News

Oscar winner Susan Sarandon said she’s “terrified but excited” to be making her UK stage debut this fall at London’s The Old Vic Theatre starring with Academy Award nominee Andrea Riseborough in the U.K. premiere of Tracy Letts’ play Mary Page Marlowe which spans 70 years in a woman’s life.

Sarandon and Riseborough will play the title character at different stages of her story.

The production will be directed by The Old Vic’s artistic director Matthew Warchus in his final season before stopping down in September 2026.

Sarandon has appeared both on and off Broadway several times beginning with An Evening with Richard Nixon and … that ran 16 performances at the Shubert Theatre in 1972. She last trod the boards in NYC in Jesse Eisenberg’s Happy Talk at the Pershing Square Signature center in 2019.

I saw her in Eisenberg’s play.

Stars including Keira Knightley, Emerald Fennell and Gemma Chan have called for extra funding so that the UK’s new bullying and harassment reporting body for the film and TV industries can launch on time.

The trio are three of 25 to have signed an open letter to the creative industries seeking a “final commitment to the creation of the Ciisa, the new independent standards authority designed to keep our creative industries safe and to secure your support to this essential part of the ecosystem that is currently missing.”

Others to have signed include Cara Delevingne, Carey Mulligan, Rebecca Ferguson and Naomie Harris. The letter with signatories can be found below.

The body was first mooted three years ago in the wake of the Noel Clarke allegations, which he denies, by Time’s Up UK, but funds have been slow to come by. Ciisa has said that it will only be...

Exclusive: Hayley Atwell predicted that she’d be on strike now.

Late Wednesday night, we chatted about her captivating performance opposite Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, and of the globe-trotting promotional tour to tubthump the movie — is there a soul on this planet that isn’t aware of this film?! — that kicked off on the Spanish Steps in Rome four weeks ago, followed by a Cook’s tour of London, Abu Dhabi, Seoul, Sydney and New York.

Tokyo had been scheduled as the final stop, but the mission to Japan was junked once the actors strike was ratified Thursday.

“I’m in full support of it,’ Atwell declared of the SAG-AFTRA dispute.

”Making sure that people are properly compensated for their time and their talent and their skill; that’s really important.”

One major concern of the striking thespians is the emergence of AI,...

An apologia, playwright Alexi Kaye Campbell reminds us in his play so titled, is a defense, not an apology. With that in mind, would any play need an apologia beyond the words “Stockard Channing?”

You wouldn’t think so, and you’d be close to right, but Apologia, directed by Daniel Aukin and opening tonight at the Roundabout Theatre Company’s Off Broadway Laura Pels venue, could use some bolstering nonetheless.

Channing reprises a role she created in London, and we can mostly see what’s held her interest through the voyage. Her Kristin Miller is an irascible, razor-edged leftist and second-wave feminist, a 60-something, take-no-prisoners survivor of an era when being Germaine Greer was a viable career option.

Such trailblazing doesn’t come without sacrifice, though. Or, in Kristin’s case, sacrifices, to be more accurate. An art historian by trade, social critic by temperament and pioneer by circumstance,...

Stockard Channing returns to the New York stage in “Apologia,” opening Oct. 16 at the Laura Pels Theatre, following its successful West End run. Alexi Kaye Campbell’s play concerns an art historian clashing with her past as a 1960s political activist. Channing has decades of stage experience, but most people know her from movie and TV roles, including Betty Rizzo in the 1978 film “Grease,” and First Lady Abbey Bartlet in “The West Wing.”

Channing made her stage debut in Boston, in a 1966 production of “The Investigation.” Her name first appeared in Variety on Feb. 25, 1970, when she was in a pair of Terrence McNally one-acts in New York. Later, she was a chorus member and understudy in the musical “Two Gentlemen of Verona” and was rewarded with the lead female role in 1973. Since then, her honors include an Oscar nomination for “Six Degrees of Separation” and 13 Emmy nominations, including two wins.

On Broadway and beyond, a curtain can rise as quickly as it can fall; a star can be swapped as easily as Bernie Telsey can say, “That’s enough.” Theater is the beating heart of New York show business and, if you want to make it here, it’s crucial you’re up to date on incoming projects, latest castings, and other industry news. Don’t worry, Broadway baby, Backstage has your back. Every week, we’re rounding up the can’t-miss stories no thespian should live without, so you can focus on important matters like hitting your high F. Curtain up and light those lights! Dancy does Off-Broadway.Full casting has been announced for Roundabout Theatre Company’s upcoming “Apologia.” The New York premiere production, direct from its successful run in London, will star Hugh Dancy along with previously-announced Tony Award winner Stockard Channing (the latter reprising her role from the U.

