Leena Yadav recently directed the excellent Parched, focussing on the lives of four women living in a highly patriarchal, traditional community in rural India. Now THR reports she has signed on to tell a gay-themed tale set in Iran, called Secret Sky.
Based on a true story, Secret Sky follows the love story between two Iranian teens who are put in prison accused of homosexuality, go to trial and pay the ultimate price for their crimes. A female lawyer (also inspired by a real person) attempts to fight for their freedom. Homosexuality is not just illegal in Iran, but the country is known for executing gay people, often also accusing them of paedophilia, with many in the country feeling the two are essentially the same.
Micah Schraft and Abdi Nazemian are writing the movie, which is due to shoot early next year.
Producer Carol Polakoff comments, “This story, though political in nature and about civil rights, must be delivered through the heart, and Leena has shown that she can make a beautiful film that will not only move viewers, but also deliver a socially impactful punch. She has uncommon courage and passion, and holds nothing back.”
Yadav’s Parched, which included LGBT themes, received death threats over the movie, due to some communities thinking the costumes used in the movie meant it was about them. Secret Sky will be her international debut.
It looks like the follow-up to the mega-hit Jurassic World is getting a bit of a British infusion, as Variety reports that Toby Jones and Rafe Spall are in talks to join the movie. While there have been no details about the plot of the movie, as they are both from the UK, it’s difficult not to speculate whether they will be relative of Jurassic Park’s founder, John Hammond, originally played by the late Richard Attenborough.
For a while now there’s been talk of remaking John Landis’ classic 1981 horror movie, An American Werewolf In London, but it’s found difficulty getting off the ground. When it was first mooted, some wondered whether John’s son, Max, would want to take it on.
Making a movie about Queen frontman Freddie Mercury has proven pretty difficult, with various people, such as Sacha Baron Cohen and Ben Whishaw, attached to the central role, while directors such as Tom Hooper and Dexter Fletcher have come and gone. However, despite several years having passed, the project is still alive and kicking, with the news that Mr. Robot star Rami Malek is now set to play Mercury, while Bryan Singer is slated to direct.
For the last few years US network TV has been trying to find a gay-themed breakout hit, with mixed success. However they’re not giving up, with ABC keeping The Real O’Neals on the air despite not great ratings, a revival of Will & Grace being mooted by NBC, and Kit Williamson writing a show centring on a gay character for CBS.
Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman made quite an impression in Batman v Superman, giving many people hope that her standalone movie will be able to get the DC film universe on track after the rather messy Dawn Of Justice and Suicide Squad. The movie is going the Captain America route of taking us into the past, with time World War 1.
After the massive success of The LEGO Movie, Warner Bros. didn’t just put a sequel in the works, but also started planning films based on LEGO Batman and Ninjago. The first of those to arrive is The LEGO Batman Movie, which has just released a trailer to coincide with Comic-Con. It certainly looks like it’ll keep the fun tone of The LEGO Movie.
Ever since the success of Trainspotting in 1996 we’ve been promised a sequel, although we’ve always known we’d have to wait until the actors were a older. Now it’s finally on its way and to get us excited we’ve got a teaser which recreates a classic scene from the first movie.
With a couple of teaser trailers, La La Land has become one of the most intriguing and interesting looking movies of the year. And following its festival screening, some are suggesting it could be a real awards contender.
Remember Dante’s Cove? The show, which aired three season between 2004 and 2007, followed the supernatural shenanigans going on in the titular coastal town, which involved vampires, sorcerers, ghost children, oh, and a fair amount of male nudity and gay sex. Now though it’s looking to return with a new cast and a new season, but to do so it needs to raise some cash, and so it’s launched a