August is a traditionally quiet month, but things are different in 2025, Insider fans, so we’re back earlier than planned. Paramount‘s top-brass have been outlining their plans, and the festival circuit is springing back into life. Jesse Whittock here to bring you the big news. Sign up for the newsletter here.
Of Paramount Importance
A merry Skydance: As we found out last week, U.S. entertainment’s freshest player on the block is the clunky-sounding Paramount, a Skydance Corporation. This week, we found out what the new kid is planning to do, now he has the keys to the castle. David Ellison, who is now Paramount CEO following completion of his Skydance company’s takeover of the studio biz, almost immediately settled into life as a Hollywood mogul with jargon-heavy press appearances promising he was “looking long-term” to “create value for our shareholders.” He might just be alright in this world, you know. He ruled out making political statements amid ongoing controversy over a $16M payment Paramount made to President Donald Trump in the final days of Shari Redstone’s regime and referenced Walter Kronkite and addressed what his company might look like in future. Stocks went mad, so it sounds like Wall Street is buying it. Anthony D’Alessandro and Justin Kroll had this handy explainer on the potential Paramount movie slate, Nellie Andreeva outlined how TV series production is being divided between two studios, and Jill Goldsmith reported on Paramount+’s game-changing $7.7B, seven-year UFC deal, as sports rights fever continues to engulf America’s streaming players. Par’s new streaming doyenne, Cindy Holland, went deeper on her plans, while Ellison’s right-hand man, Jeff Shell, did the dirty work and addressed coming cuts and the cancellation of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. Among the dozens of developing stories, one international issue will be whether FAST platform Pluto merges with Paramount+. If legal matters are more your taste, you’ll need to keep on top of fund manager and Paramount investor Marco Gabelli, who is suing Ellison’s predecessor, Redstone, over the $2.4B proceeds she and her family took from the Skydance deal.
Cillian On ‘Steve’
Watch on Deadline
By order of the perky producers: Cillian Murphy‘s next feature, Steve, will premiere in Toronto ahead of a theatrical run and then a release on Netflix in October. The drama, which also features some darkly funny moments, is set in the mid-1990s and follows a pivotal day in the life of the titular headteacher and his students at a last-chance boys’ reform school. Peaky Blinders and Oppenheimer star Murphy sat down with Nancy Tartaglione to talk about the film, which includes a rare feature film role for Tracey Ullman, known for her seminal late-1980s show that introduced the world to The Simpsons. Along with Steve writer/executive producer Max Porter, director Tim Mielants and Murphy’s producing partner Alan Moloney, the actor addresses the genesis of the film, developing the characters, the emotional punch of the movie, how it relates to the challenges facing masculinity in the modern world and why everyone should watch 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple when it arrives. Watch the trailer for Steve here.
Channel 4 Chuckles
Horsing around at Horseferry Road: It might have taken Charlie Perkins three years to give her first interview as Channel 4’s comedy supremo, but she made the right choice by having that talk with us. In an interview with Max at the UK network’s Horseferry Road headquarters in London, Perkins outlined how Channel 4 is developing a “new wave” of British comedic talent, despite hamstrung budgets and the after-effects on comedians and TV funnies of the global pandemic. New shows are in the works from Katy Wix and Adam Drake, Jess Bray and Alice Snedden, and Josh Pugh, while Munya Chawawa and Bridgerton breakout Charithra Chandran have been cast in another new show, Schooled. Perkins, who is heavily involved with the UK comedy circuit that is currently camped up in Edinburgh at the Fringe Festival, also talked about David Mitchell and Robert Webb’s first new sketch show since 2010, as she conducted the interview in a comedy hat and false moustache. (This is absolutely not true, just my pathetic attempt at injecting some extra humor). Read the interview here and warm your comedy cockles.
