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Almost a decade since his debut feature The Here After premiered at Directors’ Fortnight, Swedish director Magnus von Horn is finally in Cannes Competition with the black-and-white period film The Girl with the Needle. Previously there was Sweat––the Polish-language jab at influencer culture––but when the festival was canceled on account of the pandemic, it got a “Cannes Selection” stamp rather than “Competition.” A silver lining that The Girl with the Needle is perhaps best-suited for a Palme d’Or head-to-head: it is surprising, stylish, and unabashedly brave.

Von Horn certainly knows what to aim for when bringing in two of the most exciting names in Scandinavian cinema today, Vic Carmen Sonne (Holiday) and Trine Dyrholm. Sonne plays Karoline, a factory seamstress who finds herself in a pickle; Dyrholm is Dagmar, the mysterious woman who offers help. While Karoline is undoubtedly the protagonist––and the titular girl with the needle,...

Olivia Cooke and Jamie Bell are set to appear in Nathalie Biancheri’s unconventional romance Takes One To Know One, with Cornerstone handling international sales and CAA Media Finance co-repping the US.

When Eleanor (Cooke) and Lucas (Bell) meet in Rome, the chemistry is electric, and looks like the start of something life-changing, apart from a key stumbling block: they are both in relationships with other people.

Producers are Gail Egan, Claude Dal Farra and Brian Keady and Cooke. Production companies are Potboiler Productions, the UK outfit behind The Last King of Scotland and The Constant Gardener; Bcdf Pictures, the...

“Sound of Metal” star Olivia Cooke, soon to be returning to “House of the Dragon” for its second season, and BAFTA winner Jamie Bell, recently seen in “All of Us Strangers,” are set to star in “Takes One to Know One.” The film is billed as an “unconventional and contemporary take on romance.”

The feature comes from Italian director Nathalie Biancheri, working from a 2022 Black List screenplay by WGA-nominated writer Brooke Baker. Production is due to commence in Italy later this year, with Cornerstone handling international sales and distribution and and launching sales at Cannes and co-repping the U.S. with CAA Media Finance.

“Takes One to Know One” follows Eleanor (Cooke) and Lucas (Bell). When the two meet in Rome, their chemistry is electric. With a shared passion for art, Italy and each other, it looks like the start of something life-changing. The biggest stumbling block: they are both in relationships with other people.

Olivia Cooke and Jamie Bell have signed on to star in Takes One To Know One, a contemporary romance from Italian director Nathalie Biancheri (Nocturnal) based on Brooke Baker’s 2022 Black List script.

The Ready Player One and House of the Dragon actress and the All of Us Strangers and Rocketman actor will play Eleanor and Lucas, two people, who meet in Rome and immediately feel a spark, connecting over their shared passion for Italy and art, despite both already being in relationships.

“I’m so excited to work with Olivia and Jamie on this project,” said Biancheri. “The script is such a great combination of sexy, fun but also quite moving and I feel like it really hits a spot people are hungry for in cinema today.”

Potboiler Productions (The Constant Gardener, The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind) are producing, together with Bcdf Pictures, and Chippy Tea Productions. Gail Egan,...

Olivia Cooke (Sound of Metal) and BAFTA Award winner Jamie Bell (All of Us Strangers) have signed on to lead Italian filmmaker Nathalie Biancheri’s latest pic Takes One To Know One.

Cornerstone has international rights to the pic and will co-rep the US with CAA Media Finance. The pair will launch sales at Cannes.

Billed as an “unconventional and contemporary take on romance,” the film was penned by writer Brooke Baker. The screenplay was featured on the 2022 Black List. Cameras are set to roll in Italy in late 2024.

The film’s synopsis reads: When Eleanor (Cooke) and Lucas (Bell) meet in Rome, the chemistry is electric. With a shared passion for art, Italy, and each other, it looks like the start of something life-changing. The biggest stumbling block: They are both in relationships with other people.

Takes One To Know One is a Potboiler, Bcdf Pictures,...

Here’s the latest episode of the The Filmmakers Podcast, part of the ever-growing podcast roster here on Nerdly. If you haven’t heard the show yet, you can check out previous episodes on the official podcast site, whilst we’ll be featuring each and every new episode as it premieres.

