“This Is Genius!” tweeted Whit Stillman the other day. He’s referring to—and fully endorsing—Margaret C. Sullivan‘s analysis, charts and all, of the plot of Jane Austen’s short novel, Lady Susan, which Stillman has adapted as Love and Friendship. Shooting wrapped in March. “Set in the 1790s,” noted Michael Rosser in Screen in February, “Love and Friendship centers on widow Lady Susan Vernon [Kate Beckinsale], who has come to the estate of her in-laws to wait out the colorful rumors about her dalliances circulating through polite society. Whilst there, she decides to secure a husband for herself and her reluctant debutante daughter, Frederica [Morfydd Clark]…. [T]he cast includes Xavier Samuel as the object of Lady Susan’s affections and Stephen Fry as Mr. Johnson, long-suffering husband to Lady Susan’s friend and confidante Alicia ([Chloë] Sevigny).”
Cary Fukunaga, the Emmy-winning director and executive producer of True Detective, is a very busy man. As Ryan Lattanzio reports for Thompson on Hollywood, he’s about to “develop and direct a yet-to-be-titled father-son drama for A24, marking the edgy distributor’s first project to be developed from scratch…. Based on the true story of Joe and his son Jadin Bell, a 15-year-old Oregon teen who killed himself in 2013 after suffering vicious bullying for being gay, the drama will be penned by the Oscar-winning Brokeback Mountain team of Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana.” And here’s what else he’s up to:
- An adaptation of Caleb Carr’s The Alienist for television.
- A two-part adaptation of Stephen King’s 1986 novel It.
- Beasts of No Nation, which Netflix aims to simultaneously debut as both a theatrical and streaming release. From Leonard Pearce at the Film Stage: “Led by Idris Elba, Uzodinma Iweala‘s story adapted by Fukunaga centers around a young boy, Agu, who, when civil war engulfs his West African country, is forced to join a unit of mercenary fighters. Not only must Agu face the death of his father and disappearance of his mother and sister, but must also join a life of violence and brutality, which is where Elba’s character figures in.”
Jennifer Saunders has confirmed that the Absolutely Fabulous movie, Edina and Patsy, will begin filming later this year. Debbie Emery has details at TheWrap.
In Cannes, Starz will be shopping a television series starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Olga Kurylenko, Bruce Willis, Bill Murray, Danny Huston and Kelly Lynch, reports Screen‘s Jeremy Kay. Magic City “takes place in 1962 Miami as a powerful Miami Beach hotel owner fights the mob, CIA and Cuban mercenaries.”
James Wan is “now becoming a marquee name with the mammoth Furious 7,” writes Greg Cwik at the Dissolve. “He’s also producing a remake of 1980s horror gem The Entity and working on a sequel to The Conjuring, which will draw inspiration from the Enfield Poltergeist.” And now “Deadline reports that Wan has entered the embryonic stage of directing a live-action film of Robotech, adapted from the 1980s series that brought anime to a worldwide audience.”
Lucy Walker (Waste Land) will direct a sequel to Wim Wenders‘s Buena Vista Social Club. Tatiana Siegel has details in the Hollywood Reporter.
“Having secured Kerry Washington as Anita Hill, the attorney thrown under the bus during Clarence Thomas’s nomination hearings, HBO has found its Supreme Court justice,” reports B.G. Henne at the AV Club. “According to the Hollywood Reporter, Wendell Pierce will play Clarence Thomas in Confirmation, which will chronicle the high-profile 1991 Senate judiciary hearings.”
Trailer for Brian Helgeland’s Legend with Tom Hardy as both Reggie and Ron Kray
“Paul Giamatti and Toby Jones have joined the cast of Morgan, Fox’s sci-fi thriller being directed by Ridley Scott’s son Luke Scott.” Borys Kit in the Hollywood Reporter: “Kate Mara and Anya Taylor-Joy, who starred in the Sundance horror breakout The Witch, are toplining the project that tells of a corporate risk-management consultant (Mara) who is summoned to a remote research lab to determine whether or not to terminate a genetically-engineered being (Taylor-Joy).”
Variety‘s Dave McNary reports that IM Global Television is developing adaptations of Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle (1963) and Marion Zimmer Bradley’s sci-fi series Darkover.
Also, “Dakota Fanning and Helen Hunt have been set to star in road-trip drama Please Stand By with Ben Lewin (The Sessions) directing.”
The Hangover screenwriters Jon Lucas and Scott Moore have written “an untitled R-rated female-driven comedy” for Leslie Mann, reports Deadline‘s Mike Fleming Jr.
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