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House of the Dragon finally redeemed Game of Thrones for its terrible ending and it seems that the fans of the high fantasy series are getting back up on the Got train. Based on George R.R. Martin‘s book Fire & Blood, the Game of Thrones prequel series takes place 200 years before the events of the original series and it revolves around the internal conflicts of the House of Targaryen. House of the Dragon stars Matt Smith as Daemon Targaryen, Rhys Ifans as Otta Hightower, Steve Toussaint as Corlys Velaryon, Eve Best as Rhaenys Velaryon, Sonoya Mizuno as Mysaria, and Fabien Frankel as Criston Cole. So, if you loved the high fantasy, political drama, brutal violence, and medieval setting in House of the Dragon here are some similar shows you could watch next.

Game of Thrones (Max & Rent on Prime Video) Credit – HBO

Game of Thrones is an epic fantasy and...

Those About to Die is an epic sword-and-sandal historical drama series created by Robert Rodat. Based on the 1958 novel of the same name by author Daniel P. Mannix, the Peacock series revolves around the lives of the gladiators and citizens of the Roman Empire in Ancient Rome, where violence, greed, and lust run rampant. Those About to Die stars Anthony Hopkins, Iwan Rheon, Sara Martins-Court, Tom Hughes, Jojo Macari, Moe Hashim, Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson, Rupert Penry-Jones, Gabriella Pession, Dimitri Leonidas, and Emilio Sakraya. So, if you loved the epic fights, brutal violence, and historical drama in Those About to Die here are some similar shows you could watch next.

Rome (Max & Rent on Prime Video) Credit – HBO

Rome is a historical drama series created by John Milius, William J. MacDonald, and Bruno Heller. The HBO series is set in the 1st century BC during Ancient Rome’s transition from Republic to Empire,...

Julie Walters (National Treasure) and Clarke Peters (The Wire) are fronting a dark, irreverent drama based around a death pact for broadcaster Channel 4.

They will star in Clerkenwell Films’ six-part Truelove, which is written by from Iain Weatherby (Humans) and co-created with Charlie Covell. She wrote the tonally similar Channel 4 and Netflix drama The End Of The F***ing World — another Clerkenwell production.

With a core cast in their 60s and 70s, Channel 4 says the series “breaks the rules for older characters on screen and flips ageist tropes on their head in a series which promises thrilling twists and turns, irreverent humour and passionate romance.”

Walter will play Phil, an ex-senior police chief enjoying a comfortable if boring retirement, and Peters plays Ken, a divorcee and ex-special forces vet who feels similarly at sea. The pair are childhood sweetheart who never quite managed to forget each other.

At a friend’s funeral many years later,...

Supervising sound editor Jane Tattersall, sound designer Brennan Mercer and rerecording mixers Matthew Chan and Lou Solakofski knew the stakes were high for Paramount+ series “Halo,” based on the wildly popular Xbox video game, which for years had been trying to make the leap to movie theaters.

“There was enormous pressure,” says Tattersall of the series, which is in the middle of its nine-episode first-season run on the streamer. Also head of sound for Toronto’s Formosa Group, which was responsible for post-production sound work on the show, Tattersall says producer Sheila Hockin had told them that “it’s very important to learn not only the world of the game, but also respect the fans.” Set in the 26th century, “Halo” focuses on a cybernetically enhanced super soldier known only as Master Chief (Pablo Schreiber), who leads his fellow Spartans in defending humanity from an alien race.

Hockin connected the sound designers with 343 Industries,...

Marianne Jean-Baptiste (“Boxing Day”), Alistair Petrie (“Sex Education”), Romola Garai (“The Hour”) have joined BBC drama series “The Following Events Are Based On A Pack Of Lies.”

Rounding out the cast are Rebekah Staton (“Raised by Wolves”), Derek Jacobi (“Last Tango in Halifax”), Julian Barratt (“The Mighty Boosh”), Karl Johnson (“Hot Fuzz”) and Ellie Haddington (“Enola Holmes”).

Robbie McKillop (“Guilt”) and Nicole Charles (“Hair Power: Me and My Afro”) will split directing duties on the series, which was created and written by Penelope Skinner and Ginny Skinner.

Production has already begun on the series, which will be distributed internationally by BBC Studios.

“This is the story of two very different women and the conman they have in common; a dark, funny, and unpredictable thriller about three remarkable characters trapped in a tangled triangle of complexly layered half-truths and lies of epic proportions,” reads the logline.

The series is produced by...

Oscar nominee Toni Collette, Damian Lewis, and Owen Teale star in horse racing drama, Dream Horse, from Bleecker Street and Topic Studios.

Directed by Euros Lyn, the film tells the true story of Dream Alliance, an unlikely race horse bred by small town Welsh bartender, Jan Vokes (Collette). With very little money and no experience, Jan convinces her neighbors to chip in their meager earnings to help raise Dream in the hopes he can compete with the racing elites. The group’s investment pays off as Dream rises through the ranks with grit and determination and goes on to race in the Welsh Grand National showing the heart of a true champion.

