The Puerto Rican and Greek actor, artist and filmmaker has joined the cast of Amazon MGM Studios’ upcoming feature After the Hunt.
Lio, who made their feature film debut starring in Mutt, is part of a list of new cast additions that includes Thaddea Graham, Will Price, Christine Dye and Burgess Byrd.
The joined the previously announced cast members Julia Roberts, Andrew Garfield, Ayo Edebiri, Michael Stuhlbarg and Chloë Sevigny.
The film is produced by Imagine Entertainment will be released in theaters next year.
Luca Guadagnino is directing the film from a script penned by Nora Garrett.
The film follows a college professor who finds herself at a personal and professional crossroads when a star pupil levels an accusation against one of her colleagues, and a dark secret from her own past threatens to come to light.
Mehiel made their feature film debut starring in Sundance 2023’s Mutt, which won the festival’s top honor of Grand Jury Prize in the U.S. Dramatic Competition and will be distributed theatrically this fall via Music Box.
The 38-year-old Brazilian actress has joined the cast of Robert Rodriguez’s thriller Hypnotic, starring Ben Affleck.
Cameras are set to roll starting on September 20, in Austin, Texas, after the film’s original start date in April 2020 was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and then insurance issues.
Hypnotic will follow a detective who becomes entangled in a mystery involving his missing daughter and a secret government program while investigating a string of high-end crimes.
The film is written by Sin Cityand Alita: Battle Angelfilmmaker Rodriguez and Max Borenstein. Rodriguez, Studio 8 CEO Jeff Robinov and Studio8’s Guy Danella and John Graham are producing with Solstice.
Solstice has already sold the film well into international markets and is due to release Hypnotic in the U.S.
Braga will next be seen in The Suicide Squad, alongside Margo Robbie, Idris Elba and Viola Davis. She’s known for her starring role in the long-running USA Network series Queen Of The South, Luca Guadagnino’s limited series We Are Who We Are, and was one of the lead voices in Oscar-winning Pixar film Soul.
Scott Mescudi is preparing for a crate(r) experience…
The 37-year-old part-Mexican American actor/singer, known as Kid Cudi in the music world, has joined the ensemble of sci-fi adventure Craterfor Disney Plus.
Mescudi will star opposite Isaiah Russell-Bailey,Billy Barratt, Orson Hong, Thomas Boyce and Gifted’s Mckenna Grace in the film.
Kyle Patrick Alvarez is on board to direct.
The film will be overseen by Disney’s live-action team with hopes to shoot in the spring. Shawn Levy and Dan Levine will produce through their 21 Laps Entertainment banner.
Crater is described as a coming-of-age story about a boy growing up on a lunar colony who takes a trip to explore a mysterious crater with his four best friends. Mescudi will play Russell-Bailey’s dad.
John Griffin penned the script. The film was originally set up at 20th Century Fox with Levy circling the directing chair, but after it moved to Disney Levy chose to focus on producing duties as the film gained momentum.
Mescudi has been busy in the past year most recently seen in HBO and Luca Guadagnino series We Are Who We Are, earning some of the best reviews of his career. On the film side, he was last seen in Bill & Ted Face The Music. He can be seen next in the drama Dreamlandopposite Gary Oldman. He most recently finished production on the Ti West horror pic X.
The 36-year-old half-Mexican American Grammy-winning recording artist and actor, whose real name is Scott Mescudi, has partnered with Dennis Cummings and Karina Manashil to launch the production and music management company Mad Solar with the backing of Bron, which provides corporate back office and production support, including financing, marketing, and sales.
“Beyond excited to be launching my production company Mad Solar and partnering with Bron, whose creative vision and storytelling has transformed the industry,” Mescudi said. “I am so very proud of the slate that we are developing and can’t WAIT for you all to see what we got cookin’.”
Mad Solar is producing the upcoming Netflix animated series Entergalactic, which Mescudi co-created alongside Kenya Barris. Based on original music by Mescudi, the series, which Mescudi writes, executive produces and stars in, follows a young man on his journey to discover love.
Additionally, Mad Solar has teamed with A24 and Bron Studios on the horror filmX. Written and directed by Ti West, X stars Mia Goth, Mescudi and Jenna Ortega. Mescudi is an executive producer on the film, which will begin production early 2021.
