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From her humble beginnings to her meteoric rise to fame, Evangeline Lilly has proven that talent, determination, and hard work can lead to great success in the entertainment industry. In this in-depth look at her life and career, we will explore Evangeline Lilly’s journey, from her early life and career beginnings to her breakthrough role in “Lost” and her transition to the big screen. We will also delve into her work in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, her personal life, and her philanthropic endeavors. By the end of this article, you will have a deeper understanding of Evangeline Lilly and the lessons we can learn from her inspiring story.

Introduction to Evangeline Lilly

Evangeline Lilly is a Canadian actress, model, and author who has gained international recognition for her roles in some of the most popular TV shows and movies in recent years. Born on August 3, 1979, in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta,...

Kenneth Welsh, a prolific Canadian character actor with more than 200 screen credits, died Thursday evening. He was 80 years old.

Actra, the Canadian film and television union, confirmed the news on Friday. “Ken was one of Canada’s all-time great performers, with hundreds of memorable roles spanning decades,” Actra wrote in a statement. “He will be greatly missed. Our condolences to his loved ones.”

Actra Toronto is extremely saddened today by the passing of Kenneth Welsh. Ken was one of Canada’s all-time great performers, with hundreds of memorable roles spanning decades. He will be greatly missed. Our condolences to his loved ones. pic.twitter.com/SqcV3Wmhqk

— Actra Toronto (@ACTRAToronto) May 6, 2022

Welsh is best known to American audiences for his role as Windom Earle, the crazed FBI agent in Season 2 of the groundbreaking television series “Twin Peaks.”

In his native Canada, he was a consistent figure on television, frequently starring in TV films.

All Arts unveiled the fall lineup for “The First Twenty,” a new content initiative exploring how the first two decades of the 21st century have impacted American art and culture.

“The First Twenty” includes three new specials. Premiering on Sept. 7 is “Afterwards” by playwright Enda Walsh. Jeremy Dennis’ “Ma’s House” premieres on Oct. 11 in honor of Indigenous Peoples’ Day. “Twenty Years of Asian American Playwriting” by Ralph Peña and the Ma-Yi Theater Company will air in November. All three will stream on the All Arts app and website, and premiere in the New York Metro area on the All Arts TV channel.

“Our mission with ‘The First Twenty’ initiative is to contemplate and investigate contemporary society and its challenges through alternative lenses,” said James King, artistic director of All Arts. “We are inviting artists from traditionally underserved communities to create exciting new content that illuminates their unique cultures and perspectives.

“The Reunion,” the French Riviera-set series adapted from Guillaume Musso’s bestselling novel “La Jeune Fille et la Nuit,” has started shooting on location in the south of France with an international cast headlined by Ioan Gruffudd (“Fantastic Four”), Ivanna Sakhno (“Pacific Rim Uprising”) and Grégory Fitoussi (“Spiral”).

Directed by Bill Eagles, the English-language series is produced by Sydney Gallonde at Make It Happen Studio (“No Second Chance”), and co-produced by MGM International TV Productions and public broadcaster France Televisions.

Marston Bloom penned the adaptation of Musso’s hit novel, which was published by Calmann-Lévy in 2018 and has sold more than two million copies worldwide in more than 35 languages. The story opens in the present day, at a high school reunion in the south of France where three former friends reconnect. They grew apart and lost touch, but they are still bound by a tragic secret tied to the disappearance...

Igor Luther worked on the fragmentary essay titled Self-Portrait where he looks back on his own fruitful professional career and turbulent private life. Slovak producer and director Ivan Ostrochovský, who revealed his latest fiction feature Servants at this year's Berlinale, is continuing in his producing efforts. After co-producing the experimental docu-pic Frem and Petr Zelenka’s dramedy Droneman (read the news), one of the projects he is currently working on as a producer is a documentary with the working title Self-Portrait, centred on the most acclaimed Slovak cinematographer, Igor Luther, who passed away at the beginning of June 2020. Luther commands a glowing filmography, having lensed Juraj Jakubisko’s The Years of Christ and Birdies, Orphans and Fools, Alain Robbe-Grillet’s The Man Who Lies and Eden and Afterwards and serving as DoP on films by Michael Haneke, Wolfgang Staudte, Andrzej Wajda, Aleksandar Petrović and a fruitful collaboration with Volker Schlöndorff with whom.

