Exclusive: ScreenCraft has finalized the lineup for its annual Virtual Writers Summit.
The summit, which is expected to span the entire month of June this year, will feature creatives including Richard Linklater, Issa Lopez, Lulu Wang, Quinta Brunson, Nkechi Okoro Carroll, and Sean Wang.
Typically, the summit has occurred over one weekend. However, this year boasts the largest lineup ever, thus resulting in panels over the course of the month on June 8, 15, 22, and 29.
“This marks the fifth year we have organized our annual writers summit virtually and, undeniably, the strongest lineup we have ever put together,” Thomas Dever, VP of Business Development for Industry Arts, ScreenCraft’s parent company, said in a statement. “We are thrilled to hear from these incredible speakers and bring them together with our audience to educate and inspire.”
See the full schedule below.
June 8
Headline Speaker – Quinta Brunson (Abbott Elementary) Letting Authenticity Guide Your Story,...
The summit, which is expected to span the entire month of June this year, will feature creatives including Richard Linklater, Issa Lopez, Lulu Wang, Quinta Brunson, Nkechi Okoro Carroll, and Sean Wang.
Typically, the summit has occurred over one weekend. However, this year boasts the largest lineup ever, thus resulting in panels over the course of the month on June 8, 15, 22, and 29.
“This marks the fifth year we have organized our annual writers summit virtually and, undeniably, the strongest lineup we have ever put together,” Thomas Dever, VP of Business Development for Industry Arts, ScreenCraft’s parent company, said in a statement. “We are thrilled to hear from these incredible speakers and bring them together with our audience to educate and inspire.”
See the full schedule below.
June 8
Headline Speaker – Quinta Brunson (Abbott Elementary) Letting Authenticity Guide Your Story,...
- 5/9/2024
- by Katie Campione
- Deadline Film + TV
The stars and writer-director of the Prime Video limited series Expats sat down Sunday at the Deadline Studio at Prime Experience. Based on Janice Y.K. Lee’s bestselling novel of the same name, Expats revolves around the lives of a group of expatriates in Hong Kong — more specifically, it’s story of three women from different backgrounds linked by a tragic event, grief, loss and complicated family issues.
Appearing on our panel Sunday were star/executive producer Nicole Kidman, actors Ji-Young Yoo, Sarayu Blue, Jack Huston and Brian Tee, and creator/writer/director/executive producer Lulu Wang.
Watch the conversation here, and scroll down for a photo gallery of the event.
Kidman, who has become as prolific a producer through her Blossom Films as she is an actor, also just received the prestigious AFI Lifetime Achievement Award over the weekend, something celebrated by all her Expats colleagues as we began...
Appearing on our panel Sunday were star/executive producer Nicole Kidman, actors Ji-Young Yoo, Sarayu Blue, Jack Huston and Brian Tee, and creator/writer/director/executive producer Lulu Wang.
Watch the conversation here, and scroll down for a photo gallery of the event.
Kidman, who has become as prolific a producer through her Blossom Films as she is an actor, also just received the prestigious AFI Lifetime Achievement Award over the weekend, something celebrated by all her Expats colleagues as we began...
- 4/29/2024
- by Pete Hammond
- Deadline Film + TV
Spoilers: This article and video contain spoilers about “Expats” episodes.
“It really invigorated me as an artist” admits “Expats” star Brian Tee about his role on the Amazon Prime Video limited series. For our recent webchat he adds, “I had a deep connection to it immediately, because I myself personally have a daughter. I have an eight-year-old, and for anyone to lose one of their children is, you know, you wouldn’t wish it on your worst enemy.” Watch our exclusive video interview above.
See Exclusive Video Interview: Yong Ok Lee (‘Expats’ production designer)
“Expats” was created and directed by BAFTA nominee Lulu Wang (“The Farewell”), based on the 2016 novel “The Expatriates” by Janice Y. K. Lee. The six-episode drama revolves around three expatriate women and the people that orbit their lives. Oscar and Emmy winner Nicole Kidman stars as Margaret, an American expatriate living in Hong Kong when tragedy befalls her family.
“It really invigorated me as an artist” admits “Expats” star Brian Tee about his role on the Amazon Prime Video limited series. For our recent webchat he adds, “I had a deep connection to it immediately, because I myself personally have a daughter. I have an eight-year-old, and for anyone to lose one of their children is, you know, you wouldn’t wish it on your worst enemy.” Watch our exclusive video interview above.
See Exclusive Video Interview: Yong Ok Lee (‘Expats’ production designer)
“Expats” was created and directed by BAFTA nominee Lulu Wang (“The Farewell”), based on the 2016 novel “The Expatriates” by Janice Y. K. Lee. The six-episode drama revolves around three expatriate women and the people that orbit their lives. Oscar and Emmy winner Nicole Kidman stars as Margaret, an American expatriate living in Hong Kong when tragedy befalls her family.
- 4/25/2024
- by Rob Licuria
- Gold Derby
“I don’t want to distract from the story, as my purpose is always to support the characters. But because we are showing Hong Kong a lot, I also wanted to make sure I show Hong Kong in the right perspective” explains production designer Yong Ok Lee about designing the sets for Amazon Prime Video’s limited series “Expats.” For our recent webchat the Korean designer adds, “I’m not Cantonese. I don’t know their culture,” noting that she “researched a lot of the background about Hong Kong politics, society and economy, but also I wanted to make sure that I can balance between an expat and a local perspective, because it’s not all about Hong Kong locals, it’s also about expats from their perspective.” Watch our exclusive video interview above.
See ‘Expats’ review round-up: Nicole Kidman is ‘mesmerizing’ in Prime Video’s new limited series
“Expats...
See ‘Expats’ review round-up: Nicole Kidman is ‘mesmerizing’ in Prime Video’s new limited series
“Expats...
- 4/24/2024
- by Rob Licuria
- Gold Derby
Since the tremendous commercial success of the film “Crazy Rich Asians” in 2018, there has been a gradual increase in the number of pictures being produced in America that depict the lives of its Asian citizens. This trend allows for the presentation of the experiences of this over 20 million-strong group of people to a broad audience. Such portrayal can be seen in “Smoking Tigers”, a full-length debut by So Young Shelly Yo. The movie, made by a first-generation Korean-American director, screenwriter, and editor from California, was praised by critics and received several awards, including for the Best Performance, the Best Screenplay, and the Nora Ephron Award at the Tribeca Film Festival.
Smoking Tigers is screening at San Diego Asian Film Festival Spring Showcase
After her two previous shorts, “Moonwalk with Me” from 2018 and “Soft Sounds of Peeling Fruit” from 2021, So Young Shelly Yo continues to touch on the topic of a...
Smoking Tigers is screening at San Diego Asian Film Festival Spring Showcase
After her two previous shorts, “Moonwalk with Me” from 2018 and “Soft Sounds of Peeling Fruit” from 2021, So Young Shelly Yo continues to touch on the topic of a...
- 4/20/2024
- by Tobiasz Dunin
- AsianMoviePulse
Awkwafina rose to fame with her idiosyncratic, trademark comedic stylings. Then she wowed us all with her against-type performance in Lulu Wang‘s “The Farewell,” which very nearly earned her an Oscar nomination back in 2019. She delivers another quiet, subdued role in the Hulu telefilm “Quiz Lady,” which could well reap her a career-first Emmy bid for acting.
Awkwafina plays the reserved Anne, who must compete on the game show she is obsessed with alongside her loud, abrasive, estranged sister Jenny (Sandra Oh) in order to pay off their mom’s gambling debts. The result is a heartwarming comedy that is one of the sweet treats of the year. Critics loved the movie and singled out Awkafina for particular praise.
Tania Hussain (Collider) exclaimed: “While Awkwafina has shown audiences a whacky, often one-dimensional side in some of her roles like the sitcom ‘Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens,’ she is able...
Awkwafina plays the reserved Anne, who must compete on the game show she is obsessed with alongside her loud, abrasive, estranged sister Jenny (Sandra Oh) in order to pay off their mom’s gambling debts. The result is a heartwarming comedy that is one of the sweet treats of the year. Critics loved the movie and singled out Awkafina for particular praise.
Tania Hussain (Collider) exclaimed: “While Awkwafina has shown audiences a whacky, often one-dimensional side in some of her roles like the sitcom ‘Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens,’ she is able...
- 4/17/2024
- by Jacob Sarkisian
- Gold Derby
When actress-producer Nicole Kidman and filmmaker Lulu Wang set out to produce Expats, a miniseries adaptation of the novel The Expatriates, for Prime Video, they were committed to building both an acting ensemble and a writers room that would bolster the female-driven vision behind the project.
