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Halle Berry and Djimon Hounsou are heading to Africa. The two actors are set to lead the upcoming thriller Red Card.

According to Deadline, Joel Souza has been tapped to direct Red Card. The filmmaker's previous credits include Christmas Trade, Crown Vic, and Rust, the latter of which became notorious for a fatal shooting accident involving actor Alec Baldwin. Unlike Rust, which Souza also wrote the screenplay for, Red Card was written by George Gallo and Nick Vallelonga (Green Book) from a story by Ava Roosevelt, Robert Menzies, and Michael J. Hershman, who were, in turn, inspired by real events out of Africa.

"Red Card is a fantastic script, from writers who have created film classics, and Djimon is an actor of uncommon power and depth," said Souza in a statement. "Together, we all look forward to telling a thrilling story we truly believe will grip audiences worldwide."

In Red Card,...

Halle Berry and Djimon Hounsou are booking a trip to Africa for Red Card, the upcoming thriller written by Bad Boys creator George Gallo and Green Book screenwriter Nick Vallelonga. The newly announced project finds Berry and Hounsou traveling to the sprawling grasslands of Kenya’s Maasai Mara and the Moroccan port city of Casablanca. The National Centre for Missing & Exploited Children backs the project, which the Soloviev Foundation also supports.

Rust and Crown Vic helmer Joel Souza directs Red Card from Gallo and Vallelonga’s screenplay. The film is based on an original story inspired by real events in Africa by Ava Roosevelt, Robert Menzies, and Michael J. Hershman.

According to Deadline‘s exclusive report, Hounsou plays Max Elmi, “a veteran ranger battling poachers in Kenya who joins forces with Dane Harris, a tenacious special agent and part of a team led by FBI supervisor Amanda Bruckner (Berry) working...

Exclusive: Djimon Hounsou and Halle Berry have signed for Africa-set trafficking thriller Red Card, taking its protagonists on a journey from the rolling grasslands of Kenya’s Maasai Mara to the Moroccan port city of Casablanca.

Joel Souza will direct the movie from a screenplay written by Bad Boys creator and Midnight Run writer George Gallo as well as Green Book Academy Award winning screenwriter Nick Vallelonga.

The original story, based on real events out of Africa, comes from Ava Roosevelt, Robert Menzies and Michael J. Hershman.

Hounsou will star as Max Elmi, a veteran ranger battling poachers in Kenya who joins forces with Dane Harris, a tenacious special agent and part of a team led by FBI supervisor Amanda Bruckner (Berry) working with international law enforcement to fight trafficking rings abroad.

When Max’s son, a talented soccer player, falls prey to a deceitful sports agent and disappears into...

Stage 32, the online platform for film, TV and digital content creation education, and Women in Film and Television International (Wifti) have unveiled what they called “a transformative partnership” that makes Stage 32 the official education provider for all 57 Women in Film chapters and affiliates worldwide.

The partnership was unveiled during the Cannes Film Festival and celebrated with an exclusive black-tie villa event.

“As filmmaking expands globally, driven by untapped talent and a surge in tax incentives, this partnership addresses vital skill gaps for women in film chapters and affiliates worldwide,” the partners said. “Stage 32’s extensive online library, offering over 3,000 hours of webinars, classes and labs, will provide training in above-the-line and below-the-line skills. Courses are led by industry luminaries, including Oscar, Emmy and BAFTA winners such as Meg LeFauve (Inside Out 1 & 2), Nick Vallelonga (Green Book), David Seidler (The King’s Speech), Alec Sokolow (Toy Story) and Christopher Anthony (The Jungle...

It’s rare to see a film in which not a single interesting thing happens over the course of its entire running time. Not only is that true of Barry Levinson’s “The Alto Knights,” but this tired-as-hell mafia story — which wouldn’t merit so much as a footnote in the history of mob cinema if not for the gimmick of casting Robert De Niro as real-life crime boss Vito Genovese and his best frenemy Frank Costello — seems totally at peace with it.

From the moment it starts, Levinson’s first theatrical feature since 2015’s “Rock the Kasbah” is comfortably entombed in the same deep sense of resignation that inspires its main character to get out of the game. Frank Costello knows that his era in the underworld has come to a close, and he narrates the limp saga of his own life as if it were already irrelevant. As...

Quick LinksHow Does the 'Emilia Pérez' Controversy Compare to Past Contenders?Does 'Emilia Pérez' Still Have a Shot at Oscar Glory?

Depending on who you ask, the controversy surrounding Emilia Pérezis either the worst-timed bad luck imaginable or a welcome dose of karma. The last week has clearly been a nightmare for the film’s cast and crew, and especially for the Netflix campaign team, who’ve been aggressively pushing for the company’s first Best Picture win. What should’ve been a cause for celebration, as Karla Sofía Gascón became the first openly transgender actress to be nominated for an Oscar, has tragically been overshadowed by her problematic past.

