News

Jessica Chastain brings a bright splash of color to Berlin, Germany while promoting her new movie Dreams at the Berlin Film Festival.

The 47-year-old Oscar winner attended a photocall for the movie on Saturday (February 15) wearing a sheer lime-green top, which she paired with a matching bag and black pants.

She finished off the sleek look with some simple jewelry and wore her hair down.

Keep reading to find out more…

Costars Rupert Friend and Isaac Hernandez joined her on the carpet. Writer and director Michel Franco was also present. We’ve got photos of all of them in the gallery!

Here’s the official synopsis of the movie: “Fernando, a young ballet dancer from Mexico, dreams of international fame and life in the US. Believing that his lover Jennifer, a socialite and philanthropist, will support him, he leaves everything behind and narrowly escapes death while crossing the border. His arrival,...

The Berlin Film Festival kicked off its 75th anniversary edition February 13 with the opening-night world premiere screening of The Light, Tom Tykwer’s politically charged film that takes stock of German society in the first quarter of the 21st century. It starts 11 days of debuts including for movies starring Jessica Chastain, Ethan Hawke, Margaret Qualley, Rupert Friend, Marion Cotillard, Rose Byrne, A$AP Rocky, Emma Mackey and more.

The 2025 Berlinale runs through February 23.

Keep checking back below as Deadline reviews the best and buzziest movies of the festival. Click on the titles to read the full reviews.

Dreams ‘Dreams’

Section: Competition

Director-screenwriter: Michel Franco

Cast: Jessica Chastain, Isaac Hernández, Rupert Friend, Marshall Bell

Deadline’s takeaway: Michel Franco’s skewqering of woke hypocracy is thuddingly obvious, both at the level of metaphor — as a fable of North-South exploitation, which is one of Michel Franco’s stated purposes — and as a drama of thwarted love.

If for nothing else, Michel Franco’s wan and repetitive new effort gives us a crystalline definition for “victim of one’s own success.” For there is really no way to separate the deflation that sets in early in “Dreams” from the surprise that so agreeably built throughout his prior entry, “Memory.”

That earlier, Venice-acclaimed film shocked by threading a bleak narrative with glimmers of hope; this latest, Berlin-launched title lulls by offering little more than notes on a theme, tracing the contours of privilege and power so single-mindedly that the film ends up spinning in circles.

That both star Jessica Chastain — and that both were apparently filmed near back-to-back — certainly encourages the comparison.

Here, Chastain stars as Jennifer, a Bay Area heiress who spends her days half-heartedly running her father’s philanthropic organization, and who might have otherwise been named Karen had the filmmaker not deigned for subtlety. Not that Franco pulls many punches,...

The erotic reward for Chastain’s sponsorship of a Mexican dancer lights a fuse that reveals philanthropy’s toxic underside

Mexican director Michel Franco returns with a chilly, angrily intense and deeply pessimistic tale of erotic obsession among the liberal super-rich in Trump’s US who seek to launder and redeem their guilt by sponsoring the arts. It’s a really involving picture which beckons you hypnotically towards the tacit promise of a sensationally unhappy and violent denouement, and of course Franco is unlikely to deliver any other kind. The two final plot developments are shocking, if not precisely surprising, and in fact vulnerable to the charge of being crudely obvious – but Franco certainly gives us a gripping emotional drama, supercharged with toxic sensuality and fear.

Jessica Chastain plays Jennifer McCarthy, a wealthy woman based in San Francisco extensively accustomed to high-end restaurants, couture, private planes and chauffeur-driven SUVs and...

Magnificent Obsession: Franco Finds Love is a Hopeless Place

Michel Franco lassos Jessica Chastain into his continued class conflict examinations in Dreams, an intimate portrait of a doomed love affair ruined by power hierarchies. Reuniting with Chastain after 2023’s Memory (read review), Franco fashions his headliner as an elitist who chooses to remain oblivious about her exploitative tendencies, even while seemingly head-over-heels in love with a younger, Mexican dancer. Ironically, they share similar versions of the same dream, and clearly neither are being realistic about what the end goal is supposed to look like. Toxic tendencies from both parties generate shifting balances of control, with which Franco spins his wheels on until he’s ready to deliver the venom and violence underlining nearly all his films.…...

Less than two years after making Memory, in which Jessica Chastain falls for a man with galloping dementia, Mexican director Michel Franco has once again set her on a romantic obstacle course in which nothing, including her own moral compass, runs smoothly. As the monstrously moneyed patron of arts organizations in both the United States and Mexico, she is involved in a passionate but discreet liaison with a Mexican ballet dancer, Fernando (Isaac Hernandez). Separated by status, money, ethnicity and a border that the footloose Fernando is forbidden to cross, these star-tangled lovers lurch towards an inevitably messy endgame.

Do we care? Not really. As a heartbreaker, Dreams is flat and entirely affectless. We first encounter Fernando walking away from a truck somewhere near the border, one of a gaggle of hopeful braceros who are systematically robbed by the traffickers before being tipped out into the borderland desert. There is...

