At first, I was shocked by the news that Participant Media was dying. Such an appealing company. Smart. Mindful. Vibrant. Forward-thinking. The producer of intelligent films like Spotlight and Green Book, with a distinctly progressive message.
How could this be?
Then it finally hit me. Whatever else may have happened—announcing the shutdown, proprietor Jeff Skoll cited “revolutionary” changes in the entertainment business—Participant went under, I believe, because most of high-end Hollywood jumped into the company’s basically sound but modestly sized boat. The purpose-film niche was swamped.
It’s almost hard to remember that 20 years ago, when Participant was founded, the notion of a self-consciously message-oriented, activist film company was actually novel.
But, cinematically speaking, it was a much different world in 2004. The top movie that year was Shrek 2—not much message there. Culturally, the big story was a religious film, The Passion of the Christ. That hasn’t happened since.
How could this be?
Then it finally hit me. Whatever else may have happened—announcing the shutdown, proprietor Jeff Skoll cited “revolutionary” changes in the entertainment business—Participant went under, I believe, because most of high-end Hollywood jumped into the company’s basically sound but modestly sized boat. The purpose-film niche was swamped.
It’s almost hard to remember that 20 years ago, when Participant was founded, the notion of a self-consciously message-oriented, activist film company was actually novel.
But, cinematically speaking, it was a much different world in 2004. The top movie that year was Shrek 2—not much message there. Culturally, the big story was a religious film, The Passion of the Christ. That hasn’t happened since.
- 4/21/2024
- by Michael Cieply
- Deadline Film + TV
End of an era, end of a business model, end of a gravy train, end of the world. There were plenty of mixed emotions this week in response to the closure of Oscar-winning production company Participant, and at the very least the industry has agreed something has come to an end.
When Variety broke the news Tuesday that billionaire Jeff Skoll’s 20-year-old company will shut down — after fetching 21 Oscars and introducing a business model that prioritized social impact a bit more than profits – many in the industry were rattled. Not just that mid-level, standalone financier and producer had left the market, but what that means for the viability of movies and TV shows that ask vital questions about justice and the humanity’s future.
“The end of Participant Media is devastating news to anyone who cares about documentaries,” director Julie Cohen wrote bluntly on X. She’s the co-director...
When Variety broke the news Tuesday that billionaire Jeff Skoll’s 20-year-old company will shut down — after fetching 21 Oscars and introducing a business model that prioritized social impact a bit more than profits – many in the industry were rattled. Not just that mid-level, standalone financier and producer had left the market, but what that means for the viability of movies and TV shows that ask vital questions about justice and the humanity’s future.
“The end of Participant Media is devastating news to anyone who cares about documentaries,” director Julie Cohen wrote bluntly on X. She’s the co-director...
- 4/19/2024
- by Matt Donnelly
- Variety Film + TV
Vice Studios had a new hit on its hands with the late May launch of “Bama Rush,” which the studio’s co-founder and chief content officer Danny Gabai says was Max’s most-streamed doc feature debut.
But with that large viewership also came a significant discourse surrounding the extent to which “Bama Rush” director Rachel Fleit is present in her own doc about college students “rushing” to get into the sororities at the University of Alabama. That choice didn’t sit well with people who avidly followed the #BamaRush phenomenon that first swept TikTok in the summer of 2021 and again last “season” and would have preferred more behind-the-scenes content about the rush process, rather than portions devoted to Fleit’s reaction to the situation.
“In making any content, you have to make directorial and authorial choices,” Gabai told Variety. “And very early on, we saw young women were revealing that...
But with that large viewership also came a significant discourse surrounding the extent to which “Bama Rush” director Rachel Fleit is present in her own doc about college students “rushing” to get into the sororities at the University of Alabama. That choice didn’t sit well with people who avidly followed the #BamaRush phenomenon that first swept TikTok in the summer of 2021 and again last “season” and would have preferred more behind-the-scenes content about the rush process, rather than portions devoted to Fleit’s reaction to the situation.
“In making any content, you have to make directorial and authorial choices,” Gabai told Variety. “And very early on, we saw young women were revealing that...
- 6/23/2023
- by Jennifer Maas
- Variety Film + TV
The Sundance Film Festival has rich history when it comes to documentary — and sports documentaries, in particular. Hoop Dreams, one of the greatest documentaries ever, made its premiere at Sundance ’94, while When We Were Kings (’96), Murderball (’05), O.J.: Made in America (’16) and Icarus (’17) all debuted at the fest.
One of the splashy late additions to the Sundance 2023 was Stephen Curry: Underrated, a documentary from director Peter Nicks (The Waiting Room) and producers Ryan Coogler (Black Panther) and Erick Peyton billing itself as “an intimate look at NBA superstar Stephen Curry’s...
One of the splashy late additions to the Sundance 2023 was Stephen Curry: Underrated, a documentary from director Peter Nicks (The Waiting Room) and producers Ryan Coogler (Black Panther) and Erick Peyton billing itself as “an intimate look at NBA superstar Stephen Curry’s...
- 1/23/2023
- by Marlow Stern
- Rollingstone.com
Social justice has always been the bailiwick of documentary filmmakers, but the late Diane Weyermann was the woman who gave it the financing and clout it deserved. From the Sundance Institute to Participant Media, she passionately supported documentaries that might not otherwise exist. She made them better, found their audiences, and elevated what was once considered a low-budget sideline. Her projects received 10 Oscar nominations and four wins.
However, to sum up her impact in the language of credits and awards would an injustice of its own. Weyermann was one of those people who had the privilege of being genuinely beloved. She was dedicated to her work as chief content officer at Participant Media, but the filmmakers she worked with knew her as a fiercely intelligent champion, guide, and most of all a friend.
After losing her long battle with cancer last week, Weyermann’s friends in the documentary community sent IndieWire a flood of tributes.
However, to sum up her impact in the language of credits and awards would an injustice of its own. Weyermann was one of those people who had the privilege of being genuinely beloved. She was dedicated to her work as chief content officer at Participant Media, but the filmmakers she worked with knew her as a fiercely intelligent champion, guide, and most of all a friend.
After losing her long battle with cancer last week, Weyermann’s friends in the documentary community sent IndieWire a flood of tributes.
- 10/19/2021
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
Social justice has always been the bailiwick of documentary filmmakers, but the late Diane Weyermann was the woman who gave it the financing and clout it deserved. From the Sundance Institute to Participant Media, she passionately supported documentaries that might not otherwise exist. She made them better, found their audiences, and elevated what was once considered a low-budget sideline. Her projects received 10 Oscar nominations and four wins.
However, to sum up her impact in the language of credits and awards would an injustice of its own. Weyermann was one of those people who had the privilege of being genuinely beloved. She was dedicated to her work as chief content officer at Participant Media, but the filmmakers she worked with knew her as a fiercely intelligent champion, guide, and most of all a friend.
After losing her long battle with cancer last week, Weyermann’s friends in the documentary community sent IndieWire a flood of tributes.
However, to sum up her impact in the language of credits and awards would an injustice of its own. Weyermann was one of those people who had the privilege of being genuinely beloved. She was dedicated to her work as chief content officer at Participant Media, but the filmmakers she worked with knew her as a fiercely intelligent champion, guide, and most of all a friend.
After losing her long battle with cancer last week, Weyermann’s friends in the documentary community sent IndieWire a flood of tributes.
- 10/19/2021
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
Nick Springer, a Paralympics medalist for Team USA and son of entertainment publicist Gary Springer, died at age 35 on Wednesday, April 14. No cause of death was given, but his demise was described as “sudden.”
After contracting Meningococcal Meningitis at age 14, Springer had both legs amputated above the knees and both arms to mid-forearm.
Undaunted, Springer began playing sled hockey before he was fully finished with rehab, and at age 16, segued into Quadriplegic Wheelchair Rugby (“Murderball”) which, as a leading member of Team USA, brought him five international gold medals, including at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
At the 2012 London Paralympics, Nick and Team USA took the bronze after falling to arch-rival Canada by one point in the semi-final game.
A gifted public speaker, Springer used humor, charm and his personal stories to persuade audiences about the power of sports in disabilities. He was also a champion for vaccinations against Meningococcal Meningitis, becoming...
