Good morning: In today’s edition of The Industry, we look at:
Kate Winslet’s Shutterbug, Netflix: Master of the Universe, Biel & Banks sisters, Glen Powell’s Fortune and a rat.
Let’s go!
KATE WINSLET IS AUTHENTIC
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Kate Winslet could have cruised on easy roles after Titanic.
The film ran fifteen straight weeks as box office #1, a feat not accomplished since E.T. was released 15 years earlier.
She could have taken any big-budget role, yet her next project was the virtually unseen Hideous Kinky (1998), a low-budget indie about an English woman who, dissatisfied with her life, flees to Morocco with her young children. Trailer here.
She reflected on that period in her life:
“I didn’t want to fake it, and I didn’t want to feel under pressure. And also, I didn’t want to fail. I wanted to be in a position where I could always say I’m an actress, to be 45 years old, as I am today… not to have experienced burnout and not to have given bad performances.”
Prioritizing complex characters over stardom, Winslet’s filmography boasts challenging roles, including her Academy Award-winning performance in The Reader.
Her latest role is Lee Miller in the film Lee, a true story about a New York fashion model turned war photographer who risked her life to document the injustices of World War 2. Miller’s photos of the Nazi camps being liberated are among the most historic.
The research Winslet did for Lee was, in her opinion, the most important preparation for any role she has ever played:
“She came from quite a flamboyant, interesting world, and so to put herself in a position, as a woman, in a dangerous environment in order to document the truth…. we dispelled all the myths about Lee and showed her as a cracked, broken, tricky, middle-aged woman who went to war.”
Winslet’s portrayal of Miller reaffirms her dedication to unveiling intricate characters. In a world of fleeting fame, Winslet is a testament to the enduring power of meaningful cinema and the indomitable spirit of an artist who never stops searching for authenticity.
Lee will open in theaters on September 27th.
For More:
Teaser trailer for Lee. Andy Samberg co-stars in his first non-comedic role.
Winslet excels in HBO’s Mare of Easttown. Trailer here.
Winslet discusses roles that scared her and shaped her.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
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Netflix is not the Master of the Universe. They spent $30M over two years attempting to develop the juggernaut IP Masters of the Universe, a live-action He-Man film. They pulled out before investing the full $200M in the budget. Attempting to slay the Mattel property instead is Amazon MGM Studios, who scooped up the abandoned Netflix project and will release it during the summer of 2026.
Travis Knight (Bumblebee) is set to direct. Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, and Steve Tisch (The Equalizer series, Fences) will produce.
This marks a significant achievement for Amazon’s newly appointed head of film and streaming, Courtenay Valenti. Her previous role as head of production at Warner Bros. included overseeing the Barbie adaptation by Mattel. That $1.4B success likely fueled her ambition to secure the He-Man deal.
Colleen Hoover is no stranger to adaptation. Her latest novel, Verity (a NY Times bestseller), is being developed at Amazon MGM. Here are the details:
- Verity
- Writer: Hillary Seitz (Nolan’s Insomnia)
- Author: Hoover (author: It Ends With You, being adapted into a film with Blake Lively)
- Producers: Eat the Cat (Chucky, The Act)
Official Synopsis:
Lowen Ashleigh is a struggling writer on the brink of financial ruin when she accepts the job offer of a lifetime. Jeremy Crawford, husband of bestselling author Verity Crawford, has hired Lowen to complete the remaining books in a successful series his injured wife is unable to finish.
Lowen arrives at the Crawford home, ready to sort through years of Verity’s notes and outlines, hoping to find enough material to get her started. What Lowen doesn’t expect to uncover in the chaotic office is an unfinished autobiography Verity never intended for anyone to read. Page after page of bone-chilling admissions, including Verity’s recollection of the night her family was forever altered.
Maybe this will turn into another Blake Lively vehicle.
Tidbit:
Jessica Biel & Elizabeth Banks team up to find out who is “The Better Sister” Amazon Prime’s newest series to be adapted from the novel of the same name.
