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Exclusive: Directorial duo Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah (Adil & Bilall) have signed to direct a feature film adaptation of Riders Republic, the award-winning video game from French games giant Ubisoft.

The project, which seeks to bring the spills and thrills of the extreme sports-focused game to the big screen – is being developed and produced by Gaumont and Ubisoft Film & Television. Gaumont’s international sales arm is launching the project in Cannes.

The partners have also signed award-winning writer Noé Debré, whose credits include Cannes Palme d’Or Dheepan, Stillwater and The World Is Yours, for the screenplay adaptation.

Adil & Bilall broke out in their native Belgium in 2018 with hit Gangsta, and then gained international recognition with the third and fourth instalment of the Bad Boys franchise: Bad Boys for Life (2020) and Bad Boys: Ride or Die (2024) which together grossed over $830M at world box office.

With more than 10 million players worldwide,...

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Exterritorial is a German action thriller film written and directed by Christian Zübert. The 2025 film follows Sara Wulf, a former Special Forces soldier visiting the US consulate with her son. When Sara’s son suddenly vanishes, she illegally stays on the premises to find her son, and she finds herself embroiled in a dangerous conspiracy. Exterritorial stars Jeanne Goursaud, Dougray Scott, Lera Abova, Kayode Akinyemi, and Lara Babalola. So, if you loved the brutal action, thrilling drama, and compelling characters in Exterritorial, here are some similar shows you should check out next.

Extraction (Netflix) Credit – Netflix

Extraction is an action thriller film directed by Sam Hargrave from a screenplay by Joe Russo. Based on the graphic novel Ciudad by Ande Parks, Joe Russo, and Anthony Russo, the 2020 film follows Tyler Rake, an Australian mercenary who is hired to...

Rolling off the streaming debut of its first French original series “The Confidante” and docu “Breaking the Bank,” Max announced two new French shows, and a Spring launch in Turkey during a panel discussion at Content London.

In Turkey, Max will bring together BluTV, a local SVOD service which it acquired last year, with HBO Originals, as well returning seasons of BluTV’s beloved local productions, Türkiye streaming originals, Warner Bros. movies, DC Universe, and true crime and documentaries.

Max is already present in 74 markets with over 110 million subscribers. The streamer will bow in “three of the biggest European markets coming in 2026,” the company said.

The inaugural slate of the service in Turkey will include “Prince” season 3 and “Magarsus” season 2. It will also include “The First Gokturk,” a fantasy anthology weaving Turkish and nomadic history, created by Alper Çağlar.

Deniz Şaşmaz Oflaz, Wbd’s VP of local original productions, local...

The American French Film Festival has long been considered the premiere U.S. event for launching French film and television content to American audiences and while last year’s edition was forced to cancel due to Hollywood’s dual strikes, this year the L.A.-based event is back and gearing up for what it expects to be one of its best editions yet.

The six-day festival, which kicks off its 28th edition on October 29 at the DGA Theater Complex, is bookended by two of the year’s buzziest French titles with Jacques Audiard’s Spanish-language musical-crime film Emilia Pérez set for opening night while Pathé’s French box office hit The Count of Monte Cristo set to close the event on November 3.

Both films, say festival organizers, are reflective of the kinds of projects that Tafff wants to unveil to Hollywood audiences: Audiard’s Cannes-winning title Emilia Pérez is...

The American French Film Festival returns for its 28th annual event at the DGA Theater Complex from Oct. 29 to Nov. 3. The festival will showcase 60 films and series, including 14 shorts and 14 series or TV movies. It will open with France’s official selection for Oscar consideration, “Emilia Pérez,” and close with the new rendition of the classic Alexandre Dumas novel “The Count of Monte Cristo” by Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de La Petelliére.

This marks the first time 16 of these features will be presented to an audience in Hollywood after premiering at the latest editions of the Berlin, Cannes, and Venice International Film Festivals. Additionally, 59 of the selected works will be up for the Tafff Awards.

The selection of films includes the comedy “A Nice Jewish Boy” by director Noé Debré, written by Michael Zindel, Agnès Jaoui, and Solar Bouloudnine; the political thriller “Death of a Corrupt Man,” directed by Georges Lautner and written by Lautner,...

Exclusive: Noé Debré issued a rallying call for public broadcasting as he accepted Deadline’s inaugural French TV Disruptor Award at the Unifrance Rendez-Vous event in Normandy, France.

Debré is one of the most exciting writers and directors in France and has worked on projects for pay TV services and has a new show for Max, but he is known for breakout comedy series Parlement and is currently enjoying pre-launch buzz for Zorro, both of which are for pubcaster France Télévisions domestically.

Speaking as he accepted the award, which recognizes an industry figure with a singular voice and producing outstanding work, he said: “When I was told about the award, I was very flattered and I also looked up what ‘disruption’ actually means. It’s been popularized by tech companies and tech culture, because, as you know, tech companies are now very big in our field. But it turns out...

