International Insider: Red Sea Awaits; Brakes On ‘Top Gear’; Constantin Shake-Up
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Afternoon Insiders, Max Goldbart here bringing you the latest from around the globe as our friends in America tuck into their turkey. Sign up for the newsletter here.
Red Sea Revs Up
Shifting sands: Red Sea International Film Festival, the big Saudi Arabian film get-together, opens its third edition next Thursday in the port city of Jeddah. The event was launched in the wake of Saudi Arabia lifting of its 35-year cinema ban at the end of 2017, as part of its 2030 Vision plan aimed at moving the economy away from a reliance on oil, and has become an integral part of the country’s ambition to become the leading film and TV hub in the MENA region. But announcements on films and guests have been down to the wire this year, as the event juggles the shifting sands of the global geo-political tensions set in motion by the Israel-Hamas conflict and the welcome end of the strikes in Hollywood.
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The projects: In a sign of how far the country’s film industry has come over the last six years, the 2023 edition will open with the Jeddah-set fantasy romance HWJN, an ambitious joint production between major Gulf players Image Nation Abu Dhabi, VOX Studios and MBC Studios. The film is among a dozen Saudi features playing across the selection this year. International films in the mix include Michael Mann’s Ferrari as the closing film, Ava DuVernay’s Origin and Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla. With the actors’ strike ending, the event is expected to add a raft of big Hollywood names to its guest list in the coming days. It remains to be seen if the festival will pull in the same star wattage as last year when Sharon Stone, Oliver Stone, Spike Lee and Shah Rukh Khan were among the guests hitting the red carpet. Deadline will be out in force at the festival this year with the Deadline Studio and newsletters. To check out all the coverage, click here.
But first to Morocco: Before Saudi, Mel was up bright and early this morning to jet off to the Marrakech International Film Festival, which gets underway this evening. Back in September, it was not clear if the festival’s celebratory 20th edition would be able to go ahead following a deadly earthquake in the nearby Atlas Mountains, which claimed the lives of more than 2,000 people. Thankfully, the city and its famous medina were relatively undamaged, and the event has been able to lay on an impressive star-studded event, mixing local and regional cinema alongside international titles. It opens tonight with Richard Linklater’s Hitman and a homage to Mads Mikkelsen, who was will also present a free open-air screening of Indiana Jones and the Dial Of Destiny on the city’s landmark Jemaa el-Fnaa square. Other stars due in town include jury president Jessica Chastain, Martin Scorsese, Willem Dafoe, Tilda Swinton and Simon Baker. Mel’s reporting can be found here.
‘Top Gear’: BBC Applies The Brakes
Not for “the foreseeable”: The story of Top Gear’s past year has been a sad one. One of the BBC’s most beloved shows has been attracting frequent headlines for all the wrong reasons, after presenter Freddie Flintoff sustained “life-alteringly significant injuries” in a crash. This week, the BBC confirmed what had been the subject of whispers in TV circles for months, that the show will not return “for the foreseeable future.” The choice of language feels deliberate and leaves Top Gear open to a return perhaps in a few years time once things have calmed, very likely without Flintoff, who settled with the BBC for £9M ($11.3M) last month. The Top Gear pause comes with health and safety on set in the spotlight, with research from Bectu and the Mark Milsome Foundation finding that nearly three-quarters of UK below-the-line crew feel their safety has been compromised at work. Former Top Gear presenter James May was working on the show when the last major crash prior to the Flintoff incident – involving his co-host Richard Hammond – took place. May, who now hosts Prime Video series The Grand Tour with Hammond and Jeremy Clarkson, told the BBC that Top Gear had needed “a bit of a rethink” prior to Flintoff’s crash. Somewhat biting the hand that feeds, he also criticized the “car show-erati” (it reads better than it’s spelt), meaning the Top Gear stans who have called for him and his fellow former co-presenters to be reinstated on the hit motoring show since the crash. For now, this bastion of British Sunday night TV is steering well clear of the schedules.
