Nicole Kidman could be on the verge of receiving her sixth acting Oscar bid for the upcoming A24 erotic thriller “Babygirl,” directed by Halina Reijn, best known for the indie film “Bodies Bodies Bodies” (2022). With the movie already making its premiere at the Venice International Film Festival and Kidman taking home the Volpi Cup for Best Actress, let’s take a closer look at her five previous Oscar nominations, including her one win.

Her first recognition came for the Baz Luhrmann jukebox musical “Moulin Rouge” (2001), where Kidman portrayed a cabaret performer and courtesan in love with an English poet. It is certainly one of her most physical performances, as she performs extravagant musical numbers and showcases strong emotions as her character Satine suffers through an illness. Kidman won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and was part of the movie’s eight Oscar nominations,...

Brady Corbet’s 215-minute post-wwii epic The Brutalist had its world premiere here at the Venice Film Festival this afternoon with the starry drama receiving a 13-minute, five-second ovation from the Sala Grande audience.

On hand were Corbet — whose Vox Lux and Childhood of a Leader previously made their debuts on the Lido — along with cast members Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Joe Alwyn, Stacy Martin, Raffey Cassidy, Emma Laird, Isaach De Bankolé and Alessandro Nivola.

Although the movie was long enough to require an intermission — which broke out with its own 17-second ovation — the reception to the finale was enthusiastic with plenty of “Brava”s thrown from the audience. Ethan Hawke was even in the crowd, remaining on-hand throughout the ovation.

In The Brutalist, Brody stars as László Tóth, a Hungarian-born Jewish architect who emigrates to the U.S. with his wife Erzsébet after surviving the Holocaust. As...

Could Nicole Kidman score a fifth Best Actress nomination for her performance in racy thriller Babygirl, which has just debuted at the Venice Film Festival?

The short answer is yes. The longer answer is that it’s complicated.

In the Halina Reijn-directed erotic-thriller, Kidman plays a high-powered CEO who puts her career and family on the line when she begins a torrid affair with her much younger intern (played by Harris Dickinson).

The early word on Kidman from critics here on the Lido is very positive. Deadline’s Damon Wise said: “It’s hard to ignore the amount of dedication, not to mention naked flesh, that she brings to the role….Kidman really goes the distance, imbuing Romy with a psychological vulnerability that is missing from the film it most obvious sounds like (50 Shades of Grey) and presenting a unique reversal of the film it most obviously looks...

Exclusive: Magnet Releasing, the genre arm of Magnolia Pictures, has picked up the North American rights to the twisty sci-fi thriller Things Will Be Different which made its world premiere in the Midnight section at SXSW. An Oct. 4 theatrical day-and-date release has been set.

The feature directorial debut of Michael Felker, which he also wrote, follows estranged siblings who, after a robbery, escape to a rural safe house hidden in time and discover they’re not the only occupants. Riley Dandy, Adam David Thompson, Chloe Skoczen, Justin Benson, Jori Lynn Felker, and Sarah Bolger star.

Deadline’s Damon Wise in his review of the pic exclaimed, “Those willing to get swept up and carried along by its playful Moebius-strip logic will be richly rewarded.”

Pic is EP’ed by Justin Benson, Aaron Moorhead (Marvel’s Moon Knight and Loki) and David Lawson of Rustic Films and produced by Shane Spiegel,...

An air of anticipation and intrigue surrounded Noaz Deshe’s film Xoftex as it swiftly won a Special Jury Mention at the Crystal Globe Competition of the Karlovy Vary Film Festival. The groundbreaking film held its world premiere to packed audiences at the festival’s Grand Hall, earning enthusiastic applause and standing ovation, proving to be the talk of the town right from the beginning.

The film didn’t just score with the audience, but also with critics alike. The first batch of reviews lauded the film’s unique take on the refugee crisis. Damon Wise of Deadline celebrated the film for its ability to portray “the disorientation of the stateless mind” in a potent and unorthodox way.

Laurence Boyce from Screen Daily appreciated the offbeat style of storytelling that broke the conventional shackles, offering a fresh outlook on refugee narratives. In a similar vein, Susan Gottlieb of Cineurope admired...

