News

The perpetrator of a kidnapping turns out to be connected to another crime on CBS’s FBI: Most Wanted season four episode 10. Directed by Cory Bowles from a script by Zach Cannon, “False Flag” will air on Tuesday, January 10, 2023 at 10pm Et/Pt.

Season four stars Dylan McDermott as Supervisory Special Agent Remy Scott, Alexa Davalos as Special Agent Kristin Gaines, Roxy Sternberg as Special Agent Sheryll Barnes, Keisha Castle-Hughes as Special Agent Hana Gibson, and Edwin Hodge as Special Agent Ray Cannon.

Recurring guest stars include Zoë Sophia Garcia as Kim Fogelman, Tonye Patano as Susan “Mama B” Barnes, Fedna Jacquet as Charlotte Gaines, Raigan Newton as Anais-Barnes Gaines, and Shaun Anthony as Joshua Fogelman.

“False Flag” Plot: The team is thrown for a loop when they discover that the abductor of a disgraced state police detective is connected to someone from a recent case.

Wendy Lyon, Jimmy Nicholas,...

Exclusive: Alessandro Nivola is set to co-star alongside André Holland in Apple TV+’s The Big Cigar, a six-episode limited series that will chronicle the story of Black Panther leader Huey P. Newton’s escape to Cuba.

The series will be showrun and executive produced by NAACP Image Award winner Janine Sherman Barrois, with Holland starring as Newton and Don Cheadle on board to direct and executive produce the first two episodes. The growing ensemble cast also includes Tiffany Boone.

2022 Apple TV+ Pilots & Series Orders

With the first episode written and executive produced by Jim Hecht and based on the eponymous Playboy article from Joshuah Bearman, The Big Cigar tells the extraordinary, hilarious, almost-too-good-to-be-true story of how Newton relied on his best friend, Bert Schneider (Nivola), the Hollywood producer behind Easy Rider, to elude a nationwide manhunt and escape to Cuba while being pursued into exile by the FBI.

The...

Apple TV+ on Thursday announced that André Holland (Moonlight, The Eddy) is poised to play Black Panther leader Huey P. Newton in the limited series The Big Cigar, with Don Cheadle (Black Monday) on board as director and executive producer.

Adapted from a Playboy magazine article by Joshuah Bearman (Argo) and written by Jim Hecht (Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty), the six-part series will tell “the extraordinary, hilarious, almost-too-good-to-be-true story of how Newton relied on his best friend, Bert Schneider, the Hollywood producer behind Easy Rider, to elude a nationwide manhunt and escape to Cuba while being...

Apple has ordered the limited series “The Big Cigar” about Black Panther leader Huey P. Newton, Variety has learned.

The six-episode series hails from Warner Bros. Television, with André Holland in talks to star as Newton. Jim Hecht, who recently created “Winning Time” at HBO, serves as writer and executive producer. Janine Sherman Barrois, the showrunner for shows like “Claws” and “Self Made” and the creator and showrunner of “The Kings of Napa” at OWN, will serve as showrunner and executive producer. Don Cheadle is onboard to direct and executive produce the first two episodes.

Based on the Playboy article of the same name by Joshuah Bearman, “The Big Cigar” tells the true story of how Newton relied on his best friend, Bert Schneider — the Hollywood producer behind “Easy Rider” — to elude a nationwide manhunt and escape to Cuba while being pursued into exile by the FBI.

Hecht co-wrote the...

Apple TV+ announced Thursday that it has acquired “The Big Cigar,” a six-episode miniseries telling the story of Black Panthers co-founder Huey P. Newton’s years of exile in Cuba during the 1970s.

Oscar nominee Don Cheadle will executive produce and direct the first two episodes of “The Big Cigar,” with “Moonlight” star André Holland in discussions to star as Newton. NAACP Image Award-winner Janine Sherman Barrois (“Claws”) will serve as showrunner and an executive producer.

Written by “Winning Time” co-creator Jim Hecht, “The Big Cigar” is based on the Playboy article of the same name by Joshuah Bearman (writer of the story “Argo” is based on); the pair developed the story together.

Photo by Gloria Mesa / Photo by Scott Nathan / Photo courtesy of Apple

Per the official description, “The Big Cigar” will tell “the extraordinary, hilarious, almost-too-good-to-be-true story of how Newton relied on his best friend, Bert Schneider, the Hollywood producer behind “Easy Rider,...

The wild story of how Black Panther leader Huey P. Newton was able to elude a nationwide manhunt and escape to Cuba while being pursued into exile by the FBI is being turned into a TV series for Apple.