After contracting Meningococcal Meningitis at age 14, Springer had both legs amputated above the knees and both arms to mid-forearm.
Undaunted, Springer began playing sled hockey before he was fully finished with rehab, and at age 16, segued into Quadriplegic Wheelchair Rugby (“Murderball”) which, as a leading member of Team USA, brought him five international gold medals, including at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
At the 2012 London Paralympics, Nick and Team USA took the bronze after falling to arch-rival Canada by one point in the semi-final game.
A gifted public speaker, Springer used humor, charm and his personal stories to persuade audiences about the power of sports in disabilities. He was also a champion for vaccinations against Meningococcal Meningitis, becoming...
- 4/17/2021
- by Bruce Haring
- Deadline Film + TV
The absence of live sports during the novel coronavirus pandemic doesn’t mean a dearth of interesting sports narratives. There’s a whole ecosystem of documentaries telling tales from in and around the world of athletics that many sports fans have yet to discover.
The Last Dance, ESPN’s 10-part saga chronicling the final season of Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls championship dynasty, already has its hooks into hungry hoop heads. Den of Geek also recently offered choice selections from the meaty back catalog of docs available on ESPN+.
The 30 for 30 collection from ESPN is great and all, but the Worldwide Leader hasn’t cornered the market on brilliant non-fiction sports storytelling. Consider these 10 must-watch sports documentaries, all of which can be found either for free or included in streaming subscriptions, if you’re looking for more fascinating sports stories until the live action resumes.
Hoop Dreams
Streaming on HBO Now...
The Last Dance, ESPN’s 10-part saga chronicling the final season of Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls championship dynasty, already has its hooks into hungry hoop heads. Den of Geek also recently offered choice selections from the meaty back catalog of docs available on ESPN+.
The 30 for 30 collection from ESPN is great and all, but the Worldwide Leader hasn’t cornered the market on brilliant non-fiction sports storytelling. Consider these 10 must-watch sports documentaries, all of which can be found either for free or included in streaming subscriptions, if you’re looking for more fascinating sports stories until the live action resumes.
Hoop Dreams
Streaming on HBO Now...
- 4/30/2020
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
Exclusive: Oscilloscope Laboratories is teaming with Twitter to release Ricky Tollman’s feature film debut, starring Tony, Emmy, and Grammy Award winner Ben Platt, Mena Massoud, Nina Dobrev, Scott Speedman, Gil Bellows, with two-time Tony Award winner Jennifer Ehle and Emmy and Golden Globe Award winner Damian Lewis. The film will be released day-and-date on March 6 in the United States, with Quiver Distribution handling all aspects of the digital release.
This marks a new, innovative collaboration for the Adam Yauch-founded film production company and the social media platform. The partnership targets the North American release and Twitter has signed on as the exclusive content distribution platform supporting the film. Twitter users can expect...
This marks a new, innovative collaboration for the Adam Yauch-founded film production company and the social media platform. The partnership targets the North American release and Twitter has signed on as the exclusive content distribution platform supporting the film. Twitter users can expect...
- 1/23/2020
- by Dino-Ray Ramos
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Following the November 1 launch of Apple TV+, the streamer is realigning its executive ranks under toppers Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht, combining development and current into a single-executive structure.
Kim Rozenfeld is leaving as head of current scripted programming and docu/unscripted content. He will return to his producing roots with a first-look deal at Apple for his company Half Full Productions.
Apple TV+ head of scripted development Matt Cherniss will now also oversee current scripted series. Molly Thompson, who joined Apple as Head of Documentaries in April, reporting to Rozenfeld, will continue to oversee documentary film and series programming, development and current.
Former Sony TV head of current programming Rozenfeld was one of the first executive hires after Van Amburg and Erlicht left Sony TV in 2017 to lead worldwide video programming for Apple.
Before joining Sony TV as Evp Current Programming in 2011, Rozenfeld was a scripted series producer based at ABC Studios,...
Kim Rozenfeld is leaving as head of current scripted programming and docu/unscripted content. He will return to his producing roots with a first-look deal at Apple for his company Half Full Productions.
Apple TV+ head of scripted development Matt Cherniss will now also oversee current scripted series. Molly Thompson, who joined Apple as Head of Documentaries in April, reporting to Rozenfeld, will continue to oversee documentary film and series programming, development and current.
Former Sony TV head of current programming Rozenfeld was one of the first executive hires after Van Amburg and Erlicht left Sony TV in 2017 to lead worldwide video programming for Apple.
Before joining Sony TV as Evp Current Programming in 2011, Rozenfeld was a scripted series producer based at ABC Studios,...
- 11/11/2019
- by Nellie Andreeva
- Deadline Film + TV
Lionsgate distributed crime drama in Us last month.
Matthew Shreder’s Concourse Media has closed a raft of sales on Jai Courtney crime drama Semper Fi and is understood to have concluded a multi-territory deal with a major studio.
Lionsgate released the film in the Us last month and rights have gone in the UK (Signature Entertainment), Madman (Australia and New Zealand), France (L’Atelier d’Images), Spain (Twelve Oaks Pictures), Cis (New People Film Company), and Benelux (Three Lines Entertainment).
Further deals closed in Scandinavia (Angel Films), South Korea (Redice), Singapore (Shaw Organisation), and South Africa (M-Net).
The studio deal,...
Matthew Shreder’s Concourse Media has closed a raft of sales on Jai Courtney crime drama Semper Fi and is understood to have concluded a multi-territory deal with a major studio.
Lionsgate released the film in the Us last month and rights have gone in the UK (Signature Entertainment), Madman (Australia and New Zealand), France (L’Atelier d’Images), Spain (Twelve Oaks Pictures), Cis (New People Film Company), and Benelux (Three Lines Entertainment).
Further deals closed in Scandinavia (Angel Films), South Korea (Redice), Singapore (Shaw Organisation), and South Africa (M-Net).
The studio deal,...
- 11/6/2019
- by 36¦Jeremy Kay¦54¦
- ScreenDaily
Though such niceties tend to get lost in the blunt language of “hawks” and “doves,” there’s actually a more useful distinction to be drawn when it comes to support for war, or lack thereof. It’s between people who believe a conflict fought should be a just one, and those who trust any conflict their side is engaged in must be just, because how can “the good guys” be wrong? This demarcation also tends to apply to combat-related movies: They assume viewers are securely on the side of the victors (like most films about any aspect of the World Wars), or they question not individual valor but the righteousness of the cause itself, as most features about the Vietnam War have done.
“Semper Fi” muddies the line between those two perspectives because, while it’s not primarily a film about war or combat, it applies a military code of...
“Semper Fi” muddies the line between those two perspectives because, while it’s not primarily a film about war or combat, it applies a military code of...
- 10/4/2019
- by Dennis Harvey
- Variety Film + TV
Action star Jai Courtney has begun to see more opportunities, in recent years, to flex his dramatic chops along with his muscles, utilizing his Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (Waapa) theater education. Known for projects such as “Spartacus,” “A Good Day to Die Hard,” “Terminator Genisys,” and “Suicide Squad,” Courtney has recently expanded both genres as well as the depth in his choice of roles with “Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later,” “Storm Boy,” “Buffaloed,” and “Semper Fi,” his latest film directed by Henry Alex Rubin (“Murderball“).
Continue reading Jai Courtney On ‘Semper Fi,’ ‘The Suicide Squad,’ Being “Pumped” About The New ‘Terminator’ & More [Interview] at The Playlist.
Continue reading Jai Courtney On ‘Semper Fi,’ ‘The Suicide Squad,’ Being “Pumped” About The New ‘Terminator’ & More [Interview] at The Playlist.
- 10/2/2019
- by Alex Arabian
- The Playlist
We have the first trailer for you to check out from the film Semper Fi, from writer and director Henry Alex Rubin (Murderball) and co-writer Sean Mullin (Amira & Sam). The film stars Jai Courtney and Nat Wolff as brothers who are trying to connect, on opposite sides of the law. Here’s the synopsis for the film:
Cal (Jai Courtney) is a by-the-book police officer who, along with his close-knit group of childhood friends, makes ends meet as a Marine Corps reservist. When his reckless younger half-brother, Oyster, is arrested after a bar fight and given an unfair prison sentence, Cal – driven by his loyalty to family and fierce code of honor – fights for Oyster (Nat Wolff) in this gripping tale of brotherhood and sacrifice.
