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It can be tricky keeping track of which movies release each week, especially with the holiday season ushering in a tidal wave of awards films and four-quadrant blockbusters. With a few big titles still left for the year, check out what is coming to theaters in December.

After “Moana 2” made a splash over the Thanksgiving holiday, one of the biggest wide releases this week is “Y2K,” A24’s newest horror comedy. Kyle Mooney’s follow-up to “Unfrosted” takes place on New Year’s Eve in 1999 when two high school students crash a party and find technology coming to life. The cast includes Rachel Zegler, Jaeden Martell, Julian Dennison, Daniel Zolghadri, Lachlan Watson and Fred Durst.

There are also plenty of independent films to finally catch after their fall festivals runs, including Marielle Heller’s “Nightbitch.” Based on the book by Rachel Yoder, this dark comedy stars Amy Adams...

Fifty years after his screenwriting debut via Sydney Pollack’s The Yakuza and a mere forty-six since his directorial debut with Blue Collar, Paul Schrader is still at it. And he’s operating at a higher level than most. A household name for his Scorsese screenplays––Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and The Last Temptation of Christ chief among them––Schrader made a compelling industry name for himself with his own projects by the late ’70s, cementing himself as one of cinema’s most divisive, most original, and most consistent directors by the late ’80s and early ’90s.

After a series of popular and critical duds from 2003-2016, Schrader re-emerged in fresh creativity with First Reformed in 2017, beginning a phase in his career with the first entry in his “Man in a Room” trilogy that would soon be filled out by The Card Counter and Master Gardener. But not before several...

In 2009, Paul Schrader took a gamble on what he considered "the future of filmmaking." Xtreme City was supposed to be a Hollywood-Bollywood thriller led by Hollywood's biggest star, Leonardo DiCaprio, with Bollywood's Shah Rukh Khan. Martin Scorsese would be the executive producer, and Khan's collaborator Mushtaq Shiekh would write it.

“Oh, Canada” is a new dramatic feature from writer/director Paul Schrader (“American Gigolo”), adapting a novel by Russell Banks, starring Richard Gere, Jacob Elordi, Uma Thurman, Victoria Hill, Michael Imperioli, Penelope Mitchell and Kristine Froseth, opening December 5, 2024 in theaters:

“…filmmaker ‘Leonard Fife’ (Gere), still fiery despite his battle with illness, wants to tell his life story, unfiltered, before it's too late. As the director of acclaimed documentary exposés, he has much to be proud of, but his US wartime draft-dodging and his past relationships harbor thorny truths.

“Leonard sits for an extended interview with his former student ‘Malcolm’ (Imperioli), relating candid stories about his younger self (Elordi) during the 1960’s and beyond.

“At Leonard's insistence, his wife and indispensable artistic partner, ‘Emma’ (Thurman), bears witness to it all. His successes are held up against his failings and, as the man is cleansed of the myth, Leonard must confront what is left.

Despite the relatively light release year, a welcome spread of films this holiday season brings us good tidings and cheer. From indies to majors, from talking lions to dog-women, there’s variety under the tree this year, offering a mix of blockbuster studio baubles, idiosyncratic character-driven Hanukkah presents, and new stocking-stuffers from stalwart filmmakers.

Exclusive: David O. Sacks Productions, Mark Goffman and Getaway Entertainment are teaming to produce a feature-length film about Satoshi Nakamoto, the enigmatic founder of Bitcoin, with Sophia Banks set to direct. The movie, based on Andrew O’Hagan’s longform article “The Satoshi Affair,” will delve into the mystery surrounding the elusive creator of the world’s most revolutionary digital currency, blending investigative journalism with captivating storytelling.

“This film will be akin to watching The Social Network without knowing who the Mark Zuckerberg character might actually be,” Sacks remarked. “I’m delighted that we have the correct team in place to bring O’Hagan’s investigation, and the events since that period, to life.”

Producers David Sacks and Daniel Brunt optioned the article and took it to longtime collaborator Mark Goffman, who is adapting the screenplay and producing with Sacks and Brunt. Producing for Getaway Entertainment are Damiano Tucci, Banks and Arwen Elys Dayton.

Filmmaker Paul Schrader’s latest drama, “Oh, Canada,” a meditation on death, confession, sins, and the pasts we cannot escape, comes out early next month via Kino Lorber. Based on “Foregone” by Russell Banks—an author whose work he adapted for 1997’s “Affliction,” the film stars Richard Gere Jacob Elordi, Uma Thurman, Victoria Hill, Michael Imperioli, Penelope Mitchell, and Kristine Froseth.

Continue reading Paul Schrader Almost Worked With Bruce Springsteen On ‘Oh, Canada’; Is Planning A Noir & Another ‘Man In A Room’ Film at The Playlist.

Arthouse film distributor Kino Lorber was sued Monday for tracking and sharing data to Facebook without customer consent.

The class action lawsuit filed in New York Federal Court cites alleged violations of the Video Privacy Protection Act (“Vppa”), federal and state wiretap laws and invasions into consumers’ privacy.