Electronic artist Arca has announced her new album Kick I, to be released digitally on June 26th and vinyl/CD on July 17th via Xl Recordings. The LP will feature collaborations with Björk, Rosalía, Sophie and Shygirl.

Arca shared the first single from Kick I, “Time,” on Wednesday, accompanied by a music video taken from her September 2019 Mutant;Faith performance cycle at New York’s Hudson Yards venue the Shed. The visual, directed by Manson, shows Arca on a date with a demonic figure in a pink suit. They ride...

To the Edge of Sorrow

Michel Spinosa is helming his highest profile project to date with his fifth feature, To the Edge of Sorrow, produced by Sylvie Pialat and director Cristian Mungiu. The title will star Cosmina Stratan, who won Best Actress at Cannes for her role in Mungiu’s 2012 drama Beyond the Hills. Spinosa’s last title was 2014’s Son epouse with Charlotte Gainsbourg, but he may be most recognizable as a director for his 2007 drama Anna M., which featured Isabelle Carre in a Cesar nominated performance. His 1994 directorial debut Emmene-moi competed in Locarno but Spinosa has written several features for director Gilles Bourdos, including Afterwards (2008), Renoir (2012) and Endangered Species (2017).…...

New Line Cinema (Warner Bros. Pictures) released their new action/fantasy flick, "The Hobbit 3: The Battle Of The Five Armies," into theaters this weekend. I just watched it, and thought it was very entertaining, especially the back half of it when the huge war took place as it really offered some major action fight scenes. The movie stars: Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, Evangeline Lilly, Lee Pace, Luke Evans, Benedict Cumberbatch, Stephen Fry, Cate Blanchett, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Ken Stott, James Nesbitt, Orlando Bloom, John Bell, Manu Bennett, Jed Brophy, Adam Brown, John Callen, Billy Connolly, Ryan Gage, Mark Hadlow, Peter Hambleton, Stephen Hunter, William Kircher, Lawrence Makoare, Sylvester McCoy, Graham McTavish, Dean O'Gorman, Mikael Persbrandt and Aidan Turner. In the new flick, the wicked Smaug dragon showed up to obliterate Laketown with lots of fire breathing action. Everyone was scrambling for their lives until...

The other night at the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas, a special evening was planned around the King of the Monsters. That's right, in the middle of a flurry of premieres, panels, and keynote addresses, the festival took the time out to give it up to Godzilla.

The night began with a restored 35 mm print of the original 1954 "Godzilla" (it was the only movie screened at the festival from actual film), which was sort of fun but just reminded everyone in attendance how boring (relatively speaking) the original "Godzilla" really is (political subtext aside). Afterwards, we got a special treat in the form of new "Godzilla" director Gareth Edwards, who, after a screening of the most recent trailer, showed off some brand new footage from the hotly anticipated summer blockbuster. The short version: this movie is going to be awesome.

Edwards began by saying that he wanted...

His Wife

Director: Michel Spinosa

Writers: Agnes de Sacy, Michel Spinosa

Producer: Patrick Sobelman

U.S. Distributor: Rights Available

Cast: Yvan Attal, Charlotte Gainsbourg

English speaking audiences perhaps know French director Michel Spinosa better for his screenwriting credits, which include two films directed by Gilles Bourdos, the rather awkward Afterwards (2008), and the celebrated Renoir (2012). However, Spinosa has a trio of his own directorial efforts under his belt, including the excellent 2007 psychological thriller/character study, Anna M., which features a stupendous performance from Isabelle Carre. We’re thrilled to see him back with his return to the director’s seat and starring real life couple Attal and Gainsbourg.

Gist: Gracie, a young Tamil woman living near Madras, has been having behavioural disorders since the day she was married. The memory of her French friend Catherine, who died in unresolved circumstances, seems to be haunting her. Catherine’s grieving ex-husband, Joseph, decides...

Humiliated, harassed, expected to do 12-hour days, often for nothing – an intern's lot is seldom a happy one. We find out what it's like to have no status at work and reveal why companies may soon have to stop exploiting interns

Too many young people are still doing real jobs for no money, as unpaid interns. But not for much longer. Around the world, young workers expected to toil for months at a time for little or no pay are battling to be rewarded fairly.

