News

Breaking Glass Pictures have released director Mary Gallagher’s horror feature Holistay, starring Gavin O’Fearraigh of TG4 soap Ros na Rún, on UK Digital Platforms and USA Digital Platforms.

Holistay, which lensed in Vegas, follows two couples – Finn and Branna from Ireland and Tony and Gia from New York. They do not know each other until they double book a vacation house in San Diego. Unable to reach the owners, the couples decide to all stay at the house since decent lodging is scarce that weekend. They find they all get along although one couple harbors a dark secret.

The very next day strange events begin to unfold. Finn and Tony see a strange hooded figure lurking around the house. Branna finds her suitcase toppled over when no one was home while Tony hears wailing and screeching at night although seeing no one. The two couples must face a looming...

Stars: Gavin O’Fearraigh, Erin Gavin, Steven Martini, Gabriela Kulaif | Written and Directed by Mary Patel-Gallagher

Holistay is the latest in an ever-growing list of AirBnB-themed horrors. From Creep Nation and Exit through Superhost and, of course, Barbarian there’s a plethora of films warning us to get a hotel room if we want to stay alive. Although considering how many horror films have been set in hotels, maybe we should just stay home,

Opening with a brief scene where two individuals whose faces we don’t see pull up to a house and do some half-assed cleaning then leave, Holistay then introduces us to an Irish couple Finn and Branna who are in San Diego, the film was actually shot in Los Vegas, on vacation.

They’ve barely gotten into their rental when Tony and Gia (Gabriela Kulaif; Kaka Nirvana) arrive from New York. There’s been a double booking.

Maybe refrain from tweeting on set while a strike is happening, Kim Kardashian.

On Friday, the reality show superstar decided to check in with her 74.9 million followers by writing “I’m on the set of AHS and we have some time between shows. What are you all up to????” Kardashian is starring in the 12th season of American Horror Story — one of several Ryan Murphy productions that have remained in production during the WGA strike.

Instead of getting the usual inquiries about her Skims, her fam and her dating status, she was immediately answered by striking writers — lots of them.

“Picketing, thanks for asking,” wrote one writer.

“Not being a scab,” said another.

“Can you post a cute selfie with the call sheet (advance schedule facing the camera)?” added a strike captain.

“Kim, this is a beautiful opportunity to show some solidarity and tell us if anyone is making script mods on site,...

Stars: Diane Robin, Mark Justice, Jessica Morris, Timothy Haug, Steven Martini, Vernon Wells, Chris Levine | Written and Directed by Michael Matteo Rossi

Murder Syndicate opens with Isa driving her car and dealing with her three squabbling offspring, Cain, Becca and Jonah.

But this isn’t some suburban soccer mom taking her kids to school. She’s the head of a criminal syndicate and they’re professional assassins on the way to a job. A job that almost fails when Isa mysteriously collapses. Isa’s boyfriend Zane turns up in time to get them to safety but it’s obvious something is wrong. And that sign of weakness at the top sets a battle for control of the operation into motion.

Writer/director Michael Matteo Rossi gives Murder Syndicate one of the more unusual openings for a mob thriller but quickly gets back into familiar territory with a burst of action...

The newly rebranded streaming service Max is at the center of another huge controversy. The streaming service, formerly HBO Max, is the result of HBO parent company Warner Bros. merging with Discovery and combining Discovery+'s content with the HBO Max library. The relaunch occurred yesterday amid technical issues that prevented many users from accessing the platform throughout the day. Now, users are discovering the fact that movies no longer have writers and directors specifically listed, but rather lumped into a category titled "Creators" along with producers.

Writers, directors, and fans have spoken out against this change, which reportedly violates DGA rules for official credit as well as reducing the creative contributions of directors and writers. This change is especially controversial because it comes in the midst of the ongoing writers strike, which involves Hollywood writers picketing for fair compensation and recently saw Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav being...

Exclusive: Indie distributor Breaking Glass Pictures has acquired Holistay, a horror genre feature from first-time director Mary Gallagher.

Holistay was filmed in Las Vegas and follows two families, one from New York and one from Ireland, who double book a San Diego vacation home, who decided to both stay. One couple harbors a dark secret. The next day strange events begin to unfold and the couples must face a looming doom that culminates one horrific night.

