‘White Noise’ producer Uri Singer plans Spain shoot on ‘American Skin’ adaptation

Passage Pictures led by Uri Singer (White Noise, Tesla), has secured rights to bring Peter Viertel’s 1984 novel American Skin to the big screen.

Production has been earmarked for Marbella, Spain, by mid-2024 pending the resolution of the SAG-AFTRA strike.

Singer has brought on rising Spanish filmmaker and shorts and commercials director Mariano Schoendorff Ares to adapt the screenplay and direct.

American Skin explores the expatriate lifestyle and cultural clashes along the Costa del Sol. The story centres on David Brandt, a handsome Californian who arrives in Marbella hoping to soothe the wounds of a recently ended affair and escape haunting memories.

The late German-American Viertel wrote nine novels and 11 features. He co-wrote the screenplays for Alfred Hitchcock’s Saboteur, John Huston’s The African Queen, and Clint Eastwood’s White Hunter Black Heart.

Ares has a personal connection to the story. He would visit Marbela as a child and his girlfriend’s grandparents and Viertel were friends.

Passage Pictures CEO Singer said, “Peter Viertel’s legacy as a storyteller is undeniable. To adapt this hidden gem of a novel with Mariano, who is on the cusp of what promises to be a stellar filmmaking journey and has a very personal connection to the story, is a privilege for all of us at Passage Pictures.”

Singer is represented by Knol Law PC. The Viertel estate is represented by Thomas J. Kuhnke, and Alan Nevins at Renaissance Literary & Talent.

Passage Pictures Announces ‘Sands Of Fortune’ Chronicling Discovery Of Oil In Saudi Arabia & Early Days Of Aramco

EXCLUSIVE: Uri Singer’s Passage Pictures has announced new feature Sands of Fortune, delving into the story behind the discovery of oil in Saudi Arabia and the birth of the country’s petroleum and natural gas giant Aramco.

The historic drama revolves around the true story of the partnership between American geologist Max Steineke and Bedouin Khamis Bin Rimthan, who together discovered the country’s first oil well in 1938, today known as Dammam No. 7.

Oregon-born, Stanford-educated Steineke was renowned for his expertise in geology as well as his determined nature and adventurous spirit, while Rimthan was a member of the nomadic Al-Amjan tribe with a deep knowledge of the desert, who worked as a guide for the American geologists prospecting for oil in the 1930s.

“The story of Aramco is a testament to human ingenuity and the incredible impact that a single discovery can have on the world. This is a story that all Saudis know, but I believe the whole world will soon be as intrigued as I was when I first heard about this,” said Singer.

The script is written by Bernie Campbell, a longtime strategist and speechwriter who has spent years living in Saudi Arabia and was the first American to write for its ruling royal family.

Singer originally met Campbell during a trip to Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea International Film Festival in Jeddah last December, where they began discussions on the feature.

“We have been working together on this for a while. Bernie is the perfect fit to bring this story to life, especially given his experience on the ground in Saudi, said the producer.

The film will feature a mix of Saudi and American talent on screen and Passage Pictures is in talks to partner with several local production companies on the project.  

Singer’s recent credits include  Noah Baumbach’s comedy-drama White Noise, while upcoming projects include adaptations of James Elroy’s Blood’s A Rover, with Jose Padilha directing, and Don DeLillo’s Underworld, with Ted Melfi writing and directing.

Singer is repped by Knol Law PC.

Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig Are Not All Right in Noah Baumbach’s Apocalyptic ‘White Noise’ Trailer

Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig are not OK in Noah Baumbach’s “White Noise,” an adaptation of Don DeLillo’s 1985 satire about an Airborne Toxic Event that threatens an already tenuous community. Netflix releases the dark comedy in select theaters on November 25 before it streams December 30. Watch the new trailer below.

Watch the WHITE NOISE trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=SgwKZAMx_gM&feature=emb_logo

Two-time Oscar nominee Driver stars as college professor Jack Gladney, who has made a name for himself in academia by pioneering the field of Hitler studies. Yet when that aforementioned toxic omen takes over his fictional university town, Jack and his wife Babette (Gerwig) are determined to protect their family, played by Raffey Cassidy, Sam Nivola, and May Nivola. André Benjamin, Don Cheadle, and Jodie Turner-Smith also star.