For those of us who have been campaigning on this issue for years, it's an exciting time. Former interns who are brave – and angry – enough to challenge their employers are "lawyering up" (often finding a kindly donor to cover the fees). This is a big deal. In many cases, lone twentysomethings are squaring up to huge international firms or high-profile people with deep pockets and legal teams.

The Originals Episode 106

“Fruit of the Poisoned Tree”

Written By: Charlie Charbonneau and Diane Ademu-John

Directed By: Michael Allowitz

Original Airdate: 5 November 2013

In This Episode...

Klaus and Elijah are having a very “dignified” afternoon, reading and listening to classical music. Of course there is a dead body between them, a peace offering from Klaus, which Elijah refuses. And of course, Rebekah is the one who must clean it up. Elijah, who had been reading his mother’s spellbook, found what he needed and decides it is time to unbind Sophie and Hayley. He takes a page from the spellbook to Davina, who is pleased to see him. Elijah wants Davina to practice this spell, with a huge monkey’s fist knot (the one that Sophie used in her binding spell - unbeknownst to Davina). He promises that if she can learn this advanced spell, he will bring her another of her choice.

It seems like Bruce Willis is the undeniable king of appearing in unnecessary sequels. His conscience as of late has to have gone something like this: “Parts in The Expendables 2 and GI Joe: Retaliation, yeah sure why not?” Or how about, “Another Die Hard movie that’s basically an insult to the fundamental ideas of the original? Well if there’s a lucrative paycheck involved, then okay.” And I know it came out nearly ten years ago, but don’t even get me started on The Whole Ten Yards. Now we’ve got Red 2, one of those head-scratching sequels that make you wonder how it was even an option until you check the box office returns on the original. The first Red movie was made for a modest $58 million and made upwards of $199 million in domestic and foreign ticket sales.

Maybe it was all those Red comic book...

Two sisters' reaction to the latest trailer for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug has caught the attention of Peter Jackson and Orlando Bloom.

The original video saw the two fans record themselves as they saw the new promo for the first time, shrieking and overwhelmed with excitement.

Watch Kellie and Alex view the trailer below:

Afterwards, director Peter Jackson showed the clip to stars Orlando Bloom, Evangeline Lilly and Lee Pace.

The trio can be seen enjoying and laughing along to the video, praising them for being passionate about the Hobbit franchise.

Watch Bloom, Lilly and Pace watching the fan reaction below:

Lastly, the two sisters recorded a reaction response to the Hobbit stars' video, struggling to contain their hysteria.

Watch the 'Hobbit-ception' below:...

The Talent Family: Bourdos Abandons Genre for Elegant Biographical Period Piece

A summer signifying the encroaching end of one artist and the birth of another within one of France’s most famous families is the subject of Gilles Bourdos’ latest film, Renoir, based on the biographical novel penned by the great grandson of Auguste Renoir, Jacques (himself a notable cinematographer and photographer). A pastoral portrait that often reaches a resplendence with its moving images that evokes the works of its famed subject, this marks an aggressive change of pace for Bourdos, who has thus far seemed most interested in adapting mystery thrillers for the screen (and to middling effect, at least judging from his 2008 English language debut, Afterwards). Managing to avoid the clichés associated with lofty biopics, this straightforward rendering smartly focuses on a slight passage of time and isn’t driven by any overtly dramatic scenarios.

Set on the...

A soundtrack that has Chinese overtones, interspersed with Satie, and A La Claire Fontaine. Is it a Chinese composer familiar with French culture? Turns out to be a French composer, capable of adapting his music to almost any setting in the world. Whether it be ethereal tunes for golden compasses, mysterious ones for wizards, or spectral ones for writers on the verge of giving up the ghost.

In a TV reality show about composers, Alexandre le Grand would be the winner of his era. Even if composers tend to be discreet, their work lives in a fish bowl. And M. Desplat’s bowl is filling up with scores of many scents and colours very rapidly.

Not just that, he does it consistently well, under lots of pressure, running against the clock on at least two continents, having composed the music for 115 feature films at the age of 51. Not counting the work done for TV,...

From Palme d’Or winner “Amour” to the latest offerings from some of the biggest names of world cinema such as Alain Resnais, Abbas Kiarostami, Bernando Bertoluci, Manoel de Oliveira , Brillante Mendoza, Ken Loach, Jacques Audiard, 14th Mumbai Film Festival has a lot to offer to the filmbuffs.