For those unfamiliar with the series, The Filmmakers Podcast is a podcast about how to make films from micro budget indie films to bigger budget studio films and everything in-between. Our hosts Giles Alderson, Dan Richardson, Andrew Rodger and Cristian James talk how to get films made, how to actually make them and how to try not to f… it up in their very humble opinion. Guests will come on and chat about their film making experiences from directors, writers, producers, screenwriters, actors, cinematographers and distributors.

The Filmmaker’s Podcast #284: ‘Wolf’ – Making a film with Universal and the...

This year’s Diff will run as physical event from February 23-March 6.

Sasha King’s Vicky and Dónal Foreman’s The Cry Of Granuaile are among the world premieres screening at this year’s Dublin International Film Festival (Diff), which will run as a physical event from February 23-March 6.

Produced by King and Bill Snodgrass, documentary Vicky tells the story of Irish woman Vicky Phelan’s work to expose the truth behind Ireland’s Cervical Check healthcare scandal.

The Cry Of Granuaile is produced by Foreman, Liam Beatty and Edwina Forkin and centres on an American filmmaker, reeling from the...

Oddly aggressive therapy tactics are the antagonist forces in a coming-of-ager drama that looks at a particular mental health disorder that is steeped in zoology. Premiering at the 2021 Toronto Intl. Film Festival, with her sophomore film, Nathalie Biancheri‘s prescribes a cognitive look at the coined condition of species dysphoria, and in order to soften this nocturnal nightmare/fairytale she infuses the text with a petting zoo array of kindred, animal spirits. George MacKay performance in Wolf (Focus Features releases the film stateside) taps more into the carnal, physical aspects of the character, but in many respects the sum feels surface level.…...

by Jason Adams

There is an unfinished quality to the actor George Mackay's face, as if he's a first-draft in putty, not quite defined into full features yet. That quality makes him a perfect fit for Wolf, writer-director Nathalie Biancheri's new film about a young man who believes himself to actually be, under all that pretty pink skin, a you-guessed-it wolf. Mackay naturally seems permanently half fixed, like he's trapped in the middle part in a werewolf  transformation montage -- his impermanence putting this character's indeterminate selfhood right there written over his taut cheekbones.

I wish the rest of Wolf, which sees Mackay's character of Jacob shuffled off to a mad doctor's experimental psychological retreat/prison for, you know, "his own good," worked as well as Mackay does...

Neon and Participant opened animated documentary Flee to a $25,033 debut in four locations. That makes for a strong per-theater average of $6,258 ahead of a rollout early next year for the much-decorated Danish film ahead of Academy Award nominations Feb. 8.

It’s one of a few rather particular offerings, including Drive My Car, that distributors are tending to carefully with slow platform releasing to best capitalize on growing word of mouth as the films continue to accumulate awards and word of mouth.

A rep for Neon called Flee, Denmark’s foreign film Oscar entry, “an amazing cinematic unicorn” given its rare shot at nods in three Oscar categories — documentary, animated and foreign language film. The distributor is “very happy with the opening and looking forward to expanding the movie in late January,” he said. Meanwhile it stays small, focused in NY and LA, giving the super-specialized film by Jonas Poher Rasmussen a long runway to accumulate critical buzz. It’s at 98% with critics with an 83% audience score so far on Rotten Tomatoes.

Flee took the Sundance Grand Jury Word Cinema prize for documentary and continues to gather accolades, most recently a Gotham Best Documentary win, the National Board of Review Freedom of Expression award, and Best Non-Fiction Film from the New York Film Critics Circle. It’s the story of an Afghan refugee boy who makes a home in Denmark but carries scars and a secret that haunts him. He shares his story for the first time with a close childhood friend, the filmmaker. The use of animation, unique in a documentary, masks his identity.

Fresh off its Gotham Award for Best International Feature and its New York Film Critics Circle win for Best Film, the Sideshow and Janus Films’ release of Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car grossed an estimated $27,300 in four theaters in its second weekend for a PTA of $6,825 and a cume of $58,879. The film had a $13,000 weekend at Landmark’s Nuart in LA, which its distributors said is the theater’s highest post-pandemic weekend to date. In NYC, it had a strong hold, increasing 7% at Film Forum and down10% at Lincoln Center due to capacity constraints with two of the three Saturday shows sold out.

