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Cate Blanchett has slammed Donald Trump’s proposed tariff on foreign-made films.Arguing the collaborative and international nature of filmmaking would be undermined by such a move, the 56-year-old Australian actor made the remarks at the National Portrait Gallery in London. She said: “Hollywood, such as it is, is a chimera. “The number of times I've worked on American terra firma, I could probably count on one hand.”Cate, who lives in the UK with her husband Andrew Upton, said the proposed policy would misrepresent the reality of film production. Trump, 79, last month announced he would seek to impose a 100 percent tariff on films produced outside the United States, citing national security and economic concerns. The plan has caused uncertainty across the global entertainment industry.Speaking to attendees, Cate said: “Invariably, you will shoot out of country. Queen Elizabeth was played by an Australian (Cate), directed by a man from...

Cate Blanchett’s Dirty Films has set in motion a feature-film take on Kip Williams’s multimedia staging of “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” the company having quietly acquired screen rights to the hit play in April 2024. The plan resurfaced this week after Williams’ star, Sarah Snook, won the Tony Award for Best Actress for her 26-character performance and confirmed conversations about translating the production to film.

Williams, who is drafting the screenplay, aims to preserve the play’s live-camera choreography while expanding Oscar Wilde’s story for cinema; Dirty Films partners Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton are producing alongside Curio Pictures. Snook told reporters she has “no idea how you’d translate something this intricate to film but would love to help,” leaving her casting open while praising Blanchett’s support for experimental theatre.

The stage adaptation debuted at Sydney Theatre Company in 2020, reached London’s Theatre Royal Haymarket...

Cate Blanchett has said she is seriously considering stepping away from acting, citing other personal interests and a long-standing discomfort with public attention. In a recent interview with Radio Times, the two-time Academy Award winner stated that her family often dismisses her comments about retiring, but she remains firm in her intent.

“My family roll their eyes every time I say it, but I mean it. I am serious about giving up acting,” Blanchett said. “There are a lot of things I want to do with my life.”

Blanchett is currently featured in BBC Radio 4’s upcoming drama The Fever. The interview also touched on her ongoing discomfort with public appearances and celebrity culture. Speaking about the experience of being quoted out of context, she said, “When you go on a talk show, or even here now, and then you see soundbites of things you’ve said, pulled out and italicized,...

Exclusive: Vertical has acquired North American rights to The New Boy, starring Cate Blanchett (Black Bag) and newcomer Aswan Reid, slating the film for release in theaters on May 23.

Written and directed by Warwick Thornton, the Australian filmmaker behind titles like Sweet Country and Samson & Delilah, The New Boy takes place in 1940s Australia at a remote monastery with a mission for Aboriginal children run by a renegade nun, Sister Eileen (Blanchett). In the film, a new charge (Reid) is delivered in the dead of night — a boy who appears to have special powers. However, the boy’s Indigenous spiritual life does not mesh with the mission’s Christianity and his mysterious power becomes a threat. Sister Eileen is thus faced with a choice between the traditions of her faith and the truth embodied in the boy.

Also starring Deborah Mailman (Rabbit Proof Fence) and Wayne Blair (Seriously Red), the...

Shannon Murphy wants to change the conversation around death. “I’ve been obsessed with death from such a young age and in many ways it’s this great adventure that we will all go on,” says the Australian director. “If we start changing the way we talk about it and look at how we can guide people through death and mourn them without hiding it from society, it could be beautiful.”

It’s this attitude and her curiosity with the unknown that drew the acclaimed theatre, TV and film director to her latest project Dying for Sex, FX’s new limited series starring Michelle Williams and Jenny Slate.

The eight-episode series, which launches on Hulu in the U.S. and Disney+ internationally on April 4, is based on the heartbreaking true story of Molly Kochan (Williams), a woman who gets a Stage IV cancer diagnosis and decides to leave her husband...

Cate Blanchett is looking back at her wedding!

If you didn’t know, the 55-year-old two-time Oscar winner married her husband Andrew Upton in 1997 and they now share three sons, Dashiell, 23, Roman, 20, and Ignatius, 17, and a daughter Edith, 10.

While appearing on The Drew Barrymore Show on Thursday (March 13), Cate shared the surprising why there’s only one photo in existence from her wedding.

Keep reading to find out more…“When we got married we had absolutely no money,” Cate shared. “We couldn’t have a photographer and we had two friends who were photographers.”

“One guy who got so drunk he forgot to load film in the camera and the other one had such a good time that he didn’t take any pictures, and as a result, we have one picture of our wedding,” she continued.

Cate then described the one wedding photo they do have, which is “a...