The streamer has ordered six-part limited series The Big Cigar.

Moonlight and The Eddy star André Holland is in talks to star as Newton and the series comes from Claws showrunner Janine Sherman Barrois, Don Cheadle, Jim Hecht, Joshuah Bearman and Warner Bros. TV.

The series is based on the eponymous Playboy magazine article from Bearman, who will also serve as executive producer.

It tells how Newton escaped to Cuba to avoid prosecution for murder with the help of Bert Schneider, the Hollywood producer behind Easy Rider, as well as a few other celebrity radicals.

Jim Hecht, who co-created HBO’s Winning Time, writes and exec produces, based on a story that he created with Bearman.

Tonight's finale show, kicked off with the top 20 performing a couple of songs. Then we saw Joshua Davis, Brian Johnson, Deanna Johnson, Corey Kent White, and Kimberly Nichole perform "She Talks To Angels." After a break, Meghan Trainor hit the stage to perform "Dear Future Husband." Koryn Hawthorne and Kelly Clarkson performed "I'd Rather Go Blind." Meghan Linsey and Sarah Potenza performed "Piece of My Heart." Maroon 5 performed "This Summer's Gonna Hurt." Sawyer Fredericks and John Fogerty sang a few songs: "Born on the Bayou" and "Have You Ever Seen The Rain." Joshua Davis and Sheryl Crow sang, "Give It To Me." Luke Bryan sang, "Kick The Dust Up." Koryn Hawthorne, Lexi Davila, Mia Z, Tonya Boyd-Cannon, India Carney, and Caitlin Caporale sang "Uptown Funk." Big time star, Ed Sheeran, showed up to perform his new song: "Photograph." Meghan Linsey and Kelly Clarkson sang "Invincible." Sawyer Fredericks, Mia Z,...

Night One of The Voice's two-night finale featured original songs from each of the finalists, for the first time in the show's history. Nashville soul singer Meghan Linsey and Michigan folk rocker Joshua Davis each premiered self-penned numbers, while the two teenage contestants showcased tunes by a pair of well-known Grammy winners: Ray Lamontagne and Voice coach Pharrell Williams.

Last week, 16-year-old Sawyer Fredericks was declared the competition's frontrunner by Blake Shelton — a surprising statement, since he's Linsey's coach. But given the Fultonville, New York native's dominance on the iTunes chart throughout the season,...

Well, Blake's frontrunner is safe! Unfortunately, not even movie star Ansel Elgort could save tonight's casualty, despite his best efforts.  After it was announced that either Koryn Hawthorne or India Carney would be eliminated, the Fault in Our Stars and Insurgent star tried really hard to save India from Voice elimination by tweeting, "Everyone!! Tweet #VoiceSaveIndia and I'll follow you!!! Rt This Post!!! Let's save India Carney!"  While he seemed to be true to his word and even got #VoiceSaveIndia to trend on Twitter, his efforts were in vain, and India was eliminated.  This means that we'll be seeing Koryn Hawthorne, Meghan Linsey, Joshua Davis, and...

Tonight's elimination show, kicked off with "Walk The Moon" performing "Shut Up And Dance." Then, host Carson Daly, got right down to business by revealing, Sawyer Fredericks was safe this week. Next, mega stars, Snoop Dogg and Pharrell Williams, hit the stage to perform "California Roll." Shortly after that, Carson revealed that Meghan Linsey was safe this week. From there, we saw India Carney, Koryn Hawthorne, and Meghan Linsey perform "Faithfully" before Carson revealed that poor India Carney landed in the bottom 2 this week. After a break, Joshua Davis and Sawyer Fredericks performed "Drift Away." Then Carson revealed that Joshua Davis was safe this week, leaving us with poor Koryn finding out she was in the bottom 2 as well, and would have to sing for the instant Twitter save with India. India sang "My Dark Side," followed by Koryn with "If I Were A Boy" as their Twitter instant save performances.

Tonight's elimination show, kicked off with Jacquie Lee performing "Tears Fall." Then , host Carson Daly, revealed that Sawyer Fredericks was safe this week. From there, Avery Wilson hit the stage to perform "If I Have To." After that, Carson revealed that Meghan Linsey was safe ,tonight, before Vicci Martinez sang "Bad News Breaker." Shortly after Vicci's performance, Carson revealed that Koryn Hawthorne was safe. Then Craig Wayne Boyd hit the stage to perform "I'm Still Here." Shortly after that, Carson let everyone know that Joshua Davis was safe. which meant that India Carney and Kimberly Nichole had to sing for the instant save. India Carney sang "Perfect." Kimberly Nichole sang "Seven Nation Army." Then finally, after the last break of the night, Carson revealed that India Carney won the instant save, leaving poor Kimberly Nichole on the outs and going home.

