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Though it’s hard to believe, given his looks, Cillian Murphy has been in the show business for almost three decades. While his professional acting debut happened with a stage play named Disco Pigs in 1996, he wasn’t a household name until the 2002 film 28 Days Later.

However, in between starring in Danny Boyle’s science fiction horror and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, Murphy starred in several projects. While some of his projects, like Batman Begins, Inception, and Peaky Blinders, cemented his position as a versatile actor, there were a few underwhelming appearances as well.

The 48-year-old Irish actor’s 2012 outing with Elizabeth Olsen and Robert De Niro, Red Lights, can be categorized as such. The movie, which has a meager score of only 30% on Rotten Tomatoes, has recently been added to Amazon Prime Video. But the question remains: should you watch it or pass?

Cillian Murphy’s Red Lights – watch or pass?...

What Challenges Did Ryan Reynolds Face While Filming Buried? ( Photo Credit – Instagram )

Ryan Reynolds in a coffin for 95 minutes? Sounds like a setup for a Deadpool joke—but Buried was no laughing matter. Back in 2010, the Hollywood funnyman faced one of his darkest fears—claustrophobia—in a role that left him gasping for air, literally and emotionally.

The thriller Buried, directed by Rodrigo Cortés, dropped Reynolds into a wooden coffin as Paul Conroy, an American truck driver in Iraq who wakes up buried alive. Armed with just a lighter, a cell phone, and some profound desperation, Paul tries to outsmart his captors and find a way out. Now, imagine shooting all that inside an actual coffin. Reynolds didn’t just act; he endured.

“Claustrophobia is a primal fear that exists within everybody. For me, I was enclosed in there and had moments of utter panic,” Ryan Reynolds admitted to The Standard.

San Sebastian — Is this the San Sebastián Catalan Film Festival? Always boasting a sterling presence at San Sebastián, Catalonia has a massive 27 titles this year, counting five projects in doc forum Lau Haizetara and including four of the five Spanish movies in main Competition and 10 in Made in Spain. Following a break-down of major section titles:

Main Competition

“Afternoons of Solitude,” (Andergraun Films, Ideale Audience, Lacima Producciones)

Albert Serra’s not at all obvious follow-up to Cannes competition player “Pacifiction,” a portrait of star bullfighter Andrés Roca Rey at work. The results remain to be seen. Serra has shot the disc feature “with respect and innocence, without prejudice nor provocation,” he tells Spain’s ABC Cultural.

“Glimmers,” (Inicia Films, Mod Producciones, Misent Producciones)

The latest from Pilar Palomero. A top-notch Spanish cast led by Patricia López Arnaíz and Antonio de la Torre drive the tale of a woman asked by...

El Festival se celebra del 20 al 28 de septiembre. © Ssiff

La 72ª edición del Festival de Cine de San Sebastián contará con una notable presencia de cineastas, actores, guionistas y productoras de renombre que se darán cita en la ciudad.

La Sección Oficial será el epicentro de muchas de estas figuras, quienes presentarán sus últimas producciones y participarán en diversas actividades del festival. La inauguración del festival estará marcada por la película Emmanuelle, que llegará acompañada de la directora Audrey Diwan y los actores Noémie Merlant, Will Sharpe, Jamie Campbell Bower y Chacha Huang. Por otro lado, para clausurar el festival, el director John Crowley y el actor Andrew Garfield presentarán We Live In Time (Vivir el momento), una de las películas más anticipadas de esta edición.

El Festival de San Sebastián también recibirá a destacadas personalidades como la directora Gia Coppola y la icónica Pamela Anderson, quienes asistirán a la proyección de The Last Showgirl.

La película está protagonizada por Martin Scorsese. © Beta Fiction

Escape, la nueva película de Rodrigo Cortés, producida por Martin Scorsese y basada en la novela homónima de Enrique Rubio, se presentará en el Festival de San Sebastián, dentro de las galas de Rtve.

Escape sigue a N. (Mario Casas), un hombre estropeado. Algo no va bien en su interior. No quiere tomar una sola decisión más, sólo apearse del mundo. Dejar de tener opciones. El psicólogo a quien visita no sabe cómo abordarlo. Tampoco su hermana, que intenta apoyarlo sin frutos. N. sólo quiere vivir en la cárcel, y hará cuanto sea necesario para conseguirlo. ¿Lograrán sus allegados que desista de cometer delitos cada vez más graves? ¿Hasta dónde será capaz de llegar el juez para no concederle su propósito?

La película está protagonizada por Mario Casas (3 metros sobre el cielo). Completan el reparto Anna Castillo (Nowhere), José Sacristán (La...

¿Qué tiene que hacer un hombre honrado para que lo metan en la cárcel? © Beta Fiction

Ya se ha publicado el primer tráiler de “Escape”, la nueva película de Rodrigo Cortés, producida por Martin Scorsese y basada en la novela homónima de Enrique Rubio.