Japan’ submission to the Academy Awards for Best International Feature is three hour long, necessitating a careful rollout. It will be adding about 15-20 theaters a week through Jan. 15, said a rep for the distributors. Adapted from Haruki Murakami’s short story, it follows a renowned stage actor and director invited to helm a production of Uncle Vanya at a theater festival in Hiroshima and a taciturn young woman assigned by the festival to chauffeur him in his beloved red Saab 900. It took three prizes in Cannes including Best Screenplay. The film is 100% Certified Fresh by critics with an 81% Rotten Tomatoes audience score.

Elsewhere in specialty Focus Features Wolf opened in 308 locations, the widest specialty release this weekend, to a disappointing cume of $80K and a PTA of $261. The R-rated drama by first-time director Nathalie Biancheri stars George Mackay as boy who believes he is a wolf trapped in a human body. Marketing was limited for the film, which has a 44% critics and 33% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.

(Belfast, also from Focus, crossed the $5 million mark last week in 1,255 theaters before hitting PVOD Friday. The Kenneth Branagh pic’s estimated take is $500,000 this weekend for a total cume of $5.9 million.)

IFC Films opened Paul Verhoeven’s Benedetta in 202 theaters for an estimated weekend gross of $145,000 and a per theater average of $718. The latest film from the master filmmaker about a 17th-century nun in Italy who suffers from disturbing religious and erotic visions, had its world premiere at Cannes and North American premiere at NYFF.

From Utopia, Dasha Nekrasova’s debut feature The Scary of Sixty-First scared up $8,108 at one theater in LA — the American Cinematheque’s Los Feliz 3. The polarizing satire about the spirit of Jeffery Epstein possessing a young woman who unwittingly moves into an apartment he used to own, won Best First Feature in Berlin. It opened exclusively on 35mm with 10 pm showtimes only including a preview Thursday. It expands to the Quad in NYC on 12/17 ahead of a continued late-night expansion into 2022.

Debbie Lum’s Try Harder from Greenwich Entertainment grossed $25,232 in five locations in NY, LA and Sf for a PTA of $5,046. Greenwich said the doc will have the highest or second-highest grosses in all its theaters and should eclipse a $10,000 PTA at the Union Square in NYC and the Regal Stonestown in Sf. About a senior class at a high achieving high school in San Francisco navigates the college application process, it premiered at Sundance earlier this year and has glowing review (at 97% with Rotten Tomatoes critics).

Circle Collective opened Michael Bilandic’s Project Space 13 this weekend at the Roxy Cinema in NYC tied to a retrospective of his previous three films to $3,000 debut. The Roxy programmed single nightly showtimes for the new satire from the NYC underground filmmaker and his longtime collaborator, cinematographer Sean Price Williams.

Specialty films, which can run one in one theater or 1,000, have been in slow Covid recovery mode but there have been green shoots recently and good news this weekend is that the Omicron variant doesn’t appear to be stomping them down — or not yet. “The market is still in recovery, but if there is an impact, we haven’t seen it,” said one specialty exec. “Everyone’s wary and keeping an eye out, but no,” said another.

Take Fathom’s alternative engagement Christmas with The Chosen: The Messengers. Released Wednesday, it surged to a weekend gross of $4.1M in 1,700 locations for a PTA of $2,412 and a cume through Sunday of $9M – making it the top grossing and highest attended event in Fathom’s history.

“We knew we had something special with this title,” said Ray Nutt, CEO of Fathom Events. “We are grateful for the passionate fans of The Chosen and our exhibitor partners who accommodated demand by adding showtimes and locations.”

The event also set a Fathom record for fastest out-of-the-gate sales with $1.5 million in its first 12 hours of availability, indicating “people will indeed go to the theater for a project they’re passionate about,” said Chosen creator, writer and director Dallas Jenkins.

The title is produced by Angel Studios based on its crowd-funded hit streaming series, The Chosen, that follows the events surrounding the birth of Jesus from the perspective of Mary and Joseph. Fathom Events initially planned it as a two day release on 12/1-12/2 but the title performed so well it’s been extended through 12/13 with a wider run.

Even Wall Street took note. “These numbers seem notable considering very little traditional marketing for The Chosen – which may suggest a willingness to come out to theaters for the right content,” said Meghan Durkin, an analyst with Credit Suisse. The film was also “a much-needed surprise” hit to kick off December in the midst of a traditional lull before key holiday releases. Durkin sees the The Chosen as the second positive indication — the first being massive ticket presales for Spider Man: No Way Home — that holiday moviegoing may slip by Omicron.

