Magnolia Pictures has acquired Samuel Beckett biopic Dance First for North America, to be released later this year.
The San Sebastian premiere is helmed by The Theory of Everything filmmaker James Marsh, with London and Paris-based outfit Film Constellation representing sales on the title. Studiocanal released in the UK and Ireland last year.
Irish actor Gabriel Byrne plays the Irish literary great, with the film exploring the many parts of his life: Second World War resistance fighter, Nobel Prize-winning playwright, and recluse.
Aidan Gillen, Sandrine Bonnaire, Maxine Peake and Fionn O’Shea star.
Dance First was developed and packaged by 2Le Media,...
The San Sebastian premiere is helmed by The Theory of Everything filmmaker James Marsh, with London and Paris-based outfit Film Constellation representing sales on the title. Studiocanal released in the UK and Ireland last year.
Irish actor Gabriel Byrne plays the Irish literary great, with the film exploring the many parts of his life: Second World War resistance fighter, Nobel Prize-winning playwright, and recluse.
Aidan Gillen, Sandrine Bonnaire, Maxine Peake and Fionn O’Shea star.
Dance First was developed and packaged by 2Le Media,...
- 2/15/2024
- ScreenDaily
European pay TV platform Sky has released the trailer for Sky Original film “Dance First,” ahead of its world premiere at San Sebastian Film Festival on Sept. 30. Film Constellation is handling international sales on the film.
The film is directed by BAFTA and Academy Award winner James Marsh (“The Theory of Everything”) and written by BAFTA winner Neil Forsyth (“Guilt”). “Dance First” will be released in movie theaters in the U.K. and Ireland in November, on Sky Cinema in those countries in December and on Sky Arts and Freeview next year.
In “Dance First,” Golden Globe winner Gabriel Byrne (“The Usual Suspects”) plays Samuel Beckett with young Beckett played by Fionn O’Shea (“Normal People”) in a sweeping account of the life of this 20th century literary icon. Parisian bon vivant, World War II resistance fighter, Nobel Prize-winning playwright, philandering husband and recluse, Beckett lived a life of many parts.
The film is directed by BAFTA and Academy Award winner James Marsh (“The Theory of Everything”) and written by BAFTA winner Neil Forsyth (“Guilt”). “Dance First” will be released in movie theaters in the U.K. and Ireland in November, on Sky Cinema in those countries in December and on Sky Arts and Freeview next year.
In “Dance First,” Golden Globe winner Gabriel Byrne (“The Usual Suspects”) plays Samuel Beckett with young Beckett played by Fionn O’Shea (“Normal People”) in a sweeping account of the life of this 20th century literary icon. Parisian bon vivant, World War II resistance fighter, Nobel Prize-winning playwright, philandering husband and recluse, Beckett lived a life of many parts.
- 9/21/2023
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Film Constellation is handling world sales on the Sky Original title.
Principal photography has wrapped on James Marsh’s UK film Dance First which stars Irish actor Gabriel Byrne as Samuel Beckett.
The Sky Original film charts the Irish writer’s life, from his time as a fighter for the French Resistance during the Second World War to his literary rise to winning the Nobel Prize for literature in 1969.
The film will premiere in cinemas and on Sky Cinema in 2023.
Byrne, whose credits include The Usual Suspects and Miller’s Crossing, is joined in the cast by Aidan Gillen, Sandrine Bonnaire,...
Principal photography has wrapped on James Marsh’s UK film Dance First which stars Irish actor Gabriel Byrne as Samuel Beckett.
The Sky Original film charts the Irish writer’s life, from his time as a fighter for the French Resistance during the Second World War to his literary rise to winning the Nobel Prize for literature in 1969.
The film will premiere in cinemas and on Sky Cinema in 2023.
Byrne, whose credits include The Usual Suspects and Miller’s Crossing, is joined in the cast by Aidan Gillen, Sandrine Bonnaire,...