Plaintiffs Michael Dallum and Jeremy Padow claimed in documents obtained and reviewed by TheWrap that the Kino Lorber website “utilized tracking tools to intercept and disclose consumers’ search terms, video watching information and personally identifiable information without seeking or obtaining consumers’ consent.” The suit states the distributor’s site used Meta’s Pixel software to track consumers’ video consumption.

“[Kino Lorber] purposefully implemented and utilized the Pixel, which tracks consumers’ activity on the website and discloses that information to Facebook to gather valuable marketing data,” the documents read.

“The Pixel cannot be placed on a website by Facebook. Only a website owner can place the Pixel on a website,...

Jacob Elordi and Richard Gere star as the same character at different ages in the new trailer for the upcoming movie Oh, Canada!

The new film is an adaptation of Russell Banks‘ novel of the same name and reunites Richard with director Paul Schrader for the first time since 1980′s American Gigolo.

Keep reading to find out more…

Here’s a synopsis: Aging filmmaker Leonard Fife (Gere), still fiery despite his battle with illness, wants to tell his life story, unfiltered, before it’s too late. As the director of acclaimed documentary exposés, he has much to be proud of, but his Vietnam War draft-dodging and his past relationships harbor thorny truths. Leonard sits for an extended interview with his former student Malcolm (Michael Imperioli), relating candid stories about his younger self (Elordi) in the tumultuous 1960s and beyond. At Leonard’s insistence, his wife and indispensable artistic partner, Emma...

Oh, Canada (2024) may noy be the last film that Paul Schrader ends up making, as the notoriously active writer/director has already hinted at what his next project might be. That being said, “Oh, Canada” certainly feels like an acclaimed artist looking back on the achievements of their career, as it is by its very nature a reflective story about two fixed points in a man’s life. Schrader has long been interested in exploring the lurking feelings of anxiety and self-destruction that exist within archetypes of masculinity, such as a priest (“First Reformed”), a drug dealer (“Light Sleeper”), a gambler (“The Card Counter”), a male escort (“American Gigolo”), or a family man (“Hardcore”). “Oh, Canada” is perhaps the best evidence that these stories were all derived from Schrader’s own self-analysis, as it recontextualizes the accoladed Russell Banks novel “Foregone” as a commentary on the ramifications of the New Hollywood movement.

Kino Lorber has lifted the curtain on Paul Schrader’s “Oh, Canada,” debuting the first trailer for the acclaimed filmmaker’s latest.

The film first premiered at Cannes in May, competing for the Palme d’Or. It has since toured the festival season, with selections at both Toronto and New York. The cast includes Richard Gere, Uma Thurman, Michael Imperioli, Jacob Elordi, Victoria Hill and Kristine Froseth. The official synopsis for the film reads: “Leonard Fife, one of 60,000 draft evaders and deserters who fled to Canada to avoid serving in Vietnam, shares all his secrets to de-mythologize his mythologized life.”

“Fife is dying and realizing that his whole life has been built on lies and he is trying to confront himself before he dies,” Schrader teased in an profile with Variety earlier this year.

Gere plays the older Fife, a respected documentary filmmaker giving a final testimony in an interview with his old students.

"I'm waiting for everything to just kind of fall into place." Kino Lorber has revealed an official trailer for Oh, Canada, the latest film from prolific American filmmaker Paul Schrader. He's not Canadian! And the film isn't really about Canada, only sort of. Oh, Canada premiered at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, and it also played at Toronto, San Sebastian, New York, and AFI Fest most recently. In the film, a famed Canadian documentary filmmaker, on his very last days, gives a final interview to one of his former students to tell the whole truth about his life. A confession filmed right in front of his wife... Paul Schrader's adaptation of Russell Banks's novel sees him reunited with Gere more than 40 years after American Gigolo, and together they deliver a moving and deeply personal take on this story of an artist reflecting on a lifetime of storytelling.

After his trio of “Man in a Room” films, Paul Schrader has switched gears with the poignant drama Oh, Canada. Reteaming with his American Gigolo star Richard Gere, the film follows a famed Canadian documentary filmmaker who gives a final interview to one of his former students to tell the whole truth about his life. Also starring Jacob Elordi, Uma Thurman, and Michael Imperioli, the Cannes selection was picked up by Kino Lorbert for a release beginning December 6 and now the first trailer and poster have arrived.

Here’s the synopsis: “Aging filmmaker Leonard Fife (Richard Gere), still fiery despite his battle with illness, wants to tell his life story, unfiltered, before it’s too late. As the director of acclaimed documentary exposés, he has much to be proud of, but his Vietnam War draft-dodging and his past relationships harbor thorny truths. Leonard sits for an extended interview with his...

Paul Schrader’s highly-anticipated “Oh, Canada” is landing stateside very soon.

The feature, which premiered in competition at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival and went on to screen at TIFF, stars Jacob Elordi and Richard Gere as a documentarian in two different stages of his life, with Elordi playing the younger version of Gere. The film is an adaptation of late author Russell Banks’ 2021 novel “Foregone.” Banks and director Schrader previously collaborated on “Affliction.”

