News

When you hear the movie title "Kitbag," your first thought is probably not, "Oh, that's absolutely about Napoleon. How could it be anything else?" Fear not, friends. You can rest easy. The title for the upcoming Ridley Scott biopic about Napoleon Bonaparte will now be called "Napoleon," according to Deadline (via The Playlist). 

If you were wondering what the hell a "Kitbag" is, the title comes from the saying, "There is a general's staff hidden in every soldier's kitbag." It's a little obscure, but whatever. It's a non-issue now. "Napoleon" makes much more sense, though the hashtag for social media is likely going to be #NapoleonMovie...

The post Bye Bye Kitbag: Ridley Scott Very Wisely Renames His Napoleon Movie appeared first on /Film.

Director Ridley Scott is coming off an impressive run in 2021, with both “The Last Duel” and “House of Gucci” receiving awards buzz. While it remains to be seen how those two films will fare at the Academy Awards ceremony, Scott likely doesn’t even care and is prepping his very next film project at Apple Studios.

Previously known as “Kitbag,” Deadline reveals Scott’s biopic focused on Napoleon Bonaparte starring Oscar-winner Joaquin Phoenix will now be retitled to “Napoleon.” A much less exciting title but likely meant to hammer home to audiences who the subject is, given that kitbag isn’t a commonly known phrase

Read More: Ridley Scott Reveals Pilot Episode For ‘Blade Runner’ A Live-Action TV Series Is Already Written & Updates’ Alien’’ TV Progress

The project recently saw British actress Vanessa Kirby (“The Crown”) take over for Jodie Comer (“The Last Duel”) as Josephine, Bonaparte’s great love.

Exclusive: Ridley Scott didn’t have to look far to find a new president of his film company Scott Free. He has elevated Michael Pruss, who until now has been co-president of the company’s film division alongside Kevin Walsh, who left for a first-look producing deal at Apple.

Pruss will work closely with Scott to manage the company’s prolific production slate. He is currently supervising production on the Matt Ruskin-directed Keira Knightley-starrer Boston Strangler for Twentieth Century. He previously oversaw Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s Our Friend, the tearjerker that starred Jason Segel, Casey Affleck, & Dakota Johnson, the Wash Westmoreland-directed Earthquake Bird with Alicia Vikander, Riley Keough and Naoki Kobayashi for Netflix, and the Jake Scott-directed Sienna Miller-starrer American Woman, from an original script by Mare of Easttown‘s Brad Ingelsby, a frequent collaborator with Pruss.

“Mike has proven time and time again to have impeccable taste,...

After spending the past five years as president of Ridley Scott’s Scott Free Productions, Kevin Walsh is leaving for a multi-year deal with Apple TV+ to produce film and television for the streamer.

Christening his producing shingle The Walsh Company, Walsh will bring in and set up projects of his own, while helping package product already at Apple, where film is run by head of film Matt Dentler and Apple TV+ chiefs Zack Van Amburg & Jamie Erlicht. After getting an Oscar nomination for producing Manchester By The Sea, Walsh joined Scott and oversaw worldwide development and production of Scott Free’s film group. Walsh produced over a dozen films in that time, including most recently House of Gucci (alongside Giannina Scott), The Last Duel, All the Money in the World, Death on the Nile, Naked Singularity, Jungleland, Earthquake Bird, Our Friend, American Woman and Zoe.

Walsh will continue his...

Upcoming Ridley Scott Napoleon Film Gets Start Date — Acclaimed director Ridley Scott’s new film, Kitbag, will soon officially start filming on January 15th, 2022, according to sources. Don’t blame Ridley Scott for The Last Duel’s box-office failure. Truth be told, it’s a film which would have played much better in the 1990’s than in this [...]

Continue reading: Kitbag: Upcoming Ridley Scott Film Has An Official Date To Begin Filming...

Ridley Scott has hit back at the Gucci family’s criticism of his upcoming film House of Gucci, called for “someone to get in trouble” over the Rust incident and revealed his Napoleon biopic will start filming on January 15.

Scott also gave an update on early-stage TV versions of Alien and Blade Runner.

Speaking to the BBC’s Today program, the 83-year-old director rejected comments from Patrizia Gucci that the upcoming MGM film, which will be released later this week, is “stealing the identity of a family to make a profit to increase the income of the Hollywood system.” Gucci made the comments several months ago.

“I don’t engage with that,” said Scott. “You have to remember that one Gucci was murdered and another went to jail for tax evasion so you can’t be talking to me about making a profit. As soon as you do that you...

Ask Ridley Scott what he thinks of superhero movies and he won’t sugarcoat it. “The best films are driven by the characters, and we’ll come to superheroes after this if you want, because I’ll crush it. I’ll fucking crush it. They’re fucking boring as shit,” Scott recently told Deadline in an interview that has since drawn the ire of Marvel Cinematic Universe fans and comic book movie lovers on social media, adding, “[Superhero movie] scripts are not any fucking good.”

