News

AMC+ today announced that the highly anticipated new season of Scrublands will premiere on Thursday, May 29, exclusively on AMC+, with new episodes debuting every Thursday.

Filmed in the stunning landscapes of Augusta, Western Australia, the second season of Scrublands sees Luke Arnold (Black Sails) and Bella Heathcote (Pieces of Her) reprise their roles following the critically acclaimed first season.

Based on Silver, the bestselling sequel to Scrublands by Chris Hammer, the new four-episode season picks up after a year has passed since the life-changing events of season one.

Award-winning investigative journalist Martin Scarsden (Arnold) returns to his coastal hometown, Port Silver, Wa, to start a new chapter with his partner, Mandy Bond (Heathcote).

But his plans begin to unravel when he discovers his childhood friend, Jasper, brutally murdered—and Mandy is accused as the prime suspect. As Martin struggles with doubts about Mandy and his instincts, he embarks on a relentless search for the truth,...

In 2016, Ben Young’s disturbing Hounds of Love took the Venice International Film Festival by storm. This disturbing story of torture and extreme codependency won over critics with bold directorial choices and a viciously predatory gaze. Stars Emma Booth and Stephen Curry were both praised for their portrayals of sadistic yet strangely relatable killers while Ashleigh Cummings secured the Fedeora Award for Best Actress. But in addition to praising this harrowing film, Australian audiences noticed a striking similarity to a string of real crimes.

In 1986, David and Catherine Birnie were convicted of kidnapping, torturing, and murdering four young women after survivor Kate Moir managed to escape their house of horrors. Young has distanced himself from the true crime label, despite critics and film academics crying foul. He’s stated that the story was based on a number of notorious killer couples, but does this explanation stand up to scrutiny?

In...

Australian horror month began with Greg McLean’s Wolf Creek (listen), then tackled Andrew Traucki and David Nerlich’s 2007 creature feature Black Water (listen). For week three, Jenn and I are back in human villain territory with the “bodies in the barrels” murders depicted in Snowtown (2011) or The Snowtown Murders (2012).

In the mid to late ’90s, serial killer John Bunting groomed teenager Jamie Vlassakis to commit multiple murders under the guise of protecting their Adelaide suburb from pedophiles and queer men. Director Justin Kurzel and screenwriter Shaun Grant adapt the horrifying true story, which explores how Bunting was able to bend a whole community of malleable minds to his will, how he inserted himself into Jamie’s life, and how this garden variety murderer targeted vulnerable communities, including victims who were developmentally disabled and addicts.

It’s an exceptionally rough film because it’s not flashy. The performances are also extremely grounded and frightening,...

After kicking off Australian horror month with Greg McLean’s Wolf Creek (listen), Jenn and I have turned our attention to a crocodile-based creature feature. But rather than do Rogue, another film by the same Aussie director, we’re spreading the love to filmmakers Andrew Traucki and David Nerlich and their 2007 film Black Water.

The film is based on a real-life incident from 2003, when 22-year-old Brett Mann was swept away in a flooded river in the Northern Territory. His two friends, Ashley McGough and Shaun Blowers, pursued him, but when McGough spotted a crocodile in the water, the pair climbed a tree to safety. Sadly, Mann was killed, and his body was carried away by the creature.

The nightmare for his friends continued when the crocodile returned, forcing them to spend the night in the tree. It’s a harrowing story that was turned into not one, but two 2007 creature...

The Australian drama series The Artful Dodger will return for a second season on Hulu, it was announced today. The second season will be filmed in 2025 at the historic Callan Park in Sydney, Australia.

The eight-episode Season 2 stars Thomas Brodie-Sangster as Jack Dawkins, aka The Artful Dodger, David Thewlis as Fagin, and Maia Mitchell as Lady Belle Fox. They team up with a full ensemble of Australian and New Zealand cast members and several new faces in cameo roles.

Series co-creator James McNamara (The Outrageous True Story of Milky Moor) is leading the writing team, with Kate Mulvany, Dan Knight (Irreverent), and Miranda Tapsell also on board.

Ben Young and Gracie Otto serve as directors with Jeffrey Walker consulting.

The Artful Dodger Season 2 will pick up where the heart’s desires of Dodger, Fagin, and Lady Belle left off, promising more cunning thievery, snappy humor, life-and-death surgeries, and romance with a twist.

The Artful Dodger has been renewed for Season 2, it was announced on Wednesday morning — almost exactly one year after Season 1 of the Aussie crime dramedy dropped on Disney+ and Hulu.

Described as “an irreverent follow-up to Charles Dickens’ ‘Oliver Twist,'” the series follows Jack Dawkins aka The Artful Dodger (played by The Maze Runner‘s Thomas Brodie-Sangster) and his adult double life in the far-flung penal colony of Port Victory, Australia.

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The Artful Dodger‘s stay in Australia will continue for another season.