Roundabout Theatre Company has announced the complete cast of the Off-Broadway premiere production of Apologia, by Alexi Kaye Campbell The Pride, with direction by three-time Obie Award winner Daniel Aukin Bad Jews, Skintight. Joining the previously announced Tony amp Emmy Award winner Stockard Channing as Kristin are Hugh Dancy as Peter and Simon, Megalyn Echikunwoke as Claire, Talene Monahon as Trudi, and John Tillinger as Hugh.

Hugh Dancy will join the previously announced Stockard Channing in this fall’s Roundabout Theatre production of Apologia, Alexi Kaye Campbell’s West End hit.

Also newly cast in the play is Megalyn Echikunwoke (of the upcoming feature Night School).

Performances of the play begin Thursday, September 27, with an official opening Tuesday, October 16. The limited engagement runs through December 16 at the Roundabout’s Off-Broadway Laura Pels Theatre.

Also announced for the cast today were Talene Monahon and John Tillinger. Daniel Aukin directs.

The production marks the New York debut of the play about a woman facing the repercussions of her past. Channing stars as Kristin Miller, a former radical activist and political protester turned art historian whose new memoir threatens to split her family apart.

Dancy, who will play the roles of Peter and Simon, starred as Will Graham on NBC’s Hannibal. He’s appeared on Broadway in Journey...

New York City staple Roundabout Theatre Company has justannounced that Tony amp Emmy Award winner Stockard Channing will return to the New York stage in the Off-Broadway premiere of Apologia, by Alexi Kaye Campbell The Pride. Apologia will bedirectedby three-time Obie Award winner Daniel Aukin Bad Jews, Skintight. Channing returns to the role of Kristin in Apologia following an acclaimed run in London's West End in 2017.

Who got signed, promoted, hired or fired? The Hollywood Reporter’s Rep Sheet rounds up the week in representation news. To submit announcements for consideration, contact rebecca.sun@thr.com.

Smart move

CAA has signed Augustus Prew. The British actor starred in CBS’ Jason Katims medical drama Pure Genius last season, then played the cellmate of Wentworth Miller’s character in Fox’s Prison Break reboot. In film, Prew appeared in Kick-Ass 2 and Ben Wheatley’s High-Rise. This summer he starred in the Wallis Annenberg Center production of Alexi Kaye Campbell’s play The Pride, directed by Michael Arden. Prew continues to be represented by agent Oriana...

Pop culture comes to life in St. Louis next month! It’s the Wizard World Comic Con May 22nd through the 24th at America’s Center downtown (701 Convention Plaza – St. Louis, Mo 63101), and boy oh boy, do they have an amazing line-up of guests!

Sure, you got the comic artists and cosplayers, wrestlers, a St. Louis Ram, a Power Ranger, and of course the ubiquitous Walking Dead stars, but what We Are Movie Geeks is most excited about are the celebrities from movies that will be on hand: Horror legend George Romero, Sharknado legend Tara Reid, horror hostess with the mostest (if you know what I mean) Elvira, Guardians Of The Galaxy tough guy Dave Bautista, Henry the serial killer himself Michael Rooker, Do The Right Thing’s ‘Buggin Out’ Giancarlo Esposito. Lord of the Rings Trilogy’s Pippin Billy Boyd, Captain America squeeze Hayley Atwell, and Silent Bob’s buddy Jay aka Jason Mewes.

After having robust box office numbers this past weekend and being praised by both audiences and critics, Woman In Gold opens in wide release this Friday, April 10. In his review, Jim Batts says, “Woman In Gold concerns a celebrated work of art, but it’s also about two inspiring lives also worthy of celebration.” Read his review here.

Woman In Gold is the remarkable true story of one woman’s journey to reclaim her heritage and seek justice for what happened to her family. Sixty years after she fled Vienna during World War II, an elderly Jewish woman, Maria Altmann (Mirren), starts her journey to retrieve family possessions seized by the Nazis, among them Klimt’s famous painting ‘Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I’. Together with her inexperienced but plucky young lawyer Randy Schoenberg (Reynolds), she embarks upon a major battle which takes them all the way to the heart of...

Only a week after the sufferings of Effie Gray, another “inspired by true events” drama set in the world of art (specifically paintings) makes its way to the multiplex. The two are quite different, though, with this new film set more than nearly 150 years after that romance gone sour. But this recent release has several flashback scenes some sixty years in the past, during the Second World War. And much of the dramatic highlights take place, not in lush estates, but in boardrooms and courtrooms. So, it’s a WWII thriller and a legal showdown pitting a plucky, feisty mature lady represented by an overwhelmed young lawyer versus an uncaring, unfeeling bureaucracy. Now with Helen Mirren as the lady and Ryan Reynolds as her aide, you know we’re in for a meaty drama indeed as they seek the return of that most celebrated Austrian artwork, the Woman In Gold.