Speaking via satellite from Nashville, Kidman joined Wang and castmates Sarayu Blue and Ji-young Yoo at Deadline’s Contenders Television and revealed that she was immediately struck by the novel’s focus on its female characters and shined light on subjects that a diverse array of women face but receive little public discourse or attention.
“The themes of the show and the way in which it’s women, complicated women, but it’s very diverse and it’s very interesting and it’s very interconnected and the way we’re all interconnected. And I loved that it was a global show and that it was very,...
Speaking via satellite from Nashville, Kidman joined Wang and castmates Sarayu Blue and Ji-young Yoo at Deadline’s Contenders Television and revealed that she was immediately struck by the novel’s focus on its female characters and shined light on subjects that a diverse array of women face but receive little public discourse or attention.
“The themes of the show and the way in which it’s women, complicated women, but it’s very diverse and it’s very interesting and it’s very interconnected and the way we’re all interconnected. And I loved that it was a global show and that it was very,...
- 4/14/2024
- by Scott Huver
- Deadline Film + TV
Welcome to Global Breakouts, Deadline’s fortnightly strand in which we shine a spotlight on the TV shows and films making noise in their local territories. The industry is as globalized as it’s ever been, but breakout hits are appearing in pockets of the world all the time and it can be hard to keep track. So we’re going to do the hard work for you.
Today’s pick, Gangnam Project, comes to you from Canada and the UK, where it airs on CBC and the BBC. Gangnam Project taps into universal themes of cultural belonging. And in a kids content market changing rapidly, it is a sign of the the times that the Canadian and British broadcasters have tapped into the phenomenon that is K-pop.
Name: Gangnam Project
Country: Canada, UK
Network: CBC, Cbbc
Producer: Pillango Productions, Aircraft Pictures
International sales: Federation Kids & Family
For fans of: Xo,...
Today’s pick, Gangnam Project, comes to you from Canada and the UK, where it airs on CBC and the BBC. Gangnam Project taps into universal themes of cultural belonging. And in a kids content market changing rapidly, it is a sign of the the times that the Canadian and British broadcasters have tapped into the phenomenon that is K-pop.
Name: Gangnam Project
Country: Canada, UK
Network: CBC, Cbbc
Producer: Pillango Productions, Aircraft Pictures
International sales: Federation Kids & Family
For fans of: Xo,...
- 4/10/2024
- by Hannah Abraham
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Big Beach, the production company behind Starz’s Vida and Facebook’s Sorry For Your Loss, has landed television rights to Alexandra Tanner’s debut novel Worry.
Worry follows two siblings-turned-roommates, one a 28-year-old media employee, navigating an absurd world on the verge of calamity. The book has been described as a “Seinfeldian” novel of existentialism and sisterhood.
Lesley Arfin, co-creator of Netflix comedy series Love, which starred Gillian Jacobs, has signed on to write the pilot episode alongside Tanner.
Worry was released last week by Scribner and was described by the New York Times as a “fabulous comic novel of young adult angst.”
Set in 2019, it follows 28-year-old Jules Gold — anxious, artistically frustrated, and internet-obsessed — who has been living alone in the apartment she once shared with the man she thought she’d marry when her younger sister Poppy comes to crash. Indefinitely. Poppy, a year and a...
Worry follows two siblings-turned-roommates, one a 28-year-old media employee, navigating an absurd world on the verge of calamity. The book has been described as a “Seinfeldian” novel of existentialism and sisterhood.
Lesley Arfin, co-creator of Netflix comedy series Love, which starred Gillian Jacobs, has signed on to write the pilot episode alongside Tanner.
Worry was released last week by Scribner and was described by the New York Times as a “fabulous comic novel of young adult angst.”
Set in 2019, it follows 28-year-old Jules Gold — anxious, artistically frustrated, and internet-obsessed — who has been living alone in the apartment she once shared with the man she thought she’d marry when her younger sister Poppy comes to crash. Indefinitely. Poppy, a year and a...
- 4/1/2024
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
Hello, and welcome to the Scene 2 Seen Podcast!
I am Valerie Complex, an associate editor and film writer at Deadline. Today I’m chatting with Ji-young Yoo, who has some anticipated performances on the horizon. It’s no wonder Variety named her one of the 10 Actors to Watch for 2023.
Ji-Young stars as a co-lead in the six-part limited series Expats, which is based on the Janice Y.K. Lee’s international best-selling novel, The Expatriates. Directed by Lulu Wang (The Farewell), the series also stars Nicole Kidman and Sarayu Blue. Set in Hong Kong 2014, the story centers on three American women – Margaret Mercy and Hilary – whose lives intersect after a sudden tragedy. The series made its debut at the 2023 Toronto Film Festival and was released on Prime Video in January.
The actress attended Sundance 2024 for the premiere of the immersive film Freaky Tales alongside Pedro Pascal and Jay Ellis. From Captain Marvel...
I am Valerie Complex, an associate editor and film writer at Deadline. Today I’m chatting with Ji-young Yoo, who has some anticipated performances on the horizon. It’s no wonder Variety named her one of the 10 Actors to Watch for 2023.
Ji-Young stars as a co-lead in the six-part limited series Expats, which is based on the Janice Y.K. Lee’s international best-selling novel, The Expatriates. Directed by Lulu Wang (The Farewell), the series also stars Nicole Kidman and Sarayu Blue. Set in Hong Kong 2014, the story centers on three American women – Margaret Mercy and Hilary – whose lives intersect after a sudden tragedy. The series made its debut at the 2023 Toronto Film Festival and was released on Prime Video in January.
The actress attended Sundance 2024 for the premiere of the immersive film Freaky Tales alongside Pedro Pascal and Jay Ellis. From Captain Marvel...
- 3/1/2024
- by Valerie Complex
- Deadline Film + TV
“The Last Animal,” the award-winning bestselling novel from Ramona Ausubel, has been snatched up for film adaptation by production companies Walden Media and Big Beach.
Ry Russo-Young has been set to direct the feature based on the emotionally resonant story. Published in April 2023 by Riverhead Books at Penguin Random House, Ausubel’s work was named best book of the year by NPR, Kirkus Reviews and Oprah Daily, among others. A distributor has not yet been set.
“Last Animal” follows teenaged sisters Eve and Vera, unexpectedly spending summer vacation on their mother’s scientific expedition. Fooling around in the permafrost, the sisters accidentally uncover a perfectly preserved, four-thousand-year-old baby mammoth. The discovery sends mother and daughters from the slopes of Siberia to the shores of Iceland to an exotic animal farm in Italy, resulting in the birth of a creature that could change the world — or at least their family.
“I...
Ry Russo-Young has been set to direct the feature based on the emotionally resonant story. Published in April 2023 by Riverhead Books at Penguin Random House, Ausubel’s work was named best book of the year by NPR, Kirkus Reviews and Oprah Daily, among others. A distributor has not yet been set.
“Last Animal” follows teenaged sisters Eve and Vera, unexpectedly spending summer vacation on their mother’s scientific expedition. Fooling around in the permafrost, the sisters accidentally uncover a perfectly preserved, four-thousand-year-old baby mammoth. The discovery sends mother and daughters from the slopes of Siberia to the shores of Iceland to an exotic animal farm in Italy, resulting in the birth of a creature that could change the world — or at least their family.
“I...
- 3/1/2024
- by Matt Donnelly
- Variety Film + TV
It’s an interesting month on HBO and Max this March, as two acclaimed films hit the streamer along with some intriguing original programming.
First up in the movies arena is the streaming debut of Wonka, starring Timothée Chalamet. From beloved Paddington director Paul King, the film follows the adventures of a young Willy Wonka as he looks to become the world’s best (and weirdest) chocolatier. Later in March on Max, there’s also Dream Scenario, a highly-regarded comedy boasting Nicolas Cage as Paul Matthews, who suddenly starts appearing in people’s dreams for unknown reasons, and who naturally becomes very famous as a result of this strange phenomena.
Series-wise, the biggest show on Max this month is The Regime. It packs a solid cast, including Kate Winslet, Matthias Schoenaerts, Andrea Riseborough, Martha Plimpton, and Hugh Grant, and tells the story of “life within the walls of a modern...
First up in the movies arena is the streaming debut of Wonka, starring Timothée Chalamet. From beloved Paddington director Paul King, the film follows the adventures of a young Willy Wonka as he looks to become the world’s best (and weirdest) chocolatier. Later in March on Max, there’s also Dream Scenario, a highly-regarded comedy boasting Nicolas Cage as Paul Matthews, who suddenly starts appearing in people’s dreams for unknown reasons, and who naturally becomes very famous as a result of this strange phenomena.