Rounding out the cast are Joanna Page, Karl Johnson, Steffan Rhodri, Anthony O’Donnell, Nicholas Farrell and Sian Phillips

The film, which premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, gallops into limited theaters today followed by an on-demand release on...

We’re all overdue for a Summer excursion, but if you’re still a bit skittish over air travel, then the multiplex has the perfect virtual Summer visit to Wales, from about nearly twenty years ago. Oh, there’s a bonus for you animal fans and sports enthusiasts, since this story, which is inspired by true events, is all about the “sport of kings”, horse racing. So, you know you’ll get to see these beautiful animals up-close in several suspense-filled tourneys. But you’ll be emotionally invested due to the film’s focus on a most unlikely group of thoroughbred backers. They’re the true heart of this tale. We’re rooting for them as much as this new equine cinema superstar, coming around the track, hot on the heels of Seabiscuit and Secretariat, is Dream Alliance, a “real-life” Dream Horse.

It’s the start of the new 21st Century,...

Warner Bros has debuted a new trailer for the upcoming feel-good story ‘Dream Horse’ featuring Toni Collette with a Welsh accent.

The story follows Jan Vokes, a cleaner and bartender, who recruits her initially reluctant husband Brian and local accountant Howard Davies to help her bring together a syndicate of local people to breed a foal – which they name Dream Alliance. On the racetrack, he proves himself to be more than a match for the multi-million-pound racehorses he comes up against – a true working-class champion, taking on the establishment at their own game. But much more than this, Dream begins to alter the lives of everyone in the syndicate, not least Jan’s. He is everything to her: friend, confidant and an escape from a life of always putting other people’s needs first.

Directed by Euros Lyn the film also stars Damian Lewis, Owen Teale, Joanna Page, Karl Johnson,...

David Thewlis has been cast to star opposite Olivia Colman in the HBO and Sky crime drama “Landscapers.”

The four-part limited series, inspired by real events, tells the story of a seemingly ordinary couple who become the focus of an investigation when two dead bodies are discovered in the garden of a Nottingham house.

Thewlis will play Colman’s husband, Christopher Edwards. Additional cast members include Kate O’Flynn, Dipo Ola, Samuel Anderson, Karl Johnson, Felicity Montagu and Daniel Rigby. Will Sharpe will direct all four episodes, stepping in for Alexander Payne, who dropped out of the series in October.

“Landscapers” was created and written by Colman’s real-life husband, Ed Sinclair. The project is produced for HBO and Sky Studios by Sister in association with Colman and Sinclair’s South of the River Pictures. Executive producers include Sharpe, Sinclair and Colman, as well as Jane Featherstone and Chris Fry of Sister.

Fargo actor David Thewlis is to star opposite Olivia Colman in HBO and Sky’s limited series Landscapers, which tells the story of a couple who become the focus of an extraordinary investigation when two dead bodies are discovered in a back garden.

Produced by Sister, in association with Colman’s South of the River Pictures, the darkly comic four-part series is currently in production in the UK. Flowers helmer and Giri/Haji actor Will Sharpe is directing, as previously revealed by Deadline.

Landscapers is set in the northern English city of Nottingham and is inspired by real-life events. Created and written by debut screenwriter Ed Sinclair, it is billed as an exploration of love and fantasy. Thewlis and Colman star as husband and wife Susan and Christopher Edwards.

As the investigation moves forward, inspired by Susan’s obsession with old Westerns and classic cinema, the fantasists cast themselves as...

David Thewlis has signed on to star opposite Olivia Colman in “Landscapers,” HBO’s four-episode limited series from Sky Studios about a seemingly ordinary couple who become the focus of an investigation when dead bodies turn up in their yard.

Will Sharpe, who worked with Colman in the offbeat 2016 British comedy series “Flowers,” has signed on to direct all four episodes. The series hails from the Sister production banner and first-time TV series creator Ed Sinclair. Jane Featherstone, Chris Fry, Colman and Sinclair are executive producers for Featherstone’s Sister banner and Colman’s South of the River Pictures. Production is under way in the U.K.

Thewlis is known for his role as werewolf Remus Lupin in the “Harry Potter” film franchise. He also played Ares in 2017’s “Justice League.” Other recent credits include the 2017 edition of FX’s “Fargo,” National Geographic’s “Barkskins” and last year’s Charlie Kaufman...

David Thewlis will star opposite Olivia Colman in HBO and Sky’s long-gestating limited series Landscapers.

Colman and Thewlis (Wonder Woman, Fargo, the Harry Potter series) will play a seemingly ordinary couple who become the focus of an extraordinary murder investigation when two bodies are discovered in the back garden of a house in Nottingham, England. Production is underway in the U.K., some 15 months after Colman signed on to the series.

The cast also includes Kate O’Flynn, Dipo Ola, Samuel Anderson, Karl Johnson, Felicity Montagu and Daniel Rigby. Ed Sinclair, Colman’s husband, wrote the series, which is based on real events, and ...

