Deadline Hollywood - Contenders Film: London - 10/12/24
Hosted by award winning filmmaker John Ridley and Deadline’s Documentary Editor Matt Carey, Doc Talk features weekly interviews with filmmakers, storytellers and industry leaders about creating critical content with the power to move the genre forward—and possibly change the world.
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BLEECKER STREET/ STUDIOCANAL
WARNER BROS. PICTURES AND LEGENDARY PICTURES
ORION PICTURES AND AMAZON
MGM STUDIOS
NETFLIX
PRESENTATIONS
Saturday, October 12, 2024
Hard Truths Dune: Part Two
NETFLIX/BBC
Nickel Boys Emilia Pérez
NETFLIX
DREAMWORKS ANIMATION
Lettering By ANDREW FOOTIT
Cover Illustration By JASON LEE
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
The Piano Lesson
The Wild Robot
Mike Leigh (Writer/Director)
Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Actor)
Michele Austin (Actor)
Denis Villeneuve (Co-Writer/Director/Producer)
Mary Parent (Producer)
Tanya Lapointe (Producer)
RaMell Ross (Co-Writer/Director)
Ethan Herisse (Actor)
Brandon Wilson (Actor)
Jacques Audiard (Writer/Director)
Karla Sofía Gascón (Actor)
Zoe Saldaña (Actor)
Adriana Paz (Actor)
Selena Gomez (Actor)
Nick Park (Director)
Merlin Crossingham (Director)
Carla Shelley (EP)
Malcolm Washington (Co-Writer/Director)
John David Washington (Actor)
Danielle Deadwyler (Actor)
Alexandre Desplat (Composer)
Chris Sanders (Writer/Director)
Kris Bowers (Composer)
Lupita Nyong’o (Actor)
SPONSOR
Back to Blighty
Hot from Hollywood, Deadline’s Contenders event returns to London
By Antonia Blyth
Hello London!
And welcome to Deadline’s Contenders event. We’re back—bringing you some of the season’s hottest films in the awards race.
As Contenders regulars will know, this is our event specially designed for true movie lovers—so get ready for some juicy teaser clips and star-studded panels packed with creative talent.
Speaking of talent, we’ll have Emilia Pérez’s breakout lead actress Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez, Zoe Saldaña, Adriana Paz and writer-director Jacques Audiard in the house. The
TOWER BRIDGE
James Bond and “the Queen” flew through the bridge in a helicopter during the 2012 London Olympics Opening Ceremony.
film is France’s International submission for Oscar and all four actresses already shared the Best Actress award at Cannes earlier this year.
Another legendary name on our docket is Denis Villeneuve. He’ll be on our stage to discuss Dune: Part Two with producers Mary Parent and Tanya Lapointe so you’ll hear all about their approach to a second round of the epic hit sci-fi sequel with its all-star cast.
Malcolm Washington’s feature debut The Piano Lesson tugs at family ties, both on and off-screen, as his brother, John David Washington,
will be here with Danielle Deadwyler and two-time Oscar-winning composer Alexandre Desplat to talk about a film steeped in generational connection. Also, in the family-tension business, only on this side of the pond, is Mike Leigh. He’s serving up some Hard Truths, and will be here with
actors Marianne JeanBaptiste and Michele Austin. Then there are those British national treasures: Wallace & Gromit—the cheesemotivated stop-motion duo that kicked off Aardman’s adventures with director Nick Park. The hapless Wallace and his wily hound Gromit cross paths with an
errant gnome in Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl. Joining Park on the panel is co-director Merlin Crossingham and executive producer Carla Shelley to talk about their work that delights all ages. And the same goes for The Wild Robot. Chris Sanders wrote and directed Dreamworks
Animation’s heart-warming story of a lost robot that must assimilate to life in a forest, and learn some lessons on prejudice, empathy and love along the way. Sanders will be here with lead actress Lupita Nyong’o and composer Kris Bowers. And taking a very different point of view on a comingof-age story is RaMell Ross, with Nickel Boys—a film based on a harrowing true story that drops you directly into the eyeline of the action, with stars Ethan Herisse (When They See
Us) and Brandon Wilson (The Way Back). Watch the teaser and the panel and you’ll see just what I mean. Now, all you have to do is sit back, relax and enjoy this delicious taste of the season’s great cinema.
“As Contenders regulars will know, this is our event specially designed for true movie lovers—so get ready for some juicy teaser clips and star-studded panels packed with creative talent.”
LONDON EYE
Featured in Wimbledon, Thunderbirds, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and Paddington the movie, along with well-known TV programs such as The Simpsons, Doctor Who, Sherlock and The Apprentice.