On the other hand, it’s been clear since at least the Golden Globes that outside of the industry, few people seem to actually like Emilia Pérez. Even putting aside Gascón, the movie has been criticized by Mexican...

The gold-plated meltdown that has followed the revelation of Emilia Pérez star Karla Sofía Gascón’s past anti-Muslim and racist tweets — with anti-George Floyd and pro-Hitler sentiments thrown in — has now required numerous apologies/explanations from the Best Actress Oscar nominee. Gascón’s previous online remarks have seriously cratered the odds for her and her film, which is nominated for 13 Oscars. The journalist and podcaster who uncovered Gascón’s troubling social media posts insists it was good old-fashioned reporting and she was not a “studio plant” fueling a smear campaign underwritten by a rival nominee.

In any case Gascón’s self-inflicted mess is the latest example of an internet-powered scandal that has threatened to derail an Oscar campaign. Here’s a look at the four most notable examples this century and how they played out.

Green Book (2018)

As this fact-based drama — about a blue-collar bouncer who chauffeured a Black...

When the old offensive social media posts by Emilia Pérez star Karla Sofía Gascón went viral on Thursday, one awards strategist thought of a past Oscar contender who was in a similar situation: Nick Vallelonga. “Did that teach us nothing?” asked the strategist, who spoke to Gold Derby on the condition of anonymity.

Vallelonga is the cowriter and producer of Green Book, which, like Emilia Pérez, was dogged by controversy during its Oscar campaign six years ago. The film — about the real-life story of pianist and composer Don Shirley and his driver Frank “Tony Lip” Vallelonga during a concert tour in the Deep South in the 1960s — was criticized for perpetuating the “white savior” stereotype. Shirley’s family condemned the musician’s portrayal in the film. Mortensen apologized for using the N-word during a Q&a. Director and cowriter Peter Farrelly apologized after the recirculation of a 1998 Newsweek interview, in...

The furor over racist and anti-Muslim tweets from Best Actress nominee Karla Sofía Gascón has left the Oscar campaign for Gascón and her film, “Emilia Pérez,” badly damaged and may well be dead, but there it’s also possible that the film could take less of a hit than its star.

Given this year’s awards-season calendar, “Emilia Pérez” could conceivably weather the storm and do what it’s done so far this season: win awards despite the fact that it’s the lowest-rated of the Best Picture nominees on Metacritic, and despite months of social media attacks that find it lacking on a variety of fronts.

With a strategy of isolation and repudiation, which already began with co-star Zoe Saldaña’s comments that she “(doesn’t) have any tolerance for any negative rhetoric towards people of any group,” Netflix will have its job cut out for it to distance the film from its star,...

The Internet never forgets.

Apparently, Oscar strategists do.

Six years after “Green Book” writer-producer Nick Vallelonga’s old tweet that disparaged Muslims resurfaced in the thick of an awards-season campaign, threatening the film’s Academy Awards prospects, “Emilia Pérez” star Karla Sofía Gascón is under fire for social media posts that took aim at everything from Islam to George Floyd to Oscars diversity. In an unexpected turn of events, Netflix did not vet Gascón’s social media history in advance — nor, it seems, had anyone else associated with the film or the actor — a decision that represents a critical lapse for a major Oscar campaign, according to eight awards veterans and communications executives who spoke with Variety on condition of anonymity.

“We all make mistakes, omissions, but when you know you have a loose cannon like her, you don’t take your eye off the ball especially since anyone in...

Emilia Pérez, the highly unconventional Spanish-language musical from the French filmmaker Jacques Audiard and the American distributor Netflix, was the toast of the Capri Hollywood International Film Festival over the Christmas/New Year break.

At the 29th edition of the Italian fest, which is held on the titular island off the coast of Naples, the festival’s jury awarded the film a field-leading six prizes: best picture, actress (Karla Sofía Gascón, who was in attendance at the fest), adapted screenplay, makeup/hairstyling and ensemble, as well as a special honor for its producers.

The other films that were awarded multiple prizes were A24’s The Brutalist, which received three, including best actor for Adrien Brody; and, with two each, Focus’ Conclave, including best supporting actress for Isabella Rossellini; Warners’ Dune: Part Two; and Universal’s Wicked.

Jurors included a number of distinguished Italian and Italian-American filmmakers — among them Franco Nero,...

The thing about the Academy Award for Best Picture is that it is a popularity contest. And, like most popularity contests, it rewards agreeability, both artistically — the winner must be a widely-liked crowd-pleaser, and institutionally — the winner must reflect well on the Academy. The archetype of the "Oscar bait" film is really just the mathematical derivation of decades of the Academy's membership defaulting to the films that pleased the most people while displeasing the fewest, always guided by a certain unspoken sense that Best Picture winners had to be prestigious and respectable — whatever that meant at any given point in history.

At some points, it meant terrible movies were rewarded with the exact right amount of cultural complacency to win Best Picture, whether because they were huge box office hits, because they flattered the industry's self-importance, or because they just fit too snugly into the reigning norms of "good taste.