David Thewlis will star opposite Olivia Colman in HBO and Sky’s long-gestating limited series Landscapers.

Colman and Thewlis (Wonder Woman, Fargo, the Harry Potter series) will play a seemingly ordinary couple who become the focus of an extraordinary murder investigation when two bodies are discovered in the back garden of a house in Nottingham, England. Production is underway in the U.K., some 15 months after Colman signed on to the series.

The cast also includes Kate O’Flynn, Dipo Ola, Samuel Anderson, Karl Johnson, Felicity Montagu and Daniel Rigby. Ed Sinclair, Colman’s husband, wrote the series, which is based on real events, and ...

AMC+ has picked up a trio of foreign crime dramas to premiere in the U.S., AMC Networks announced Thursday.

“Kin,” starring Charlie Cox, Clare Dunne and Aidan Gillen; “Too Close,” starring “Chernobyl” alum Emily Watson; and “Cold Courage,” starring John Simm, will all roll out on the streaming service later this year. “Cold Courage” will be the first to debut on Thursday, March 11, with the other two to follow later this year.

“Cold Courage,” produced by Lionsgate, is an adaptation of the series of novels by Finnish journalist Pekka Hiltunen. The series centers on Mari, a fierce psychologist, and Lia, a shy graphic artist, who are drawn together through the “Studio” — a clandestine group of like-minded people operating off the grid, dedicated to righting the wrongs of the powerful, influential and corrupt. Simm, Caroline Goodall and Arsher Ali star in the series from writers David Joss Buckley and Brendan Foley.

AMC+ announced on Thursday that it has has acquired the rights to three crime drama series: Cold Courage, Kin and Too Close.

The first to premiere on the streaming service is Lionsgate’s Cold Courage, which will hit AMC+ on Thursday, March 11. Based on the award-winning and best-selling novels from Finnish journalist Pekka Hiltunen, Cold Courage follows two women as they collide during a series of murders in present-day London. Mari (Pihla Viitala), a fierce psychologist, and Lia (Sofia Pekkari), a shy graphic artist, are drawn together through the “Studio” – a clandestine group of like-minded people operating off the grid, dedicated to righting the wrongs of the powerful, influential and corrupt.

John Simm appears as populist politician Arthur Fried and joins fellow cast-members Caroline Goodall and Arsher Ali. Jakob Eklund, Peter Coonan and Matteo Simoni also star.

The series was adapted for the screen by David Joss Buckley and Brendan Foley.

Sarah Paulson and Kiera Allen star in Run from director Aneesh Chaganty in the week’s newest trailer releases. The thriller is set for distribution from Lionsgate this May. Jahi Di’allo Winston, Meek Mill and Will Catlett star in Charm City Kings from director Angel Manuel Soto. Sony Pictures Classics is set to release the film this April. Barry Jenkins wrote the original story along with Kirk Sullivan and Christopher M. Boyd, while Sherman Payhne wrote the screenplay for the film. Toni Collette stars with Damian Lewis, Owen Teale, Joanna Page, Karl Johnson, Steffan Rhodri and Anthony O'Donnell in Dream ...

Sarah Paulson and Kiera Allen star in Run from director Aneesh Chaganty in the week’s newest trailer releases. The thriller is set for distribution from Lionsgate this May. Jahi Di’allo Winston, Meek Mill and Will Catlett star in Charm City Kings from director Angel Manuel Soto. Sony Pictures Classics is set to release the film this April. Barry Jenkins wrote the original story along with Kirk Sullivan and Christopher M. Boyd, while Sherman Payhne wrote the screenplay for the film. Toni Collette stars with Damian Lewis, Owen Teale, Joanna Page, Karl Johnson, Steffan Rhodri and Anthony O'Donnell in Dream ...

In the first trailer for “Dream Horse,” Toni Collette plays an ordinary Welsh woman with aspirations for something greater. So she gathers her community to contribute the money to buy a racing horse and watches her dreams become a reality.

Euros Lyn’s film is based on the true story of Jan Vokes, who successfully bred a champion race horse named Dream Alliance against all odds in coordination with the people in her small town. Vokes convinced her neighbors to contribute 10 quid a week for two years until they could afford it, and their investment paid off big time.

The film premiered at Sundance to acclaim and a few tears of joy, including from Collette herself.

“I’m so proud of you. It seems like anything is possible,” she says to the horse after raising it from a foal.

Also Read: Toni Collette Couldn't Talk About the True Story of...

Louise Osmond’s 2015 Sundance audience winner “Dark Horse” was one of those documentaries that played like a crowdpleasing fiction, its real-life tale of underdog triumph had such a conventionally satisfying narrative arc. And indeed, the new “Dream Horse” proves that same material is indeed ready-made for dramatization.

Euros Lyn’s feature springs few true surprises within its familiar genre, one that U.K. filmmakers have specialized in at least since “The Full Monty.” Still, this is a well-cast, artfully handled effort that exercises sufficient restraint to really earn its requisite laughter and tears.