- 9/8/2022
- by Ellie Calnan
- ScreenDaily
‘The Drifters’ Lands Distribution
Exclusive: Starcross Entertainment’s latest feature The Drifters has been boarded for international sales by Media Luna and UK distribution by Central City Media. The film will have a virtual cinema release on April 3 and will be on demand from April 5. Streamer Urbanflix will release in the U.S.. The movie had its world premiere at the Sao Paulo International Film Festival. It is written and directed by Benjamin Bond and stars Lucie Bourdeu and Jonathan Ajayi in a love story about identity and place in a post-Brexit United Kingdom. Iona Sweeney produced. Executive producers include Andy Brunskill, Elinor Day, Paul Ashton, Evan Leighton-Davis, Ben Thompson and Patrick Milling-Smith.
Tom Felton To Host BIFAs
Former Harry Potter star Tom Felton will host this year’s British Independent Film Awards virtual ceremony, which will take place on February 18 with a live-streamed event from Wales, where the actor...
Exclusive: Starcross Entertainment’s latest feature The Drifters has been boarded for international sales by Media Luna and UK distribution by Central City Media. The film will have a virtual cinema release on April 3 and will be on demand from April 5. Streamer Urbanflix will release in the U.S.. The movie had its world premiere at the Sao Paulo International Film Festival. It is written and directed by Benjamin Bond and stars Lucie Bourdeu and Jonathan Ajayi in a love story about identity and place in a post-Brexit United Kingdom. Iona Sweeney produced. Executive producers include Andy Brunskill, Elinor Day, Paul Ashton, Evan Leighton-Davis, Ben Thompson and Patrick Milling-Smith.
Tom Felton To Host BIFAs
Former Harry Potter star Tom Felton will host this year’s British Independent Film Awards virtual ceremony, which will take place on February 18 with a live-streamed event from Wales, where the actor...
- 2/1/2021
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
Update: After today’s story that Creative England’s popular iFeatures scheme was looking at an uncertain future, Lady Macbeth producer Fodhla Cronin O’Reilly and director William Oldroyd got in touch to ask if they could send over a comment to voice their support for the program, which I’ve added to the end of this article.
Exclusive: I can reveal that iFeatures, the UK funding initiative that has developed successful low-budget pics including Lady Macbeth and Apostasy, is facing an uncertain future with Creative England and its partners now reviewing the program.
Rumors started swirling in UK producing circles last week that participants in the current iteration of iFeatures had been told the initiative would be shelved after the completion of this edition. I understand that this talk was premature, but Creative England has confirmed to us that it is seeking a new backer to ensure the program’s future.
Exclusive: I can reveal that iFeatures, the UK funding initiative that has developed successful low-budget pics including Lady Macbeth and Apostasy, is facing an uncertain future with Creative England and its partners now reviewing the program.
Rumors started swirling in UK producing circles last week that participants in the current iteration of iFeatures had been told the initiative would be shelved after the completion of this edition. I understand that this talk was premature, but Creative England has confirmed to us that it is seeking a new backer to ensure the program’s future.
- 2/19/2020
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has named its five winners of the 2019 Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting competition. The quintet’s scripts will get a live read next month.
And the fellowships go to … Aaron Chung, for Princess Vietnam; Karen McDermott, Lullabies of La Jaula; Renee Pillai, Boy with Kite; Sean Malcolm, Mother; and Walker McKnight, Street Rat Allie Punches Her Ticket.
Each winner receives a $35,000 prize, the first installment of which will be distributed at the Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting Awards Presentation & Live Read on Thursday, November 7, at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.
Fellowships are awarded with the understanding that the recipients each will complete a feature-length screenplay during their fellowship year. The Academy acquires no rights to their works and does not involve itself commercially in any way with their completed scripts.
The other 2019 finalists, chosen from more than 7,300 entered scripts, were Paul Ashton,...
And the fellowships go to … Aaron Chung, for Princess Vietnam; Karen McDermott, Lullabies of La Jaula; Renee Pillai, Boy with Kite; Sean Malcolm, Mother; and Walker McKnight, Street Rat Allie Punches Her Ticket.