Drea de Matteo is most famous for playing Adriana La Cerva on The Sopranos, where she was the troubled girlfriend of mobster Christopher Moltisanti, a role that won her an Emmy. She also played Wendy Case, the strong-willed ex-wife of Jax Teller, in the hit show Sons of Anarchy.

Recently, she revealed in an interview that she was offered a role in a Marvel project but decided to turn it down to focus on her family, especially because her son would get upset whenever she had to leave for long filming trips.

The actress shared that she no longer felt attracted to the Hollywood lifestyle or its focus on material things, so she decided to stay closer to home and embrace a simpler way of living.

I was offered some Marvel thing, and I turned that down because my son was crying every time I’d go to Canada to just guest star on something.

Drea de Matteo is best known for her role as Adriana La Cerva on ‘The Sopranos,’ where she portrayed the tragic, conflicted girlfriend of mobster Christopher Moltisanti—a performance that earned her an Emmy. She also starred as Wendy Case, the rebellious ex-wife of Jax Teller, in the popular series ‘Sons of Anarchy’, but as it turns out the actress was offered a Marvel role as well, which she declined for a good reason.

In her recent interview with ComicBookMovie de Matteo explained that she turned down the Marvel role beacuse she wanted to prioritize her family, especially her son who would get upset whenever she had to leave for long shoots.

The actress explained that she no longer felt drawn to the Hollywood lifestyle or the materialism that sometimes comes with it, choosing instead to stay closer to home and live a simpler life.

I was offered some Marvel thing,...

The 1990s were a fantastic time for Nicolas Cage and a decade that featured some of his greatest film roles. After building up his reputation throughout the 1980s, this was the era that Cage really broke into the mainstream to become a household name and one of the biggest movie stars Hollywood had ever seen. Not only did this period feature his Oscar-winning performance in Leaving Las Vegas, but Cage also proved his skills as a major action hero in a number of now-iconic movies, including Con Air and Face/Off.

Many of the best Nicolas Cage movies were released during the 1990s, as he proved himself a sternly committed actor willing to take serious risks. While there were some truly disappointing releases during this decade, the fact that Cage was willing to fail and come back swinging proved him an actor of great determination and ability. The 1990s was a...

Palisades Park Pictures has secured a distribution deal with Entertainment Film Distributors (Efd) for U.K. rights to “The Magic Faraway Tree,” an adaptation of Enid Blyton’s beloved children’s novel.

The family adventure feature stars Andrew Garfield (“The Amazing Spider-Man”), Claire Foy (“The Crown”), Nicola Coughlan (“Bridgerton”), Jessica Gunning (“Baby Reindeer”), Jennifer Saunders (“Absolutely Fabulous”) and Rebecca Ferguson (“Dune”).

Ben Gregor (“Britannia”) directs from a script by Simon Farnaby (“Paddington 2”). Currently in production, the film follows a modern family relocating to the English countryside, where the children discover a magical tree with eccentric inhabitants. At the top of the tree, they are transported to spectacular and fantastical lands and, through the joys and challenges of their adventures, the family learns to reconnect and value each other for the first time in years.

Pippa Harris (“1917”) and Nicolas Brown (“Penny Dreadful”) of Neal Street Productions produce alongside Danny Perkins...

On July 30, the day after the “White Dudes for Harris” meeting convened Kamala Harris supporters on Zoom, Sasha Stone posted the phrase “White power!” from the X account of the entertainment news site she owns, Awards Daily. Stone, a pioneer in the field of Oscar punditry and regular attendee at prestigious film festivals like Telluride and Savannah, says she was making a joke about the left’s hypocritical adoption of identity politics. “I was just pointing out the silliness of segregating themselves by race,” she told me in a phone interview a few days later. But the post, which she has since deleted along with all of her tweets more than a few days old, attracted the attention of studio executives, film festival programmers and publicists.

“A quote from Sasha Stone is toxic now,” one executive told me, saying that their studio was pulling its ad dollars from Awards Daily.

Hollywood actor, artist, director, and screenwriter Daniel Stern has bagged a ton of hilariously iconic roles in comedies throughout his career and has managed to land a spectacular performance in nearly every single one of them. As fans must have already understood after watching him in the Home Alone film series, he is immensely dedicated to his work to the core.

Daniel Stern. | Credit: @therealdanielstern/Ig.

That said, this tremendous commitment once almost had him losing his life while working on his comedy-action from 1981, Honky Tonk Freeway. And, ironically enough, Stern didn’t risk his life this badly while shooting an action scene, but rather, this happened while he was shooting a simple scene, for he accidentally consumed real drugs on set instead of using substitutes!

Daniel Stern Underwent a Life-Threatening Accident During Honky Tonk Freeway

Home Alone actor Daniel Stern had only just started his professional career as an...

Macaulay Culkin, the actor who reached extraordinary heights of fame and success with his tremendous portrayal of the genius Kevin McCallister in his version of the Home Alone saga, actually shared a rather peculiar relationship with Michael Jackson in the eyes of the public. That being said, most fans may not know that this friendship actually started with a phone call.