In realizing the latest incarnation of “Zorro,” producer Marc Dujardin found inspiration in the classic 1950s series starring Guy Williams, the absurd premise of super hero tales, and the fond childhood dreams he shared with brother Jean, who portrays the buttoned-up mayor of early 19th-century Los Angeles, Don Diego de la Vega, and his masked and care-free alter ego.

“Zorro” stormed into Le Havre on Thursday, where it closed the Unifrance Rendez-Vous market with a highly anticipated premiere, followed by a dance floor-pumping Alta California-themed fiesta, replete with delectable Spanish and Mexican cuisine à la normande.

Produced by Marc Dujardin’s Le Collectif 64 for France Télévisions and Paramount+, “Zorro” offers a comedic yet straight take on the legendary swashbuckler of old California.

The series sees Don Diego becoming mayor of Los Angeles with the hope of improving his beloved city. Facing growing, unstoppable corruption, however, he decides to again suit...

Noé Debré will receive the inaugural French TV Disruptor Award from Deadline at the Unifrance Rendez-Vous market in Le Havre. The writer and director will accept the award as his Paramount+ and France Télévisions series Zorro comes to market, starring Jean Dujardin as the iconic masked hero.

Debré co-created the series with Benjamin Charbit. It comes on the heels of his hit show Parlement. He has wrapped work on the fourth and final season of that series, a Franco-German-Belgian copro, which follows Samy Kantor, a young assistant trying to find his way through the labyrinthine inner workings of the European Parliament.

With Zorro, Debré has taken classic U.S.-originated IP and given it a French action-comedy twist for Paramount+ (selected territories) and France Télévisions. On the small screen, his upcoming projects include an adaptation of ‘Vivre avec nos morts’ (‘Living With Our Dead’) for streamer Max. It tells the...

XYZ Films has acquired U.S. rights to the classic Cannes Directors’ Fortnight title “The World is Yours” directed by Romain Gavras from StudioCanal and to the TIFF hit film “We Gotta Get Out of This Place,” directed by Simon Hawkins and Zeke Hawkins. The hyper-stylized films are the first titles in a new XYZ initiative to introduce audiences to classic festival hits that cater to cinema fans.

“The World is Yours” premiered at Cannes in 2018 and stars Karim Leklou, Isabelle Adjani, Vincent Cassel and Oulaya Amamra and was co-written by Gavras, Karim Boukercha and Noe Debre. In the film, a mid-level drug dealer (Leklou) dreams of having a new life, but his mother (Adjani) has gambled away his savings. He must take one last job in Spain, but his entourage gets involved: his mother, his ex-con friend, his crush, and possibly The Illuminati.

Meanwhile, “We Gotta Get Out of This Place...

Ahead of its launch in France, Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming service Max unveiled at Series Mania Festival its pipeline of ambitious local scripted projects, “Malditos” (working title), the adaptation of “Living with our deads,” the memoir of Rabbi Delphine Horvilleur, and

“Malditos,” created by Jean Charles Hue (“Eat Your Bones”) and Olivier Prieur (“The Accident”), is an action-packed crime thriller revolving around the leader of a Gypsy community and her two sons who struggle to save their clan threatened with eviction by rising waters in Southern France. The series is produced by Eve Muller and Noor Sadar at Mediawan-owned White Lion Films, was penned by Hue, Prieur and Maya Haffar (“En thérapie”). Hue is directing the first five episode and Cécilia Verheyden (“Undercover”) is directing the remaining two.

Max has also boarded the series adaptation of the book “Living with our deads” (“Vivre avec nos morts”), which is...

Max has unveiled a trio of French shows ahead of launch, with commissioning head Vera Peltekian saying “we don’t want to do a French Succession or White Lotus.“

Peltekian and French scripted boss Clémentine Bobin unveiled series about the Bataclan attacks, the gypsy community and an adaptation of a memoir by a French rabbi.

The previously-announced Bataclan series has been given title Black Lies and will co-star Laure Calamy and César-winning The Goldman Case actor Arieh Worthalter alongside Les Misérables’ Alexis Manenti and Mother And Son’s Annabelle Lengronne.

The show tells the story of a woman who cons her way into a victim’s association following the deadly attack in 2015. Produced by StudioFact Stories with June Films, the psychological thriller is directed by Just Philippot and written by Fanny Burdino, Jean-Baptiste Delafon, Samuel Doux and Alexandre Kauffmann. The story is loosely based on the non-fiction...

Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max platform has unveiled its first French originals slate ahead of its launch in the country this summer.

Max has just kicked off production for crime actioner Western Malditos set in the Gypsy community of Southern France. The series is produced by Eve Muller Noor Sadar of Mediawan’s White Lion Films and follows two brothers and mother as they fight to keep a dark secret from destroying their legacy.

It has also greenlit an adaptation of French female rabbi Delphine Horvielleur’s best-seller Living With Our Dead (Vivre Avec Nos Morts) that follows a young...

Paramount+ and France Télévisions have confirmed their pact on upcoming, working-titled series Zorro starring Oscar-winning actor Jean Dujardin as the iconic masked vigilante.

The partners revealed a first image of The Artist actor Dujardin in the role in a release and said the show will launch later this year on Paramount+ before being broadcast on France Télévisions.

