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Scott Free Bolsters Production Ranks; Hires Michael Pruss, Ups Elishia Holmes

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday May 15, 2013 @ 3:39pm PDTTags: Elishia Holmes, Michael Pruss, Ridley Scott, Scott Free
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Scott Free Productions has hired Indian Paintbrush executive Michael Pruss to be senior vice president of Production. Scott Free has separately promoted production executive Elishia Holmes to senior vice president of Production. Both report to Scott Free President Michael Schaefer. Pruss joins Scott Free from Indian Paintbrush where he served as vice president and oversaw the acquisition of the Drake Doremus-directed Like Crazy at the 2011 Sundance Festival. He co-produced the director’s followup, Breathe In, which will be released in the fall. Pruss also developed A Murder Foretold with Chris Terrio, The Signal with Brad Ingelsby, Off The Grid with Chris Cantwell and Chris Rogers and he is a producer on Hold On To Me, the James Marsh-directed thriller that stars Carey Mulligan and Robert Pattinson. Before that he was a Focus Features exec who worked on Milk, The American and Coraline. He was raised in London.

Holmes has been a rising star at Scott Free, where she is part of the team working on the Daniel Espinosa-directed Child 44 with Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace, Joel Kinnaman and Gary Oldman, with production beginning June 10. She is an exec producer of that film and is working on the J. Blakeson-directed Wool, as well as the mammoth Moses movie Exodus at Fox and the Blade Runner sequel at Alcon Entertainment, both of which will be directed by Scott Free principal Ridley Scott. She joined Scott Free in 2011 from GK Films, and before that was a vice president of production at Warner Bros for four years, and started as a story editor at Parkes-MacDonald.

“It’s an exciting time at Scott Free and we couldn’t be happier to welcome Michael to the company and to recognize Elisha for all of her contributions to the team”, Schaefer said. “They have impeccable taste and great relationships in the industry and I am confident that both of them are going to help us lead the
company into a successful year ahead.”

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Cannes Briefs: Epic’s ‘Thale’ Sequel; Osiris’ ‘The Kill Hole’; Darclight’s ‘Contracted’; Simon Cowell’s ‘Pudsey’; Ridley Scott’s ‘Get Santa’; More

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Thursday May 9, 2013 @ 1:52pm PDTTags: Cannes Film Festival, Cannes Wrap-Up, Ewan McGregor, Ridley Scott

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Epic Sets English-Language ‘Thale’ Sequel
Epic Pictures is partnering with Norway’s Yesbox Productions to finance and produce an English-language sequel to Norwegian thriller Thale. The sequel will be written and directed by Thale‘s Aleksander Nordaas. Patrick Ewald and Shaked Berenson are producing alongside Bendik Heggen Strønstad of Yesbox. Thale appeared in Toronto and SXSW last year and told the story of two crime-scene cleaners who discover a tailed female creature in a concealed cellar who has been held captive for decades. Thale was based on a mythical character in Nordic folklore called the “huldra,” a beautiful creature with female attributes that is said to seduce men by humming a beautiful song, but the men never return to their villages. Epic’s Patrick Ewald says the budget will be upped for the sequel “so that Aleksander and Bendik’s vision can be accomplished on a grand scale.” Read More »

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Nat Geo Teams Up Again With Ridley Scott And Bill O’Reilly For ‘Killing Jesus’

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Monday March 25, 2013 @ 1:02pm PDTTags: Big Deals TV, Bill O'Reilly, National Geographic Channel, Ridley Scott

Hoping to piggyback on the success of National Geographic Channel‘s take on Bill O’Reilly’s best-seller Killing Lincoln, the network is again partnering with Ridley Scott and O’Reilly on Killing Jesus: A History, O’Reilly’s recently announced book that he co-authored with Martin Dugard. The book will be published by Henry Holt and Company on September 24. Today’s announcement comes as the network is in pre-production on O’Reilly’s Killing Kennedy: The End Of Camelot expected to air worldwide on Nat Geo Channels later this year. “I am thrilled to once again be partnering with National Geographic Channels and Scott Free Productions on my next book,” said O’Reilly. “Jesus is the most famous person that has ever lived — and is worshipped today by more than 2.2 billion people”. Killing Jesus tells the story of Jesus of Nazareth as a beloved and controversial young revolutionary brutally killed by Roman soldiers and recounting the seismic political and historical events that made his death inevitable and the changes that his life brought upon the world for the centuries to follow. “O’Reilly has proven with Killing Lincoln and Killing Kennedy that the public is fascinated with the tragic tales of these renowned historical figures, and this is one of the most dramatic stories ever told. We are privileged to once again work with National Geographic Channel to bring Bill’s vision to the screen,” said Scott. Production is set to begin this fall. Click over to read today’s release.