By his account, Scott has made “three great scripted superhero movies…One would be ‘Alien’ with Sigourney Weaver. One would be fucking ‘Gladiator,’ and one would be Harrison Ford [in ‘Blade Runner’]. They’re superhero movies. So, why don’t the superhero movies have better stories? Sorry. I got off the rail, but I mean, come on. [Superhero movies] are mostly saved by special effects, and that’s becoming boring...

Joaquin Phoenix is back in the awards conversation this year with Mike Mills’ “C’mon C’mon,” and he’ll surely keep stirring up buzz with upcoming roles in Ari Aster’s “Disappointment Blvd.” and Ridley Scott’s Napoleon epic “Kitbag.” The Aster movie was recently teased by Stephen McKinley Henderson in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. Henderson has a supporting role in “Disappointment Blvd.” along with Nathan Lane, Patti LuPone, Amy Ryan, and Parker Posey. The film is Aster’s follow-up to “Hereditary” and “Midsommar.”

“I just finished with his film. The working title right now is ‘Disappointment Blvd.’ I don’t know if it will stay that,” Henderson said. “But yeah, I worked with Joaquin! And I got to work with Patti LuPone! Patti and I went to school together. So we did work together in school, but we hadn’t worked together professionally. 50 years later, this is the...

It was all the way back in November 2018 when Deadline reported that Ridley Scott’s Oscar winner “Gladiator” would be getting a sequel penned by “Top Gun: Maverick” screenwriter Peter Craig. The first story details included the plot centering on Lucius, the son of Connie Nielsen’s character Lucilla from the original film. Lucius is the nephew of Joaquin Phoenix’s Commodus, the usurper Roman emperor killed by Russell Crowe’s Maximus. Crowe’s character died at the end of the first movie, but the sequel finds Lucius greatly influenced by Maximus. Producers revealed in June 2019 that “Gladiator 2” would take place two decades after the original, which earned over $400 million worldwide and was nominated for 11 Oscars, winning for Best Picture and Best Actor.

Further details on “Gladiator 2” have remained under wraps since those updates, but now Ridley Scott told Empire magazine ahead of the release of “The Last Duel...

Ridley Scott says the script for the long-awaited follow-up to his 2000 Russell Crowe-led film Gladiator is already in the process of being written and is inching closer to the top of his priority list.

“I’m already having [the next] Gladiator written now,” the 83-year-old Oscar-nominated director told Empire magazine. “So when I’ve done Napoleon, Gladiator will be ready to go.”

The sequel was first announced in November 2018 and is slated to follow Lucius, the son of Connie Nielsen’s Lucilla and nephew of Joaquin Phoenix’s power-hungry and immoral Commodus. Both Lucilla and Lucius were saved by Crowe’s Maximus from ...

Ridley Scott says the script for the long-awaited follow-up to his 2000 Russell Crowe-led film Gladiator is already in the process of being written and is inching closer to the top of his priority list.

“I’m already having [the next] Gladiator written now,” the 83-year-old Oscar-nominated director told Empire magazine. “So when I’ve done Napoleon, Gladiator will be ready to go.”

The sequel was first announced in November 2018 and is slated to follow Lucius, the son of Connie Nielsen’s Lucilla and nephew of Joaquin Phoenix’s power-hungry and immoral Commodus. Both Lucilla and Lucius were saved by Crowe’s Maximus from ...

When filmmakers grow older, they tend to become less prolific, taking years between projects. Ridley Scott apparently didn’t get that memo. Not only has the output from the legendary director increased in recent years, he actually has two films coming out this year, “The Last Duel” and “House of Gucci.” And it appears that he has another back-to-back production cycle ahead of him with two new films after that, including the long-awaited “Gladiator” sequel.

Continue reading Ridley Scott Says ‘Gladiator 2’ Is Being Written Now & Will Be Ready To Go After His Napoleon Epic at The Playlist.

Warning: The below interview has spoilers about Zack Snyder’s Justice League, which goes live on HBO Max today.

It’s pretty common for a notable director to have a director’s cut.

But the circumstances surrounding Zack Snyder’s re-approach to his 2017 opus Justice League are quite an anomaly from both a filmmaker and studio perspective.

Zack Snyder’s Justice League isn’t exactly a case of restoring footage that was on the cutting room floor or polishing up the edit, rather for the filmmaker it was a journey of redemption, passion and finally correcting cinema history and his legacy with the version of the movie which was intended — even if Warner Bros. doesn’t recognize the recut as part of its DC canon (read on).

Zack Snyder’s Justice League on a whole other level serves as a purging for the cast involved: In the months leading up to the recut’s release,...

Fanboy heaven or hell. Which is it? How many hours, precisely, do you want to spend with Superman and Batman and a bunch of other superfigures in a world where all humor has been banned and portentous droning music is played ceaselessly with no off-switch available? Whose superhero movies do you prefer, the heavy, ponderous ones of Zack Snyder or the untidy, playful ones of Joss Whedon? Which will it be? Judgment Day has arrived for Zack Snyder’s Justice League.

