News

Exclusive: CAA has signed director Ridley Scott and Scott Free Productions, the film and television production vehicle he formed with his late brother Tony Scott.

A team of reps signed Scott, the four-time Academy Award-nominated director and producer who next will begin production on The Dog Stars for 20th Century Studios based on the novel by Peter Heller. The signing effort was spearheaded by CAA president/co-chairman Richard Lovett, the longtime rep of Tony Scott.

Ridley Scott has shown no signs of slowing, most recently directing Gladiator II, which generated more than $460 million at the global box office. Before that it was The Last Duel (2021), House of Gucci (2021) and Napoleon (2023). Scott most recently directed the pilot for the Apple TV+ series Dope Thief, which is produced by Scott Free and Brian Tyree and Wagner Moura.

Films in Scott’s Hall of Fame resume range from The Martian and Best Picture Oscar winner Gladiator to Alien,...

Applications are now open for the 22nd edition of Screen International’s Screen Stars of Tomorrow, our annual portfolio of new talent from the UK and Ireland.

The submissions window is open from April 16 until May 30, 2025.

Applications are open to UK and Irish citizens and long-term residents of either country. There is no upper or lower age limit, but applicants should be at an early stage in their film career, demonstrate exceptional promise and be ready to progress to the next level.

Applicants should use this Google Form and need to attach a brief bio, a headshot and contact details...

Apple TV has revealed a set of first-look images for ‘Echo Valley’ alongside the announcement that the feature will be premiering in select cinemas and on Apple TV+ globally June 13, 2025

The film follows a mother struggling to make peace with her troubled daughter Claire (multi-Emmy® nominee Sydney Sweeney) – a situation that becomes even more perilous when Claire shows up on Kate’s doorstep, hysterical and covered in someone else’s blood. As Kate pieces together what happened, she learns just how far a mother will go to try to save her child in this gripping tale of love, sacrifice, and survival.

The film also stars Julianne Moore as Kate Garretson, Domhnall Gleeson, Kyle MacLachlan, Fiona Shaw, and Edmund Donovan and is directed by BAFTA Award-winner Michael Pearce from an original screenplay by Brad Inglesby (Mare of Easttown).

Also in news – First Look Images revealed for season 2 of ‘Nine Perfect Strangers...

Sydney Sweeney’s star continues to ride high as the Euphoria and Anyone But You actress is reportedly to be in final negotiations to star in Legendary Picture’s new live-action Gundam movie. You may be taking today’s particular “holiday” into account, but according to business insider TheInSneider, a source has revealed that the studio has offered Sweeney $7 million to play the female lead.

Created by Yoshiyuki Tomino and Sunrise, Gundam has been described as a space opera depicting a battle waged between massive mechs and armies of space colonies fighting for independence from Earth. The Gundam franchise has grown into a juggernaut over the decades, with dozens of TV shows, video games, manga, and much more.

It was recently reported that Sweet Tooth showrunner Jim Mickle has been tapped to write and direct the live-action adaptation of Gundam, which is being co-developed by Legendary and Bandai Namco Filmworks.

It was in March of 2023 that we heard Julianne Moore (Magnolia) and Sydney Sweeney (Anyone but You) had signed on to star in the Apple Original Films thriller Echo Valley, which Michael Pearce would be directing from a screenplay by Mare of Easttown creator Brad Ingelsby, with production from Scott Free Films and The Walsh Company. Two years later, Vanity Fair has now unveiled a batch of first look images, which can be seen right here in this article. The film is set to premiere on Apple TV+ on Friday, June 13th.

Echo Valley centers on Kate Garrett (Moore), who is reeling from a personal tragedy and spending her days boarding and training horses at the picturesque Echo Valley Farm, in southeast Pennsylvania. When her wayward daughter Clare (Sweeney) arrives late one night covered in someone else’s blood, the story veers into thriller territory and examines how far a...

Julianne Moore and Sydney Sweeney in ‘Echo Valley’ (Photo Credit: Apple TV+)

Apple TV+’s first photos from Echo Valley showcase the dramatic thriller’s cast while not giving away any spoilers. The stills feature Oscar winner Julianne Moore, Emmy nominee Sydney Sweeney, and Domhnall Gleeson.

“In the edge-of-your-seat thriller Echo Valley, Kate (Moore) is a mother struggling to make peace with her troubled daughter Claire (Sweeney)—a situation that becomes even more perilous when Claire shows up on Kate’s doorstep, hysterical and covered in someone else’s blood,” reads Apple TV+’s synopsis. “As Kate pieces together the shocking truth of what happened, she learns just how far a mother will go to try to save her child in this gripping tale of love, sacrifice, and survival from BAFTA-winning director Michael Pearce and Emmy-nominated writer Brad Ingelsby.”