Gavin O’Fearraigh of Irish soap Ros na Rún stars alongside Erin Gavin, Steven Martini and Gabriela Kulaif.

Gallagher, owner of Holistay producer Jet Set Pictures, wrote, directed and produced the film. She struck the deal with Philadelphia-based Breaking Glass CEO Rich Wolff at the Cannes Film Festival.

Breaking Glass plans to launch the film in July.

“I am honored to be chosen by Breaking Glass Pictures for worldwide distribution and be able to present...

Italy’s Picomedia & Russia’s WeiT Partner For ‘Kurgan’

Italian scripted producer Picomedia, part of Asacha Media Group, and Russian producer WeiTMedia, part of Banijay, have partnered to co-produce six-part drama series Kurgan. Based on true events in 1982, the show begins in Northern Italy, where a 14-year-old boy in an affluent Italian family has a medical condition that no doctor in his country can treat. Bullied at school and desperate to fit in, he learns of a pioneering treatment by a Russian orthopaedic surgeon, Gavriil Abramovich Ilizarov, in the city of Kurgan, Siberia. Co-written by Russian and Italian scriptwriters, the 6×60 minutes series will be produced in both languages with an Italian female lead and Russian male counterpart.

Yo-yo Champion Joins ‘The Sweepers’

Exclusive: Yo-yo world champions Gentry Stein has joined Michael Matteo Rossi’s upcoming action film The Sweepers; the project will mark Stein’s acting debut. The film also...

• Felicity Jones may have helped put director Drake Doremus on the map with her affecting performance in his lovely indie Like Crazy, and then again in Breathe In, but Doremus is eying a new heroine for his next project: Kristen Stewart. The director is reportedly courting the Twilight star and Nicholas Hoult (Warm Bodies) for Equals, a science fiction love story. Moon scribe Nathan Parker wrote the script. [Deadline]

• Will Smith is reportedly attached to star in the 20th Century Fox thriller Selling Time about a guy who is given the option to add seven years to his life — as long...

Will Smith has become attached to star in 20th Century Fox's supernatural thriller Selling Time. The actor was actually attached to the project years ago when it was first in development, although he had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts.

The story follows a man who is offered the chance to relive the worst day he has ever had. However, in exchange, he has to give up seven years of his life expectancy. Several A-list directors are currently circling the project, although no one has signed on yet.

Dan McDermott (Eagle Eye) wrote the original script, which was also worked on over the years by Spike Lee, Steven Martini and Derick Martini. Dan McDermott is coming back to do another rewrite, under the terms of his original deal.

John Davis is producing through his Davis Entertainment company, alongside Jennifer Klein. No production schedule was released.

Will Smith most recently starred in After Earth.

Will Smith’s big film this year, After Earth, may not have worked out as well as he hoped, perhaps because he took a supporting role to his son, Jaden. That isn’t stopping him from setting up new projects, but this time he’s leaving the family at home. Smith is now circling the lead in 20th Century Fox’s Selling Time.Dan McDermott wrote – and will polish – the script, which has also seen passes from Spike Lee, and Derek and Steven Martini. The story finds a man given the chance to relive the worst day of his life and make things right, but at a cost. That price? Seven years off his life expectancy. Sounds like a right old demonic deal to us… No director is attached yet, but with Smith getting closer to signing on, there is plenty of interest from big-name shot-callers.In related Smith news,...

Killcam: Live is a project currently operating on two fronts. On one hand, it's a film now shooting in the Los Angeles area. On the other hand, it is a bizarre interactive endeavor that is allowing horror fans to communicate with the film's characters and, apparently, influence the story's direction. Spearheaded by director John Darko - a producer on the short film Archetype - Killcam: Live stars Ben Begley, April Wade, Steven Martini, Sam Weller, Tracy Clifton and Derrick Oliver. According to Variety, the story "follows a group of students as they willingly agree to participate in a social experiment to explore the effects of dependence on technology and social media - with students isolated from each other and the only way to communicate via social media....

Director Derick Martini has been slapped with a $5 million lawsuit from his own father in a dispute over the ownership of a New York building. The filmmaker, best known for the Martin Scorsese-produced coming of age comedy "Lymelife", is accused by his dad Frederick of going behind his back to steal ownership of a Manhattan property he had taken interest in.

