Darren Aronofsky Circling to Direct Adaptation of Stephen King's ‘Cujo' for Netflix
After dealing with whales and black swans and two of every creature on Noah's Ark, Darren Aronofsky is going back to the animal kingdom for his next film.
Aronofsky is circling a new adaptation of Stephen King's 'Cujo,' the horror story about a friendly St. Bernard dog that turns killer and unleashes havoc on a small town. The project is in development at Netflix, and according to THR, which first reported the news, the project could be on the fast track after news of an adaptation was reported just last week.
More from IndieWire
NATO - The National Association of Theatre Owners - Has a New Name: Cinema United
Gwyneth Paltrow Didn't Know What an Intimacy Coordinator Was Until Filming 'Marty Supreme'
Aronofsky would direct the film should a deal materialize, but no writer is attached. Roy Lee — who has most recently produced 'Companion' but is also behind adaptations of other King projects such as 'Salem's Lot,' the 'It' films, and Francis Lawrence's upcoming 'The Long Walk' — is attached to produce.
'Cujo' was a 1981 King novel and was shortly thereafter turned into a 1983 film as directed by Lewis Teague. The film grossed $21 million for Warner Bros.
Up next for Aronofsky is 'Caught Stealing,' which is in post-production and is a crime thriller based on books by Charlie Huston about a burned out former baseball player who gets caught up in a world of underground crime in 1990s New York City. The film stars Austin Butler and is being released by Sony.
Back in 2023, Aronofsky was set to direct a biopic on Elon Musk for A24, which is based on a biography by Walter Isaacson, who also wrote the biography about Steve Jobs that Danny Boyle later turned into his 2015 film starring Michael Fassbender. He also directed a film for The Sphere in Las Vegas called 'Postcard from Earth.' His last narrative feature film was 'The Whale' in 2022, also for A24 and which won an Oscar for Brendan Fraser.
Best of IndieWire
Guillermo del Toro's Favorite Movies: 56 Films the Director Wants You to See
'Song of the South': 14 Things to Know About Disney's Most Controversial Movie
The 55 Best LGBTQ Movies and TV Shows Streaming on Netflix Right Now
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
15 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Harvey Weinstein's New York Retrial Closes With Prosecutors Urging Jury to ‘Let Him Know the Rules Apply to Him' Ahead of Deliberations
The prosecution finished delivering its closing argument on Wednesday afternoon at Harvey Weinstein's sex crimes retrial in New York City. 'The defendant thought the rules did not apply to him. Now is the time to let him know the rules [do] apply to him,' district attorney Nicole Blumberg told the jury. More from Variety Harvey Weinstein Was the 'One Getting Abused,' Defense Says in Retrial Closing Argument; Prosecution Calls Him 'No Victim' Harvey Weinstein Doesn't Plan to Testify at New York Retrial Harvey Weinstein Accuser Jessica Mann Testifies About Alleged Rape: 'He Threw Me on the Bed and Said I Owed Him One More Time' Blumberg summarized the testimonies of accusers Miriam Haley, Kaja Sokola and Jessica Mann — who, over the weeks-long trial, described their alleged sexual assaults by Weinstein. 'He underestimated their power and their strength,' Blumberg said of the accusers who came forward. In the defense's summation on Tuesday, Weinstein's lawyer Arthur Aidala reiterated the argument that the accusers had lied — claiming that all of their sexual encounters with Weinstein were consensual and calling these relationships 'transactional.' Aidala described the three accusers as 'women with broken dreams' who were angry at Weinstein for their lack of success in the entertainment industry. He also claimed they were motivated by money or fame to testify. 'If this guy wasn't Harvey Weinstein, would we even be here?' Aidala said. Blumberg refuted the defense's claim that the three women accused Weinstein of sexual assault to seek financial compensation or notoriety. The prosecutor argued that they contacted Sokola, who did not testify at Weinstein's 2020 trial, to take the stand — not the other way around. She also highlighted what happened to Haley and Mann after their testimony in that trial: Haley changed the spelling of her last name, while Mann did not speak to the media for over a year after the original New York trial ended. 'Only in a rape trial,' Blumberg said, 'it actually feels like you're the person on trial.' Blumberg added, 'Who puts themselves through that unless they're telling the truth?' Weinstein is charged with two counts of committing a 'criminal sexual act' in the first degree and one count of third-degree rape, following accusations by Haley, Sokola and Mann. In his 2020 trial, the disgraced movie mogul had been found guilty of sexually abusing former aspiring actor Mann and former TV production assistant Haley — but those convictions were overturned in 2024. Weinstein has pleaded not guilty to all counts in his retrial. The jury, consisting of seven women and five men, is set to begin deliberations on Thursday. Best of Variety What's Coming to Netflix in June 2025 New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week 'Harry Potter' TV Show Cast Guide: Who's Who in Hogwarts?
