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Lawrence Osborne, the Asia-based writer who has recently enjoyed a spate of film deals for his own novels, is poised to adapt Jon Swain’s Vietnam War-era memoir “River of Time.” Film rights to Swain’s book have been optioned by Indochina Productions for Osborne to script and executive produce.

Swain, an award-winning correspondent for the Sunday Times of London and Afp, went to South-East Asia, only 22 years old, having previously been in the Foreign Legion. Famously arriving in Pnomh Penh on the last flight out of Bangkok before the Khmer Rouge took power in Cambodia, Swain witnessed the Cambodian genocide. He covered Vietnam and Cambodia from 1970-1975, and became a key figure among the war correspondents based in the city.

The book, “River of Time” was released originally in 1997 and is Swain’s love song to a disappeared world, full of surprisingly influential culture. “The result is maybe the...

Exclusive: Aneurin Barnard (Dunkirk) has been cast opposite Alex Pettyfer (Magic Mike) in thriller Hunters In The Dark, which Ddi is selling this week at the Cannes virtual market.

As previously announced, cast also includes Tzi Ma (Mulan), Ellen Wong (Glow) and Elodie Yung (Daredevil).

Veteran theater director Simon Evans is making his feature filmmaking debut on the film, which has revered cinematographer Christopher Doyle (In The Mood For Love) also aboard.

The film tells the story of 28-year-old English school teacher Robert Grieve (Pettyfer), who unexpectedly wins a bag full of cash. Adrift in Cambodia and eager for a way out of his life of quiet desperation, he decides to take a journey deeper into the wilder aspects of the country, coming up against a scheming American, a crooked police officer and a darker side of Cambodia.

Producers are Axel Kuschevatzky (The Secret In Their Eyes) and Phin Glynn...

Following Amazon Prime Video’s big hit with “Good Omens,” David Tennant and Michael Sheen will reteam to star in a brand new BBC lockdown comedy “Staged,” produced for BBC One by Infinity Hill and Gcb Films and due to air in June.

“Staged” turns on the cast of a play, described as the cream of British acting talent, who, furloughed when their upcoming West End production comes to a halt, attempt to keep rehearsals on track despite lockdown, BBC announced Friday.

The set up looks set to play with on-stage and off-stage fiction and true-life reality, with a dose of bathetic realism added by self-shooting and video conference technology as well as Tennant and Sheen’s portraying lockdown at the expense of their own dignity. The line-up also includes actor Georgia Tennant (“In the Dark”) and Anna Lundberg, Tennant and Sheen’s partners in real-life, as well as theater actress Lucy Eaton.

Exclusive: Daredevil and The Defenders alumna Élodie Yung has been tapped as the lead of Fox’s drama pilot The Cleaning Lady in a recasting.

In the pilot, written by Miranda Kwok and to be directed by Michael Offer, she replaces Shannyn Sossamon, who originally was cast in the title role, Reyna Salonga. She exited after the pilot’s table read just a couple of days before all pilot production was grounded over the coronavirus pandemic.

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Yung’s casting is an indication that Fox intends to film The Cleaning Lady, which I hear currently is the plan for all of the network’s four drama and two comedy pilots, one of which has been partially shot.

With Yung on board,...

Berlin — Teaming two of the most energetic players on the new Spanish-language content scene, El Estudio and Infinity Hill are teaming to produce “Amor es Amor,” Rob Schneider’s Spanish-language movie debut as both an actor and director.

A comedy, “Amor es Amor” turns on Enrique Juarez, an up-and-coming Mexican telenovela actor on the verge of breakthrough as a leading man, who has to hide his true self in order to achieve stardom.

That includes creating a fake relationship with former pop sensation, Sofia. The mastermind behind the whole scheme is Julian Rodin (Schneider), a big TV network honcho, who is secretly having an affair with Sofia.

“Amor es amor” marks the latest turn in a career which saw Schneider debut in 1990 as a writer and soon after cast member on “SNL,” then break out out in movies in “Deuce Bigalow – Male Gigolo” in which he created one of his most famed characters,...

The upcoming Cambodia-set thriller Hunters in the Dark, based on English writer Lawrence Osborne's acclaimed novel of the same name, has unveiled several key additions to its starring cast.

Hong Kong American actor Tzi Ma, co-star of Disney's upcoming Mulan, and Ellen Wong, best known for Netflix's Glow, have both boarded the project. Elodie Yung, familiar to Marvel fans for her performance as Elektra on Netflix's Daredevil and The Defenders, also has joined the film. They will co-star alongside Alex Pettyfer (Magic Mike, I Am Number Four), who was previously announced as the pic's lead.

The casting additions were unveiled Friday at ...

The upcoming Cambodia-set thriller Hunters in the Dark, based on English writer Lawrence Osborne's acclaimed novel of the same name, has unveiled several key additions to its starring cast.

Hong Kong American actor Tzi Ma, co-star of Disney's upcoming Mulan, and Ellen Wong, best known for Netflix's Glow, have both boarded the project. Elodie Yung, familiar to Marvel fans for her performance as Elektra on Netflix's Daredevil and The Defenders, also has joined the film. They will co-star alongside Alex Pettyfer (Magic Mike, I Am Number Four), who was previously announced as the pic's lead.

The casting additions were unveiled Friday at ...

Viacom International Studios (Vis) has signed an exclusive first look development deal with Infinity Hill. The companies will co-develop and co-produce a slate of Spanish-language features, filmed globally and utilizing international talent on both sides of the camera.

Infinity Hill is the new label from longtime Telefonica and Viacom exec Axel Kuschevatzky, one of the Spanish-speaking world’s highest-profile film executives, “Waiting for Anya” producer Phin Glynn and producer Cindy Teperman (“Animal”). With offices in London, Los Angeles and Buenos Aires, the label already has a multilingual slate of films in production, some of which were unveiled at November’s American Film Market.

The company’s first title, “The Doorman,” recently wrapped and stars Ruby Rose (“Batwoman”) and Jean Reno (“Leon”) and is directed by Ryûhei Kitamura. A Lionsgate U.S. pick up which has sold strongly in international, handled by Ddi, off a Berlin European Film Market bow, is produced by Glynn,...