Martini Sr. claims his son forged a copy of the deed, giving him half-ownership of the place, according to the New York Post. The father and son are now set to face off over the building in court.

Derick is the brother of Steven Martini with whom he co-wrote his directorial debut "Lymelife". His TV credits, in the meantime, include the Jennifer Lopez-produced television series "South Beach" and a remake of Alex Raymond's "Flash Gordon".

Lymelife

Stars: Rory Culkin, Jill Hennessy, Alec Baldwin, Kieran Culkin, Cynthia Nixon, Timothy Hutton | Written by Derick & Steven Martini | Directed by Derick Martini

Lymelife is a family affair. Not only does the film concern the happenstances of a pair of families in 1970s Long Island, but it was written and directed by a pair of brothers, also stars another pair of brothers and its cast boasts representatives of some of the foremost families in American acting.

In his first feature film – executively produced by none other than Martin Scorsese – Derick Martini directs Rory Culkin, who plays Scott Bartlett, a teen living with his mother, Brenda (Hennessy), father Mickey (Baldwin) and recently returned from boot camp brother, Jimmy (Kieran Culkin). Between being beaten up at school and putting up with his parent’s marital strife, Scott pines after girl next door Adrianna Bragg (Emma ‘niece of Julia’ Roberts), who lives with...

Chicago – Only a few short weeks ago, I sat through the two-hour shrug-fest that is Ang Lee’s “Taking Woodstock” and lamented how so many of the film’s interactions between parents and the younger generation were played for cartoonish laughs instead of striving for the haunting poignancy of the director’s 1997 family drama “The Ice Storm.” Well, upon viewing Derick Martini’s “Lymelife,” I determined that the cliché is true: Be careful what you wish for.

DVD Rating: 2.0/5.0

Look at Lee’s film and Martini’s back to back, and you’ll note that their basic outlines are practically one and the same: In the 1970s, somewhere in the eastern United States, two married people have an affair, while the teenage son of one adulterer and the teenage daughter of the other begin to explore their own sexuality and indulge in the occasional drug. Mom and Dad probably have...

Starring: Rory Culkin, Kieran Culkin, Alec Baldwin, Emma Roberts, Cynthia Nixon, Timothy HuttonDirected By: Derick MartiniWritten By: Derek & Steven MartiniGrade: BLymelife is a coming of age film set in 1970s suburbia. It’s loosely based on writer/director, Derick Martini’s childhood. He co-wrote the film with brother, Steven Martini, and dedicated it to their late grandparents. The script was...

Independent Film "Portland" Mourns Loss Of David Carradine Actor David Carradine was set to co-star in the feature film entitled Portland shooting in Los Angeles, CA and Portland, Or this summer. Los Angeles, CA, June 4, 2009 - The cast, crew, and producing team behind the feature film Portland are shocked and saddened to learn of the tragic passing of co-star David Carradine on the eve of principal photography. Portland was set to be David's next film and was his only project currently in pre-production. Helmed by Matthew Mishory, the picture stars Erin Daniels, Jonathan Caouette, Steven Martini, Renee Victor, and Alex Schemmer. Carradine was set to play a pivotal role in the film and this has been a great loss for the entire Portland family. "An actor of David Carradine's stature behind our film meant the world to us," said executive producers Adrian Salpeter and Elizabeth Levine of Random Bench Productions.

Toronto -- The death of actor David Carradine has forced a recast of what was to be his next project, the indie drama "Portland," on the eve of principal photography in Portland, Los Angeles and along the Pacific coast.

"Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this difficult time," executive producers Adrian Salpeter and Elizabeth Levine of Vancouver-based Random Bench Productions said in a statement.

Carradine was to co-star in the feature about the death of a young wanderer that connects a trio of damaged souls. The ensemble cast includes Erin Daniels, Jonathan Caouette ("Tarnation"), Steven Martini, Renee Victor and Alex Schemmer.

The project from writer/director Matthew Mishory will go ahead, with Iconoclastic Features and Random Bench Productions co-producing the U.S./U.K./Canada feature.

Release Date: April 8 (limited)

Director: Derick Martini

Writer: Derick and Steven Martini

Cinematographer: Frank Godwin

Starring: Alec Baldwin, Kieran Culkin, Rory Culkin, Jill Hennessy, Timothy Hutton, Cynthia Nixon

Studio/Run Time: Screen Media Films, 95 mins.