“Escape” sigue a N. (Mario Casas), un hombre estropeado. Algo no va bien en su interior. No quiere tomar una sola decisión más, sólo apearse del mundo. Dejar de tener opciones. El psicólogo a quien visita no sabe cómo abordarlo. Tampoco su hermana, que intenta apoyarlo sin frutos. N. sólo quiere vivir en la cárcel, y hará cuanto sea necesario para conseguirlo. ¿Lograrán sus allegados que desista de cometer delitos cada vez más graves? ¿Hasta dónde será capaz de llegar el juez para no concederle su propósito?

La película está protagonizada por Mario Casas (“3 Metros sobre el Cielo”). Completan el reparto Anna Castillo (“Nowhere”), José Sacristán...

Michelle Jenner and Mario Casas have signed to star in Olga Osorio’s feature adaptation of Elia Barceló’s acclaimed novel The Goldsmith’s Secret.

Film Factory is introducing the film to Cannes buyers.

Adrián Guerra and Nuria Valls are producing for Nostromo Pictures, whose credits include the upcoming Rodrigo Cortés title Escape, exec-produced by Martin Scorsese.

The Goldsmith’s Secret will shoot in June in Alava and Barcelona. It is a love story set across three moments of the 20th Century. “It is inspired by classics such as Somewhere In Time and In the Mood for Love,” said Guerra.

Society Of The Snow Ja Bayona’s Society Of The Snow won an avalanche of awards as Spain's Oscar equivalent Goya awards in Valladolid yesterday. The film, which is available to watch on Netflix, recounts the true story of a rugby team who survived a plane crash in the Andes took home 12 prizes, including best film and director.

Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren's debut 20,000 Species Of Bees won a trio of prizes for best new director and original screenplay and best supporting actress for Ane Gabarain.

Justine Triet continued her successful awards run as Anatomy Of A Fall, was named best European film, while Maite Alberdi took home the Ibero-American gong for The Eternal Memory. Pablo Berger’s Robot Dreams won best adapted screenplay and feature animation.

The international Goya for lifetime achievement went to Sigourney Weaver, who has worked with Bayona, on A Monster Calls, and fellow Spaniard Rodrigo Cortés on [film id=21091]Red.

Ja Bayona’s Society Of The Snow was the big winner at Spain’s Goya awards on Saturday night (February 10), scooping 12 prizes including best film and director to become the third-most garlanded film in Goya history.

Justine Triet’s Anatomy Of A Fall, was named best European film, and Pablo Berger’s Robot Dreams won the prizes for best adapted screenplay and feature animation.

20,000 Species Of Bees, the feature debut of Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren, received three Goyas for best new director and original screenplay for Solaguren, and best supporting actress for Ane Gabarain. The 15 nominations for Bees were the...

Last Stop: Rocafort St, the next genre film directed by Spanish director Luis Prieto, who has mostly developed his career in the US, has been acquired by Film Factory and will be introduced to buyers at this year’s European Film Market.

Filmax will release the film in Spain this summer.

Produced by Showrunner Films and Nostromo Pictures, Last Stop: Rocafort St stars Natalia Azahara, Javier Gutiérrez and Valèria Sorolla, a Screen Star of Tomorrow in 2022.

The film is about a woman assigned to work in a quiet Barcelona subway station called Rocafort. When she discovers it is the location...

Any fan of true crime podcasts will tell you the cardinal rule of staying alive: never get in the trunk of a stranger’s car. You lose the ability to control your location and your odds of survival dramatically decrease once the lid of this mobile prison slams down on your head. But what if avoiding the trunk is no longer an option? What if you awaken to find yourself trapped in the boot of a stranger’s car as it speeds down the highway? Marc Schießer’s Trunk – Locked In explores this claustrophobic nightmare with an intimate story told from inside the rear compartment of a kidnapper’s vehicle. Despite its limiting premise, this German film unfolds at a breakneck pace as a kidnapped woman must use all the tools at her disposal before reaching a final destination that will mean certain death.

Malina (Sina Martens) comes back...

Cillian Murphy is a celebrated Irish actor who is best known for his engrossing role as Tommy Shelby in the British drama series Peaky Blinders and for starring roles A Quiet Place Part 2 and Oppenheimer, incredible performances which earned him international recognition.

Cillian Murphy Biography: Age, Early Life, Family, Education

Cillian Murphy was born on May 25, 1976 (Cillian Murphy age: 47) in Douglas, Cork, Ireland. His father was employed by the Department of Education, while his mother taught French. Murphy’s grandfather, aunts, and uncles were also, ironically, teachers.

Murphy grew up in Ballintemple, Cork, along with his two younger sisters, Orla and Sile, as well as his younger brother Páidi.

At ten years old, Murphy began writing and performing songs he created. He was raised Catholic and studied at the Catholic secondary school Presentation Brothers College, where he excelled academically, but frequently found himself getting into trouble due to mischievous behavior.