Speaking with Vanity Fair, Julianne Moore discussed the appeal of the thriller.

Both Julianne Moore and Sydney Sweeney have become known for playing against type to take on challenging roles that we might not otherwise expect them to be in. Moore has played everything from a porn star in Boogie Nights to a troubled housewife in The Hours, while Sweeney went from playing a telepathic superhero in Madame Web, to a naive nun in Immaculate. Now, the two are together on-screen for the first time, playing mother and daughter in the chilling new Apple TV+ film Echo Valley, and we have our first look at the eerie new project.

First-look photos courtesy of Vanity Fair (seen below) show Moore and Sweeney as Kate and Claire Garrett in Echo Valley, which was directed by Michael Pearce (Beast) and written by Brad Ingelsby (The Way Back). The new thriller promises to zig when it should zag, keeping audiences on the edge of their seat as its plot unfolds.

Exclusive: A buzzy new UK production company is officially launching today in the shape of Unified, which is headed by Amy Jackson, producer of Aftersun and The Nest, and former Film4 exec Lauren Dark, producer of Michael Pearce’s Beast and upcoming Vanessa Kirby pic Night Always Comes.

With bases in Edinburgh and London, the company is currently developing a slate of film and TV projects and will have an emphasis on international collaboration, global co-productions and support in creative development, financing, and physical production.

Dark spent four years as an executive producer at Film4 and while there commissioned Molly Manning Walker’s Cannes winner How To Have Sex, and was an exec producer on Florian Zeller’s Oscar winner The Father starring Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman, Rebecca Hall’s BAFTA nominee Passing, and Mark Jenkin’s Enys Men, which premiered in Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes 2022.

Upcoming, the BAFTA-winning...

Exclusive: Edmund Donovan, an up-and-comer known for roles in Alex Garland’s Civil War and Sundance genre-bender Your Monster, has landed a key role opposite Willem Dafoe and Greta Lee in Late Fame, the new film from director Kent Jones (Diane), which is entering production this week.

Written by May December‘s Samy Burch, Late Fame is a portrait of Ed Saxberger (Dafoe), a postal worker who wrote and published poetry such a long time ago that he’s forgotten he ever was a poet. When a group of young writers and students rediscovers one of his books and reclaims him as one of their own, he finds, against his better judgment, that he likes it: the attention and the hero worship draw him out of his solitary routines and renew his spirit. How quickly he starts to see himself as a true artist… how coarse and vulgar his old friends begin to look.

When you purchase through our links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Sydney Sweeney is one of the hottest and in-demand actresses in the film industry right now. The Euphoria famed actress has garnered millions of fans due to her acting ability and gorgeous looks, and many of her fans are wondering what’s next for the 27-year-old actress. So, we compiled a list of her upcoming movies and TV shows with their production schedule and other details.

The Housemaid Credit – Amazon MGM Studios

The Housemaid is an upcoming thriller drama film directed by Paul Feig from a screenplay by Rebecca Sonnenshine. Based on the 2022 novel of the same name by Freida McFadden, the upcoming film follows the story of Millie, a young woman who takes up the job of a housemaid for a wealthy young couple. Still, Millie’s supposed fresh start takes a dangerous turn when she learns...

Florence Pugh, Josh O’Connor, Tom Holland: the BAFTA Breakthrough initiative has spotlighted more than a fair share of industry stars before they became the A-listers we know and love today.

The British arts charity’s flagship new-talent program, supported by Netflix, doesn’t just unearth promising performers: it champions behind-the-scenes film and television professionals — from various backgrounds — working as writers, designers, casting directors, composers and more, to support their professional development. It helps that the scheme’s supporters include the likes of Olivia Colman, Tilda Swinton and Brad Pitt.

For over 10 years (before 2020, the program was known as Breakthrough Brits), the cohorts produced from the U.K. and U.S. have been immediately invited into a world of open doors. Today, they are up and coming, but tomorrow — are they the face of Disney+’s newest smash hit series?

You might now be a fan of Ambika Mod, star of Netflix‘s One Day,...

Sydney Sweeney is calling Bs on Hollywood pushing the message of women supporting women. In a recent interview with Vanity Fair, the actress pulled back the curtain on her experience behind the scenes, where real allegiances are harder to find than expected.

“This entire industry, all people say is ‘Women empowering other women,'” Sweeney said. “None of it’s happening. All of it is fake and a front for all the other shit that they say behind everyone’s back.” She doesn’t go so far as to call...

At 86 years old, Ridley Scott is on the cusp of yet another major blockbuster (Gladiator) and shows no sign of slowing down as a director. Not only that, but he's also got a robust slate of projects he's involved with through his Scott Free production company where he's a producer...

Exclusive: Apple TV+ has extended its first-look deal with Oscar-nominated producer Kevin Walsh and his The Walsh Company shingle, to continue to develop and produce original films and series for the service.

