Scott Free: Last News

EXCLUSIVE: Ridley Scott’s production company has a new UK television chief.

EXCLUSIVE: Giannina Scott has optioned the rights to journalist Mat Youkee‘s book proposal Children of the Jungle: The True Story Behind the Survival of Four Children in the Amazon.Giannina brought the project to Scott Free, who is producing, under her Cara Films banner, alongside Ridley Scott and Scott Free President Michael Pruss. There are no other attachments at this time and it’s not set-up at a studio yet. 

Angelique Jackson Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator” sequel has rounded out its cast with the additions of May Calamawy (“Moon Knight,” “Ramy”), Peter Mensah (“Avatar”) and Matt Lucas (“Wonka,” “Bridesmaids”), as well as legacy cast member Derek Jacobi, who will reprise his role from the 2000 blockbuster. “Kraven the Hunter” and “The White Lotus” star Fred Hechinger is now in talks to take on the role of Emperor Geta, after Oscar nominee Barry Keoghan dropped out of negotiations due to a scheduling conflict. The new additions join a star-studded cast, led by Oscar nominee Paul Mescal and two-time Oscar winner Denzel Washington, with “Stranger Things” breakout Joseph Quinn set to play Emperor Caracalla and Pedro Pascal in final negotiations for an undisclosed role.

Oscar-winner Kevin Macdonald is working on a crowdsourced film project telling the real story of the world’s collective mental health.

Tony Award-nominee Domhnall Gleeson is set to join the cast of Apple Original Films’ Echo Valley, a new dramatic feature and original screenplay by Brad Ingelsby, and starring Academy Award-winner Julianne Moore and multi-Emmy Award-nominee Sydney Sweeney. Hailing from Apple Studios, and produced by Scott Free Films and The Walsh Company, the film will be directed by BAFTA Award-winner Michael Pearce.

Apple Original Films have set up the new film Echo Valley from a script by Mare of Easttown creator Brad Ingelsby with Sydney Sweeney and Julianne Moore attached to star. Hailing from Apple Studios, and produced by Scott Free Films and The Walsh Company, the film will be directed by Michael Pearce.

EXCLUSIVE: Scott Free Productions has recently inked a 2-year extension for Justin Alvarado Brown to continue to serve as President and C.O.O. of the company through 2024. Brown will continue to oversee all dealmaking and operations for the company across film and television, as well as heading up strategic planning, primary responsibility for P&L, and all business and legal affairs matters for the company’s US and UK offices.

EXCLUSIVE: Josué Guerra (Somos) has been cast as a series regular opposite E.J. Bonilla in FX pilot The Border, a drama based on the third book in Don Winslow’s bestselling Cartel Trilogy, from Daniel Zelman, (Damages, Bloodline), Shane Salerno (Salinger, Avatar) sequels and FX Productions. 

FX has given a pilot order to The Border, a drama based on the third book in Don Winslow’s bestselling Cartel Trilogy, from Daniel Zelman, (Damages, Bloodline), Shane Salerno (Salinger, Avatar sequels and FX Productions. E.J. Bonilla (The Old Man, The Long Way Home) is set to lead the cast, which also includes Frank Blake (Sanditon, Normal People), Annie Shapero (Red Skies), Sebastián Buitrón (Amsterdam,No fue mi culpa) and Luis Bordonada (Selena: The Series, Vida). Produced by FX Productions, the pilot will begin production in Mexico in 2023.

Kristen Stewart is continuing on with her work behind the camera as she's now set to make her feature-length film directorial debut.The Twilight actress will helm the film adaption of Lidia Yuknavitch's memoir The Chronology of Water, which became a New York Times best-seller list after its 2010 release.Stewart co-wrote the screenplay with Andy Mingo and British actress Imogen Poots has been tapped to star as Yuknavitch, in the story of her tumultuous life.  Role change: Kristen Stewart, 32, will step behind the camera once again and make her feature film directorial debut in the adaption of Lidia Yuknavitch's memoir The Chronology of Water, which made it onto The New York Times best-seller list after its release in 2010'Lidia's memoir honors corporeal experience, radically. To make that experience physical feels vital to me and what this impulse means…is that it absolutely must be a film,' Stewart, 32, said in a statement to Deadline.  She added, 'This project has been cooking for five years with the help of Scott Free, whom I could not be more privileged to have as partners and friends.'The film is a reunion of sorts for Stewart and Scott Free Productions, who teamed up for her short-film directorial debut Come Swim (2017), which she also wrote and screened at both Cannes and Sundance.

EXCLUSIVE: After making her short-film directorial debut with Scott Free, Kristen Stewart is set to reunite with the banner for her feature directorial debut as she is set to direct The Chronology of Water, with Imogen Poots set to star. Stewart also will co-adapt the script with Andy Mingo, which is based on the memoir by Lidia Yuknavitch.

EXCLUSIVE: Scott Free has pre-empted the rights to Tracy Sierra’s debut horror novel The Corner.

EXCLUSIVE: Kirill Sokolov set to direct TriStar Pictures’ thriller Ultra, with script penned by Colin Bannon. TriStar Pictures preemptively purchased the spec amid significant buzz in November 2021, just before it placed in the Top Ten on the Black List in December. Plot details are being kept under wraps.

EXCLUSIVE: Disney’s next feature film based on one of its classic theme park rides looks to be getting ready to leave the station as sources tell Deadline Bert & Bertie are in negotiations to direct a new feature film based on the Big Thunder Mountain attraction at Disney Theme Parks. LuckyChap Entertainment and Scott Free are producing with Kieran and Michele Mulroney writing the script.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefVersus Entertainment has brought on board Decentraland and Lumiere to develop metaverse and NFT angles for its ongoing film project “The Infinite Machine.”“The Infinite Machine” is a film adapted from Camilla Russo’s book of the same title which is now being produced by Versus with Ridley Scott’s production company Scott Free. It tells the story Vitalik Buterin, the controversial co-founder of Ethereum, the world’s second largest digital asset.Decentraland operates a virtual world that uses open-source technology, allowing it to be expanded by member users.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaJaigantic Studios has acquired Hawthorne Books and Literary Arts. The imprint will target manuscripts with the goal of finding projects potential for film and TV content.“This is a marriage made in heaven,” said Rhonda Hughes, the publisher at Hawthorne.The company, which is headquartered in Portland, Ore., has optioned several projects in the past.