Mexican filmmaker Michel Franco’s deliberately tough and trying brand of storytelling is often easier to admire in concept than it is to appreciate in execution. That’s undoubtedly the cast for the latest output, “Dreams,” by the prolific writer-director. Franco’s second collaboration with Jessica Chastain continues to draw out impressive nuance in muted shadings from an actress who won her Oscar for going big. Yet their partnership continues to falter along the lines of the dubious treatment of hot-button issues.

Continue reading ‘Dreams’ Review: Jessica Chastain Can’t Save Michel Franco’s Obvious Immigration Parable [Berlinale] at The Playlist.

Michel Franco is back in a pissed-off register about the world we live in with his crisply directed class critique “Dreams,” where the Mexican writer/director rails into the limousine liberal American one-percent identity with all the subtlety of a power drill. But the film’s quietly disturbing power lies in how Franco packages his U.S.-Mexico border metaphor — with rich philanthropist Jennifer (Jessica Chastain) and her young ballerina lover Fernando standing in for each — into an addictive and destructive love story as sharply wrought as the movie’s grander political concerns.

Chastain gives her riskiest performance in some time as a rich arts patron who encourages Fernando to cross the border illegally in order for her foundation to give an American showcase of his art. Many of Chastain’s recent movies, including her Oscar-winning “Eyes of Tammy Faye” and even Franco’s own bittersweet dementia romance “Memory,” have...

The 75th Berlin International Film Festival is underway with world premieres from Das Licht (The Light), directed by Tom Tykwer, and Hot Milk, directed by Rebecca Lenkiewicz, with performances by Vincent Perez, Fiona Shaw, Vicky Krieps, and Emma Mackey.

Today’s highlights include a glimpse into the future with Bong Joon-ho’s, Mickey17, starring Robert Pattinson, and a journey into the past with Justin Kurzel’s buzzy limited series, The Narrow Road to the Deep North, starring Jacob Elordi.

Bong Joon-ho presents during the Berlinale Special Gala section, Mickey 17, based on the novel Mickey 7 by Edward Ashton, stars Pattinson as Mickey Barnes. Barnes finds himself in the extraordinary position of having to die for a living. The film also stars Naomi Ackie, Steven Yeun, Toni Collette, and Mark Ruffalo.

Related: Berlin Film Festival 2025: All Of Deadline’s Movie Reviews

Also, as part of the Berlinale Special Gala is Justin Kurzel’s,...

A languid EFM was heating up at time of writing as at least three companies were believed to be locked in a bidding war for the Lena Dunham-Natalie Portman rom-com package Good Sex, with offers understood to be in excess of $45m heading into Saturday night.

According to sources Netflix, Warner Bros and Amazon are believed to be in pursuit of the project, which FilmNation and CAA Media Finance took out to the market on the eve of Berlin.

Portman will play a near-40-year-old therapist on the rebound who falls into a steamy fling with a young...

Mexican filmmaker Michel Franco has arrived in the German capital to debut his latest feature, Dreams, in competition at this year’s Berlin Film Festival.

The film is led by Oscar-winner Jessica Chastain, who joined the prolific filmmaker this afternoon at a presser for the flick. The session was politically-orientated, with most questions directed at Chastain. Early on, the Oscar winner was quizzed on political affairs in her native U.S., and her answer was resolute.

“I make my home in the U.S. because I’m a hopeful person,” Chastain said. “I believe you have to participate to create the environment, culture, and society you want. I’m not going to give up on my country. So yes, I would like to say there’s a lot of us there that are still quite hopeful, and we’re fighting the good fight.”

In Dreams, Chastain stars as wealthy San Francisco socialist and philanthropist Jennifer.

Jessica Chastain said her latest film “Dreams,” a drama that centers on immigration between Mexico and the U.S., is “incredibly political” — but she’s “not going to give up on my country.”

Directed by Michel Franco and premiering in competition at Berlin Film Festival on Saturday, “Dreams” stars Chastain as Jennifer, a wealthy philanthropist who falls for Fernando (Isaac Hernández), a young Mexican ballet dancer who crosses the border into the U.S. — leaving everything he knows behind and narrowly escaping death — in order to be with her.

During the film’s press conference, Chastain said “Dreams” is “incredibly political because of what’s happening right now in the United States,” seemingly referring to President Donald Trump’s restricted policies on immigration that include mass deportations of undocumented people. She continued that the film explores “this relationship between the United States and Mexico and how, in some sense, they...

Rupert Friend is heading into the Berlinale a little anxious.

The British actor, a veteran of the industry with major roles in Homeland, Pride & Prejudice and, most recently, Drew Hancock’s buzzy thriller Companion, was only a “whip of a thing” when Chéri premiered in competition at the 2009 Berlin Film Festival.

“I was 25 and it was probably my first big lead role,” the now-43-year-old tells The Hollywood Reporter. “From the first 20 seconds, you just felt the audience… lean back. The movie finished and it was the sound of one, slow clap. I just died.”

After this “bombing” of Stephen Frears’ Colette adaptation, Friend was a little wary of the spotlight. It impacted him for a long time after, he confesses, even though he landed the part of a key character in the wildly successful Showtime series Homeland shortly after.

It’s only right that Friend returns to Berlin with a vengeance: not one,...

Day 3 at the Berlin Film Festival was chilly and very pretty in pink.