“White Noise” made a splash at the Venice Film Festival back in August when it became the first film to represent Netflix as the festival’s opening night selection. The film then made its way to the New York Film Festival as the opening night pick. Reviews have been mostly upbeat — with IndieWire’s David Ehrlich calling it both “inspired” and “exasperating.”

This zany movie finds writer-director Baumbach operating on a bigger canvas after films like “Marriage Story” and “The Meyerowitz Stories” — also for Netflix — homed in on bourgeois relationship crises. There are elements of those films here, too, as Jack’s marriage to Babette becomes increasingly strained by events apocalyptic and mundane. To give you a sense of how outsize this movie can be, it ends with a choreographed dance routine, apropos of nothing, set to a new song by LCD Soundsystem. Train crashes, car chases, and a CGI cloud abound in Baumbach’s loopy vision.

Indeed, even Baumbach’s IRL partner Gerwig knows the movie’s plot sounds like the ramblings of a “stoned teenager.” In a sitdown with IndieWire earlier this year, Baumbach said he’s still figuring it all out, too.

“There’s a lot to say about it,” he said. “I started doing this as an exercise to see if I felt like it could be a movie. The more I got into it, the more I got excited about things that I could do that you couldn’t do in a book.”

‘Titane’ Break-Out Agathe Rousselle Sets Next Role in Sci-Fi Drama from ‘White Noise’ Producer

Agathe Rousselle, the break-out star from the Cannes Palme d’Or winner Titane, will lead the sci-fi drama Low Orbit from producer Uri Singer, who was behind the Netflix adaptation of Don DeLillo’s White Noise.

Low Orbit takes place on a failed colony on another planet, where a romance grows between a female shuttle pilot and the wife of a cryogenically frozen engineer that the pilot has been ordered to transport off planet. The project has been described as Moon meets In the Mood for Love.

Nguyen-Anh Nguyen, the Vietnamese-Canadian director behind popular fantasy and sci-fi shorts The Akira Project and Hyperlight, will direct the project. Adam Bradley co-wrote the scrip with Nguyen.

Singer most recently debuted the Noah Baumbach-directed White Noise at the Venice Film Festival. The Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig-starrer is set to open the New York Film Festival. Singer’s upcoming slate includes another DeLillo adaptation, Underworld, which is set at Netflix with Ted Melfi set to write and direct.

Rousselle is repped by Agence Adequat. Nguyen is repped by Magnolia Entertainment. Singer is repped by Knol Law PC

Noah Baumbach’s ‘White Noise,’ Starring Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig, to Open Venice Film Festival

Noah Baumbach’s black comedy “White Noise,” with an ensemble cast comprising Greta Gerwig, Adam Driver and Jodie Turner-Smith, is set to open the upcoming Venice Film Festival.

“White Noise,” which will world premiere in competition at Venice on Aug. 31, marks the first time a Netflix original film opens the fest.

Baumbach’s Don DeLillo adaptation follows Jack (played by Driver), a professor who made a name for himself by teaching Hitler studies at a liberal arts college in Middle America. With his fourth wife Babette (portrayed by Gerwig) and their kids, they attempt to navigate the usual rocky passages of family life. But their existence is put to the test and disrupted when an “airborne toxic event” forces them to face the threat of death together.

Additional “White Noise” cast includes Don Cheadle, Raffey Cassidy, Sam Nivola, May Nivola, André L. Benjamin and Lars Edinger.

Baumbach was last at the Lido with “Marriage Story,” also a Netflix original, which played at the festival in 2019.

“White Noise” is expected to lead a robust pack of Netflix titles launching from the Lido, including Andrew Dominik’s Marilyn Monroe drama “Blonde,” starring Bond girl Ana de Armas (“No Time to Die”) as the Hollywood icon.

