#TIFF24: GALAS AND SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS ANNOUNCED FOR 2024 TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

The 49th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival is set to dazzle audiences with this year’s lineup of 63 films from the Gala, sponsored by Dyson, and Special Presentations programmes. In addition to films from directors Jacques Audiard, Edward Berger, Gia Coppola, Mike Leigh, Morgan Neville, Walter Salles, Athina Rachel Tsangari, and Jia Zhang-Ke to name a few, this year’s films are also bringing many of the world’s most beloved stars to the TIFF red carpet, including Amy Adams, Riz Ahmed, Cate Blanchett, Andrea Bocelli, Will Ferrell, Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, Alicia Vikander, Pharrell Williams, and Robbie Williams amongst many others over the 11 days of the Festival.

The Gala and Special Presentations programmes are recognized for celebrating the very best of contemporary cinema across all genres and styles, from all corners of the world. With films coming from 25 countries, including 29 sales titles, TIFF promises audiences a cinematic feast that highlights the talent and versatility of the world’s most gifted directors, actors, musicians, animators, and creative artists.

New this year, we have asked a few TIFF Programmers to share their insights into this year’s films. Watch Special Presentations Lead Programmer Jane Schoettle share her thoughts here:

Galas 2024 (in alphabetical order)
*Previously announced

Andrea Bocelli: Because I Believe Cosima Spender | UK
World Premiere

Better Man Michael Gracey | USA
Canadian Premiere

Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight Embeth Davidtz | South Africa
Canadian Premiere
Sales Title

*Eden Ron Howard | USA
World Premiere
Sales Title

*Elton John: Never Too Late R.J. Cutler, David Furnish | USA
World Premiere

*Harbin Woo Min-ho | South Korea
World Premiere

Meet the Barbarians Julie Delpy | France
International Premiere
Sales Title

*Nutcrackers David Gordon Green | USA
World Premiere
Sales Title

Oh, Canada Paul Schrader | USA
North American Premiere
Sales Title

Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band Thom Zimny | USA
World Premiere

*Superboys of Malegaon Reema Kagti | India
World Premiere

*The Deb Rebel Wilson | Australia
World Premiere
Sales Title

The Friend Scott McGehee, David Siegel | USA
International Premiere
Sales Title

The Penguin Lessons Peter Cattaneo | Spain/United Kingdom
World Premiere
Sales Title

The Return Uberto Pasolini | Italy/United Kingdom
World Premiere
Sales Title

The Shrouds David Cronenberg | Canada/France
North American Premiere
Sales Title

*The Wild Robot Chris Sanders | USA
World Premiere

Unstoppable William Goldenberg | USA
World Premiere

Will & Harper Josh Greenbaum | USA
International Premiere

Special Presentations 2024 (in alphabetical order)
*Previously announced

40 Acres R.T. Thorne | Canada
World Premiere

All of You William Bridges | USA
World Premiere
Sales Title

All We Imagine as Light Payal Kapadia | France/India/Netherlands/Luxembourg
Canadian Premiere

Anora Sean Baker | USA
Canadian Premiere

Bird Andrea Arnold | United Kingdom
North American Premiere

Bring Them Down Christopher Andrews | Ireland/Belgium
World Premiere

Can I Get A Witness? Ann Marie Fleming | Canada
World Premiere

Carnival is Over Fernando Coimbra | Brazil/Portugal
World Premiere
Sales Title

Caught by the Tides Jia Zhang-Ke | China
North American Premiere

Conclave Edward Berger | USA/United Kingdom
International Premiere

Emilia Pérez Jacques Audiard | France/USA/Mexico
Canadian Premiere

Hard Truths Mike Leigh | United Kingdom/Spain
World Premiere

Harvest Athina Rachel Tsangari | United Kingdom
North American Premiere
Sales Title

Heretic Scott Beck, Bryan Woods | Canada
World Premiere

I’m Still Here Walter Salles | Brazil/France
North American Premiere

I, the Executioner Ryoo Seung-wan | South Korea
North American Premiere

*K-Pops Anderson .Paak | USA
World Premiere
Sales Title

Love in the Big City E.oni | South Korea
World Premiere
Sales Title

Millers in Marriage Edward Burns | USA
World Premiere
Sales Title

Misericordia Alain Guiraudie | Spain/Portugal/France
Canadian Premiere

*Nightbitch Marielle Heller | USA
World Premiere

On Becoming a Guinea Fowl Rungano Nyoni | Zambia/United Kingdom/Ireland
North American Premiere

