DEADLINE EXCLUSIVE: Priority Pictures, the production company of Emmy-winning producers Lizzie Friedman, Karen Lauder, and Greg Little, has optioned Douglas Brunt‘s NYT bestseller The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel and will develop it for the screen, Deadline has learned. It’s not clear at this point whether the adaptation will be for film or TV.
Also recently named a Best of 2023 Staff Pick by Apple Books, The Mysterious Case tells the true story of Rudolf Diesel, one of history’s greatest inventors, who vanished into thin air on the eve of World War I. His revolutionary invention, the Diesel engine, was highly sought after by global industries and political figures around the world. It had the power to threaten empires and change the fate of nations, turning him and his technology into both a prized asset and a potential threat.
DEADLINE EXCLUSIVE: Vertical has picked up rights to the crime thriller Mother’s Milk, directed by Miles Joris-Peyrafitte (As You Are), with plans to distribute it in North America, the UK, Australia and New Zealand. The film in which two-time Academy Award winner Hilary Swank (Million Dollar Baby) stars opposite Olivia Cooke (House of the Dragon) and Jack Reynor (Midsommar) will hit theaters across North America beginning September 1, debuting in the other territories shortly thereafter.
Written by Joris-Peyrafitte and Madison Harrison, Mother’s Milk follows journalist Marissa Bennings (Swank) who, after the murder of her estranged son, forms an unlikely alliance with his pregnant girlfriend Paige (Cooke) to track down those responsible for his death. Together they confront a world of corruption and drugs in the underbelly of a small city in upstate New York. And as they get closer to the truth, they unearth an even darker secret.
DEADLINE EXCLUSIVE: Dear Zoe, a drama film starring Sadie Sink (Stranger Things), has been acquired by Byron Allen’s Freestyle Digital Media and is set to be released in select theaters and on demand beginning November 4, 2022.
Adapted from Philip Beard’s award-winning novel, Dear Zoe, with a screenplay by Marc Lhormer and Melissa Martin, the feature film is directed by Gren Wells and is produced by Zin Haze Productions’ Brenda Lhormer and Marc Lhormer.
Theo Rossi (Sons of Anarchy), Jessica Capshaw (Grey’s Anatomy), Justin Bartha (The Hangover), Vivien Lyra Blair (Obi-Wan Kenobi), and rapper, songwriter, and producer Kweku Collins, round out the cast.
Hilary Swank (“Million Dollar Baby”), Jack Reynor (“Midsommar”) and Olivia Cooke (“House of the Dragons”) are set to star in the upcoming opioid-themed thriller “Mother’s Milk.”
The film, which recently wrapped production in New York, comes from director Miles Joris-Peyrafitte, who co-wrote the script with Madison Harrison. Prior credits from the director include Sundance Special Jury Prize winner “As You Are,” and the Margot Robbie-starring “Dreamland.” Aside from the three leads, additional cast includes Dilone, Hopper Penn, Norm Lewis and Karen Aldridge.
By Jake Howard
Long after graduating, the boys from the ‘90s New School continue to collect accolades.
Last night it was announced by The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences at the 40th Annual Sports Emmy Awards that the film “Momentum Generation” was recognized as this year’s Outstanding Long Sports Documentary.
HBO has acquired U.S. and Canada TV rights to Momentum Generation, the feature-length surfing documentary from Jeff and Michael Zimbalist that won an audience award after its premiere this spring at the Tribeca Film Festival. It will air on HBO on December 11 after Universal Pictures Home Entertainment Content Group’s international digital release set for November 5. Read more
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/07/movies/bel-canto-opera-movies-julianne-moore.html
By Michael Cooper
Sept. 7, 2018
“Bel Canto” is the rare film that does not use opera to comment ironically on bloodshed, or signal sinister depravity, or provide the sonic equivalent of a heart-shaped box of chocolates in a moment of slightly cloying Valentine’s Day-style romance. Mixing elements of thriller and romantic drama, “Bel Canto” is not exactly an opera film. But it uses music as character and catalyst, a vital force uniting artist and fan, hostage and guerrilla, plutocrat and revolutionary.
“It’s about the power of art to humanize,” the star soprano Renée Fleming, who recorded the arias by Dvorak and Puccini that Ms. Moore lip-syncs to in the film, said in an interview.
‘Momentum Generation’ shows how one house in Hawaii nurtured surfer crew that would “forever reshape worldwide culture in the 1990s”
A crew of surfers who helped change the sport tumble into each other’s company in a new clip from Momentum Generation, a documentary executive-produced by Robert Redford (among others), that’s set to premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival.
The film tracks the rise of athletes who eventually “win world titles and forever reshape worldwide culture in the 1990s and beyond,” according to a statement from the directors, Jeff and Michael Zimbalist.
In the Momentum Generation teaser, the surfers come together as a group for the first time. “We all knew each other from surfing different amateur events,” Rob Machado says. “But it wasn’t until we stayed at Benji’s house that we became a posse.” Read more
Sebastian Koch, Christopher Lambert, and Elsa Zylberstein have joined Paul Weitz’s “Bel Canto.”
Alex Walton and Ken Kao’s sales and production shingle, Bloom, introduced the pic at the Toronto Intl. Film Festival, and will continue sales at Berlin’s European Film Market. WME Global is handling U.S. rights.