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Mckenna Grace will be seen reprising the role of Phoebe Spengler when the Ghostbusters: Afterlife (watch it Here) sequel Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire reaches theatres on March 22nd, and now Deadline reports that she has lined up the psychological thriller Straight Lies as her next project. Grace will be starring in and executive producing the film, which Alex Kalymnios (Netflix’s The Recruit) will be directing for Mandalay Pictures. Filming is scheduled to begin in North Carolina sometime this summer.

Scripted by Ren Trella, who drew inspiration from true events she experienced as a teenager, Straight Lies is set in 1990, surrounding the hysteria of the war on drugs. A teen girl falsely accused of drug use is held against her will and must escape a cult-like drug rehab that is backed by the US Government, while her covert CIA agent father becomes so lost in political influence that he is unaware...

Mckenna Grace returns to the big screen in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire later this month, and the actress is also set to produce and star in a thriller titled Straight Lies.

Deadline reports today that the film, being directed by Alex Kalymnios for Mandalay Pictures, is “set in 1990 surrounding the hysteria of the war on drugs.”

In Straight Lies, a teen girl falsely accused of drug use is held against her will and must escape a cult-like drug rehab that is backed by the US Government, while her covert CIA agent father becomes so lost in political influence that he is unaware of the danger his daughter is in.

The screenplay was written by Ren Trella, and it’s based on true events.

“I am so honored to bring this compelling story to the screen. After speaking with our amazing writer Ren and hearing her true story of what she endured and based the script,...

Exclusive: Emmy nominee Mckenna Grace will star in and executive produce the new psychological thriller Straight Lies with Alex Kalymnios set to direct and Mandalay Pictures to produce. Production is slated to begin this summer in North Carolina.

The film is set in 1990 surrounding the hysteria of the war on drugs. Written by Ren Trella and inspired by true events from her life as a teenager, the script was a semi-finalist in the prestigious Academy Nicholl Fellowship in screenwriting.

In Straight Lies, a teen girl falsely accused of drug use is held against her will and must escape a cult-like drug rehab that is backed by the US Government, while her covert CIA agent father becomes so lost in political influence that he is unaware of the danger his daughter is in.

“I am so honored to bring this compelling story to the screen. After speaking...

Plot: Owen Hendricks is a young CIA lawyer whose first week on the job turns upside down when he discovers a threatening letter by former asset Max Meladze, who plans to expose the agency unless they exonerate her of a serious crime. Owen quickly becomes entangled in a dangerous and often absurd world of power politics and mischievous players, as he travels the world in hopes of completing his assignment and making a mark at the CIA.

Review: It seems like a risky move for Netflix to premiere their new spy series just a week before Prime Video debuts the third season of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan. The Recruit and the John Krasinski-led thriller center on CIA employees with military backgrounds who get pulled from their regular duties to become field operatives. The most significant difference between the two series is The Recruit has a much lighter tone...

Fivel Stewart as Hannah Copeland and Noah Centineo as Owen Hendricks in ‘The Recruit’ (Photo Courtesy Of Netflix © 2022)

Netflix has shared the first photos along with a few more details on The Recruit, a spy series created by Alexi Hawley. The photos provide our first good look at Noah Centineo (To All the Boys franchise) as a CIA newbie who’s forced to hit the ground running.

“My new show follows an unsuspecting lawyer as he’s pulled into a high stakes thrill ride through the world of international spy networks,” explained Centineo during Netflix’s Tudum fan event. Joining Centineo in the series are Laura Haddock, Aarti Mann, Colton Dunn, Fivel Stewart, and Daniel Quincy Annoh. Kristian Bruun, Vondie Curtis Hall, Byron Mann, Angel Parker, and Kaylah Zander also star in the eight-episode first season.

“It’s rare to find a fresh way into a story these days. And...

Festival

NewFilmmakers Los Angeles (Nfmla) and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), with presenting partners The Arab Film and Media Institute and Dutch Culture USA are partnering for a short film festival that runs across the Dec. 10 and 11 weekend.

The annual event, titled Nfmla Film Festival InFocus: Middle Eastern, Arab & Dutch Cinema, will feature virtual screenings of films followed by live Q&As. The films are by emerging filmmakers from the Netherlands, Lebanon, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Jordan, Iran, France, Belgium and the U.S.

The program includes the U.S. premiere of “Nervosa,” the latest work by Nfmla alum Thessa Meijer and the Tribeca award-winning short “Leylak,” by co-directors Scott Aharoni and Dennis Latos.

Festival panels will feature conversations with Palestinian director-writer Hany Abu-Assad (“Omar”), whose upcoming feature “Huda’s Salon” will be distributed by IFC Films, and Saudi Arabian filmmaker Haifaa Al-Mansour...

