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Exclusive: Night Kitchen Films and Phillm Productions have announced Emmy and Grammy nominated comedian Margaret Cho (Showtime’s Margaret Cho: PsyCHO) has joined DJ Qualls and Marisé Álvarez (Disney+’s Obi-Wan Kenobi) in the dark comedy Evilou.

This is the feature directorial debut of Andrew Zappin who also penned the script. Production is now underway in Los Angeles with the film slated for release in 2024 with North American and international rights still available.

Evilou is a dark comedy love story about Lou Vile (Qualls) – a bitter, shock-jock podcaster who has devoted his life to waging war on love. When he falls for a charming single-mother (Álvarez), Lou decides to undergo a personality-altering medical procedure in a desperate attempt to win her affection.

Punch-Drunk Love comes from celebrated writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson, and while his previous movies were mostly fictional, a lot of the 2002 release is based on a true story. The Adam Sandler led comedy is a lot different from Anderson's other work, as it's a breezy 90 minutes compared to the three-hour epic, Magnolia, which he released three years earlier. It's also a lot less emotionally exhausting too. Instead of being about a group of pleasure-seeking gamblers and criminals, it's about a man who finds the love of his life, but more interestingly, a loophole in a pudding cup rewards scheme.

Between Phantom Thread and Magnolia, Anderson's movies have ambiguous titles, and Punch-Drunk Love is no different, as it doesn't give away the movie's central premise. In Punch-Drunk Love, Barry Egan, who is emotionally abused by his sisters, has social anxiety, and has random outbursts of rage, discovers a loophole in a...

Exclusive: Electric Panda Entertainment and The Donaldson Company announced the cast for the dramatic thriller Civil.

Directed by Mackenzie Donaldson (TNT’s Snowpiercer), and written by Cheryl Meyer and Anthony Grant, the film stars Jasmine Mathews (The Tomorrow War), Douglas Smith (Don’t Worry Darling), Steven Ogg (The Walking Dead) and Devon Sawa (Syfy’s Chucky) will star. the solo feature directorial debut of director/producer. Production is now underway in Northern Ontario, and levelFilm has the film slated for release in Canada next year with US and international rights still available.

Civil is about a near-fi future civil war is sparked by government-imposed measures due to climate change. Nia (Mathews), her sister Penny (Antoine), and her boyfriend Ethan (Smith) are hiding out with a mismatched group of family, friends and neighbors in a secluded lake house when a militia leader (Sawa) and his followers arrive on their doorstep. Nia and...

Exclusive: Clay Epstein’s Film Mode Entertainment (Fme) has bolstered its slate for the virtual European Film Market (EFM) with several fresh titles.

The company will present three features to international buyers for the first time on behalf of Screen Media, a Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment Company, including the newly-acquired comedy Dear Elizabeth.

The pic is directed by Scott Abramovitch and stars Tony Hale and Elisha Cuthbert. It follows a man who leads a dull life until he accidentally stalks an old college classmate, actress Elizabeth Banks, on social media. With each failed attempt to prove he knows her, he rediscovers more of himself and the true meaning of friendship.

The project was produced by Scott Abramovitch and David J. Phillips, and executive produced by Daniel Norris Webb, Tony Hale, Jamie Abramovitch, Andrew Kurzon, Salamo Levin and Tony Manolikakis.

Also screening at the EFM as part of the...

Screen Media has acquired U.S. rights to Eat Wheaties!, Scott Abramovitch’s comedy that stars Tony Hale along with Paul Walter Hauser, Danielle Brooks, Lamorne Morris, Robbie Amell, David Walton, Sarah Burns, Elisha Cuthbert, Sarah Chalke, Sarah Goldberg and Alan Tudyk. It now will hit theaters and on-demand on April 30.

The adaptation of Michael Kun’s 2003 novel The Locklear Letters follows Sid Straw (Hal), a man whose unexceptional life takes a wild turn when he’s named co-chair of his college reunion and accidentally stalks famous college classmate, actress Elizabeth Banks, on social media. His messages to her go viral, and with each failed attempt to convince people he really knows her, Sid’s life spirals out of control until he finds himself banned from the reunion. Stuck at a crossroads and determined to rediscover the best version of himself, Sid hires an inexperienced lawyer to help clear his name.

Screen Media is making the Tony Hale comedy “Eat Wheaties!” a part of its balanced breakfast and has acquired the U.S. rights to the film. The distributor is planning a release in theaters and on demand April 30.