This is a sweeter deal, and positions Walsh to become a bigger supplier for Apple’s slate of originals. It comes after Walsh produced Apple Original Films’ The Instigators, which launched as the most-watched movie on Apple TV+; and the Ridley Scott-directed Napoleon. Up next is another Apple original, Echo Valley, a Michael Pearce-directed thriller that stars Julianne Moore alongside Sydney Sweeney from an original screenplay by Brad Ingelsby. Produced by The Walsh Company and Scott Free Films, that film debuts next year.

Walsh is also in the middle of a potential sequel to The Instigators, sorting it out with Apple, director Doug Liman, co-writers Casey Affleck and Chuck MacLean and Artists Equity partners Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.

UK film and TV outift Raw has bolstered its features and scripted department with the addition of former Brouhaha Entertainment development producer and BBC Film exec Sam Gordon as producer/executive producer.

Gordon will work with Raw’s head of scripted TV Sara Murray, filmmakers Bart Layton and Tim Wardle and its senior creative team. He will report to chief exec Joely Fether and chief creative officer Dimitry Doganis.

Raw, backed by All3Media, has series credits including The Tinder Swindler for Netflix, features docs Three Identical Strangers and The Imposter, as well as fiction features Telluride premiere Encounter, directed by Michael Pearce and Dream Horse,...

Raw has bolstered its features and scripted department with the addition of former Brouhaha Entertainment development producer and BBC Film exec Sam Gordon as producer/executive producer.

Gordon joins the UK The Tinder Swindler production company at a time of growth in its scripted and features output, with upcoming feature film Crime 101 for Amazon MGM Studios being co-produced with Working Title. The indie was also behind feature docs Three Identical Strangers and The Imposter plus Michael Pearce’s Telluride premiere Encounter and Euros Lyn’s Sundance title Dream Horse.

He moves from his role as development producer at Brouhaha Entertainment,...

Applications are now open for the 21st edition of Screen International’s Screen Stars of Tomorrow, our annual portfolio of new talent from the UK and Ireland.

The submissions window is open for one month, from March 6 to April 5, 2024.

Applications are open to UK and Irish citizens and long-term residents of either country. There is no upper or lower age limit, but applicants should be at an early stage in their film career, demonstrate exceptional promise and be ready to progress to the next level.

Applicants should use this Google Form and need to attach a brief bio, a headshot...

Sydney Sweeney is emerging as a prominent rising star in Hollywood, thanks to her incredible good looks and remarkable acting skills. After being shot to fame for her portrayal of Cassie Howard in HBO’s hit series Euphoria, Sweeney has been busy with new projects.

With her growing popularity, Sweeney has also been a hit in her interviews. Her confident and bubbly personality is charming audiences just as her on-screen talents are. People tend to look up to stars in one way or another. But once revealing one risk Sweeney took, she urged the viewers to not do it.

Sydney Sweeney as Julia Carpenter in Madame Web

Sydney Sweeney Took One Big Risk In High School

While fans eagerly await the next season of Euphoria, Sweeney has featured in a romantic comedy titled Anyone but You opposite Glen Powell. The film has been a great success. The Voyeurs actress has...

Actress Sydney Sweeney became a household name after she played the role of Cassie Howard in the HBO drama series Euphoria. That role helped her bag bigger opportunities in the industry, including the role of Julia Carpenter / Spider-Woman in 2024’s Madame Web, which is set in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe (Ssu).

Sydney Sweeney as Julia Carpenter in Madame Web

Sweeney’s character in Madame Web primarily exhibits superpowers like superhuman strength, speed, stamina, agility, and reflexes, but Sweeney believes her Euphoria character, Cassie Howard, would easily beat Julia Carpenter / Spider-Woman in a fight. Madame Web, which also features Dakota Johnson, Celeste O’Connor, and Isabela Merced had a terrible start as critics have annihilated the movie with negative reviews. The film is expected to be a major financial loss for the studios.

Sydney Sweeney says Cassie Howard would easily beat her Madame Web character in a fight

Sydney Sweeney in Euphoria...

Apple Original Films is in talks to pick up a package for the dramatic thriller The Lost Bus that has star Matthew McConaughey and director Paul Greengrass circling.

Brad Ingelsby (Mare of Easttown) wrote the script for The Lost Bus based on Lizzie Johnson’s 2021 fact-based book Paradise: One Town’s Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire that takes place amid California’s Camp Fire in 2018, which became the deadliest blaze in the state’s history. The film’s story follows bus driver Kevin McKay and teacher Mary Ludwig, who heroically helped lead a school bus full of students through the wildfire that devastated the town of Paradise.

The Lost Bus hails from Jamie Lee Curtis’ Comet Pictures and Jason Blum’s Blumhouse. Producers include Ingelsby and Greg Goodman, while Johnson and Amy Lord serve as executive producers.