“Oh, Canada” tells the story of fictional filmmaker Leonard Fife (Gere), who wants to tell his life story on camera before dying. Uma Thurman and Michael Imperioli also star. The film was acquired for North American distribution by Kino Lorber.

Schrader reunites with “American Gigolo” star Gere for the film; however, Schrader previously admitted to Letterboxd that Robert De Niro was first approached to lead “Oh, Canada” before he reached out to Gere.

Schrader additionally described the...

One of the best, most well-defining quotes about a person and about aging, life, and humanity comes from filmmaker Paul Schrader. At the 2022 Venice Film Festival, presenting his then-new film, “Master Gardener,” Schrader began reflecting on his life, his mortality, and his evolved creative raison d’etre.

Read More: ‘Oh, Canada’ Review: Richard Gere & Jacob Elordi Are Brilliant In Paul Schrader’s Moving Contemplation Of Legacy [Cannes]

“I used to be an artist who never wanted to leave this world without saying f*ck you,” he said.

Continue reading ‘Oh, Canada’ Trailer: Paul Schrader’s Latest Drama Stars Richard Gere, Jacob Elordi, Uma Thurman & More at The Playlist.

Awards season may have begun in earnest last week with the announcement of this year's Gotham Award nominees, but most of us haven't even seen all the films that will be vying for statues come spring. We still have a lot of contenders to come, including The Brutalist, Gladiator II,...

Richard Gere began his professional film career in 1975, appearing in the crime thriller "Report to the Commissioner." In 1976 and 1977, he secured notable supporting roles in "Baby Blue Marine" and "Looking for Mr. Goodbar," before securing his first leading role in 1978's "Bloodbrothers," a coming-of-age drama about two Italian-American brothers living in the Bronx. That same year, Gere appeared in Terrence Malick's dreamy "Days of Heaven," more or less securing him as a permanent Hollywood fixture. Gere has been working steadily ever since, using his affable on-camera charm and approachable good looks to remain one of the industry's most reliable movie stars. His high-profile marriage to model Cindy Crawford in 1991 only added to the actor's status as a sex symbol.

Gere often takes roles that require more razzle-dazzle than deep acting range, but Gere has been nominated for Golden Globes and Emmys, and won a SAG Award, so he's no slouch as a thespian.

Paul Schrader’s Oh, Canada premiered at Cannes this past spring, and although the subject matter, surrounding a dying filmmaker grappling with his own mortality, led to speculation that this was the final work from the aging filmmaker, Schrader is wasting little time setting up his next projects.

Schrader has just begun writing a script that is in the vein of his recent Man in a Room trilogy, but this one follows a philosophy professor who happens to be a pederast. Schrader has outlined the story and just begun writing. He envisions the voice-over a little differently than those previous Bresson-inspired films, he told The Film Stage this weekend at AFI Fest:

“He’s an American philosopher. He’s written a textbook on philosophy. Now he’s writing a book on Spinoza. So instead of having him write in a diary, my idea is have him quoting from his...

“Notes on a Scandal” and “Iris” director Richard Eyre has assembled a starry cast for his next feature, an evocative romance fictionalizing the inspiration behind Daphne Du Maurier’s “Rebecca.”

“The Housekeeper” — being launched at AFM by Embankment Films alongside CAA Media Finance, which is co-repping U.S. rights — will be led by Oscar nominee Uma Thurman, two-time Oscar winner Sir Anthony Hopkins “(The Father,” “The Silence of the Lambs”) and Phoebe Dynevor.

Eyre will direct from a script written by bestselling author Rose Tremain, based on her own short story and forthcoming novel. The film is being produced by Julia Taylor-Stanley and Kevin Loader.

“The Housekeeper” is set in the mystic, brooding and wild landscape of Cornwall, the rugged Atlantic foot of England, where Danni (Thurman), housekeeper at Manderville Hall — a grand and historic house owned by the wealthy and widowed Lord DeWithers (Hopkins) — falls prey to the glance...

Richard Gere starred in Paul Schrader’s 1980 movie American Gigolo, which is recognized as one of the movies that put Gere on the map. Fast-forward 44 years, and the duo reteams for the film Oh, Canada. The film is based on Russell Banks’s 2021 novel Foregone, and this is the second book Shrader has adapted a movie into (after 1997’s Affliction). The film was part of the 2024 AFI Film Festival.

Oh, Canada AFI Fest Review Richard Gere and Uma Thurman in Oh, Canada

Oh, Canada follows the story of Leonard Fife, a terminally ill writer and filmmaker who has agreed to have a documentary crew film his final testament. Schrader is one of the most interesting filmmakers when it comes to exploring characters. He does it again with Oh, Canada by examining the past while we are facing death.

Years after he became one of sixty thousand draft evaders who fled to Canada,...

Kyle Hausmann-Stokes’ directorial debut My Dead Friend Zoe took the Grand Jury prize for Best Feature Narrative Saturday night as the Woodstock Film Festival presented awards for its silver jubilee edition.

