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Screenreveals a snapshot of the latest high-end TV and film productions shooting in the UK for the big studios and streamers.

Pleasecontact us hereto add or update changes to the following or new productions taking place in the UK.

Films

UntitledAlejandro G Iñárritu film

Plot under wraps.

Dir:Alejandro G Iñárritu

Prod: Warner Bros, Legendary Entertainment

Where:uk

When:November-ongoing

Distributor: Warner Bros

Cast:Tom Cruise,Sandra Hüller, John Goodman,

The Running Man

A man competes in a deadly gameshow where he must outrun professional killers over 30 days.

Dir:Edgar Wright

Prod:Edgar Wright,Simon Kinberg and Nira Park

Where:London

When:November-ongoing

Distributor:Paramount

Cast:Glen Powell,...

Filming has begun in Scotland on Big Beach’s adaptation of Borges And Me starring Fionn Whitehead, Luis Gnecco, and Alan Cumming.

Marc Turtletaub directs from a screenplay by Oren Moverman in which the memoir’s author Jay Parini finds himself stuck in a Morris Minor chauffeuring the brilliant, blind Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges through Scotland in 1970.

As a young student, Parini harbours dreams of becoming a writer and struggles to make sense of the 70-year-old, irrepressible Borges, until events take a surreal turn, leading the men to a place where they find common ground. The cast includes Peter Mullan and Harriet Sansom Harris.

Fionn Whitehead and Luis Gnecco are set to star in Borges and Me, an adaptation of Jay Parini’s memoir of his 1970s journey through the Scottish Highlands with renowned Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges. Parini is best known for his historical novel The Last Station, which was adapted as an Oscar-nominated feature by Michael Hoffman in 2009.

Dunkirk actor Whitehead, fresh off his performance as Pip opposite Olivia Colman’s Miss Havisham in the FX/BBC production of Great Expectations, will play Parini, with Chilean-Italian Gnecco, best known for his roles in Neruda, No, and A Fantastic Woman, as Borges. The cast also includes Alan Cumming, Peter Mullan, and Harriet Sansom Harris.

In Borges and Me, Parini, a 23-year-old shy student who dreams of becoming a writer, finds himself stuck in chauffeuring the brilliant, blind Borges, aged 70, through Scotland. At first, Parini is at a loss to make sense of the wild,...

Emmy Rossum and Zoë Winters will star in the Off-Broadway play Walden this fall.

The play, written by Amy Berryman and directed by Whitney White, will play the Tony Kiser Theater starting Oct. 16, before an opening night of Nov. 7.

Walden is set in the “near future,” and follows Stella (played by Rossum), with her fiancé Bryan in tow, as she reunites with her estranged twin sister, Cassie (Winters), in a remote cabin. While both were raised by their father to be NASA scientists, only Cassie has followed that path. The two clash over old conflicts, as well as the decision whether to remain on earth or pursue life in space.

The play marks Rossum’s Off-Broadway debut. Best known for her role as Fiona Gallagher on Shameless, Rossum has also starred as Christine in the film adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera, in addition to films such as The Day After Tomorrow,...

Some Luchino Visconti grandeur in Austin Stark and Joseph Schuman’s Coup! with Jay Horton (Billy Magnussen) and his wife Julie (Sarah Gadon) In Austin Stark and Joseph Schuman’s fleet-footed Coup! (which had its world premiere at the 2023 Venice Film Festival), shot by Conor Murphy, with costumes by Stacy Jansen (Marc Turtletaub’s Jules) and a score by Nathan Halpern (Chloé Zhao’s The Rider), starring Peter Sarsgaard, Billy Magnussen and Sarah Gadon with Skye P Marshall, Faran Tahir, Kristine Nielsen, Willa Dunn, Callum Vinson, and Fisher Stevens as Upton Sinclair, the Spanish Flu of 1918 turns a well-established world inside out.

We start out by discussing how the global events of 1918 correlate with the present, the mystery of a missing finger left on the cutting room floor, pacifism and vegetarianism. We move on to nods to F Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, George Bernard Shaw and Upton Sinclair,...

Celine Song’s “Materialists” has rounded out its cast with Zoë Winters (“Succession”), Dasha Nekrasova, Louisa Jacobson (“The Gilded Age”) and Marin Ireland (“Eileen”).

The A24 feature starring Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans and Pedro Pascal is described as a New York-set rom-com following a high-end matchmaker who gets involved with a wealthy man. Further details on the plot and the roles of Johnson, Evans and Pascal have not been disclosed.

Winters is best known for her role as Logan Roy’s calculating and confident assistant (and paramour) Kerry on the HBO’s Emmy-winner “Succession.” She and the cast received a 2022 and 2024 SAG Award for best drama ensemble.

Winters’ other film and television credits include “Flatbush Misdemeanors,” “Hunters” and Marc Turtletaub’s feature “Jules,” in which she stars opposite Ben Kingsley. A longtime New York stage actor, Winters appeared in “Heroes of the Fourth Turning” at Playwrights Horizons, for which she...

