News

Director Matthew Mishory and producer-financier Bradford L. Schlei have acquired rights to the L.A.-set punk novel “What We Do Is Secret” by Thorn Kief Hillsberry.

Mishory, director of “Mosolov’s Suitcase” and “Fioretta,” will direct the film adaptation, which will enter development immediately, and produce with Schlei through their Rubber Ring Films. Schlei’s credits include “Swingers,” “Spun” and “Some Folks Call It a Slingblade.” Author and screenwriter Tony O’Neill will adapt the book.

The film adaptation will have a different title than the book, since there was already a 2007 film named “What We Do Is Secret,” which starred Shane West as Darby Crash of the Germs.

The tragic story of acclaimed punk band the Germs, whose lead singer Crash overdosed and died in 1980, also provides inspiration for this new project, which has the working title “Under the Big Black Sun” (not to be confused with the X...

Rockets Redglare, known for his work in the New York art scene, gained wider attention through character roles in Hollywood movies, like "Desperately Seeking Susan" and "After Hours." Redglare frequently appeared in Jim Jarmusch films, showcasing his unique personality and strengths as a performer in movies like "Down By Law" and "Mystery Train." Rockets Redglare was connected to controversial punk bassist Sid Vicious and was present at the Chelsea Hotel on the night of Nancy Spungen's murder, although his involvement is still disputed. The facts surrounding the case remain unclear since Redglare passed away in 2001.

Rockets Redglare was a unique fixture of New York's art scene in the '70s and '80s, and he actually appeared in several major motion pictures. Sometimes referred to as an outsider celebrity, Rockets Redglare, born Michael Morra, was a truly 20th-century figure who rubbed shoulders with important artists, and even became intricately involved in their lives,...

Cinematographer Edward Lachman may not be a household name, though he undoubtedly should be. One of the most highly regarded directors of photography in the business, Lachman has collaborated with some of the best filmmakers of his generation: Steven Soderbergh, Todd Haynes, Todd Solondz, Paul Schrader, Sofia Coppola, Robert Altman, Werner Herzog, George Sluizer, Wim Wenders, Mira Nair, Ulrich Seidl, and Andrew Niccol — to name a handful.

His career began in 1975 by photographing the infamous Sylvester Stallone–Henry Winkler Brooklyn gang cult-fave, The Lords of Flatbush. In the last 40 years, he’s carved out a truly varied résumé. For example: in 2002, Lachman co-directed Ken Park with filmmaker Larry Clark, before moving onto direct the exercise video Carmen Electra’s Aerobic Striptease in 2003.

Lachman’s most recent feature, Carol — his third partnership with Haynes, and perhaps his finest work — just entered a limited release, so there’s no better time to...

Very cool news! More comic book movies from Hot publisher Valiant! I personally collect & read both Bloodshot & Ninjak which I highly recommend you do! The full press release below!

.Valiant Entertainment and Sony Pictures today announced a deal to bring two of Valiant’s award-winning comic book superhero franchises—Bloodshot and Harbinger—to the big screen over the course of five feature films that will culminate in the shared universe crossover film, Harbinger Wars.

Bloodshot, arriving in theaters in 2017, will kick off the five-picture plan leading to Harbinger Wars and will be directed by David Leitch & Chad Stahelski (John Wick) from a script by Jeff Wadlow (Kick Ass 2) and Eric Heisserer (Story of Your Life). Neal H. Moritz and Toby Jaffe from Original Film (The Fast and the Furious franchise) and Dinesh Shamdasani from Valiant Entertainment will produce the film. Matthew Vaughn and Jason Kothari will serve as executive producers.

Black Hawk Down screenwriter Ken Nolan has sold his spec screenplay Defection to 20th Century Fox, loosely based on the Cold War spy novel The Defection of A.J. LeWinter by Robert Littell.

The original book, which was published in 1973, follows an American scientist who contacts the Kgb, claiming he wants to defect to Russia with U.S. military secrets. Ken Nolan changed the setting to modern-day, following an intelligence contractor who defects to North Korea, bringing a mysterious bag with him, in the immediate aftermath of the Edward Snowden case that made headlines around the world. The CIA brings in a washed-up officer who was trained during the Cold War and specializes in defections to help them with a case that becomes more complex than anyone can imagine.

