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By adding its uniquely fun monkey-shaped twist to the Biopic genre, Robbie Williams’ ‘Better Man’ is changing the way Biopics are perceived and experienced. From being a member of the famed Mancunian Pop group Take That to being one of the biggest international pop superstars of the 21st century. Robbie Williams has formed a legacy where both success and strugglers have had profound protagonism. It was just a matter of time before his story reached the international big screen. Following the steps of the greats such as Freddie Mercury with ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ and Elton John with ‘Rocketman’, Robbie throws his life into the world of Biopics with a unique take on the genre. Playing with the fact that the genre incorporates fiction with history, director Michael Gracey chose to portray the singer as a monkey making the film stand out. ‘Better Man’ introduces the famed star to a new generation.

Music biopics are hard to master. It is easy for music biopics to fall in conventional beats, showing classic scenes such as an artist's early work, big break, first big concert, and frictions with the industry. That said, 2024 had some promising entries in the genre. The year kicked off with Bob Marley: One Love, a Valentine's Day release that reinvigorated the box office after it got a disappointing start with flops with Argylle. One Love ended up making $180.8 million worldwide, an impressive haul for a biopic.

While One Love falls more on the conventional music biopic side, there are plenty of films that have been breaking the boundaries of the genre in recent years. The Elton John-based Rocketman took a musical approach, for example, putting full-on dance numbers in the film rather than just depict actual stage performances. Weird: The Al Yankovic Story crafted a fictionalized version of the parody musicians story,...

It’s officially Spirit Award season here at Film Independent! We had our annual Awards Brunch last weekend, and we’re getting prepped for the big show on February 22. While that means late nights making seating charts, sending out invites, and hiring photographers for us, for you, it means enjoying even more movies!

This month, we’ve picked out some Spirit Award alums with new releases (or ones that came out during the holiday break). Included in this crop is a delicious combo of Russel Banks and Paul Schrader, Nicole Kidman making Bdsm feel good in a place like this, Pedro Almodóvar casting Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton in his first English-language film, and Robbie Williams’ surprisingly powerful monkey movie.

Don’t say we didn’t warn you!

Oh, Canada

When You Can Watch: Now

Where You Can Watch: Theaters (limited)

Creator/Director: Paul Schrader

Cast: Richard Gere, Uma Thurman,...

The biopic formula has become rather mundane and uninteresting, save for the few biopics that actually pull us in and dare to do something memorable. But for all their posturing, Better Man is perhaps the weirdest, coolest biopic I’ve seen in recent memory — and most definitely in the least year. Directed by The Greatest Showman’s Michael Gracey, Better Man, which follows the rise of British pop star Robbie Williams, is a spectacle, with many sequences shot like music videos. The spectacle doesn’t mean there’s no heart at the story’s core, and it kept me watching despite being overlong.

Directed by Michael Gracey, Better Man explores the life and career of singer Robbie Williams through his own eyes.

Release Date December 25, 2024Genres Biography, MusicCast Jonno Davies, Alison Steadman, Steve Pemberton, Anthony Hayes, Kate Mulvany, robbie williams, Damon HerrimanDirector Michael GraceyWriters Simon Gleeson, Oliver Cole, Michael GraceyStudio(s) Showman,...

Stars: Robbie Williams, Jonno Davies, Steve Pemberton, Raechelle Banno, Alison Steadman, Kate Mulvany, Frazer Hadfield, Damon Herriman, Tom Budge, Jake Simmance, Liam Head, Leo Harvey-Elledge, Chris Gun, Chase Vollenweider, Jesse Hyde | Written by Michael Gracey, Simon Gleeson, Oliver Cole | Directed by Michael Gracey

It’s an understatement to call Robbie Williams a big star. Finding fame at age 15 as a member of Take That, the singer departed from the band to launch a solo career, which resulted in a record number of Brit Awards, a Guinness World Record, and the largest British record deal in history. Considering he would become one of the best-selling music artists of all time, a biopic seemed inevitable, hence we have Better Man.

Although, there is one notable way that this film stands apart from other biopics, as Williams is portrayed entirely on-screen by a CGI monkey (performed in motion-capture by Jonno Davies and voiced...

Better Man includes an entertaining and talented cast in its unusual depiction of a popular singer’s career. Directed by Michael Gracey, Better Man focuses on the life and career of British singer, Robbie Williams, during his time as a member of the popular boy band, Take That and his eventual success as a solo performer. The movie also focuses on the different relationships Williams had with his family members and the struggles he faced with mental health and drugs before he was able to overcome his demons and revive his career in the late 2000s.

Released in theaters in 2024, Better Man was released to high praise for its portrayal of the highs and lows of Williams’ career. The movie was also praised for its casting, soundtrack, and the decision to portray Williams as an anthropomorphic chimpanzee among humans; Better Man received a record-breaking 16 award nominations at the 2025 Australian Academy...

Released in limited theaters on Christmas 2024, Better Man is one of the most ambitious docudramas of its kind. The lofty $110 million production charts the life and career of famous British pop star Robbie Williams, employing the cutting-edge Weta digital FX to represent Williams as a tuxedo-dressed monkey. While jarring and hard to accept from the onset, the creative inspiration makes logical sense by channeling Williams' psychological state as he reflects on his past.