Whatever the verdict, the biggest victory was won by the die-hard fans. In the wake of widespread dissatisfaction with the aesthetic hodgepodge and financial shortfall of the 2017 Justice League, the customary Hollywood...

French actor Gerard Depardieu (“Cyrano de Bergerac”) has been charged with rape and sexual assault in connection with a 2018 case, Variety has confirmed.

The case against the 72-year-old actor was dropped in 2019 following a lack of evidence, but was reopened in 2020, and criminal charges were filed in December, according to a judicial source quoted by the Afp.

“Mr. Gerard Depardieu was indicted on Dec. 16, 2020 for allegations of rape and sexual assault. No custodial measures were taken against him,” a judicial source confirmed to Variety.

The victim is an actress in her 20s who accuses Depardieu of raping and assaulting her at his Paris home in August 2018, the agency reports.

The actor is apparently not in custody, but under judicial supervision. His lawyer, Herve Temime, told Afp that Depardieu “completely rejects the accusations.”

Quoting a “source close to the case,” Afp suggests that Depardieu is a friend of the actress’ family.

Producers Bruce Hendricks and Galen Walker have optioned the rights to Stanley Kubrick’s “Lunatic at Large,” one of three unmade Kubrick screenplays discovered in the film director’s library after his death in March 1999. Variety first reported the news. While plot details for “Lunatic at Large” are a mystery, Hendricks and Walker describe Kubrick’s script as a “film noir thriller in keeping with other collaborations between Kubrick and his frequent collaborator, screenwriter Jim Thompson.” Kubrick and Thompson’s shared filmography includes the 1956 film noir “The Killing,” plus “Paths of Glory” and “Spartacus.”

“The opportunity to bring a Stanley Kubrick project to the screen after so many years is a dream come true,” Walker said in a statement. “We look forward to making a film in keeping with his unique style and vision.”

Hendricks added, “Stanley Kubrick was an enormous influence on so many directors, and we are honored...

Exclusive: Timberman-Beverly Productions has partnered with filmmaker Tod Williams (The Door In the Floor) on a drama series focused on the rarely explored origin story of one of history’s most iconic figures, Napoleon Bonaparte. The project, which is being taken out to the streaming marketplace, hails from ABC Signature where Timberman-Beverly is under a deal.

Bonaparte’s rise to become the emperor of France is possibly the grandest epic driven by a single individual in all of human history, except it isn’t the story of an individual at all. It’s the story of a family, more specifically, a mother and her eight children, rising up from obscurity to become the most powerful dynasty in the world. Beautiful, unruly, intelligent, and competitive, but united as a pack of wolves when threatened. In this family, blood is thicker than everything.

The series will explore Napoleon the son, brother, and...

Stanley Kubrick’s Napoleon biopic has long been considered the greatest film the director never made, but now cinephiles can add “Doctor Zhivago” to that list thanks to a recently discovered letter from six decades ago in which Kubrick wrote to “Zhivago” author Boris Pasternak asking for rights to the epic novel. The discovery was made by British film historian James Fenwick (via The Guardian) during his research for two upcoming books, “Stanley Kubrick Produces” and “Shadow Cinema: The Historical and Production Contexts of Unmade Films.”

According to Fenwick’s research, Kubrick and producer James B. Harris were interested in acquiring the rights to “Doctor Zhivago” as early as December 1958. The two men were in discussions with Kirk Douglas’ production company Bryna Productions to mount the “Zhivago” adaptation as a Hollywood production, years before David Lean started work on his famous adaptation in the U.K. The plan was for...

“I’ll stand one day before the Queen, not kneel, mind you, but stand like an equal, and she’ll say ‘I’d like you to accept the Order of the Garter as a mark of my esteem, cousin,’” Sean Connery’s ex-British soldier Daniel Dravot proclaims in the 1975 period adventure film, The Man Who Would Be King. And with those words, and the epic death scene which followed, Connery completed the saga of a long-germinating work from one of Hollywood’s most celebrated directors. John Huston was Hollywood royalty. His father, Walter, was an acting icon, and his offspring have all gone on to distinguish themselves as part of the Huston Dynasty.

Connery was of course no stranger to acting royalty himself. Eventually knighted in 2000, he also got to play King Agamemnon in Terry Gilliam’s Time Bandits in 1981, King Richard the Lionheart in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves...

"Gladiator" director Ridley Scott will team up again with "Joker" Oscar winner Joaquin Phoenix, to play French military leader and emperor 'Napoleon':

"...the new film  is an original and personal look at Napoleon's origins and his swift, ruthless climb to emperor, viewed through the prism of his addictive and often volatile relationship with his wife and one true love 'Josephine'...

"...against a backdrop of famous battles, relentless ambition and an astounding strategic mind as a military leader..."

Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) was a French military and political leader who rose to prominence during the latter stages of the 'French Revolution' and its associated wars in Europe. As 'Napoleon I', he was 'Emperor' of the French from 1804 to 1815. His legal reform, the 'Napoleonic Code', has been a major influence on many civil law jurisdictions worldwide, but he is best known for his role in wars led against France, by a series of coalitions,...

Sir Ridley Scott seems poised to do what Stanley Kubrick famously could not: make a movie about Napoleon. A new report says Scott is set to direct an epic Napoleon film called Kitbag which will reunite him with his Gladiator cast member Joaquin Phoenix, who recently won a Best Actor trophy at the Oscars for his […]

The post Ridley Scott to Direct a Napoleon Film Starring Joaquin Phoenix appeared first on /Film.

Ridley Scott and Joaquin Phoenix appear determined to meet their Waterloo… or at least film it with the pair mounting a new historical war epic about French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. The news was broken by Deadline, which filed the story on the last day of filming of production for Scott’s current historical epic, The Last Duel.

The name of Scott’s Napoleon movie is Kitbag, apparently taken from the saying, “There is a general’s staff hidden in every soldier’s kitbag.” And the movie is coming together quickly for Scott, who’s already working with screenwriter David Scarpa, the writer of Scott’s previous kidnapping drama, All the Money in the World, on the film. The goal is to explore Napoleon’s swift rise from soldier to general, to Emperor of France. Indeed, the self-titled imperial saw an end to the chaos brought on by the French Revolution,...

Exclusive: Ridley Scott will team with Joaquin Phoenix for Kitbag, with the Oscar-winning Joker star to play French military leader and emperor Napoleon. Pic is set at 20th Century Studios, where Scott Free has its deal. This comes as Scott today wraps production on The Last Duel in Ireland for 20th. Scott has screenwriter David Scarpa –, who wrote the Scott-directed All the Money in the World — working on a script for the Napoleon epic. The film will be produced by Scott and Kevin Walsh for Scott Free.

The film’s title is derived from the saying “There is a general’s staff hidden in every soldier’s kitbag. The film is an original and personal look at Napoleon’s origins and his swift, ruthless climb to emperor, viewed through the prism of his addictive and often volatile relationship with his wife and one true love, Josephine. The intention of the...

It came as no surprise last week when “No Time to Die,” director Cary Fukunaga’s first crack at the James Bond franchise and Daniel Craig’s final hour as 007, got pushed by MGM/United Artists Releasing off the 2020 calendar and into 2021. The movie will instead open on April 2, a year after it was supposed to release. But director Fukunaga isn’t upset about the studios’ decision to move the film, according to a wide-ranging recent interview in The Wall Street Journal.

When Fukunaga first heard the news of the movie’s initial push back to November back in March, he said, “There were a couple of hours of F—, it’s not happening. And then pretty quickly, I mentally moved on…I was at peace with it.” As for the studios and executives’ decision, he said, “I think they made a very smart decision to be one of the first to say out loud,...

Thirty years after he first battled underground monsters in Tremors, Michael Gross reprises his iconic role as Burt Gummer to slay more Graboids and Shriekers (this time with the help of Jon Heder) in the trailer for Tremors: Shrieker Island, coming out this October from Universal.

You can watch the trailer for Tremors: Shrieker Island below, which was exclusively revealed by Syfy Wire, and keep an eye out for the seventh film in the Tremors franchise when it's unleashed on Blu-ray, DVD, Digital, and VOD on October 20th, with a streaming release on Netflix also forthcoming.

From the Press Release: Universal City, California, August 26, 2020 – The mighty Shriekers are back. more terrifying and deadlier than ever in Tremors: Shrieker Island, the newest chapter of the long-running, fan-favorite Tremors franchise, premiering exclusively on Digital, Blu-rayTM, DVD and On Demand on October 20, 2020 and streaming soon on Netflix from Universal 1440 Entertainment, the original...

We're back with another installment of Horror Highlight! Watch the trailers for The Good Things Devils Do, Let's Scare Julie, and Etheria Season 1, and catch up on the latest casting news for 30 Seconds in Hell:

Watch the Trailer for The Good Things Devils Do: From writer/director Jess Norvisgaard, and featuring a who's who of horror, witness The Good Things Devils Do this August from Gravitas Ventures.

Linnea Quigley, Kane Hodder (Jason X) and Bill Oberst Jr (3 From hell) realize that breaking in was easy but breaking out is going to be hell.

Richard, a small-time gangster is retiring. Before he can, he must take one last job: to steal money from a rival gangster's house. Miles apart, Melvin is a reluctant family man who has dreams of becoming a famous curator for his Museum of the Macabre. His newest acquisition? The remains of the notorious Masquerade, a vampire born from the embers of hell,...

Stanley Kubrick would’ve turned 92 this past week, and upon his passing over two decades ago, the singular filmmaker developed a handful of projects that never got off the ground. For some, like the epic Napoleon, he poured an enormous amount of time into research and preparation before abandoning for one reason or another. Others were in fairly early stages before he moved on, and one in this category has now been picked up by another director to take the reins.