The festival offers an exciting lineup of more than two hundred films, spread over about a dozen screen and seven days! To help our readers decide we’ve picked up the most talked about films from festival circuit.

14th Mff runs from October 18th-25th, 2012 at the National Centre for Performing Arts (Ncpa), and Inox, Nariman Point, Liberty Cinemas, Marine Lines as the main festival venues and Cinemax, Andheri and Cinemax Sion as the satellite venues.

To get delegate pass for the festival, you can register here:

1) Beast of the Southern Wild

Dir.: Benh Zeitlin (USA/ 2012 /Col./ 92’)

Section: International Competition for...

AMC Scene from “Mad Men.”

Editor’s note: Every Sunday after the newest episode of “Mad Men,” lawyer and Supreme Court advocate Walter Dellinger will host an online dialogue about the show. The participants include Columbia University history professor Alan Brinkley, Stanford Law Professor Pam Karlan, and Columbia theater and television professor Evangeline Morphos. Dellinger will post his thoughts shortly after each episode ends at 11 p.m., and the others will add their commentary in the hours and days that follow.

© DreamWorks II Distribution Co. LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Check out the new photos of Hugh Jackman at last night’s Paris premiere of Real Steel. Afterwards, watch the new TV spot and a video on how to make your own paper model robot from DreamWorks Pictures’ action drama.

© DreamWorks II Distribution Co. LLC. All Rights Reserved.

DreamWorks II Distribution Co. LLC. All Rights Reserved.

DreamWorks II Distribution Co. LLC. All Rights Reserved.

DreamWorks II Distribution Co. LLC. All Rights Reserved.

© DreamWorks II Distribution Co. LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Hugh Jackman and Boris Ehrgott at the Paris premiere of DreamWorks Pictures’ action drama “Real Steel”. © DreamWorks II Distribution Co. LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Watch this fascinating feature on how to make your own Real Steel robot.

Synopsis:

Set in the near-future, where the sport of boxing has gone hi-tech, Real Steel stars Hugh Jackman as Charlie Kenton, a washed-up fighter who...

There are a lot of Canadian films screening at the Toronto International Film Festival to be excited about, including works from our favourite filmmakers Guy Maddin, Bruce McDonald,Vincenzo Natali and Jean Marc Vallee. Below is the list of films in the Canada First selections as well as other CanCon movies scattered through the main programs.

Toronto – The Toronto International Film Festival® boasts a strong lineup of Canadian features including new works by acclaimed Canadian filmmakers Carl Bessai, Mike Clattenburg, Michael Dowse, Philippe Falardeau, Guy Maddin, Bruce McDonald, Léa Pool, Jean-Marc Vallée and Ingrid Veninger, and onscreen appearances by Jay Baruchel, Camilla Belle, Anupam Kher, Akshay Kumar, Mia Kirshner, Rob Lowe, Vanessa Paradis, Jason Patric, Alison Pill, Russell Peters, Isabella Rossellini, Liev Schreiber, Sean William Scott, Scott Speedman and Nick Stahl.

“This year saw many Canadian filmmakers address a wide range of pressing social issues including the dangers of progress...

I call YouTube "the black hole of the Internet," because you go there looking to do research on old movie advertising and two hours later you've gotten nothing done but you've found the "Ghostbusters" logo drinking a Diet Coke. These are the results of one of my recent excursions into the black hole: seven of the weirdest vintage commercials in the history of television (American television, that is; weird commercials from around the world deserve a list all their own). Here, presented in no particular order, are my favorites:

Radioactive Makeup Tests

Dorothy Gray Cosmetics

"A clean skin is a healthy skin," boasts this ad for Dorothy Gray Cosmetics. And really, what gets skin cleaner than a big old blast of radioactivity? This absurd makeup advertisement proves the effectiveness of cold cream by using it to remove dirt that's been rendered "just radioactive enough" to register on a Geiger counter.

It All Ends 7.15. Watch the world premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 live on July 7 from 8am Pt/ 11am Et/ 4pm BST.

Afterwards, check out the plethora of stills from the film.

Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter in Warner Bros. Pictures’ fantasy adventure “Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows – Part 2,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo by Jaap Buitendijk.

(L-r) Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter and Emma Watson as Hermione Granger in Warner Bros. Pictures’ fantasy adventure Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows – Part 2, a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures.

