News

The Hills of California, the new Jez Butterworth play directed by Sam Mendes that began previews at the Broadhurst Theatre on September 11 and opens this Sunday, September 29, has received a two-week extension to its limited engagement.

The New York premiere production will now run through Sunday, December 22.

The Hills of California’s Broadway cast features the play’s acclaimed leading London cast members – Laura Donnelly, Leanne Best, Ophelia Lovibond, Helena Wilson, Nancy Allsop, Sophia Ally, Lara McDonnell and Nicola Turner. The full company also includes David Wilson Barnes, Ta’Rea Campbell, Bryan Dick, Richard Lumsden, Richard Short, Liam Bixby, Ellyn Heald, Max Roll, and Cameron Scoggins.

The Hills of California marks Butterworth’s newest play since the multi-award winning The Ferryman, also directed Mendes.

Producers Sonia Friedman Productions, No Guarantees Productions, Neal Street, Brian Spector, and Sand & Snow Entertainment, with Stephanie P. McClelland, announced the two weeks extension today.

A new Broadway season has begun, and there are currently nine productions of plays set to open this fall. Could we see any of them contend at next year’s Tony Awards? Below, find the plot of each play as well as the awards histories of its author, cast and creative team, plus the opening and (where applicable) closing dates.

“The Roommate” (opens September 12; closes December 15)

In this new play by Jen Silverman, Sharon has never had a roommate before. But after her divorce she needs a housemate to pay the bills. That’s when Robyn arrives. The story follows an unexpected, life-changing friendship that’s both funny and deeply moving between two very different middle-aged women as they navigate the complexities of identity, morality and the dream of reinvention.

The production stars Golden Globe winner Mia Farrow and three-time Tony winner Patti LuPone. It is directed by three-time Tony winner Jack O’Brien.

The subscription-based nonprofit Manhattan Theatre Club has joined producers of the previously announced Broadway production of Jez Butterworth’s The Hills Of California and will offer the play to subscribers as part of Mtc’s 2024-25 season.

Producers Sonia Friedman Productions, No Guarantees Productions, Neal Street, Brian Spector, and Sand & Snow Entertainment, with Stephanie P. McClelland announced the September arrival on Broadway of The Hills of California. At that point, no mention was made of Mtc, or of the show being offered as part of Mtc’s subscription series.

The Hills of California is now on sale to Mtc subscribers as the third production in the company’s Broadway 2024-25 season.

Sam Mendes will direct the first Butterworth play since 2018’s acclaimed The Ferryman. Other Butterworth Broadway productions include Jerusalem in 2011 and The River in 2014.

The Hills of California begins previews Wednesday, September 11, at the Broadhurst Theatre and opens Sunday,...

Stars: Bruce Davison, Elizabeth Roberts, Denise Crosby, Arman Darbo, Chloe Perrin | Written by Micah Gallo, Bryan Dick, Jason Alvino | Directed by Micah Gallo

Based on a story by Micah Gallo, who also directs and co-writes the screenplay here alongside Bryan Dick and Jason Alvino, Itsy Bitsy is Gallo’s feature debut, having only worked previously on shorts, as well as a part of visual effects teams on dozens of movies, from the Hatchet trilogy to The Innkeepers.

Now, I’m a fan of the ole “creature feature” but it’s fair to say films in this specific sub-genre are few and far between these days. Spiders are always a good choice for a creature feature horror film, because spiders, after-all, are a widely spread fear around the world. They have eight legs, they can walk on your ceilings, and you never know where the buggers are lurking, so… that’s some solid horror right there,...

If you're even slightly scared of spiders, there's no doubt that the new horror movie Itsy Bitsy (co-written by Daily Dead contributor Jason Alvino) will give you enough nightmare fuel to last the rest of the year. Following its well-received world premiere at Popcorn Frights Film Festival, Itsy Bitsy will crawl into homes on Blu-ray and DVD beginning October 1st, giving you plenty of time to add it to your Halloween movie marathons.

Read the official press release from Scream Factory for the full release details on the Itsy Bitsy Blu-ray and DVD, which will include two new audio commentaries:

Press Release: A creepy-crawly creature feature based on the centuries-old poem, Itsy Bitsy weaves a sinister web of family drama, personal demons, and a horrifying monster. When a family moves into a secluded mansion, they soon find themselves being targeted by an ancient entity taking the form of a giant...