The movie also stars Leighton Meester, Finn Wittrock, Arturo Castro, Beau Knapp, Rachel Hendrix, Wayne Pére, Ashton Leigh, Sylvia Grace Crim, Lance E. Nichols, and Rob Mello.
Cal (Jai Courtney) is a by-the-book police officer who, along with his close-knit group of childhood friends, makes ends meet as a Marine Corps reservist. When his reckless younger half-brother, Oyster, is arrested after a bar fight and given an unfair prison sentence, Cal – driven by his loyalty to family and fierce code of honor – fights for Oyster (Nat Wolff) in this gripping tale of brotherhood and sacrifice.
The movie also stars Leighton Meester, Finn Wittrock, Arturo Castro, Beau Knapp, Rachel Hendrix, Wayne Pére, Ashton Leigh, Sylvia Grace Crim, Lance E. Nichols, and Rob Mello.
- 8/30/2019
- by Jessica Fisher
- GeekTyrant
Company launches tech division Concourse Xr Studios.
Matthew Shreder’s Concourse Media has boarded two new titles for Cannes and launches sales next week on the Jai Courtney crime thriller Edge Of Dawn and music documentary Find Your Groove.
Henry-Alex Rubin directs Edge Of Dawn (formerly Semper Fi) from a screenplay he co-wrote with Sean Mullin. Courtney and Nat Wolff star in the story of a police officer and his friends who must break out his younger brother from prison after a bar fight. The cast includes Finn Whitrock, Beau Knapp, and Arturo Castro.
Karina Miller (To The Bone) of...
Matthew Shreder’s Concourse Media has boarded two new titles for Cannes and launches sales next week on the Jai Courtney crime thriller Edge Of Dawn and music documentary Find Your Groove.
Henry-Alex Rubin directs Edge Of Dawn (formerly Semper Fi) from a screenplay he co-wrote with Sean Mullin. Courtney and Nat Wolff star in the story of a police officer and his friends who must break out his younger brother from prison after a bar fight. The cast includes Finn Whitrock, Beau Knapp, and Arturo Castro.
Karina Miller (To The Bone) of...
- 5/8/2019
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Concourse Media is heading to Cannes with completed action-drama Edge Of Dawn (previously known as Semper Fi), starring Jai Courtney (Suicide Squad), and music documentary Find Your Groove.
Also starring in the former are Nat Wolff (Paper Towns), Leighton Meester (Gossip Girl), Finn Wittrock (American Horror Story), Beau Knapp (Seven Seconds) and Arturo Castro (Broad City). Directed by Henry-Alex Rubin (Murderball) and written by Rubin and Sean Mullin, the film is produced by Karina Miller (To The Bone) from Sparkhouse Media and David Lancaster (Whiplash) of Rumble Films.
The story follows Cal (Courtney), a by-the-book police officer who makes ends meet as a reservist in the Marine Corps along with his rowdy and inseparable group of childhood friends. When Cal’s younger, reckless half-brother Oyster (Wolff) accidentally kills a guy in a barfight and tries to flee, Cal is torn between his family and his job. The project was...
Also starring in the former are Nat Wolff (Paper Towns), Leighton Meester (Gossip Girl), Finn Wittrock (American Horror Story), Beau Knapp (Seven Seconds) and Arturo Castro (Broad City). Directed by Henry-Alex Rubin (Murderball) and written by Rubin and Sean Mullin, the film is produced by Karina Miller (To The Bone) from Sparkhouse Media and David Lancaster (Whiplash) of Rumble Films.
The story follows Cal (Courtney), a by-the-book police officer who makes ends meet as a reservist in the Marine Corps along with his rowdy and inseparable group of childhood friends. When Cal’s younger, reckless half-brother Oyster (Wolff) accidentally kills a guy in a barfight and tries to flee, Cal is torn between his family and his job. The project was...
- 5/8/2019
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Thompson founded A&E IndieFilms and has a string of documentary producing credits.
Molly Thompson, the founder of A&E IndieFilms and executive producer of documentary films including Jesus Camp, Life, Animated and City of Ghosts, has joined Apple as the tech giant’s head of documentaries.
Thompson founded A&E IndieFilms, feature production arm of Us cable channel company A+E Networks, where she also served as head of documentary films.
A&E IndieFilms releases have included the Watergate docuseries, Sundance entry Studio 54, Cartel Land and Murderball. Thompson also served as executive producer on The Tillman Story and The Imposter...
Molly Thompson, the founder of A&E IndieFilms and executive producer of documentary films including Jesus Camp, Life, Animated and City of Ghosts, has joined Apple as the tech giant’s head of documentaries.
Thompson founded A&E IndieFilms, feature production arm of Us cable channel company A+E Networks, where she also served as head of documentary films.
A&E IndieFilms releases have included the Watergate docuseries, Sundance entry Studio 54, Cartel Land and Murderball. Thompson also served as executive producer on The Tillman Story and The Imposter...
- 4/16/2019
- by John Hazelton
- ScreenDaily
Thompson founded A&E IndieFilms and has a string of documentary producing credits.
Molly Thompson, the founder of A&E IndieFilms and executive producer of documentary films including Jesus Camp, Life, Animated and City of Ghosts, has joined Apple as the tech giant’s head of documentaries.
Thompson founded A&E IndieFilms, feature production arm of Us cable channel company A+E Networks, where she also served as head of documentary films.
A&E IndieFilms releases have included the Watergate docuseries, Sundance entry Studio 54, Cartel Land and Murderball. Thompson also served as executive producer on The Tillman Story and The Imposter...
Molly Thompson, the founder of A&E IndieFilms and executive producer of documentary films including Jesus Camp, Life, Animated and City of Ghosts, has joined Apple as the tech giant’s head of documentaries.
Thompson founded A&E IndieFilms, feature production arm of Us cable channel company A+E Networks, where she also served as head of documentary films.
A&E IndieFilms releases have included the Watergate docuseries, Sundance entry Studio 54, Cartel Land and Murderball. Thompson also served as executive producer on The Tillman Story and The Imposter...
- 4/16/2019
- by John Hazelton
- ScreenDaily
Apple snagged a big fish to run their documentary content division. New York-based A&E Networks documentary veteran Molly Thompson will bring her expertise in supervising documentary films and TV series to Apple, which has recently ramped up its content production, mostly on the television side. As demand for documentaries grows, A&E is losing a valuable player.
Of course, Apple has not yet announced exactly how it plans to release its content, documentary and otherwise. At Apple’s recent presentation, Oprah Winfrey revealed that she’s prepping documentary projects for Apple TV+, including investigations of poisonous work environments and the mental health industry. Apple also acquired the documentary “Elephant Queen” at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival. At Sundance, the filmmakers told me that the film has an ambitious and proactive social-action global release plan that could include theaters. One strategic Apple partnership with indie distributor A24, which will produce films for Apple,...
Of course, Apple has not yet announced exactly how it plans to release its content, documentary and otherwise. At Apple’s recent presentation, Oprah Winfrey revealed that she’s prepping documentary projects for Apple TV+, including investigations of poisonous work environments and the mental health industry. Apple also acquired the documentary “Elephant Queen” at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival. At Sundance, the filmmakers told me that the film has an ambitious and proactive social-action global release plan that could include theaters. One strategic Apple partnership with indie distributor A24, which will produce films for Apple,...
- 4/15/2019
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
Apple snagged a big fish to run their documentary content division. New York-based A&E Networks documentary veteran Molly Thompson will bring her expertise in supervising documentary films and TV series to Apple, which has recently ramped up its content production, mostly on the television side. As demand for documentaries grows, A&E is losing a valuable player.
