Julia Stiles (Silver Linings Playbook, The Bourne Ultimatum), Scott Speedman (The Strangers, The Vow) and Stephen Rea (V for Vendetta, The Crying Game) star in OUT OF THE DARK, a supernatural thriller presented by Participant Media in association with Image Nation and produced by Colombia’s Dynamo and Spain’s Apaches Entertainment. Participant’s Jeff Skoll and Jonathan King and Nick Spicer of XYZ Films serve as executive producers on the film, which began filming in Bogota, Colombia this week.
Spanish filmmaker Lluis Quilez is directing the screenplay by Alex & David Pastor and Javier Gullón about an American couple, Sarah and Paul Harriman, who move to Colombia with their young daughter, Hannah, to take over the manufacturing business owned by Sarah’s father, and soon realize that the house they’ve moved into is haunted.
Said King, “Given Participant’s mission to illuminate important issues, this is not your average ghost story. You can be sure that there’s a bigger reason why this takes place at this particular house in the Colombian jungle and to this particular family.”
Apaches Partner Belen Atienza said, “OUT OF THE DARK showcases the talent of Lluis Quilez to give life to frightening stories that go beyond the genre to explore deeper emotions.”
Participant’s more than 40 films include GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK, SYRIANA, AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH, FOOD, INC., WAITING FOR ‘SUPERMAN’, THE HELP, CONTAGION and LINCOLN.
DreamWorks Studios and Participant Media have acquired the feature film rights to the story of the Catholic Church’s decades-long cover-up of its pedophile priests in Massachusetts as uncovered by a year-long investigation by the Boston Globe, it was announced today by Holly Bario, DreamWorks President of Production, and Jonathan King, Participant Executive Vice President of Production.
Tom McCarthy has signed on to direct and co-write the script with Josh Singer. Anonymous Content’s Michael Sugar and Steve Golin and Rocklin/Faust’s Nicole Rocklin and Blye Faust will produce. David Mizner, who originally brought the project to the producers, will serve as a consultant and associate producer. King and Jeff Skoll will serve as executive producers.
Life rights have been acquired to the Boston Globe’s “Spotlight Team” of reporters and editors, including then-Globe editor Marty Baron, special projects editor Ben Bradlee Jr., Spotlight Team editor Walter “Robby” Robinson and reporters Michael Rezendes, Sacha Pfeiffer, and Matt Carroll. The team spent a year interviewing victims and reviewing thousands of pages of documents and discovered years of cover-up by Catholic Church leadership. Their reporting eventually led to the resignation of Cardinal Bernard Law who had hidden years of serial abuse by other priests and opened the floodgates to other revelations of molestation and cover-ups around the world which still reverberate today.
For their efforts, the Globe team won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 2003 “for its courageous, comprehensive coverage of sexual abuse by priests, an effort that pierced secrecy, stirred local, national and international reaction and produced changes in the Roman Catholic Church.”
“The Boston Globe’s coverage of the Catholic priest scandal opened the door to a bigger story that had worldwide ramifications,” said Bario. “The story of how this team of editors and reporters came to uncover the truth will make a dramatic and compelling film, especially with the talents of our director Tom McCarthy and his co-screenwriter Josh Singer on board.”
Said King, “It’s great to be back in business once again with our friends at DreamWorks and Anonymous, especially on such a powerful and still-evolving story. We have been eager to do another movie with Tom McCarthy ever since ‘The Visitor.'”
This will be the sixth collaboration between DreamWorks and Participant, having previously partnered on Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln,” the 2011 Academy Award-winning smash “The Help,” “The Kite Runner,” “The Soloist,” and this year’s “The Fifth Estate.” With a focus on real issues that shape our lives, Participant creates social action and advocacy programs to transform the impact of the media experience into individual and community action. Some of their other films include Tom McCarthy’s “The Visitor,” “An Inconvenient Truth,” “Good Night, and Good Luck,” “Food, Inc.,” “Charlie Wilson’s War,” “Waiting for ‘Superman,’” “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” and the recent Academy Award nominee for Best Foreign Language Film, “No.”
In addition to “The Visitor,” Tom McCarthy wrote and directed “The Station Agent” and “Win Win.” He was nominated for an Oscar for co-creating the story of Pixar’s “Up.” McCarthy also wrote the screenplay for the Disney film “The Million Dollar Arm” starring Jon Hamm that begins shooting next month. He is repped by the Gersh Agency and attorney Andrew Hurwitz.