Paramount+ has also acquired rights for the UK, Italy, Germany and Latin America. France tv distribution is handling sales for all other territories.

News of Dujardin’s and Paramount+’s involvement in the show broke in the French media late last year but today’s release was the partners’ first official confirmation of their co-production and distribution deal.

The new show is set in 1821 and sees Don Diego de la Vega/Zorro become mayor of Los Angeles to improve his beloved city.

However, the city is facing financial trouble due to a local...

Paramount+ has boarded “Zorro” (working title), an adventure comedy series starring Jean Dujardin, the Oscar-winning actor of “The Artist,” as the iconic character of Diego de la Vega.

Created by Benjamin Charbit (“Gagarine”) and Noé Debré (“Dheepan”), the anticipated show was bought by Paramount+ for France, the U.K., Italy, Germany and Latin America.

In the eight-part series, Dujardin stars opposite well-known Italian comedian Salvatore Ficarra, and French actors, including Audrey Dana, André Dussollier, Eric Elmosnino and Grégory Gadebois. The show will premiere on Paramount+ before rolling out on the pubcaster France Télévisions.

The series unfolds in 1821 as Don Diego de la Vega becomes mayor of Los Angeles and has to face off a corrupt businessman, Don Emmanuel.

Marc Dujardin’s Le Collectif 64 and Julien Seul at Bien Sûr Productions are producing the series which is penned by Charbit, Debré and Emmanuel Poulain-Arnaud (“Le Test”). It’s directed by Jean-Baptiste Saurel...

Christopher Nolan, whose latest movie “Oppenheimer” just won five Golden Globes, will will receive an honorary Cesar Award, alonsgide Agnes Jaoui, a beloved French actor, screenwriter and filmmaker, during its 49th edition, which will be held at Olympia Concert Hall on Feb. 23.

“Christopher Nolan is a master of mise-en-scene, capable of redefining the limits of cinematic excellence and propelling us beyond the boundaries of space and time,” stated the Cesar Awards.

Jaoui, meanwhile, formed a duo with the late Jean-Pierre Bacri for over three decades, collaborating on a number of films that were both critical and commercial hits. This included “The Taste of Others,” which won two Cesar Awards and was nominated for a best foreign-language Oscar in 2001, as well as the Cannes competition entry “Look at Me” in 2004. She’s also had a successful solo career, starring in the popular series “En therapie” and films including “La vie de ma mere,...

Film Movement will give “A Nice Jewish Boy” a home – several, in fact, as the New York-based distributor has picked up North American rights to Noé Debré’s bittersweet comedy with plans for both festival and theatrical plays later this year.

Charades’ Hélène Espeisse brokered the deal with Film Movement president Michael Rosenberg.

Written and directed by “Dheepan” and “Stillwater” screenwriter Noé Debré, “A Nice Jewish Boy” follows Bellisha – an unflappable 27-year-old naïf who shares a subsidized apartment with his ailing mother, Giselle. The pair also happen to be their working-class community’s last remaining Jews – a source of heartache, comedy, and wider questions of belonging.

The freewheeling film drew inspiration from the works of Francois Truffaut and Charlie Chaplin, Debré told Variety, engaging in equal parts with poignant and absurdist subject matters while following a daydreaming lead who can’t be knocked down.

“[I wanted to explore] tough themes with a kind of lightness and irreverence,...

Noé Debré, the co-writer of “Dheepan” and “Stillwater” and creator of the European Parliament sendup series “Parlement,” marks his feature directorial debut with the bittersweet comedy “A Nice Jewish Boy.”

Produced by Moonshaker, sold by Charades and making its world market premiere at this year’s Unifrance Rendez-Vous in Paris, the freewheeling film follows a 27-year-old man-child Bellisha (Michael Zindel) and his ailing mother, Giselle (Agnès Jaoui), who together make up the last remaining Jews living in a working class neighborhood that all of their friends and family have long since fled.

At first that’s just as well for the easy-going Bellisha, but health concerns, prejudice and most of all an acute sense of alienation soon begin to creep in. Below, Variety catches up with Debré at this year’s Rendez-Vous.

How did this feature idea come about?

I saw a short film called “Masel Tov Cocktail,” about a Russian-Jewish teenager living in Germany.

Paris-based sales company is bringing eight new titles to Rendez-Vous.

Julie Delpy’s immigration-themed comedy Meet The Barbarians (Les Barbares) is among eight new titles Paris-based sales company Charades is launching at Unifrance’s Rendez-Vous with French Cinema this month.

The event takes place from January 16-23 in Paris.

Charades extensive Rendez-Vous line-up also includes 3D animation Flow, romantic comedy Just A Couple of Days starring Camille Cottin, Jeremie Sein’s Olympic sports comedy Game Changers, Antoine Raimbault’s political thriller Smoke Signals, Gustave Kervern’s revenge story Enough Is Enough!, dark comedy Plastic Guns plus recently announced adaptation And...