Faith Media Distribution’s True To The Game 3, the third installment of the series based on the Teri Woods novel, grossed an estimated $623,529 for the weekend with a PTA of $1,417 in 440 theaters. Directed by David Wolfgang.

Another notable holdover includes United Artists Releasing’s Licorice Pizza from Paul Thomas Anderson, grossing an estimated $223,328 in week two in four theaters for a PTA of $55,832 and a cume through Sunday of $761k. Film follows Alana Kane and Gary Valentine growing up and falling in love in the San Fernando Valley in the early 1970s. Staring Cooper Hoffman, Alana Haim, Sean Penn, Tom Waits, Bradley Cooper and Benny Safdie.

While the film Wolf attempts to portray its topic in a dramatic manner, even delving a bit into the realm of being a thriller, the entire product is almost dead on arrival with its feet stuck in the air as it bounces between the silly and absurd, despite a strong performance by George MacKay.

Because they are worried about his predilection for believing he is a wolf trapped in a boy’s skin, Jacob’s parents send him to be treated in an clinic that apparently specializes in the treatment of individuals (adolescents mostly) who suffer from this condition, called clinical lycanthropy.

That his parents want their son back is obvious. Also obvious is that no one in this so-called clinic is actually concerned with treating these patients, but rather in abusing them until they submit to what is deemed normal behavior. The facility is run by a character called...

The arthouse is awash with well reviewed new offerings from Danish animated doc Flee to Paulo Sorrentino’s Hand of God to IFC’s Benedetta heading into awards season and amid a paucity of new wide releases.

The first weekend of December following the five-day Thanksgiving frame is notoriously slow at the box office, but also a time when arthouse can breaks through.

The weekend also brings a small but growing foothold Stateside for the new Omicron variant. How widespread and infectious it is, severity of illness and response to vaccines are still unclear. Exhibitors of all sizes are watching closely. If the brisk pace of ticket presales for Spiderman-Man: No Way Home are a sign, the younger demo at least is shrugging it off. Older audiences key to specialty film have been the group most reluctant to return to theaters but green shoots appeared recently in the market for grownup films.

Species dysphoria. That’s what the professionals call the condition troubling Jakob (George MacKay) in “Wolf,” a shockingly dull look at a fascinating disorder affecting humans who believe they were born into the wrong species. Jakob is convinced he’s a wolf in human clothing, and except for the first and last scenes, he spends practically the entire film trying to fight that impression at the True You rehab center, where crackpot doctors (led by Paddy Considine) use a troubling assortment of treatments to “cure” Jakob and his fellow patients.

As presented, True You feels like a cross between a zoo and a gay conversion therapy clinic, where Jakob finds himself surrounded by a menagerie of other frustrated young people: a shy, awkward young woman (Elsa Fionur) who whinnies like a horse; another (Lola Petticrew) who wears a false beak and feather headdress of sorts and repeats others’ words; and an eager,...

After a busy Thanksgiving weekend which saw a solid-for-2021 $142 million five-day gross, things are taking a bit of a breather this weekend. The only new wide release is Focus’ specialty film Wolf, which is unlikely to displace any of last week’s box office winners. Expect a repeat of last weekend with Encanto, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, and House of Gucci remaining in the top three, and we’ll see how well they hold as we await some of the year’s most anticipated films in the coming weeks. West Side Story, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Nightmare Alley, The Matrix Resurrections, and other big ticket holiday and award season films are just around the corner and will hopefully bring the pandemic-era box office to new heights.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife and Encanto will duke it out for the top spot this weekend. Encanto was in the lead last weekend, with $40.5 million compared to Ghostbusters’ $35 million for the five-day,...

Focus Features is set to release writer/director Nathalie Biancheri’s psychological drama Wolf into theaters this weekend. The film features transformative performances from both George MacKay and Lily-Rose Depp, whose characters are contending with species dysphoria and a society unwilling to just let them be themselves.

During the recent press day for the film, Daily Dead spoke with both Depp and MacKay about their characters and what initially drew them to the project. The duo also chatted about collaborating with Biancheri on Wolf and digging into their characters, as well as collaborating with movement coach Terry Notary and their willingness to completely give themselves over to their demanding roles.

Check out our video interview with George MacKay and Lily-Rose Depp below, and look for Wolf in theaters starting tomorrow, Friday, December 3rd.



The post Video Interview: George MacKay and Lily-Rose Depp Talk Wolf (2021) appeared first on Daily Dead.