Here’s the juiciest part from the official synopsis:
Nicky married promising young attorney Adam Macintosh and gave birth to a baby boy they named Ethan. The Taylor sisters (Nicky and Chole) became virtual strangers.
Now, more than fifteen years later, their lives are drastically different—and Chloe is married to Adam. When he’s murdered by an intruder at the couple’s East Hampton beach house, Chloe reluctantly allows her teenage stepson’s biological mother—her estranged sister, Nicky—back into her life. But when the police begin to treat Ethan as a suspect in his father’s death, the two sisters are forced to unite . . . and to confront the truth behind family secrets they have tried to bury in the past.
As the tagline says, keep your enemies close and your sister closer.
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
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Swann Arlaud, the magnetizing lawyer for the accused in Anatomy Of A Fall, leads a survival thriller, Sukkwan Island.
Here’s the official synopsis:
A haunted young man (Woody Norman, the boy in C’Mon, C’Mon) travels to a remote island to reconnect with his father (Arlaud) and confront the traumatic experience they shared ten years prior that transformed their relationship.
MK2 Films’ (Anatomy of a Fall, The Worst Person in the World) managing director Fionnuala Jamison stated the film:
“Questions the construction of masculinity and inheritance, fear, abandonment, and grief… a shocking face-off and psychological drama that turns into a thriller set against the backdrop of a sublime yet hostile natural environment.”
Arlaud is no stranger to hostile environments. In Anatomy of a Fall, we watch as he battles with himself. His duty to protect his client as a lawyer vs. the obligations of his heart as he falls in love with his client.
It’s a delicate balance that’s riveting to see play out on his face (clip).
We can’t wait to see him bring the same dichotomy to Sukkwan Island, currently in production in Glasgow and Norway.
Jake Gyllenhaal is cheating. He stars in Apple TV+’s new limited series Presumed Innocent, based on the novel that inspired the heart-pounding sinuous Harrison Ford film (1990 NSFW trailer).
Here’s the official synopsis:
A horrific murder that upends the Chicago Prosecuting Attorney’s office when one of its own is suspected of the crime. The accused fights to hold his family and marriage together.
It’s great to see Gyllenhaal slip into the role of a family man on the edge of a breakdown in the Presumed Innocent teaser trailer. It’s a bit unusual territory as he typically excels as a loner (Donnie Darko, Zodiac, Nightcrawler). In this new performance, his ability to sell himself as a devoted family man will be paramount so we do not presume him guilty.
One of the best parts of the Disney Plus series Ahsoka was its morally grey antagonists. Not quite Jedi, not quite Sith, a master and an apprentice, the former played by the late Ray Stevenson, who sadly passed before the series air date. While Stevenson gave a career-best performance, possibly most intriguing was his apprentice Shin, who was played with ferocity and cunning by Ivanna Sakhno, who created a nuanced character. It looks like we will get to see more of Sakhno as it has just been announced she will be co-starring in Blumhouse’s upcoming M3GAN 2.0, the sequel to 2022’s campy murder doll horror that won audiences over with its violent sense of fun and bizarre Tik Tok dance.
Tidbit:
The Naked Gun reboot has just cast Paul Walter Hauser as Captain Ed Hocken. Captain of the Police Squad, the butt of many jokes and at times Frank Drebin’s right-hand man. Hocken is expecting a new child with his wife Edna, and if he ever catches the guy who did it…
FESTIVALS
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Iranian authorities have barred actors and crew of Mohammed Rasoulof’s film The Seed Of The Sacred Fig from attending its Cannes Film Festival premiere, following interrogations and pressure to withdraw the film. Lawyer Babak Paknia reported these developments on social media. Rasoulof, a previous Cannes winner, remains unable to leave Iran, continuing his history of conflict with the government over his critical films.
Cannes Strike! A potential strike is brewing against Cannes’ essential workers, e.g.:
- Programmers
- Projectionists
- Subtitlers
- Festival press officers
A member of the movement stated:
Another said:
“The festival heads are generally not against us and are concerned about this situation, but they are just turning around and saying they’re also in complicated financial situations and claim to have limited power.”
One of the challenges is that these film festival workers do not have access to unemployment.
