News

A24 has acquired US distribution rights to Harry Lighton’s UK feature debut Pillion starring Harry Melling and Alexander Skarsgard.

The distributor acquired the film from worldwide sales agent Cornerstone Films. Release plans are not yet confirmed.

Pillion shot this summer in the UK and is currently in post-production. Based on Adam Mars-Jones’ novel Box Hill, the film follows a romance between a shy young man and the handsome leader of a kinky, queer motorbike club.

Element Pictures’ Emma Norton, Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe are producing the film with Lee Groombridge.

The film is financed by BBC Film and the BFI,...

Canada’s CBC has picked up buzzy Hulu and BBC drama Normal People.

The Canadian public broadcaster will air the coming-of-age drama, based on Sally Rooney’s best-selling novel on its streaming service from May 27.

Two episodes of the Hulu and BBC co-production, which stars Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal, will air weekly.

This comes as the 12-part series, featuring half-hour episodes, propelled British streaming network BBC Three to its best-ever week when it launched last month, generating 12.6M views in its first week.

Produced by Ireland’s Element Pictures, Normal People tracks the complicated relationship of Marianne (Edgar-Jones) and Connell (Mescal) from the end of their school days in a small-town west of Ireland to their undergraduate years at Trinity College. At school, he’s well-liked and popular, while she’s lonely, proud and intimidating. But when Connell comes to pick up his mother from her cleaning job at Marianne’s house,...

The New York Times bestseller “Normal People” was only published stateside last month, but the coming-of-age novel is already being adapted into a television series that will premiere on Hulu next year. The 12-episode, half-hour drama, taken from Sally Rooney’s book, will track the complicated relationship of main characters Marianne and Connell from the end of their school days in small-town west of Ireland to their undergraduate years at Trinity College.

Lenny Abrahamson and Hettie McDonald will direct the series, with Abrahamson directing the first six episodes and McDonald directing the latter six. The series will be produced by Ed Guiney’s (“The Favourite”) Element Pictures, and will star Daisy Edgar-Jones as the lonely and intimidating Marianne, and Paul Mescal, in his first television role, as the outgoing and popular Connell.

“As a longtime admirer of Lenny Abrahamson’s work, it’s a special privilege for me to be...

Hulu has issued a straight to series order for “Normal People,” based on the best-selling Sally Rooney novel, Variety has learned.

The first six episodes of the 12-episode, half-hour drama will be directed by “Room” helmer Lenny Abrahamson, while the last six will be directed by Hettie McDonald.

“As a longtime admirer of Lenny Abrahamson’s work, it’s a special privilege for me to be working alongside him on the adaptation of ‘Normal People.’ I couldn’t be happier with the cast and team we’ve put together, and I’m very excited to watch them bringing new life to the story on screen,” said Sally Rooney.

“Normal People” tracks the tender but complicated relationship of Marianne and Connell from the end of their school days in small-town west of Ireland to their undergraduate years at Trinity College. At school, Connell is well-liked and popular, while Marianne is lonely,...

Hulu has given a straight-to-series order to Normal People, a drama adapted from Sally Rooney’s recent best-seller. The 12-episode half-hour series hails from Element Pictures in association with BBC Three.

Normal People follows the tender but complicated relationship of Marianne and Connell (Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal) from the end of their school days in small town west of Ireland to their undergraduate years at Trinity College. At school, he’s well-liked and popular, while she’s lonely, proud and intimidating. But when Connell comes to pick up his mother from her cleaning job at Marianne’s house, a strange and indelible connection grows between the two teenagers – one they are determined to conceal. A year later, they’re both studying in Dublin and Marianne has found her feet in a new social world, but Connell hangs at the side lines, shy and uncertain.

“From the moment we read Normal People,...

Hulu has given a straight to series order to “Normal People,” which is being adapted from Sally Rooney’s New York Times best-selling novel of the same name. The streaming version by Element Pictures in association with BBC Three will span 12 half-hour episodes — but it is a drama, not a comedy.

“Normal People” tracks the tender but complicated relationship of Marianne and Connell from the end of their school days in small-town west of Ireland to their undergraduate years at Trinity College, per Hulu. At school, he’s well-liked and popular, while she’s lonely, proud and intimidating.

But when Connell comes to pick up his mother from her cleaning job at Marianne’s house, a strange and indelible connection grows between the two teenagers — one they are determined to conceal, the logline continues. A year later, they’re both studying in Dublin and Marianne has found her feet in...