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Alex Gibney To Direct Frank Sinatra Documentary For HBO

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Tuesday April 30, 2013 @ 2:57pm PDTTags: Alcon Television Group, Alex Gibney, Frank Sinatra, HBO

Alcon Television Group, the television division of Alcon Entertainment, and Frank Sinatra Enterprises are teaming to produce an as yet untitled documentary about the life and music of Frank Sinatra to premiere on HBO. Oscar-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney will direct the four-hour mini-series docu described as an up close and personal examination of Sinatra, his life, his music and his legendary career. Never before seen footage, including industry and home movies, as well as private and professional performances, will be featured. Frank Marshall, Nancy Sinatra, Charles Pignone, Alcon Television President Sharon Hall, and co-CEO’s Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove are executive producers. Kennedy-Marshall Company and Jigsaw Productions also are partnering on the project.

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HBO On ‘Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence In The House Of God’: TCA

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Friday January 4, 2013 @ 3:57pm PSTTags: Alex Gibney, HBO, Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence In The House Of God, TCA

Ray Richmond is contributing to Deadline’s TCA coverage.

The scope of the devastation wrought by abusive members of the clergy took center stage at TCA this afternoon during a panel on the HBO documentary Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence In The House Of God, which premieres on the network February 4. The doc from writer-director Alex Gibney examines the abuse of power in the Catholic Church through the stories of four deaf men who were involved in one of the first cases of young sexual abuse victims exposing their abusing priest. One of those interviewed in the piece, a former Benedictine monk and mental health counselor named Richard Sipe, has spent most of his life researching and serving as a crusader in the field. Now 80, he discussed how his piercing the denial of abuse in the United States was initially wildly unpopular. The first indicators were studies conducted of the 1966 and 1972 graduating classes of the major seminary of the Los Angeles Archdiocese. “Thirty percent of the two classes (had engaged) in the sexual abuse of minors in the Catholic Church”, Sipe said. “It was just so unique to find this among a group of men whom we say are entirely sexually safe, who do not practice sex in any form at any time. And that is the myth that I have had to be faced with in my life”.

Related: Q&A: Director Alex Gibney On ‘Mea Maxima Culpa’, Sex Abuse & Taking The Film To Italy Read More »

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Q&A: Director Alex Gibney On ‘Mea Maxima Culpa’, Sex Abuse & Taking The Film To Italy

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Monday November 19, 2012 @ 3:22am PSTTags: Alex Gibney, HBO, Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence In The House Of God

Alex Gibney won an Oscar for his 2007 documentary Taxi To The Dark Side about U.S. policy on torture and interrogation. He was also nominated for 2005’s Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room. His latest film, Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence In The House Of God, taps into a subject that has, in various forms, increasingly made headlines this year. As allegations of the sexual abuse of minors by trusted figures have continued to surface — think the Penn State scandal and the ongoing crisis over BBC kids’ show host Jimmy Savile — Gibney’s film is a damning investigation into pedophilia in the Catholic Church. Shining a light on what it calls “an international conspiracy of silence” that reaches all the way to the Vatican, the documentary “teaches us that we must recognize that the worst predators often consciously use their own personal charisma and the prestige of their institutions to commit and cover up their crimes,” Gibney says.

At the outset, the story is told from the point of view of four deaf men who attended a Milwaukee Catholic boys school in the 1950s and ’60s where Father Lawrence Murphy abused them as well as what is believed to be over 200 others over time. Interweaving the boys’ saga, which the now-adult men recount in sign language voiced over by actors Chris Cooper, Ethan Hawke, Jamey Sheridan and John Slattery, the story travels to two of the world’s most Catholic countries: Ireland and Italy. There, stories of similar sex abuse cases are revealed as well as the actions of members and friends of the Holy See. Mea Maxima Culpa debuted in Toronto and won the documentary feature prize at the recent London Film Festival. It was released in NY and LA on Friday for its Oscar-qualifying run and will air on HBO on February 4. It was also, surprisingly given the subject matter, picked up for distribution in both Ireland (Element Pictures) and Italy (Feltrinelli), although it was refused by recent Italian festivals. I recently had the chance to catch up with Gibney and our conversation follows: Read More »

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Content Media Buys 50% Stake In Alex Gibney’s Jigsaw Productions

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Wednesday June 6, 2012 @ 9:10am PDTTags: Alex Gibney, Big Deals Film, Content Media

London, June 6, 2012 – Global entertainment company Content Media Corporation (“Content”) announced today a far-reaching deal with New York-based production company Jigsaw Productions, further adding to the company’s growing investment portfolio. The agreement will see Content investing in Jigsaw and working closely with founder Alex Gibney to build a diversified production company operating across film and television.