Series-wise, the biggest show on Max this month is The Regime. It packs a solid cast, including Kate Winslet, Matthias Schoenaerts, Andrea Riseborough, Martha Plimpton, and Hugh Grant, and tells the story of “life within the walls of a modern...
- 3/1/2024
- by Kirsten Howard
- Den of Geek
With a premiere-heavy March ahead at HBO, there will be plenty to stream this month on Max!
The first Sunday of March brings the premiere of HBO’s new six-episode limited series “The Regime,” starring HBO alum Kate Winslet. Throughout the rest of the month, don’t rest on the streamer’s long list of library additions, like the recent musical origin story “Wonka” or A24’s sleeper hit (so to speak) “Dream Scenario”; and be sure some of the HBO’s biggest premieres, including “The Girls on the Bus” starring Melissa Benoist and Ramy Youssef’s “More Feelings” make it onto your calendar.
Plus, there’s no March without March Madness! For the first time, Max will stream all of the 2024 [NCAA] Division Men’s Basketball Championship live games and studio coverage airing on TBS, TNT, and truTV, including the NCAA Men’s Final Four National Semifinals and Men’s National Championship.
The first Sunday of March brings the premiere of HBO’s new six-episode limited series “The Regime,” starring HBO alum Kate Winslet. Throughout the rest of the month, don’t rest on the streamer’s long list of library additions, like the recent musical origin story “Wonka” or A24’s sleeper hit (so to speak) “Dream Scenario”; and be sure some of the HBO’s biggest premieres, including “The Girls on the Bus” starring Melissa Benoist and Ramy Youssef’s “More Feelings” make it onto your calendar.
Plus, there’s no March without March Madness! For the first time, Max will stream all of the 2024 [NCAA] Division Men’s Basketball Championship live games and studio coverage airing on TBS, TNT, and truTV, including the NCAA Men’s Final Four National Semifinals and Men’s National Championship.
- 2/29/2024
- by Ashley Steves
- The Streamable
Matthias Schoenaerts and Kate Winslet in ‘The Regime’ (Photograph by Miya Mizuno/HBO)
Max’s March 2024 streaming lineup includes the premiere of The Regime starring Oscar winner Kate Winslet as a paranoid chancellor with major control issues. The streaming service’s March slate also includes the debut of The Girls on the Bus starring Melissa Benoist, Carla Gugino, Natasha Behnam, and Christina Elmore as political journalists.
Documentaries A Revolution on Canvas and The Lionheart along with the comedy docuseries Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show will premiere in March 2024. And Wonka and Dream Scenario make their streaming debuts.
Series & Films Arriving On Max In March 2024
March 1
127 Hours (2010)
Alvin and The Chipmunks: The Road Chip (2015)
Baby Mama (2008)
The Ballad of Lefty Brown (2017)
The Best Man Holiday (2013)
Bullet Head (2018)
Cabaret (1972)
Captain Fantastic (2016)
Deadpool (2016)
Dear White People (2014)
Dope (2015)
The Expendables (2010)
The Expendables 2 (2012)
The Expendables 3 (2014)
The Farewell (2019)
Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008)
Fruitvale Station (2013)
Godzilla...
Max’s March 2024 streaming lineup includes the premiere of The Regime starring Oscar winner Kate Winslet as a paranoid chancellor with major control issues. The streaming service’s March slate also includes the debut of The Girls on the Bus starring Melissa Benoist, Carla Gugino, Natasha Behnam, and Christina Elmore as political journalists.
Documentaries A Revolution on Canvas and The Lionheart along with the comedy docuseries Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show will premiere in March 2024. And Wonka and Dream Scenario make their streaming debuts.
Series & Films Arriving On Max In March 2024
March 1
127 Hours (2010)
Alvin and The Chipmunks: The Road Chip (2015)
Baby Mama (2008)
The Ballad of Lefty Brown (2017)
The Best Man Holiday (2013)
Bullet Head (2018)
Cabaret (1972)
Captain Fantastic (2016)
Deadpool (2016)
Dear White People (2014)
Dope (2015)
The Expendables (2010)
The Expendables 2 (2012)
The Expendables 3 (2014)
The Farewell (2019)
Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008)
Fruitvale Station (2013)
Godzilla...
- 2/26/2024
- by Rebecca Murray
- Showbiz Junkies
Spoiler Alert: This interview contains spoilers for “Home” the series finale of “Expats,” now streaming on Prime Video.
“Keep on living” is the theme of the series finale of Lulu Wang’s “Expats.”
It wraps up the grief, loss and pain Margaret (Nicole Kidman), Mercy (Ji-Young Yoo) and Hilary (Sarayu Blue) have been experiencing throughout. In the final episode of “Expats,” Wang seeks to show how the women at the center of the story move forward and find peace and resolution in their lives.
Margaret and her family are planning to move back to America after dealing with the disappearance of their young son, Gus. Before that, she takes time to meet with both Mercy and Hilary at a coffee shop trying to put the past behind her so she can move on.
Meanwhile, Mercy is grappling with her unexpected pregnancy caused by her affair with Hilary’s husband David...
“Keep on living” is the theme of the series finale of Lulu Wang’s “Expats.”
It wraps up the grief, loss and pain Margaret (Nicole Kidman), Mercy (Ji-Young Yoo) and Hilary (Sarayu Blue) have been experiencing throughout. In the final episode of “Expats,” Wang seeks to show how the women at the center of the story move forward and find peace and resolution in their lives.
Margaret and her family are planning to move back to America after dealing with the disappearance of their young son, Gus. Before that, she takes time to meet with both Mercy and Hilary at a coffee shop trying to put the past behind her so she can move on.
Meanwhile, Mercy is grappling with her unexpected pregnancy caused by her affair with Hilary’s husband David...
- 2/23/2024
- by Jazz Tangcay
- Variety Film + TV
In the series finale of Prime Video’s Expats, Margaret, Hilary and Mercy finally came to terms with the weight of their individual traumas, and the complicated and sometimes brutal roles they played in each others’ lives.
When the three women met face to face, Margaret announced that her family was moving back to the States in order to help her other two children move on. And while Hilary reflected on healing from her father’s death and his abuse against her mother throughout her childhood, Mercy timidly faced motherhood, as she continued to struggle with her own grief stemming...
When the three women met face to face, Margaret announced that her family was moving back to the States in order to help her other two children move on. And while Hilary reflected on healing from her father’s death and his abuse against her mother throughout her childhood, Mercy timidly faced motherhood, as she continued to struggle with her own grief stemming...
- 2/23/2024
- by Nick Caruso
- TVLine.com
There’s a very specific emotion I felt while watching Expats, Lulu Wang’s drama series about American expatriates in Hong Kong: frustration.
There was also admiration, of course, and enjoyment and suspense, but at some point, while watching the performances of Sarayu Blue and Brian Tee, the indignation set in: We could have been seeing them do this kind of work this whole time?
It’s a reaction that uniquely arises when you finally witness the full potential of someone whose face (if not name) has been a familiar presence on screens for quite a while, but almost always in a supporting role where they are serving the story — just not their story. These artists tend to disproportionately hail from historically excluded backgrounds, often cast to make an ensemble diverse but usually relegated to bridesmaid and never the bride. And in recent years, as Hollywood has sought to cash...
There was also admiration, of course, and enjoyment and suspense, but at some point, while watching the performances of Sarayu Blue and Brian Tee, the indignation set in: We could have been seeing them do this kind of work this whole time?
It’s a reaction that uniquely arises when you finally witness the full potential of someone whose face (if not name) has been a familiar presence on screens for quite a while, but almost always in a supporting role where they are serving the story — just not their story. These artists tend to disproportionately hail from historically excluded backgrounds, often cast to make an ensemble diverse but usually relegated to bridesmaid and never the bride. And in recent years, as Hollywood has sought to cash...
- 2/22/2024
- by Rebecca Sun
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Following a turbulent year marked by dueling industry strikes and the violent contraction–if not yet full pop–of the streaming bubble, 2024 has thus far been pretty good to Hollywood. It certainly helps that we’re in the middle of awards season, which for cineastes amounts to a three-month holiday largely characterized by voluminous binge-watching. And not just binge-watching of the year’s top films. For the curious, the season also offers up a smuggler’s bounty full of talking special post-screening Q&As, roundtables, filmmaker panels, celebratory cocktail receptions and more.
Traditionally Film Independent’s Directors Close-Up series has been a little bit of all of the above, presenting behind-the-scenes insight into the year’s most important works of cinema, straight from the mouths and brains of filmmakers themselves. As the virtual portion of this year’s programming winds down (see below), we’re looking ahead now to our...
