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Actor Daryl Johnson spoke to uInterview about his new movie Self Reliance – and some of the scary stunt scenes he acted in.

The New Girl actor Jake Johnson produced, starred and wrote the film, which follows Thomas (Jake Johnson), a cranky man who is offered the chance to be in an unscripted TV show where he competes for $1 million while assassins try to kill him.

Anna Kendrick (Pitch Perfect), plays Maddy, a woman who is also a contestant on the tv show. Andy Samberg (Brooklyn Nine-Nine) plays himself as the host of the fictional show.

Daryl recalled some of the scary stunt work on the film. “Well, people will see it and they’ll go, ‘Oh I get was he was talking about,’ but we had a lot of fun,” he told uInterview at SXSW in Austin, Texas. “I never felt like I was in a bad position, it always felt safe,...

With production on the third season of Mr. Mercedes already underway in Charleston, South Carolina (the same city where the new Halloween was filmed), Bruce Dern has joined the cast of the series in the guest-starring role as author John Rothstein, a reclusive character that readers will know from Stephen King's Finders Keepers (the second novel in the Bill Hodges trilogy).

Press Release: Emmy nominee and two-time Oscar nominee Bruce Dern is joining the cast of At&T Audience Network’s critically acclaimed drama series Mr. Mercedes, as a guest star. Dern will play John Rothstein, a famous and reclusive writer living on the fringes of Bridgton, Ohio.

Production on season three of the Stephen King adaptation is currently underway in Charleston, South Carolina.

Based on the Bill Hodges trilogy from prolific author Stephen King, season three of Mr. Mercedes will closely follow the story contained in “Finders Keepers,” the second book of the series,...

Variety honored its 10 Producers to Watch for 2018 at a breakfast on Monday morning on Cannes’ Nespresso Beach.

First launched at the Cannes Film Festival in 1998, the event celebrates an eclectic mix of producers from the U.S. and the international film community, who are united in their commitment to bold and original storytelling.

The films produced by this year’s honorees have played festivals including Berlin, Sundance and Venice, with a number screening at Cannes. “As well as they’re doing, as exciting as they are right now, there’s even greater things ahead,” said Variety’s VP and executive editor Steven Gaydos.

Victor Loewy was also honored with a lifetime achievement award for his long and distinguished career. “You can’t tell the story of Cannes, you can’t tell the story of international cinema, you can’t tell the story of Canadian business in cinema, without knowing who...

One of the most charming and intelligently written and directed teen films of recent years, Class Rank, premieres both in limited theatrical release and on multiple digital platforms today, and it’s well worth seeking out in whatever format one chooses to experience it. Olivia Holt and Skyler Gisondo (both terrific) play a pair of teenagers who take on their local school board over a bit of bureaucratic minutiae and in the process navigate both daunting struggles for power in the adult world and the complications of first love. The script by Benjamin August is a delicate treasure that’s hilarious but […]...

One of the most charming and intelligently written and directed teen films of recent years, Class Rank, premieres both in limited theatrical release and on multiple digital platforms today, and it’s well worth seeking out in whatever format one chooses to experience it. Olivia Holt and Skyler Gisondo (both terrific) play a pair of teenagers who take on their local school board over a bit of bureaucratic minutiae and in the process navigate both daunting struggles for power in the adult world and the complications of first love. The script by Benjamin August is a delicate treasure that’s hilarious but […]...

An abundance of new Specialty releases will roll into theaters and on-demand this weekend, including newcomers with Hollywood A-listers such as Sony Pictures Classics’ drama The Seagull, based on the Chekhov play and starring Annette Bening, Saoirse Ronan and Elisabeth Moss. Olivia Holt, Skyler Gisondo, Kristin Chenoweth and Bruce Dern star in Cinedigm Entertainment’s comedy-romance Class Rank, making a day and date bow this weekend, while a cross-section of documentaries will open, hoping to tap some of the momentum of last weekend’s successful launch of non-fiction title Rbg. Good Deed Entertainment is opening Always At the Carlyle by Matthew Miele with a cast of stars effusing about the legendary Upper East Side New York hotel. Sara Driver’s Boom For Real: The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat about the late artist’s pre-fame years in a now lost downtown Manhattan begins its run via Magnolia Pictures (which...

Eric Stoltz's long-ago experience acting in teen-oriented films serves him well with his feature directorial effort revolving around high school politics. Depicting the efforts of a nerdy student and his ultra-ambitious classmate to run for a seat on their school board, Class Rank combines satire with teen romance in sweetly innocuous, but not particularly memorable, fashion. Ironically, despite the focus on the young leads, it’s oldsters Bruce Dern and Kathleen Chalfant who wind up stealing the show.

Olivia Holt (Disney Channel's Kickin' It) and Skyler Gisondo (Santa Clarita Diet) play the central roles of Veronica and Bernard, who form an...

Variety has selected its 10 Producers to Watch for 2018, a diverse mix of producers from the U.S. and the thriving international film scene. Variety Producers to Watch, which was originally launched at the Cannes Film Festival in 1998, returned to the Croisette last year and will once again be presented there this year.

