Indie News

Fantastic Fest is getting a boost from J.J. Abrams.

The Austin, Texas-based festival has announced the first wave of films it will screen in September, and the Abrams-produced World War II zombie project Overlord is getting its world premiere there. Director Julius Avery will be onhand with stars Jovan Adepo, Wyatt Russell, Pilou Asbaek, John Magaro and Mathilde Ollivier to give audiences the film before Paramount releases Overlord Nov. 9 in theaters.

The Raid filmmaker Gareth Evans' upcoming Netflix thriller Apostle is also among the films screening at the fest, alongside director Timo Tjahjanto's violent action-thriller The Night Comes For ...

Kim Sledge, one of the members of “We Are Family” hit maker Sister Sledge, is working on bringing the iconic band’s story to the big screen. Sledge is developing “Life Song,” a feature film about the rise to international stardom of the four musical sisters from Philadelphia.

Kim, Debbie, Joni, and Kathy Sledge achieved worldwide fame with a discography that spans jazz, soul, gospel, disco, and R&B. Their hits include “Lost in Music,” “He’s the Greatest Dancer,” and “Thinking of You,” all of which are all cleared for use in “Life Song,” Kim Sledge told Variety. The film will be based on her soon-to-be-published memoirs and has the blessing of her family.

“Music will be a great part of it, because that’s what our lives have been about,” said Sledge. The film will cover the band’s experiences rubbing shoulders with musical greats such as James Brown,

The third episode of Sacha Baron Cohen’s “Who Is America?” made headlines for Roy Moore undergoing a pedophile lie detector test, but one of the half hour’s lighter and funniest moments found the comedian’s Dr. Nira Cain-n’Degeocello character rap battling Atlanta freestyle legend Ness Lee. Vulture spoke with Lee after the episode aired to get the details on what it’s like to be tricked into going head-to-head with Cohen in a rap battle.

Ness told the publication it was never revealed to him that the battle was being filmed for a Sacha Baron Cohen series. Ness was told a “college professor” who was a “super-far leftist” wanted to battle him as part of a documentary he was making exploring “urban culture.” The rapper was told the professor “really wanted to indulge in a life with the people he fought for for so long.”

“So I’m like,

A pair of influential watchdogs that monitor how Hispanics are portrayed onscreen have called for a boycott of Paramount Pictures. The National Latino Media Council (Nlmc) is made up of 12 civil rights and advocacy groups that champion Latino representation, including the National Hispanic Media Coalition (Nhmc). Leaders from both organizations assembled Tuesday in Pasadena to unpack a poll of Latinos viewers’ sensibilities, and unveil a list of planned actions against Paramount.

Based on their film studio research from 2012 to 2017 — and UCLA’s latest Hollywood Diversity Report, released in February — the Nhmc found that Paramount had the worst numbers when it came to hiring Latino actors, writers, and directors.

According to Nhmc’s just-released “Lack of Latinx in Film Industry,” which narrowed its focus on the top 100 grossing films per year, between 2016 and 2017, Paramount released zero films featuring either a Hispanic writer or a Hispanic actor in a lead role. During that period of time,

Fresh off his time spearheading the incredibly popular reboot of “Doctor Who,” writer-producer Steven Moffat has found his next major project, and time-traveling is still involved.

According to Deadline, HBO has ordered a series based on Audrey Niffenegger’s novel “The Time Traveler’s Wife,” with Moffat attached to write and executive produce. The novel, which spawned a 2009 film of the same name with Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana in the lead roles, revolves around the relationship between a husband and wife that is complicated by the husband’s penchant for time-traveling.

Continue reading HBO Teaming With ‘Doctor Who’ Mastermind Steven Moffat For ‘The Time Traveler’s Wife’ Series at The Playlist.

The pitch for “Making It,” NBC’s new foray into reality-competition shows, is pretty simple: Take the structure and — more importantly — the tone of “The Great British Baking Show,” but instead of baking, the challenges all center around craft projects. In the series, former “Parks and Recreation” co-stars Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman guide eight professional crafters through challenges blending paper, fabric, wood, and tons of other unconventional ingredients to create wonderful and unexpected things.

Set in a picturesque wooded glen referred to as “the farm”, the eight crafters represent a variety of disciplines and backgrounds, with their unique styles showcased by the variety of concepts they’re asked to create. In the episodes screened for review, the projects made include quilts, childrens’ play forts, Halloween costumes, and lawn furniture, and the level of skill presented is really impressive (at least to a layperson).