Each winner receives a $35,000 prize, the first installment of which will be distributed at the Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting Awards Presentation & Live Read on Thursday, November 7, at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.
Fellowships are awarded with the understanding that the recipients each will complete a feature-length screenplay during their fellowship year. The Academy acquires no rights to their works and does not involve itself commercially in any way with their completed scripts.
The other 2019 finalists, chosen from more than 7,300 entered scripts, were Paul Ashton,...
- 10/4/2019
- by Erik Pedersen
- Deadline Film + TV
The list recognises 50 innovative companies across film, games and digital media.
Nottingham-based Griffin Pictures and Bristol’s Early Day Films are among 50 selected for Creative England’s 2019 CE50 list, for ’innovative and disruptive’ companies and individuals across film, games and digital media from the regions.
The fifth edition of the annual list includes 19 entries for the film and TV industry.
Griffin Pictures is run by Anna Griffin, a 2018 Screen Star of Tomorrow, and is currently working on Arash Ashtiani’s Calais refugee drama The Tunnel with BFI Network development funding.
Early Day produced Mark Jenkin’s fisherman drama Bait, which...
Nottingham-based Griffin Pictures and Bristol’s Early Day Films are among 50 selected for Creative England’s 2019 CE50 list, for ’innovative and disruptive’ companies and individuals across film, games and digital media from the regions.
The fifth edition of the annual list includes 19 entries for the film and TV industry.
Griffin Pictures is run by Anna Griffin, a 2018 Screen Star of Tomorrow, and is currently working on Arash Ashtiani’s Calais refugee drama The Tunnel with BFI Network development funding.
Early Day produced Mark Jenkin’s fisherman drama Bait, which...
- 5/30/2019
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
The film was backed by the BFI and Creative England.
Filming has wrapped in the UK on Ben Bond’s post-Brexit love story The Drifters, which is backed by Creative England and the BFI.
A quartet of rising stars head the cast: Lucie Bourdeu (Kings For A Day), Jonathan Ajayi (known for the stage play revival of Brothers Size by Moonlight’s Tarell Alvin McCraney), Tom Sweet (Childhood Of A Leader) and Ariyon Bakare (Star Wars: Rogue One).
The Drifters follows Kofi, an illegal African migrant, and Fanny, a French waitress, who both find themselves homeless.
The film is produced...
Filming has wrapped in the UK on Ben Bond’s post-Brexit love story The Drifters, which is backed by Creative England and the BFI.
A quartet of rising stars head the cast: Lucie Bourdeu (Kings For A Day), Jonathan Ajayi (known for the stage play revival of Brothers Size by Moonlight’s Tarell Alvin McCraney), Tom Sweet (Childhood Of A Leader) and Ariyon Bakare (Star Wars: Rogue One).
The Drifters follows Kofi, an illegal African migrant, and Fanny, a French waitress, who both find themselves homeless.
The film is produced...
- 7/19/2018
- by Tom Grater
- ScreenDaily
Initiative behind Lady Macbeth chooses projects for year-round development lab.
Creative England’s low-budget feature initiative iFeatures, that has credits including the Bafta-nominated Lady Macbeth and 2017 Tiff premiere Apostasy, has chosen the 12 projects and teams to take part in its new-look lab format.
The new system will see 12 projects from first-time filmmakers taken through an entire cycle of development. This will include support for all aspects of the creative process, from inception to the stage when they are ready to be introduced to the market. This replaces the previous model of developing an initial 12 projects for early development, and then...
Creative England’s low-budget feature initiative iFeatures, that has credits including the Bafta-nominated Lady Macbeth and 2017 Tiff premiere Apostasy, has chosen the 12 projects and teams to take part in its new-look lab format.
The new system will see 12 projects from first-time filmmakers taken through an entire cycle of development. This will include support for all aspects of the creative process, from inception to the stage when they are ready to be introduced to the market. This replaces the previous model of developing an initial 12 projects for early development, and then...
