Brent Lang: Last News

Brent Lang Executive Editor The American Theatre Wing has unveiled the panel of judges and eligibility details for the 2023 edition of the Obie Awards. The annual celebration of the best of Off and Off Off Broadway is now in its 67th year. The jury will be co-chaired by Obie-winning director David Mendizábal (“Sanctuary City”) and veteran theater critic Melissa Rose Bernardo.  New 2023 Obie judges are Dede Ayite, an Obie-winning and Tony-nominated costume designer who has worked on “Topdog Underdog” and “American Buffalo”; Ty Defoe, writer and Grammy Award winner; Ann C. James, Broadway’s first Black intimacy coordinator for Antoinette Nwandu’s “Pass Over”; Florencia Lozano, actor, writer, performance artist who has appeared in “Rinse, Repeat” and “Devil of Choice”; Dael Orlandersmith, playwright of “Stoop Stories” and “Yellowman”; and Carmelita Tropicana, an Obie-winning downtown performance artist.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Partners and Universal Pictures have changed the terms of their partnership as part of a new multi-year deal. Under the new pact, Amblin will no longer fully finance its own films, as it has in the past. Instead, Universal will provide backing for any Amblin movie it opts to produce. There will be a handful of job cuts through a mix of layoffs and some contracts not being renewed associated with the transition. The new relationship seems to be an acknowledgment of the challenges of finding financial partners for movies aimed at adults or that don’t fit into pre-existing franchises — in short, the kind of movies that Amblin, which produced the likes of “Green Book,” “The Post” and “First Man,” tends to make. Compounding issues, some of Amblin’s more recent releases such as “Easter Sunday” with Jo Koy and Spielberg’s autobiographical “The Fabelmans” stumbled at the box office.

Brent Lang Executive Editor James Ashcroft will direct the feature film adaptation of “Old Haunts.” The “Coming Home In the Dark” filmmaker was tapped for the gig by AWA Studios, the film and television division of Artists, Writers & Artisans (AWA), which published the popular graphic novel that is inspiring the movie. Ashcroft will direct the “Old Haunts” adaptation from a script by in-demand scribe Aaron Rabin, who is hot off of the newly launched Marvel series, “Secret Invasion.” Zach Studin, president of AWA Studios, will produce the movie. Since the world premiere of “Coming Home In The Dark” at Sundance, where the psychological thriller made a stir, Ashcroft has become an in-demand filmmaker, lining up projects with AGBO, Legendary, and Netflix.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Amplify Pictures, the independent television studio behind HBO’s Emmy-winning “100 Foot Wave,” has made a pair of hires. It has tapped Rachel Eggebeen as its chief content officer and Colin King Miller as its chief operating officer. The veteran executives will take founding partnership roles alongside Amplify Pictures CEO Joe Lewis. “It’s a time of expansion,” Lewis told Variety in an interview. “We’re growing our team and becoming more global.” At the same time, Amplify has sold a minority stake to Great Mountain Partners. The sale values Amplify at $50 million. The funding will be used to back more production of original series of both the unscripted and scripted variety. Great Mountain Partners previous investments include the Oscar-winning film studio A24, branded content producer Rise Studios and the Vuelta Group, a European film studio.   

Brent Lang Executive Editor Ladj Ly, the French filmmaker behind “Les Misérables,” will return to the Toronto International Film Festival with his latest drama, “Les Indésirables.” The film will have its world premiere at the fall festival, where it is selling distribution rights. Buyers, particularly those looking to land the rare foreign language film that could appeal to U.S. audiences, will certainly be keen to see what Ly has brought to Toronto. “Les Misérables,” with its searing depiction of police violence and roiling tensions in an immigrant community on the outskirts of Paris electrified critics when it debuted in Cannes in 2019. It won Cannes’ Jury Prize and went on to pick up Oscar and BAFTA nominations after it sold to Amazon.