Piece by Piece Morgan Neville | USA
International Premiere

Quisling – The Final Days Erik Poppe | Norway
International Premiere
Sales Title

Relay David Mackenzie | USA
World Premiere
Sales Title

*Rez Ball Sydney Freeland | USA
World Premiere

Riff Raff Dito Montiel | USA
World Premiere
Sales Title

Rumours Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, Galen Johnson | Canada/Germany
North American Premiere

Sharp Corner Jason Buxton | Canada/Ireland
World Premiere
Sales Title

*Shepherds Sophie Deraspe | Canada/France
World Premiere
Sales Title

Sketch Seth Worley | USA
World Premiere
Sales Title

The Assessment Fleur Fortuné | United Kingdom/Germany/USA
World Premiere
Sales Title

The Cut Sean Ellis | United Kingdom
World Premiere
Sales Title

The End Joshua Oppenheimer | Denmark/UK
Canadian Premiere

The Fire Inside Rachel Morrison | USA
World Premiere

The Girl with the Needle Magnus von Horn | Denmark/Poland/Sweden
North American Premiere

The Last Showgirl Gia Coppola | USA
World Premiere
Sales Title

*The Life of Chuck Mike Flanagan | USA
World Premiere
Sales Title

The Order Justin Kurzel | Canada/USA
North American Premiere

The Piano Lesson Malcolm Washington | USA
International Premiere

*We Live in Time John Crowley | United Kingdom/France
World Premiere

Went Up the Hill Samuel Van Grinsven | New Zealand/Australia
World Premiere
Sales Title

Without Blood Angelina Jolie | USA/Italy
World Premiere
Sales Title

Young Werther José Avelino Gilles Corbett Lourenço | Canada
World Premiere
Sales Title

TIFF Takeover: This week’s programming alerts
Tuesday, July 23, at 10am ET: Platform Programme
Wednesday, July 24, at 10am ET: Discovery Programme
Thursday, July 25, at 10am ET: Midnight Madness Programme

Tickets for TIFF ’24 go on sale to TIFF Members by level beginning on Friday, August 16. For more details, visit tiff.net/join. The full Festival schedule will be released on Tuesday, August 13.

#FIRSTLOOK: CBC’S OLYMPIC GAMES PARIS 2024 COVERAGE TO KICK-OFF FRIDAY, JULY 26

CBC invites audiences across the country to mark the official start of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 on Friday, July 26, 2024 with live coverage of the Opening Ceremony beginning at 1 p.m. ET (10 a.m. PT) on CBC, CBC Gem, CBC News Network, TSN, Sportsnet, CBC’s dedicated Paris 2024 website (cbc.ca/paris2024) and the CBC Paris 2024 app for iOS and Android devices.

Beginning at 1 p.m. ET (10 a.m. PT) on July 26, the pre-Ceremony show, hosted by Paris Prime Live’s Scott Russell and CBC News Chief Correspondent Adrienne Arsenault, builds anticipation for the big event and includes highlights from the Opening Ceremony red carpet, featuring stars from the sports, arts and entertainment worlds. The pre-show concludes with the exclusive world premiere of THE GOLD WITHIN, an inspiring, original spoken-word performance by Ontario’s first Poet Laureate, Randell Adjei, and three-time Olympian Phylicia George. The six-minute piece celebrates the artistry of sport, while recognizing the highs and lows in the journey to greatness.

Then at 1:30 p.m. ET (10:30 a.m. PT), the Toyota Olympic Games Primetime panel – Andi Petrillo, Waneek Horn-Miller, Perdita Felicien and Craig McMorris – unite to guide Canadians through the Opening Ceremony, reinvented for central Paris as a 6km parade route along the Seine River, sailing from Pont d’Austerlitz in the east to the Trocadéro in the west and showcasing some of the most iconic monuments in Paris along the way. Paris Tonight’s Ariel Halwani will be on the ground in Paris, sharing live updates as they happen across CBC Olympics’ social media accounts. A primetime broadcast of the Opening Ceremony will air on CBC and CBC Gem at 7 p.m. ET (4 p.m. PT).

Coverage of the Opening Ceremony will be presented in an accessible manner with closed captioning, described video and ASL integrations. Additionally, all of CBC’s primetime broadcast coverage will be available in described video.