Traditionally Film Independent’s Directors Close-Up series has been a little bit of all of the above, presenting behind-the-scenes insight into the year’s most important works of cinema, straight from the mouths and brains of filmmakers themselves. As the virtual portion of this year’s programming winds down (see below), we’re looking ahead now to our...
- 2/7/2024
- by Film Independent
- Film Independent News & More
Nicole Kidman caused a stir when she came to Hong Kong mid-pandemic to shoot the Amazon-backed drama series “Expats.” But, awkwardly, the completed series is not available in the city where it is set.
The show, which includes Kidman’s Blossom Films as producer, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and was uploaded to Prime Video on Friday last week. In Hong Kong, Prime Video subscribers seeking it out get the message “this video is currently unavailable to watch in your location.”
It remains unclear whether the city’s government has stepped in to prevent “Expats” from screening or whether Prime Video has given in to self-censorship. Both explanations point to an increasingly difficult environment for media and entertainment in the territory, which sometimes brands itself as “Asia’s World City.”
Contacted by Variety, Prime Video offered no comment. A Hong Kong government spokesman said in an emailed statement,...
The show, which includes Kidman’s Blossom Films as producer, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and was uploaded to Prime Video on Friday last week. In Hong Kong, Prime Video subscribers seeking it out get the message “this video is currently unavailable to watch in your location.”
It remains unclear whether the city’s government has stepped in to prevent “Expats” from screening or whether Prime Video has given in to self-censorship. Both explanations point to an increasingly difficult environment for media and entertainment in the territory, which sometimes brands itself as “Asia’s World City.”
Contacted by Variety, Prime Video offered no comment. A Hong Kong government spokesman said in an emailed statement,...
- 2/1/2024
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Clockwise from top left: Jeff, Who Lives At Home (Screenshot); The Farewell (Photo: A24); igby Goes Down (Screenshot); Election (Screenshot); Young Adult (Screenshot); Friends With Kids (Screenshot); Ghost World (Screenshot)Graphic: The A.V. Club
Streaming libraries expand and contract. Algorithms are imperfect. Those damn thumbnail images are always changing. But...
Streaming libraries expand and contract. Algorithms are imperfect. Those damn thumbnail images are always changing. But...
- 1/30/2024
- by The A.V. Club
- avclub.com
This weekend, Amazon introduced us to the world of Expats. The series featuring Nicole Kidman is about the intersecting lives of expatriates in Hong Kong. Along with Kidman, the six-part series stars Sarayu Blue, Ji-young Yoo, Brian Tee, and Jack Huston. It’s a bold work from the acclaimed novel “The Expatriates” by Janice Y.K. Lee, one that is impressively brought to life by filmmaker Lulu Wang. Wang, who directed the fantastic The Farewell, is a perfect fit to get Expats off the page.
Jack Huston and Brian Tee are both terrific in the series. And having interviewed Mr. Huston a few times before, it was delightful to chat with him again. The two talked about taking on this series, working with Lulu Wang, and their connection with the source material. Jack also discussed trusting the filmmaker to create a compelling and emotional role.
Happily, it didn’t end with the charming Huston and Tee.
Jack Huston and Brian Tee are both terrific in the series. And having interviewed Mr. Huston a few times before, it was delightful to chat with him again. The two talked about taking on this series, working with Lulu Wang, and their connection with the source material. Jack also discussed trusting the filmmaker to create a compelling and emotional role.
Happily, it didn’t end with the charming Huston and Tee.
- 1/30/2024
- by JimmyO
- JoBlo.com
They call it the “Big Five” — lions, elephants, buffaloes, leopards, and rhinos. And the moment you spot one of them on an African safari, especially for the first time, a sense of awe sneaks up on you. Your open-aired Jeep falls silent, minus the ruffling of hands searching for phone cameras or whispers to pass the binoculars. The scale of you, a measly person, against an elephant, an imposing yet majestic mammoth of a creature, puts the fragileness of life into perspective.
The bugs of the savanna, on the other hand, struggle to conjure a similar aura. Putting on bug spray before a safari is as essential as brushing your teeth. Failing to heed the warning to shut off your hotel room lights will lead to a dense accumulation of unwanted insects. Yet while in Tanzania, where National Geographic hosted Den of Geek and other members of the press for a unique junket opportunity,...
The bugs of the savanna, on the other hand, struggle to conjure a similar aura. Putting on bug spray before a safari is as essential as brushing your teeth. Failing to heed the warning to shut off your hotel room lights will lead to a dense accumulation of unwanted insects. Yet while in Tanzania, where National Geographic hosted Den of Geek and other members of the press for a unique junket opportunity,...
- 1/29/2024
- by Chris Longo
- Den of Geek
On January 26, 2024, Prime Video released “Expats,” a limited series starring Oscar winner Nicole Kidman as an American living in Hong Kong. The show was created and directed by BAFTA nominee Lulu Wang (“The Farewell”) and takes a look at the personal and professional lives of a tight-knit group of expatriates living overseas. The ensemble cast includes Ji-young Yoo, Jack Huston, Sarayu Blue and Brian Tee.
The series has earned predominantly positive reviews from critics, holding fresh at 71% on Rotten Tomatoes. Read our full review round-up below.
See Nicole Kidman movies: 16 greatest films ranked from worst to best
Anna van Praagh of London Evening Standard writes, “Nicole Kidman is mesmerising, the music by Alex Weston is pitch perfect and Lulu Wang has now made her mark as a director of note. This is a triumph.” Concluding, “Based on Janice Y. K. Lee’s 2016 novel ‘The Expatriates’, the six-episode limited series takes...
The series has earned predominantly positive reviews from critics, holding fresh at 71% on Rotten Tomatoes. Read our full review round-up below.
See Nicole Kidman movies: 16 greatest films ranked from worst to best
Anna van Praagh of London Evening Standard writes, “Nicole Kidman is mesmerising, the music by Alex Weston is pitch perfect and Lulu Wang has now made her mark as a director of note. This is a triumph.” Concluding, “Based on Janice Y. K. Lee’s 2016 novel ‘The Expatriates’, the six-episode limited series takes...
- 1/28/2024
- by Vincent Mandile
- Gold Derby
Even before they earned Oscar nominations for their respective performances in “Elvis” and “The Banshees of Inisherin,” Austin Butler and Barry Keoghan were already flying high. In 2021, the talented duo joined BAFTA TV nominee Callum Turner in filming “Masters of the Air,” a new miniseries produced by Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg and Gary Goetzman. The World War II-set drama — the first two episodes of which are now streaming on Apple TV+ — is the long-awaited follow-up to the Emmy-winning HBO miniseries “Band of Brothers” and “The Pacific,” which followed members of the Army and Marine Corps, respectively, during the war.
The new series, which has been adapted for TV by John Orloff from Donald L. Miller‘s book of the same name, follows the U.S. Air Force’s Hundredth Bombardment Group as they carry out dangerous missions on the continent well ahead of the Allied invasion of Normandy. It’s not...
The new series, which has been adapted for TV by John Orloff from Donald L. Miller‘s book of the same name, follows the U.S. Air Force’s Hundredth Bombardment Group as they carry out dangerous missions on the continent well ahead of the Allied invasion of Normandy. It’s not...
- 1/27/2024
- by Kaitlin Thomas
- Gold Derby
Exclusive: Sarayu Blue won her part starring alongside Nicole Kidman in Lulu Wang’s Prime Video limited series Expats at a time when she didn’t know if she “could lift the boulder back up the hill.”
In an interview with Breaking Baz, the Indian-American actress recalls how she had just gone through the jubilation of landing the lead role in Aseem Bahra’s NBC series I Feel Bad in 2018 and the devastation when it was cancelled after just one season. The episode had a real impact.
Landing the role in the Amy Poehler-executive produced comedy had been “an enormous thing,” says Blue, because it was a role that was ”never written Indian…. and I tested against three white women for it.” She instantly corrects herself by replacing the aggressive “against” with a softer “with.”
The role of Emet Kamala-Sweetzer in I Feel Bad, was that of a concept artist and a boss,...
In an interview with Breaking Baz, the Indian-American actress recalls how she had just gone through the jubilation of landing the lead role in Aseem Bahra’s NBC series I Feel Bad in 2018 and the devastation when it was cancelled after just one season. The episode had a real impact.
Landing the role in the Amy Poehler-executive produced comedy had been “an enormous thing,” says Blue, because it was a role that was ”never written Indian…. and I tested against three white women for it.” She instantly corrects herself by replacing the aggressive “against” with a softer “with.”
The role of Emet Kamala-Sweetzer in I Feel Bad, was that of a concept artist and a boss,...
