On Friday, July 19, 2019, the IFC Center in New York will host a world-premiere screening of Netflix’s upcoming series “Unbelievable”: When teenager Marie Adler (Kaitlyn Dever) files a police report claiming she’s been sexually assaulted by an intruder in her home, the investigating detectives, as well as the people closest to her, come to doubt the truth of her story. Meanwhile, hundreds of miles away, detectives Grace Rasmussen and Karen Duvall (Emmy winners Toni Collette and Merritt Wever) meet while investigating an eerily similar pair of intruder rapes and partner to catch a potential serial rapist. Inspired by the real events in The Marshall Project and ProPublica Pulitzer Prize-winning article, “An Unbelievable Story of Rape,” written by T. Christian Miller and Ken Armstrong, and the This American Life radio episode, “Anatomy of Doubt”, with episodes directed by Oscar nominees Susannah Grant and Lisa Cholodenko,Unbelievable is new limited series drama about unspeakable trauma, unwavering tenacity, and astounding resilience. Showrunner Susannah Grant executive produces the series, from CBS Television Studios, along with Sarah Timberman, Carl Beverly, Lisa Cholodenko, Ayelet Waldman, Michael Chabon, Katie Couric, Richard Tofel, Neil Barsky, Robyn Semien, and Marie. There will be a post-screening conversation with showrunner and executive producer Susannah Grant, executive producer Sarah Timberman, executive producer and episode director Lisa Cholodenko, and actors Kaitlyn Dever and Danielle Macdonald. A Netflix release date has not yet been set.
A little more than two weeks after setting foot on her spaceship in the German Bavaria Studios, Toni Collette has wrapped her part for the film, according to her Instagram post, featuring a picture of Toni and her fellow cast members. Directed by Joe Penna, “Stowaway” tells of a Mars mission in which an undiscovered stowaway (Shamier Anderson) accidentally causes irreparable damage to the spaceship’s life-support systems. Faced with dwindling resources and a potentially fatal fate, a scientist (Anna Kendrick) is the only one to repress the utterly cold logic of the commander (Toni Collette) and the biologist on board (Daniel Dae Kim). The film is slated for a 2020 release.
It seemed like a recipe for a disaster. An out of work and virtually broke director, who couldn’t keep a job, decided to make a film based (loosely) on the true story of his sister stealing money from their father. There was no real romance, no pat, happy ending and everybody who read the script thought the main fictionalised character not very likeable. Muriel Heslop was dowdy, listened to daggy music, betrayed a friend and married for revenge. The story was “denounced” by Film Australia which refused to fund it. But when it finally premiered in September 1994, 25 years ago this year, Muriel’s Wedding was on its way to becoming a huge, but unlikely, hit. The story of how this small, independent film made it to the screen could be a film in itself. The enduring tale was later turned into a stage musical, which also became a hit, and is being revived in a new production returning to the Sydney stage on July 4 at the Sydney Lyric Theatre. The director, Paul John “P.J.” Hogan and his wife, screenwriter and director Jocelyn Moorehouse, said that before Muriel he was “broke” and since graduating from film school in 1984 had found only “consistent unemployment”. “We wanted to make feature films, but could only get TV jobs. I got less work than Jocelyn did, because she’s a much nicer person,” Hogan tells The Saturday Telegraph. In 1991 Moorehouse directed the critically acclaimed film Proof starring Hugo Weaving, with Hogan as an assistant director. But after that, work was hard to find and in the late 1980s and early ’90s Hogan began to think seriously about whether he should be “thinking of another career”. Then inspiration came from an unlikely source – his family. The complete article can be read in the press library.
