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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.

The Africa-set drama, starring Idris Elba, will debut theatrically in Landmark Theaters in 19 markets the same day it debuts on the streaming service in October.

Cary Fukunaga’s Beasts of No Nation will open theatrically in 19 markets served by Landmark Theatres on Oct. 16, the same day that it debuts on Netflix, which will make the film, starring Idris Elba, eligible for Oscar consideration.

Netflix announced today that it is partnering with Bleecker Street, the new distribution company founded by Andrew Karpen last year, and Landmark to open the Africa-set drama in select markets in the U.S. as it simultaneously makes its worldwide bow on the streaming service.

When Netflix acquired the film in March in a $12 million deal, beating out specialty film distributors like Fox Searchlight and Focus, it promised a theatrical release for the film and signaled that it planned a major awards push for the new feature from Fukunaga, an Emmy winner for his work directing the first season of HBO’s True Detective. Beasts, it was announced earlier this week, has been selected to screen at both the Venice Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival, setting it up to become part of the season’s awards conversation.

While the country’s major theater circuits like Regal, AMC and Cinemark have policies againstshowing movies that are simultaneously playing on VOD or streaming services, Landmark, part of the Wagner/Cuban companies co-owned by Todd Wagner and Mark Cuban, has shown a willingness to book movies also appearing online and on cable.

Landmark Theatres operates 261 screens in 53 theatres across 26 markets, and Beasts, it was announced, will bow in 19 of those markets: New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington DC, Atlanta, Indianapolis, Detroit, Chicago, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Houston, Dallas, Denver, Seattle, San Francisco and San Diego.

If a film makes its first appearance in other media before playing theaters, it’s ineligible for Oscar consideration. But under Academy rules, movies that begin their theatrical run on the same day as they appear online are eligible once they complete a one-week run in Los Angeles.

For the past two seasons, Netflix has had a horse in the documentary feature Oscar race with nominees The Square and Virunga. If Beasts emerges as a contender, it will become the streaming service’s first hopeful in the narrative feature categories.

Beasts, based on the novel by Nigerian author Uzodinma Iweala, is the tale of Agu, a child soldier torn from his family to fight in the civil war of an African country. Newcomer Abraham Attah plays Agu, while Elba will be seen as Commandant, a warlord who takes in Agu and instructs him in the ways of war.

Beasts is produced by Amy Kaufman and Fukunaga, Daniela Taplin Lundberg, Riva Marker and Dan Crown for Red Crown Productions, along with Elba. Jeff Skoll and Jonathan King are executive producers for Participant Media; Donna Gigliotti is executive producer for Levantine Films; Elizabeth Koch and Kristina Kendall are executive producers for New Balloon; and Bill Benenson, Laura Bickford and Todd Courtney are also executive producers.

EXCLUSIVE: Maika Monroe, Maggie Grace, Brad Carter have been cast in the indie drama The Scent of Rain and Lightning, which has just entered preproduction. The film, an adaptation of the novel by Nancy Pickard, is the story of a young woman forced to confront old wounds and the destructive power of hate when she learns that the man who killed her parents has been released from prison.

Produced by Casey Twenter, Jeff Robison and Jeff Johnson of No Coast Entertainment, Kevin Waller and Michael Davis, and Maggie Grace, The Scent of Rain and Lightning is directed by Blake Robbins. WeatherVane Productions and PKs Remain Entertainment will be Executive Producing. Filming begins this fall in Oklahoma.

Maggie Grace, known for her role in the Taken franchise and on Lost, will next be seen in Showing Roots, and in The Choice, both of which are in post production. She’s repped by UTE and Zero gravity Management.

Maika Monroe was recently seen in It Follows and The Guest, and will be appearing in Independence Day: Resurgence. She’s presented by WME and Luber Roklin Entertainment.

Brad Carter has been seen recently on the first season of HBO’s True Detective, the final season ofSons of Anarchy, and with Faith Hill in the indie drama Dixieland. He will next be seen in the Whitey Bulger biopic Black Mass, alongside Johnny Depp. He’s repped by TalentWorks, and Luber Roklin.