ArtsEd Still Under Fire
“Inadequate and unsatisfactory”: Journalism matters. Jake’s months-long investigation into the Andrew Lloyd Webber-backed ArtsEd, which published earlier this month, rocked the industry and has now attracted the attention of the parents of its pupils, who have sent a letter to the board of trustees calling the response to accusations against principal Julie Spencer “inadequate and unsatisfactory.” Jake’s initial investigation is well worth a read if you haven’t yet. Amongst other criticisms, the parents said the board had failed to communicate about the issues raised in Deadline’s reporting, claiming it was “disrespectful” to those who “deserve much better” from the school. Parents are expected to meet with ArtsEd chair Brian Brodie next week to discuss their concerns. ArtsEd declined to comment on the letter but has previously said leadership is “working to proactively to improve our culture and processes.”
Constantin Shake-up
Moszkowicz out, Berben up: Huge people news over in Deutschland Thursday as respected German industry veteran Martin Moszkowicz revealed he is stepping down from Resident Evil producer Constantin Film. Moszkowicz will let his contract expire as planned (at his own request) in three months, at which point he will be replaced by his deputy, Oliver Berben. Constantin’s Supervisory Board Chair said Moszkowicz had developed Constantin into “one of the most successful independent film and television production companies in Europe” during a three-decades tenure that has seen him ply his trade in his current role for the past 10 years. Major credits include Resident Evil, Monster Hunter, Fack Ju Goehte 1-3, Das Perfekte Geheimnis and How About Adolf? All eyes are now trained on whether Berben takes this German powerhouse in any kind of new direction, with the company finding itself in rude health, having most recently entered into an exclusive long-term partnership with Netflix for theatrical releases in German-speaking Europe.
State Of The Union
‘The Power’ Of VFX: Entering Diana’s Disruptors hotseat this week was Union VFX, the London post house behind big-budget tentpoles including Amazon Prime Video’s The Power. The best visual effects are the ones that you don’t notice, Diana writes, the ones that blend seamlessly into the storyline and bring the audience deeper into the world of the storyteller. Union has made these in spades, and its bosses set about explaining to Diana about their expansion to Canada, how the business is growing and why it’s important to involve VFX teams at early stages of projects. Union is “trying very much to be a part of the storytelling process,” founder Tim Caplan told Diana. Union and its fellow Brit VFX houses would have been keenly following the UK government’s Autumn Statement, which included the launch of a consultation that could see tax relief expanded to cover the visual effects sector. A confusing proposal around “connected party profits” that had also attracted the industry’s ire was scotched following backlash from major players.
The Essentials
🌶️ Hot One: August Diehl will play German olympic athlete Otto Peltzer in upcoming biopic The Distant Near, per Liz.
🌶️ Hotter: James Norton’s new ITV series Playing Nice was the broadcaster’s big anno at its annual Palooza shindig.
🌶️ Still hot: Ciarán Hinds and Odessa Young have joined Jacob Elordi in Prime Video’s The Narrow Road to the Deep North adaptation.
🏗️ Restructure: Jesse had news of a rejig at Blue Ant.
🦑 Squid Game: Competition was received warmly by critics but the threat of legal action from contestants hangs over producers.
🤷♀️ Diversity fail: The number of female writers and directors on British TV shows fell between 2016 and 2022.
🎤 The big interview: Mads Mikkelsen talked international Oscar contender The Promised Land to Damon Wise.
🚪 Exits: Big week in UK TV finance, with those in charge of the purse at Channel 4 and Banijay both revealed to be stepping down.
🍿 Box office: The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes devoured a $101M global opening.
📉 Ratings: The opener of The Crown’s final season topped the UK streaming charts but was a little shy of the prior series.
🤝 Done deal: Japanese gaming firm Genda Inc acquired a majority stake in Gaga Corp.
🌎 Global Breakout: We headed down under, then under again, to spotlight New Zealand dramedy Far North.
🎥 Trail: For Vigil Season 2, as Suranne Jones swaps a submarine for the skies in hit BBC drama.
Melanie Goodfellow contributed to this week’s Insider
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