Related:
National Geographic Channel Reteams With Bill O’Reilly And Ridley Scott For ‘Killing Kennedy’ Film About JFK’s Assassination
Nat Geo’s ‘Killing Lincoln’ Hits Record Highs; 3.4M Watch Drama Read More »

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Christian Bale Eyeing Moses?

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday March 15, 2013 @ 10:40am PDTTags: Big Deals Film, Christian Bale, Exodus, Fox, Ridley Scott
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Don’t consider this etched in stone yet, but it looks like Fox is putting a rush on the Moses movie it has been developing with Ridley Scott. I’m hearing that the director and studio are courting Christian Bale to star. The project is called Exodus, which was originally scripted by Adam Cooper and Bill Collage. Peter Chernin and his Chernin Entertainment bought the film as a pitch and they are producing with Scott and his Scott Free, which joined later. Now it has become a big priority after Steve Zaillian signed on to do a rewrite. Zaillian teamed with Scott on American Gangster. Scott is looking to mobilize this as soon as he completes The Counselor. The talks with Bale are early stage.

This comes as Warner Bros deals with Steven Spielberg dropping out of its mega-Moses project, Gods And Kings, the epic-sized film about life of Moses based on the script by Michael Green and Stuart Hazeldine. The studio’s Hail Mary pass is trying to secure the services of Ang Lee, fresh from his Oscar win for Life Of Pi.

Related: Hooper, Lee, Fincher And Spielberg Eye Intriguing Movies
 Read More »

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Tom Hooper, Ang Lee, David Fincher And Steven Spielberg Eye Intriguing Movies

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday March 14, 2013 @ 5:22pm PDTTags: Ang Lee, Big Deals Film, David Fincher, Ridley Scott, Steven Spielberg, Tom Hooper
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Deadline scooped the news today that Safety Not Guaranteed helmer Colin Trevorrow landed the plum gig of Jurassic Park 4, a move which could catapult him to the director A-list. There is a lot of movement going on among directors that will reverberate depending on who takes what job.

First up, Steven Spielberg has ended his long flirtation with directing Gods And Kings, the epic-sized Warner Bros film about life of Moses based on the script by Michael Green and Stuart Hazeldine. That puts Warner Bros in a bind because of the rival Moses project, the Adam Cooper/Bill Collage-scripted Exodus, which is gathering steam at Fox, with Ridley Scott looking to mobilize that as soon as he completes The Counselor. But Warner Bros is now out to Ang Lee, who just won the Best Director Oscar for Life Of Pi. I’m told he’s intrigued with the project but hasn’t had a formal meeting on the script. Imagine what either director can do with that subject matter, and with the ratings on History Channel’s The Bible miniseries, the audience is certainly there. Spielberg hasn’t dropped the project for another; while he postponed his next film Robopocalypse, he hasn’t replaced it with anything as he continues to develop that robot pic. Spielberg also recently told French TV he’s developing a Napoleon miniseries for TV based on Stanley Kubrick’s screenplay and research. for Read More »

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Ridley Scott Partners With Machinima To Develop Episodic Sci-Fi Web Programming

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Monday March 11, 2013 @ 1:44pm PDTTags: Machinima, Ridley Scott, RSA
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Ridley Scott and his commercials production company RSA will team with Machinima to produce 12 short films that will focus on science fiction content that might be grown into feature franchises. Machinima is the top global video entertainment network for males aged 18-34, reaching more than 2.6 billion views monthly. It is the top-rated entertainment channel on YouTube.

Despite turning 75, Scott continues to have an appetite for cutting-edge stuff and emerging technologies. He won’t direct any of these short films but will be a hands-on executive producer with RSA president Jules Daly. With Machinima, they will select directing clients of RSA and figure out what stories to tell.