Yahoo
20 minutes ago
- Yahoo
26 celebs who came out in 2025 (so far)
TheStewartofNY/Getty Images; Brian D. McLaughlin/Michael;Anna Camp, Paul Reubens, and Valentina While many people, especially in younger generations, may not see "coming out" as a big deal in 2025, it still is for many others. Coming out not only allows a person to live as their most authentic self, but also lets those with a spotlight show others what kind of possibilities there are in life. It may be considered an aphorism today, but the phrase "if you can't see it, you can't be it" still holds a lot of truth. These celebrities who came out in 2025 are reminding us that coming out can still be a powerful tool for self-empowerment and raising awareness that LGBTQ+ people can look any way and come from anywhere. Celebrities who came out in 2024 included Maren Morris, Kelly Marie Tran, Tom Hollander, and Amanda Tori Meating came out. In 2025, a new list of stars have embraced their most authentic selves. Known for starring in the Pitch Perfect movies and the Netflix show You, actor Anna Camp casually came out this year in a TikTok interview where she was asked what she expects from a guy on a date. "Well, I don't expect anything from a guy anymore because I'm dating a woman, and it's great," she answered, gesturing to her girlfriend Jade Whipkey. Actor, comedian, and performer Paul Reubens, best known for his Pee-wee Herman character, came out in the documentary Pee-wee as Himself, which premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Reubens, who passed away in 2023 at the age of 70, would often make veiled references to his sexuality late in his career, but didn't come out until the posthumous documentary. Dancer, singer, and reality star JoJo Siwa had a busy time coming out on Celebrity Big Brother UK this year. When Siwa joined the show, they updated their pronouns to "anything you feel on that day, whatever I look like, you can call me." Later on the show, they opened up about their gender. "Essentially, you have female, you have male. I've met a lot of females, love them, don't feel like I'm them. Met a lot of males, love them, definitely not them," she said. "Met a lot of people in my life that are nonbinary, and these beautiful nonbinary people are who I feel the most like." She also realized that she wanted to change her label. "I feel, like, so queer, do you konw what I mean? I think that's the thing, I've always told myself I'm a lesbian, and I thinb here, I've realized: 'Oh, I'm not a lesbian, I'm queer.' And that's really cool," she said. "I'm switching letters! F**k the 'L,' I'm going to the 'Q'!" De Niro, who is the 29-year-old daughter of Academy Award-winning actor Robert De Niro, came out as a trans woman in a cover story for Them this year. "I think a big part of [my transition] is also the influence Black women have had on me," De Niro explained. "I think stepping into this new identity, while also being more proud of my Blackness, makes me feel closer to them in some way." Reid is one of the most popular authors today, with hit books like 2017's The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, 2019's Daisy Jones and The Six, and her new novel, Atmosphere. "My attraction to women is a room in the house that is my identity — Alex [husband] understood this book was about me spending time in that room," the author told Time magazine about writing queer women characters. "He was so excited for me, like, 'What a great way for you to express this side of you.' And he helped me get the book to be as romantic and beautiful as it could be." RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 10 star Aja had come out as a trans woman back in 2021, and this year, came out as bisexual. "Had the realization today that I am definitely bisexual and have been in denial about it," she wrote on X. "Welp. I guess I'm coming out. I'm bisexual." In a post celebrating her 34th birthday, RuPaul's Drag Race superstar Valentina came out as a trans woman. "Hello everyone, it's me Valentina Xunaxi. Today is my bday. I turn 34," she wrote on Instagram. "For some time now I've been in transition, I've been doing it privately but today I wanted to open and share with you all. Along the way I've felt pressure to come forward, so I've decided and wanted to take today to declare myself as a transgender woman. I welcome all the love, support and protection from my dear fans. Thank you so much." Country singer Tanner Adell, who had the viral hit "Buckle Bunny" and was featured on Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter album on the song "BLACKBIIRD," came out as pansexual. "It's funny when people ask me my sexual orientation, but I feel like you should be able to hear that in my music," she said. "There's more of that coming." In an essay for Them, comedian and writer James Tom came out with a new name and attraction to men. "Testosterone allowed me to access a latent desire for men that had likely always existed, but felt impossible to realize as a 'woman.' As a boy, though, dick became ubiquitous," Tom wrote. "There are cathedrals everywhere for those with eyes to see. I took to f****try like a fish in water, and with my new gay surroundings came new ways for people to perceive me, and more importantly, new ways for me to perceive myself." Nonbinary actor Jack Haven, known for starring in films like I Saw the TV Glow and the Netflix show Atypical, announced a name change this year. "Haven is after my great great uncle, Haven Gillespie who was a songwriter known for the xmas hit 'Santa Clause is Coming to Town,' which he wrote on the subway in 15 minutes. and first name Jack has stuck," Haven wrote on Instagram. "Two years ago in a workshop led by @saman_arastoo I began using this name. I said I was using it in safe spaces. Saman said use it in dangerous spaces. So I use it in the mens bathroom." British alt-pop singer Lola