“Reunion is an old-fashioned thriller that I hope feels like a classic ’70s American thriller but for the present day,” signs William “Billy” Mager as we are seated in an office in Sheffield, just around the corner from the set of the four-episode series for BBC One and BBC iPlayer in the U.K. BBC Studios is selling the drama internationally and launching it as a priority title at MIPCOM in Cannes this week. It may be set in the former industrial city in Northern England but will appeal to a global audience, Mager adds.

Since my sign language skills are still very basic, a translator is at hand. “It’s nice to have a mixture of universal themes, as well as that specificity because the city of Sheffield does play a part in the series,” Mager explains. “You have the history, you have an incredible location here, and it...

Artisans working on Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building” found inspiration in Meryl Streep’s body of work when the three-time Oscar winner joined the series as Loretta Durkin, a quirky, struggling, bohemian actor, for the show’s third season.

Oliver (Martin Short) casts Loretta in his new play, “Death Rattle,” and she could not be happier: the role gives her a chance to reconnect with her long-lost son Dickie (Jeremy Shamos), whom she gave up for adoption. She’s one step closer to him since his brother, Ben (Paul Rudd), is also in the play. As each episode unfolds, the series reveals a new layer to Loretta and her idiosyncrasies.

For her look, Streep’s longtime hair and makeup artist, J. Roy Helland, was on hand — and knew she wanted braids and bangs. “I knew I had the wig to do it,” he says, turning to the archives...

This article contains spoilers for Netflix’s Eric.

While Stranger Things has announced an animated spinoff and is gearing up for a fifth and final season, a new drama set in ‘80s America has hit Netflix. It’s got monsters, it’s got kids in peril, it’s got a bike and no mobile phones, and it couldn’t be more different.

Created and written by Abi Morgan who penned heart wrenching series River, as well as true life dramas The Iron Lady and Suffragette, Eric stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Victor, a puppeteer on a popular kids’ show whose son Edgar goes missing. He is convinced the way to bring his son home is to create a real life version of the monster Edgar was drawing and get it on the show. And thus Eric is born, both the life-sized suit for an actor to wear, and the darker figment...

The final season may have concluded in 2022 but the BBC isn’t letting go of legal drama The Split just yet, with a Barcelona-set special greenlit three months after a Manchester spin off.

Abi Morgan’s show ended in 2022 after three seasons but the BBC has since ordered The Split Up in February and is now heading to Spain for a two-parter with Nicola Walker’s Hannah and family, while Toby Stephens is set to join the cast.

In the special, the Defoes are back and have gathered for a beautiful wedding at a vineyard, nestled in Catalonia’s wine region. Set across one sun soaked weekend, The Split special will encompass break-ups, reunions and plenty romance.

Stephens will play new character Archie Moore, while most of the original cast are set to return.

“In a world of brutal break ups and tantalising make ups,...

"Don't give up on him" Netflix has revealed the first official trailer for a very dark, emotional drama series titled Eric, the latest creation from award-winning British writer Abi Morgan. Set for a streaming debut on Netflix later in May. Vincent, a grief-stricken father whose son goes missing, finds solace through his friendship with Eric, the monster that lives under Edgar's bed. It's set in NYC in the 1980s and features "puppets...lots of puppets." Netflix's Eric mini-series stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Gaby Hoffmann, and McKinley Belcher III. It follows the desperate search of a father when his nine year old son disappears one morning on the way to school. "As Vincent’s progressively destructive behaviour alienates his family, his work colleagues, and the detectives trying to help him, it’s Eric, a delusion of necessity, who becomes his only ally in the pursuit to bring his son home." The...

Chris Besseling, former marketing lead at eOne and Pathé UK, is joining Zygi Kamasa’s True Brit Entertainment as head of theatrical distribution, marketing and publicity.

Besseling is one of the distribution and financing outfit’s first major hires, with True Brit’s speedily expanding slate including Marching Powder, The Scurry, Giant, The Critic and Gurinder Chadha’s Christmas Karma.

He will be based in London and report to Kamasa.

Throughout his career Besseling has been responsible for launching over 200 films at the UK and Ireland box office. He has also held posts at Metrodome, the BFI, Optimum Releasing and consulted for Studiocanal.

Former eOne and Pathé UK marketing executive Chris Besseling has joined True Brit Entertainment, the UK distribution company run by Zygi Kamasa.

Besseling’s official title at True Brit is Head of Theatrical Distribution, Marketing, and Publicity. He will oversee the full theatrical distribution, marketing, and publicity function for True Brit Entertainment’s slate. He will be based in London and report to True Brit Entertainment CEO Kamasa.

