News

Beloved Swedish classic novel “The Scarab Flies at Dusk” is being adapted into a premium family adventure series produced by Nordic Drama Queens, the top-notch production label backed by Fifth Season.

Swedish broadcaster Svt has already commissioned the show whose starry cast will be led by Tomas von Brömssen (“My Life as a Dog”), Pernilla August (“‘The Best Intentions”) Dag Malmberg (“The Bridge”) and Lena Endre (“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”). Fifth Season is handling worldwide sales on the series and is introducing it to potential buyers attending the Göteborg Film Festival’s TV Drama Vision.

“Afterglow” filmmaker Atle Knudsen will be directing the series, which is penned by celebrated authors Ditta Bongenhielm (“Bonus Family“) and Lovisa Milles (“Jordskott“).

“The Scarab Flies at Dusk” will be filmed in Västra Götaland and produced by Nordic Drama Queens in collaboration with Svt, Film i Väst, TV2 Norway, Monster As and Dr...

Oscar winner Jeremy Irons has joined the cast of Palme d’Or-winning director Bille August’s prestige limited series “The Count of Monte Cristo,” which also stars Sam Claflin.

A sprawling adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ classic novel, the English-language series is produced by Mediawan’s banner Palomar, the leading Italian company behind “That Dirty Black Bag” and “The Name of the Rose,” in collaboration with another Mediawan label, France’s Demd Productions. The series’ five-month shoot will wrap in Malta in December, after having lensed in France and Italy.

The show underscores Mediawan’s strategy to pursue prestige scripted projects with strong international potential under its €100 million co-investment agreement signed earlier this year with private equity film Entourage Ventures.

“The Count of Monte Cristo” marks Irons’ third collaboration with August, who directed him in “Night Train to Lisbon” and “The House of Spirits.” A revered Danish filmmaker, August previously won...

Bille August, the two-time Palme d’Or winning director of “Pelle the Conqueror,” is directing a sprawling English language series adapted from Alexandre Dumas’ classic novel “The Count of Monte Cristo” starring an international cast led by Sam Claflin (“Peaky Blinders”).

“The Count of Monte Cristo” marks the first series which is entirely produced within Mediawan and represented by its distribution arm Mediawan Rights. As such, Italy’s Palomar is producing the eight-part series in collaboration with Demd Productions in France, in association with Entourage Ventures, as well as Rai Fiction and France Televisions which are the commissioning broadcasters in Italy and France, respectively.

The show underscores Mediawan’s strategy to pursue prestige scripted projects with strong international potential under its €100 million co-development agreement signed earlier this year with private equity film Entourage Ventures. Another recent Mediawan show in the same vein is the anticipated “Zorro” series reboot directed by...

Ruben Östlund has been named president of the jury at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, Cannes organizers announced Tuesday morning in Paris.

Östlund is a two-time winner of Cannes’ highest honor, the Palme d’Or, which he won in 2017 for “The Square” and last year for “Triangle of Sadness,” which is currently an Oscar nominee for Best Picture. He is one of only nine directors to have won the Palme twice, and one of only three to win the award for consecutive films. (The others were Michael Haneke for “The White Ribbon” and “Amour” and Bille August for “Pelle the Conqueror” and “The Best Intentions.”)

Two other two-time winners, Francis Ford Coppola and Emir Kusturica, have previously served as jury presidents, but Östlund is the first to do it the year after winning the Palme. He will become the first jury president from Sweden since Ingmar Bergman served in the position...

Neon earned bragging rights tonight with the third consecutive Palme d’Or Cannes winner in a row, that being Ruben Östlund’s satirical comedy Triangle of Sadness, which was a huge crowd pleaser during the fest.

The pic follows Neon’s previous Palme d’Or winner, last year’s Titane and, of course, 2019’s Parasite which went on to win four Oscars including Best Picture.

Triangle of Sadness is a knock on the 1 and follows a fashion model and her model casting agent partner, played by Charlbi Dean and Harris Dickinson. The duo wind up on luxury yacht where they’re the poorest of the poor. Woody Harrelson plays a Marxist captain who gets drunk with a Russian oligarch, reads from the Communist manifesto and sends his yacht into rough waters until the passengers crap and vomit. Hijinks ensue with a portion marooned to a deserted island.

The pic clocks in at 2 1/2 hours.

Daisy Jacob and Alessandro Gassmann also set to star.

Bafta-winner Tom Hollander is to play one of the lead roles in post-World War II coming-of-age drama, Me, You directed by Oscar and Palme d’Or winner Bille August.

The film will begin shooting in Ischia, Italy, in September 2022 with Daisy Jacob and Alessandro Gassmann also starring.

Set in 1950’s Ischia, Me, You is the story of a shy 16-year-old Marco who falls in love with 20-year-old Caia while on holiday with his father. When she reveals her painful childhood caused by the SS during World War II, an infatuated Marco...

