Catherine Hardwicke: Last News

A trio of docs and a wider-than-usual run for a Vertical Entertainment thriller populate a specialty weekend with fewer new openings as theaters stick with Asteroid City and devote screens to Indiana Jones and Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken. Call it jittery Friday as the indie community like the rest of Hollywood awaits news from SAG-AFTRA as the guild’s contract is set to expire tonight.

Dennis Harvey Film Critic Her career hobbled by uninspired material since the commercial bonanza of “Twilight’s” first screen installment 15 years ago, Catherine Hardwicke at first appears to be back on firmer terra with “Prisoner’s Daughter.” Its mix of adult dysfunction and coming-of-age pains against a downscale milieu (here working-class Las Vegas) recalls the director’s strong initial features, “Thirteen” and “Lords of Dogtown.”  But this drama, with Brian Cox as a terminally ill ex-con reunited with daughter Kate Beckinsale and her son, soon reveals itself as a formulaic contrivance heading towards predictable strife and tearjerking. Competently handled and well-cast, it’s nonetheless held back from generating much authentic emotion by the too-familiar beats of Mark Bacci’s script. Vertical Entertainment is opening the feature, which premiered at TIFF last fall, on limited U.S. theatrical screens this Friday. It’ll doubtless do better in release to home formats, those dates as yet TBA.

Toni Collette has described working on Mafia Mamma as "one of the best experiences of (her) life". During an interview with IndieWire, the 50-year-old actress discussed playing the lead in the new action comedy, which follows a regular suburban mum who unexpectedly inherits her late grandfather's mafia empire in Italy. "The experience of making it was the most joyous of my career," Toni told the outlet.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International Bleecker Street has acquired North American rights to Andrew Cumming’s Stone Age thriller “The Origin” from Sony Pictures’ Stage 6. World premiering at the BFI London Film Festival in October, “The Origin” won acclaim for its unique approach to genre set in the Palaeolithic period. The script was written by Ruth Greenberg (“Run”) with Escape Plan Prods.’ Oliver Kassman (“Saint Maud”) producing. The pic was nominated for five British Independent Film Awards, with a win for breakthrough performance for Safia Oakley-Green. Bleecker Street is planning a fall-winter 2023 theatrical release.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International Bleecker Street has acquired the North American rights to “Jules” from director Marc Turtletaub (“Puzzle”) and starring Ben Kingsley, Harriet Sansom Harris, Zoe Winters, Jade Quon and Jane Curtin. Written by Gavin Steckler (“Review”), “Jules” made its world premiere at this year’s Sonoma International Film Festival where it was the opening night film and won the Stolman Audience Award for Best Feature. Bleecker Street will release the film in theaters on August 11. “Jules” follows Milton (Kingsley) who lives a quiet life of routine in a small western Pennsylvania town, but finds his day upended when a UFO and its extra-terrestrial passenger crash land in his backyard. Before long, Milton develops a close relationship with the extra-terrestrial he calls “Jules.”

Back to Forks? Nearly 12 years after the final Twilight movie was released, Stephenie Meyer’s bestselling franchise is reportedly getting the TV series treatment.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Vertical has acquired U.S. rights to Catherine Hardwicke’s “Prisoner’s Daughter,” a thriller with Brian Cox and Kate Beckinsale that premiered at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival. The film is about a terminally ill father who is recently released from prison and struggles to connect with his daughter and grandson. Vertical will release “Prisoner’s Daughter” in theaters on June 30, 2023. It’s a starry collection of talent. Cox is best known for playing the mephistophelean Logan Roy on “Succession,” while Beckinsale has starred in blockbusters and indie films such as “Underworld,” “Love and Friendship” and “Pearl Harbor.” Hardwicke has directed critical and commercial hits like “Twilight” and “Thirteen.”

Cocaine Bear, or see limbs, heads, and a face torn off by Nicolas Cage’s Prince of Darkness in Renfield. Funny thing is, those films actually elicit laughs by flaunting gruesome violence that, while outlandish and in some cases flat-out gross, fits the circumstances and gonzo energy that rules those joints from start to finish.Audiences for the seemingly breezy mob action-comedy Mafia Mamma (★★☆☆☆), however, might really not expect to see Toni Collette — starring as suburban American mom Kristin, tapped to succeed her deceased Italian grandfather as the head of a Calabrian crime family — plunge a stiletto heel into some guy’s eye, then wriggle the heel around in the socket good and deep before gouging the eyeball out and watching it roll across the floor.Director Catherine Hardwicke, of Twilight and Thirteen fame, working from a script by TV writers Debbie Jhoon and J.

Toni Collette is stepping out for the premiere of her new movie!