Besseling began his career at the Metrodome, BFI, and Optimum Releasing. Since then, he has been responsible for launching over 200 films at the UK and Irish box office. During his time at eOne and Pathé, he spearheaded the theatrical campaigns for a wide array of titles, including 1917, Suffragette, Green Book, Selma, Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Amongst Thieves, Wild Rose, The Death of Stalin, The Woman King, Stan & Ollie, Clifford The Big Red Dog, The House With A Clock In Its Walls, Blinded By the Light...

Doctor Who’s Ncuti Gatwa and W1A’s Hugh Skinner will star in a National Theatre revival of Oscar Wilde’s play about courtships, betrothals, and confused identities. The Importance of Being Earnest also stars three-time Olivier Award winner Sharon D. Clarke playing the imperious Lady Bracknell.

Director Max Webster, making his Nt debut, told Deadline exclusively that casting Gatwa and Skinner as the idle bachelors Algernon Moncrieff and Jack Worthing -both leading double lives – who pursue two young women, both determined to marry someone called Ernest, and with Clarke as the dreadnaught dowager decreeing her own rules of class, taste, and propriety, was “a dream come true.”

Webster and the Nt’s casting director Alastair Coomer have also assembled Richard Cant to play Reverend Canon Chasuble and comic genius Amanda Lawrence as Miss Prism in the 1895 satire, which will...

Adrian Schiller, the British actor who starred as Lord Aethelhelm in the Netflix drama series The Last Kingdom, has died. He was 60.

Schiller died on April 3 of unspecified causes, his agent, Amanda Evans at Scott Marshall Partners in the U.K., confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter. “It is with the heaviest and saddest hearts that we announce the death of our beloved client, Adrian Schiller, on Wednesday 3 April. He has died far too soon, and we, his family and close friends are devastated by the loss,” the U.K. talent agency said in a statement.

Schiller’s sudden death followed a star turn in Australia in The Lehman Trilogy, where he performed the role of Henry Lehman in the touring production.

Born on Feb. 21, 1964 in London, England, his extensive TV credits included roles in the ITV series Victoria, where he played Cornelius Penge, a footman in the royal household, Father Brown for BBC,...

Adrian Schiller, who played cunning villain Aethelhelm on Netflix’s The Last Kingdom, has passed away at the age of 60, our sister site Deadline reports.

“It is with the heaviest and saddest hearts that we announce the death of our beloved client, Adrian Schiller, on Wednesday April 3,” his agent Amanda Evans said in a statement. “He has died far too soon, and we, his family and close friends are devastated by the loss… Adrian enjoyed a varied and successful career across all media. Our deepest condolences go to his family, who ask for privacy at this most difficult of times.

Adrian Schiller, who played Aethelhelm in the Netflix historical series The Last Kingdom, died Wedneday at 60-years-old. No details on location or cause has been revealed.

In a statement, agent Amanda Evans confirmed his death. “It is with the heaviest and saddest hearts that we announce the death of our beloved client, Adrian Schiller, on Wednesday April 3. He has died far too soon, and we, his family and close friends are devastated by the loss.” She termed his death “sudden and unexpected.”

She characterized him as “A prodigiously talented actor, he had just returned from Sydney, where he had been appearing in the Lehman Trilogy and was looking forward to continuing the international tour in San Francisco.” Evans added that “Adrian enjoyed a varied and successful career across all media. Our deepest condolences go to his family, who ask for privacy at this most difficult of times.”

Among Schiller’s...

Netflix’s “Scoop” is inspired by the real events behind the bold efforts of “Newsnight” booker Sam McAlister to secure an interview with Prince Andrew amidst the fallout he felt from his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

It traces the admirable behind-the-scenes teamwork of McAlister, journalist and interviewer Emily Maitlis (Gillian Anderson), editor Esme Wren (Romola Garai), producer Stewart Maclean (Richard Goulding) and ultimate fact-checker Freddy (Jordan Kouamé), as well as photographer Jae Donnolly (Connor Swindells).

High stakes, adrenaline and twists and turns make “Scoop” a compelling watch, in addition to the star-stacked cast that portrays all the real-life players.

Here are the cast and characters of “Scoop” on Netflix:

(Netflix/BBC)

Emily Maitlis (Gillian Anderson)

Emily Maitlis worked for “Newsnight” and the BBC for years before leaving the network to work on “The New Agents” podcast with Jon Sopel. When she isn’t conducting measured interviews, she...

Len Rowles, head of development at UK sales, finance and production outfit Protagonist Pictures, is joining environmentally-focused development fund Climate Spring as head of scripted, film and international.

Climate Spring was founded in 2020 by Lucy Stone, Josh Cockroft and James Durrant to offer development funding, editorial consultation, research and community building to climate-focused film and TV projects.

“The screen industries are uniquely placed to shine a light on the root causes of the climate crisis and illuminate existing and future solutions to inspire wide audiences,” said Rowles, a Screen Star of Tomorrow in 2016.