BIG BEN Ben Ben first appeared in a film in Stage Fright in 1950. Since then, London’s iconic clock tower has had a supporting role in a long list of films, including Peter Pan (1953), The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), V For Vendetta (2006), Spectre (2015) and London Has Fallen (2016).
MODERATORS Meet the
The Deadline staffers who’ll be guiding you through this year’s Contenders
YOUR MODERATORS
ANTONIA BLYTH Senior Awards Editor, AwardsLine
Antonia has contributed to Deadline and AwardsLine’s print magazines since 2014. A native Brit based in LA, prior to joining she covered West Coast entertainment for ELLE. com, and her work has been featured in The Guardian, U.K. Marie Claire and InStyle. She has written a New York Times bestselling nonfiction book, appears on television as an entertainment expert and is host of the
podcast 20 Questions on Deadline.
BAZ BAMIGBOYE Columnist/ International Editor At Large
Baz joined Deadline in 2022 after three decades as entertainment columnist for the U.K. Daily Mail, where he covered film, theater and television in London, New York and
UNDERGROUND SIGN
Hollywood. Prior to that he was based in New York for three years for The Sun. He covered crime & entertainment for the London Evening Standard; before that he worked for local newspapers, and got his start at a London news agency covering general news, criminal courts and entertainment. He has won a U.K. Press Award for show business reporter of the year
Many feature films have included sequences shot on London’s famous underground trains but Underground in 1928 from talented young prodigy Anthony Asquith was the first. The tube has been an integral part of London life for well over half a century. All our favourite protocols (giving up seats, reading over people’s shoulders, invasion of body space) and other tube-specific behaviour are exhibited here.
and received a special British Independent Film Award for services to indie film. He supports Arsenal FC. On occasion he has been known to sing. Please don’t allow him to do this.
MELANIE GOODFELLOW
Senior International Film Correspondent
Melanie joined Deadline in 2022 as Senior International Film Correspondent. She came from U.K. trade Screen International, where she spent a decade covering film and TV news out of France, Europe and the Middle East. She has also worked for Variety and Moving Pictures as well as the U.K. broadsheet The Independent, entertainment magazine Heat and Japan’s The Daily Yomiuri, working out of London, Rome, Brussels, Tokyo and Jerusalem. Melanie originally trained in journalism at Reuters and spent four years there in the mid1990s as a reporter.
DIANA LODDERHOSE
International Features Editor
Diana has been working in global film journalism since 2005.
Before returning to Deadline in 2021 to focus on features for international film and television, she was previously International Reporter for the site. She is based in London and has frequently covered all the major film festivals and markets including Cannes, Berlin, AFM, Toronto and Sundance. Prior to joining Deadline, Diana was the U.K. correspondent for Variety and also covered film news and box office at Screen International.
ZAC NTIM
International Reporter
Zac joined Deadline in 2022 from Insider/ Business Insider, where he started as an intern before being promoted to staff reporter. After joining the site’s entertainment team in 2020 he wrote profiles and covered film and TV as well as film festivals. He is currently based in London.
TELEPHONE BOX
Director Alfred Hitchcock had a special affinity for the iconic vermillion phone boxes. The earliest example of this was in his silent thriller Blackmail (1929). Frank (John Longden) reveals a glove that Alice (Anny Ondra) left at the scene of a murder inside a telephone box, only to then hide this evidence from the authorities.
FILMS The
BLEECKER STREET/ STUDIOCANAL
● Hard Truths
Written and directed by Mike Leigh, the movie explores the juxtaposing lives of Pansy (Marianne JeanBaptiste) a neurotic, combative wife and mother, and her younger sister Chantelle (Michele Austin) a calmer, optimistic single mother who is a source of comfort in their community. Pansy, wracked with worry, must challenge herself to attempt a reconciliation with her cheery sister. It also stars David Webber and Tuwaine Barrett.
DREAMWORKS ANIMATION
● The Wild Robot
The Wild Robot based on Peter Brown’s 2016 bestseller, follows Rozzum 7134 (Lupita Nyong’o), aka ‘Roz’ —a brand new robot that gets shipwrecked during a typhoon on an island populated with animals but no humans. Roz has no idea how to interact with them, never
having seen any of these creatures before. While on the island, Roz discovers an unhatched egg of a gosling named Brightbill (Kit Connor). Unbeknownst to the new arrival, Roz was inadvertently responsible for his family’s death, but she makes up for it and becomes the unlikeliest of adoptive mothers, joined by an energetic fox named Fink (Pedro Pascal). While on their adventures they aim to keep the gosling safe from all those inherent predators lurking in the ocean and on the island.