Big Beach, the producer of “Little Miss Sunshine,” A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” and “The Farewell,” has fully relocated from New York to Los Angeles while building out its ranks.

Keetin Mayakara has been tapped by Big Beach as a producer. As a post producer, she has worked on the Oscar-winning documentary “Free Solo,” and most recently, “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed,” another Academy Award nominee. Before joining Big Beach, Mayakara co-produced the “The Year of the Everlasting Storm,” which premiered at Cannes Film Festival, and produced Season 2 of HBO’s “Random Acts of Flyness.”

Austin Cottle joins the company as its head of finance after starting his career at 20th Century Fox with stints in-house at Netflix and Amazon, as well as on the show side where he oversaw “How to Become a Tyrant” for Netflix and “The Heart of Sergio Ramos” for Prime Video.

Zoe Levine...

As a widower with dementia, no one believes a UFO has crashed in Milton’s back yard or that he’s caring for an extraterrestrial – until his neighbours find out

Screenwriter Gavin Steckler and director Marc Turtletaub have given us this goofy, likable new twist on Et. In the Mathison/Spielberg classic from 1982, the visiting extraterrestrial found safety within the secret world of children, whose existence is beneath the grownups’ notice. Now the space alien finds himself protected by old people, who are used to being patronised and ignored.

Chief among the alien’s allies is Milton, played by Ben Kingsley, an ageing widower in whose back garden his spaceship crash-lands, and who, with instinctive neighbourly kindness, welcomes the mute, hairless naked interplanetary creature into his house. Milton has dementia, and so when he tells locals that he is having to get extra food in for the alien, no one...

Exclusive: Bleecker Street has acquired the U.S. rights to TIFF standout One Life, the James Hawes-directed drama that stars Anthony Hopkins, Johnny Flynn, Lena Olin, Romola Garai, Alex Sharp, Marthe Keller, with Jonathan Pryce and Helena Bonham Carter. Scripted by Lucinda Coxon and Nick Drake, the film is a production of See-Saw Films, which developed it alongside BBC Film. Bleecker Street is planning a 2024 theatrical release.

Based on the Barbara Winton book If It’s Not Impossible…: The Life of Sir Nicholas Winton, One Life tells the true story of Nicholas “Nicky” Winton (Flynn), a young London broker who visits Prague in December 1938. In a race against time, Winton convinces Trevor Chadwick (Sharp) and Doreen Warriner (Garai) of the British Committee for Refugees in Czechoslovakia to rescue as many children as possible before the Nazis close the borders. Fifty years later, Nicky (Hopkins) is haunted by the...

"Jules" is a new science fiction comedy feature directed by Marc Turtletaub, starring Ben Kingsley, Harriet Sansom Harris, Zoë Winters, Jade Quon and Jane Curtin, now streaming on AppleTV:

"...'Milton Robinson' is a widower living on his own. He frequently attends city council meetings and receives help from his daughter. One day, a 'UFO' lands in his backyard and a small humanoid alien crawls out. He attempts to get help, calling the police and his daughter, and bringing it up at the city council meeting but is brushed off as senile. 

" Milton brings the alien, who is uncommunicative, inside and treats him as a guest, providing the alien with a tray of assorted food but discovering that the alien only drinks water and eats apples. 'Sandy', an acquaintance, stops by and discovers the alien, telling Milton that they should keep it a secret for its own safety. 'Joyce',...

Jules is a sci-fi comedy-drama film directed by Marc Turtletaub from a screenplay by Gavin Steckler. The sci-fi film follows the story of an old man who lives a quiet life but his life gets upended when a UFO crashed into his backyard and an alien becomes his houseguest. Soon, his quiet life gets thrown into chaos as his nosy neighbors get involved in his life and the government closes in on the alien’s location. Jules stars the always brilliant Ben Kingsley in the lead role with Jane Curtin, Harriet Sansom Harris, and Zoe Winters taking on supporting roles. So, if you loved Jules here are some similar movies for you to check out next.

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (Rent on Prime Video) Credit – Universal Pictures

Synopsis: Journey back to the magic and adventure of “one of the great American films” (Leonard Maltin) with E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial,...

Distributor plans nationwide theatrical release.

Bleecker Street has acquired US rights to Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s Tribeca sci-fi thriller I.S.S. starring West Side Story Oscar winner Ariana DeBose.

Ld Entertainment produced the story about an American and Russian team aboard the International Space Station whose astronauts are ordered to take control of the craft at any cost after geopolitical tensions erupt on Earth.

Bleecker plans a nationwide theatrical release on an unspecified date.

Nick Shafir wrote the screenplay and the cast includes Chris Messina, Pilou Asbæk, John Gallagher Jr, Costa Ronin, and Masha Mashkova.

Ld Entertainment’s Mickey Liddell...

After world premiering to critical acclaim at the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival, Ld Entertainment’s sci-fi thriller I.S.S. starring West Side Story Oscar winner Ariana DeBose has been picked up for U.S. release by Bleecker Street. The film directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite from Nick Shafir’s script will hit theaters nationwide at a date that has not been disclosed.

