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Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentFederation Entertainment has acquired a majority stake in Bonne Pioche, the French production company behind the Oscar-winning documentary “March of the Penguins.” Active in documentaries, animation and drama, Bonne Pioche will retain full editorial freedom and will parter up with Federation on development and production, as well as back office and international sales. The company’s workforce, which includes 36 staff members, will remain in place. Federation has a 51-percent stake in Bonne Pioche.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterIn another era, traditional movie studios would have exhaustively battled to buy a Sundance Film Festival crowd-pleaser like “Cha Cha Real Smooth” in the hopes of turning critical raves into the next theatrical hit.“Cha Cha Real Smooth,” writer-director Cooper Raiff’s charming story about a budding friendship between an aimless college grad and a young mother, seemed tailor-made to charm the snow boots off Sundance buyers — and it did. Apple TV Plus outbid competitors and bought the movie for $15 million, the biggest sale at this year’s festival.

“The Crown” star Matt Smith and Morfydd Clark, who will appear in the upcoming “Lord of the Rings” series “The Rings of Power,” will star together in a supernatural horror film called “Starve Acre.” Daniel Kokotajlo (“Apostasy”) will direct and write the screenplay for his sophomore film based on the novel of the same name by Andrew Michael Hurley. Set in 1970s rural England, the story follows an archaeologist named Richard, who buries himself in exploring a folkloric myth that the ancient oak tree on the land his family lives on is imbued with phenomenal powers.

Saoirse Ronan is set to star in the next film from “The Unforgivable” director Nora Fingscheidt, a drama based on a memoir called “The Outrun.” “The Outrun” is based on Amy Liptrot’s 2016 award-winning memoir of the same name, and the film will be introduced to buyers at the upcoming European Film Market. Ronan will star in the film as Rona, a woman fresh out of rehab who returns to the wild Orkney Islands after more than a decade away.

K.J. Yossman Saoirse Ronan has been tapped as the lead in “The Outrun,” the memoir of alcoholism and nature from writer Amy Liptrot.“The Unforgivable” helmer Nora Fingscheidt is set to direct.In “The Outrun,” four-time Oscar nominee Ronan stars as recently-out-of-rehab Rona who heads for home in Scorland’s wild Orkney Islands after an absence of over a decade.

Naman Ramachandran Krishna D.K. and Raj Nidimoru, best known for hit Amazon Prime Video India series “The Family Man,” are partnering with Netflix on series “Guns & Gulaabs” under their D2R Films banner. “The series is set to uniquely blend the romance of the 90s with a crime thriller while effortlessly lacing it in humor,” according to Netflix.

Matt Smith and Morfydd Clark are already set to be part of the casts of two of the biggest TV series of 2022. Smith is one of the stars of HBO’s first “Game of Thrones” spinoff, “House of the Dragons.” Clark, on the other hand, is part of the cast of Amazon’s highly anticipated “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.” And now, they’re set to cross paths in the new horror film, “Starve Acre.” READ MORE: Matt Smith Says His Scrapped ‘Rise Of Skywalker’ Role Was “Transformative” & Would Have Meant “A Shift In The History of The Franchise” According to THR, Morfydd Clark and Matt Smith are set to lead the cast of “Starve Acre,” a new horror film from director Daniel Kokotajlo.

Zack Sharf Ben Whishaw admitted in an interview with The Guardian that he was left unsatisfied by the revelation in “No Time to Die” that his recurring James Bond character Q is a gay man. The reveal is brief and occurs when Bond (Daniel Craig) and Moneypenny (Naomi Harris) drop by Q’s apartment unannounced for help. Q is in the middle of cooking dinner and preparing for a date with a male romantic partner when the two show up at his door.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorIn a new series, Variety catches up with the directors of the films shortlisted for the International Feature Film Oscar to discuss their road to the awards, what they’ve learned so far, and what’s taken them off guard.In “Great Freedom,” the winner of the runner-up prize in Un Certain Regard at Cannes, Austrian director Sebastian Meise takes an empathetic look at the relationship between two prisoners in a German jail: convicted murderer Viktor (Georg Friedrich), and a gay man, Hans (Rogowski), imprisoned repeatedly over three decades under the country’s homophobic Paragraph 175 statute. The film is Austria’s entry in the International Feature Film category of the Oscars, and is one of 15 films to be shortlisted. What does it mean to you to be shortlisted for the best international feature Oscar?It’s incredibly exciting, and personally, I wasn’t expecting it at all.