What kind of Christmas movie do you get when your director’s inspirations are early-90s Nickelodeon live-action shows and 1960s European cinema? In Tyler Taormina’s case, the answer is Christmas Eve In Miller’s Point.

The movie sees four generations of the Balsano family get together for what, it transpires, may be their last annual Christmas party. With celebrations underway, two of the clan’s younger members sneak out in an act of teenage rebellion, which plays out against a backdrop of wintery and suburban Long Island.

The film is Taormina’s follow-up to the well-received indie pic Ham on Rye. He co-wrote the script with Eric Berger. Michael Cera is a producer and part of an ensemble cast that includes Elsie Fisher, Maria Dizzia, Francesca Scorsese, Ben Shenkman, Gregg Turkington, Sawyer Spielberg and newcomer Matilda Fleming.

Taormina and the cast of his new movie dropped by the...

Afternoon, Max Goldbart here with your International Insider on day four of a super-busy Cannes. Read on, and sign up here.

‘Megalopolis’ Is Talk Of Cannes

A more straightforward affair: After a tense build-up shaped by endless rumors of an imminent #MeToo expose and a potential labor strike, the first week of this year’s Cannes Film Festival has been a more straightforward affair. The most controversial event so far has been Thursday evening’s premiere of Francis Ford Coppola’s highly-anticipated Megalopolis. The critical response has been predominantly positive, with some very high highs and inevitably a few low lows. Deadline’s Damon Wise praised the movie, calling it a “mad modern masterwork that reinvents the possibilities of cinema”. He said the film is “something of a mess; unruly, exaggerated, and drawn to pretension like a moth to a flame. It is also, however, a pretty stunning achievement, the...

Francis Ford Coppola has spent decades bringing Megalopolis to life. The director began crafting the project back in the ’80s but recognized that it would require a huge budget to match its massive scope, so it spent decades on the shelf. Now, after spending upwards of $120 million of his own money, Coppola has brought Megalopolis to the Cannes Film Festival, and the reviews have begun to pour in.

THR‘s David Rooney said, “It’s windy and overstuffed, frequently baffling and way too talky, quoting Hamlet and The Tempest, Marcus Aurelius and Petrarch, ruminating on time, consciousness and power to a degree that becomes ponderous. But it’s also often amusing, playful, visually dazzling and illuminated by a touching hope for humanity. I can’t say I was always engaged over its two hours-plus run time, but I was always curious about where it was going next. Is it a good movie?...

After months of speculation, the critical book has finally been opened on Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis. The early word? Predominantly positive, with some very high highs and inevitably a few low lows.

Below, we run through some of the first reactions.

Deadline’s Damon Wise praised the movie, calling it a “mad modern masterwork that reinvents the possibilities of cinema”. He said the film is “something of a mess; unruly, exaggerated and drawn to pretension like a moth to a flame. It is also, however, a pretty stunning achievement, the work of a master artist who has taken to Imax like Caravaggio to canvas. It is a true modern masterwork of the kind that outrages with its sheer audacity.”

He continued: “Halfway through, there’s a very audacious gimmick that tears down the fourth wall in ways younger filmmakers can only dream of. Coppola breaks many of the cardinal...

Exclusive: Excelsior! Kartoon Studios and the UK’s Gfm Animation have teamed to develop and produce animated features based on the Stan Lee Universe.

Characters and stories from the Kartoon-controlled Stan Lee Universe will feature in the five pics, which Kartoon and Gfm will develop, finance and produce together.

A team of LA-based writers with previous experience working across Marvel projects has been assembled to develop the first scripts, working alongside Gfm in London and Kartoon in L.A. The first three treatments will be presented to distributors at the Cannes Film Festival.

Lee, who passed away in 2018, is one of the most prolific character creators of all-time. During the time he was Marvel’s Editor-in-Chief, he built the superhero universe known today and made household names of the likes of Spider-Man, Thor, Hulk and the X-Men. He eventually rose to Editorial Director and Publisher and was later named Marvel’s Chairman Emeritus,...

As 2023 draws to a close, Deadline’s film critics have each chosen their top three movies of the year to hail from abroad. Some were festival world premieres, some have made the International Feature Oscar shortlist — and some have not.