Over turmeric tea one evening, double Oscar winner Cate Blanchett talks about the secret of relationships and how to survive the current news cycle. The answer? Jump into the ice…

Cate Blanchett saw in the New Year in the Arctic, with her husband and four children, by cutting a hole in the ice and jumping in. It was -30C and she wore a “funny hat” for the cold and, “It was fabulous,” because, she says, “Everything… paused.” It’s February now, and the restaurant near the river is just beginning to fill with evening diners when Blanchett slides between the tables in her tartan “chicken feeding coat” and striped shirt, collar popped. “Who are they murdering out the back?” she shouts – the noise of dough being pounded in the kitchen sounds as if they’re beating somebody to death and means we need to lean in, over her pot of turmeric tea.

The actor is teaming up with old friend Thomas Ostermeier for a bold new take on Chekhov. The pair discuss censorship, risk-taking, the far right, and ask: are celeb-led plays ruining the West End?

The first time Cate Blanchett was cast in The Seagull, she was in Sydney and in her 20s, a young stage actor playing the part of another young stage actor who was desperate for fame and dizzyingly in love. It was 1997, at Belvoir St theatre, and Blanchett was very much in love herself, having recently got together with the writer-director Andrew Upton, who she would marry later that year. Though the part of Nina in Anton Chekhov’s drama involved far more heartbreak – the character is left emotionally wrecked after being dropped by her lover – and Blanchett remembers “I’d just met Andrew and was madly in love and thought: ‘How am I going to go...

Cate Blanchett “never, ever” thought she “could work in the film industry".The Oscar-winning actress admitted she thought her future lay on the stage and she never expected to break into Hollywood.Speaking at the Rotterdam Film Festival, she said: "I was resigned, happily, to a career in theater. I didn’t think I was that girl. There was a sense women had a certain ‘shelf life’ in the film industry and a certain type of women got to parade on the screen and others didn’t."And, she urged people not to worry about always being original.She said: "We are told you have to find your own voice. I would say: Steal from anyone. It’s an homage and a way of connecting through recognition. You are in dialogue with that filmmaker, actor or cinematographer. And that reference, filtered through your own experience, will be unrecognizable. This obsession...

Top figures in the cinematography world took on what they described as “a really critical issue that we all know about in our industry” on Tuesday, sharing war stories from the ongoing fight for greater diversity and inclusion.

The broader film industry and cinematography in particular are still woefully out of step with diverse filmmaking talent, said the group during a panel held at the 32nd edition of the EnergaCamerimage film festival in Torun, Poland.

“The idea that inclusion dilutes excellence is not up for debate,” said producer and columnist Anna Higgs as she introduced the hastily assembled talk, called “Widening the Lens: Inclusion and Excellence in our Industry,” which organizers put together this week in the wake of a controversy that saw some top filmmakers boycotting Camerimage.

Industry organizations have decried published remarks made by fest president Marek Zydowicz that seemed to imply that a focus on inclusion can lead to “mediocre film productions,...

Cate Blanchett isn’t often seen in public with her kids, but she just made a rare appearance with her 20-year-old son Roman!

The 55-year-old Oscar-winning actress was joined by Roman while attending the Clooney Foundation for Justice’s 2024 Albie Awards on Thursday (September 26) at the New York Public Library in New York City.

Make sure to see the full list of the star-studded crowd at the charity gala.

Cate is the mother of four children with husband Andrew Upton – sons Dashiell, 22, Roman, 20, Ignatius, 16, and daughter Edith, 9.

In an interview just a couple years ago, Cate talked about her kids being “disinterested” by her fame, but “in the best possible, healthiest way.”

She told Page Six ahead of an awards appearance, “I told them, ‘Oh I’m going to New York for 36 hours. I’ll be back on Wednesday…’ One of them is getting an award at school, and they went,...

Josh Hartnett has had a diverse career in horror, from protagonist to villain, in films like Penny Dreadful and 30 Days of Night. His work in horror anthologies like Stories of Lost Souls has been hit or miss, with weak appearances and disconnected narratives. Despite some missteps in films like The Black Dahlia, Hartnett's performances in horror like I Come with the Rain and Black Mirror have been strong.

Josh Hartnett is a character actor that's slowly made a name for himself in the horror genre, appearing in a wide variety of movies and TV shows of uneven quality. Perhaps most famous for his role as Michael Fitzgerald on ABC's Cracker, Josh Hartnett is a teen idol turned character actor who has shown up in a diverse array of media. While he has more appearances in war films like Black Hawk Down and romantic comedies like 40 Days and 40 Nights, he's...

“Fingernails,” starring Jesse Buckley, Riz Ahmed and Jeremy Allen White, is to close the Karlovy Vary Film Festival. The tender and idiosyncratic romantic drama, co-produced by Cate Blanchett, is the sophomore outing from director Christos Nikou, who made a splash with his debut “Apples.”

The film centers on the Love Institute, a scientific organization that tests the mutual compatibility of people who have decided to embark on life’s journey together. It is here of all places that the incurable romantic Anna finds a job, temporarily mentored by the thoughtful and sympathetic Amir.

“After being in the jury of Karlovy Vary Film Festival in 2021 and having the chance to present my first feature ‘Apples’ to the Czech audience, I am so excited and grateful to return to a festival and a city that feel like home. I would like to thank [festival chiefs] Karel Och and Krystof Mucha for honoring us as...

