Scarlett Johansson has wanted to direct since she was 12 years old. On the set of Robert Redford’s 1998 film The Horse Whisperer — her seventh movie as an actor — she saw the specific way he worked, the way he understood his actors, and she had a clear thought: I want to do that someday. Now, she's taking her feature directorial debut, Eleanor the Great, to Cannes.
On the face of it, an indie film about a nonagenarian might seem an unusual choice to launch the directing career of the highest-grossing actress of all time.
But the script had an immediate impact. “When I read it, I cried, and that almost never happens,” she says. “Sometimes you’ll read a script that’s really moving. When I read Jojo Rabbit, I cried. Sometimes a script will move you like that, which is extraordinary.”
Attached to the film was 94-year-old June Squibb, the Oscar-nominated MVP of Alexander Payne’s 2013 film Nebraska. Squibb came on board just days after receiving the script and before Johansson joined the project. For Johansson, it was perfect casting.
“I wasn’t looking to make the script without June,” she says. “It had to be with June.” >>>Read The Exclusive Interview
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Ray Of Light - Madonna has partnered with Netflix to tell her story. A limited series about her life and music is in early development, with the iconic singer and Shawn Levy, whose 21 Laps has an exclusive TV overall deal at the platform, executive producing.
>>>Distinct From Feature Project
Spy Vs. Spy - Simon West is set to direct Fortitude, a World War II espionage action-adventure from producer Simon Afram (Lear Rex). Pic will tell the true story of British Intelligence operatives who deployed an elaborate web of deception campaigns including fictitious armies, fake military equipment, and a network of double agents to mislead Nazi Intelligence. >>>Real-Life James Bond
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Skydance Catches 'Drift' - Skydance won a weekend auction for Drift, an unpublished short story by Ben Queen & Jason Shuman that has It! helmer Andy Muschietti attached to direct. Deadline hears that the project sold for around $2 million against higher if the movie gets made. >>>Sci-Fi Mission Film
'City' Finds Architect - Sony’s 3000 Pictures adaptation of Don Winslow’s best-selling crime novel City On Fire is gaining some steam as Captain Fantastic director Matt Ross comes on to helm the pic starring Austin Butler. >>>Part Of Trilogy
Sound & Screen Television Streaming Site - Deadline has launched the streaming site for 2025’s Sound & Screen Television, our annual TV music showcase that took place May 7 at UCLA’s Royce Hall. The event featured the composers from 11 buzzy awards-season series discussing their music and then playing it with the help of a 60-piece orchestra. >>>Watch |
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There was time when studios thought premiering a film in Cannes in May could turn out to be a major hindrance to that movie’s Oscar chances. That all changed in 2019 when Cannes’ Palme d’Or winner, South Korea’s Parasite, upset conventional thinking and went on to also triumph at the Oscars.
Neon has distributed in the U.S. the past five — count ‘em, five — Palme d’Or winners in a row, beginning with Parasite and followed by Titane, Triangle of Sadness, Anatomy of a Fall and Anora.
Here, Neon founder and CEO Tom Quinn shares his playbook, which he says he his happy to do "because it’s so obvious.” >>>The Conversation |
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David Leitch’s next movie How To Rob a Bank isn’t done adding top-tier talent, with Zoë Kravitz set to star in the Amazon MGM Studios film. The deal reunites Kravitz with her Mad Max: Fury Road co-star Nicholas Hoult, who is also on board to star.
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Writer-director Nitzan Bachar “NB” Mager has set an impressive cast for her debut feature, Thoughts and Prayers. The roster includes Patrick Wilson, Margaret Cho, Elizabeth Marvel ( Presumed Innocent), Alyssa Marvin (Trevor: The Musical), Yul Vazquez (Severance), Bill Camp (Zero Day) and Molly Ringwald.
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💡 Recently appointed “special ambassador” to Hollywood Mel Gibson and Italian producer Andrea Iervolino (Ferrari) are proposing a co-production agreement between Italy and the U.S., which they hope could serve as a “pilot project” for the development of similar treaties between America and other countries around the world.
⚖️ Alternating between candor, conflict and sometimes confusion, former male stripper Daniel Phillips went into graphic detail about the approximately two years he was allegedly paid thousands of dollars to have sex with Cassie Ventura in front of an increasingly Machiavellian and allegedly violent Sean "Diddy" Combs.
✂️ There are more departures from Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, this time behind the scenes. Writer/executive producer Julie Martin and director/executive producer Norberto Barba are leaving the executive producing team of the venerable NBC crime drama.
🎉 Get ready to ring in the new year with Snoop Dogg. NBC and Peacock have set Snoop Dogg’s New Years Eve special, live from Miami on Dec. 31 at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT. The two-hour special promises to be an "unforgettable" night.
📺 CBS just wrapped the 2024-25 season with another win. The network’s lineup was the most-watched in daytime. It’s the 39th season that CBS has come out on top, according to Nielsen. |
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BY THE NUMBERS
23 - Number of roles Cynthia Erivo will play in ‘Dracula’ in London’s West End |
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On the Radar
Tue - Cannes kicks off; Andor finale
Thu - Mission: Impossible London premiere
Sat - Netflix's FYSEE: LA kicks off; Scarlett Johansson hosts SNL |
| 'True' Friends - As Arnold Schwarzenegger's self-described “speech” about Christmas movie The Man with the Bag ran on at the Amazon upfront Monday, his True Lies co-star Jamie Lee Curtis came to the rescue. “This is elder abuse!” the action hero cracked when Curtis took his arm. |
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