David Magee: Last News

went stratospheric following their turn as a wide-eyed Diana, Princess of Wales in *The Crown—*a part soon to be inherited by —but the actor’s next role is a far cry from the naive young royal: that of Constance Chatterley in an electrifying Netflix adaptation of D.H. Lawrence’s most scandalous novel, Lady Chatterley’s Lover. First published in Europe in the ’20s, the explicit tale of a Baronet’s wife who begins a torrid affair with her gamekeeper only found a British publisher in the ’60s—with Penguin Books becoming the subject of a as a result.Emma Corrin’s Lady Constance Chatterley faces off with Jack O’Connell’s Mellors.This sensuous reimagining will see The Mustang’s Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre occupy the director’s chair, with Life of Pi’s David Magee having written the script.

Amid a recent series of sexual assault allegations against award-winning author Neil Gaiman, Disney has put a planned feature adaptation of his 2008 YA title The Graveyard Book on pause, Deadline can confirm.

K.J. Yossman Fredrik Backman’s bestselling novel “Anxious People” is set to be adapted into a feature film by “The Little Mermaid” screenwriter David Magee.

 gives audiences a mix of their favorite classics with modern tweaks, including three new songs and several updates to the soundtrack's iconic tunes.The music reflects the film's refreshed story, which director Rob Marshall, producer John DeLuca, and screenwriter David Magee have explained they tweaked to implement specific changes showcasing a more modern Disney princess, addressing criticism that the original film featured a young woman who was too wrapped up in a man, and giving Ariel more agency.The soundtrack features the vocal talents of the film's new cast, including GRAMMY-nominated singer Halle Bailey as the titular mermaid, Princess Ariel, Jonah Hauer-King as Prince Eric, Melissa McCarthy as Ursula, and Javier Bardem as King Triton, with Daveed Diggs as the voice of Sebastian the crab, Jacob Tremblay as Flounder, and Awkwafina as Scuttle.Lin-Manuel Miranda, who teamed up with legendary composer-songwriter Alan Menken to write the film's new songs, previously told ET that «getting to write music for these characters that are probably the reason I started writing musicals in the first place, was actually easier than I thought.»«But the hardest part was my own intimidation working with Alan Menken, and that was entirely self-imposed,» acknowledged Miranda, who also serves as a producer on the film, alongside Marc Platt. «But when it came to how these characters speak and what they say, I've known that all my life.

 features a few tweaks to the story's iconic story and music, but a familiar voice vows that the changes are not only necessary but «beautifully» done.Jodi Benson, the voice actress who provided the voice of Ariel in the 1989 animated film, shared her support for the film's changes during an interview with , pointing out how different the world was when the original movie began recording sessions in 1986. «It's 2023, so we have to grow, we have to learn, we have to be aware of our surroundings,» she says. «We've got to be aware of our growth as humans and what's important now and what maybe isn't as important. Things change.

 features a few tweaks to the story's iconic story and music, but a familiar voice vows that the changes are not only necessary but «beautifully» done.Jodi Benson, the voice actress who provided the voice of Ariel in the 1989 animated film, shared her support for the film's changes during an interview with , pointing out how different the world was when the original movie began recording sessions in 1986. «It's 2023, so we have to grow, we have to learn, we have to be aware of our surroundings,» she says. «We've got to be aware of our growth as humans and what's important now and what maybe isn't as important. Things change.

latest flesh-and-blood cash grab that’s more lifeless than far better two-dimensional painted drawings.The magic and soul of the studio’s animated classics never, ever translate to this colder, realistic context, and still they keep churning them out.   Why learn their lesson? “The Lion King” and “Beauty and the Beast” both grossed over $1 billion. The movies don’t need to be high-quality because the titles and logos do the heavy-lifting for them. While director Rob Marshall (“Chicago”) and writer David Magee make enough prudent changes to ensure their musical film functions efficiently, many alterations seem to exist only to achieve a bloated two-hour runtime or to wedge Lin-Manuel Miranda’s name into the end credits.For instance, when a smitten Prince Eric (Jonah Hauer-King) takes speechless Ariel (Halle Bailey) around his island kingdom, the Caribbean carriage ride is more of the “Gilligan’s Island” length — a three-hour tour.  That’s one of many middling efforts to deepen the prince’s character from just a smile on legs.