Content will invest in Jigsaw for a 50% stake, and Jigsaw will add additional staff, expand development and increase its production output. Content’s film, television and digital divisions will act as international distributor for Jigsaw’s programs when appropriate.

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Ex-Universal Pic Chief Marc Shmuger Launches Global Produce Shingle

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday May 6, 2011 @ 1:42pm PDTTags: Alex Gibney, David Linde, Julian Assange, Marc Shmuger, Universal Pictures
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Former Universal co-chairman Marc Shmuger next month opens the doors on his new producing venture. Global Produce will be the name of his new Universal-based company, and I’m told that Shmuger has hired Tom McNulty to be his top … Read More »

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DreamWorks Enters WikiLeaks Movie Sweepstakes, Buying Two Major Books

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Tuesday March 1, 2011 @ 5:25pm PSTTags: Aaron Sorkin, Alex Gibney, Ben Mezrich, Bill Keller, Daniel Domscheit-Berg, David Leigh, Facebook, Holly Bario, Jesse Eisenberg, Julian Assange, Luke Harding, Marc Shmuger, Mark Boal, Mark Sourian, Mark Zuckerberg, Martin Luther King, Megan Ellison, Movie Deals, Movies, Paul Greengrass, Raffi Khatchadourian, Scott Rudin, Stacey Snider, Steven Spielberg, The Guardian, The Social Network, Wikileaks
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: DreamWorks has officially entered the derby to turn the story of Julian Assange and WikiLeaks into a feature film. The studio has acquired rights to two books by pivotal players in the WikiLeaks drama. DreamWorks has secured screen rights … Read More »

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Magnolia Pictures Acquires Ken Kesey LSD Documentary ‘Magic Trip’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Monday February 14, 2011 @ 7:29am PSTTags: Alex Gibney, Allison Ellwood, Magnolia Pictures
Mike Fleming

Magnolia Pictures acquired North American rights to Magic Trip, a look back at the psychedelic 60s cross-country bus tour taken by Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters. The feature documentary was co-directed and co-written by Alex Gibney and Allison Ellwood, … Read More »

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‘Hurt Locker’s Mark Boal At Center Of WikiLeaks Film Deal As Other Julian Assange Movies Mobilize

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday February 2, 2011 @ 5:55pm PSTTags: Alex Gibney, Bill Keller, CAA, Daniel Domscheit-Berg, David Leigh, Der Spiegel, DreamWorks, Julian Assange, Kathryn Bigelow, Luke Harding, Management 360, Marc Shmuger, Mark Boal, Megan Ellison, Paul Greengrass, Raffi Khatchadourian, Stieg Larsson, The Guardian, The New York Times, The New Yorker, Tom Hanks, Universal Pictures, Wikileaks
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: The Hurt Locker screenwriter Mark Boal and Management 360 have partnered with financier/producer Megan Ellison to option The Boy Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, an article about WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange in The New York Times Magazine written by the … Read More »

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Sundance: Universal Funding WikiLeaker Julian Assange Docu By Alex Gibney And Ex-Uni Chairman Marc Shmuger

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday January 21, 2011 @ 12:40pm PSTTags: 2011 Sundance Film Festival, Alex Gibney, Julian Assange, Marc Shmuger, Movie Deals, Movies, Sundance Film Festival, Universal Pictures, Wikileaks, Wikileaks Documentary
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Oscar-winning documentary director Alex Gibney has found his next hot-button film subject. Universal Pictures has just acquired a documentary that Gibney will direct about WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. The film will be the first project involving Marc Shmuger since … Read More »

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