- 1/26/2024
- by Baz Bamigboye
- Deadline Film + TV
Sitting at the center of Expats is a mystery of the sort that’s fueled countless crime dramas, and countless more true-crime series. On an otherwise unremarkable evening in Hong Kong, a little boy, Gus (Connor J. Gillman), goes missing on a night out with his family. The questions raised by this incident are obvious and urgent: What happened to him? Who did it? Where is he now?
But answers, in Amazon Prime Video’s Expats, are much harder to come by. Indeed, the questions the series is really invested in are the ones that arise when it becomes apparent that satisfying answers never might be obtained, of how to exist alongside such uncertainty and unfairness and unthinkable pain. Its six hour-ish episodes follow this line of thought through explorations of sexism and classism, home and family, and with so many big themes bouncing around, some are inevitably served better than others.
But answers, in Amazon Prime Video’s Expats, are much harder to come by. Indeed, the questions the series is really invested in are the ones that arise when it becomes apparent that satisfying answers never might be obtained, of how to exist alongside such uncertainty and unfairness and unthinkable pain. Its six hour-ish episodes follow this line of thought through explorations of sexism and classism, home and family, and with so many big themes bouncing around, some are inevitably served better than others.
- 1/25/2024
- by Angie Han
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
If life is a series of choices, then one persistent question often carries outsized weight: Do I stay, or do I go? Staying means surrounding yourself with family, friends, and familiarity. Going necessitates discovery, be it new places, people, or customs. There are always extremes and exceptions, of course, but the beauty of Lulu Wang’s rich new series, “Expats,” is that it relishes the personal twist on each answer — the unique specificity of life that contends with its universal demands. Maybe staying means choosing one person over another. Maybe going isn’t a choice at all. What remains, as a constant, is the tug of the unknown, the path not chosen, the future that could’ve been — or could still be.
All three protagonists in “Expats” chose, at one point or another, to go. Margaret (Nicole Kidman), Hilary (Sarayu Blue), and Mercy (Ji-young Yoo) are all Americans living in China.
All three protagonists in “Expats” chose, at one point or another, to go. Margaret (Nicole Kidman), Hilary (Sarayu Blue), and Mercy (Ji-young Yoo) are all Americans living in China.
- 1/25/2024
- by Ben Travers
- Indiewire
It’s nearly impossible to distill Expats, Lulu Wang’s anticipated follow-up to her critically-lauded 2019 autobiographical film, The Farewell, into one or two sentences — let alone a few words.
Prime Video’s adaptation of author Janet Y. K. Lee’s best-selling 2016 novel, The Expatriates, has been in the making for the better part of seven years, with Wang’s involvement coming after Nicole Kidman approached the filmmaker to lens the drama amid adulation for The Farewell. Whatever Kidman saw in The Farewell — a deeply resonant movie largely inspired by Wang's grandmother and how her family dealt with her terminal illness — that convinced her Wang was the only one capable of balancing a delicate tale of grief, guilt, and identity has paid off in spades.
Prime Video’s adaptation of author Janet Y. K. Lee’s best-selling 2016 novel, The Expatriates, has been in the making for the better part of seven years, with Wang’s involvement coming after Nicole Kidman approached the filmmaker to lens the drama amid adulation for The Farewell. Whatever Kidman saw in The Farewell — a deeply resonant movie largely inspired by Wang's grandmother and how her family dealt with her terminal illness — that convinced her Wang was the only one capable of balancing a delicate tale of grief, guilt, and identity has paid off in spades.
- 1/23/2024
- by Philiana Ng
- Primetimer
Scribbled on a chalkboard in director Lulu Wang’s kitchen is a list of films and TV shows she and her partner, Barry Jenkins, have yet to see. As is tradition, their friends, many of them fellow filmmakers, come through their Silver Lake home and jot down suggestions for the pair. On this morning, the list features projects new and old, from the Apple TV+ series Slow Horses to the 1941 comedy The Lady Eve.
Not that Wang has had much time to get lost in the works of others lately. On Jan. 26, she’ll release Expats, her first project since she won over Hollywood (and critics) with her 2019 film, The Farewell, a fictionalized account of her family’s efforts to shield her grandma from a bleak diagnosis. The new series, her foray into TV, is an adaptation of the 2016 novel from Janice Y. K. Lee, who also was in Wang’s all-female writers room.
Not that Wang has had much time to get lost in the works of others lately. On Jan. 26, she’ll release Expats, her first project since she won over Hollywood (and critics) with her 2019 film, The Farewell, a fictionalized account of her family’s efforts to shield her grandma from a bleak diagnosis. The new series, her foray into TV, is an adaptation of the 2016 novel from Janice Y. K. Lee, who also was in Wang’s all-female writers room.
- 1/22/2024
- by Lacey Rose
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Exclusive: Producers Peter Saraf and Eddie Rubin, who are in Park City to premiere the Sundance buzz titles Out of My Mind and Winner, have joined forces to create Optimistic Pictures, to develop and produce film and TV properties with an independent sensibility.
Saraf is the co-founder of Big Beach, the producer/financier responsible for one of the greatest successes to break at Sundance, the 2006 film Little Miss Sunshine. After a massive bidding battle that was won by Fox Searchlight ($10.5 million and 10% gross), the film got four Oscar noms including Best Picture, won two Oscars and grossed $101 million, on an $8 million production budget.
After their first teaming on The Farewell, Saraf and Rubin are reuniting with that indie hit’s star Awkwafina. She’ll produce and star in an adaptation of G, the Ling Ma short story which is included in her National Book Critics Circle Award winning collection, Bliss Montage.
Saraf is the co-founder of Big Beach, the producer/financier responsible for one of the greatest successes to break at Sundance, the 2006 film Little Miss Sunshine. After a massive bidding battle that was won by Fox Searchlight ($10.5 million and 10% gross), the film got four Oscar noms including Best Picture, won two Oscars and grossed $101 million, on an $8 million production budget.
After their first teaming on The Farewell, Saraf and Rubin are reuniting with that indie hit’s star Awkwafina. She’ll produce and star in an adaptation of G, the Ling Ma short story which is included in her National Book Critics Circle Award winning collection, Bliss Montage.
- 1/19/2024
- by Mike Fleming Jr
- Deadline Film + TV
The micro world is all around us, hiding in plain sight. A Real Bug’s Life, a new Disney+ original series from National Geographic, is set to zoom in on these oft overlooked miniature habitats from around the globe. And we witnessed it firsthand.
In early December, Den of Geek was invited to an exclusive early sneak peak of the series, inspired by Disney and Pixar’s 1998 animated film A Bug’s Life and narrated by Awkwafina, on location in Serengeti, Tanzania. The unique press junket immersed the media in the shooting locations of three series, the aforementioned Bug’s Life, the Jeremy Renner-narrated Incredible Animal Journeys, which is currently streaming on Disney+, and the upcoming series Queens, a spotlight on the matriarchies of the animal kingdom.
It was serendipity as I witnessed in person, during a hike in the expansive and breathtaking Ngorongoro Crater, nearly the exact same scenario that plays...
In early December, Den of Geek was invited to an exclusive early sneak peak of the series, inspired by Disney and Pixar’s 1998 animated film A Bug’s Life and narrated by Awkwafina, on location in Serengeti, Tanzania. The unique press junket immersed the media in the shooting locations of three series, the aforementioned Bug’s Life, the Jeremy Renner-narrated Incredible Animal Journeys, which is currently streaming on Disney+, and the upcoming series Queens, a spotlight on the matriarchies of the animal kingdom.
It was serendipity as I witnessed in person, during a hike in the expansive and breathtaking Ngorongoro Crater, nearly the exact same scenario that plays...
- 1/18/2024
- by Chris Longo
- Den of Geek
Exclusive: After seeing Searchlight Pictures release his acclaimed queer rom-com Fire Island via Hulu, Joel Kim Booster is back in business with the studio as the writer and producer of Again Again Again, a spec that it snapped up for development ahead of last year’s WGA strike.
Eyed as a potential starring vehicle for Booster, the film centers on Gus, who as the man of honor for his closest friend Maggie’s extravagant wedding weekend at a Napa winery, is tasked with making sure the whole event goes off without a hitch. But when Gus’s wildly charismatic but emotionally unstable boyfriend Hal shows up unexpectedly, chaos ensues and threatens to derail the wedding as well as their relationship.
Aboard to produce the pic alongside Booster are Local Time’s Lulu Wang and Daniele Tate Melia, the duo behind the hugely acclaimed family dramedy The Farewell, written and directed for A24 by Wang.