Timothée Chalamet fired up the Berlinale on Friday by donning a cotton candy-colored hoodie and matching tank top. The “A Complete Unknown” star thoroughly charmed festival attendees. Variety‘s Ramin Setoodeth writes about the Chalamet effect and what it means as film awards season heads into the final stretch. Where Chalamet goes, “the entire scene is electric, and it caps off one of the most gonzo best actor campaigns in Oscar history,” Setoodeh observes.

Variety‘s Nick Vivarelli writes about the poignant moment that the festival represents for Israeli director Tom Shoval. His documentary “A Letter to David” is his way of processing the fact that his friend David Cunio –- who starred in his first feature “Youth” –- is one of the more than 250 hostages who were kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023. As for why the...

Exclusive: Mexican director Michel Franco touches down at the Berlin Film Festival this weekend with drama Dreams starring Jessica Chastain, who is also an associate producer under the banner of her company Freckle Films.

A twist on the star-crossed lovers romance, Chastain stars as wealthy San Francisco socialist and philanthropist Jennifer

When her younger Mexican lover Fernando– a dancer she met through a dance school program run by her family’s foundation in Mexico – turns up at her home in San Francisco after making a perilous illegal journey across the border, their love story gets complicated.

Celebrated Mexican ballerina Isaac Hernández, who is currently a principal dancer at the American Ballet Theatre, co-stars opposite Chastain as Fernando.

The movie, the second collaboration between Franco and Chastain after Memory, arrives at the festival as the long-running debate over illegal immigration over Mexico-u.S. border heats up with President Donald Trump’s second term in office.

Gold Derby rounds up some of the best stories of the week of Feb. 14, 2025 from our friends across the web. Maybe you missed these, maybe you were too busy to read them at the time, maybe you bookmarked them and forgot, but hopefully you’ll have some over the weekend to check them out. Happy reading!

“We are our own piano”: Fernanda Torres, in conversation with Jessica Chastain

Oscar winner Jessica Chastain interviews Oscar nominee Fernanda Torres for Interview. The pair bond over theater and lessons they’ve learned from the characters they’ve played, while the I’m Still Here star explains why she’s not interested in directing and why, at 30, she regretted going into acting.

Column: The TV ad is a dying art. This year’s Super Bowl proved it

The Los Angeles Times‘ Mary McNamara is unimpressed with this year’s slate of celebrity-fueled, nostalgia-heavy Super...

Alex Pettyfer leads the cast of erotic thriller “Blurred,” which Cloud9 is introducing to buyers at the European Film Market. The cast also includes Oscar-nominee Guy Pearce (“The Brutalist”), who is joined by Maria Pedraza (“Money Heist”) and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje. Variety can share an exclusive first look of the film, above.

Ben Cookson (“Waiting for Anya”) wrote and directed “Blurred,” which is set in the fashion world of New York City. Pic wrapped last summer in the U.K. Pia Patatian’s Cloud9 Studios (formerly Concord Studios) is handling international rights and will be showing footage to buyers at a private presentation at the European Film Market.

“Blurred” is produced by Pettyfer and James Ireland for Dark Dreams Entertainment and Yariv Lerner for Film Forage, and executive produced by Patatian for Cloud9 Studios.

“’Blurred’ is a smart and sexy thriller with a brilliant cast led by Alex Pettyfer who is joined by Guy Pearce,...

Nobody’s doing it quite like Plan B Entertainment’s Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner. This year, the company’s co-heads (who oversee Plan B with Brad Pitt) brought RaMell Ross’ epic Colson Whitehead adaptation “Nickel Boys” to Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay (Ross with Joslyn Barnes) Oscar nominations after Amazon released the 1960s-set, formally daring civil rights drama in theaters last fall. They join this week’s episode of IndieWire’s “Screen Talk” podcast with co-host Anne Thompson to talk honoring the “acrobatics and the courage and the bravery and the gymnastics” of Whitehead’s text, Ross’ innovative first-person camera work with cinematographer Jomo Fray, and the anxiety-inducing challenge of the film’s ending.

But Plan B is plenty busy elsewhere, with Bong Joon Ho’s “Mickey 17” just premiering in London and heading for a Berlin Film Festival bow. Also with Brad Pitt as executive producer, Gardner...

Jessica Chastain is more than aware of how topical Dreams is.

Her latest team-up with Mexican filmmaker Michel Franco, off the back of his 2023 movie Memory with Chastain and Peter Sarsgaard, is a provocative take on the immigrant experience.

Premiering in competition at this year’s Berlin Film Festival, Dreams follows Jennifer, a wealthy socialite living in San Francisco who, under the wing of her powerful father, is a huge donor to the arts. She supports a dance foundation in Mexico City and begins a passionate love affair with a younger, Mexican ballet dancer, Fernando (Isaac Hernández), who illegally crosses the U.S. border to be with her. When the relationship threatens to damage Jennifer’s pristine reputation, Chastain’s character is forced to make consequential decisions over his future.

“It’s undeniably political,” Chastain tells The Hollywood Reporter about coming to Berlin with Dreams. “It definitely delves into the relationship between America and Mexico.

Cinema took over a snowy German capital on Thursday evening as the 2025 Berlin Film Festival officially kicked off with a breezy opening ceremony at the Berlinale Palast Theater.