Josh Singer wrote the Wikileaks drama “The Fifth Estate” for DreamWorks, which was directed by Bill Condon and will be released later this year. A veteran TV writer, he has worked on such shows as “The West Wing,” “Law & Order: SVU,” “Lie to Me,” and “Fringe.” Singer is repped by WME and Anonymous Content.
DreamWorks Studios’ recent releases include Spielberg’s “Lincoln,” starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field and Tommy Lee Jones. The film has grossed over $180 million at the U.S. box office and was nominated for twelve Academy Awards® with Daniel Day-Lewis winning for Best Actor. Upcoming films include the comedy “Delivery Man,” starring Vince Vaughn, the WikiLeaks drama “The Fifth Estate,” and car racing actioner “Need for Speed.”
HSN TO PRESENT AN EXCLUSIVE COLLECTION INSPIRED BY THE HIGHLY ANTICIPATED FEATURE FILM “THE HELP
Multichannel retailer HSN will launch a multi-platform exclusive shopping event that celebrates the style, fashion and décor inspired by one of the most highly anticipated films of the summer, “The Help.” The event will take place starting August 5 across all of HSN’s platforms, including television, HSN.com and HSN mobile.
Tune in for the HSN event “The Help” on August 5, 6 & 13. Special features, including behind-the-scenes footage, videos, community boards and cast biographies, as well as an opportunity to buy an autographed copy of the book, can be found atwww.hsn.com, keyword: the help.
TheHSN event will feature the launch of new personalities, designers and brands, including:
CR by Cynthia Rowley –exclusive fashion and accessories that radiate classic style and timeless design.
Lela Rose for HSN –impeccable 60’s style apparel with bold flowery prints and whimsical silhouettes.
Chef Martha Hall Foose –celebrated chef and food stylist for The Help will debut her cookbook “A Southerly Course: Menus and Recipes from Close to Home” and present a variety of classic southern foods ranging from boneless stuffed chicken breasts to red velvet cakes and brewed ice teas.
Viking – known for their top-of-the-line major kitchen appliances, Viking will be showcasing their line of state-of-the-art hand-held appliances as part of the event.
In addition, the event will showcase products from HSN favorites, including beauty from Carol’s Daughter and Stila; culinary and home offerings from Emeril Lagasse, Jeffery Banks, and The Lee Bros; and jewelry from R.J. Graziano.
Mary J. Blige, a spokeswoman and investor in the Carol’s Daughter brand, will be expanding her fragrance collection with the launch of My Life Blossom, exclusively on HSN on August 13. The Grammy® award-winning singer composed “The Living Proof, the theme song for The Help and will share personal anecdotes on working on the film when she appears on HSN.
Blige’s song is written from the point of view of the lead character Aibileen, the African-American maid who bravely shares her story. Blige was in awe of the character’s fearlessness and deeply moved by the support of the women surrounding Aibileen in the film.
“I cried the most when I saw all of the women gathered together. They chose to walk in love and forgiveness. My personal connection to the themes in the film is the fact that my Aunt Lara belle was a maid who worked for a very wealthy white family and they loved her to death and she ultimately raised their children,” said Mary J. Blige. “To be able to speak to so many women with this song means a lot to me.” To hear more about Mary’s inspiration, click here.
Check out these new clips from DREAMWORKS’ THE HELP, due in theaters August 10th. Based on one of the most talked about books in years and a #1 New York Times best-selling phenomenon, “The Help” is a provocative and inspiring look at what happens when a southern town’s unspoken code of rules and behavior is shattered by three courageous women who strike up an unlikely friendship.
Synopsis:
Based on one of the most talked about books in years and a #1 New York Times best-selling phenomenon, THE HELP stars Emma Stone (EASY A) as Skeeter, Academy Award®–nominated Viola Davis (DOUBT) as Aibileen and Octavia Spencer as Minny—three very different, extraordinary women in Mississippi during the 1960s, who build an unlikely friendship around a secret writing project that breaks societal rules and puts them all at risk. From their improbable alliance a remarkable sisterhood emerges, instilling all of them with the courage to transcend the lines that define them, and the realization that sometimes those lines are made to be crossed—even if it means bringing everyone in town face-to-face with the changing times. Deeply moving, filled with poignancy, humor and hope, THE HELP is a timeless and universal story about the ability to create change.