In the 1950s, novelist Jim Thompson worked with Stanley Kubrick (who greatly admired his book The Killer Inside Me) for the script of their noir drama The Killing. Around that time, Kubrick’s longtime producer James B. Harris also commissioned the author for another project titled Lunatic at Large. While it never got off the ground, Kubrick’s son-in-law Philip Hobbs discovered a 70-page manuscript for the film upon...

Holland’s upcoming feature Charlatan among 51 headed to the Lido.

This year’s Venice Gap-Financing Market, returning for its sixth edition in 2019, has named the 51 projects that will participate across its four strands.

There are 28 features, fiction and documentaries, heading to the Lido this year. Among them is Agnieszka Holland’s upcoming feature Charlatan (Sarlatan), which is being produced by Czech outfit Marlene Film in co-production with Film & Music Entertainment (F&me)’s Irish outpost and Slovakia’s Furia Film.

The project is based on the life of Jan Mikolášek, a Czech healer who lived in totalitarian 1950s Czechoslovakia. Films Boutique is handling sales.

When you speak to Kevin Brownlow, you have a direct link to some of the greatest silent film directors who ever lived. The British film historian, now 80, interviewed and befriended many early film veterans when he was just in his twenties. He then spearheaded early efforts to preserve and restore silent films at a time when silent film was often derided. To say Brownlow has some stories about those early directors would be an understatement.

“King Vidor would say to me, ‘Every time I saw a Cecil B. DeMille picture, it made me want to quit the business,’” Brownlow said during a phone interview with IndieWire from his home in London — a sentiment about the “Ten Commandments” filmmaker Brownlow disagrees with. In the 1960s, he also encountered Josef von Sternberg, Allan Dwan, and Abel Gance, whose 1927 epic “Napoleon” Brownlow spent over 12 years restoring before debuting a reconstituted print of the...

Development continues on director Andy Serkis' live-action, performance capture feature adapting author George Orwell's 1945 novel "Animal Farm", to be produced by Serkis and Matt Reeves ("Dawn of the Planet of the Apes") for exclusive streaming on Netflix:

"...with it's parallels to today's left wing fascism and politically-driven 2-tiered Us justice system, Orwell's 'Animal Farm' was written as an allegory for the 'Russian Revolution' (1917) leading into the 'Stalinist Era' of the 'Soviet Union', with farm animals taking the place of historical figures.

"'Old Major', the aging boar on the 'Manor Farm', summons the animals on the farm together for a meeting, during which he slanders all humans.

"When Major dies, two young pigs, 'Snowball' and 'Napoleon', assume command and consider it a duty to prepare for the 'Rebellion'. 

"The animals revolt, driving the drunken, irresponsible farmer 'Mr. Jones', as well as 'Mrs. Jones' and...

Lille, France — Few industry figures are more qualified than Jan Mojto – CEO of Beta Film, one of Europe’s biggest independent film-tv companies, once deputy CEO of KirchMedia, and current producer of “Babylon Berlin” – to place the current international scripted drama boom in perspective.

Fielding questions on a broad range of subjects from Le Film Français’ editor-in-chief François-Pier Pelinard Lambert, Mojto’s on stage conversation at Series Mania saw the dapper, courteous, self-deprecating and hugely experienced Mojto take several large bulls by the horns regarding a still building but challenged international TV landscape. Five takes:

1.The Rub: IP

The advent of digital platforms – Netflix, Amazon, Facebook Premium, now Apple – was “very good news” for producers and sales companies: Those are new clients, Mojto said: What’s “more complicated” is that, with the exception of France, platforms are paying 100% of the costs and taking 100% of the rights.” Those rules of the...

Andy Serkis ("Black Panther") will direct a live-action, performance capture adaptation of author George Orwell's 1945 novel "Animal Farm", to be produced by Serkis and Matt Reeves ("Dawn of the Planet of the Apes"):

"...with it's parallels to today's left wing fascism and politically-driven 2-tiered Us justice system, Orwell's 'Animal Farm' was written as an allegory for the 'Russian Revolution' (1917) leading into the 'Stalinist Era' of the 'Soviet Union', with farm animals taking the place of historical figures.

"'Old Major', the aging boar on the 'Manor Farm', summons the animals on the farm together for a meeting, during which he slanders all humans.

"When Major dies, two young pigs, 'Snowball' and 'Napoleon', assume command and consider it a duty to prepare for the 'Rebellion'. 

"The animals revolt, driving the drunken, irresponsible farmer 'Mr. Jones', as well as 'Mrs. Jones' and the other human caretakers and employees,...

In today’s film news roundup, Gwendoline Christie is cast in “The Friend,” film preservationist Kevin Brownlow is honored, Demi Moore’s “Corporate Animals” gets sold, and BondIt Media Capital hires a CFO.