The competition is on the verge of getting ridiculous. During the Top 6, there were once again some stand-out performances from the expected crew, meaning Kimberly Nichole, Koryn Hawthorne and Meghan Linsey. Others, however, gave us more of the same old flavor. Each artist delivered a song dedicated to his or her mother (or, in Joshua Davis' case, his children's mother), plus a second performance focusing on bringing down the house. It's starting to get really tough. Based solely on the 12 performances of the Top 6, here are my rankings.

Read a full recap of the Top 6 performances here.

Tonight's elimination show, kicked off with Jason Derulo, India Carney, and Kimberly Nichole performing "Want To Want Me." Then they revealed that Joshua Davis was safe. Shortly after that, Rozzi Crane performed "Psycho." Then they revealed that Sawyer Fredericks was safe. Next, they revealed that Meghan Linsey was safe. Then Lee Brice and Corey Kent White performed "Drinking Class." From there, they revealed that Kimberly Nichole and Koryn Hawthorne were both safe, leaving Hannah Kirby, Corey Kent White, and India Carney with the realization that they were in the bottom three and had to perform for the instant Twitter save. Hannah Kirby performed "Radioactive." Corey Kent White performed "Somebody Like You" and India Carney performed "Human." Finally, after the last break of the night, host Carson Daly, let everyone know that India Carney won the Twitter Instant Save vote, which meant that poor Corey Kent White and Hannah Kirby had to get lost,...

Tonight's elimination show, kicked off with Team Pharrell performing an absolutely awful rendition of "I Don't Want To Be" by Gavin Degraw. Shortly after that, they revealed that Koryn Hawthorne and Corey Kent White are safe this week. Sawyer Fredericks and India Carney were revealed to be safe. Then Reba McEntire showed up to performs "Going Out Like That." Next, they revealed that Meghan Linsey and Kimberly Nichole were safe. From there, Team Adam hit the stage to perform "The Joker." And then they revealed that Hannah Kirby was safe as well, leaving poor Rob Taylor, Deanna Johnson and Joshua Davis sitting in the bottom three this week. They had to sing for the Instant Save. Rob Taylor sang "Sittin' On The Dock Of The Bay." Deanna Johnson sang "Help Me Make It Through The Night" and Joshua Davis sang "I Won't Back Down." Then finally when it was all said and done,...

Fox Searchlight has honed its high beams on Arrested Development star Jason Bateman, who they’ve tapped to star and direct in their latest acquisition. The studio recently landed the rights to a story which appeared in Wired Magazine – Meet The Man Who Sold His Fate To Investors At $1 A Share – and are now taking it into development. The article title is quite the mouthful and ventures brazenly into spoiler territory, hence the name was changed to Ipo Man.

The news arrives today courtesy of Deadline, who reveal that Bateman will play a man who put himself on the market. No, not the dating market – the stock market. Understandably, this kind of maneouvre would certainly lead to a conflict of interest. Would you rather make a ton of cash but have your every move dictated by faceless shareholders? Or be poor and still possess free will? It’s a ripe...

After making his directorial debut with the thoroughly enjoyable Bad Words last year, Deadline reports  Jason Bateman has just lined up his sophomore directing effort with a comedy called Ipo Man. Bateman will again also take the lead role in the film set up at Fox Searchlight and based on a Wired article by Joshua Davis called "Meet The Man Who Sold His Fate To Investors At $1 A Share." In case you haven't guessed, the film follows a man who turned himself into a public offering. However, what started out as a seemingly genius way to make money became a disaster as the shareholders wanted more control than he expected. Here's a summary of the article: "On January 26, 2008, a 30-year-old part-time entrepreneur named Mike Merrill decided to sell himself on the open market. He divided himself into 100,000 shares and set an initial public offering price of $1 a share. Each share...

Jason Bateman is being sought to both star in and direct "Ipo Man" for Fox Searchlight. The project is an adaptation of Joshua Davis' Wired magazine article about a man named Mike Merrill who offered himself on the stock market.

Problems arose when shareholders demanded control over life decisions like whether to have a vasectomy or even whether he should move in with his longtime girlfriend. Majority shareholders began to exert input in his future attempts at a romantic merger.

"Transparent" scribes Micah Fitzerman-Blue & Noah Harpster are penning the script while Batman and Jim Garavente will produce.