Cate Blanchett has been named jury president of the main competition at this year’s Camerimage Film Festival in Torun, Poland.

Blanchett will lead the jury that hands out the festival’s main Golden Frog award.

Discussing today’s announcement, Blanchett said: “Films are lightning in a bottle, and I have had the profound creative privilege of working with some of the great lightning catchers – cinematographers who have forever changed the way I work and the way I look at the world. To be at EnergaCAMERIMAGE in their midst en masse is a fever dream come true.”

Blanchett has previously presided over festival juries at the Cannes Film Festival in 2018 and the Venice International Film Festival in 2020. As an actor, Blanchett is a two-time Oscar winner with a host of credits, including seminal titles like The Aviator, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Elizabeth, Notes on a Scandal, and Carol. Blanchett is...

Cate Blanchett has been named jury president of the main competition at the 32nd edition of the EnergaCamerimage International Cinematography Film Festival, which will take place Nov. 16-23 in Toruń, Poland.

“Films are lightning in a bottle, and I have had the profound creative privilege of working with some of the great lightning catchers – cinematographers who have forever changed the way I work and the way I look at the world. To be at EnergaCamerimage in their midst en masse is a fever dream come true,” said Blanchett.

Many films that the two-time Oscar-winnning actress has been involved with have figured prominently at Camerimage over the years. She earned her first Oscar nomination for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth I in the film “Elizabeth,” for which Dp Remi Adefarasin took home the Camerimage Golden Frog in 1999.

In 2008 she received two Oscar nominations, for best actress for “Elizabeth: The Golden Age...

Cate Blanchett is to receive San Sebastian’s highest honorary award, the Donostia Award, at the Spanish film festival’s 72nd edition which runs from September 20-28.

It will be Blanchett’s first visit to San Sebastian, but the festival has already screened a number of her films including Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s Babel in 2007 and Joel Schumacher’s Veronica Guerin in 2003.

Blanchett is the second Australian actor to receive the Donostia award after Hugh Jackman in 2013.

Blanchett will also feature on San Sebastian’s official poster, created by graphic designer José Luis Lanzagorta based on a photograph by Gustavo Papaleo.

Cannes Film Festival (May 15-24) has unveiled the eight titles for its inaugural immersive competition, including projects featuring Cate Blanchett, Millie Bobby Brown, Patti Smith, Colin Farrell and Jessica Chastain.

The competition includes location-based virtual reality and mixed reality experiences, as well as projection mapping and holographic works.

Evolver is voiced by Blanchett, and has previously played at Tribeca and Geneva International Film Festiva. It is helmed by Barnaby Steel, Ersin Han Ersin and Robin McNicholas of London-based art collective Marshmallow Laser Feast. Dirty Films is also a production company, and Coco Francini, Blanchett, and Andrew Upton are executive producers on the virtual reality project,...

Exclusive: Cate Blanchett’s Dirty Films has acquired the film rights to one of the hottest theater shows around: the Sydney Theatre Company’s adaptation of Oscar Wilde classic The Picture Of Dorian Gray, which has recently been lighting up London’s West End.

Sarah Snook has garnered raves for her performance in the latest iteration of the show and last Sunday the Succession star scored an Olivier Award for Best Actress.

Dirty Films partner Andrew Upton is working with the show’s mastermind Kip Williams on a treatment based on the technically dazzling one woman show, which sees its protagonist play 26 roles. The part was first performed by Eryn Jean Norvill in multiple sell-out runs across Australia. Oscar winner Blanchett attended the most recent run’s opening night in London earlier this year.

Co-producers on the film will be Rachel Gardner and Jo Porter of Australian company Curio Pictures,...

Two well-reviewed indies are taking a bow in limited release in the shadow of Dune, A24’s Problemista by Julio Torres, and Shayda from Sony Pictures Classics, the feature debut of Noora Niasari.

Torres, the comedian, actor and writer, in his directorial debut, stars with Tilda Swinton as Problemista gets its release at last after being bumped from August due to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. He also penned the screenplay, and produced alongside Fruit Tree’s Dave McCary, Ali Herting and Emma Stone. Premiered at SXSW last year, see Deadline review, and sits at 91% with critics on Rotten Tomatoes.

This surreal comedy adventure amid the treacherous worlds of New York City and the U.S. Immigration system follows Torres’ Alejandro, an aspiring toy designer from El Salvador trying to land a spot at Hasbro’s incubator program. When he’s fired from the cryogenic center where he tends...

The director Noora Niasari deeply understands the personal struggles of people who often go unnoticed by the mainstream flow of life. Her last short film, the 2020 thriller Tâm, about a Vietnamese woman trapped in a cataclysmic sexual encounter, is a haunting gut punch.

Noora and I are from different generations and cultures. Yet she lived in the same suburb of Melbourne that I grew up in, and we were both raised by isolated single mothers in predominantly female environments. So the moment I read Shayda — Noora’s first feature script...