Tom Hollander Starring In Billie August Post-wwii Drama ‘Me, You’

The Night Manager and Gosford Park star Tom Hollander has landed a lead role in Billie August coming of age post-World War II drama feature Me, You. Adapted from Erri De Luca’s novel Tu, Mio, it also has Daisy Jacob (National Theatre Live: The Hard Problem) and Alessandr Gassman (Transporter 2) attached and will begin principle photography in Ischia, Italy in September. The plot follows teenage boy Marco, who sails the tranquil seas around Naples with a hardened fisherman. Marco falls love with an enigmatic girl, Caia, whose painful past fuels a ferocious resentment in him, setting off alarm bells. August is directing, with Greg Latter writing the screenplay. Brilliant Pictures’ Sean O’Kelly and Marc Bikindou are producing along with Cristaldi Pics’ Mark Hammond. Hollander is represented by Anonymous Content in the US...

Tom Cruise to hit the Cannes Croisette in Top Gun: Maverick on 25 May Photo: Paramount Pictures Superstar Tom Cruise will be in attendance in Cannes on May 18, 2022 for the premiere screening of Top Gun: Maverick at the Cannes Film Festival in May when a special tribute to will be given with an onstage event.

The festival bow coincides with the roll-out of one of the year’s most anticipated titles in cinemas all over the world. Cruise has made only one appearance at the festival previously, in 1992, for Ron Howard’s Far And Away, the closing film of the 45th festival. That evening, he awarded the Palme d'or to director Bille August for his film The Best Intentions.

Exactly 30 years later, on 18 May, the Festival will pay him an exceptional tribute for his lifetime achievements. Cruise will have an on-stage conversation with journalist Didier Allouch in the afternoon and will...

Cannes has confirmed our scoop from last month by announcing details of the Top Gun: Maverick screening and the Tom Cruise special tribute. This is expected to be the film’s international premiere with the global premiere in San Diego. Press release from the festival below:

“Tom Cruise will be in attendance in Cannes on May 18, 2022 for the screening of Top Gun: Maverick, scheduled for release on May 25 in France and May 27 in the US. The Festival will also pay a special tribute to Tom Cruise for his career.

Top Gun hero Maverick, will be back in cinemas all over the world and Tom Cruise will return to the Festival de Cannes where he has made only one appearance before: on May 18, 1992, for Ron Howard’s Far and Away, the closing film of the 45th Festival. That evening, he had awarded the Palme d’or to director Bille August for his film The Best Intentions.

Birthe Neumann as Karen Blixen with Thorkild Bjørnvig (Simon Bennebjerg) in The Pact, Bille August’s elegant take on creation and destruction.

Karen Blixen herself, if you take her word for it, had made a deal with the devil in exchange for the power to tell tales. In Bille August’s The Pact (Pagten), co-written with Christian Torpe and based on the memoir by Thorkild Bjørnvig, starring Birthe Neumann as Blixen, opposite Simon Bennebjerg as Bjørnvig, she tests her own devilishness, and yet remains always very human. Blixen’s Seven Gothic Tales and Out Of Africa, plus Sydney Pollack’s film version of the latter with Meryl Streep, Robert Redford, and Klaus Maria Brandauer may float in and out of our memory while watching the machinations of mutual manipulation unfold.

Bille August with Anne-Katrin Titze on Karen Blixen: “Doing this film I was trying to understand how she worked as a storyteller,...

For many of us, the first mental image prompted by the name Karen Blixen is of a radiant Meryl Streep, resplendent in oatmeal linen and undulating safari hat, romantically lit in the tawny Kenyan dusk. If you wish that to remain the case, best to steer clear of “The Pact” — not that Bille August’s flat, unflattering portrait of the older Blixen should be appointment viewing for anyone. Drawn from Danish poet Thorkild Bjørnvig’s memoir of his thorny friendship with, and tutelage under, the older literary icon, this well-dressed midcentury period piece keeps teasing a darker, more perverse take on a familiar story of cross-generational creative mentorship. Yet despite a performance of unnerving severity by Birthe Neumann as the rancorous Blixen, the film remains too polite and light on incident to deliver on that promise.

Written by Danish TV heavyweight Christian Torpe (“Rita”), the screenplay of “The Pact” bristles with quiet but disquieting tensions,...

Oscar and double Palme d’Or winning director Bille August is attending the Göteborg Film Festival for a Director’s Talk and the gala screening of his psycho-drama “The Pact”.

He will also pitch at the adjoining Nordic Film Market (Feb. 3-6), the work in progress of his upcoming Danish pic “The Kiss”.

August spoke exclusively to Variety about “The Kiss,” his enduring interest in the complexity of human beings, book-to-screen adaptations and his belief in the big screen experience.