This Friday, December 3rd, Focus Features is unleashing Nathalie Biancheri’s psychological drama Wolf which is centered around characters who all share a common diagnosis: species dysphoria. At the center of Biancheri’s story is Jacob (played by George MacKay), who ends up in a clinic after his belief that he’s a wolf trapped inside a human body ends up taking a toll on his everyday life and he hopes that he can get the treatment he needs in order to live up to society’s standards of what’s “normal.” While there, Jacob meets the enigmatic Wildcat (Lily-Rose Depp) who becomes something of a kindred spirit to him, and soon enough, they’re both faced with some tough decisions about their identities and just where they want to fit in after all.

Recently, Daily Dead had the opportunity to speak with Biancheri about Wolf, and she discussed the...

It’s easy to make assumptions about a movie called Wolf before you see it. Will this tale about a young man who believes he’s a wild animal be a horror film? A raunchy comedy? A combination of both, like An American Werewolf in London? The sophomore feature from director Nathalie Biancheri (2019’s Nocturnal) defies such lowbrow expectations by instead being a serious indie drama about species dysphoria (it’s a thing) and the cruel methods used to cure it by a ruthless doctor. And while that sounds like it could lend itself to plenty of unintentional humor,...

It’s easy to make assumptions about a movie called Wolf before you see it. Will this tale about a young man who believes he’s a wild animal be a horror film? A raunchy comedy? A combination of both, like An American Werewolf in London? The sophomore feature from director Nathalie Biancheri (2019’s Nocturnal) defies such lowbrow expectations by instead being a serious indie drama about species dysphoria (it’s a thing) and the cruel methods used to cure it by a ruthless doctor. And while that sounds like it could lend itself to plenty of unintentional humor,...

Focus Features will release Wolf in theaters Next Friday, December 3, 2021 Check out this new clip from the film: Written and Directed by Nathalie Biancheri Starring George MacKay, Lily-Rose Depp, Paddy Considine, Eileen Wals Believing he is a wolf trapped in a human body, Jacob (George MacKay) eats, sleeps, and lives like a wolf …

The post Wolf starring George MacKay and Lily-Rose Depp | In Theaters Next Friday appeared first on Horror News | Hnn.

New Clip from Motherly: "A single mother is attacked by a vengeful couple who believe she's responsible for their daughter's murder."

Director: Craig David Wallace

Writers: Ian Malone, Craig David Wallace

Producers: Avi Federgreen, Laura Tremblay

Cast: Lora Burke, Tessa Kozma, Kristen MacCulloch, Nick Smyth, Colin Paradine

Genre: Thriller, Horror

Run Time: 100 Mins

Rating: Rated TV-ma for Violence

Distributor: Entertainment Squad/The Horror Collective

Now available On Demand and Digital

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Official Poster for Wolf: " Believing he is a wolf trapped in a human body, Jacob (George MacKay) eats, sleeps, and lives like a wolf – much to the shock of his family. When he’s sent to a clinic, Jacob and his animal-bound peers are forced to undergo increasingly extreme forms of ‘curative’ therapies. However once he meets the mysterious Wildcat (Lily-Rose Depp), and as their friendship blossoms into an undeniable infatuation, Jacob is faced with a challenge: will he...

Tilda Swinton, George MacKay and Stephen Graham will star in “The End,” a new musical about the last human family. The movie will be directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Joshua Oppenheimer (“The Act of Killing”) and will be released in North America by Neon, the studio behind “Parasite.” Production begins in 2022.

Swinton won an Oscar playing a morally compromised attorney in “Michael Clayton.” Her recent and upcoming films include Joanna Hogg’s “The Souvenir: Part II,” Wes Anderson’s “The French Dispatch,” George Miller’s “Three Thousand Years of Longing” and Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s “Memoria.” That latter is another Neon release.

Graham played Al Capone on “Boardwalk Empire.” He also popped up in “Venom: Let There Be Carnage,” Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman, and the Elton John biopic “Rocketman.”

MacKay is best known for starring in “1917” and will soon be seen in the adaptation of Robert Harris’ “Munich: The Edge of War...

Tilda Swinton, George Mackay and Stephen Graham are set to star in Oscar-nominated director Joshua Oppenheimer’s The End, a Golden Age musical about the last human family for Neon.

The Parasite Oscar Best Picture-winning studio has taken North American rights to the film. Production will start next year.

