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The sovereign citizen movement in the United States is one of the more ridiculous conspiracy-theory-driven notions to come down the pike during this (thus far) very absurd century. Adherents claim that while they were born in the U.S., they are subject only to their hilariously selective reading of common law. This, of course, exempts them from such civic necessities as paying taxes and registering their cars. How does this work out for them? They get arrested and go to jail, where they fulminate to anyone who will listen via ludicrously overwrought manifestos.

Most sovereign citizens are relatively harmless, but they do tend to be gun fanatics, and, on occasion, they take up arms against people charged with enforcing the laws they wrongly believe do not apply to them. One such incident went down on May 10, 2010. When Jerry Kane Jr. and his 16-year-old son Joe were pulled over by West Memphis,...

Exclusive: Briarcliff Entertainment has snapped up North American distribution rights from Concourse Media to Christian Swegal’s true crime thriller Sovereign, starring Nick Offerman, Dennis Quaid and Jacob Tremblay.

Swegal wrote and will direct later this year in Arkansas. A theatrical release during Q4 2024 is planned.

Based on real events, the story follows a father and son (Offerman and Tremblay) who identify as Sovereign Citizens, a group of anti-government extremists, as they venture across the country and find themselves in a standoff with a chief of police (Dennis Quaid) that sets off an intense manhunt with tragic consequences.

“Sovereign is a timely and captivating story and all of us at Briarcliff are looking forward to working with Christian, Nick, the Concourse team and this stellar cast on what will be a gripping ride for movie audiences,” said Tom Ortenberg, Briarcliff Entertainment CEO.

“We are beyond excited to be partnering with...

Fresh from the acclaim over his performance in HBO’s The Last of Us, Nick Offerman has been cast in true-crime thriller Sovereign alongside Jacob Tremblay and Dennis Quaid. The film, the directorial feature debut from Christian Swegal, is being launched at Berlin’s European Film Market by Concourse Media.

Set to go into production later this year in Canada, Sovereign follows a father and son (Offerman and Tremblay) who identify as Sovereign Citizens, a loosely defined group of anti-government extremists, as they venture across the country and find themselves in a standoff with a chief of police (Quaid) that sets off an intense manhunt with tragic consequences.

A graduate of USC School of Cinematic Arts, Swegal has worked in both film and television, most recently co-writing the feature film Proud Mary for Screen Gems, and scripting the pilot for Solar, a series he created for Syfy Channel. In 2019, Swegal...

ReFrame, the coalition formed by Women in Film, the Sundance Institute and IMDbPro, has designated a total of 20 films among 2018’s 100 highest-grossing titles to receive the ReFrame Stamp, which recognize standout, gender-balanced films.

The list released Wednesday includes Fox Searchlight’s Oscar Best Picture-nominated The Favourite, Paramount’s Transformers pic Bumblebee, Disney’s A Wrinkle In Time, Stx’s I Feel Pretty and Lionsgate’s The Spy Who Dumped Me. Nine additional films outside the top 100 were awarded stamps after applying (see the full lists below).

The stamp, launched last June, awarded 12 film stamps in 2017. But the group’s 2018 study found continued disparities in female representation and women of color, with just 4% of the top 100 films directed by a female (down from 6% a year ago), and 23% written by a female. A total of 37% featured female leads, with only 9% being women of color.

“While 2017 saw an uptick in films directed by women,...

The ReFrame coalition of industry leaders and IMDBPro have unveiled 20 movies certified as gender-balanced productions among the top 100 box office films released in 2018.

The list includes Disney’s “A Wrinkle in Time,” Paramount Pictures’ “Bumblebee,” Fox Searchlight Pictures’ “The Favourite,” Stx’s “I Feel Pretty,” Lionsgate’s “The Spy Who Dumped Me,” Fox’s “The Hate U Give,” and Warner Bros.’ “Crazy Rich Asians.”

ReFrame, founded by Women in Film and the Sundance Institute, launched the data initiative last June in an effort to recognize and promote gender-balanced films and television shows. It said Wednesday that the increase in recipients of the ReFrame Stamp from 12 in 2017 to 20 stemmed from gains in the roles of department heads and women-of-color leads and co-leads. Still, the report noted that there remained shortfalls in several key areas.

“This positive news within the top 100 films is offset by the significant discrepancy in female hires with...

To mark the release of Proud Mary on 30th July, we’ve been given 3 copies to give away on DVD.