I.S.S. marks Bleecker’s second collaboration with Cowperthwaite following 2017’s Megan Leavey, and its fourth with Ld, which in addition to that true-life military drama, produced their films Anthropoid and Teen Spirit from Sean Ellis and Max Minghella, respectively. The film follows two crews of scientists — one group American, the other Russian — aboard the International Space Station, as they conduct research towards the betterment of humanity. Soon, however, international tensions on Earth escalate in unpredictable ways and the teams are commanded to take control...

Jailer, the Tamil-language action thriller with one of India’s most enduring stars, blasted off to circa $2.56 million on 450 screens, hitting the top ten at the box office this weekend, according to Comscore.

Bollywood (Hindi), Tollywood (Telugu) and Kollywood (Tamil) pics, which open day-and-date in India, occasionally cross over to general audience, especially following the Rrr global phenomenon last year. Even when they don’t, Indian communities Stateside turn out loyally en masse the first weekend, the more hype and better the reviews locally, the bigger the box office here. The first week is usually the bulk of the run, making way for the next group of titles. There are always a handful premiering each week and they have long been a boon to exhibitors. That was notable during the Covid recovery and will be even more so if the Hollywood actors’ and writers’ strikes continue to impact the release calendar.

"Remember the spaceship? This is the little man who came out of it." There he is, just sitting there. Eating apples. Saying nothing, doing nothing, watching Milton all day long. What an odd little film. There's a new sci-fi dramedy playing in theaters now called Jules, made by director Marc Turtletaub. It's not as wacky or as weird as it sounds, instead it's a rather wholesome, heartfelt film about lonely elderly people in a small town. Ben Kingsley stars as Milton Robinson, an old man starting to forget things, who befriends this little blue alien. At its core, it's yet another film about how lonely elderly people are and how much they just need a friend and just need someone to spend their time with. There's really not much more to it than that. The story is incredibly light and, aside from introducing G-men coming after them to find and arrest the alien,...

Releases keep coming but talent is not comfortable promoting films, even indies, even if productions have waivers or don’t need them. Where that’s leading isn’t clear. “Who’s going to take the plunge first? We’ll see. The festivals will be the big test,” said one independent distribution exec.

From a moderate release like Jules, in nearly 800 theaters, to Sundance-premiering The Pod Generation, starring Emilia Clarke and Chiwetel Ejiofor on 100 screens, to French film Between Two Worlds with Juliette Binoche, opening on two screens this weekend, stars were not comfortable stepping out amid strikes. The WGA and AMPTP resume bargaining today for the first time in over three months. SAG-AFTRA remains in a standoff with studios over deteriorating pay and working conditions for its members.

“We got an interim agreement because [Jules] is an independent film. And yet, I think the actors…even within the interim agreement,...

(L-r) Jane Curtin as Joyce, Harriet Harris as Sandy, Ben Kingsley as Milton and Jade Quon as Jules, in Jules. Courtesy of Bleecker Street

A reclusive older man (Ben Kingsley), who has built his small-town daily routine around complaints about pedestrian safety at the town council meetings, has his routine upended when a flying saucer lands in his backyard, in director Marc Turtletaub’s dramedy Jules. Although sci fi is part of the premise, the real focus and strength of this whimsical, warm comedy Jules is an exploration of friendship in late life and aging generally, and the fine acting ensemble of Kingsley, Harriet Sansom Harris and Jane Curtin.

Milton (Kingsley) is more upset that the flying saucer took out his flower garden than he is surprised to find a spaceship in his backyard. With get-off-my-grass outrage, he calls the authorities to report the spaceship but gets the real world response you would expect: disbelief.

“Jules” is a new science fiction comedy feature directed by Marc Turtletaub, starring Ben Kingsley, Harriet Sansom Harris, Zoë Winters, Jade Quon and Jane Curtin , releasing August 11, 2023 in theaters:

“…a man's quiet life gets upended when a ‘UFO’ crashes in his backyard in rural Pennsylvania.

“As he befriends the mysterious extraterrestrial, things start to get complicated when two neighbors discover it and the government quickly closes in…”

Click the images to enlarge…...

There are two new wide or semi-wide releases this weekend, “The Last Voyage of the Demeter” and “Jules,” but how many moviegoers will actually buy tickets with so many other stronger contenders still in theaters? Read on for Gold Derby’s box office preview.

Before we get to the new movies this week, we probably should address the “Barbenheimer” in the room. There’s very little doubt that “Barbie” can pull off a rare fourth weekend at #1 with upwards of $32 million or more after holding up so well against “Meg 2” and the “Ninja Turtles” this past weekend. Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” also has a good chance at reclaiming second place, since it’s likely to have a smaller drop-off this weekend than both of last week’s new movies.

See Box office: ‘Barbie’ crosses $400 million mark in less than 3 weeks

“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” was just two million...