Young came out as bisexual in reply to a TikTok comment saying "no man deserves this" posted on a video of her singing. "I like p***y as well u kno," Young replied. Actor Suprya Ganesh, who plays Dr. Samira Mohan on the hit HBO Max series The Pitt, opened up about being queer and using she/they pronouns in an interview with Variety this year. "There are a couple of times where I'm existing outside of [femme-ness], and I don't always totally feel like I'm fitting into what I think is a very white-conceived perception of femininity," they said. "I also want queer brown women to look at me and know that that's someone they can turn to and relate to."Barry Diller The billionaire media mogul and longtime husband of fashion icon Diane von Furstenberg came out as "bi with Di," saying he his gay and von Furstenberg is the only woman he's loved in his new memoir, Who Knew. K-pop singer Bain, who is a member of the group JUST B, came out during a concert in April this year. All right, before I sing this next song, tonight I wanna share something with you guys," he said. "I'm f**king proud to be part of the LGBTQ+ community." Bain then performed a cover of Lady Gaga's gay anthem "Born This Way." Chrichillo is a reality TV star who competed on Survivor and came out as trans in an essay for Cosmopolitan. "I didn't come back to a spouse or a full-time career, like many of my castmates did,' he said in the essay. "I didn't have a passion to replace the 15-year quest that was getting cast. When I think about my future, there's a lot of blurriness. But there's a lifelong accumulation of artifacts that has pulled my identity into focus, inside the museum of my own transness." This Olympic runner, who won a bronze medal in the 1500-meter race at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, opened up about his sexuality and his current relationship this year. On an Instagram post showing pictures of him with another man, Nuguse wrote, "Introducing my boyfriend, Julian. Can't believe we're already one year in my love 💛(Don't act so surprised)." Known professionally as Lara Raj, this singer and member of the group Katseye opened up about her sexuality on the social media platform Weverse. "I knew I was half fruitcake when i was like 8 so i really was wanting everybody," she wrote. "Honestly probably before 8. Isn't 'half fruitcake' such a good way to explain it without saying it?" Gymnast Jade Carey, who has two gold medals and a bronze as a part of the 2020 and 2024 USA Gymnastics teams, came out as queer and revealed she is dating Aimee Sinacola, director of creative content for the University of Oregon Ducks. Isabella is a comic writer known for creating the DC character Black Lightning, as well as Marvel characters Misty Knight and Tigra. She came out as a trans woman this year at the age of 73. "Keep Calm and Yes I'm Transgender," she posted on social media. Floyd, known for playing Neff in the Netflix series Inventing Anna and Dr. Simone Griffith on Grey's Anatomy, opened up about her sexuality on the Made it Out podcast. After revealing that her father came out as gay in his 50s, she said, "So funnily enough, I was pretty closeted growing up. I've had relationships with people of all sorts of gender identities. So I myself, I'm still looking for a definition. I love the word queer because it sort of holds it all." Brianna "Chickenfry" LaPaglia is a social media star and podcast host who previously dated country singer Zach Bryan. This year, she told her BFFs podcast cohost Josh Richards that she's not interested in having "a boyfriend, like, ever again," and added, "Everyone's saying I'm a lesbian, which is fine. … I've dabbled for sure. I'm thinking maybe girls is my play. I think that they're better, so maybe I really am fully a lesbian, so maybe that's why none of my relationships with men have worked out. But I don't know. Time will tell." Danish professional handballer and podcast host Jensen came out this year in a post on Instagram. "I am gay. Three words that should, in reality, be easy to say, but for many years, I've been afraid to be open about it," he said in his post. Stękała is a Polish ski jumper who took the bronze medal in the 2021 World Championships. He came out in an Instagram post honoring his late partner, who passed away in November. "I wondered for a long time if I would ever find the strength to write these words. For years, I lived in the shadow of fear, in hiding, afraid that who I really am could destroy me," Stękała wrote in a post about his partner of eight years. "Today, however, I don't want to run away anymore. I want you to really know me. I'm gay. For years, I hid it from the world – from you, from the media, and sometimes even from myself." Bennington is the daughter of late Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington. She came out as trans in an Instagram post on Valentine's Day this year. "In August of last year, I decided to take the path of happiness and being true to myself," she wrote. "I came out as transgender and started hormone replacement therapy, and it has been the best decision I've ever made in my life," she continued. McGraw is the daughter of country stars Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, and while her friends and family have known she is an "out and proud queer, bisexual woman" for a while, the public found out this year during Pride Month. McGraw posted on Instagram that tabloids were saying she "came out," but said she was already out and she has and "will always be very vocal about my support of LGBTQIA+ rights and the community." Rose is the lead singer of the music group The Vandoliers. She came out as trans to Rolling Stone. "I've always been very arms-length with people because of this," she said. "I didn't want anybody to ever find out about it. For 26 years, I've tried to be anything but a trans person, and it never went away."