Simon Curtis’ Woman in Gold is a beautifully crafted, fact-based drama about one woman’s courageous journey to reclaim her rightful heritage and seek justice for what happened to her family during World War II. Maria Altmann (Helen Mirren), an elderly Jewish woman, sets out to recover artwork that includes Gustav Klimpt's iconic portrait of her beloved Aunt Adele stolen from her family during the Nazi occupation of Vienna. With the help of an inexperienced but tenacious young lawyer, Randy Schoenberg (Ryan Reynolds), she confronts difficult truths about the past that will take her case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and beyond. In an exclusive interview, Curtis explained why this was a great story of the 20th century, his collaboration with screenwriter Alexi Kaye Campbell, the inspiration he drew from his immigrant experience, the emotional intensity of recreating on film the demise of the Jewish community in Vienna,...

Oftentimes resembling a mosaic of pandering moments rather than an actual film, the most interesting cliché Woman in Gold employs is the Mona Lisa of speech writing crutches. It’s around the midpoint of the film that star Helen Mirren is addressing an Austrian assembly about the restitution of Nazi-confiscated art. As such, it’s the perfect time for her character, and screenwriter Alexi Kaye Campbell to tell us the dictionary definition of restitution: the return of something to its original state. That there’s little original about Woman in Gold, beyond its remarkable true story, is a nuisance, but it does help to elucidate the often-cagey relationship between film and fine art.

The movies, an organic medium, imitate life using the motion and sound that make up most of our everyday experiences. Paintings, Woman in Gold’s subject of interest, are no less powerful in their imagery, but that power comes from a singular,...

Chicago – The horrors of the Holocaust have been expressed in cinematic art through many angles. “Woman in Gold” takes another track, that of restoring a work of art that was stolen from a Jewish family in Austria. The legal maneuverings, however, lacks a sense that this is victorious.

Rating: 2.5/5.0

The story – based on true events – simply isn’t told interestingly enough, or maybe there just wasn’t enough power in the situation in the first place to expand it into a movie. All the gravitas is there, including Helen Mirren as the old Austrian immigrant, who lives in Los Angeles in the 1990s, fighting to restore some dignity to her family by reclaiming their work of art. One of the two main characters are miscast, and the flashbacks to Austria circa World War II era adds no depth to the contemporary portion of the story – it probably could have been handled without the flashbacks.

The story of Gustav Klimt's painting The Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer (confiscated by Nazis, displayed as Austria's Mona Lisa in a Vienna museum, test case in the law granting reparations to Jewish descendants) has already been detailed in articles, a book, and several documentaries. What Woman in Gold has over nonfiction portrayals is emotion, and director Simon Curtis (My Week With Marilyn) milks every scene for its heart-tugging potential. Alexi Kaye Campbell's script makes it easy for Curtis: The relationship between Maria Altmann (Helen Mirren), whose aunt is depicted in Klimt's famous golden portrait, and attorney Randol Schoenberg (Rya...

It's probably something of a compliment that a "Weinstein Company" movie has become its own genre. Back in the day this would be known, of course, as a "Miramax" movie, but Harvey Weinstein has managed to keep this trope alive even at his relatively new company. For those who are uniformed, a "Weinstein Company" movie usually includes a number of the following characteristics: (1) it's a period piece usually touching somehow on World War II, (2) it's primarily aimed at an over 25 and/or female demo, (3) it often features a meaty lead role that could lead to an Oscar nomination and/or (4) it features a previous Academy Award winner in some capacity. This type of movie used to be the definition of Oscar bait, but over the last decade it’s become almost exclusively associated with a majority of The Weinstein Company’s releases (You can now argue Oscar bait’s meaning...

All that Glitters: Curtis Traps Compelling Kernel in Avalanche of Schmaltz

British television alum Simon Curtis graduated to feature filmmaking in 2011 with the incredibly problematic My Week with Marilyn. Apparently, whatever its faults, they were easy to overlook, as the film nabbed a number of critics’ choice awards, along with prestigious BAFTA and Academy Award nominations. Unfortunately, his penchant for mawkishness has showed no sides of abatement in his follow-up feature, Woman in Gold, also based on compelling true events but at least portraying subjects that feel imbued with less drastic measures of caricature since they aren’t ingrained in cultural pop subconscious with such sacred fury.

In the late 1990s, the Austrian government began to revamp its art restitution laws in reference to victims of WWII. Upon the death of her sister, Maria Altmann (Helen Mirren), an elderly Los Angeles shop keeper who had fled Austria sixty years prior to escape the Nazis,...

Chicago – The painting “Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer” was created by Austrian artist Gustav Klimt, and was considered Austria’s greatest artwork. The remarkable journey of the painting, stolen from its original Jewish family by the Nazis during World War II, is the basis for the new film, “Woman in Gold,” directed by Simon Curtis.

“Woman in Gold” is based on the true story of Maria Altmann (portrayed in the film by Helen Mirren), a Viennese immigrant in the United States who fought the Austrian government for rightful claim to her family’s paintings in the 1990s, including the famous gold leaf portrait of her Aunt Adele. Altmann brings in an American lawyer named Randol Schoenberg (Ryan Reynolds) to act as her lawyer, and their years of litigation to make this art restitution was one of the most high profile of these cases. The film includes flashbacks of the family in Vienna during those war years,...