Loosely based on Stefan Zweig’s novel “Beware of Pity and transposed from an Austrian to a Danish setting, “The Kiss” is a romantic drama set in 1913. The helmer has reunited with “A Fortunate Man”’s lead Espen Smed, cast as cavalry officer trainee Anton. Introduced to Baron von Løvenskjold’s daughter Edith, a wheelchair user following an accident, Anton is attracted to her, but unsure if his feelings are of pity or true love.

Queen Margrethe II, the reigning Danish monarch, will add an adaptation of Karen Blixen’s fantasy novel Ehrengard to her two previous screen credits

Queen Margrethe II, reigning monarch of Denmark, is to design the sets for a forthcoming Netflix film adapted from a novel by Karen Blixen, it has been announced.

A romantic fantasy set in the fairytale kingdom of Babenhausen, Ehrengard will be directed by Bille August, the veteran Danish director of Pelle the Conqueror (which won both the Palme d’Or and Oscar for best foreign language film in 1988) and The Best Intentions (which won August a second Palme d’Or).

A tribute to the Nordic film industry’s resilience, four Nordic titles have made it through to Cannes’ Official Selection. And unlike previous years, when Denmark or Sweden (Rüben Östlund) drew most of the worldwide attention, audiences should watch out for new and established voices from Norway, Finland and Iceland.

“Compartment No. 6”

Juho Kuosmanen’s sophomore feature marks Finland’s return to competition after a decade away (the previous Finnish film in competition was Aki Kaurismäki’s “Le Havre”). The Finnish director won Un Certain Regard back in 2016 with his black-and- white debut, “The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki.” The story of a young Finnish student and a misanthropic Russian miner who share a journey along the Soviet Union’s trans-Siberian railway in the late 1980s, “Compartment No. 6” stars Seidi Haarla, one of the Berlinale’s 10 Shooting Stars.

“The Gravedigger’s Wife”

Finland makes history this year...

Marc Bikindou, Sean O’Kelly launch production, finance, sales and distribution company.

Industry executives Marc Bikindou and Sean O’Kelly have launched production, finance, sales and distribution company Brilliant Pictures and will unveil its inaugural sales slate at the Pre-Cannes Screenings next week.

The company, which has offices in London and Rome, has boarded worldwide sales for several market titles, led by a new feature from Danish director Billie August.

The Oscar-winning filmmaker, who twice won the Palme d’Or with Pelle The Conqueror and The Best Intentions, is set to direct a post-Second World War drama based on bestselling novel Me,...

Cannes

Ava Cahen will become the artistic director of Critics’ Week at Cannes from Aug. 1, taking over from Charles Tesson.

Cahen founded the magazine Clap in 2014 and FrenchMania in 2017 along with the Woody Club she created in 2016. She has been a commentator for the TV program “Le Cercle” on Canal Plus since 2014 and since 2019 for “Une heure en séries,” a radio show on France Inter. She has published several books on cinema and series including “Woody Allen Profession Cynique” (2015), “Cheforama” (2017) and “Game of Thrones” (2019).

In 2016, at 30, Cahen became the youngest selection committee member in the history of Critics’ Week and joined the French Union of Film Critics. She also lectures at Nanterre Paris X University.

Sales

Producer Sean O’Kelly (“Iron Sky”) has teamed with veteran sales agent Marc Bikindou to launch Brilliant Pictures, a venture encompassing production, finance, sales and distribution for film and TV with offices in London and Rome,...

A feature directed by Bille August — the Oscar, Golden Globe and twice Palme d’Or winning Danish director behind Pelle the Conquerer and The Best Intentions — is topping the first Cannes sales slate for newly-launched outfit Brilliant Pictures.

A joint venture of industry veterans Sean O’Kelly and Marc Bikindou, the company — with offices in London and Rome — encompasses production, finance, worldwide sales and distribution for film and TV, and will launch its inaugural sales slate at the Cannes Film Festival next month. The aim, it says, is to bring up five titles to market each year.

Headlining its slate, Brilliant ...

A feature directed by Bille August — the Oscar, Golden Globe and twice Palme d’Or winning Danish director behind Pelle the Conquerer and The Best Intentions — is topping the first Cannes sales slate for newly-launched outfit Brilliant Pictures.

A joint venture of industry veterans Sean O’Kelly and Marc Bikindou, the company — with offices in London and Rome — encompasses production, finance, worldwide sales and distribution for film and TV, and will launch its inaugural sales slate at the Cannes Film Festival next month. The aim, it says, is to bring up five titles to market each year.

Headlining its slate, Brilliant ...

Sf Studios and sales banner REinvent have unveiled the trailer for “The Pact,” Bille August’s psychological drama based on real events in the life of Karen Blixen, the Danish author best known for her autobiographical novel “Out of Africa.”