Disney+ and Hulu have given the hit Australian original a second season, with Thomas Brodie-Sangster returning as the cheeky thieving title character, aka Jack Dawkins, along with series regulars David Thewlis (Fagin) and Maia Mitchell (Lady Belle Fox).

They’ll lead an ensemble cast of Australian and New Zealand cast with “several new faces in exciting cameos.”

Filming will begin in 2025 at Callan Park in Sydney, picking up where the “heart’s desires of Dodger, Fagin and Lady Belle left off, promising more cunning thievery, snappy humor, life-and-death surgeries, and romance with a twist.”

The series is billed as an “an irreverent follow-up to Charles Dickens’ ‘Oliver Twist’, exploring his adult double life in the far-flung penal colony of Port Victory, Australia.” Brodie-Sangster’s Dawkins has turned his fast, pickpocketing fingers into the skilled hands of a surgeon.

Ever since audiences—at least according to myth—ran screaming from the premiere screening of Auguste and Louis Lumière’s 1895 short black-and-white silent documentary Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat, the histories of filmgoing and horror have been inextricably intertwined. Through the decades—and subsequent crazes for color and sound, stereoscopy and anamorphosis—since that train threatened to barrel into the front row, there’s never been a time when audiences didn’t clamor for the palpating fingers of fear. Horror films remain perennially popular, despite periodic (and always exaggerated) rumors of their demise, even in the face of steadily declining ticket sales and desperately shifting models of distribution.

Into the new millennium, horror films have retained their power to shock and outrage by continuing to plumb our deepest primordial terrors, to incarnate our sickest, most socially unpalatable fantasies. They are, in what amounts to a particularly delicious irony,...

Content Warning: the following article includes discussions of animal abuse and sexual assault.

The first scene of "Hounds of Love," a brutal 2016 horror film from director Ben Young, is shot from the Pov of a skeevy couple, Evelyn and John White. We watch a group of Australian schoolgirls playing volleyball in slow motion, their skirts waving against their lean bodies jumping in the air. This camera technique shows how the Whites get voyeuristic pleasure in hunting for their next victim. They offer 17-year-old Vicky a ride, eventually luring her to their home and chaining her to a bed to enact sexual and violent torture for their own amusement. These cruel actions are an aphrodisiac for the couple, and when they're not harming Vicky they're having sex with each other.

Young does not show the full extent of what's happening, but just enough so that we can fill the horrors in our own minds.

Devil's Peak features top-tier talent both in front and behind the camera, adding depth to its gripping crime narrative. Led by Billy Bob Thornton, the cast offers strong support, contributing to a complex story of family loyalty and conflict. Streaming on Hulu, this thriller delves into the dark world of a drug empire in the Appalachian Mountains, providing suspenseful entertainment.

The 2023 thriller Devil's Peak unites some impressive talent both in front and behind the camera, giving the movie's cast list some impressive heft. Directed by Ben Young, whose previous credits include the Netflix movie Extinction and the crime-horror Hounds of Love, Devil's Peak has discovered a new lease on life on streaming after a low-key initial release. As a result of this newfound popularity, many fans are keen to learn more about the Devil's Peak cast.

Devil's Peak is now available to stream on Hulu.

Like some of Ben Young's previous work,...

Production has begun on a second season of “Scrublands,” the Australian crime thriller series starring Luke Arnold (“Black Sails”) and Bella Heathcote.

With action set a year after the events of the first season, award-winning investigative journalist Martin Scarsden (Arnold) has returned to his coastal hometown, Port Silver, in Western Australia, to set up a new life with partner Mandy Bond (Heathcote). When he arrives to find his childhood friend Jasper brutally murdered and Bond the prime suspect, Scarsden struggles with doubts – about Bond and about his own ability to recognize the truth. As he pushes forward to find the real murderer and absolve Bond, Scarsden confronts secrets about Port Silver and his long-buried past.

The series is directed by Ben Young and written by Felicity Packard, Fiona Kelly and Jock Serong. It is based on “Silver,” the best-selling novel by Chris Hammer that is a sequel to the author’s “Scrublands” title.

Exclusive: Luke Carroll (The Artful Dodger), Debra Lawrance (Please Like Me) and David Roberts (Please Like Me) are among the new stars of Australian drama Scrublands, which is gearing up for its second season on Stan and 9 Network.

Also starring alongside returning leads Luke Arnold and Bella Heathcote in Scrublands: Silver are Tasma Walton (The Twelve), Luke Pegler (Hacksaw Ridge), Caroline Brazier (Year Of), Joel Jackson (Peter Allen: Not the Boy Next Door), Toby Truslove (La Brea), Sarah Roberts (Home and Away), Hamish Michael (The Twelve), Radek Jonak (The Surfer) and Damian De Montemas (Hounds of Love).

Above you can see an exclusive first-look image of season 2, with filming now underway in Augusta, Western Australia.

The season is being adapted from author Chris Hammer’s novel ‘Silver’, and here are some new plot details: A year after the life changing events of season 1, investigative journalist Martin Scarsden (Arnold...