Machinima has provided a strong springboard for genre content on the web. The network distributed Mortal Kombat: Legacy, which revived the moribund Mortal Kombat franchise. It started with a short film and is now in its second season and led to a feature film in development. Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn premiered last fall and the series has received more than 3.2 million views. Read More »

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Fox, Ridley Scott Set Scribe Kieran Fitzgerald For Pic Inspired By BBC’s ‘The Day Britain Stopped’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Tuesday February 26, 2013 @ 10:46am PSTTags: 20th Century Fox, Big Deals Film, Kieran Fitzgerald, Ridley Scott, The Day Britain Stopped
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Fox is wrapping up a deal for Kieran Fitzgerald to write the script for a reality-based disaster movie loosely inspired by the BBC faux-documentary The Day Britain Stopped. It will be developed as a potential directing vehicle for Ridley Scott.

Film Rites’ Steve Zaillian & Garrett Basch are producing with Scott Free’s Scott, Michael Schaefer, and Elishia Holmes. Kira Goldberg is overseeing for the studio. Fitzgerald is currently adapting The Tiger for Plan B and Focus. He garnered attention for his script Bambi, based on the life of former CIA agent Luis Posada. He’s repped by CAA. Read More »

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Divine Intervention? Showtime’s ‘Vatican’ Project Gets Boost From Papal Changeover

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday February 15, 2013 @ 3:08pm PSTTags: Paul Attanasio, Ridley Scott, Showtime, Vatican
Nellie Andreeva

Talk about perfect timing. For several years, House executive producer Paul Attanasio and Sony TV had been working on a show set at the Vatican. They pitched it to Showtime last fall … Read More »

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Frank Spotnitz To Adapt Ridley Scott-Produced Mini ‘The Man In The High Castle’

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Monday February 11, 2013 @ 3:56am PSTTags: Big Deals TV, Frank Spotnitz, Ridley Scott, Syfy, The Man In The High Castle

The miniseries adaptation of The Man In The High Castle was originally announced as a project back in 2010. At the time, the four-parter based on Philip K Dick‘s novel, was to be … Read More »

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CNN Acquires Ridley Scott-Produced Non-Fiction Series ‘Crimes Of The Century’

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Wednesday January 30, 2013 @ 12:28pm PSTTags: Big Deals TV, CNN, Ridley Scott
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: As part of CNN‘s efforts to broaden its viewership with news-related programming that would appeal to wider audiences, the network has acquired the non-fiction series Crimes Of The Century, executive produced by director-producer Ridley … Read More »

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Sundance: Famous Behind & In Front Of The Camera

By DOMINIC PATTEN | Sunday January 20, 2013 @ 6:06pm PSTTags: Alicia Keys, Dave Grohl, Forest Whitaker, James Franco, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Julie Delpy, Matthew McConaughey, Nicole Kidman, Ridley Scott, Sarah Polley, Stephenie Meyer, Sundance Film Festival, Sundance Wrap-Up, Tony Scott

On its fourth day, the Sundance Film Festival is wall to wall with some of Hollywood’s best known actors and actresses — and we don’t mean the ones who show up just to party hop. While the festival can be a great launching pad for emerging filmmakers, Park City has never been shy about letting the already well known show their wares there too. It was created by Robert Redford after all. This year sees a number of famous faces and names get behind the camera with new films. As buyers begin to dig in, expect to see these marquee names generating some serious interest as they play out of their regular position. And then there’s the plethora of Oscar winners and nominees, blockbuster and TV stars and indie superstars in front of the camera — check out our comprehensive list below.

James Franco – Executive Producer, kink; Co-director, Interior. Leather Bar.  - Actor, director, conceptual artist, grad student and failed Oscar host, Franco wears many hats. This year, he’s adding producer and co-director for two separate films for Sundance. Franco produced kink, a documentary directed by Christina Voros about the Internet’s biggest producer of BDSM. Franco also co-directed Interior. Leather Bar with Travis Matthews. The film seeks to re-create the 40 minutes of Gay S&M footage rumored to be cut from 1980’s Cruising staring Al Pacino to avoid an X rating. Sure the sexual subject matter of both films is similar but Franco’s ambition is wide ranging. Franco also makes an appearance in front of the camera in Interior. Leather Bar and Lovelace.