Brent Lang Executive Editor “Sound of Freedom,” a faith-based film about child sex trafficking, is shaping up to be an unlikely box office hit. Angel Studios, the streaming and distribution company behind the low-budget drama, claims that the film has generated more than $10 million in pre-sales ahead of its theatrical release on July 4. That’s an impressive number for a movie that isn’t relying on a glossy big studio marketing campaign. It’s also another sign of the buying power of religious moviegoers, who helped propel this spring’s “Jesus Revolution” to an improbable $53 million at the global box despite the fact that the biggest star in that movie was Kelsey Grammar.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Alan Arkin etched many indelible performances over his long career in movies. From heroin-snorting grandfathers (“Little Miss Sunshine”) to ornery movie producers (“Argo”) to harried dentists (“The In-Laws”), Arkin, who died on June 29 at the age of 89, played an extraordinary range of roles with great gusto. But it’s fair to say that none of it would have been possible were it not for 1966’s “The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming,” a Cold War comedy that marked Arkin’s first major screen role. It’s the film that earned him the first of four Oscar nominations (he’d win for 2006’s “Little Miss Sunshine”) and a part that launched his career as a shape-shifting character actor.

Brent Lang Executive Editor A temporary protective order in Massachusetts against Ezra Miller, the embattled star of “The Flash,” was lifted on Friday. Miller was accused of acting inappropriately around the 12-year old child of Shannon Guin, a Massachusetts woman, and of menacing her family. “I’m encouraged by today’s outcome and very grateful at this moment to everyone who has stood beside me and sought to ensure that this egregious misuse of the protective order system was halted,” Miller wrote in a statement on Instagram. Miller, who uses they/them pronouns and identifies as nonbinary, never faced criminal charges. In their Instagram statement, Miller argued that the protective order issued against them was being “used as weapons by those seeking attention or fleeting tabloid fame or some sort of personal vengeance when there are people in true and dire need of these services.”

Brent Lang Executive Editor Patrick Corcoran is stepping down from the National Association of Theatre Owners, ending a 24-year run that most recently saw him serve as vice president and chief communications officer of the exhibition industry lobbying organization. It’s a time of transition at NATO, with Michael O’Leary taking over as president and CEO from John Fithian, who ran the organization for decades. Corcoran worked closely with Fithian, helping to manage the group’s public relations outreach. His tenure overlapped with tectonic changes in the theatrical landscape, from consolidation of major chains to the rise of streaming to a public health crisis in COVID that led to the closure of cinemas for months. Through it all, Corcoran, a wry, unflappable presence labored to argue that movie theaters were not in a death spiral and would continue to attract customers, just as they had for more than a century. He also had to deal with fractious theater owners, all while helping to launch NATO’s annual exhibition business conference, CinemaCon.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Christopher Storer is no slouch when it comes to orchestrating kitchen chaos, having created the hit Hulu comedy-drama “The Bear.” Now, he’ll turn his camera on “The Winter of Frankie Machine” and trade trades the tense world of short-order cooking for a mob story about a hitman who is lured out of retirement to set up a meeting between waring crime families only to turn into a target himself. It’s a mean streets saga that previously attracted attention from the likes of Martin Scorsese, who was set to make it at Paramount Pictures with Robert De Niro, only to abandon it in favor of “The Irishman”; as well as Michael Mann and William Friedkin.

Brent Lang Executive Editor MTV Documentary Films has released a first look teaser for “The Eternal Memory,” a look at love and Alzheimer’s disease that won the grand jury prize for world documentary at this year’s Sundance. A U.S. theatrical release kicks off on Aug. 11 in New York. It will be followed by engagements in Los Angeles and San Francisco on Aug. 18, with a limited national roll out to follow. Chilean filmmaker Maite Alberdi directed the movie, which could be a contender for the documentary Oscar. Alberdi is the Academy Award-nominated filmmaker behind “The Mole Agent.” To that end, “The Eternal Memory” played at the Berlin Film Festival, where it was the runner up for the audience award. A robust international festival campaign is already in the works, including stops at CPH:DOX, Hot Docs, and DocAviv, Hamptons Summer Docs and DC DOX.