At Protagonist, Rowles spearheaded the company’s...

Exclusive: Amazon MGM Studios’ Orion Pictures has entered production on Hedda, its reimagining of Henrik Ibsen’s famed 1891 stage play Hedda Gabler, announcing the addition of six to its cast. Newcomers include Imogen Poots (Baltimore), Tom Bateman (Thirteen Lives), Finbar Lynch (Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan), Mirren Mack (The Witcher: Blood Origins), Jamael Westman (Hamilton), and Saffron Hocking (Top Boy).

The actors join an ensemble that also includes Tessa Thompson, Nina Hoss, and Nicholas Pinnock, as previously announced.

Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler revolves around Hedda Tesman, a newlywed stifled by societal norms. Frustrated and trapped, she resorts to manipulation and destructive actions. As secrets unravel, the play explores themes of power, gender roles, and the tragic consequences of societal expectations in the late 19th century.

Directing from her own script is Nia DaCosta, the filmmaker behind Uni’s newest Candyman horror pic and the acclaimed crime drama Little Woods. Producers include Plan B,...

Stage and screen actor best known for her role as Winifred Banks in Disney’s Mary Poppins

In the childhood memories of more than one generation, Glynis Johns, who has died aged 100, will be best remembered as the Edwardian materfamilias of the hugely popular Walt Disney musical Mary Poppins (1964). Winifred Banks, married to David Tomlinson’s George W Banks, is the mother of Jane and Michael, the children in the care of the magical nanny played by Julie Andrews. A protester for the right to vote, Winifred delivers a spirited rendition of the song Sister Suffragette – “Our daughters’ daughters will adore us. And they’ll sing in grateful chorus: ‘Well done, Sister Suffragette!’” – as the children’s previous nanny tries to quit.

But the husky-voiced actor had other claims to fame from her more than 60 films and 30 stage productions. In 1973, Stephen Sondheim composed the song Send in the Clowns for...

British actor Glynis Johns, best known for playing the “Sister Suffragette”-singing mother Winifred Banks in the 1964 classic Mary Poppins, has died at 100.

According to Johns’ manager Mitch Clem, the actor passed away on Thursday (January 4th) from natural causes in a West Hollywood assisted living facility.

“Glynis powered her way through life with intelligence, wit, and a love for performance, affecting millions of lives,” Clem said in a statement. “She entered my life early in my career and set a very high bar on how to navigate this industry with grace, class, and truth. Your own truth. Her light shined very brightly for 100 years. She had a wit that could stop you in your tracks powered by a heart that loved deeply and purely.”

Born on October 5th, 1923, in Pretoria, South Africa to actor Mevyn Johns and concert pianist Alyce Steele-Wareham, Johns was raised in London, where she first...

Maestro star Carey Mulligan will receive the International Star Award, Actress at the Palm Springs International Film Festival.

The film awards, at which the actress will be honored, will take place on Jan. 4, with the festival running through Jan. 15.

“In this historical and personal examination of famed composer Leonard Bernstein, Carey Mulligan measures both ends of true love – its extraordinary heights and intense lows – conveying a striking role as Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein,” festival chairman Nachhattar Singh Chandi says. “For this performance and her remarkable stature in world cinema, we are honored to present the International Star Award, Actress to Carey Mulligan.”

Mulligan’s previous film credits include An Education, Promising Young Woman, She Said, Wildlife, Mudbound, Suffragette, The Great Gatsby, Never Let Me Go, Public Enemies, Pride & Prejudice, among many others. Her TV credits include Collateral, My Boy Jack, Doctor Who, Miss Marple and Trial & Retribution. She...

Actress Emily Blunt had been on the same flight as her friend, actress Carey Mulligan to Los Angeles and was thrilled to get the chance to cuddle her friend’s baby. She said, “We were on the same flight over, and I got to snuggle her delicious baby, who I got to just sort of bite her cheeks. She is so beautiful.”

Asked about Emily’s comments, the “Suffragette” star laughed and said, “She stole my baby for a good 20 minutes, and I was very happy with that.”

Although Carey’s daughter Evelyn is only eight-years-old, Carey has spoken with her about the power of women in society and she is “excited” that even young girls have a “voice” these days.

She said, quoted by aceshowbiz.com, “I think there’s something really exciting in that children, at the moment are more aware. I think she’s encouraged to have...

Actress Emily Blunt had been on the same flight as her friend, actress Carey Mulligan to Los Angeles and was thrilled to get the chance to cuddle her friend’s baby. She said, “We were on the same flight over, and I got to snuggle her delicious baby, who I got to just sort of bite her cheeks. She is so beautiful.”

Asked about Emily’s comments, the “Suffragette” star laughed and said, “She stole my baby for a good 20 minutes, and I was very happy with that.”