As Williams' fans ponder venturing to cinemas to watch Better Man, detailing the bizarre choice to represent the beloved pop singer as an anthropomorphic monkey will foster a better understanding of the movie's message. Far from just a silly audiovisual gimmick, here's how the movie came about and why Better Man excels due to, not despite, depicting Robbie Williams as a Planet of the Apes-like primate.

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2025 is kicking off with a variety of movies releasing in theaters, such as a peculiar semi-biographical musical, two horror versions of well-known children’s characters, a remake of a horror classic, and more. 2024 was an interesting year for cinema, with big hits and unexpected surprises from different genres. 2024 saw hits like The Fall Guy, Longlegs, Wicked, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Anora, The Substance, and Terrifier 3, though also some big disappointments, as was Joker: Folie à Deux, Megalopolis, and The Crow.

December closed 2024 with some of the most anticipated movies of the year, such as Sony’s Spider-Man Universe’s Kraven the Hunter, Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Disney’s photorealistic prequel Mufasa: The Lion King, the biopic A Complete Unknown, and Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu. January 2025 is now bringing movies for all tastes, such as Robbie Williams’ life and career told in an unconventional way, Leigh Whannell’s latest horror project, two horror versions of children’s characters,...

Better Man, the biopic about British pop star Robbie Williams, has been absolutely delighting the critics. The film, in which the singer is portrayed as a CGI chimpanzee, currently holds a 92% fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes based on 77 reviews. That's significantly better than another big musical biopic released the same day, A Complete Unknown, which only has a 79% approval rating among critics. Better Man has quickly become one of the most acclaimed music biopics of all time. Just compare it to the scores of recent music biopics like Bohemian Rhapsody (60%), Rocketman (89%), Elvis (77%), Back to Black (35%), and many others, and it's clear that Better Man is, well, better. It helps that it's helmed by the director of The Greatest Showman.

If you're unfamiliar with Robbie Williams, that's surprising, but he's most famous in the United Kingdom. After his time in the band Take That, he went on to become one of...

British pop superstar Robbie Williams gets a raw, dazzling, long but exceedingly clever musical biopic in Better Man, which sees him portrayed as a CGI, motion-captured chimpanzee from boyhood through tumultuous stardom. The reason why becomes obvious as the narrative progresses. Director/co-writer Michael Gracey infuses the film with a bold creative vision that adds a refreshing new take on a known commodity. Stories of rags-to-riches celebrities struggling with addiction and depression are standard Hollywood fodder. Better Man addresses those themes while Williams' narrates the painful truth behind glitz and glamour. Fame is a seductive narcotic that fuels our worst impulses. A dream come true can easily become a nightmare.

We're introduced to "Robert" (Carter J. Murphy) as a brash young chimp in the poverty-stricken town of Stoke-on-Trent. He's awful at school and sports but loves being the center of attention. He inherits the need for a spotlight from his wannabe performer father.

Deadline’s Read the Screenplay series spotlighting the scripts fueling the year’s most talked-about movies continues with Better Man, Paramount’s musical biopic based on the true story of the meteoric rise, dramatic fall and resurgence of British pop superstar Robbie Williams. The script was penned by Simon Gleeson, Oliver Cole and Michael Gracey.

Gracey directs the uniquely personal film about Williams, capturing his wit, resilience, and extraordinary journey. From boyband stardom with Take That to a record-shattering solo career, the film explores the highs and lows of his success. And only Williams could get away with telling his life story through the unique lens of a chimpanzee, a truly unexpected perspective that distinguishes this biopic from others.

Gracey explains the inspiration for portraying Williams as a monkey came from Robbie himself.

“Rob would say things like, ‘I’m up the back dancing like a monkey,’ or ‘I was completely out of it,...

The Robbie Williams biopic “Better Man” has taken center stage in the 2025 Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (Aacta) Awards nominations.

“Better Man” earned a record-breaking 16 nominations, the most ever received by a single film in the awards’ 66-year history. Directed by Michael Gracey, the musical film secured nods across key categories, including Best Film, Best Direction, and Best Screenplay, as well as multiple acting, technical, and creative honors.

“Better Man” is joined in the Best Film category by George Miller’s “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” and “How to Make Gravy,” both with 15 nominations, the horror standout “Late Night with the Devil” with 14, the animated feature “Memoir of a Snail” with 11, and “Runt,” which received four.

For the first time, the Aacta Awards have recognized motion capture and voice performances in acting categories. Jonno Davies received a nomination for his motion capture portrayal of Robbie Williams in “Better Man,...

We’re just a few minutes into Better Man when the eight-year-old Robert Williams — very much played by a CG chimp — is abandoned by his father. Williams steps out onto the streets of Stoke-on-Trent singing ‘Feel’, a song by the popstar he will later become. And despite none of that making sense on paper, your heart shatters. His shoulders slump and his green, glassy, watery eyes plead for protection as the strings swell. “I just wanna feel real love, feel the home that I live in,” he sings. It’s hard not to love him.