Other Netflix movies highly likely to be Lido-bound include Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s “Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths,” which details the story of a Mexican journalist and documentary filmmaker going through an existential crisis; and Romain Gavras’ modern tragedy “Athena,” co-written by the French “The World is Yours” director with “Les Miserables” filmmaker Ladj Ly.

Venice in recent editions has become a privileged launching pad for Netflix’s Oscar hopefuls given that the Cannes Film Festival requires that competition titles receive a French theatrical release followed by a 15-month wait before launching the movie on a streaming service.

“It is a great honor to open the 79th Venice Film Festival with ‘White Noise,'” said Venice director Alberto Barbera in a statement.

Barbera, who usually announces the Venice opener sooner, added that “it was worth waiting for the certainty that the film was finished to have the pleasure to make this announcement.”

Barbera praised Baumbach’s adaptation of the eponymous 1985 Don DeLillo novel as “an original, ambitious and compelling piece of art which plays with measure on multiple registers: dramatic, ironic, satirical.”

“The result is a film that examines our obsessions, doubts and fears as captured in the 1980s, yet with very clear references to contemporary reality,” Barbera added.

Baumbach said: “It is a truly wonderful thing to return to the Venice Film Festival, and an incredible honor to have ‘White Noise’ play as the opening night film.”

He continued:”This is a place that loves cinema so much, and it’s a thrill and a privilege to join the amazing films and filmmakers that have premiered here.”

“White Noise” was adapted for the screen and directed by Baumbach, who produced alongside David Heyman and Uri Singer.

As previously revealed by Variety, U.S. studios and streamers are set to be disembarking at the fest in full force. Warner Bros. will be launching steamy psychological thriller “Don’t Worry Darling,” which is Olivia Wilde’s second directorial effort and stars Florence Pugh and Harry Styles.

Focus Features will be on the Lido with Todd Field’s “Tár,” which teams the “In the Bedroom” director with Cate Blanchett as the fictional Lydia Tár, one of the world’s greatest conductors and the first female conductor of a major German orchestra. Blanchett is a Venice regular who presided over the festival’s main jury in 2020.

Amazon-owned MGM will be in Venice with Luca Guadagnino’s “Bones and All” starring Timothée Chalamet and Taylor Russell as cannibal lovers on a road trip across America in the 1980s.

Among new titles now understood to be locked into a Lido berth is Martin McDonagh’s “The Banshees Of Inisherin,” the Irish director’s followup to “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.” This Searchlight Pictures film centers on the dynamics of lifelong friends on a remote Irish island and reunites McDonagh with his “In Bruges” stars Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell.

Darren Aronofsky’s “The Whale,” an adaptation of Samuel D. Hunter’s play about a morbidly obese recluse, played by Brendan Fraser, now also looks likely to have secured a Lido berth.

The 75th edition of Venice will run Aug. 31-Sept 10.

John Krasinski’s Fugitive Billionaire Pic ‘King of Oil’ Attaches Peter Landesman as Director

A John Krasinski-produced movie about a fugitive billionaire has found its director in Peter Landesman.

Sources tell Variety that the “Concussion” writer-helmer is on board to direct the long-gestating movie, which is based on Daniel Ammann’s biography “The King of Oil: The Secret Lives of Marc Rich.” The film tells the story of the international commodities trader and founder of Glencore, who was indicted in the U.S. on 65 criminal counts that included tax evasion, wire fraud, racketeering and striking deals for oil with Iran during the Iran hostage crisis.

Rich had already fled the U.S. for Switzerland and never returned, but famously received a pardon in 2001 from then President Bill Clinton on his last day in office. Rich lived in Switzerland until his death at age 78 in 2013. Matt Damon has been attached to play Rich, though his involvement is not currently known. The film was under Universal, but is currently in turnaround.

Joe Shrapnel and Anna Waterhouse are writing the screenplay, while producers on the pic include Krasinski, Uri Singer (“White Noise,” “Underworld”), Vincent Sieber (“The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair”) and Allyson Seeger (“A Quiet Place II”).