The film depicts Blixen’s tumultuous relationship with Thorkild Bjørnvig, a promising young poet, after she returned from Africa. Birthe Neumann headlines the film as Blixen in her first major dramatic film role since “The Celebration.”

“The Pact” is produced by Sf Studios and Motor with producers Jesper Morthorst and Karin Trolle. Nordic distribution is handled by Sf Studios while REinvent International Sales is selling worldwide rights. The film will be released in cinemas in Denmark on April 15.

Along with “Margrete-Queen of the North” and “The Emigrants,” “The Pact” is one of the thee projects from Sf Studios which will be presented in the Works in Progress section at this...

Stars took to Twitter to remember Max von Sydow, the prolific Swedish actor best known for “The Exorcist” and “The Seventh Seal.” The two-time Oscar-nominated actor died Sunday at age 90.

Martin Scorsese, Mia Farrow and Seth Meyers lead the tributes to the Oscar-nominated actor Monday.

“Max Von Sydow was something like a consummate actor, with a pride in his art and a dedication to his craft that I’ve encountered in very few people in my life,” Scorsese, who directed von Sydow in 2010’s “Shutter Island,” said in a statement. “On the set he was remarkable, and off the set he a complete gentleman. … And what he and Ingmar Bergman found together is more precious than gold.”

Farrow, the actress known for the 1968 classic “Rosemary’s Baby,” left a heartfelt message next to a photo of von Sydow in his younger years.

Also Read: Mart Crowley, 'The Boys in the Band' Playwright,...

Max von Sydow, the tall, tragic-faced Swedish actor whose name was virtually synonymous with the films of Ingmar Bergman, has died. He was 90.

Variety has confirmed that the actor died on Sunday.

Von Sydow, who became Bergman’s symbol for the modern man in such films as “The Passion of Anna” and “Shame” after making his Bergman debut as the errant knight in “The Seventh Seal,” also had an unusually prolific career in Hollywood and international films.

He made his American debut in the role of Jesus Christ in George Stevens’ turgid 1965 epic “The Greatest Story Ever Told” and went on to make strong impressions with audiences in “The Exorcist,” Woody Allen’s “Hannah and Her Sisters,” David Lynch’s “Dune,” “Three Days of the Condor,” “Hawaii,” “Conan the Barbarian” and “Awakenings.”

Von Sydow worked for other Scandinavian directors as well, drawing an Oscar nomination for his role in Bille August...

Bille August (“Pelle the Conqueror”), one of Denmark’s best known filmmakers, is set to direct “The Pact,” a psychological drama about the intense friendship between Karen Blixen, the Danish author best known for her autobiographical novel “Out of Africa,” and Thorkild Bjønvig, a young and promising poet.

“The Pact” was written by Christian Torpe, based on Bjørnvig’s autobiography of the same name.

Torpe previously wrote August’s “Silent Heart,” which won the Silver Seashell at San Sebastian in 2014. “The Pact” is produced by Jesper Morthorst at Motor and Sf Studios, which will release the film theatrically in early 2021.

“‘The Pact’ is a relationship drama, the eternal story of seduction and wanting to be seduced, of the art of manipulation, of guilt and innocence, of a highly unusual friendship between two deeply talented people and a relationship that develops into a fateful bond,” said August, whose credits include the...

July 14 marks the 100th birthday of writer-director Ingmar Bergman, whom Variety declared on Nov. 24, 1954, to be “Sweden’s top director.” Within three years, Bergman went beyond that: He was recognized as one of the top filmmakers in the entire world, thanks to the 1957 duo of “The Seventh Seal” and “Wild Strawberries.” A year later, Carl Dymling, president of Sweden’s leading production unit Svensk Filmindustri, told Variety that “Seventh Seal” marked a new era in moviemaking: “Bergman uses the film much as an author does his book. As a rule, one can’t afford to be too explicit about one’s own feelings in making a picture. But Bergman does it.” The director made global stars of Liv Ullmann and Max von Sydow and inspired young filmmakers around the world for decades with his tales of existential crisis, the tenderness and brutality between individuals, and the pleasures and insanity of sex.

Lille, France — Netflix bowed its first Danish original, “The Rain,” one of the most awaited of Series Mania’s competition contenders, on Saturday evening, at the French drama series festival.

Produced by Denmark’s Miso Film, which also has the buzzed up “Warrior” in competition, and co-created by Jannick Tal Mosholt, whose writing credits include four episodes of “Borgen” Season 3, “The Rain” drew a big and appreciative crowd of 1,200-plus mainly 20 or 30-something Lille spectators who packed out the lower half of Lille’s 2,000-seat Nouveau Siecle.

Here are four immediate reactions to the latest of Netflix international originals, released worldwide on May 4.