CBC Gem offers live streams of every event at Paris 2024, with pre-Olympic coverage of soccer and rugby sevens beginning Wednesday, July 24. The full streaming schedule can be found here. Coverage of Team Canada kicks off Thursday, July 25 on CBC and CBC Gem with the first match for the Canadian women’s soccer team, the defending gold medallists, against New Zealand, starting at 10:30 a.m. ET (7:30 a.m. PT). The exciting kick-off to the Games is followed by the first part of documentary LA GRANDE SEINE, offering insights into the grand preparations for the Opening Ceremony in Paris. Later that day, the debut of two one-hour sports documentaries chart the journeys of Canadian athletes as they prepare for their moment on the world stage.

LA GRANDE SEINE

Part One: Thursday, July 25 at 9 a.m. ET on CBC Gem and at 1 p.m. ET (10 a.m. PT) on CBC

Part Two: Friday, July 26 at 9 a.m. ET on CBC Gem and at 12 p.m. ET (9 a.m. PT) on CBC

Two-part documentary LA GRANDE SEINE, an Olympic Channel original series, tells the story of the final 12 months of preparation for the Opening Ceremony through the eyes of its key organizers and participants. Olympic Opening Ceremonies have always marked history by their creativity, their magnitude and drama due to the stakes of the event for the host country. It is the biggest show on earth. And this time, more than ever, a handful of people came up with

a crazy idea: to organize the opening ceremony inside the city of Paris while making La Seine the greatest red carpet on the planet. Part Two will feature live interviews from the red carpet with Paris Tonight’s Ariel Helwani.

PARIS 2024: RUNNING A REVOLUTION

Thursday, July 25 at 9 a.m. ET on CBC Gem and at 8 p.m. local (8:30 NT) on CBC

The women’s marathon at Paris 2024 may be the most culturally significant moment of these Games. This grueling race represents the culmination of the struggle women have endured to achieve gender equality on the Olympic stage. RUNNING A REVOLUTION follows the path of two Canadians who travel the world with hopes of getting to the start line of this summer’s historic event. Hosted and produced by CBC Sports’ Brenda Irving.

PARIS 2024: TOYOTA MAKE OR BREAK

Thursday, July 25 at 9 a.m. ET on CBC Gem and at 9 p.m. local (9:30 NT) on CBC

TOYOTA MAKE OR BREAK takes us inside the lives of eight Canadian Olympic and Paralympic athletes throughout the intense final year of qualification for the Olympic Games Paris 2024. What they learn about themselves in this unforgiving process is a lesson for all: the power of sport to reveal character in victory and defeat, and the power of individuals to endure, live and grow.

CBC’s coverage of Paris 2024, including live event streams and on-demand replays, will be available on the CBC Gem app on connected TV screens via Android TV, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Google Chromecast, LG, Roku, Samsung, Xbox, as well as on mobile devices and online at CBCGem.ca. Audiences across Canada will also be able to watch CBC’s live broadcast through their TV provider. Out of home live streaming and on demand content will be available with Bell, Telus and Ebox. Live coverage will also be available through streaming on Rogers, Fubo and RiverTV.

Starting Friday, July 26 with the Opening Ceremony, CBC’s regional radio shows will offer up-to-date hourly reports on all the action from Paris 2024 at 25 minutes past the hour. Audiences can tune in to CBC Olympic Games Reports for the latest on Team Canada, with sports reporter Scott Regehr in the morning, Khalil Hassanali in the afternoon, and Sonali Karnick weekend mornings.

CBC/Radio-Canada, Canada’s Olympic Network through 2032 and Paralympic network through 2026, is the exclusive Canadian broadcast and streaming home of the Olympic Games Paris 2024, taking place from Friday, July 26 to Sunday, August 11. CBC’s comprehensive coverage of Paris 2024 will feature live broadcasts from every venue and include every Canadian medal-winning moment, with 22 hours of live television coverage each day and totalling more than 3000 hours of live content available on CBC and partner networks TSN and Sportsnet, CBC Gem, CBC’s Paris 2024 website (cbc.ca/paris2024) and the CBC Paris 2024 app for Android and iOS devices. Audiences can also visit the website and app for full event schedules, results, athlete bios and features, daily updates and more, as well as exclusive coverage by CBC Sports including in-depth reports, highlights, digital series and on-demand replays of the biggest moments and events, ensuring Canadians don’t miss a minute of the action.