To watch Marc Turtletaub’s “Jules” — a middlebrow dramedy starring Ben Kingsley as a widowed, half-senile eccentric so desperate for someone to care about him that he casually befriends the alien who crashes into his backyard — is to be reminded that truly strange movies have become hard to find. These days, a film this unusual is about as rare as a call from Milton’s estranged son, who hasn’t phoned home in several years.

Not that “Jules” would seem all that bizarre just by looking at it. On the contrary, this modest late summer whatsit looks and feels just like a million other milquetoast charmers aimed at audiences of a certain age, what with its reassuringly nice score and endless array of conflict-avoidant medium shots. The difference here is that those medium shots feature Sir Ben Kingsley sitting on a couch next to a silent and seemingly naked extraterrestrial...

If it’s true that youth is wasted on the young, then so are friendly aliens.

Sure, the kids in E.T. had a great time with their pint-sized buddy from another planet, and so have countless other children in family-themed sci-fi films over the years. But it’s about time that seniors get in on the fun, and there’s plenty of it in Marc Turtletaub’s whimsical sci-fi dramedy that’s as much about the burdens and loneliness of old age as it is about extraterrestrial bonding. Featuring sterling performances from an uncharacteristically underplaying Ben Kingsley alongside Harriet Sansom Harris and Jane Curtin, Jules emerges as a low-key delight.

Set in the sort of western Pennsylvanian town that has clearly seen better days, the story revolves around 78-year-old Milton (Kingsley), who lives alone and whose early signs of dementia are made evident by his repeated verbatim requests at...

Jules director Marc Turtletaub with Anne-Katrin Titze on Ben Kingsley: “This is not a way we’ve ever seen Sir Ben before.”

Marc Turtletaub’s otherworldly Jules, written by Gavin Steckler, shot by Christopher Norr and scored by Volker Bertelmann (Oscar for Best Original Score of Edward Berger’s All Quiet On The Western Front), stars Ben Kingsley with Harriet Sansom Harris, Jane Curtin, Zoë Winters, and Jade Quon as the title character. The first time I spoke with Marc Turtletaub he was with Kelly Macdonald, star of his Puzzle (screenplay co-written by Oren Moverman) at Sony Pictures Classics. His producer credits include Jeff Nichols’ Loving (based in part on Nancy Buirski's The Loving Story), Marielle Heller’s A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood, Davy Rothbart’s 17 Blocks, as executive producer Robin Wright’s Land, and an Oscar nomination for Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton’s Little Miss Sunshine.

Ben Kingsley, who likes to go to extremes, has played his share of frowningly overcivilized repressed geeks and also his share of seething walking-id maniacs. But for all of Kingsley’s dexterous light-and-dark range, it’s still rare to see him take on a character as painfully mild as Milton, the small-town codger he plays in “Jules.”

Milton, who is 78, lives by himself in a handsome dark-shingled house in Boonton, Penn. In the opening scene, he takes one of his long slow walks through town, then stands up at the open-mic forum in front of the Boonton city council, where he suggests changing the town motto from “A great place to call home” to “A great place to refer to as home.” He’s that kind of harmless eccentric fuddy-duddy with maybe a screw or two coming loose. The following week, he attends another city council meeting, where he stands...

Bleecker Street has dropped the new trailer for their upcoming sci-fi comedy Jules. The film stars Ben Kingsley, Harriet Sansom Harris (Licorice Pizza), Jane Curtin, Zoe Winters (“Succession”) and Jade Quon (a Hollywood stuntwoman).

Directed by Marc Turtletaub (Puzzle), Jules stars Kingsley as Milton, a man who lives a quiet life of routine in a small western Pennsylvania town, but finds his day upended when a UFO and its extra-terrestrial passenger crash land in his backyard. Before long, Milton develops a close relationship with the extra-terrestrial he calls “Jules.” Things become complicated when two neighbors (Samson Harris and Curtin) discover Jules and the government quickly closes in. What follows is a funny, wildly inventive ride as the three neighbors find meaning and connection later in life – thanks to this unlikely stranger.

Jules had its world premiere at the 2023 Sonoma International Film Festival, where it was the opening night film and...

Ron Howard’s 1985 classic “Cocoon” was “E.T.” for an older generation in many ways. And every generation needs an update on a tried and true classic, right? Well, that could be the new film “Jules” about a UFO and extra-terrestrial that disrupts the lives of the elderly.

Read More: Summer 2023 Movie Preview: 52 Must-See Films To Watch

When an elderly man in a small town receives an unexpected visitor, his life and the lives of two women in his community are upended completely in this delightful comedic drama, “Jules,” directed by Marc Turtletaub.

Continue reading ‘Jules’ Trailer: Ben Kingsley’s Life Is Upended By A UFO & An Extra-Terrestrial at The Playlist.