Blue Jean, Past Lives, Sharper, Infinity PoolGraphic: Courtesy Altitude Films, A24, Apple TV+, Neon

We may be in the midst of the summer blockbuster season, but we’re also just past the halfway point of 2023, which makes it a perfect time to look back on the outstanding films released within the past six months.

Director Rodrigo Cortés, who was born and raised in Spain, first made his mark as a young filmmaker when one of his short films won 57 awards in its film festival run, showing that he was a young talent to watch over the next couple of decades. Crossing over from Spanish movies to English cinema, Cortés has gone global. When his 2007 movie The Contestant came out, it only proved that he was one of the rare auteurs of cinema within his generation. In 2010, his movie Buried, starring the Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds and only Ryan Reynold, gained critical acclaim after premiering at the Sundance Film Festival.

Now, Cortés’ newest film, Love Gets a Room, is finally ready to appear in movie screens across North America after film festivals and a run in Spain's theaters. In a story that takes place in the midst of the Warsaw Ghetto in the 1940s, an...

Director Rodrigo Cortés has returned with an English-language feature film, Love Gets a Room. Cortés was previously known for his work on the Ryan Reynolds film Buried, as well other films like Red Lights and Down a Dark Hall. Having worked in his native language, Spanish, and English-language cinema, Cortés has repeatedly shown he is capable as a truly international filmmaker, and this newest movie adds to an already impressive filmography. He serves as a co-writer and editor as well in the production process.

This film is co-written with the German novelist and screenwriter David Safier, who has become best known for his work on the television series Berlin, Berlin. Love Gets a Room originally had its debut back in 2021 at the Seville European Film Festival, but is hitting theaters in North America in the summer of 2023; it was released in Spain beforehand. In Spain, the movie has been up...

Martin Scorsese is executive producing “Escape,” the next film from Spanish writer-director Rodrigo Cortés, who burst onto the international scene directing Ryan Reynolds in the 2010 Sundance hit “Buried.”

Set to go into production at the end of May, Cortés’ first Spanish-language film since his debut feature, 2007 madcap dark comedy “The Contestant,” “Escape” stars Mario Casas, a Spanish Academy Award Goya winner for 2020’s “Cross the Line.”

One of Spain’s biggest film-tv stars, Casas leads a top-notch Spanish cast in “Escape” which takes in Anna Castillo, José Garcia (“Bastille Day”), Guillermo Toledo (“I’m So Excited”), Josep Maria Pou (“The Realm”), Blanca Portillo (“Maixabel”), and Jose Sacristán (“Velvet”).

Produced by Adrián Guerra and Núria Valls at Barcelona-based Nostromo Pictures, “Escape” is a free adaptation of the same-title novel penned by Spanish author Enrique Rubio.

“Escape” turns on N., a young man who wants to live in prison and will do whatever...

"What matters here is being loved, child, not loving..." Buffalo 8 Films has revealed an official US trailer for an indie romantic musical titled Love Gets a Room, the latest film made by Spanish filmmaker Rodrigo Cortés (best known for directing both Buried and Red Lights a decade ago). This first premiered in Spain in 2021, but is only now getting an official US release this summer. Inspired by true events during the 1942 Nazi occupation of Poland, Love Gets a Room is the story of a Jewish stage actress who must make the gut-wrenching decision to follow her heart or escape the Warsaw ghetto. Told in real time like Cortés' acclaimed Buried, the film is a romantic tale of love and survival in the face of harrowing circumstances. This stars Clara Rugaard, Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, Mark Ryder, Anastasia Hille, Magnus Krepper, and Henry Goodman. With cinematography by Rafa García. "With masterful direction and outstanding performances,...

Zdf Studios has signed a deal to distribute the second season of the remake of the iconic Spanish horror series “Stories to Stay Awake” (“Historias Para No Dormir”).

The series is a reboot of the classic series created by Spain’s Chicho Ibáñez Serrador in the 1960s which proved a milestone in Spanish horror, introducing Spain to classic tales from Ray Bradbury, Edgar Allen Poe,

The deal sees Zdf Studios taking distribution rights to “Stories” in all territories outside Spain, Portugal, Italy and Latin America, which will be handled by Paramount Global Content Distribution. Zdf operated in the same capacity for the first season.

The second season is produced by Paramount in association with Zdf Studios, along with Prointel and Isla Audiovisual. The first season of the series premiered on Prime Video and public broadcaster Rtve in Spain.

In Season 2, directors Salvador Calvo (“Adu), Nacho Vigalondo (“Colossal”), Alice Waddington (“Scarlet...

Mario Casas, one of Spain’s biggest film and TV stars, and Goya Award winner actress Anna Castillo, will headline “Escape,” the new film by writer-director Rodrigo Cortés.

Produced by Adrián Guerra and Núria Valls at Barcelona-based Nostromo Pictures, “Escape” is a free adaptation of same-title novel penned by Spanish author Enrique Rubio.

Nostromo announced the new film project after completing an intense 2022, in which the company lensed seven films and released two more titles – Marçal Forés’ “Through My Window” and Oriol Paulo’s “God’s Crooked Lines” – both achieving a standout global reach.