Chicago – In the latest HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 50 pairs of advance-screening movie passes up for grabs to the new drama “Woman in Gold” starring Helen Mirren and Ryan Reynolds!

“Woman in Gold,” which opens on April 1, 2015 and is rated “PG-13,” also stars Katie Holmes, Daniel Brühl, Max Irons, Tatiana Maslany, Charles Dance, Elizabeth McGovern, Antje Traue, Frances Fisher, Jonathan Pryce and Tom Schilling from director Simon Curtis from writer Alexi Kaye Campbell based on the life stories of E. Randol Schoenberg and Maria Altmann.

To win your free “Woman in Gold” passes courtesy of HollywoodChicago.com, just get interactive with our social media widget below. That’s it! This screening is on Monday, March 30, 2015 at 7 p.m. in downtown Chicago. The more social actions you complete, the more points you score and the higher yours odds of winning! Completing these social actions only increases your odds of winning...

The Weinstein Company secures sale of drama starring Helen Mirren, set to world premiere at Berlinale.

German distributor SquareOne Entertainment has acquired all German-speaking European rights, excluding Switzerland, to historical drama Woman In Gold from The Weinstein Company (TWC).

The deal was negotiated by Al Munteanu and Ingrid Pittana for SquareOne Entertainment with TWC.

Directed by Simon Curtis‘ (My Week With Marilyn), the film stars Oscar-winner Helen Mirren, Ryan Reynolds and Daniel Brühl. Co-stars include Charles Dance, Elizabeth McGovern, Katie Holmes and Max Irons.

The film will have its world premiere at the upcoming Berlin Film Festival (Feb 5-15) where the film debuts as a Berlinale Special Gala.

Playwright Alexi Kaye Campbell wrote Woman In Gold, which is produced by David M. Thompson for Origin Pictures and Kris Thykier, executive produced by Harvey and Bob Weinstein for TWC, and BBC Films’ Christine Langan.

It tells the true story of Maria Altmann (Mirren), an octogenarian Jewish refugee, who takes...

Here’s a first look at the brand new trailer for Woman In Gold.

Directed by Simon Curtis and written by Alexi Kaye Campbell, the film stars Helen Mirren, Tatiana Maslany, Ryan Reynolds, Daniel Brühl, Katie Holmes, Charles Dance and Max Irons.

Woman In Gold is the remarkable true story of one woman’s journey to reclaim her heritage and seek justice for what happened to her family.

Sixty years after she fled Vienna during World War II, an elderly Jewish woman, Maria Altmann, starts her journey to retrieve family possessions seized by the Nazis, among them Klimt’s famous painting ‘The Lady in Gold’.

Together with her inexperienced but plucky young lawyer Randy Schoenberg, she embarks upon a major battle which takes them all the way to the heart of the Austrian establishment and the U.S. Supreme Court, and forces her to confront difficult truths about the past along the way.

“Woman in Gold,” which stars Helen Mirren, Ryan Reynolds, and Daniel Bruhl, shares the true story of Maria Altmann (Mirren), a Jewish refugee who is forced to flee Vienna during World War II. Decades later, in an effort to salvage some dignity from her past, Maria has made it her personal mission to reclaim a painting the Nazis stole from her family: the famous Lady In Gold, a portrait of her Aunt Adele.

Also Read: 15 Movies You Already Forgot About: TheWrap’s Best & Worst 2014 (Photos)

Altmann partners with a young, inexperienced lawyer (Reynolds) to fight for her rightful heirloom.

“They destroyed my family,...

Exclusive: Origin Pictures, Paines Plough, BBC Films launch writing scheme

Origin Pictures is teaming with theatre company Paines Plough on a scheme to develop playwrights’ screen-writing skills.

Origin, producers of Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom and TV series Jamaica Inn, is launching the scheme with backing from its BFI Vision Award and in collaboration with BBC Films.

The partnership will support four playwrights in their writing across film and theatre over six months through workshops, mentoring and editorial support.

The selected writers are Alia Bano, Stacey Gregg, Ali Taylor and Alexandra Wood.

Bano won the Charles Wintour Award in 2009 for Most Promising Playwright at the Evening Standard Awards for her play Shades, which ran at the Royal Court that year. Her play Gap was commissioned by the Royal National Theatre for their Connections 2011 season.

Wood, whose plays include The Eleventh Capital (Royal Court), The Lion’s Mouth (Rough Cuts/Royal Court), Unbroken (Gate Theatre), Decade (co-writer/Headlong...