Although Carey’s daughter Evelyn is only eight-years-old, Carey has spoken with her about the power of women in society and she is “excited” that even young girls have a “voice” these days.

She said, quoted by aceshowbiz.com, “I think there’s something really exciting in that children, at the moment are more aware. I think she’s encouraged to have...

McCracken will still be involved with his long-gestating Alexander McQueen project.

After 23 years producing films in the UK, French mini-major Pathe will close its UK theatrical film distribution business by the end of 2023 to focus on the development and production of scripted TV series under managing director Faith Penhale.

Cameron McCracken, head of film at Pathe UK, is retiring but will remain involved with several ongoing projects at Pathe including a film about Alexander McQueen to be directed by Oliver Hermanus.

The roles of three key people are being made redundant: Lee Bye, long-time head of theatrical distribution and technical,...

In “Only Murders in the Building” Season 3, Meryl Streep plays Loretta Durkin, a struggling actress who is cast in Oliver Putnam’s (Martin Short) new musical “Death Rattle Dazzle.”

And while the season has been slowly pulling back the layers of Loretta, production designer Patrick Howe and showrunner John Hoffman revealed to TheWrap that there was more information about her character that was ultimately left on the cutting room floor.

“My original information that I had to go on for designing a small modest studio apartment is that she lived there for 40 years, she was a gift wrapper at Macy’s, very modest means, always trying to get acting jobs and never landing anything more than a small, off, off, off Broadway part,” Howe told TheWrap. “And so we filmed all this footage of her wrapping gifts and at the Macy’s gift wrap department but then decided to just...

The big cast addition to the third season of “Only Murders in the Building” has been Meryl Streep, playing Loretta Durkin, struggling-for-decades actress who gets her big break by landing a role in the Broadway production launched by Martin Short’s Oliver Putnam.

In this week’s episode, Loretta invites Oliver to her place for dinner, bringing viewers inside her NYC apartment.

In an interview with Variety, the series’ production designer, Rich Murray, explained how he approached creating the set for Loretta’s place.

Read More: ‘Only Murders In The Building’ Season 3 Trailer: Meryl Streep Is A Suspect In Paul Rudd’s Murder

“She’s charming and warm and has lived in the same studio apartment for the past 35 to 40 years,” he explained, explaining that he “decided to attack with all the Easter eggs and inside jokes you could find.”

Viewers may want to rewatch the episode to catch them all,...

In Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building,” Season 3’s newest star Meryl Streep plays Loretta Durkin, a scatter-brained and quirky struggling actor. When set decorator Rich Murray got the creative brief, he was told, “She’s charming and warm and has lived in the same studio apartment for the past 35 to 40 years.” With that, Murray peppered in Easter eggs galore as an homage to Streep’s illustrious career.

Murray first had to come up with a concept for the space, and found inspiration from the 1951 film “An American in Paris.” Jerry Mulligan’s (Gene Kelly) apartment was ideal. “It has a lot of built-in quirkiness with drop-down, pull-down things,” says Murray. “Everyone has everything so neatly finessed, tucked in and tightened cornered, and so we sort of pull from that.”

Aside from showrunner John Hoffman’s initial brief, Murray got no other notes on design requirements, so he “decided...

New role takes over many of the duties formerly held by Fiona Lamptey.

Netflix has hired former Brightstar, Altitude and UK Film Council executive Bradley Quirk to oversee its UK film slate, the streamer has confirmed today.

His job title is manager, Netflix UK, and he will work as part of the team led by Mona Qureshi, who oversees UK independent productions across both film and TV.

Qureshi reports to Anne Mensah, Netflix’s UK-based vice president of content. Qureshi joined in March 2022 from BBC Film.

Quirk was most recently development producer at Tanya Segatchian and John Woodward’s Brightstar...

Exactly 50 years to the date of David Bowie’s final performance as Ziggy Stardust, digitally restored footage of the performance will be shown at the very venue where it happened. On July 3rd, 2023, London’s Eventim Apollo Hammersmith will host a screening of the 1979 concert film Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders from Mars: The Motion Picture, now restored in 4K.

Known as the Odeon back in 1973, the Eventim Appolo Hammersmith will roll out the red carpet to commemorate Ziggy Stardust’s legacy, welcoming a fleet of some of his frequent collaborators and musical successors for an on-stage panel ahead of the screening.

The restoration of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders from Mars: The Motion Picture also contains famed guitarist Jeff Beck’s performance scenes, which were cut from its original iteration. Shot by filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker, the new version — complete with 5.1 sound — revitalized stellar onstage antics along with candid backstage...

Exactly 50 years to the date of David Bowie’s final performance as Ziggy Stardust, digitally restored footage of the performance will be shown at the very venue where it happened. On July 3rd, 2023, London’s Eventim Apollo Hammersmith will host a screening of the 1979 concert film Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders from Mars: The Motion Picture, now restored in 4K.