It’s also refreshingly positive. As

Hollywood breathed a sigh of relief Thursday as news came that the producers (AMPTP) and West Coast crew (Iatse) reached a tentative labor agreement. By the weekend, of the 13 locals represented in the Iatse-amptp negotiations, 12 informed their memberships that they would recommend ratification. Iatse locals traditionally vote in accordance with the recommendations of its leadership, but something else happened this weekend: Union members began a grassroots Get Out the Vote campaign, with an eye toward killing the deal.

This effort traces back to the lone standout, Local 700 (the Motion Picture Editor’s Guild). Under Cathy Repola, the union’s executive national director, the leadership did something unheard of in modern labor negotiations of below-the-line crew: they organized and engaged its members, walked them through the negotiations, and framed the differences over work hours and benefits funding as being worthy of a labor stoppage.

The AMPTP and other locals don’t appreciate the effort,

After an insightful discussion featuring the dramatic actors, THR’s “Close-Up with The Hollywood Reporter” sat down with a number of dramatic actresses to discuss a range of topics, including gender pay disparity and being able to say no to roles. Included within the panel were Emmy nominated lead actresses Elisabeth Moss (“The Handmaid’s Tale”), Sandra Oh (“Killing Eve”), and Claire Foy (“The Queen”), in addition to best supporting actress nominee Thandie Newton (“Westworld”).

Continue reading Elisabeth Moss, Claire Foy, Sandra Oh & More Discuss Pay Disparity And Being Able To “Say No” To Roles at The Playlist.

As if Disney needed another bit of good news in 2018, the studio recently had a hit film cross a major milestone.

According to Deadline, “Incredibles 2” crossed the $1 billion mark worldwide on Monday, with a total of $1.005 billion. This is significant for a number of reasons. First, the Pixar sequel is only the 7th animated film to reach the number and the 5th for Disney.

Continue reading ‘Incredibles 2’ Crosses $1 Billion And Becomes The Fastest Animated Film To Reach That Milestone at The Playlist.

Back before it was spending $1 billion on “Lord of the Rings,” Amazon Studios had a very unique way of choosing which series they brought to the streaming service. Unlike Netflix and Hulu, who would order full seasons of shows at a time, Amazon employed a more traditional way of doing things…with a twist.

As is the same with TV networks, Amazon would order a pilot for a series to help them decide whether or not they wanted to order a complete season.

Continue reading Amazon Executives Give Reasons For Abandoning Viewer-Driven Pilot Program For TV Series at The Playlist.

For its 24th edition, Film Independent’s newly configured Los Angeles Film Festival has revealed its first fall lineup (September 20 – 28), the second under the leadership of Festival Director Jennifer Cochis. The date moves Laff into awards season and direct competition with AFI Fest (November 8 – 15), the last of the fall festivals. This year’s Laff program includes 40 feature films, 41 short films, and 10 short episodic works representing 26 countries. Across the competition categories 42 percent of the films are directed by women and 39 percent are directed by people of color.

The festival remains committed to a diverse lineup of feature films, shorts and episodic series for its U.S. Fiction (“original voices with distinct visions from emerging and established American independent filmmakers”), Documentary (“character-driven non-fiction films from the U.S. and around the world”), World Fiction (“unique fiction films from around the world by emerging and established filmmakers”), La Muse (“fiction and documentary films

Entering its 14th year as one of the country’s leading genre festivals, Fantastic Fest announced its first round of titles, and we couldn’t be more thrilled. The Austin-based festival will host the world premieres of World War II horror-thriller “Overlord,” produced by J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot, as well as “The Raid” director Gareth Evans’ gothic horror “Apostle,” starring Dan Stevens and Michael Sheen. Another alum from “The Raid,” Iko Uwais, leads “The Night Comes for Us,” a thrilling bone-cruncher from “V/H/S/2” scribe Timo Tjahjanto.

After a highly successful premiere at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, Lee Chang-dong’s “Burning” will play the festival ahead of its theatrical release later this year. Fantastic Fest will also shine a light on two rarely-screened South Korean films; “Ban Geum-ryeon,” from one of Park Chan-Wook’s directing idols Kim Ki-Young, and Park Nou-Sik’s “Quit Your Life.”

“To be able

Terry Gilliam’s “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote” is still in need of a U.S. distributor, but in the meantime the movie is opening in markets around the world, most recently in Belgium and the Netherlands. To celebrate the film’s international roll out, Gilliam has started a poster contest on his official Facebook page.

Since July 27, Gilliam has been debuting gorgeous one-sheets for “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote” on social media and asking his nearly 500,000 followers to weigh in with their reactions to the artwork in the comments section. The filmmaker announced he plans to put together a ballot once all the posters are revealed and have fans pick the winning poster.

“Don Quixote” stars Jonathan Pryce as a delusional older man who is convinced he is the title character. After he mistakes a young advertising executive (Adam Driver) to be his loyal squire Sancho Pancho,

August is not exactly a month known for exciting new shows. The summer push has largely crested, Emmys fatigue is real, and the new fall season lingers just beyond the horizon.