Sundance audience award winner received one-week awards-qualifying run earlier this month.

Sony Pictures Classics has set a March 1, 2024, release date for Noora Niasari’s Australian Oscar submission Shayda.

The film will open in New York and Los Angeles and expand nationwide in the following weeks. It received a one-week awards-qualifying run earlier this month.

Shayda premiered in Sundance where it won the audience award in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition.

The Origma 45 production centres on the titular Iranian woman living in Australia, who finds refuge in a women’s shelter with her six-year-old daughter, Mona, when she learns a court...

In the ever-evolving landscape of film and television, the representation of diverse voices has been a persistent challenge. A recent report from Dr. Stacy L. Smith and the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative paints a stark picture: of the directors across 1,600 top-grossing movies, a mere 6% were women, and less than a third of all speaking characters were girls, women, trans, or non-binary individuals. The glaring disparity not only limits on-screen representation but also curtails career opportunities for women, trans, and non-binary storytellers.

Enter Proof of Concept, the initiative launched today as the brainchild of Cate Blanchett, her Dirty Films producing partner Coco Francini and Smith in collaboration with the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative. This program is designed to address the trifecta of challenges facing these directors: funding, mentorship, and exposure.

Blanchett, Francini and Andrew Upton’s Dirty Films is an independent film, TV and podcast production company that most recently produced Christos...

For Iranian-Australian filmmaker Noora Niasari, her debut feature Shayda has served as an authentic and honest exploration into her own personal childhood trauma. The film, which is being released by Sony Pictures Classics and won the World Cinema Dramatic Competition Audience Award in Sundance earlier this year, is Australia’s Oscar submission for the Best International Feature Oscar.

The film follows Shayda, a brave Iranian mother who finds refuge in an Australian women’s shelter with her 6-year-old daughter. Over Persian New Year, they take solace in Nowruz rituals and new beginnings, but when her estranged husband re-enters their lives, Shayda’s path to freedom is jeopardized.

It’s anchored by a heart-rendering performance by Zar Amir Ebrahimi, who won the best actress award in Cannes last year for her role in Holy Spider. Niasari writes, directs and produces with Dirty Films’ Cate Blanchett, Andrew Upton and Coco Francini.

Related:...

Deadline’s Read the Screenplay series spotlighting the year’s most talked-about scripts continues with Fingernails, the Apple Original Films sci-fi love story of sorts that marks the English-language debut of Greek writer-director Christos Nikou. It came off the success of his debut pic Apples, which was Greece’s submission to last year’s Oscar race.

Fingernails, which features a cast including Jessie Buckley, Riz Ahmed, Jeremy Allen White, Luke Wilson and Annie Murphy, premiered at this year’s Telluride Film Festival and hit theaters and Apple TV+ earlier this month. It reunites the Apples executive producing team of Nikou and Dirty Films and partners Cate Blanchett, Coco Francini and Andrew Upton. FilmNation Entertainment’s Lucas Wiesendanger is also a producer.

The script was penned by Nikou and his Apples co-screenwriter and pal Stavros Raptis, joined by UK scribe Sam Steiner after Nikou read Steiner’s script for Morning (now...

Exclusive: Golden Globe winner Emma Corrin (The Crown) and Cesar nominee Lucie Zhang are set to star in Jenny Suen’s English language feature debut Peaches, which Coco Francini (Fingernails) will produce and Oscar winner Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton will executive-produce for Dirty Films.

Set in contemporary Hong Kong, the movie will follow two spoiled best friends who scam sugar daddies for a living. When they discover a Hermes Birkin bag they were gifted is a fake, their “boyfriends” and crimes catch up with them.

The film is an adaptation of Vera Chitylova’s 1966 Czech New Wave comedy Daisies.

Paris-based MK2 Films, whose slate includes Cannes Palme d’Or winner Anatomy of a Fall and Cannes Un Certain Regard winner How to Have Sex, is handling international sales and discussed the project with buyers at last week’s AFM. The film will start production early next year in Hong Kong.

Linda Marric sits down with director Christos Nikou to talk about his latest film, AppleTV+’s Fingernails starring Jessie Buckley, Riz Ahmed, Jeremy Allen White, Annie Murphy and Luke Wilson. The film is out today and very much worth your time.

The film was directed by Nikou, co-written by Nikou & Sam Steiner & Stavros Raptis, and produced by Coco Francini, Andrew Upton, Cate Blanchett, Lucas Wiesendanger and Nikou, with Glen Basner, Milan Popelka, Alison Cohen, Ashley Fox, Kevin Lafferty and Jerome Duboz serving as executive producers.

Fingernails Interview

Plot:

Anna and Ryan have found true love. It’s been proven by a controversial new technology. There’s just one problem: Anna still isn’t sure. Then she takes a position at a love testing institute, and meets Amir.