We hope the situation is resolved amicably and the projectors on the Croisette keep rolling.
Cannes Market. Here are the latest projects:
- Pierce (Taiwan)
- Genre: Fencing Thriller
- Sales Agent: Magnolia’s Magnify
Synopsis:
When his dangerous older brother is released from prison after killing a fencer, his high school brother Jie helps him, defying their mother’s attempts to bury his existence.
Bloody, tense teaser.
- Breed of Greed
- Starring Gina Gershon (Showgirls)
- International sales rep: VMI Worldwide (Old Henry)
Synopsis:
Following the mysterious death of the Wendolyn’s patriarch brings the pharma family back together. While the family members go to war with one another, an ancient curse preys on their greed. The Wendolyn’s made billions on painkillers, but no drug can kill the pain that they’ll soon endure.
Teaser image.
- Trust Me, I’m a Doctor
- Starring: Linda Hamilton (Terminator), Kal Penn (House)
- Sales rep: UTA Independent Film Group (domestic), Fortitude International (international)
Synopsis:
Based on the memoir of Dr. Sandeep Kapoor (Penn), whose life is turned upside down when he is implicated in the death of his former patient — model, actress, and reality TV star Anna Nicole Smith.
Penn previously played a doctor for many seasons of House (clip), often taking the moral high ground against Hugh Laurie’s iconic character.
Tidbit:
Anne Vasquez has been appointed as the Foundation Executive Director of the Television Academy Foundation, the charitable arm of the TV Academy.
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT
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New company alert! Actor Harris Dickinson (Triangle of Sadness, Beach Rats) is launching Devisio Pictures with Archie Pearch, who served as producer David Heyman’s assistant on Wonka and Barbie.
They’ve gotten financing from Tricky Knot, which invests in talent-led production companies.
First on their slate is Dickinson’s directorial debut.
Dickinson stated:
“For the past five years, I’ve been developing this story hoping to create a pertinent and bold film that speaks to issues around homelessness and mental health. I’ve been working closely with my local community to bring visibility to people’s experiences and we’re attempting to push the cinematic boundaries of what people expect from a film of this genre.”
BBC, BFI, and Tricky Knot are funding that film.
Dickinson is one of the most exciting performers in front of the camera; his Triangle of Sadness performance is deliriously apathetic and heartfelt.
A24’s latest. Here’s a rundown:
- Huntington
- Dir: John Patton Ford (Emily the Criminal)
- Starring: Glen Powell, Margaret Qualley, Ed Harris
- Financier: Studio Canal
Synopsis:
Becket Redfellow (Powell), the heir to a multibillion-dollar fortune who will stop at nothing to get what he deserves … or what he thinks he deserves.
Patton Ford’s Emily the Criminal, starring Aubrey Plaza, dealt with the other end of the financial spectrum. His rendition of Plaza as a student with credit card debt was surprisingly enthralling.
WandaVision’s creator, Jac Schaeffer, has signed with CAA. At the time of its release deep into COVID, WandaVision was an event for Marvel fans. A love letter to all sorts of television history, the show started as an homage to I Love Lucy and ended somewhere in Brady Bunch territory. Throughout the nine episodes, the scenery was not the only thing that changed. All characters had some pretty strong Arcs with lasting impact on Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlett Witch, once a hero then becoming the antagonist of Doctor Strange 2. The mystery and the cliffhangers kept fans coming back, and the main villain’s theme, Agatha All Along, was a delightful surprise that launched the character “Agatha” into her spinoff, also written by Schaeffer.
With CAA representing her, we look forward to what Jac comes up with next.
Tidbit:
The Ashley Madison hacking documentary Madison: Sex, Lies, and Scandal is hitting Netflix. The doc maps the rise and fall of the notorious “life is short… have an affair” company Ashley Madison. The trailer is loads of fun, cutting between true crime, prestige doc, and reality TV.
Debuts on Netflix on May 15th.
ON THIS DAY
1997. Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, starring Mike Myers and Elizabeth Hurley, is released.
See you Friday!
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Written by Gabriel Miller and Spencer Carter.
Editor: Gabriel Miller.