Stampede Ventures and independent studio Wiip will adapt Bonnie Pipkin’s debut novel, “Aftercare Instructions.”

The project is described as a half-hour “coming-of-age dramedy.” Stampede Ventures and Wiip have tapped Marguerite MacIntyre as showrunner, writer and executive producer, and Alex Kalymnios is set to executive produce and direct the pilot. Greg Silverman and Paul Shapiro will executive produce for Stampede Ventures alongside Wiip.

The 2017 novel centers on 17-year-old Genesis Johnson, a teen growing up in a small town in New Jersey. The story is set in motion after Genesis’ boyfriend Peter abandons her at a Planned Parenthood clinic during their appointment to terminate an unwanted pregnancy and continues as the teen copes with her loss.

A description for the project explains further:

The betrayal causes Gen to question everything. As Gen pushes herself forward to find her new identity without Peter, she must also confront her most painful memories. Through...

Exclusive: Freeform has set the full cast for Close Up, its hourlong suspense drama pilot executive produced by How to Get Away With Murder creator Peter Nowalk and Mary Rohlich (Atypical). ABC Signature, part of Disney TV Studios, is the studio. Production recently kicked off in Vancouver.

Fivel Stewart (Atypical) is set as the lead, and Anthony Kevyan (Alexa & Katie), Karin Konoval (Planet of the Apes franchise), Yaani King Mondschein (The Resident), Sean Blakemore (Ad Astra), Jennifer Spence (Travelers), Megan Charpentier (It) newcomer Alexander Grant and Van Crosby (Splitting Up Together) round out the series regular cast, joining previously announced Millicent Simmonds (A Quiet Place). Additionally, Natalie Chaidez (Queen of the South) joins as showrunner with Alex Kalymnios set to direct.

Written by Keith Staskiewicz (Three Delivery), Close Up is set in Centreville, NJ, a suburban town just like any other … at least on the surface. Centreville...

Marcia Gay Harden and Emily Skeggs became inseparable on the set of “Love You to Death,” a Lifetime movie about a protective mother (Harden) who manipulates her daughter (Skeggs) to the brink of violence. The two leads became so close that when Skeggs fell sick during a long day of shooting, Harden was ready with wine, a cheese spread, and a drawn bath at Skegg’s hotel room.

The bond Harden and Skeggs developed over 18 days of filming was similar to the love between a mother and a daughter, but not quite like the duo they portrayed.

“It was truly beautiful,” Skeggs told TheWrap’s Thom Geier of Harden’s gesture at a Q&A on Monday following a screening of the tv film that premiered earlier this year. “I felt like I had an incredible mentor and support system on set.”

Also Read: 14 Music Biopics in the Works After 'Rocketman,...

Exclusive: CAA announced today that they have signed director Alex Kalymnios.

Kalymnios established her career working in the UK as well as the U.S. She is currently directing episodes of the DC Universe series Titans based on the superhero team Teen Titans. The series was created by Akiva Goldsman, Geoff Johns, and Greg Berlanti and stars Brenton Thwaites, Teagan Croft, Anna Diop, Teagan Croft and Ryan Potter. She has also directed episodes of YouTube’s supernatural thriller series Impulse which stars Maddie Hasson as Henrietta “Henry” Cole, a rebellious 16-year-old outcast who discovers that she has the power to teleport which now makes her the focus of those who want to control her.

Her credits also include numerous TV shows including The 100, S.W.A.T., Once Upon a Time and The White Princess. On the film side, she has helmed Love You To Death and Clevland Abduction.

In 2012, Kalymnios was...

Lifetime has unveiled the premiere dates for their robust slate of winter movies. From music icons to deadly cheerleaders to the daughter of a notorious mob boss, the network isn’t holding back when it comes to the drama — some based on true stories, some not — for 2019.

Highlights of their slate include Love You to Death (January 26) starring Marcia Gay Harden, which is based on the true story of a mother and daughter who are nothing like they seem, their tumultuous relationship ending in a brutal murder. Also based on a true story is Escaping the Madhouse: The Nellie Bly Story (January 19) starring Christina Ricci. The movie is inspired by Nellie Bly’s undercover stay at the impenetrable Women’s Lunatic Asylum. For something a little lighter, there’s Olivia Newton-John: Hopelessly Devoted to You (February 16) which follows the personal and professional journey of the titular Grease icon. Lifetime...

Exclusive: Lifetime continues to cast its telefilm about a shocking case of child abuse that leads to matricide. Emily Skeggs is set to star as broken-bad daughter Esme opposite Marcia Gay Harden in Love You to Death, based on the true story of a controlling mom and her seemingly sick child that ends in a murder no one could have predicted.

Meanwhile, Tate Donovan will play Travis, Esme’s estranged father who tries to reconnect with his daughter, despite her mother’s objections.