Of course, Apple has not yet announced exactly how it plans to release its content, documentary and otherwise. At Apple’s recent presentation, Oprah Winfrey revealed that she’s prepping documentary projects for Apple TV+, including investigations of poisonous work environments and the mental health industry. Apple also acquired the documentary “Elephant Queen” at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival. At Sundance, the filmmakers told me that the film has an ambitious and proactive social-action global release plan that could include theaters. One strategic Apple partnership with indie distributor A24, which will produce films for Apple,...
Of course, Apple has not yet announced exactly how it plans to release its content, documentary and otherwise. At Apple’s recent presentation, Oprah Winfrey revealed that she’s prepping documentary projects for Apple TV+, including investigations of poisonous work environments and the mental health industry. Apple also acquired the documentary “Elephant Queen” at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival. At Sundance, the filmmakers told me that the film has an ambitious and proactive social-action global release plan that could include theaters. One strategic Apple partnership with indie distributor A24, which will produce films for Apple,...
- 4/15/2019
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
Molly Thompson has joined Apple’s upcoming streaming service as its head of documentaries.
Thompson previously founded A&E Indie Films, the feature film production unit of A+E Networks. She was also previously the head of documentary films for A+E Networks. Recent documentaries she has executive produced include “The Clinton Affair,” Charles Ferguson’s “Watergate” docuseries, “Studio 54,” and “City of Ghosts.” She was also an executive producer on celebrated documentaries like “Life, Animated,” “Cartel Land,” “Murderball,” and “Jesus Camp.”
She also executive produced Amir Bar-Lev’s “The Tillman Story” and Bart Layton’s “The Imposter,” as well as two narrative features for Lifetime Films. Those were “Lila & Eve,” starring Viola Davis and Jennifer Lopez, and “Paris Can Wait,” starring Diane Lane and Alec Baldwin.
Additionally, Thompson served as executive producer on all feature films produced under the History Films banner, including Werner Herzog’s “Meeting Gorbachev” and “Cave of Forgotten Dreams,...
Thompson previously founded A&E Indie Films, the feature film production unit of A+E Networks. She was also previously the head of documentary films for A+E Networks. Recent documentaries she has executive produced include “The Clinton Affair,” Charles Ferguson’s “Watergate” docuseries, “Studio 54,” and “City of Ghosts.” She was also an executive producer on celebrated documentaries like “Life, Animated,” “Cartel Land,” “Murderball,” and “Jesus Camp.”
She also executive produced Amir Bar-Lev’s “The Tillman Story” and Bart Layton’s “The Imposter,” as well as two narrative features for Lifetime Films. Those were “Lila & Eve,” starring Viola Davis and Jennifer Lopez, and “Paris Can Wait,” starring Diane Lane and Alec Baldwin.
Additionally, Thompson served as executive producer on all feature films produced under the History Films banner, including Werner Herzog’s “Meeting Gorbachev” and “Cave of Forgotten Dreams,...
- 4/15/2019
- by Joe Otterson
- Variety Film + TV
Apple has hired A&E IndieFilms founder Molly Thompson as Head of Documentaries.
Thompson, who also served as Head of Documentary films for A+E Networks, has executive produced such projects as The Clinton Affair; the docuseries Watergate; City of Ghosts; Life, Animated; Cartel Land; Murderball; and Jesus Camp.
Thompson served as executive producer on all feature films produced under the History Films banner, including Werner Herzog’s Meeting Gorbachev — which will have its premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival — and Cave of Forgotten Dreams, Janet Tobias’ No Place on Earth, Errol Morris’ The Unknown Known: The Life and Times of Donald Rumsfeld, Douglas Tirola’s Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon and the Johnny Knoxville-produced Being Evel.
Among other projects, Thompson also Ep’d Amir Bar-Lev’s Emmy-winning The Tillman Story, Bart Layton’s BAFTA-winning The Imposter and two narrative features for Lifetime Films: Lila & Eve,...
Thompson, who also served as Head of Documentary films for A+E Networks, has executive produced such projects as The Clinton Affair; the docuseries Watergate; City of Ghosts; Life, Animated; Cartel Land; Murderball; and Jesus Camp.
Thompson served as executive producer on all feature films produced under the History Films banner, including Werner Herzog’s Meeting Gorbachev — which will have its premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival — and Cave of Forgotten Dreams, Janet Tobias’ No Place on Earth, Errol Morris’ The Unknown Known: The Life and Times of Donald Rumsfeld, Douglas Tirola’s Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon and the Johnny Knoxville-produced Being Evel.
Among other projects, Thompson also Ep’d Amir Bar-Lev’s Emmy-winning The Tillman Story, Bart Layton’s BAFTA-winning The Imposter and two narrative features for Lifetime Films: Lila & Eve,...
- 4/15/2019
- by Erik Pedersen
- Deadline Film + TV
The following remembrance was written by Deborah Davis, Mark Urman’s wife.
From Anatole Litvak’s “Anastasia,” the first movie he saw as a child at a picture palace in the Bronx, to Bradley Cooper’s “A Star Is Born” (his choice for this year’s Best Picture), Mark Urman was a man with a boundless passion for cinema. In the course of his nearly 50 years in film, Mark felt blessed to work with some of the greatest luminaries in the business, from Joseph Losey, David Lean, and Bernardo Bertolucci to Roman Polanski, Sydney Lumet, and Julian Schnabel.
He also delighted in encouraging talents as they emerged, including Ryan Gosling, Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, Lynette Howell, Jamie Patricof, Christian Bale, Liv Tyler, Marc Forster, Natasha Richardson, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, Kevin Smith, Cary Fukunaga, Lee Daniels, and Bill Condon.
Mark was born in the Bronx on November 24, 1952, the...
From Anatole Litvak’s “Anastasia,” the first movie he saw as a child at a picture palace in the Bronx, to Bradley Cooper’s “A Star Is Born” (his choice for this year’s Best Picture), Mark Urman was a man with a boundless passion for cinema. In the course of his nearly 50 years in film, Mark felt blessed to work with some of the greatest luminaries in the business, from Joseph Losey, David Lean, and Bernardo Bertolucci to Roman Polanski, Sydney Lumet, and Julian Schnabel.
He also delighted in encouraging talents as they emerged, including Ryan Gosling, Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, Lynette Howell, Jamie Patricof, Christian Bale, Liv Tyler, Marc Forster, Natasha Richardson, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, Kevin Smith, Cary Fukunaga, Lee Daniels, and Bill Condon.
Mark was born in the Bronx on November 24, 1952, the...
- 1/20/2019
- by Deborah Davis
- Indiewire
Mark Urman, a veteran independent film distributor who headed Paladin Films for the past decade, died on Saturday after a short illness. He was 66.
Urman executive produced “Monster’s Ball” and “Murderball,” and was involved in campaigns for Oscar contenders “Half Nelson,” “Affliction,” and “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead.” He broke into the entertainment business in the 1980s by working in publicity at United Artists in New York, followed by Columbia Pictures’ Triumph Films and Dennis Davidson Associates.
In 1997, he became a distribution executive at Cinepix Film Properties, which became Lionsgate. He moved to ThinkFilm in 2001 to head theatrical distribution and oversaw the release of “Half Nelson,” for which Ryan Gosling received a best actor Academy Award nomination; Oscar-winning documentaries “Taxi to the Dark Side” and “Born Into Brothels”; and docs “Spellbound,” “The Story of the Weeping Camel,” “Murderball,” and “War/Dance.”
After a brief stint at Senator,...
Urman executive produced “Monster’s Ball” and “Murderball,” and was involved in campaigns for Oscar contenders “Half Nelson,” “Affliction,” and “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead.” He broke into the entertainment business in the 1980s by working in publicity at United Artists in New York, followed by Columbia Pictures’ Triumph Films and Dennis Davidson Associates.
In 1997, he became a distribution executive at Cinepix Film Properties, which became Lionsgate. He moved to ThinkFilm in 2001 to head theatrical distribution and oversaw the release of “Half Nelson,” for which Ryan Gosling received a best actor Academy Award nomination; Oscar-winning documentaries “Taxi to the Dark Side” and “Born Into Brothels”; and docs “Spellbound,” “The Story of the Weeping Camel,” “Murderball,” and “War/Dance.”
After a brief stint at Senator,...
