News

UK media brand John Gore Media Ltd has acquired KFilm Ltd, the parent company of distributors Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment, Icon Film Distribution and Platform Entertainment, and international sales business Kaleidoscope Film Distribution.

Through the deal, John Gore Media Ltd acquires 100% of the share capital of K Film, including the shareholding of KFilm’s previous investors Schneider Investment Associates.

Film, TV and theatre producer Gore and Jonathan Lack will join K Film CEO Spencer Pollard and COO Adam Sergeant on the KFilm board. The current senior management team will remain in place to manage day-to-day operations.

Pollard founded Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment...

Film Constellation is launching international sales on “About a Hero,” directed by Piotr Winiewicz, an AI-driven murder mystery set to open the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA). Variety premieres the film’s teaser here.

The film is an adaptation of a script co-written by an AI trained on Werner Herzog’s body of work, with his permission. Winiewicz was inspired by a quote from Herzog himself stating: “A computer will not create a film as good as mine in 4,500 years.” The result is a fictional narrative that is ironically self-reflective, interlaced with a collection of interviews with artists, philosophers and scientists reflecting on the notion of originality, authenticity, immortality and soul in the age of AI.

When a local factory worker named Dorem Clery dies under mysterious circumstances, the film’s narrator, Werner Herzog, travels to Getunkirchenburg to investigate his perplexing death. But Herzog is not who he seems,...

Good Golly, It’s Dali: Dupieux Dreams Surreal in Distinctive Biopic

It seems surrealism’s pioneer Salvador Dali is experiencing something of a culturally concentric resurgence as a cinematic subject, granted his most appropriately thematic rendering yet in Quentin Dupieux’s Daaaaaali!, the second feature this year from the idiosyncratic director, who is also kinda sorta delivering his first biopic. Arriving shortly after Mary Harron’s shockingly stilted Daliland, featuring Ben Kingsley as the iconic artist, Dupieux formulates his own expectedly original rendering, presenting something more along the lines of Portrait of an Artist as a Difficult Man. Much like Todd Haynes did with Bob Dylan, a revolving door of actors portray Dali, sometimes switching freely in scenes dealing with carefree anachronisms regarding his life and work.…...

Hangtime International Pictures is making its first major plays since launching at Cannes Film Festival earlier this year.

The transatlantic production company, which was founded by Frank Murray and Frida Torresblanco, has snapped up “She Will” producer Jessica Malik as its new head of development as well as inking a strategic partnership with Rebel Park Productions, the production company Malik founded in 2017 alongside Gemma Arterton and Jessica Parker.

Malik joins Hangtime effective immediately, reporting to Murray. She will be based out of the company’s London office where she’ll oversee development of high-end, specialist and mainstream content across film, television and documentaries.

The first projects co-produced by Hangtime and Rebel Park are in advanced development and set to be announced in the near future. The partnership spans film and television.

At Rebel Park, which was launched in 2017 with the aim of boosting female filmmakers and producing female-led stories, Malik...

"This is the passport to Dalí coming here." Music Box Films has revealed an official US trailer for a Spanish comedy called Waiting for Dalí, arriving to watch in US theaters this July. It first premiered and opened in Spain last summer. Yet another Dali-related comedy film to watch, with plenty others recently including Daaaaaali! and Dalíland (with Sir Ben Kingsley). This one involves mixing Dali with food, following a chef who starts working in a kitchen at a place called El Surreal, a whimsical restaurant run by Jules, a man with a consuming obsession for local resident Salvador Dalí. Fernando, a talented chef, arrives to the village of Cadaqués (Google Maps) during the 70s, residence of the internationally renowned Dalí. The paths of the chef and the artist will cross and cause the birth of a new culinary genius. Waiting for Dalí "is a fanciful tale of love, art,...

June 4, 2024 – Academy Award winner Sir Ben Kingsley, beloved James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan and Star Wars universe luminary Mark Hamill form the ultimate vocal rogues’ gallery in Mofac Animation’s upcoming The King of Kings, an animated family film inspired by a little-known short story by Charles Dickens depicting the life and times of Jesus Christ.

Kingsley voices High Priest Caiaphas, who presided over the Sanhedrin trial of Jesus. Hamill takes on the role of King Herod, who, according to the Gospel of Matthew, ordered the Massacre of the Innocents in an attempt to kill Jesus as an infant. And Brosnan gives animated life to Pontius Pilate, who ultimately ordered the crucifixion of Jesus. The triumvirate of villainous voices further enhances the A-list cast behind the faith-based animated film, which also includes Academy Award & Emmy Award winners Kenneth Branagh (Belfast) and Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland), Golden Globe...

Variety Awards Circuit section is the home for all awards news and related content throughout the year, featuring the following: the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and Tony Awards ceremonies, curated by Variety senior awards editor Clayton Davis. The prediction pages reflect the current standings in the race and do not reflect personal preferences for any individual contender. As other formal (and informal) polls suggest, competitions are fluid and subject to change based on buzz and events. Predictions are updated every Thursday.