But while the TV world plays catch-up on a busy summer so far, the roster of new shows continues to expand, as always. It’s a less-traditional slate than usual, but that might be necessary to catch the eyes of TV viewers readying themselves for the rest of 2018.

(We do this roundup of new shows every month — if you missed any of those previous picks, here are some notable TV premieres from February, March, April, May, June, and July.)

“Random Acts of Flyness”

Independent filmmaker Terence Nance (“An Oversimplification of Her Beauty”) makes a grand entrance into the world of TV with this genre-defying series that combines animation, documentary, and musical performance. An abstract look at modern American life

It appears that Joaquin Phoenix’s “Joker” is going to give the Clown Prince of Crime a proper origin story. And if they use bits and pieces from the popular Batman story “The Killing Joke,” as well as what’s being reported, it makes sense that a couple of stand-up comedians have been cast in the film.

Read More: Joaquin Phoenix Says ‘Joker’ Film Is “Unique” And “Scares The F—ing S–t Out Of Me”

According to Variety, “Glow” star (and great stand-up) Marc Maron has been cast in the upcoming DC film.

Continue reading Comedians Marc Maron & Bryan Callen Joining Joaquin Phoenix’s ‘Joker’ at The Playlist.

“Timeless” isn’t fading into history just yet. NBC has struck a deal with Sony Pictures TV to wrap up the series — which ended its second season with a major cliffhanger — via a two-part finale that will air during the holiday season.

The “Timeless” wrap-up comes after NBC canceled the show this May, and Sony Pictures TV tried but couldn’t maneuver a third season renewal at another outlet.

In a press release, executive producers Shawn Ryan and Eric Kripke promised “one final emotional story for the Time Team.”

“While we wish we could’ve made another dozen seasons of ‘Timeless,’ this is the next best thing,” the duo said in a joint statement. “We’re thrilled to take the Lifeboat out for one last spin and bring closure to our story. The studio, network, cast and crew are all doing this for one reason only: the fans. Because they deserve it.

Unlike the recently announced Venice Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival, Austin’s Fantastic Fest revels in all things genre filmmaking. And this year, there’s a couple surprises among the lineup.

As far as world premieres go, filmmaker Gareth Evans is premiering his upcoming film “Apostle,” which is scheduled to release on Netflix in October. Evans’ film stars Dan Stevens as a man who goes to a remote island to rescues his sister, who was taken by a religious cult.

Continue reading J.J. Abrams’ ‘Overlord’ & Gareth Evans’ ‘Apostle’ Lead The Lineup For This Year’s Fantastic Fest at The Playlist.

Great actors are known for diving into roles headfirst, fully becoming the character they portray. For some that means you adopt the mannerisms and characteristics all throughout filming, but even for those that don’t go “method,” playing a role means really becoming that person during filming. And for Topher Grace, playing one of the most infamous racists in American history affected him so much that he had to find solace in a unique way.

Continue reading Topher Grace Re-edited ‘The Hobbit’ To Help Deal With The Stress Of Playing A Racist For Spike Lee at The Playlist.

Documentary filmmakers Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering are known for exposing societal epidemics and changing the conversation around them. Whether its the cover-up of rape by the U.S. Army in “The Invisible War,” or the same issue ravaging college campuses in “The Hunting Ground,” their films confront all the ways our institutions let us down time and time again, often with tragic consequences.

In their latest documentary “The Bleeding Edge,” now available on Netflix, Dick and Ziering focus on the profit-driven, multi-billion dollar medical device industry and how it’s destroying the lives — and bodies — of countless trusting patients in America. It’s a painful, pull-no-punches look at the traumatic physical effects products like cobalt joint replacements, vaginal meshes, and a female sterilization device called Essure have had on thousands of men and women all in the name of profit disguised as “innovation.”

“The Bleeding Edge” is a difficult watch,

Seth Rogen’s résumé includes directing films like “This Is the End” and creating television series such as AMC’s “Preacher,” but perhaps the most hilarious entry is teaching Tom Cruise that internet pornography exists. During an appearance on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” Rogen’s “Knocked Up” director Judd Apatow shared the true story of the time Rogen and Cruise met and talked porn.

The three gentleman met in person in 2006 prior to “Knocked Up.” Apatow explained Cruise took a meeting with Rogen and himself to discuss a potential romantic comedy. The project never materialized, but the conversation ended up being quite memorable.

“So we’re talking to him and I don’t know how it came up, but it usually comes up with Seth where he starts talking about marijuana and pornography,” Apatow told Colbert. “And he starts talking about adult films on the internet and Tom Cruise goes,