Singer first optioned the Ammann biography, and then brought Krasinski’s production company Sunday Night on board.

Landesman’s recent writing credits include “Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House” (2017) and “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” (2017). He is also attached to write and direct the film “The Council,” about an African-American crime syndicate in Harlem during the 1970s and 1980s. The latter project has “King Richard” Oscar winner Will Smith — who was recently handed a 10-year ban from the Oscars for slapping presenter Chris Rock — down to star as drug trafficker Nicky Barnes.

The pair previously collaborated on “Concussion,” which centers on a forensic pathologist who rallied against the NFL to recognize the deadly effects of head trauma.

Landesman’s debut movie, “Parkland” (2013), about the chaos that followed the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, premiered at the Venice Film Festival as well as TIFF.

Source: https://variety.com/2022/film/news/john-krasinski-marc-rich-king-of-oil-1235258075/

Ethan Hawke Directing Film of Tennessee Williams’ ‘Camino Real

Ethan Hawke will direct and adapt “Camino Real,” Tennessee Williams’ wildly experimental play, into a feature film. Uri Singer, who worked with Hawke on the upcoming Sundance Film Festival entry “Tesla,” will produce and finance the picture through his company, Passage Pictures.It’s a passion project of the actor, writer, and filmmakers — one that he previously tried to make in Cuba while Fidel Castro was still in power. Instead, shooting will take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil this year, with the goal of wrapping production by Christmas. Hawke hopes to cast Juliette Binoche in one of the key roles and is lining up the rest of his ensemble. He will not act in the film.“I’ve been obsessed with the piece for years,” Hawke told Variety in an interview at Sundance. “I kept turning it over and over again in my mind. It’s part rock opera, part ‘Waiting for Godot.’ What I think Tennessee was trying to do, cinema has caught up to and can do better.”

“It’s not dissimilar to what Baz Luhrmann was aspiring to on ‘Moulin Rouge,'” he adds. “It’s just more spiritual.”

Singer said he was excited to continue his professional association with Hawke. “It’s such a pleasure to support this kind of passion project,” he said.

“Camino Real” represented a radical departure for Williams. It was more surreal and boundary pushing than his previous offerings — a collection of stage classics that includes “A Streetcar Named Desire,” “The Glass Menagerie” and “Sweet Bird of Youth.” It follows a young American named Kilroy as he encounters a broad range of colorful characters, some of whom, such as Don Quixote, Esmeralda and Casanova, are drawn from history, literature, and myth. It was not beloved when it was first staged on Broadway in 1953, closing after 60 performances and attracting critical pans. Its reputation has grown over the years as new acting companies have attempted to crack its code.

Hawke, who is Williams’ great-nephew, first became interested in the show while appearing as Kilroy in a well-reviewed 1999 production at the Williamstown Theater Festival, calling it one of the best theatrical experiences of his career.

“When something really daring works, there’s a high,” said Hawke. “It’s like Jimi Hendrix when he played. When James Baldwin speaks, for example, he’s living on the edge. And Tennessee was living way out there.”

Singer convinced Hawke that Rio would offer the kind of cosmopolitan backdrop that the work needed. It helped that Brazil offered incentives for filmmakers.

“The play is set at the crossroads of all the world and we want to represent that with the production and the cast,” said Hawke “Rio seems like the place to do that. There’s an intersection of extreme poverty and extreme wealth.”

Hawke and Singer spoke to Variety a day before “Tesla,” a drama about inventor Nikola Tesla (Ethan Hawke) fight build a revolutionary electrical system, premiered. The film reunites Hawke with Michael Almereyda, with whom he previously collaborated on 2000’s “Hamlet.”

“It’s great to play human beings that are so outside the box,” said Hawke. “Tesla was a hard person to make sense of. He’s a person who invents electricity and seems to have no personal relationships.”

Hawke has just wrapped the Showtime mini-series, “Good Lord Bird,” and is gearing up to star opposite Alessandro Nivola in “Satan Is Real,” a drama about the Louvin brothers, an influential pair of country musicians.