As Michael Gracey’s film relays with unapologetic sincerity and unashamed bombast, Williams’ formative experiences define and drive him. His fractured relationship with his self-absorbed, showbiz-obsessed father, his idol, who leaves his son and wife in search of fame, means that he will spend forever looking for affirmation. Meanwhile, becoming a boyband idol himself at...

As awards buzz accumulates for Paramount’s eclectic Robbie Williams biopic Better Man and the ABC Sports Munich Olympics thriller September 5, the studio is tweaking both titles’ theatrical rollout plan.

September 5, which was scheduled to open exclusively on Black Friday, November 29, and expand on December 13, will now bow on December 13 exclusively and go wide on January 17 for MLK Day weekend. The Tim Fehlbaum-directed movie is 86% fresh with critics on Rotten Tomatoes.

Meanwhile, Better Man, will still open exclusively on Christmas Day. But instead of going wide over MLK weekend, it now will go coast-to-coast on January 10. The Michael Gracey-directed feature is 87% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with critics.

Related: ‘Better Man’ Review: Robbie Williams Musical Wins Points For Most Unusual Star Casting In Movie Biopic History

Written by Moritz Binder and Fehlbaum, September 5 follows the ABC Sports control room in Germany during the 1972 Munich Summer Olympics as the sports-focused...

In a surprise move, Disney+/Hulu has just renewed one of their more underrated shows for a second season!

Disney+ and Hulu fans have complained on the tendency to cancel some promising shows after just one season. That includes the well-received Renegade Nell and American Born Chinese. It's the metrics of the business, and compared to, say, Netflix, Disney+ isn't quite as bad at axing shows too soon.

So it's a surprise that, almost a solid year after its first season premiered, Disney+ and Hulu have announced a second season for The Artful Dodger. Given the first year was mostly overlooked and it's been so long since it was completed, a second season coming in 2025 is a bit unexpected.

For those who haven't seen it before, The Artful Dodger is an Australian-made series that serves as a sequel to Oliver Dickens' classic novel, Oliver Twist. The premise is that Jack Dawkins,...

The Australian drama series The Artful Dodger will return for a second season on Hulu, it was announced today. The second season will be filmed in 2025 at the historic Callan Park in Sydney, Australia.

The eight-episode Season 2 stars Thomas Brodie-Sangster as Jack Dawkins, aka The Artful Dodger, David Thewlis as Fagin, and Maia Mitchell as Lady Belle Fox. They team up with a full ensemble of Australian and New Zealand cast members and several new faces in cameo roles.

Series co-creator James McNamara (The Outrageous True Story of Milky Moor) is leading the writing team, with Kate Mulvany, Dan Knight (Irreverent), and Miranda Tapsell also on board.

Ben Young and Gracie Otto serve as directors with Jeffrey Walker consulting.

The Artful Dodger Season 2 will pick up where the heart’s desires of Dodger, Fagin, and Lady Belle left off, promising more cunning thievery, snappy humor, life-and-death surgeries, and romance with a twist.

The Artful Dodger has been renewed for Season 2, it was announced on Wednesday morning — almost exactly one year after Season 1 of the Aussie crime dramedy dropped on Disney+ and Hulu.

Described as “an irreverent follow-up to Charles Dickens’ ‘Oliver Twist,'” the series follows Jack Dawkins aka The Artful Dodger (played by The Maze Runner‘s Thomas Brodie-Sangster) and his adult double life in the far-flung penal colony of Port Victory, Australia.

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The Artful Dodger‘s stay in Australia will continue for another season.

Disney+ and Hulu have given the hit Australian original a second season, with Thomas Brodie-Sangster returning as the cheeky thieving title character, aka Jack Dawkins, along with series regulars David Thewlis (Fagin) and Maia Mitchell (Lady Belle Fox).

They’ll lead an ensemble cast of Australian and New Zealand cast with “several new faces in exciting cameos.”

Filming will begin in 2025 at Callan Park in Sydney, picking up where the “heart’s desires of Dodger, Fagin and Lady Belle left off, promising more cunning thievery, snappy humor, life-and-death surgeries, and romance with a twist.”

The series is billed as an “an irreverent follow-up to Charles Dickens’ ‘Oliver Twist’, exploring his adult double life in the far-flung penal colony of Port Victory, Australia.” Brodie-Sangster’s Dawkins has turned his fast, pickpocketing fingers into the skilled hands of a surgeon.

As music-based biopics have slowly become a well-worn genre, directors have embraced new techniques and measures to shock audiences into theaters to watch their movies. Michael Gracey (The Greatest Showman) is doing exactly that with his upcoming biopic, Better Man, focused on British music icon Robbie Williams. So what is Gracey doing that's so revolutionary? Will Robbie Williams be made entirely of Lego (see Piece by Piece)? Is the musical sort of a musical, but not really a musical ( la Joker: Folie deux)? Or does he stray away from the true story and tell an epic tale of drug syndicates and Madonna tributes (like Weird: The Al Yankovic Story)? Nope, he turned Robbie Williams into a monkey.