Yahoo
42 minutes ago
- Yahoo
How Ramy Youssef and Pam Brady Took ‘Fearless' Swings with ‘#1 Happy Family USA'
On June 5, the IndieWire Honors Spring 2025 ceremony will celebrate the creators and stars responsible for some of the most impressive and engaging work of this TV season. Curated and selected by IndieWire's editorial team, IndieWire Honors is a celebration of the creators, artisans, and performers behind television well worth toasting. We're showcasing their work with new interviews leading up to the Los Angeles event. Ramy Youssef and Pam Brady were big fans of each other who had never met — and as soon as they did, they started to work together on a television show. The duo teamed up for A24 and Prime Video's '#1 Happy Family USA,' an animated series about a Muslim family in post-9/11 America that 'has no business being as funny as its first season proves to be.' More episodes are on their way, thanks to a two-season order from the streamer, and Youssef and Brady will receive this year's Spark Award for animation at this season's IndieWire Honors. More from IndieWire Sheryl Lee Ralph Remembers Sidney Poitier's Early Support: 'I Expect Great Things from You' 'Squid Game' Creator Teases Potential Spinoff: 'I Want to Show What They Did' Between Seasons 1 and 2 As a millennial stand-up and creator of his own show, Youssef was (of course) influenced by 'South Park,' which he describes as an ''Oh shit' moment' breakthrough about the possibilities of animation and 'the crazy things that you could say when it's just coming out of like little animated children's mouths.' Brady had been impressed by Youssef's work and begged her manager to set up a meeting, just to 'understand how [his] mind worked.' She played it cool when he asked her about working together, while inside she was freaking out. She wasn't alone. As the show went into pre-production — and production and post-production — Youssef said that at the studio, 'everyone, at every time' was nervous about how it would go ('including right now'). 'It's so interesting, because the show is in a lot of ways about fear, but working with Ramy, the creative process was pretty fearless,' Brady told IndieWire. 'It didn't feel like we were being provocative for no reason, just to be provocative. We were just telling the story. We're exploring a 12-year-old boy's mentality at a really tough time, and the fact that it felt true gave us the confidence to push it.' 'In a lot of ways, making an animated show was less daunting than making a live-action show that was not only dealing with things that were sensitive to me, but also using my face and my name and all that stuff,' Youssef said, referencing Hulu's award-winning 'Ramy.' 'To go into something that's like, 'He's just a cartoon' actually felt way more liberating, and felt like let's just fucking throw it at the wall.' Early on, the show brought Youssef back to his stand-up roots, riffing on a joke with an audience — the writers room — for immediate feedback and finessing. The comprehensive process of animation allowed them to be what Brady calls 'joke maximalists' in terms of fine tuning something for as long as possible. 'In live action, we do so much iterating, but at a certain point you go home with the footage, and that's just what it is,' said Youssef. 'Here, as long as you don't need to move a background, that mouth is yapping and moving. You could have it say whatever the hell you want it to say, pretty much up until the last day.' Each episode of '#1 Happy Family USA' opens with a cheeky disclaimer. They're rated H for haram, and not intended to serve as cultural representation. It started as just that — a humorous insurance policy for Youssef, whose work is often tasked with speaking for large swathes of the Arab and Muslim community — and grew into a reliable running joke. 'It started from the sincere place, and then became this really funny runner where every episode we list off the things we're not representing,' he said. 'So immediately there's a joke as the episode starts, but then you also kind of know what we're about to satirize, and you go, 'Oh, well, how's that going to happen?'' '#1 Happy Family USA' goes to some pretty surreal places — the code switching, the talking lamb, the musical interludes, and, of course, George W. Bush — but that's not unusual for animation, or indeed for those familiar with Youssef's work. The series grew from the same seed that informed Episode 104 of 'Ramy,' a 9/11 flashback with a strawberry-loving Osama Bin Laden hallucination. Breaking that particular story, Youssef said, showed him that 'there's this whole era here. The best parts of the live-action episode were very surreal, and then I got really inspired by pushing it even further and taking it into something that was animated.' In the show, Youssef also voices the young Rumi Hussein, and his father Hussein — a deliriously entertaining track that Brady pushed for. 