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Frank Spotnitz’s Big Light Productions, producers of The Man in the High Castle and Medici, has snatched up the adaptation rights to T.M. Logan’s hit novel 29 Seconds. Big Light will adapt the book as a limited drama series through the company’s first-look deal with ITV Studios partner Tomorrow Studios, which produced Netflix’s live-action Manga adaptation One Piece.

29 Seconds, T.M. Logan’s second novel, is a psychological revenge thriller centered around a woman facing harassment at work who is given the opportunity to make a single, 29-second phone call where she only has to say the name of her sex pest boss, and he will disappear forever.

The series adaptation, being developed under the working title One Name, will be executive produced by Spotnitz and Elizabeth Kesses from Ejk Productions, along with Marty Adelstein and Becky Clements from Tomorrow Studios. The series will be told from...

Thriller writer T.M. Logan’s 29 Seconds is being adapted into a limited TV drama series by Frank Spotnitz’s Big Light Productions as part of its first look with One Piece maker Tomorrow Studios.

Under working title One Name, the series will be penned by ITV’s The Confessions of Frannie Langton scribe Sara Collins, with Big Light seeking pre-sales at this week’s Mipcom Cannes.

Published in 2018 by the prolific British author, 29 Seconds follows a lecturer at a top university whose intolerable and obsessive boss is making her life hell. Faced with a decision to leave and uproot her family, or continue to rebuff his persistent sexual advances, Sarah feels trapped, until an unexpected encounter with a powerful and dangerous man ends with her being owed a favour that could fix her problems forever.

“T.M. Logan is famed for his seriously addictive storytelling and gritty narratives that have audiences hooked worldwide,...

It feels like we’re all sleeping on Supacell a bit. This new Netflix superhero series was first announced back in November 2021, has a super-strong cast, and has been filming since summer 2022, but there’s very little news about it. It doesn’t even have its own Wikipedia page yet.

Let’s put that right and get better acquainted with this fresh upcoming British superhero drama that could rival the likes of Misfits and Extraordinary:

Supacell Was Created By Pioneering Rapper-Turned-Filmmaker Rapman

Impressively, Rapman – real name Andrew Onwubolu – is only 33 but already has an MBE for services to drama and music. He’s known for dealing with socially conscious themes like suicide, blood donors, and domestic abuse.

You’ll most likely know Rapman for Blue Story, his critically-acclaimed 2019 film, told through the medium of rap, which starred Karla Simone-Spence (The Confessions of Frannie Langton) and Top Boy’s Michael Ward,...

Fans have been waiting for the TV adaptation of Anansi Boys – Neil Gaiman’s 2005 fantasy novel about the two sons of the spider-god Anansi – for a long, long time.

Anticipation for Anansi Boys predates The Sandman, Good Omens and even American Gods when it comes to Neil Gaiman TV series. It was first reported that an adaptation was in the works back in 2014, but this project never came to be (parts were eventually incorporated into American Gods), so fans were excited to discover an Amazon Prime Video miniseries was in production back in 2020.

Three years later, we can almost taste it, so in anticipation here’s everything you need to know about the upcoming Anansi Boys:

It’s a Standalone Story… Developed From a Conversation with Sir Lenny Henry

Gaiman explains: ‘Anansi Boys began around 1996, from a conversation I had with Lenny Henry about writing a story that was...

Exclusive: ITV has set the cast for its upcoming adaptation of Sara Collins’ period drama The Confessions of Frannie Langton.

Karla-Simone Spence, who starred in Paramount Pictures’ feature Blue Story as well as BBC series Wannabe and Gold Digger, leads the cast as Frannie Langton.

Langton is the young protagonist born into a life of slavery who is fighting to tell her own story.

She is joined by Sophie Cookson, who has starred in Kingsman: The Secret Service and The Trial of Christine Keeler, and Patrick Martins, who has starred in Blasts From The Past and Redemption.