Macaulay Culkin in Changeland. | Credit: Gravitas Ventures.

As Culkin himself admitted it, the pair probably wouldn’t have shared the kind of close relationship they did had it not been for one “weird, random” call that the child actor received from the now-deceased King of Pop. And, although this may sound similar to the rumors surrounding Jackson’s alleged abuse of youngsters, that’s hardly the case, and Culkin stands as a witness to this claim.

Macaulay Culkin’s Friendship with Michael Jackson Started with a Call

Hollywood actor...

Veteran US independent producer Cassian Elwes and Chinese tech entrepreneur and NextG founder Edward Zeng are launching a $100m fund to invest in five to eight features over the next three years.

The pair are in Cannes to meet with potential partners on their Next Generation Media Fund and are talking to buyers on the first project on the slate, the crime biopic Gambino.

Elwes, whose credits include The Butler, Precious and Mudbound, is lead producer on the story of the Mafia boss who led the Gambino crime family in New York until his death in 1976.

Nick Vallelonga, the Oscar-winning...

Calling all Latino filmmakers, John Travolta wants to work with you. Swinging by Panama to present his 1978 musical rom-com “Grease” at the 12th Panama International Film Festival (Iff Panama), Travolta professed his great love for “Mexico, Central America, South America, all of its parts.”

“There is an incredible humanity that prevails and is different from anywhere else in the world,” he told Variety.

Surprised to hear that Robert de Niro had starred in the Argentine series “Nada,” Travolta exclaimed: “I would have loved that, I would have enjoyed being lured to South America to play a part for a while.”

The closest he’s come to working with a Latino director was with Alfonso Cuarón, who produced the short film streaming on Disney+ “The Shepherd,” based on Frederick Forsyth’s 1975 novella, which follows a young Royal Air Force pilot flying home for Christmas across the North Sea. When the pilot...

“Ma’am, I’m 10 years old, you think I could write this alone? I don’t think so.” The age demographics in Hollywood are about to skew a lot younger because a pre-teen has pitched an idea that is soon enough going to be written for the screen – and it’s a wonder it hasn’t been made yet. Here we have Home Alone meets The Godfather, in which we imagine one scene where Kevin McCallister jumps on his parents’ bed, only to find a decapitated horse head at the foot of it. The title? Little Wiseguy.

But the pitch doesn’t come from a desperate studio suit but rather a 10-year-old named Connor Esterson, who you may actually be familiar with, as he co-starred in last year’s Spy Kids: Armageddon. And while Esterson has very likely seen Home Alone numerous times around the holiday season, he admits he...

Hollywood is proof that talent has no age bar, and 10-year-old Connor Esterson is a testament to that. The 5th grader who made his presence felt on screen in Spy Kids: Armageddon has now turned his attention to writing. Esterson has been in talks with bigwigs in the writing fraternity, namely Nick Vallelonga and George Gallo, to pitch a screenplay featuring a young boy’s relationship with a gangster.

Connor Esterson in Spy Kids: Armageddon

The veteran writers were extremely impressed with the aspiring screenwriter’s idea and are now in talks to find ways to get his narrative up and running. While this is a big achievement for someone so young, Esterson’s story is being criticized by netizens for its uncanny similarity to a 1993 Robert De Niro film.

Fans Connect Robert De Niro’s Film And This Young Writer’s Script

Apart from being an aspiring actor, young...

In another installment of “What the heck are we doing with our lives?” A 10-year-old Connor Esterson is developing the script for a “Home Alone–meet-The-Godfather”-esque movie titled Little Wiseguy. Working alongside the preteen are Hollywood Oscar winner Nick Vallelonga and Bad Boys writer George Gallo, gearing up to pitch it to studios around town soon enough. Esterson however has many talents up his sleeve, he is not only a budding actor but also aspiring to become a director in Hollywood.

Marlon Brando in The Godfather Oscar Winner Nick Vallelonga Teamed with 10-Year-Old for this New Movie!

As soon as The Hollywood Reporter reported this, the internet was stunned by news of 10-year-old Connor Esterson, who had prepared a 6-page script for a film that instantly captivated Nick Vallelonga and George Gallo.

Suggested“The good, bad, and the ugly”: Michael Jackson Biopic Set To Finally Shed Light on...

Oscar Parties Are Full of Phonies (But They’re Getting Kicked Out)

Winning an Academy Award opens a lot of doors, especially at Oscar-night afterparties. One of Hollywood’s sacred red carpet rules is that merely holding an Oscar can be a golden ticket to just about every swell soiree in town. But in recent years, some gate-crashers have been exploiting that loophole by turning up with ersatz trophies or, as happened this year, an actual Oscar that didn’t belong to them. Rambling has learned that one non-invitee who arrived at Vanity Fair’s ultra-exclusive fete hauling a vintage 1986 Oscar quickly found himself kicked to the curb. The person was not the award winner, a rep for the magazine confirms to THR, adding that the trophy was confiscated. “Our head of security is working on tracking down its rightful owner.” It’s unclear how the crasher got his hands on the golden boy,...