Final Cut for Real’s Signe Byrge Sørensen and Oppenheimer are producing with Wild Atlantic Pictures and Match Factory Productions co-producing. The Danish Film Institute in Denmark and Film- und Medienstiftung Nrw in Germany will support with financing. Jeff Deutchman negotiated the deal for Neon with the producers and UTA Independent Film Group. The Match Factory is handling foreign sales.

Swinton won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Warner Bros’ Michael Clayton. Recent and upcoming projects include Joanna Hogg’s The Souvenir: Part II; Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch; George Miller’s Three Thousand Years of Longing with Idris Elba; and Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Memoria,...

The End, an upcoming musical from Neon, has found its cast. Tilda Swinton, George MacKay and Stephen Graham will star in the project from director Joshua Oppenheimer. The musical centers on the last family of humans on Earth. Neon will distribute the project in North America, with a 2022 production start date expected.

Swinton, who won an Oscar for Michael Clayton (2007), has Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch and George Miller’s Three Thousand Years of Longing coming up. MacKay broke out with Sam Mendes’ 1917 and will next be seen in Robert Harris’s Munich: The Edge of War and Nathalie Biancheri’s Wolf. Graham is coming off of Venom: Let ...

The End, an upcoming musical from Neon, has found its cast. Tilda Swinton, George Mackay and Stephen Graham will star in the project from director Joshua Oppenheimer. The musical centers on the last family of humans on Earth. Neon will distribute the project in North America, with a 2022 production date expected.

Swinton, who won an Oscar for Michael Clayton (2007), has Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch and George Miller’s Three Thousand Years of Longing coming up. Mackay broke out with Sam Mendes’ 1917 and will next be seen in Robert Harris’s Munich: The Edge of War and Nathalie Biancheri’s Wolf. Graham is coming off of Venom: Let There ...

Focus Features has released the official first trailer for “Wolf,” the intriguing sophomore effort from “Nocturnal” filmmaker Nathalie Biancheri. The drama, about a man who believes he is a wolf trapped in a human body, premiered earlier this month at the Toronto International Film Festival. Critics were drawn in by the unique subject matter of “species dysphoria” and standout performances by emerging stars George MacKay and Lily-Rose Depp.

IndieWire’s Kate Erbland described the unusual premise: “The film follows MacKay as Jacob, a young man who suffers from ‘species dysphoria’ and believes himself to be a wolf. Sent to a clinic that specializes in the disorder, Jacob is forced to confront his true nature, while also falling under the spell of Wildcat (Lily-Rose Depp), a mysterious fellow patient at what’s blithely termed ‘the zoo.'”

Though not currently recognized by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, species...

Model and actor Lily Rose-Depp will star in “The Idol,” an HBO drama series co-created by singer/songwriter The Weeknd (Abel Makkonen Tesfaye) and “Euphoria” creator Sam Levinson.

Per the logline, “The Idol” is about a female pop singer who starts a romance with an enigmatic club owner (who happens to be the leader of a secret cult in Los Angeles). Tesfaye will also star in the show, which is currently in development.

Thus far, Rose-Depp and Tesfaye are the only two announced cast members, and they are believed to be playing the female pop singer and club owner/cult leader in question.

Levinson executive produces and writes, along with Tesfaye and Reza Fahim, his producing partner who has prior experience in the nightlife industry. Executive producing for Little Lamb are Ashley Levinson and Kevin Turen, and executive producing for Bron Studios is Aaron L. Gilbert. Showrunner Joseph Epstein, who...

Exclusive: In her foray into television, Lily-Rose Depp has been tapped as the female lead opposite Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye in The Idol, a high-profile drama series in development at HBO co-created by Tesfaye and Euphoria creator Sam Levinson.

The Idol follows a female pop singer who starts a romance with an enigmatic L.A. club owner who is the leader of a secret cult. HBO is not commenting, but Depp and Tesfaye are believed to be playing the singer and club owner, respectively.

Levinson co-created the series with Tesfaye and his producing partner Reza Fahim, a nightlife entrepreneur-turned-writer.

Joseph Epstein (Health and Wellness) serves as writer and showrunner on the project. Levinson, Tesfaye, Fahim, Epstein, Ashley Levinson, Kevin Turen, Nick Hall and Bron Studios’ Aaron L. Gilbert will exec produce.