The ceremony was much shorter than previous editions, with the bulk of the evening serving as the presentation of this year’s Honorary Bear for career achievement, which was handed to veteran actor Tilda Swinton. German filmmaker Edward Berger presented Swinton the award and she gave an impassioned, political speech to the audience inside the Palast.

“The inhumane is being perpetrated on our watch,” Swinton began her speech. “I’m here to name it without hesitation or doubt in my mind, and to lend my unwavering solidarity to all those who recognize the unacceptable complacency of our greed-addicted governments who make nice with planet wreckers and war criminals, wherever they come from.”

Swinton did not name politicians or specific conflicts but appeared to criticize U.

Filmmaker Maggie Betts has been tapped to direct “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” for Netflix after Leslye Headland’s departure from the project.

Betts, whose credits include Amazon MGM’s Jamie Foxx and Tommy Lee Jones-led legal drama “The Burial” and Sony Pictures Classic’s 2017 drama “Novitiate,” will also co-write the screenplay with Liz Tigelaar.

Adapted from Taylor Jenkins Reid’s best-selling 2017 novel, “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” follows a fictional Old Hollywood star who gives a final interview to an unknown journalist. During her tell-all, the fiercely private celebrity pulls back the curtain on the true story of her infamous seven marriages and other wild tales of showbiz scandals, betrayals and woes.

Netflix picked up rights in 2022 but the project has yet to get off the ground. Fans of the novel have been vocal about wanting Jessica Chastain to play the title role of Evelyn Hugo,...

As Kansas City Chiefs players continue to process their lopsided loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl Lix, Hollywood insiders are watching to see whether Travis Kelce is ready to snag a coveted acting career.

The year has not quite gotten off to the start that Kelce might have expected. Although the star tight end — along with quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the rest of the team — reached the Super Bowl with a chance to win a third straight championship, the Chiefs’ prolonged dominance saw some football fans turn on them or become convinced that refs give them more favorable calls. Kelce’s girlfriend Taylor Swift was booed at the Super Bowl by a seemingly pro-Eagles contingent, while Kelce himself caused a social media stir ahead of the big game after calling it a “great honor” to have President Donald Trump in the stadium.

It remains uncertain whether the 35-year-old...

Ben Stiller is attached to star in a new music industry drama series currently in the works at HBO.

The series, titled “The Band,” will see Stiller star as Oscar, a pop impresario and talent mogul beset by scandal who is tasked with forming a new act in order to save his career – and perhaps his soul, per the official logline.

“Search Party” co-creators Sarah-Violet Bliss and Charles Rogers will serve as creators, writers, executive producers and showrunners for “The Band,” which is co-produced by Media Res.

Stiller will serve as a non-writing executive producer, with Red Hour Films attached to the project as well. Red Hour Films’ John Lesher will executive produce alongside Savan Kotecha and Media Res’ Michael Ellenberg and Lindsey Springer.

The series is billed as a one-hour dramedy, and falls in line with the network’s industry-centric series, including “The Other Two,” which ran on Max for three seasons,...

Exclusive: HBO is developing The Band, an hourlong dramedy series starring Ben Stiller in a rare TV role. The project comes from Media Res and Stiller’s Red Hour Films, the companies behind two of Apple TV+’s biggest series, The Morning Show and Severance, respectively.

Created by Sarah-Violet Bliss and Charles Rogers, co-creators of the acclaimed TBS/Max comedy Search Party, The Band offers an inside look at the music industry centered on Oscar (Stiller), a pop impresario and talent mogul beset by scandal who is tasked with forming a new act in order to save his career – and perhaps his soul.

Stiller’s Simon Cowell-esque Oscar will be putting together a boy band, as hinted by the series’ title. Cowell was behind the creation of one of the biggest boy bands of all time, One Direction.

Bliss and Rogers serve as showrunners. They executive produce alongside Red...

When Anne Hathaway Shared Her Honest Thoughts On The Interstellar Space Suits(Photo Credit – Instagram)

Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar is one of the greatest films in the history of cinema. It turned ten last year, and on that occasion, the film was re-released in the US and several parts of the world. It is now running in theatres in India. The film has many stories, and one of them is shared by Anne Hathaway, who plays one of the scientists in the movie. It was related to the space suits they wore, and she shared her honest thoughts on the attire, also revealing that Matt Damon did not mince his words to describe the feeling. Scroll below for the deets.

Nolan’s film won several accolades, including an Oscar for Best Visual Effects. It was one of the highest-grossing films of 2014. The film featured an ensemble cast comprising Matthew McConaughey,...

In Ridley Scott's "The Martian," the crew of the Ares III head to Mars for an expedition. Just as their ascent vehicle lands, a severe dust storm topples it, causing the crew to scramble toward their orbiting vessel. However, one crew member, Mark Watney (Matt Damon) gets hit by debris and is left behind, presumed dead. What ensues is Mark's tireless attempts to establish communication with NASA, while trying to science the heck out of this situation to stay alive. A smart balance is struck between remaining scientifically authentic and making these high-concept ideas accessible, as Mark's perseverance only bears fruit because of his knowledge as a botanist and mechanical engineer. But how scientifically accurate is "The Martian?"