Singer is also very busy. He’s working on “The King of Oil,” the story of fugitive commodities trader Marc Rich, which will star Matt Damon and John Krasinski and has been set up at Universal. He’s also producing an adaptation of Don DeLillo’s post-modern classic “White Noise.” It’s a project that has bedeviled previous efforts to bring it to cinemas, but Singer thinks this time he will be successful.

“Don DeLillo is such a brilliant icon and he’s 83 and he wants to see his work done on screen. That’s what gave us the power to push this forward,” he said.

Sundance 2020 Feature Films Announced: Tesla Wins Alfred P. Sloan Prize

Tesla / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Michael Almereyda, Producers: Avi Lerner, Jeffery Greenstein, Uri Singer, Christa Campbell, Lati Grobman, Isen Robbins) — Highlighting the Promethean struggles of Nikola Tesla, as he attempts to transcend entrenched technology–including his own previous work–by pioneering a system of wireless energy that will change the world. Cast: Ethan Hawke, Kyle Maclachlan, Eve Hewson, Jim Gaffigan, Hannah Gross, Josh Hamilton. World Premiere. Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize

Passage Pictures To Turn Book On Gaza Flotilla Raid Into Film

Passage Pictures has acquired film rights to Niv Kaplan’s upcoming book Frogmen on Deck, which details the deadly showdown aboard a Turkish-owned ship at the center of 2010’s Gaza flotilla raid. Barak Barkan and Kaplan have signed on to co-adapt the script.

Kaplan’s novel follows the Israeli Defense Force’s elite Navy unit the Shayetet 13, which carried out a raid on six civilian ships  — half carrying humanitarian aid — attempting to break Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip in May 2010. The commandos who were attempting to divert the ships, dubbed the “Gaza Freedom Flotilla,” to port faced resistance upon boarding the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara. Nine pro-Palestinian Turkish nationals were killed in the resulting skirmish, and more on both sides were injured. The incident sparked scrutiny in Israel and further deteriorated Israeli-Turkish relations.

Kaplan had unprecedented access to the Shayetet 13 for the book, as well as to the activists and crew on board, to reveal information never before released.

“We are so excited to bring this important story to a wide audience and to shed light on aspects of this powerful story that have never before been told,” said Passage Pictures CEO Uri Singer, whose company is also adapting Kaplan’s novel Tracks. “Telling this story from both perspectives is particularly meaningful to me.”

Passage is coming off producing with Millennium Michael Almereyda’s Tesla, starring Ethan Hawke. Other book-to-film adaptations in the works at the company include Don Delillo’s White Noise.

Ethan Hawke Directing, Juliette Binoche Starring in ‘Camino Real’ Film Adaptation

Ethan Hawke will direct a film adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ 1953 play “Camino Real,” starring Juliette Binoche.

Passage Pictures will produce. The film is expected to shoot in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, next year. John Sloss from Cinetic Media is also attached to produce alongside Passage Pictures CEO Uri Singer, Mario Peixoto (Singer’s Brazil-based partner at Passage Pictures) and Ryan Hawke from Under the Influence Productions.

Hawke, who previously starred in a stage production of “Camino Real” at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, adapted the play with writer-composer Shelby Gaines. The play is set in a quasi-nihilistic, surreal, isolated town in a tropical climate. The characters confront their existence and purpose in a narrative of love and burlesque dancing. Hawke’s “Camino Real” will have a contemporary setting.

Passage is currently in production on Michael Almereyda’s “Tesla” in New York, in which Hawke plays Nikola Tesla opposite Eve Hewson and Kyle MacLachlan. Passage is also slated to produce “The King of Oil” at Universal, based on the book “King of Oil: The Secret Lives of Marc Rich,” along with “The Redeemer,” with “Crank” creator Mark Neveldine attached to direct.

Hawke recently starred in “First Reformed” and “Juliet, Naked.” Binoche won an Academy Award for supporting actress for 1996’s “The English Patient” and starred in the French romantic comedy “Let the Sunshine In,” which opened the Directors’ Fortnight at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival. Hawke and Binoche are repped by CAA.