Exclusive: Superstore star Ben Feldman will lead Australian comedy crime caper Population 11.

Lionsgate, streamer Stan and Phil Lloyd and Trent O’Donnell from No Activity producer Jungle Entertainment have teamed for the 12-part series ahead of a March 14 launch in Australia.

The series, which Jungle produces Entertainment in association with Factor 30 Films, has been quietly shooting in Western Australia’s Kimberley Region. We’ve now got full cast details, a trailer (see below) and first-look images.

Based on true events, the series is based around a man, Hugo, who goes missing from a tiny outback town of only 12 residents. His son, Andy Pruden (Feldman), a suburban Ohio bank teller, has journeyed across the world to visit and is alarmed when he discovers he is missing. Andy teams with another outsider Cassie (Perry Mooney) on a quest to find his father, and the pair find themselves in increasing danger as they...

Ben Young’s thriller movie Devil’s Peak is based on a book by David Joy and stars a talented cast, including Billy Bob Thornton and Robin Wright. However, poor direction and a disastrous script sabotage any of the suspense or interest that the story could have had, and instead, we’re left with a half-hearted attempt where the majority of the characters are unconvincing. Here’s what happens in the 2023 thriller Devil’s Peak.

Spoilers Ahead

Why Did Charlie Kill The Two Men?

The movie opens with a scene from the climax, where a nervous-looking Jacob parks himself behind a car and aims at an oncoming car with a Bb gun. We’re then taken back a few days in the story, where we’re met with Charlie McNeely, a drug kingpin who’s apparently feared around the mountainous little town of Devil’s Peak in North Carolina, and we’re also introduced to his son,...

“The Twelve,” an award-winning Australian crime drama series, has been greenlighted for a second season. It is backed by the Foxtel group and its streaming brand Binge.

The show follows a controversial murder trial seen through the lens of the jurors, twelve ordinary Australians who are facing their own realities and struggles.

The first season received ten nominations, and won three Aacta Awards in 2022 including best miniseries. In recent days, it became the most nominated drama series at the 63rd TV Week Logie Awards.

Season two of “The Twelve” will be eight 1-hour episodes written by Sarah Walker, Anchuli Felicia King, Anya Beyersdorf and Anna Barnes. Local authorities in Western Australia described it as the state’s “biggest-ever screen production,” but divulged no specifics on budget. Filming will take place in the Wheatbelt and Metropolitan regions and create over 100 local jobs, the state government said.

The series will be setup...

Fall Out Boy’s founding guitarist is back in the band. On Monday, Joe Trohman announced his return to the group after taking a step away to focus on his mental health earlier this year.

“Hey everyone, I’m officially back! I want to thank everyone for the love and support while I took some time away to focus on my brain and get healthy for my family, my friends and myself,” Trohman wrote on Instagram, thanking “true gentleman and scholar” Ben Young, who took his place during the shows he missed with the band.

Joe Trohman, founding member and guitarist of Fall Out Boy, has reunited with his bandmates after a months-long hiatus to concentrate on his mental health.

The musician took to social media on Monday to announce his return.

“Hey everyone, I’m officially back!,” Trohman captioned a photo of himself playing guitar. “I want to thank everyone for the love and support while I took some time away to focus on my brain and get healthy for my family, my friends and myself.”

Read More: Lewis Capaldi Admits His Mental Health ‘Has Taken A Beating’ Due To Music Career, Vows To Quit ‘If Things Get Worse’

The musician thanked the band’s longtime guitar tech, Ben Young, “for stepping up and filling in on the shows I missed,” calling him “a true gentleman and a scholar.

“I’m stoked to be back in action and I can’t wait to see everyone on tour this summer!

Joe Trohman has announced that he is returning to Fall Out Boy after a five-month leave of absence to focus on his mental health.

“Hey everyone, I’m officially back!” the 38-year-old guitarist wrote in an Instagram post on Monday night. “I want to thank everyone for the love and support while I took some time away to focus on my brain and get healthy for my family, my friends, and myself.”

Trohman first announced that he would be stepping back from his regular duties with Fall Out Boy on January 18th, the same day the legendary emo outfit announced their eighth studio album, So Much (for) Stardust. The record debuted in March, and guitar tech Ben Young has been standing in for Trohman during live appearances since then.

“I also want to thank Ben Young for stepping up and filling in on the shows I missed — he is a true gentleman and a scholar,...

Viewership Record

Indian streaming service JioCinema claimed a record for the number of concurrent viewers this week. It reported that 32 million viewers were simultaneously using its service to watch the Ipl cricket final match between The Chennai Super Kings and the Gujarat Titans. The platform’s previous peak was 25 million. Chennai eventually won the rain-affected and one-day delayed match

Dark Matter

Warner Bros Discovery (Wbd) has removed its bouquet of 14 channels from Indonesia’s TV largest platform, Mnc, ending decades-long affiliate arrangements, Content Asia reported. The decision, confirmed by Wbd, involves channels from HBO and Cartoon Network to Discovery and TLC, all of which came off air on May 12. The move is understood to be the culmination of a payments disagreement. In November last year, beIN removds its sports service from Mnc. Wbd content remains available on three smaller platforms in Indonesia, IndiHome First Media and Trans.