Source: Deadline...

Deadline is reporting Jason Bateman will direct and star in Ipo Man for Fox Searchlight. The film will follow the true story of Mike Merrill, who sold himself as stock and let the shareholders control his life, and is based on the Joshua Davis Wired magazine article "Meet The Man Who Sold His Fate To Investors At $1 A Share." Bateman will direct Ipo Man from a script by Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster. Here's a summary from the Wired article: On January...

Jason Bateman will direct and star in Ipo Man.

Fox Searchlight has acquired the rights to Joshua Davis's Wired article 'Meet The Man Who Sold His Fate to Investors at $1 a Share', reports Deadline.

The true story follows 30-year-old Mike Merrill, who decided to sell himself on the open market in 2008.

The friends and acquaintances who bought shares were then given the power to decide how he lived his life, from where he invested his money to who he dated.

Bateman will take the lead role as Merrill.

He made his directorial debut in Bad Words and recently helmed the Nicole Kidman-starring The Family Fang.

Bateman will next be seen in Horrible Bosses 2.

• Greg Kinnear, Jon Voight, Renee Zellweger, and Djimon Hounsou are set to star in Paramount Pictures' Same Kind of Different as Me, EW has confirmed. Michael Carney will make his directorial debut. He co-wrote the script with Alexander Foard and Ron Hall. Based on the book by Hall and Denver Moore with Lynn Vincent, the story follows an art dealer (Kinnear) who befriends a homeless man (Honsou) in order to save his marriage to his wife (Zellweger). The unexpected friendship takes the three on an incredible journey, and helps Hall reconnect with his father (Voight). Mary Parent and Cale Boyter...

We’re still waiting to see Jason Bateman’s 2013 directorial debut, Bad Words, here in the UK, but he’s already been lining up new possible directing/starring gigs. There’s one already in the offing about an FBI wedding, and now Fox Searchlight wants him to make Ipo Man.No, it’s not probing the most obscure corner of the DC Comics’ universe, but will instead draw from Joshua Davis’ Wired article Meet The Man Who Sold His Fate at $1 A Share. Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harper are tasked with adapting the piece, which chronicled what happened when Mike Merrill essentially put his life in the hands of shareholders after putting himself on offer at $1 a share with 100,000 shares available, selling 928.His world got a lot more complicated when the shareholders began to demand control over everything, his girlfriend – a minority shareholder – dumped him and the effects on his life became ever more wacky.

Jeff Bridges is set to take the lead in a story of a sizeable diamond heist....

News

One of the films being produced by Jj Abrams under his Bad Robot umbrella is Antwerp, a movie based on a Wired article by the name of 'The Untold Story Of The World's Biggest Diamond Heist'. Joshua Davis penned the article, and it's the story fo a 2003 burglary. You can probably guess where it took place.

The screenplay was originally being penned by Field Of Dreams' Phil Alden Robinson, but those duties have since been passed over to Doug Jung. Abrams will produce, but as of yet, no direct has been attached to the project.

It might just be getting its star though. The Tracking Board reports that Jeff Bridges is now in talks to take the lead role in the film, which Paramount Picture is backing. Good lead roles for Jeff Bridges?...

The new musical, Beautiful - The Carole King Musical, about the early life and career of the legendary and groundbreaking singersongwriter opened earlier this week at the Sondheim Theatre on Broadway. Tony Award-nominee Jessie Mueller stars as 'Carole King' she's joined by Jake Epstein as 'Gerry Goffin', Anika Larsen as 'Cynthia Weil', Jarrod Spector as 'Barry Mann', Jeb Brown as 'Don Kirshner',Liz Larsen as 'Genie Klein', and an ensemble that includes Ashley Blanchet, E. Clayton Cornelious,Joshua Davis, Alysha Deslorieux, Kevin Duda, James Harkness, Carly Hughes, Sara King, Rebecca Lachance, Douglas Lyons, Chris Peluso, Gabrielle Reid, Arbender Robinson, Rashidra Scott, Sara Sheperd, and Melvin Tunstall.

La Vida Robot

Marisa Tomei has signed on opposite George Lopez in a film based on Joshua Davis' Wired magazine story "La Vida Robot" for Pantelion Films. Filming is now underway in New Mexico under the helm of Sean McNamara.

The story follows four undocumented Mexican-American teens from Phoenix who build an underwater robot and beat the reigning champions MIT to win the national robotics competition. Tomei will portray a dedicated and passionate teacher who helps the team to success. [Source: Screen]

Walking With Dinosaurs 3D

Four more names have been announced to have joined the voice cast of Fox‘s "Walking With Dinosaurs 3D".