More details will be announced soon regarding CBC’s coverage of the Paralympic Games Paris 2024, which will take place from Wednesday, August 28 to Sunday, September 8

#FIRSTLOOK: “BRING THEM DOWN” TO PREMIERE AT TIFF ’24

MUBI, the global streaming service, film distributor, and production company, has released new stills for Christopher Andrews’ gripping debut feature and MUBI Production Bring Them Down. Starring Christopher Abbott (Poor Things, Sanctuary, Possessor) and Barry Keoghan (Saltburn, The Banshees of Inisheerin, Eternals), Bring Them Down is a suspenseful thriller that observes the escalating tensions of two farming families in the west of Ireland, whose actions have increasingly devastating consequences. The film will receive its World Premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival in the Special Presentation section. MUBI will release the film in North America, the UK & Ireland, Benelux, LATAM and Turkey.

Written and directed by Christopher Andrews, Bring Them Down stars Christopher Abbott, Barry Keoghan, Colm Meaney, Nora-Jane Noone, Paul Ready and Susan Lynch. Produced by Ivana MacKinnon, Jacob Swan Hyam, Ruth Treacy, Julianne Forde, Jean-Yves Roubin, Cassandre Warnauts. Executive Produced by Efe Çakarel, Jason Ropell, Bobby Allen, Niamh Fagan, Celine Haddad, Christopher Abbott and Barry Keoghan. Carla MacKinnon and Julie Harkin are Associate Producers.

Bring Them Down was produced by Tailored, Wild Swim and MUBI, and co-produced by Frakas Productions, VOO et Be tv and Shelter Prod in association with Screen Ireland, Coimisiún na Meán, RTÉ and the UK Global Screen Fund – financed by the UK Government’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport and administered by the BFI. Charades are handling international sales for the title.

SYNOPSIS

Michael, the last son of a shepherding family, lives with his ailing father, Ray. Burdened by guilt over the death of his mother, Michael has isolated himself from the world. When a conflict with rival farmer Gary and his son Jack escalates, Michael is drawn into a devastating chain of events, forcing him to confront the horrors of his past and leaving both families permanently altered.

DIRECTORS’ BIO

Chris’ previous shorts include BAFTA longlisted FIRE and STALKER, which premiered at Edinburgh IFF 2019 and won the Cork Grand Prix. He was also named as a Screen Star of Tomorrow in 2019.

Chris is also a prolific writer, and current projects include the script of upcoming period thriller CAVENDISH for Ivana MacKinnon and Emily Leo of Wild Swim Films, to be directed by Augustine Frizzell, and an adaptation of Man Booker Prize nominated FRANKENSTEIN IN BAGHDAD. In television, he is developing original projects with Hera Pictures, Severn Screen and 60/40, as well as adapting Andrew Michael Hurley’s DEVIL’S DAY for The Ink Factory and Range Media.

#FIRSTLOOK: VINCENZO NATALI UPCOMING GRAPHIC NOVEL “TECH” COMING SOON

Director Vincenzo Natali, best known for directing iconic films like Cube, Splice, and In the Tall Grass, occasionally has spare time on his hands, especially during the pandemic and the subsequent strikes. Give Natali free time and an iPad Pro and what you get is his first graphic novel, the 200 page sci-crime-noir, TECH, (Encyclopocalypse Publications https://www.encyclopocalypse.com/), available on Amazon and all major online sources for books and a new hard cover edition of TECH will be issued later this year.

Natali began in the industry as a storyboard artist (on Ginger Snaps, for those who keep track) and has been a long-time lover of comic books. Written and illustrated by Natali, the project began five years ago between film and TV projects. Using Procreate, he was able to pencil it, ink it, colour it, create all the layouts and the lettering, spending 10-14 hours per page.

But wait! There’s more. He also created the techno-impressionist album, DELICATE MACHINE (soon to drop on all major streaming platforms: Apple Music, Spotify, etc.). The album contains nine tracks combining industrial sounds, synth and piano for a mixture of aggressive and ambient tones. The careful listener may find them reminiscent of some of the music in Natali’s films.

Both DELICATE MACHINE and TECH are united by themes of technology.

TECH is set in the near future when a mysterious extraterrestrial transmission containing the blueprints for advanced alien technology is intercepted and deciphered on Earth. The majority of the wealth accumulated from this discovery is controlled by the elite. However, an underground black market also flourishes. In this realm of thieves and smugglers we meet SHEL, a low-level courier who has a special talent for detecting and unlocking the merchandise. It’s a dangerous and ruthless profession that she desperately wants to escape, but the cost of her daughter’s expensive medical therapy prevents her from going straight. Little does she know that the tech has its own agenda and the key to unlocking it is buried within her.