To answer this question quickly: it is pretty accurate. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Jpl) helped flesh out the scientific details of the story, with real-life Mars exploration data being used to...

Interstellar Re-Release Box Office Day 2(Photo Credit – Instagram)

Christopher Nolan directed Interstellar has finally been re-released in India after being postponed due to Pushpa 2. The movie is benefitting from this decision as it has collected winning numbers on its Day 2, despite multiple Indian films running in the theatres. Scroll below for the deets.

Nolan has a considerable fan following in India, and it has been one of the most anticipated Hollywood re-releases in recent times. This movie was originally released in 2014 and has been re-released in several places on the occasion of its tenth anniversary, which began in 2024. The film has arrived only at IMAX theatres, but that did not stop the fans from flocking to the theatres to watch this cinematic brilliance.

Interstellar is one of Christopher Nolan’s most popular movies, and its opening weekend at the Indian box office will potentially collect the same number this time around.

In terms of style, Anya Taylor-Joy rarely ever disappoints. Now that she’s back on the press circuit to promote her Valentine’s Day sci-fi movie, The Gorge, she’s showing off her impeccable sense of style by wearing not one, not two, but five gorgeous outfits—all of which are a testament to her signature style, which often combines edgy elements with a sense of vintage influence.

It is worth noting that, despite its Valentine’s Day release date, The Gorge isn’t your typical romantic film but an action survival movie. If that’s any indication, Anya’s press tour ensembles are anything but romantic. I must admit, though, that I adore her every look.

Anya Taylor-Joy promotes her Valentine’s Day movie The Gorge in retro-esque designer outfits and shoes (Credit: Roger Wong / INSTARimages)

Without further ado, let’s take a look at Anya Taylor-Joy’s wardrobe on The Gorge press tour,...

Originally published Feb. 6 at 11:30 a.m. Pt; updated Feb. 8 at 7 p.m. Pt

The Oscars race for Best Actress was wholly reset at the Golden Globes when self-described “popcorn actress” Demi Moore (The Substance) prevailed and delivered a speech that was award-worthy in its own right. Suddenly, there was a new Oscar frontrunner. But what does that mean for Moore’s fellow nominees, Cynthia Erivo (Wicked), Karla Sofía Gascón (Emilia Pérez), Mikey Madison (Anora), and Fernanda Torres (I’m Still Here)? Let’s break down the category.

Frontrunner: Demi Moore

Moore’s shocking victory at the Globes helped catapult her to the top of Gold Derby’s Oscar odds for the first time, surpassing Madison, who had been the favorite to win since September. Not only was Moore’s Golden Globe speech powerful in the moment, it also spoke more widely to the industry about how some performers are put in certain boxes,...

Interstellar Re-Release Box Office Day 1 (Photo Credit – Instagram)

Interstellar, starring Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, and others, was re-released in Indian theatres yesterday. On social media, it was visible that the film had been hyped among its target audience, and that picture turned into reality when the relaunch of this Hollywood biggie registered good occupancy. It almost replicated the day 1 performance of the original run at the Indian box office. Keep reading for a detailed report!

Directed by Christopher Nolan, the Hollywood sci-fi biggie was originally released in 2014. During the original run, it earned a decent to good sum for its genre but wasn’t a big success. However, after its theatrical run, it gained a cult status among Indian Nolan fans. When the relaunch was postponed due to Pushpa 2, the outrage was witnessed on social media platforms. Now that it has finally arrived in theatres, Nolan enthusiasts filled in theatres.

Impact entrepreneur and Un Global Goals advocate Natasha Mudhar is making a mark with The World We Want Studios, a production banner that’s quickly assembling a slate of star-powered projects including Johnny Depp’s directorial effort “Modi” and Al Pacino-Jessica Chastain feature “Lear Rex.”

Mudhar’s journey into high-profile Hollywood productions began in 2013 through veteran producer Barry Navidi, Pacino’s longtime creative partner. “My journey with ‘Lear Rex’ and ‘Modi’ began when I was introduced to Al Pacino through Barry Navidi,” Mudhar tells Variety. “At the time, I worked closely with Barry on ‘An Evening with Pacino,’ Mr. Pacino’s sold-out London show. This collaboration allowed me to build a strong creative and business rapport with Barry, which eventually led to my involvement as co-producer for ‘Lear Rex’ and executive producer for ‘Modi.'”

“Our commissioning ethos is rooted in the belief that purpose-driven storytelling can be both engaging and commercially successful,...

Fresh off his first-ever Oscar nomination for The Brutalist, Guy Pearce has already wrapped his next feature: Blurred, an erotic thriller set in New York’s fashion world.

Pearce and Alex Pettyfer (Magic Mike, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare) co-star in the feature, written and directed by Ben Cookson (Waiting for Anya) alongside Maria Pedraza (Netflix’s Money Heist), and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Suicide Squad, HBO’s His Dark Materials).

Produced by Pettyfer and James Ireland for Dark Dreams Entertainment and Yariv Lerner (Hellboy, Rambo: Last Blood) for Film Forage, Blurred wrapped production last summer in the U.K.