John Leguizamo will voice Alexomis bird Alex, Justin Long is the Pachyrhinosauruses Patchi, Tiya Sircar will voice Juniper and Skyler Stone will voice Scowler. [Source: Deadline]

Kickback

Rutger Hauer is set to re-team with his "Blade Runner" co-star Sean Young in Raza Mallal's espionage thriller "Kickback" for Talking Lens.

Building on the unprecedented success of this summer’s Instructions Not Included, Latino-focused Pantelion Films is turning a Wired magazine piece by Joshua Davis into the upcoming drama La Vida Robot (truly, a journalist's dream). The story, according to The Hollywood Reporter, is about “four undocumented Mexican-American high school students who form a robotics club.” Now Marisa Tomei has joined the cast along with George Lopez. The Oscar winner will play “a teacher who supports the high school robotics team as they compete in the national robotics competition against reigning champion MIT,” so you know there are going to be some great building/competing/waiting-until-the-very-end-to-find-out-they-won montages.

• Adventureland co-stars Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart have signed on to play a couple in the action comedy American Ultra. Eisenberg’s stoner character Mike becomes the unwitting target of a government operation, disrupting his small-town life with his girlfriend, Phoebe (Stewart). Project X helmer Nima Nourizadeh is set to direct from a script by Max Landis (Chronicle). [THR]

• Kristen Stewart will also take on a small role in Tim Blake Nelson’s Anesthesia, an indie about a group of New Yorkers affected by a common philosophy professor. [Deadline]

• Oscar-winner Marisa Tomei (My Cousin Vinny) will star alongside George Lopez (Lopez Tonight...

Marisa Tomei has joined La Vida Robot, Pantelion Films' upcoming drama about four undocumented Mexican-American high school students who form a robotics club. George Lopez also stars in the project, which is being directed by Sean McNamara (Soul Surfer) from a script by Elissa Matsueda. The story is based on a Wired magazine piece by Joshua Davis. Tomei will play a teacher who supports the high school robotics team as they compete in the national robotics competition against reigning champion MIT. Story: Box Office Milestone: 'Instructions Not Included' Top Spanish-Language Film of All Time in U.S. Lopez

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The star has signed on opposite George Lopez in the story, based on Joshua Davis’ Wired magazine story.

Pantelion Films, the red-hot distribution joint venture of Lionsgate and Televisa that released the Labor Day smash Instructions Not Included, will handle the film.

Sean McNamara will direct and Lopez produces through his Travieso Productions with David Alpert of Circle Of Confusion, Rick Jacobs, Leslie Kolins Smith and Ben Odell.

Principal photography began this month in New Mexico on the story of four undocumented Mexican-American teenagers from Phoenix who build an underwater robot and beat the reigning champions MIT to win the national robotics competition.

Tomei will portray a dedicated and passionate teacher who helps the team to success.

Pantelion Films, the joint venture between Lionsgate and Mexican media corporation Televisa, has cast Oscar-winning actress Marisa Tomei to star in La Vida Robot opposite George Lopez. Based on Joshua Davis' Wired magazine story, the film is being directed by Sean McNamara. Lopez is producing the project via his Travieso Productions banner, with David Alpert via the Circle of Confusion banner, Rick Jacobs, Leslie Kolins Smith and Ben Odell. Principal photography for the project began this month in New Mexico. Paul Presburger, Pantelion Films' CEO, said, "We are fortunate to have a star of Marisa.s caliber join the film. Marisa and George combine to give La Vida Robot the star power and cross-cultural appeal that has become a Pantelion trademark, and together they tell...

Best-selling crime novelist Dennis Lehane will take a break from writing about the 1920s, as a recent addition to the Boardwalk Empire writing team, to script something a bit more current. Or rather, a lot more current, telling a story so fresh, it's still unfolding in the headlines. Lehane has been hired to write the screenplay for Silk Road, based on an as-yet-unfinished article by Joshua Davis, which itself is based upon the continuing story of Ross Ulbricht, the Penn State grad who made himself rich by allegedly founding an online black market for drugs. It was that last ...