Visit the prediction pages for the respective ceremonies via the links below:

Oscars | Emmys | Grammys | Tonys

2024 Oscars Predictions:

Best Original Score Killers of the Flower Moon Leonardo DiCaprio and Lily Gladstone Credit: AppleTV+

Weekly Commentary: It’s Ludwig Göransson taking home another Oscar for “Oppenheimer,” following his first win for “Black Panther.”

Next.

Will Win: “Oppenheimer” (Ludwig Göransson)

Could Win: “Killers of the Flower Moon...

Variety Awards Circuit section is the home for all awards news and related content throughout the year, featuring the following: the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and Tony Awards ceremonies, curated by Variety senior awards editor Clayton Davis. The prediction pages reflect the current standings in the race and do not reflect personal preferences for any individual contender. As other formal (and informal) polls suggest, competitions are fluid and subject to change based on buzz and events. Predictions are updated every Thursday.

Visit the prediction pages for the respective ceremonies via the links below:

Oscars | Emmys | Grammys | Tonys

2024 Oscars Predictions:

Best Picture

Weekly Commentary: Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster biopic “Oppenheimer,” narrating the saga of the father of the atomic bomb, is poised to sweep the Oscars. Having clinched every major guild and industry accolade – BAFTA, Critics Choice, Golden Globes, DGA, PGA, and SAG – it’s the first...

Arclight Films has announced that Aaron Eckhart and Ben Kingsley star in Renny Harlin’s survival thriller Deep Water, which is in post. Arclight continues worldwide sales at EFM this week.

The first feature greenlit by the stand-alone label Simmons/Hamilton Productions wrapped at the end of last year in New Zealand and Spain.

The lead cast includes Molly Wright (Lionsgate’s upcoming The Best Christmas Pageant Ever), Angus Sampson (FX’s Fargo), Kelly Gale (Lionsgate’s Plane), Li Wenhan from Chinese-Korean K-Pop group Uniq, and Chinese actress Nashi (Creation Of The Gods I: Kingdom Of Storms).

Harlin, whose credits include Die Hard 2,...

What happens to film, art and ultimately to our lives when AI, algorithm takes control? This burning question and main theme of the upcoming Göteborg Film Festival, is also at the core of Danish pic “About a Hero,” by versatile artist and helmer Piotr Winiewicz (“Reflector”).

Variety has secured in exclusivity the first still from the movie, due to serve as a case study during Göteborg’s industry confab Nordic Film Market (Jan. 31-Feb. 2). The pic is being produced by Denmark’s Tambo Film and Kaspar, with German co-producers Cineteam, in association with leading U.S. indie prodco Pressman Film.

“Corsage” star Vicky Krieps has just boarded the project, to be sold internationally by Dr Sales.

Broadcasters attached so far include pubcasters Dr in Denmark, Ndr in Germany and European network Arte. Producer Rikke Tambo Andersen said she will negotiate U.S. rights separately, in close coordination with U.S.

321 films are in contention for this year’s Academy Awards, while 265 features are eligible in the best picture category, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced on Monday as it released its annual “reminder list” for members.

To be eligible in the general categories, films (meaning a runtime of more than 40 minutes) must open in a commercial theater in at least one of the following areas: Los Angeles County; the city of New York; the Bay Area; Chicago, Illinois; Miami, Florida; and Atlanta, Georgia, between Jan. 1, 2023 and Dec. 31, 2023. Additionally, it must complete a minimum qualifying run of seven consecutive days in the same venue.

To be eligible for the best picture category specifically, the movies must be eligible for the general entry and have “submitted a confidential Academy Representation and Inclusion Standards entry form.” Additionally, the film must meet two of the four standards required, in addition to the theatrical component.

Our Pmc sister website Variety is reporting that the motion picture academy has named 149 movies as eligible for Best Original Score at the 2024 Oscars. See the complete list below of every score currently on the ballot for the music branch. A total of 15 will be announced this Thursday, December 21, on the Oscar short list. A final five will be revealed on January 23 as the the actual nominees.

SEEOscars 2024: Which 94 tunes are eligible for Best Original Song?

Gold Derby has been offering you the opportunity to predict the Best Original Score category for the past few weeks. Among some of the surprise omissions: “Asteroid City,” “Flora and Son,” “The Little Mermaid” and “Wonka.” Each film used too much non-original music to remain qualified.

According to our most current Gold Derby odds with over 6,800 people predicting, here are the scores ranked in the top 10:

1. “Oppenheimer” – 71/20 odds

2. “Killers of the Flower Moon...

