing a sea change in the number of roles available to them. The revolution is happening in a segment of the acting population that has been widely underserved for years, they say. Perhaps it is the concerted effort on the part of the networks and film studios, the writers who are growing up with a different perspective, and the influx of international money into the marketplace, but several people interviewed by Deadline noted a marked change in the past year.

One of those actors who has seen a significant shift is Will Yun Lee, who is of Chinese-Korean descent. “I’ve definitely seen a big change in the landscape,” he said. “I started in 1997 when there were only three to four jobs that were meaningful to put food on the table, which if you didn’t get, you had to keep your day job,” he said. His was as a taekwondo instructor. “It’s truly been this year in pilot season that you started seeing the breakdowns open to all ethnicities. All the major roles seem to be really open to all. I don’t know if it’s the influx of the Chinese money or younger writers who grew up in a different way. To me, it’s really interesting to see the shift. To do the roles that weren’t originally thought of as being Asian is really great.”

Lee has so far had a dominating year. He was the villain in the Cinemax series Strike Back, starring opposite Michelle Yeoh. His other recent credits include San Andreaswith Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, HBO’s True Blood and a major role of Harada in Fox’s The Wolverine. He’s also in the two-hour USA drama pilot Falling Water from director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo.

In a pre-Toronto Film Festival move, Gerard Butler has boarded workplace drama “The Headhunter’s Calling” with shooting starting Oct. 26 in Toronto.

Voltage Pictures has come aboard to sell international rights and will begin selling at Toronto. CAA is handling the domestic rights.

First-time director Mark Williams will helm from Bill Dubuque’s script, which centers on a ruthless headhunter who arranges jobs for engineers. He is well on his way to achieving his longtime goal of taking over the company, when his 10-year-old son falls ill — leading to a clash of his personal and professional priorities.

Producers are Williams, Butler and Alan Siegel (“Olympus Has Fallen”). Dubuque and Danielle Robinson will serve as executive producers, along with Dan Bekerman of Scythia Films.

Dubuque wrote the scripts for Robert Downey Jr.’s “The Judge” and Ben Affleck’s “The Accountant.” Dubuque is also writing “The Real McCoy” with Chris Pratt set to star.

Sale of the international rights was brokered by CAA on behalf of Butler, Williams, Dubuque and the production. Dubuque is managed by Eric Williams at Zero Gravity Management.

Butler recently starred in Focus Features’ “London Has Fallen,” the follow up to his 2013 thriller “Olympus Has Fallen.” He will next be seen in “Gods of Egypt” for Lionsgate and in “Geostorm” for Warner Bros.

FILED UNDER:

• Gerard Butler
• The Headhunters Calling
• Toronto Film Festival

Two Ben Affleck projects, “The Accountant” and “Live By Night,” have had their release dates pushed back, Warner Bros. announced Friday.

“The Accountant,” which stars Affleck as an accountant who moonlights as an assassin, will now be released on Oct. 7, 2016, after originally being slated for Jan. 29, 2016.

“Live By Night,” Affleck’s first directorial effort since “Argo,” has been moved from an Oct. 7, 2016 release to an unknown date in 2017. The pic will be based on Dennis Lehane’s Prohibition-era crime novel.

The news comes on the heels of rumors that Affleck might star in, co-write and direct a standalone Batman film, which could further affect the schedules of his other projects.

Affleck can next be seen in “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” which bows March 25, 2016.

FILED UNDER:

• Ben Affleck
• Live By Night
• The Accountant

EXCLUSIVE: Kellan Lutz and Daniel MacPherson are strapping up on laser beams, starring in SFv1, a new science fiction action film that has now started production in Australia. Set in the far future in an era of interplanetary colonization, SFv1 follows a drifter who teams up with a military contractor to rescue the contractor’s daughter. Amid an impending global crisis caused by the contractor’s company, the trio must escape to safety. It will be filming in Sydney and in the South Australian Outback over nine weeks.

Joining Lutz and MacPherson in the film are Temuera Morrison (the Star Warsprequel trilogy), Bren Foster (The Last Ship), Rachel Griffiths (Saving Mr Banks) and newcomer Teagan Croft, with additional cast to be announced soon. A Storm Alley Entertainment and Eclectik Vision production in association with Phonetic Images, it’s written and directed by Shane Abbess, and co-created by Abbess and Brian Cachia.

Abbess, Matthew Graham, Brett Thornquest, and Sidonie Abbene are producing, while Steven Matusko is exec producing. Also working on the film are director of photography Carl Robertson, production designer, George Liddle, make-up/hair designer Jennifer Lamphee, costume designer Nicola Dunn, editor Adrian Rostirolla and composer Brian Cachia.

Brian White has been cast in a major recurring role on Season 4 of NBC firefighter drama Chicago Fire. He will play Captain Dallas Patterson, the new captain of the squad on the series, which returned to production in Chicago last week for an October 13 season premiere. The role adds to a busy portfolio for White who also is recurring on ABC’s Scandal and Mistresses. He is repped by Paradigm, Zero Gravity Management and attorney Eric Feig.