“Scott Mescudi’s growth as a creative and an entrepreneur has been impressive,” said Aaron L. Gilbert, Bron chairman. “For Bron, the strategic relationship with Mad Solar is key in our efforts to support the entertainment industry’s top creatives, as well as expand Bron’s access to the best in class music and sports talent through Mad Solar’s management division.”
Mescudi can be seen in Season 3 of HBO’s Westworldand Nick Jarecki’s indie featureDreamlandopposite Gary Oldman. He also had a key supporting role in MGM’s Bill & Ted Face The Musicand played one of the leads of Luca Guadagnino’s HBO seriesWe Are Who We Are.
The 18-year-old Puerto Rican and Mexican American actress is in final talks to star opposite Scott Mescudi (aka Kid Cudi) and Mia Goth in X, the next horror thriller from director Ti West.
The film will be a co-production between A24 and BRON Studios, who will also co-finance.
West will write and direct the pic with A24, Jacob Jaffke, Kevin Turen, Sam Levinson, and Ashley Levinson producing through their Little Lamb Productions. Mescudi will executive produce.
Plot details are being kept under wraps but the film is expected to bare similarities of West’s past films that put him on the map.
Production is expected to start at the top of 2021.
Ortega was most recently seen in the Netflix sequel, The Babysitter: Killer Queen, and several films she has coming out in 2021 including Paramount and Spyglass’s Scream 5, which has her as one of the leads.
Mescudi was most recently seen in HBO and Luca Guadagnino series We Are Who We Are, earning some of the best reviews of his career. On the film side, he was last seen in Bill & Ted Face The Music. He can be seen next in the drama Dreamland opposite Gary Oldman.
Pedro Almodóvar is offering his support to the LGBT+ community in Poland.
A wide group of global entertainment figures, including the 70-year-old Oscar-winning Spanish filmmaker, have signed a letter supporting the Polish LGBT+ community in the face of growing controversy in the country.
On Tuesday, the government stepped in to support the Polish town of Tuchow, which recently lost financial support from the European Union after it set up a ‘LGBT-free’ zone. The authorities said they were “supporting a municipality that has a pro-family agenda”; the decision has provoked angry responses around the world. On August 8, authorities detained 48 people at a reportedly peaceful pro-LGBT+ protest.
The responses now include an open letter signed by a cross-section of notable figures from film, literature and further afield, including the Almodóvar and Luca Guadagnino, the Nobel Prize-winning author Olga Tokarczuk, The Handmaid’s Talewriter Margaret Atwood, and Polish filmmakers Agnieszka Hollandand Jan Komasa.
The letter, published on the website wyborcza.pl, states that homophobia in Poland is growing because of the incumbent socially conservative government, which it claims is using LGBT+ groups as a “scapegoat”. The letter is addressed to European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and calls on the organization to step in and “defend core European values” of “equality, non-discrimination, respect for minorities” which it says are being “blatantly violated in Poland”.
Here’s the full letter:
Dear Dr. von der Leyen:
We, the undersigned, express our outrage at repressions directed against the LGBT+ community in Poland. We speak out in solidarity with activists and their allies, who are being detained, brutalized, and intimidated. We voice our grave concern about the future of democracy in Poland, a country with an admirable history of resistance to totalitarianism and struggle for freedom.
On Friday, 7 August 2020, 48 persons were arrested in Warsaw – in some cases quite brutally – and detained on the grounds that they had participated in a violent illegal gathering. In fact, they were engaged in a peaceful protest in solidarity with an LGBT+ activist named Margot, who had been arrested for damaging a homophobic campaigner’s van. Her group had also placed rainbow flags over statues, including a statue of Christ. These actions were neither “hooliganism” nor “provocations,” as Poland’s government-run media insist, but rather desperate acts of resistance against degrading homophobic hate speech. The van is one of many similar vehicles parading outrageous claims around the cities of Poland: equating homosexuality with pedophilia, and asserting that gays are the source of diseases and a threat to children. Efforts to stop this well-funded hate campaign by legal means had led to nothing.
The broader context is the persistent use of anti-LGBT+ rhetoric by Polish politicians and media, attacks against “LGBT ideology” in the recent presidential campaign, preceded by the emergence in many municipalities and districts of “zones free of LGBT ideology,” allegedly defending the safety of families and children, and last year’s violent attacks against Equality March in Białystok. Homophobic aggression in Poland is growing because it is condoned by the ruling party, which has chosen sexual minorities as a scapegoat with no regard for the safety and well-being of citizens. Margot is, in fact, a political prisoner, held captive for her refusal to accept indignity.