Eyed as a potential starring vehicle for Booster, the film centers on Gus, who as the man of honor for his closest friend Maggie’s extravagant wedding weekend at a Napa winery, is tasked with making sure the whole event goes off without a hitch. But when Gus’s wildly charismatic but emotionally unstable boyfriend Hal shows up unexpectedly, chaos ensues and threatens to derail the wedding as well as their relationship.
Aboard to produce the pic alongside Booster are Local Time’s Lulu Wang and Daniele Tate Melia, the duo behind the hugely acclaimed family dramedy The Farewell, written and directed for A24 by Wang.
- 1/17/2024
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Nicole Kidman revealed on the “Radio Times Podcast” (via Business Insider) that she was once told she would never have a career in Hollywood because of her height. Long before she became a star in the U.S. and an Oscar winner for “The Hours,” Kidman was an aspiring actor in Australia and said her height was often challenged during auditions as a teen.
“I was told, ‘You won’t have a career. You’re too tall,'” Kidman said.
At one open audition for a role in “Annie,” Kidman remembered actors were being measured for their height at the door. Performers who were too tall were being instantly rejected, so she had to fight her way into the casting room.
“I had to talk my way through the door because they were measuring you before you went in. I was mortified,” she said, adding that she started lying by...
“I was told, ‘You won’t have a career. You’re too tall,'” Kidman said.
At one open audition for a role in “Annie,” Kidman remembered actors were being measured for their height at the door. Performers who were too tall were being instantly rejected, so she had to fight her way into the casting room.
“I had to talk my way through the door because they were measuring you before you went in. I was mortified,” she said, adding that she started lying by...
- 1/17/2024
- by Zack Sharf
- Variety Film + TV
When Kidman saw Wang’s film The Farewell she knew she’d found the woman to direct her in Expats, a drama about life in 2014 Hong Kong. The Chinese-American film-maker talks about ditching a law scholarship – and being one half of a movie power couple
What does the word expat mean? Its traditional association is with wealthy outsiders lounging around pools in exotic locations, while being waited on hand and foot by the locals. But for Lulu Wang, whose parents migrated to the US from China when she was six years old, it is more complicated. “When I go back to visit my family, I’m not Chinese any more. Not really. But I look Chinese. I’m also not fully an American, but I’m not an immigrant, right? They don’t even understand what that is. And so I’m like, ‘Wait up. Am I an expat here?...
What does the word expat mean? Its traditional association is with wealthy outsiders lounging around pools in exotic locations, while being waited on hand and foot by the locals. But for Lulu Wang, whose parents migrated to the US from China when she was six years old, it is more complicated. “When I go back to visit my family, I’m not Chinese any more. Not really. But I look Chinese. I’m also not fully an American, but I’m not an immigrant, right? They don’t even understand what that is. And so I’m like, ‘Wait up. Am I an expat here?...
- 1/17/2024
- by Claire Armitstead
- The Guardian - Film News
Exclusive: Close to You, the indie drama produced by and starring Elliot Page (The Umbrella Academy), which world premiered at the 2023 Toronto Film Festival, has been acquired for a summer 2024 release in U.S. theaters by Greenwich Entertainment.
Written and directed by 3x BAFTA winner Dominic Savage, the film co-starring Hillary Baack (Sound of Metal) follows Sam (Page), who moved to Toronto from his small town on Lake Ontario, Canada and finally decides to return home to visit his family for his dad’s birthday. On his journey, he has a chance encounter with a friend from high school (Baack) that sparks old feelings. It is on this trip that Sam can finally confront long-buried feelings, a first love that was never properly resolved, his relationship with his family, and a newfound love and confidence in himself.
Close to You was produced by Krishnendu Majumdar and Richard Yee,...
Written and directed by 3x BAFTA winner Dominic Savage, the film co-starring Hillary Baack (Sound of Metal) follows Sam (Page), who moved to Toronto from his small town on Lake Ontario, Canada and finally decides to return home to visit his family for his dad’s birthday. On his journey, he has a chance encounter with a friend from high school (Baack) that sparks old feelings. It is on this trip that Sam can finally confront long-buried feelings, a first love that was never properly resolved, his relationship with his family, and a newfound love and confidence in himself.
Close to You was produced by Krishnendu Majumdar and Richard Yee,...
- 1/16/2024
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Big Beach, the producer of “Little Miss Sunshine,” A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” and “The Farewell,” has fully relocated from New York to Los Angeles while building out its ranks.
Keetin Mayakara has been tapped by Big Beach as a producer. As a post producer, she has worked on the Oscar-winning documentary “Free Solo,” and most recently, “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed,” another Academy Award nominee. Before joining Big Beach, Mayakara co-produced the “The Year of the Everlasting Storm,” which premiered at Cannes Film Festival, and produced Season 2 of HBO’s “Random Acts of Flyness.”
Austin Cottle joins the company as its head of finance after starting his career at 20th Century Fox with stints in-house at Netflix and Amazon, as well as on the show side where he oversaw “How to Become a Tyrant” for Netflix and “The Heart of Sergio Ramos” for Prime Video.
Zoe Levine...
Keetin Mayakara has been tapped by Big Beach as a producer. As a post producer, she has worked on the Oscar-winning documentary “Free Solo,” and most recently, “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed,” another Academy Award nominee. Before joining Big Beach, Mayakara co-produced the “The Year of the Everlasting Storm,” which premiered at Cannes Film Festival, and produced Season 2 of HBO’s “Random Acts of Flyness.”
Austin Cottle joins the company as its head of finance after starting his career at 20th Century Fox with stints in-house at Netflix and Amazon, as well as on the show side where he oversaw “How to Become a Tyrant” for Netflix and “The Heart of Sergio Ramos” for Prime Video.
Zoe Levine...
- 1/5/2024
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
New year, new month, new titles to watch at Prime Video! The streamer has kicked off January 2024 in fashion with plenty of classic titles that were released on the first of the month, including 2007’s “No Country for Old Men” and Quentin Tarantino’s hit “Pulp Fiction,” but the best is still yet to come this month, including Lula Wang’s highly anticipated miniseries “Expats,” the A24-produced adult animated musical comedy series “Hazbin Hotel,” and much more.
Check out The Streamable’s picks for the best of January, and continue below for everything coming to the streamer this month!
30-Day Free Trial $8.99+ / month amazon.com What are the 5 Best Shows and Movies Coming to Prime Video in January 2024? “Role Play” | Friday, Jan. 12
The new action-thriller comedy stars Kaley Cuoco as Emma, a suburban New Jersey woman with a wonderful husband, two kids, and a secret life as an assassin for hire.
Check out The Streamable’s picks for the best of January, and continue below for everything coming to the streamer this month!
30-Day Free Trial $8.99+ / month amazon.com What are the 5 Best Shows and Movies Coming to Prime Video in January 2024? “Role Play” | Friday, Jan. 12
The new action-thriller comedy stars Kaley Cuoco as Emma, a suburban New Jersey woman with a wonderful husband, two kids, and a secret life as an assassin for hire.
- 1/3/2024
- by Ashley Steves
- The Streamable
Celine Song’s quietly bewitching drama told a complex story of shifting identity and love with beguilingly simple means
• More on the best films of 2023
• More on the best culture of 2023
Slowly and quietly this year, the film Past Lives from Korean-Canadian dramatist and director Celine Song, has been working its discreet magic. Pretty much every new audience member has been turned into a convert, recommending it to a handful more who joined this film’s growing congregation of fans that can hardly describe the spell it has cast over our hearts. This is partly a deeply romantic and sad movie about lost love and missed chances. It’s also a kind of reverie about alternative existences, and what-if life paths. And this is a more urgent question for first- and second-generation immigrant communities in the US. They may well, as they grow into their 30s and 40s, consider the...
• More on the best films of 2023
• More on the best culture of 2023
Slowly and quietly this year, the film Past Lives from Korean-Canadian dramatist and director Celine Song, has been working its discreet magic. Pretty much every new audience member has been turned into a convert, recommending it to a handful more who joined this film’s growing congregation of fans that can hardly describe the spell it has cast over our hearts. This is partly a deeply romantic and sad movie about lost love and missed chances. It’s also a kind of reverie about alternative existences, and what-if life paths. And this is a more urgent question for first- and second-generation immigrant communities in the US. They may well, as they grow into their 30s and 40s, consider the...
- 12/22/2023
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Lulu Wang’s “Expats” Gets Trailer
“The Farewell” filmmaker Lulu Wang is making her highly anticipated follow-up next month on Prime Video with “Expats,” and the streamer has released the first trailer for the six-part limited series.
Based on the best-selling novel “The Expatriates” by Janice Y. K. Lee, “Expats” stars Nicole Kidman, Sarayu Blue, Ji-young Yoo, Brian Tee, and Jack Huston and is set in 2014 Hong Kong, where the lives of three American women lives intersect after a sudden family tragedy, “interrogat[ing] privilege and explor[ing] what happens when the line between victimhood and culpability becomes blurred.”
