Drew Barrymore is back to movies

(Photograph credit: Warner Bros Pictures)

Drew Barrymore was one of the biggest child stars 80s, then she established herself a major movie star in the 90s but the last decade she had been active on film less than ever, even though one would think she’d start to do more after her Golden Globe win for “Grey Gardens”. Even though she was recently in a Netflix show, she doesn’t make films anymore.

At least her fans have one thing to look forward to new comedy film titled “Stand-In’, which finally got distribution in Saban Films, the plot centers on a disaffected comedy actress who is busted for tax evasion and her adoring, ambitious stand-in who she hires to do community service in her place. It’s also impressive that Barrymore will portray two different characters in the movie.

Filmiere.com is certainly happy to see one of the leading actresses of her time still has an interest in getting exciting projects.

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Tom Holland’s “Uncharted” is about to start filming

(Photograph credit: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

Some films are seemingly stuck in development hell forever. “Uncharted” is one of them. In 2008, film producer Avi Arad stated that he was working with a division of Sony to develop the film adaptation of Uncharted. As of June 30, 2009, it was confirmed that the film had been in development for the last year-and-a-half. The same year Mark Wahlberg confirmed his involvement.

On February 4, 2014, Deadline reported that Seth Gordon would direct the film with the latest script being written by David Guggenheim. In 2016, Shawn Levy came to the project. Then he departed. Dan Trachtenberg had signed on to direct the film and finally, Travis Knight replaced him. In December 2019, Knight left the project due to scheduling conflicts with Holland.

Which resulted in the film losing its December 18, 2020 release date but seemingly they’re moving on again? Because filmiere.com reports that, Tom Holland posted a photo of a chair with the word “Nate” on the back and the caption, “Day one #Uncharted”. Now it doesn’t exactly mean the shooting has started but it certainly indicates that they’re going to film in soon.

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Telluride Film Festival got canceled

(photograph credit: Hollywood Reporter)

 The Telluride Film Festival (TFF) is a film festival held annually in Telluride, Colorado during Labor Day weekend (the first Monday in September). The bulk of the program is made up of new films, and there is an informal tradition that new films must be shown for the first time in North America to be eligible for the festival.

It’s also an important festival to premiere the awards season movies. Unfortunately, despite it’s a more small-scale kind of festival, it’s got canceled this year. Organizers cited the “the national chaos” around the coronavirus surge. “After months of intense due diligence around physically holding an event, we’ve come to the heartbreaking but unanimous conclusion to cancel this year’s Labor Day celebration of film in Telluride,” organizers said in a statement.

“But with a seemingly unending number of new cases of Covid-19 and the national chaos around it, even the best strategy is threatened by this out-of-control environment.” Other important festivals for the award season calendar; Toronto and Venice will keep going on though.

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Wong Kar-Wai tries to save Hong Kong film industry

(Photograph credit: AP/REX/Shutterstock)

Wong Kar-Wai is one of the most celebrated names of Asian cinema and now he’s among the filmmakers to boost the region’s movie industry with a five-tier plan that totals $33.5 million U.S. dollars in funds. He’s joined by Derek Yee and Peter Chan Ho-sun who support a government-funded revival initiative in response to political unrest, as well as the HK film industry’s erosion due to COVID-19 pandemic and the shuttering of theaters.

Under the new Directors’ Succession Scheme funded by the Hong Kong Film Development Fund, each of the directors, together with Gordan Chan and duo Mabel Cheung and Alex Law, will team up with one or two young filmmakers to produce a film that uses a $1.2 million (HK$9 million) government subsidy. Around 10 to 12 projects are expected to be realized this way.

Filmiere.com is wishing the best for every film industry to develop around and hopefully, this project will be helpful.

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Francois Ozon is working on his new movie

(Photograph credit: Le Figaro)

Since French media have given us some news regarding this, Filmiere.com can report that François Ozon is about to begin shooting his 20th film. Starring Sophie Marceau and André Dussollier, it’s about a woman who helps her father commit assisted suicide after suffering a stroke. Ozon is one of the most prolific and consistently good directors of French cinema.

That’s why any new film is exciting. The budget is estimated to be €6M (including € 1.3M of Canal + pre-purchase and € 1.3M of France2) and the filming is expected to start somewhere in fall. A possible candidate for Cannes 2021 probably as Ozon’s latest film “Summer of 85” was supposed to play. So far, that’s what we all know and that’s not made into news outside of France yet but we’ll keep you updated on the project.

Ozon films are often worth to wait and the project sounds interesting enough.