1.Velocity

“The Rain” kicks in with scenes from what looks like a high-school romance, as Simone (Alba August) tries to organize her class mates for an exam project, and is asked out on a date by a boy in the group, during the exam. Then her father...

Palme d'Or winner 'The Square' with Claes Bang: 'Gobsmackingly weird' Cannes Film Festival favorite may have a tough time landing a Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award nomination. Ruben Östlund's comedy-drama is totally unrelated to Jehane Noujaim's 2013 Oscar-nominated political documentary of the same title, which refers to downtown Cairo's Tahrir Square. Cannes' Palme d'Or winner 'The Square' & other Official Competition favorites' Oscar chances Screenwriter-director Ruben Östlund's The Square was the Palme d'Or winner at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival, which wrapped up on May 28. (See list of Palme d'Or and other 2017 Cannes winners further below.) Clocking in at about 2 hours and 20 minutes, Östlund's unusual comedy-drama revolving around the chaotic p.r. campaign to promote the opening of the titular installation – a symbolic square of light – at a contemporary art museum in Stockholm has been generally well-received by critics. In the opinion of The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw,...

As the acclaimed Merchant Ivory film is screened in Cannes, Redgrave and director James Ivory discuss cinema’s backlash against costume drama, and why Em Forster would have approved of social media

Twenty-four years ago, Vanessa Redgrave, Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson and Helena Bonham Carter strode up the red carpet in Cannes to present Howards End, the latest Em Forster adaptation by director/producer powerhouse James Ivory and Ismail Merchant. The film was ecstatically received and, despite losing out on the Palme d’Or to The Best Intentions, the Bille August drama about Bergman’s parents, it did go on to impress at the box office and win countless awards, including three Oscars.

On Friday, Redgrave and Ivory were back on the Croisette (Merchant died in 2005) to present a restored print, reflect on how the film’s message – about the necessity of bridging the English class divide – is less fashionable today and consider why the film’s fortunes fell in favour of a millennial itch for grit.

Continue reading...

"A Quiet Passion," Terence Davies' portrait of the reclusive American poet Emily Dickinson, starring Cynthia Nixon, Jennifer Ehle, and Keith Carradine, will debut out of competition at next month's Berlinale, one of eight films to be presented in the festival's Special section. Among the others are Michael Moore's latest, "Where to Invade Next," and the international premiere of Don Cheadle's feature directorial debut, Miles Davis biopic "Miles Ahead."  Read More: "First Look: Cynthia Nixon as Emily Dickinson in Terence Davies' 'A Quiet Passion'" This year's Berlinale Special, which presents recent works by contemporary filmmakers, biopics of renowned personalities, and extraordinary formats, also features new films from Kiyoshi Kurosawa ("Tokyo Sonata") and Pernilla August, the Swedish actress who played Ingmar Bergman's mother in the miniseries and subsequent movie "The Best Intentions," written by Bergman...

Exclusive: Double Palme d’Or winner is to begin production on 55 Steps in October.

Double Palme d’Or winner Bille August has given further details of his upcoming projects.

August revealed he is to begin production on 55 Steps starring Helena Bonham Carter and Vera Farmiga in October.

The film, on Atlas International’s slate, is about a lawyer defending a schizophrenic patient.

“It’s a story that takes place in San Francisco in 1989. It is based on a true story,” August said. The film details the real-life case of Eleanor Riise (Bonham-Carter), a woman in a mental hospital who hired a lawyer (Farmiga) to sue the medical establishment. John Goodman is also in the cast.

“These two characters are completely opposite. It’s like a ying and yang story but they develop a beautiful friendship,” the director said.

The Us producer is Sara Risher and the European producer is Anita Elsani.

Following 55 Steps...

Guests attending the festival including Richard Ayoade and Catherine Breillat, while one of the themes focuses on The Seventh Seal.

British film-maker Richard Ayoade and French director Catherine Breillat are among the guests set to attend this year’s Bergman Week, running June 23-29 on Fårö, Sweden.

Ayoade will be in attendance for the Swedish premiere of his second feature The Double as well as talking about how Bergman influences his work, while Breillat’s latest film Abuse of Weakness will also be screened.

Other guests include director Bille August, who won the Palme d’Or for The Best Intentions about Ingmar Bergman’s parents.

Themes this year include Mindmapping: The Seventh Seal, taking a closer look at the film from iconic and historic aspects, and dance with choreographer Alexander Ekman visiting Fårö with Ferry Scenes

Ekman’s installation, which will be performed on the ferry between Fårö and Fårösund, is based on...

Ghita Nørby stars in family drama to be shot on Danish island of Funen.

While preparing two German features – new adaptions of Russian author Vladimir Nabokov’s Laughter in the Dark and Austrian author Stefan Zweig’s Beware of Pity - Danish Oscar-winning director Bille August will on Monday start principal photography for a new Danish family drama, Quiet Heart (Stille hjerte), on the island of Funen.