Alicia Keys – Executive Producer, The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete - The multi-platinum singer/songwriter is no stranger to cinema. More than a few films feature her tunes on their soundtracks and Keys was in front of the camera in 2006’s Smokin’ Aces. However, this Sundance is Keys’ debut as a producer. Directed George Tillman Jr. and starring Skylan Brooks, Jeffrey Wright, Jennifer Hudson and Anthony Mackie, the coming of age film could be the start of a whole new career for Keys.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt – Director/Writer, Don Jon’s Addiction – He sings, he dances, he starred in The Dark Knight Rises and Looper last year, and now Gordon-Levitt slips into the director’s role on the comedy Don Jon’s Addiction. The actor’s directorial debut, which he also wrote the script for, stars Gordon-Levitt himself as a lady’s man who begins seeking a more fulfilling emotional life. Scarlett Jonansson, Julianne Moore, Brie Larson and Tony Danza co-star in the film.

Related: Sundance: Fleming Q&As Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Dave Grohl – Director/Producer, Sound City - No stranger to movie soundtracks, the Foo Fighters frontman and former Nirvana drummer has now moved into the director’s chair with his debut documentary Sound City.  Debuting early in the Festival, the film is about the famous Van Nuys studio where Nirvana, Neil Young, Fleetwood Mac, Tom Petty, Cheap Trick, Guns and Roses and others have recorded. Even before the Festival began, Gravitas Ventures acquired worldwide VOD to Grohl’s movie.

Related: Sundance: Dave Grohl’s ‘Sound City’ Concert Rocks Park City

Julie Delpy/Ethan Hawke – Writers, Before Midnight - This one’s a bit of a cheat because the duo are actually on both sides of the camera at this year’s Sundance. Premiering tonight, the Richard Linklater directed Before Midnight sees Delpy and Hawke return to their roles as Jesse and Celine from 1995’s Before Sunrise and 2004’s Before Sunset. The onscreen duo also retuned to their off screen roles as writers. Like Before Sunset, which was nominated for a Best Adapted Screenplay, Delpy and Hawke crafted Before Midnight’s script with Linklater. This year marks the second time the trio have premiered their tale of the perpetually unfulfilled lovers to Sundance –Before Sunrise debuted at the Festival in 1995. Read More »

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Showtime Greenlights Vatican Drama Pilot From Paul Attanasio, Ridley Scott To Direct

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Thursday December 20, 2012 @ 3:51pm PSTTags: Big Deals TV, Paul Attanasio, Ridley Scott, The Vatican
Nellie Andreeva

Paul AttanasioIn Showtime’s first pilot order for 2013, the pay cable network has greenlighted a high-profile drama from Oscar nominees Paul Attanasio and Ridley Scott. Titled The … Read More »

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Fox 2000 And Ridley Scott Set ‘All You Need Is Kill’ Scribe D.W. Harper For ‘Forever War’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Tuesday November 27, 2012 @ 10:00am PSTTags: Big Deals Film, Fox 2000, Ridley Scott
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: D.W. Harper has been set to write a new draft of The Forever War for Fox 2000 and Scott Free. It’s a directing vehicle for Ridley Scott, who for 25 years has wanted to helm an adaptation of Joe Haldeman’s 1974 seminal science fiction novel. The hope is to get the project moving with a script by Harper, who most recently wrote All You Need Is Kill, the sci-fi film that is in production with Tom Cruise starring and Doug Liman directing.

I first wrote about this one when the studio acquired the Haldeman book back in 2008, and at that time Scott told me it was “a science-fiction epic, a bit of ‘The Odyssey’ by way of ‘Blade Runner,’ built on a brilliant, disorienting premise.” Scott first pursued the book not long after it was published, but the rights were unavailable for a long time. Oscar-winning Raiders Of The Lost Ark VFX wiz Richard Edlund originally bought the rights with the intention of making his directing debut on the film, but it never got off the ground and finally Scott’s home studio was able to make a deal. His Scott Free is producing, with Vince Gerardis exec producing. Fox 2000’s Rodney Ferrell is steering the pic. Haldeman’s book won the 1975 Nebula Award and the 1976 Hugo Award. Read More »

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Ridley Scott To Exec Produce Slate Of Low-Budget Genre Pics Made In Ireland

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Wednesday October 31, 2012 @ 8:44am PDTTags: Focus Features International, Ridley Scott, Scott Free

October 31, 2012 – Academy-Award nominated director and producer Ridley Scott (Prometheus, Blade Runner) and Scott Free London are partnering with Orchard Media and Focus Features International on a slate of six genre low-budget feature films over a period of three years. Ridley Scott will executive produce and present the slate which will be focused primarily on horror, thriller and science fiction. The films will be in association with Northern Ireland Screen and will shoot primarily in Northern Ireland using resident crew, cast, services and facilities. Focus Features International will handle world-wide sales.