Following the release of the first trailer for Better Man, Robbie Williams and Michael Gracey sat down to discuss the bizarre creative decision. Like a hard-hitting reporter, Williams opened the featurette with the question on everyone's minds,...

The trailer for Better Man has arrived. The upcoming musical biopic is the sophomore feature from the director of the smash hit 2017 musical The Greatest Showman. While it tells the story of English pop star Robbie Williams, who is known for being part of the group Take That as well as hit solo singles including "Rock DJ" and "Millennium," he will be presented as a CGI monkey, belying the filmmaker's background in visual effects. In addition to Williams voicing himself, the cast includes Jonno Davies, Steve Pemberton, and Alison Steadman.

Paramount Pictures has unveiled the official trailer for Better Man. Williams, who narrates the trailer, introduces the CGI monkey concept by explaining that "I've always seen myself a little less evolved." While the short clip, which is just over a minute long, features many typical music biopic elements, including a downtrodden childhood, a big concert, and party scenes, the peculiar...

Michael Gracey’s Better Man was sparked by a conversation with Robbie Williams in which the singer reportedly told the Greatest Showman filmmaker that he often views himself as a dancing monkey. The film presents the British pop bad boy as an anthropomorphized CG primate, who looks as if he walked out of one of the new Planet of the Apes movies. Walking a dizzying line between the stupid and the profound, this exuberant, positively unique biopic is as hard to resist as it is to believe that it got made in the first place.

Beginning with his youth in Staffordshire in the center of England, Better Man traces Williams’s career trajectory from his early days in youth theater, to his time as one-fifth of the boy band Take That, to his eventual emergence as a solo artist. Along the way, he grapples with the burden of fame, music...

Australian filmmaker Michael Gracey’s The Greatest Showman earned much love from audiences when it debuted seven years ago, and his return might just be one of the most ambitious movie musicals in years. Better Man swings for the fences, for better or worse, and while its intentions are noble, its execution is mixed at best.

Better Man Review

Better Man is a musical telling the story of British musician Robbie Williams, following him from his days in the boy band Take That to later branching out into a successful solo career in the late ‘90s. Although Williams is not as notable as some other British musicians who have recently gotten this treatment, like Freddie Mercury and Elton John, his story (at least as it is told here) follows pretty much the same beats.

The ensemble features solid performances from actors like Damon Herriman, Steve Pemberton, Kate Mulvany, and Karina Banno.

Kleo is a German spy action-thriller and dark comedy-drama series created by Hanno Hackfort, Richard Kropf, and Bob Konrad. The Netflix series is set in 1989, soon after the fall of the Berlin Wall and it follows the story of a former East German spy as she goes on a revenge mission to kill people who betrayed her. Kleo stars Jella Haase in the lead role with Dimitrij Schaad, Julius Feldmeier, Vincent Redetzki, and Marta Sroka starring in supporting roles. So, if you loved the dark comedy, thrilling drama, and espionage in Kleo here are some similar shows you should check out next.

Killing Eve Credit – BBC America

Killing Eve is a British spy thriller and dark comedy-drama series created by Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Based on a novel series titled Villanelle by author Luke Jennings, the BBC America series revolves around a bored British intelligence agent who is tasked with tracking down psychotic assassin,...

The Sympathizer is a period spy thriller and dark comedy series created by Park Chan-wook and Don McKellar. Based on a 2015 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name by Vietnamese author Viet Thanh Nguyen, the HBO series follows the story of the Captain, a North Vietnam spy planted in the army of South Vietnam but when he is forced to flee to the United States, he keeps gathering information on his community to send it back to the Viet Cong. The Sympathizer stars Hoa Xuande in the lead role with Robert Downey Jr., Toan Le, Fred Nguyen Khan, Duy Nguyễn, Vy Le, Ky Duyen, Kieu Chinh, Alan Trong, and Sandra Oh starring in supporting roles. If you loved the spy thriller and dark comedy aspects of The Sympathizer here are some similar shows you could watch next.

The Americans (Hulu & Rent on Prime Video) Credit – FX

The Americans is a...

After a very memorable supporting role in Hawkeye. Echo is back with her very own original series that will be MCU’s first TV-ma-rated series. Starring Alaqua Cox in the lead of Maya Lopez aka Echo, the Disney+ series follows the story of Echo after the events of Hawkeye as she runs to her hometown after trying to kill the Kingpin. Still the crime that she commited in her past catch up to her while the mystery behind her ancestors slowly reveals itself. Echo also stars Vincent D’Onofrio, Devery Jacobs, Chaske Spencer, Zahn McClarnon, Cody Lightning, and Graham Greene. So, if you loved the MCU’s latest superhero series here are some similar shows you might find entertaining to watch.

Hawkeye (Disney+) Credit – Disney+

Hawkeye has to be one of the most underrated Marvel series that starred an Avenger in the lead role. Hawkeye also first introduced the character of Echo in the MCU,...

Exclusive: Hugo Weaving is leading Australian streamer Binge’s first original film, How to Make Gravy.

The Lord of the Rings and The Matrix star will lead an ensemble cast alongside side Daniel Henshall in the feature.