Known as the Odeon back in 1973, the Eventim Appolo Hammersmith will roll out the red carpet to commemorate Ziggy Stardust’s legacy, welcoming a fleet of some of his frequent collaborators and musical successors for an on-stage panel ahead of the screening.

The restoration of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders from Mars: The Motion Picture also contains famed guitarist Jeff Beck’s performance scenes, which were cut from its original iteration. Shot by filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker, the new version — complete with 5.1 sound — revitalized stellar onstage antics along with candid backstage...

Benedict Cumberbatch is a man of many roles: he has played the world's greatest fictional detective, a superhero, a fire-breathing dragon ... and now he's set to play a puppeteer.

The actor will headline Netflix's next, a thriller series penned by "The Iron Lady" and "Suffragette" writer Abi Morgan, from "Chernobyl" producer "Sister" and a stellar cast has been roped in. The six-part limited series follows Cumberbatch as Vincent Anderson, a famous puppeteer who struggles to come to terms with his son having gone missing.

Here's everything we know about the show so far.

What We Know About The Story Of Eric

"Eric" is set in 1980s-era New York and follows the "desperate search of a father when his nine-year-old son disappears one morning on the way to school." Cumberbatch plays Vincent, one of Manhattan's most popular puppeteers, with a children's television show of his own. His character struggles to...

The east Londoner won a Bafta for her performance as the teenage lead in Sarah Gavron’s hit 2019 film. Now, on the eve of three new stage and screen projects, she talks about her whirlwind four years

At 15, Bukky Bakray was in drama class at school in east London, working her way through lines she can no longer remember, when she spotted two unfamiliar figures at the back of the room. “We all thought they were Ofsted inspectors,” she says. “We just ignored them and carried on.”

It turns out they were director Sarah Gavron and casting director Lucy Pardee, who were dropping into schools across London to find young actors for Gavron’s new film, following her star-studded 2015 historical drama Suffragette. Bakray’s presence stood out among the hundreds of students they went on to observe and she was cast in her debut role, as the lead in what would become 2019’s Rocks.

No stranger to playing not-so-upstanding knights in shining armor, Jaime Lannister himself, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, has boarded "Virtue," a medieval gothic horror movie that HanWay Films is taking to the European Film Market. Founded in 1999, HanWay is a British sales, distribution, and marketing company that's managed to get a pretty eclectic batch of films made over the years. Their output ranges from celebrated documentaries to Oscar-nominated period dramas to a bevy of auteur projects from the likes of David Cronenberg ("A Dangerous Method"), Takashi Miike ("13 Assassins"), Jim Jarmusch ("Only Lovers Left Alive"), and many more.

If that's not enough to get you sitting up and taking notice, know that "Virtue" further pairs Coster-Waldau with Romola Garai, the star of "Atonement," "Suffragette," and one of the best BBC series you've never seen, Abi Morgan's 1950s-set TV journalism drama "The Hour." In a statement (via The Hollywood Reporter), HanWay Films CEO Gabrielle Stewart notes that,...

Hanway Films to launch Joanna Coates’ gothic horror at the EFM.

Game Of Thrones star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Romola Garai are to star in gothic horror Virtue, on which HanWay Films is to launch sales at the upcoming EFM.

It will be directed by UK filmmaker Joanna Coates, who won best British feature at the Edinburgh Film Festival in 2014 for her romantic drama Hide & Seek, and is written by Sam Hoare, whose credits include feature Having You and Netflix miniseries The English Game.

The production aims to start shooting at the end of Q3 this year.

Set in 1350 England,...

Benedict Cumberbatch is in final talks to star in the Netflix limited series “Eric,” Variety has learned exclusively from sources.

The six-episode series was originally announced in November 2021. Set in 1980’s New York, the show would see Cumberbatch star as Vincent Sullivan, the lead puppet maker and puppeteer of America’s most popular children’s show, whose life begins to unravel when his young son, Edgar, disappears. Now homeless and dealing with substance addiction, Vincent finds his only companion is Eric, a seven-foot tall blue puppet, who leads him on a journey to find his son and to find a way home.

Netflix declined to comment.

The series hails from writer and executive producer Abi Morgan, whose past onscreen writing credits include shows like “Sex Traffick” and the Emmy-winning series “The Hour,” as well as films like “The Iron Lady,” “The Invisible Woman,” and “Suffragette.” Jane Featherstone, Lucy Dyke, and...

Exclusive: The life and career of Michael Stevenson, an industry veteran, and former assistant director to Stanley Kubrick, Steven Spielberg, and Sir Ridley Scott will be documented in a new feature-length documentary from Freida Films and 21 Filmworks.