Toni Collette has arrived in Munich, Germany, for the shooting of Joe Penna’s scifi triller “Stowaway”, and her co-star Anna Kendrick has posted the first picture from the set on Instagram. This is the second feature from Penna and Ryan Morrison, the duo behind last year’s “Arctic”, which released domestically in February. Penna is directing and co-wrote the script with Morrison, who will also serve as executive producer and editor. XYZ Films is producing “Stowaway” alongside Augenschein Filmproduktion, Rise Pictures and RainMaker Films in association with Yale Productions. XYZ and CAA Media Finance are arranging financing for the film and handling worldwide sales which continue during Cannes. On a mission headed to Mars, an unintended stowaway (Shamier Anderson) accidentally causes severe damage to the spaceship’s life support systems. Facing dwindling resources and a potentially grim outcome, a medical researcher (Anna Kendrick) emerges as the only dissenting voice against the clinical logic of both her commander (Toni Collette) and the ship’s biologist (Daniel Dae Kim).
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Dream Horse, the upcoming drama starring Toni Collette and Damian Lewis, has found a stable in the U.S. Bleecker Street and Topic Studios have jointly acquired U.S. rights to the film, directed by Euros Lyn and currently shooting in Wales. Joining the two leads are new castmembers, including Owen Teale (Game of Thrones), Joanna Page (Gavin & Stacey), Nicholas Farrell (The Iron Lady), Sian Philips (Dune) and Karl Johnson (Peterloo). Based on the hit 2015 documentary Dark Horse, the film is a Raw production, with Film4, Ingenious and Ffilm Cymru Wales financing. Warner Bros. will distribute in the U.K. Cornerstone Films is handling international sales and distribution and is selling the film at Cannes. Dream Horse is the true story of Jan Vokes, a cleaner and bartender, who decides on a whim to breed and rear a race horse in her Welsh village. She eventually persuades her neighbors to invest in her crazy scheme, and together they name the new foal Dream Alliance. With little experience but a lot of a heart, the collective of townspeople follow “Dream” as he rises through the ranks against all the odds, ultimately pitting all of them against the racing elite in a nail-biting race for the national championship. The U.S. deal was negotiated by Kent Sanderson, Camille Bertrand and Avy Eschenasy on behalf of Bleecker Street, Ryan Heller from Topic Studios with Film4 and Raw.
The Mirror has published an article on Janet Vokes and her book “Dream Horse”, which will be adapted into a film starring Toni Collette: A barmaid who beat the odds to breed a champion racehorse has shared her story – and it is going to be made into a film. Janet Vokes was pulling pints in a working men’s club when she overheard a conversation about owning a racehorse. “That conversation changed my life,” says Janet, 65. Determined to prove that anyone could succeed in the sport of kings, she bought a mare for £350 and paired it with a pedigree stallion. She then helped create a syndicate of 23 residents from her village in a historic mining area. Each paid £10 a week to raise the foal on a slag heap allotment. Dream Alliance went on to win the Welsh National in 2009 and has already featured in an award-winning Netflix documentary, Dark Horse. But Janet has now told her own personal story in a book, Dream Horse, which was released last month. A film of the same name is to follow – featuring an all-star cast. Janet says: “I had given thought to writing a book after the documentary but didn’t have the time. It has taken around a year to put the book together. “It tells the story from my childhood, how I met my husband and then there was Dream. “The documentary was fantastic but I feel like I had more of a say over the book.” In the film, Janet will be played by Toni Collette, from Sixth Sense and Muriel’s Wedding. Homeland’s Damian Lewis stars as a member of the syndicate in the South Wales village of Cefn Fforest. Bafta-winning director Euros Lyn is also on board and has called Janet an “extraordinary heroine”. Janet says: “Dream turned our lives upside down and took us places we’d never even dreamed of.” Dream competed in the 2010 Grand National but pulled up after the seventh fence. He ran in seven more races but was unplaced and was later diagnosed with a lung condition. He was retired in 2012 and today enjoys a slower pace of life in Somerset.
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 Releases on Netflix, September 13, 2019
The true story of Marie, a teenager who was charged with lying about having been raped, and the two female detectives who followed a twisting path to arrive at the truth. Releases November 27, 2019
A detective investigates the death of a patriarch of an eccentric, combative family. Awaiting theatrical release
A stowaway on a mission to Mars sets off a series of unintended consequences. |