A record 54 market premieres will be hosted at the Rendez-Vous showcase held by the French film promotion org Unifrance in Paris which will kick off Jan. 16 with the world premiere of Pascal Bonitzer’s “Auction.”

The biggest film market dedicated exclusively to French movies, the Rendez-Vous in Paris will welcome 420 buyers from 50 countries and 47 sales companies. As many as 1,000 professionals have registered for the week-long event. Since Unifrance has now merged with TV France International, the event will also gather 100 TV buyers from 27 countries.

“After returning last year with a post-pandemic edition, we’re back to normal with over 400 buyers — and we even have new buyers from Quebec and Africa, along with about 15 Latin American distributors,” said Gilles Renouard, Unifrance’s co-managing director.

More than 80 completed movies will screen at the Rendez-Vous, 54 of which have never been shown at an international festival or market. Renouard says the large roster of...

France TV Distribution has scored a raft of deals across its slate of flagship shows, notably Noé Debré’s political satire “Parliament,” whose second season was picked up by Topic in the U.S.

“Parliament,” produced by Paris-based Cinétévé, was created by Debré, whose screenwriting include Jacques Audiard’s Palme d’Or winning “Dheepan.” The series is set at the European parliament in Strasbourg and follows a young assistant working for a newly elected member, juggling his ethics, job and love life. The 10-episode series features a young cast from across Europe, including Xavier Lacaille, Liz Kingsman and Philippe Duquesne. The daring show shot partly on location in both French and English languages.

Sky Italia, meanwhile, has acquired “The King’s Favorite” starring Isabelle Adjani, as well as season 1 and 2 of the detective series “Criminal Games.”

“The King’s Favorite” is a prestige period series starring Adjani as Diane de Poitiers, King Henri II’s favorite.

Paris-based outfit releases first look image from Jérémy Clapin’s Meanwhile On Earth.

Paris-based Charades has sold Laurent Tirard’s Oh My Goodness! (Juste Ciel!) to a slew of territories and will kick off sales on several all-new titles at Unifrance’s annual Rendez-Vous in Paris including Jérémy Clapin’s Meanwhile On Earth.

Charades will host the first market screening for buyers of Oh My Goodness! after selling the anticipated title from veteran filmmaker Tirard to Prokino in Germany, Selecta Vision in Spain, I Wonder in Italy, Cineart in Benelux, Praesens in Switzerland, Thim Films in Austria, Ads in Hungary,...

Paris-based outfit releases first look image from Jérémy Clapin’s Meanwhile On Earth.

Paris-based Charades has sold Laurent Tirard’s Oh My Goodness! (Juste Ciel!) to a slew of territories and will kick off sales on several all-new titles at Unifrance’s annual Rendez-Vous in Paris including Jérémy Clapin’s Meanwhile On Earth.

Charades will host the first market screening for buyers of Oh My Goodness! after selling the anticipated title from veteran filmmaker Tirard to Prokino in Germany, Selecta Vision in Spain, I Wonder in Italy, Cineart in Benelux, Praesens in Switzerland, Thim Films in Austria, Ads in Hungary,...

France’s broadcasting group, France Televisions, launched Slash, a niche platform skewing millennials, as part of its efforts to keep its brand relevant among younger viewers. In five years, the service has become one of France’s biggest showcases of daring scripted content created by and starring diverse talents.

Slash, which is accessible on the pubcaster’s streaming service France.tv and is headed by former screenwriter Sened Dhab, has been consistently delivering hit shows. Recent examples include Noé Debré’s Brexit-themed political satire “The Parliament,” Simon Bouisson’s “Stalk,” a thriller about cyber bullying, and “Skam,” the local adaptation of the Norwegian series about troubles teenagers.

Although the platform’s content is primarily aimed at adolescents and young adults, a number of shows have become popular among older demographics. Dhab told Variety that shows commissioned by Slash stand out because they tend to be “edgier, engaging and have a different...

Empreinte Digitale, the thriving Paris-based production company behind Disney +’s “Parallèles,” has hired Thomas Saignes, a well-established producer whose track record includes “Bad Banks” and “Parlement.”

Joining from Cinétévé, Saignes will be in charge of producing drama series and one-offs for streaming services and traditional TV channels, as well as spearheading Empreinte’s international co-productions.

Saignes, who is based in Paris and lived a number of years in Montreal, Canada, has been actively involved in the financing and co-productions of films and series with international and European partners, notably Benoit Jacquot’s period movie “Farewell, my Queen.” Prior to Cinétévé, Saignes worked at the Luxembourg-based company Iris where he was involved in the Zdf-Arte series “Bad Banks” which Federation sold around the world. During his tenure at Cinétévé, Saignes collaborated with veteran producer Fabienne Servan-Schreiber and was a driving force behind several ambitious series, for instance Noé Debré’s political...

Italy’s “The Impossible She,” Spain’s “Detective Touré,” South Africa’s “Paradys” and France’s “Hormones” feature among 15 drama series projects selected for the Series Mania Forum’s 2022 Co-Pro Pitching Sessions.