Location Attraction

Ausfilm,...

Devil’s Peak follows the story of Jacob McNeely (Hopper Penn) as he struggles under his father’s (Billy Bob Thornton) control as a meth-dealing kingpin in the Appalachian mountains, especially when he meets a girl (Katelyn Nacon) and wants to run away with her. Penn’s mother, Robin Wright, plays Jacob’s meth-addicted mother in the movie.

In an exclusive interview with uInterview founder Erik Meers, Penn revealed how he connected to the main characters of the story with his own past of drug addiction.

“I’ve had a lot of bad history with addiction and stuff like that so we [director Ben Young] talked a lot about how you can bring that kind of darkness of your past into this story,” Penn said. “I think that was also a new thing I brought like to acting where even if I wasn’t his character, I’ve grown up in a completely different way,...

The dynamics between fathers and sons, and whether the younger generation can ever escape the family legacy, is at the heart of “Devil’s Peak.” It’s apt then that director Ben Young cast Hopper Penn — son of Sean — as his lead. In this adaptation of David Joy’s novel “Where All Light Tends to Go,” the father, Charlie (Billy Bob Thornton), is a drug lord in North Carolina’s Appalachian Mountains, with a firm grip on his son’s life and livelihood. Jacob (Penn) works as a runner for his dad, while the latter withholds his wages, thus totally controlling his son. Young and screenwriter Robert Knott build on these intriguing family dynamics to create an entertaining drama that’s unfortunately let down by its lead performance.

The conflict between father and son takes hold when Jacob falls for a local woman (Katelyn Nacon) at the same time that Charlie...

Screen Rant is proud to present an exclusive clip from the new drama, Devil's Peak. Set in the Appalachian Mountains, this tense thriller from Screen Media follows the son of a domineering and violent drug lord. When he meets the girl of his dreams, he finally finds a reason to try and escape from under his father's shadow before following in his criminal footsteps. But he won't escape unscathed and will need to confront his father face-to-face, and the terrifying patriarch will stop at nothing to force loyalty from everyone around him.

Devil's Peak is based on David Joy's first novel, Where All Light Tends to Go. The novel was a finalist for the Edgar Award for Best First Novel. Devil's Peak hits theaters on February 17 and will be available on demand on February 24.

Related: How House of Cards Prepared Robin Wright to Direct Ozark Season 4

More About Devil's Peak...

Billy Bob Thornton in Devil’s Peak Photo: Screen Media Films The right cast can make a plodding film watchable, an Ok film good, and a good film great. One reason actors like Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep are so beloved, for instance, is because they can elevate something that’s otherwise predictable and bland.

"We do not choose this life. It chose us... It'll be that way 'till we ain't breathing." Screen Media Films has revealed an official trailer for Devil's Peak, a "tense thriller" from filmmaker Ben Young. It's adapted from the novel Where All Light Tends to Go by David Joy, which was the original title before this film before they hcanged it to the VOD-search-friendly Devil's Peak. Set in the Appalachian Mountains, the story follows a family being dominated by a crime lord who uses his fists to control both them and his business. When his son meets the girl of his dreams, desperately wanting to escape the life he's expected to lead and then gain freedom from his father, he is forced to go head-to-head with the terrifying man who will stop at nothing to ensure loyalty from all of those around him. Intense! The film stars Billy Bob Thornton,...

What better way to bring angst to a family drama than cast a mother-son duo in its central roles? That’s what Robin Wright and her son Hopper Penn do in “Devil’s Peak,” an upcoming small-town crime thriller about a young man torn between family ties and the girl he loves.

Wright and Penn star as a mother and son in a crime-ridden Appalachian town who dream of a better life elsewhere.

Continue reading ‘Devil’s Peak’ Trailer: Robin Wright & Son Hopper Penn Star In Ben Young’s Appalachian Crime Drama On February 17 at The Playlist.

Exclusive: Industry veteran Josh Kesselman is joining Sugar23 as a producer and manager in the company’s expanding management division.

“Coming to Sugar23 is a dream come true. Michael and I have been talking about working together for years and what better time than in the year 2023! Could not be more excited to be working with all of my new colleagues. The energy and growth at this company is second to none!” said Kesselman.

Prior to Sugar23, Kesselman spent the last decade at Thruline Entertainment. His most recent projects include the Emmy-winning television series The Great and the documentary Obey Giant for Hulu, the docuseries Medal of Honor for Netflix, Dean Craig’s comedy The Estate starring Toni Collette, Anna Faris, and David Duchovny, and A Little White Lie with Michael Shannon and Kate Hudson. Upcoming projects include the crime thriller Devil’s Peak starring Billy Bob Thornton, Robin Wright, and Hopper Penn,...