Brent Lang Executive Editor XYZ Films has acquired domestic rights to “The Deep Web: Murdershow,” a new horror-thriller with a bloody bitcoin twist. The deal arrives on the heels of the Cannes Film Market. The film is written and directed by Dan Zachary, and according to the official description, it “takes viewers on a dark ride when a journalist’s search for clues to his sister’s murder leads him to a disturbing crypto currency torture website inside the deep web called The Murdershow. As those close to him disappear, he must find and stop this reign of terror.” Josh Blacker (“Elysium”, “See”) leads the cast, playing a detective trying to unravel the mystery. He’s joined by Aiden Howard (“Riverdale”, “Firefly Lane”) as a hard-charging reporter, as well as Kimi Alexander (“A Million Little Things”, “Tribal”), playing a woman ensnared by the murderous group behind the shadowy site.

Brent Lang Executive Editor NewportFILM Outdoors, a unique celebration of documentary moviemaking that is held in some of the most iconic locations in one of the most storied summer resorts in America, has unveiled its latest line-up of films for its summer season. They include “It’s Only Life After All,” a look at the Indigo Girls; “After the Bite,” an examination of a community’s reaction to a shark attack; and “Invisible Beauty,” the story of pioneering model, agent and activist, Bethann Hardison. What makes the Newport, Rhode Island event so memorable is that these screenings take place on the lawns of mansions like Marble House and The Elms, as well as historical locations like Fort Adams, which hosts the annual Newport Jazz Festival, and the Newport Polo Grounds. It’s all very shades of Edith Wharton (well, if Newland Archer were a cinephile instead of a conflicted aristocrat).

Brent Lang Executive Editor Samuel Goldwyn Films announced today that the company has acquired U.S. rights to the “The Three Musketeers,” a two-part adaptation of the swashbuckling French adventure story by Alexandre Dumas. The two films were shot back-to-back, with the first film “The Three Musketeers: D’Artagnan” released in France this past April, earning $35 million at the international box office. The sequel “The Three Musketeers: Milady” will open in the country on Dec. 13. The period epic boasts a top-shelf ensemble of European stars such as Francois Civil (“Call My Agent!”), Vincent Cassel (“Black Swan”), Romain Duris (“Eiffel”), Pio Marmaï ((“Happening”), Eva Green (“Casino Royale”), Vicky Krieps (“Phantom Thread”) and Louis Garrel (“The Dreamers”). Both films were directed by Martin Bourboulon, with screenplay by Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de La Patellière.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Steven Soderbergh starts things off with an apology. His assistant is on vacation, and he was certain that our interview was scheduled to start a full 15 minutes after it was supposed to commence. That resulted in a mad scramble of calls text messages to track down the filmmaker. “I was just sitting here staring off into space,” he says. It must have been a rare moment of calm for the always-on-the-move director, who a has averaged at least one movie or series a year since reemerging from a short-lived retirement in 2017. And he’s back again this summer with “Full Circle,” a six-part miniseries that premieres at the Tribeca Festival before launching on Max on July 13. It’s a morally complex story about a botched kidnapping that causes several characters’ lives to intersect in surprising ways. It’s also a fascinating portrait of modern-day New York City, one that showcases a privileged Manhattan family (Claire Danes and Timothy Olyphant play the guardians of a business that revolves around Dennis Quaid’s celebrity chef), as well as a pair of Guyanese kidnappers who are deployed by CCH Pounder’s shadowy business woman to exact revenge. “Full Circle” is the kind of knotty thriller that Soderbergh, a master of the genre, does such a great job of setting and then unwinding. To say more would be to spoil its pleasures.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Michael Shannon has turned the tables on me. I’m supposed to be the one conducting the interview, but he’s more interested in what I saw at Cannes. “What did I like?” he wonders. “What was worth watching?” And to hear his probing questions, delivered in the low rumble and unvarnished intensity with which Shannon threatens Superman in “Man of Steel,” momentarily makes my mind go completely blank. What the hell did I watch over there? I manage to conjure up a few films — “Zone of Interest” and “May December,” the title of which I can’t quite grab onto and rechristen as “the Todd Haynes one.” And with that out of the way we’re off, pausing for a few minutes halfway through so Shannon can tell his kid to get ready for a sleepover while he makes him something to eat.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Several crew members were injured on the Morocco set of the sequel to “Gladiator” on June 7 while filming a stunt sequence for the action film. “While filming a planned stunt sequence on the set of the ‘Gladiator’ sequel, an accident occurred during which several crew members experienced non-life-threatening injuries,” a spokesperson for Paramount Pictures, the studio behind the film, said in a statement. “The safety and full medical services teams on-site were able to act quickly so that those who were impacted immediately received necessary care. They are all in stable condition and continue to receive treatment.” A total of six people received treatment, four of whom remain in the hospital. All of the impacted crew members were treated for burn injuries, according to an individual with knowledge of the production. Two other crew members were treated locally and then discharged. The accident occurred towards the end of the shooting day. No cast members were harmed.