(L-r) CIARÁN Hinds as Aberforth Dumbledore, Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley and Emma Watson as Hermione Granger in Warner Bros. Pictures’ fantasy adventure Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2, a Warner Bros. Pictures release.

(L-r) Warwick Davis as Griphook, Jon Key as Bogrod and Emma Watson as Hermione Granger in...

Director Peter Jackson has added new actors to "The Hobbit" line-up. Taking to his Facebook page, the director made it official that Evangeline Lilly and Barry Humphries will join Orlando Bloom, Andy Serkis and other cast members of the adventure fantasy movie.

Lily will take the role of a new character, a Woodland Elf named Tauriel, which means "daughter of Mirkwood". Meanwhile, Humphries will star as the Goblin King. Aside from the names of the characters, Jackson keeps the details under wrap.

Previously, Jackson announced that Luke Evans and Benedict Cumberbatch were tapped to play in the two-part movie. Welsh actor Evans will portray Bard the Bowman, while Cumberbatch provides voice for Smaug the dragon.

A Canadian actress, Lily is well-known for her role as Kate Austen on the ABC drama series "Lost". She also made big screen performances through the likes of "Afterwards" and "The Hurt Locker". The 31-year-old...

This nasally-obsessed account of the 17th-century's rudest royal poet is lacking in humour as well as historical accuracy

Director: Laurence Dunmore

Entertainment grade: D

History grade: D

John Wilmot, second Earl of Rochester, was a libertine at the court of Charles II. He is remembered as the author of some of the rudest poetry on English literature reading lists.

Politics

It's 1675, and Rochester (Johnny Depp) has been banished from court for writing a rude poem about the king. This is true, though it actually happened a year or two earlier. But the reign is in crisis. Charles II (John Malkovich, with amusing fake nose) calls Rochester back. "I want you to take on a new role," he tells him. "People listen to you, Johnny. If you take your seat in the Lords, you could make great speeches which would influence events." The king commissions a play. Rochester produces the obscene Signior Dildo,...

Despite a wicked grin and a thicket of curls that makes the ladies swoon, Romain Duris has mostly avoided being cast in the role he was ready made for, so obvious it's the title of his latest film "Heartbreaker." Yet while it is a rare romantic comedy role for star better known for dramas such as "Paris" and "The Beat My Heart Skipped," it is a film that makes good use of Duris' status as one of France's most versatile actors. In it, he masquerades as a gospel singer, a construction worker, a Benihana chef, and a skyscraper window washer, among other guises, to infiltrate the lives of women in bad relationships, at the behest of their exes, friends and immediate family and bust them free to find love elsewhere. But even with two crack sidekicks ("Micmacs"' Julie Ferrier and François Damiens) at his command to find vulnerabilities to play upon,...

His role in Heartbreaker could take Romain Duris into the mainstream. But don't categorise him just yet

There's a recurring line in Romain Duris's new film, Heartbreaker: the suggestion that when he smiles, he looks like "a bit of a dickhead". The woman playing his sister says it, the woman playing his love interest says it. He says it. He reiterates it now, over espresso in a Paris hotel. "Yes! This is not the ideal guy. He's a simple guy. He's a buffoon [he pronounces it to rhyme with muffin]. And he has a dickhead face, yes."

He laughs. Duris does not, in fact, look like a dickhead, less still act like one. But he does have a completely transformative smile, capable of changing his face in the flick of a lip: from sexy to silly, brooding to buffoonish. In Heartbreaker, the reason he's supposed to look dim when he grins is that his emotional cover has been blown: his character,...

Anthony Mackie ("Eagle Eye," "Notorious") and Evangeline Lilly ("Lost," "Afterwards") have joined the cast of Hugh Jackman-starrer "Real Steel" for DreamWorks Pictures says Variety.

Set in the near future when boxers have been replaced by human-controlled two-ton robots, Hugh Jackman portrays a former boxer-turned-manager who reunites with his estranged son to take his fighter to the championships.

Mackie will play a boxing promoter while Lilly will portray a friend of Jackman's character. Both had roles in Oscar winner "The Hurt Locker".

Shawn Levy will direct and produce alongside Don Murphy and Susan Montford.

Tva Films, a DVD/Blu-Ray distributor, announced that the first season of Le gentleman will come out on DVD on April 20.

For those who were too busy to watch hockey on Thursday nights, Le gentleman is a crime thriller that was aired on Tva, a TV network, during fall 2009.