Lethal, professional hit-woman Mary (Taraji P. Henson) works for the most notorious crime family in town, headed by Benny (Danny Glover). When Mary shoots a protected mobster in order to save a young boy, she must take on a rogues’ gallery of crime figures, from the Russian Mafia to those closest to her, including her former lover. Armed with her wits – and a closet full of guns – Mary must do whatever it takes to be the last woman standing in this energetic and explosive action thriller. Directed by Babak Najafi with a screenplay by John Stuart Newman & Christian Swegal and Steven Antin and a story by John Stuart Newman & Christian Swegal, Proud Mary was produced by Paul Schiff and Tai Duncan, with Glenn S. Gainor and Taraji P. Henson as executive producers.

Stars: Taraji P. Henson, Danny Glover, Billy Brown, Jahi Di’Allo Winston, Neal McDonough | Written by John Stuart Newman, Christian Swegal, Steven Antin | Directed by Babak Najafi

Lethal, professional hit-woman Mary (Taraji P. Henson) works for the most notorious crime family in town, headed by Benny (Danny Glover). When Mary shoots a protected mobster in order to save a young boy, she must take on a rogues’ gallery of crime figures, from the Russian Mafia to those closest to her, including her former lover. Armed with her wits – and a closet full of guns – Mary must do whatever it takes to be the last woman standing…

Billed as akin to the classic Blaxploitation films of the 70s, I was Really looking forward to seeing Proud Mary, however that excitement was tempered somewhat by the delay in between the Us release and the film finally debuting in the UK… That’s usually not a good sign.

The first trailer for Proud Mary hit the internet in July of 2017. After that came a few badass 70s-style James Bond-like posters with star Taraji P. Henson in shadows, gun drawn. It was hard not to get excited for what appeared to be a stylized assassin flick in the vein of John Wick with a bona fide bankable black woman in the lead, Tina Turner’s emotional adaptation of John Fogarty’s anthem rocking in the background. But then the release date hit with a January bow. Critics were told it wouldn’t screen for them even in the big cities. And Thursday night shows were canceled despite ticket buyers arriving with excitement. It’s one thing to block out press, but a whole other to do so to the public.

The only fathomable excuse — because I don’t want to believe a studio put up the money for...

Nicolas Cage is set to star in Highland Film Group’s action thriller A Score To Settle, from Beautiful Boy director Shawn Ku. Cage stars as Frank, a convicted mob enforcer battling a terminal illness who is released from prison many years after taking the fall for a crime he didn't commit. Now free, he sets out on a path for revenge against the people who wronged him. John Newman and Christian Swegal wrote the script, which will be produced by Lee Clay (No Good Deed) of…...

Author: Zehra Phelan

Empire and Hidden Figures Taraji P. Henson has taken Cookie’s feisty to a whole new level as she dons her black leather and takes up a gun to turn slick hit woman in the trailer for Proud Mary.

The all new female lead action film is directed by London has Fallen’s Babak Najafi from a screenplay by John Stuart Newman & Christian Swegal and Steven Antin, based on a story by Newman & Swegal. Producers are Paul Schiff and Tai Duncan.

Set to Tina Turner’s “Proud Mary” (predictable), we are introduced to Mary (Henson) as she dresses herself in her lethal black leather outfit including her knee high kinky boots with heels so thin and high any normal woman wouldn’t be able to walk in let alone take out a bunch of musclebound men.

Arming herself with a gun from a wardrobe stocked to the nines,...

Exclusive: Margaret Avery, The Walking Dead‘s Xander Berkeley and Neal McDonough have been cast in Screen Gems’ upcoming thriller Proud Mary, starring Taraji P. Henson as hit woman Mary Goodwin. Danny Glover (Almost Christmas) has also officially joined the film along with Jahi Di'Allo Winston (The New Edition Story), Rade Serbedzija (Taken 2), and previously announced Billy Brown. Babak Najafi is directing from a script by John Stewart Newman and Christian Swegal, with…...

Babak Najafi is in negotiations to direct Taraji P. Henson in the Screen Gems feature Proud Mary.

In the thriller, the Hidden Figures actress will play a hit woman who discovers her maternal side after meeting a young boy.

Najafi will direct from a script written by John Stuart Newman and Christian Swegal. Paul Schiff and Tai Duncan are set to produce.

Last year, Najafi directed Gerard Butler in the action movie London Has Fallen, a sequel to  Antoine Fuqua's 2013 film Olympus Has Fallen. He is repped by UTA.

...

Taraji P. Henson, star of Empire and Oscar-tipped Nasa drama Hidden Figures, has climbed aboard the upcoming drama Proud Mary over at Screen Gems.

Deadline has the scoop, confirming that a production start has been earmarked for April. That doesn’t necessarily leave the Powers That Be at Screen Gems with a lot of time to appoint a director, but Deadline notes that the search is being finalized. John Stewart Newman and Christian Swegal are the brains behind the screenplay, which centers on a hit woman (Henson) “whose life is turned completely around when she meets a young boy who awakens in her a maternal instinct she never knew she had.”