Your logline: Camile (Harden) and her child are well known in their community: Esme as the sickly, childlike, wheelchair-bound daughter and Camile as the perfect caretaker and mother. They seem a perfect pair until Camile is found stabbed to death in her home, and Esme has vanished, believed to be kidnapped by the killer. But when Esme is found, a terrible secret emerges: She was not kidnapped...

Exclusive: It’s one of those stories you read and somehow remember, and now it’s going to be a Lifetime movie. Marcia Gay Harden is set to star as the mother in Love You to Death, based on the weird-but-true story of a controlling woman and her seemingly sick daughter that ends in a murder no one could have predicted.

Here’s the logline: Camile (Harden) and her child are well known in their community: Esme as the sickly, childlike, wheelchair-bound daughter and Camile as the perfect caretaker and mother. They seem a perfect pair until Camile is found stabbed to death in her home, and Esme has vanished, believed to be kidnapped by the killer. But when Esme is found, a terrible secret emerges: She was not kidnapped but ran away with her boyfriend after working with him to kill her mother. More than that, Esme is perfectly healthy,...

From VancouverFilm.Net, here is the Vancouver Film Production Update for October 2017 including "Skyscraper", "Siren", "Colony" and a whole lot more:

Features:

A Dogs Way Home

Local Production Company: Singularity Productions

Director: Charles Martin Smith

Producer: Gavin Polone

Oct 16/17 - Dec 15/17

Eggplant Emoji

Local Production Company: Eggplant Productions

Director: Jake Szymanski

Producer: Ross Dinerstein

Aug 21/17 - Oct 05/17

Elsewhere

Local Production Company: Elsewhere Productions

Director: Hernan Jimenez Garcia

Sep 11/17 - Oct 11/17

Nicole

Local Production Company: True Meaning Productions

Director: Marc Lawrence

Oct 23/17 - Jan 19/18

Skyscraper

Local Production Company: Main Mast Production - Can, Inc

Director: Rawson Marshall Thurter

Aug 14/17 - Nov 17/17

Untitled Robert Zemeckis Project

Local Production Company: Stiletto Cinema Partners

Director: Robert Zemeckis

Producer: Robert Zemeckis, Cherylanne Martin

Aug 11/17 - Oct 19/17

TV Series:

A Series Of Unfortunate Events ~ Season 2

Local Production Company: Olaf II Productions Inc

Director: Loni Peristere, Allan Arkush

Apr 17/17 - Apr 20/18

Arrow - Season 6

Local Production Company:...

Alex Kalymnios has signed on to direct three episodes of The White Princess, Starz’s follow-up to The White Queen miniseries, from Company Pictures and Playground. In addition, Amy Manson (Once Upon A Time), Andrew Whipp (Outlander) and Patrick Gibson (The Oa) have joined the cast. Kalymnios, who most recently helmed Scott and Bailey for Red Productions, will direct episodes 4, 5, and 6 of the 8-episode series. She has also directed Salem season 2 (Wgn America) and…...

New projects from Screen Stars of Tomorrow, playwrights, TV talent.

UK low-budget filmmaking scheme iFeatures has selected 18 projects (below) for its next development slate.

The scheme, backed by Creative England, BFI Film Fund, BBC Films and Creative Skillset, selected 18 - instead of the usual 16 - feature-length projects from more than 400 submissions.

Three films will be ‘greenlit’ in March 2015 at budgets of £350,000.

The roster of writing and directing talent includes Lynsey Miller, Hope Dickson Leach and Dan Gitsham, all recent Screen Stars of Tomorrow; Rachel De-lahay, winner of 2013 Evening Standard’s Most Promising Playwright; Dominic Leclerc, director of Skins and The Village; Alice Birch, winner of this year’s George Devine Award for Most Promising Playwright; Olivia Poulet, star of The Thick Of It; BAFTA Scotland winner Zam Salim; Broadcast Hotshots Abby Ajayi and Alex Kalymnios; and William Oldroyd whose short Best won the 2013 Sundance London Short Film Competition.

Producers include Nfts graduates Jessica Levick and Fodhla Cronin...

After the success of webseries Becoming Human (which attracted 1.5 million hits online), BBC3 were encouraged to stitch the eight episodes together into one 50-minute special that aired last night — premiering the story’s conclusion in the process. But I’m sure this was the Beeb’s intention from the start, considering the production standards of the webisodes, and its clear intention to become a full-blooded TV spin-off to Being Human.

Becoming Human has largely the same premise as its parent series, only with adolescent characters and a few gender swaps. If Being Human’s high-concept logline was “a vampire, a werewolf, and a ghost share a house together”, Becoming Human wonders what would happen if a vampire, a werewolf and ghost went to school together. Continuing the story of Adam (Craig Roberts) from Being Human’s “Adam’s Family”, the 46-year-old vampire trapped in the body of a 17-year-old enrolls...