The movie kicked off after Curtis heard Johnson on NPR and took the project to Blumhouse,...

The cast of Guy Ritchie’s Fountain of Youth is getting more prominent as Domhnall Gleeson joins John Krasinski and Natalie Portman for the upcoming feature from Apple and Skydance Media. Scream VI writer James Vanderbilt pens this mythological project. It involves “two estranged siblings who partner on a global heist to find the mythological Fountain of Youth. They must use their knowledge of history to follow clues on an epic adventure that will change their lives…and possibly lead to immortality.” Apple, Skydance Media, Vinson Films, and Project X Entertainment will produce the movie. The script was a high priority at Skydance since they received Vanderbilt’s screenplay. It reportedly “blew execs away.” The production company was waiting for the right creative package to come along.

According to Deadline, “Hailing from a first-look partnership between Apple and Skydance Media, Fountain of Youth will be produced by Skydance’s David Ellison,...

Exclusive: Jim Rash is set to direct his script Miss You, Love You, a drama that will star Allison Janney and Andrew Rannells. Madison Wells, The Walsh Company and Nat Faxon will produce a film that will begin production next month in New Mexico. Gigi Pritzker, Kevin Walsh are producing with Rash.

In the film, Janney will play a woman whose husband has passed away. With a funeral to plan and grieving to be done, she reaches out to her estranged son. He refuses to come home, choosing instead to send his personal assistant to help make the arrangements. The widow is forced to process her grief in the presence of a complete stranger.

Oscar-winner Janney reunites with Faxon and Rash, Pritzker and Walsh after they teamed on The Way Way Back, the 2013 comedy that set a record at Sundance in 2013 with domestic and international sales deals totaling nearly $12M...

Although his breakthrough work was showcased in the Platform section at TIFF, the tension-filled whodunit Beast starring Jessie Buckley and Johnny Flynn actually managed to secure a place in the Sundance Spotlight section during the 2018 edition. Michael Pearce could return to Park City — a title we feel could fall somewhere in the autumn festival circuit. Production on his third feature film Echo Valley took place around the month of May in Pennsylvania with topliner trio of Julianne Moore, Sydney Sweeney and Domhnall Gleeson. A thriller genre type film based on a screenplay by Brad Ingelsby (The Way Back), Pearce re-teams with cinematographer Benjamin Kracun for a third time.…...

Automatik, the production company behind “La La Land,” is merging with Range Media Players, TheWrap has confirmed.

As part of the merger, Automatik executives Brian Kavanaugh-Jones and Fred Berger have been named partners and co-presidents of film and production at Range.

Kavanaugh-Jones and Berger have over the last decade produced 70 films and television shows, with the likes of Damien Chazelle, Jeff Nichols, Alma Har’el, James Wan, Leigh Whannell, Karyn Kusama, Nia DaCosta, Gia Coppola, Michael Pearce and Cory Finley.

Berger was nominated for an Oscar and won Golden Globe, BAFTA and PGA awards in 2017 for Damien Chazelle’s $440 million-grossing “La La Land.” Kavanaugh-Jones and Berger also won an Emmy for Corey Finley’s Hugh Jackman-starring public education-set thriller, “Bad Education.”

Automatik will bring a slew of projects over to Range Media Players, including Jeff Nichols’ “The Bikeriders” starring Austin Butler, Jodie Comer, and Tom Hardy for New Regency and...

Exclusive: The prolific film/TV production company Automatik has completed a merger with Range Media Partners, a deal that will further expand Range’s production capabilities and slate ambitions.

As part of the merger, Brian Kavanaugh-Jones and Fred Berger have been named Partners and Co-Presidents of Film & Production at Range. That duo over the past decade has produced over 70 films and television shows, ranging from Academy Award and Emmy winning projects to commercial franchises. They’ve worked with a wide range of top filmmakers including Damien Chazelle, Jeff Nichols, Alma Har’el, James Wan, Leigh Whannell, Karyn Kusama, Nia DaCosta, Gia Coppola, Michael Pearce, and Cory Finley.

Berger was nominated for an Oscar and won Golden Globe, BAFTA, and PGA awards for the Damien Chazelle-directed La La Land, the film that won six Oscars and grossed just short of half a billion dollars worldwide. Kavanaugh-Jones and Berger also won an Emmy...

The horror genre is one of the most versatile when it comes to genre-crossing and blurring the boundaries of what a movie genre can explore, and that includes the best romantic horror movies. Whether it is for the vulnerability or the intensity, there is something about romance and horror that complement each other. While there are horror films that may just throw in a relationship as a plot device, there are others that truly combine romantic drama with the terrifying world of horror movies. It is these rare movies that can be as terrifying as they are romantic.