- 1/14/2019
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
Updated with reaction. Mark Urman, a prominent figure in the independent film business who headed Paladin Film for the past decade, has died at age 66 after battling cancer.
Word of his passing circulated over the weekend, especially among the many film and media professionals who live (as did Urman) in Montclair, N.J. Urman’s family has so far declined to make a statement. We will update all this as more information comes in.
Early on, Urman worked in publicity for Columbia Pictures and United Artists before joining PR firm Dennis Davidson Associates in the 1980s, where he got some of his first tastes of championing specialty film titles. He spearheaded several publicity campaigns for Miramax and other indie outfits, and later told a few memorable tales about Bob and Harvey Weinstein in Peter Biskind’s 2004 book Down and Dirty Pictures.
Urman would go on to become a noted tastemaker in the sector,...
Word of his passing circulated over the weekend, especially among the many film and media professionals who live (as did Urman) in Montclair, N.J. Urman’s family has so far declined to make a statement. We will update all this as more information comes in.
Early on, Urman worked in publicity for Columbia Pictures and United Artists before joining PR firm Dennis Davidson Associates in the 1980s, where he got some of his first tastes of championing specialty film titles. He spearheaded several publicity campaigns for Miramax and other indie outfits, and later told a few memorable tales about Bob and Harvey Weinstein in Peter Biskind’s 2004 book Down and Dirty Pictures.
Urman would go on to become a noted tastemaker in the sector,...
- 1/14/2019
- by Dade Hayes
- Deadline Film + TV
Veteran independent film executive Mark Urman died Saturday after a short bout with cancer, IndieWire has confirmed. He was 66. His family requests privacy, and advised a statement will be coming in the next few days.
The Union College graduate started out in the international publicity department at United Artists in New York, followed by publicity posts at Columbia Pictures and the studio’s Triumph Films, and PR firm Dennis Davidson and Associates. In 1997, he left Dda to join Cinepix Film Properties, then just acquired by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp., as the head of U.S. distribution.
That was the start of a passionate career in specialized film, including multiple Oscar contenders like “Monsters Ball,” “Affliction,” and “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead.”
As distribution president at New York indie distributor ThinkFilm, Urman delivered seven Academy Award nominations in six years. Alex Gibney’s “Taxi to the Dark Side” and...
The Union College graduate started out in the international publicity department at United Artists in New York, followed by publicity posts at Columbia Pictures and the studio’s Triumph Films, and PR firm Dennis Davidson and Associates. In 1997, he left Dda to join Cinepix Film Properties, then just acquired by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp., as the head of U.S. distribution.
That was the start of a passionate career in specialized film, including multiple Oscar contenders like “Monsters Ball,” “Affliction,” and “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead.”
As distribution president at New York indie distributor ThinkFilm, Urman delivered seven Academy Award nominations in six years. Alex Gibney’s “Taxi to the Dark Side” and...
- 1/13/2019
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
Veteran independent film executive Mark Urman died Saturday after a short bout with cancer, IndieWire has confirmed. He was 66. His family requests privacy, and advised a statement will be coming in the next few days.
The Union College graduate started out in the international publicity department at United Artists in New York, followed by publicity posts at Columbia Pictures and the studio’s Triumph Films, and PR firm Dennis Davidson and Associates. In 1997, he left Dda to join Cinepix Film Properties, then just acquired by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp., as the head of U.S. distribution.
That was the start of a passionate career in specialized film, including multiple Oscar contenders like “Monsters Ball,” “Affliction,” and “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead.”
As distribution president at New York indie distributor ThinkFilm, Urman delivered seven Academy Award nominations in six years. Alex Gibney’s “Taxi to the Dark Side” and...
The Union College graduate started out in the international publicity department at United Artists in New York, followed by publicity posts at Columbia Pictures and the studio’s Triumph Films, and PR firm Dennis Davidson and Associates. In 1997, he left Dda to join Cinepix Film Properties, then just acquired by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp., as the head of U.S. distribution.
That was the start of a passionate career in specialized film, including multiple Oscar contenders like “Monsters Ball,” “Affliction,” and “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead.”
As distribution president at New York indie distributor ThinkFilm, Urman delivered seven Academy Award nominations in six years. Alex Gibney’s “Taxi to the Dark Side” and...
- 1/13/2019
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
Tonight, A&E IndieFilms’ latest documentary, Matt Tyrnauer’s “Studio 54,” opens Outfest in Los Angeles before hitting theaters via Zeitgeist Films and Kino Lorber in October. Unusually, A&E IndieFilms senior VP Molly Thompson believes in theatrical play for her documentaries as a way to build awareness before they hit the air.
With streaming, she said, “it’s harder for the films to stand out. Theatrical is good for films. You have a whole year to go out to festivals and theaters before they come to A&E. We’re the opposite of HBO and Netflix.”
All these funding and distribution options make it “a great time for documentary filmmakers,” she said. “Even seven years ago people were starving. It was a difficult time. We were a big whale for filmmakers. Now they have so many options, and people are able to pay their bills.”
Thompson’s first job was...
With streaming, she said, “it’s harder for the films to stand out. Theatrical is good for films. You have a whole year to go out to festivals and theaters before they come to A&E. We’re the opposite of HBO and Netflix.”
All these funding and distribution options make it “a great time for documentary filmmakers,” she said. “Even seven years ago people were starving. It was a difficult time. We were a big whale for filmmakers. Now they have so many options, and people are able to pay their bills.”
Thompson’s first job was...
- 7/12/2018
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
Tonight, A&E IndieFilms’ latest documentary, Matt Tyrnauer’s “Studio 54,” opens Outfest in Los Angeles before hitting theaters via Zeitgeist Films and Kino Lorber in October. Unusually, A&E IndieFilms senior VP Molly Thompson believes in theatrical play for her documentaries as a way to build awareness before they hit the air.
With streaming, she said, “it’s harder for the films to stand out. Theatrical is good for films. You have a whole year to go out to festivals and theaters before they come to A&E. We’re the opposite of HBO and Netflix.”
All these funding and distribution options make it “a great time for documentary filmmakers,” she said. “Even seven years ago people were starving. It was a difficult time. We were a big whale for filmmakers. Now they have so many options, and people are able to pay their bills.”
Thompson’s first job was...
With streaming, she said, “it’s harder for the films to stand out. Theatrical is good for films. You have a whole year to go out to festivals and theaters before they come to A&E. We’re the opposite of HBO and Netflix.”
All these funding and distribution options make it “a great time for documentary filmmakers,” she said. “Even seven years ago people were starving. It was a difficult time. We were a big whale for filmmakers. Now they have so many options, and people are able to pay their bills.”
Thompson’s first job was...
- 7/12/2018
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
Three-day conference to run in Los Angeles in September.
Documentarian Frederick Wiseman will take part in a masterclass and A&E IndieFilms founder and head Molly Thompson will deliver a keynote at the International Documentary Association’s (Ida) three-day Getting Real ’18 conference in Los Angeles in September.
The event, held in partnership with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, is a biennial conference on documentary media and takes place from September 25-27.
Getting Real ‘18 will kick off with a pre-conference screening to mark the 10th anniversary of Robert Kenner’s Food, Inc., presented by the Academy, Participant Media and River Road Entertainment.
Documentarian Frederick Wiseman will take part in a masterclass and A&E IndieFilms founder and head Molly Thompson will deliver a keynote at the International Documentary Association’s (Ida) three-day Getting Real ’18 conference in Los Angeles in September.
The event, held in partnership with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, is a biennial conference on documentary media and takes place from September 25-27.
Getting Real ‘18 will kick off with a pre-conference screening to mark the 10th anniversary of Robert Kenner’s Food, Inc., presented by the Academy, Participant Media and River Road Entertainment.
- 6/25/2018
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Five years ago, documentary filmmaker Madeleine Sackler started the process of making “O.G.” and “It’s A Hard Truth Ain’t It” – both feature-length films premiering at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival – with the goal of capturing the experience of living in a prison. While there are millions of people incarcerated throughout the U.S., gaining access to a group of prisoners (and a prison) would prove extremely difficult. The only state Sackler was even able to engage in conversation about her films, after numerous inquiries, was Indiana.
