Emily Blunt Heading To Mipcom For ‘The English’ Red Carpet Curtain Raiser
Emily Blunt, Chaske Spencer and Hugo Blick are headed to Cannes for a red carpet screening of buzzy Western drama series The English at Mipcom. The event will be the curtain raiser for the RX France-hosted event and will take place at the Grand Auditorium in Cannes’ Palais des Festivals on Sunday October 16 at 6pm CET, the evening before the main festival, market and conference kicks off. A Q&A with stars Blunt and Spencer and writer-director Blick will follow. The English follows aristocratic Englishwoman Lady Cornelia Locke (the Blunt) and ex-cavalry scout Eli Whipp (Spencer), as they come together in 1890 mid-America to cross a violent landscape built on dreams and blood. Stephen Rea, Rafe Spall and Valerie Pachner are also among the cast. Drama Republic and Eight Rooks are co-propducing for BBC Two and BBC iPlayer in the UK and Amazon Prime Video in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, in association with All3Media International, the distributor that will be showcasing the six-part series at Mipcom. RX France said “a series of high-profile screenings and events” would be staged at this year’s event, which is anticipated to be back towards pre-Covid delegate numbers following a paired down return in 2021.
‘Mad Max’s Vernon Wells Boards U.S.-Australian Sci-Fi Feature ‘Island In The Stars’
EXCLUSIVE: Mad Max II : The Road Warrior actor Vernon Wells is among the cast of an upcoming U.S.-Australian sci-fi feature, Island in the Stars. Tony Bonner (The Man from Snowy River), Emily Couple (The Crossroads) and Krista Vendy (Neighbours) are also set to star, with Callan McAuliffe (The Walking Dead) in talks for a role. Other high-profile stars are being sought. U.S.-based firms Lumen Actus and Molly Mooch Productions have joined forces with Australia’s Lady Of The Light Productions on the film, which comes from writer-director Tom Konkle (Trouble is My Business) and is billed as an “ambitious science-fiction/pulp adventure.” Konkle is producing alongside co-writer Michael J Smith Wells, and Lucinda Bruce. Slated to shoot in Australia, the plot will see plot a young woman embark upon a dangerous expedition across space after space pirate carrying a star map to a hidden planet crashes outside her home. She hopes to unravel the mystery of the map and discover the fate of her missing father. “This pulpy space opera genre film can be a showcase of generations of Aussie talent,” said Konkle. He is repped by Linda McAlister Talent, AKA Talent and Imperium 7, Wells is repped by Joseph D’Orofino Management and Bruce is repped by Aaron Kelly of A.K. Entertainment.
European Film Academy Sets Documentary Longlist Including Three Ukrainian Films
Three Ukrainian films have been included in the European Film Academy’s list of feature-length documentary films that have been recommended for nomination at the 2022 European Film Awards. The list of films includes Mariupolis 2 by Mantas Kvedaravicius, which follows the director as he returned to Mariupol, Ukraine, at the heart of the war to be with the people he had met and filmed in 2015. Ukrainian filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa made the list with his latest doc Mr. Landsbergis, which is based on the director’s conversations with professor Vytautas Landsbergis and Danish filmmaker Simon Lereng Wilmont rounds out the list with his film A House Made of Splinters, which centers on an orphanage in Eastern Ukraine. 15 European countries are represented in the full list, which you can check out here.
Warner Bros. Discovery Denmark Orders Grand Canyon Reality Adventure Series
Warner Bros. Discovery is moving towards a local production model in Europe, as we revealed last week, and its Danish arm has today unveiled a reality competition format set in the Grand Canyon. WBD has commissioned Grand Canyon — The Greatest Adventure from Banijay Nordic’s Pineapple Entertainment. The show will go out on linear network Channel 5 and streaming service Discovery+. The format will see a group of celebrities spend 16 days rafting 360 kilometres on the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon, which is one of the most challenging rafting spots in the world. Helped by adventurer Thor F. Jensen, the cast includes actors Andreas Jessen and Lise Baastrup, athlete Anne-Marie Rindom, handball champion Jesper Nøddesbo, musician Mohamed “Skinz” Ahmed and TV personality, host, model and actress Ibi Støving. They have to co-operate to get through the ever-changing environment, while learning about the cultural history of the landscape, and working together to establish a daily camp. “Grand Canyon is like a non-scripted road movie through one of the greatest natural wonders in the world,” said Kathrine Skjold, Executive Producer at Pineapple.