Shane Black's 2013 superhero film "Iron Man 3" is handily one of the best films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It depicted a beleaguered and emotionally wounded Tony Stark working through his battlefield trauma by building multiple Iron Man suits in his lab, and trying his hardest not to fight. That plan is interrupted by the appearance of a vicious terrorist calling himself the Mandarin (Ben Kingsley), a ring-wearing murderer who is behind a series of deadly bombings around the world. Tony, in a fit of rage, gives out his previously secret home address on national TV, instigating an immediate attack from the Mandarin that destroys Tony's massive Malibu home. Oops. 

Tony, naturally, goes on a worldwide hunt to find the Mandarin and bring him to justice, which he eventually does. In one of the McU's cleverest twists, however, it is revealed that the Mandarin is fake. The threatening terrorist...

Get ready for a warped, mind-bending and darkly funny experience from the executive producer of The Babadook.

In desperate debt to their volatile drug dealer, best friends Denise and Johnny agree to a sketchy job to pay off their last hit – breaking into a decrepit stash house to steal a bag of mysterious drugs. But whilst getting into the house may be easy, escape proves more troublesome, as the pair find themselves trapped inside with a deranged fiend.

With no way out and not one to miss an opportunity, Johnny smokes the new drug and promptly travels into the past, triggering alarming new events in the future. Separated through time, Denise is left alone to confront her past, their dealer Kane’s real identity, and her very own existence.

Starring Freya Tingley (Jersey Boys) and Charles Grounds (Crazy Rich Asians), Time Addicts is a wild and highly original feature debut from writer-director Sam Odlum.

The Hollywood Music in Media Awards (Hmma) today announced the 2023 nominees for scores and songs in film and other visual media categories. The awards will be presented Wednesday, November 15, 2023 at 8:00 p.m. (Pst) at The Avalon, 1735 Vine Street, in Hollywood, CA.

Song nominees include Oscar-winners Billie Eilish and Finneas for “What Was I Made For?” from Barbie, Olivia Rodrigo and Dan Nigro for “Can’t Catch Me Now” from Hunger Games: The Ballard of Songbirds & Snakes. Justin Timberlake, Alan Menken, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Lenny Kravitz, Diane Warren, Metro Boomin, and A$AP Rocky also received nods for their original songs in films.

Composers nominated include Alexandre Desplat, Michael Giacchino, Ludwig Göransson, Laura Karpman, Branford Marsalis, Thomas Newman, James Newton Howard, Daniel Pemberton, John Powell, Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross, Robbie Robertson, Mark Ronson & Andrew Wyatt, Hans Zimmer (The Creator), among many others.

Films nominated in score, song, onscreen performance, and in...

Competition comes from Paramount’s ‘Paw Patrol’ and ‘Sumotherhood’.

Pop icon Taylor Swift is looking to extend her cultural reach to cinemas this weekend, through the event cinema release of Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour.

Opening in 651 UK-Ireland venues through Trafalgar Releasing, the film is a 168-minute recording of three Swift gigs from the SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles in August 2023, as part of Swift’s ongoing tour playing music from across her career.

It is the latest concert film from UK- and US-based director Sam Wrench, a former competitive slalom skier who has also directed BTS: Permission To Dance...

The Geneva Digital Market runs as part of the Geneva Film Festival in early November.

A discussion on artificial intelligence will open the 11th edition of the Geneva Digital Market (Gdm), a conference for audiovisual innovation running as part of the 29th Geneva International Film Festival.

‘Dreams and chimeras of artificial intelligence’ will be the introductory talk at the Digital Market, running as part of the Machine Learning x Audiovisuel talks programme.

Speakers on that panel include Sam Pressman, CEO of US company Pressman Film, which has recently produced Mary Harron’s Daliland and has been investigating the use of AI in storytelling.

Speakers include Pressman Films’ CEO Sam Pressman.

A discussion on artificial intelligence will open the 11th edition of the Geneva Digital Market (Gdm), a conference for audiovisual innovation running as part of the 29th Geneva International Film Festival.

‘Dreams and chimeras of artificial intelligence’ will be the introductory lecture at the Digital Market, running as part of the Machine Learning x Audiovisuel talks programme.

Speakers on that panel include Sam Pressman, CEO of US company Pressman Film, which has recently produced Mary Harron’s Daliland and has been investigating the use of AI in storytelling.

Pressman will be joined by writer and curator Nora N.

Clockwise from top left: Cobweb (Lionsgate), Slotherhouse (Gravitas Pictures), Nocebo (Shudder), Dalíland (Magnolia Pictures) Image: The A.V. Club October is when streaming services like dropping obscure horror films and thrillers to get into the Halloween spirit. For instance, Eva Green is always scary-good, so her role as a fashion...

Clockwise from top left: Cobweb (Lionsgate), Slotherhouse (Gravitas Pictures), Nocebo (Shudder), Dalíland (Magnolia Pictures)Image: The A.V. Club

October is when streaming services like dropping obscure horror films and thrillers to get into the Halloween spirit. For instance, Eva Green is always scary-good, so her role as a fashion designer...