“Escape’s” story turns on N., a young man who wants to live in prison and will do whatever it takes to get there, raising questions such as if those who care about him will get to stop him from committing increasingly serious crimes and how far will the judge go to not grant him his proposal.

Exclusive: Buffalo 8 has acquired North American rights to the musical drama Love Gets a Room from director Rodrigo Cortés (Buried) out of the Cannes Film Festival, slating it for a limited theatrical release this fall.

The film starring Clara Rugaard (I Am Mother) and Ferdia Walsh-Peelo (Sing Street) is a romantic tale of love and survival in the face of harrowing circumstances and encompasses themes of perseverance, resilience, and sacrifice. It’s set in 1942 and follows a group of Jewish actors who perform a theatrical play in the heart of the Warsaw Ghetto. Rugaard’s character must make a life-or-death decision in the middle of her stage show—to follow her heart, or to escape the Warsaw ghetto.

Love Gets a Room screened for buyers at Cannes after making its world premiere at the Festival De Sevilla. Cortés wrote the film with David Safier (Damn Karma). Adrián Guerra and Núria Valls produced,...

Zdf Enterprises (Zdfe) has acquired the international distribution rights to Spanish horror anthology “Stories to Stay Awake,” in Spanish “Historias para no dormir,” for all territories outside of Spain, Portugal, Italy and Latin America, which will be handled by series producer ViacomCBS International Studios.

50 years ago, Chicho Ibáñez Serrador became a household name in Spain thanks to his creation “Historias Para No Dormir,” a Spanish series which aired from 1966 to 1968 and again in 1982. In 2005, the IP was reformatted for the big screen as a group of shorts in “Peliculas Para No Dormir” (Movies to Stay Awake), with Ibáñez’s contribution “La Culpa” being the filmmaker’s final directorial work. He was joined then by several other Spanish genre masters on the project in Álex de la Iglesia (“30 Coins”), Jaume Balagueró (“[Rec]”), Mateo Gil (“Open Your Eyes”), Enrique Urbizu (“The Ninth Gate”) and, back for this new series reboot, Paco Plaza.

Spanish Horror

Two of Spain’s highest-profile upcoming horror titles got release dates and trailers today, David Casademunt’s “El páramo” (formerly “La bestia”) at Netflix and Amazon Prime Video’s horror anthology “Historias para no dormir.”

“El páramo” is the highly anticipated feature debut of award-winning short filmmaker Casademunt, and boasts a small yet star-filled cast including Inma Cuesta (“The Bride”), Roberto Álamo (“The Skin I Live In”) and Asier Flores (“Pain and Glory”). The film is set in an isolated cabin where a family of three are visited by a terrible monster which threatens the ties that bind them. It will world premiere on Oct. 11 at the Sitges Film Festival and hit Netflix worldwide on Jan. 26, 2022. Rodar y Rodar produces.

Amazon Prime Video and Spanish broadcaster Rtve’s reboot of Chicho Ibáñez Serrador’s legendary Spanish horror anthology series “Historias para no dormir” will hit the streaming platform on Nov.

Clara Rugaard, a Sundance sensation for her performance “I Am Mother,” and Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, star of “Coda” and “Sing Street,” headline “Love Gets a Room,” a Warsaw Ghetto-set romantic musical drama directed by Rodrigo Cortés.

Shot under the radar in order to magnify impact nearer to release when theaters return, said its producer Adrián Guerra, “Love Gets a Room” is produced and financed by Guerra’s Nostromo Pictures, with Lionsgate International handling international rights and CAA representing U.S. rights. Top Spanish independent A Contracorriente Films will release the film in Spain theatrically at the end of the year.

Written by German bestseller writer David Safier and Cortés, the film captures a group of actors as they perform in the heart of the Warsaw Ghetto, in a life or death context on a run-down stage, “Love Gets a Room,” a real-life musical comedy that was written by playwright Jerzy Jurandot,...

BritBox To Launch In South Africa

BritBox, ITV and BBC Studios’ joint-venture UK streamer, is to expand into South Africa in the second half of 2021. It follows previous launches in the U.S., Canada, and Australia, as the Spitting Image streamer targets a presence in 25 territories. Paul Dempsey, president of global distribution at BBC Studios, said: “We know that South African audiences have a real connection to British television and we can’t wait to bring them even more great shows, on demand, that we know they will love.”

Vis Sets ‘Stories To Stay Awake’ At Amazon

Viacom International Studios has set Spanish horror series Historias Para No Dormir (Stories To Stay Awake) at Amazon Prime Video and Spanish public broadcaster Rtve. The four-part series, co-produced by Prointel e Isla Audiovisual, is a reboot of the iconic horror brand by Chicho Ibáñez Serrador. Production has commenced in Madrid with the...

ViacomCBS International Studios (Vis) has boarded Amazon Prime Video and Rtve’s resurrection of Chicho Ibáñez Serrador’s legendary Spanish horror series “Historias Para No Dormir,” (“Stories to Stay Awake”), which started filming this week in Madrid.