Disney’s attempts to reinvent their animated classics as live action versions has proven to be largely a smart boxoffice play, but one with a mixed creative result. Certainly some were huge hits likeBill Condon’s Beauty And The Beast and Guy Ritchie’s less enchanting Aladdin. Others effectively created photo real animals in The Lion King and The Jungle Book . Older Disney staples have gotten the treatment by focusing on the villains in Cruella and Maleficent and their sequels, even an unforunate Disney + attempt on the untouchable (if you ask me) Lady And The Tramp. But even approaching an animated masterpiece, 1989’s The Little Mermaid and essentially trying to make a splashy (sorry) big screen live action musical that works above and under the water seems dicey on paper. So what do you do? Bring in Rob Marshall , and as it turns out that is all the new live action The Little Mermaid needed.

Melissa McCarthy looked to her origins performing in New York City under the drag name Miss Y as her inspiration for her Ursula on The Little Mermaid.

The live-action Little Mermaid starring Halle Bailey and Jonah Hauer-King will have some of the songs updated to modern times, composer Alan Menken recently shared.

Editor’s note: Deadline’s Read the Screenplay series debuts and celebrates the scripts of films that will factor in this year’s movie awards races.

Specialty film closes the book on a mixed 2022 this weekend with the limited release by Sony of Tom Hanks-starring A Man Called Otto; a literary doc by Lizzie Gottlieb from Sony Pictures Classics and Hirokazu Kore-eda’s latest from Neon via Cannes. 

When you have an international best seller that was on the NYT list for 42 weeks and then made into a multi-Oscar nominated Swedish film that became the third most successful in the history of that country Ingmar Bergman called home, you might wonder what the need was for an American english language remake? The answer is a chance to give Tom Hanks a role he can run with, and most importantly to bring a very human, often funny, character-driven story back to light in a time that needs it more than ever.

It’s been a productive and exciting time for Rita Wilson — the esteemed actress, producer and singer-songwriter who has returned this awards season with her third Oscar-qualifying original song. 

UPDATE: Sony is changing-up its platform of the Tom Hanks movie A Man Called Otto. The pic will now go exclusive in LA and NY on Dec. 30 followed by limited break on Jan. 6, and a further wide on Jan. 13, the latter point always part of the plan. The studio is pivoting their release plan given the great word of mouth they received on the title. The Marc Forster directed movie made its premiere to LA audiences last night at the Academy Museum.

Sony has decided to kick off the Tom Hanks movie A Man Called Otto in a NY and LA exclusive Dec. 25 opening versus a Wednesday wide release on Dec. 14.

Joan Scott, the founder and president of the talent and literary agency Writers and Artists, died of natural causes on Thursday, August 4 at her home in New York City. She was 98.

EXCLUSIVE: Walt Disney Studios adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book is gearing up as Marc Forster is set to direct the pic. His producing partner Renée Wolfe will produce through their 2Dux2 banner along with Gil Netter. Ben Browning is also producing. David Magee was recently tapped to adapt the script.

Sasha Urban editorFans of fairytale origins got a first look at the stars of “The School for Good And Evil” on Tuesday, after a teaser was debuted during Netflix’s Geeked Week event. Sofia Wylie and Sophia Anne Caruso star as Agatha and Sophie, respectively, two best friends who are kidnapped and placed in the School for Good and Evil and must find their way back home.“Did you ever wonder where every great fairytale begins?,” Charlize Theron, who plays Lady Lesso, asks in the teaser.

EXCLUSIVE: Emmy nominated actor Cameron Britton and Mike Birbiglia have joined the cast of SF Studios’ A Man Called Otto, starring Tom Hanks. Marc Forster will direct with two-time Oscar nominee David Magee adapting the screenplay from Fredrik Backman’s comical 1# New York Times Bestseller A Man Called Ove – with the titular character being renamed to reflect the shift to an American setting. Britton and Birbiglia join a cast that already includes Mariana Treviño, Rachel Keller and Manuel Garcia-Rulfo are also on board

Ellise Shafer Sony Pictures has a stacked lineup for the Christmas box office this year, with Tom Hanks’ upcoming film “A Man Called Otto” and the Whitney Houston biopic “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” releasing within days of each other.“A Man Called Otto,” which was acquired by Sony last week for $60 million out of the European Film Market, will debut in theaters on Christmas Day. TriStar Pictures’ “I Wanna Dance With Somebody,” starring Naomi Ackie as Houston, has now moved from Dec. 23 to Dec.