Growing up as the only son of Ed Pressman, the prolific Hollywood independent producer behind more than 90 major productions including Wall Street, American Psycho and The Crow, it’s fair to say that the film business has always been in Sam Pressman’s blood.

“As a little kid, I got to be on set a lot and feel that beautiful sense of live shoots,” says Pressman, now CEO of Pressman Film, which was established by his late father in 1969. “Movies are deep inside of me, but I didn’t always believe that I would go into film. I really loved it more as an art. I remember taking a silent film class in my freshman year of college where we watched the really tough silent documentary Man With a Movie Camera and we studied it as a cultural phenomenon – it was fascinating.”

But his father’s love of the independent...

Prime Video has launched the trailer for ‘A Million Miles Away,’ featuring Michael Peña as NASA flight engineer Jose Hernandez.

Based on the real-life story of NASA flight engineer Jose Hernandez, the movie follows Hernandez (Michael Peña) and his devoted family of proud migrant farm workers on a decades-long journey, from a rural village in Michoacan, Mexico, to the fields of the San Joaquin Valley, to more than 200 miles above the Earth in the International Space Station.

With the support of his hard-working parents, relatives, and teachers, Jose’s unrelenting drive & determination culminates in the opportunity to achieve his seemingly impossible goal.

Directed by Alejandra Márquez, Garret Dillahunt (“Deadwood”), Rosa Salazar (“Alita: Battle Angel”), Bobby Soto (“Narcos: Mexico”), Srayu Blue (“To All the Boys”) and Veronica Falcon (“Ozark”) star alongside Peña.

Also in trailers – Sir Ben Kingsley stars in trailer for ‘Daliland’

The movie hits Prime Video on September 15th.

A new trailer starring Sir Ben Kingsley has been released for ‘Daliland.’ Coming from the director of ‘American Psycho,’ delving into a crucial period during the later years of legendary artist Salvador Dalí.

Amongst the decadence of 1970s New York, the great surrealist artist, Salvador Dali, enjoys the latter stage of his career with a lifestyle filled with luxury and extravagant parties. Surrounded by his decadence, and his band of eccentric followers who worship his charismatic persona, he is content with avoiding a fast-approaching art show and the demands of his formidable wife, Gala.

The story is told through the eyes of James Linton, a young gallery assistant, keen to make his name in the art world. After quickly becoming enraptured by the provocative world of Dali, the façade begins to fade when he uncovers that behind the glitz and glamour lies a fragile genius, haunted by the past and...

Sly, Sylvester Stallone’s career-spanning documentary for Netflix, recalling the action icon’s famous performances in Rocky to Rambo to The Expendables, is set to close the Toronto Film Festival on Sept. 16 with a world premiere at Roy Thomson Hall.

While a Netflix title, Sly is a documentary film not covered by the SAG-AFTRA TV and theatrical agreements, so the Hollywood actor, writer, director and producer could potentially be in Toronto to walk the red carpet, though his presence is not assured amid the actors strike.

Stallone’s retrospective in Toronto follows a career resurgence on TV where he stars in the Paramount+ dramedy Tulsa King, which has been renewed for a second season, and his Paramount+ family reality show, The Family Stallone, which just finished airing its eight episodes and has also been renewed for a second season.

Netflix also has a three-part documentary series about Stallone’s friend...

Exclusive: Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment has acquired UK distribution rights to the Ben Kingsley and Ezra Miller pic Dalíland alongside docs RoboDoc – The Creation of RoboCop and Hollywood Dreams and Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story. All three titles will debut on the Icon Film Channel.

Dalíland will debut on September 4, with a theatrical release scheduled for October 6 and home entertainment on November 6. Set in 1973, Dalíland follows a young gallery assistant who goes on a wild adventure behind the scenes as he helps the aging genius, Salvador Dalí, prepare for a big show in New York. Pic stars Ben Kingsley (Schindler’s List) in the title role of Salvador Dalí. Alongside Kingsley are Barbara Sukowa (Two of Us), and newcomer Christopher Briney, in the role of James, the young art enthusiast who finds himself thrust into the center of Dalí’s remarkable and unexpected world. The wider ensemble features Andreja Pejić (The Girl in the Spider’s Web...

With “I Shot Andy Warhol” in 1996, Mary Harron launched her filmmaking career by depicting an artist with a complicated legacy, and that fixation never left her. Her latest effort, “Dalíland,” follows that trajectory with a trenchant look at the later years of Salvador Dalí. While the legacies of many legendary creators have been reevaluated in modern times, Harron’s own fixations haven’t kept from appreciating her troubled subjects.

“There are a lot of artists’ work that I do not want people to cut themselves off from,” the director told IndieWire in a recent interview. “I love reading Dostoyevsky, who was anti-Semitic and had crazy political ideas. I was very influenced as a young person by Polanski, who did terrible things and really should’ve been in prison for them. But that doesn’t mean his films didn’t continue to inspire.”