"You've seen the movies, you know what happens to these guys when they fall to Earth." Bleecker Street has revealed the first official trailer for Jules, a sci-fi indie comedy from filmmaker Marc Turtletaub, best known for his charming film Puzzle from a few years ago. This recently premiered at the Sonoma Film Festival and will be playing in theaters nationwide starting in August before the summer is over. An unusual and unexpected visitor brings together several people living in a small town in rural Western Pennsylvania. A lonely older man befriends a mute alien visitor. Described as "a funny, wildly inventive ride as the three neighbors find meaning and connection later in life - thanks to this unlikely stranger." The film stars Ben Kingsley, Harriet Sansom Harris, Zoe Winters, Jane Curtin, Donald Paul, Jeff Kim, with Jade Quon as Jules. This looks surprisingly charming, with a cute lil' blue man alien in it.

Signature Entertainment has acquired the U.K. and Irish rights to Protagonist Pictures’ sci-fi comedy Jules, starring Oscar winner Ben Kingsley (Sexy Beast).

The film is led by Kingsley and also stars Harriet Sansom Harris (Licorice Pizza), Jane Curtin (Can You Ever Forgive Me?) and Zoe Winters (Succession).

The feature was produced by Deborah Liebling (65) and Andy Daly (Review), Michael B. Clark and Alex Turtletaub (The Miseducation of Cameron Post), and Oscar nominee Marc Turtletaub (Little Miss Sunshine), who also directed the project from a script written by Gavin Steckler (Review).

The movie focuses on Milton (Kingsley) who lives in a small town and is getting more forgetful and isolated with age. “When an extra-terrestrial crash lands in his backyard, destroying his beloved birdbath, the two form an unlikely bond,” according to a plot description.

Bleecker Street previously acquired the North American rights to the feature.

The deal for the U.

Protagonist will screen comedy at London Screenings this month.

Protagonist Pictures has closed key international territories on UFO comedy Jules, starring Ben Kingsley.

Directed by Marc Turtletaub and written by Gavin Steckler, Jules has sold to Neue Visionen for Germany, Austria and Switzerland; Front Row Filmed Entertainment for the Middle East; Siyah Beyaz Film for Turkey; Madman Entertainment for Australia and New Zealand and Leda films for Latin America.

Jules will be released theatrically by Bleecker Street in North America in August. Protagonist will screen the comedy at the London Screenings later this month.

Jules premiered at California’s Sonoma International Film Festival,...

The event showcases UK titles and UK sales companies to mainly European buyers.

Animated features Kensuke’s Kingdom, an adaptation of a Michael Morpurgo novel directed by Neil Boyle and Kirk Hendry.and sold by Bankside, and Tim Harper’s Ozi - Voice Of The Forest, about an orphan orangutang, that is produced by Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way and sold by Gfm, are among the high-profile projects that will screen to distributors at this year’s London Screenings.

The three-day event will take place at Picturehouse Central in Piccadilly Circus from June 19 - 21 2023,

UK and international sales companies will be...

Across The River And Into The Trees, the long-awaited Ernest Hemingway adaptation starring Liev Schreiber (Spotlight), Matilda De Angelis (The Undoing), Josh Hutcherson (The Kids Are All Right) and Danny Huston (The Aviator), has set North American release plans with Bleecker Street. The film based on the last full-length novel published by Hemingway in his lifetime, which award-winner Paula Ortiz (The Bride) directed, will bow exclusively in theaters this fall.

Adapted for the screen by BAFTA Award winner Peter Flannery (The Devil’s Mistress), Across the River follows Richard Cantwell (Schreiber), an American Army Colonel in post-wwii Italy. Haunted by the war, Cantwell is a bona fide hero who faces news of his illness with stoic disregard. Determined to spend a weekend in quiet solitude, he commandeers a military driver to facilitate a visit to his old haunts in Venice. As Cantwell’s plans begin to unravel, a chance encounter with...

Bleecker Street has nabbed North American rights to first-time feature director Andrew Cumming’s Stone Age-set horror thriller The Origin.

The film from Sony Pictures’ Stage 6 had its world premiere at the 2022 BFI London Film Festival and was nominated for five British Independent Film Awards, winning one in the best breakthrough performance category for Safia Oakley-Green (Sherwood, Extraordinary). The script was written by Ruth Greenberg (Run), with Escape Plan Productions’ Oliver Kassman (Saint Maud) producing.

Bleecker Street is planning a fall/winter theatrical release, it unveiled on Tuesday as the Cannes Film Festival market was set to open.

Set more than 45,000 years in the past, the movie tells the story of a gang of early humans who band together in search of a new land. “When they suspect a malevolent, mystical, being is hunting them down, the clan is forced to confront a horrifying danger they never imagined,” according to a plot description.

Exclusive: Zoë Winters, best known for her role as Logan Roy’s calculating assistant Kerry Castellabate on HBO’s Succession, has signed with Anonymous Content.

Winters first appeared in Season 2 of Succession. Viewers may have initially dismissed Kerry as another of Logan’s mistresses, but she soon established herself as a key player within the Waystar Royco machine. In the beginning of Season 4, Kerry had been gunning for an anchor position at the company’s news division, Atn.

