The movie Donald Trump doesn’t want people to see is going global.
While intrigue continues to surround the film’s U.S. release prospects, Cannes Competition title The Apprentice, about Trump’s rise to power, has been sold to key independent distributors in a host of international markets where demand has been strong, from Italy to Japan to Australia.
Industry watchers were expectant the film would get a U.S. deal soon after its Cannes launch. Some we spoke to assumed a streamer would be the most logical fit. However, in an election year, threats of legal action from Trump’s team (the film includes a controversial scene in which Trump’s character rapes his former wife Ivana) and a report of one disgruntled financier, didn’t help progress towards a swift domestic pact. >>>Multiple Parties Interested |
|
| Deadline Exclusives & Originals |
|
Once In A 'Blue Moon' - Richard Linklater is in development on a film called Blue Moon. Taking its name from the 1934 ballad written by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, the film follows Hart as he attempts to save face while celebrating his former partner Rodgers' great success on the night of Oklahoma!'s Broadway opening. >>>Also Has Sondheim Project
Picture This... - Previously unseen photos and video footage from a career that took in studio sessions with Blondie, The Knack, The Sweet and Suzi Quatro will illustrate Simply The Best: The Mike Chapman Story, a documentary about the eponymous songwriter and producer. >>>50 Top-Ten Hits
IATSE's See-Saw - IATSE is still chipping away at a new three-year deal with the studios, even as the union’s scheduled bargaining days dwindle. The union revealed over the weekend that talks on the Area Standards Agreement, which were scheduled to conclude by Friday, will continue later this month. >>>Shifting Back To Basic Agreement
Screen Gems Sets Horror Deal - Horror filmmakers Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill have signed a first look deal with Sony Pictures Entertainment to produce feature films for Screen Gems under their Crooked Highway banner. >>>"Pushing Boundaries"
Trading Places - Abbi Jacobson, co-creator and star of Broad City and A League of Their Own, is adapting Isle McElroy’s book People Collide as a series with UCP and Killer Films. She will serve as writer and showrunner on the project through her Tender Pictures banner. The gender-bending, body-switching novel explores marriage, identity, and sex, and raises questions about the nature of true partnership. >>> Busy Dance Card
In Brief - UTA signs Cedric The Entertainer... UNConventional Entertainment signs with Buchwald... Camila Mendes & Rachel Matthews hang production shingle |
|
Filmmakers Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah talk one-upping Tom Cruise’s aerial stuntwork in Bad Boys: Ride or Die, mining the action scenes in the script, jockeying production between two strikes last summer and getting the best improv out of Will Smith and Martin Lawrence.
In addition, Adil and Bilall talk about the takeaway on Warner Bros’ unplugged Batgirl movie, and whether filmmakers can protect themselves in the future from such major studio shenanigans. >>>Deadline Crew Call Podcast | |
Exclusive
After announcing that the studio would be expanding on its Predator universe earlier this year, 20th Century and Dan Trachtenberg’s next standalone pic Badlands looks to be gaining momentum and star power. Sources close to Deadline say that Elle Fanning is in negotiations to star in the film with Trachtenberg directing.
Exclusive
Sarah Snook will star in and executive produce Peacock’s upcoming suburban thriller series All Her Fault. Megan Gallagher (Suspicion) serves as writer, creator and executive producer of the project adapted from the best-selling novel of the same name by Andrea Mara.
Exclusive
Pierson Fodé (The Man from Toronto) has been tapped for a role in the upcoming film inspired by the story of Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe Herd, from 20th Century Studios and Ethea Entertainment. Fodé will play a love interest of Herd’s.
Rian Johnson’s Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery has another splashy addition to its cast in Oscar nominee Josh Brolin.
In Brief - Colman Domingo joins The Four Seasons... Sarah Gadon to star in Wayward... Michael Stuhlbarg boards After The Hunt |
|
More News 🏢 Shari Redstone, Paramount Global‘s non-executive chair, sought to sell shareholders at the company’s annual meeting today on the upside of the Office of the CEO. The three execs in the office, George Cheeks, Brian Robbins and Chris McCarthy, succeeded Bob Bakish, who was ousted in April. At the meeting, they reviewed the company's IP and accomplishments and said asset sales and streaming partnerships are being actively explored. The event unfolded as Redstone is mulling an $8 billion merger offer from Skydance Media.
🛁 Another day, another streaming price hike. Max is raising the monthly cost of its ad-free plan ahead of the Season 2 premiere of HBO‘s House of the Dragon on June 16. The Warner Bros. Discovery service will now be $16.99 a month, while the advertising tier remains unchanged at $9.99. 🕊️ Sky subscribers will have access to Warner Bros Discovery’s content “in every scenario,” CEO Dana Strong said, stressing that conversations continue between the two key players over one of the industry’s most talked-about partnerships. The head of Comcast-owned Sky said at the Deloitte and Enders Media & Telecoms 2024 and Beyond Conference that “it’s all just about how we integrate [the two] and how we work together going forward.”
🔥 The ongoing feud between Teresa Giudice and Melissa Gorga has producers of The Real Housewives of New Jersey now looking at different formats and concepts for a season wrap up show as they eschew a traditional reunion. |
|
Obituaries
🕯️ Janis Paige, who racked up more than 100 film, TV and stage credits over six decades including The Pajama Game, Silk Stockings and Santa Barbara, died June 2 at her home in Los Angeles. She was 101. 🕯️ Teri Hayden, a trailblazing talent agent whose work in early 1980s Ireland helped launch the onscreen careers of Gabriel Byrne and Brendan Gleeson, as well as his son Domhnall Gleeson, died April 18 after a long illness. She was 75. 🕯️ Jay Kane, the owner and CEO of talent agency TalentWorks NY died April 24 in Island Park, New York, following a brief illness. He was 65. 🕯️ 2024 Entertainment & Media Deaths Photo Gallery |
|
On the Radar
Tue - Eric Weinberg arraigned
Wed - Tribeca Festival begins
Thu - Jon Stewart's podcast launches; NBA Finals begin
Fri - Deadline's Sound & Screen TV
Sat - French Open Women's Final
Sun - French Open Men's Final
Mon - Apple's WWDC kicks off |
|
Full 'House' - Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke, Emma D’Arcy and Ryan Condal attend HBO's House of the Dragon Season 2 Premiere in New York. |
|
|