We call on the Polish government to stop targeting sexual minorities, to stop supporting organizations that spread homophobia and to hold accountable those who are responsible for unlawful and violent arrests of August 7, 2020.
We call on the European Commission to take immediate steps to defend core European values – equality, non-discrimination, respect for minorities – which are being blatantly violated in Poland. LGBT+ rights are human rights and must be defended as such.
Naja Marie Aidt, writer, Danish language Pedro Almodóvar, film director, Spain Jakuta Alikavazovic, writer, France Margaret Atwood, writer, Canada Paul Auster, writer, USA John Banville, writer, Ireland Sebastian Barry, writer, Ireland Judith Butler, philosopher, USA Sophie Calle, writer and artist, France John Maxwell Coetzee, writer, South Africa Isabel Coixet, director, Spain Stephen Daldry, director, UK Jean-Baptiste Del Amo, writer, France Lucas Dhont, director, Belgium Marion Döring, director of European Film Academy Cynthia Enloe, political scientist, USA Anne Enright, writer, Ireland Ildiko Enyedi, director, Hungary Richard Flanagan, writer, Australia Barbara Frey, theatre and opera director, Switzerland/Austria Timothy Garton Ash, historian, UK Agnieszka Graff, americanist, Poland Luca Guadagnino, director, Italy Miron Hackenbeck, dramaturg, Germany Ed Harris, actor, director USA Aleksander Hemon, writer, Bosnia/USA Agnieszka Holland, director, Poland Siri Hustvedt, writer, USA Isabelle Huppert, actress, France Aki Kaurismäki, director, Finland Padraic Kenney, historian, USA Jan Komasa, director, Poland Ivan Krastev, political scientist, Bulgaria Jan Kubik, political scientist, UK Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, choreographer, Belgium Yorgos Lanthimos, director, Greece Andrzej Leder, philosopher, Poland Jacek Leociak, historian, Poland Jonathan Littell, writer, France Mike Leigh, director, UK Deborah Levi, writer, UK Edouard Louis, writer, France Sergei Loznitsa, director, Germany/Ukraine Valeria Luiselli, writer, USA Dorota Masłowska, writer, Poland Hisham Matar, writer, USA Ulrich Matthes, actor, Germany Ian McEwan, writer, UK Lina Meruane, writer, Chile Teona Mitevska, director, North Macedonia Chantal Mouffe, philosopher, Belgium James Norton, actor, UK Claus Offe, sociologist, Germany Paweł Pawlikowski, director, Poland Richard Powers, writer, USA Axel Ranisch, filmmaker and opera director, Germany Keith Ridgway, writer, Ireland Philippe Sands, lawyer and writer, UK Volker Schlöndorff, director, Germany Marci Shore, historian, USA Stellan Skarsgaard, actor, Sweden Leila Slimani, writer, France Timothy Snyder, historian, USA Johanna ter Steege, actress, the Netherlands Dariusz Stola, historian, Poland Małgorzata Szczęśniak, stage designer, Poland Małgorzata Szumowska, director, Poland Colm Toibin, writer, Ireland Olga Tokarczuk, writer, Poland Alia Trabucco Zerán, writer, Chile Fien Troch, director, Belgium Jan Vandenhouwe, artistic director and opera dramaturg, Belgium Krzysztof Warlikowski, theater director, Poland/France Beau Willimon, playwright, screenwriter, USA Adam Zagajewski, poet, Poland Slavoj Žižek, philosopher, Slovenia
HBO has released the official trailer for new series We Are Who We Are,starring the 36-year-old half-Mexican American rapper/singer, whose real name is Scott Mescudi.
Directed by Luca Guadagnino, the series follows two teenagers living with their families on a U.S. military base in Italy in the coming-of-age story. The eight-part series will premiere on HBO sometime in September on an unconfirmed date.
The “Leader Of The Delinquents” rapper stars alongside Chloë Sevigny, Jack Dylan Grazer, Alice Braga, Jordan Kristine Seamón, Spence Moore II, Faith Alabi, Beatrice Barichella, Francesca Scorsese, Corey Knight, Vittoria Bottin, Tom Mercier,Benjamin L. Taylor II and Sebastiano Pigazzi.