The doc, titled An Ode to Cinema, will chart Stevenson’s career through never-before-seen archive footage and production materials from his work on films such as Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago, Pearl Harbor, The Bourne Ultimatum, Mission Impossible, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, and Warhorse. The doc will also feature a series of interviews with Stevenson’s former collaborators and close friends, including Ray Winstone, Malcolm McDowell, and Sir Tom Courtenay.

Amelia O’Loughlin is co-directing the doc with Tammy Khajotia (Saving Saffron), and co-producing alongside Jo Farrugia. Ola Mesmer,, is serving as cinematographer.

Someone is on a roll!

Today, Apple TV+ announced the title and cast, and unveiled a first-look at Bad Sisters, its highly anticipated 10 episode series from Emmy Award-nominee and BAFTA Award-winning star and creator Sharon Horgan which is set to debut later this year.

Horgan is continually one to watch both on screen and behind the scenes, so this is very exciting news.

While there isn't a premiere date yet, we have your first look with the premiere photo of the bad sisters of Bad Sisters.

A delicious blend of both dark comedy and thriller, Bad Sisters follows the lives of the Garvey sisters, bound together by the premature death of their parents and a promise to always protect one another.

In addition to Horgan, the series will star Anne-Marie Duff, Eva Birthistle, Sarah Greene and Eve Hewson as the Garvey sisters.

The ensemble cast also includes Claes Bang, Brian Gleeson,...

Sharon Horgan’s dark comedy for Apple TV+ has a name – “Bad Sisters.”

The series, described as a comedy and thriller, follows the lives of the Garvey sisters, who are bound together by the premature death of their parents and a promise to always protect one another, according to a logline from the streamer. And playing those sisters alongside Horgan are Eve Hewson, Anne-Marie Duff (“Suffragette,” “The Salisbury Poisonings”), Eva Birthistle (“Brooklyn,” “The Last Kingdom”) and Sarah Greene (“Frank of Ireland,” “Dublin Murders”).

“Bad Sisters” is the first project out of Horgan’s first-look deal with Apple TV+ and her Merman production company.

Horgan is executive producer of “Shining Vale” on Starz, which is currently airing its first season, and whose cast features Courteney Cox, Greg Kinnear and Mira Sorvino. She was also behind Sarah Jessica Parker’s “Divorce” on HBO, and starred in and wrote/executive produced “Catastrophe,” which streamed on Amazon Prime Video.

Best known for starring in Atonement and Suffragette, the actor has now turned to writing and directing with a spine-chilling film. What possessed her?

I meet Romola Garai in a velvet-sofaed establishment in central London, which feels radically incongruous. Not because one wouldn’t expect to find an actor of nearly 20 years on such a sofa, but because an hour before, I’d been forcing myself to watch the gory centrepiece moment of her new horror film, Amulet, which marks a dramatic departure into writing and directing.

Amulet lulls you into a fragile sense of security with its arthousey tension, beautiful, subtle performances and lingering shots of decaying wallpaper. When it explodes into body horror – toilets birthing hideous, hairless newborn creatures, a prelude to the worse gestations to come – well, you’d be tempted to cover your eyes if it wasn’t all so horribly compelling.

Having penned hits such as “Shame” and “The Iron Lady,” Abi Morgan is undoubtedly one of the U.K.’s best-known screenwriters. Now the creator of shows including “The Hours” and “The Split” is turning her hand to filmmaking.

Morgan, a BAFTA and Emmy-award winning writer, will make her directorial debut with an upcoming episode of “The Split,” which she also executive produces alongside Jane Featherstone (“Chernobyl”), Lucy Dyke (“Black Mirror”) and Lucy Richer (“Small Axe”).

Season 3 of the hit show, about a family of divorce lawyers working through their own personal problems, is set to air in the U.K. on the BBC and in the U.S. on BBC America in 2022, and will be available to stream on iPlayer in the U.K. and Sundance Now in the U.S.

Morgan’s pivot to directing has been a long time coming. She has spent almost three decades behind the scenes,...

Before a crowd of filmmakers and journalists, Mexico’s Guadalajara Festival reached an industry crescendo on Tuesday with the presentation of prizes for its Co-Production Meetings which brought producers and directors face to face with potential partners as well as giving opportunities to filmmakers to pitch their projects to industry service companies sponsoring in-kind awards.

It was difficult to discern any strong trends among favored projects as prize winners ranged from documentaries to features, though fatherless or deteriorating families seemed to be at the core of many of the titles. Recipients hailed from across Central and South America and were about equally divided between men and woman, with some prizes going to teams comprising just female filmmakers a sign perhaps that the legendary machismo of Latin America may be subsiding, at least, in the film industry.

Top winner was the documentary project “Jirafas,” an Ecuador/Chile co-production in early development,...