While there is some lighter rom-com horror fare like Warm Bodies, the best romantic horror movies are usually much darker. Romances in horror films have the option of ending in either triumph or tragedy and can contain twisted relationships of fatal attraction like that of Sang-hyun and Tae-ju in Thirst. Other horror...

The buyers’ event is organised by the BFI and British Council.

Janis Pugh’s Chuck Chuck Baby, Amrou Al-Kadhi’s Layla and Daniel Kokotajlo’s sophomore feature, Starve Acre, are among the eight features selected for Great8, the annual Cannes buyers’ showcase of UK films from emerging directors organised by the British Film Institute (BFI) and British Council.

The showcase, now in its sixth year, presents UK feature films from first and second-time filmmakers to international distributors and festival programmers. It is funded and run by the BFI and British Council, in partnership with BBC Film and Film4.

In preparation for the Marché,...

Brad Inglesby, who wrote for the acclaimed HBO show, Mare of Easttown, had been announced as a writer of a new Apple Original drama, titled Echo Valley. The new feature has already tapped Julianne Moore and Euphoria‘s Syndey Sweeny to star as mother and daughter in the drama. The Hollywood Reporter has now learned that actor Domhnall Gleeson will be joining the cast of the film that will be produced by Ridley Scott for his company, Scott Free.

The plot synopsis per THR reads,

“Echo Valley centers on Kate Garrett (Moore), who is reeling from a personal tragedy and spending her days boarding and training horses at the picturesque Echo Valley Farm, in southeast Pennsylvania. When her wayward daughter Clare (Sweeney) arrives late one night covered in someone else’s blood, the story veers into thriller territory and examines how far a mother will go to save her child.

Domhnall Gleeson is set to join the cast of Apple Original Films’ Echo Valley, a dramatic feature and original screenplay by Brad Ingelsby that already stars Julianne Moore and Sydney Sweeney. Hailing from Apple Studios and produced by Scott Free Films and The Walsh Company, the film will be directed by BAFTA Award winner Michael Pearce.

The pic will star Moore as Kate Garretson. Reeling from a personal tragedy, Kate spends her days boarding and training horses at Echo Valley Farm, 22 secluded, picturesque acres in Southeastern Pennsylvania. Late one night, her wayward daughter Claire (Sweeney) arrives at her doorstep, frightened, trembling and covered in someone else’s blood. From that simple premise, Echo Valley becomes a heart-pounding thriller about just how far a mother will go to save her child.

Gleeson joins the cast in the role of a local criminal who forces himself into Kate’s life, disrupting her...

Domhnall Gleeson will join Julianne Moore and Sydney Sweeney in the original drama Echo Valley from Apple.

Michael Pearce, who won a BAFTA for Beast, will direct Echo Valley, which counts Ridley Scott as a producer and has a screenplay from Mare of Easttown creator Brad Ingelsby.

Echo Valley centers on Kate Garrett (Moore), who is reeling from a personal tragedy and spending her days boarding and training horses at the picturesque Echo Valley Farm, in southeast Pennsylvania. When her wayward daughter Clare (Sweeney) arrives late one night covered in someone else’s blood, the story veers into thriller territory and examines how far a mother will go to save her child.

Gleeson will play Jackie, a local criminal who forces himself into Kate’s life, disrupting her quiet existence with secrets about her family.

Ingelsby, who developed the story with Michael Pruss, earned acclaim for his crime limited series Mare of Easttown,...

After a major bidding war, Zach Cregger’s Barbarian follow-up Weapons landed at New Line and now we have a few major updates. With a shoot set to kick off this July, Production Weekly reports Rooney Mara will star in the project and they’ve revealed a logline: “A multi and inter-related story horror epic centered around witchcraft and missing children.” The film was previously described as being tonally in the vein of Paul Thomas Anderson’s 1999 epic Magnolia, so expect many more cast members to join the ensemble.

After Netflix announced August Wilson’s Broadway play The Piano Lesson is getting the big-screen treatment a few years back, we’ve now gleaned more about the players involved. Production Weekly reports that Malcolm Washington, Denzel Washington’s son, will direct the adaptation, while John David Washington and Samuel L. Jackson will reprise their roles. Here’s the official synopsis:

At...

Apple TV+ is staying in the Julianne Moore business, and the streamer is adding even more major talent to join her. After teaming with indie studio A24 to release the neo-noir, film "Sharper" earlier this year (featuring Moore in the lead role), Apple is looking to expand their modest slate of original films with another highly-anticipated project.

Variety reports that Apple has cast Moore and rapidly rising star Sydney Sweeney (seen below in "Euphoria") in a new feature film project titled "Echo Valley." On the other side of the camera, the story comes from "Mare of Easttown" writer, producer, and creator Brad Ingelsby, and like the HBO Max series, it's set in Pennsylvania. The movie will follow Moore's character named Kate Garrett, described as "a woman reeling from a personal tragedy who spends her days boarding and training horses on the secluded and picturesque Echo Valley Farm." Sweeney will play...