Cookson plays Madame Marguerite Benham and Martins stars as Laddie Lightning in the murder mystery. Stephen Campbell Moore (War of The Worlds) also features as renowned scientist and husband to Madame, George Benham, alongside Steven MacIntosh (Rocketman) as John Langton and Henry Pettigrew (The Danish Girl) as William Pettigrew.

The four-part British drama,...

When Italian sales company True Colours launched from Rome’s Mia market five years ago, international prospects for cinema Italiano titles that were not directed by a handful of name auteurs, such as Nanni Moretti, Matteo Garrone and Paolo Sorrentino, had gotten rather dim.

Italian cinema was being sold around the world mostly by foreign sales outfits that had become the preferred global channel for many of Italy’s producers, partly because they provided minimum guarantees that helped close their budgets and that local sellers could not afford. The problem was that lots of exportable Italian product was being overlooked.

“There was a gap,” says veteran distributor-producer Andrea Occhipinti, head of Lucky Red. As a producer, Occhipinti adds, he was unhappy with how his movies were being handled internationally by non-Italian companies. So in 2015 Lucky Red joined forces with production company Indigo Film (“The Great Beauty”) and they formed True Colours.

Young Italian director Chiara Bellosi is at the Berlinale with “Ordinary Justice” which examines the lives of two families on opposite sides of a murder case who intersect on the benches outside the room where the case is being tried. This first work, screening in Generation14Plus, is produced by Carlo Cresto-Dina who discovered Alice Rohrwacher and is known for nurturing the cream of Italy’s new cinematic crop. Bellosi spoke to Variety about her interest in the microcosm of courthouses.

What drew you to the subject matter?

I’ve always been fascinated by courthouses. And I’ve done social work for years, so I’ve come across plenty of stories. Courthouses are like a funnel into which all aspects of life flow…Initially I wanted to make a doc about the courthouse as a mirror of the outside world and I proposed it to Carlo. He told me he...

Rai Com is kicking off sales in Berlin on Italian producer Ginevra Elkann’s directorial debut, “Magari” (If Only), which stars Brett Gelman (“Fleabag”), Alba Rohrwacher (“Happy as Lazzaro”), Riccardo Scamarcio (“Loro”) and France’s Céline Sallette (“Les Revenants”).

The multi-language pic is currently shooting in the seaside town of Sabaudia, outside Rome.

Produced by Wildside and Rai Cinema, “Magari” is a sentimental comedy about three kids of divorced parents who, while living in Paris with their bourgeois Russian-Orthodox mother, are suddenly packed off and sent to stay with their unconventional and broke Italian father, Carlo.

Elkann wrote the screenplay with writer Chiara Barzini, author of English-language novel “Things That Happened Before the Earthquake.”

Elkann previously directed the short “Vado a Messa,” which screened at Venice. As a producer she’s shepherded several standout festival titles, including Noaz Deshe’s Swahili-language drama “White Shadow,” which won the 2013 Venice Film Festival’s Lion of the Future.

A Roman screenwriter without inspiration turns to a ghost writer who, in turn, is inspired by a mysterious character who tells her a story about the Sicilian mafia’s involvement in the case of a famous stolen painting in the glossy Italian film The Stolen Caravaggio (Una storia senza nome). It can’t come exactly as a surprise, however, that there are some stories that the mafia would prefer to keep buried, which is the dramatic motor of this peculiar mystery-thriller-drama hybrid. Director Roberto Ando (Long Live Freedom, The Confessions), who is also from Sicily, co-wrote this odd tale, which seems ...

A Roman screenwriter without inspiration turns to a ghost writer who, in turn, is inspired by a mysterious character who tells her a story about the Sicilian mafia’s involvement in the case of a famous stolen painting in the glossy Italian film The Stolen Caravaggio (Una storia senza nome). It can’t come exactly as a surprise, however, that there are some stories that the mafia would prefer to keep buried, which is the dramatic motor of this peculiar mystery-thriller-drama hybrid. Director Roberto Ando (Long Live Freedom, The Confessions), who is also from Sicily, co-wrote this odd tale, which seems ...