- 7/2/2018
- by Tom Grater
- ScreenDaily
12 film companies and individuals appear on the 50-strong list.
12 film companies and individuals appear on CE50, Creative England’s list of ‘up-and-coming disruptors and innovators’ working in film and TV, gaming and digital media industries from English regions.
The list, which is hand-picked by Creative England with nominations from regional partners, includes Bafta and Bifa-winning producer Emily Morgan (I Am Not A Witch)’s Quiddity Films; director Claire Oakley, who is currently in production on Morgan’s feature Make Up; Oscar-winning actress and writer Rachel Shenton (The Silent Child); and Scottish writer-director and Screen Star of Tomorrow 2016, Eva Riley.
Also...
12 film companies and individuals appear on CE50, Creative England’s list of ‘up-and-coming disruptors and innovators’ working in film and TV, gaming and digital media industries from English regions.
The list, which is hand-picked by Creative England with nominations from regional partners, includes Bafta and Bifa-winning producer Emily Morgan (I Am Not A Witch)’s Quiddity Films; director Claire Oakley, who is currently in production on Morgan’s feature Make Up; Oscar-winning actress and writer Rachel Shenton (The Silent Child); and Scottish writer-director and Screen Star of Tomorrow 2016, Eva Riley.
Also...
- 5/24/2018
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
New iteration, which has now opened for applications, will select 12 projects from first-time filmmakers.
Creative England’s flagship low-budget film initiative iFeatures is re-launching this year to become a year-round development lab with a more flexible approach to funding and regionality.
The BFI, BBC Films and Creative Skillset-backed scheme previously selected an initial 12 projects for development and then took three into production with budgets of £350,000. Recent success stories including William Oldroyd’s Lady Macbeth, Hope Dickson Leach’s The Levelling and Dan Kokotajilo’s Apostasy.
In its new iteration, which opens on Feb 21 for applications, 12 projects from first-time filmmakers will be taken through an entire cycle of development that will include support for all aspects of the creative process, from inception to the stage when they are ready to be introduced to the market.
The BFI and BBC Films have committed to producing at least three of the projects, but the goal is...
Creative England’s flagship low-budget film initiative iFeatures is re-launching this year to become a year-round development lab with a more flexible approach to funding and regionality.
The BFI, BBC Films and Creative Skillset-backed scheme previously selected an initial 12 projects for development and then took three into production with budgets of £350,000. Recent success stories including William Oldroyd’s Lady Macbeth, Hope Dickson Leach’s The Levelling and Dan Kokotajilo’s Apostasy.
In its new iteration, which opens on Feb 21 for applications, 12 projects from first-time filmmakers will be taken through an entire cycle of development that will include support for all aspects of the creative process, from inception to the stage when they are ready to be introduced to the market.
The BFI and BBC Films have committed to producing at least three of the projects, but the goal is...
- 2/15/2018
- by Tom Grater
- ScreenDaily
Virtual and augmented reality — a topic that is fast and feverishly taking over the zeitgeist of major film festivals — took center stage in last week’s 24th edition of the Sheffield Doc/Fest. “What exactly is a feature documentary now?” Paul Ashton of Creative England asked panelists from Sundance, Vice, the non-profit film foundation Cinereach and Germany’s broadcast outlet Wdr/Ard. In part, he was referring to the festival’s endless range of strands that covered experimental film, live theater and an expanded Vr and Ar section — “Alternate Reality” — that included 25 works housed inside the stunning Millennium Gallery and […]...
- 6/21/2017
- by Tiffany Pritchard
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Exclusive: Room and Brooklyn backers appoint two project managers to drive development and production.
The Irish Film Board has made two key hires in the shape of Creative England senior film executive Celine Haddad and development executive and script editor Dearbhla Regan who are both joining the funding body as project managers within the production and development team.