Watch the trailer for “Expats” below:
The series will premiere with two episodes on Jan. 26, 2024, with new episodes launching weekly until the finale on Feb. 23, 2024.
30-Day Free Trial $8.99+ / month amazon.com Apple TV+ Renews “The Buccaneers”
The Buccaneers are here to stay! Apple TV+ has given a Season 2 renewal to its acclaimed drama “The Buccaneers,...
“The Farewell” filmmaker Lulu Wang is making her highly anticipated follow-up next month on Prime Video with “Expats,” and the streamer has released the first trailer for the six-part limited series.
Based on the best-selling novel “The Expatriates” by Janice Y. K. Lee, “Expats” stars Nicole Kidman, Sarayu Blue, Ji-young Yoo, Brian Tee, and Jack Huston and is set in 2014 Hong Kong, where the lives of three American women lives intersect after a sudden family tragedy, “interrogat[ing] privilege and explor[ing] what happens when the line between victimhood and culpability becomes blurred.”
Watch the trailer for “Expats” below:
The series will premiere with two episodes on Jan. 26, 2024, with new episodes launching weekly until the finale on Feb. 23, 2024.
30-Day Free Trial $8.99+ / month amazon.com Apple TV+ Renews “The Buccaneers”
The Buccaneers are here to stay! Apple TV+ has given a Season 2 renewal to its acclaimed drama “The Buccaneers,...
- 12/21/2023
- by Ashley Steves
- The Streamable
Expats: Nicole Kidman’s Expats Trailer Out! ( Photo Credit – IMDb )
Nicole Kidman and Lulu Wangis are coming together for an Ott series, Expats. The drama series is based on the 2016 novel The Expatriates by Janice Y.K Lee, and the trailer for the much-awaited series is finally here. It looks intriguing and makes us wonder about the lives of the women featured in the series’ trailer and more about them. Keep scrolling to get the deets.
Nicole is undoubtedly a fine actress in Hollywood, and her Academy Award for her performance on The Hours is proof of that. On the other hand, Wang is known for the movies, The Farewell, Posthumus and more. Her last film, The Farewell, starring Awkwafina, received a rating of 7.5 on IMDb and has a 97% score on Tomatometer, which is commendable.
Lulu Wang is once again here, and this time, she will tell the story of a...
Nicole Kidman and Lulu Wangis are coming together for an Ott series, Expats. The drama series is based on the 2016 novel The Expatriates by Janice Y.K Lee, and the trailer for the much-awaited series is finally here. It looks intriguing and makes us wonder about the lives of the women featured in the series’ trailer and more about them. Keep scrolling to get the deets.
Nicole is undoubtedly a fine actress in Hollywood, and her Academy Award for her performance on The Hours is proof of that. On the other hand, Wang is known for the movies, The Farewell, Posthumus and more. Her last film, The Farewell, starring Awkwafina, received a rating of 7.5 on IMDb and has a 97% score on Tomatometer, which is commendable.
Lulu Wang is once again here, and this time, she will tell the story of a...
- 12/20/2023
- by Esita Mallik
- KoiMoi
Director Lulu Wang has teamed up with Nicole Kidman for Amazon Prime drama series Expats. Here’s the trailer:
Writer and director Lulu Wang came to prominence with her highly acclaimed 2019 film The Farewell, which followed the story of a Chinese woman as her family organise a gathering to prepare for the death of her grandmother, without telling the grandmother she’s dying. The film was nominated for a plethora of awards, won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Film, and voted one of the ten best films of the year by the American Film Institute.
Wang is now the creative force behind the Hong Kong-set American television series Expats, as she teams with star and executive producer Nicole Kidman and her production company Blossom Films.
The synopsis for Expats reads as follows:
Set against the vibrant and tumultuous tapestry of 2014 Hong Kong, Expats centers on three American women—Margaret...
Writer and director Lulu Wang came to prominence with her highly acclaimed 2019 film The Farewell, which followed the story of a Chinese woman as her family organise a gathering to prepare for the death of her grandmother, without telling the grandmother she’s dying. The film was nominated for a plethora of awards, won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Film, and voted one of the ten best films of the year by the American Film Institute.
Wang is now the creative force behind the Hong Kong-set American television series Expats, as she teams with star and executive producer Nicole Kidman and her production company Blossom Films.
The synopsis for Expats reads as follows:
Set against the vibrant and tumultuous tapestry of 2014 Hong Kong, Expats centers on three American women—Margaret...
- 12/20/2023
- by Jake Godfrey
- Film Stories
The first trailer for Amazon Prime Video’s Hong Kong-set Expats has dropped, and we get our clearest look at the Lulu Wang-directed drama based on the bestselling novel The Expatriates by Janice Y. K. Lee.
In the clip, we see three American women living in Hong Kong during 2014, a year when the city was riven with street protests as part of the Umbrella Movement. We see Margaret (Nicole Kidman), a wealthy woman haunted by the loss of her child; Mercy (Ji-young Yoo) a young woman who can’t move past a terrible mistake she made; and Hilary (Sarayu Blue) a woman who feels her marriage is falling apart. All three women belong to the affluent, close-knit, privileged expat community in Hong Kong and all suffer in different ways from the claustrophobic and suffocating nature of their existence.
The cast also includes Brian Tee who plays Margaret’s husband...
In the clip, we see three American women living in Hong Kong during 2014, a year when the city was riven with street protests as part of the Umbrella Movement. We see Margaret (Nicole Kidman), a wealthy woman haunted by the loss of her child; Mercy (Ji-young Yoo) a young woman who can’t move past a terrible mistake she made; and Hilary (Sarayu Blue) a woman who feels her marriage is falling apart. All three women belong to the affluent, close-knit, privileged expat community in Hong Kong and all suffer in different ways from the claustrophobic and suffocating nature of their existence.
The cast also includes Brian Tee who plays Margaret’s husband...
- 12/20/2023
- by Abid Rahman
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
After The Farewell, we were intrigued to see what Lulu Wang would do as a follow-up. As it turns out, she had an idea for a TV series, which will be on Prime Video. Expats stars the likes of Nicole Kidman, Sarayu Blue and Brian Tee. Check out the trailer below:
Set against the vibrant and tumultuous tapestry of 2014 Hong Kong, Expats focuses on three American women – Margaret (Kidman), Hilary (Blue), and Mercy (Ji-young Yoo)—whose lives intersect after a sudden family tragedy. The series interrogates privilege and explores what happens when the line between victimhood and culpability becomes blurred. Tee plays Margaret’s husband Clarke, while Jack Huston plays Hilary’s husband David.
Prime Video will launch the first two episodes on 26 January, with new a new episode weekly until the finale on 23 February.
Set against the vibrant and tumultuous tapestry of 2014 Hong Kong, Expats focuses on three American women – Margaret (Kidman), Hilary (Blue), and Mercy (Ji-young Yoo)—whose lives intersect after a sudden family tragedy. The series interrogates privilege and explores what happens when the line between victimhood and culpability becomes blurred. Tee plays Margaret’s husband Clarke, while Jack Huston plays Hilary’s husband David.
Prime Video will launch the first two episodes on 26 January, with new a new episode weekly until the finale on 23 February.
- 12/19/2023
- by James White
- Empire - TV
Amazon Prime Video has released the trailer for “Expats,” directed by Lulu Wang and starring Nicole Kidman, Sarayu Blue and Ji-young Yoo. The series will debut on Prime Video on Jan. 26, 2024, with new episodes launching weekly until the Feb. 23 finale.
Based on Janice Y. K. Lee’s 2016 novel “The Expatriates,” the six-episode limited series follows an international community in Hong Kong whose lives are bound together forever following a sudden family tragedy.
Kidman portrays Margaret, a woman who has moved her whole family to Hong Kong. Blue plays career-driven Hilary, whose friendship with Margaret is fractured by fate. Yoo stars as Mercy, a carefree New Yorker just out of college who becomes entangled in the lives of the Hong Kong expat community. Additionally, Jack Huston will portray David, Hilary’s husband, while Brian Tee will play Clarke, Margaret’s husband.
Throughout production, “Expats” has been the subject of much controversy...
Based on Janice Y. K. Lee’s 2016 novel “The Expatriates,” the six-episode limited series follows an international community in Hong Kong whose lives are bound together forever following a sudden family tragedy.