The post Fingernails Interview – Christos Nikou on analog love in a digital world, Jessie Buckley, Riz Ahmed & more appeared first on HeyUGuys.

Sometimes when you have a terrific film but it doesn’t quite have the hook for mainstream audiences, you sometimes need a catchy ace in the hole. And that’s exactly what the Australian film “Shayda” has in its executive producers, in this case, a little actor you may know named Cate Blanchett, plus her husband and producing partner Andrew Upton and Coco Francini. Blanchett has been lending her name to a lot of international cinema worthy of a boost of late (Greece’s “Apples”), and along with recent collaboration with Sparks and Guy Maddin (and an almost collaboration with Pedro Almodovar that came close), it appears as if Blanchett has really reaffirmed her commitment to global and left-of-field cinema this year, so good for her.

Continue reading ‘Shayda’ Trailer: Noora Niasari’s Acclaimed Australian Drama, Exec Produced By Cate Blanchett, Arrives In December at The Playlist.

Apple Original Films has unveiled the trailer for the highly anticipated feature, ‘Fingernails’ starring Jessie Buckley, Riz Ahmed, Jeremy Allen White and Luke Wilson.

Anna (Buckley) and Ryan (White) have found true love. It’s been proven by a controversial new technology. There’s just one problem: Anna still isn’t sure. Then she takes a position at a love testing institute and meets Amir (Ahmed).

The movie is the second feature and first English-language film from visionary director/writer/producer Christos Nikou, whose directorial debut was the critically acclaimed ‘Apples.’

Co-written by Nikou, Stavros Raptis and Sam Steiner. In addition to Nikou, The feature is produced by Cate Blanchett, Andrew Upton and Coco Francini for Dirty Films and Lucas Wiesendanger for FilmNation Entertainment.

Also in trailers – “Let us make no mistake…” Teaser flies in for ‘The Lazarus Project’ season 2

The film will premiere in select cinemas and stream globally on Apple TV+ from 3 November,...

Fingernails is a sci-fi romance that explores the concept of using a controversial technology to prove true love between partners. The film features an impressive cast including Jessie Buckley, Riz Ahmed, and Jeremy Allen White, and is directed by Christos Nikou. Fingernails premiered at the Telluride Film Festival and is set for a limited theatrical release followed by streaming on Apple TV+.

If there was a scientific test that proved whether you and your partner were in love, would you take it? This is the question asked in the latest trailer for the sci-fi romance, Fingernails, which sees Jessie Buckley, Riz Ahmed, and Jeremy Allen White forming a warped love triangle in this playful meditation on romance. Check out the newly released trailer for Fingernails below:

Alongside the latest look at Fingernails, you can check out the official synopsis below:

“Anna (Jessie Buckley) and Ryan (Jeremy Allen White) have found true love.

Some people say love is a battlefield, but what if there was a scientific solution to determining your compatibility with your chosen partner? Would the results confirm your evolution from lust to emotional adoration? Could you discover if the person you’re with is better suited for someone else? Some people would prefer to remain in blissful ignorance, but in Apple TV+‘s Fingernails trailer, love gets tested, and the results could destroy even the strongest of bonds.

Christos Nikou directs Fingernails from a script he co-wrote with Stavros Raptis and Sam Steiner. The story focuses on Anna (Jessie Buckley) and Ryan (Jeremy Allen White), a couple who believe they’ve found true love, and a controversial new technology proves it. There’s just one problem. Anna is curious to know if the results are accurate. So, she takes a position at a love testing institute, where she meets Amir (Riz Ahmed), and sparks fly.

Christos Nikou’s “Fingernails” challenges the role of technology in modern love stories, with Jessie Buckley and Riz Ahmed starring as co-workers at a company that specializes in determining people’s soulmates based on their (you’re hearing this right) fingernails. The film first premiered at Telluride.

Buckley plays Anna, a new employee at the Love Institute, where the machines are housed. She starts training with senior instructor Amir (Ahmed), yet Anna is already committed to Ryan (Jeremy Allen White), and the machine has already confirmed they are a perfect match. So why is she developing feelings for Amir?

“Fingernails” is co-written by director Nikou, Stavros Raptis, and Sam Steiner, with Luke Wilson and Annie Murphy also starring.

The film is Nikou’s second feature and first English-language film after making his directorial debut with the critically acclaimed “Apples.” Oscar winner Cate Blanchett is among the producers of “Fingernails,” along with Nikou,...

Jessie Buckley, Jeremy Allen White and Riz Ahmed find themselves caught in a love triangle in the new Apple film “Fingernails,” which debuted its first trailer Tuesday morning.

Directed by Christos Nikou and produced by Cate Blanchett, the sci-fi film is set in a not-so-distant future. The story follows Anna (Buckley) and Ryan (White) who use a mathematical, machine-determined proceudre to determine if they are truly in love.