Each year the Guadalajara Film Festival (Ficg) invites a crop of the most exciting projects from around Latin America to participate in its Co-Production Meetings. This year, organizers are excited to welcome back in-person visitors for its rescheduled 17th edition of the event, where teams representing 24 feature film projects will meet with potential partners, financing organizations, sales agents and more.

Below, a look at this year’s participating projects.

“Animals,”

From Waissbluth, whose enterprising 2016 “A Horse Called Elephant” marked a rare Southern American movie play for family ads. Billed as a near-future dark dramedy, his latest pictures a world where animal rights begin to be widespread and upheld by law.

“The Bad Mother,”

Victoria, a successful journalist, decides to have a baby, regrets it later, which plunges her into depression.She writes a book, “The Bad Mother,” which creates a movement. A horror drama marking the director’s first feature.

CEO Paul Reeve calls for film to be used more widely as educational, cultural and social tools

UK film educational charity Into Film has today launched a new free streaming platform called Into Film + to provide a curated selection of films for all state schools all across the UK.

Around 27,000 schools in locations ranging from inner city London to the outer Hebrides will be able to benefit from the service, as long as they are signed up to the Pvsl (Public Video Screening License) scheme.

The new platform will also offer extensive resources for teachers of all age groups and subject areas.

Tim Bevan, Alison Owen and Iain Canning were speaking at the Restart conference hosted by Screen International.

The “horrendously expensive” costs of enforcing Covid-19 protocols on film sets have come under the spotlight in a conversation between three of the biggest independent producers in the UK, who said the measures were impacting the kinds of films they were able to make.

Tim Bevan, co-chairman of Working Title Films, said the costs associated with coronavirus safety measures were “horrifically expensive, and that needs to be brought down”.

Working Title, the production company behind Darkest Hour and The Theory Of Everything, shot...

Tim Bevan, Alison Owen and Iain Canning were speaking at the Restart conference hosted by Screen International.

The “horrendously expensive” costs of enforcing Covid-19 protocols on film sets have been criticised by three of the biggest independent producers in the UK.

Tim Bevan, co-chairman of Working Title Films, said the costs associated with coronavirus safety measures were “horrifically expensive, and that needs to be brought down”.

Working Title, the production company behind Darkest Hour and The Theory Of Everything, shot Joe Wright’s Cyrano and Lena Dunham’s Catherine, Called Birdy during the pandemic and is in production on Matthew...

Chicago – Making an impact has pretty much defined the career of Carey Mulligan. Her film characters have had a depth and energy to them that only she can deliver. 11 years after her first Best Actress Oscar nomination (“An Education”), Mulligan is nominated in 2021 for her searing portrayal in “Promising Young Woman.”

Mulligan is Cassandra in “Promising Young Woman,” a former high-level medical student who has mysterious dropped out, lives with her parents, and passes her time going to bars and clubs. While there, she fakes being extremely drunk, and allows men to pick her up to experience what they want to do with her. If they put on extreme sexual moves, she busts them, and dutifully marks each incident in a diary. This behavior becomes obsessive and based on a situation in her past. So when she truly starts to like a guy in her former med class, the atmosphere becomes more mysterious.

This story about “Promising Young Woman” and Emerald Fennell first appeared in the Down to the Wire issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine.

On March 15, Emerald Fennell was part of a historic moment. The “Promising Young Woman” writer and director, along with “Nomadland” filmmaker Chloé Zhao, was nominated in the Best Director category for the 93rd Academy Awards, marking the first time two women were nominated in that group. But that’s not all — her nomination means she’s the sixth or seventh woman to ever be nominated as Best Director, and her Best Original Screenplay nod comes in a category that’s only had 15 solo female nominees and three solo female winners in the award’s history.

“I feel like I’ve benefited from years and years and years of other people’s work, of other women working tirelessly for years and decades so that someone like me can get my film financed,...

Exclusive: Huge news here for Carey Mulligan as the Promising Young Woman Best Actress nominee heads into the final lap of Oscar season: We hear on good authority that she has joined Netflix’s Adam Sandler feature Spaceman. The project was previously known as The Spaceman of Bohemia.

The story, based on Jaroslav Kalfar’s novel, follows an astronaut (Sandler) sent to the edge of the galaxy to collect mysterious ancient dust. He soon finds his earthly life falling to pieces, and he turns to the only voice who can help him try to put it back together. It just so happens to belong to a creature from the beginning of time lurking in the shadows of his ship. Mulligan will play the wife of Sandler’s astronaut protagonist. Emmy-winning Chernobyl helmer Johan Renck is set to direct off a screenplay adapted by Colby Day.

The film will be produced by Channing Tatum,...