Cloud9 Studios is handling international sales and will be pitching the project to buyers at Berlin’s European Film Market next week.

Details on the project are scarce, with Cloud9 only describing it as a “smart and sexy thriller” set against “the hustle and flow of New York’s fashion world.” Cloud...

Alex Pettyfer (Magic Mike), Guy Pearce (The Brutalist), Maria Pedraza (Money Heist), and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Suicide Squad) have signed on to star in the erotic thriller Blurred.

The film is written and directed by Ben Cookson (Waiting for Anya). Producers are Pettyfer and James Ireland for Dark Dreams Entertainment and Yariv Lerner (Lionsgate’s Hellboy and Rambo: Last Blood) for Film Forage. The executive producer is Pia Patatian for Cloud9 Studios, who will introduce the project to buyers at the upcoming EFM.

Production on the pic was completed last summer in the UK. The film is described as an erotic thriller set in New York’s fashion world.

“Blurred is a smart and sexy thriller with a brilliant cast led by Alex Pettyfer who is joined by Guy Pearce,” Patatian said. “Set against the hustle and flow of New York’s fashion world, it’s a beautiful, raw, and intense...

Oscar nominee Guy Pearce from The Brutalist, Maria Pedraza from Money Heist, and Farming actor-director Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje have joined Alex Pettyfer on the erotic thriller Blurred, which Cloud9 Studios is introducing to EFM buyers next week.

Ben Cookson wrote and will direct, with Pettyfer and James Ireland producing through their Dark Dreams Entertainment alongside Yariv Lerner for Film Forage.

Blurred takes place against the backdrop of the New York fashion scene and is described by Cloud9 president and executive producer Pia Patatian as a “beautiful, raw and intense thrill ride”. Production wrapped in the UK last summer and Patatian will...

Assassination was to be directed by David Mamet. Then Barry Levinson was hired. And now the legal fireworks are kicking off.

First announced back in late 2023, Assassination is not enjoying a quiet path to production. The project was announced back in 2023 with Barry Levinson at the helm, with the film set to explore ‘the story of how infamous Chicago mobster Sam Giancana arranged the assassination of President John F Kennedy as payback for trying to bring down organised crime after the mob helped put JFK in the White House.’

However, at the time of the project’s announcement, it was mentioned that Levinson had replaced co-writer David Mamet (pictured) in the director’s chair. If today’s report is anything to go by, that transition of power was anything but smooth. Nicholas Celozzi, the film’s other co-writer has now filed a lawsuit against 308, the film’s financiers, accusing them...

Exclusive: Nicholas Celozzi, a co-writer and producer on the Barry Levinson JFK flick Assassination, has filed a lawsuit against the film’s financier and production outfit 308 US.

Originally filed by Celozzi in a Los Angeles County court in November, the suit will go before a judge in April who will decide whether the legal action can proceed.

Celozzi, an LA-based producer, accuses 308 of multiple contractual breaches. The company contests those claims and has filed a motion to dismiss and has provided a comment below.

The suit is messy and largely born out of several complicated production agreements signed before Levinson’s involvement in the project. April’s hearing will be the latest stage in the months-long legal standoff. The meat and potatoes are as follows.

Assassination is the latest incarnation of a project launched by Celozzi about claims that his great uncle, Chicago mob boss Sam Giancana, arranged the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Timothée Chalamet and Robert Pattinson were among the latest high-profile names confirmed this afternoon as attendees for this year’s Berlin Film Festival.

The pair were included this afternoon in an updated guest list shared by the festival.

Chalamet will attend for the German premiere of his Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown while Pattinson will debut his Bong Joon-ho flick Micky 17. Both films play in the Berlinale Specials sidebar.

Other confirmed guests include Conclave filmmaker Edward Berger who will present Tilda Swinton her Honorary Golden Bear. Jessica Chastain will hit the German capital with Michel Franco’s Golden Bear Contender Dreams, and Jacob Elordi will make the trip to Berlin for the world premiere of his Justin Kurzel series The Narrow Road to the Deep South.

Other celebrity guests confirmed today by the festival include Naomi Ackie, Rose Byrne, Toni Collette, Denis Côté, Marion Cotillard, Lars Eidinger, Mala Emde,...

Chinese star Fan Bingbing (I Am Not Madame Bovary, The 355) and German actor/director Maria Schrader (I’m Your Man, She Said) will join jury president Todd Haynes to judge the competition films at the 75th Berlin International Film Festival, the Berlinale announced Thursday.

Berlin unveiled its international jury for the 2025 event, which runs Feb. 13-23, which will see the Far from Heaven and Carol director heading up the four-woman, three-man jury that will pick this year’s Gold and Silver Bear winners.

Alongside Fan and Schrader, the 2025 Berlinale jury includes Moroccan-French director Nabil Ayouch (Much Loved, Horses of God), German costume designer Bina Daigeler (TÁR, Mulan), Argentine director Rodrigo Moreno (The Delinquents), and American critic and podcast host Amy Nicholson.

Haynes has a long history with the Berlinale. His debut feature Poison won the Teddy Award, for LGBTQ+ cinema, at Berlin in 1991.

The 75th Berlinale kicks off with...