Blood Orange composed the mini-drama series’ score.
Kid Cudi made his HBO debut a decade ago when he portrayed Domingo Brown for two seasons on How To Make It In America from 2010-11.
Guillermo del Toro continues to feel the Awards Season love…
The Shape of Water, the latest film by the 53-year-old Mexican filmmaker, who earned his first-ever Golden Globe on Sunday, leads the nominations for the British Academy Film Awards with 12 including Best Film, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Original Screenplay and Best Director.
Tying for the most BAFTA nominations after Fox Searchlight’s TheShape of Water are Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri— also from Searchlight — and Focus/Working Title’s Darkest Hour with nine each.
All three pictures are up for Best Film as are Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk(Warner Bros.) and Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me By Your Name, to round out the field.
Here’s the full list of nominees:
BEST FILM CALL ME BY YOUR NAME Emilie Georges, Luca Guadagnino, Marco Morabito, Peter Spears DARKEST HOUR Tim Bevan, Lisa Bruce, Eric Fellner, Anthony McCarten, Douglas Urbanski DUNKIRK Christopher Nolan, Emma Thomas THE SHAPE OF WATER Guillermo del Toro, J. Miles Dale THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, Martin McDonagh
OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM DARKEST HOUR Joe Wright, Tim Bevan, Lisa Bruce, Eric Fellner, Anthony McCarten, Douglas Urbanski THE DEATH OF STALIN Armando Iannucci, Kevin Loader, Laurent Zeitoun, Yann Zenou, Ian Martin, David Schneider GOD’S OWN COUNTRY Francis Lee, Manon Ardisson, Jack Tarling LADY MACBETH William Oldroyd, Fodhla Cronin O’Reilly, Alice Birch PADDINGTON 2 Paul King, David Heyman, Simon Farnaby THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI Martin McDonagh, Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin
OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER THE GHOUL Gareth Tunley (Writer/Director/Producer), Jack Healy Guttman & Tom Meeten (Producers) I AM NOT A WITCH Rungano Nyoni (Writer/Director), Emily Morgan (Producer) JAWBONE Johnny Harris (Writer/Producer), Thomas Napper (Director) KINGDOM OF US Lucy Cohen (Director) LADY MACBETH Alice Birch (Writer), William Oldroyd (Director), Fodhla Cronin O’Reilly (Producer)
FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE ELLE Paul Verhoeven, Saïd Ben Saïd FIRST THEY KILLED MY FATHER Angelina Jolie, Rithy Panh THE HANDMAIDEN Park Chan-wook, Syd Lim LOVELESS Andrey Zvyagintsev, Alexander Rodnyansky THE SALESMAN Asghar Farhadi, Alexandre Mallet-Guy
DOCUMENTARY CITY OF GHOSTS Matthew Heineman I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO Raoul Peck ICARUS Bryan Fogel, Dan Cogan AN INCONVENIENT SEQUEL Bonni Cohen, Jon Shenk JANE Brett Morgen
ANIMATED FILM COCO Lee Unkrich, Darla K. Anderson LOVING VINCENT Dorota Kobiela, Hugh Welchman, Ivan Mactaggart MY LIFE AS A COURGETTE Claude Barras, Max Karli
DIRECTOR BLADE RUNNER 2049 Denis Villeneuve CALL ME BY YOUR NAME Luca Guadagnino DUNKIRK Christopher Nolan THE SHAPE OF WATER Guillermo del Toro THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI Martin McDonagh
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY GET OUT Jordan Peele I, TONYA Steven Rogers LADY BIRD Greta Gerwig THE SHAPE OF WATER Guillermo del Toro, Vanessa Taylor THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI Martin McDonagh
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY CALL ME BY YOUR NAME James Ivory THE DEATH OF STALIN Armando Iannucci, Ian Martin, David Schneider FILM STARS DON’T DIE IN LIVERPOOL Matt Greenhalgh MOLLY’S GAME Aaron Sorkin PADDINGTON 2 Simon Farnaby, Paul King