Toni Collette is in fine form as Jan Vokes, a middle-aged South Wales native whose life in declining former mining town Cefn Fforest has hit a seemingly permanent slump. Her children have left the nest, arthritic husband Brian (Owen Teale) mostly just parks himself in front of the telly, and her two jobs (bartending at the local...

“Dream Horse,” starring Toni Collette and Damian Lewis, has been sold around the world by Cornerstone Films, including a multi-territory deal with Sony. The story of a winning racehorse from BAFTA-winning director Euros Lyn also stars Owen Teale, Joanna Page and Karl Johnson.

Cornerstone has closed deals with Welt Kino (Germany), Impuls (Switzerland), Hakuhodo Dy Music & Pictures Inc. (Japan) and Terry Steiner (Airlines). As previously announced, Bleecker Street and Topic Studios have jointly acquired the U.S. rights, and Warner Bros. is distributing in the U.K. The Sony deal – inked with Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions – includes rest of world, excluding Canada, Italy and France.

In the film, Jan Vokes (Collette), a cleaner and bartender, recruits her initially reluctant husband, Brian (Teale), and local accountant Howard Davies (Lewis) to help her bring together a syndicate of local people to breed a foal, which they name Dream Alliance. On the racetrack,...

Euros Lyn-directed drama stars Toni Collette and Damian Lewis.

Cornerstone Films has secured worldwide sales for Euros Lyn-directed drama Dream Horse, including a multi-territory deal with Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions (Spwa).

The film, which stars Toni Collette and Damian Lewis, has also been sold to Germany (Welt Kino), Switzerland (Impuls), Japan (Hakuhodo Dy Music & Pictures) and airlines (Terry Steiner).

As previously announced, Bleecker Street and Topic Studios have jointly acquired Us rights and Warner Bros is distributing in the UK. The Spwa deal includes rest of world, excluding Canada, Italy and France.

The film, about a woman (Colette...

Dream Horse, the upcoming drama starring Toni Collette and Damian Lewis, has been picked up by Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions in a multi-territory deal. 

Cornerstone Films has also closed deals with Welt Kino (Germany), Impuls (Switzerland), Hakuhodo Dy Music & Pictures Inc. (Japan) and Terry Steiner (airlines). As previously announced, Bleecker Street and Topic Studios have jointly acquired the U.S. rights, and Warner Bros is distributing in the U.K. The Spwa deal includes rest of world, excluding Canada, Italy and France.

From BAFTA-winning director Euros Lyn, Dream Horse also stars Owen Teale, Joanna Page, Karl Johnson, Nicholas Farrell ...

Dream Horse, the upcoming drama starring Toni Collette and Damian Lewis, has been picked up by Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions in a multi-territory deal. 

Cornerstone Films has also closed deals with Welt Kino (Germany), Impuls (Switzerland), Hakuhodo Dy Music & Pictures Inc. (Japan) and Terry Steiner (airlines). As previously announced, Bleecker Street and Topic Studios have jointly acquired the U.S. rights, and Warner Bros is distributing in the U.K. The Spwa deal includes rest of world, excluding Canada, Italy and France.

From BAFTA-winning director Euros Lyn, Dream Horse also stars Owen Teale, Joanna Page, Karl Johnson, Nicholas Farrell ...

Bleecker Street has acquired “Dream Horse,” a drama starring Toni Collette and Damian Lewis, Variety has confirmed.

The deal is for U.S. rights and the film tells the true story of Jan Vokes, a Welsh cleaner and bartender, who decides to breed and rear a race horse. She persuades her neighbors and friends to contribute financially to the scheme. The group’s unlikely investment plan pays off as the horse rises through the ranks and puts them in a race for the national championship.

Bleecker’s films include the Oscar-nominated “Trumbo” and “Captain Fantastic,” as well as Steven Soderbergh’s “Lucky Logan.” Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Other cast members include Owen Teale (“Game of Thrones”), Joanna Page (“Gavin & Stacey”), Nicholas Farrell (“The Iron Lady”), Sian Philips and Karl Johnson (“Peterloo”).

Euros Lyn (“Happy Valley”) will direct from a screenplay written by Neil McKay (“Appropriate Adult...

Exclusive: And they’re off at the 2019 Cannes Film Market where Bleecker Street and Topic Studios have jointly boarded U.S rights to Toni Collette and Damian Lewis starrer Dream Horse, produced by American Animals and Three Identical Strangers outfit Raw.

Currently in production in Wales, this is the true story of Jan Vokes (Hereditary star Collette), a cleaner and bartender, who decides on a whim to breed and rear a race horse in her village. She eventually persuades her neighbors to invest in her crazy scheme, and together they name the new foal ‘Dream Alliance’. With little experience but a lot a heart, the collective of townspeople follow ‘Dream’ as he rises through the ranks against all the odds, ultimately pitting all of them against the racing elite in a nail-biting race for the national championship. Billions star Lewis plays Howard Davies, the local accountant Volkes persuades to join...