With predictable speed, the story of the illegal online narcotics bazaar The Silk Road and its recent seizure by the FBI has been hoovered up by Hollywood. 20th Century Fox and Peter Chernin's Chernin Entertainment have preemptively snapped up the rights to a news article by Joshua Davis, and no less a talent than Dennis Lehane has been set to work on the screenplay.The "dark web" Silk Road (named after the historic trade route) achieved rather more publicity than it would have liked when it was shut down earlier this month. The hidden site, only accessible to people using the anonymising browser Tor, was like an eBay for illegal substances: a place where you could buy heroin, cocaine and meth using the Bitcoin currency. It had almost a million registered clients and was run by the whimsically monikered Dread Pirate Roberts, who was fond of fublishing lengthy libertarian diatribes on the site.

Exclusive: 20th Century Fox and Chernin Entertainment have set best-selling author Dennis Lehane to script Silk Road, a fact-based tale taken from an article that Joshua Davis is writing for the Epic website, which is devoted to film-friendly longform journalism. It’s the true story of a young kid who was arrested for putting out a hit on the clients of the Silk Road, the illegal online bazaar he created where one could buy illegal goods including drugs or services like contract killings. Lehane wrote Shutter Island, Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone and Live By Night, which is Ben Affleck’s next directing effort at Warner Bros. Lehane also scripted Animal Rescue, the Chernin-produced Michael R. Roskam-directed drama for Fox Searchlight that stars Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace and James Gandolfini. Peter Chernin and Jenno Topping will produce along with Davis and Joshuah Bearman. Davis and Bearman are journalists who partnered in Epic,...

La Vida Robot has cast Big Time Rush star Carlos Pena as one of the leads. The Lionsgate and Pantelion Films English-language project is based on the true story of four undocumented Mexican-American high school students who form a robotics club and go up against MIT in the National Underwater Robotics Competition. George Lopez also stars in the project, which is being directed by Sean McNamara (Soul Surfer) from a script by Elissa Matsueda. The story is based on a Wired magazine piece by Joshua Davis. Principal photography is slated to begin in New Mexico in mid-October.

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On the heels of the breakout success of Pantelion‘s Spanish-language comedy Instructions Not Included, the feature venture between Lionsgate and Mexican media giant Televisa as well the companies’ TV studio South Shore have signed an overall film and TV deal with top Latino comedy actor George Lopez. Lionsgate is already in business with Lopez with Saint George, a 10/90 comedy series at FX. The first project under the new agreement is Pantelion Films’ English-language feature La Vida Robot, starring and produced by Lopez, which is slated to begin production in mid-October in New Mexico. It is based on Joshua Davis’ Wired magazine story about four undocumented Mexican-American teenagers from Phoenix who form a robotics team and, with $800, used car parts and a dream, they build an underwater robot that wins the national robotics competition taking down reigning champion MIT. Sean McNamara (Soul Surfer) is directing, with Lopez, Circle of Confusion’s David Alpert,...

Exclusive: Wme plans to tap into ideas and stories from 155-year-old The Atlantic magazine and digital properties like TheAtlanticWire to create opportunities across the film, television, and digital space. The Atlantic has a monthly audience of about 30 million across through its print, digital and live platforms. The mag that has published the likes of Updike, Twain and Hemingway continues to showcase writers like Ta-Nehisi Coates, who won this year’s National Magazine Award for Best Essay for “Fear Of A Black President”; James Fallows; Jeffrey Goldberg; Molly Ball; Alexis Madrigal; and Derek Thompson among others. Several articles have already been optioned for TV or film treatment including Anne-Marie Slaughter’s “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All” (July/August 2012), Kate Bolick’s “All The Single Ladies” (November 2011), Hanna Rosin’s “The End Of Men” (July/Aug 2010), Lori Gottlieb’s “Marry Him!” (March 2008), and Don Peck’s “How A New...

20th Century Fox has signed a two-year first-look deal with Epic, a new venture started by journalists Joshuah Bearman and Joshua Davis designed to use long-form investigative journalism as a starting point for movies, TheWrap has learned. Bearman wrote the Wired magazine story that served as the basis for Ben Affleck's Oscar-winning drama "Argo," while Davis' article about software pioneer John McAfee is being turned into a Warner Bros. movie by "Crazy Stupid Love" directors John Requa and Glenn Ficarra and "Big Eyes" writers Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski. Additionally, Sony and...

Exclusive: 20th Century Fox has made a two-year first-look pact with Epic, a fledgling online platform designed to be a catalyst for film-centric investigative longform journalism that had formerly been the domain of national magazines. The venture was launched by Joshua Davis and Joshuah Bearman, who between them have made 18 movie option deals for their magazine work, with another two in negotiation. Most memorably, Bearman wrote the Wired magazine story that became the basis for the Ben Affleck-directed Best Picture Oscar winner Argo; and I just wrote recently about Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski signing on to script a Warner Bros movie about software pioneer John McAfee for John Requa and Glenn Ficarra to direct, based on a Wired story written by Davis after he spent weeks with McAfee on his compound in the Belize jungle before the computer wiz was accused of killing a neighbor. After Davis and...