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic In her own home, Italian American working mom Kristin Balbano Jordan (Toni Collette) is hardly the boss. When her deadbeat hubby isn’t cheating on her, he calls the shots, and her independent-minded son can’t wait to leave for college. At work, her male colleagues undermine her every idea. What Kristin doesn’t realize is that it’s not her destiny to be a doormat. Far from it. Come to find, she’s next in line to run Italy’s well-connected Balbano clan, and though Kristin couldn’t have imagined she was heir to an organized crime family, taking charge amounts to an offer she can’t refuse. A fun fish-out-of-water farce with “Godfather” DNA and a clever female-empowerment kick, “Mafia Mamma” makes inspired use of Collette, who’s never better than when playing women we oughtn’t to have underestimated. Here, using stiletto heels to brutally stab a rival clan’s top assassin, first in the crotch and then in the face, demonstrates that Kristin’s better suited to the job than her enemies could have imagined. While such a graphic scene may come as a shock in a movie that’s more “Under the Tuscan Sun” than “Scarface” (“He had bits of his scrotum stuffed in his eye socket,” reports Monica Bellucci as Bianca, Kristin’s seen-it-all consiglieri), it more than proves that Donna Balbano deserves some respect.

Ben Croll A Coenesque caper-gone-wrong and an interactive mother-daughter saga told in bite-size form, XR titles “Kidnapped in Vostok” (pictured) and “Rock, Paper, Scissors” are among the 17 projects leading distributor Astrea picked up in a recent bout of acquisitions. Both titles are playing in competition at this year’s NewImages Festival, while other recent Astrea pickups include the Stanislaw Lem inspired short “Cosmogonic,” the award winning interactive film “Glimpse” from Oscar winner Benjamin Cleary and VR designer Michael O’Connor, and all five episodes of the “Missing Pictures” series, in which filmmakers Abel Ferrara, Tsai Ming-Liang, Catherine Hardwicke, Lee Myung-Se and Naomi Kawase reflect on the dream projects they could never get made.

Bleecker Street has picked up North American rights to Laurel Parmet’s feature directorial debut The Starling Girl following its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, slating it for release in theaters later this year. Financials weren’t disclosed.

During the Twilight franchise’s heyday, fans were constantly debating who was a better love interest for Bella Swan — vampire Edward Cullen and werewolf Jacob Black — and the battle quickly affected the actors themselves.

Diane Warren’s songwriting job for Tell It Like a Woman was simple: create a hymn for female empowerment.

The 14th Annual Santa Fe International Film Festival has announced its juried award winners for the event which has run from Oct. 19-23.

Heather Graham brought the glamour on Thursday to the premiere of the documentary Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power in New York City.The 52-year-old actress wore a vibrant long-sleeved dress with a short skirt for the premiere at DCTV's Firehouse Cinema.She completed her outfit with black heels. Documentary premiere: Heather Graham brought the glamour on Thursday to the premiere of the documentary Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power in New York CityThe Drugstore Cowboy star had her blonde hair parted down the middle and down around her shoulders in soft curls.Heather accentuated her natural beauty with rosy cheeks and bright red lipstick.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer The remarkable true story of Irish immigrant Jennie Hodgers — who posed as a man to fight for the Union Army during the American Civil War — will be adapted for screen. Arny Granat, a veteran concert promoter turned Tony-winning musical producer, has hired Stephanie Sanditz to pen a feature film script from Lynda Durrant’s book “My Last Skirt: The Story of Jennie Hodgers, Union Soldier.” Granat — whose stage credits include “In The Heights,” “The Color Purple,” “Spamalot,” “Glengarry Glen Ross” and “History Boys” — has been chasing an adaptation of the story for nearly a decade. Set in the 1800s, “My Last Skirt” tells the story of Hodgers, who went by the name Albert Cashier to enlist and serve her country. Following the war, Hodgers would live as Cashier for much of her life after observing the disparity in opportunity for women of the age. She is also believed to be the first person assigned female at birth to cast a vote for president before Women’s Suffrage.

Catherine Hardwicke will receive the Santa Fe International Film Festival’s Visionary Award this October at Jean Cocteau Cinema.

Las Vegas, with its casinos and boiling 100+ temperatures, has long been an alluring setting for stories about broken people seeking redemption. The ghosts of organized crime past seem to haunt the Nevada desert, still populated by casino rats, showgirls, and washed-up athletes.

Kate Beckinsale gets a bit cheeky on the red carpet for the premiere of The Prisoner’s Daughter during the 2022 Toronto Film Festival at Roy Thomson Hall on Wednesday (September 14) in Toronto, Ontario.

Kate Beckinsale attended the premiere of Prisoner's Daughter, which took place during the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival on Wednesday.The 49-year-old performer made quite the impression at the event while rocking a seriously eye-catching outfit as she posed for several pictures on the event's red carpet.The actress was also joined by the film's director, Catherine Hardwicke, as well as her costar, Brian Cox, during the premiere.  High-profile event: Kate Beckinsale attended the premiere of Prisoner's Daughter, which took place during the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival on WednesdayBeckinsale wore a gorgeous light pink dress that flared out at its bottom during the event.The Underworld franchise star donned a set of jet-black high-heeled shoes and a matching pair of leather sleeves. The performer added various elements of glam to her look with various articles of jewelry.Her gorgeous light brunette locks were partially tied up and fell onto the her back for much of the event.