Castings

“Game of Thrones” and “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” star Gwendoline Christie has joined the cast of “The Friend” starring Jason Segel, Dakota Johnson, and Casey Affleck.

Gabriela Cowperthwaite is directing from a screenplay by Brad Ingelsby, based on Matthew Teague’s story about Nicole Teague and himself learning that Nicole had six months to live and receiving the unexpected support of their best friend, played by Segel. Johnson and Affleck are portraying the Teagues.

Scott Free and Black Bear Pictures are producing the project, which has begun shooting on location in Fairhope, Ala. — the town where the Teague family resided. Additional cast members are Jake Owen, Denee Benton, Marielle Scott, Ahna O’Reilly, Isabella Kai Rice,...

Film preservationist Kevin Brownlow will receive the Robert Osborne Award at the 2019 TCM Classic Film Festival, which this year runs April 11-14 in Hollywood. The honor, recognizing an individual who has helped keep the cultural heritage of classic film alive for future generations, is in its second year; Martin Scorsese won the inaugural award last year.

This Osborne award, named after the longtime Turner Classic Movies host and journalist who died in 2017, will be presented April 13 before a screening at the fest of 1965’s It Happened Here, the alt-history World War II pic directed and written by Brownlow (his first feature film) and Andrew Mollo that took six years to make.

Like Scorsese, Brownlow is revered for his work in restoration of classic film, with a focus on documenting and preserving the silent film era. The writer-director founded Photoplay Productions to make documentaries and revive classics including 1927’s Napoleon, which...

Agnieszka Holland, at the Berlinale with competition entry “Mr. Jones,” shifted her focus to TV on Wednesday to clue potential partners into the vision for her epic eight-part drama series-in-the-making, “Napoleon.”

Holland is one of Europe’s top filmmakers and also has high-end TV credits including HBO Europe’s “Burning Bush” as well as HBO’s U.S. series “The Wire” and “Treme.” Little was known about the creative plans for “Napoleon” until Holland took the stage at Berlin’s Zoo Palast, to generous applause from the packed industry crowd at the Berlinale Co Pro Series 2019.

“There have been several attempts to make a project about Napoleon, starting with the Stanley Kubrick movie, and then attempts to make a miniseries, but it never happened, so I think it’s about time,” she said.

The team realized they needed a full-length series, rather than a miniseries, to tell the story, Holland said.

The producers of a new series about Napoleon Bonaparte to be helmed by Agnieszka Holland will pitch the project to potential partners in Berlin at the Co-Pro Series event, which is part of the Berlinale Co-Production Market and the Drama Series Days. The Co-Pro event has a strong pedigree, with “Babylon Berlin” and “Valkyrien” among the series pitched at earlier editions.

Holland’s latest film, “Mr. Jones,” is in competition in Berlin. Her TV credits include HBO series “House of Cards” and “Burning Bush.” The “Napoleon” project will focus on the cult of personality that the titular leader engendered, with echoes of modern-day political strong men. Writing team Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris, whose credits include “Bulletproof Monk” and “Robin Hood,” will pen the series.

The Co-Pro Series format sees scripted shows pitched to an audience of potential partners before breakout meetings and networking events.

The 2019 lineup is heavy on Scandi series.

Director Steven Spielberg is still attached to writer Stanley Kubrick's anti-war "Napoleon" project as a TV mini-series:

"I’ve been developing Stanley Kubrick's screenplay," said Spielberg, "for a miniseries, not for a motion picture — about the life of Napoleon. Kubrick wrote the script in 1961...a long time ago."

Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) was a French military and political leader who rose to prominence during the latter stages of the 'French Revolution' and its associated wars in Europe. As 'Napoleon I', he was 'Emperor' of the French from 1804 to 1815. His legal reform, the 'Napoleonic Code', has been a major influence on many civil law jurisdictions worldwide, but he is best known for his role in wars led against France, by a series of coalitions, during the 'Napoleonic Wars'.

Napoleon spread the ideals of the French Revolution, while consolidating an imperial monarchy, restoring aspects of the deposed 'Ancien Régime'.

Due to his success in these wars,...

In celebration of its 100th anniversary, the American Society of Cinematographers has released a list of the 100 best shot films of the 20th century.

This list was released to "showcase the best of cinematography as selected by professional cinematographers.” Here's how the list was put together:

The process of cultivating the 100 films began with Asc members each submitting 10 to 25 titles that were personally inspirational or perhaps changed the way they approached their craft. “I asked them — as cinematographers, members of the Asc, artists, filmmakers and people who love film and whose lives were shaped by films — to list the films that were most influential,” Fierberg explains. A master list was then complied, and members voted on what they considered to be the most essential 100 titles.

Here's a little sizzle reel that was cut together showcasing some of the films on the list:

It's hard to argue with the Top 10 films,...