On paper, it’s a fairly compelling lead role for Taraji P. Henson to assume, and one that’s worlds away from the corridors of Nasa HQ. Sadly, there are no further casting announcements to report on, but it...

Taraji P. Henson is moving from checking figures to taking lives, with Variety reporting that the Hidden Figures and Empire star has signed on for the lead role in the new hitman drama Proud Mary. Henson will play a hired killer whose violent life is turned upside-down when a young boy awakens “the maternal instinct she never knew she had.” In other words, it’s pretty much Leon: The Professional, except with a badass Cookie Lyon in the place of loner Jean Reno.

Proud Mary is being produced by Screen Gems, from a script by Christian Swegal and John Stewart Newman. A director has yet to be attached.

“Hidden Figures” star Taraji P. Henson will go from math to mayhem for her next role as she’s set to play a hit woman in Screen Gems’ “Proud Mary,” TheWrap has learned. The film follows a contract killer whose life is upended when she meets a young boy who awakens a dormant maternal instinct within her. There is no director attached yet to the project, which is scheduled to begin production in Boston this April. Also Read: Taraji P Henson on 'Duty' She Felt to Make Historic Drama 'Hidden Figures' (Video) John Stewart Newman and Christian Swegal wrote the movie,...

Exclusive: Empire star Taraji P. Henson has found a feature to follow her Hidden Figures turn. She is set to star in Proud Mary, with production slated to start in April in Boston. John Stewart Newman and Christian Swegal wrote the script, and Paul Schiff and Tai Duncan are producing. Henson will play a hit woman whose life is turned completely around when she meets a young boy who awakens in her a maternal instinct she never knew she had. Screen Gems will set a director…...

Grand Budapest Hotel

Saoirse Ronan ("Hanna," "Atonement") is set to play the female lead in Wes Anderson's next movie "The Grand Budapest Hotel." Ralph Fiennes, Jude Law, Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman also star.

The story is set 85 years ago in a Hungarian hotel, is partly inspired by the witty films of Billy Wilder and Ernst Lubitsch. Shooting kicks off early next year in Germany. [Source: Variety]

Wonderful Tonight

Patrick Dempsey and Amanda Seyfried have scored the lead roles in Christine Jeffs' rom-com "Wonderful Tonight"

The story involves a one-night stand which leads to a baby and a stand-off between two sudden parents about what they want from each other and themselves. [Source: Deadline]

The Ardor

Gael Garcia Bernal and Alice Braga are set to star in Pablo Fendrik's revenge thriller "The Ardor" at Bac Films. Shooting begins in the Amazon in March for a Fall film festival run.

Garcia-Bernal plays...

Ray Liotta is lined up to star in "Old Man," a film noir being directed by Christian Swegal, which is being sold by Content at this week's American Film Market. Aiming to film in February 2013, "Old Man" is in pre-production. Ross M. Dinerstein is producing with Jamie Carmichael executive producing this violent revenge thriller about a mob hit man (Liotta) who is lured back into the underworld to seek revenge when his bosses frame him for a murder that he did not commit.  Along the way, he bonds with the son...

We’ve got a couple more casting stories to share this afternoon, straight from the American Film Market (Afm). First up, Amanda Seyfried and Patrick Dempsey are set to team up for the romantic comedy Wonderful Tonight. The “feel good” story centers on a wealthy bachelor and a free-spirited woman whose one-night stand results in a child. The Wrap reports that Christine Jeffs (Sunshine Cleaning) will direct from a script by J. Mills Goodloe (Ride). Hit the jump for casting news concerning Ray Liotta in a film noir. Additionally, The Wrap reports that Ray Liotta is set to star in the revenge film noir Old Man. The violent revenge thriller centers on a mob hit man who gets lured back into the crime underworld when his bosses frame him for murder. During his quest, “he bonds with the son he has lost touch with and starts a relationship with a...

The 7th Annual HollyShorts Film Festival announced 2011's class of short film winners in a standing room only awards ceremony Thursday night. The HollyShorts Best Overall Short Film went to Mrs. Peppercorn's Magical Reading Room, posted below. Mike LeHan's eerie, sepia-toned film shows the persistence of childish curiosity in the face of a mystery: it's a mix of the rational wondering of Harry Potter and the acquiescent observing of the girl lead from Pan's Labyrinth. Mrs. Peppercorn won $10,000 in postproduction and finishing services package from Company 3. The Best Director Award went to Christian Swegal, the director of the spooky and staggering Statis, also posted below, about an ex-soldier undergoing simulation exercises to recover from post-traumatic stress disorder. Swegal and LeHan are just two in a healthy crop of other winners. Mrs Peppercorn's Magical Reading Room from Black Lake Films on Vimeo. Stasis from Christian Swegal on Vimeo.