Kerry has been missing from the action since Logan’s death, after she showed up at his penthouse unannounced and was unceremoniously dismissed by his wife, Marcia. It remains to be seen whether she’ll make another appearance as the final season enters its third act.

Winters can next be seen in...

Marc Turtletaub directs, cast also includes Harriet Sansom Harris, Succession’s Zoe Winters and Jane Curtin.

UK sales, finance and production outfit Protagonist Pictures has picked up international sales rights to US filmmaker Marc Turtletaub’s completed UFO comedy Jules.

Ben Kingsley stars alongside Licorice Pizza actor Harriet Sansom Harris, Succession’s Zoe Winters and Jane Curtin.

Protagonist Pictures is launching sales at Cannes. Bleecker Street will release the film theatrically in North America this August.

Kingsley plays a man whose quiet life in a small western Pennsylvania town is upended when a UFO and its alien passenger crashes land in his backyard.

Bleecker Street has acquired the North American rights to the Ben Kingsley-led sci-fi comedy Jules.

Director Marc Turtletaub’s pic, which debuted and won the Stolman Audience Award for best feature at the Sonoma Film Festival, will get an exclusive release in theaters on Aug. 11.

Jules follows Milton, played by Kingsley, who lives a quiet life but finds his day upended when a UFO and its extra-terrestrial passenger crash land in his backyard. Before long, Milton develops a close relationship with the extra-terrestrial he calls Jules, and life become complicated when two neighbors discover Jules and the government quickly closes in.

Jules culminates with the three neighbors finding meaning and connection later in life, thanks to the unlikely stranger they meet. The film also stars Harriet Sansom Harris, Zoe Winters, Jade Quon and Jane Curtin.

Written by Gavin Steckler, Jules is produced by Debbie Liebling, Andy Daly and Michael B. Clark.

The 2023 Nantucket Film Festival, running June 21-26, with kick off with four films on its opening day lineup. For the 12th consecutive year, a Disney and Pixar movie will open the festival with “Elemental,” which premieres in May at the Cannes International Film Festival.

Also on Day 1 are Sophie Barthes’ “The Pod Generation,” coming off stops at Sundance and Sarasota — Barthes will also receive the inaugural Maria Mitchell Visionary Award for the film; SXSW-premiere documentary “Joan Baez I am a Noise,” with Baez herself in attendance; and Austrian documentary “Patrick and the Whale,” which premiered at TIFF 2022.

Recent Bleecker Street acquisition “Jules,” starring Ben Kingsley, Harriet Sansom Harris, and Jane Curtin, will be the closing-night film.

Guests announced to be in attendance include Michaela Watkins (“You Hurt My Feelings”), Allison Williams (“M3GAN”), Lola Tung (“The Summer I Turned Pretty”), Graham Greene (“Dances with Wolves”), and Julio Torres (“Problemista”).

Other films...

Bleecker Street has acquired the North American rights to “Jules” from director Marc Turtletaub (“Puzzle”) and starring Ben Kingsley, Harriet Sansom Harris, Zoe Winters, Jade Quon and Jane Curtin.

Written by Gavin Steckler (“Review”), “Jules” made its world premiere at this year’s Sonoma International Film Festival where it was the opening night film and won the Stolman Audience Award for Best Feature. Bleecker Street will release the film in theaters on August 11.

“Jules” follows Milton (Kingsley) who lives a quiet life of routine in a small western Pennsylvania town, but finds his day upended when a UFO and its extra-terrestrial passenger crash land in his backyard. Before long, Milton develops a close relationship with the extra-terrestrial he calls “Jules.”

However, things become complicated when two neighbors (Harris and Curtin) discover Jules and the government quickly closes in. What follows is a funny, wildly inventive ride as the three neighbors...

Exclusive theatrical release set for August 11.

Bleecker Street has acquired North American rights to Marc Turtletaub’s sci-fi comedy Jules starring Ben Kingsley and has set an August 11 exclusive theatrical release.

The film follows Milton (Kingsley) whose quiet life in a small western Pennsylvania town is upended when a UFO and its alien passenger crashes land in his backyard.

Milton develops a close relationship with the extra-terrestrial, whom he calls Jules, and things get complicated when two neighbours discover Jules and the government starts to close in. Harriet Sansom Harris, Zoe Winters, Jade Quon, and Jane Curtin star.

Gavin Steckler...

Bleecker Street has picked up North American rights to the sci-fi comedy Jules, starring Academy Award winner Ben Kingsley (Gandhi), Emmy nominee Harriet Sansom Harris (Licorice Pizza) and two-time Emmy winner Jane Curtin (3rd Rock from the Sun), slating it for an exclusive theatrical release on August 11th.

The film will contend on its opening weekend with Sony’s Gran Turismo, the Uni horror Last Voyage of the Demeter and Luca Guadagnino’s Uar tennis drama Challengers with Zendaya, Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist, with Paramount, Nickelodeon and Point Grey’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem to be among the likely holdovers following its launch the weekend prior.