Set as a four-part anthology miniseries, “Historias Para No Dormir” boasts a superstar cast and crew on either side of the camera, with episodes to be directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Rodrigo Sorogoyen (“Mother”), Spanish Academy Goya-winner Rodrigo Cortés (“Buried”), “[Rec]” writer-director Paco Plaza, and Paula Ortiz, director of “The Bride.” Local outfit Prointel e Isla Audiovisual has been tasked with producing the reboot.

Episode 1, “La Broma” (The Joke) is currently filming in the Spanish capital, written and directed by Rodrigo Cortés. An interpretation of the 1966 original, the episode is the story of a love triangle including three Goya-winning actors in “While at War” co-stars Eduard Fernandez (“30 Coins”) and Nathalie Poza (“Julieta”), and Raúl Arévalo (“Marshland”).

50 years ago,...

Two underrated Ryan Reynolds movies, Buried and Definitely, Maybe, are now streaming on Prime/Hulu and Netflix, respectively.

About two decades ago, Reynolds’ only claim to fame was a little sitcom titled Two Guys and a Girl. An uninspired show which tried to imitate iconic comedies of the time, it hardly predicted the future that was in store for one of the two male leads. In the years that followed, Reynolds would star in numerous roles, some good, some bad.

Honing his comedic timing through films like Just Friends, The Proposal and The Change-Up, the actor eventually landed the part of Deadpool. Rectifying the mistakes made during the atrocious X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Reynolds delivered a film that honored the zany comic strips on which it was based, and gave Fox a franchise that could rival even Marvel’s.

If that isn’t enough of a testament to his skill as an actor,...

You may know Ryan Reynolds best for his comedic roles, especially in the wildly popular Deadpool franchise. And while he may have gotten his start in hilarious films like National Lampoon’s Van Wilder and Waiting…, he’s also no stranger to more dramatic material.

Movies like Safe House and Life have shown his ability to step outside humor and drive home a more serious performance. And though his filmography is packed to the brim with both styles, one of his very best appearances on screen happened in a movie that drove many claustrophobic audiences out of the theater. Lucky for you, though, you can watch it in your own home on Hulu as of next week.

2010’s Buried isn’t a film for the faint of heart. This 95-minute thriller takes place entirely within a coffin that’s been buried beneath the ground in an undisclosed location. It tells the...

Spanish cinema has lost an understated giant with Friday’s passing of genre film and TV pioneer Narciso “Chicho” Ibañez Serrador, dead at the age of 83.

Although he only filmed two features, both stand out as milestones in the country’s early genre cannon, 1970’s “La Residencia” (“The House That Screamed”) and 1976’s “¿Quién puede matar a un niño?” (“Who Can Kill a Child?”).

The films anticipated Spain’s surge in upscale genre auteur, and helped evolve the medium from quickly produced hack-and-slash fare intended to make a quick buck at the box office, to films with aesthetics, psychology and humanistic narratives that stood and stand out in international cinema.

In Spain he is equally well-regarded for his work in TV with programs such as “Un, dos, tres… responda otra vez,” in its time the biggest game show in Spain, and the legendary horror series “Historias para no dormir”.

In today’s film news roundup, Fox Searchlight starts a shorts channel, Uma Thurman signs with ICM and Miramax signs animation exec Michael Lachance.

Searchlight Shorts

Fox Searchlight Pictures’ chairmen Nancy Utley and Stephen Gilula have announced the launch of “Searchlight Shorts” as a collection of short films.

The shorts are available on Fox Searchlight’s YouTube channel and “Searchlight Shorts” Facebook page. The first film to be released on the Fox Searchlight social media channels is the recent best live action short Oscar winner “Skin,” in which a young boy has an innocent encounter with an African American man at a supermarket and his parents react to the exchange with racial violence.

Other short films to be featured include “Feathers” and “Birdie,” which were acquired in late 2018; “Lavender,” which made its premiere at Sundance earlier this year; and the recently acquired “Sew Torn.” Fox Searchlight plans to release a...

Pulp Fiction Oscar nominee and Golden Globe winning actress Uma Thurman has inked with ICM Partners. Thurman can next be seen this spring in Netflix’s Chambers, starring opposite Tony Goldwyn.

She will also return to the stage in Ghosts at the Williamstown Theater Festival this summer. Two years ago, Thurman completed her Broadway debut as the star of The Parisian Woman.

Thurman completed production on various upcoming film releases including Lars Von Trier’s The House That Jack Built, James Haslam’s The Con is On, and Rodrigo Cortés’ Down a Dark Hall. She will also star opposite Robert De Niro in Tim Hill’s The War with Grandpa.

Thurman is best known for her motion picture canon with filmmaker Quentin Tarantino including her turn as alluring mob wife Mia Wallace in the Oscar- and Cannes Palme d’Or-winning Pulp Fiction, for which she received a 1995 Best Supporting Actress Oscar nom,...

