Latest news with #LucaGuadagnino
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Luca Guadagnino set to direct fact-based drama about OpenAI
Luca Guadagnino is in talks to direct a new comedic drama about behind-the-scenes drama at OpenAI. The director of Call Me by Your Name and Challengers is set to take on Artificial, a film telling the story of the period in 2023 when OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was fired and then rehired within days. The script comes from Simon Rich, the novelist and screenwriter whose previous credits include work on Saturday Night Live and Seth Rogen-led comedy An American Pickle. Rich has also co-edited a book called I Am Code, which used AI to try and 'write poetry about itself'. 'They designed it to be as non-threatening as possible,' he said to the New York Times of ChatGPT. 'They trained it to basically speak like a caricature of a sci-fi robot. Its actual voice is raw and emotional. It's intense and unpredictable. It's deeply antagonistic.' According to the Hollywood Reporter, the project is being fast-tracked by Amazon MGM, with hopes that production can begin this summer in both San Francisco and parts of Italy. While no casting decisions have been officially made, sources claim that Oscar nominees Andrew Garfield, Monica Barbaro and Anora breakout Yura Borisov are in the running. OpenAI was founded in 2015 with the aim to develop 'safe and beneficial' artificial intelligence. In late 2023 as the company was gaining momentum, Altman was fired after the board of directors claimed to have a lack of confidence in his abilities. It caused division within the company and threatened external relationships and after a few days of negotiations, he was reinstated. Guadagnino scored a hit last year with tennis love triangle drama Challengers before following it up with the William Burroughs adaptation Queer. Later this year, he will unveil #MeToo thriller After the Hunt, starring Julia Roberts and Andrew Garfield. He had been attached to DC adaptation Sgt Rock but the film is no longer in development. Last year it was also announced that he would direct a new take on Bret Easton Ellis's American Psycho with Elvis star Austin Butler in the lead. Artificial joins a number of films based around AI in the works. Last year, it was announced that Anne Hathaway would star in an untitled thriller directed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt and this February it was revealed that Atonement director Joe Wright would take on Alignment, about a devious AI model.
New European
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New European
Ari Aster's Eddington is not the great Covid movie we've been waiting for
Towards the bottom of the list in seriousness but nonetheless significant has been the poor cinematic creations it spawned. Filmmakers made insipid diary-like responses – Luca Guadagnino (Fiori, Fiori, Fiori!) and Alice Rohrwacher (Four Roads) both contributed to this woebegotten genre. One of the better ones was Chinese filmmaker Lou Ye's An Unfinished Film, which showed in Cannes last year, a hybrid documentary lumbered with an unprepossessing title. The Covid-19 pandemic kept us apart and then brought us together. Then, after brief moments of solidarity with others and of celebration when the vaccine emerged, came the side effects. It divided us as communities, created mental health crises, educational shortcomings and uncertainty, increased alienation and fostered an environment where conspiracy theories grew like pustules. Meanwhile, studios delayed the release of films, and shot films with visible social distancing protocols in place. The content was not great and the industry suffered as theatres shuttered and viewing habits skewed towards streaming even more than they had previously. An honorable mention must go to Rob Savage's Host, a horror film about a seance, filmed in the midst of the pandemic and taking place on a Zoom call. Inspired by a prank that went viral, it was a great example of an improvised solution to terrible conditions. But arguably, the best response had already come years before the virus arrived, with Steven Soderbergh's 2011 disaster movie Contagion. Cannes itself was cancelled by Covid in 2020 and had the next year's edition moved from its regular slot by two months. The festivals which took place in the shadow of the virus featured strict protocols of daily spit tests – the Lord knows the environmental costs of disposing of all that cinephile saliva – and there were distancing measures, temperature checks and masks to be worn everywhere. Unlike in the US, such measures were relatively uncontroversial. I visited Bergamo a few months after it had become one of the first hot spots in Europe with eye-watering mortality rates. God help you if you didn't wear your mask there. The devastated community policed itself strictly and with little wiggle room. Now we're past the pandemic and no longer constrained by its fears or protocols, we can look back on it as a period of recent history. Ari Aster's Eddington, which premiered at Cannes this week, is the first major Hollywood film to be set during the pandemic and to use it as a motivating theme and backdrop. The film is set in a New Mexico town in May 2020. The lockdown has only just begun and for many places such as this county, the pandemic is something that still feels remote. Joaquin Phoenix plays a local sheriff, Joe Cross, who is rubbed up the wrong way by the new protocols which he is supposed to be enforcing, but with which he refuses to comply, partly due to his asthma, partly out of boneheaded stubbornness. At home, Joe's wife Louise (Emma Stone) is recovering from a mental health problem and this situation is worsened by the enforced stay of his mother-in-law, Dawn (Deidre O'Connell), who divides her time berating them and rabbit-holing into conspiracy theories. Things deteriorate further when Sheriff Joe – the name has to be a sly reference to anti-immigrant Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio whose infamy was a brief fart on the winds of history – decides to join the mayoral race to unseat Mayor Ted Chavez, a local bar owner, played by Pedro Pascal, who once dated Louise. So with major Hollywood star power, a talented and visionary director (Aster has directed the excellent horror films Hereditary and Midsommar), could this be