Good cast and familiar themes for first-time director

Think of it as The Ice Storm lite—there’s less sex, drugs and angst, but the themes are the same. Living on Long Island in the late ’70s, Scott (Rory Culkin) is an awkward 15-year-old boy with a bully problem and a long-standing crush on his best friend, Adrianna. Scott’s successful father (Baldwin) is sleeping with his secretary (Nixon), who also happens to be Adrianna’s mother; Scott’s own mother (Hennessy) is reaching the end of her rope; and Scott’s brother (Kieran Culkin) is on a brief leave from the military. Meanwhile, the deer-tick epidemic has left Adrianna’s father (Hutton) suffering from Lyme disease,...

We have new images in as well as the trailer in Quicktime for Screen Media Films' "Lymelife" drama starring Alec Baldwin, Kieran Culkin, Rory Culkin, Jill Hennessy and Timothy Hutton. Derek Martini directs as well as writing with Steven Martini. The film opens on April 17th in limited areas.See all the images in the gallery and check out the trailer here. About "Lymelife" It’s 1979 on Long Island, New York. Change is in the air—the promise of a better life luring a new immigration from the city to the suburbs. In this world, real estate development is like winning the lottery, and money means success. The rest of the world may sit on a precipice—the Falkland War looms and before long American hostages will be taken in Iran—but on Long Island the future is bright, vulnerable only to that which sucks ones soul, much like the...

We have new images in as well as the trailer in Quicktime for Screen Media Films' "Lymelife" drama starring Alec Baldwin, Kieran Culkin, Rory Culkin, Jill Hennessy and Timothy Hutton. Derek Martini directs as well as writing with Steven Martini. The film opens on April 17th in limited areas. It’s 1979 on Long Island, New York. Change is in the air—the promise of a better life luring a new immigration from the city to the suburbs. In this world, real estate development is like winning the lottery, and money means success. The rest of the world may sit on a precipice—the Falkland War looms and before long American hostages will be taken in Iran...

We have new images in as well as the trailer in Quicktime for Screen Media Films' "Lymelife" drama starring Alec Baldwin, Kieran Culkin, Rory Culkin, Jill Hennessy and Timothy Hutton. Derek Martini directs as well as writing with Steven Martini. The film opens on April 17th in limited areas. It’s 1979 on Long Island, New York. Change is in the air—the promise of a better life luring a new immigration from the city to the suburbs. In this world, real estate development is like winning the lottery, and money means success. The rest of the world may sit on a precipice—the Falkland War looms and before long American hostages will be taken in Iran...

When brothers Derick and Steven Martini debuted their first production Lymelife at the 2008 Toronto Film Festival, they found their small indie film surrounded by attention and interest mainly for the dream cast they assembled. In fact, the drama features one of the more amazing ensemble casts assembled for such a low-budget film, many of them doing some of their finest film work. At its core, it may seem like a somewhat standard indie coming-of-age story centering around Rory Culkin's Scott Bartlett, a teenager living on Long Island in the '70s whose family is being torn apart due to the success of his realtor father (Alec Baldwin) and the effects that Lyme disease is having on their community. Scott has had a secret crush on his neighbor Adrianna (Emma Roberts) since they...

Written by Jenni Miller Lyme disease broke out with a fierceness in Long Island in the 1970's, and it's this tick-borne disease that sets the stage for Lymelife, a family dramady about neighboring families and their interwoven struggles. The film has been in development since brothers Derick and Steven Martini began working with Kieran Culkin on the project during 2001's Sundance Film Lab, and although they've all worked on other projects since then, they all knew Lymelife had to become a reality. This affecting drama stars Alec Baldwin as the proud but flawed provider for his family, the Bartletts; his oldest son Jimmy (Kieran Culkin) has joined the Army to escape his parents' unhappy marriage, while his youngest son Scott (Rory Culkin) still idolizes his larger-than-life father. Director, writer, and editor Derick ...