The film stars Sonequa Martin-Green, Natalie Morales, Ed Harris, and Morgan Freeman in a tale of a female veteran of the war in Afghanistan who “comes head to head with her Vietnam vet grandfather at the family’s ancestral lake house.” The feature grew out of a short film directed by Hausmann-Stokes, himself a U.S. Army veteran who served in Iraq.

The jury, comprised of Oren Moverman, Roger Ross Williams, and Debra Granik, wrote, “For a standout central performance that delves into the darkness of the human psyche in the aftermath of its most extreme brutality, and for shining a light on the tragic consequences of war on those who are sent in our name to fight, we the...

Filmmakers and distributors of awards-hopefuls have until Nov. 4 to submit their category preference — drama versus musical or comedy — to the Golden Globes organization, which reserves the right to overturn any classification that it finds egregiously inaccurate.

Some of this year’s cases are inarguable — for instance, Netflix’s Emilia Pérez, in which characters spontaneously burst into song, is clearly a musical (if not a comedy), and A24’s The Brutalist, in which an immigrant faces all sorts of harrowing hurdles, is clearly a drama. There are, however, also plenty of close-calls, about which many have made assumptions, but, in most cases, not confirmed.

The Hollywood Reporter has been working the phones and can now report which way almost every contender is breaking. This intel is, of course, subject to change prior to Nov. 4, and to being overturned by the Globes thereafter — but it is current as of this writing.

Joining...

Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. To keep up with our latest features, sign up for the Weekly Edit newsletter and follow us @mubinotebook on Twitter and Instagram.News Kaizen.Kaizen (2024), a documentary about an influencer’s quest to scale Mount Everest, has attracted the ire of other French distributors after mk2 violated the terms of its “exceptional visa,” booking almost double its legal allowance of screenings before releasing the film on YouTube the next day. One industry professional compared the company to “guys in hoodies with machine guns robbing a bank.”Total Film, the British monthly, has ceased print publication after 356 issues and 27 years.The United Kingdom has passed into law an Independent Film Tax Credit, part of a large investment in the culture industry by the new Labour government. FESTIVALSBeing John Smith.In an open letter, filmmakers and workers call on the New York...

Paul Schrader is the latest “Joker: Folie à Deux” critic.

The auteur seemingly couldn’t find any semblance of his “Taxi Driver” or Martin Scorsese’s “King of Comedy” in “Joker: Folie à Deux,” despite director Todd Phillips saying both inspired the Oscar-winning first film, 2019’s “Joker.” Frequent Schrader collaborator Scorsese also executive produced “Joker” but did not return for the sequel.

Schrader told Interview magazine, while in discussion with Jeremy O. Harris, that he couldn’t even sit in the theater for “Folie à Deux” past a (non-consecutive) 25 minutes.

“I see who’s coming up. I go to the multiplex,” Schrader said of his pastimes when not writing and directing. “I saw ‘Joker: Folie à Deux.’ I saw about 10 or 15 minutes of it. I left, bought something, came back, saw another 10 minutes. That was enough.”

He added that “Folie à Deux” is a “really bad musical.”

In fact, Schrader...

In Paul Schrader’s Oh, Canada, adapted from Russell Banks’ Foregone, a renowned documentary filmmaker named Leonard Fife subjects himself to a filmed interview while battling the throes of death. This final interview, to be captured by a former pupil turned documentarian in his own right, is supposed to be a fawning retrospective tribute to a noble life. Instead, Fife takes the confessional aspect of a spotlit interview as an opportunity to alleviate himself of an imposter’s guilt before the watchful eye of the all-seeing lens, and perhaps even more significantly, his wife Emma. The film is the second collaboration between writer/director Paul Schrader and author Russell Banks, following the acclaimed Affliction in 1997, and it's a project that both writers nursed through sickness and health....

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Nominations voting is from January 8-12, 2025, with official Oscar nominations announced January 17, 2025. Final voting is February 11-18, 2025. And finally, the 97th Oscars telecast will be broadcast on Sunday, March 2 and air live on ABC at 7:00 p.m. Et/ 4:00 p.m. Pt. We update our picks through awards season, so keep checking IndieWire for all our 2025 Oscar predictions.

The State of the Race

Sequels have been a dominant part of the Best Adapted Screenplay conversation the past couple years, and though those productions show no signs of stopping, we have finally leveled out this year, with only two or three sequels that are seriously in the screenplay awards conversation serving as follow-ups to scripts that have already been nominated for the Oscar.

Though there is a lot of trickiness around how to campaign “Dune: Part Two,” being that voters do not often flock toward the second film in a proposed trilogy,...

Uma Thurman was “very nervous” to meet the director of ‘Oh, Canada!’The 54-year-old actress has worked with numerous filmmakers over her several decades in Hollywood but as she arrived to film the new drama film, admitted that she was wary of Paul Schrader because she is such a “big fan” of his to begin with.Speaking during a Q+A session at the New York Film Festival, she said: “I mean, Paul Schrader! I'm a really big fan of Paul Schrader. So to get to contribute, to lend myself to his piece, and get to see him working was a real, real privilege.“I was very nervous to meet him, you know, this macho filmmaker [who] made these legendary films.”Paul is known for directing hits such as ‘Blue Collar’, and ‘Light Sleeper’ but also wrote the screenplay for ‘Taxi Driver’, which earned a teenage Jodie Foster her first Oscar nomination.