Political thriller The Realm awarded seven prizes including best director for Rodrigo Sorogoyen.

Political thriller The Realm and local box office comedy hit Champions shared the big prizes at Spain’s Goya Awards, held in Sevilla last night (2 Feb).

The Spanish Film Academy awarded seven prizes to The Realm, who led the race with 13 nominations, including best director for Rodrigo Sorogoyen; and crowned Javier Fesser’s Champions as best film.

Fesser’s comedy was the most successful Spanish film by far at the local box office in 2018 with a gross of $22m. Produced by Películas Pendelton, Rey de Babia A.

Madrid — Javier Fesser’s “Champions” won best picture at the 33rd Spanish Academy Goya Awards, having seemed to have been locked out of major awards.

“Champions” entered the ceremony as most probably the favorite in one of the most open fields in recent years, given the diversity of best picture contenders in artistic and industry terms.

But, produced by Morena Films, Películas Oendelton and Movistar +, “Champions” had already been selected by the Academy as Spain’s Oscar entry and had proven a blockbuster hit on home turf for Upi Spain, earning €18.5 million ($21.1 million). Selling near worldwide, the comedy turns on an off-the-rails Spanish coach sentenced to train a basketball team of special-needs players.

Before director Javier Fesser climbed onto the stage on Saturday night to take best picture, however, the film had won just two of 10 nominations, for breakthrough actor (Jesús Vidal) and song (Coque Malla’s “Este es...

Producer Stephenie Meyer (Twilight) and director Rodrigo Cortés’ (Buried) adaptation of I Know What You Did Last Summer author Lois Duncan’s Down a Dark Hall will be released on Blu-ray and DVD on October 16th. You can check out the cover art to the right and a full list of special features, along with the film’s trailer below. After that […]

The post Down A Dark Hall Haunts Blu-ray this October appeared first on Dread Central.

Now on VOD from Lionsgate Premiere, here’s the first clip from Down a Dark Hall in which a slumber party gets spooky. Buried‘s Rodrigo Cortés directs the film that features an impressive cast comprised of Uma Thurman (Kill Bill), Isabelle Fuhrman (Orphan), Anna Sophia Robb, Noah Silver (“Tyrant”) and Rosie Day (“Outlander”). In the film: “Kit (AnnaSophia Robb), a difficult young girl, is sent to the mysterious Blackwood Boarding […]...

Written in 1974, prolific young-adult novelist Lois Duncan’s “Down a Dark Hall” intriguingly anticipated some of the tropes of latterday Ya fantasy-fiction blockbusters. Thus “Buried” director Rodrigo Cortés’ belated screen adaptation comes off — at least in narrative terms — as something a halfway point between “Harry Potter” and “Suspiria,” as “gifted” girls at a curious, sinister private school become increasingly susceptible to supernatural forces.

Lionsgate Premiere’s Stateside launch of this Spanish-u.S. coproduction (which has already opened in several other territories) doesn’t suggest great faith, as it’s only providing very limited theatrical exposure alongside a VOD release. Still, this is a decent modern Gothic thriller handled with sufficient style and a straight face by genre ace Cortés. His efforts, and strong performances by the young female leads, make for a movie that’s fairly strong meat by juvenile fantasy standards, if probably a tad wimpy for horror-fan tastes.

After a six-year hiatus from feature length filmmaking, Spanish director Rodrigo Cortés is finally back with his latest fantasy horror picture Down a Dark Hall – also known by its alternate title Blackwood. Best known for his tense direction on the Ryan Reynolds-led Buried and the Sigourney Weaver-led Red Lights, Cortés is no stranger to the horror-thriller genre. In Dark Hall, Cortés throws a fantastical twist onto things as the film deals with the supernatural – spookily depicted in the first trailer for the film, which Lionsgate has now released.

Down a Dark Hall centers on a troublesome young adult named Kit Gordy who, after a brief altercation with the law, is sent to a mysterious disciplinary boarding school – “Welcome to Blackwood” the stern headmaster Madame Duret (played by Uma Thurman) announces in the trailer. From here, things only become darker. Accompanied by four other similarly aged girls, Kit and her...

Santiago De Compostela, Spain — “Día Cero,” “Malaka” and “Streisand Effect” won Tuesday night development prizes at Conecta Fiction, the co-production and networking forum, whose second edition runs June 18-21 in Galicia’s Santiago de Compostela, at the end of the St. James Way.

The awards were adjudicated by Telefonica’s paybox Movistar + and public broadcaster Rtve, two of the main Conecta Fiction partners, who valued the projects’ in part according to their potential fit with their respective TV fiction programming strategies.

A total 10 international co-production projects competed for the Movistar+ and Rtve awards, plus a further six that developed at the series lab of Spain’s General Society of Spanish Authors’ Foundation (Sgae). All projects were pitched Tuesday June 19 at Conecta Fiction.

The Movistar + award went to “Día Cero,” a high concept comedy project set up at Alejandro Miranda’s Spanish distribution-production house Versus Entertainment, marking the company’s entry into TV fiction production.