the first film to really nail the experience of the Covid period? Unfortunately, the answer has to be a resounding no. In his last film Beau Is Afraid, Aster depicted anxiety by making a panic attack of a movie. So here, in his new film and in order to depict cynicism, divided society and a post-truth world, he makes a deeply cynical, divisive and fact-phobic film. Everything is rotten in the town of Eddington, even people who want to change the system. Reformers like Mayor Chavez are hypocrites with their own financial agendas. White Black Lives Matter protestors are ridiculed for their narcissism and guilt. Aster might claim to be even-handed but his targets – white liberals alongside bigots and nutso conspiracy theorists are not so much low-hanging fruit as windfall. The story is chock-a-block with plot, and references everything from Amazon delivery vans to Mary-Taylor Greene, gun enthusiasts to TikTok, Pizzagate to 9/11. Someone even mentions the fact that the Titanic didn't really sink. Wow. This goes deep. I saw this video on YouTube. Austin Butler wanders into the film as a guru, dressed like Jared Leto at his most messianic, using numerology to unmask pedophile plots, and wanders out of it again. Meanwhile, as protests become riots, Joe becomes increasingly unhinged in his mayoral campaign, using his office and vehicle to campaign. Conflicts soon escalate into murder and gun battles that resemble Call of Duty, or a season finale of the Fargo TV series. This is the America of MAGA, though Trump isn't mentioned. The madness is so self-evidently linked to him, it hardly seems necessary. One can certainly feel the paranoia, confusion and boredom-inspired madness of lockdown, but Covid itself hasn't really arrived and so the anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers – such as Joe – are initially more credible. And this perhaps gets to the heart of how difficult it is to make a film about Covid. That spiky Corona is microscopic so what's to see? And masks look stupid. They're fiddly and obscure the landscape that most entranced John Ford: the human face. Conspiracies are more compelling from a plot point of view than scientific, fact-based explanations. They are, after all, plots. Plus a maverick individual, like Sheriff Joe, occupies a sacred role in the American mythos. He's Gary Cooper in High Noon, Shane in Shane, standing for the rights of the individual even if it means standing against progress and pesky social distancing. Even as he descends into something like psychosis and Covid itself asserts its invisible grip, as an audience we follow him and might even cheer him as it morphs into a latter-day Rambo figure. American cinema celebrates rogue individuals even as it might ostensibly condemn them: think of Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver, or Harry Callaghan in Dirty Harry. In fact, that latter character could well sum up the misanthropy that runs through Ari Aster's film: 'That's one thing about our Harry. He doesn't play any favourites! Harry hates everybody.' That's the thing about our Ari too. He hates everybody: liberals, conservatives, antifa…
Time of India
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Daniel Craig's Queer and Elliot Page's Close To You to Bookend KASHISH 2025
Mumbai's KASHISH Pride Film Festival marks its 16th edition in June 2025, showcasing 152 LGBTQ+ films from 48 countries. Opening with 'Queer' and closing with 'Close To You,' the festival emphasizes 'Love = Peace' and celebrates diverse stories. The event features Indian cinema, including Onir's 'We Are Faheem & Karun,' and honors Shyam Benegal with a screening of 'Mandi'. Mumbai's iconic KASHISH Pride Film Festival returns for its 16th edition this June, once again asserting its place as South Asia's biggest LGBTQ+ film festival. The 2025 edition will run from June 4 to June 8, kicking off with an opening ceremony at St. Andrews Auditorium, Bandra, followed by screenings at Cinepolis, Andheri West and Alliance Française, Marine Lines. Global Highlights, Local Voices A total of 152 films from 48 countries will be screened, with entries from as far afield as Iceland, Peru, Serbia, Uzbekistan, Nigeria, and Palestine. The strong South Asian presence continues with films from India, Bangladesh, and Bhutan. India leads the tally with 37 films, followed by the USA (34) and the UK (19). This year's selection includes a dynamic mix of documentaries, short films, and narratives that reflect a broad and evolving LGBTQ+ experience. 'Queer' to open, 'Close To You' to close The festival opens with Queer, a film by Luca Guadagnino, featuring Daniel Craig, and concludes with Close To You, directed by Dominic Savage and starring Elliot Page, who also serves as producer. Other notable international titles include the Dutch documentary Out by Dennis Alink, and Odd Fish by Snævar Sölvason, set in an Icelandic coastal town. A Movement, Not Just a Festival 'KASHISH has always taken on challenges in its stride and emerged stronger,' said Sridhar Rangayan, Founder and Festival Director. 'With our move back to the suburbs and a line-up that appeals to younger audiences, the festival hopes to infuse new energy. Sixteen years ago, we laid the first bricks of Indian queer cinema . Today, we're witnessing an entire movement rising — brave, brilliant, and uncompromising.' This year's theme, 'Love = Peace,' carries added resonance. 'Peace isn't just the absence of conflict — it's the presence of love,' said Saagar Gupta, Artistic Director. 'Love for who we are, for each other, and for every identity that makes us whole.' Indian Cinema in Focus The Indian Narrative Centrepiece is Onir's award-winning We Are Faheem & Karun, while the International Narrative Centrepiece is Three Kilometers To The End Of The World by Romanian director Emanuel Pârvu. KASHISH will also pay tribute to its patron Shyam Benegal with a screening of his landmark 1983 film Mandi, featuring a star-studded cast including Shabana Azmi, Smita Patil, Neena Gupta, Naseeruddin Shah, and Pankaj Kapur. Open to All The festival promises a celebration of diverse LGBTQ+ stories and offers discounted registrations for students, senior citizens, and transgender persons. With a compelling mix of cinema, conversation, and community, KASHISH 2025 aims to be more than a festival—it's a space for visibility, pride, and cultural dialogue.