Luke Wilson plays Duncan, who heads up the Love Insitute. Anna declares she wants to work at the Institute because “Ginger Spice” studied there. She finds herself mentored by Amir, played by Ahmed. And the more time she spends around Amir and at the lab, she finds herself asking him, and herself “Is it possible that one person could be in love with two people at the same time?”

In addition to Blanchett, the film’s producers are Coco Francini, Andrew Upton,...

Signature Entertainment has acquired U.K. and Ireland rights to writer-director Warwick Thornton’s Australian drama “The New Boy” from The Veterans.

The film follows a nine-year-old Aboriginal orphan boy who arrives in the dead of night at a remote monastery run by a renegade nun, disturbing the delicately balanced world.

Debutant Aswan Reid leads the film in the titular role, alongside Cate Blanchett, Deborah Mailman (“Sapphires”) and Wayne Blair (“Rams”).

“Inspired by Thornton’s own experience of growing up as an Aboriginal boy in a Christian boarding school, this is ambitious, tonally tricky filmmaking, bringing an unexpected dose of whimsy to social interests more austerely explored in Thornton’s excellent previous features “Samson and Delilah” and “Sweet Country,” Variety critic Guy Lodge said in his review of the film.

“The New Boy”

The film is produced by Kath Shelper (“Samson & Delilah”) for Scarlett Pictures, Blanchett and Andrew Upton (“Stateless...

First things first, the reason I pounced on the assignment of reviewing The New Boy without knowing much about it was the presence of Cate Blanchett. Her last role was the brilliant and terrifying Lydia Tár in Todd Field’s “Tár” last year. The legendary actress is known for doing a variety of roles but going from playing the megalomaniac music conductor to playing an Australian nun in the 1940s’ is a huge shift for Blanchett. It is not surprising that the actor excels here as well, delivering yet another brilliant performance. However, the real star of The New Boy is the boy himself, who is played by eleven-year-old Aboriginal actor Aswan Reid.

The New Boy opens with an incredible scene of a little Aboriginal boy overpowering a policeman and running away before getting caught by another policeman. The boy, who is mostly silent and only speaks the aboriginal language,...

It’s not every director who gets to turn Cate Blanchett down. Rarer still for a first-time filmmaker from Europe whose arty, offbeat debut — a poetic, surreal, soulful meditation on memory and grief — might have easily escaped the attention of Hollywood royalty.

But “Apples,” by Greek director Christos Nikou, charmed audiences after its 2020 premiere at the Venice Film Festival, where Blanchett presided over the main competition jury. After being wowed by a film that would go on to complete the fall-festival trifecta at Telluride and Toronto, Blanchett reached out to the filmmaker for a sit-down on the Lido.

When he read the text, Nikou couldn’t believe his eyes.

“‘No, that’s a joke,’” he recalls thinking at the time, adding with an embarrassed laugh that he considered skipping the meeting altogether. But Nikou’s better judgment got the best of him, and when Blanchett did indeed turn up for their breakfast tête-à-tête,...

Australia has selected Shayda, from Iranian-Australian debut writer and director Noora Niasari, as its submission for the Best International Feature Film Oscar race.

The drama, which counts Cate Blanchett among its executive producers and was acquired by Sony Pictures Classics for North America among other markets, world premiered at Sundance in January where it won the World Cinema Audience Award.

It went on to open the Melbourne International Film Festival and was the closing-night screening at Locarno. It is next set for TIFF and will be released in Oz on October 5 via Madman.

The story follows a young Iranian mother and her 6-year-old daughter who find refuge in an Australian women’s shelter during the two weeks of Iranian New Year (Nowruz), which is celebrated as a time of renewal and rebirth. Aided by the strong community of women at the shelter, they seek their freedom in this new world of possibilities,...

Apple Original Films announced the release date and unveiled a set of new images for its romantic drama and Toronto International Film Festival selection, ‘Fingernails.’

The feature follows Anna and Ryan, who have found true love. It’s been proven by a controversial new technology. There’s just one problem: Anna still isn’t sure. Then she takes a position at a love testing institute and meets Amir.

Jessie Buckley and Jeremy Allen White in “Fingernails,” premiering globally on November 3, 2023 on Apple TV+. Courtesy of Apple

Starring Jessie Buckley, Riz Ahmed, Jeremy Allen White and Luke Wilson, ‘Fingernails’ is the second feature and first English-language film from visionary director/writer/producer Christos Nikou, whose directorial debut was the critically acclaimed ‘Apples.’

Also in news – Kiernan Shipka stars in first-look images from ‘Totally Killer’

Jessie Buckley in “Fingernails,” premiering globally on November 3, 2023 on Apple TV+. Courtesy of Apple

Co-written by Nikou,...

Oscar nominee Jessie Buckley, Oscar winner Riz Ahmed, and Emmy nominee Jeremy Allen White form a complicated love triangle in the new Apple Original Films drama “Fingernails,” which the studio is set to debut this fall after a run through festival season.

On Wednesday, Apple debuted the first images from the project as well as its release date: October 27 in limited release in New York and Los Angeles before a bow on the Apple TV+ streaming service (and other theaters) starting on November 3.

