Good afternoon Insiders, Jesse Whittock back again to take you through the week’s news in the entertainment industry, as the Cannes Film Festival nears its close.
What More Cannes I Say?
Stand up for the standouts:After a quiet opening, the Cannes Film Festival received a shot of life as several buzzy titles finally hit the screen. The excitement on the ground began withThe Substance, the much-anticipated blood-splattered horror thriller from French director Coralie Fargeat, which was met witha 13-minute ovation, the longest for a title at this year’s festival until Gilles Lellouche’sBeating Hearts(L’Amour Ouf)took that crownlast night. Fargeat’s pic, which stars Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley and Dennis Quaid, is a punk rock fable centered around a new product called The Substance that promises to transform people into the best version of themselves. It’s an offer that comes with a twist. The enthusiasm forThe Substancewasalmost matchedby Jacques Audiard’s latest competition entryEmilia Peréz, which also received a massive response from the audience. The Spanish-language musical crime comedy stars Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez, Zoe Saldaña and Édgar Ramirez, and had been one of the buzziest projects heading into the fest. Last night, Diana and Andreasexclusively reportedthat Netflix is nearing a deal on the pic North America and the UK. Expect more news soon. However, the most talked about title so far has been Payal Kapadia’s moving debut featureAll We Imagine As Light, which became an instant Palme d’Or frontrunner after itdebuted on Thursday evening. Critics on the ground are calling the pic a triumph. The film also made history, with Kapadia becoming the first female Indian filmmaker to screen a movie in Cannes competition. At the same time, her film isthe first Indian production in competition in three decades. You can check out an interview with Kapadia and her producer, Thomas Hakim, at our Cannes studiohere. The fest ends this week withThe Seed of the Sacred Fig, the last competition title, and the latest from dissident Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof. The filmmaker will be in attendance for the screening after he fled his home country through what he described to us as a “complicated” and “anguishing” journey across Europe to a safe house in Germany. In Iran, Rasoulof is wanted by authorities who have sentenced him to eight years in prison alongside a series of physical punishments, including flogging, for “signing statements and making films and documentaries.” The filmmaker plotted his escape during a lengthy appeals process filed against his sentence. “I’ve been through very difficult times. An exhausting, long, complicated, and anguishing journey, but I am here,” Rasoulof told Zac on the ground. “I feel very grateful for the people who helped me make my film, the people who helped me get out of Iran, and those who helped me get here. All I feel is gratitude.” You need to read our full interview with Rasoulofhere— it’s a story that encompasses filmmaking ingenuity, political strife and more. Then check back with us this weekend as Greta Gerwig’s competition jury hands out its awards. Find our complete Cannes coveragehere.
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Breaking Baz @ Cannes:There’s no one better at describing the hustle and bustle of Cannes from the Croisette than our man Baz, and he certainly hasn’t disappointed this time around. Baz has sat down with the likes ofThe Apprenticestar Maria Bakalovato talk about Ivana Trumpand doc maker Mike Figgis, whomourned Fred Roos, theMegalopolisproducer and Francis Ford Coppola consigliere, who died Sunday. Baz also deliveredthis top report from the annual Women in Motion dinner at the Place de la Castre. Clickhereand you’ll find all of that, plus non-Cannes scoops featuring Morfydd Clark, Billy Howle and more.
Buyer’s market:Even besides Netflix’s move forEmilia Pérez, the streamer has been active with the check book in Cannes, with Andreasreporting yesterdayit had secured an estimated $34M deal for John Lee Hanco*ck picMonstanto starring Glen Powell, Anthony Mackie and Laura Dern. Others have gotten in on the action over recent days, including Amazonpre-buyinginternational rights to Liam Neeson car chase movieMongoose, Metrograph PicturesbuyingNA rights to Julien Colonna’sThe Kingdom, Paolo Sorrentino’sParthenopeselling around the world before its Cannes premiere and Neontaking onJoachim Trier’sSentimental Value. I could go on, but sense requires me to stop somewhere.
General Election Here We Come
‘Things can only get wetter’:British minds often go straight to farce when thinking of elections past (try Googling ‘Ed Miliband bacon’). Add ‘Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak slowly soaking’ to the list after heannounceda national vote for July 4 in the pouring rain outside Number 10 Downing Street on Wednesday. Thrown in a bit of ‘The joker who began playing Labour Party anthem D:Ream’s ‘Things Can Only Get Better’ from a few streets away as an increasingly-sodden Sunak spoke’ and you haveall the ingredients for political comedy gold. So British voters will head to the polls on America’s Independence Day, the first election for nearly five years, although that period has seen three Conservative prime ministers… go figure.
Honchos unite:Less amusing for Britain’s broadcasters was that the call of the snap election threatening the long-gestating Media Bill. Quirks of the British political system mean that once a Prime Minister has visited the monarch and requested to dissolve parliament, any outstanding legislation can be completely lost if the existing party cannot pass it during the short ‘wash-up’ period that follows. The announcement quickly led to astatementfrom the bosses of the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, Sky and regional networks urging Whitehall to push through the Bill. “As leading CEOs from the UK broadcasting industry, we call on politicians across Parliament not to let the opportunity to modernise the rules that govern our sector pass,” it read. As Max reported, the long-awaited Bill includes updates in areas such as streamer regulation and prominence, and will give Channel 4 the opportunity to own the rights to its own shows for the first time.To lose all of this would be have been a devastating side effect of the snap election amid the campaigning and mud-slinging. Also notable is that the Bill will bring the major streaming services under regulator Ofcom’s code in areas such as impartiality, age-appropriate content and harmfulness. Ofcom’s existing lack of power over the streamers is in the spotlight at the moment, given the ongoing controversy over Netflix’sBaby Reindeer(read our extensive coverage on that topichere).