The thing that’s striking about Kieran Culkin in person is his indistinctiveness: He’s smaller, more diffuse, and more everyguy than the sharp and damaged characters on which he’s made his name. In blue jeans and jacket he’s unrecognizable on an East Village street; in conversation he’s as funny and loquacious as a corner bartender. Turns out that’s by design, and probably therapeutic: As ascion of one of Hollywood’s largest and most controversial stage families, he started film acting at the age of 7, and ever since has endured tabloid noise about his father’s mismanagement of his older brother Macaulay’s runaway stardom from the Home Alone films—a pop-culture juggernaut that threatened to typecast the entire family by default.

But Kieran definitively overcame his surname’s baggage with 2002’s Igby Goes Down, where he held his own against Susan Sarandon as a morose...

Derick Martini's "Lymelife," co-written with brother Steven Martini, will open the 14th annual Gen Art Film Festival, which runs April 1-7 in New York.

The fest, which for seven consecutive evenings showcases one feature and one short from an emerging filmmaker, followed by an afterparty, will take place at the redesigned Visual Arts Theater on West 23rd Street between 8th and 9th avenues.

Executive produced by Martin Scorsese and Leonard Loventhal, "Lymelife" stars Alec Baldwin, Cynthia Nixon, Jill Hennessy, Emma Roberts, Kieran Culkin, Rory Culkin and Timothy Hutton. It made its world premiere at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival, where it received the International Critics Award.

The fest's closing-night feature will be Julie Davis' "Finding Bliss," starring Leelee Sobieski, Denise Richards, Jamie Kennedy, Matthew Davis and Kristen Johnston.

The lineup also includes the theatrical premiere of Matt Aselton's "Gigantic," starring Zooey Deschanel and Paul Dano; Jay Dipietro's "Peter and Vandy,...

When rumors first began to swirl about Dana being killed off of The L Word, it was speculated to be due to Erin Daniels' desire to make more movies (because her part in Rob Zombie's House of 1000 Corpses was so ideal).

Of course, Ilene Chaiken finally fessed up, telling the New York Times that putting Dana through a horrible, fatal battle with breast cancer was "a story I believe in, and it's a story we're going to tell."

While we may never forgive Ilene, we can rejoice in the fact that Dana Daniels will be making her way back to the big screen with Portland, her first feature film post-l Word. It seems that the tables will turn in her favor this time, as the movie involves death, but she is not the one who dies. (Thank God. Can you imagine what a blow to the self-esteem that must be,...

First off, the best news, as I predicted (in private) Duncan Jones' Moon will be premiering, yay! The comedy Adventureland starring the talented Bill Hader is playing. The sweet kid soldier film Johnny Mad Dog is playing in the spectrum section, and the Jesco White story White Lightnin' which we reported on earlier is in the Park City at Midnight section.

But where the hell is Stingray Sam?

Full list after the break.

Premieres

* "Adventureland," directed and written by Greg Mottola, stars Kristen Stewart, Ryan Reynolds and Bill Hader in the story of a college grad who gets a job at an amusement park. A Miramax release.

* "Brooklyn’s Finest," directed by Antoine Fuqua and written by Michael C. Martin, a drama about three Brooklyn cops who come together at the same deadly location. With Richard Gere, Ethan Hawke, Wesley Snipes, Don Cheadle and Ellen Barkin.

* "Earth Days," directed by Robert Stone,...

Premieres

To showcase the diversity of contemporary independent cinema, this section offers the latest work from American and international directors and world premieres of highly anticipated films.

Adventureland / U.S. (Director-screenwriter: Greg Mottola)

In 1987, a recent college graduate takes a nowhere job at his local amusement park and discovers the job is perfect preparation for the real world. Cast: Kristen Stewart, Ryan Reynolds, Bill Hader. World premiere

Brooklyn's Finest / U.S. (Director: Antoine Fuqua; screenwriter: Michael C. Martin)

After enduring vastly different career paths, three unconnected Brooklyn cops wind up at the same deadly location. Cast: Richard Gere, Ethan Hawke, Wesley Snipes, Don Cheadle, Ellen Barkin. World premiere

Earth Days / U.S. (Director: Robert Stone)

The history of our environmental undoing through the eyes of nine Americans whose work and actions launched the modern environmental movement. World premiere, closing-night film

Endgame / U.K. (Director: Pete Travis; screenwriter: Paula Milne)

A...

Now the festival has added 19 more films in its Discovery section which in my view is there best section.