Recovering art pilfered by Nazis is trending on the big screen. The Weinstein Company, UK's BBC Films and Australia's Origin Pictures are starting principal photography on true story "Woman in Gold." The film stars Helen Mirren as Jewish refugee Maria Altmann who, along with her young lawyer, went head-to-head with the Austrian government in order to take back a series of Gustav Klimt paintings that had been stolen from her family by the Nazis during World War II.  One of these paintings inspires the film's title: Klimt's fin-de-siecle "The Lady in Gold," which is worth over $130 million. Simon Curtis ("My Week With Marilyn") is directing, and playwright-turned-screenwriter Alexi Kaye Campbell ("Bracken Moor") penned the script. TWC handled international sales at Cannes and will release the film in the Us; executive producers are Harvey and Bob Weinstein. Also in the stellar cast are Ryan Reynolds ("Captives"), Elizabeth McGovern ("Downton Abbey"), Charles.

Katie Holmes, Max Irons and Charles Dance among the new additions to the true story starring Helen Mirren, Ryan Reynolds and Daniel Brühl.

Principal photography has begun on Woman in Gold and will run for eight weeks on location in the UK, Austria and the Us.

The true story of a Jewish refugee who took on a government to recover art treasures that belonged to her family - produced by Origin Pictures, BBC Films and The Weinstein Company - will be directed by Simon Curtis (My Week With Marilyn).

The all-star cast includes Oscar-winner Helen Mirren (The Queen), Ryan Reynolds (Captives) and Daniel Brühl (Rush).

New additions to the cast include Katie Holmes (The Giver), Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black), Max Irons (The Riot Club), Antje Traue (Man of Steel), Charles Dance (Game of Thrones), Elizabeth McGovern (Downton Abbey), Moritz Bleibtreu (Run Lola Run), and Jonathan Pryce (Pirates of the Caribbean franchise).

Making his screenwriting debut is playwright...

Katie Holmes has signed on to star in the upcoming true story drama The Woman in Gold, alongside Helen Mirren and Ryan Reynolds, who signed on back in April.

The plot is set in the year 1998, when Holocaust survivor Maria Altmann (Helen Mirren) enlists the help of her lawyer grandson (Ryan Reynolds) to sue the Austrian government. The lawsuit was an attempt to retrieve multiple Gustav Klimt paintings that were stolen from her family by the Nazis. Daniel Br&#252hl is playing the other attorney on the opposite side of the case, although it isn't clear what role Katie Holmes may have.

Simon Curtis (My Week with Marilyn) is directing from a script by Alexi Kaye Campbell, although no production schedule was disclosed. Worldview Entertainment, BBC Films and The Weinstein Company are producing.

Katie Holmes will next be seen in The Giver, which hits theaters August 15.

The Woman in Gold...

Ryan Reynolds has boarded Simon Curtis's upcoming biopic The Woman in Gold. Daniel Br&#252hl is also in talks to join the project.

Helen Mirren stars in this biography of Maria Altmann, who was a Jewish WWII survivor that took action against the Austrian government to retrieve multiple stolen Gustav Klimt paintings. Ryan Reynolds is portraying her attorney with Daniel Br&#252hl up for the role of the attorney on the opposite side of the case.

Simon Curtis is directing from a script provided by Alexi Kaye Campbell. He is best known for helming My Week with Marilyn. David Thompson, Kris Thykier and The Weinstein Company are producing.

Production is slated to begin this May.

A story of noble heroes battling to protect priceless artworks stolen from their rightful owners during the Second World War? It sounded like Oscar bait when George Clooney's "The Monuments Men" first turned up on the horizon, and we all know how that turned out. Might it turn out any better with Helen Mirren and Harvey Weinstein leading the charge? The Oscar-winning actress has signed on for The Weinstein Company's "Woman in Gold," the true-life tale of Holocaust survivor Maria Altmann, who entered a legal battle with the Austrian government to retrieve a number of Gustav Klimt paintings taken from her family during the war. Ryan Reynolds is committed to play the lawyer who takes on her case; Daniel Brühl is in talks to play the opposition. TV-trained British director Simon Curtis, who steered Michelle Williams to an Oscar nomination in the Weinsteins' "My Week With Marilyn," is on board,...

Ryan Reynolds has been cast in Woman in Gold.

Daniel Brühl has also entered talks to join the Helen Mirren-starring film, reports Deadline.

The Simon Curtis-directed biopic is based on the life of Maria Altmann, a Jewish refugee who launched a legal battle in the 1980s to reclaim five paintings by Gustav Klimt which were stolen by the Nazis.

These included The Lady In Gold, Portrait Of Adele Bloch-Bauer I, which alone is priced at over $130 million (£78 million).

The film was previously titled The Golden Lady.

Reynolds will take on the role of Altmann's attorney, who takes on the case despite his ignorance about art.

Brühl is in line for the role of his adversary.

Reynolds's upcoming films include Mississippi Grind, The Captive and Selfless.

Brühl was most recently seen in Rush, A Most Wanted Man and The Fifth Estate.