Rounding out the all-star cast are Octavia Spencer as Minny, Bryce Dallas Howard as the malevolent Hilly Holbrook, Allison Janney as Skeeter’s mother, Jessica Chastain as Celia Foote, Sissy Spacek as Hilly’s mother, Ahna O’Reilly as Elizabeth Leefolt, Anna Camp as Jolene French and Cicely Tyson as Constantine.
A 90-second version of the trailer will also air tonight at 10:00pm on the Barbara Walters 20/20 Royal Wedding Special, “William & Catherine: A Modern Fairytale.”
Synopsis:
Based on one of the most talked about books in years and a #1 New York Times best-selling phenomenon, THE HELP stars Emma Stone (EASY A) as Skeeter, Academy Award®–nominated Viola Davis (DOUBT) as Aibileen and Octavia Spencer as Minny—three very different, extraordinary women in Mississippi during the 1960s, who build an unlikely friendship around a secret writing project that breaks societal rules and puts them all at risk. From their improbable alliance a remarkable sisterhood emerges, instilling all of them with the courage to transcend the lines that define them, and the realization that sometimes those lines are made to be crossed—even if it means bringing everyone in town face-to-face with the changing times.
Deeply moving, filled with poignancy, humor and hope, THE HELP is a timeless and universal story about the ability to create change.
DreamWorks Studios has released nine new photos from THE HELP. (Insert BIG golf clap here). I absolutely love the line-up of actresses in this and, I might add, a nice birthday present for this Leo come next August too. From director Tate Taylor and starring Viola Davis, Bryce Dallas Howard, Octavia Spencer, Emma Stone and Sissy Spacek, THE HELP will hit theaters on August 12, 2011.
Synopsis:
Based on the novel by: Kathryn Stockett
Set in Mississippi during the 1960s, THE HELP stars Emma Stone (star of the breakout hit, “Zombieland”) as Skeeter, a southern society girl who returns from college determined to become a writer, but turns her friends’ lives—and a small Mississippi town—upside down when she decides to interview the black women who have spent their lives taking care of prominent southern families. Academy Award® nominee Viola Davis (“Eat Pray Love”) stars as Aibileen, Skeeter’s best friend’s housekeeper, who is the first to open up—to the dismay of her friends in the tight-knit black community. Despite Skeeter’s life-long friendships hanging in the balance, she and Aibileen continue their collaboration and soon more women come forward to tell their stories—and as it turns out, they have a lot to say. Along the way, unlikely friendships are forged and a new sisterhood emerges, but not before everyone in town has a thing or two to say themselves when they become unwittingly—and unwillingly—caught up in the changing times.
YAHOO! Movies has posted this first trailer for Doug Liman’s FAIR GAME.
Penn and Watts had such chemistry in Alejandro González Iñárritu’s 21 GRAMS. Looks as though lightning may have striked twice casting these two together in what looks to be a powerful film along with their strong performances.
Based on the book “The Politics of Truth” by Joseph Wilson and “Fair Game” by Valerie Plame Wilson, the film FAIR GAME chronicles how Valerie Plame and Joe Wilson’s careers were destroyed and marriage severely tested when her identity as a covert CIA operative was leaked to the press by the Bush administration following the publication of Joe Wilson’s New York Times editorial piece challenging White House statements about Iraq’s nuclear weapons program. Participant’s Social Action campaign for Fair Game will explore the issues of unethical and unlawful government interference into the lives of its citizens as well as the responsibility of the media to behave conscientiously and truthfully that comes with freedom of the press.
Starring Naomi Watts, Sean Penn, Noah Emmerich, Liraz Charchi and Nicholas Sadler, FAIR GAME will be in theaters on November 5, 2010.
30,000 PEOPLE PLEDGE TO SEE WAITING FOR “SUPERMAN”
DonorsChoose.org Set to Make Donation in Support of Education – First Benchmark Met on WaitingForSuperman.com “Pledge Progress Meter”
Paramount Pictures, Participant Media and Walden Media announced today 30,000 people have pledged to see the award-winning documentary film WAITING FOR “SUPERMAN” when it opens this fall, making it the first goal reached on the campaign’s “Pledge Progress Meter.” As a result, DonorsChoose.org is fulfilling their commitment and donating $5 gift cards to every person who pledges to see the film by September 15th.