Every year during the fall and winter seasons, theaters are inevitably flooded with Oscar bait. These movies are produced with the sole purpose of earning Academy Award nominations. The accolades can translate into serious box office -- making the quest for Oscar gold as much financial competition as an artistic one -- and every production company offers a few contenders every year. Oscar bait is often defined by appearing to say something profound and important with the medium while taking very little creative or political risks. Period films that depict a major world tragedy tend to make good Oscar bait, as movies that push a social agenda in an overtly sentimental way. The ultimate Oscar bait combines these two elements into one film.

Numerous pieces of Oscar bait receive average to poor reviews from critics, but are rewarded with prestigious nominations in an attempt to boost box office revenue. Others...

U.S. and U.K.-based global sales outfit Palisades Park Pictures has revealed a star-studded slate for Hong Kong’s film rights market FilMart.

John Travolta, Katherine Heigl and Christopher Walken lead romantic comedy “That’s Amore!,” which is in pre-production. Written and directed by “Green Book” writer Nick Vallelonga, the film follows two emotionally damaged people who attempt to date one another, and when their families get involved, comedy ensues.

The producers are Vallelonga (Vallelonga Prods.), Cassian Elwes (Elevated Films), Brenda Emmett and Vince Emmett (American Troubadours), David Polemeni; Tamara Birkemoe and Mark Damon, for Palisades Park Pictures, serve as executive producers.

Director Phillip Noyce has completed action-thriller “Fast Charlie,” starring Pierce Brosnan, Morena Baccarin and James Caan, and adapted from Victor Gischler’s novel “Gun Monkeys” by Richard Wenk (“The Equalizer”).

Brosnan plays Charlie Swift, a hitman who has been working for his aging mob boss, Stan (Caan), for two decades.

“Anatomy of a Fall” is the clear favorite to win Best Original Screenplay this year but nominees “The Holdovers,” “Past Lives,” “Maestro,” and “May December” are all hoping to spoil the party. But is “Anatomy of a Fall’s” status as frontrunner as solid as it seems? It’s won a bunch of precursor awards, sure, but what about the academy?

What movies do they like best in this category? Let’s take a look at the last 10 winners of Best Original Screenplay to see what they can tell us about the academy’s tastes in this category, and how that affects “Anatomy of a Fall” and this year’s nominees.

As you can see, drama is the order of the day for academy voters. Five out of the last 10 winners here have been serious fare: Kenneth Branagh‘s “Belfast,” Emerald Fennell‘s “Promising Young Woman,” and Kenneth Lonergan‘s...

The Oscar-winning actor Richard Dreyfuss, the songwriter and perennial Oscar bridesmaid Diane Warren and Matteo Garrone, the director of this year’s best international feature Oscar-nominated Italian film Io Capitano, will all be honored on Sunday night during the opening ceremony of the 19th Los Angeles, Italia Film, Fashion and Art Festival at Hollywood’s Tcl Chinese Theatres, exactly one week before the 96th Academy Awards take place just down the street.

The festival, which is backed by Italy’s Ministry of Culture, will run through Saturday, March 9, and feature 112 film screenings (47 in movie theaters and 65 on the online platform eventive.org). This year’s edition will be hosted by one Italian screen legend, Franco Nero (as well as Italian actress/model Antonella Salvucci), and is dedicated to another, the late Marcello Mastroianni, whose centenary it coincides with, as well as the late Italian playwright Eduardo de Filippo.

Notable guests...

Production has begun in Sardinia on Italian director Louis Nero’s futuristic drama Milarepa, starring Harvey Keitel. The US’ Orwo Studios is handling sales to the film and talking to buyers at the EFM.

Keitel joins a cast that also includes F. Murray Abraham, Angela Molina, Iazua Larios, Al Yamagouchi, Michael Ronda and Bruno Bilotta.

Milarepa takes place in a ‘no tech’ future and follows the story of a young girl who must disguise herself as a boy in order to exact revenge on her father’s family for enslaving her and her mother. The story is inspired by a...

“Anatomy of a Fall” is the favorite to win Best Original Screenplay at the Oscars; director Justine Triet co-wrote the script with partner Arthur Harari. But another multi-hyphenate could pull off an upset: “Past Lives” writer/director Celine Song. Her acclaimed film follows two childhood friends from South Korea who reconnect in the USA years later and find that their bond is still there. Greta Lee and BAFTA-nominated Teo Yoo bring Song’s delicately crafted characters to life while the restrained story is a clear sign of Song’s maturity and control as a writer.

Her film has done very well with critics groups. She won Best Original Screenplay from the Austin Film Critics Association Awards, the Florida Film Critics Circle Awards, and the Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards. She was also nominated at the Critics Choice Awards for Best Original Screenplay. She lost that race to...