Roberto Andò on Connie Nielsen's character Claire: "I based her on someone like J.K. Rowling but also on others who have become hugely wealthy through their writing" Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

At his hotel on Central Park South, director Roberto Andò discussed with me the connections to Alfred Hitchcock's I Confess and Torn Curtain in his latest film, which character was inspired by Jk Rowling, the majestic location where he filmed, and how "evil serves no purpose."

The Confessions (Le Confessioni), co-written by Angelo Pasquini, shot by Maurizio Calvesi, and starring Toni Servillo (Paolo Sorrentino's Oscar-winning The Great Beauty and Andò's Viva La Libertà) has an exceptional ensemble cast including Connie Nielsen (Patty Jenkins's Wonder Woman), Marie-Josée Croze (John Michael McDonagh's Calvary), Daniel Auteuil (Michael Haneke's Caché), Moritz Bleibtreu (Tom Tykwer's Run Lola Run), Lambert Wilson (Jérôme Salle's L'Odyssée), Pierfrancesco Favino (Roger Michell...

The Confessions (Le Confessioni) director Roberto Andò with Anne-Katrin Titze: "So Toni Servillo and I both read this book about Italian monasteries ..." Photo: Michael Moore

Roberto Andò, the director of Long Live Freedom (Viva La Libertà with Toni Servillo, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Valerio Mastandrea) met with me at his hotel on Central Park South for a conversation on his latest film The Confessions (Le Confessioni), co-written by Angelo Pasquini, shot by Maurizio Calvesi, and starring Servillo with an exceptional ensemble cast including Connie Nielsen (Patty Jenkins's Wonder Woman), Marie-Josée Croze (John Michael McDonagh's Calvary), Daniel Auteuil (Michael Haneke's Caché), Moritz Bleibtreu (Tom Tykwer's Run Lola Run), Lambert Wilson (Jérôme Salle's The Odyssey), Pierfrancesco Favino (Roger Michell's My Cousin Rachel), and Johan Heldenbergh (Felix van Groeningen's The Broken Circle Breakdown).

Toni Servillo is Carthusian monk Roberto Salus

A luxury resort with unfading allure and...

Juan Antonio Bayona, David Mackenzie and John Michael McDonagh among directors with films in Gala strand.

Zurich Film Festival (Sept 22-Oct 2) has unveiled the titles that will make up its Gala section.

In addition to previously announced titles Snowden, Florence Foster Jenkins and Deepwater Horizon, Zff will screen the latest films from directors including Juan Antonio Bayona, David Mackenzie and John Michael McDonagh.

American Honey

Director: Andrea Arnold

Cast: Sasha Lane, Riley Keough, Shia Labeouf

Star (Sasha Lane) is trapped in a life far from perfect. Then she falls head over heels in love with Jake (Shia Labeouf), before embarking with him and a band of misfits who live by their own rules on an adventurous journey to freedom. The start of a quest to find the boundaries of a powerful young love and a road trip into the heart of America.

A Monster Calls (Sieben Minuten Nach Mitternacht)

Director: Juan Antonio Bayona

Cast: Felicity Jones, [link...

Title: Le Confessioni (The Confessions) Director: Roberto Andò Starring: Toni Servillo, Daniel Auteuil, Connie Nielson, Pierfrancesco Favino, Marie-Josée Croze, Moritz Bleibtreau, Lambert Wilson. The story takes place in Germany in a luxury hotel where the Italian monk, Roberto Salus (Toni Servillo), is invited to the European G8 summit. The unexpected invitation is done by the powerful Daniel Roché (Daniel Auteuil), chief of the International Monetary Fund, who asks him to confess him during a mysterious night that leads to Roché’s suicide. Consequently the international legislators start to wonder: Was the conversation between the two men about the scheme that is about to be approved? Getting an answer from the holy [ Read More ]

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