Martin Scorsese’s forthcoming drama THE IRISHMAN has yet to be made available at the Cannes market and has buyers chomping at the bit. Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci star in the big budget 1970s-set mobster pic that is causing an anxious buzz among studios like Lionsgate, Universal, and STX Entertainment. Whether or not it will hit the market is up in the air, but if it does, it will certainly spark a bidding war. Scorsese is repped by WME.
Halle Berry and Michael Douglas are set to star in the Adrian Lyne-directed SILENCE. Set in the snow-covered Christmas streets of Chicago in the ’60s, the movie follows a man named John Carpenter whose life is saved by a stranger named Silence during a deadly riot. Berry is repped by CAA. Douglas is repped by UTA.
Diane Krueger, who stars in the forthcoming The Infiltrator opposite Bryan Cranston, has been tapped to star in her first German language project, AUS DEM NICHTS (IN THE FADE) directed by Fatih Akin, who helmed Why We Took The Car. Details about the film have been kept under wraps. She is repped by UTA and UBBA.
Veep executive producer and writer Armando Iannucci has tapped an impressive cast for his next feature THE DEATH OF STALIN, based on Fabien Nury and Thierry Robin‘s French graphic novel. The all-star cast includes Jeffrey Tambor, Steve Buscemi, Olga Kurylenko, Timothy Dalton, Toby Kebbel, Michael Palin, Simon Russell Beale, Paddy Considine and Andrea Riseborough. The film is set during 1953 and follows the political infighting that happened after the death of Joseph Stalin. Iannucci is repped by CAA, PBJ Management, and UTA.
Warcraft star Travis Fimmel has been tapped to star in INVERSION. The sci-fi pic tells the story of a con man and a young Chinese physicist who are racing against the clock to save the Earth from losing gravity. Peter Segal is set to direct the script co-written by Paul Haggis, David Arata, and Bragi Schut Jr. Fimmel is repped by Paradigm.
Film Mode Entertainment has nabbed the international rights to LITTLE PINK HOUSE starring Catherine Keener. Directed and written by Courtney Moorehead Balaker tells the true story of nurse Susette Kelo who takes on a corporation that uses eminent domain to seize homes in homes in a working-class Connecticut neighborhood.
Former Destiny’s Child member LeToya Luckett is set to play Dionne Warwick in an upcoming biopic about the legendary singer. Mario Van Peebles is in talks to direct while Danny Glover has signed on to play Warwick’s father and Olympia Dukakis will star as Marlene Dietrich. Lady Gaga was rumored to play Warwick’s “rival” Cilla Black, but she has since denied the casting news. Luckett is repped by APA.
Frequent Steven Spielberg collaborator and Oscar-winning cinematographer Janusz Kaminski will direct THE RABBIT GARDEN. The film is based on the life of Holocaust survivor and celebrated author Jerzy Kosinki who is known for works such as The Painted Bird and Being There. Kaminski is repped by ICM Partners.
The Joel Hopkins-directed HAMPSTEAD starring Diane Keaton and Brendan Gleeson has added Lesley Manville, James Norton, Jason Watkins, and Simon Callow to the cast. Inspired by true events, the movie follows Emily Walters (Keaton), who lives in an affluent part of London who helps save a man named Daniel (Gleeson) getting attacked outside of his ramshackle hut. It turns out that property developers are attempting to remove Daniel from his home so when Emily tries to befriend him, he is suspicious but polite. When she finds out about his situation, she sides with him.
Manville is repped by Artists Rights Group.
Norton is repped by UTA and The Artists Partnership.
Watkins is repped by United Agents.
Callow is repped by Paradigm.
Man on a Ledge director Asger Leth will direct WHITE DOG written by Martin Zandvliet and Angers August.The story has been described as a “tense and viscious drama with an undercurrent of political comment.” Leth is repped by CAA.
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Dino-Ray Ramos | Staff Writer