One of Europe’s most prestigious TV competitions, with titles competing for a €50,000 grand prize, this year’s Sessions form part of the Forum, which runs March 22-24.

The lineup is rich in projects backed by top-tier producers and sales forces, while sluiced by large themes, such as racial and gender equality.

The latest from top Italian company Fandango, producer of “Gomorrah” and “My Brilliant Friend,” “The Impossible She” turns on young Neapolitan aristocrat Maria Teresa de Filippis, the first female Formula 1 driver.

Co-produced by Academy Award winner Tornasol (“The Secret in My Eyes”), “Detective Touré” features Touré a sub-Saharan immigrant settled in Bilbao who will become the best detective of the city, despite no badge, nor papers.

French TV festival and industry meeting unveils 2022 selection

Michael Hirst’s Billy The Kid, Channel 4 drama The Birth Of Daniel F Harris and HBO’sThe Baby are among nine dramas selected for the international competition of Series Mania TV festival, running March 18-25 in the northern French city of Lille.

The Birth Of Daniel F Harris is produced by the UK’s Clerkenwell Films, the company behind The End Of The F**king World. Lewis Gribben plays a young man who was locked away as a child by his father following the death of his mother as a child.

Series Mania has unveiled the nine shows from six countries competing for the prestigious International Competition along with revealing the lineup and Guests of Honor for this year’s edition, the first to take place in person for three years.

Scroll down for the full list. Shows competing for the Competition include Michael Hirst’s Billy the Kid, for Epix, MGM and Viaplay, Israel’s Fire Dance, France’s Le Monde De Demain and The UK’s The Birth of Daniel F. Harris, each of which are being handed a world premiere.

The president of the jury announced soon will be joined by German actor Christian Berkel, Franco-Belgian actress Cécile de France, Israeli actress Shira Haas (Unorthodox), Turkish creator and director Berkun Oya (Bir Baskadir) and French singer-songwriter and model Yseult.

The jury will award the Grand Prize for Best Series, the Prize for Best Actress,...

Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi’s “Forever Young,” Golshifteh Farahani starrer “Romantique,” and the documentary “Last Dance” will be launched by sales boutique Charades at the Unifrance Rendez-Vous.

“Forever Young” (“Les amandiers”) stars Nadia Tereszkiewicz (“Possessions”), Louis Garrel (“An Officer and a Spy”), Vassili Schneider and Suzanne Lindon (“Spring Blossom”). The film opens at the end of the 1980s in Paris and follows a young troupe of comedians who have just have been admitted to Les Amandiers, the prestigious theater school headed by Patrice Chéreau. The film is produced by France’s Ad Vitam production and Italy’s Bibi Film.

“Romantique” (“Une Comedie romantique) marks Thibault Segouin’s feature debut, starring Farahani and Alex Lutz. The movie follows César, a notorious liar and a failing artist who lives in Montmartre in Paris and discovers he is the father of a three-year-old little girl. The film is produced by Latika and will be released by Alba Films.

For Variety‘s Writers on Writers, Jake Tapper pens a tribute to “Stillwater”.

Anyone watching “Stillwater” expecting an Okie Jason Bourne no doubt ended up surprised, but it’s difficult to conceive of disappointment. “Stillwater” subverts expectations and cinematic savvy; viewers have to give themselves over to an experience that transcends not just assumptions but genres. Ultimately whatever film you thought you were watching — thriller or mystery or action — becomes something deeper and more profound: a character study, and not just of one man.

Oil worker Bill Baker’s life may not be one with which you necessarily identify, but his legacy of failure and regret is all too accessible. He just wants to set things right. And in his effort to help his daughter, who is pleading her innocence from a Marseille prison, he believes not only in the righteousness of his cause but ultimate moral authority.

In this,...

Editors note: Deadline’s Read the Screenplay series debuts and celebrates the scripts of films that will be factors in this year’s movie awards race.

In Stillwater, a father’s tense relationship with his daughter is tested by unfathomable circumstances. Matt Damon stars as Bill, a man from Stillwater, Ok who travels to France to visit his daughter, Allison (Abigail Breslin). While studying abroad, Allison was convicted of murdering her roommate, Lina. Allison was innocent, but an unforgiving French media contributed to her conviction. Bill stays in Marseilles while visiting Allison in prison.

In France, Bill befriends Virginie (Camille Cottin) who helps him navigate the country and translate French into English for him. Bill becomes close with Virginie and her own daughter, perhaps seeking redemption for not being there for Allison when she needed him. On a furlough, Allison even sees a side of her father with Virginie’s...

Benjamin Elalouf’s Moonshaker, the Paris-based banner behind Netfix’s popular documentary “Lords of Scam,” has joined forces with TF1-owned Newen to expand its scope, and is developing Noé Debré’s “The Last of the Jews,” among other director-driven projects.

“The Last of the Jews” will mark the anticipated feature debut of Debré, the critically acclaimed co-screenwriter of “A Prophet” and “Stillwater,” whose latest short film “On n’est pas des animaux” — also produced by Moonshaker — competed at this year’s Sundance.