The Bill gets paid:Then, just as quickly as the threat emerged,it was gone. Lawmakers rushed to ensure the legislation got Royal Assent, meaning it will very likely go ahead and be sealed today. Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay said he was “delighted” to government could send the Bill “on its way to the statute book,” ending his address with a Bruce Springsteen quote — “Come on, let’s go tonight.” The fact we had had numerous producers, VFX editors and distributors reach out directly to air their fears shows how deeply this would have hurt had it not all come out in ‘the wash.’
Ari Calls Time On Netanyahu’s Tenure
“Time to go”: As military action against Hamas continues unabated in Gaza, at the tragic cost of thousands of lives, figures in the entertainment industry are being forced to take positions on how they see the Middle East crisis ending. Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel left no ambiguity on where he stands during a speech at the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s National Tribute Gala on Tuesday night. As Dominic Patten reported, Emanuel blasted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying the time for him “to go has come.” A packed Beverly Wilshire ballroom audience listened as Emanuel said it was a “painful and crucial moment” for all Jewish people, adding “Hamas could end this war today” and free the hostages taken in the brutal and horrific October 7 attack on Israel. There were some jeers and walkouts as Emanuel called on a two-state solution and criticized “problem creator” Netanyahu, but others applauded his ferocious words. Read the full transcript, watch the video and digest Dom’s reporthere.
The NEM Of The Game
Central European gems:Croatia’s Dubrovnik is known as the Pearl of the Adriatic and international buyers will be hoping to find some programing gems at NEM next month. The organizers have leaned into the setting to create a networking-friendly event that has a roster of big-name speakers and, this year, an enlarged space for buyers and sellers to do their thing. Given the focus is on Central and Eastern Europe, there’s a notably strong showing from the Spanish and Turkish distributors who do good business with their dramas in the region. Ahead of his trip to Croatia, Stewart spoke tothe sales housesandNEM Dubrovnik CEO and founder Sanja Božić-Ljubičićfor the lowdown on this fixture of the European content calendar, which will run June 10-13.
Dramedies Outlawed At The BBC
Find those “funny bones”:Here’s to hoping comedy producers weren’t too insulted this week when the most powerful man in British comedy commissioning, Jon Petrie,urged themto “pitch shows that know where their funny bones are.” Petrie appeared to be signaling a new era (or old era, depending on how you look at it) for BBC comedy with his repeated insistence on sitcoms and a move away from dramedies or shows that are an “exploration of something,” which have dominated the comic zeitgeist in recent years. He was speaking at the BBC Comedy Festival in Glasgow as he told producers to reject the “fear of failure” attached to sitcoms and come up with “big laugh” shows likeGhostsandMotherland. Right on cue, Petrie revealed one of the BBC’s most iconic sitcoms,Outnumbered,will be returningto the corporation’s comedy Christmas schedule at the end of this year, joining the previously-announcedGavin & Stacey finale. One comedy that won’t be coming back for some time after its third season runs down isThe Outlaws, with co-creator Stephen Merchanttelling Max on Mondaythat it will now be rested for some time while he embarks on a stand-up tour, develops film scripts and EPs the upcoming Officespin-off for Peaco*ck. “The problem at the moment is whenever I finish a project I feel a bit burned out and need to take some time away to regroup,” he added of The Outlaws. We hear you Stephen.
The Essentials
🌶️Hot One:BridgertonandBarbiestar Nicola Coughlan hasbooked the starring roleinLove and War, based on real events in which an Irish woman travelled to Syria to find her abducted daughter.
🌶️Also Hot:NetflixcastGerman-Norwegian actor Tobias Santelmann (The Last Kingdom) to play detective Harry Hole in the streaming adaptation of the Jø Nesbo character.
🥵Don’t burn your mouth:Filipino box office hitHello, Love, Goodbyeis getting a sequel, as Sararevealedover the weekend.
😵💫Shake-up:42’s co-founder Rory Aitken is exiting to form a new business, Andreasrevealed, leading to a rejig at the transatlantic management firm.
👍 Ratified:Writers Guild of Canada membersgave the greenlightto the new Independent Production Agreement with the Canadian Media Producers Association.
🤝New job #1:Ex-Warner Bros Discovery EMEA President Priya DograjoinedSky as Chief Advertising & New Revenue Officer.
🤝New job #2:Longboat Pictures co-founder Victoria Fea isjoiningMrs Wilsonproducer Snowed-In Productions in June.
🧳Layoffs:ITV isset to lay offto 200 staff, as part of its £50M ($63.5M) cost-cutting measures.
🌍Global Breakout:Prime Video’s German-English YA mash-upMaxton Hall — The World Between Uswasour featured seriesthis week.
📈Ratings:Bridgertonreturned for a third season byoutperforming the previous season’s premierein the UK, thoughFalloutremains top of the U.S. chart.
😯Surprise:Netflix’s latest viewing data tranche releaserevealed an unexpected hit: German miniseriesDear Child(Liebes Kind).
🖊️ Signed:Palestinian filmmakerMahdi Fleifelto Dubai’s 75East.
Zac Ntim, Stewart Clarke and Max Goldbart contributed to this week’s Insider
