News

Meta has put its generative AI video system in the hands of some Hollywood filmmakers — hoping to build goodwill with the industry and gather feedback on how to improve the tool.

The tech giant announced Thursday that it has been working with horror studio Blumhouse and select creators as part of a pilot program for Movie Gen, its generative-ai video models. The company said it will continue to expand the program in 2025.

Meta earlier this month unveiled Meta Movie Gen, a suite of AI models that can use text inputs to produce realistic-looking videos as well as edit existing videos. Movie Gen can generate video clips up to 16 seconds in 1080p HD format (at 16 frames per second) with corresponding audio tracks. Movie Gen will be “coming to Instagram” in 2025, according to Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg. Before its wide release, the company is working with filmmakers and creators to integrate their...

Hollywood's inevitable embrace of artificial intelligence (which was a central sticking point in last year's writers and actors strikes) continued on Thursday with the announcement of a partnership between Blumhouse and Meta. Meta recently unveiled its A.I. model Movie Gen, which can generate video and audio, among other features.

Anime NYC 2024 had plenty of license announcements, including a fresh batch from Kodansha for September 2024 and Summer 2025. Among the print releases are some big box sets, chief among them being Attack on Titan Fly . The premium collector's set packs in the final Attack on Titan art book with a new interview with creator Hajime Isayama, replicas of Eren's key and Mikasa's scarf, and the first English release of exclusive manga booklet Vol. 35, featuring rough layouts of the final chapter and a new manga chapter centered on Levi. Kodansha Summer 2025 Print Licenses Last Samurai Standing by Tatsuz Synopsis: In a rapidly changing world, a sinister game of life-or-death brutally culls Japan’s fading warrior class. Who is rounding up the few who still cling to their swords and is forcing them to fight? And who will be the last samurai standing? It is the 11th year of the Meiji era in Japan,...

A single comment about a guest's wardrobe can set a interview off on the wrong foot, as seen with Colbert and Affleck. Meyers kept the focus on Affleck's career, unlike Colbert who questioned his wardrobe, leading to a tense exchange. Affleck's recent interview with Seth Meyers was much smoother and entertaining, with a fascinating story shared by the guest.

One statement or question can completely throw off a guest and derail an interview. We have seen that trend with Stephen Colbert in the past. Eight years ago, his interview with Casey Affleck kickstarted on the worst of terms. Colbert commented on Affleck's wardrobe, and it would lead to a tense back-and-forth. Affleck never returned to The Late Show, and likely won't ever...

He did appear on Late Night with Seth Meyers recently. His wardrobe could easily have been a talking point given how casually he was dressed. Instead, Meyers put...

Director Doug Liman changed the ending of The Instigators, pushing for bigger stakes and more action to elevate the intensity. Casey Affleck trusted Liman's vision, following significant script rewrites, and noted how the new direction improved the third act. Reviews for The Instigators have been mixed, citing a lack of excitement, but praising the chemistry between Affleck and Damon.

Casey Affleck explains how The Instigators director Doug Liman improved the ending, saying he "completely pulled it apart." Directed by Liman, with a script co-written by Affleck and Chuck Maclean, the Boston-set heist comedy follows two thieves who go on the run after a botched robbery and drag one of their therapists along with them for the ride. Matt Damon and Affleck lead the star-studded alongside Oscar nominee Hong Chau (The Whale) as the therapist and Paul Walter Hauser, Michael Stuhlbarg, Ving Rhames, Alfred Molina, Toby Jones, Jack Harlow, and Ron Perlman.

Your browser does not support the video tag. Matt Damon and Casey Affleck reunite in The Instigators for a high-stakes heist that sends them on the run when it goes awry. Affleck praises co-writer Chuck MacLean and director Doug Liman for helping shape the script, while Damon's Rory character provides the perfect foil to Affleck's Cobby. The duo also share their surprise at George Clooney having a script for Ocean's 14, but are open to returning to the heist franchise.

With 17 years gone since their last on-screen collaboration, Matt Damon and Casey Affleck are back in the saddle together again for The Instigators. Damon and Affleck, younger brother of fellow acclaimed filmmaker Ben Affleck, first began working together in 1997's Good Will Hunting, and followed it up with roles in the 2002 indie drama Gerry, which they also co-wrote together, and Steven Soderbergh's Ocean's trilogy. The duo also collaborated...

The Matt Damon-Affleck dream team continues, except not with Ben this time, but Casey. Doug Liman‘s upcoming Apple TV+ action thriller “The Instigators” celebrated its premiere in New York City on Wednesday, July 31 at Jazz at Lincoln Center.