Ridley Scott said: “Our target is to create a structure that enables filmmakers to push boundaries and to excite audiences. Our proposed model of filmmaking allows us to give directors the opportunity to really innovate through narrative, production techniques and distribution strategies.”

Focus Features International’s Alison Thompson commented: “There’s an appetite and market for high-concept low budget films – that combined with Ridley Scott’s pedigree will be very attractive to international buyers.”

Read More »

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Ridley Scott Resumes ‘The Counselor’ Monday

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Sunday September 2, 2012 @ 1:29pm PDTTags: Michael Fassbender, Ridley Scott, The Counselor, Tony Scott

The filmmaker put the movie on hiatus for two weeks. He left the set of The Counselor so he could travel from London to Hollywood and handle his brother’s affairs after Tony Scott’s tragic death. Now director/producer Ridley … Read More »

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Hot Short: Luke Scott’s ‘Loom’

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Tuesday August 28, 2012 @ 3:16pm PDTTags: Red, Ridley Scott

Here’s something you won’t see every day on Deadline. A reader pointed us to the 20-minute short Loom written and directed by Luke Scott, son of Ridley and nephew of Tony. It features Giovanni Ribisi and Jellybean Howie, and Dariusz Wolski is the cinematographer:

For access to a higher resolution version, … Read More »

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Hammond On Tony Scott: An Appreciation

By PETE HAMMOND | Monday August 20, 2012 @ 3:32am PDTTags: Denzel Washington, Ridley Scott, Scott Free Productions, Tom Cruise, Tony Scott, Top Gun, Unstoppable
Pete Hammond

It is doubly sad and ironic that action movie maestro Tony Scott would apparently choose to end his life by jumping from a bridge. This is the kind of scene you would more likely see because he was calling the shots from behind the camera – … Read More »

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TOLDJA! Scott Free Hires Michael Schaefer As President

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Monday July 23, 2012 @ 6:35pm PDTTags: Big Deals Film, Michael Schaefer, Ridley Scott, Scott Free, Tony Scott
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Scott Free has made official news that Deadline broke on July 5. Former Summit Entertainment executive Michael Schaefer has been named president of the Fox-based company run by Ridley and Tony Scott. The post became vacant when longtime president Michael Costigan left to become a … Read More »

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Scott Free President Michael Costigan Leaving To Be Producer; Will Ex-Summit Exec Michael Schaefer Take Post?

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday July 5, 2012 @ 6:08pm PDTTags: Michael Costigan, Michael Schaefer, Ridley Scott, Scott Free, Tony Scott
Mike Fleming

Michael Costigan Scott Free

UPDATE: Doesn’t look like it will take Ridley and Tony Scott long to name a new president for Scott Free. The name I’m hearing on the short list is Michael Schaefer, the former senior vice president of acquisitions and co-productions at Summit Entertainment who left that company after the consolidation of staff in the spring after the company was acquired by Lionsgate. Stay tuned.

EARLIER EXCLUSIVE, 2:13 PM: Michael Costigan will be leaving his post as president of Scott Free, I’m told. Costigan will move into full-time producing after spending the past seven years with the Fox-based company run by directors Ridley and Tony Scott. Costigan, a former production executive at Columbia Pictures, has already been doing a lot of producing along with managing the considerable volume of directing vehicles for the Scott brothers. I’m told Costigan’s exit is amicable and that the company expects to set a new top executive before the summer is over.

Costigan is currently producing Out Of The Furnace, the Scott Cooper-directed revenge thriller that began as a Brad Ingelsby spec script that initially had Ridley Scott prepared to direct Leonardo DiCaprio. It just wrapped, with Christian Bale, Woody Harrelson, Casey Affleck and Zoe Saldana heading the cast. He also produced Stoker, the Park Chan-wook-directed drama that stars Nicole Kidman, and he’s also producing The East, which was scripted by The Sound Of My Voice team of Zal Batmanglij and Brit Marling, with Marling starring with Ellen Page and Alexander Sarsgaard. Costigan also produced Cyrus and Welcome To The Rileys. Read More »

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