Overall, it has been another banner year for international cinema – right from 2023’s earliest festivals, through to the spring and fall circuits, and including some local productions that also hit outside their home markets.

Here are the top international films of 2023, according to Pete Hammond, Damon Wise, Valerie Complex and Stephanie Bunbury, based on their respected individual opinions and listed in alphabetical order under their names.

Pete Hammond’S Picks:

Godzilla Minus One,, Minami Hamabe, 2023. © Toho International / Courtesy Everett Collection

Godzilla Minus One

This one snuck up on me right at the...

Exclusive: It’s a scorching 90 degrees in Rome at the end of July, but producer Lorenzo Mieli isn’t breaking a sweat.

In the course of three days, he’s fully booked, first working into the night with Luca Guadagnino on the filmmaker’s new Daniel Craig movie, Queer, which wrapped shooting in June at Rome’s Cinecittà. Then Mieli’s presence is required in Naples the next day on the set of Paolo Sorrentino’s new untitled movie centering around the character, Parthenope. There’s talk of the production shooting on the water — which is always complicated for any movie. While there were ocean shots in Sorrentino’s Oscar-nominated international film, Hand of God, what’s required here on Parthenope is a whole other level. Then Mieli will make a pitstop on the fourth and final season of the HBO series My Brilliant Friend in Caserta, outside Naples, which he executive produces.

“The Killer” bowed at the 2023 Venice Film Festival on Sunday, September 3. Directed by three-time Oscar nominee David Fincher in his first film since 2020’s “Mank,” it stars Michael Fassbender as a hitman. The storyline is described thusly: A man, solitary and cold, methodical and unencumbered by scruples or regrets, the killer waits in the shadows, watching for his next target. And yet the longer he waits, the more he thinks he’s losing his mind, if not his cool. A brutal, bloody and stylish noir story of a professional assassin lost in a world without a moral compass.”

Fincher is said to have been attached to the “Killer” project since 2007, when it was set at Paramount. It followed Fincher over to Netflix under Fincher’s overall deal with the streamer.

Early reviews have been positive-to-mixed. As of this writing, “The Killer” rates 88% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes based on 16 reviews, with...

We’re back, Insiders. Jesse Whittock here. After a week away, we’ve got you covered for all the big news as festival season gears up once again. We’ve been mob-handed in Venice while diligently covering all the major TV and film news around the world. Let’s begin…

Venice Vibes

“A difficult time”: After a summer of blistering heat across mainland Europe, the Venice Film Festival opened this week to heavy rainfall and strong winds. But that didn’t halt proceedings, which began early Wednesday with the official jury presser, where we saw our first mention of the Hollywood strikes. Jury head Damien Chazelle arrived at the press conference sporting a ‘Writers Guild on Strike’ t-shirt and badge. Jury members Martin McDonagh and Laura Poitras, sitting in the front row, also donned the same t-shirt. “Today is the 121st day the writers have been on strike, and...

Luc Besson’s Dogman had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on Thursday night, scoring a nearly six-minute standing ovation from the crowd inside the Palazzo del Cinema.

Caleb Landry Jones stars in the Bessonian action thriller, which already has gotten a rave review from Deadline. He was in attendance along with co-star Jojo T. Gibbs.

The film marked Besson’s comeback movie of sorts, coming after a past few years that included the disappointment of his 2017 tentpole Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, the demise of his French studio EuropaCorp and a long-running legal entanglement relating to a rape allegation, of which he was recently cleared.

Related: Venice Film Festival 2023: All Of Deadline’s Movie Reviews

During tonight’s ovation, Besson appeared to wipe away tears as he took a bow for the crowd inside the theater, hugging his wife Virginie Besson-Silla as well...

Indie horror pic Talk To Me opened to £643,354 in UK and Irish cinemas, setting a new office box office record for Altitude Film Distribution.

The pic, directed by filmmaking duo Michael and Danny Philippou in their feature debut, was launched on 429 screens this past weekend. The total sees Talk To Me overtake Moonlight as Altitude’s biggest opener in the UK and Ireland. We understand the film will not be expanding.