While Matt Damon and Casey Affleck were just in a film together last year with “Oppenheimer,” we see the duo sharing nearly every second of screen time in this alongside each other as they seek to rob a corrupt politician’s ill-gained earnings. Affleck serves as a co-writer for this, his first writing credit since his 2019 post-apocalyptic drama “The Light of My Life.”

“First of all, [co-writer] Chuck MacLean had a great idea, Chuck had a fantastic beginning for the script,” Affleck told IndieWire. As for if he sought inspiration from any other films, he told us that “‘Midnight Run,’ ‘The Sting,’ and ‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’ were definitely talked about a lot.

Space travel is not for the weak. It takes a special kind of person to brave the cosmos and not recoil from insignificance while coming to grips with how small we are in an ocean of stars and infinite possibilities. If you’re not careful, the weight of your mission and the isolation that comes with the job can warp your senses, making you see and hear things that are not there. In Mikael Håfström’s Slingshot trailer, Casey Affleck, Laurence Fishburne, and Tomer Capone star in a psychological thriller about three astronauts making Ren and Stimpy’s case of space madness look like child’s play.

Here’s the official synopsis for Slingshot courtesy of Bleecker Street:

A psychological thriller starring Casey Affleck and Laurence Fishburne, Slingshot follows an elite trio of astronauts aboard a years-long, possibly compromised mission to Saturn’s moon Titan. As the team gears up...

On the latest episode of the “Team Deakins” podcast, hosted by legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins, Casey Affleck let it slip that he’s currently prepping for a new directorial project. And while Affleck didn’t divulge any ideas on the upcoming third film, it’s clear from his conversation with Deakins that it’ll be similar to 2010’s “I’m Not There” and 2019’s “Light Of My Life.” That is, it’ll be a more Affleck makes for his artistic fulfillment more than commercial success.

Continue reading Casey Affleck Has Another Directing Project On The Way, And He’ll Turn Down Big Acting Roles To Make It at The Playlist.

Casey Affleck is taking time to reflect.

The actor, who settled two lawsuits in 2010 accusing him of sexual harassment on the set of Joaquin Phoenix’s mockumentary film “I’m Still Here,” harnessed his “more personal failures” to transform into musician Donnie Emerson for musical biopic “Dreamin’ Wild.”

The film, which premiered at the 2022 Venice Film Festival, is written and directed by Bill Pohlad (“Love & Mercy”) and tells the story of musical duo Donnie and Joe Emerson after their 1979 self-recorded album is re-discovered decades later. The film also stars Zooey Deschanel, Walton Goggins, Chris Messina, Noah Jupe, Jack Dylan Grazer, and Beau Bridges.

“I’ve experienced my share of failure so far, dashed hopes and collapsed dreams,” Affleck said during the Venice press conference, via Deadline. “These aren’t the worst of them, but I’ve been in a lot of movies that I thought would be great and they...

Exclusive: Lili Simmons (Power Book IV: Force), Kim Coates (The White Houe Plumbers), Igby Rigney (Midnight Mass), Tom Bower (El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie) and Justin Marcel McManus (Power Book II: Ghost) will topline Southern Gothic (working title), an upcoming indie drama from writer-director Tom Schulman (Dead Poets Society), which has wrapped production.

The story is set in the dangerous and shady world of illegal, high-stakes keno gambling, in a run-down plantation house owned by Nick (Coates) in the rural South, at the turn of the 21st century. Nick is enamored with the smart, tough and charming Keno ace Diana’s (Simmons) intent to win big and is determined to stake her. Little Nick (Rigney), a one-time prodigy keno hustler, now reduced to servicing pool tables, strikes up a friendship with Diana and coaches her to win against the odds. Diana must then prove herself in a man’s...

Five top TV production designers will reveal secrets behind their projects when they join Gold Derby’s special “Meet the Btl Experts” Q&a event with key 2021 guild and Emmy contenders this month. Each person will participate in two video discussions to premiere on Tuesday, May 18, at 5:00 p.m. Pt; 8:00 p.m. Et. We’ll have a one-on-one with our senior editor Daniel Montgomery and a group chat with Daniel and all of the group together.

RSVP today to this specific event by clicking here to book your reservation. Or click here to RSVP for our entire ongoing panel series. We’ll send you a reminder a few minutes before the start of the show.

This “Meet the Btl Experts” panel welcomes the following 2021 guild and Emmy contenders:

“The Flight Attendant”: Sara K White

White’s career has included “Mrs. Fletcher,” “Think Like a Dog,” “The Kid” and “Light of My Life.