'If I look back, probably my favorite thing about making this show is finding that character of Hussein Hussein. I think he's the heartbeat of the show,' Youssef said. 'There's a depth to the idea that that Ramy as a kid lived through 9/11 as a 12 -year-old, and now he's playing it as a 12-year-old but also seeing the experience through a father's eyes,' said Brady. The show excels because it sees the world through Rumi's eyes, or Hussein's, or sister Mona (Alia Shawkat) or mother Sharia (Salma Hindy). Consider Rumi's dalliance with illegally downloading music, which puts him on the radar of a not-so-mysterious pen pal known as Curious_George_Bush43! By the end of the season, President George W. Bush arrives at the family's doorstep, masquerading as Rumi's friend while barely concealing his sinister intentions. 'What's so great about getting to know his character through Rumi is that he just gets to be a mischievous adult, who at first is like, 'Hey, I'm your pal,' until the other shoe drops,' said Youssef. 'I think kids have that experience of adults: 'Hey, you're a really good kid. You get to do this, but first you got to do your homework,' or whatever the kid doesn't want to do. But in this case it's the President of the United States, and he wants to implicate this kid in his global fight on terror.' 'We also wanted to make sure we didn't present him in the way that he's just this boob and this puppet, because we all felt pretty clearly that he knew exactly what he was doing,' said Brady. 'We just wanted to show him being a bastard to Rumi, and show this guy is not your friend.' As for the central family, Brady said, 'The thing that's funny about 'South Park' that people don't talk about that much is it's a story about four best friend boys. At its core, it's very sentimental — not in the bad way, but it's about friendship. That's why you can get crazy, because you buy their relationship. [This show,] at its core, it's showing the the bonds of the family.' Youssef likes to start broad with his humor and then add layers of specificity. He gives a perfect example: in the show's pilot, there is a crisis over where to bury Rumi's grandfather (Azhar Usman), a crisis which culminate in Uncle Ahmed (Elia) being arrested at the airport on the morning of September 11, 2001. 'You have this family that is so loving they really care where their dead relative is about to be buried, but then there's so much dysfunction that the body has to be stolen,' he explained. 'That is its own can of worms, before you even add on the layer that they're Arab and Muslim and add on what happens at the airport. What would it look like for this family to have a dead body at the airport on 9/11? That is a very wild thread to connect, and is emblematic of the kind of things we try to pull off on the show.' It's clear that Youssef and Brady take pride in the show, as much as the artist's impulse often leans toward self-criticism. They've also got the second season coming, and were thrilled to draw on a well of ideas that supplied both installments. Brady is happy with with the audience response, and hopeful that a show like this one won't always feel so radical. For Youssef, it's a welcome addition to a diverse body of work. 'I'm finding that this animated show is sitting with different fans in different ways, and that's really cool,' he said. 'There are people who love 'Ramy,' and then there are other people who go, 'Yeah, 'Ramy' was OK, but I really like 'Mo,'' and then there's people who are like, 'Hey, this is my favorite thing you've done.' I find all of that really exciting. You just get to learn more about different things that that can connect in different ways.' '#1 Happy Family USA' is now streaming on Prime Video. Best of IndieWire The Best Thrillers Streaming on Netflix in June, from 'Vertigo' and 'Rear Window' to 'Emily the Criminal' All 12 Wes Anderson Movies, Ranked, from 'Bottle Rocket' to 'The Phoenician Scheme' Nightmare Film Shoots: The 38 Most Grueling Films Ever Made, from 'Deliverance' to 'The Wages of Fear'