Tough Times For TIFF
Rocky path for ‘The Road Between Us’: The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) doesn’t even start until September 4, but it has been making headlines all week on Deadline.com. It all started when Anthony broke the news that the fest had uninvited Canadian filmmaker Barry Avrich’s documentary The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue, which tells the story about retired Israel Defense Forces (IDF) General Noam Tibon, who embarked on a mission to save his family from Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023. Officially, this was due to “general requirements” and specifically legal clearance of footage, but the Road Between Us accused TIFF of censorship, with sources suggesting officials were afraid of the disruptive protests that could accompany a film about an IDF soldier. TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey later in the week told us the censorship claims were “unequivocally false” and said his team working to find a solution. That solution was clearly found soon after, as we then revealed the film would now be selected for the fest’s documentary strand line-up. “We have worked together to find a resolution to satisfy important safety, legal and programming concerns,” read a joint statement from Bailey and Avrich. Sounds like the truth of the matter lay somewhere in the middle of the noise.
Jackie Chan Charms Locarno
Real star power: This year’s Locarno Film Festival ends tomorrow after a starry fortnight of programming. Visitors to the Swiss festival this year included Emma Thompson, Jackie Chan, Alexander Payne, Lucy Liu, Naomi Kawase and Mohammad Rasoulof, who spoke to Zac about his life after leaving Iran and plans to return. It was an impressive line-up, which produced some unique stories. There was Thompson, who told a festival Q&A audience that she was once stalked by Donald Trump in the late 1990s. The 45th and 47th President, she said, called her out of the blue enquiring about a date, shortly after her high-profile divorce was finalized. Jackie Chan mania took over the festival during his brief three-day stretch in Locarno. The veteran Hong Kong actor introduced some of his classic films and received an honorary award. There’s no starpower like international starpower – and that means reaching audiences in Hollywood to the most remote villages in the East and Global South. There are only a few stars still out there with such power, and Mr. Chan is one of them. At a Q&A session in Locarno, he was rushed by adoring fans who handed him gifts, and multiple parents handed their young children over to Chan for pictures. It was a wild ride. On the industry side, Canadian Filmmaker Geneviève Dulude-De Celles won the top prize at the Locarno Pro Awards, and a Piazza Grande screening was paused during the fest for a Gaza protest. Check back on Saturday to see who picks up the festival’s Competition awards. Filmmakers in contention include Radu Jude, Kawase, and Abdellatif Kechiche.
The Essentials
🌶️ Hot One: Barry Eisler’s bestselling John Rain books are being adapted for Apple TV+ after the streamer and Tom Winchester’s Pure Fiction label scored the rights.
🌶️ Another One: YouTube relationship format Blue Therapy has landed its first international adaptation at Belgium’s Streamz.
🥵 Even more heat: Filipino filmmaker Pedring Lopez will direct UK-set horror The Ascendants.
🎭 Treading the boards: Kristin Scott Thomas has scored a role in a West End revival of The Cherry Orchard, per Breaking Baz.
🔔 School bell rings: Seven further cast members were unveiled for the upcoming second season of Prime Video YA hit Maxton Hall – The World Between Us.
🚪 Exit door: Karin Lindström is leaving her role as Amazon MGM Studios Head of Nordic Originals with a new gig lined up, and Emilia Widstrand will replace her.
⛺ Fests: Sarajevo Film Festival boss Jovan Marjanovic told Diana about the Eastern European fest’s 31st edition, while Seriesly Berlin unveiled its line-up.
✍🏻 Addressing the critics: Mubi CEO Efe Cakarel penned an open letter aimed at fending off the mounting criticism of the indie film darling’s links with shareholder Sequoia Capital, which is close with Israeli defense-tech startup Kela.
🦁 Lion lay-offs: Six staff at All3Media America’s Lion TV US, including co-CEO Allison Corn, have been made redundant following a strategy switch.
🏆 Oscars: Switzerland and Czech Republic submitted their entries for the Academy’s Best International Feature Film race.
🍿 Box office: Weapons and Freakier Friday hit cinemas and both outperformed expectations.
International Insider was written by Jesse Whittock and edited by Stewart Clarke. Zac Ntim contributed