Exclusive: Following critical acclaim that recently earned him multiple accolades including a SAG nomination, Nicholas Hoult is looking to stay in business with The Great producers for the long haul. Hoult has signed a first-look television deal with MRC Television and Civic Center Media via his newly formed production company, Dead Duck Films. He also named film and TV producer Whitaker Lader, coming off an overall producing deal at Ron Howard and Brian Grazer’s Imagine Entertainment, to lead the company.

“I have always loved the creative process of filmmaking, from start to finish and feel so lucky to have learned from the amazingly talented people I have worked with over the years,” Hoult said. “I’m thrilled to be launching this company, and to be embarking on this journey alongside such brilliant partners.”

The first project in development under the banner’s deal with the leading independent studio is Wildfire Johnny.

Gerard Butler tops nine new markets with STX’s action thriller ‘Greenland’.

Gerard Butler’s latest action thriller Greenland opened top in nine of its 11 new markets at the weekend: Taiwan, Singapore, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Switzerland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

Top new territory for Greenland at the weekend was Taiwan, opening with a five-day $1.01m from 62 locations, and a 57% market share, for local distributor CatchPlay. STX – which produced and represents the film internationally – reports that this result is 77% ahead of the debut number for Butler’s Angel Has Fallen, and 174% ahead of Olympus Has Fallen.

The estimated international weekend total...

Indie titles hoping to capitalise on blockbuster absence.

UK-Ireland, opening Friday August 14

Picturehouse Entertainment heads the new titles this weekend with Shannon Murphy’s Australian comedy-drama Babyteeth in 140 locations.

The debut feature of theatre and TV drama director Murphy played in Competition at Venice last year, where Toby Wallace won the Marcello Mastroianni award for emerging actor/actress. It most recently won the top prize at the 19th Transylvania International Film Festival last weekend.

Adapted by Rita Kalnejais from her stage play of the same name, the film centres on Milla (Eliza Scanlen), a seriously ill teenager, who falls in...

The live discussion will take place on Thursday July 23 at 15.00 BST.

Alexis Mas, CEO of France’s Condor Distribution, has joined the panel for the latest in our ScreenDaily Talks webinar series, focusing on the challenges and opportunities for Europe’s independent distributors as cinemas begin to reopen.

The live discussion will take place on Thursday July 23 at 15.00 BST.

Click here to register

Mas is the CEO of Paris-based distributor Condor. The company runs two distinct slates: one focused on arthouse titles for theatrical release, the other on a mixture of family entertainment and genre fare for digital release.

Condor...

Hong Kong Arts Centre: Moving Images announces their May programme, which includes their regular Golden Scene Selection, Independently Yours: Together We Stand and Independently Yours: Taking Back the Legislature + Inside the Red Brick Wall as well as the Hong Kong Arts Centre x Hong Kong Film Festival – Independently Yours: Memories to Choke On, Drinks to Wash Them Down, the delayed February programme which has finally been rescheduled for June.

Golden Scene Selection – June

Venue: Louis Koo Cinema, Hong Kong Arts Centre

Date: 2020.06.23 – 2020.06.29

Price: Standard ticket: $80. Tickets are now available at Putyourself.in.

“Golden Scene Selection”, proudly presented by the Hong Kong Arts Centre (Hkac) and Golden Scene Company Limited, will bring the audience a series of cherry-picked selections from around the world at the Hkac.

Screening Schedule

23/6 (Tue) 8pm Radioactive (Preview)

24/6 (Wed) 8pm Beyond The Dream (Preview)*

25/6 (Thu) 8pm A Family Tour*

26/6 (Fri) 8pm After the Wedding

27/6 (Sat) 3pm...

U.S. financier-producer Black Bear Pictures has optioned rights to Irish writer Naoise Dolan’s debut novel Exciting Times ahead of its U.S. release on June 2.

Following a successful release in the UK and Ireland in April, where it debuted on the Sunday Times Best-Sellers List, the novel has been picked up by Black Bear Television, which will develop and produce the novel as a premium series.

According to Black Bear’s synopsis, the story “follows the liaisons of Ava, newly arrived in Hong Kong from Dublin, who spends her days teaching English to rich children. Julian is a banker. A banker who likes to spend money on Ava, to have sex and discuss fluctuating currencies with her. But when she asks whether he loves her, he cannot say more than ‘I like you a great deal.’ Enter Edith, a lawyer. Refreshingly enthusiastic and unapologetically earnest, Edith takes Ava...

If there was a checklist of items to include in a movie that spoke to me directly, Only would be right at the top. Post-apocalyptic, mysterious, dramatic, beautiful and focused on a woman. Though in the case of Takashi Doscher's sophomore effort, it's more about the lack of women.