The show introduces us to Det. Louis Cadieux (David Boutin), a young cop who is an expert in infiltration. On one day, his girlfriend (Marianne Farley) is murdered. While he's leading an investigation of his own, Louis discovers that his girlfriend used to be a deluxe escort. In order to find the killer, he'll infiltrate the milieu of deluxe prostitution. Besides, to make things worse, Louis's partner, Richard Beauvais (Michel Barrette), believes that a serial killer is at large after the discovery of a dead male escort (Charles Bender) in an expensive apartment of Montreal. Are Louis's personal research and Richard's investigation linked together?...

In order to stay in the theme of campiness, one must talk of Carny. The film stars Lou Diamond Phillips, Alan C. Petersen (Tortured), and Simone-Elise Girard (Afterwards). Described as "a wasted of time," by the horror movie review site Dread Central, the Carny plot line involves an escaped Jersey Devil (Dread). It seems this latest Syfy original has received reviews from different sides of the fence and Carny is for those who like the cheesiest of horror. The film shows on DVD March 23rd for those who missed the premiere on Syfy in 2009.

The synopsis for Carny here:

"When a traveling carnival comes to a rural Nebraska town, the caged attraction everyone is talking about is the alleged Jersey Devil. When the beast escapes, tearing the citizens to shreds, local sheriff Sam Atlas (Lou Diamond Philips) steps up to form a tracking team. But the carnivorous fugitive is only one of Sam's problems.

The great iconoclastic film-maker Werner Herzog is used to shooting films – but being shot at? In this extract from his cinematic memoir Mark Kermode tells the remarkable story of how, in the middle of interviewing the German director on a hilltop in Los Angeles, he gets shot. And refuses to go to hospital. And there's the day he meets Angelina... and other stories from a life obsessed with films…

We were somewhere near Lookout Mountain, on the outskirts of La, when Werner Herzog's trousers exploded. It was a small explosion, admittedly, as if a firecracker had gone off in his pocket. But it was an explosion none the less and in an area where unexpected bangs are to be treated with suspicion, if not outright alarm. Herzog had been shot – that much was clear – and was even now bleeding quietly into his boxer shorts as a tiny plume of...

Canadian production company Muse Entertainment has announced the beginning of principal photography for a new television adapation of Ben Hur. The finished film will air as a miniseries with a cast that includes Joseph Morgan, Stephen Campbell, Ray Winstone, Kristen Kreuk (Lana Lang in Smallville), Alex Kingston and Art Malik.

Muse is co-producing Ben Hur with companies from Spain, Morocco, Germany and the United States. Shooting is currently taking place in Morocco. Among the people named as producers is David Wyler, the son of William Wyler. The senior Wyler directed the 1959 film version of Ben Hur starring Charlton Heston. That film won 11 Academy Awards.

The press release from Muse announcing the start of filming is below.

Los Angeles, Barcelona, Berlin, Montreal: May 5, 2009 - The legendary story of Ben Hur began principal photography May 4, 2009 and is being produced for the first time for television. Based on the original 1880’s novel by Lew Wallace,...

Cologne, Germany -- Despite fears of the coming economic apocalypse it was business as usual at the 2009 European Film Market, which wrapped up last week.

Attendance figures -- 6,300 compared with 6,443 last year -- defied the most dire predictions and while U.S. domestic deals were thin on the ground, international sales remained strong.

Graham King’s Gk Films had one of the few big U.S. deals out of Berlin, singing with Warner Bros. for North American rights on Martin Campbell’s Mel Gibson-starrer “Edge of Darkness.” Smaller domestic pick-ups included The Weinstein Company’s acquisition of Gilles Bourdos’ English-language debut “Afterwards” from Wild Bunch and Magnolia Pictures taking Thai action title “Ong Bak 2” from Sahamongkolfilm International for its Magnet Releasing genre label.

The bulk of the biz, however, was global. Fears the credit crunch would mash the international pre-sale business proved unfounded.

Summit International inked major territory sales...