Brenton Thwaites (Titans, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales), Damon Herriman (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Mr Inbetween), Kate Mulvany (The Twelve, Hunters) and French actress Agathe Rouselle (Titane) in her debut English-language performance will also star, with more cast members to be announced. The film will also feature cameo performances from Australian musicians, including Adam Briggs and rising rap talent Dallas Woods.

How to Make Gravy is based on Paul Kelly’s iconic Australian song that tells the story of an inmate writing a letter home as his family prepares to celebrate their first Christmas without him. The 1996 song has such a place in Australian hearts that Gravy Day,...

Some demons from the past refuse to stay there, as seen in The Clearing. Based on the J.P. Pomare novel of the same name, the psychological thriller centers on a woman raised in a cult as a child who sets out to put a stop to their actions when a group of girls go missing in Australia.

Teresa Palmer (I Am Number Four) leads the cast of The Clearing alongside Miranda Otto, Guy Pearce, Julia Savage, Hazem Shammas, Kate Mulvany, Xavier Samuel, Anna Lise Phillips, Mark Coles Smith, Harry Greenwood, and Errol Shand. Balancing the vulnerability of younger minds being shaped by cult mentality with a kidnapping thriller, The Clearing is a haunting series from start to finish.

Related: New On Hulu: All 139 Movies & TV Shows Arriving In May

In anticipation of the show's premiere, Screen Rant spoke exclusively with stars Julia Savage and Guy Pearce to discuss The Clearing,...

Hulu brings viewers on a shocking, chilling journey in its new psychological thriller series, “The Clearing.” Based on J. P. Pomare’s book, “In the Clearing,” the series follows a woman who has no choice but to confront her past if she wants to protect children in the future. The series debuts on Hulu on Wednesday, May 24. Two episodes will be available to stream on-demand on Wednesday and then one new episode will release each week. You can watch The Clearing with a subscription to Disney+. You can watch The Clearing with a 30-Day Free Trial of Hulu.

How to Watch ‘The Clearing’ Series Premiere When: Wednesday, May 24, 2023 Where: Hulu Stream: Watch with a subscription to Disney+ and 30-Day Free Trial of Hulu. Sign Up Now$7.99+ / month disneyplus.com

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30-Day Free Trial$7.99+ / month hulu.com About ‘The Clearing’ Series Premiere

In “The Clearing,...

Hulu is all set to launch its brand-new psychological thriller series, The Clearing. The Australian drama thriller series is inspired by a haunting, real-life story about a local cult led by an ominous woman who manipulated children and teenagers. Based on the best-selling novel In The Clearing by J.P. Pomare, the Hulu original series is created by Elise McCredie and Matt Cameron, and directed by Jeffrey Walker and Gracie Otto. The Clearing follows a woman who tries to stop a dangerous cult from kidnapping children, but first, she must confront her own demons and past nightmares. A Discovery of Witches star Teresa Palmer headlines the cast of this new Australian series, along with Mare of Easttown star Guy Pearce and The Lord of the Rings star Miranda Otto in major roles. The stellar cast of the series also features some of the most recognized names in Australian film and television,...

Oliver (Martin Short), Charles (Steve Martin) and Mabel (Selena Gomez) in ‘Only Murders in the Building’ season 2 (Photo by: Craig Blankenhorn/Hulu)

New seasons of Only Murders in the Building, The Kardashians, and This Fool will premiere this summer on Hulu. The streaming service released premiere dates and plot descriptions for its summer 2023 programming lineup, which includes the return – after a decade-long break – of the popular animated comedy Futurama.

Hulu’s roster of new films joining the streaming service this summer includes White Men Can’t Jump (the remake) and Flamin’ Hot, the directorial debut of Eva Longoria. Hulu’s also set summer premiere dates for the documentaries Queenmaker: The Making of An It Girl, The Jewel Thief, Anthem, The Randall Scandal: Love, Loathing, and Vanderpump, and Jelly Roll: Save Me.

Hulu’S Summer 2023 Series:

How I Met Your Father

Premiere Date: May 23, 2023 (One episode weekly)

Finale date: July 11, 2023 (Two episode...

J.P. Pomare’s page-turning crime thriller The Clearing was a potent mix of intrigue and darkness as it tracked the real-life cults in Australia and around the globe. Hulu’s eight-part adaptation does the bestseller justice and then some. It’s a psychological thriller, as intriguing to watch as it is thought-provoking. Chilling, in fact. You can’t keep your eyes off it.

The Clearing follows the nightmares of a cult and a woman who’s forced to face the horrors of her past so that she can stop the kidnapping and coercion of innocent children. The standout cast here features Teresa Palmer (Discovery of Witches), Miranda Otto (Homeland), Guy Pearce (Mare of Easttown), Hazem Shammas, Mark Coles-Smith, Kate Mulvany, and Julia Savage in a head-turning role.

Filmed across Victoria, The Clearing was created and written by Elise McCredie (Stateless) and Matt Cameron (Jack Irish), with co-writer Osamah Sami. Jeffrey Walker...

The world of Australian cults is being explored with The Clearing. Inspired by both J.P. Pomare's novel In the Clearing and the real-life group The Family, governed by female charismatic leader Anne Hamilton-Byrne, the psychological thriller series revolves around a woman who is forced to face the demons of her past to save young girls being kidnapped by a cult.