Kidman portrays Margaret, a woman who has moved her whole family to Hong Kong. Blue plays career-driven Hilary, whose friendship with Margaret is fractured by fate. Yoo stars as Mercy, a carefree New Yorker just out of college who becomes entangled in the lives of the Hong Kong expat community. Additionally, Jack Huston will portray David, Hilary’s husband, while Brian Tee will play Clarke, Margaret’s husband.
Throughout production, “Expats” has been the subject of much controversy...
- 12/19/2023
- by Caroline Brew
- Variety Film + TV
"Not a moment goes by where I'm not thinking about what I've done." Prime Video has revealed the first full trailer for the new series Expats, created by the talented filmmaker Lulu Wang (her latest since her hit film The Farewell). Expats is an upcoming American drama streaming television series created by Wang based on the 2016 novel "The Expatriates" by Janice Y. K. Lee that is set to stream on Prime Video starting in January. It follows "the vibrant lives of a close-knit expatriate community: where affluence is celebrated, friendships are intense but knowingly temporary, and personal lives, deaths and marriages are played out publicly—then retold with glee." It's a story about the many lives of expats living in other countries (mainly in Hong Kong) - starring Nicole Kidman as Margaret, Ji-young Yoo as Mercy, Jack Huston as David Starr, Sarayu Blue as Hilary Starr, Brian Tee as Clarke,...
- 12/19/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Nicole Kidman is realizing that grief is never lost in translation while abroad in Hong Kong for Lulu Wang’s Prime Video limited series.
Wang’s “Expats,” which the “Farewell” helmer writes, directs, and serves as showrunner on, is executive produced by actress Kidman. The six-part limited series is based on Janice Y. K. Lee’s bestselling novel “The Expatriates” about the intertwining lives of American women in China.
The official synopsis for the series reads: Set against the vibrant and tumultuous tapestry of 2014 Hong Kong, “Expats” centers on three American women — Margaret (Kidman), Hilary (Sarayu Blue), and Mercy (Ji-young Yoo) — whose lives intersect after a sudden family tragedy. The series interrogates privilege and explores what happens when the line between victimhood and culpability becomes blurred.
Brian Tee and Jack Huston also star. The feature-length penultimate episode of “Expats” screened at 2023 TIFF.
Series creator Wang previously told IndieWire in 2020 that...
Wang’s “Expats,” which the “Farewell” helmer writes, directs, and serves as showrunner on, is executive produced by actress Kidman. The six-part limited series is based on Janice Y. K. Lee’s bestselling novel “The Expatriates” about the intertwining lives of American women in China.
The official synopsis for the series reads: Set against the vibrant and tumultuous tapestry of 2014 Hong Kong, “Expats” centers on three American women — Margaret (Kidman), Hilary (Sarayu Blue), and Mercy (Ji-young Yoo) — whose lives intersect after a sudden family tragedy. The series interrogates privilege and explores what happens when the line between victimhood and culpability becomes blurred.
Brian Tee and Jack Huston also star. The feature-length penultimate episode of “Expats” screened at 2023 TIFF.
Series creator Wang previously told IndieWire in 2020 that...
- 12/19/2023
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
A family crisis triggers a whole lot of soul searching in the new trailer for Expats released Tuesday.
The six-part Prime Video miniseries (which releases two episodes on Thursday, Jan. 26, with new episodes launching weekly), is based on the best-selling novel The Expatriates by Janice Y. K. Lee. “Set against the vibrant and tumultuous tapestry of 2014 Hong Kong, Expats centers on three American women — Margaret (Big Little Lies’ Nicole Kidman), Hilary (Never Have I Ever’s Sarayu Blue) and Mercy (The Sky Is Everywhere’s Ji-young Yoo) — whose lives intersect after a sudden family tragedy,” reads the official description. “The...
The six-part Prime Video miniseries (which releases two episodes on Thursday, Jan. 26, with new episodes launching weekly), is based on the best-selling novel The Expatriates by Janice Y. K. Lee. “Set against the vibrant and tumultuous tapestry of 2014 Hong Kong, Expats centers on three American women — Margaret (Big Little Lies’ Nicole Kidman), Hilary (Never Have I Ever’s Sarayu Blue) and Mercy (The Sky Is Everywhere’s Ji-young Yoo) — whose lives intersect after a sudden family tragedy,” reads the official description. “The...
- 12/19/2023
- by Nick Caruso
- TVLine.com
Exclusive: Management and production company 2Am is bolstering its finance and sales division with the hire of former Sundance Catalyst executive Julia Nelson.
Nelson will report to former WME & Endeavor Content exec Christine D’Souza Gelb who oversees the sales arm of 2Am.
2Am will be launching sales on two titles at the upcoming Sundance Film Festival: Sam and Andy Zuchero’s Love Me starring Kristen Stewart and Steven Yeun, and produced by 2Am, ShivHans, and AgX; and Haley Elizabeth Anderson’s Tendaberry, produced by Dweck and Flies Collective. 2Am is co-repping worldwide rights on both projects with WME, where the filmmakers are also represented.
The company, which is a producer on Celine Song’s Golden Globe nominee Past Lives, has previously repped Sing J. Lee’s Accidental Getaway Driver, Andrew Semans’ Resurrection, and Christopher Makoto Yogi’s I Was A Simple Man.
Nelson joins the company after six years at...
Nelson will report to former WME & Endeavor Content exec Christine D’Souza Gelb who oversees the sales arm of 2Am.
2Am will be launching sales on two titles at the upcoming Sundance Film Festival: Sam and Andy Zuchero’s Love Me starring Kristen Stewart and Steven Yeun, and produced by 2Am, ShivHans, and AgX; and Haley Elizabeth Anderson’s Tendaberry, produced by Dweck and Flies Collective. 2Am is co-repping worldwide rights on both projects with WME, where the filmmakers are also represented.
The company, which is a producer on Celine Song’s Golden Globe nominee Past Lives, has previously repped Sing J. Lee’s Accidental Getaway Driver, Andrew Semans’ Resurrection, and Christopher Makoto Yogi’s I Was A Simple Man.
Nelson joins the company after six years at...
- 12/15/2023
- by Andreas Wiseman and Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
Netflix supporting Proof Of Concept initiative to challenge barriers in funding, mentorship, exposure.
Cate Blanchett and her Dirty Films partner Coco Francini have teamed up with Stacy L. Smith and the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative to launch the Proof of Concept Accelerator Program to identify the next generation of filmmakers whose stories promote the perspectives of women, trans, and non-binary people.
The initiative is supported by Netflix and is designed to challenge what the founders call “the three most significant barriers these directors face as they navigate the industry”: funding, mentorship, and exposure.
Up to eight filmmakers will be selected for the inaugural group,...
Cate Blanchett and her Dirty Films partner Coco Francini have teamed up with Stacy L. Smith and the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative to launch the Proof of Concept Accelerator Program to identify the next generation of filmmakers whose stories promote the perspectives of women, trans, and non-binary people.
The initiative is supported by Netflix and is designed to challenge what the founders call “the three most significant barriers these directors face as they navigate the industry”: funding, mentorship, and exposure.
Up to eight filmmakers will be selected for the inaugural group,...
- 12/15/2023
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
A sci-fi series based on Martha Wells novels, “The Murderbot Diaries,” has landed at Apple TV+.
Hailing from “About a Boy” creators Chris and Paul Weitz, “Murderbots” follows a self-hacking security android who is horrified by human emotion yet drawn to its vulnerable “clients.” Murderbot must hide its free will and complete a dangerous assignment when all it really wants is to be left alone to watch futuristic soap operas and figure out its place in the universe. Alexander Skarsgård will lead the series and will serve as executive producer.
The Weitz brothers will write, direct, and produce under their Depth of Field banner. Andrew Miano also executive produces alongside for Depth of Field. David S. Goyer executive produces alongside Keith Levine for Phantom Four. Martha Wells will serve as consulting producer. Paramount Television Studios produces the series.
The project marks the second collaboration between Apple TV+ and Goyer, who...
Hailing from “About a Boy” creators Chris and Paul Weitz, “Murderbots” follows a self-hacking security android who is horrified by human emotion yet drawn to its vulnerable “clients.” Murderbot must hide its free will and complete a dangerous assignment when all it really wants is to be left alone to watch futuristic soap operas and figure out its place in the universe. Alexander Skarsgård will lead the series and will serve as executive producer.
The Weitz brothers will write, direct, and produce under their Depth of Field banner. Andrew Miano also executive produces alongside for Depth of Field. David S. Goyer executive produces alongside Keith Levine for Phantom Four. Martha Wells will serve as consulting producer. Paramount Television Studios produces the series.
The project marks the second collaboration between Apple TV+ and Goyer, who...
- 12/14/2023
- by BreAnna Bell
- Variety Film + TV
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