From an original story by Christian Torpe, the Jesper Mothorst production for Sf Film willl reunite August with Danish actress Ghita Nørby, who played the lead in his Ingmar Bergman film from 1992, The Best Intentions (Den goda viljan), which received the Palme d’Or in Cannes.

August also won the top prize in Cannes for Pelle the Conqueror (Pelle Erobreren/1988), which went on to collect the Golden Globe and the Oscar for Best Foreign-Language Feature.

Quiet Heart follows three generations of a family, gathered for a weekend...

Ghita Nørby stars in family drama to be shot on Danish island of Funen.

While preparing two German features – new adaptions of Russian author Vladimir Nabokov’s Laughter in the Dark and Austrian author Stefan Zweig’s Beware of Pity - Danish Oscar-winning director Bille August will on Monday start principal photography for a new Danish family drama, Quiet Heart (Stille hjerte), on the island of Funen.

From an original story by Christian Torpe, the Jesper Mothorst production for Sf Film willl reunite August with Danish actress Ghita Nørby, who played the lead in his Ingmar Bergman film from 1992, The Best Intentions (Den goda viljan), which received the Palme d’Or in Cannes.

August also won the top prize in Cannes for Pelle the Conqueror (Pelle Erobreren/1988), which went on to collect the Golden Globe and the Oscar for Best Foreign-Language Feature.

Quiet Heart follows three generations of a family, gathered for a weekend...

"Sharknado" may represent the pinnacle of the nature-disaster movie genre. There are sharks. There are tornados. Both seem intent to rain death and destruction down upon '90s-era stars like Ian Ziering and Tara Reid.

Where can the Syfy Original Movie franchise go after this?

That's not the concern of this blog. Instead, this bit of important writing will focus on the minutiae of "Sharknado," chronicling one person's experience as this seminal film plays out. Please, follow along. There may never be another event like this.

Here begins the live blog

Even before the opening credits role, we get to see a tornado -- more accurately, a waterspout -- suck up sharks "20 miles off the coast of Mexico."

Somewhere nearby, Captain Santiago negotiates with a very serious Asian man while drinking tea or coffee or something. They might be talking about fish. Santiago wants a million. He gets it by flashing a gun.

Wrekin Hill Entertainment is acquiring U.S. rights to Bille August’s thriller "Night Train to Lisbon," which debuted at the Berlin Film Festival, and plans a release later this year. Gregg Latter and Ulrich Herrmann adapted the bestseller by Pascal Mercier about Swiss professor Raimund Gregorius (Jeremy Irons) who learns of a mesmerizing book by Portuguese author Amadeu de Prado, which compels him to ditch his boring life and embark on an adventure in Lisbon. The sprawling international cast also includes Jack Huston, Melanie Laurent, Martina Gedeck, August Deihl, Bruno Ganz, Lena Olin, Christopher Lee and Charlotte Rampling. August also directed "Pelle the Conqueror," "The Best Intentions," "House of the Spirits" and "Smilla's Sense of Snow." Studio Hamburg FilmProduktion and C-films Ag Zuerich produced the film, in co-production with C-Films Deutschland GmbH, Cinemate Portugal and with Tele Muenchen Group. The film has already been performed well in several...

Danish film director Bille August has consistently brought a strong vision to international stories. He is best known for Pelle the Conqueror, the 1987 film about Swedish immigrants in Denmark, which received the Palme d’Or, the Academy Award and the Golden Globe. He is one of the few directors who have won the Palme d’Or twice, putting him in the ranks of Francis Ford Coppola, Emir Kusturica, and the Dardenne brothers. His second came with the 1992 film The Best Intentions, a semi-autobiographical family story written by Ingmar Bergman. Twenty years ago August explored love and revolution in The House …...

As we all know, “Palme d’Or” is French for Feather Button Hand of Gold Achievement. Or something. Google Translate wasn’t loading this morning. Regardless, it’s as prestigious as awards get, although it hilariously almost never lines up with the Oscars (for good reason). Past winners include Barton Fink, Taxi Driver, Mash, The Third Man, Black Orpheus, La Dolce Vita, The Wind That Shakes the Barley and nearly one hundred other films that should be on a rental queue somewhere. That list also includes Michael Haneke‘s The White Ribbon which took the price in 2009 and, as of yesterday, his latest film Love (Amour). That’s 2 wins for the director in 4 competition years. It ties him for Most Palmes d’Or Ever (no director has won more than two), where he joins Alf Sjoberg (Iris and the Lieutenant, Miss Julie); Francis Ford Coppola (The Conversation, Apocalypse Now); Bille August (Pelle the Conqueror, The Best Intentions...