The Berlin Film Festival has unveiled the competition jury of its 75th edition, including Chinese superstar Fan Bingbing, Moroccan filmmaker Nabil Ayouch (“Everybody Loves Touda”), German costume designer Bina Daigeler (Tár), Argentinian director Rodrigo Moreno (“The Delinquents”), film critic Amy Nicholson and actress-director Maria Schrader (“She Said”).

As previously announced, the jury will be presided over by “May December” filmmaker Todd Haynes.

Earlier this month, the festival announced an exciting lineup, including Richard Linklater’s “Blue Moon,” starring Ethan Hawke and Margaret Qualley, and Michel Franco’s “Dreams” with Jessica Chastain. Other notable titles on the competition roster include “Hot Milk,” the feature debut of acclaimed screenwriter Rebecca Lenkiewicz (“She Said”) starring Emma Mackey, Fiona Shaw and Vicky Krieps; and “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You,” Mary Bronstein’s film starring Rose Byrne, A$AP Rocky and Conan O’Brien.

A pair of Chinese movies, “Girls on Wire” (“Xiang fei...

The Chinese “Year of the (Wood) Snake” starts January 29, 2025, kicking off more than two weeks of parties, customs and copious feasts:

“…the holiday, also known as the ‘Spring Festival’, celebrates the arrival of spring and the start of a new year based on the Chinese lunisolar calendar…

“…in a year expected to be one of positive transformation with the shedding of the ego, letting go of the past, letting go of anger, letting go of love lost.

“The snake matches up with the years of people born in 1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989 and 2001…

“…with famous snakes in pop culture including Robert Downey Jr., Bob Dylan, Buzz Aldrin, Jack Kirby…

“…Audrey Hepburn, John F. Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln, Tom Brady, J.K. Rowling, Linda McCartney, Tim Allen, Liv Tyler, Howard Hughes, Grace Kelly, Paul Simon, Dean Martin, Brooke Shields, Arthur C. Clarke, Elizabeth Olsen, Brie Larson…

“…Joan Crawford, Carole King, Elizabeth Hurley, Kim Basinger, Ernest Borgnine, Henry Fonda,...

For the past dozen years, the eventual Oscar winner for Best Supporting Actor has hailed from a Best Picture nominee. But that streak could finally end this year, based on Gold Derby’s predictions.

Kieran Culkin is the odds-on frontrunner to win Best Supporting Actor for his performance in A Real Pain. He plays Benjamin “Benji” Kaplan, who embarks on a roadtrip through Poland with his cousin, David Kaplan (Jesse Eisenberg), following the death of their grandmother. The Searchlight Pictures film also received a Best Original Screenplay nomination for Eisenberg, who directed, wrote, produced, and starred in the project, but it was snubbed in Best Picture.

Culkin has dominated the precursor awards and should he prevail at the Oscars, he would end a 12-year streak that began after Christopher Plummer won for Beginners (2011). Plummer notably claimed this award at age 82, making him the oldest acting winner at that time (an...

Everyone is a Timothée Chalamet fan, right? He shows up in films, augments their quality, has the charisma of James Dean, and just performs his work at an elite level. Also, when he wants to, he can sound just like Bob Dylan.

Chalamet received an Oscar nomination this past week for his role as Dylan in A Complete Unknown. You cannot yet stream that film on Netflix, but hopefully at some point this year. The proverbial fingers are crossed.

Still, there are many movies that Chalamet appears in that you can view on Netflix. Every one of them is a winner. The four below are can't-miss films (though one does not have Chalamet in the lead).

Four movies currently streaming on Netflix with Timothée Chalamet that you must seeThe King

Chalamet versus Robert Pattinson? Yes, please. And both actors do fantastic jobs of playing off of one another. The movie...

Good afternoon Insiders, welcome back, Max Goldbart here with your weekly dose of news as the Oscars gets a step closer. Scroll on. And sign up here.

‘Emilia’ Marches On

Records tumbling: As was widely expected, French musical crime drama Emilia Pérez could be in for a record-breaking Oscar night in a few weeks after landing a whopping 13 Academy Award noms. Jacques Audiard’s movie is already smashing ceilings, garnering the most noms for a film not in English and seeing star Karla Sofia Gascón become the first openly trans person ever to be nominated in an acting category. If Emilia Pérez wins the international prize, it will be the first French pic to do so in more than 30 years. That category, which we of course keep a close eye on, is dominated by Europeans, featuring Germany’s The Seed of the Sacred Fig, Latvia’s Flow and Denmark’s The Girl With The Needle.

The Berlin International Film Festival has revealed an impressive selection of films for its upcoming 75th edition, blending Hollywood star power with global cinema. The event, known as the Berlinale, will run for 11 days starting February 13.

The festival will open with “The Light,” a refugee drama by German director Tom Tykwer. Nineteen films will compete for the coveted Golden and Silver Bear awards, with new festival director Tricia Tuttle steering the program toward films that balance artistic merit with audience appeal.

Hollywood heavyweight Richard Linklater leads the high-profile entries with “Blue Moon,” starring Ethan Hawke. The film tells the story of Broadway lyricist Lorenz Hart and features a strong supporting cast including Margaret Qualley and Andrew Scott.