Dream Horse, the upcoming drama starring Toni Collette and Damian Lewis, has found a stable in the U.S.

Bleecker Street and Topic Studios have jointly acquired U.S. rights to the film, directed by Euros Lyn and currently shooting in Wales.

Joining the two leads are new castmembers, including Owen Teale (Game of Thrones), Joanna Page (Gavin & Stacey), Nicholas Farrell (The Iron Lady), Sian Philips (Dune) and Karl Johnson (Peterloo).

Based on the hit 2015 documentary Dark Horse, the film is a Raw production, with Film4, Ingenious and Ffilm Cymru Wales financing. Warner Bros. will distribute in the U.K....

Dream Horse, the upcoming drama starring Toni Collette and Damian Lewis, has found a stable in the U.S.

Bleecker Street and Topic Studios have jointly acquired U.S. rights to the film, directed by Euros Lyn and currently shooting in Wales.

Joining the two leads are new castmembers, including Owen Teale (Game of Thrones), Joanna Page (Gavin & Stacey), Nicholas Farrell (The Iron Lady), Sian Philips (Dune) and Karl Johnson (Peterloo).

Based on the hit 2015 documentary Dark Horse, the film is a Raw production, with Film4, Ingenious and Ffilm Cymru Wales financing. Warner Bros. will distribute in the U.K....

Stars: Rory Kinnear, Maxine Peake, Neil Bell, Pearce Quigley, David Moorst, Rachel Finnegan, Tom Meredith, Simona Bitmate, Robert Wilfort, Karl Johnson, Sam Troughton, Roger Sloman, Kenneth Hadley, Tom Edward-Kane | Written and Directed by Mike Leigh

Peterloo is the latest film directed by British auteur Mike Leigh and is his second-period piece in the last five years, after his critically acclaimed epic Mr Turner, released in 2014. Premiering on what will be the 200th anniversary of the relatively unknown British tragedy of the same name, occurring in the year of 1819 in Manchester. It is a rather timely release considering only 200 years later the British people are once again in a traumatising political disposition considering the deliberating reasoning of Brexit, although I’m sure this is no coincidence on Leigh’s part. Peterloo covers the days and ultimately the harrowing event itself with a massive British ensemble with pretty much every single UK...

Now here’s a historical epic that tackles a little known event (at least here in the states) involving an act of rebellion against Great Britain. Is this film about the American Revolution (that we know about) in the1770s? No, maybe it presents another version of India’s fight against British rule? Wrong, nor does is it present another incident from “the troubles” that plagued Ireland. 2019 marks the 200th anniversary of a tragedy stemming from a rebellion against the Crown and Parliament by her own countrymen. That’s right, it was not on foreign soil, rather it was St. Peter’s Fields in Manchester UK where much British blood was spilled. Harkening back to the military victory 16 years before against Napolean’s French forces, the local press dubbed this dark Monday Peterloo.

This docudrama actually begins with the end of that battle, when the Duke of Wellington triumphed at the Battle of Waterloo.

For much of its two-and-a-half-hour running time, Mike Leigh’s period epic “Peterloo” consists mostly of people talking — about what they need in order to be seen, to be heard, and frankly just to live. The last half hour depicts what happens when that kind of speech is cut off by the most disturbingly effective countermeasure: physical violence.

In 1819, a peaceful pro-democracy rally at St. Peter’s Field in poverty-stricken Manchester, England, became a massacre when charging infantrymen attacked the crowd with their swords. Whether you walk away from Leigh’s sacredly handled, no-nonsense slice of this history remembering the impassioned oratory of angry citizens or their murderous treatment by a cruel government is, on some level, Leigh’s own cinematic referendum on what we want from movies. Life as spoken up for, as passionately reasoned, or its opposite: death as grim spectacle?

Leigh makes talky films, after all, not action pictures.

What possessed the British Tory government to order a military charge on horseback into a crowd of over 100,000 unarmed, working-class protesters? The place is St. Peter’s Field in Manchester, England, and the slaughter ended with 18 dead and hundreds injured as the cavalry — swords drawn — slashed through a gathering of dissenters in an enclosed space that made them ducks in a barrel. The time is August, 16, 1819, though Mike Leigh’s painstaking re-creation of the Peterloo massacre might as well be happening right now outside your window. Rest assured, there was...

Update, Oct. 2: Amazon Studios is now moving Mike Leigh’s Peterloo out of the fall frame after the British historical epic played the fall film festival triad of Venice, Telluride and Tiff. The new date is April 5 next year. Variety‘s Guy Lodge calls the film “a stately, explicitly rhetorical paean to the people – setting the past in stone while also lashing out at a present-day political order” with New York magazine giving a shout out to the pic’s visceral finale.

Amazon’s upcoming awards season focus will be Suspiria (Oct. 26), Beautiful Boy (Oct. 12) and Poland’s foreign film Oscar entry Cold War from director Pawel Pawlikowski (Dec. 21).