The set-up is eerily similar to Light of My Life (trailer) and though both films tell the story of a world without women, they do so in very different ways. Light of My Life takes place long after the women have dies and has a man at its centre while Only unfolds just as the world is starting to lose women in mass numbers and the story is centrally focused...

Zoe Saldana is starring in the sports drama “Fencer” with Casey Affleck producing and Jasmine McGlade directing from her own script.

HanWay Films will commence sales at next week’s European Film Market with UTA Independent Film Group and CAA Media Finance overseeing the U.S. sale.

“Fencer” is inspired by McGlade’s experiences as a national champion fencer. The athlete capped her tenure at Harvard University by leading her team to the school’s first-ever Ncaa Championship title in fencing.

Saldana, who starred in “Avengers: Endgame,” is attached to play an ambitious female athlete facing personal demons and childhood rivals as she vies for a spot on the U.S. Olympic team.

Affleck is producing with Whitaker Lader. Affleck and Lader previously teamed up on “Light of My Life” and Mona Fastvold’s “The World to Come.” Also producing are McGlade and Claudia Bluemhuber of Silver Reel, who is also financing.

Saldana will play Mae, a fencer vying for an Olympic spot.

Zoe Saldana has signed to star in Jasmine McGlade’s Us sports drama Fencer, which Casey Affleck is producing.

HanWay Films is handling international sales and is introducing to buyers at the European Film Market next week. UTA Independent Film Group and CAA Media Finance are handling Us rights.

Inspired by McGlade’s experiences as a national champion fencer, the film follows an ambitious athlete facing personal demons and childhood rivals as she vies for a spot on the U.S. Olympic team.

Affleck is producing the film alongside Whitaker Lader.

HanWay Films will launch sales at the Efm on writer-director Jasmine McGlade’s drama Fencer, which is set to star Zoe Saldana (Avengers: Endgame).

Set in the competitive world of fencing, Saldana is attached to play Mae, an ambitious female athlete facing personal demons and childhood rivals as she vies for a spot on the U.S. Olympic team. The film is inspired by McGlade’s own experiences as a national champion fencer. McGlade capped her tenure at Harvard by leading her team to the school’s first-ever Ncaa Championship title.

Casey Affleck (Manchester By the Sea) is producing with Whitaker Lader. Affleck and Lader previously teamed up on Light of My Life and Mona Fastvold’s The World To Come starring Vanessa Kirby and Katherine Waterston, currently in post-production.

Also producing are McGlade, and Claudia Bluemhuber of Silver Reel (The Wife), which is also financing. Imagine Entertainment (Apollo 13) will executive produce.

Exclusive: Imagine Entertainment has entered into an exclusive pod deal for feature films with producer Whitaker Lader.

Prior to joining Imagine, Lader was Head of Production and Development for Casey Affleck’s film & TV production company, Sea Change Media, where she executive produced Light of My Life, written and directed by Affleck. Whitaker most recently produced The World to Come directed by Mona Fastvold and starring Katherine Waterston, Vanessa Kirby, Affleck and Christopher Abbott, and Jasmine McGlade’s Fencer.

Previously, Whitaker worked at Sundance Institute as the Manager of Creative Initiatives & Board Relations under Keri Putnam, managing the launch of Catalyst, an exchange connecting film investors with projects by Sundance alumni. She graduated from Brown University, where she was Executive Director of the Ivy Film Festival, and has an Mba from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business.

“Whitaker brings a unique perspective and skill set to the stories she wants to tell.

Jules Verne’s version of ‘Die Hard’ takes place not on Christmas Eve in Century City, but 160 years ago at a lonely lighthouse in Tierra Del Fuego. The mini-moguls the Salkinds rounded up a great cast — Kirk Douglas! Samantha Eggar! Yul Brynner! — but let them down severely in production details and particularly the edit. Most everything is here for a classic adventure-suspense picture, but somebody thought it had to be ultra-violent and nihilistic. The new Blu-ray restores it to good color and an uncut state.

The Light at the Edge of the World

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1971 / Color / 2:35 anamorphic 16:9 / 126 min. / La Luz del fin del mundo / 129 min. / Street Date February 18, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Kirk Douglas, Yul Brynner, Samantha Eggar, Jean-Claude Drouot,

Fernando Rey, Renato Salvatori.

Cinematography: Henri Decae

Film Editor: Bert Bates

Original Music: Piero Piccioni

Written by Tom Rowe, Rachel Billington from a book by...