As for Dalí: The Surrealist may have been...

“Dalíland” is a film directed by Mary Harron and starring Ben Kingsley.

The movie delves into the catastrophic yet alluring personality of the legendary Salvador Dalí, who has become a caricature of himself and elevated to a genius or symbol of an era.

The director takes the opportunity to provide a portrait of New York during that time, while Ben Kingsley shines in a role that any actor would want to play.

Dalíland Movie Review

The movie is an easy portrayal of a character that is very easy to present superficially, and merely remain in a frivolous portrait, which, on the other hand, was the character that Dalí himself had invented, the Dalí that we all know and that the world looked at in amazement. What does this film bring beyond that? A couple of well-shot scenes and a reconstruction of the artistic environment of that era. There is little...

Summer’s beginning was marked with lots of festivals, charity galas and Spider-Man’s return to blockbuster season, as stars of all sorts soaked up the sun, from Napa to Hollywood to the Caribbean Sea and beyond. Keanu Reeves returned to his old rock-star status at BottleRock Napa, strapping on his bass with Dogstar after 20+ years (and Lizzo knocked everyone out at that posh music/food/wine/brew fest); meanwhile, Kaley Cuoco’s “Based on a True Story” brought its mysterious fun to L.A.’s Pacific Design Center and Chateau Marmont and Sir Richard Branson set sail on the Summit at Sea in the Bahamas.

“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” Premiere

Regency Village Theatre, Westwood

Hailee Steinfeld looking good in Bally at the world premiere of her new film “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” at the Regency Village Theatre in Westwood. (Monica Schipper/Getty Images)

The Spider-verse opened a portal into...

“The only way to really understand what it is is to play with it.”

Pressman Film CEO Sam Pressman is diving into artificial intelligence (AI) to explore the technology’s use in storytelling.

Pressman’s (Daliland) short film In Search Of Time co-created by Pierre Zandrowicz and Mathew Tierney premiered in Tribeca Festival on June 8 and is, they claim, the first AI-generated film to play at a major film festival.

It combines imagery from an iPhone with open source AI platform Stable Diffusion to create a meditation on memory and loss in honour of Pressman’s father Ed Pressman, the...

“The only way to really understand what it is is to play with it.”

Pressman Film CEO Sam Pressman is diving into artificial intelligence (AI) to explore the technology’s use in storytelling.

Pressman’s (Daliland) short film In Search Of Time co-created by Pierre Zandrowicz and Mathew Tierney premiered in Tribeca Festival on June 8 and is the first AI-generated film to play at a major film festival.

It combines imagery from an iPhone with open source AI platform Stable Diffusion to create a meditation on memory and loss in honour of Pressman’s father Ed Pressman, the pioneering independent...

At the top of this week’s streaming heap is a movie from one of Hollywood’s renegades, someone whose blunt Facebook posts prompt the studios distributing his films to ask him to please shut the hell up. I’m talking, of course, about the one and only Paul Schrader. He’s not the only A-list director with a new release available, though. This list is loaded with them.

The contender to watch this week: “Master Gardener”

It’s hard to believe that Paul Schrader’s nearly 50-year career has only netted him one Oscar nomination (for writing 2017’s “First Reformed”). He still has time. “Master Gardener” is Schrader’s latest provocation, starring Joel Edgerton as a former white supremacist having an affair with the widow (Sigourney Weaver) whose immaculate garden he maintains. The film doesn’t rise to the heights of the director’s best work, but it nonetheless...

It was a date night for Pierce Brosnan and his lady love Keely Shaye Brosnan.

Read More: Pierce Brosnan Unravels Mystery Of His Zen Existence: ‘I Don’t Get Angry’

Brosnan and his wife Keely stepped out for a romantic date night on Wednesday and the couple looked stunning. The two were in L.A. to attend the screening of “Dalíland”at the Culver Theater.

Brosnan looked dapper in a blue suit while Keely Shaye wore a blingy dress and a white blazer. The duo were all smiles and posed for the cameras.

Culver City, California – June 07: Keely Shaye Smith (L) and Pierce Brosnan (R) attend the Los Angeles special screening of “Dalíland” at Culver Theater on June 07, 2023 in Culver City, California. (Photo by Paul Archuleta/Getty Images)

Pierce Brosnan recently celebrated his 70th birthday and was also spotted in a restaurant in Malibu. Keely posted a sweet message for...

With longer days and—at some more progressive places of employment—Summer Fridays in full effect, daily agendas are now suddenly awash with temporal real estate. Should you use these extra hours to reconnect with family, go to museums or explore the natural world in all its holy wonders? No! You should be watching movies, and lots of ’em! Luckily, June is a rock-solid month with plenty of great Don’t-Miss Indies titles to enjoy.