People showing up at your door without warning can put you in an imposition. Meanwhile, people arriving at your place soaked in blood in another story altogether. What’s your first question for this guest? Do you help them hide the body? Julianne Moore is about to find out because Apple Original Films is ready to cast the leads of Echo Valley, a thriller with a script from Mare of Easttown creator Brad Ingelsby. The project stars Moore and Sydney Sweeney as a mother-daughter duo. Michael Pearce directs from Ingelsby’s script, with production from Scott Free Films and The Walsh Company.

In Echo Valley, Moore plays Kate Garrett, a woman recovering from a personal tragedy while boarding and training horses at Echo Valley Far, twenty-two remote, Bob Ross painting-worthy acres in Southeastern Pennsylvania. In the middle of the night, Kate’s recalcitrant daughter, Claire (Sweeney), is covered in blood at her doorstep beside herself.

Julianne Moore and Sydney Sweeney are teaming up for Apple Films’ Echo Valley. The duo will play a mother and daughter in the feature, which has a screenplay from Brad Ingelsby, the creator of HBO’s Mare of Easttown.

Michael Pearce, who won a BAFTA for Beast, will direct Echo Valley, which counts Ridley Scott as a producer.

Echo Valley centers on Kate Garrett (Moore), who is reeling from a personal tragedy and spending her days boarding and training horses at the picturesque Echo Valley Farm, located in southeast Pennsylvania. When her wayward daughter Clare (Sweeney) arrives late one night covered in someone else’s blood, the story veers into thriller territory and examines how far a mother will go to save her child.

Ingelsby, who developed the story with Michael Pruss, earned acclaim for his crime limited series Mare of Easttown, which won four Emmys and became a breakout show for HBO.

Julianne Moore and Sydney Sweeney are gearing up to play a mother-daughter duo in “Echo Valley,” an Apple Studios feature from “Mare of Easttown” creator Brad Ingelsby.

Like the acclaimed HBO series, “Echo Valley” is rooted in southeastern Pennsylvania, where a grieving woman named Kate Garrett (Moore) lives in isolation on a 22-acre farm. Her days of boarding and training horses at Echo Valley Farm are interrupted when her wayward daughter Claire (Sweeney) shows up one night, covered in someone else’s blood. As the synopsis puts it, that sets into motion “a heart-pounding thriller about just how far a mother will go to save her child.”

BAFTA-winning director Michael Pearce will helm from Ingelsby’s script, developed with Michael Pruss. Ridley Scott will produce through his banner Scott Free, along with Pruss and Ingelsby. Kevin Walsh will produce for The Walsh Company under his multiyear deal with Apple TV...

Apple Original Films have set up the new film Echo Valley from a script by Mare of Easttown creator Brad Ingelsby with Sydney Sweeney and Julianne Moore attached to star. Hailing from Apple Studios, and produced by Scott Free Films and The Walsh Company, the film will be directed by Michael Pearce.

The pic will star Moore as ‘Kate Garrett,’ who is reeling from a personal tragedy and spends her days boarding and training horses at Echo Valley Farm, twenty-two secluded, picturesque acres in Southeastern Pennsylvania. Late one night, her wayward daughter, ‘Claire’ (played by Sweeney), arrives at her doorstep, frightened, trembling, and covered in someone else’s blood. From that simple premise, Echo Valley becomes a heart-pounding thriller about just how far a mother will go to save her child.

The pic will be produced by Scott Free’s Ridley Scott and Michael Pruss, Ingelsby, and Kevin Walsh produces...

Get the dialect coach on the line — we’re going back to Southeastern Pennsylvania with “Mare of Easttown” creator Brad Ingelsby. The writer-producer has set the new feature film “Echo Valley” at Apple Studios, and recruited Julianne Moore and Sydney Sweeney as his stars.

“Echo Valley” will follow Oscar winner Moore as Kate Garrett, a woman reeling from a personal tragedy who spends her days boarding and training horses on the secluded and picturesque Echo Valley Farm. Late one night, her wayward daughter Claire (the Emmy-nominated heat-seeker Sweeney) arrives at her doorstep, frightened, trembling and covered in someone else’s blood. From that simple premise, “Echo Valley” becomes a heart-pounding thriller about just how far a mother will go to save her child.

BAFTA Award-winner Michael Pearce will direct from Ingelsby’s original script. The project will be produced by Ingelsby, Ridley Scott and Michael Pruss of Scott Free, and...

The window opens today (March 1), 2023, and will close on March 31.

Applications are now open for the landmark 20th edition of Screen International’s Screen Stars of Tomorrow, our annual portfolio of new talent from the UK and Ireland.