A burlesque bittersweet comedy, “The Last of the Jews” will be headlined by a strong French cast including Agnes Jaoui and Michael Zindel.

Set to start shooting in March, the movie takes place in an underprivileged suburb on the outskirts of Paris and revolves around a 27-year-old Jewish man, Bellisha, who lives with his mother, Giselle. The suburb has seen the synagogue shut down, and now the...

It was a triumphant second weekend for indie Stillwater from Focus Features, which hit the $10 million mark in 2,611 theatres (up by 80) and 233 Dma’s in North America, where it was no. 5. The Matt Damon-starrer held up strongly from its debut, dipping 45% — compared with a 64% drop for The Green Knight and a 55% decline for Jungle Cruise. Stillwater’s run may not be not specialty-small, but deserves a shout-out here for a standout performance. The complex drama garnered Damon a standing ovation in Cannes but had some concerned at the film’s theatrical prospects in a wide-release battle against big studio franchises on one hand and smaller arthouse fare on the other.

Damon plays an unemployed Oklahoma oil rig worker who travels to Marseille to help his daughter (Abigail Breslin) who’s in prison for murder. The film continued to resonate in the South and Midwest with the top five highest-grossing...

The Suicide Squad unsurprisingly came in at number one at this weekend's box office after bringing in $26.5 million. James Gunn's long-awaited movie featuring some of DC Comics' stable of villains was able to break a record for the highest-earning R-rated opening during the pandemic. With that being said, the opening is also a franchise worst. The Suicide Squadis currently streaming on HBO Max, which most definitely stole some box office thunder, but several analysts are pointing to another reason why the latest DC movie is underperforming and a lot of it has to do with the first time the characters were introduced on the big screen.

David Ayer's Suicide Squad (2016) was a box office monster, earning $746.8 million worldwide. However, it was panned by fans and critics. The decision to bring James Gunn on board to revamp the villains has been deemed a great choice by the studio, but...

In his new film “Stillwater,” co-writer/director Tom McCarthy wanted to present the image of an American hero – and then turn it on its head. The film, now in theaters, stars Matt Damon as Bill Baker, a roughneck from the titular town in Oklahoma who travels to Marseille, France to visit his imprisoned daughter Allison (Abigail Breslin.) A stranger in a strange land where he doesn’t speak the language or truly understand the dynamics, Bill’s only company is a single mother (Camille Cottin) and her young daughter

McCarthy, who won an Oscar for his screenplay for “Spotlight,” a film he directed to a best picture win, worked with co-writers Marcus Hinchey, along with French writers Thomas Bidegain and Noé Debré, who frequently collaborate with Jacques Audiard. The film premiered to a warm response – and a five-minute standing ovation — at the Cannes Film Festival last month. One person who...

Stillwater Focus Features Reviewed for Shockya.com by Abe Friedtanzer Director: Tom McCarthy Writer: Tom McCarthy, Thomas Bidegain, Noé Debré, Marcus Hinchey Cast: Matt Damon, Camille Cottin, Abigail Breslin, Deanna Dunagan, Lilou Siauvaud Screened at: Rodeo Screening Room, LA, 7/27/21 Opens: July 30th, 2021 The case of Amanda Knox, an American student arrested and imprisoned in […]

The post Stillwater Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

This review of “Stillwater” was first published after its premiere at the 2020 Cannes Film Festival.

Four years after actor-writer-director Tom McCarthy rebounded from the dismal critical reception of “The Cobbler” to Oscar glory with “Spotlight,” he finally stepped back behind the camera, following up his acclaimed journalism drama with… “Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made,” a family comedy that premiered on Disney+ last year that you almost certainly didn’t see.

And for his follow-up to that film, the man with the least predictable career in Hollywood came up with “Stillwater,” a genre-agnostic semi-thriller that was greeted with cheers and applause at its well-received Cannes Film Festival premiere in early July.

Neatly mirroring its director’s style and signature, “Stillwater” is nigh impossible to pin down, taking the broad contours of a stoic-dad-who’ll-stop-at-nothing-to save-his-daughter thriller and subverting them, filling them with so much texture, humor and emotional attention that the...

The new drama, Stillwater, from Focus Features, is one of those seemingly off-putting films that initially feels as though it hasn’t got anything substantial to say, but there is something at work just beneath the surface of the film that lingers long after the last reel has run. This is a film that, if allowed to simmer, eventually rewards you with not only a fine performance from an excellent actor, but a thinking piece on the harm that the lack of communication can cause any two people in any given relationship or situation.

The film tells the saga of Bill (Matt Damon), an Oklahoma oil-rig worker travelling to Mareseille, France to visit his estranged daughter, Allison (Abigail Breslin), who is serving time in prison for a crime she claims not to have committed. Wanting desperately to gain his daughter’s trust and prove his worth to her, Bill relays...

Matt Damon’s drama “Stillwater” is not at Cannes to capture prizes. Directed and co-written by “Spotlight” Oscar-winner Tom McCarthy, Damon plays an Oklahoma everyman who tries to free his daughter (Abigail Breslin) from a French prison with help from local single mom Camille Cottin (“Call My Agent”). Instead, Focus Features is using the festival to launch the accessible family drama out of competition as a marketing platform for its July 30 wide release. After all, Damon is a global movie star who can generate press coverage by tearing up at the gala world premiere. This movie with a working-class vibe played well at its gala premiere July 8.

