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“When you die, will people notice,” Charlie Croker (Jeff Daniels) asks in Netflix‘s teaser trailer for the upcoming limited series A Man in Full. The question is as old as time and something people often ask themselves when contemplating a swift exit from this mortal coil. What would prompt a real estate mogul to have such macabre thoughts? His bankruptcy and inevitable downfall, of course.

Here’s the official synopsis for A Man in Full courtesy of Netflix:

When Atlanta real estate mogul Charlie Croker faces sudden bankruptcy, political and business interests collide as Charlie defends his empire from those attempting to capitalize on his fall from grace.

A Man in Full is based on the New York Times best-selling novel by the late Tom Wolfe, who died of an infection in Manhattan in 2018. The six-episode limited series hails from David E. Kelley Productions and Royal Ties Productions Inc.

Exclusive: Luther and Hijack star Idris Elba is set to direct singer Seal, Nollywood stars Nse Ikpe-Etim (Shanty Town), Eku Edewor (Breath Of Life) and Atlanta Bridget Johnson (Man Of God), and former Nigerian Idol contestant Constance Olatunde in short film Dust To Dreams.

The film is a collaboration between Mo Abudu’s EbonyLife Films and African Export Import Bank (Afreximbank) through its Creative Africa Nexus (Canex).

Set against the backdrop of Lagos, Nigeria, the film follows the relationship between a mother and her teenage daughter as she meets her father for the first time.

Created by the Mo Abudu, and written and directed by Elba, Mo Abudu will serve as both executive producer and producer, with Heidi Uys as supervising producer. Alongside Abudu and Uys on the project are producers Temidayo Makanjuola, Inem King, and Vanessa Demme.

Multi-Grammy winner and former American’s Got Talent judge Seal, whose mother is Nigerian,...

Exclusive: Aml Ameen, who portrays Dr.Martin Luther King in Rustin, reveals that he’s in talks with Film4 and the BFI to direct and star in the sequel to holiday romance Boxing Day, his feature directorial debut — and he has a second film, a crime saga called Night and Day that he wants to make soon.

That’s not all, because the L.A.-based Brit is in London prepping to play a “transformative” lead role in an as-yet-unannounced film.

The hush-hush part in the secret film requires him to “shut down my entire life because” of the life-changing nature of the character he’ll be playing.

While Ameen’s shooting that film, he’ll pop up as a lawyer alongside Jeff Daniels in the six-part Netflix drama A Man in Full, an the adaptation of Tom Wolfe’s novel written by David E. Kelley and directed by Regina King,...

The survival thriller Above And Below is already shooting, and marks Idris Elba’s second outing as a director following 2018’s Yardie.

Idris Elba is clearly a man of many talents: acting, DJing, somehow always being incredibly stylish even if he was to wear a binbag. He’s also got one film under his belt as a director, 2018’s Yardie, a crime drama that five years on, remains a confident and well-told film that clearly showcases Elba’s potential as a filmmaker, should it be a route he chooses to develop.

That looks like it could be happening soon, given that he’s reportedly (according to Movieweb) signed on to co-direct Above And Below, a survival thriller that sees a trio of astronauts’ re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere go badly wrong. The film is said to be already shooting at Pinewood, although we don’t yet have any news regarding the film’s release schedule.

Actor Idris Elba made his feature directorial debut with the 2018 crime drama Yardie, and earlier this year we heard that he would be following that up with an action thriller called Infernus. That movie was supposed to get started filming in October, but appears to have been disrupted by the strikes. So while we wait to hear what’s going to happen with Infernus, The Hollywood Reporter has broken the news that Elba is teaming up with Martin Owen (The Loneliest Boy in the World) to co-direct a survival thriller called Above the Below… and this one is already in production!

Above the Below started filming last week at Pinewood Studios, using two separate stages – including the studio’s underwater stage. In addition to co-directing, Elba also stars in the movie alongside Caitlin FitzGerald (Masters of Sex) and Hero Fiennes Tiffin (the After franchise).

Owen came up with the initial idea for the film,...

Idris Elba is set to star in the survival thriller Above the Below for Lionsgate after earlier boarding the U.K. indie as director.

Lionsgate picked up the worldwide rights to the project, which started filming last week at Pinewood Studios on two stages, including the studio’s underwater stage. Elba will helm Above the Below with Martin Owen (The Loneliest Boy in The World), and will star alongside actress and filmmaker Caitlin FitzGerald and Hero Fiennes Tiffin, who earlier worked with Owen on The Loneliest Boy in the World.

Above the Below sees a tight-knit trio of astronauts survive a chaotic and destructive re-entry to Earth, only to find themselves off course and completely cut off from the world. As their capsule begins to sink into the unknown depths of the ocean, their battle for survival kicks off.

Elba plays Jackson, the mission commander leading the team. FitzGerald is Brooks,...

Big 'Dris is getting back in the big chair. Following on from a short film, some TV work and, of course, his feature directorial debut with 2018's :a[Yardie]{href='https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/yardie-review/' }, Idris Elba has locked in his next directing project. In this case, though, it's a co-directing gig as Elba will be working alongside The Loneliest Boy In The World's Martin Owen on astronaut survival thriller Above The Below, which is set to shoot at Pinewood Studios.