In light of recent revelations that Berlinale founding director Alfred Bauer was once an active, high-ranking Nazi, the film festival has suspended his namesake prize, the Alfred Bauer Silver Bear. A report in German newspaper Die Zeit last week detailed Bauer’s ties to Joseph Goebbels, the infamous Reich Minister of Nazi Propaganda who set up Reich Film Office in 1942 to control the moviemaking industry and use it as a pipeline for information from the party. The report details how Bauer appeared to be a key member of this operation in the 1940s, and prior to, had been a member of the Nazis’ pre-war paramilitary arm.

“We welcome the research and its publication in Die Zeit and will seize the opportunity to begin a deeper research on the festival history with the support of external experts,” the festival wrote on Facebook. “The interpretation of these sources suggests that [Bauer] had held...

Amazon Prime Video has confirmed that the third season of the Emmy-winning comedy series “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” will debut on the streaming service in December. Also set to return is the sci-fi series “The Expanse” for season 4 and the Indian import “Inside Edge” for a second edition.

Look for the premiere of the feature film “The Aeronauts,” a fanciful tale of Victorian balloonists which reunites the Oscar-winning Eddie Redmayne with his “Theory of Everything” leading lady Felicity Jones. Also scheduled to start streaming is Joe Talbot‘s acclaimed drama “The Last Black Man in San Francisco.”

And in association with the NFL Channel, Amazon will continue to stream “Thursday Night Football,” with a new game airing live each week.

Below is the full schedule of everything that is coming to Amazon Prime Video in December 2019. Unlike Netflix, Amazon does not disclose the shows and movies leaving the service in any given month.

With the holidays around the corner, Amazon Prime Video is adding an abundance of movies and TV shows to stream while relaxing at home.

A majority of fresh content will drop on the first of the month, starting with Cameron Crowe’s “Almost Famous” and Kevin Bacon’s “Footloose” on Dec. 1. For superhero enthusiasts, “Hancock” and “Bumblebee” will drop on the first of the month as well.

Newer offerings such as “What Men Want” and “The Last Black Man in San Francisco” will be added to Amazon Prime Video later in December.

Amazon original series like “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “Clifford” and “Inside Edge” will each add new seasons on Dec. 6, while a fourth season of “The Expanse” will hit Dec. 13.

See the full list of titles below:

December 1

A Better Life

Almost Famous

Bug

Footloose

Hamlet

Hancock

Havana Motor Club

In Secret

Out of Time

Phase IV

Some Kind of Wonderful...

Elisabeth Moss may be a 13-time Screen Actors Guild Award nominee and two-time winner as part of the “Mad Men” ensemble (2009-10), but she has yet to walk home with an individual statuette despite five previous tries. This year, the tide could finally turn thanks to her work in the third season of Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale,” for which she is once more eligible in Best TV Drama Actress.

Of Moss’s five individual nominations, two were for “Mad Men” in Best TV Drama Actress, one for “Top of the Lake” in Best Limited Series/TV Movie Actress (2014) and two for “Handmaid’s” in Best TV Drama Actress (2018-19); the other eight were as part the ensembles of“Mad Men’s” or “Handmaid’s’” (2018-19). If she were to snatch a third consecutive bid for “Handmaid’s,” it would make her performance as June her most nominated individual...

The Rome Film Festival’s independently run Alice in the City sidebar, which is dedicated to films for children and youth, has scored several coups recently, including the European premiere of Disney’s “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil,” attended by stars Angelina Jolie and Michelle Pfeiffer. The sidebar also managed to get Casey Affleck to fly over for the Italian launch of his directorial debut, “Light of My Life.”

Variety spoke to co-founder and artistic director Fabia Bettini about how the event has managed to gain prominence on the international children’s festival circuit and maintain a distinctive identity.

At the recent Mia market in Rome, there was lots of talk about Alice making a quantum leap this year. How did you score the “Maleficent” premiere?

Alice’s strength has always been, paradoxically, not to chase after stars. When we see a film we fall in love with it, regardless of its star power.

Courtney Eaton, Dina Meyer, Giancarlo Esposito and Ben McKenzie also star.

Saban Films has picked up Us rights to the Aaron Eckhart action thriller Line Of Duty, which The Solution Entertainment Group continues to represent for outstanding international territories in Toronto.

Steven C. Miller directs from a screenplay by Jeremy Drysdale about a disgraced police officer who races against time to find an imperilled kidnap victim after he accidentally kills the abductor.

Courtney Eaton, Dina Meyer, Giancarlo Esposito and Ben McKenzie also star. The Solution Entertainment Group’s Myles Nestel and Craig Chapman produced with Skip Williamson, Scott Lastaiti, Martin Sprock,...

