June 6, 2024, marks the 80th anniversary of D-Day, the Allied invasion of the beaches of Normandy, France. Code-named Operation Overlord, it marked the largest amphibious invasion in military history and resulted in the defeat of German Nazi forces at Reims. Some films portray the soldiers who set foot on the…

The Film That Lit My Fuse is a Deadline video series that aims to provide an antidote to headlines about industry uncertainty by swinging the conversation back to the creative ambitions, formative influences and inspirations of some of today's great screen artists. Today's subject is Anthony…

More than two and a half years after Gary Oldman took home the Oscar for his portrayal of Winston Churchill in the Joe Wright-directed and Anthony McCarten-penned Darkest Hour, a History Channel writer is suing the actor, NBCUniversal and others connect to the movie for allegedly ripping off parts of his script.…

COMMENTARY: To judge from its trailer, Sam Mendes' upcoming 1917, like most modern war dramas — Hacksaw Ridge, Saving Private Ryan, War Horse, even Dunkirk — is essentially a personal story. In the fourth year of World War I, two British soldiers, played by George MacKay and Dean-Charles Chapman, thread their way…

“Darkest Hour — I promise I won’t make any present-day jokes,” NBC News star Chuck Todd vowed at the top of a panel discussion preceding the period political drama’s screening Thursday in Washington, during which participants enthused about Britain’s Prime Minister Winston Churchill and everyone tried hard not to…

It's hard to spot the precise reason for Winston Churchill's cinematic bloom, whether in Telluride and Toronto with the scheduled festival showings of Joe Wright's Darkest Hour; at the box office, with the success of Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk; or on the indie circuit the recent debut of Jonathan Teplitzky's Chur…

EXCLUSIVE: He shall fight on the beaches. Gary Oldman is in talks to play Winston Churchill in Brit production powerhouse Working Title’s Darkest Hour. Joe Wright is directing the epic drama, which takes place in 1940 as Churchill becomes Prime Minister in the midst of World War II and faces a moment of truth. Ant…

EXCLUSIVE: Joe Wright is in talks to direct Brit production powerhouse Working Title’s Winston Churchill pic Darkest Hour. The director, who has a long history with Working Title co-toppers Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner, seems perfectly suited to the material, which takes place in 1940 as Churchill becomes Prime…

EXCLUSIVE: Peter Chelsom will direct The Paladin for The Firm. Chelsom, whose credits include Shall We Dance, Hector And The Search For Happiness and Serendipity, was set by Jeff Kwatinetz to helm the WWII tale. Script is by Jason Keller and Eric Pfeffinger. Set during the darkest days of the war, The Paladin…

EXCLUSIVE: Paramount Pictures is in final talks to acquire The Ministry Of Ungentlemanly Warfare: How Churchill’s Secret Warriors Set Europe Ablaze And Gave Birth To Modern Black Ops, a book rights package that got a three-party bidding war going last week. It’s a period fact-based WWII tale that The…

EXCLUSIVE: After The Theory Of Everything garnered five Oscar nomination including Best Picture, writer-producer Anthony McCarten, producer Lisa Bruce and Working Title partners Eric Fellner and Tim Bevan have set a 2016 production start and are re-teaming for the epic WWII drama Darkest Hour. Working Title…

UPDATE: I’ve gathered more intelligence on the flashy late night spec script deal made by Universal for Aaron Berg‘s Section 6 script about the formation of the British intelligence agency MI6. It’s not only an exceptional deal for a new writer; I’m hard pressed to come up with the last clean seven-figure deal…