Brent Lang Executive Editor “Some Like It Hot,” a musical adaptation of the classic film, arrived on Broadway in December with sizzling reviews and backed by some of the most prominent names in comedy and theater. And yet, for the first few months of its life on stage, the show struggled to ignite at the box office. “Word-of-mouth has taken a longer time to seep out into the world than we expected,” says Neil Meron, one of the show’s producers. “One thing we’re still struggling with in this post-pandemic period is it has changed people’s buying habits. It used to be if the critics liked you, you’d be selling out. But now, there isn’t the same level of tourism and people aren’t going to the office as much, so they aren’t seeing a show after work. And we haven’t gotten those suburban theatergoers back. So it’s week-to-week, being on the edge-of-your-seat, hoping to get enough people to keep the lights on.”

Brent Lang Executive Editor Rosario Dawson and Sam Adegoke have joined the cast of “Dark Days & the Dawn,” the latest film from “This Is Not a War Story” director Talia Lugacy. “Dark Days & the Dawn” unfolds over the course of one night and into daybreak, as Maria Del Sol (Dawson) and Samuel (Adegoke), a couple who have been together for four hundred and sixty years, hit their breaking point. Lugacy and Kamau Ware collaborated on the genre bending script for “Dark Days & the Dawn,” penning characters written specifically for Dawson and Adegoke to portray. Lugacy produces under her Acoustic Pictures banner, alongside Noah Lang for Witchcraft Motion Picture Company, and Ware for Kamau Studios. Cassian Elwes and Tom Culliver executive produce for Elevated Films. The film will shoot in Savanah, Georgia later this year.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker are checking in across the pond. The two actors (a real-life married couple) are bringing their relationship comedy “Plaza Suite” to London following a sold-out Broadway run. The West End transfer of Neil Simon’s play is directed by Tony Awardwinner John Benjamin Hickey. It will play a strictly limited season at the Savoy Theatre from Jan. 15 to March 31 with tickets on sale in September. In an interesting twist, the play, which unfolds in one of the most famous hotels in the world, will be remounted in a theater that is part of an equally iconic hotel. The production marks Broderick’s return to the West End stage following his run in 2019’s “The Starry Messenger.” “Plaza Suite” is Parker’s West End debut. Both stars are known for their film and television work — he for “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and “Glory,” she for “Sex and the City.” However, they also frequently appear on stage. Broderick won a Tony for “Brighton Beach Memoirs” and “How to Succeed in Business…” and appeared in “The Producers.” Parker made herBroadway debut in 1976 in “The Innocents”directed by Harold Pinter, and appeared in “Annie,” “How to Succeed in Business…” and“Once Upon a Mattress.”

Brent Lang Executive Editor The Tribeca Festival excised “Film” from its name in 2021, and while it’s true that the annual celebration of all things entertainment has expanded to include plenty of television and immersive programming, the movies make it a must-attend event. This year’s lineup is no exception. It has big-name actors such as Michael Shannon and Jennifer Esposito trying their hand at directing, along with revelatory performances from stars like Nick Jonas. But what makes Tribeca so exciting is that it’s a springboard for bold new voices (keep your eyes on So Young Shelly Yo, making her feature directorial debut). As the fest gets ready to kick off on June 7, here are nine movies not to be missed.