Exclusive: Screen Media has acquired North American rights to the crime thriller Devil’s Peak, starring Academy Award winner Billy Bob Thornton (The Gray Man), Golden Globe winner Robin Wright (Wonder Woman 1984), Hopper Penn (War Machine) and Academy Award nominee Jackie Earle Haley (Watchmen).

The film picked up by the Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment company will be released exclusively in theaters on February 17, with a digital release to follow on February 24.

The film directed by Ben Young (Hounds of Love) is based on the novel Where All Light Tends to Go by David Joy. Set in the Appalachian Mountains, it watches as a family is dominated by a crime lord (Thornton) who uses his fists to control both them and his business. When his son (Penn) meets the girl of his dreams (Katelyn Nacon), desperately wanting to escape the life he is expected to lead and free himself...

David Yates’ Netflix film The Pain Hustlers has begun rounding out its cast, with Andy Garcia (Father of the Bride), Catherine O’Hara (Schitt’s Creek), Jay Duplass (Industry), Brian d’Arcy James (West Side Story) and Chloe Coleman (My Spy) signing on to star alongside Emily Blunt and Chris Evans.

The film billed as tonally similar to The Big Short, American Hustle and The Wolf of Wall Street follows Liza Drake (Blunt), a high-school dropout dreaming of a better life for her and her young daughter. Liza lands a job with a failing pharmaceutical startup in a yellowing strip mall in Central Florida. Her charm, guts and drive then catapult the company and her into the high life, where she soon finds herself at the center of a criminal conspiracy with deadly consequences.

Netflix acquired global rights to the film written by Wells Tower for 50M out of this year’s Cannes Film Festival,...

Exclusive: J.K. Simmons (Being the Ricardos), Jackie Earle Haley (The First Lady), Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Suicide Squad), Jessica De Gouw (The Secrets She Keeps) and Alice Lee (Brittany Runs a Marathon) have signed on to star alongside Mark Wahlberg and Halle Berry in the Netflix thriller Our Man from Jersey, from director Julian Farino (Ballers).

The film centers on Mike (Wahlberg), a down-to-earth construction worker from Jersey, who is quickly thrust into the world of super spies and secret agents when his high school ex-girlfriend Roxanne (Berry) recruits him on a high-stakes U.S. intelligence mission. Wahlberg, Stephen Levinson and Jeff Waxman will produce the pic written by David Guggenheim and Joe Barton.

Simmons won his first Oscar back in 2015 for his portrayal of cut-throat jazz instructor Fletcher in Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash, notching his second nom this year for his supporting turn in Aaron Sorkin’s Being the Ricardos. The...

Exclusive: The cast of Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer continues to grow, with Harrison Gilbertson (Picnic at Hanging Rock) and Emma Dumont (Licorice Pizza) signing on for roles.

They join an ensemble led by Cillian Murphy that also includes Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh, Robert Downey Jr., Matt Damon, Rami Malek, Benny Safdie, Josh Hartnett, Dane DeHaan, Jack Quaid, Matthew Modine, Dylan Arnold, David Krumholtz, Alden Ehrenreich, David Dastmalchian, Olli Haaskivi, Jason Clarke, James D’Arcy, Michael Angarano, Guy Burnet and Danny Deferrari, as previously announced.

In the film, based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and the late Martin J. Sherwin, Murphy plays the theoretical physicist whose work on the Manhattan Project led to the atomic bomb. The film is a paradox of the enigmatic man who must risk destroying the world in order to save it.

Nolan is directing...

Exclusive: Harrison Gilbertson, Katelyn Nacon and David Kallaway have joined the cast of Where All Light Tends to Go. Billy Bob Thornton, Robin Wright, Hopper Penn, Jackie Earle Haley, Brian D’arcy James and Emma Booth are also starring.

Ben Young will direct with and Robert Knott penning the script based on David Joy’s novel. The film will be produced by Griff Furst of Curmudgeon Films, Josh Kesselman of Thruline Entertainment and Wright. Ruth Bornhauser will co-produce.

Based on the David Joy novel, the story is set in North Carolina’s Appalachian Mountains, where Jacob McNeely is torn between appeasing his meth-dealing kingpin father and leaving the mountains forever with the girl he loves. Kallaway will also co-produce.

Gilbertson will be seen next in Amazon Studios’ The Peripheral. His other recent credits include Picnic at Hanging Rock and In the Tall Grass. He is repped by Anonymous Content and Helen Pandos Management.

Exclusive: Emma Booth, Brian d’Arcy James and Jackie Earle Haley have joined the cast of Where All Light Tends To. Ben Young will direct with and Robert Knott penning the script based on David Joy’s novel.

They join the previously announced leads Billy Bob Thornton, Robin Wright and Hopper Penn. Production began November 1st in Atlanta, Georgia.