Mary Laws, who has written on Succession and Preacher, will write and co-exec produce. The Weeknd’s manager Wassim...

It’s clear from the opening moments of Nathalie Biancheri’s remarkable sophomore narrative outing “Wolf” that there’s exactly one thing on the menu: full commitment. When the drama kicks off, star George MacKay is already immersed in his character, a young man who believes he was born in the wrong body (read: a human one) and is attempting to more fully connect with his true identity, that of a wolf. As a naked Jacob (MacKay) writhes and stretches in a patch of sunny forest, sniffing the air, taking in the splendor around him, seemingly far away from anything rooted in the human world, “Wolf” establishes its aims, both in terms of tone and emotion. It’s a risk, surely, but one that both MacKay and co-star Lily-Rose Depp are more than up for.

So is Biancheri. A former documentary filmmaker who was initially drawn to the thorny subject matter of “Wolf” — “species dysphoria,...

Like many people, George MacKay found some strange ways to pass the time during the early days of lockdown. Mostly, he crawled around his house, pretending to be a wolf.

For MacKay, an actor often touted as a Method performer, it was not an entirely out of character event. In fact, that’s exactly what it was: something done to get in character for one of the most transformative roles of his career, which has already been marked by stellar turns in such diverse fare as “Captain Fantastic” and “1917.” As MacKay and filmmaker Nathalie Biancheri ready to premiere their remarkable “Wolf” at the Toronto International Film Festival this week, the pair sat down (via Zoom) with IndieWire for their first interview about a wild project.

The film, written by Biancheri in her sophomore narrative outing, follows MacKay as Jacob, a young man who suffers from “species dysphoria” and believes himself to be a wolf.

Cherry picking the better titles from Cannes and Venice, today TIFF programmers beefed up their Special Presentations and Gala slates and announced a truckload of items for their Contemporary World Cinema and Discovery programs. While there are indeed overlaps, there are a slew of world premiere titles for the likes in returning filmmakers Manuel Martín Cuenca’s The Daughter (La Hija), Bouli Lanners’ Nobody Has to Know, Ho Wi Ding’s Terrorizers, and Sébastien Pilote’s Maria Chapdelaine with fresh faces in Stephen Karam’s The Humans, Agustina San Martín’s directorial debut To Kill The Beast and Nathalie Biancheri’s sophomore feature in Wolf (Focus Features pick-up).…...

New TIFF Rewind features filmmakers in conversation about memorable selections from the past.

World premieres of Ruth Paxton’s UK horror A Banquet, Agustina San Martín’s Argentinian genre tale To Kill The Beast and Sébastien Pilote’s Canadian period drama Maria Chapdelaine are among Contemporary World Cinema and Discovery selections announced by Toronto International Film festival.

Scroll down for full list of new titles

The festival also unveiled additional Gala and Special Presentations titles, and introduced TIFF Rewind featuring filmmakers in conversation about memorable selections from the past.

Gala screenings include the world premiere of Camille Griffin’s UK...

Netflix has announced one of the first titles in its new batch of UK film features slate ‘I Came By’ featuring George MacKay.

Commissioned by Fiona Lamptey who is focusing on developing distinctive British productions to create bold new stories to entertain and excite a global audience. The first in its list is the feature from writer/director Babak Anvari.

The film will focus on a rebellious young graffiti artist, who targets the homes of the wealthy elite, discovers a shocking secret that leads him on a journey endangering himself and those closest to him.

The cast will include Hugh Bonneville as Sir Hector Blake, George Mackay as Toby Nealey, Kelly Macdonald as Lizzie Nealey, Percelle Ascott as Jay Agassi and Varada Sethu as Naz.

Also in news – Marvel’s ‘Blade’ movie snaps up Bassam Tariq to direct

Filming will take place in the UK, the film is slated for...

Exclusive: George Mackay (1917), Kelly Macdonald (Line Of Duty) and Hugh Bonneville (Paddington) are set to lead cast in new Netflix thriller I Came By, which will be directed by BAFTA winner Babak Anvari (Under The Shadow).

The London set neo-noir thriller will follow a rebellious young graffiti artist who targets the homes of the wealthy elite but discovers a shocking secret that leads him on a journey endangering himself and those closest to him.

I Came By is among the first titles on the new UK film slate at Netflix commissioned by Director Of UK Features Fiona Lamptey. The slate will focus on developing distinctive British productions.