Michael Haneke's quiet and emotional "Amour" has won the Palme d'Or at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, the Cannes jury announced on Sunday. A favorite of Cannes viewers from the moment it debuted at the festival a week ago, "Amour" was considered one of the favorites for the Palme. Haneke won in 2009 for his previous film, "The White Ribbon"; this victory makes Haneke only the second director to win the top Cannes award for back-to-back films. Bille August also did it for "Pelle the Conqueror" and "The Best Intentions" in 1988...

Amour: director Michael Haneke, Emmanuelle Riva, Jean-Louis Trintignant The Cannes Film Festival 2012‘s Palme d’Or winner? Well, though the two — critical raves, Palme d’Or — don’t always go hand in hand, the most widely acclaimed presentation at Cannes this year was Michael Haneke‘s tale of love and death, Amour / Love, starring veterans Jean-Louis Trintignant, Emmanuelle Riva, and Isabelle Huppert. So, I’m betting on Amour. [See also Cannes 2012: Best Actor Predictions; Cannes 2012: Best Actress Predictions; several Amour review snippets; the French-language Amour trailer.] In case Amour does take home the Palme d’Or, that’ll be Michael Haneke’s second win in three years: Haneke’s The White Ribbon, about Germany’s Nazi generation (long before they became Nazis), received Cannes’ top prize in 2009. That would also be a record-breaking small gap between Palme d’Ors: Bille August had to wait four years (Pelle the Conqueror, 1988; The Best Intentions, 1992); Francis Ford Coppola five years (The Conversation, 1974; Apocalypse Now, 1979, tied with Volker Schlöndorff’s The Tin Drum...

Beautiful A-listers hit the Croisette in support of the most Hollywood-friendly competition lineup in years

Glancing over the Cannes lineup from 20 years ago is a startling reminder of just how little that seemingly prestigious Official Selection badge matters in the long run: among the 1992 prizewinners, The Player and Howards End may still be with us, but when was the last time you were tempted to seek out and stick on Bille August's Palme d'Or winner The Best Intentions? Other selections have retained their cultural cachet, but lost their festival association: sex-lies-and-icepicks thriller Basic Instinct made its European premiere in the august competition lineup.

Whether such gleeful trash would make the grade today is doubtful; there certainly doesn't appear to be anything quite as lurid vying for the Palme this year. (Following Tuesday night's dismal After the Battle, an earnest blend of dressage and Egyptian feminist tract, I rather wish there was.

Will Ferrell made a surprise announcement on the Us talk show Conan that there will be a sequel to his 2004 comedy hit Anchorman.

Appearing as Ron Burgundy - the film's title character who works for Kvwn-tv Channel 4 Evening News in 1975 San Diego - Ferrell told host Conan O'Brien that he and Paramount had made a deal to do a follow-up.

Ferrell is pictured in Anchorman guise with Conan O'Brien in an official photograph above, while a video of the talk show segment is embedded below.

There are rumours that Steve Carell, Paul Rudd and David Koechner will reprise their roles from the original and that Adam McKay will once again direct.

Back in 2008, a sequel was said to be in development but in April 2010, McKay said on Twitter that Paramount had scrapped the idea. There's no indication why it has suddenly been resurrected.

Ferrell's spoof Casa de Mi Padre...

Universal Studios President, Ron Meyer doesn't care at all about stepping on anyone's toes when he speaks. Movie Line posted what he told an audience at the Savannah Film Festival, and it's some spicy stuff. You've got to love it. On 'The Wolfman,' a film so bad that it has a straight-to-video reboot in the works already, he said: "One of the worst movies we ever made was Wolfman. Wolfman and Babe 2 are two of the shittiest movies we put out, but by the same token we made movies we believe in. We did United 93, which is one of the movies I’m most proud of. It wasn’t a big moneymaker, but it’s a film I believe every American should see and it showed you what people can do in the worst of times and how great the human spirit is and all that, so there...

Speaking at the Savannah Film Festival, head of Universal Studios Ronald Meyer criticized some of his movies, including "The Wolfman," "Cowboys and Aliens" and "Land of the Lost," stating that they were all "crap." "We make a lot of sh*tty movies. Every one of them breaks my heart. We set out to make good ones," he said. "One of the worst movies we ever made was 'Wolfman.' The script never got right, [the cast] was awful. The director was wrong. Benicio [del Toro] stunk. It all stunk." Meyer continued: "'Cowboys and Aliens' wasn't good enough. Forget all the smart people involved in it, it wasn't good enough. All those little creatures bouncing around were crappy. I think it was a mediocre movie, and we all did a mediocre job with it." And regarding "Land of the Lost," the studio head said: "'Land of the Lost' was just crap. I mean,...

Universal is hoping to have a big weekend at the box office with Brett Ratner's Tower Heist. Not only could this film revive Eddie Murphy's career, but it could revive the bottom line of Universal. Fast Five was a huge box office success after a high number of flops.