Das American Film Institute hat jetzt die letzten Filme für das von 23. bis 27. September stattfindende AFI Fest bekannt gegeben. Darunter befindet sich auch Tim Fehlbaums „September 5“.

Das Programm für das von 23. bis 27. September stattfindende AFI Fest ist komplett. Unter den letzten Filmen, die das American Film Institute für die diesjährige Ausgabe bekannt gegeben hat, ist auch Tim Fehlbaums „September 5“ (hier unsere Spot-Besprechung), der in diesem Jahr die Mostra-Nebenreihe Orizzonti Extra eröffnet hatte.

Die Geschichte über das Münchner Olympiaattentat 1972, erzählt aus der Perspektive einer Gruppe von ABC-Fernsehjournalisten, hatte Mitte September mit Paramount einen US-Verleih gefunden; der Deutschlandstart war in der vergangenen Woche von Constantin vom 7. November 2024 auf den 9. Januar 2025 verschoben worden.

Zu den weiteren Titeln, die das American Film Institute heute für das AFI Fest bekannt gegeben haben, gehören auch Payal Kapadias „All We Imagine As Light“ (hier unsere Spot-Besprechung), der in Cannes mit dem Großen Preis der Jury ausgezeichnet worden...

AFI Fest is primed and ready to roll out.

The American Film Institute revealed the full lineup for this month’s festival, scheduled to take place in Los Angeles from Oct. 23-27. Joining the previously announced roster of films will be Tim Fehlbaum’s September 5, Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine as Light, Samir Oliveros’ The Luckiest Man in America, Maisie Crow and Abbie Perrault’s abortion rights documentary Zurawski v Texas (executive produced by Hillary Clinton, Chelsea Clinton and Jennifer Lawrence), and Paul Schrader’s Oh, Canada, among many others.

The lineup includes six red carpet premieres, 12 special screenings, 13 luminaries picks, 15 discovery films, 12 world cinema films, 14 documentaries, four after-dark titles, 54 films in the short film competition and 28 films from the AFI Conservatory Showcase presented by AMC Networks. Other notable titles include Durga Chew-Bose’s Bonjour Tristesse with Chloë Sevigny; Mike Leigh’s Hard Truths, starring Marianne Jean-Baptiste; Paolo Sorrentino...

“September 5,” “All We Imagine as Light,” “The Luckiest Man in America,” “Zurawski v Texas,” and “Oh, Canada” are among the titles that round out the 2024 AFI Fest lineup, organizers announced on Tuesday.

This year’s AFI Fest takes place in Los Angeles from October 23 to October 27.

The festival will open with the world premiere of “Music By John Williams,” the upcoming documentary about the Oscar-winning composer John Williams. The film will have a limited theatrical release before arriving on Disney+.

Clint Eastwood’s “Juror No. 2” will close the festival before it premieres in theaters on November 1.

Other big screenings at AFI Fest include “Here,” “Heretic,” “Maria,” “Nightbitch,” “Bird,” “A Real Pain,” “The Room Next Door,” “The Fire Inside,” “I’m Still Here,” “The Order,” and “Unstoppable.” AFI also plans to honor Robert Zemeckis, director of the upcoming film “Here,” which reunites the “Forrest Gump” Oscar winner with Tom Hanks and Robin Wright.

With one month to go before showtime at the 47th Denver Film Festival, festival organizers have peeled back the curtain to reveal this year’s official selections, honorees and jurors.

Presented by Denver Film, the festival will kick off with the opening night presentation of Malcolm Washington’s directorial debut The Piano Lesson from Netflix on Nov. 1. Hitting the screen at the McA Denver at the Holiday Theater, The Piano Lesson is an August Wilson adaptation starring Samuel L. Jackson, Danielle Deadwyler, John David Washington, Ray Fisher, Corey Hawkins, Stephan James, Erykah Badu and more.

The festival runs Nov. 1-10, and during that time 185 features, documentaries and shorts will screen in the Colorado capital. Justin Kurzel’s The Order starring Jude Law as an FBI agent on the trail of a white supremacist group in the Pacific Northwest will serve as a centerpiece presentation on Nov. 8. The film, which also...

Like many of the fall film festivals, New York Film Festival had to mount its 2023 edition during the actors strike and without major stars like Emma Stone (“Poor Things”), Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore (“May December”) or Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal (“All of Us Strangers”) in attendance to promote their movies.

So, NYFF’s artistic director Dennis Lim is relieved the annual celebration of cinema is returning in 2024 with business as usual. This year’s fest runs from Sept. 27 through Oct. 14. “We are very happy to not have to work around those restrictions this year,” he says. “And we have many, many actors attending for some of the bigger films.”

He’s referring to movies like director Pedro Almodóvar’s “The Room Next Door,” starring Moore and Tilda Swinton; filmmaker Sean Baker for Palme d’Or-winner “Anora”; Steve McQueen’s historical drama “Blitz,” featuring Saoirse Ronan; Pablo Larraín’s...