Padre Pio

When You Can Watch: Now

Where You Can Watch: Theaters (Limited)

Director: Abel Ferrara

Cast: Shia Labeouf, Cristina Chiriac, Marco Leonardi

Why We’re Excited: A two-time Film Independent Spirit Award nominee for Bad Lieutenant (1992) and The Funeral (1996), indie veteran Abel Ferrara’s new biographical drama is based on the Irl story of Italian Franciscan Capuchin friar and priest Francesco Forgione, who was venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church in 1999. It...

Heard early in Mary Harron’s new film, “Dalíland” refers to the entourage that surrounds legendary painter Salvador Dalí (Ben Kingsley) as he lives a life of sedentary comfort at New York’s St. Regis Hotel in the early 1970s. His best days as an artist behind him, Dalí himself is now the art, a series of poses and provocations that have attracted a small coterie of mostly aloof models, wannabe artists, and socialites, even a young Alice Cooper (Mark McKenna), who always looks vaguely put out to be one of the least outré people in this retinue.

Into this realm comes James (Christopher Briney), who works for the gallery that’s currently representing Dalí and awaiting new artwork to exhibit and sell. James sticks out like a sore thumb among these bohemians, his sheltered prudishness leaving him additionally prone to the lascivious attentions of both Dalí, who likens James...

Mary Harron has tackled all sorts of difficult subjects over her nearly thirty-year career. Audiences may know her best for her 2000 adaptation of Brad Easton Ellis‘ “American Psycho” with Christian Bale. But don’t sleep on “The Notorious Betty Page” or 2018’s “Charlie Says,” about the Manson Family cult.

Read More: The 100 Most Anticipated Films Of 2023

But in her latest film, Harron tacks into a slightly different direction for her biopic, “Daliland.” There are no violent fantasies, pin-up girls, or psychological coercion here.

Continue reading ‘Daliland’ Trailer: Ben Kingsley & Ezra Miller Star In Mary Harron’s Biopic About The Legendary Artist On June 9 at The Playlist.

Ezra Miller and Ben Kingsley both portray famed artist Salvador Dalí in the first trailer for the forthcoming biopic Dalíland.

The spot for the film from director Mary Harron (American Psycho) was released Thursday ahead of the film’s release June 9 in theaters and on-demand. Magnolia Pictures nabbed the feature following its premiere at the Toronto Film Festival in September.

Dalíland centers on a gallery assistant, played by newcomer Christopher Briney, who is tasked with helping Dalí (Kingsley) prepare for a prominent show in the 1970s amid the artist’s tense relationship with his wife, Gala (Barbara Sukowa). Miller portrays a younger version of the Surrealist painter in flashback scenes.

“Death — it frightens me, and this is the basis of my inspiration,” Kingsley says during an emotional moment from the footage.

Rupert Graves, Andreja Pejić and Suki Waterhouse also appear in the movie that has a script from John C. Walsh.

Controversial star Ezra Miller appears for just a few seconds in the trailer for Dalíland.

Miller shares the role of the ubiquitous Spanish artist with Ben Kingsley who plays the surrealist in later life.

“Directed by acclaimed filmmaker Mary Harron, Dalíland stars Ben Kingsley as the titular Salvador Dalí, one of the most world-renowned artists of the 20th century and focuses on the later years of the strange and fascinating marriage between Dalí and his wife, Gala (Barbara Sukowa), as their seemingly unshakable bond begins to stress and fracture,” the official logline reads.

“Set in New York and Spain in 1974, the film is told through the eyes of James (Christopher Briney), a young assistant keen to make his name in the art world, who helps the eccentric and mercurial Dalí prepare for a big gallery show. Rupert Graves, Suki Waterhouse, Andreja Pejic and Ezra Miller also star.”

In Miller’s only scene in the trailer,...

Ezra Miller and Ben Kingsley are two sides of the same Dalí.

Both actors transform into artist Salvador Dalí for Magnolia Pictures’ “Dalíland,” directed by Mary Harron.

The film focuses on Salvador Dalí, one of the most world-renowned artists of the 20th century, and centers on the later years of the strange and fascinating marriage between Dalí and his wife, Gala (Barbara Sukowa), as their seemingly unshakable bond begins to stress and fracture, per an official synopsis. Set in New York and Spain in 1974, the film is told through the eyes of James (Christopher Briney), a young assistant keen to make his name in the art world, who helps the eccentric and mercurial Dalí prepare for a big gallery show. “Daisy Jones & the Six” breakout Suki Waterhouse, Andreja Pejic, and Rupert Graves also star.

“Dalíland” debuted closing night at 2022 TIFF and is produced by Daniel Brunt, Chris Curling, Edward R. Pressman,...