Early reviews for “Stillwater” are solid. At a Friday press conference and later Master Class, Damon said though this was his fifth time at Cannes, it felt like his first. He was moved by the experience of returning to commune with strangers in a theater.

Matt Damon’s drama “Stillwater” is not at Cannes to capture prizes. Directed and co-written by “Spotlight” Oscar-winner Tom McCarthy, Damon plays an Oklahoma everyman who tries to free his daughter (Abigail Breslin) from a French prison with help from local single mom Camille Cottin (“Call My Agent”). Instead, Focus Features is using the festival to launch the accessible family drama out of competition as a marketing platform for its July 30 wide release. After all, Damon is a global movie star who can generate press coverage by tearing up at the gala world premiere. This movie with a working-class vibe played well at its gala premiere July 8.

Early reviews for “Stillwater” are solid. At a Friday press conference and later Master Class, Damon said though this was his fifth time at Cannes, it felt like his first. He was moved by the experience of returning to commune with strangers in a theater.

Stillwater director Tom McCarthy's upcoming crime drama starring Matt Damon, has received a five-minute standing ovation at Cannes. The overwhelmingly positive response to the movie even had Matt Damon looking teary eyed at the event as he glanced around the applauding and cheering audience.

Matt Damon is brought to tears at the #Cannes2021 standing ovation for ‘Stillwater.’ pic.twitter.com/phpK2mOJT1

— Ramin Setoodeh (@RaminSetoodeh) July 8, 2021

The cast and crew of Stillwater had already been met with a very warm welcome from attendees when they arrived at the 74th edition of Cannes. When the movie ended and the credits began to roll, the audience could not help but let Matt Damon and the rest of those involved with the movie know how much they enjoyed the experience, rising from their seats and confirming that Stillwater is certainly one to watch.

While speeches are not traditionally given at the event,...

It’s been a rocky four-plus years in American foreign policy, and nowhere is this more apparent than in “Stillwater,” the new thriller-slash-family drama from “Spotlight” director Tom McCarthy, which premiered out-of-competition at Cannes. Partially inspired by the Amanda Knox trial, but mostly a strangely affecting family drama concocted by screenwriting team Thomas Bidegain, Noé Debré, and Marcus Hinchey, the film totters uneasily between the two modes over the course of 140 minutes, never quite finding its footing.

Continue reading ‘Stillwater’: Matt Damon Thriller From Tom McCarthy Never Quite Changes the Tide [Cannes Review] at The Playlist.

Matt Damon said he felt “a little overwhelmed” at yesterday’s Cannes premiere for his new film Stillwater.

Speaking alongside writer-director Tom McCarthy and co-stars Abigail Breslin, Camille Cottin and Lilou Siauvaud during the film’s press conference, Damon reflected on what it was like to return to a packed cinema after a rough 18 months for the world.

“I was a little overwhelmed last night. I’m really glad we’re here this year. We’ll look back and remember launching the film out of Covid. To be in a room with 1,000 other people who are strangers but who are part of the same community because we love the same thing was such a great reminder of why we do this.”

In Stillwater, Damon plays an oil worker who travels from Oklahoma to France to help his estranged daughter, who is in prison for a murder she claims she didn’t commit.

Americans are used to watching Americans save the day in movies. That’s the kind of hero Bill Baker wants to be for his daughter Allison — a young woman convicted of murdering her girlfriend while studying abroad — in “Spotlight” director Tom McCarthy’s not-at-all-conventional crime thriller “Stillwater.” The setup will sound familiar to anyone who remembers the Amanda Knox case: Now halfway through a 10-year sentence, Allison has always maintained her innocence. After new evidence arises, she writes a letter to her lawyer asking for help. But she’s careful not to involve her dad directly. “I cannot trust him with this. He’s not capable,” she writes.

To a particular kind of man, words like that are a direct challenge. And when that man is played by Matt Damon, we expect him to save the day anyway. Maybe he does, but that’s not the reason McCarthy chose to tell this story.

that bakes a dad-on-a-mission thriller together with a heartwarming fish-out-of-water story and then a brutal crime drama before glazing the whole thing with a marvelously goateed Matt Damon, Tom McCarthy’s “Stillwater” is the kind of original Hollywood production that would make you say “they don’t make them like that anymore” if only they had ever made them quite this way in the first place. That it’s a French co-production surely accounts for a portion of the film’s structural oddness — several plot points feel lost in translation, even if the whole thing somehow manages to still make sense — but quirks of financing can only go so far to explain a 140-minute transatlantic saga that’s equal parts “Taken,” “Paddington,” and “Prisoners,” one after the other.

No movie with that particular genetic makeup is going to be all that subtle, and McCarthy — who co-wrote the script with Thomas Bidegain,...