A creepy rendition of a familiar nursery rhyme, Itsy Bitsy (co-written by Daily Dead contributor Jason Alvino) made its world premiere at Popcorn Frights Film Festival in Fort Lauderdale, giving attendees with arachnophobia (myself included) enough nightmare fuel to keep them awake for days on end. While at Popcorn Frights, Daily Dead had the pleasure of speaking with director/co-writer Micah Gallo about the multi-year journey to getting Itsy Bitsy made, using as many practical effects as possible to bring the film's big spider to life, and working with a talented cast that includes Elizabeth Roberts, Denise Crosby, and Bruce Davison.

Keep an eye out for Itsy Bitsy when it crawls into theaters and on digital and VOD platforms beginning August 30th from Shout! Studios.

Thanks for taking the time to chat, Micah. I know we talked about years ago in 2017, and you had the Kickstarter video and you got...

Toby Jones and Lesley Sharp have been confirmed for BBC One's new drama Capital.

Wunmi Mosaku and Adeel Akhtar will also star in Peter Bowker's adaptation of John Lanchester's bestselling novel of the same name.

Set on a single street in South London, Capital follows the residents of Pepys Road as they receive an anonymous postcard through their front doors reading: "We Want What You Have".

As the street tries to figure out who is behind the hate campaign, interweaving stories featuring the ensemble of characters reveal lives filled with love, loss, fear, greed and family.

Rachael Stirling, Gemma Jones, Robert Emms, Bryan Dick and Radoslaw Kaim have also signed on to appear in the project.

The three-part drama is directed by Euros Lyn and produced by Kudos.

Jones said: "Obviously, I am thrilled to be part of such a fantastic, diverse and talented cast, and also I'm...

It’s fair to say that the mixing of Scottish and Cuban cultures is not one particularly well covered in film. Therefore, and despite the mediocrity and melodrama that taints this John Roberts production, Day of the Flowers is a unique and original piece of filmmaking, delving into themes and a clashing of cultures that we’ve yet to see on the big screen before.

When sisters – and complete polar opposites – Rosa (Eva Birthistle) and Ailie (Charity Wakefield) steal their fathers ashes from their widowed step-mother, they set off on a trip to Cuba, to scatter them on the annual celebration, ‘The Day of the Flowers’ – in a place where their parents had experienced many fond memories supporting the revolution. Though Rosa is an activist, always looking for change in what she perceives to be a superficial world – her fashionista sister epitomises everything she’s against. Upon arrival in Cuba,...

  The Numbers Station (2013) Film Review, a movie directed by Kasper Barfoed and starring John Cusack, Malin Akerman, Hannah Murray, Liam Cunningham, Lucy Griffiths, Bryan Dick, Richard Brake, and Joey Ansah. The title of a movie is important. It puts a foot in the door, draws attention, and is one of the [...]

Continue reading: Film Review: The Numbers Station (2013): John Cusack Protects Akerman...

No one gives world-weary like John Cusack. He wears his ennui with as much panache as his Ramones tees and those fabulous coats. Projects in search of an artist of a certain age – who can shoulder a burden of despair with a wry grin – need look no further than the tip of his quiff for their man.

Emerson Kent is the quintessential Cusack role – conflicted, tormented and ever so slightly beautiful. The field agent has been semi-retired by the agency after developing a conscience during an operation clean up. Too cool for Ptsd he instead lets the incident eat him up inside and wearily accepts an assignment in the English countryside babysitting a codebreaker as she sends encrypted shortwave transmissions out into the world. The new assignment is a conspicuous bone tossed at Emerson by his bemused boss (Liam Cunningham), intended to keep him on the payroll but limiting any...

The Numbers Station marks Danish director Kasper Barfoed’s English language debut, and he’s assembled a brilliant leading cast with which to do it in the form of John Cusack (High Fidelity) and Malin Åkerman (Watchmen).

The thriller will be arriving in Us theatres this spring, and now Yahoo Movies have debuted the first trailer and poster, giving us our first look at the film.

“After his latest mission goes disastrously wrong, veteran CIA black ops agent Emerson Kent is given one last chance to prove he still has what it takes to do his job. His new assignment: guarding Katherine, a code operator at a top-secret remote CIA “Numbers Station” where encrypted messages are sent and received. When an elite team of heavily armed assailants lays siege to the station, Emerson and Katherine suddenly find themselves in a life-or-death struggle against an unknown enemy. With the station compromised and innocent lives at stake,...