Previous, July 2: Amazon Studios has designated November 9 as the official release date for Mike Leigh’s Peterloo. Among the pic’s major-studio limited competition is Sony’s Gary Hart pic The Front Runner.

Previous, April 26: Amazon Studios marketing...

UK premiere of Mike Leigh project to be held in Manchester.

The BFI London Film Festival has announced its first ever premiere outside of London.

The festival will hold the UK premiere of Mike leigh’s Peterloo at Home in Manchester on Wednesday 17 October.

It will feature a Q&A and be simulcast to cinemas around the UK, with Leigh and members of the cast set to attend. It will also screen in London on Friday 19 October.

The film tells the story of the 1819 Peterloo Massacre, where a pro-democracy rally at St Peter’s Field in Manchester was brutally supressed by the British army.

The BFI London Film Festival (Oct 10 -21) has set its first premiere outside the UK capital with a Manchester screening of Mike Leigh’s Peterloo on October 17.

The screening, attended by writer-director Leigh and cast, will take place at the city’s Home venue and will be followed by a London screening two days later.

The Film4, BFI and Amazon-backed pic tells the story of the Peterloo massacre, which took place 199 years ago today. The notorious episode saw British government forces charge into a crowd of over 60,000 that had gathered to demand political reform and protest against rising levels of poverty.

Starring are Rory Kinnear, Maxine Peake, Neil Bell, Philip Jackson, Vincent Franklin, Karl Johnson and Tim McInnerny. Pic reunites Leigh with his regular team of Dick Pope (cinematography), Suzie Davies (production design), Jacqueline Durran (costumes), Christine Blundell (hair and make-up), Jon Gregory (editing) and Gary Yershon (music). Georgina Lowe...

Mike Leigh’s “Peterloo” is set to have its U.K. premiere as part of the BFI London Film Festival, but in an unusual move, the Oct. 17 gala screening will take place in the city of Manchester, where the film’s events take place, rather than in London. It will be the first time one of the festival’s premieres has taken place outside the British capital.

Leigh said he was “truly delighted” about the decision to screen the film in Manchester, in northern England, where the film’s events take place. The announcement Thursday fell on the 199th anniversary of the Peterloo massacre depicted in the movie.

“It’s always an honor to be included in the glorious London Film Festival, but how inspired and generous of the festival to screen ‘Peterloo’ in Manchester, where it all happened,” said Leigh.

Written and directed by Leigh, the film depicts the events surrounding the Aug.

The first trailer for Mike Leigh’s journey into the bloody 19th-century history of the British massacre, Peterloo, has dropped.

The film brings to life the less talked about tragedy of 1819 where British forces charged on a peaceful pro-democracy rally at St Peter’s Field in Manchester, England, which results in the massacre.

Written and directed by Mike Leigh, the cast includes Rory Kinnear, Maxine Peake, Neil Bell, Philip Jackson, Vincent Franklin, Karl Johnson, Tim McInnerny.

‘There has never been a feature film about the Peterloo Massacre,’ says Leigh. ‘The universal significance of this historic event becomes ever more relevant in our own turbulent times.‘

Also in trailers – New trailer for James Cameron’s manga adaptation Alita: Battle Angel arrives

The film is released in cinemas November 2.

Peterloo Official Synopsis

An epic portrayal of the events surrounding the infamous 1819 Peterloo Massacre, where a peaceful pro-democracy rally at St Peter’s...

Credit: Simon Mein / Courtesy of Amazon Studios

Watch the teaser for the film below for Mike Leigh’s Peterloo.

Starring Rory Kinnear, Maxine Peake, Neil Bell, Philip Jackson, Vincent Franklin, Karl Johnson, Tim McInnerny, Amazon Studios will release Peterloo in theaters November 9, 2018.

Internationally acclaimed and Oscar-nominated filmmaker Mike Leigh portrays one of the bloodiest episodes in British history, the infamous Peterloo Massacre of 1819, where government-backed cavalry charged into a peaceful crowd of 80,000 that gathered in Manchester, England to demand democratic reform.

Leigh’s career has been nothing short of brilliant. His films include Secrets & Lies (1996), Topsy-Turvy (1999), Vera Drake (2004), (Happy-Go-Lucky 2008) and the biopic Mr. Turner (2014).

Leigh has won several prizes at major European film festivals. Most notably he won the Best Director award at Cannes for Naked in 1993 and the Palme d’Or in 1996 for Secrets & Lies. He won the Leone d’Oro for the best film at the...

This week Toronto and Venice will announce at least the first part of their line-ups and one title sure to land amongst the slate is the latest film by Mike Leigh. Following Mr. Turner, his new drama Peterloo follows the British government facing off against 60,000 during a protest in which 15 died with more having numerous injuries.

Ahead of a November release, the first trailer has now arrived, which sets the stage for the massacre. “There has never been a feature film about the Peterloo Massacre,” Leigh said. “Apart from the universal political significance of this historic event, the story has a particular personal resonance for me, as a native of Manchester and Salford.”