In the making of DELICATE MACHINE, Natali let his iPad lead him through the recording process, discovering sounds much as one might find objects washed up on a beach, and then joining them and building upon them until they found a pleasing shape. A self-professed ‘non-musician’, Natali’s musical technique relies on child-like curiosity and exploration. It was never his intent to release this music publicly. Indeed, much of this album was recorded on airplanes— a way for Vincenzo to curb his fear of flying. “I would compose these tracks while on an airplane to distract me from my fear of being shot across the sky in a metal tube.” However, over the period of years during which the tracks emerged, the album took on a life of its own, finding a theme and an aural connectivity seemingly independent of his original intentions.

“After two decades of battling in the high-stakes and labyrinthine film and television industry, these two projects were all about allowing me to be a kid again. TECH fulfills my childhood dream of writing and illustrating my own graphic novel following in the footsteps of my heroes Jean Giraud (Moebius) and Enki Bilal. DELICATE MACHINE fulfills a need that I didn’t even know I had: to play in the unlimited sandbox of music and sound design. The inspiration came purely from the tools themselves and the primal pleasure of composing strange sounds unburdened by expectation,” said Natali. “My hope with both TECH and DELICATE MACHINE, which were made entirely on an iPad Pro, is that they will demonstrate how new technology can inspire and empower us to create things and share them with our fellow humans.”

ABOUT VINCENZO NATALI

Filmmaker Vincenzo Natali is no stranger to dystopian storytelling; each of his six features thrusts ordinary characters into a dark realm governed by seemingly impenetrable logic and follows the subjects as they struggle to come to terms with their environs. Through his creative endeavors, Natali shows a passionate study of the human condition and our place in the universe.

This narrative has also carried over into his television work including his last two releases:

Cabinet Of Curiosities, from acclaimed Academy Award-winning filmmaker and creator, executive producer and co-showrunner Guillermo del Toro, a curated collection of unprecedented and genre-defining stories meant to challenge our traditional notions of horror. For the series, del Toro personally chose Natali to write and direct an episode. Entitled “Graveyard Rats,” it stars David Hewlett (a recurring presence in Natali’s projects since he was 16 years old) and was adapted by Natali based on a short story by Henry Kuttner. The series launched on Netflix on October 25.

The Peripheral for Amazon reunited him with Executive Producers Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan with whom he worked on Westworld. Natali serves as an executive producer and director (4 episodes) on the new series. The show’s story centers on Flynne Fisher (Chloë Grace Moretz), a woman trying to hold together the pieces of her broken family in a forgotten corner of tomorrow’s America. Flynne is smart, ambitious, and doomed. She has no future. Until the future comes calling for her. The Peripheral is master storyteller William Gibson’s dazzling, hallucinatory glimpse into the fate of mankind — and what lies beyond.

Natali burst onto the scene in 1997 with his surreal, low-budget sci-fi thriller, Cube. This enigmatic film weaves a tale of a group of people clamoring to escape from an obscure cubic labyrinth where a casual misstep results in full dismemberment by the cube itself. The film impressed viewers and critics alike with Natali’s ability to stretch cinematic boundaries on a shoestring budget, and became a cult favorite.

Natali’s 2002 follow-up, Cypher, starred Jeremy Northam and Lucy Liu in the tale of a man who assumes a new identity in preparation for an espionage career, but instead gets systematically brainwashed and finds himself engulfed in a shaky, paranoid reality. The film performed well internationally and paved the way for 2003’s Nothing. Described by Natali as “a buddy comedy set in a void,” the film follows two eccentrics who literally wish the world out of existence and end up in a limitless white landscape. Natali then shot a documentary on Terry Gilliam’s production of Tideland, which premiered concurrently with the feature in 2005. He also contributed a segment, Quartier de la Madeleine, to the 2006 portmanteau film, Paris Je T’aime.

His fourth feature Splice received a wide release by Warner Bros in summer 2010. It starred Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley as two rebellious scientists who defy ethical boundaries to forge ahead with a dangerous genetic experiment, resulting in a new organism. The creature rapidly develops into a beautiful but dangerous winged human-chimera, who forges a bond with both of her creators — only to have that bond turn deadly.