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the American Society of Cinematographers (Asc) this year, they’ve polled their members to determine 100 milestone films in the art and craft of cinematography of the 20th century. Topping the list is David Lean’s epic Lawrence of Arabia, shot by Freddie Young. Also in the top ten is Blade Runner (Jordan Cronenweth), The Conformist (Vittorio Storaro), Days of Heaven (Néstor Almendros), and more.

Organized by Steven Fierberg, he said “Asc members wanted to call attention to the most significant achievements of the cinematographer’s art but not refer to one achievement as ‘better’ than another. The selected films represent a range of styles, eras and visual artistry, but most importantly, it commemorates films that are inspirational or influential to Asc members and have exhibited enduring influence on generations of filmmakers.”

See the top 10 below, along with the full list.

1. Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Freddie Young,...

The American Society of Cinematographers, in celebration of the organization’s 100th anniversary, has revealed its list of 100 milestone films in the art and craft of cinematography from the 20th century. The list culminates with a top 10, topped by Freddie Young’s lensing of David Lean’s Oscar-winning 1962 epic “Lawrence of Arabia.”

Jordan Cronenweth’s work on Ridley Scott’s 1982 sci-fi standard “Blade Runner” came in at number two. Celebrated cinematographer Roger Deakins finally won an Oscar last year for the film’s sequel, “Blade Runner 2049.”

Vittorio Storaro rounded out the top three for Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 Vietnam odyssey “Apocalypse Now.” He, Conrad Hall and Gordon Willis each appeared on the overall list five times, leading the pack. John Alcott, Caleb Deschanel and Haskell Wexler each lensed four.

Organized by Steven Fierberg, Asc (“The Affair”) and voted on by Asc members, the milestones list is the first of...

Well, it looks like those hoping for The Raid 3 to release and round out the well-regarded action series from director Gareth Evans are just plain out of luck. While speaking to press at Fantastic Fest in Texas, the 38-year-old confirmed it won’t happen.

Explaining that he had some ideas for it at one point and even knew what the plot would be, Evans said that at the moment, he’s not likely to go back and revisit the franchise.

“The Raid 3 was… at one point it was on my radar. I had a full idea. I know what the story line would have been. But I think enough time has passed now that I think I’m not likely to go back and revisit it. We had a lot of fun making those films, and I think we came to a nice, sort of natural conclusion with [tt2265171 autoThe Raid...

Its story couldn’t be more contemporary — what happens to a small community when people’s online secrets start getting exposed — but “Assassination Nation” is clearly the product of artists with a deep background in old movies. The plotline recalls “Le Corbeau” (that 1943 Nazi-occupation classic about a French village torn apart by poison-pen letters) by way of “Jawbreaker,” and the red, white and blue split-screens will tickle both fans of Godard’s “Made in U.S.A.” and Abel Gance’s “Napoleon.”

And even if the somewhat scattershot “Assassination Nation” might not wind up being as well remembered in cinema history, audiences may nonetheless forgive the film’s shortcomings because of its sheer verve and chutzpah. Whatever faults lie in the script by writer-director Sam Levinson (“Another Happy Day”) get swallowed up by the flash and dazzle of his direction and the editing by Ron Patane (“A Most Violent Year”).

For popular girls Lily,...

With many big-budget film-makers comparing themselves to military generals, in charge of thousands of people working on a single campaign, director Steven Spielberg continues to develop writer/director Stanley Kubrick's anti-war "Napoleon" project as a TV mini-series.

"I’ve been developing Stanley Kubrick's screenplay," said Spielberg, "for a miniseries, not for a motion picture — about the life of Napoleon. Kubrick wrote the script in 1961...a long time ago."

Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) was a French military and political leader who rose to prominence during the latter stages of the 'French Revolution' and its associated wars in Europe. As 'Napoleon I', he was 'Emperor' of the French from 1804 to 1815. His legal reform, the 'Napoleonic Code', has been a major influence on many civil law jurisdictions worldwide, but he is best known for his role in wars led against France, by a series of coalitions, during the 'Napoleonic Wars'.

Napoleon spread the ideals of the French Revolution,...

Andy Serkis ("Mowgli") will direct a live-action, performance capture adaptation of author George Orwell's 1945 novel "Animal Farm", to be produced by Serkis and Matt Reeves ("Dawn of the Planet of the Apes"):

"...with it's parallels to today's left wing fascism and politically-driven 2-tiered Us justice system, Orwell's 'Animal Farm' was written as an allegory for the 'Russian Revolution' (1917) leading into the 'Stalinist Era' of the 'Soviet Union', with farm animals taking the place of historical figures.

"'Old Major', the aging boar on the 'Manor Farm', summons the animals on the farm together for a meeting, during which he slanders all humans.

"When Major dies, two young pigs, 'Snowball' and 'Napoleon', assume command and consider it a duty to prepare for the 'Rebellion'.

"The animals revolt, driving the drunken, irresponsible farmer 'Mr. Jones', as well as 'Mrs. Jones' and the other human caretakers and employees,...