Santiago De Compostela, Spain — Spanish independent producer-distributor Versus Entertainment is dipping its toe into TV fiction production with high-concept comedy project “Día Cero.”

Co-penned by David Sainz, star-scribe of popular web series “Malviviendo,” and actor-writer Enrique Lojo (“Serramoura”), “Día Cero” on an end of the world hat doesn’t happen how that impacts a group of people. Versus founder Alejandro Miranda, executive producer on films such as Rodrigo Cortés’ Sundance hit “Buried,” produces the TV series, with Teresa Segura at Seville-based Diffferent Entertainment and Sin Sentido’s Rafael Portela as co-producers.

Designed as a half-hour, eight-episode TV show, “Día Cero” is set the day after the end of the world doesn’t happen. Conflicts experienced by the characters in the series arise from what happened in a period of 253 days, between the announcement of the end and the moment when it’s confirmed that the world continues its course.

The...

Exclusive: Uma Thurman has been tapped for a starring role in Chambers, Netflix’s upcoming hourlong supernatural drama from Stephen Gaghan and Super Deluxe.

Created and written by Leah Rachel, who co-showruns with Akela Cooper, Chambers centers on a young heart attack survivor who becomes consumed by the mystery surrounding the heart that saved her life. However, the closer she gets to uncovering the truth about her donor’s sudden death, the more she starts taking on the characteristics of the deceased — some of which are troublingly sinister.

Thurman will play Nancy, the mother of the heart donor who forges a hesitant relationship with the young recipient only to find out her daughter may not be as dead as she thought.

Gaghan executive produces Chambers via Super Emotional alongside Rachel and Cooper as well as Wolfgang Hammer and Winnie Kemp via Super Deluxe. Alfonso Gomez-Rejon as an executive producer and...

It was just the other day that we shared your first look at producer Stephenie Meyer (Twilight) and director Rodrigo Cortés’ (Buried) adaptation of I Know What You Did Last Summer author Lois Duncan’s Down a Dark Hall The film stars AnnaSophia Robb (The Reaping), Isabelle Fuhrman (Orphan), Taylor Russell (Netflix’s Lost in Space) and Uma Thurman […]

The post Trailer Takes Us Down A Dark Hall With AnnaSophia Robb and Uma Thurman appeared first on Dread Central.

"We're all thrilled you're here..." Lionsgate has debuted the first official trailer for a spunky supernatural thriller titled Down A Dark Hall, adapted from a Ya novel of the same name written by "I Know What You Did Last Summer" author Lois Duncan. The film is about a young woman named Kit Gordy, as played by AnnaSophia Robb, a new student at the exclusive Blackwood Boarding School for girls, who confronts the institution's supernatural occurrences and dark powers of its headmistress. The cast includes Isabelle Fuhrman, Victoria Moroles, Noah Silver, Taylor Russell, Rosie Day , and "a truly memorable turn by the iconic" Uma Thurman. As you might expect, this doesn't look that great - another derivative dark mansion, supernatural thriller with all the typical spooks & scares. Give us something new! Not more of this. Here's the official trailer (+ poster) for Rodrigo Cortés' Down A Dark Hall, direct from YouTube...

Welcome to Blackwood, where lost girls find their way…

From the producers of The Twilight Saga comes the very creepy new trailer and poster for Down A Dark Hall. Turn up the volume – I dare you.

Down A Dark Hall opens in Theaters, On Demand, and On iTunes August 17th.

Kit (AnnaSophia Robb), a difficult young girl, is sent to the mysterious Blackwood Boarding School when her heated temper becomes too much for her mother to handle. Once she arrives at Blackwood, Kit encounters eccentric headmistress Madame Duret (Uma Thurman) and meets the school’s only other students, four young women also headed down a troubled path. While exploring the labyrinthine corridors of the school, Kit and her classmates discover that Blackwood Manor hides an age-old secret rooted in the paranormal.

Based on the classic gothic Ya novel of the same name by Lois Duncan – author of “I Know What You Did Last Summer...

Lionsgate has released the first trailer for a new supernatural horror thriller called Down a Dark Hall. The film is based on the gothic Ya novel of the same name by Lois Duncan, and it actually looks like this might be a decent film.

First of all the movie was directed by Rodrigo Cortés who directed the Ryan Reynold's film Buried, which was a great movie! On top of that, the movie has a great cast that includes AnnaSophia Robb and Uma Thurman.

The story centers around Blackwood Boarding School, where lost girls find their way. Here's the synopsis:

Kit (AnnaSophia Robb), a difficult young girl, is sent to the mysterious Blackwood Boarding School when her heated temper becomes too much for her mother to handle. Once she arrives at Blackwood, Kit encounters eccentric headmistress Madame Duret (Uma Thurman) and meets the school’s only other students, four young women...