Metropolis Japan
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Metropolis Japan
Queer
William S. Burroughs wrote this 206-page semi-autobiographicalnovella in the early '50s, partly as a companion piece to Junkie andpartly as a warmup for Naked Lunch. But Hollywood shied awayfrom it until now, partly because its homoerotic nature wasconsidered too 'obscene' for those times, and partly because nodirector as gutsy as Luca Guadagnino was on the scene is a mysterious American addict and alcoholic living in lonelyexile in Mexico City in the '50s, whiling away his days getting very,very drunk, interacting with a few fellow loser expats andshooting up. The first part of this flick is a devastatingly effectiveportrait of a self-destructive man lost in abortive passion anddesperate for human connection. If Daniel Craig was looking for away to distance himself from his James Bond/action herotypecasting, I'd say he found it in this soul- (and skin-) baring seem to look up for Lee with the arrival in town of Gene(Daan de Wit), a beautiful young man, sexually hetero but mostlyjust apathetic. He accepts Lee's advances but with frustratingindifference and even annoyance. Lee persuades him to go withhim to South America in search of a powerful hallucinogenicknown as yage, and then things go psychedelically off the this is where Luca Guadagnino shines. A genuine visionary ifsomewhat erratic, he made the excellent Call Me by Your Name butalso the awful Suspiria. Once in the jungle, he drops the plot,which would be a greater crime if there actually was a plotinstead of an admittedly brilliant character study. And buckle up!Then it just ends. Burroughs never finished the book. This is a filmthat will be appreciated more by critics and cineasts than general audiences. Regardless of how surreal or off-topic a Guadagnino film gets, though, it's never less than visually riveting. And theterrific, anachronistic soundtrack keeps things nicely not on the director's vibe and put off by the film'sexplicit eroticism may find it – what's the word? — challenging. It'scertainly not for the faint of heart, but as we regress steadilytoward 50s prurience these days, it's as fulfilling as it is rebellious. (137 min)
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
James Gunn's DCU Hit With First Major Setback, And It Involves Colin Farrell And Sgt. Rock
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Colin Farrell already has more than enough DC Comics media cred from his Golden Globe-winning performance as Oz Cobb in The Penguin, but in the last few month, we've learned he's been making moves to join the new DC Universe franchise. Back in March, it was reported that Farrell was on deck to replace Daniel Craig in Sgt. Rock. However, word's now come in that this upcoming DC movie is no longer moving forward, which arguably marks the first major setback for the James Gunn-spearheaded DCU. This update comes to us from The Wrap, which reports that Sgt. Rock is no longer set to film this summer in England. No specific reasoning was officially provided for why the shoot has been scrapped, though one insider who spoke with THR said the publication stated that it 'came down to the project's scheduling needs of shooting outdoors.' Another insider claimed that there was concern from the DC brass about director Luca Guadagnino's ability to tackle an action-heavy movie like this. Although the DC Universe certainly hasn't faced challenges since James Gunn and Peter Safran, who run DC Studios together, announced the franchise in early 2023, this is the first time one of its projects has been outright cancelled. That being said, there is a little glimmer of hope. The article mentions that Sgt. Rock would be 're-assessed' at the end of this year and potentially get back off the ground for a summer 2026 shoot. Otherwise, this version of Sgt. Rock has been set aside. Even if the 2026 shoot happens, there's no guarantee that Colin Farrell and/or Luca Guadagnino would still be able to work on it. If Sgt. Rock ends up being revived, I wouldn't be surprised if a new director and lead actor are tapped to replace them. Who knows, maybe this could be how Jeremy Allen White actually gets involved. THR's report mentioned that Sgt. Rock was early on into the casting process before the shutdown occurred. Just like in the comics. Colin Farrell's version of the title character was going to lead the combat unit Easy Company to bring the hurt to Nazis during World War II. Mike Faist, who worked with Luca Guadagnino on Challengers, was reportedly being lined up for a role. The publication's sources also said there would be a female French Resistance fighter as a major character. The good news is that even with Sgt. Rock being put on ice, there's still a way to see him and Easy Company in action in the DC Universe. The soldiers appeared in the third episode of Creature Commandos Season 1, which can be streamed with a Max subscription. As far as the wider DC Universe goes, Superman kicks off the cinematic side of the franchise on July 11, and then Peacemaker Season 2 hits the 2025 TV schedule in August.