Natali’s fifth film was the 2013 supernatural thriller Haunter starring Abigail Breslin. 2014 found him shooting episodes of the Bryan Fuller’s Hannibal and producing his first television series, Darknet. He has since directed episodes of the aforementioned Westworld, American Gods and The Stand.

His most recent feature was an adaptation Stephen King and Joe Hill’s novella, In The Tall Grass. After hearing a young boy’s cry for help, a sister and brother venture into a vast field of tall grass in Kansas but soon discover there may be no way out…and that something evil lurks within. The film premiered on Netflix in 2019 and starred Patrick Wilson, Laysla De Oliveira, and Avery Whitted.

A Directors Guild of Canada award winner, Natali’s films have won multiple international awards. This year’s FANTASIA FILM FESTIVAL in Montreal will present him with their Trailblazer Award. He is based in Toronto.

#BOXOFFICE: “TWISTERS” BLOWS BY COMPETITION

TWISTERS blows right by the competition with a smashing opening weekend, debuting with $80.5 million from 4,151 theatres for Universal Pictures/Warner Bros. It gets 78% on the Tomatometer. By comparison, its 1996 predecessor opened with $41 million from 2,808 theatres.

DESPICABLE ME 4 gets $21.5 million from 4,112 theatres and by the end of the weekend it will have grossed $257 million domestically already over three weekends.

Third is INSIDE OUT 2 with $11 million from 3,625 theatres for Disney, taking it to $594 million.

LONGLEGS is in fourth this weekend with $10.2 million, taking it to a great $43 million over two weekends for NEON and Elevation Pictures.

Rounding things off is A QUIET PLACE: DAY ONE with $5.5 million, taking its run to $127 million in North American for Paramount Pictures.

#FIRSTLOOK: HEINZ, MARVEL AND RYAN REYNOLDS TEAM-UP ON NEW “DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE” PARTNERSHIP

HEINZ, Marvel, and Canadian icon Ryan Reynolds are dropping a spicy video bombshell in celebration of Marvel Studios’ “Deadpool & Wolverine”, (in theaters July 26, 2024). Inspired by the truth the fans and films’ stars can’t unsee, HEINZ brings to life a fan-fiction worthy, trailer-inspired video, featuring a custom voiceover from Deadpool himself, Ryan Reynolds! And in a major reveal, Ryan Reynolds himself posted the trailer on his social media, instantly gaining fans attention.

https://www.tiktok.com/@vancityreynolds/video/7392591243768876330?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc

HOW IT COMES TO LIFE:
The video features Deadpool in his classic fourth wall-breaking style, coming to the realization that he and Wolverine look exactly like HEINZ Ketchup & Mustard bottles.

Deadpool can’t unsee the similarities, especially when bottles of HEINZ Ketchup and Mustard even appear on screen to replace the two heroes

Offline, the two brands take the condiment comparison to the next level with posters and billboards across North America (LA, NYC – including Times Square – Toronto, and Vancouver) all touting images of Deadpool & Wolverine adjacent to bottles of HEINZ Ketchup & Mustard.

Ryan Reynolds took to his Social Media to make this statement about the comparison: “I don’t spend much time on the internet. When my assistant faxed me a photocopy of a memo (he spelled it “meme” – ugh, assistants amirite?) wherein Deadpool and Wolverine were identified as a HEINZ Ketchup and Mustard bottle, respectively, I thought nothing of it and went back to my book and tea. But the faxes kept on coming! So, the idea was hatched to actually partner with HEINZ to bring this memo to life. Huzzah!” – Ryan Reynolds, actor, writer, and producer of “Deadpool & Wolverine”.

#FIRSTLOOK: NEW “EMILY IN PARIS” SEASON 4 CAST ADDITIONS

Netflix announced today some new cast additions to Season 4 of EMILY IN PARIS, which arrives in two parts!

Premiere Dates: Part 1 premieres on August 15, 2024. Part 2 premieres on September 12, 2024.

Say Ciao! To:

-Eugenio Franceschini as Marcello: Originally from Rome, Marcello is direct, confident, and values simplicity. He’s substantive but never flashy — true to the roots of his family’s company.
-Thalia Besson as Genevieve: Laurent’s 20something daughter from a past relationship, who’s just moved from New York City to Paris to start her career. Her bright, eager demeanor immediately endears her to Emily, who’s thrilled to have an American expat to mentor. But their similarities may end up complicating Emily’s life — both professionally and personally.
-Rupert Everett as Giorgio Barbieri: The owner of a global interior design firm based in Rome. Giorgio makes it his business to know everyone else’s business, and to be the life of every party. He’s been friends with Sylvie for decades.
-Anna Galiena as Antonia MuratorI: Marcello’s mother, the matriarch of the Muratori family, and the head of the family business. Antonia presides over their small village by building up the community and taking care of the people who live and work there. Even in uncertain times, Antonia is committed to maintaining the company’s soul.
-Raoul Bova as Giancarlo: A charming, self-assured, successful Roman commercial director who used to be Sylvie’s film professor.

