Black List Revealed; Hulu Developing 'Vatican City'; Yorgos Lanthimos-Jesse Plemons Q&A

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View on web New reader? Subscribe SUBSCRIBE. IT'S FREE. THE BLACK LIST 2025 MATISSE HADDAD'S SCRIPT 'BEST SELLER' LEADS IN THE SURVEY OF TOP FILM EXECUTIVES The 21st edition of The Black List, the yearly compilation of Hollywood’s best-liked unproduced screenplays, dropped on Tuesday, with Matisse Haddad's Best Seller leading the pack. Haddad’s script, exploring the New York literary scene through the eyes of a struggling writer being pressured to have a baby by her successful novelist husband, got far and away the most mentions of any script this year with 48. As the list reveals, Peter Rice and Jason Reitman are on board to produce the film. This year’s Black List features 74 scripts by 86 writers, which were selected by nearly 500 film executives. Taking second place with 35 mentions was Ward Kamel’s Equity. In third was Rush, a script by Read Masino and Cassidy Alla, with 34 mentions. >>>The Full List Related:  Agency Scorecard: CAA Again Tops Agency Side In Mentions As Management Companies Kaplan/Perrone & Untitled Tie Deadline Exclusives & Originals Courting A Papal TV Audience - Following the series order at CBS for Cupertino, Robert and Michelle King have set up another drama series project named after a city that's a continent and an ocean away. Hulu is developing Vatican City, written/executive produced by the Kings. >>>Fish Out oF Water Story Sigourney Weaver & Lara Croft - While a deal has not closed, sources tell Deadline that Sigourney Weaver is in talks to join the upcoming Tomb Raider series for Prime Video. Sophie Turner is set to star as Lara Croft, with Phoebe Waller-Bridge on as writer and executive producer. >>>Unknown Role Nerd Culture - L.A. publisher Gungnir is launching an animation studio that will feed an in-house YouTube channel that is being planned as “the Cartoon Network of the digital era.” >>>Fundraising Push Is On Contenders Film: Documentary Site Launches - Deadline on Tuesday launched the streaming site for Contenders Film: Documentary, the latest edition of the showcase that shines a spotlight on the year’s buzziest nonfiction features. The virtual event took place Sunday. >>>Watch In Brief - Motion Picture Sound Editors re-elect David Barber as President... Divide/Conquer inks first-look with Blumhouse-Atomic Monster, sets Doomtown...  Saladin Patterson re-ups overall deal with 20th Television & 20th TV Animation... Netflix serves up Matty Matheson’s gonzo cooking series Just A Dash THE DEADLINE INTERVIEW Yorgos Lanthimos And Jesse Plemons On Making ‘Bugonia’, Their Enduring Relationship And What’s Next The newest addition to Yorgos Lanthimos' rep company is Jesse Plemons, who won Best Actor in Cannes last year for his three distinct parts in the troubling triptych Kinds of Kindness. Here, they talk about why they came back together for Bugonia, a sci-fi satire in which Plemmons plays a lone conspiracy theorist convinced of an impending alien takeover. >>>Q&A      QUOTABLE   "An absolute monster" - Mark Shapiro, president and COO of UFC parent, TKO Group, describing the MMA circuit's upcoming June event on the grounds of the White House CASTING ABOUT exclusive Nikki Glaser, Brenda Song and Fortune Feimster are set to join Kim Kardashian in the Netflix comedy The Fifth Wheel.     exclusive Shifting Gears is finally introducing the often mentioned but never seen Sam Parker, Matt Parker’s (Tim Allen) son and Riley Parker’s (Kat Dennings) brother. Luke Macfarlane (Platonic) will guest star as Sam who, as previously revealed on the show, is a Navy hero.   exclusive Maya Hawke (Stranger Things), Julia Fox (Uncut Gems), King Princess (Song Sung Blue), Ziwe (The Studio) and Este Haim (Licorice Pizza) have joined the cast of the Universal Pictures feature One Night Only. The Hunting Wives Season 2 is adding more names to its roster with John Stamos, Dale Dickey (Fallout), and Cam Gigandet (Burlesque) joining the Netflix series in recurring roles. In Brief - Alyvia Alyn Lind joining FX’s Cry Wolf... David Dastmalchian joins horror thriller Kill Screen... Ian Quinlan to recur in Sheriff Country S1...  Zachary Levi to host David: King Of Israel docudrama      DEVELOPMENT   exclusive ‘The Brothers Lionheart’ Series Based On Astrid Lindgren’s Classic In Works At Apple   exclusive ‘Wobbly Life’: Feature & TV Take Of Video Game In Development Shohei Ohtani Translator Gambling Scandal Series Officially In Works At Starz MORE NEWS 🎭 The Queen of Versailles, the new and soon-to-close Broadway musical starring Kristin Chenoweth and F. Murray Abraham, will shut its doors even earlier than previously announced: Producers informed the cast Tuesday that rather than close January 4, 2026, the show will play its final performance on Sunday, December 21. 🖥️ Stranger Things was still dominating Netflix last week after a record-breaking opening over the Thanksgiving holiday. The first four episodes of Season 5, while down about 57% from its debut weekend, put up a massive 25.2M views from December 1 to 7, which is still a bigger weekly total than many scripted series ever hit. HIRINGS, PROMOTIONS & EXITS   EXCLUSIVE TelevisaUnivision Distribution Chief Adam Waltuch Exits Spanish-Language Conglomerate ​​​​​​​CBS News Confirms That Tony Dokoupil Will Be Next Anchor Of 'CBS Evening News' Channel 4 Confirms Former Warner Bros. Executive Priya Dogra As CEO Disney Board Nominates Former Apple Exec Jeff Williams As Independent Director   exclusive Former Vue & Disney Exec Alison Cornwell Joins BlackRock-Backed Film & TV Income Rights Platform Easttree   exclusive Ra Kumar Leaves UTA To Launch Osmosis Management With Chris Grant   ON THE RADAR Wed - Percy Jackson and the Olympians S2 debuts Fri - F1 hits streaming; Taylor Swift: The End of an Era debuts Sat - Dick Van Dyke turns 100; Josh O'Connor hosts SNL Sun - Rachel Maddow L.A. 'Burn Order' event Tue - NBA Cup Final PHOTO OF THE DAY Chase Scene - Chase Infiniti who, alongside Regina Hall and Teyana Taylor won the Ensemble Award, arrives at Critics Choice Association’s 8th Annual Celebration Of Black Cinema & Television. This email was sent to punjabsvera@gmail.com by Deadline. Please add email@email.deadline.com to your address book to ensure delivery to your inbox. 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