“In certain ways, what I learned was that the walls are there to keep us out more than to the keep [the prisoners] in,” said Sackler in an interview with IndieWire.
Yet once Sackler finally was able to visit the Pendleton Correctional Facility, a maximum security prison in Indiana, and sat down to interview dozens of the inmates and staff, she discovered nearly all...
“In certain ways, what I learned was that the walls are there to keep us out more than to the keep [the prisoners] in,” said Sackler in an interview with IndieWire.
Yet once Sackler finally was able to visit the Pendleton Correctional Facility, a maximum security prison in Indiana, and sat down to interview dozens of the inmates and staff, she discovered nearly all...
- 4/24/2018
- by Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
Hunger Games grad Sam Claflin is set to star in upcoming crime-thriller Semper Fi from Oscar-nominated director Henry-Alex Rubin (Murderball, Disconnect).
Claflin, recently seen in Me Before You and Their Finest and set to star in Babadook follow-up The Nightingale, will take the lead as a straight-laced cop who resolves to help his brother – found guilty of killing a man in a bar-room fight – by breaking him out of prison with his life-long friends and fellow Marine Corps reservists.
Cornerstone Films will commence sales in Cannes and co-represent the U.S. rights with CAA, which packaged and arranged financing for...
Claflin, recently seen in Me Before You and Their Finest and set to star in Babadook follow-up The Nightingale, will take the lead as a straight-laced cop who resolves to help his brother – found guilty of killing a man in a bar-room fight – by breaking him out of prison with his life-long friends and fellow Marine Corps reservists.
Cornerstone Films will commence sales in Cannes and co-represent the U.S. rights with CAA, which packaged and arranged financing for...
- 5/4/2017
- by Alex Ritman
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Kayti Burt May 4, 2017
Sam Claflin is set to play a Marine sergeant with a plan to break his brother out of prison in the crime thriller Semper Fi...
Sam Claflin has been making a tidy little Hollywood career for himself over the last few years, starring in everything from Hunger Games: Catching Fire to Me Before You to Our Finest Hour. What's next for him? A crime thriller called Semper Fi.
See related Denis Villeneuve interview: Sicario, Kurosawa, sci-fi, ugly poetry Dune reboot: Denis Villeneuve confirmed to direct
According to Variety, Claflin will star in Semper Fi as a straight-laced Marine Corps sergeant who convinces his brother to own up to a bar brawl that ends with a man dead. After coming back from Iraq to find his brother's final court appeal rejected, he comes up with a plan to break his brother out of prison.
There's a lot going on in that premise,...
Sam Claflin is set to play a Marine sergeant with a plan to break his brother out of prison in the crime thriller Semper Fi...
Sam Claflin has been making a tidy little Hollywood career for himself over the last few years, starring in everything from Hunger Games: Catching Fire to Me Before You to Our Finest Hour. What's next for him? A crime thriller called Semper Fi.
See related Denis Villeneuve interview: Sicario, Kurosawa, sci-fi, ugly poetry Dune reboot: Denis Villeneuve confirmed to direct
According to Variety, Claflin will star in Semper Fi as a straight-laced Marine Corps sergeant who convinces his brother to own up to a bar brawl that ends with a man dead. After coming back from Iraq to find his brother's final court appeal rejected, he comes up with a plan to break his brother out of prison.
There's a lot going on in that premise,...
- 5/3/2017
- Den of Geek
Cornerstone Films to launch sales on crime thriller in Cannes.
Sam Claflin (Me Before You) will lead the cast of Henry-Alex Rubin’s crime thriller Semper Fi.
London-based sales agent Cornerstone Films has boarded the title and will launch sales at Cannes this month. Cornerstone Films co-representing Us rights with CAA, which packaged the film.
Henry-Alex Rubin is the Oscar-nominated director of 2005 sports documentary Murderball.
Semper Fi will be produced by Oscar-nominated Whiplash producer David Lancaster of Rumble Films, and Karina Miller (To The Bone) of Sparkhouse Media, which is also financing.
Claflin plays Hopper, a straight-laced cop and Marine Corps reservist. When his younger brother accidentally kills a man in a bar-room brawl and tries to flee town, Hopper stops him and forces him to face the music. Sean Mullin co-wrote the screenplay.
Wracked with guilt at leaving his brother locked up in jail, Hopper and his buddies are deployed to Iraq. Battle-weary, he returns...
Sam Claflin (Me Before You) will lead the cast of Henry-Alex Rubin’s crime thriller Semper Fi.
London-based sales agent Cornerstone Films has boarded the title and will launch sales at Cannes this month. Cornerstone Films co-representing Us rights with CAA, which packaged the film.
Henry-Alex Rubin is the Oscar-nominated director of 2005 sports documentary Murderball.
Semper Fi will be produced by Oscar-nominated Whiplash producer David Lancaster of Rumble Films, and Karina Miller (To The Bone) of Sparkhouse Media, which is also financing.
Claflin plays Hopper, a straight-laced cop and Marine Corps reservist. When his younger brother accidentally kills a man in a bar-room brawl and tries to flee town, Hopper stops him and forces him to face the music. Sean Mullin co-wrote the screenplay.
Wracked with guilt at leaving his brother locked up in jail, Hopper and his buddies are deployed to Iraq. Battle-weary, he returns...
- 5/3/2017
- ScreenDaily
Sam Claflin is set to star in the upcoming crime thriller Semper Fi, directed by Murderball's Henry-Alex Rubin. David Lancaster (Whiplash, Nightcrawler) of Rumble Films and Karina Miller (To The Bone) from Sparkhouse Media are producing, with Sparkhouse also financing. Cornerstone Films is handling international sales rights for the title, and co-repping U.S. rights with CAA, which packaged and financed the film. Project will be launched to buyers at the Cannes Film Festiv…...
- 5/3/2017
- Deadline
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50 fabulous documentary films, covering hard politics through to music, money and films that never were...
Thanks to streaming services such as Netflix, we’ve never had better access to documentaries. A whole new audience can discover that these real life stories are just as thrilling, entertaining, and incredible as the latest big-budget blockbuster. What’s more, they’re all true too. But with a new found glut of them comes the ever more impossible choice, what’s worth your time? Below is my pick of the 50 best modern feature length documentaries.
I’ve defined modern as being from 2000 onwards, which means some of the greatest documentaries ever made will not feature here. I’m looking at you Hoop Dreams.
50. McConkey (2013)
d. Rob Bruce, Scott Gaffney, Murray Wais, Steve Winter, David Zieff
Shane McConkey was an extreme skier and Base jumper who lived life on the edge, and very much to the full.
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50 fabulous documentary films, covering hard politics through to music, money and films that never were...
Thanks to streaming services such as Netflix, we’ve never had better access to documentaries. A whole new audience can discover that these real life stories are just as thrilling, entertaining, and incredible as the latest big-budget blockbuster. What’s more, they’re all true too. But with a new found glut of them comes the ever more impossible choice, what’s worth your time? Below is my pick of the 50 best modern feature length documentaries.
I’ve defined modern as being from 2000 onwards, which means some of the greatest documentaries ever made will not feature here. I’m looking at you Hoop Dreams.
50. McConkey (2013)
d. Rob Bruce, Scott Gaffney, Murray Wais, Steve Winter, David Zieff
Shane McConkey was an extreme skier and Base jumper who lived life on the edge, and very much to the full.
- 11/12/2015
- by simonbrew
- Den of Geek
Sam Claflin has signed up to two new films, but the roles he's playing couldn't be more different.
One is a hard-smoking and volatile football player and the other is essentially Prince Charming.
Claflin will play Reading and Cardiff striker Robin Friday in the long-developing biopic of the footballer, according to Empire.
Friday died tragically young at the age of 38 after four years playing professional football - he was as known for his skills on the pitch as off of it for his hard drinking, smoking and womanising.
His other role is a return as Snow White's love interest William in The Hunstman - the sequel to Snow White and the Hunstman, .
Kristen Stewart won't be returning but Charlize Theron is coming back as Queen Ravenna, along with cast additions Emily Blunt and Jessica Chastain.