• In a deal that went under the radar from the flurry of deals taking place in Berlin, this pick-up of a recently release (in France) suspense-thriller that was co-produced by the French, Germany and Canada and which features an international cast that begins with Romain Duris, John Malkovich and includes Evangeline Lilly in her first major film role and this is perhaps why The Weinstein Co. grabbed hold of Gilles Bourdos' English debut Afterwards from the Wild Bunch folks. It was released early in the year in France but got panned by critics there and it didn't get much notice at Toronto Film Festival last year -- so there are question marks as to if this will receive any legroom theatrically. I don't know what kind of television draw Lost receives, but perhpas the company is banking on the popularity of Lilly to market the U.S. release.

...

Opening in at least 11 markets, with No. 1 rankings recorded in four, Sony's "Seven Pounds" grabbed the top spot on the crowded international circuit over the weekend with $20.6 million grossed from a total of 3,505 screens in 27 territories.

The Will Smith vehicle from Italian director Gabriele Muccino premiered No. 1 in Spain ($4.2 million from 352 screens), No. 3 in France ($2.8 million from 344 sites) and No. 2 in the U.K. ($2.3 million from 402 situations). International total stands at $41.6 million.

After a stellar run at the top of the international charts for five of the previous six frames, DreamWorks Animation/Paramount's "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa" dropped to No. 5 with $8.7 million elicited from 5,495 spots in 45 markets. Foreign gross total now stands at $380 million.

Warner Bros. International released over the weekend its first title in Hindi, the Bollywood-driven martial arts adventure "Chandni Chowk to China," in some 28 overseas markets to the tune of about $7.2 million, most of which was generated...

Opening in at least 11 markets and recording No. 1 rankings in four, Sony's "Seven Pounds" grabbed the top spot on the international boxoffice circuit during the weekend with an estimated gross of $19.8 million from 3,502 screens in 25 territories.

The Will Smith vehicle from Italian director Gabriele Muccino premiered at No. 1 in Spain ($4.2 million from 308 screens) and at No. 2 in France ($3 million from 343 sites) and the U.K. ($2.4 million from 405 situations). Its international cume stands at $40.8 million.

After a stellar run atop the international chart for five of the previous six frames, DreamWorks Animation/Paramount's "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa" dropped to No. 5 with $8.3 million from 6,054 spots in 61 markets. Its foreign cume stands at $380 million.

Also during the weekend, Warner Bros. International released its first Hindi-language title, the Bollywood-driven "Chandni Chowk to China," in about 35 markets, but did not release gross data. "We are still consolidating figures from India and around the world," the distributor said.

Upcoming Film Scores lists the ten most exciting, promising and anticipated film scores of 2009, according to its editor Mikael Carlsson who can't wait to hear what will come out musically of these projects:

1. Avatar (James Horner)

Director James Cameron and composer James Horner are of course best known for the multi-zillion-whatever-megahit Titanic, but they also gave us Aliens in 1986 which stands out as one of the most exciting nailbiter scores in sci-fi history. On that film, Cameron gave Horner a pretty hard time as judging from the composer interview on the special edition DVD, and basically what you hear in the film is the result of a composer writing under enormous pressure. On Avatar, the situation is the complete opposite. A luxury in film scoring today, the total time given to the scoring process on this film will probably exceed one year! Horner is currently working exclusively on this film,...

The best thing about Afterwards was, well, afterwards, when I didn't have to watch it anymore. At nearly two hours, Gilles Bourdos film is too long and far too heavy handed. Afterwards' one dimensional message of impending doom is made quite apparent in the first third of the film, thus the rest of it has only one purpose: to beat us over the head with the fact that we're all going to die. Apparently, Bourdos isn't sure if everybody is aware of that little thing called death, so the function of his film is to force us to dwell on it for an afternoon. The story follows Nathan (Romain Duris), a high profile New York lawyer estranged from his wife (Evangeline Lilly) and daughter. One day, the ominous Dr. Kay (John Malkovich), who claims he can sense death, appears in Nathan's office telling him, "You need to be prepared.

The Toronto International Film Festival has announced a whole load of films, including many world premiers, to be added as part of their lineups. Some of the more interesting looking ones are Lance Daly's Kisses about two Irish kids who run away from home and deal with the dark underside of Dublin. Another film I'm definitely interested in is Scott McGehee and David Siegel's Uncertainty which stars one of my personal favorites, Joseph Gordon-Levitt. It's about a couple in love who find out she's pregnant and they flip a coin from where it apparently follows both possible storylines, but with the same disastrous consequences. Also screening will be Fabrice du Welz's Vinyan (trailer here) which is about a couple who lost their son in a Tsunami and won't give up looking for him. In the Discovery program, the stop-motion animation $9.99 which is about a man seeking the meaning to life.