The window opens today (March 1), 2023, and will close on March 31.

Applications are open to UK and Irish nationals and long-term residents of either country. There is no upper or lower age limit.

Applicants should use the this Google Form and need to attach a brief bio, a headshot and contact details as well as a small statement about why they are applying.

Mubi has announced its lineup of streaming offerings for next month, including Carla Simón’s Golden Bear winner Alcarràs, Ruth Beckermann’s Mutzenbacher, a series celebrating Black cinema with works from Charles Burnett, Julie Dash, Ephraim Asili, Bill Duke, and more.

Additional highlights include Sarah Polley’s Away From Her, Richard Linklater’s Before Midnight, Albert Brooks’ Modern Romance, Bong Joon Ho’s The Host, Lars von Trier’s Nymphomaniac, shorts by Emilija Škarnulytė, and the beginning of a series spotlighting Akio Jissoji’s Buddhist Trilogy.

Check out the lineup below and get 30 days free here.

February 1 – Softie, directed by Samuel Theis | From France with Love

February 2 – The Sleeping Negro, directed by Skinner Myers

February 3 – Before Midnight, directed by Richard Linklater

February 4 – To Sleep with Anger, directed by Charles Burnett

February 5 – Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, directed by Stanley Kramer | Performers We Love

February 6 – Aphotic Zone, directed by Emilija...

Exclusive: Larsen Thompson (The Midnight Club) and Olwen Fouéré (The Northman) have joined the cast of the upcoming film Horrorscope, from Screen Gems and Alloy Entertainment. The actors join an ensemble which also includes Jacob Batalon, Alana Boden, Adain Bradley, Avantika, Humberly González and Wolfgang Novogratz, as previously announced.

The film based on Alloy’s same-name novel penned by Nicholas Adams follows a group of college friends who get their horoscopes read, and then begin dying in ways connected to their fortunes. Are their fates fatal or can they change what’s written in the stars?

Details as to Thompson and Fouéré’s roles are being kept under wraps. But Anna Halberg and Spenser Cohen wrote the script and will direct, in their feature debut, with production set to kick off this fall. Leslie Morgenstein and Elysa Koplovitz Dutton are producing through Alloy, along with Scott Glassgold of Ground Control,...

Exclusive: Brennan Keel Cook (The Pale Blue Eye) and newcomer Cat Shank are the latest additions to the cast of Suretone Pictures and Lionsgate’s horror film Creepers, marking the feature debut of veteran music video and commercial director Marc Klasfeld. They join an ensemble which also includes the previously announced Jake Manley, Adeline Rudolph, Francesca Reale, Laurence O’Fuarain, Nicholas Hamilton, Javier Botet, Kai Caster and Shane Paul McGhie.

The film currently in production in Bulgaria is based on the bestselling book of the same name by David Morrell, which Stephen Susco adapted for the screen. It tells the story of a group of young urban explorers who plan to investigate an old, boarded-up, seemingly abandoned hotel, only to encounter danger at every turn in the form of a competing group of hostile urban explorers seeking to find a legendary hidden treasure – as well as a supernatural being who wreaks havoc on all.

The most exciting new actors, writers, directors, producers, and heads of department emerging across the UK and Ireland.

Screen International has revealed the 2022 edition of Stars of Tomorrow, our prestigious annual showcase of the UK and Ireland’s most exciting young actors, directors, writers, producers and heads of department.

The 2022 UK & Ireland Stars of Tomorrow are following in the footsteps of some of today’s biggest names in film and television, many of whom are now Bafta and Oscar winners and nominees.

From Benedict Cumberbatch and Andrea Arnold in the inaugural selection in 2004 to David Oyelowo, Ruth Negga, Abi Morgan (2005), Riz Ahmed,...

Exclusive: CAA has signed English actor Connor Swindells for representation.

Swindells is best known for starring alongside CAA client Asa Butterfield and Gillian Anderson on the Netflix series Sex Education. In the BAFTA-winning comedy created by Laurie Nunn, he plays Adam Groff, the bully-turned-love-interest of Ncuti Gatwa’s Eric.

Swindells is currently filming a role opposite CAA clients Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling in Greta Gerwig’s Barbie. Previously, he wrapped filming the lead role opposite Dominic West and Jack O’Connell on Sas: Rogue Heroes, the series that is set to debut this fall on Amazon and BBC.

Hailing from Sussex, Swindells was training to be an Olympic boxer before a career-ending injury redirected him to acting. He landed the role of Donald in Kristoffer Nyholm’s film The Vanishing at 19 years old, and immediately went on to book the lead in the BBC drama Vs., which...

Nominations will close on April 18.

Screen International is delighted to announce that nominations are open for Screen Stars of Tomorrow, our annual portfolio of new talent from the UK and Ireland, now heading into its 19th year.