Jessica Chastain headlines Michel Franco’s new drama “Dreams,” playing a socialite who falls for an immigrant ballet dancer. This marks the second partnership between Chastain and Franco, following their work on “Memory.

Interstellar Re-Release Box Office Day 1 Advance Booking (16 Days To Go) (Photo Credit – Facebook)

Interstellar gears up to witness glory at the Indian box office. Due to Allu Arjun’s Pushpa 2, the re-release edition of Christopher Nolan’s modern-day cult was put on hold in December last year. Finally, it will see the light of day next month, and there’s a lot of anticipation for the film. In day 1 advance booking, the biggie is already showing a surprising trend and is all set for a solid start at the Indian box office. Keep reading for a detailed report!

The epic sci-fi drama was originally released in 2014. It wasn’t a huge box office success back then, but it opened to highly positive reviews and favorable audience feedback. Over the years, the film built its loyal fan base and is now considered one of the best Hollywood films. In December...

Gold Derby’s top news stories for Jan. 21, 2025. Berlin International Film Festival lineup revealed

The Berlin International Film Festival unveiled its full 2025 lineup Tuesday, which includes new films from Richard Linklater and Michael Franco in competition. Linklater’s Blue Moon, starring Ethan Hawke, Margaret Qualley, Bobby Cannavale, and Andrew Scott, follows the final days of Lorenz Hart, half of the Rodgers & Hart songwriting team.

Franco’s Dreams, about a Mexican ballet dancer pursuing his dream in San Francisco, reunites him with Jessica Chastain and also stars Isaac Hernández, Rupert Friend, and Marshall Bell. Other competition highlights include What Does That Nature Say to You from four-time Silver Bear winner Hong Sang-soo, screenwriter Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s directorial debut Hot Milk, and Mary Bronstein‘s If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, which stars Rose Byrne, A$AP Rocky, Conan O’Brien, Danielle Macdonald, and Ivy Wolk.

See the full lineup here. The...

Tricia Tuttle, the new head of the Berlin International Film Festival, could have hoped for an easier start.

Tuttle, who was head of the BFI London Film Festival from 2018 to 2023, takes over the Berlinale (the world’s largest public film festival) after an Annus horribilis.

Last year’s event ended in chaos, with a furious political debate about the war in Gaza overshadowing any discussion of the movies. To make matters worse, Berlin saw its budget slashed, with cuts in government funding and a loss of major corporate sponsors coming up against rising costs due to inflation. At the same time, the expectations have only grown, with film fans and market attendees eager to see the Berlinale return to its past glory when it was counted alongside Cannes and Venice as one of the world’s top three film festivals.

Asked to do more with less, Tuttle has, impressively, pulled it off.

Contenders for prestigious Golden and Silver Bear unveiled with 75th edition of festival due to open on 13 February

Richard Linklater’s long-awaited Broadway biopic Blue Moon starring Ethan Hawke and Margaret Qualley, a Mexican love story with Jessica Chastain as a socialite who falls for a émigré ballet dancer, and a British family drama set in Spain featuring Emma Mackey and Fiona Shaw will premiere in competition at next month’s Berlin film festival.

The 75th edition of the Berlinale, Europe’s first major cinema showcase of the year, will open on 13 February with the world premiere of The Light by Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run) about the intertwined fates of a Syrian refugee and a middle-class German family.

The Berlin Film Festival has unveiled the lineup for the 2025 edition, running February 13-23. It’s the first official lineup overseen by new artistic director and former BFI London Film Festival leader Tricia Tuttle, who succeeds Carlo Chatrian and brings her background as an American journalist and curator to the annual German showcase. She’s also working with co-directors of programming, Jacqueline Lyanga and Michael Stütz, to help reposition the Berlinale’s profile among the great global film festivals and lure bigger-name filmmakers in the process.

This year’s lineup, announced Tuesday, January 21, features new films from Richard Linklater, Michel Franco, Rebecca Lenkiewicz, Hong Sangsoo (“What Does That Nature Say to You”), Radu Jude (“Kontinental ’25”), and Lucile Hadžihalilović (“The Ice Tower”). Already confirmed in the mix are “Mickey 17” from Bong Joon Ho and Ira Sachs’ Sundance premiere “Peter Hujar’s Day,” plus Tom Tykwer’s “The Light” opening the festival.

Jessica Chastain, Ben Whishaw, Rebecca Hall, Chloë Sevigny, Tilda Swinton and Marion Cotillard were among a first wave of star guests confirmed for the 75th edition of the Berlinale at its line-up press conference on Tuesday.

Chastain will hit the festival as the co-star of Michel Franco’s Golden Bear Contender Dreams, while Whishaw and Hall will attend with Ira Sach’s Peter Hujar’s Day, which plays in the competitive Panorama sidebar. Sevigny is the star of another Panorama title, Magic Farm by Amalia Ulman.

Cotillard tops the cast of Lucile Hadzihalilovic’s Golden Lion Contender The Ice Tower in the role of the enigmatic star of a production of The Snow Queen, who bewitches a young runaway.

Other confirmed guests include Archie Madekwe, who co-stars in Berlinale Special Gala title Lurker; Rose Byrne, who tops the cast of Golden Bear contender If I Had Links I’d Kick You and Lars Eidinger,...