Haddad and Regan will work alongside Lesley McKimm, who was appointed last September, to manage the slate of Ifb supported projects from development through to production and distribution.
The duo take over from outgoing project managers Keith Potter and Mary Callery.
At Creative England Haddad has worked on titles including God’s Own Country, Jawbone, Fly Away and Fanny Lye Delivered. She previously worked at Pathé, first as a creative executive and then as head of creative affairs.
Regan has worked as a development producer and script editor in film, TV drama and documentary. Her most recent...
The Irish Film Board has made two key hires in the shape of Creative England senior film executive Celine Haddad and development executive and script editor Dearbhla Regan who are both joining the funding body as project managers within the production and development team.
Haddad and Regan will work alongside Lesley McKimm, who was appointed last September, to manage the slate of Ifb supported projects from development through to production and distribution.
The duo take over from outgoing project managers Keith Potter and Mary Callery.
At Creative England Haddad has worked on titles including God’s Own Country, Jawbone, Fly Away and Fanny Lye Delivered. She previously worked at Pathé, first as a creative executive and then as head of creative affairs.
Regan has worked as a development producer and script editor in film, TV drama and documentary. Her most recent...
- 3/8/2017
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
When E! network host Maria Menounos and her partner, producer-director Keven Underago, saw footage of This Isn.t Funny in post, they volunteered to join the team of producers. That tie-up could be an asset as the romantic comedy, the directing debut of Canberra-born, Us-based actor and filmmaker Paul Ashton, is launched on the Us festival circuit to help facilitate deals with distributors in the Us, Australia and the rest of the world. Starring Anthony Lapaglia, Gia Carides, Angie Milliken, Katie Page and Ashton, the film will have its world premiere on March 27 at the Cleveland International Film Festival, followed by the Dallas International Film Festival. Ashton, who co-wrote the screenplay with Page, plays Jamie, a perpetual traveller who brims with unfulfilled potential. Page is Eliot, a stand-up comic with a severe anxiety disorder. They fall for each other, romance blossoms then fractures, forcing them to examine their preconceptions about family and identity.
- 3/17/2015
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
Canberra-born Us-based actor and filmmaker Paul Ashton is directing his first feature, romantic comedy This Isn.t Funny, in Los Angeles. . There is a strong Aussie element as the cast includes Anthony Lapaglia, Gia Carides, Angie Milliken and Ashton. . Ashton wrote the screenplay with co-star Katie Page, loosely inspired by their own off-camera relationship, which poses the question: Can true love survive when you meet the right person at the wrong time? . The producers are Lije Sarki with Easy Open Productions' Ian Keiser and Leigh Jones. The executive producer is Metropolitan Entertainment.s Pierce Cravens. . Ashton plays Jamie, a perpetual traveller who brims with unfulfilled potential.. Page is Eliot, a stand-up comic with a severe anxiety disorder.. They fall for each other, romance blossoms then fractures, forcing them to examine their preconceptions about family and identity. . Lapaglia plays a co-worker of Jamie.s character and Milliken is his mother.
- 2/2/2014
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
• The Vampire Academy’s Zoey Deutch will star opposite Tyson Ritter (The House Bunny), Wyatt Russell (Cowboys & Aliens), and William Hurt (Winter’s Tale) in the upcoming Gregg Allman biopic Midnight Rider. Deutch will play Mae, who becomes a rock ‘n’ roll groupie in the hopes of ditching her small-town life. She later becomes the love interest of Gregg Allman in the early years of The Allman Brothers Band. The film is being adapted for the big screen by producer/director Randall Miller and screenwriter Jody Savin (Bottle Shock) from Allman’s biography, My Cross to Bear, which the singer co-wrote with Alan Light.