• As usual, Wild Bunch comes to Cannes this year loaded up in film offerings with most notably three antcipated titles in post production status: Aronofsky's The Wrestler,  Belge helmer Jaco Van Dormael's Mr Nobody and Claire Denis' White Material. The Paris-based company has a heavy slate which is comprised of Cannes selected films and market projects. A Complete History Of My Sexual Failure  by Chris Waitt - Completed      Afterwards  by Gilles Bourdos - Post-Production  Buddhas Collapsed Out Of Shame   by Hana Makhmalbaf - Completed     Camino  by Javier Fesser - Post-Production     Che - Part 1  by Steven Soderbergh - Completed     Che - Part 2  by Steven Soderbergh - Completed     Chelsea On The Rocks  by Abel Ferrara - Completed     Don't Look Back  by Marina De Van - Post-Production     Dorothy Mills  by Agnès Merlet - Completed     Downloading Nancy  by Johan Renck - Completed     Hollywood : I'm Sleeping Over Tonight  by Antoine De Maximy

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NEW YORK -- Reece Thompson has landed the title role in the Yari Film Group's dark comedy The Sophomore opposite Mischa Barton and Bruce Willis.

Thompson -- who can be seen today in Picturehouse's Rocket Science -- will play a bullied Catholic high school newspaper reporter who is persuaded to investigate the theft of SAT exams by the most popular student (Barton). But after he reveals that the school's president and top jock are responsible, a more sinister conspiracy emerges.

Willis will play the school's twisted principal, a Desert Storm veteran who can't let go of his glory days in Kuwait. Willis' daughter, Rumer, will play the sidekick to Barton's character.

First-time feature director Brett Simon is now filming Sophomore in New Jersey through mid-September.

Thompson was nominated for a Grand Jury Prize at January's Sundance Film Festival for his role in Science. He will appear in the upcoming indie drama Afterwards.

Thompson is repped by WMA and Vickie Petronio at Play Management.

TORONTO -- John Malkovich, Evangeline Lilly and Romain Duris have joined the cast of French helmer Gilles Bourdos' supernatural thriller Afterwards, the film's producers said Friday.

A co-production of France's Fidelite Films and Canada's Christal Film Prods., Afterwards will shoot in New York and Montreal during 45 days beginning June 4.

The screenplay, from Bourdos (Inquietudes) and Michel Spinosa, is based on the Guillaume Musso novel Et apres ....

In the feature, Duris will portray a workaholic lawyer drifting away from his ex-wife (Lilly) and daughter, who meets a mysterious doctor (Malkovich) who claims to have the power to predict people's deaths.

The project marks the feature film debut for Canadian-born Lilly. Also on board for Afterwards is Taiwanese cinematographer Mark Lee Ping-bin (In the Mood for Love) and Montreal-based production designer Anne Pritchard. Producer credits go to Marc Missonnier and Olivier Delbosc for Fidelite Films and Christian Larouche and Christian Gagne for Christal Films Prods.

Christal plans a 2008 Canadian theatrical release for the film.

• Christal Films Productions have announced that French actor Romain Duris, John Malkovich and television’s Lost Evangeline Lilly (in her first feature film role) have signed onto star in Gilles Bourdos’ Afterwards.Based on Guillaume Musso’s novel “Et après…” and written by Bourdos and Michel Spinosa, Duris (who replaces and looks nothing like the once in negotiations Forest Whitaker) will play Nathan Del Amico, a brilliant New York lawyer, who leads a life of professional success, but his private life is pretty dismal since he divorced Mallory, his only love. Until he meets Garrett Goodrich, a mysterious doctor who introduces himself as a “messenger'. He claims that he can sense when certain people are about to die, and that he is sent to help them put their life in order before it’s too late. Nathan doesn't believe a word of this, but soon afterwards he witnesses some

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Hot off the critical praise for his performance in The Last King of Scotland, Forest Whitaker is mulling over a new project. Per Production Weekly, the actor is in negotiations to star in French filmmaker Gilles Bourdos's mysterious drama Afterwards. Based on a novel by Guillaume Musso, the film centers on a recently divorced lawyer (Whitaker) who meets a doctor that senses Whitaker's character is about to die. Production is expected to begin later this year in New York and Arizona.