Robin Friday will be directed by Murderball's Henry-Alex Rubin with production starting in the UK later this year.
One is a hard-smoking and volatile football player and the other is essentially Prince Charming.
Claflin will play Reading and Cardiff striker Robin Friday in the long-developing biopic of the footballer, according to Empire.
Friday died tragically young at the age of 38 after four years playing professional football - he was as known for his skills on the pitch as off of it for his hard drinking, smoking and womanising.
His other role is a return as Snow White's love interest William in The Hunstman - the sequel to Snow White and the Hunstman, .
Kristen Stewart won't be returning but Charlize Theron is coming back as Queen Ravenna, along with cast additions Emily Blunt and Jessica Chastain.
Robin Friday will be directed by Murderball's Henry-Alex Rubin with production starting in the UK later this year.
- 5/9/2015
- Digital Spy
Sam Claflin (The Hunger Games franchise, The Riot Club, Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides) is set to star in the soccer legend biopic Robin Friday, to be directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker, Henry-Alex Rubin (Murderball, Disconnect), it was announced today by producers Mike Young, Julian Stone and Paolo Hewitt of Rf Movie Productions Ltd. Financing partners include Global Film Partners’ Daniel Koefoed and Guirec van Slingelandt, Telegael’s Paul Cummings and 9Magnan’s Meghana Gupta.
Fortitude International, co-founded by Nadine de Barros, Robert Ogden Barnum and Daniel Wagner, will handle foreign rights and will present the project to buyers at the Cannes Film Market. De Barros will be supported by her sales team including Katie Irwin, VP of International and Samantha Peel, Director of International Sales and Marketing.
CAA, which packaged and arranged financing for Robin Friday, will represent the film’s North American rights.
Based on the biography...
Fortitude International, co-founded by Nadine de Barros, Robert Ogden Barnum and Daniel Wagner, will handle foreign rights and will present the project to buyers at the Cannes Film Market. De Barros will be supported by her sales team including Katie Irwin, VP of International and Samantha Peel, Director of International Sales and Marketing.
CAA, which packaged and arranged financing for Robin Friday, will represent the film’s North American rights.
Based on the biography...
- 5/8/2015
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Cannes: Nadine de Barros and her team will kick off talks on the Croisette on the upcoming Sam Claflin starrer about one of the great cult heroes of English football.
Murderball director Henry-Alex Rubin will helm Robin Friday, which North American rights holder CAA packaged and arranged financing.
Global Film Partners’ Daniel Koefoed and Guirec van Slingelandt, Telegael’s Paul Cummings and 9Magnan’s Meghana Gupta are among the financiers.
Robin Friday will chart the short-lived career of the hard-partying 1970s player whose on-field brilliance ensured lowly Reading got promoted to the Third Division in the 1975-76 season.
Friday was named “all-time cult hero” for Reading and Cardiff in a 2004 BBC poll and died of a heart attack in 1990 aged 38.
Paolo Hewitt and Julian Stone adapted the screenplay from Hewitt’s book The Greatest Footballer You Never Saw: The Robin Friday Story.
Production is set for this autumn in the UK. The project...
Murderball director Henry-Alex Rubin will helm Robin Friday, which North American rights holder CAA packaged and arranged financing.
Global Film Partners’ Daniel Koefoed and Guirec van Slingelandt, Telegael’s Paul Cummings and 9Magnan’s Meghana Gupta are among the financiers.
Robin Friday will chart the short-lived career of the hard-partying 1970s player whose on-field brilliance ensured lowly Reading got promoted to the Third Division in the 1975-76 season.
Friday was named “all-time cult hero” for Reading and Cardiff in a 2004 BBC poll and died of a heart attack in 1990 aged 38.
Paolo Hewitt and Julian Stone adapted the screenplay from Hewitt’s book The Greatest Footballer You Never Saw: The Robin Friday Story.
Production is set for this autumn in the UK. The project...
- 5/7/2015
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Nadine de Barros and her team will kick off talks on the Croisette on the upcoming Sam Claflin starrer about one of the great cult heroes of English football.
Murderball director Henry-Alex Rubin will helm Robin Friday which North American rights holder CAA packaged and arranged financing..
Global Film Partners’ Daniel Koefoed and Guirec van Slingelandt, Telegael’s Paul Cummings and 9Magnan’s Meghana Gupta are among the financiers.
Robin Friday will chart the short-lived career of the hard-partying 1970s player whose on-field brilliance ensured lowly Reading got promoted to the Third Division in the 1975-76 season.
Friday was named “all-time cult hero” for Reading and Cardiff in a 2004 BBC poll and died of a heart attack in 1990 aged 38.
Paolo Hewitt and Julian Stone adapted the screenplay from Hewitt’s book The Greatest Footballer You Never Saw: The Robin Friday Story.
Production is set for this autumn in the UK. The project...
Murderball director Henry-Alex Rubin will helm Robin Friday which North American rights holder CAA packaged and arranged financing..
Global Film Partners’ Daniel Koefoed and Guirec van Slingelandt, Telegael’s Paul Cummings and 9Magnan’s Meghana Gupta are among the financiers.
Robin Friday will chart the short-lived career of the hard-partying 1970s player whose on-field brilliance ensured lowly Reading got promoted to the Third Division in the 1975-76 season.
Friday was named “all-time cult hero” for Reading and Cardiff in a 2004 BBC poll and died of a heart attack in 1990 aged 38.
Paolo Hewitt and Julian Stone adapted the screenplay from Hewitt’s book The Greatest Footballer You Never Saw: The Robin Friday Story.
Production is set for this autumn in the UK. The project...
- 5/7/2015
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
With “The Hunger Games” and “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchises under his belt, Sam Claflin has set his sights on a new challenge — starring in “Robin Friday,” a biopic of the soccer legend. Oscar-nominated filmmaker Henry-Alex Rubin (“Murderball”) will direct from a script by Julian Stone and Paolo Hewitt of Rf Movie Productions. Stone and Hewitt will also produce with Mike Yiung. Financing partners include Global Film Partners’ Daniel Koefoed and Guirec van Slingelandt, Telegael’s Paul Cummings and 9Magnan’s Meghana Gupta. Scheduled for a fall shoot in the U.K., the feature film was developed with funding and support from Film.
- 5/7/2015
- by Jeff Sneider
- The Wrap
Welcome back to Cannes Check, In Contention's annual preview of the films in Competition at this year's Cannes Film Festival, which kicks off on May 14. Taking on different selections every day, we'll be examining what they're about, who's involved and what their chances are of snagging an award from Jane Campion's jury. Next up, a film we've been waiting to see for some time now: Bennett Miller's "Foxcatcher." The director: Bennett Miller (American, 47 years old). The film may be one of the biggest-name selections in Competition, but in festival auteur terms, Miller is one of its least seasoned entrants -- "Foxcatcher" is only his third narrative feature, and his first to appear at one of the European majors. That said, he's certainly made the other two count. Born and raised in New York, he attended high school with future collaborator Dan Futterman; together with Philip Seymour Hoffman, they...
- 5/12/2014
- by Guy Lodge
- Hitfix
Moviefone's Top DVD of the Week
"The Bling Ring"
What's It About? Based on the real-life Bling Ring crew, Sofia Coppola's film tells the story of the Los Angeles teens whose claim to infamy was robbing the homes of celebrities. The teens who used the internet to track the whereabouts of rich celebs are portrayed by Emma Watson, Katie Chang, Taissa Farmiga, Israel Broussard, and Claire Julien.
Watch: Go behind-the-scenes with Taissa Farmiga (Video)
Why We're In: Coppola's approach to the tabloid-heavy story is one of the most compelling aspects of "The Bling Ring"," as she neither praises the characters, criticizes, or satirizes them. We get to watch the teens from an honest perspective and arrive at our own deduction of how technology and youth obsession with fame impact contemporary culture. "The Bling Ring" was also one of Moviefone's Best Movies of 2013 (So Far).
Rt & Follow to win #TheBlingRing...