About Emily in Paris S4:
After the dramatic events of Camille and Gabriel’s misbegotten wedding, Emily is reeling: She has strong feelings for two men, but now Gabriel’s expecting a baby with his ex, and Alfie’s worst fears about her and Gabriel have been confirmed. At work, Sylvie is forced to confront a thorny dilemma from her past for the sake of her marriage, and the Agence Grateau team navigates personnel shakeups. Mindy and the band prepare for Eurovision, but when funds run dry, they’re forced to get thrifty. Emily and Gabriel’s chemistry is undeniable as they work together towards a Michelin star, but two big secrets threaten to undo everything they’ve dreamed of.

Creator / Executive Producer / Writer: Darren Star
Executive Producers: Tony Hernandez, Lilly Burns, Andrew Fleming, Alison Brown, Robin Schiff
Co-Executive Producer: Stephen Brown, Grant Sloss, Joe Murphy
Producers: Ryan McCormick, Raphaël Benoliel, Lily Collins, Jake Fuller
Starring: Lily Collins (Emily Cooper), Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu (Sylvie Grateau), Ashley Park (Mindy Chen), Lucas Bravo (Gabriel), Camille Razat (Camille), Samuel Arnold (Julien), Bruno Gouery (Luc), William Abadie (Antoine Lambert), Lucien Laviscount (Alfie)
Produced by: MTV Entertainment Studios, Darren Star Productions, and Jax Media

#FIRSTLOOK: NEW IMAGES FROM “DEXTER: ORIGINAL SIN”

Paramount+ today revealed first-look images for the upcoming highly-anticipated prequel series DEXTER: ORIGINAL SIN. The photos unveil the iconic Morgan family, with Golden Globe® winner Christian Slater as Harry Morgan, Patrick Gibson as Dexter Morgan and Molly Brown as Debra Morgan. Taking place 15 years before audiences first met Dexter in the Peabody Award winning SHOWTIME® series DEXTER, the new 10-episode thriller chronicles America’s favorite serial killer…in training.

Set in 1991 Miami, DEXTER: ORIGINAL SIN follows Dexter (Gibson) as he transitions from student to avenging serial killer. When his bloodthirsty urges can’t be ignored any longer, Dexter must learn to channel his inner darkness. With the guidance of his father, Harry (Slater), he adopts a Code designed to help him find and kill people who deserve to be eliminated from society without getting on law enforcements’ radar. This is a particular challenge for young Dexter as he begins a forensics internship at the Miami Metro Police Department.

Additional cast for DEXTER: ORIGINAL SIN includes Golden Globe nominee Patrick Dempsey as Aaron Spencer, James Martinez as Angel Batista, Christina Milian as Maria LaGuerta, Alex Shimizu as Vince Masuka, Reno Wilson as Bobby Watt and special guest star, Emmy® winner Sarah Michelle Gellar, as Tanya Martin.

DEXTER: ORIGINAL SIN is executive produced by showrunner Clyde Phillips (DEXTER, Nurse Jackie) and produced by SHOWTIME Studios and Counterpart Studios. Executive producers also include Scott Reynolds (Jessica Jones), Michael C. Hall (DEXTER), Mary Leah Sutton (Resident Evil), Tony Hernandez (Emily In Paris), Lilly Burns (Russian Doll), with the series being produced by Robert Lloyd Lewis (The Lincoln Lawyer). Michael Lehmann (Heathers) serves as directing executive producer.

For more information on Dexter: Original Sin, follow along on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube and X and join the conversation using #DexterOriginalSin.