Saban Films has taken U.S. rights to the Aaron Eckhart action thriller Line of Duty from Escape Plan 2 director Steven C. Miller.

The pic follows Eckhart as a disgraced cop who finds himself in a race against time to find a kidnap victim whose abductor he accidentally killed. The film will be receiving a November theatrical release.

Courtney Eaton (Mad Max: Fury Road), Dina Meyer (Saw), Breaking Bad Emmy nominee Giancarlo Esposito (Maze Runner franchise) and Ben McKenzie (Gotham) also star.

Line of Duty was produced by the Solution Entertainment Group’s Myles Nestel & Craig Chapman, Skip Williamson, Scott Lastaiti, Martin Sprock, Tiffany Stone, Renee Tab and Christopher Tuffin.

“This fast-paced thriller is action-packed and bound to captivate audiences and keep them on their toes,” Saban Films’ Bill Bromiley said. “It’s a testament to Steven’s skills as a filmmaker, and the cast, led by Aaron, give stunning performances.

A few years ago, a politically-charged movie starring and directed by Nate Parker, and championed by Spike Lee, would have all but walked into the Toronto Film Festival. Not this year.

The cultural landscape has been radically and vitally reshaped by the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements. As part of that reshaping, a coterie of prominent filmmakers with checkered pasts have become lightning rods for industry debate and division. This year more than ever, we are seeing a transatlantic schism between film festivals over how to handle these acclaimed directors, each of whom have very different backstories, which have been covered in detail on our site.

Despite Toronto programming Parker’s The Birth Of A Nation in 2016, and a string of movies starring the multi-hyphenate before that, his new under-the-radar movie American Skin, about police violence and racism in America, will instead debut at Venice.

Venice chief Alberto Barbera has stirred...

Death of Me, starring Maggie Q and Luke Hemsworth and directed by Darren Lynn Bousman, is getting a theatrical release next year thanks to Saban Films. Here's the announcement from Saban Films with plot details that make this sound like the horror version of The Hangover:

Los Angeles (August 22, 2019) – Saban Films announced today that they have acquired North American rights to Darren Lynn Bousman’s Death of Me. Starring Maggie Q and Luke Hemsworth and from a script penned by Ari Margolis (Black Days) & James Morley III and David Tish (Blood Money).

Death of Me centers on a couple on an exotic holiday who awaken one morning with a hangover and no recollection of what transpired. When playing back the video of their previous night, they learn they participated in a ritual that somehow ended with the husband murdering the wife — though she’s actually very much alive.

“Darren...

The San Sebastian International Film Festival on Wednesday unveiled 10 more titles for its Pearls sidebar, including Steven Soderbergh's The Laundromat, starring Meryl Streep, Gary Oldman and Antonio Banderas, in a tale turning on the Panama Papers investigation.

Other titles set for the selection include Casey Affleck's Berlin Panorama entry Light of My Life, which follows a father and daughter in a world where women have largely disappeared, and Robert Eggers' Cannes screener The Lighthouse, which stars Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe as two lighthouse keepers on a distant island who slowly slip into madness.

Michael Angelo Covino's Un Certain ...

The San Sebastian International Film Festival on Wednesday unveiled 10 more titles for its Pearls sidebar, including Steven Soderbergh's The Laundromat, starring Meryl Streep, Gary Oldman and Antonio Banderas, in a tale turning on the Panama Papers investigation.

Other titles set for the selection include Casey Affleck's Berlin Panorama entry Light of My Life, which follows a father and daughter in a world where women have largely disappeared, and Robert Eggers' Cannes screener The Lighthouse, which stars Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe as two lighthouse keepers on a distant island who slowly slip into madness.

Michael Angelo Covino's Un Certain ...

Quentin Tarantino’s latest records his highest single day at the UK box office.

Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood looks set to dominate the UK box office picture this weekend. It began its rollout on Wednesday (Aug 14) via Sony Pictures.

The film has taken £93m ($113m) globally to date, with many key international markets to come. In the UK, it will be expected to utilise its star pairing of Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt to challenge Tarantino’s previous highest-performing releases, which are led by 2013’s Django Unchained (£15.7m) and 1994’s Pulp Fiction (£12.7m).

Quentin Tarantino...

Tagline: "Her World is a Deadly Place." The post-apocalyptic drama Light of My Life will see more home entertainment formats this October. The film is already available on Digital platforms. From Casey Affleck (I'm Still Here), the film takes place after a plague, which has killed most females on the planet. Now, a father is doing his best to help his daughter survive, in this very different world. Starring Tom Bower (Out of the Furnace), Anna Pniowsky and Elizabeth Moss, this is Afflecks's second feature as director. To be released by Paramount Home Entertainment, more details on the release of Light of My Life are here. The official synopsis focuses on the parent and child relationship. This father and daughter are living on the fringes of society, after a pandemic has reduced the world's population in half. With almost no women on the planet, one man is tested by humanity...