Ron Meyer, Universal's Chief recently spoke at the Savannah Film Festival about the some of the studios more high profile box office failings such as Land of the Lost, Wolfman, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, and most recently this summers Cowboys & Aliens. Meyer also addresses the recent Tower Heist VOD experiment in an hour long discussion at the event.

The studios recent cancellation of the Tower Heist VOD was a failed attempt to shape the future of film distribution. Theater owners vehemently objected to the idea, but that does not mean that the concept is completely kaput. Here is...

Honesty isn't always fun, but in environments where it is a rare commodity honesty can provide entertainment like nothing else. Ronald Meyer is the head of Universal Studios. He's a Us Marine who co-founded the Creative Artists Agency (CAA) in 1975 and became president of Universal in 1995. He has held that post ever since, through six regime changes. He's doing something right, even when he does things wrong. The question is, which of these things was wrong: making Land of the Lost, The Wolfman and Cowboys & Aliens, or publicly admitting that the movies were mistakes? While appearing at the Savannah Film Festival, Meyer talked with surprising candor about Universal's recent fortunes and the state of the studio's business today. The quotes in the headline are just the beginning. Movieline [1] saw Meyer speak at the Sff, and we can kick off with his general comments about what the movie business is: [A critical hit is] great when it happens.

Ron Meyer is a straight shooter. The president and COO of Universal Studios told an audience yesterday at the Savannah Film Festival that “we make a lot of sh—y movies,” according to Movieline. “Every one of them breaks my heart.” Two of the sh—iest? Babe 2 and The Wolfman. Other recent disappointments? Cowboys & Aliens (“All those little creatures bouncing around were crappy. I think it was a mediocre movie, and we all did a mediocre job with it”) and Land of the Lost (“Just crap. I mean, there was no excuse for it. The best intentions all went wrong...

March 23rd sees The Hangover star Bradley Cooper return to cinemas as Eddie Morra in Limitless, a sci-fi thrill ride revolving around the super ‘clear pill’, which organises the mind of its taker to allow limitless achievement. As his success starts to grow exponentially deadly side-effects and catastrophic consequences become all too real. Science gave Eddie the key to his dreams in a clear pill – but he should have been careful what he wished for.

To mark the release of Limitless, we’ve taken a look at some other cases of science turning infamously deadly in the movies.

28 Days Later (2002)

Danny Boyle’s bleak science-fiction zombie hit starts with a group of well-meaning activists freeing caged lab animals. Little do they know that the subjects they release are the product of a (presumably well-intentioned) medical study and have been infected with a deadly zombie making virus: ‘rage’. A human is bitten,...

Today's Birthdays 11/09

1869 Marie Dressler is awesome. She gave one of the most aggressive Best Actress winning performances evah. If you haven't seen Min & Bill (1933), you must. You must, you must, you must.

1883 Edna May Oliver feisty character actress

1886 Ed Wynn Uncle Albert from Mary Poppins. He loves to laugh... long and loud and clear. Audiences were always ready to laugh along with him

1922 Dorothy Dandridge first black woman to be nominated for Best Actress at the Oscars (Carmen Jones) and what a neat coincidence that she was portrayed by the first black actress to eventually win the Best Actress Oscar (Halle Berry) in the bio Introducing Dorothy Dandridge

1948 Bille August Danish director of The Best Intentions and Pelle the Conqueror fame

1955 Fernando Meirelles director of declining films: City of God, The Constant Gardner, Blindness. I'm not trying to be mean. But... um... do you have faith he'll pull out of it?...

[An indieWIRE review from Reverse Shot.] By now the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and its myriad resultant inequities, is believed in most quarters to be nearly intractably complex. Given this, it’s only natural that we’ll have filmmakers like Eran Riklis, intent on compressing matters down into easily understandable, overlapping narrative strands that feint at post-Bush intricacy, all while not terribly covertly reintroducing tried-and-true good/bad schematics. Thankfully a few storylines short of the Haggis-esque, …...

[An indieWIRE review from Reverse Shot.] By now the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and its myriad resultant inequities, is believed in most quarters to be nearly intractably complex. Given this, it’s only natural that we’ll have filmmakers like Eran Riklis, intent on compressing matters down into easily understandable, overlapping narrative strands that feint at post-Bush intricacy, all while not terribly covertly reintroducing tried-and-true good/bad schematics. Thankfully a few storylines short of the Haggis-esque, …...

[An indieWIRE review from Reverse Shot.] By now the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and its myriad resultant inequities, is believed in most quarters to be nearly intractably complex. Given this, it’s only natural that we’ll have filmmakers like Eran Riklis, intent on compressing matters down into easily understandable, overlapping narrative strands that feint at post-Bush intricacy, all while not terribly covertly reintroducing tried-and-true good/bad schematics. Thankfully a few storylines short of the Haggis-esque, …...