In town for the world premiere of out-of-competition Cannes Film Festival entry Stillwater, star Matt Damon appeared moved by emotion during a near-five-minute standing ovation tonight. The drama, directed by Spotlight Oscar-winner Tom McCarthy, brought the assembled crowd to its feet in the Grand Théâtre Lumière as the lights came up on film’s team, and brought tears to Damon’s eyes.

Stillwater centers on Damon’s Bill Baker, an Oklahoma oil-rig roughneck with a shoddy past as a father who heads to Marseille, hellbent on freeing his daughter (Abigail Breslin), an exchange student imprisoned for murdering her girlfriend, a crime she says she didn’t commit. He’s the proverbial fish out of water who finds an ally in a local single mother (Camille Cottin) and her daughter (Lilou Siauvaud).

Given the film is largely set in Marseille, just about a two-hour drive from Cannes, the local crowd was...

Matt Damon could really use some of his Jason Bourne skills in the first trailer for director Tom McCarthy's upcoming crime drama, Stillwater. Damon is a father on a mission in Stillwater, with the trailer hinting at a powerful, subdued central performance from the A-lister as his everyman character attempts to save his daughter from a terrible fate.

Stillwater follows Matt Damon as an American oil-rig roughneck from Oklahoma named Bill Baker, who travels to Marseille to visit his estranged daughter, in prison for a murder she claims she did not commit. Confronted with language barriers, cultural differences, and a complicated legal system, Bill builds a new life for himself in France as he makes it his personal mission to exonerate his daughter.

The dramatic looking thriller comes courtesy of Academy Award winner Tom McCarthy, whose 2015 crime drama effort Spotlight made a very lasting impression on audiences. Stillwater is...

Tom McCarthy directs the drama and thriller opening July 30

In his new film “Stillwater,” Matt Damon wants you to know that he’s an American, and he sticks out like a sore thumb as a roughneck, good ‘ol boy from Oklahoma overseas in Marseilles, France.

Damon plays a man tirelessly working to free his daughter from a French prison over a murder she claims she did not commit, only to come face to face with language barriers, a complicated legal system, cultural differences and a shadowy group that doesn’t want the secret to get out.

But armed with a thick Oklahoma accent, a goatee and some US of A gumption, he won’t quit until his daughter is released.

“I’m trying to get my girl out of prison, that’s all I give a damn about,” Damon shouts in the trailer.

“You sound very American right now,” his...

Matt Damon stars as a father trying to exonerate his estranged daughter of a murder she never committed in “Stillwater,” the new drama from “Spotlight” writer/director Tom McCarthy. Believe it or not, “Stillwater” is the first dramatic feature McCarthy has made since winning an Oscar for his acclaimed 2015 journalism drama. McCarthy won Best Original Screenplay and was nominated for Best Director. “Spotlight” won the Oscar for Best Picture. McCarthy followed up the movie with the Disney family film “Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made.” The upcoming “Stillwater” is only McCarthy’s second directorial feature after “Spotlight.”

The official “Stillwater” synopsis from distributor Focus Features reads: “‘Stillwater’ follows an American oil-rig roughneck from Oklahoma [named Bill Baker] who travels to Marseille to visit his estranged daughter, in prison for a murder she claims she did not commit. Confronted with language barriers, cultural differences, and a complicated legal system, Bill builds a new life for...

Focus Features said Friday that it will release its dramatic thriller Stillwater, directed by Spotlight Oscar winner Tom McCarthy and starring Matt Damon, in domestic theaters on July 30, 2021.

The pic, from Participant and DreamWorks, centers on an American oil-rig roughneck (Damon) from Oklahoma who travels to Marseille to visit his estranged daughter (Abigail Breslin), in prison for a murder she claims she did not commit. Confronted with language barriers, cultural differences and a complicated legal system, he builds a new life for himself in France as he makes it his personal mission to exonerate her. Camille Cottin also stars.

The screenplay is from McCarthy & Marcus Hinchey and Thomas Bidegain & Noé Debré. The late Steve Golin is a producer along with McCarthy, Jonathan King and Liza Chasin.

Focus had originally lined up the film for a November 2020 platform release before the pandemic shelved exhibition. Now things are ramping up again: So...

Matt Damon and director Tom McCarthy’s thriller “Stillwater” will be coming to theaters this summer.

Focus Features announced the highly anticipated film from the pair of Academy Award winners will hit theaters on July 30, 2021.

Damon stars in the drama opposite Oscar nominee Abigail Breslin and César Award nominee Camille Cottin. Damon plays Bill, an oil rig roughneck from Oklahoma who travels to France to attempt to exonerate his estranged daughter (Breslin), who is in prison for a murder she claims she did not commit.

The film, produced by Participant Media and Dreamwork Pictures, was written by McCarthy & Marcus Hinchey and Thomas Bidegain & Noé Debré. Jonathan King, Liza Chasin and the late Steve Golin produced the picture alongside McCarthy.

In May 2019, Variety exclusively reported that Damon and McCarthy would team up for the project. It quickly found a home at Participant, which previously worked with McCarthy on the Oscar-winning drama “Spotlight.