Teresa Palmer leads the cast of The Clearing alongside Miranda Otto, Guy Pearce, Julia Savage, Hazem Shammas, Kate Mulvany, Xavier Samuel, Anna Lise Phillips, Mark Coles Smith, Harry Greenwood, and Errol Shand. Exploring the harsh reality of cult brainwashing and Stockholm syndrome, the series is a powerfully acted and gripping tale.

Related: New On Hulu: All 139 Movies & TV Shows Arriving In May

Ahead of the show's premiere, Screen Rant spoke exclusively with stars Teresa Palmer and Miranda Otto to discuss The Clearing, getting to the heart of their characters,...

Standing before technicolor stained glass, her golden curls gleaming, Adrienne Beaufort (Miranda Otto) resembles a saint. She preaches her gospel to a room full of acolytes, decrying materialism and urging the washing away of sin. Then she showcases what might one day be the crowning achievement of her spiritual movement: her family of nearly a dozen children. Most of them have had their hair dyed platinum blond and chopped into harsh bangs and bobs—crude reflections of Adrienne’s own exquisite styling. “They are as pure and untainted as it is possible to be,” Adrienne says to the crowd. “A generation raised away from the suffocating rules of society. Nurtured under the most perfect conditions.”

Adapted by Matt Cameron and Elise McCredie from J.P. Pomare’s 2019 novel In the Clearing, Hulu’s The Clearing is inspired by the real-life Australian cult known as “The Family,” which operated in the latter half of the 20th century.

Plot: An emotional and psychological thriller that follows the nightmares of a cult and a woman who’s forced to face the demons from her past in order to stop the kidnapping and coercion of innocent children in the future. The series burrows under the skin and inside the mind, blurring the lines between past and present, reality and nightmare in a truly unnerving way.

Review: We cover a lot of series here at JoBlo.com, but most are produced Stateside. With so many shows out there, it is challenging to pick and choose international productions. Occasionally, a series boasts a cast that is too impressive to pass up. The Clearing, based on a novel by J.P.Pomare and inspired by an actual cult, stars a stellar roster of Australian talent, including Teresa Palmer, Mirando Otto, Guy Pearce, Kate Mulvany, and more. While cultural elements make this series distinctly foreign,...

Movies based on cults make up for great concepts not just because we encounter some of them in real life but also because the writers add an eerie element to them. Although gory horror films such as Wrong Turn aren't based on actual events, the recent Wrong Turn: The Foundation is not far from true stories that may have occurred in the real world. These movies show the dreadful reality of cults, which seem to adhere to a false belief system and commit unspeakable atrocities in the name of their cause.

The upcoming psychological thriller The Clearing seeks to keep up the trend by focusing on an exceptionally unique notion. The series, which consists of eight episodes, is based on distressing true stories that occurred in various cults across Australia. Miranda Otto, Teresa Palmer, and Guy Pearce appear in the series based on J. P. Pomare's best-selling novel. While we're discussing this psychological thriller,...

"You must be cleared of all your sins... Are you ready for your 'clearing'?" Hulu has unveiled the full-length trailer for an Australian streaming series called The Clearing, about a freaky cult stealing young kids. It's described as a "gripping psychological thriller about a religious cult wreaking human havoc." Available to watch on Hulu at the end of May. Set against a ticking clock, this "haunting" & "atmospheric" thriller pits a ruthless cult against a mother's love, revealing that our darkest secrets are the hardest ones to leave behind. This driven mother tries to prevent a cult from gathering more innocent children. It's an adaptation of the book In The Clearing by J.P. Pomare. Starring an impressive cast lead by Teresa Palmer, Miranda Otto, and Guy Pearce, with Julia Savage, Hazem Shammas, Mark Coles Smith, Kate Mulvany, Xavier Samuel, and Claudia Karvan. Looks like a chilling story with some unsettling undertones and imagery,...

A couple weeks ago, the Hulu streaming service unveiled a teaser trailer for their upcoming eight-part psychological thriller series The Clearing, which is set to premiere with two episodes on May 24. With the premiere date now just three weeks away, the streamer has released a full trailer for the show, and you can check it out in the embed above.

Based on the best-selling crime novel In the Clearing by author J.P. Pomare and said to be “inspired by the darkness of real-life cults in Australia and around the world“, The Clearing is an emotional and psychological thriller that follows the nightmares of a cult and a woman who’s forced to face the demons from her past in order to stop the kidnapping and coercion of innocent children in the future. The series burrows under the skin and inside the mind, blurring the lines between past and present, reality...

The upcoming Hulu Original Series “The Clearing,” based on the best-selling crime thriller In The Clearing by author J.P. Pomare, unveiled a first trailer this afternoon that gives a closer look at the cult at the center of the series.

In the new trailer, one character ominously asks a child, “Are you ready for your Clearing?”

Watch it below.

“The Clearing” is created and written by Elise McCredie and Matt Cameron, with co-writer Osamah Sami, and draws inspiration from real-life cults in Australia and around the world. Look for this series to arrive next month, on May 24, 2023.

