Some news coming out of Cannes
Pete Hammond from Deadline notes from the jury press conference which is the one time the jury faces the press during the whole festival that the presence of two female directors, Lynne Ramsay (fresh off Jane Got a Gun) or Naomi Kawase didn’t get anyone talking about anything gender related. “There were no questions asked about that (Jane Got a gun) or, considering the strong female presence on the jury which includes two women directors, why there are so few films actually directed by women appearing in the competition (none last year and just one – by Italy’s Valeria Bruni Tedeschi – this year).”
Deals and announcements”
Abigail Breslin will star in Peste. Mark Tonderai is directing and Cloverfield‘s Sheryll Clark is producing. Production is set for early September on the thriller that sees a teenager’s world turned upside down as a terrifying virus turns her friends and neighbors into vicious monsters. Peste is based on Barbara Marshall’s 2012 Black List screenplay. (via Deadline)
Anne Hathaway to star in Song One which will be the directing debut of Kate Barker-Froyland who will direct from her own screenplay. Film is about a young woman who strikes up a relationship with her ailing brother’s favorite musician. Principal photography starts May 29 in New York. (via Deadline)
Cate Blanchett will star in helmer-scribe David Mamet’s Blackbird, a present-day Hitchcockian nailbiter turning on a secret explanation for the 1963 assassination of U.S. president John F. Kennedy. Blanchett plays Janet, who travels to Los Angeles for the funeral of her grandfather, a Hollywood visual effects artist who moonlighted for U.S. special ops agencies. Her grandfather’s well-kept secrets become a threat to her, forcing Janet to discover the truth about a man who dedicated his life to making illusion reality. (via Variety)
Scarlett Johansson will make her directorial debut on Summer Crossing, an adaptation of Truman Capote’s first novel. The plot: a 17-year-old debutant opts out of her parents’ Parisian travels to foster a romance with a Jewish valet parking attendant in the middle of a 1945 summer NYC heat wave. Shooting will begin next year. (via Deadline)