"It's like I landed on another planet, and I belong." Magnolia Pictures has revealed an official US trailer for an indie film titled Dalíland, an intriguing creation from Canadian filmmaker Mary Harron. This premiered at last year's 2022 Toronto Film Festival in the fall, and earned some mixed reviews, before hitting a handful of other festivals. It's next set to play at the San Francisco Film Festival this April before going on to open in theaters in June this summer. Sir Ben Kingsley stars as the iconic artist Salvador Dalí in this new take on eccentric genius. In 1973, a young gallery assistant goes on a wild adventure behind the scenes as he helps the aging maestro Salvador Dali prepare for a big show in New York. The cast includes Barbara Sukowa, Rupert Graves, Suki Waterhouse, Andreja Pejic, and Ezra Miller as a Young Dali. This doesn't look like the great film it should be,...

Sundance documentary “Stephen Curry: Underrated” and SXSW television premiere “I’m a Virgo” will open and close Sffilm, the 66th annual San Francisco International Film Festival.

Sffilm unveiled the full lineup for the fest along with the openers and closers. The Bay Area film festival, which screens in theaters across San Francisco as well as Oakland and Berkeley, will host 50 feature film programs (includes Workshop and “mid-lengths”), 46 shorts, and one TV screening (“I’m a Virgo”). Both directors behind “I’m a Virgo” and “Underrated” — Boots Riley and Peter Nicks — grew up in the Bay Area, more specifically in Oakland. Other films from Bay Area filmmakers whose projects will screen include W. Kamau Bell’s “1000% Me: Growing Up Mixed,” Savanah Leaf’s “Earth Mama,” and Babak Jalali’s “Fremont.”

“It is Sffilm Festival season once again and I cannot wait to share this year’s program with local audiences,” Jessie Fairbanks, Sffilm’s director of programming,...

Exclusive: Avantika (Senior Year), Christopher Briney (The Summer I Turned Pretty) and Bebe Wood have landed major roles in Paramount Pictures’ film adaptation of the Tony-nominated Broadway hit, Mean Girls, which is itself based on the classic Paramount comedy of the same name.

The actors join an ensemble for the Paramount+-bound feature that also includes Angourie Rice, Reneé Rapp, Auli’i Cravalho and Jaquel Spivey, as previously announced.

Mean Girls choreographer Kyle Hanagami

The original film adapted by Tina Fey from the Rosalind Wiseman book Queen Bees and Wannabes follows high school new girl Cady Heron (Lindsay Lohan) in her attempt to fit in with A-list girl clique, The Plastics. The effort is sabotaged when she makes the mistake of falling for Aaron, the ex-boyfriend of alpha Plastic Regina George. Premiering on stage at Washington, D.C.’s National Theatre in 2017 and jumping to Broadway the following year,...

Alessandro Camon is an Academy Award-nominated screenwriter ( The Messenger), playwright (Time Alone) and former Head of Production at Pressman Films. His production credits with Pressman include American Psycho, Thank You For Smoking, The Cooler, Bad Lieutenant: New Orleans and Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. He recently wrote the Steve Buscemi-directed Tessa Thompson-starrer The Listener, and the play Scintilla, which opens in Los Angeles in April.

Ed Pressman was sui generis.

He was a rebel with a bowtie. He was a shy, soft-spoken man with a bold vision and relentless drive.

He was an original thinker, even an eccentric, sometimes a contrarian, always a dreamer.

He was always unafraid to embrace a new idea, a difficult project, an untested filmmaker with great ambition and little experience.

Related Story Edward R. Pressman Dies: Prolific ‘Wall Street’, ‘American Psycho’ & ‘Badlands’ Producer Was 79 Related Story Ben Kingsley To Play Salvador Dali In...

“Dalíland” star Ben Kingsley felt the presence of the famous painter when making his latest film, directed by Mary Harron.

“Some days [Salvador Dalí] would come, saying: ‘I will just sit here for a while. Put your brush on the canvas and good luck.’ Later on, I really felt he allowed me to make an attempt at portraying him,” he told Variety during an online press conference at Zurich Film Festival.

“He was mercurial, deliberately tried to wrong-foot people and quite difficult to pin down apart from the voice, the moustache, the eyes. We actually looked at several versions of his famous moustache. One could think: ‘It’s just a moustache!’ But it was his vigor, his eccentricity. His signature.”

The film, which premiered at Toronto, also stars Barbara Sukowa and disgraced actor Ezra Miller. Bankside Films and CAA handle the sales.

Kingsley, chosen as the recipient of this year’s Golden Icon Award,...

Hey, anybody know what Ezra Miller has been up to? Oh, wow, really? Well, let’s add one more story to the pot while we’re here. This one involves actress Susan Sarandon–didn’t see that one coming, did ya?

According to a new Vanity Fair profile on Flash star Ezra Miller, a recent snub from the Academy Award-winning actress led to a particularly odd request. As per a friend of Ezra Miller’s, “Ezra freaked out recently…demanding that Susan Sarandon come pay tribute to his altar because she didn’t invite Ezra to a dinner party.”