Paul Schrader, at the age of 78, is getting a bit philosophical, a trifle introspective and, if the truth be told, extremely pessimistic about the future.

The legendary former film critic turned screenwriter-director — his long list of credits includes, as screenwriter, Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver (1976) and Raging Bull (1980) and, as writer-director, American Gigolo (1980), First Reformed (2017) and this year’s Oh, Canada — will arrive in Tuscany this week, as a special guest of the Lucca Film Festival. On Sept. 25, he will teach a master class to university students, and the day after, on Sept. 26, he will receive a lifetime achievement award. There will also be a retrospective of his greatest films.

THR Roma caught up with Schrader in New York, just before he hopped his flight for Italy. Before dishing the dirt, and talking about the trials and tribulations of John Travolta, Schrader went all metaphysical.

Paul, you are coming to Lucca.

by Cláudio Alves

Vincent Cassel and Guy pearce in David Cronenberg's The Shrouds.

All of us are on a long journey into death, set on a collision course with the great end that nothing can entirely prevent and no one can avoid forever. Artists are no different, mere mortals like the rest of us. However, the nature of their work means those persons' relationship with our collective finality may take unexpected forms, many of them public. Whether a creator wants it or not, when the finish line comes into conscious sight, their creation shall reflect it. Mortality subsumes the art, even when buried deep within layers of escapism, deflection, and delusion. The brave ones disregard such distractions and stare at the monster head-on. For them, late style is a cinema of death.

Consider the most recent works from two of our greatest masters – David Cronenberg and Paul Schrader. The...

As Hollywood continues to dish out one star after the other, one actor has been drawing the attention of fans and critics the most, the alluring and charming Jacob Elordi. Having gained attention for his role in the teen comedy romantic film, The Kissing Booth, his career trajectory is one for the history books.

Jacob Elordi in Saltburn | Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

From his troubled dramatic role in Euphoria to playing Elvis Presley in Priscilla, Elordi is now expected to headline several genres and roles as far as his recent upcoming projects are concerned. While we celebrate his spectacular success, it also sheds light on his fellow actor Tom Holland’s Hollywood career.

Jacob Elordi’s Impressive Hollywood Trajectory: From a Teen Star to a Versatile Actor Jacob Elordi plays Nate Jacobs in Euphoria | Credit: HBO

Jacob Elordi might have garnered fans’ and critics attention as the bad boy Noah Flynn in The Kissing Booth,...

Exclusive: Aaron Eckhart will star in the Jesse V. Johnson-directed action thriller Scorpion, written by Corey Large (Detective Knight trilogy) and Edward Drake (Gasoline Alley).

In the movie, a CIA assassin goes into hiding after he takes the fall for a failed mission. When he reappears on the grid so does his past to tie up loose ends, and the only way to protect his daughter is to take down the agency chief who set him up.

Scorpion is produced by Large through his 308 Enterprises. The film is executive produced by Arclight Films’ Gary Hamilton, Jordan Nott, Pia Patatian, Jamie Thompson and Jon Keeyes and financed by Pink 308. Arclight Films is handling global sales.

Eckhart received a Best Actor Musical or Comedy Golden Globe nomination for Jason Reitman’s Thank You for Smoking and received an Independent Spirit Award for Best Debut Performance in...

The stars are descending on Tuscany. Ethan Hawke, Paul Schrader, Matthew Modine and Swedish auteur Ruben Östlund will walk the red carpet at the Lucca Film Festival, the annual event held in the picturesque Tuscan town, home to old-fashioned merchants, tailors, jewelers and some of the best olive oil on the planet.

The Hollywood Reporter Roma will become the official International Media Partner of Lff this year, providing daily coverage throughout.

The Llff, which kicks off on Saturday and concludes on Sunday, Sept. 29, is the vision of fest director Nicola Borrelli, who places an emphasis on uncompromising, unconventional cinema.

Also attending is Italian cinema legend Pupi Avati, fresh from premiering his gothic horror film The American Backyard in Venice. Francesco Costabile, the writer of of Familia, will also be in Lucca, along with the film’s lead actor, Francesco Gheghi, who recently won best actor in the Orizzonti section of the Venice Film Fest.

Kevin Williamson’s upcoming Netflix drama series “The Waterfront” is rounding out its cast.

Variety has learned that Melissa Benoist, Jake Weary, Rafael L. Silva, Humberly González, Danielle Campbell, and Brady Hepner have all been cast as series regulars.

Additionally, Michael Gaston and Gerardo Celasco will appear as recurring guest stars, while Zach Roerig will guest star.

Full character descriptions can be found below.

Finally, Marcos Siega has joined the series to direct the first two episodes. He will serve as an executive producer on the pilot.

“The Waterfront” is currently filming. The new cast members join previously announced series leads Holt McCallany and Maria Bello.

The official logline states, “Inspired by true events, ‘The Waterfront’ dives into the flawed Buckley family as their attempts to retain control of their crumbling North Carolina fishing empire drive them to increasingly dangerous means to keep themselves afloat.”

Netflix has commissioned eight episodes.