“Eat Wheaties!” is directed by Scott Abramovitch and stars Hale as Sid Straw, a man who desperately tries to prove that he knows a celebrity — in this case, Elizabeth Banks — only for his creepy messages to her to go viral and get him banned from his college reunion. With his life at a crossroads, he sets out to rediscover the best version of himself and hires an inexperienced lawyer to help clear his name.

The story is an adaptation of a 2003 novel by Michael Kun called “The Locklear Letters,” but is modernized for the social media era (and updated from celebrity Heather Locklear). “Eat Wheaties!” also stars Paul Walter Hauser, Danielle Brooks,...

Freestyle Digital Media has acquired domestic rights to Adam Cushman’s The Maestro, a biopic about composer Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco tarring The Walking Dead‘s Xander Berkeley. It will get a theatrical release beginning February 15 in New York and Los Angeles, with VOD coming February 19. The pic, penned by C.V. Herst and produced by David J. Phillips, centers on the letters of Castelnuovo-Tedesco, who composed scores for more than 200 Hollywood films in the 1940s and 1950s and mentored the likes of John Williams, Randy Newman, Henry Mancini, Jerry Goldsmith and Andre Previn. Leo Marks, Sarah Clarke, Mackenzie Astin, Bobby Campo, Alex Essoe and in his last film Jon Polito co-star. The deal was negotiated by Freestyle Ira Goldklang and Rachel Koehler and Sean Pope and Tiffany Boyle from Ramo Law for the filmmakers.

Giant Pictures, the digital film distribution division of Giant Interactive, has acquired North American digital rights for The Bellwether,...

Exclusive: April Mullen’s gang drama to be introduced at Afm.

Epic Pictures has acquired Below Her Mouth director April Mullen’s follow-up Badsville and will introduce to international buyers at the Afm and distribute in the Us towards the end of the year.

Co-founder Shaked Berenson and CEO Patrick Ewald want to feed the pipeline of distribution division Epic Pictures Releasing and director of Us distribution Paula Moreno will be scouring the Afm for acquisitions.

Emilio Rivera of Sons Of Anarchy and Robert Knepper of Prison Break star in Badsville, a crime thriller set in the working class greaser gang milieu.

The story centres on a gang leader who risks everything when he makes a promise to his dying mother and tries to leave his old life behind.

Ian McLaren and Benjamin Barrett co-wrote the script and are among the cast. Producers are David J. Phillips of Phillm Productions and Douglas Spain.

“We are expanding...

Kristen Stewart and Adam Driver will be honoured in the 54th New York Film Festival’s “An Evening with…” on-stage conversation series.

The festival will also premiere Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened in Special Events, a non-fiction chronicle of the 1981 musical flop Merrily We Roll Along by Stephen Sondheim and Harold Prince.

Hamilton’s America will also receive its world premiere and tells the story of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s award-winning production, Hamilton: An American Musical.

Jim Jarmusch’s Gimme Danger joins the line-up and will feature an appearance by the director and Iggy Pop. Jarmusch’s Paterson will screen in the main slate. Nyff runs from September 30-October 16.

Amazon Studios is developing a TV series based on Martin Scorsese’s crime drama The Departed. Vertigo Entertainment, Initial Entertainment Group and Plan B Entertainment are producing with Amazon Studios in association with Warner Bros TV.White Rabbit and Phillm Productions have begun shooting on The...

Check out the new teaser trailer and poster for the upcoming award-winning indie action-thriller Mission Park starring Jeremy Ray Valdez, Will Rothhaar, Walter Perez, Joseph Julian Soria, Vivica A. Fox and Sean Patrick Flanery.

In Mission Park, the ambitions of four childhood friends land them on opposite sides of the law. Rookie FBI agents Bobby (Valdez) and Julian (Rothhaar) must go undercover and face their hidden pasts in an attempt to bring down their best friends’ (Perez, Soria) criminal organization.

The film was written and directed by Bryan Ramirez, produced by Independent Spirit Award nominee Douglas Spain (Star Maps, HBO’s Band of Brothers), co-produced by David J. Phillips (Life Happens, Green Guys), and executive produced by national real estate mogul and former star of A&E’s ‘Flip This House’ Armando Montelongo. Spain and Phillips both have featured acting roles in the film as well. Mission Park is the...