Deadline is reporting that Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski have signed on to write a biopic based on the life of John McAfee.

From Deadline:

McAfee got rich by creating anti-virus software for computers and marketing it cleverly enough that it widely became the program of choice for many corporations. The tone of the movie is essentially how an entrepreneur and former drug user whose fortune was built selling fear and paranoia, sold his estates and toys to build the equivalent of an armed compound in the Belize jungle and became consumed by the same kind of paranoia that others were out to get him.

McAfee was arrested on “suspicion of complicity in the death of a neighbor.” He claimed the neighbor complained about his dogs, which McAfee later found dead from apparent poisoning. McAfee’s neighbor was found dead later of an “execution style” gun shot wound to his head.

Exclusive: Warner Bros is making a deal with Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski to script the feature on John McAfee, which John Requa and Glenn Ficarra hope to direct and produce with Conde Nast Entertainment, McAfee is the eccentric Silicon Valley entrepreneur who sold multiple estates and his possessions to move to the Belize jungle, arm and fund his own private police force, and who was arrested for suspicion of complicity in the death of a neighbor. That neighbor had complained about McAfee’s barking dogs, which the entrepreneur said subsequently were fed poison and died. The neighbor was found shortly after, killed by an execution-style bullet to the head. The movie is based on John McAfee’s Last Stand, a deliciously detailed article for Wired Magazine written by Joshua Davis which the studio bought previously for Requa and Ficarra, who helmed Crazy, Stupid, Love for Warner Bros. Davis will also be a producer.

A John McAfee biopic is in the works at Warner Bros. Pictures, Deadline reports. Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski ( Ed Wood , Man on the Moon ) are said to be negotiating to supply the screenplay with the Crazy, Stupid, Love team of Glenn Ficarra and John Requa looking to direct. McAfee, an anti-virus software pioneer who made millions in Silicon Valley over the past two decades, sold off everything he owned and moved into a fortified compound in Belize. Late last year, McAfee became the subject of a police investigation regarding the murder of a man who feuded with McAfee over his dogs. The dogs were allegedly fed poison and died and the man was discovered dead some time later, murdered exeuction-style. This past March, Wired writer Joshua Davis published an article...

This story first appeared in the April 26 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Last May, journalist Joshua Davis embarked on a trip to Belize to interview eccentric software entrepreneur John McAfee for Wired magazine. Six months later, when local police revealed they were seeking to question McAfee in connection with the murder of his neighbor, Davis was still in touch with the now-wanted man. And Wired owner Conde Nast found itself sitting on one of the most sought-after stories of the year. “This is exactly why we were created,” says Conde Nast Entertainment Group president Dawn

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If you follow tech news at all, you've probably seen some wild stories involving software developer John McAfee (of McAfee Antivirus) unfold over the last couple of months. Murder accusations and drug charges led police to storm into McAfee's compound in Belize, and that's just the a small part of the sordid story. Writer Joshua Davis chronicled the entire saga at Wired Magazine, and now Variety reports that Warner Bros. thinks the story is fit for the big screen, setting Davis as a producer and hiring Crazy, Stupid, Love helmers John Requa and Glenn Ficarra as writers, directors, and producers on this untitled project. McAfee, 66, fled to Belize after losing millions in the economic collapse, and made international headlines when he ran from police to avoid being questioned about the murder of his neighbor, Gregory Viant Faull. You can read the entire detailed Wired article here, but the whole thing...

John McAfee has announced that he is writing a graphic novel about his life. The antivirus guru and former fugitive has returned to Portland to work on the venture with artist Chad Essley, Willamette Week has revealed. The news follows reports that Warner Bros is in final negotiations to acquire the feature film rights to Joshua Davis's recent Wired magazine article 'John McAfee's Last Stand'. McAfee, who founded the antivirus software company that (more)...

Tied to the widespread, sporadically successful anti-virus software, the name McAfee was for a long time thought to be just that: a lucrative company putting out a popular product. The past few years have altered that perception, however, as a searing wave of outlandish antics tied to founder John McAfee have just come to light, a development that Hollywood naturally wants to see brought to the big screen. Variety reports John Requa and Glenn Ficarra -- the writing/directing team behind the smash hit “Crazy, Stupid, Love” and the upcoming comedy “Focus” -- have been tapped by WB to bring McAfee's story to the screen under the same positions. Based on writer Joshua Davis' engrossing and completely deserving Wired article on the British-American developer, "John McAfee's Last Stand," the film will focus largely not on his early programming success, but rather his recent eccentric activities in the country of Belize.