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Paul Schrader’s “Card Counter” wrapped up and sold to Focus Features

(Photograph credit: The Playlist)

Paul Schrader wraps ‘The Card Counter’ after COVID-Safe shoot in Mississippi. Oscar Isaac and co recently return to film the last few remaining days on the movie after a virus-related delay. Schrader only had five days to finish the film and he finally managed to do so, but of course, under new restrictions due to pandemic. Which he also shared a photo on his Facebook account to give an idea of how the production goes on in such challenging times.

Also announced that the movie is sold to Focus Features. “The Card Counter” focuses on Tell (Oscar Isaac), a gambler, whose spartan lifestyle moving from one casino to the next is shattered when he is approached by Cirk (Tye Sheridan), a young man seeking help to exact revenge on a military colonel (Willem Dafoe) who is the reason why Tell had to go to prison. Aside from those three, the film also stars Tiffany Haddish in her first dramatic role as the person who guides Isaac in the gambling world.

Filmiere.com will keep on reporting the news regarding the film. Schrader is certainly a legend of cinema and his recent “First Reformed” showed that he’s still in his form.

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Kelly Preston – RIP


(photograph credit: People magazine)

Filmiere.com sadly reports that the year of 2020 also, unfortunately, brings us celebrity death news back-to-back. American actress Kelly Preston has been battling cancer for nearly two years and she sadly lost the battle. She’s survived by her children and her husband John Travolta, whom she met on the set of 1989 comedy “The Experts” and they had been together since then.

Preston was mostly known for her comedic roles in films like “Twins”, “Mischief”, “Jerry Maguire”, “Nothing to Lose”, and “Addicted to Love”. Even collaborated with auteurs like Alexander Payne on the film “Citizen Ruth”. She also famously appeared in a popular Maroon 5 video “She Will Be Loved”. Preston often collaborated with her husband on films like “Battlefield Earth” and “Gotti”.

She was not prolific but was well-known for her roles among movie fans. Also for her long-lasting marriage with Travolta. Her warm presence in movies will be miss.

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Apple Studios has acquired the rights to adapt the thriller “Snow Blind,” starring Jake Gyllenhaal

(Photograph credit: Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros)

Apple has a new guest: Jake Gyllenhaal. He’ll star in a film directed by Gustav Möller whose recent “The Guilty” was nominated for Oscar this year. He will direct the film based on the story by Ollie Masters and published by Boom! Studios in 2017. Patrick Ness is writing the screenplay. Filmiere.com reports that, according to The Wrap, Apple has now acquired the rights of making a film adaptation of the “Snow Blind”.

The plot is reported as: “the story of a high school student in Alaska whose life is turned upside down when he posts a photo of his dad online. He soon thereafter learns that he and his family are in the Witness Protection Program and are now being hunted by not only the FBI but also a man out for revenge who invades their small town.” Gyllenhaal has starred in thrillers such as “Nightcrawler”, “Zodiac” and “Prisoners” over the years. Since he has a good eye for thrillers, this might be great as well.

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“Tesla” trailer is out

(Photograph credit: IFC Films)

Nikola Tesla has been only getting more popular over the last few decades, not only by science geeks but among the general population as well. Now you probably already know why he’s so beloved and that’s no surprise that he got more approaches in popular culture recently, including getting portrayed by David Bowie and Nicholas Hoult. Michael Almereyda, a director who’s known for making divisive films, has made a film about Tesla which has a modern setting.

Even Tesla sings karaoke at one scene and he cast Ethan Hawke in the lead role. The film got good reviews at the Sundance Film Festival. There had been no news about it until recently. Now the film is going to get released on VOD in August but because of Tesla’s birthday, as a present, we got the trailer to the film. Filmiere.com now happily reports that the trailer is now available everywhere to watch on the web and it’s a good one. Certainly worth to wait.

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Ingmar Bergman’s “Scenes From a Marriage” gets a new update

(Photograph credit: Shutterstock, Deadline)

Scenes from a Marriage was a highly acclaimed Swedish miniseries written and directed by Ingmar Bergman and starring Liv Ullmann and Erland Josephson. After initially airing on Swedish TV in six parts, the miniseries was condensed into a theatrical version and received positive reviews in Sweden and internationally.

It even got an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. The film was highly influential as many of Bergman’s works and most recently showed its influence on Noah Baumbach’s “Marriage Story” where it was even referenced by name in one scene. Now HBO decided to make a new limited series, based on the same material starring Oscar Isaac and Michelle Williams.

The new version is said to re-examine the show’s depiction of love, hatred, desire, monogamy, marriage, and divorce through the lens of a contemporary American couple. As filmiere.com, we’re certainly intrigued. Hagai Levi will write, direct, and executive produces.

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