Alexi Kaye Campbell is working on the screenplay about Altmann,...

Recovering art pilfered by Nazis is trending on the big screen. The Weinstein Company is on board period drama "The Woman in Gold"; the film is set to star Helen Mirren as Jewish refugee Maria Altmann who, along with her young lawyer, went head-to-head with the Austrian government in order to take back a series of Gustav Klimt paintings that had been stolen from her family by the Nazis during World War II. One of these paintings inspires the film's title: Klimt's "The Lady in Gold," which is worth over $130 million. Simon Curtis ("My Week With Marilyn") will helm, and playwright Alexi Kaye Campbell ("Bracken Moor") has penned the script. The production is eyeing a start later this year. TWC is handling international sales (with sights set on Cannes) and Us distribution.

Helen Mirren attached to star in Simon Curtis’s period drama.

TWC has boarded prestige drama The Woman in Gold, the Origin Pictures-BBC Films period drama ripped from the headlines about a Jewish refugee who took on a government to recover art treasures that belonged to her family.

According to ScreenDaily sources, TWC will handle international sales, Us distribution and has been across the production of the project.

Helen Mirren is attached to play Maria Altmann, a Jewish refugee who, with her young lawyer Randol Schoenberg, took on the Austrian government to reclaim a haul of prized Gustav Klimt paintings that were stolen from her family by the Nazis during the Second World War.

The haul includes Klimt’s The Lady In Gold, Portrait Of Adele Bloch-Bauer I, itself worth more than $130m.

Simon Curtis will direct the Maria Altmann story, written by acclaimed playwright Alexi Kaye Campbell. The production is aiming to shoot later this year...

Helen Mirren has entered early talks for The Golden Lady.

The actress is in line to star in the film, based on a true story, from My Week with Marilyn director Simon Curtis, reports the Daily Mail.

Mirren will take on the role of Maria Altmann, a Jewish refugee who launched a legal battle in the 1980s to reclaim five paintings by Gustav Klimt which were stolen by the Nazis.

These included The Lady In Gold, Portrait Of Adele Bloch-Bauer I, which alone is priced at over $130 million (£78 million).

Mirren accepted the BAFTA Fellowship at the 67th British Academy Film Awards last night.

The Queen star said last week that she feels "attached to [Elizabeth I] in some invisible way".

Alexi Kaye Campbell is working on the screenplay about Altmann, who died in 2011 at the age of 94.

The Golden Lady

Helen Mirren is in early talks to star in Simon Curtis' "The Golden Lady". Alexi Kaye Campbell penned the script.

Mirren would play Maria Altmann, a Jewish refugee who, in her 80s, took on a government to recover art treasures she believed rightfully belonged to her family, including one painting said to be worth over $130 million dollars. [Source: Daily Mail]

Freddie Mercury

Johnny Flynn ("Song One") has been cast as Queen drummer Roger Taylor in Dexter Fletcher's upcoming Freddie Mercury biopic starring Ben Whishaw stars as the famed singer. [Source: Daily Mail]

Pitch Perfect 2

Universal Pictures has signed a deal for "Pitch Perfect" co-star Brittany Snow to return for the Elizabeth Banks-directed sequel.

In the first film, Snow played Chloe Beale - the kinder co-leader of the Bellas who undergoes surgery and discovers she can sing at a substantially lower pitch. [Source: Deadline]

The Veil

Jessica Alba is in talks to...

Here's a look at today's latest movie casting news: Helen Mirren is in early talks to star in The Golden Lady, written by Alexi Kaye Campbell and directed by Simon Curtis. Jessica Alba is in negotiations to star opposite Thomas Jane in Phil Joanou's horror-thriller, The Veil, scripted by Robert Ben Garant. Brittany Snow is set to reprise her role in Elizabeth Banks' singing sequel, Pitch Perfect 2, which stars Anna Kendrick and Rebel Wilson. Fiona Dourif (True Blood) will star in writer-director Stuart Sauvarin's indie psychological thriller, Origami Fox. Hit the jump for more on each project. First up from Daily Mail (via The Playlist) is word that Mirren is in talks to star in The Golden Lady as "Maria Altmann, a Jewish refugee who, in her 80s, took on a government to recover art treasures she believed rightfully belonged to her family," among them Gustav Klimt's "The Lady In Gold,...

If the box office results for "The Monuments Men" prove anything, it's that there's a mature audience eager for stories about art being recovered from the Nazis. And it certainly doesn't hurt if there's some recognizable faces in there, and another project is brewing with a veteran star bringing a major piece of art back to its rightful owner. Baz Bamigboye reports that Helen Mirren is in early talks to star in "The Golden Lady." In the story penned by Alexi Kaye Campbell, and set to be directed by Simon Curtis ("My Week With Marilyn"), the actress will play "Maria Altmann, a Jewish refugee who, in her 80s, took on a government to recover art treasures she believed rightfully belonged to her family," among them Gustav Klimt's "The Lady In Gold, Portrait Of Adele Bloch-Bauer I," itself worth over $130 million dollars. An elderly lady fighting for her family's legacy and...