Regardless of their home base, these producers all share a fierce commitment to storytelling. Their films have played festivals including Berlin, Sundance and Venice, and a number are screening at Cannes.

Producer Dina Emam’s her first narrative feature, “Yomeddine,” was selected for competition. It will vie alongside Russian-made “Leto,” a music filled biopic that Murad Osmann and Ilya Stewart produced for director Kirill Serebrennikov, now under house arrest in that country.

Variety has also selected the forces behind “I, Tonya,” an Oscar winner for Allison Janney (Tom Ackerley and Josey McNamara), and Rachel Song, who brought two...

"In order to change her rank she had to change the rules." Cinedigm has released the trailer for a high school, teen comedy titled Class Rank, one of the first two films directed by actor-turned-filmmaker Eric Stoltz (his other film is Confessions of a Teenage Jesus Jerk). It's described as a "quirky teen comedy about placement, politics and finding your voice." The story follows two high school outsiders who join forces in an attempt to overtake the school board. Guided by their families, they enter the perilous word of politics and, in the process, learn a thing or two about love. Yep. Class Rank stars Olivia Holt, Skyler Gisondo, Kristin Chenoweth, plus Bruce Dern. This makes me want to watch Alexander Payne's Election again. Here's the new official trailer (+ two posters) for Eric Stoltz's Class Rank, direct from YouTube: The only thing holding Veronica (Holt) back from her...

The Sarasota Film Festival has unveiled its 2018 lineup, which will include Eric Stoltz’s coming-of-age comedy Class Rank as the opening-night film. In addition, Oscar-nominated documentarian Rory Kennedy’s Above and Beyond: Nasa’s Journey to Tomorrow will serve as the closingnight film.

The festival, celebrating its 20th anniversary, also will honor Steve Guttenberg and Virginia Madsen with career achievement awards during the closing weekend.

“We are very excited to bookend the festival with two unique and groundbreaking films from two brilliant and creative directors,” said Mark Famiglio, chairman and president of the Sarasota Film Festival. “It is also an honor to...

Exclusive: Cinedigm has acquired North American distribution rights to Class Rank, the high school comedy directed by Eric Stoltz and starring Olivia Holt and Skyler Gisondo. A day-and-date theatrical release is set for May 11.

The plot of the pic penned by Benjamin August centers on two high school outsiders, Veronica (Holt), a type-A personality with Ivy League aspirations, and Bernard (Gisondo), a quirky nerd, who join forces to overtake the local school board and…...

Exclusive: Skyler Gisondo and Olivia Holt also star.

Mark Damon’s Foresight Unlimited has acquired international rights to actor-turned-director Eric Stoltz’s Class Rank, starring Oscar-nominated Bruce Dern (Nebraska), Emmy winner Kristin Chenoweth (American Gods) and rising actors Skyler Gisondo (Night At The Museum: Secret Of The Tomb) and Olivia Holt (Marvel/Freeform’s upcoming Cloak & Dagger).

Sss Entertainment’s Shaun Sanghani and Sandy Stern produce and Paradigm represents Us rights.

Written by Benjamin August, Class Rank follows two high school outsiders who join forces in an attempt to overtake the local school board.

Guided by their families, they enter the perilous word of politics and, in the process, learn a thing or two about love.

Foresight Unlimited is currently in production on Todd Robinson’s The Last Full Measure starring Sebastian Stan, Ed Harris, Christopher Plummer, William Hurt, Samuel L. Jackson, Peter Fonda, Amy Madigan, Bradley Whitford, and Grant Gustin.

The slate includes:...

Collateral Beauty

Helen Mirren is in negotiations to join Will Smith in the drama "Collateral Beauty" for New Line. David Frankel is taking over for Alfonso Gomez-Rejon as helmer. Shooting kicks off early next year in New York City.

Allan Loeb penned the script about a Manhattan advertising executive (Smith) who experiences a personal tragedy. When his colleagues devise an unconventional plan to break him out of his depression, it ends up backfiring. [Source: The Wrap]

Live By Night

"Bosch" and "Argo" star Titus Welliver is set to play a powerful mobster in the prohibition-era crime drama "Live By Night" at Warner Bros. Pictures. Chris Messina, Sienna Miller, Zoe Saldana, Elle Fanning, Max Casella, Scott Eastwood, Anthony Michael Hall and Chris Cooper will co-star.

Based on the novel by Dennis Lehane, Affleck plays the son of a prominent police captain who enters a world of organized crime that takes him from Boston to Florida and Havana.

Sss Entertainment and Single Cell Pictures’s Class Rank has rounded out its cast, with Bruce Dern and Kristin Chenoweth joining the indie comedy about two teenagers and two grandparents whose worlds are upended when love walks in the door. Directed by Eric Stoltz and written by Ben August, the film follows teenagers Bernard, who lives with his quirky grandfather Oswald, and Veronica, a type-a personality with Ivy League aspirations who aims to step out from under her TV…...