See the trailer below, courtesy of Amazon Studios, for the film starring Rory Kinnear, Maxine Peake, Pearce Quigley, Philip Jackson, Karl Johnson, Tim McInnerny, and David Moorst.

Internationally acclaimed and Oscar-nominated filmmaker Mike Leigh portrays one of...

Last month we attended an early red carpet for the BBC’s new adaptation of William Shakespeare’s King Lear.

The new adaptation stars Sir Anthony Hopkins, Florence Pugh, Emma Thompson, Emily Watson, Jim Broadbent, Andrew Scott and John Macmillan. It is directed by Richard Eyre, who previously directed the play on TV in 1998.

Blurb time: Set in the fictional present, King Lear sees Academy® Award winner Anthony Hopkins as the eponymous ruler, presiding over a totalitarian military dictatorship in England. Academy® Award and BAFTA® Award winner Emma Thompson stars as his oldest daughter Goneril. Academy® Award nominee and BAFTA® Award winner Emily Watson stars as his middle daughter Regan, and BAFTA® nominee Florence Pugh as Cordelia, the youngest of Lear’s children.

Academy® Award and BAFTA® Award winner Jim Broadbent is the Earl of Gloucester, with BAFTA® Award winner Andrew Scott as his loyal son Edgar and John Macmillan as his illegitimate son Edmund.

"You left clues everywhere..." IFC has debuted the first official trailer for an intriguing psychological thriller titled Kaleidoscope, from writer/director Rupert Jones. The film stars Toby Jones as middle-aged man just released from prison. The film is apparently about his relationship to his mother, and asks the question: "is it possible to escape our past?" The cast includes Anne Reid, Sinead Matthews, Manjinder Virk, Karl Johnson, Deborah Findlay, and Frederick Schmidt. This looks like a creepy, mysterious head-trip kind of film, but actually quite good with seemingly lots of twists. Per the description: "At the heart of this modern day Psycho are some unsettling questions: Can we ever escape the role in which we are cast by our early circumstances? Must a perpetrator first be a victim?" This trailer is definitely worth checking out. Here's the first official trailer (+ poster) for Rupert Jones' Kaleidoscope, direct from YouTube: This intense,...

If there’s one sure bet for the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, it’s the latest film by Mike Leigh. Most recently, the director stopped by the festival with Another Year and Mr. Turner, and now he’s finishing up his new film, Peterloo. The story follows the British government facing off against 60,000 during a protest in which 15 died with more having numerous injuries.

The first image has now been revealed, featuring Henry Hunt (Rory Kinnear) addressing the crowd of reformers as they gather at St. Peter’s Field ahead of the massacre. “There has never been a feature film about the Peterloo Massacre,” Leigh said. “Apart from the universal political significance of this historic event, the story has a particular personal resonance for me, as a native of Manchester and Salford.”

See the photo below, courtesy of Amazon Studios, for the film also starring Maxine Peake, Pearce Quigley, Philip Jackson,...

A new film by Mike Leigh is pretty big deal — at least for us — especially considering “Peterloo” is his first effort since 2014’s “Mr. Turner.” However, there’s been somewhat of a shroud of secrecy on the movie, the most ambitious of the director’s career.

Read More: Hand-Painted, Hard-Won ‘Loving Vincent’ [Review]

Starring Maxine Peake, Pearce Quigley, Philip Jackson, Karl Johnson, Tim McInnerny and David Moorst, the historical drama will tell the story of the infamous 1819 massacre at a peaceful pro-democracy rally at St Peter’s Field in Manchester, when many working people were injured and killed.

Continue reading First Look: Mike Leigh’s ‘Peterloo’ at The Playlist.

Updated: Read the critics' verdicts on Benedict Cumberbatch's radical reinvention of Hamlet, post-press night

As Shakespeare himself might have exclaimed: "Huzzah!" Thanks to the presence of a certain film and TV megastar, the Barbican's latest production of Hamlet has eclipsed everything else in Theatreland ever since it was first announced back in March 2014.

And don't worry: despite a mixed response from the critics on - and before - press night, Digital Spy can confirm it's both extraordinary and unmissable. But more importantly, with Benedict Cumberbatch in it, along with elements linked to Game of Thrones and even The X Factor, it might just be the most DS-ish cultural event this year, seemingly laser-targeted to excite you. And here's why:

1. Benedict Cumberbatch is ace in it

Just in case you hadn't heard, Britain's foremost TV & film star is playing Hamlet himself - and whether you're a drooling fan or mere interested observer,...

As Shakespeare himself might have exclaimed: "Huzzah!" Thanks to the presence of a certain film and TV megastar, the Barbican's latest production of Hamlet has eclipsed everything else in Theatreland ever since it was first announced back in March 2014.