Gavin & Stacey's Mathew Horne has said that it would be "fab" if the sitcom was revived.

The actor - who played Gavin in the popular BBC show before it ended in 2010 - has revealed that he would "love" to do another series but added that it is not his decision to make.

He told West End Frame: "It would be fab if it did [return], but the risk that we take is doing it and all those people who have been asking for it just going, 'Oh it wasn't as good as before'.

"It's also not even up to me, I didn't write it, I didn't create it. There are only so many times you can say, 'I don't know' without people thinking that you are hiding something - because I'm really not!"

Horne is currently starring in the Trafalgar Transformed production of Alexi Kaye Campbell's The Pride. He stars...

The film-maker on the evergreen Leonard Cohen, teashop lithographs and wartime architecture

Nick Broomfield is an award-winning British film-maker best known for his offbeat and sometimes controversial documentaries on a wide range of subjects, including Margaret Thatcher, Eugene Terre'Blanche, Sarah Palin, Courtney Love, Tupac Shakur and Heidi Fleiss. His feature films, made in a style he describes as "direct cinema", include Ghosts (2006) and Battle for Haditha (2008). His latest film, Sex: My British Job, in which he teams up with undercover journalist Hsiao-Hung Pai to investigate the British sex trade, is on Channel 4 on 23 September.

Theatre: The Pride by Alexi Kaye Campbell

I thought this was fantastic. It dealt with a really complicated subject incredibly well, with a great deal of humour, as well as having very strong dialogue and characters. It was the first time I had seen buggery on stage, which was shocking – and I don't often have...

Hayley Atwell has arrived. If one considers Hollywood fame to be the ultimate destination for any ambitious actor, then she is undoubtedly there. When Marvel singled out her feisty Agent Carter for a film short, following her winning turn in Captain America, they sent a message to the community that Ms. Atwell was one to watch. And Atwell will (Spoiler Warning) reprise the role in the Captain America sequel, playing incarnations of Peggy in both past and present.

Her credibility as an actress has been well established with commendable performances in Brideshead Revisited, The Duchess and Woody Allen’s Cassandra’s Dream (her first feature film) and more recently in Be Right Back – the stand-out episode of Charlie Booker’s excellent Black Mirror 2.

Now Peggy Carter’s popularity marks Hayley out as a bankable commodity too. Yet the 31-year-old star continues to make dynamic and interesting choices in the work she takes on.

What is the point of this stupid, painful life if not to be honest? If not to stand up for what you are in the core of your being?

As the cast of Jamie Lloyd’s revival of The Pride return to take their second bow, before a packed and emotional house, they each bear a placard with a dedication that causes the audience to rise to its feet: To Russia, With Love. The fond gesture is a fitting way to end a play which explores the themes of compassion and courage which punctuate the loneliness of a life half lived. A pair of love triangles intersect, when alternate incarnations of the same threesome try to find a way to live their lives honestly and their sexuality openly. The journey towards self-discovery forces one couple apart but offers hope for the future of another.

In 1958 Philip and Sylvia are waiting...

Jamie Lloyd's third production for Trafalgar Transformed is the multi award-winning The Pride, written by Alexi Kaye Campbell. Starring Hayley Atwell Captain America, Life of Crime, The Faith Machine, A View from the Bridge as Sylvia, Harry Hadden-Paton Posh, She Stoops to Conquer, Flare Path as Philip, Al Weaver Inadmissible Evidence, Coram Boy, Hamlet as Oliver and Mathew Horne Gavin and Stacey, Bad Education, Charley's Aunt as The ManPeterThe Doctor, The Pride follows the critically acclaimed The Hothouse, starring Simon Russell Bealeand John Simm, which continues at the Trafalgar Studios until 3 August 2013 and Macbeth withJames McAvoy.

On June 11, Anthony Rapp Rent guest starred in special reading of The Pride by Alexi Kaye Campbell, as part of afundraising initiative for Fundamental Theatre Project's upcoming season. The evening was hosted by Ftp Patrons, Scott Mitchell and Ed Neppl. The one-night reading also helped raise awareness for Minnesotans United For All Families, an equal rights organization. More information can be found at www.mnunited.org.

After mightily impressing in the likes of “Atonement,” “The Lovely Bones” and more recently “Hanna,” Saoirse Ronan (a name almost impossible to type correctly on a first attempt) looks to have a very exciting career ahead of her. She’ll star in Neil Jordan’s “Byzantium” later this year and has “The Host” and Darren Aronofsky’s “Noah” among the more notable releases on her upcoming slate. And we can now add another film to that list, in the form of a David Heyman-produced adaptation of a Vera Brittain memoir.