Directed by Marc Turtletaub (Puzzle) from a script by Gavin Steckler (Review), Jules tells the story of Milton (Kingsley), who lives a quiet life of routine in a small western Pennsylvania town, but finds his day upended when a UFO and...

Launching with the opening night world premiere of Marc Turtletaub’s “Jules,” a crowdpleaser sales title starring Ben Kingsley, the 26th annual Sonoma International Film Festival (March 22-26) drew its highest audience attendance to date. The wine country film festival combined a robust film slate programmed by newly appointed artistic director Carl Spence (working with Executive Director Ginny Krieger), from upcoming specialty fare like Paul Schrader’s “The Master Gardener,” starring Joel Edgerton and Sigourney Weaver, and Searchlight’s period biopic “Chevalier,” starring Kelvin Harrison Jr., with a smattering of yummy wine and food events with top chefs, from Martin Yan’s Shaking Beef with Three Onions to Joanne Weir’s herb-covered goat cheese tarte.

The five-day festival curated by Spence along with senior programmers Amanda Salazar and Ken Jacobson, showcased 110 films, including seven films making their US premieres as well as films acclaimed on the festival circuit. Thirty-two countries...

In 1982, the same year Sir Ben Kingsley won his Best Actor Oscar for Gandhi, the year’s other big movie was Steven Spielberg’s E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial. Now, 40 years later, Kingsley has found his own E.T., a sort of combination of that classic with a bit of Cocoon, and perhaps The Father. But Jules, the new dramedy having its world premiere on opening night of the Sonoma Film Festival, marches to its own sweet beat, and represents yet another game attempt to bring that older adult audience back to theaters. A smart distributor should take a close look.

Directed by industry veteran producer and director Marc Turtletaub and written by Gavin Steckler, this slight but engaging, even quirky little film, is a crowd-pleaser that presents Kingsley with a role that fits like a glove, and one we haven’t seen him often do, especially with a full head of hair.

Sir Ben Kingsley, 79, has one foot planted in Beverly Hills, the other in Oxfordshire, England — nearly 200 miles southeast of his native Lancashire, where he was raised by his British model and actress mom and his father, a Kenyan-born family doctor of Indian descent.

“[Oxfordshire] is more Shakespeare country,” Kingsley said on the phone. “The Cotswold Hills, limestone hills that run through the center of the British Isles across the Channel into France. It looks like Normandy. Our house looks rather French, a petite château. It looks like it should be on a wine label.”

Wine is front and center, per usual, at this year’s Sonoma International Film Festival, where Kingsley is attending the world premiere of “Jules,” from director Marc Turtletaub and writer Gavin Steckler. In this sci-fi heart-tugger with a senior twist, Kingsley delicately portrays elderly Pennsylvania suburbanite Milton. He’s losing control of his memory, so no one...

Director Benjamin Millepied’s “Carmen,” a musical starring Paul Mescal, will have its West Coast premiere March 25 at the 2023 Sonoma International Film Festival (Siff).

Another debut set to take place during the five-day festival is the world premiere of “Jules,” with director Marc Turtletaub and stars Ben Kingsley and Jane Curtin planning to make an appearance for the occasion. The screening will kick off the opening night of the festival on March 22.

Capping off the event are closing night films “The Eight Mountains,” which received a grand jury prize after its Cannes premiere, and Stephen Williams’ “Chevalier.”

Including the seven U.S. premieres slated for the festival, this year’s lineup features 110 films representative of 32 countries. In total, 38 narrative features, 20 documentary features and 52 short films were selected by the festival curators.

“For my first edition at the Sonoma International Film Festival, with a new curatorial team in place, we aimed...

It's hard not to love "Little Miss Sunshine." Sure, some aspects might not have aged as well as others, but you can't deny the earnestness and genuine love felt throughout every second of the movie. Made right in the middle of indie filmmaking's mumblecore movement, it seems like a time capsule of a very special time in American film, where you didn't necessarily need a big star producer or director to make your movie; just a good story.

However, it definitely took a while for the movie as we know it to take shape. According to the introduction of the published shooting script, screenwriter Michael Arndt started the first draft of the script all the way back in 2000, finally completing it in 2001. After he abandoned the idea of shooting it himself on a microbudget, he teamed up with Deep River Productions to find a director that would work for the project.

Exclusive: Deadline has an exclusive track from Dustin O’Halloran and Herdís Stefánsdóttir’s score for The Essex Serpent, which is set for digital release today via Lakeshore Records.

The Apple TV+ limited series from See-Saw Films follows London widow Cora Seaborne (Claire Danes), who moves to Essex to investigate reports of a mythical serpent. Seaborne forms a surprising bond of science and skepticism with the local pastor (Tom Hiddleston), but when tragedy strikes, locals accuse her of attracting the creature.

When O’Halloran and Stefánsdóttir boarded the project, they looked to evoke the dark depths of Victorian England through the utilization of both electro acoustics and strings. “From our first conversations with director Clio Bernard, we knew we would be creating something layered and multidimensional,” the composers told Deadline in a joint statement. “This was our first collaboration together as composers and it allowed us to explore subjects like fear of the unknown,...