Andrew Garfield (“Tick, Tick … Boom!,” “Spider-Man: No Way Home”) and Rachel Zegler (“West Side Story”) sat down for a virtual chat for Variety’s Actors on Actors, presented by Amazon Studios. For more, click here.What do Andrew Garfield and Rachel Zegler have in common? To start, they both love the theater, musicals — and each other. “You are in my favorite movie of the year,” Garfield tells 20-year-old Zegler on a recent video conversation about her first film role, as Maria in Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story.”“You are in my favorite movie of the year,” Zegler gushes back to Garfield about his turn as the composer Jonathan Larson in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “Tick, Tick … Boom!” And she’s also a super fan of Garfield’s surprise return to playing Peter Parker in the box office phenomenon “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” a movie that made her sob.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans EditorWhen hairstylist Barry Lee Moe took on the job of turning Sebastian Stan into Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee, he thought a wig would help embody the 1990s rocker’s look. But for Hulu’s limited series “Pam & Tommy,” which premieres Feb. 2 on Hulu, Stan wanted the freedom to touch his hair and feel it.

Drew Barrymore took a trip down memory lane. The actress, TV host, director and producer shared a photo with Tom Holland, back when he was teen.

is a joyful, reflective, and defiant story about a reality not so far from our own where a preoccupation with productivity has destroyed our ability to connect, grieve and love. We cannot wait to see this incredibly talented cast and creative team headed by Justin, Laura and Noah bring Sam’s brilliantly original script to life,” Ackland said in a statement.

EXCLUSIVE: Tom Hanks comedy A Man Called Otto is full-steam ahead with filming set to begin next month in on location in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, we can reveal.

Paramedics have stated that 'nothing could be done' to try and save a nine-year-old boy who died after being struck by a fallen tree.

Keira Knightley is hard at work on the set of Boston Strangler!

One glance at the recent filmography from director Justin Kurzel shows the filmmaker’s penchant for switching up genres with nearly every project. From “Macbeth” to “Assassin’s Creed” to “True History of the Kelly Gang” to last year’s “Nitram,” Kurzel is unafraid to change things up with each and every new feature.

EXCLUSIVE: Angels of the Avalanche, the longform GQ story written by Joshua Hammer, tells the story of helicopter rescue team battling life-and-death obstacles in the high mountain slopes of the Swiss Alps.

The Riddler literally crashes a funeral in an extended clip from “The Batman” starring Robert Pattinson.

Annika Pham Oscar and double Palme d’Or winning director Bille August (“The Best Intentions”, “Pelle the Conqueror”) is attending the Göteborg Film Festival for a Director’s Talk and the gala screening of his psycho-drama “The Pact”.He will also pitch at the adjoining Nordic Film Market (Feb. 3-6), the work in progress of his upcoming Danish pic “The Kiss”.August spoke exclusively to Variety about “The Kiss,” his enduring interest in the complexity of human beings, book-to-screen adaptations and his belief in the big screen experience.Loosely based on Stefan Zweig’s novel “Beware of Pity and transposed from an Austrian to a Danish setting, “The Kiss” is a romantic drama set in 1913.

Benedict Cumberbatch has reflected on playing a non-binary role in Zoolander 2, admitting that it “backfired”.The Marvel actor played the role of model All in the 2016 sequel, which drew a huge backlash at the time and a petition launched to boycott the film gained over 25,000 signatures.Reflecting on taking the role during a chat with fellow Zoolander 2 star Penelope Cruz as part of Variety‘s Actors On Actors series, Cumberbatch admitted he wouldn’t take the part if it were offered today.“There was a lot of contention around the role, understandably now,” he recalled. “And I think in this era, my role would never be performed by anybody other than a trans actor.“But I remember at the time not thinking of it necessarily in that regard, and it being more about two dinosaurs, two heteronormative clichés not understanding this new diverse world.“But it backfired a little bit,” Cumberbatch added.

A new daytime drama is airing on BBC One from today.

Stephanie Davis has opened up on her stalker hell during an interview on This Morning.

The Crown star Matt Smith and Saint Maud’s Morfydd Clark are to lead supernatural horror film Starve Acre from BAFTA-nominated Apostasy creator Daniel Kokotajlo. Cornerstone is handling world sales and will launch at next month’s European Film Market.

K.J. Yossman “Doctor Who” star Matt Smith and Morfydd Clark are set to star in supernatural horror film “Starve Acre.”From BAFTA-nominated “Apostasy” writer and director Daniel Kokotajlo, “Starve Acre” explores “inherited trauma and loss within a world ruled by supernatural folklore.”The film is based on Andrew Michael Hurley’s novel of the same name.BAFTA and Emmy Award nominee Smith (“House of the Dragon”) and BAFTA Cymru winner Morfydd Clark (“The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”) will play a disconnected couple worried about their son in the “brooding and stylistic modern horror.”Set in their family estate, Starve Acre, in rural 1970s England, Richard (played by Smith) and Juliette (Clark) find their idyllic family life disrupted when their son Ewan starts acting strangely.