From the man without a last name comes the urban thriller Ecstasy. This is an anti-drug film, as suggested by the trailer. Drug deaths, sexual assault, and misfortune all lead to destruction in the first trailer for Lux's Ecstasy, which is quite graphic. Ecstasy was shot in Vancouver, British Columbia and Seattle, Washington. The film is currently available through digital-on-demand and Ecstasy stars Charlie Bewley (Eclipse), Elisa King ("Psych"), and Christy Andersen. More details are below.

The synopsis for Ecstasy is here:

"In a college community, four teenage school girls find escape in a mysterious new party drug that brings them to new heights. A mother tries in vain to stop her daughters as she watches them become addicted and lose control, and all the girls begin to be haunted by the withdrawals, which makes all their fears, guilt and demons become real" (Ecstasy).

Director: Lux.

Writers: Lux, Raymond H. Law,...

Jason Biggs and Rhys Coiro have joined the cast of the independent comedy "Bff and Baby."According to Variety, the cast also includes Kate Bosworth, Krysten Ritter, Rachel Bilson, Fallon Goodson, Justin Kirk, Andrea Savage, Kristen Johnston, Seymour Cassel and Geoff Stults.Kat Coiro will direct from a script she co-wrote with Ritter.The film revolves around two female best friends (Ritter, Bosworth) who try to maintain their lives after Ritter's character gets pregnant and has a baby. Justin Levine will produce through Stardust Pictures, with Ritter, Kat Coiro, David J. Phillips, Lauren Bratman and Corbin Timbrook co-producing.Production begins at the end of the month.Rhys Coiro was recently seen on HBO's "Entourage," while Biggs can be seen next in the film "Grassroots," opposite...

Rachel Bilson has joined the cast of 'Bbf and Baby'. The 29-year-old actress - who shot to fame starring in teen television drama 'The O.C.' - will feature alongside Kate Bosworth and '27 Dresses' star Krysten Ritter in the indie comedy. 'Bff and Baby' - which was co-written by Ritter and director Kat Coiro - follows the story of two best friends who struggle to maintain a sense of normalcy in their relationship after Ritter's character falls pregnant and has a child. Stardust Pictures' Justin Levine is set to finance and co-produce the film, alongside Ritter, Kat Coiro, David J. Phillips and Corbin Timbrook, ..

Rachel Bilson has joined the cast of the independent comedy "Bff and Baby" opposite Krysten Ritter and Kate Bosworth. According to Variety, Kat Coiro will make her feature directing debut with the film, which she co-wrote with Ritter. The film revolves around two female best friends (Ritter, Bosworth) who try to maintain their lives after Ritter's character gets pregnant and has a baby. Justin Levine of Stardust Pictures will produce along with Ritter, Coiro, David J. Phillips and Corbin Timbrook. Production will begin October 19 in Los Angeles.Bilson's screen credits include "Jumper" and "The Last Kiss" along with roles on "Chuck" and "How I Met Your Mother."...

Krysten Ritter and Kate Bosworth will star in the independent comedy "Bff and Baby." According to Variety, Kat Coiro will make her feature directing debut with the film, which she co-wrote with Ritter. The film revolves around two female best friends who try to maintain their lives after Ritter's character gets pregnant and has a baby. Justin Levine will produce along with Ritter, Coiro, David J. Phillips and Corbin Timbrook.Production will begin October 19 in Los Angeles.Ritter is currently shooting Amy Heckerling's "Vamps" and also stars in the U2 biopic "Killing Bono." Bosworth recently signed on to the marital comedy "The Reasonable Bunch" and will also be seen in Screen Gems' remake of Sam Peckinpah.s "Straw Dogs" next...

Green Guys Movie PosterGreen Guys is a crime thriller that has moved in to post-production with a new trailer available here. In the film four young men create a ponzi scheme, or a pyramid styled investment structure, which soon crumbles due to corruption and infighting (Green). The first trailer below shows how credibility is more important than quick rich schemes in the financial markets as the characters battle to stay alive and financially afloat.

The synopsis for Green Guys here:

"Green Guys is a film about four young con artists that start a top-secret ponzi scheme - and are torn apart by their own greed and corruption" (Green).

Release Date: 2010.

Director/writer: Cole Mueller.

Executive Producer: Sean Meier.

Producers: Ryan Bragg, Sean Meier, Cole Mueller, Bryan Chesin, Megan Takimoto, Dane Delima, and Desmond Dolly.

Cast: Kris Lemche, David J. Phillips, Christopher Redman, Darrel Davenport, Nathan Marlow, Roberto Sanchez, William Russ,...