Kelsey Grammer Boards ‘Hell Ride'; Karlovy Vary Names Chair; Tarf Enters Theatrical Distribution; ITV Soap Boss Retiring

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Kelsey Grammer To Lead Theme Park Thriller 'Hell Ride'
From Frasier to rollercoaster. Kelsey Grammer will lead Hell Ride, an upcoming theme park thriller from Altitude. Directed by Magnus Martens (SAS: Red Notice) and written by Altitude joint CEO Andy Mayson (No Way Up), the film is billed as a 'white-knuckle survival thriller' that follows a group of high school seniors who break into an abandoned theme park for one final wild night, only to find their night spiralling into a nightmare. Mayson, Molly Conners (Triple 9) and Amanda Bowers (Riff Raff) are producing and Altitude is introducing it to buyers in Cannes. Pic reunites Grammer with part of the creative team he worked with at another upcoming thriller, Turbulence, and some of the VFX team from that pic and No Way Up will work on Hell Ride as well. Grammer is represented by UTA and Vault Entertainment.
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Krystof Mucha Named Karlovy Vary Film Fest Chair
Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF) has named Kryštof Mucha as its Chairman, and will leave the President position the late Jiří Bartoška held in memoriam. Bartoška passed away earlier this month aged 78. Mucha, who joined KVIFF in 1997, has been its Executive Director since 2004. 'Despite the very sad fact that the world of culture has lost one of its most important personalities, we want to assure the public that the Karlovy Vary festival will continue to possess the level of quality that Jiří Bartoška and his team have always given it,' said Jan Jírovec, Head of the Rockaway Arts group that majority owns KVIFF. Remaining on. Mucha's team will be Artistic Director Karel Och and Head of Production Petr Lintimer. 'For many years, I had the wonderful opportunity to work with Jiří Bartoška and to see how he thought and where he was taking the festival,' said Mucha. 'I believe that, together with Karel Och and Petr Lintimer, we will succeed in continuing his legacy.'
Tarf Media Pushes Into Irish Theatrical Distribution
EXCLUSIVE: Ireland's Tarf Media is pushing into local theatrical distribution. The film sales company told Deadline it is now offering a 'complete end-to-end distribution package from theatrical in Ireland to international sales and streaming.' Tarf founder Eoghan Burke is working with Anna Lavery PR and Distribution to bring films to Irish cinemas, while continuing to act as a sales agent. Dublin-based Tarf is known for handling international rights on films such as Cocaine Werewolf and A Dickens of a Christmas. Before last year's Cannes, Tarf struck a partnership deal with Good Deed Entertainment.
ITV Soap Supremo John Whiston Retiring
John Whiston, the ITV exec who has overseen the UK network's flagship soaps, is retiring after 27 years. In his most recent role as Managing Director of Continuing Drama and Head of ITV in the North, the long-serving exec has led editorially and commercially on Coronation Street and Emmerdale, both of which still command audiences of millions each evening. He also oversaw ITV series such as including Vera, A Touch of Frost and Heartbeat. At the end of the month, he will hand over to Executive Producer for Continuing Drama Iain MacLeod, who is upped to Creative Director and Matt Cleary, who becomes COO of Continuing Drama, which keeping his current post as Director of Production for UK Scripted at ITV Studios. MacLeod will report to ITV Studios Managing Director Julian Bellamy. Whiston said: 'I've always said I've got the best job in TV. I used to say it privately in case ITV stopped paying me. It has been nothing short of an honour, as well as a blast, to work on the Soaps this last decade or so. We've had joy, we've had fun and we've had seasons in the Sun. We've also had misery and mayhem. We've had motorway crashes, tram crashes and floods. We've had stories which have squeezed your heart till tears came out of your eyes. And we've covered pretty much anything and everything that people have to face in their own lives and we've done that with care and humanity. And all that is down to the 600 or so people – the writers, crew, cast and editorial – who have kept the show on air and at an incredible quality day in day out. And it's them who have made my job ridiculously easy. Just don't tell ITV.'
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