The film will be produced by Griff Furst of Curmudgeon Films, Josh Kesselman of Thruline Entertainment and Wright. Ruth Bornhauser will co-produce. Based on the David Joy novel, the story is set in North Carolina’s Appalachian Mountains, where Jacob McNeely is torn between appeasing his meth-dealing kingpin father and leaving the mountains forever with the girl he loves.

Booth can be seen next in the Anonymous Content TV Studios adaptation of Proxy. She is repped by represented by Anonymous Content and Shanahan Management.

James can be seen next in as Officer...

Robin Wright and Billy Bob Thornton are set to star in a thriller from director Ben Young called “Where All Light Tends to Go,” an individual with knowledge of the project told TheWrap.

Bankside Films will be introducing the movie to buyers and production is scheduled for November.

Hopper Penn also stars in the film, which comes from a script by “Appaloosa” writer Robert Knott and is based on a 2015 novel of the same name by David Joy.

“Where All Light Tends to Go” is set in the Appalachian Mountains and is a thriller about a boy whose father is a domineering and violent crime lord, but when he meets the girl of his dreams and looks to escape his father’s control, he has to go head to head with his father who will stop at nothing to keep control.

Robin Wright will also produce “Where All Light Tends...

Billy Bob Thornton, Robin Wright and Hopper Penn are set to star in “Where All Light Tends to Go.” Bankside Films has boarded sales on the film, which will be directed by Ben Young.

The screenplay was written by Robert Knott (“Appaloosa”), based on the novel written by David Joy. Production is scheduled for November.

Set in the Appalachian Mountains, “Where All Light Tends to Go” is a tense thriller about a family dominated by a crime lord who controls his family and his business with his fists. When his son meets the girl of his dreams, desperately wanting to escape the life he is expected to lead and freeing himself from the clutches of his father, he is forced to go head to head with the terrifying man who will stop at nothing to ensure loyalty from all of those around him.

Young said: “Very rarely do words jump...

Writer-director David Vincent Smith is poised to make his feature debut, with his project Burden awarded $750,000 in production funding via Screenwest’s West Coast Visions initiative.

Burden, produced by No Labels Media, is described as tense family drama about ordinary people dealing with extraordinary circumstances.

The film explores themes of mental health and addiction as it challenges audiences to ponder the question; “How far would you go to save someone you love?”

Smith has worked on swathe of short films and music videos over the last decade, including We Were Here which won four Wa Screen Awards, and is a former recipient of Screenwest’s Feature Navigator program.

His script The Jesus Machine was shortlisted for the Australian Writers’ Guild’s John Hinde Award in 2019.

“I feel incredibly honoured to receive West Coast Visions from Screenwest, who have always been so supportive of my filmmaking. I’m so proud to...

In September of 2008, an unusual performance took place at downtown New York club Le Poisson Rouge. At stage right, opposite fellow six-string adventurer Marc Ribot, sat Lou Reed, conjuring clouds of free-rock energy from his guitar. Behind them, avant-garde mainstay John Zorn sent forth piercing, impassioned blasts of alto sax. And at the center of it all, churning with the fury of a whirlpool and dancing across his hand-painted drum kit with the control and flair of a flamenco master, was Milford Graves — the percussionist, healer, and interdisciplinary seeker who...

Screenwest will help fund the development of six new features from creatives including Alison James, Roderick MacKay, Zak Hilditch, Ben Young, Martin Wilson and Stephen McCallum.

The projects have been funded via the Brighter Ideas program, which was launched to bolster internationally successful Wa talent who have either returned to, or been confined to the state, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

James said of her new project, A Haven for Strays: “I’m thrilled to be one of the recipients of the Brighter Ideas fund and to now have the opportunity to work with a script editor on this screenplay.

“We’re at a unique point where many mid-level and experienced writer/directors have returned to Perth from overseas due to Covid-19 and for a state that has long suffered from brain drain to the Eastern States and the US, I think it’s a great idea to focus their...

When Fti was consolidated into Screenwest back in 2017, the annual Wa Screen Awards disappeared with it.

However, Revelation Perth International Film Festival director Richard Sowada has sought to bring them back, giving the state’s industry an awards platform for the first time in nearly five years.

Newly dubbed the Western Australian Screen Culture Awards, the event will bookend Revelation in mid-December.

Sowada has somewhat reimagined the honours, with a focus on innovation and achievement. Categories span all screen genres, from shorts, features and docos, through to VR/Ar, games, moving image art and installation.

The aim is to recognise the extraordinary growth and current vibracy of the Western Australian industry; Sowada posits that when he started Revelation back in 1997, Wa produced a feature film every three years.

“Over the years, particularly in the last six years or so, it’s exploded,” he tells If.

“There’s an enormous amount of work coming out,...

Zak Hilditch.

After trying to find ways to reconfigure Airborne, a thriller set during a mid-flight pandemic, Zak Hilditch has given up, conceding Covid-19 is far more lethal and scarier than the scenario he envisaged.