Space is Canada's specialty channel for sci-fi, fantasy and horror entertainment.

Canada’s specialty channel for sci-fi, fantasy and horror, Space, has announced the start of production on a new speculative drama pilot, Borealis, set in an unfrozen Arctic in the near future.

According to Space’s press release, Borealis is set approximately 30 years in the future and focuses on a Deadwood-like frontier town situated in the high Arctic. The proposed follow-up series would ‘explore the political, environmental and social impact of a world in which the polar icecaps have melted and countries are vying for the last vestiges of oil in the Arctic.’

The cast of Borealis includes several faces that may be familiar to fans of other science fiction and fantasy series on Space and elsewhere. They include Ty Olsson (The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 and 2, Battlestar Galactica), who plays Vic, an ultimate fighter turned entrepreneur who...

Victoria Wood has praised the stars of new BBC Two drama Eric and Ernie. The one-off special will focus on the early friendship between famous comedy double-act Eric Morecambe (played by Daniel Rigby) and Ernie Wise (Bryan Dick). "I helped with the casting of this drama," Wood told What's On TV. "Daniel and Bryan are amazingly good. Looks-wise, we've tried to match three boys for each characters. But we did it on ability too. Bryan's a brilliant dancer and Daniel has Eric to a tee." Wood, who both plays Morecambe's mother Sadie and serves as an executive producer, revealed that (more)...

Vic Reeves and Reece Shearsmith will star in the BBC Morecambe & Wise drama Eric & Ernie, which will air over the festive period. Penned by Desperate Romantics writer Peter Bowkers, the programme will tell the story of the legendary comic duo's formative years. Daniel Rigby (Morecambe) and Bryan Dick (Wise) will play the lead roles. Reeves will star as Morecambe's father George Bartholomew, (more)...

Screenterrier reported on the BBC casting call back in July, to find young and teenage Eric and Ernies for Victoria Wood's BBC 2 film When Eric met Ernie.

19 year old Harry McEntire (represented by Curtis Brown) who starred in Spring Awakening at the Lyric Hammersmith, plays the teenage Ernie. He also played Davie in the BBC's successful drama adaption of David Almond's novel Clay.

14 year old Jonah Lees (Sylvia Young Theatre School) plays young Eric, Jonas has been steadily building up an impressive list of film and TV credits from a young age, as well as playing Michael Banks in the West End production of Mary Poppins. Jonah's twin Christian Lees is also an actor.

Victoria Wood herself plays Eric's pushy mother Sadie:

'We may think of Morecambe and Wise as that brilliant and much-loved double act but I've always thought that a film about their days as child...

This review was written for the theatrical release "Blood and Chocolate".

NEW YORK -- "Blood and Chocolate", a tale about a morally and romantically conflicted young woman who also happens to be a werewolf, is as silly as its title. Handsomely filmed by director Katja von Garnier ("Bandits") in a style that resembles a travelogue for Bucharest, this week's horror entry not screened for the press lacks the suspense, gore or fun necessary to put it, pardon the pun, ahead of the pack.

The film's heroine is Vivian (Agnes Bruckner), a 19-year-old who works in a chocolate shop when she isn't out indulging her lycanthropic tendencies with fast runs through the woods. Vivian is destined to be the next mate for pack leader Gabriel (Olivier Martinez), whose strict rules about the pack hunting together or not at all have helped ensure their survival for hundreds of years.

Ignoring that rule at his own peril is Vivian's cousin Rafe (Bryan Dick), who likes to hang out with a gang of fellow werewolves dubbed "The Five" at Bucharest's hottest nightspots.

Things become complicated when Vivian falls for Aiden (Hugh Dancy), a visiting artist who happens to be doing research for a new graphic novel about her kind. When he and Rafe find themselves locked in combat, it sets off a chain of events culminating with Vivian having to decide where her loyalties lie.

While the film can be admired for its restraint and is certainly impressive on a purely visual level, it also is a lugubrious, frequently silly effort that will have horror fans baring fangs themselves.

Particularly annoying is a montage of tender moments between the young lovers, scored with appropriately schmaltzy music, that wouldn't be out of place in a Lindsay Lohan romantic comedy. And the final gun battle is more than a little anticlimactic for a picture of this sort, even if they are using silver bullets.