“Oppenheimer” is the juggernaut Oscar contender that is predicted to take home not just Best Picture but a whole bunch of other Academy Awards, too, including Best Director for Christopher Nolan and Best Supporting Actor for Robert Downey Jr. However, we thought that “La La Land” had Best Picture all wrapped up in 2017 but come Oscars night, “Moonlight” swept in to claim the evening’s biggest prize in a shock win. So, is “Oppenheimer” as safe as everyone thinks?

“The Holdovers” is well-poised to pull off an upset. The movie follows Paul Giamatti as a curmudgeonly professor who is forced to look after students staying behind during the Christmas holidays. The film has been a hit with critics, audiences, and awards groups, too.

As such, it could be a major dark horse to win the Oscar for Best Picture. In the last 10 years, four movies have claimed the top prize...

If you were to design a global sales agent in a lab, they would come out looking a lot like Tamara Birkemoe.

Born in Italy to Chilean parents and raised between Sweden and Rome before moving to the U.S. for film school, the multilingual exec has been a force on the indie film scene since her first job, straight out of UCLA, for Mark Damon’s Mdp Worldwide. For the next 16 years, Birkemoe put in time at Mdp (later Media 8 Entertainment) and then at Foresight Unlimited, the production and sales group Damon set up in 2005. The slate she oversaw ranged from studio-released big-budget action fare, such as Peter Berg’s Lone Survivor and Baltasar Kormákur’s 2 Guns, both Universal Pictures films, which grossed $155 million and $132 million worldwide, respectively; to Kevin Costner starrer The Upside of Anger, a New Line release that earned $28 million worldwide; and Patty Jenkins’ low-budget true-crime drama Monster,...

Both Best Original Screenplay and Best Adapted Screenplay are full of beautiful writing, with a variety of genres and writers being acknowledged for their work this year.

We have previous Oscar winners nominated, such as Josh Singer, who co-wrote “Maestro” with Bradley Cooper; previous nominees such as “Oppenheimer” scribe Christopher Nolan and “Poor Things” penman Tony McNamara; and we have a whole bunch of first-time nominees such as “Past Lives” writer and director Celine Song.

But… could we have two first-time nominees win both writing categories? Oscar history says this is unlikely; this has not happened a single time in the last 10 years. There have, however, been five instances in both categories where rookie contenders have won the Oscar.

Best Original Screenplay

Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert for “Everything Everywhere All at Once” in 2023 Emerald Fennell for “Promising Young Woman” in 2021 Bong Joon-ho and Han Jin-won for “Parasite” in 2020 Brian Currie,...

“Poor Things” has performed well throughout this awards season, winning Best Comedy/Musical Film at the Golden Globes and snagging 11 Oscar nominations in total. That is the same number of awards the Searchlight Pictures movie was nominated for at the BAFTAs, where we predict it to perform well.

One person who is set to have a good night at the British film awards is Tony McNamara, who adapted Alasdair Gray‘s 1992 novel of the same name. McNamara previously worked with Emma Stone on “Cruella” and “The Favourite,” the latter of which was another Yorgos Lanthimos film. McNamara co-wrote that period piece with Deborah Davis. The duo was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay at the Oscars in 2019 but lost to “Green Book”.

However, they won the BAFTA for Best Adapted Screenplay, over “Cold War” (Janusz Głowacki and Paweł Pawlikowski), “Green Book,” “Roma” (Alfonso Cuarón), and “Vice” (Adam McKay). The film won six other BAFTAs in total,...

As of this writing the frontrunner to win this year’s Oscar for Best Original Screenplay is “The Holdovers” with 69/20 odds based on the combined predictions of Gold Derby users. What was previously behind it in second place was “Barbie,” yet the Academy recently declared that script to be adapted despite Warner Bros. campaigning it as original. With “Barbie” out of the way, “Past Lives” is now in second place in this category with 4/1 odds. But I think it actually has a shot of taking down “The Holdovers” for the win.

When it comes to Alexander Payne movies at the Oscars, they’ve so far gone one of two ways. They’ve either only won one award for screenplay (as was the case for “Sideways” and “The Descendants”), or they’ve gone home empty-handed. Many are currently predicting “The Holdovers” will fall into that first category, though it’s also...

The Golden Globes nominated five films this year for both director and screenplay. The Globes only offer one screenplay category rather than splitting into two with original and adapted like most other awards groups. This means that if your film gets into this category, they really, really love your writing.

Writing and directing seem like they would be paired together often but the two awards have only been awarded to the same film once in the last decade. That was in 2017 when Damien Chazelle won both awards for “La La Land,” which also won Best Comedy/Musical Picture. The other nine years saw a split. Here’s the breakdown.

In 2014, Spike Jonze won Best Screenplay for “Her” while Alfonso Cuarón emerged victorious in the directing race for “Gravity.” The year later, Richard Linklater took home Best Director for “Boyhood” while four writers won for “Birdman:” Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone,...