The filmmaker had been developing the project formerly known as Celestial Blue since 2017, initally with his These Final Hours producer Liz Kearney, later joined by US producer Ross Dinerstein.

Backed by XYZ Films, he planned to shoot in Bulgaria. At an Australians in Film webinar with Ben Young and Natalie Erika James in May, he said: “I’ve had to rewrite the entire film because the fantastical virus that happens on that flight is nothing compared to what has actually happened.”

Today, however, at a Director’s Spotlight session at CinefestOZ in Busselton, he said: “It’s too much of a minefield. The time is not right and I’m not interested in it any more.

Catherine S. McMullen with ‘The Other Lamb’ producer Stephanie Wilcox and director Małgorzata Szumowska (Photo credit: Stephanie Wilcox).

Screenwriter Catherine S. McMullen addresses the challenges of making a living in the genre space in Australia and for females to be recognised in the profession.

A former production freelancer, she wrote an episode of the second season of Playmaker Media/Stan’s Bloom, two episodes of Fremantle’s Wentworth Vr and Princess Pictures’ digital series Parked before her international breakthrough, scripting The Other Lamb.

The English-language debut of Polish director Małgorzata Szumowska, the horror movie follows a group of girls and women who live in a mysterious secluded compound with a man they call “Shepherd,” hailed by critics as combining elements of The Witch, The Handmaid’s Tale, Rosemary’s Baby and Carrie.

Q: In the recent Australians in Film webinar with Zak Hilditch, Ben Young and Natalie Erika James, you said it...

Natalie Erika James, Ben Young and Zak Hilditch.

Australian directors working on productions in the Us get far more time, money and resources than they were accustomed to at home.

But there’s a downside: Loss of creative freedom.

“I liken working in the American studio system to working on a two-hour television commercial where you have a lot of different voices telling you that you are not allowed to do things the way you want to,” says Ben Young, who directed Extinction for Netflix and was co-directing Clickbait for the streamer when production was shut down.

“In making an American film you have way less freedom but way more support. The level of support and resources you get in the Us is amazing but I miss the control I had in Australia.

“What I’m desperately searching for is that middle ground where I can have the toys and...

Screenwest’s re-imagined 2020 West Coast Visions program will fast track more new talent in a two-stage model.

In addition, Sbs acting head of scripted Amanda Duthie and strategic consultant James Hewison from Kinetic will serve as external industry assessors.

Applications are open now and close on Monday May 11 at 5:00pm Awst.

Stage one: Three shortlisted applicants will receive targeted and intensive six-month development and $20,000 in grant development funding.

Stage two: After development, one successful project will be selected to receive production funding of $750,000.

Screenwest talent development manager Eva Di Blasio said: “The new format for the West Coast Visions will enable two additional teams to develop their feature films into market-ready productions.

“The inclusion of Amanda Duthie and James Hewison on the selection panel is a fantastic endorsement of the program and will ensure that three amazing projects go into development and an exceptional, production ready feature is selected as the final recipient.

Jub Clerc.

Two weeks ago Jub Clerc was scheduled to go into a writers’ room on the webseries Shady Ladeez in the remote community of Ngukurr in East Arnhem Land.

But knowing that the elderly and people with pre-disposed illnesses – “all my mob” – are most vulnerable to the coronavirus, the filmmaker cancelled the trip and instead took part via Skype for a much lower fee.

Two days later she got an email from Bunya Productions advising the inaugural Bunya Talent Indigenous Hub in Los Angeles, to which she and 12 other Indigenous practitioners had been invited, had been postponed.

“The opportunity to pitch a feature film idea to Netflix was super exciting but my decision to cancel on Ngukurr made it an easier pill to swallow,” Clerc, who made her TV directing debut on season 2 of the ABC’s The Heights, she tells If.

“I feel like one of the lucky ones though.

The coronavirus pandemic has resulted in the cancellation of four screen industry events, halted production on Netflix’s Clickbait and two major movies and postponed shooting of two TV reality shows.

Meaa members were informed today by the Clickbait producers there would be a two week hiatus due to general health concerns, nothing specific as no one associated with the production has contracted the virus.

Matchbox Pictures and Tony Ayres Productions told the union they will continue to closely monitor the situation and then reappraise to ensure the safety of cast and crew.

Ayres and Christian White co-created the Us-set, eight-episode thriller which began shooting in Melbourne in November, directed by Brad Anderson, Emma Freeman, Ben Young and Laura Belsey. Filming was due to wrap in April.

Filming of Fremantle/Seven Network’s Australia’s Got Talent and ITV Studios Australia’s/Nine Network’s The Voice has been postponed.

Daniel Henshall (Photo credit: Alex Vaughan).

Daniel Henshall and Ian Meadows have joined the cast of Clickbait, the Netflix-commissioned eight-part thriller shooting in Melbourne.