The eight-episode series is “an emotional and psychological thriller that follows the nightmares of a cult and a woman who’s forced to face the demons from her past in order to stop the kidnapping and coercion of innocent children in the future.”

Teresa Palmer (“Discovery of Witches,” Lights Out), Miranda Otto (Talk to Me,...

The Hulu streaming service has released a teaser trailer for their upcoming psychological thriller series The Clearing, and you can check it out in the embed above. Based on the best-selling crime novel In the Clearing by author J.P. Pomare, this eight-part series is set to premiere with two episodes on May 24. The remaining six episodes will be released on a weekly basis, with a new episode arriving on Hulu every Wednesday.

Said to be “inspired by the darkness of real-life cults in Australia and around the world“, The Clearing is an emotional and psychological thriller that follows the nightmares of a cult and a woman who’s forced to face the demons from her past in order to stop the kidnapping and coercion of innocent children in the future. The series burrows under the skin and inside the mind, blurring the lines between past and present, reality and nightmare in a truly unnerving way…...

The upcoming Hulu Original Series “The Clearing,” based on the best-selling crime thriller In The Clearing by author J.P. Pomare, unveiled a first look teaser today that introduces its cast and nightmarish psychological thrills.

“The Clearing” is created and written by Elise McCredie and Matt Cameron, with co-writer Osamah Sami, and draws inspiration from real-life cults in Australia and around the world. Look for this series to arrive next month, on May 24, 2023.

The eight-episode series is “an emotional and psychological thriller that follows the nightmares of a cult and a woman who’s forced to face the demons from her past in order to stop the kidnapping and coercion of innocent children in the future.”

Teresa Palmer (“Discovery of Witches,” Lights Out), Miranda Otto (Talk to Me, Annabelle: Creation), and Guy Pearce (Prometheus, Ravenous) lead the Australian cast that also includes Hazem Shammas (“Safe Harbour”), Mark Coles-Smith (“Mystery Road”), Kate Mulvany...

"You must show me that you can take care of your family." Hulu has revealed the first look teaser trailer for an Australian streaming series called The Clearing, which is described as a "gripping psychological thriller about a religious cult wreaking human havoc." It will be streaming on Hulu to watch at the end of May, in just over a month from now. This is an adaptation of the book In The Clearing by J.P. Pomare. Set against a ticking clock, this "haunting" & "atmospheric" thriller pits a ruthless cult against a mother's love, revealing that our darkest secrets are the hardest ones to leave behind. This driven mother tries to prevent a cult from gathering more innocent children. Starring an impressive cast lead by Teresa Palmer, Miranda Otto, and Guy Pearce, with Julia Savage, Hazem Shammas, Mark Coles Smith, Kate Mulvany, Xavier Samuel, and Claudia Karvan. This blonde-haired cult seems so disturbing and wicked.

[Warning: The below contains Major spoilers for Hunters Season 2 Episodes 1-8.] Hunters‘ second season has finally answered the question of what would happen if Hitler survived World War II, and despite delivering justice by infiltrating his secret compound and delivering him to authorities for a trial, Jonah (Logan Lerman) and his team of Nazi hunters left the series on a bit of an open page. While Hitler was tried, a fake-out medical event almost helped him escape imprisonment until the Hunters stepped in. Now, with the big man behind bars, has the team’s plight come to an end? It’s a conundrum Jonah is faced with after Harriet (Kate Mulvany) shares information about his grandmother’s killer. She’s learned through records that Ruth (Jeannie Berlin) had become aware of Meyer’s (Al Pacino) true identity as a Nazi in hiding, Wilhelm “The Wolf” Zuchs. (Credit: Prime Video) The reveal is confirmed in a parallel storyline...

Series

Sky has revealed a four-part documentary series that will explore the rise and fall of former Spanish King Juan Carlos I, who for years was celebrated as a progressive icon, until scandal and allegations surrounding his financial arrangements led to his abdication in 2014.

Told from the perspective of his close friends and confidants, palace insiders, former intelligence officials and critics, the series looks at the former King’s personal life including affairs, allegations of corruption, and alleged abuse of power – leading up to and including the events and circumstances of his abdication.

It is produced by Emmy nominated Christian Beetz, who created the series with Anne von Petersdorff and Georg Tschurtschenthaler from Gebrüder Beetz Filmproduktion, and author Pedro Barbadillo. Executive producers at Sky Deutschland are Christian Asanger and Felix Kempter, and for Sky Studios, Barnaby Shingleton. It is being produced by Gebrüder Beetz Filmproduktion in association with Sky Studios.

Hunters had a swift and immediate impact when it first arrived in 2020. With a cultural reckoning and white nationalism being alive and well in America (and abroad), Hunters premiered with guns blazing, and it was right on time. Unlike the feel-good satirical romp Jojo Rabbit, Hunters was a raw demonstration of fiction effectively critiquing, calling out, and acknowledging past and present issues regarding white nationalism in the U.S. The alternate historical show was designed to make noise, and its second season aims to do the same.