K.J. Yossman Benedict Cumberbatch, Laura Dern and Noah Jupe are set to star in “Morning,” an upcoming feature from “Assassin’s Creed” director Justin Kurzel.Dern (“Marriage Story”) and Jupe (“A Quiet Place”) will lead while “Doctor Strange” star Cumberbatch appears in a supporting role.Kurzel’s last feature, “Nitram,” was nominated for a Palme d’Or.Set in the near future, “Morning” is set in a society that has evolved beyond the need to sleep thanks to a new pill and artificial sun.

Gangs of London producer Pulse Films has signed former Darlow Smithson Creative Director and BBC Commissioner Diene Petterle as Global Creative Director of Non-Fiction.

Christopher Vourlias Gianluca and Massimiliano De Serio, the Italian directing duo best known internationally for their Locarno premiere “Seven Acts of Mercy,” are developing a colonial-era drama that they’re presenting during the Rotterdam Film Festival’s CineMart co-production market.“Prince Aden” begins in 1935, when a 16-year-old Somali boy passes the test to become a dubat, a soldier in the Italian army that has invaded Ethiopia on the orders of Mussolini. Aden Sicré is sent to the frontlines, but after being injured on his first day of service he’s forced to return home – where he is unexpectedly hailed as a war hero by the Fascist regime.Five years later, Aden is recruited to take part in a recreation of the daily life of an African village at the newly built Mostra d’Oltremare exhibition center in Naples.

Stephanie Davis has revealed being stalked by Alex Boston was like "living in a horror film". Alex, 43, pleaded guilty to an offence of stalking involving serious alarm and distress between 2020 and 2021 at Knowsley Magistrates Court in November 2021, and has since been jailed for 28 weeks and issued with an indefinite restraining order on Friday 28 January. Now, the former Hollyoaks actress has appeared on ITV's This Morning alongside former celebrity bodyguard Simon Newton – whose worked for the likes of Bella Hadid – to speak about what she went through with hosts Phillip Schofield and Rochelle Humes.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent“You’re a horse person?” a Belgian stable owner asks Johanna, a young Finnish journalist delving into the discovery of a microchip in a baby’s meat patty at a Helsinki daycare center. Only creator-director Auli Mantila’s own horse affiliations as a qualified farrier may explain in part one of the most singular of entries at this year’s Nordisk Film & TV Fond Prize: “Transport.”This is Scandinavian crime drama, but “ordi-noir,” Mantila told the Nordisk Film & TV Fond newsletter, in that it “happens in broad daylight, involves people with no special talent or trauma, and takes place in locations anyone could just walk in.”It also addresses a massive but little explored subject, turning on pan-European food fraud which embroils three women: Marianne, a by-the-book bank loans exec forced to money launder earnings of a sinister food import company; an insurance investigator checking the disappearance of a border control veterinarian; and the indefatigable Johanna.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorWorld War II refugee drama “The Path” (Der Pfad) has debuted its international trailer (above) ahead of its market premiere at the European Film Market in Berlin. Warner will release the film theatrically in Germany, while Global Screen is handling international rights.“The Path,” directed by Tobias Wiemann, is based on Rüdiger Bertram’s novel and is inspired by true events.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorNazi-era drama “The Forger,” starring Louis Hofmann of Netflix’s supernatural series “Dark” and the Oscar nominated “Land of Mine,” has debuted its trailer (below) ahead of its world premiere in the Berlinale Special Gala section of the Berlin Film Festival. Beta Cinema will be selling the film at the European Film Market.Based on a true story, Maggie Peren’s film centers on 21-year-old Cioma Schönhaus, who won’t let anyone take away his zest for life.

JD Linville Already celebrating the success of a top win at Series Mania, as well as 80% national audience approval, RÚV’s Icelandic series “Blackport” has now been nominated for 2022’s 6th Nordisk Film and TV Fond Prize at Göteborg. The prize will be presented during the film festival’s industry conference TV Drama Vision on Feb. 2, and serves to reward exemplary writing in Nordic drama series.“Blackport,” which follows Iceland’s 1980s fishing quota power struggle, is tightly paced for action, and the three nominated writers pull no punches, leaving only their characters’ arms to the cutting room floor.