"The Bling Ring"
What's It About? Based on the real-life Bling Ring crew, Sofia Coppola's film tells the story of the Los Angeles teens whose claim to infamy was robbing the homes of celebrities. The teens who used the internet to track the whereabouts of rich celebs are portrayed by Emma Watson, Katie Chang, Taissa Farmiga, Israel Broussard, and Claire Julien.
Watch: Go behind-the-scenes with Taissa Farmiga (Video)
Why We're In: Coppola's approach to the tabloid-heavy story is one of the most compelling aspects of "The Bling Ring"," as she neither praises the characters, criticizes, or satirizes them. We get to watch the teens from an honest perspective and arrive at our own deduction of how technology and youth obsession with fame impact contemporary culture. "The Bling Ring" was also one of Moviefone's Best Movies of 2013 (So Far).
Rt & Follow to win #TheBlingRing...
- 9/17/2013
- by Erin Whitney
- Moviefone
Many writers say they prefer not to start the writing process with a theme in mind – they simply let it emerge organically from their plot or characters. But then, plenty of films have gone the other way. The multi-strand, interconnected drama revolving around a particular subject or theme, like Steven Soderbergh’s take on the war on drugs in “Traffic,” or Paul Thomas Anderson’s examination of coincidence and happenstance in “Magnolia,” have proved particularly popular in recent years. And given that they garlanded financial and critical success, it makes sense that others have set out to follow in their footsteps. The latest is “Disconnect,” which marks the fiction feature debut not only of screenwriter Andrew Stern, but also director Henry Alex Rubin, who won acclaim seven years ago for his Oscar-winning documentary “Murderball.” Telling the story of a group of interlinked people who all find their lives upended by the internet,...
- 4/12/2013
- by Oliver Lyttelton
- The Playlist
If you've heard anything about "Disconnect," the new feature by "Murderball" director Henry Alex Rubin, it's probably one of two things: it offers a cautionary look at our modern methods of communication (or lack thereof) and it features the first on-screen acting performance by fashion designer Marc Jacobs.
Turns out, however, that Jacobs wasn't Rubin's first choice to play Harvey, the skeevy proprietor of an online-sex-show emporium who recruits teenagers to strip on camera. The director had cast his friend Simon Hammerstein, grandson of Oscar and owner of The Box nightclub in Manhattan, but Hammerstein's wife balked after reading the script. With just two weeks left before shooting began, Rubin thought of Jacobs. "I'd made a seven-minute short film years ago where he'd made a cameo," Rubin said. "I remembered that he'd had good comic timing. And the truth is, if you have good comic timing, it usually means you have instincts,...
Turns out, however, that Jacobs wasn't Rubin's first choice to play Harvey, the skeevy proprietor of an online-sex-show emporium who recruits teenagers to strip on camera. The director had cast his friend Simon Hammerstein, grandson of Oscar and owner of The Box nightclub in Manhattan, but Hammerstein's wife balked after reading the script. With just two weeks left before shooting began, Rubin thought of Jacobs. "I'd made a seven-minute short film years ago where he'd made a cameo," Rubin said. "I remembered that he'd had good comic timing. And the truth is, if you have good comic timing, it usually means you have instincts,...
- 4/12/2013
- by Michael Hogan
- Huffington Post
Max Thieriot strips down as the misguided sex cam performer Kyle in Disconnect.
Taking the route of intersecting storylines, ensemble drama Disconnect explores the world of modern technology and how it connects us – or as the title suggests, how it disconnects us.
The movie is busting at the seams with hot actors including Max Thieriot, Jason Bateman, Hope Davis, Frank Grillo, Andrea Riseborough, Paula Patton, Michael Nyqvist, Marc Jacobs, and Alexander Skarsgard. There's a story about cyberbullying, a story about identity theft and, finally, a story about a sex cam performer who is befriended by a reporter for an exposé. Enter actor Max Thieriot (pronounced Terry-ot). He plays the aforementioned sex cam performer – but before you get excited at the potential eroticism, his portion of the movie is quite emotionally intense and heavy.Turns out the seedy underbelly of the sex cam world isn't such a turn on/
We had...
Taking the route of intersecting storylines, ensemble drama Disconnect explores the world of modern technology and how it connects us – or as the title suggests, how it disconnects us.
The movie is busting at the seams with hot actors including Max Thieriot, Jason Bateman, Hope Davis, Frank Grillo, Andrea Riseborough, Paula Patton, Michael Nyqvist, Marc Jacobs, and Alexander Skarsgard. There's a story about cyberbullying, a story about identity theft and, finally, a story about a sex cam performer who is befriended by a reporter for an exposé. Enter actor Max Thieriot (pronounced Terry-ot). He plays the aforementioned sex cam performer – but before you get excited at the potential eroticism, his portion of the movie is quite emotionally intense and heavy.Turns out the seedy underbelly of the sex cam world isn't such a turn on/
We had...
- 4/12/2013
- by Dino-Ray
- The Backlot
It's easy to scoff at the concept behind Disconnect. Oh yeah, we're becoming a bunch of online zombies. Cell phones are ruining the world. Our identities will be stolen on the Internet. Sex chat rooms, blah, blah, blah... I hear yah! In one ear, out the other. You're not telling me anything I don't already know... Now, where do I input my social security number and you're telling me you need my credit card number and security code to finalize this purchase? Well, here yah go! Yes, identities are stolen over the Internet. Yes, porn and sex cams exist. Yes, people are taken advantage of and school kids can be cruel. All of this is true... So why would a film about it make us roll our eyes? The reason I was a skeptic walking into Disconnect wasn't necessarily the subject matter, but the fact it looked like Crash with cellphones.
- 4/12/2013
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
At a time when so many movies offer nothing but escape, it’s refreshing to encounter one that has something to say about modern society, and a great cast to bring it to life. Written by Andrew Stern and directed by documentary filmmaker Henry Alex Rubin (Murderball), Disconnect takes a sobering look at the wide-ranging impact that social media and interconnectivity is having on our everyday lives. That it manages to do so without ever becoming preachy is no small achievement. In one story thread, Jason Bateman and Hope Davis’s teenage son, a loner who seeks refuge in his bedroom composing music, falls victim to a cruel prank. Two fellow students are sending him provocative...
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- 4/12/2013
- by Leonard Maltin
- Leonard Maltin's Movie Crazy
The narrative feature debut of Murderball director Henry-Alex Rubin, Disconnect opens in a limited release this Friday and paints an eerie portrait of a modern world wherein the very technology designed to keep us in touch threatens to tear individual lives apart. Starring Jason Bateman, Hope Davis, Frank Grillo, Michael Nyqvist, Paula Patton, Andrea Riseborough, Alexander Skarsgard, Max Thieriot, Colin Ford, Jonah Bobo and Haley Ramm, Disconnect offers interweaving stories that all tie to the same theme: A hard-working lawyer, attached to his cell phone, can't find the time to communicate with his family. A couple is drawn into a dangerous situation when their secrets are exposed online. A widowed ex-cop struggles to raise a mischievous son who cyber-bullies a classmate....
- 4/11/2013
- Comingsoon.net
Los Angeles -- It's a given at multiplexes these days that despite switch-off-your-cell-phone announcements and the occasional grumbling protest, whatever's onscreen will have to compete with tiny pockets of light from audience members unable to stay off their handhelds. Watching those glow patches come and go during "Disconnect" reinforces the film's position on how desensitized we've become to these technological intrusions. Not that Henry-Alex Rubin's schematic multi-strand drama is at all shy about articulating its themes.
Directing his first narrative feature, documentary-maker Rubin ("Murderball") has assembled a solid cast and weaves together the three interconnected stories of Andrew Stern's original screenplay with elegance and efficiency. But this is a film that voices its warning about the hazards of a wired existence with solemn self-importance. It's also quite late in the day to be pointing out that we're so plugged into our devices we often fail to see or...
Directing his first narrative feature, documentary-maker Rubin ("Murderball") has assembled a solid cast and weaves together the three interconnected stories of Andrew Stern's original screenplay with elegance and efficiency. But this is a film that voices its warning about the hazards of a wired existence with solemn self-importance. It's also quite late in the day to be pointing out that we're so plugged into our devices we often fail to see or...
- 4/10/2013
- by AP
- Huffington Post
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