To recap: After the murder of his grandmother, Jonah (Logan Lerman) was inducted into the secret group of Nazi hunters set on eradicating the Fourth Reich. Meyer (Al Pacino), Jonah’s surprise grandfather and mentor, proved to be someone else entirely. Sister Harriet (Kate Mulvany) is shown to be playing a bigger game with an unknown boss. Joe (Louis Ozawa) has been kidnapped and brought to Argentina,...

The first season of Prime Video’s “Hunters” series followed a fictional crew of civilians in late ‘70s New York who took out Nazis hiding in the US following Operation Paperclip. The team not only uncovered a German conspiracy to birth a Fourth Reich on American soil but discovered that one of their own was a former member of the Nazi regime.

The hit squad returns after almost a three-year hiatus for a second and final season this week, and features the entire team returning — including former MI6 agent and warrior nun Sister Harriet (Kate Mulvany), hacker and former Black Power movement member Roxy Jones (Tiffany Boone), munitions expert and Holocaust survivor Mindy Markowitz (Carol Kane), flamboyant actor and intel specialist Lonny Flash (Josh Radnor), former Marine Joe Torrance (Louis Ozawa Changchien) and new leader and codebreaker Jonah Heidelbaum (Logan Lerman). Jerrika Hinton also returns as FBI Agent turned Hunter...

Plot: After an accident derails their exploits in Europe, The Hunters must band back together to hunt down history’s most infamous Nazi—Adolf Hitler—who’s hiding in South America. Meanwhile, a look to the past reveals Meyer Offerman (Al Pacino) encountering a dangerous threat that could unravel his secret and expose his true identity, with explosive reverberations for our Hunters.

Review: It is rare to see a television series go out on its own terms after such a short time on the air. Despite premiering three years ago, the second season of Hunters was delayed due to Covid-19. After so many years away, the dramatic series about Nazi hunters in the 1970s returns with a vastly different sophomore season which also serves as its last. I enjoyed the first season of this pulpy exploitation thriller, but I loved the second despite it feeling like a wholly different series.

Screen Rant is thrilled to present an exclusive clip from Hunters season 2, which lands on Prime Video this week after much anticipation. The first season, which originally premiered to great fanfare back in February 2020, followed a group of misfits who banded together to track down Nazis planning to create a Fourth Reich in the United States in the 1970s. Created by David Weil, Hunters is led by Logan Lerman (Bullet Train) and Al Pacino, while also featuring a talented ensemble cast that includes Josh Radnor, Greg Austin, Tiffany Boone, Louis Ozawa, and Kate Mulvany.

Hunters season 1 saw young Jonah Heidelbaum (Lerman) become part of the crew in place of his grandmother, who was tragically murdered and whose killer he swore to take down as he hunted Nazis under the tutelage of Meyer Offerman (Pacino). But nothing was as it seemed in the conspiracy-laden show, and Offerman was eventually revealed to...

The latest look at Amazon's Hunters season 2 highlights the group's chase for the world's most notorious villain, Adolf Hitler. The historical fiction series first premiered on the streamer in February 2020. The show followed a dynamic group of Nazi hunters in the heart of 1977 New York City who tracked numerous former Nazi officers who relocated to the United States following the war's end. Although the wait for the second season of Hunters has been longer than expected, it was recently revealed that the upcoming season would act as the series' last.

Amazon Prime Video has now revealed the first full-length trailer for the upcoming second season of the hit historical fiction series, Hunters. The action-packed trailer dives head first into the latest chapter for the famed group of Nazi hunters as they navigate Europe, recruit new members, and desperately hunt for Hitler in the latest taste of the upcoming blood-splattered final season.

The group of Hunters is once again teaming up to search for history’s most infamous Nazi, in the newly released trailer for the second season of Prime Video’s Hunters.

Nearly three years after the premiere of the first season, Al Pacino, Logan Lerman, Jerrika Hinton, Lena Olin, Josh Radnor, Tiffany Boone, Carol Kane, Louis Ozawa, Kate Mulvany and Greg Austin return for the final installment. Series regular Jennifer Jason Leigh also joins the cast.

After setting out for revenge and justice against escaped Nazis living in America in season one, the group of Nazi hunters is taking their quest overseas in the final season. When an accident derails their escapades in Europe, the Hunters come together to hunt down Adolf Hitler, who they believe is hiding in South America. “You bring Hitler to justice, and it’s done, Jonah [Lerman]. You can finally be free,” Pacino’s character, Meyer Offerman,...

Prime Video's Nazi-hunting series "Hunters" returns this month for a second season that has turned out to be its last, and what better way for a show like this to go out than by taking down the biggest target of all? Yep, that's right: David Weil's assassin dream team is tracking no less than Adolf Hitler himself this time around, after the first season finale revealed that the genocidal dictator is seemingly still alive in South America in the 1970's.

Also seemingly still alive? Al Pacino's Meyer Offerman, aka "The Wolf," an infamous Nazi who spent the show's first season pretending to be a Holocaust survivor himself. Logan Lerman's Jonah killed The Wolf at the end of season 1, but Pacino's still here, possibly taunting the mathematician's dreams from beyond the grave. "Come on, my friend, you look as if you've seen a ghost," he says to the camera.