ORION PICTURES/ AMAZON MGM STUDIOS
●
Nickel Boys
Based on Colson Whitehead’s book The Nickel Boys and directed by RaMell Ross, the film chronicles the deep friendship between two teenagers (Ethan Herisse and Brandon Wilson) who have to overcome the shocking brutality and horrific discriminatory regulations of a Florida reform school in the Jim Crow South. The film also stars Daveed Diggs, Hamish Linklater and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor.
NETFLIX
● Emilia Pérez
Emilia Peréz utilizes song, dance and bold visuals to capture the lives of four remarkable women in Mexico as they seek their own happiness. Among them is Rita (Zoe Saldaña), an unappreciated lawyer stuck in a dead-end job, who agrees to help the fearsome cartel leader Emilia (Karla Sofía Gascón) fake her death so that she can finally live authentically as her
The FILMS
true self. It also stars Selena Gomez, Adriana Paz and Édgar Ramírez.
● The Piano Lesson
Marking the feature debut of Denzel Washington’s son, Malcolm Washington, the film is set in 1936 Pittsburgh during the aftermath of the Great Depression, as a battle brews in the Charles household. At the center of the feud between two brothers is a prized heirloom piano. On one side, a brother (Malcom’s real-life brother John David Washington) plans to build the family fortune by selling it. On the other hand, a sister (Danielle Deadwyler) will go to any lengths to hold onto the sole vestige of the family’s heritage. Their uncle (Samuel L. Jackson) tries to mediate, but even he can’t hold back the ghosts of the past.
NETFLIX/BBC
● Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
In this new adventure for dynamic duo Wallace & Gromit, Gromit becomes seriously concerned that Wallace (Ben Whitehead) is becoming too dependent on his inventions, and his fears are proven right when Wallace’s new ‘Smart Gnome’ Norbot seems to develop a mind of its own. When a vengeful figure from their past is revealed as the mastermind behind Norbot, Gromit must battle sinister forces to save Wallace.
WARNER BROS. PICTURES/LEGENDARY PICTURES
● Dune: Part Two
The film, directed by Denis Villeneuve, continues the saga of Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) as he journeys with the Fremen to battle the Harkonnen empire and fulfill his prophecy as the chosen messiah. It also stars Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, Christopher Walken and Stellan Skarsgård.
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2024
Doors open at 8:30 a.m. Event starts at 9:30 a.m.
DIRECTORS GUILD OF AMERICA
7920 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90046
VIRTUAL LIVESTREAM
Deadline welcomes you to attend Contenders Film: Los Angeles, an exclusive in-person event that puts you in the same room as the creators, filmmakers and talent from the current season's highly talked about films. Get first-hand insights on what went into the making of these buzzy films ahead of peak awards season.
CONTENDERS CROSSWORD #2
British Movies
ACROSS
1 Whispery video category that gives people tingles
5 Skilled
10 Choices of time
14 Seehorn of Better Call Saul
15 Massacre site of 1968
16 Scholastic sports group
17 1969 Peter O’Toole musical set in England?
20 America’s Got Talent judge Mandel
21 Certain fraternity chapter
22 “___ Hot American Summer”
23 “Zip it!”
25 1992 Robert Redford caper set in England?
27 Tightwad
31 1985 comedy with the joke “Flames, on the side of my face, breathing-breathlheaving breaths”
32 Singer Shannon
33 Michael of R.E.M.
35 Nose-in-the-air type
38 Moo goo ___ pan
39 1960 Jack Lemmon rom-com set in England?
42 Prefix with dermis
43 Aretha Franklin’s singing sister
45 Because of
46 “Are We There ___?” (Ice Cube comedy)
47 Not to mention
50 Fade away
52 With 62-Across, 1983 Chevy Chase comedy set in England
55 High-speed Internet inits.
56 Smelter input
57 Small intake
58 Stupid
62 See 52-Across
67 Alpine transport
68 Sherpa’s home
69 TV’s Nick at ___
70 Best Breakthrough Athlete Award, for one
71 “I rock!”
72 Till stack
DOWN
1 Exasperated outcry
2 Spot remover?
3 Cat call
4 Salad slice
5 Adams of The Fighter
6 Salon application
7 Freddy Krueger’s street
8 Fruit-peeling device
9 It’s always sold in mint condition
10 Cuckoo bird
11 Publishing house started by Dave Eggers
12 Moon (1973 Ryan and Tatum O’Neal film)
13 Spars
18 Bidding
19 Commuting option
24 “What ___ God wrought?”
25 NHRA drag racing class
26 Greek letters
27 ___ of Tomorrow (2014 Tom Cruise movie)
28 Archie Bunker’s creator
29 Graphical representation of prevailing weather patterns of an area