Co-written and directed by Christos Nikou (“Apples”), in what is his English-language debut, “Fingernails” is about “Anna and Ryan (Buckley and White), who have found true love. It’s been proven by a controversial new technology. There’s just one problem: Anna still isn’t sure. Then she takes a position at a love testing institute, and meets Amir (Ahmed).”

The vague premise of the logline was...

Jessie Buckley and Riz Ahmed in ‘Fingernails’ (Photo Credit: Apple Original Films)

Apple Original Films has announced that Fingernails, which will premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, will open in Los Angeles and New York on October 27, 2023. Riz Ahmed and Jessie Buckley lead the cast of the romantic drama that marks the first English language feature film from director, writer, and producer Christos Nikou (Apples).

The drama will expand to additional theaters and will be available on Apple TV+ on November 3, 2023.

In addition to Oscar winner Riz Ahmed (The Long Goodbye short) and Oscar nominee Jessie Buckley (The Lost Daughter), The Bear‘s Jeremy Allen White and Luke Wilson (Stargirl) star.

Christos Nikou co-wrote the screenplay with Stavros Raptis and Sam Steiner. Nikou, FilmNation Entertainment’s Lucas Wiesendanger, and Dirty Films’ Cate Blanchett, Andrew Upton, and Coco Francini produce. Kevin Lafferty, Jerome Duboz, and FilmNation Entertainment’s Glen Basner,...

Forget reading palms: What if the key to finding your soulmate was at the tip of your fingernail?

Director Christos Nikou’s (“Apples”) feature “Fingernails” offers a sci-fi love triangle rooted in nature over nurture. The film is co-written by Nikou, Stavros Raptis, and Sam Steiner, and is set in an alternate reality where a machine can determine whether a couple is in love or not by studying the makeup of their discarded fingernails.

Jessie Buckley stars as Anna, a new employee at the institute where the machines are housed. She starts training with senior instructor Amir (Riz Ahmed). Yet Anna is already dating Ryan (Jeremy Allen White) and the machine has confirmed they are a perfect match. So why is she developing feelings for Amir?

“Fingernails” is the second feature and first English-language film from visionary director/writer/producer Christos Nikou, whose directorial debut was the critically acclaimed “Apples.

Canberra, July 4 (Ians) Hollywood star Cate Blanchett feels the need to “constantly justify” her career in her native Australia.

The actress said she hates strangers asking her what she does for a living when she’s in Down Under because she doesn’t think her craft is “celebrated” in the way it is in the UK and US, where she spends a lot of her time, reports aceshowbiz.com.

“The worst thing for us as an actor in Australia is getting in the back of the cab and a cabbie asking ‘What do you do?’ Because you think, ‘Oh, God …,’ ” she said, according to the Courier Mail newspaper, during an event at the Roslyn Packer Theatre at the Sydney Theatre Company — which she and husband Andrew Upton ran from 2008 to 2011.

“You’re constantly having to fight for the space or to justify the fact that you have the right to...

Shayda, the Sundance audience winner from Iranian-Australian director Noora Niasari, will close this year’s Locarno International Film Festival.

Executive produced by Cate Blanchett, Shayda stars Holy Spider actress Zar Amir Ebrahimi. Shayda will screen on the final night of Locarno festival on Saturday, Aug. 12 in what will be its European premiere. Locarno will also screen a second, surprise title that touches on the history of cinema personally selected by Locarno festival president Marco Solari.

Niasari’s powerful debut, drawn from the director’s own life, tells the inspiring story of an Iranian woman’s journey to freedom as she finds refuge in a women’s shelter after immigrating to Australia.

Blanchett is an executive producer of the movie through Dirty Films, the production company she runs alongside Andrew Upton and Coco Francini. She and Ebrahimi will attend Locarno together with Niasari.

On Aug. 12, Blanchett will also moderate a conversation...

The 76th edition of the Locarno Film Festival will close with a screening of the Sundance Competiton pic Shayda attended by the film’s star Zar Amir Ebrahimi (Holy Spider) and Exec Producer Cate Blanchett.

Directed by Iranian-Australian filmmaker Noora Niasari, Shayda, which won the Audience Award at Sundance 2023, will close out the final evening of the Festival alongside a free second screening of a surprise title that touches on the history of cinema and the Locarno Film Festival, chosen by Marco Solari, President of the Locarno Film Festival. This year will be Solari’s final year at the helm.

Blanchett is an exec producer on the pic through Dirty Films, the production company she runs with her husband, Andrew Upton, and Coco Francini. On August 12, the two-time Oscar winner will moderate a discussion between Niasari and Ebrahimi at the festival on the theme of Iranian women and Iranian cinema...

Film won the Audience Award at Sundance this year.

The Locarno Film Festival is to close with the European premiere of Iranian-Australian director Noora Niasari’s debut film Shayda. Locarno runs from August 2-12.