#FIRSTLOOK: CLEMENT VIRGO’S “STEAL AWAY” WRAPS PRODUCTION

Damon D’Oliveira and Clement Virgo of Conquering Lion Pictures and Peter De Maegd and Tom Hameeuw of Potemkino are pleased to announce that principal photography has wrapped on the elevated psychological thriller, Steal Away, directed by Clement Virgo (Brother, The Book of Negroes). The film, a Canada-Belgium co-production, stars Angourie Rice (Mean Girls, Mare of Easttown, Spider-Man: No Way Home, The Nice Guys), Mallori Johnson (Kindred, Genius MLK/X), Lauren Lee Smith (The Shape of Water, The L Word), Idrissa Sanogo Bamba (The Boys, Titans, The Fire Inside). Steal Away is written by Tamara Faith Berger (Lie With Me) and Clement Virgo, inspired by the non-fiction book, Steal Away Home by Karolyn Smardz Frost.

Steal Away is produced by Conquering Lion Pictures in Canada, Potemkino in Belgium and in association with 2CFILM in the Netherlands and was shot in Belgium.

The film is produced by Damon D’Oliveira and Clement Virgo (Brother, Rude, Lie With Me, The Book of Negroes) and Peter De Maegd and Tom Hameeuw (Hazard, Ennio: The Maestro, Cool Abdoul), executive produced by Paula Devonshire (Indian Horse, Run Woman Run), Caitlin Grabham (Brother, Firecrackers), Laurie May (Humane, Infinity Pool, Brother), Noah Segal (Blackberry, Infinity Pool, Brother), with
Edvard van ‘t Wout (Casanova’s, Thunderdome Never Dies) serving as Associate Producer.

Fanny, a naive teenager, starts her journey to adulthood when Cécile, a mysterious refugee, is taken in by her charitable family. As the two girls develop an intense and obsessive bond, Fanny becomes captivated by Cécile’s way of navigating life, leading to an awakening of desire and jealousy. Gradually, both girls realize that the charitable world they inhabit is not what it appears.

“We’re going to unsettle and surprise the audience with this female-driven thriller, weaving sharp social critiques on race, sex and family into an entertaining, psychological thrill ride,” say Creators Clement Virgo and Tamara Faith Berger. “We want to provoke a conversation about how to make allegiances outside your own tribe. In a way, we are all teenage girls: fierce, full of love and fighting the powers that be.”

Cinematography is by Sophie Winqvist (Clara Sola, Pleasure, Aniara), production design by Elisa Sauvé (Cross, Luckiest Girl Alive, Sneakerella), costume design by Sofie Callaerts (Hidden Assets, Arcadia), and editing by Jorge Weisz (Sweetland, Night Raiders, April’s Daughter).

The film is being released by Elevation Pictures in Canada, and is targeted for a late 2025 theatrical run.

Steal Away is funded by Telefilm Canada, The Canada Media Fund, ON Creates, Elevation Pictures, BNP Paribas Fortis Film Finance and Screen Flanders.

Angourie Rice is represented by WME and is managed by Catherine Poulton of CP Artist Management. Mallori Johnson is represented by WME and is managed by Brillstein Entertainment Partners.

US and World Rights (except for Canada) are available and being handled by WME Independent.

#FIRSTLOOK: NEW TRAILER FOR “ALIEN: ROMULUS”

Today, 20th Century Studios released the final trailer for “Alien: Romulus.” Advance tickets for the sci-fi/horror-thriller are now available for purchase here. A truly terrifying cinematic experience from producer Ridley Scott and director/writer Fede Alvarez, “Alien: Romulus” opens exclusively in theatres nationwide August 16, 2024, and will be available in IMAX®, 4DX, ScreenX, and formats everywhere.

“Alien: Romulus” takes the phenomenally successful “Alien” franchise back to its roots: While scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station, a group of young space colonizers come face to face with the most terrifying life form in the universe. The film stars Cailee Spaeny (“Civil War”), David Jonsson (“Agatha Christie’s Murder is Easy”), Archie Renaux (“Shadow and Bone”), Isabela Merced (“The Last of Us”), Spike Fearn (“Aftersun”), Aileen Wu. Fede Alvarez (“Evil Dead,” “Don’t Breathe”) directs from a screenplay he wrote with frequent collaborator Rodo Sayagues (“Don’t Breathe 2”) based on characters created by Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett. “Alien: Romulus” is produced by Ridley Scott (“Napoleon”), who directed the original “Alien” and produced and directed the series’ entries “Prometheus” and “Alien: Covenant,” Michael Pruss (“Boston Strangler”), and Walter Hill (“Alien”), with Fede Alvarez, Elizabeth Cantillon (“Charlie’s Angels”), Brent O’Connor (“Bullet Train”), and Tom Moran (“Unstoppable”) serving as executive producers.