Nominations open from March 20, 2022, and will close over the Easter bank holiday weekend, on April 18, in the drive to find new actors, directors, writers, producers and heads of department to present to the industry this summer.

Due to the increasing popularity of this talent portfolio, we ask that all submissions now use this Google Form. Applicants will need to attach a brief bio,...

Editors note: Deadline’s Read the Screenplay series debuts and celebrates the scripts of films that will be factors in this year’s movie awards race.

Riz Ahmed was in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, but his latest movie, Amazon Studios’ Encounter, isn’t that kind of sci-fi movie. Encounter is about an alien invasion, but one that occurs on present day Earth, to a normal family, and raises additional questions of paranoia.

Ahmed plays Malik, a Marine veteran who believes alien insects are possessing human beings for a takeover. Malik takes his two sons, Jay (Lucien-River Chauhan) and Bobby (Aditya Geddada), away from their mother (Janina Gavankar) and stepfather (Misha Collins).

On the road, Malik tries to keep his sons safe from people who have already been taken over by the insects. However, his ex-wife reports him to the authorities, and Malik’s parole officer Hattie (Octavia Spencer...

Michael Pearce wanted to direct a very specific kind of story as a follow-up to “Beast,” his acclaimed first feature. The writer-director found the script for “Encounter” by Joe Barton, which tells the story of a war veteran who takes his two sons on a trip to protect them from an alien threat, and realized it was exactly what he was looking for. “I was trying to find something that was part character portrait and part elevated genre film,” says Pearce in an exclusive new interview for Gold Derby. “It had all the fun genre stuff but it was really a connection to the characters that drew me in.” Watch the full interview above.

There were a number of influences running through Pearce’s mind while developing “Encounter,” from the paranoia sci-fi elements of “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” to the grounded family story of “Paris, Texas.” He and cinematographer...

The holiday season is often a festive time for families, with lots of parties and out-of-town guests. But what about those families that are fractured and splintered? That’s one of the subjects explored in this new feature drama that’s out right between the two big special days near the end of the year. And speaking of “the end” that’s just what this now single father is obsessed with. I mean really fixated. Which may have been acerbated by the dissolution of his family and the separation from his sons. But he’s got something of a plan, a rescue that’s more of an abduction. So, when this trio goes on the run, just what will they Encounter?

The opening scenes of this story are told through the eyes and actions of a man on the run, dishonorably discharged soldier, and parolee Malik Khan (Riz Ahmed). He...

“Encounter” is a weird sci-fi/drama hybrid and I’m all here for it. Director Michael Pearce (“Beast”) started with sci-fi tropes then pull the cliches off and created searing Father-Sons drama with the fantastic Riz Ahmed as the dad to two fantastic child actors, Lucian-River Chauhan, and Aditya Geddada. I spent some time with the actors

The post “Encounter” appeared first on Manny the Movie Guy.

The new Amazon Studios film, Encounter, is a taut and thought-provoking drama, directed by Michael Pearce that stars Oscar-nominated actor Riz Ahmed. The movie also features young actors Lucian-River Chauhan and Aditya Geddada, as well as Octavia Spencer and Rory Cochrane in smaller, yet pivotal roles.

Encounter is a gripping story of decorated Marine Malik Kahn’s mission to save Jay and Bobby’s two young sons from a mysterious threat. On their perilous journey, … well, I don’t want to spoil the film; the movie Has to be experienced on screen!

Encounter combines elements of different genres, including a full-on science fiction take, a psychological thriller, and a moving family drama that is also full of action and scary mysteries. It is amazing how the director seamlessly brought all these different modes of filmmaking together to create a riveting, edge-of-your-seat-omg-what-happens-next-will-Malik-Jay-and-Bobby-be-ok, heart-pounding, compelling film-watching experience.

There are moments when you...

Family road movie and sci-fi conspiracy merge in this subtle psychological drama from Beast director Michael Pearce

Otherworldly science fiction meets down-to-earth psychological realism in director and co-writer Michael Pearce’s impressive follow-up to 2017’s brilliant Beast. Boasting yet another standout performance by Riz Ahmed, the nuances of which are superbly amplified by Jed Kurzel’s slowly mutating score, this is a genre-hopping affair, balanced between tangible personal experience and growing paranoia, an affecting meld of inner and outer worlds in which family stresses and extraterrestrial spectres collide.

Like Nic Roeg’s The Man Who Fell to Earth, to which this owes a tonal debt, Encounter opens with images of objects plummeting through the atmosphere toward our planet’s surface. From here we move to Blue Velvet-style closeups of insects, vividly illustrating alien microbes entering the ecosystem. Then we’re in Apocalypse Now territory, as Ahmed’s Malik Khan awakens in his hotel room.