Co-created by Tony Ayres and Christian White, the Us-set series explores the ways in which dangerous and uncontrolled impulses are fueled in the age of social media and the ever widening fractures between virtual and real-life personas.

As If reported, Zoe Kazan stars as Pia Brewer, a young woman who is desperate for answers in the search for her missing brother in a case that has become a media sensation.

Betty Gabriel and Adrian Grenier play Sophie and Nick Brewer, a couple in Oakland who get caught up in a bizarre crime, with Phoenix Raie as Roshan Amir, an Oakland detective who investigates the case.

Henshall portrays Simon Oxley, a traumatized social media moderator who is looking for a way to gain some control over the situation.

Exclusive: Abraham Lim (The Catch), Jessica Collins (Revolution), Ian Meadows (Dead Lucky), Daniel Henshall (Okja), Motell Foster (Foxhole), Jaylin Fletcher (Snowpiercer) and Camaron Engels (Malibu Rescue) have joined the cast of Clickbait, Netflix’s eight-episode character-based thriller series from Tony Ayres (The Slap), David Heyman, NBCUniversal International Studios and Australian-based Matchbox Pictures. Principal photography is underway in Melbourne, Australia.

Co-written by Ayres and Christian White, Clickbait explores the ways in which our most dangerous and uncontrolled impulses are fueled in the age of social media and reveals the ever widening fractures we find between our virtual and real-life personas.

Lim will play Ben Park, a ruthlessly ambitious junior news producer who lives for clicks, likes, and views. Ben is willing to wade into ethically murky waters if it means getting what he wants.

Collins will portray Emma Beesley, a seemingly successful...

When Netflix announced it had commissioned Clickbait last year, director Matt Richards began lobbying co-creator Tony Ayres, Matchbox Pictures and Film Victoria to seek a director’s attachment.

That persistence paid off and the filmmaker started work on the Melbourne-based production two weeks ago, shadowing Ben Young, who is directing two episodes of the eight-part, Us-set thriller.

Richards will work on the show on-and-off until early April, fitting around his day job as a moving image designer at the National Gallery of Victoria.

“I really wanted the opportunity to work on a high stakes adult drama and pushed hard to get the attachment,â€. says Richards, who had an attachment on the ABC’s children’s series Tomorrow, When the War Began and has directed the short dramas First Contact, Rabbit and the Screen Australia Hot Shots-funded The Disappearance of Willie Bingham.

“Ben and the Clickbait team have been incredibly open and welcoming.

WaterTower Music is proud to announce the digital release of the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack to Stephen King's Doctor Sleep, the fall horror event that continues the story of Danny Torrance, 40 years after his terrifying stay at the Overlook Hotel in The Shining. Directed by Mike Flanagan, the highly anticipated film adaptation of Stephen King's continuation of his beloved classic novel The Shining releases November 8th worldwide from Warner Bros. Pictures, and the soundtrack releases today November 1st.

Flanagan chose The Newton Brothers, the composing duo of Andy Grush and Taylor Newton Stewart, to create the film's score. The writer/director states, "It was important for Doctor Sleep to have its own identity, but we also wanted to call back to some of the feelings Kubrick created in The Shining. He utilized score and sound design in a way that created an impenetrable sense of dread."

The soundtrack to...

Exclusive: Studiocanal and Blumhouse are teaming on a remake of The Bedroom Window, hiring Ben Young to write and direct a new version of the 1987 thriller that starred Steve Guttenberg and Elizabeth McGovern and launched the star of Curtis Hanson, the late writer/director who went on to helm hits including L.A. Confidential and Wonder Boys.

Based on the Anne Holden novel The Witnesses, the original film follows a man who beds his boss’ wife. During the tryst, she observes from his bedroom window a violent attack on a young woman. He goes to the police on his lover’s behalf to report a crime he didn’t actually witness. Soon he is a suspect and potential target for the attacker.

Young made his directorial debut on the 2016 Venice Film premiere film Hounds of Love, and he followed by directing the Mandeville/Good Universe film Extinction, which Netflix released last year.

(L-r) John Sheedy, Daisy Axon, Julie Ryan, Lisa Hoppe and Tenille Kennedy (Photo credit: Court McAllister).

John Sheedy’s feature debut H is for Happiness, an adaptation of Barry Jonsberg’s young adult novel My Life as an Alphabet, has won this year’s $100,000 CinefestOZ Film Prize.

Announcing the award at the Saturday night gala, jury chair Rachel Ward said: “If we have the power as jurors to change the world to be a better place, then voting for H is for Happiness to win the CinefestOZ 2019 is our contribution. As juror Alex Dimitriades added, H is also for Hope.”

The other finalists were Owen Trevor’s Go!, Ben Lawrence’s Hearts and Bones, Mirrah Foulkes’ Judy & Punch and Paul Ireland’s Measure for Measure.

Sheedy said: “The competition was so tough. There were five amazing films, I saw all of them. To be chosen in such good company...