Ken Nolan, who previously adapted Robert Littell's The Company into a TNT limited series back in 2007, originally pitched the project as a Cold War thriller,...

Committed to a preservation-minded, grassroots-activism agenda, the second annual MoRUS Film Festival (August 1 through 9, at various East Village venues, presented by the Museum of the Reclaimed Urban Space) focuses on "Women of the Lower East Side."

The series opens at Anthology Film Archives with 1993's What About Me, writer-director Rachel Amodeo's broke-ass tragicomedy of desperation, now an essential, seedily romantic snapshot of Tompkins Square Park's pre-gentrified, tent-city wilderness.

New York doll Lisa (Amodeo) is suddenly homeless and helpless after her aunt drops dead, as tastelessly informed by a landlord (cult staple Rockets Redglare) who then rapes and evicts her. Wandering the claustrophobically shot, 16mm black-and-white streets, Lisa is alter...

Charles Pinion exists at a unique transection of the modern underground film scene.

A pioneer of the Analog Video Feature Film movement. (That never materialized.) Interaction with the Cinema of Transgression, but not a part of it. Screened back-to-back features at the then-nascent Chicago Underground Film Festival.

He’s been there. He’s done that.

To date, he’s made just three feature films. (Although, hard at work on finishing up his fourth.) And all three — Twisted Issues, Red Spirit Lake and We Await — deserve to be freshly rediscovered and recontextualized. These films put out vibes that stretch out and can be felt in work by makers such as Calvin Lee Reeder, Bob Moricz, Waylon Bacon and others, whether they were specifically influenced by them or not.

All of Pinion’s films can be purchased on DVD from the filmmaker’s website. Gross. Surreal. Unsettling. If that’s your bag...

Black Box

Universal Pictures has won a bidding war for "Safe House" scribe David Guggenheim's action thriller spec script "Black Box". Madhouse Entertainment and Scott Stuber will produce.

The story finds Air Force One crashing on American soil and an investigator who discovers technical difficulty wasn't to blame, but rather, the plane was shot down. [Source: Variety]

Rockets Red Glare

Sony Pictures is in talks to acquire Ken Nolan's spec script "Rockets' Red Glare" with Neal Moritz set to produce.

The story revolves around a Mexican drug cartel CFO who surrenders himself to a rural Texas border patrol agent, promising the delivery of $8 billion within 72 hours in exchange for immunity.

The agent must keep his high-value asset alive amidst a slew of cartel assassination attempts, resulting in a national security emergency. [Source: Variety]

Epsilon

Sony Pictures is in negotiations to acquire "Zombieland" scribes Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese's spec script "Epsilon...

The Film:

Based on book Sid Vicious: No One Is Innocent, this documentary provides an examination of the brief life of the Sex Pistol bassist Sid Vicious and specifically the stabbing of his girlfriend Nancy Spungeon in room 100 at the Chelsea Hotel in lower Manhattan on 12 October 1979. After her death, Sid posted bail and died soon after of a drug overdose. Case closed. But here director Alan G. Parker presents some compelling arguments arguing against Vicious as the murderer. Numerous eyewitnesses present the night of the Nancy’s death attest Sid was splayed out on the bed, motionless from heroin. The murder weapon, a knife, was wiped clean, an action others thought Sid would not have the presence of mind to do. In addition, thousands of dollars were stolen from a stash Sid and Nancy kept. Why would Sid steal his own money?

Interspersed with creative animation, Who Killed Nancy?...

(Filmmaker Susan Seidelman, above.)

by Jon Zelazny

In the early 80’s NYC cultural lull between Patti Smith’s retirement and Jay McInerney’s breakout, Nyu film school graduate Susan Seidelman did the scrappy shoestring indie film thing, resulting in her acclaimed feature debut Smithereens (1982).

Best known for her hit sophomore effort, Desperately Seeking Susan (1985), Seidelman continues to direct movies and TV shows featuring female protagonists… including the pilot for “Sex and the City” and her Oscar nominated short film The Dutch Master (1994), about a shy dental technician who ventures “into” a museum painting for flights of erotic fantasy.

Susan Seidelman: My husband Jonathan Brett—who co-wrote and produced The Dutch Master—and I had committed to living in Paris for a year because I was set to direct a feature for Polygram, a company that unfortunately went bankrupt. So we were kind of in a funk over there, and...