The gift cards can be used to fulfill requests made by public school teachers from every corner of America who post classroom project needs on DonorsChoose.org. The mission of DonorsChoose.org is to improve public education by empowering every teacher to be a change-maker and enabling any citizen to be a philanthropist.
“Thanks to our generous supporters, DonorsChoose.org is thrilled to provide $5 philanthropic gift codes to people that take the pledge to see Waiting for ‘Superman.’ Redeeming this code on DonorsChoose.org gives people an immediate and direct way to help students get the resources they need to learn. Making this personal connection to a classroom is an important first step towards greater involvement in education,” said Charles Best, DonorsChoose.org Founder and CEO.
WAITING FOR “SUPERMAN” directed by Davis Guggenheim (“An Inconvenient Truth”) will be released under the Paramount Vantage banner and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It examines the crisis of public education in the United States through multiple interlocking stories. Designed to start a national conversation, the movie and corresponding “Take the Pledge” campaign aim to inspire everyone to create innovative and long-term solutions to help change the course of our kids’ lives for the better. The “Pledge Progress Meter” launched in May as a way for non-profits, foundations and corporations to match individual pledge levels with powerful action items aimed at helping both students and public schools. First Book was the first organization to take the pledge, by agreeing to donate 250,000 new books to schools and programs in low-income communities across the country once the pledge meter reaches 50,000 pledges.
Make the pledge and help spread the word to help our country’s teachers. The film is produced by Lesley Chilcott, with Participant Media’s Jeff Skoll and Diane Weyermann serving as executive producers. It is written by Davis Guggenheim & Billy Kimball. The film opens in New York and Los Angeles on September 24, nationwide in October.
For more information about the movie or to take the pledge, go to the film’s official site here, join the conversation on Facebook here, or tell what your school needs by Tweeting #MySchoolNeeds here.
ABOUT PARAMOUNT PICTURES CORPORATION
Paramount Pictures Corporation (PPC), a global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment, is a unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), a leading content company with prominent and respected film, television and digital entertainment brands. The company’s labels include Paramount Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Paramount Classics, Insurge Pictures, MTV Films, and Nickelodeon Movies. PPC operations also include Paramount Digital Entertainment, Paramount Famous Productions, Paramount Home Entertainment, Paramount Pictures International, Paramount Licensing Inc., Paramount Studio Group, and Worldwide Television Distribution.
About Participant Media
Participant Media is a Los Angeles-based entertainment company that focuses on socially relevant, commercially viable feature films, documentaries and television, as well as publishing and digital media. Participant Media is headed by CEO Jim Berk and was founded in 2004 by philanthropist Jeff Skoll, who serves as Chairman. Ricky Strauss is President.
Participant exists to tell compelling, entertaining stories that bring to the forefront real issues that shape our lives. For each of its projects, Participant creates extensive social action and advocacy programs, which provide ideas and tools to transform the impact of the media experience into individual and community action. Participant’s films include The Kite Runner, Charlie Wilson’s War, Darfur Now, An Inconvenient Truth, Good Night, and Good Luck, Syriana, Standard Operating Procedure, The Visitor, The Soloist, Food, Inc., The Informant!, The Cove, The Crazies, Oceans, Furry Vengeance, CASINO JACK and the United States of Money, Countdown to Zero and Waiting for “Superman.”
About Walden Media
Walden Media specializes in entertainment for the whole family. Past award-winning films include: “The Chronicles of Narnia” series, “Journey to the Center of the Earth,” “Nim’s Island” and “ Charlotte ’s Web.” Upcoming films include the third installment in the Narnia series “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.”
About DonorsChoose.org
DonorsChoose.org is an online nonprofit that enables anyone to connect to a public school classroom in a personal and direct way. Launched out of a Bronx high school in 2000, DonorsChoose.org has been profiled as “the future of philanthropy” by The New York Times and as “a revolutionary charity” by Oprah Winfrey. On DonorsChoose.org, public school teachers from every corner of America post classroom project requests on DonorsChoose.org. Requests range from pencils for a poetry writing unit, to violins for a school recital, to microscope slides for a biology class. In the past ten years of operation, residents of 50 states and 10 countries have funded 88,926 student projects, channeling more than $54.3 million in resources to 3,323,384 students.