We’re assuming that said memoir will be “Testament of Youth,” which was published in 1993 and recounted Brittain’s experiences during World War I and the beginning of her journey towards pacifism. Brittain was famed for her writing on pacifism and feminism, so expect those to be strong themes in the film. Although it’s not explicitly stated in THR’s story,...

After the positive reception in Cannes for Rufus Norris' acclaimed Broken which opened Critics Week, BBC Films has unveiled their new slate, reaffirming their commitment to nurturing relationships with filmmakers and developing new talent.

BBC Films is thrilled to be welcoming back former collaborators on a number of exciting projects this year. Following An Education and most recently Dustin Hoffman's Quartet, BBC Films will be working again with Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey of Wildgaze on two projects. Based on Colm Toibin's best-selling novel, Brooklyn will star Rooney Mara and has been adapted by Academy Award nominated Nick Hornby. Hornby's novel, A Long Way Down, has been adapted by Jack Thorne and will be directed by Pascal Chaumeil (Heartbreaker). It will star Pierce Brosnan, Toni Collette, Imogen Poots, and Emile Hirsch.

Having worked previously with Jeremy Thomas on Glastonbury and now Julien Temple's The Kinks' film You Really Got Me,...

BBC Films revealed its upcoming slate at Cannes yesterday and revealed information on two new projects according to Yahoo.

The first is that Simon Curtis ("My Week With Marilyn") is set to direct the art-world drama "The Golden Lady" which David M. Thompson will produce.

Penned by playwright Alexi Kaye Campbell, the true story follows Maria Altmann who fought to reclaim several Gustav Klimt paintings, including a family member's portrait, which were stolen from her family by the Nazis in World War II.

The other is that Saoirse Ronan is attached to star in an adaptation of Vera Brittain's 1933 memoir "Testament of Youth".

The story deals with how the first world war affected the women of the U.K. along with Brittain's years as a nurse and journalist. Juliette Towhidi ("Calendar Girls") adapted the script while David Heyman ("Harry Potter") is producing.

The pair join a line-up that includes...

Coming out of Cannes — our excellent coverage of which you can (and should) read right here — THR informs us that Saoirse Ronan has up and taken command of a biopic. The film in question puts a spotlight on Vera Brittain, a young Englishwoman who not only experienced World War I from the nurse’s perspective, but also chronicled those trials in her seminal memoir, Testament of Youth. Along with the standard helping of the wounded, Brittain’s experiences with the war can best be summarized by the incredible losses endured on a personal front — her brother, fiancé, and multiple friends all died in the conflict.

Juliette Towhidi will make her directing debut on the picture, while David Heyman (Harry Potter) will produce through his Heyday Films in conjunction with BBC Films; I’m sure they’ll complete their tasks diligently. Rather, it should be noted that Ronan, the main source of interest,...

Simon Curtis will direct the art-world drama "The Golden Lady" for BBC Films, which announced an upcoming slate of films at the Cannes Film Festival on Sunday. The film from "My Week With Marilyn" director Curtis was written by playwright Alexi Kaye Campbell. It tells the true story of Maria Altmann, who fought to reclaim a number of Gustav Klimt paintings, including a renowned portrait of her aunt (left), that had been stolen from her family by the Nazis in World War II. The company also announced that actress Saoirse Ronan ("The...

BBC Films has announced their upcoming slate at the Cannes Film Festival, and it includes The Golden Lady , a new movie for My Week with Marilyn director Simon Curtis (left), as well as a number of other projects, some already in production and some on the way, including new movies for Saoirse Ronan, Jude Law and Tom Hanks, as well as a new movie starring Steve Coogan as Alan Partridge. Simon Curtis' drama The Golden Lady , written by playwright Alexi Kaye Campbell, takes place in the art world, telling the true story of Maria Altmann, who fought to reclaim paintings by Gustav Klimt that were stolen from her family by the Nazis during World War II. They also announced that Irish actress Saoirse Ronan ( Hanna ) will star in Juliette Towhidi's Testament of Youth , adapting...

BBC Films is adding new projects with “My Week With Marilyn” director Simon Curtis and “Hanna” star Saoirse Ronan to its slate, the company announced in Cannes Sunday. Curtis will direct the drama “The Golden Lady,” which tells the real-life story of how Maria Altmann and a young lawyer fought to reclaim several Klimt paintings stolen by the Nazis, including a famous portrait of Altmann’s aunt. Playwright Alexi Kaye Campbell wrote the screenplay, and Origin Pictures’ David M. Thompson (“The First Grader”) is producing. Ronan is attached to star in the World War I drama “Testament of Youth,” which “Calendar Girls” co-writer Juliette Towhidi adapted from the 1933 Vera Brittain memoir about how the war affected the women of the U.K. and her years as a nurse and journalist. “Harry Potter” producer David Heyman of Heyday Films is producing. The two new projects join a roster of...