For fans of good old-fashioned dysfunctional families, a fresh drama is drifting in. 

Written and executive produced by Kevin Williamson, The Waterfront is an upcoming drama about the Buckley family starring Holt McCallany and Maria Bello. With production underway on the series, we now know who else is coming on board because Netflix announced today that Melissa Benoist and Jake Weary have joined the cast, along with several other series regulars and guest stars. 

Keep reading below to find out everything you need to know about this series. 

Inspired by true events, The Waterfront dives into the story of the flawed Buckley family as their attempts to retain control of their crumbling North Carolina fishing empire drive them to increasingly dangerous means to...

The Woodstock ’99 music festival may have been an unmitigated disaster, but that town and that year brought us something far more lasting: The Woodstock Film Festival.

Fast-forward to 2024, and we’re celebrating the film fest’s 25th year. Among the slate’s highlights this fall is Paul Schrader’s latest film “Oh, Canada,” which will screen on Saturday, October 19. The screening will be followed by a conversation with Schrader, who will be further celebrated with the Honorary Maverick Award.

The 2024 festival will take place from October 15-20 at venues across the Hudson Valley towns of Woodstock, Rosendale, Kingston, and Saugerties. The centerpiece selection is Steve McQueen’s “Blitz,” with Jesse Eisenberg’s “A Real Pain” closing the festival.

“On this 25th anniversary of the film festival, and at this pivotal time in our nation and the world, I’m thrilled to welcome the many talented filmmakers who will be arriving...

The 25th Woodstock Film Festival will feature a lineup of world, North American and U.S. premieres, joining acclaimed fiction and nonfiction films from Sean Baker, Steve McQueen, Alexis Bloom, Raoul Peck, Marielle Heller, Jesse Eisenberg, Jacques Audiard and many more.

The festival, which runs from October 15-20 in the Hudson Valley towns of Woodstock, Rosendale, Kingston and Saugerties, will see writer-director Paul Schrader receive the Honorary Maverick Award. His latest, Oh, Canada, starring Richard Gere, Uma Thurman and Jacob Elordi, will screen at Woodstock. Filmmaker Ira Deutchman will be presented with the Honorary Trailblazer Award; Pamela Yates and Paco de Onís will receive the inaugural Art of Activism Award. [Scroll for the full lineup]

McQueen’s Blitz, starring Oscar-nominated actress Saoirse Ronan, serves as Woodstock’s centerpiece film. Jesse Eisenberg’s A Real Pain, starring the Oscar-nominated actor and Kieran Culkin, closes the silver jubilee edition of Woodstock. Sean Baker’s Anora heads to...

Paul Schrader may think that Glen Powell is the next Paul Newman, but the “Oh, Canada” filmmaker is making it clear that Jacob Elordi could follow in Richard Gere’s filmic footsteps.

Schrader cast Elordi as the younger version of Gere’s lead character in “Oh, Canada,” which premiered in competition at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival and went on to screen at TIFF.

However, Schrader is now suggesting that Elordi might have even beat out Gere for “American Gigolo” if they had been contemporaries.

“I saw his performance on Zoom and, if this was 40 years ago, this is the guy I would have cast for ‘American Gigolo,'” Schrader told The Hollywood Reporter of Elordi’s audition for “Oh, Canada.”

“American Gigolo” was led by Gere and released in 1980. The film later received a short-lived TV adaptation with Jon Bernthal starring.

Schrader added that since “Oh, Canada” was filmed prior...

Oh, Canada director Paul Schrader didn’t think long before deciding to reunite with Richard Gere, 44 years after they made American Gigolo together, for his latest movie about a dying draft dodger and doc maker looking to set the record on his life straight in one final interview.

In Schrader’s latest movie, which is having a North American premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, Gere plays Leonard Fife, an American who fled to Montreal to avoid the Vietnam War and eventually became celebrated as a documentary director.

But now facing terminal cancer, Fife rises from his deathbed and looks into a movie camera himself to recall key moments in his life and its many failings and lies. “Any number of actors could knock this out of the park. It’s a great role,” Schrader told The Hollywood Reporter about his movie adaptation of Russell Banks’ 2021 novel Foregone.

“To have seen Anthony Hopkins do it,...

The career path of Paul Schrader is an illustrative example of rise, fall from grace and redemption narrative structure. He established himself first as the talented scriptwriter, then as the potent filmmaker, enjoyed success during the Eighties and Nineties, after which he fell from the grace of Hollywood studios in the new millennium. The decade and half between Auto Focus (2002) and First Reformed (2017) was pretty tough for Schrader, as it was marked by disagreements with the producers, projects being taken away from him and re-cut and troubles financing his other films.

Almost miraculously, the filmmaker went back to his roots and re-emerged as the great auteur with his loosely connected (anti-)Calvinist trilogy consisting of First Reformed, The Card Counter (2021) and Master Gardener (2022). But after the underwhelming Oh Canada (premiered earlier this year at Cannes and caught at Sarajevo Film Festival where Schrader presided over the...