LEADING ACTRESS ANNETTE BENING Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool FRANCES McDORMAND Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri MARGOT ROBBIE I, Tonya SALLY HAWKINS The Shape of Water SAOIRSE RONAN Lady Bird
LEADING ACTOR DANIEL DAY-LEWIS Phantom Thread DANIEL KALUUYA Get Out GARY OLDMAN Darkest Hour JAMIE BELL Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool TIMOTHÉE CHALAMET Call Me by Your Name
SUPPORTING ACTRESS ALLISON JANNEY I, Tonya KRISTIN SCOTT THOMAS Darkest Hour LAURIE METCALF Lady Bird LESLEY MANVILLE Phantom Thread OCTAVIA SPENCER The Shape of Water
SUPPORTING ACTOR CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER All the Money in the World HUGH GRANT Paddington 2 SAM ROCKWELL Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri WILLEM DAFOE The Florida Project WOODY HARRELSON Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
ORIGINAL MUSIC BLADE RUNNER 2049 Benjamin Wallfisch, Hans Zimmer DARKEST HOUR Dario Marianelli DUNKIRK Hans Zimmer PHANTOM THREAD Jonny Greenwood THE SHAPE OF WATER Alexandre Desplat
CINEMATOGRAPHY BLADE RUNNER 2049 Roger Deakins DARKEST HOUR Bruno Delbonnel DUNKIRK Hoyte van Hoytema THE SHAPE OF WATER Dan Laustsen THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI Ben Davis
EDITING BABY DRIVER Jonathan Amos, Paul Machliss BLADE RUNNER 2049 Joe Walker DUNKIRK Lee Smith THE SHAPE OF WATER Sidney Wolinsky THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI Jon Gregory
PRODUCTION DESIGN BEAUTY AND THE BEAST Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer BLADE RUNNER 2049 Dennis Gassner, Alessandra Querzola DARKEST HOUR Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer DUNKIRK Nathan Crowley, Gary Fettis THE SHAPE OF WATER Paul Austerberry, Jeff Melvin, Shane Vieau
COSTUME DESIGN BEAUTY AND THE BEAST Jacqueline Durran DARKEST HOUR Jacqueline Durran I, TONYA Jennifer Johnson PHANTOM THREAD Mark Bridges THE SHAPE OF WATER Luis Sequeira
MAKE UP & HAIR BLADE RUNNER 2049 Donald Mowat, Kerry Warn DARKEST HOUR David Malinowski, Ivana Primorac, Lucy Sibbick, Kazuhiro Tsuji I, TONYA Deborah La Mia Denaver, Adruitha Lee VICTORIA & ABDUL Daniel Phillips WONDER Naomi Bakstad, Robert A. Pandini, Arjen Tuiten
SOUND BABY DRIVER Tim Cavagin, Mary H. Ellis, Julian Slater BLADE RUNNER 2049 Ron Bartlett, Doug Hemphill, Mark Mangini, Mac Ruth DUNKIRK Richard King, Gregg Landaker, Gary A. Rizzo, Mark Weingarten THE SHAPE OF WATER Christian Cooke, Glen Gauthier, Nathan Robitaille, Brad Zoern STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick, Stuart Wilson, Matthew Wood
SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS BLADE RUNNER 2049 Gerd Nefzer, John Nelson DUNKIRK Scott Fisher, Andrew Jackson THE SHAPE OF WATER Dennis Berardi, Trey Harrell, Kevin Scott STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI Nominees tbc WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES Nominees tbc
BRITISH SHORT ANIMATION HAVE HEART Will Anderson MAMOON Ben Steer POLES APART Paloma Baeza, Ser En Low
BRITISH SHORT FILM AAMIR Vika Evdokimenko, Emma Stone, Oliver Shuster COWBOY DAVE Colin O’Toole, Jonas Mortensen A DROWNING MAN Mahdi Fleifel, Signe Byrge Sørensen, Patrick Campbell WORK Aneil Karia, Scott O’Donnell WREN BOYS Harry Lighton, Sorcha Bacon, John Fitzpatrick
EE RISING STAR AWARD (voted for by the public)
DANIEL KALUUYA
FLORENCE PUGH
JOSH O’CONNOR
TESSA THOMPSON
TIMOTHÉE CHALAMET
Lio, who made their feature film debut starring in Mutt, is part of a list of new cast additions that includes Thaddea Graham, Will Price, Christine Dye and Burgess Byrd.