The last time Warner Bros. took inspiration from a Wired magazine article and used it as the fuel for a film, the result was the critical, commercial and now award-winning hit Argo. So it’s not surprising to see the studio mining the magazine’s pages for another intriguing tale, the mad true story of antivirus program pioneer John McAfee. Crazy, Stupid, Love directing team John Requa and Glenn Ficarra are on board to co-write, direct and produce the eventual film based on Joshua Davis’ recent article through their own company, Zaftig Films.McAfee, now 66, once worked as a Nasa programmer, but parlayed his software skills to develop the first commercial antivirus program (users might know it best for its endless demands to be updated). So far, so standard. But then it gets truly odd.McAfee sold his stock in McAfee Associations in 1994 for a rich sum and since then...

Warner Bros is planning to make a movie about software entrepreneur John McAfee. The studio is reportedly in final negotiations to acquire the feature film rights to Joshua Davis's recent Wired magazine article 'John McAfee's Last Stand'. McAfee, who founded the antivirus software company that bears his name, hit the headlines back in November when it was revealed that he was wanted for the murder of Gregory Faull in Belize. He went on the run before being arrested in a Guatemala hotel, hospitalised with chest pains and deported (more)...

The ongoing story of John McAfee, the inventor of the McAfee anti-virus, is getting the big-screen treatment. Warner Bros has picked up the rights to Wired magazine article John McAfee’s Last Stand written by Joshua Davis, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. The filmmakers behind the studio’s Crazy, Stupid, Love, John Requa and Glenn Ficarra, will adapt the article. Story: Computer Billionaire, a Refugee in Murder Case, Tells of Wild Disguises in New Blog Requa and Ficarra will write, direct and produce. Also producing are Wired publisher Conde Nast Entertainment and Davis. McAfee was an anti-virus pioneer -- his name

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Internet Explorer has always been a little on the clunky side--until now. As we explained earlier, one of the ways Internet Explorer 9 challenges its competitors is by supporting HTML5 (the latest version of HTML) and all the immersive app-like features that come with it. Combined with Microsoft's new Javascript engine, dubbed Chakra, the latest iteration of is IE9 is--dare we say it--sleek and speedy. It's easy to see, then, how Microsoft attracted big-name development partners like eBay, Twitter, and Orbitz. But why would design-oriented sites want to get in on IE9?

Developers already speak [HTML]. By adding app-like capabilities, creativity explodes. "There are fewer inhibitors, fewer boundaries," says Sam Moreau, the User Experience Director for Internet Explorer.

That lack of boundaries is what inspired The Killers to optimize their new website for IE9. "For some time there's been an internal debate about having the website that the band envisions with Flash-type functionality,...

Jj Abrams picks up the rights to a real-life heist story, and ropes in Phil Alden Robinson to scribble a script...

Heat. The Italian Job. Reservoir Dogs. You can't beat a good heist movie. Even lesser examples of the genre are packed with entertainment. The Score may not have been a classic, but there was much to enjoy in Edward Norton's performance as the bratty thief and Marlon Brando's final acting role before his death in 2004.

As the final season of Lost closes, J.J Abrams has announced that his production company, Bad Robot, has secured the rights a Wired Magazine article by writer Joshua Davis called The Untold Story of the World's Biggest Diamond Heist, the true story of how, in 2003, thief Leonardo Notarbartolo and his gang managed to break into the Antwerp Diamond Centre in Belgium to steal $100 million of diamonds and jewellery.

According to Heat Vision,...

Franco Rises with the Apes: And here I thought James Franco was managing his career quite well following the horrible Spider-Man series of films with films such as Milk and Howl and solid comedic performances in Pineapple Express and Date Night. So why would he want to star in 20th Century Fox's Rise of the Apes? Sure, it's a payday, but it seems like such a large step backwards in his career. The prequel to Planet of the Apes is set in present day San Francisco and deals with the aftermath of man's experiments with genetic engineering that lead to the development of intelligence in apes and the onset of a war for supremacy. Franco will play a driven scientist who becomes a crucial figure in the war between humans and apes. Rupert Wyatt is directing the feature, which begins filming on July 5 for a June 24, 2011 release. [Variety]

Watson and Lerman...