The film, which won the Audience Award at Sundance 2023, is executive produced by Cate Blanchett through Dirty Films, the production company she runs alongside Andrew Upton and Coco Francini. Zar Amir Ebrahimi, who stars in the film, is the 2022 Cannes Best Actress Winner for Holy Spider. Both will also attend the screening together with director Noora Niasari.

Shayda tells the story of an Iranian woman’s...

Cate Blanchett debuted her latest acting role in “The New Boy” at the Cannes Film Festival this week, but the Oscar-winner wouldn’t mind staying behind the camera a bit more.

“I’m always trying to get out of acting,” Blanchett said. “I’ve been trying to stop acting my entire professional life.”

Speaking at her Kering Women in Motion talk at Cannes, in conversation with her producing partner, Coco Francini, Blanchett said that her recent producing work behind the camera “feels an extension, for me, of my work as an actor.”

“I remember an Australian film director saying to me really early on in my career that I had to stop taking small roles,” Blanchett recalled. “And I said, ‘Why?’ I said, ‘That was the most interesting role.’ I didn’t want to play the lead. I want that one.”

“It’s about the conversation,” she continued. “And sometimes...

Aussie filmmaker Warwick Thornton joked that Cate Blanchett “elbowed” her way into his crafty sixth feature, The New Boy, as he introduced the pic at Deadline’s Cannes Studio shortly before its festival premiere.

In the pic, which debuted this week at Cannes, Blanchett plays Sister Eileen, a mysterious nun who runs an orphanage for lost boys; however, the role was originally written as a priest, to be played by a male actor, until the two-time Oscar winner came along.

“The character of sister Eileen wasn’t in the script at that time, but Cate coming along actually made it beautiful,” Thornton said.

Blanchett told Deadline that she initially reached out to Thornton during the pandemic and the pair began a virtual workshop to discuss opportunities they could create to work together.

“Like a lot of people during the pandemic, I thought well look, who do I really want to be a dialogue with?...

Warwick Thornton has been doubling as cinematographer on his projects since back before his debut, Samson & Delilah, won the Camera d’Or at Cannes in 2009. But the Indigenous Australian director’s command of visual storytelling has possibly never been as striking as it is in the rural setting of his third narrative feature, The New Boy. Frequently, the rolling hills and wheat fields, the harvest scenes, shots of a fire tearing through crops or even a steam train chugging across the landscape seem a direct tip of the hat to the descriptive beauty of Néstor Almendros’ influential work on Days of Heaven.

If Thornton’s screenplay at times smudges the focus in charting the uneasy intersection between Christian dogma and Indigenous spirituality, the core of personal experience, of learning to straddle those two worlds in the director’s own childhood, gives the film sincerity and heart.

Its flaws, strangely enough,...

Cannes is ready to party again with the likes of Johnny Depp, Harrison Ford, Alicia Vikander, Jude Law and Cate Blanchett all set for a Côte d’Azur hoedown. Here’s a (non-exhaustive) look at some of festival festivities on deck at the 76th Cannes Film Festival, which kicks off Tuesday and runs through May 27.

The return of the Carlton Hotel following a whopping $380 million renovation is perhaps symbolic of the reemergence of shindigs at the festival following the pandemic. ”We were closed for 26 months,” sighed the Carlton’s general manager Carlo Stragiotto as he welcomed us in the opulent lobby.

“We have created new spaces and renovated old ones,” Stragiotto proclaimed, then boasted that the hotel has space enough “to host four or five parties at the same time each night, if needed.”

The A-list after-party on Tuesday for Cannes’ opening-night film Jeanne du Barry, a period costume drama starring Depp,...

Here’s your first look at Cate Blanchett in The New Boy, the latest film from Australian filmmaker Warwick Thornton.

The pic will debut in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes, which will be Thornton’s second appearance at the fest, following 2009’s Samson & Delilah, for which he won the Caméra d’Or Award for first-time directors.

Set in 1940s Australia, The New Boy is the story of a nine-year-old Aboriginal orphan boy (Reid) who arrives in the dead of night at a remote monastery, run by a renegade nun (Blanchett), where his presence disturbs the delicately balanced world in this story of spiritual struggle and the cost of survival.

Cate Blanchett’s Dirty Films and Scarlett Pictures partnered to co-produce, with Roadshow Films distributing for Australia and New Zealand, CAA Media Finance and UTA handling sales for North America, and The Veterans on board to manage sales...

Advisors and guests include ’Succession’ writer Susan Soon He Stanton and ’Call My Agent!’ star Camille Cottin.

The Writers Lab, the development and marketplace programme devoted to script development for women and nonbinary screenwriters over 40, is opening its first combined UK and European edition.

Julia Berg of UK production outfit Untamed Stories will again partner with the co-founders of The Writers Lab US, Elizabeth Kaiden and Nitza Wilon, to launch a combined UK and European Lab this year. The US programme, produced with New York Women in Film and Television (Nywift), is supported by Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman. Last...