Deadline’s Contenders London Underway With Ridley Scott, Michael Mann, Todd Haynes, Emerald Fennell & More

Joe Utichi
·4 min read
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After sitting it out last year, Deadline’s Contenders film series returns to London today with a strong lineup featuring Ridley Scott, Emerald Fennell, Todd Haynes and Michael Mann among the panelists attending the awards-season event.

Contenders London gets underway this morning at London’s Ham Yard Hotel and will feature panels on 13 of the year’s buzziest films from eight studios and streamers. Deadline will have full coverage of the event all day on the website and on our social channels, where you can follow along using the hashtag #DeadlineContenders.

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In challenging times, it’s good to know quality cinema is never too far away, with films from some of the world’s biggest filmmakers on tap today. Along with Scott’s Napoleon, Fennell’s Saltburn, Haynes’ May December and Mann’s Ferrari, J.A. Bayona will present his Society of the Snow, Jeymes Samuel will open The Book of Clarence, Christos Nikou will polish his Fingernails; and we’ll take a deep dive into Nyad with one half of the directing team, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi (her directing partner, Jimmy Chin, is on assignment somewhere remote, cooking up another great documentary to follow their hits Meru and Free Solo, so we’ll forgive his absence). Also on the panelist roster are the teams behind Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon and David Fincher’s The Killer.

At press time, there are no actors in today’s lineup, and this year’s round of labor action has shaped the start of the awards season inexorably. Still, as evidenced by the talented names that will grace our stage, that is not to suggest that there aren’t exciting stories to tell without them.

To wit, you’ll meet Kazu Hiro, the legendary prosthetics make-up designer responsible for transforming Gary Oldman into Winston Churchill a few years ago for The Darkest Hour. He’s back at work this year with Bradley Cooper on Maestro. Ever wonder how Aardman’s animation classics are designed? Look no further than our panel for Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, which features production designer Darren Dubicki. And I can tell you from personal experience that costume designer Janty Yates, a frequent collaborator of Scott’s who worked on his Napoleon, will regale you with gripping stories about her masterful craft.

As for the year’s biggest film, Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, production designer Sarah Greenwood, costume designer Jacqueline Durran, and hair and makeup designer Ivana Primorac — among other panelists — will discuss how they brought Barbie Land to life on the big screen. It’s a testament to their hard work that so many of us were able to do the “Barbenheimer” double bill earlier this year without batting a well-manicured eyelash at the change in tone. Great cinema is great cinema, whether it’s gritty and historic or pink and fantastical.

Deadline’s Contenders London kicks off with breakfast at 8:30 a.m. local time. See the full schedule below.

This year’s event sponsor is Eyepetizer.

To register to attend Contenders London, RSVP here.

9:30 a.m. BST – OPENING REMARKS

AMAZON MGM STUDIOS

Saltburn

Emerald Fennell (Director/Producer)
Kharmel Cochrane (Casting Director)
Suzie Davies (Production Design)
Victoria Boydell (Editor)
Sophie Canale (Costume Designer)

APPLE ORIGINAL FILMS

Killers of the Flower Moon

Ellen Lewis (Casting)
Rene Haynes (Indigenous Casting)
Jacqueline West (Costume Designer)
Julie O’Keefe (Osage Clothing Consultant)

Fingernails

Christos Nikou (Writer/Director/Producer)

WARNER BROS PICTURES

Barbie

David Heyman (Producer)
Sarah Greenwood (Production Designer)
Jacqueline Durran (Costume Designer)
Ivana Primorac (Hair and Makeup Designer)
Glen Pratt (Visual Effects Supervisor)
Nina Rice (Production Sound Mixer)

TRISTAR and LEGENDARY

The Book of Clarence

Jeymes Samuel, Writer/Director/Producer

COLUMBIA PICTURES and APPLE ORIGINAL FILMS

Napoleon

Ridley Scott (Director/Producer)
Janty Yates (Costume Designer)
Martin Phipps (Composer)
Kate Rhodes James (Casting Director)

NETFLIX

Maestro

Kristie Macosko Krieger (Producer)
Kazu Hiro (Makeup Designer)
Mark Bridges (Costume Designer)
Kevin Thompson (Production Designer)

Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget

Sam Fell (Director)
Leyla Hobart (Producer)
Darren Dubicki (Production Designer)

The Killer

Erik Messerschmidt (Cinematographer)
Kirk Baxter (Editor)
Ren Klyce (Sound Designer)

Society of the Snow

J.A. Bayona (Writer/Director/Producer)
Sandra Hermida (Producer)
Belén Atienza (Producer)

May December

Todd Haynes (Director)
Christine Vachon (Producer)
Sophie Mas (Producer)
Samy Burch (Writer)

Nyad

Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi (Director)
Andrew Lazar (Producer)
Bonnie Stoll (Real Life Subject)

NEON

Ferrari

Michael Mann (Director/Producer)
Maria Djurkovic (Production Designer)
Erik Messerschmidt (Cinematographer)

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