- 1/23/2014
- by Pamela Gocobachi
- EW - Inside Movies
A comedy about two bumbling serial killers? That's "Adventures of Serial Buddies," a little movie "Extra" host Maria Menounos made in her spare time with director/boyfriend Keven Undergaro. They describe it as '"Dexter" meets "Dumb and Dumber," and it's inspired by a guy Undergaro was friends with, never realizing he was a sociopath. They cast it with unknowns from The Groundlings and Improv Olympics. Menounos credits Undergaro with discovering her 15 years ago, just as he "discovered" Beth Behrs (pre-"2 Broke Girls"), whom he cast in the film without ever seeing her act. They also managed to line up some bigger names, like Christopher Lloyd, but on such a small movie, everyone, even Kathie Lee Gifford, pitched in to get it made. Moviefone: You actually knew a serial killer? Keven Undergaro: No, he wasn't a serial killer; he was a sociopath and he committed a bunch of heinous...
- 5/28/2013
- by Sharon Knolle
- Moviefone
A comedy about two bumbling serial killers? That's "Adventures of Serial Buddies," a little movie "Extra" host Maria Menounos made in her spare time with director/boyfriend Keven Undergaro.
They describe it as '"Dexter" meets "Dumb and Dumber," and it's inspired by a guy Undergaro was friends with, never realizing he was a sociopath. They cast it with unknowns from The Groundlings and Improv Olympics.
Menounos credits Undergaro with discovering her 15 years ago, just as he "discovered" Beth Behrs (pre-"2 Broke Girls"), whom he cast in the film without ever seeing her act. They also managed to line up some bigger names, like Christopher Lloyd, but on such a small movie, everyone, even Kathie Lee Gifford, pitched in to get it made.
Moviefone: You actually knew a serial killer?
Keven Undergaro: No, he wasn't a serial killer; he was a sociopath and he committed a bunch of heinous...
They describe it as '"Dexter" meets "Dumb and Dumber," and it's inspired by a guy Undergaro was friends with, never realizing he was a sociopath. They cast it with unknowns from The Groundlings and Improv Olympics.
Menounos credits Undergaro with discovering her 15 years ago, just as he "discovered" Beth Behrs (pre-"2 Broke Girls"), whom he cast in the film without ever seeing her act. They also managed to line up some bigger names, like Christopher Lloyd, but on such a small movie, everyone, even Kathie Lee Gifford, pitched in to get it made.
Moviefone: You actually knew a serial killer?
Keven Undergaro: No, he wasn't a serial killer; he was a sociopath and he committed a bunch of heinous...
- 5/28/2013
- by Sharon Knolle
- Moviefone
A comedy about two bumbling serial killers? That's "Adventures of Serial Buddies," a little movie "Extra" host Maria Menounos made in her spare time with director/boyfriend Keven Undergaro.
They describe it as '"Dexter" meets "Dumb and Dumber," and it's inspired by a guy Undergaro was friends with, never realizing he was a sociopath. They cast it with unknowns from The Groundlings and Improv Olympics.
Menounos credits Undergaro with discovering her 15 years ago, just as he "discovered" Beth Behrs (pre-"2 Broke Girls"), whom he cast in the film without ever seeing her act. They also managed to line up some bigger names, like Christopher Lloyd, but on such a small movie, everyone, even Kathie Lee Gifford, pitched in to get it made.
Moviefone: You actually knew a serial killer?
Keven Undergaro: No, he wasn't a serial killer; he was a sociopath and he committed a bunch of heinous...
They describe it as '"Dexter" meets "Dumb and Dumber," and it's inspired by a guy Undergaro was friends with, never realizing he was a sociopath. They cast it with unknowns from The Groundlings and Improv Olympics.
Menounos credits Undergaro with discovering her 15 years ago, just as he "discovered" Beth Behrs (pre-"2 Broke Girls"), whom he cast in the film without ever seeing her act. They also managed to line up some bigger names, like Christopher Lloyd, but on such a small movie, everyone, even Kathie Lee Gifford, pitched in to get it made.
Moviefone: You actually knew a serial killer?
Keven Undergaro: No, he wasn't a serial killer; he was a sociopath and he committed a bunch of heinous...
- 5/28/2013
- by Sharon Knolle
- Moviefone
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