Focus Features’ “The Holdovers” is one of the sweetest movies of the year and is set to become a new Christmas classic. Written by David Hemingson and directed by Alexander Payne, the 1970s-set story follows Paul Giamatti as a school professor tasked with staying behind on campus to look after students not going home for Christmas. What follows is a charming, touching tale about two foes who learn to become friends. Giamatti gives a knockout performance while Da’Vine Joy Randolph is a hot contender for Best Supporting Actress for her role as a cook mourning the death of her son. The movie’s strongest point, however, is its writing.

“Whiskey Cavalier” creator and “Black-Ish” and “American Dad!” scribe David Hemingson crafted the script. He has never been nominated for an Oscar before but we expect that that he’ll win one this year. We’re predicting he will take home...

The producers of That’s Amore ran out of money and skipped town without paying $570,000 in wages to dozens of workers while continuing to incur costly expenses to promote the movie, according to a complaint filed against the production.

In a lawsuit, filed in New York federal court on Dec. 8, IATSE says that it reached a settlement in August to resolve the grievance but that the production continues to refuse to pay 77 members for nearly a month of work. It’s threatening to blacklist writer-director Nick Vallelonga, who’s also a producer on the film, until workers are paid.

That’s Amore, a romantic comedy starring John Travolta, Katherine Heigl and Christopher Walken, commenced production in September 2022 with a budget of $34 million. According to the complaint, the project ran out of money in October, forcing IATSE to file for arbitration for unpaid wages for that month, as well as November.

(Updated with Cassian Elwes statement) Green Book producer Nick Vallelonga has gone off route when it comes to paying dozens of crew members on the upcoming That’s Amore! starring John Travolta, Katherine Heigl, Christopher Walken, Talia Shire and Drea de Mateo.

According to a complaint filed in federal court in New York on Dec. 8 by the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, double Oscar winner Vallelonga’s That Amore Movie LLC has reneged on an arbitration deal struck between the parties on August 18 this year to pay union members for work performed in 2022 on the upcoming rom-com. The 77 IATSE members specifically affected performed the duties of “cinematographer, camera operator, camera assistant, editor, costume designer, wardrobe supervisor, hair and make-up stylists, production designer, art director, scenic artist, electrician, grip, construction, script supervisor, production coordinator, and accountant,” says the Matt Loeb-led union in the eight-page filing.

“Defendant failed to timely pay...

IATSE has taken the rare step of suing the producers of “That’s Amore,” alleging that the production has failed to pay $570,000 in wages to 77 union workers.

“That’s Amore” is a romantic comedy starring John Travolta and Katherine Heigl, which is written and directed by Nick Vallelonga, who won two Oscars for “Green Book.” The producers announced last month that they were finally getting off the ground.

But according to the union, production actually began more than a year ago, in September 2022. However, the producers ran out of money and shut down the show in November 2022, leaving dozens of crew members without paychecks, the union alleges.

The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees brought a grievance, and ultimately reached a settlement in July, according to the lawsuit. Under the terms, the production was supposed to pay everyone in full by Oct. 17 — but has failed to do so, the suit alleges.

IATSE and its local branches in New York have filed a civil lawsuit against Nick Vallelonga, the Oscar-winning writer of “Green Book,” alleging that Vallelonga and his production arm failed to pay $570,000 in combined wages to union workers employed on his upcoming film “That’s Amore.”

IATSE in a press release said the film starring John Travolta, Katherine Heigl, and Christopher Walken had a projected budget of $34 million, but that under “Vallelonga’s so-called ‘leadership,’ the production ran out of money.” Production began September 19, 2022 and ran through November of that year.

The suit claims the production company, “That’s Amore Movie, LLC,” left dozens of workers unpaid and failed to meet what the union said is an estimated $100,000+ in benefit contributions.

IATSE is taking legal action after the union said it already went through an arbitration process that yielded a settlement, but that the production company still missed “nearly all...

Executive worked with Ppp head Tamara Birkemoe at Screen Media, Foresight Unlimited.

Tamara Birkemoe is expanding the executive ranks at Los Angeles-based sales and financing company Palisades Park Pictures and has brought on Kyle Bellinger as vice president of distribution and marketing.

Birkemoe and Bellinger reunite after working together for many years at Screen Media and Foresight Unlimited. Effective immediately, Bellinger will oversee marketing and publicity for Palisades’ robust roster of films and manage distribution operations, working closely with the company’s international network of partners.

Palisades Park Pictures’ current slate includes Nick Vallelonga’s upcoming romance That’s Amore! starring John Travolta,...

Alexander Payne‘s movies often fare well in the writing categories at the Oscars with four of his films so far nominated for either Best Original Screenplay or Best Adapted Screenplay.