Directed, written by, and starring Casey Affleck, Light Of My Life centers on a bleak future wherein a pandemic has wiped out most of the female population. Rag (Anna Pniowsky) is a young child who pretends to be a boy to ensure her safety, and the only person she trusts in the world is her father [...]

The post Anna Pniowsky Takes On “Realistic” Approach With Casey Affleck In ‘Light of My Life’ appeared first on Hollywood Outbreak.

Casey Affleck makes his narrative feature filmmaking debut with the post-apocalyptic Light of My Life. It is a graceful sucess.

facebook

twitter

tumblr

In the opening scene of Light of My Life, the first narrative feature written and directed by Oscar-winning actor Casey Affleck, a man named Caleb (Affleck) and his daughter, nicknamed Rag (Anna Pniowsky), lie in a dimly lit, weathered tent. Caleb tells Rag a story derived from the tale of Noah’s Ark, but which gets revised as Caleb adjusts to Rag’s questions and observations. It’s a risky way to open a film and points up both Affleck’s strengths and flaws as a first-time filmmaker: the sequence establishes the bond and love between the two characters, yet goes on too long for its own good.

The relationship between Caleb and Rag is the full, beating heart of Light of My Life, and Affleck does excellent work with it,...

Hints of autumn are unspooling this weekend with stars fronting Specialty fare opening in theaters. Julianne Moore, Michelle Williams, Billy Crudup and Abby Quinn headline Sundance ’19 opener After The Wedding, starting in New York and L.A. today via Sony Pictures Classics. The film by Bart Freundlich is based on the 2006 Oscar-nominated original by Danish filmmaker Susanne Bier. Shia Labeouf and Dakota Johnson join newcomer Zack Gottsagen in Roadside Attractions’ modern-day Huck Finn-style adventure Peanut Butter Falcon, opening in seven markets this weekend. Doc awards hopeful One Child Nation from Amazon Studios begins its theatrical with exclusive runs in Los Angeles and New York today, while non-fiction title This Changes Everything, featuring a slew of veteran actors and public figures, heads out to three theaters in both cities from Good Deed Entertainment. Following screenings at recent Lgbtq festivals Frameline and Outfest, Samuel Goldwyn Films rolls out Mexican period drama...

It’s incredible how many films are hitting theaters today. It’s one of the more crowded new release slates in a bit, so a review round-up is necessary on this Friday. Here we’ll be discussing four of the movies we weren’t able to review so far this week, giving them at least a small moment in the sun. Today we have a quartet of titles, ranging from a remake in After the Wedding, to a true life drama in Brian Banks, over to a survival tale in Light of My Life, all the way to a quirky romantic comedy in Ode to Joy. Are any of these worth your time? All of them? Well, we have the answer for you imminently. Read on below to find out… After the Wedding Independent cinema is not the normal spot to find remakes. Usually, that’s where Hollywood has a monopoly.

With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options—not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves–each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit platforms. Check out this week’s selections below and an archive of past round-ups here.

Amazing Grace (Sydney Pollack)

A time capsule that’s as fresh and powerful an experience as it must have been when recorded live in Watts in 1972, Amazing Grace is arguably one of the year’s most-anticipated films arriving after years of litigation and a fetal technical glitch that was resolved thanks to digital workflows. The film that exists, finished by producer Alan Elliot, bursts with intimacy and immediacy capturing a captivating and sublime performance by Aretha Franklin. In between the incredible artistry we discover and are introduced to several influences of Franklin’s including her father the minister and civil rights activist Cl Franklin who provides...

“Do you want me to tell you a story?” It could be any father, asking their kid if they need to hear a yarn before they drift off to sleep. In this case, we’re looking down at a dad (writer-director Casey Affleck) — we never find out his name, he’s simply Dad — telling his daughter, Rag (Anna Pniowsky), a long, convoluted fairy tale involving foxes, someone who’s “a futzer, a fiddler,” crowds and a large raft. Eventually, it’s revealed that he’s talking about the biblical parable...

If You’re a Boy or a Girl: Affleck Explores Gender in the Post-Apocalypse

Nearly a decade after his stunt documentary I’m Not Here (2010), actor Casey Affleck returns to the director’s chair with an art-house portrait of the post-apocalypse in Light of My Life. Coincidentally, just as his previous directorial effort resulted in some questionable scenarios which overshadowed the glory of his 2016 Best Actor Academy Award for Manchester by the Sea, his next effort is a dystopic psychological drama revolving specifically around gender roles in a human population decimated by a mysterious disease which has claimed the roles of all the world’s women, seemingly.…...