Lionsgate Premiere has announced Down a Dark Hall for release in theaters and VOD platforms on August 17, 2018. Buried‘s Rodrigo Cortés directs the film that features an impressive cast comprised of Uma Thurman (Kill Bill), Isabelle Fuhrman (Orphan), Anna Sophia Robb, Noah Silver (“Tyrant”) and Rosie Day (“Outlander”). In the film: “Kit (AnnaSophia Robb), a difficult young girl, is sent to the mysterious Blackwood Boarding School […]...

This week marks the second coming… no, not of That savior, but rather Wade Wilson—aka The Merc with a Mouth—in Deadpool 2, (read our review here), the highly anticipated sequel starring Ryan Reynolds. For his entire career, Reynolds has become synonymous with his sardonic and sassy sense of humor, which this writer has enjoyed watching throughout the decades in films like Van Wilder, Waiting…, Just Friends, The Proposal, Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, and more. But for me, what’s been even more interesting to watch is whenever Reynolds ventures over into the realms of horror and science fiction, as the results have been fascinating, to say the least.

With Deadpool 2 set to take over theaters everywhere this weekend, I thought this would be a perfect time to celebrate six different genre-related performances from Reynolds, who has made a career out of making some bold...

“It” and “The Dark Tower” have the highest profiles in a year of Stephen King adaptations, but “Gerald’s Game” best demonstrates the paradoxical nature of bringing his work to the screen. The master of pulpy horror tends to go long on prose, burrowing so deep inside his characters’ psyches that the stories often lose their way. That storytelling gamble is perfectly illustrated by “Gerald’s Game,” in which a woman’s chained to a bed in a kinky sex game gone wrong, wandering the contours of her own mind. How do you make a movie out of that? Director Mike Flanagan figured it out.

It takes a specific kind of filmmaker to tackle the challenges of a single-set survival movie, whether it’s Danny Boyle in a canyon (“127 Hours”) or Rodrigo Cortés inside a coffin (“Buried”), but the closest cinematic comparison to “Gerald’s Game” is James Wan’s “Saw,...

Pulp Fiction actress signs up for Cannes section.

Pulp Fiction actress Uma Thurman has been named president of the 2017 Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard jury.

Seen as the festival’s second most high-profile category behind the international competition, this year’s Un Certain Regard programme features titles from Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Michel Franco and Mathieu Amalric.

Last year, Finnish black and white boxing film The Happiest Day In The Life Of Olli Mäki won the strand’s top prize.

Thurman was a member of the Cannes international competition jury in 2011 when Robert De Niro was president. They awarded the Palme d’Or to Terrence Malick’s The Tree Of Life.

Most noted for her roles in Quentin Tarantino’s films Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill: Volume 1 and 2, Thurman was more recently seen alongside Bradley Cooper in chef drama Burnt.

She will feature in Lars von Trier’s upcoming film The House That Jack Built as well...

Studio top brass said on Wednesday they have broadened the pipeline with Studiocanal to include Summit films and licensed a trio of top Afm titles to Tele München Gruppe.

The expanded deal with Studiocanal, which already distributes Lionsgate films in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, kicks off with Otto Bathurst’s adventure Robin Hood: Origins. The action-adventure from Appian Way, Safehouse Pictures and Thunder Road Pictures is scheduled to open in the Us on March 23, 2018, and stars Taron Egerton, Jamie Foxx, Jamie Dornan, Eve Hewson and Paul Anderson.

Studiocanal Germany has distributed the Hunger Games and Saw franchises, among others, and its slate includes Oscar hopeful La La Land on January 12, as well as awards contender A Monster Calls and American Assassin.

Lionsgate has signed a deal with Tele München Gruppe to distribute three of its recent hot Afm titles, led by Chris Hemsworth war drama Horse Soldiers.

The Tele München pact includes sci-fi thriller Kin from the Baker...

Exclusive: Noah Silver and Rosie Day have joined the cast of Lionsgate’s upcoming film Down A Dark Hall, opposite Anna Sophia Robb and Isabelle Fuhrman. Rodrigo Cortés is directing the pic with a script from Michael Goldbach and Chris Sparling. Based on Lois Duncan’s 1974 Ya novel of the same name, the supernatural mystery centers on a troubled teen with a haunted past who is committed to Blackwood, a mysterious school for gifted and disturbed girls. Silver plays Jules…...

It’s practically impossible to talk about what’s happening in Chris Sparling‘s latest thriller, Mercy, without spoiling it. The writer-director knows, and splits his film into three pieces as a result: the first third completely shrouded in mystery, the next a replay from alternative perspectives, and the last the truth of the pursuers’ identities and the lies their victims have been spinning from the start. The only other Sparling film I’ve seen is his most popular one, Buried, which he wrote with Rodrigo Cortés directing, but the similarities in deflection and confusion are obvious. Whereas it focused solely on one character trapped without the ability to fully comprehend what’s happening, Mercy places its viewer in the coffin. We don’t know who’s out there and we definitely cannot trust the family in peril.

I’ll stick solely to the first act to whet your suspense-thriller...