Pic will shoot on location in the UK and will release on Netflix in 2022. Also starring are Percelle Ascott (The Innocents) and Varada Sethu (Strike Back).

Anvari directs and co-writes following his well-received debut Under The Shadow and psychological horror Wounds on Netflix (ex.

Nathalie Biancheri (Nocturnal) wrote and directs feature, currently in post.

Focus Features will release high-concept thriller Wolf starring George MacKay and Lily-Rose Depp in North America on December 3 this year.

Nathalie Biancheri (Nocturnal) wrote and directs the story starring MacKay (1917) as Jacob, a boy who believes he is a wolf trapped in a human body and is sent to a clinic where he is subjected to increasingly extreme therapies.

When he meets the mysterious Wildcat their friendship blossoms into an undeniable infatuation, and Jacob must decide whether to renounce his true self for love.

The cast includes Senan Jennings, Darragh Shannon,...

A December 3rd release date has been announced by Focus Features for Nathalie Biancheri's new movie Wolf, which centers on a clinic where disturbing treatments are conducted on people whose true inner selves are powerful animals:

Focus Features will release Wolf starring George MacKay and Lily-Rose Depp on Friday, December 3, 2021 domestically.

About Wolf

Believing he is a wolf trapped in a human body, Jacob (George MacKay) eats, sleeps, and lives like a wolf – much to the shock of his family. When he’s sent to a clinic, Jacob and his animal-bound peers are forced to undergo increasingly extreme forms of ‘curative’ therapies. However once he meets the mysterious Wildcat (Lily-Rose Depp), and as their friendship blossoms into an undeniable infatuation, Jacob is faced with a challenge: will he renounce his true self for love.

Wolf is written and directed by Nathalie Biancheri (Nocturnal), produced by Jessie Fisk and Jane Doolan,...

Focus Features will open Wolf starring George MacKay and Lily-Rose Depp in theaters on Friday, Dec. 3.

The first weekend of December, following the five-day Thanksgiving frame, is notoriously one of the slowest at the box office in pre-pandemic times, however, arthouse and awards season fare always break through. Wolf will be on marquees with other limited fare such as Searchlight’s Guillermo del Toro movie Nightmare Alley and an untitled movie from Neon.

Believing he is a wolf trapped in a human body, Jacob (George MacKay) eats, sleeps, and lives like a wolf – much to the shock of his family in the Focus Features title. When he’s sent to a clinic, Jacob and his animal-bound peers are forced to undergo increasingly extreme forms of ‘curative’ therapies. However once he meets the mysterious Wildcat (Lily-Rose Depp), and as their friendship blossoms into an undeniable infatuation, Jacob is faced with a...

Paul Mescal emerged as one of the breakout stars of 2020 thanks to his performance in BBC and Hulu drama “Normal People.”

Ireland has seen a slew of such acting talent establish themselves in recent years, like Jessie Buckley with her star turn as the pregnant wife of a doomed Russian fireman in “Chernobyl” and Barry Keoghan, who won attention with lead roles in two 2017 films, “Killing of a Sacred Deer” and “Dunkirk.” Keoghan is now BAFTA-nominated for “Calm with Horses,” as is Niamh Algar, whose credits include “The Virtues” and “Raised by Wolves.” Elsewhere Domhnall Gleeson has made a name for himself as General Dux in recent “Star Wars” films, and also in “The Revenant” and “Ex Machina.”

Among the new generation of actors to watch are Fionn O’Shea, chosen as one of the Berlin Film Festival’s Shooting Stars of 2021. A “Normal People” alumnus, O’Shea will next be...

Less Is More (Lim), a European development scheme for limited-budget feature films, has unveiled its selection of 16 projects, a majority of which are from women filmmakers and talents coming from theater, visual arts or documentary.

In spite of the pandemic, the 7th edition received as many as 350 applications from more than 70 countries. The final roster includes projects from territories that were not represented in previous editions, such as Uganda, Vietnam and South Africa.

Among the projects selected are “I Love My Guodoheaddji,” set in the Arctic Circle within Norway’s Sámi community; “I Matter,” about a Romany community in Romania, and “A Song That Slays,” set in a Pokot tribe in Kenya. Other projects explore a cult in Czech Republic (“Goddess), sex addiction in Lithuania (Sofia’s World), and Celtic tales (“Birds of a Feather…).

Lim, which develops first, second and third feature projects, is organized by the Groupe Ouest,...