The batch included seven world premiers including U.S. pics “Lymelife,” Derick and Steve Martini’s family drama starring Alec Baldwin and Rory Culkin, and “What Doesn’t Kill You,” Brian Goodman’s tale of South Boston crime starring Ethan Hawke and Mark Ruffalo.

“While this is just a small snapshot, the section sees filmmakers wrestling with an uncertain world,” fest...

(more...)...

• Chances are better than average when you workshop a screenplay at the one of Sundance's yearly director and screen writing labs that eventually things will pan out and your passion project will get made. How's this for perseverance -Variety reports that final casting has been completed for Derick and Steven Martini's Lymelife (a 2001-Sundance lab project that first came to my attention while watching some screener at Sundance that showed the lab process in intimate detail - sorta like the workshopping DVD extra on Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs). The trade announced that the long attached Alec Baldwin is confirmed to star in the dramedy and Emma Roberts (Nancy Drew) is taking on her first role outside the usual studio-made flicks. Others to join or already confirmed a while back are Cynthia Nixon, Rory and Kieran Culkin, Jill Hennessy and Timothy Hutton. Shooting beings next week in Jersey. Set in late '70s Long Island,

...

Kevin Jordan's "Goat on Fire and Smiling Fish" won thunderous applause at all three of its screenings at the recently concluded Toronto International Film Festival. Jordan also took home the Film Discovery Award for the best feature by a first-time or undiscovered director.

The film is actually a three-way collaboration among Jordan and two brothers, Derick and Steven Martini, who developed the screenplay and portray siblings in the movie. Shot in 12 days for $40,000, the film is not without its charms, thanks to several fine performances that enliven the coming-of-age comedy.

But "Goat on Fire" is a slight film without the edginess that caused "Clerks" or "The Brothers McMullen" to break out of the festival circuit to claim theatrical success. The film certainly deserves a theatrical release to test those waters, but it probably will make a better fit in cable and other ancillary markets.

As children, brothers Chris and Tony Remi acquired nicknames from their Native American grandmother. She anointed the serious and perpetually stressed Chris (Derick Martini) Goat on Fire while easygoing Tony (Steven Martini) was dubbed Smiling Fish.

In the course of the movie, both brothers sort out their lives by forging satisfying, committed relationships with women. Chris, caught up in a dying relationship with a woman who cries during sex, falls under the spell of the beauteous Anna (Rosemarie Addeo), a Hollywood animal wrangler. And Tony, who is an actor, similarly falls for Kathy (Christa Miller), the mother of a child actress who, like himself, is up for a TV series.

The Martini brothers rather courageously permit some of their thunder to get stolen by a little girl and an old man. Nicole Rae gives a vibrant performance as Natalie, the young daughter of Kathy, who causes Tony To consider giving up his carefree life. And veteran actor and jazz musician Bill Henderson vigorously plays a wise and witty former movie crew member who helps guide Chris' growing romantic attachment to Anna.

The brothers themselves make for amusing company, although a few of their romantic trials and tribulations feel forced to create conflict. Jordan certainly gets all the screenplay's laughs, though at times one wishes he would pick up the pace.

The film is bedeviled by problems typical of films shot on shoestring budgets. The so-so blowup of the 16mm footage causes some interiors to be awfully dim. And the film experiences sound problems (especially with Addeo, whose Italian accent is nearly indecipherable).

But there is enough bright work from all the participants to look forward to their next endeavors.

GOAT ON FIRE AND SMILING FISH

Martini/Jordan Films

in association with Red Horse Films

Producers: Derick Martini, Kevin Jordan, Brittany Taylor

Director: Kevin Jordan

Writers: Kevin Jordan, Derick Martini

Story: Derick Martini, Steven Martini

Executive producer: Sheilah Goldman

Director of photography: Fred Iannone

Music: Chris Horvath

Costumes: Marylou Lim

Editors: Ryan Rothmaier, Kevin Anderson

Color/stereo

Cast:

Tony Remi: Steven Martini

Chris Remi: Derick Martini

Kathy: Christa Miller

Natalie: Nicole Rae

Clive Winter: Bill Henderson

Anna: Rosemarie Addeo

Alison: Amy Hathaway

Running time -- 90 minutes

No MPAA rating...