His second movie, “Election,” was nominated for only Adapted Screenplay in 2000 after it turned Tom Perrotta’s 1998 novel of the same name into a film. Payne was nominated with his writing partner Jim Taylor, although they lost to John Irving for “The Cider House Rules.” “Sideways” then picked up five nominations in 2005 including an Adapted Screenplay bid for Payne and Taylor after they turned Rex Pickett’s 2004 novel of the same name into a hit movie. Payne and Taylor won this time around.

In 2012, “The Descendants” repeated the record of “Sideways,” matching five nominations and one Adapted Screenplay victory. This time, Payne won alongside Nat Faxon and Jim Rash. They adapted the 2007 novel of the same name from Kaui Hart Hemmings.

Exclusive: Nick Vallelonga, the writer, producer and actor whose work on Universal’s Green Book brought him a pair of Oscars and Golden Globes for Best Original Screenplay and Best Picture, has signed with Independent Artist Group for representation.

Directed by Peter Farrelly, the film co-written by Vallelonga was inspired by the true story of his father, Tony Lip (Viggo Mortensen), a tough-nosed nightclub bouncer who took a job as the driver and bodyguard for celebrated pianist Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali) during the 1960s, cultivating an unexpected bond with the eccentric musical genius while on tour with him through the racially charged Deep South.

Released in November 2018 after world premiering at TIFF, where it won the People’s Choice Award, the DreamWorks title grossed more than $321M worldwide.

Vallelonga is fresh off success with international sales at AFM for his new film That’s Amore, a rom-com that he wrote...

In the upcoming musical romantic comedy “That’s Amore!,” audiences will have their chance to see John Travolta doing what so many of his fans love to see him doing — singing and dancing with a smile on his face.

The star’s enduring popularity certainly isn’t lost on writer-director Nick Vallelonga, who won two Oscars for writing and producing the 2018 hit “Green Book,” and is thrilled to be finally getting the film off the ground. “I’m constantly writing and developing scripts, and I’ve always had Travolta in mind for the role. I got to work with John on a George Gallo film [“The Poison Rose”] and I was his stand-in for a week on ‘Staying Alive,’ so I’ve always been a big fan of his work. He just makes you happy when you see him on screen, and I’ve always dreamed of making this movie with him.

Production scheduled to begin in January. Cassian Elwes represents US rights.

Palisades Park Pictures has closed multiple sales on Oscar-winning Green Book producer and screenwriter Nick Vallelonga’s upcoming romantic comedy That’s Amore! starring John Travolta, Katherine Heigl, and Christopher Walken and continues talks at AFM this week.

Rights have gone to: Spain, Portugal and South America (Vertice Cine), Middle East (Selim Ramia & Co), Eastern Europe (MediaSquad), and Turkey (Videomite).

Palisades Park Pictures CEO Tamara Birkemoe and her team have also concluded sales in: Poland (Kino Świat), South Africa (Empire Entertainment), Israel (Forum Film), Iceland (Myndform), and Ukraine (Top Film Distribution...

Charlotte Kirk starrer to screen at market next week; international talks ongoing.

On the eve of AFM Palisades Park Pictures has announced key territory sales on Neil Marshall’s crime thriller Duchess, with Saban Films acquiring the US and Vertigo Films taking UK rights.

Palisades Park Pictures CEO Tamara Birkemoe has concluded a raft of deals on the Charlotte Kirk starrer.

Amazon has taken Benelux rights, Videomite has acquired the film for Turkey, Selim Ramia for the Middle East, Cinemundo for Portugal, Premiere 9 Entertainment for India, Myndform for Iceland, Daro Film Distribution for Central Eastern Europe, M-Net for South Africa,...

Charlotte Kirk starrer to screen at market next week; international talks ongoing.

On the eve of AFM Palisades Park Pictures has announced key territory sales on Neil Marshall’s crime thriller Duchess, with Saban Films acquiring the US and Vertigo taking UK rights.

Palisades Park Pictures CEO Tamara Birkemoe has concluded a raft of deals on the Charlotte Kirk starrer.

Amazon has taken Benelux rights, Videomite has acquired the film for Turkey, Selim Ramia for the Middle East, Cinemundo for Portugal, Premiere 9 Entertainment for India, Myndform for Iceland, Daro Film Distribution for Central Eastern Europe, M-Net for South Africa, and Top Film Distribution for Ukraine.

Stage 32, the social network designed to support TV and film professionals in more than 185 countries, has reached the milestone of 1 million members as the company expands its offerings.

The service was founded in 2011 by Richard “Rb” Botto, an actor, producer and screenwriter. The platform features global job boards and 3,000 hours of webinars, classes and labs to support a wide range of entertainment industry careers, including above- and below-the-line disciplines.

Among the top markets for Stage 32 are the U.S., Canada, the U.K., France, South Africa, India, Saudi Arabia, Germany, the Netherlands and Australia. The price of the service ranges depending on the level and duration of access. A one-year subscription to its Writers Room plan, offering a database of open film and TV writing jobs, costs about $350.

“From the beginning, the mission of Stage 32 has been to democratize the entertainment industry by leveling the playing field for film and television creatives worldwide.