While the British coming-of-age story “Rocks” hasn’t been a part of the Oscar season conversation, the BAFTAs are a different story. The movie is nominated for eight awards at this Sunday’s ceremony, and has been available on Netflix since earlier this year. Although directed by Sarah Gavron (“Suffragette”), the key figures behind this acclaimed project is British-Nigerian playwright and screenwriter Theresa Ikoko.

Ikoko co-wrote the script, her first, with seasoned scribe Claire Wilson, and the pair are each nominated for BAFTAs in Outstanding Debut and Original Screenplay.

Praised at home and abroad for its honest treatment of sisterhood among teenage girls of color, the film follows a British-Nigerian adolescent nicknamed Rocks (Bukky Bakray) forced to take on adult preoccupations when her mother suddenly abandons her and her younger brother. Amid such precarious circumstances, she finds encouragement and affection in her group of loyal girlfriends. Earlier this year, “Rocks...

“Chernobyl” producer Sister — the content studio set up by Jane Featherstone, Stacey Snider and Elisabeth Murdoch — has hired former “Black Mirror” producer Lucy Dyke to lead a new production hub out of Manchester, in northern England.

The outfit is called Northern Sister, and will focus on developing and producing high-end scripted projects in the region, while fostering creators from diverse backgrounds both on and off screen. The Manchester location will allow Sister to tap into creative talent in other cities, such as Leeds, Newcastle, Liverpool and Bradford.

The company’s expansion up north comes at a time when U.K. broadcasters such as the BBC and Channel 4 are growing their own operations outside of London.

Calling the timing of the BBC’s expansion plans, revealed just last week, “fortuitous,” Dyke tells Variety, “It’s really important that we nurture the next generation of writers and script editors. When I started out,...

Carey Mulligan is emerging as a possible favorite to win her first Oscar for “Promising Young Woman.” She has already scored Best Actress bids from the Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild Awards, so she is well on her way to nabbing her second Oscar nomination in March. Mulligan was first nominated at the Academy Awards in 2010 at the age of 24 for “An Education,” a huge breakthrough for the actress that led to numerous starring roles over the last decade. Now back in major awards contention again, Mulligan might have a path to victory along the lines of another actress that voters discovered at a young age: Natalie Portman.

SEEAfter Golden Globe noms, who’s up and who’s down in Oscar race?

While the “Star Wars” prequels had already made Portman a well-known actress before “Closer,” she was only 23 when she received an Oscar nomination for that 2004 film.

The Palm Springs International Film Awards will award Carey Mulligan with the International Star Award for her performance in “Promising Young Woman.”

The annual Festival and Film Awards Gala will be holding an in-person event this year, but honoree selections will still be announced to recognize the year’s best performances.

“In ‘Promising Young Woman,’ Carey Mulligan boldly portrays Cassandra Thomas, a young woman, who risks her life to avenge the death of her best friend. This is a thrilling black comedy that tells an entertaining story of female power,” Festival Chairman Harold Matzner said in a statement. “For this daring and outstanding performance, it is our honor to present the International Star Award to Carey Mulligan.”

Mulligan was previously honored at the festival with the Breakthrough Performance Award in 2011. Past recipients of the International Star Award include Javier Bardem, Nicole Kidman, Helen Mirren, Gary Oldman and Saoirse Ronan. Last...

Happy 2021, everyone! It’s been a few weeks, but we’re back with a brand-new edition of our weekly Blu-ray and DVD releases column to kick off this new year. And while we may not have a ton of titles headed home on Tuesday, we do have an excellent bunch of films all the same, including one of my favorite films of 2020, Love and Monsters, which hits various formats this week. Another film from last year that I really enjoyed was Brea Grant’s 12 Hour Shift, which hits both Blu-ray and DVD (and will be available On Demand) tomorrow, and if you have somehow never seen it, I highly recommend picking up the new Blu for Savage Streets, featuring Linda Blair.

Other releases for January 5th include Tintorera… Tiger Shark, From the Depths, Nina of the Woods, and Hacksaw.

12 Hour Shift

It's 1998, and over the course of one...

Dutch production house Revolver Amsterdam has acquired the film rights to A. F. Th. van der Heijden’s novel “Mooi doodliggen” (Play Dead), inspired by the 2014 Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 disaster, and is developing it as a feature.

MH17 was a scheduled passenger flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur that was shot down on July 17, 2014, while flying over Eastern Ukraine. All 283 passengers and 15 crew members were killed.

Dutch director Rolf van Eijk (“My Foolish Heart”) and screenwriter Roelof Jan Minneboo (“Pomegranate Orchard”) are attached to develop the project.

Producers Germen Boelens and Raymond van der Kaaij of Revolver said: “The MH17 disaster is etched in our national memory, a national trauma. Making a film about this is not an easy task, but A.F.Th. Van der Heijden’s novel turned out to be the perfect foundation. It paints a striking and highly topical picture of a political world where everyone is a victim.