Nbff kicks off opening night with Sundance hit “American Animals.” The British-American true crime drama, written and directed by Bart Layton, starring Evan Peters, Barry Keoghan, Blake Jenner and Jared Abrahamson, will be followed by a gala reception at the Fashion Island shopping mall.

The fest will end its eight-day run with the West Coast premiere of “All Square,” director John Hyams’ dramedy about a small-time bookie (Michael Kelly) who comes up with a scheme to take bets on Little League games.

Following the screening, the fest, in partnership with Schiefer ChopShop and Via Lido Plaza, will host the closing-night celebration. The outdoor event will feature a hosted bar by Tito’s Vodka, Oban Whiskey and Guinness, with culinary tastings from top local restaurants.

In between those bookends, Nbff will host the U.S. premieres of the Italian feature “Wife and Husband,” the Chinese film “End of Summer,” the Japanese award-winning film “3 Ft.

Happy New Year, fellow fans of NCIS! I hope you enjoyed the holidays, because we're leaping right back into things with a thorough downer story on NCIS Season 14 Episode 11.

This episode finally delved into the mysterious Operation Willoughby, to which we had only been given the vaguest of clues prior.

There have been some questions as to whether there would be a long-term story arc this season – certainly, this business with Chen lays that to rest.

It would have been nice to have learned about this apparently notorious Super Evil Criminal before now, but we can't have everything.

It was nice that there was at least some prior establishment (however vague) of Operation Willoughby, but Chen's sudden introduction as a Napoleon of Crime-type villain came off as a bit abrupt.

The decision to kill off Rafi Silver's Qasim seemed a bit harsh for the character, especially given what he'd...

She’s only been making feature films for less than a decade — and truly only gained international recognition this decade — but it seems as if the talents of Mia Hansen-Løve as a writer-director are already fully formed. This isn’t to discount room for certain growth in her relatively young career, but with Goodbye First Love, Eden, and now Things to Come, her ruminations on life are expressed as if conveyed by an elder master director. Looking at her eclectic list of all-time favorite films — provided for the latest Sight & Sound poll — one can get a glimpse at her impeccable taste and where her formative influences come from.

“All of my films are my versions of Heat,” she recently told us, speaking about one of her picks. “Because Heat is actually a film about melancholy, about action, and it’s action vs. melancholy and self-destruction — action becoming self-destruction. It’s a couple.

The great film historian Kevin Brownlow, who has devoted large sections of his life to restoring Abel Gance's 1927 epic Napoleon, takes a dim view of this one. And indeed Austerlitz, a.k.a. The Battle of Austerlitz, has several strikes against it, belongs to several categories of film maudit all at once. It's a late film by a seventy-one-year-old director whose best work, by universal consensus, was in the silent era; it's a kind of belated sequel, the further adventures of Napoleon Bonaparte; it's a Salkind production.Incidentally, viewing the lavish sets for this movie, we can see how the Salkinds, those roving multinational mountebanks, ran up the unpaid studio bills in Yugoslavia which kept Orson Welles from building the elaborate vanishing sets he had planned for The Trial (starting realistic, it would have ended up playing in a featureless void), necessitating the repurposing of a disused Parisian railway station.

World War, a solemn vow, and a promise betrayed lead to a ‘night of the living war dead’ – all cooked up by the director of Napoleon, Abel Gance. The early, famed pacifist fantasy is back in near-perfect condition and restored to its full length. It’s a reworking, not a remake, of Gance’s 1919 silent classic.

J’accuse

Blu-ray

Olive Films

1938 / B&W / 1:37 flat full frame / 120 min. / That They May Live; J’accuse: Fresque tragique des temps modernes vue et Réalisée par Abel Gance / Street Date November 15, 2016 / available through the Olive Films website / 29.98

Starring Victor Francen, Line Noro, Marie Lou, Jean-Max, Paul Amiot, Jean-Louis Barrault, Marcel Delaitre, Renée Devillers, Romuald Joubé, André Nox, Georges Rollin, Georges Saillard.

Cinematography Roger Hubert

Film Editor Madeleine Crétoile

Original Music Henri Verdun

Written by Abel Gance, Steve Passeur

Produced & Directed by Abel Gance

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Around 1973, UCLA film school professor Bob Epstein...

This 90-year-old epic story of the French emperor’s rise to power is a staggering piece of film-making

A strong contender for the most exciting, daring and groundbreaking cinema release of the year is this painstaking digital restoration of a film that was made nearly 90 years ago. Abel Gance’s remarkable five-and-a-half-hour account of the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte was all but lost, the nitrate film degraded and recycled. But thanks to a 50-year project headed by film historian Kevin Brownlow, whose lifelong fascination with the picture was triggered when he saw a couple of reels of it as a schoolboy, Napoleon has been restored to its original state.

The result is, quite simply, staggering. From the opening sequence, a deftly edited extended snowball fight in which the young Napoleon displays his strategising skills, to the breathtaking triptych battle of the final act, there is barely a frame of this...