Produced by Causeway Films (The Babadook) and acquired by Altitude from Bankside Films at Cannes in 2022, the pic follows a group of friends who, after discovering how to conjure spirits using an embalmed hand, become hooked on the new thrill until one of them goes too far and unleashes terrifying supernatural forces.

Across the pond, Talk To Me blew past box office projections grossing over $10 million on 2,340 screens during its opening weekend. The breakout pic by the first-time filmmaker...

Exclusive: Paris-based Goodfellas has unveiled a raft of deals on French genre title Vincent Must Die by Stéphan Castang following its buzzy world premiere in Cannes Critics’ Week in May.

In Europe, it has sold to Benelux (O’Brother), Switzerland and Germany (Ascot Elite), Spain (La Aventura), Greece (Cinobo), Italy (I Wonder), Portugal (Alambique), Scandinavia (Njuta), Bulgaria (Beta Film), Yugoslavia (McF), Hungary (Ads), Romania (Independenta), Poland (Moonshot Company) and Cis (Russian Report).

Outside of Europe, it has been acquired for Turkey (Bir Film), Japan (Pflug), South Korea (Contents Panda) and Taiwan (Av Jet).

As previously announced, a buyers consortium consisting of Flawless, XYZ Films and Tea Shop Productions acquired all English-speaking territories during Cannes, including the North America, the UK and Australian and New Zealand.

The thriller stars Karim Leklou, best known internationally for his role Netflix hit The Stronghold, as a graphic designer who starts coming under attack from...

Exclusive: Paradigm has signed actor, filmmaker and artist Lío Mehiel for representation in all areas on the heels of their breakout performance in Mutt, which led them to become the first trans actor to nab Sundance’s U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award at this year’s festival.

Related Story CAA Signs Sundance Prize-Winning ‘Palm Trees And Power Lines’ Filmmaker Jamie Dack Related Story Paradigm Hires Varun Monga, Ups Sanam Sarani & Sheridan March To Agents; Paradigm Media's Two Twelve Adds Olivia Annacone Related Story Savanah Leaf's 'Earth Mama', Sundance Prize Winner 'Mutt' To Bookend New Directors/New Films

Mehiel’s first-ever feature, from writer-director Vuk Lungulov-Klotz, has them starring as Feña, a young, NYC-based trans man navigating the extremes of human emotion with the most important people in his life. Deadline’s Damon Wise, in his review of the film out of Sundance, called Mehiel’s performance “soul-baring” and “pitch-perfect,...

Exclusive: Following bidding wars in multiple territories, A24 has sold Past Lives, probably the year’s most critically acclaimed new film, to a raft of key territories.

Deals were signed out of the EFM for UK, Germany/Austria, Anz (Studiocanal), Latin America (California), Spain (Elastica), Italy (Lucky Red), Japan (Happinet Phantom Studios), Scandinavia (Scanbox), Switzerland (Filmcoopi) and South Korea, Turkey, Indonesia, Vietnam (Cj Enm).

Deals are being worked through in a handful of other markets, including France. A24 will release stateside later this year.

The drama played in Competition at the Berlinale and is being tipped for accolades come tomorrow night’s awards ceremony.

Greta Lee, Teo Yoo and John Magaro star in the film which tells the story of Nora and Hae Sung, two deeply connected childhood friends, who are wrest apart after Nora’s family emigrates from South Korea. Two decades later, they are reunited in New York...

Brendan Fraser won’t be celebrating his acclaimed performance in Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale at this year’s Golden Globes, whether he’s nominated or not.

“My mother didn’t raise a hypocrite,” Fraser says in a new interview with GQ, referencing his 2018 revelation that he had been groped by former HFPA president Philip Berk at a 2003 Beverly Hills luncheon. (Berk denied the charge.)

In the new GQ cover story, Fraser says, “I have more history with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association than I have respect for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. No, I will not participate… It’s because of the history that I have with them. And my mother didn’t raise a hypocrite. You can call me a lot of things, but not that.”

Fraser has been receiving widespread acclaim for his role in The Whale, which A24 releases to theaters Dec. 9. Deadline critic Damon Wise...