Saban Films has acquired the North American rights to “John Henry,” starring Terry Crews and Ludacris, the distributor announced on Tuesday.

The dramatic thriller is Will Forbes’ directorial debut (Forbes and Doug Skinner wrote the screenplay) and is produced by Defiant Studios’ Eric B. Fleischman, Kodiak Pictures’ Maurice Fadida and Automatik’s Brian Kavanaugh-Jones. Saban Films is looking to release the film in the first quarter of 2020.

“John Henry” is a modern adaptation of the African-American folk hero and follows Henry (Crews) after he abandons his former life for a more peaceful one in Los Angeles. There, he crosses paths with two immigrant kids who are running from the leader of the gang he used to be a part of, so he is re-confronted with his past life.

Also Read: Terry Crews Says Ami Once Tried to 'Silence' Him by 'Fabricating Stories' About Prostitutes

“The tale of John...

Casey Affleck addressed his decision to stay quiet after sexual harassment allegations made against him resurfaced in 2018, saying the #MeToo movement is “very hard to talk about and it scares me.”

On Dax Shepard’s podcast “Armchair Expert,” Affleck discussed charges made by two female crew members on set of his 2010 mockumentary “I’m Still Here” starring Joaquin Phoenix.

“I really wanted to support all but I felt like the best thing to do was to just be quiet so that I didn’t seem to be in opposition to something that I really wanted to champion,” Affleck told Shepard. “It’s a tough spot to be in, especially if you really do appreciate and want to be a support of the side that seems angriest, and the anger is being directed at you.”

Affleck said the movement took a toll on his mental state. He was supposed to present...

Casey Affleck admits on the most recent episode of Dax Shepard’s “Armchair Expert” podcast that he gets nervous to talk about topics related to the #MeToo anti-harassment movement. Affleck, who settled two lawsuits in 2010 accusing him of sexual harassment on the set of his mockumentary film “I’m Still Here,” stressed that he is an ardent supporter of the #MeToo movement and the values it represents. The “Manchester by the Sea” Oscar winner said the idea of people not supporting #MeToo values is baffling.

“Who would not be supportive of the #MeToo movement? That’s an idea that’s even out there?” Affleck said. “That there are some people saying we do not believe in equality and we think the workplace should be a dangerous place for certain people and not for others. That’s preposterous.”

Affleck added that for him “it is very, very hard to talk about,...

Casey Affleck is addressing his past.

During a recent interview on Dax Shepard‘s Armchair Expert podcast to promote the new movie he directed and stars in, Light of My Life, the actor discussed the previous sexual misconduct allegations against him, and said that he was “supportive” of the #MeToo movement.

Two sexual harassment lawsuits were filed against Affleck, 43, in 2010 by two women who worked with him on I’m Still Here, which he directed and starred Joaquin Phoenix. The actor has denied the allegations, and settled the suits out of court for undisclosed amounts. In the settlement, Affleck did not admit any guilt.

Believe it or not, but the summer, somehow, is almost over. I meant to get to this a few days ago, obviously, but with all of the Nyff announcements and such, we’ve been a bit delayed. Still, August is in its first days, so a look at the month is still appropriate. Furthermore, the month is almost overcrowded, there’s to much goodness here. Two of my absolute favorite films of the year come out over the next week and change, so if that isn’t an endorsement, I don’t know what is, right? There’s some real gems opening, so it’s a very strong movie month, to say the least… Here now are what I feel are the ten very best bets for the month of August: 10. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark – This Guillermo del Toro backed horror offering comes from a well regarded book series.

Anna Pniowsky on Light Of My Life director and co-star Casey Affleck: "Casey is a phenomenal actor and I'm very thankful that I got to work with him and learn from him." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Anna Pniowsky stars opposite Light Of My Life screenwriter/director Casey Affleck in a father-daughter relationship. They live in a post-catastrophe society of the future, where the female population is feared to be wiped out by a mysterious plague, which has taken her mother, played by Elisabeth Moss. Affleck, a longtime favourite of David Lowery, Best Actor Oscar winner for Kenneth Lonergan's Manchester By The Sea, and director of the Joaquin Phoenix film I'm Still Here, creates in Light Of My Life an alternative universe where disguise is a mode of survival.

Rag (Anna Pniowsky) with Dad (Casey Affleck): "I was comfortable around him and I could be vulnerable around the camera.