Big Beach, the production label behind Awkwafina starrer “The Farewell” and Tom Hanks’ “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood,” has abruptly closed its New York headquarters and parted ways with a significant number of staff, sources tell Variety.

The cuts are a sign of the increasingly difficult challenges facing independent film shops, even those with awards pedigree and decades of survival in the industry.

Though an exact number is unknown, staffers from the assistant level up to heads of film and TV verticals have been served pink slips, two insiders familiar with the company said. Many Los Angeles-based employees have been dismissed as well. The cuts come almost a year after one of the company’s principals, “Little Miss Sunshine” producer Peter Saraf, quietly exited the company.

A representative for Big Beach declined to comment on the matter. Another source close to the operation said new heads of film and TV will be announced imminently,...

Exclusive: The feature take of Steve Stoliar’s memoir Raised Eyebrows: My Years Inside Groucho’s House is finally moving forward, with Oscar winner Geoffrey Rush set to play comedy legend Groucho Marx and Oscar nominee Oren Moverman directing off a screenplay he co-wrote with Stoliar.

Sienna Miller and Moonfall and All the Money in the World actor Charlie Plummer will also star in the Cold Iron Pictures project, which is produced by CEO Miranda Bailey and Moverman.

Set between 1973-1977, Raised Eyebrows follows Steve (Plummer) as he enters Groucho Marx’s house for his dream job of working for the aging, frail comedian, under the watchful eye of Erin Fleming (Miller), who had taken over the Marx brother’s personal and professional life. Marx and Fleming had a controversial relationship in his twilight years, she his devoted girlfriend-turned-manager. The power struggles result in a comedy of horrors in which obsession,...

Exclusive: Oscar winner Ben Kingsley, 2x Emmy winner Jane Curtin, Harriet Harris and Zoë Winters are starring in the Marc Turtletaub directed Big Beach production Jules, Deadline can report first. Production is already underway in New Jersey on the pic.

The pic, written by Gavin Steckler (Comedy Central’s Review), is about an unusual and unexpected visitor who brings together several people living in a small city in rural Western Pennsylvania.

Turtletaub, who is also the head of Big Beach, is known for his directorial work on the film Puzzle in addition to his producing and executive producing credits which include the Independent Spirit Award-winning film The Farewell starring Awkwafina, the Oscar nominated Tom Hanks Sony feature A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, the Oscar nominated Jeff Nichols movie Loving starring Ruth Negga, and 2x Oscar winning movie Little Miss Sunshine. Big Beach next has Ry Russo Young’s docuseries...

Focus Features continues its steady rollout of movies into 2021 with the release of Robin Wright’s feature directorial debut drama Land on February 12, 2021, just in time for Oscar qualifications which have a cutoff date of February 28.

Land is scheduled on a weekend when the following movies are currently expected to open: 20th Century Studio’s The King’s Man and the Andy Garcia-Sharon Stone wide release What About Love.

The House of Cards Golden Globe-winning actress and episodic director stars in Land as Edee, who retreats to the wilds of the Rockies in the aftermath of an unfathomable event as she aims to stay connected to the world she once knew in the face of uncertainty. After a local hunter (Demián Bichir) brings her back from the brink of death, she must find a way to live again.

Wright directs from a screenplay by Jesse Chatham and Erin Digman.

Milan Records today releases Ammonite (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) with music by Dustin O’Halloran and Volker Bertelmann. Available everywhere now, the album features music written by the duo for director Francis Lee’s critically-acclaimed film starring Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan. Continuing a fruitful creative partnership, the nine-track album features music co-composed by O’Halloran and Bertelmann, who previously teamed on the Academy® Award, BAFTA, and Golden Globe® Award-nominated score for 2016’s Lion, A Christmas Carol and more.

Following its world premiere at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), Neon opened the film in select theaters on November 13.

Please watch the film safely in theatres, but don’t worry if not, it comes out digitally in the US December 4th. I hope you and your loved ones are well pic.twitter.com/ewWAVAuoNx

— Francis Lee (@strawhousefilms) November 13, 2020

Of the soundtrack, composers O’Halloran and Bertelmann say,

“Writing music for Ammonite...

Heidi Schreck’s award-winning play “What the Constitution Means to Me” will premiere on Amazon Prime Video on Oct. 16.

Marielle Heller directed the filmed version of the show, which was recorded in the final week of its Broadway run at the Helen Hayes Theater. It will debut in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide.

Schreck also inked an overall deal with to create content that will premiere exclusively on Prime Video.

“I’m delighted with how beautifully Mari Heller has translated Constitution to the screen and I’m thankful to Big Beach and Amazon Studios for making it possible to share the show with more people — especially right now when we can’t gather together in theaters,” Schreck said in a statement. “In light of the moment we are living through, I am donating part of my proceeds from this film to the Broadway Cares Covid Relief Fund and to...