This altar at Ezra Miller’s Vermont home supposedly “contains an altar that’s home to bullets, weed, sage, and Flash figurines.” And, who knew, the babe from Bull Durham is buddies with the next Messiah!

Ezra Miller has been the source of numerous incidents. These include physical abuse, stealing, breaking into homes,...

Of all the remarkable roles in Ben Kingsley’s career that could have inspired his performance as surrealist Salvador Dalí in “Dalíland,” from “Gandhi” to “Sexy Beast” to “House of Sand and Fog,” it was his role as “Trevor Slattery” — better known as “The Mandarin” — in “Iron Man 3” that made the director and writer realize he could pull it off.

Speaking with TheWrap at the Toronto International Film Festival on behalf of “Dalíland,” the festival’s closing night film, director Mary Harron (“American Psycho”) and writer John Walsh said that the real Dalí was something of a “tremendous coward.” And though Kingsley had always played strong, fearless roles, they were worried about whether or not Kingsley could flash a more eccentric, fearful side.

“And then we watched…’Iron Man 3,'” Harron and Walsh said. “He was brilliant. But we hadn’t seen that aspect of his range. And we said,...

Sir Ben Kingsley has added the famous surrealist artist Salvador Dalí to his list of iconic film roles, thanks to “Dalíland,” which closed out the 2022 Toronto Film Festival. Kingsley visited TheWrap and Shutterstock’s Interview and Portrait Studio at the Toronto International Film Festival for a discussion about the filmmaking process.

“I love his work and also I love the opportunity — I welcome the opportunity to stretch my comprehension and intelligence,” he told Senior Film Reporter Brian Welk. “It’s exhausting and exhilarating at the same time, and I felt that having an opportunity to portray Dalí, and I say ‘portray’ because in a sense, I’m a portrait artist, but I don’t have any paints, so I don’t work with stone or clay. I work with my voice, my imagination and my body. That’s all I have.”

The film also stars Barbara Sukowa as Dalí’s wife Gala,...

The 18th Zurich Film Festival kicks off Sept. 22 with a muscular lineup that includes some of the year’s most anticipated international pics while also putting the spotlight on Swiss and German-language cinema.

In addition to a strong selection of U.S. films, including Oscar-winning writer-director Florian Zeller’s “The Son” and Neil Jordan’s “Marlowe,” Zurich is also honoring Sony Pictures Classics’ Michael Barker and Tom Bernard for their contribution to cinema.

“We are very proud that this year about one-fourth of our program are world or European premieres, which – especially when it comes to American films – are quite hard to get because there’s a lot of competition,” says Zff artistic director Christian Jungen.

Other big titles unspooling in Zurich include Gina Prince-Bythewood’s “The Woman King,” with Viola Davis; Martin McDonagh’s “The Banshees of Inisherin,” starring Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson and Barry Keoghan; and Tobias Lindholm’s “The Good Nurse,...

Hollywood star Ben Kingsley shows a different side to his screen persona with his performance in ‘Daliland’, in which he plays the mercurial Surrealist artist in the last decade or so of his life.

When he came to TIFF studio, the actor praised his young co-star Christopher Briney, who plays James, a young Manhattan gallery worker who is drawn into the toxic world of Dali and his wife Gala (Barbara Sukowa) in the mid-1970s, reports deadline.com.

“I think that we really must applaud Chris Briney’s performance,” he said, “because it is a view of Dali through the eyes of someone who is constantly surprised and seduced by the world that he finds himself in. And that particular timeframe in which James examines Dali during is possibly the closing chapter of Dall’s life – (it involves) the disintegration of his marriage and his coming to terms with mortality,...

There’s a genre I like so much I can never get enough of it — I call it the Biopic About Someone You Wouldn’t Make a Biopic About. The form came into existence, in a certain way, with “Sid and Nancy,” but it was all but patented by the screenwriters Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, who planted it on the map, in 1994, with “Ed Wood” (still the “Citizen Kane” of the genre), then went on to script “The People vs. Larry Flynt,” “Man on the Moon” (about Andy Kaufman), “Big Eyes”, and “Dolemite Is My Name” (about the fluky hustler-comedian Ray Moore). There have been films in the genre from other quarters, like Paul Schrader’s superb “Auto Focus” (about the TV star Bob Crane and his video-fetish sex life), going right up through the recent Toronto Film Festival sensation “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story.”

But there’s one...

Canada’s Riceboy Sleeps wins Platform Prize.

Steven Spielberg’s semi-autobiographical The Fabelmans has bolstered its awards season prospects by winning the TIFF People’s Choice Award on Sunday (September 18).

The award is a highly reliable bellwether of Academy voter attention. In the last ten years every TIFF audience award winner has earned a best picture Oscar nomination and three have gone on to win awards season’s top prize: Nomadland in 2021, Green Book in 2019, and 12 Years A Slave in 2014.

The Fabelmans earned a rapturous reception at its world premiere on September 10 and immediately announced itself in the awards race,...