And don't worry: despite a couple of shrill, negative early reviews, Digital Spy can confirm it's both extraordinary and unmissable. But more importantly, with Benedict Cumberbatch in it, along with elements linked to Game of Thrones and even The X Factor, it might just be the most DS-ish cultural event this year, seemingly laser-targeted to excite you. And here's why:

1. Benedict Cumberbatch is ace in it

Just in case you hadn't heard, Britain's foremost TV & film star is playing Hamlet himself - and whether you're a drooling fan or mere interested observer, witnessing that kind of star power up close and unedited is worth the ticket price alone. But it's also,...

Mr. Turner (2014) Film Review, a movie directed by Mike Leigh, and starring Timothy Spall, Paul Jesson, Dorothy Atkinson, Marion Bailey, Karl Johnson, Ruth Sheen, Sandy Foster, Amy Dawson, Lesley Manville, Martin Savage, and Richard Bremmer. Great movies steal away our attention and hold it hostage until the final [...]

Continue reading: Film Review: Mr. Turner (2014): A Man’s Life Painted In Broad Strokes...

Director: Mike Leigh; Screenwriter: Mike Leigh; Starring: Timothy Spall, Paul Jesson, Dorothy Atkinson, Marion Bailey, Karl Johnson, Ruth Sheen, Leslie Manville; Running time: 150 mins; Certificate: 12A

Mike Leigh is a director synonymous with kitchen sink realism, but in exploring the life of 19th-century landscape artist Jmw Turner, he takes the opportunity to get outdoors and capture some beautiful views. Less handsome but equally imposing is Timothy Spall as the man himself, always looking out and rarely looking inward, which is a strength (adding to the intrigue) and a weakness of the film.

Leigh homes in on the last 25 years of Turner's life when he is an artist of great renown, living in London with his doting father (Paul Jesson) and equally devoted housekeeper Hannah Danby (Dorothy Atkinson). There is a studied formality in the way Leigh conveys the dynamics between them, punctuated by bursts of impropriety. Turner is endearingly tactile with his old dad,...

The 39th Toronto International Film Festival has announced its initial slate of galas and special presentations, which includes 37 world premieres and several films with Oscar ambitions. The Judge, which stars Robert Downey Jr. as a big-city lawyer who reluctantly returns home and ends up defending his revered father (Robert Duvall) against criminal charges, will have its world premiere in Toronto. His Avengers pal, Chris Evans, will unveil his own directorial debut in Toronto, titled Before We Go.

Also noteworthy: James Gandolfini’s final film, The Drop, which also stars Tom Hardy and Noomi Rapace; another Jason Reitman Toronto world premiere,...

The Toronto International Film Festival announced its initial wave of 2014 premieres and galas this morning and it features some familiar awards titles, some big stars and some unexpected studio titles. Among the major studio films, David Dobkin's "The Judge" with Robert Downey Jr. and Antoine Fuqua's "The Equalizer" each received gala slots and should premiere over the festival's opening weekend. Other announced galas so far include Bennett Miller's acclaimed "Foxcatcher," which debuted at Cannes, and Mike Binder's "Black and White" starring Kevin Costner, Octavia Spencer and Anthony Mackie. Toronto has also scheduled special gala screenings for David Cronenberg's "Map to the Stars" with Julianne Moore and Robert Pattinson, François Ozon's "The New Girlfriend," Ed Zwick's "Pawn Sacrifice" with Tobey Maguire, Lone Scherfig's "The Riot Club," Jean-Marc Vallée's "Wild," Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano's "Samba" and Shawn Levy's "This is Where I Leave You...

★★★★☆The debut feature from Stephen Brown, The Sea (2013) is a compassionate rendering of John Banville's Man Booker Prize-winning novel. After losing his wife Anna (Sinéad Cusack) to cancer, Max Morden (Ciarán Hinds) returns to the Irish seaside town where he spent summers as a child. He stays at a boarding house owned by Miss Vavasour (Charlotte Rampling) and shares mealtimes with permanent resident Colonel Blunden (Karl Johnson). He's utterly overwhelmed by grief and shows no signs of healing. "Fleeing one sadness by revisiting the scene of an old one doesn't work," he tells his landlady. Max is an art historian and is supposed to be writing about French artist Pierre Bonnard.

To celebrate the DVD release of The Sea on 23rd June, we’re giving away a DVD of the film to three lucky winners.

Art historian Max Morden (Ciarán Hinds – Munich, Rome) returns to the sleepy seaside resort where he spent summers as a child after losing his wife (Sinéad Cusack – winner of Best Supporting Actress at IFTAs). Max lodges at a boarding house he once frequented, where frosty proprietor Miss Vavasour (Charlotte Rampling – The Verdict, The Duchess), and eccentric resident Blunden (Karl Johnson – The Illusionist, Rome), now reside. Before long – and despite protestations from his daughter Clare (Ruth Bradley – Grabbers, Primeval) – Max revisits the ghosts of his past.

Based on the Man Booker prize-winning novel by John Banville, The Sea is a haunting, uplifting, meditation on the human condition – at times elegiac, poetic, and nostalgic. A story of memory, love, loss, regret… and the persistent possibility of rebirth.

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