Richard Gere celebrated his 75th birthday with hyped-up fans at a masterclass hosted by Cartier at the Venice Film Festival and revealed some behind-the-scenes on the filming of his 1990 hit movie “Pretty Woman” which catapulted Julia Roberts into star status.

Reacting to a clip of his steamy piano scene with Roberts, Gere laughed and blushed about his palpable chemistry with the actor.

“No chemistry,” he laughed. “I mean, this actor and this actress, obviously, had no chemistry between them… I haven’t seen that in a long time, too. It was a sexy, sexy scene.”

Gere then went on to share that the scene had been improvised. “This was never in the script. … We didn’t know how we would use it later. It ended up being integral to the film,” said Gere, who also joked that he “was playing a character that was almost criminally underwritten. It was basically...

Tras Cannes, la película se presentará en el Festival de San Sebastián. © Avalon

Ya hay tráiler de la película Oh, Canada, del director Paul Schrader (El reverendo), que además se proyectará en el Festival Internacional de Cine de San Sebastián dentro de la sección Perlak.

Basada en el texto de Russell Banks, Oh, Canada cuenta la historia de Leonard Fife, un exiliado que huyó a Canadá durante la guerra de Vietnam. Al borde de la muerte, Fife concede una última entrevista a uno de sus antiguos alumnos para contarle toda la verdad sobre su vida. Una confesión filmada delante de su mujer.

La película está protagonizada por Richard Gere (Chicago), Uma Thurman (Kill Bill: Volumen 1) y Jacob Elordi (Saltburn).

Oh, Canada se estrena el 25 de diciembre en cines.

¡Os dejamos con el tráiler y póster de la película!

TRÁILER:

PÓSTER:

© Avalon

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Exclusive: Jackie Cruz (Orange Is the New Black), Penelope Mitchell (Oh Canada) and Jeff Adler (Greyhound) will round out the cast of Woozy, the forthcoming indie horror pic marking the feature debut of writer-director Joey Bicicchi, on which we were first to report.

Details as to the roles to be played by the trio haven’t been disclosed. Production on the film is currently underway in New Jersey.

Woozy is a film that tells of unhealthy coping mechanisms and the battle against fears, depression, phobias, and delusions. Dusty (Hirsch) has deliberately structured his life, through meditation, yoga, boxing, nutrition, and hygiene, to create a clean and safe environment. But what happens when Dusty’s flawless system fails? Out comes Woozy, a horrifying apparition who torments Dusty.

Pic’s producers include Keith Kjarval for Unified Pictures, Lalit Bhatnagar (One Amazing Thing) for Imagination Infinite Productions,...

UTA has signed Hong Kong writer-director Tiger Ji for representation in all areas.

Ji first gained recognition at age 19 with his award-winning 2020 short, “Wuhan Driver,” executive produced by Jonathan Sanger. It follows a Chinese Uber driver in New York as he struggles to make ends meet at the onset of the pandemic. For the project, Ji was awarded the filmmaker of the future award at the Rhode Island International Film Festival.

His subsequent 2023 project, “Death & Ramen,” starred Bobby Lee and Matt Jones (“Breaking Bad”). The short premiered at the Palm Springs Shortfest, where it was nominated for best comedy. It follows a ramen chef as he goes on an unintended late night odyssey with the Grim Reaper, sharing a bowl of noodles and discovering what it means to be human.

“Death & Ramen” was picked up by Canal+ for distribution worldwide and racked up more than 1 million views on YouTube in just over a month.

Paul Schrader has a busy few months ahead as he shares an update on two upcoming films.

The Oscar-nominated director revealed that he’s currently developing the new feature The Basics of Philosophy as he prepares to begin filming Non Compos Mentis (Latin for “an unsound mind”) in November.

He told Screen Daily that he’s completed an outline and plans to finish a draft in the next three months for The Basics of Philosophy, which is about “an intellectual university philosophy professor,” made in the style of his ‘Man in a Room’ spiritual trilogy, First Reformed (2017), The Card Counter (2021) and Master Gardener (2022).

“I’ve got to do a very quick rewrite on [Compos],” said Schrader. “I’m hoping before November to write the new one and have another bullet in the gun ready to go.”

Schrader previously announced Non Compos Mentis at Cannes Film Festival in May. “I’ve written a noir,...

Tuvo su estreno mundial en el Festival de Cannes y pasará por San Sebastián. © Avalon

Avalon ha anunciado la fecha de estreno de la película Oh, Canada, del director Paul Schrader (El reverendo), que además se proyectará en el Festival Internacional de Cine de San Sebastián dentro de la sección Perlak.

Basada en el texto de Russell Banks, Oh, Canada cuenta la historia de Leonard Fife, un exiliado que huyó a Canadá durante la guerra de Vietnam. Al borde de la muerte, Fife concede una última entrevista a uno de sus antiguos alumnos para contarle toda la verdad sobre su vida. Una confesión filmada delante de su mujer.

La película está protagonizada por Richard Gere (Chicago), Uma Thurman (Kill Bill: Volumen 1) y Jacob Elordi (Saltburn).

Oh, Canada se estrena el 25 de diciembre en cines.

© Avalon

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