Not helping matters are the lackadaisical visual effects, with the werewolves going into action signaled by the donning of requisitely spooky contact lenses and stuntpersons performing Olympic-style gymnastic feats.

The lead performers certainly are highly attractive, making this one of the more sensual werewolf pictures in quite a while -- and to their credit, they do manage to keep a straight face throughout. But ultimately, the anemic "Blood and Chocolate" could have benefited from a little less chocolate and a lot more blood.

BLOOD AND CHOCOLATE

MGM

MGM Pictures and Lakeshore Entertainment present a Berrick Filmproduktion production in association with Lakeshore Entertainment

Credits:

Director: Katja von Garnier

Screenplay: Ehren Kruger

Executive producers: Ehren Kruger, Robert Bernacchi

Producers: Tom Rosenberg, Gary Lucchesi, Hawk Koch, Richard Wright, Wolfgang Esenwein

Director of photography: Brendan Galvin

Production designer: Kevin Phipps

Editors: Martin Walsh, Emma Hickcox

Music: Johnny Klimek, Reinhold Heil

Cast:

Vivian: Agnes Bruckner

Aiden: Hugh Dancy

Gabriel: Olivier Martinez

Astrid: Katja Riemann

Rafe: Bryan Dick

Ulf: Chris Geere

Gregor: Tom Harper

Running time -- 98 minutes

MPAA rating: PG-13...

NEW YORK -- "Blood and Chocolate", a tale about a morally and romantically conflicted young woman who also happens to be a werewolf, is as silly as its title. Handsomely filmed by director Katja von Garnier ("Bandits") in a style that resembles a travelogue for Bucharest, this week's horror entry not screened for the press lacks the suspense, gore or fun necessary to put it, pardon the pun, ahead of the pack.

The film's heroine is Vivian (Agnes Bruckner), a 19-year-old who works in a chocolate shop when she isn't out indulging her lycanthropic tendencies with fast runs through the woods. Vivian is destined to be the next mate for pack leader Gabriel (Olivier Martinez), whose strict rules about the pack hunting together or not at all have helped ensure their survival for hundreds of years.

Ignoring that rule at his own peril is Vivian's cousin Rafe (Bryan Dick), who likes to hang out with a gang of fellow werewolves dubbed "The Five" at Bucharest's hottest nightspots.

Things become complicated when Vivian falls for Aiden (Hugh Dancy), a visiting artist who happens to be doing research for a new graphic novel about her kind. When he and Rafe find themselves locked in combat, it sets off a chain of events culminating with Vivian having to decide where her loyalties lie.

While the film can be admired for its restraint and is certainly impressive on a purely visual level, it also is a lugubrious, frequently silly effort that will have horror fans baring fangs themselves.

Particularly annoying is a montage of tender moments between the young lovers, scored with appropriately schmaltzy music, that wouldn't be out of place in a Lindsay Lohan romantic comedy. And the final gun battle is more than a little anticlimactic for a picture of this sort, even if they are using silver bullets.

Not helping matters are the lackadaisical visual effects, with the werewolves going into action signaled by the donning of requisitely spooky contact lenses and stuntpersons performing Olympic-style gymnastic feats.

The lead performers certainly are highly attractive, making this one of the more sensual werewolf pictures in quite a while -- and to their credit, they do manage to keep a straight face throughout. But ultimately, the anemic "Blood and Chocolate" could have benefited from a little less chocolate and a lot more blood.

BLOOD AND CHOCOLATE

MGM

MGM Pictures and Lakeshore Entertainment present a Berrick Filmproduktion production in association with Lakeshore Entertainment

Credits:

Director: Katja von Garnier

Screenplay: Ehren Kruger

Executive producers: Ehren Kruger, Robert Bernacchi

Producers: Tom Rosenberg, Gary Lucchesi, Hawk Koch, Richard Wright, Wolfgang Esenwein

Director of photography: Brendan Galvin

Production designer: Kevin Phipps

Editors: Martin Walsh, Emma Hickcox

Music: Johnny Klimek, Reinhold Heil

Cast:

Vivian: Agnes Bruckner

Aiden: Hugh Dancy

Gabriel: Olivier Martinez

Astrid: Katja Riemann

Rafe: Bryan Dick

Ulf: Chris Geere

Gregor: Tom Harper

Running time -- 98 minutes

MPAA rating: PG-13...