Above The Below, which is based on an idea by Owen and was turned into script form by Elizabeth Morris, Matt Mitchell and Vicki Sargent, follows a tight-knit trio of astronauts as they survive a chaotic and destructive re-entry to Earth, only to find themselves off course and completely cut off from the world.

As their capsule begins to sink into the unknown depths of the ocean,...

Following his feature film directorial debut with the 2018 drama ‘Yardie,’ Idris Elba will co-direct with Martin Owen on the British indie survival thriller ‘Above The Beyond.’

The story follows a tight-knit trio of astronauts who survive a chaotic and destructive re-entry to Earth, only to find themselves off course and completely cut off from the world. As their capsule begins to sink into the unknown depths of the ocean, their battle for survival has only just begun.

The script has been developed by Future Artists Entertainment, from an original idea by Martin Owen, written by screenwriters Elizabeth Morris, Matt Mitchell and Vicki Sargent. Cast will be announced soon.

Also in news – First look images drop for ‘William Tell’

The film is produced by Future Artists Entertainment’s Matt Williams (Bank Of Dave, PokerFace) and Gina Carter (See How They Run, Yardie) Former Managing Director of Goldcrest Films Pascal Degove will Executive Produce.

Elba’s second feature as director after 2018’s ‘Yardie’.

Idris Elba will direct his second feature film, co-directing UK independent survival thriller Above The Below with Martin Owen.

The film will shoot at the UK’s Pinewood Studios under Pact/Equity contracts. Lionsgate will launch sales on the film at the upcoming American Film Market.

Above The Below is based on an original idea by Owen, with a script written by Elizabeth Morris, Matt Mitchell and Vicki Sargent, developed by Owen’s Future Artists Entertainment.

Matt Williams produces for Future Artists Entertainment with Gina Carter; Pascal Degove is executive producer.

Actor Idris Elba has recently settled down with his current wife Sabrina Dhowre. But before finding his life partner, he felt that finding love was especially hard because of his celebrity.

Idris Elba felt inaccessible to women because of his fame Idris Elba | Jeff Spicer/Getty Images

For Elba, being a famous actor was a catch-22. Although it may have attracted many women his way, his growing star-power made sustaining a relationship difficult. He asserted that it might have been much easier being in a relationship when he still had anonymity.

“Look, you probably think I’m getting lucky all the time. But there’s no way,” he once said according to News 24. “They’re all my fans. I miss the days when me and my boys could go to a barbecue, and go, ‘Who’s that shorty girl over there?'”

With his private relationships being made public due to his profession,...

Idris Elba has stepped behind the camera before, most notably for 2018's Yardie. He's headed back to the director's chair — this time adding producing and starring as a combo — for refugee/prison thriller Infernus.

With a story from Tom Boyle and a screenplay by Robert Mark Kamen, it'll see Elba play Donovan Kamara, a Un human rights activist sent to investigate reports of refugees being illegally detained inside a US black site prison.

A seemingly simple task turns deadly when the world’s most dangerous inmates break free. Kamara must work to safely extricate the refugees, all while going head-to-head with a brilliant criminal mastermind. It all sounds like the sort of film you normally find Gerard Butler headlining, but Elba's no stranger to action either.

And while he'll shoot a chunk of the footage in London this autumn, Elba is also using it to boost the new Td Akuna Studios in Ghana.

According to Deadline, Idris Elba is set to pull triple duty on Infernus. In addition to starring in the action thriller, Elba will also produce and direct the project for Millennium Media.

Idris Elba will star in Infernus as Donovan Kamara, “a U.N. human rights activist sent to investigate reports of refugees being illegally detained inside a U.S. black site prison. A seemingly simple task turns deadly when the world’s most dangerous inmates break free. Kamara must work to safely extricate the refugees, all while going head-to-head with a brilliant criminal mastermind.” Robert Mark Kamen wrote the screenplay based on a story by Tom Boyle. Production is expected to start in London on October 9th.

Related Knuckles: Sonic the Hedgehog spinoff series starring Idris Elba casts Scott Mescudi, Edi Patterson, and more

Idris Elba made his feature directorial debut with Yardie, a crime drama which debuted at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival.

Exclusive: Luther and Hobbs & Shaw star Idris Elba is set to star in, produce and direct action-thriller Infernus, which Millennium Media will also produce and shop at next week’s Cannes market.

Elba will play Donovan Kamara, a U.N. human rights activist sent to investigate reports of refugees being illegally detained inside a U.S. black site prison. A seemingly simple task turns deadly when the world’s most dangerous inmates break free. Kamara must work to safely extricate the refugees, all while going head-to-head with a brilliant criminal mastermind.

Based on a story by Tom Boyle and screenplay by Robert Mark Kamen, the film is due to go into production on October 9th in London.

While most filming will be done in London, additional principal photography will take place in the new Td Akuna Studios in Ghana, a venture Elba — who has both Ghanaian and Sierre Leonean lineage...

Fund’s structure includes support for local productions and eligible international features.

The new Jamaica Screen Fund has launched with an initial $6.5m (Jmd $1bn) pledged to finance film and television development and production over two years on the Caribbean island nation.

The Fund’s structure includes support for local productions and eligible international features shooting in Jamaica. Half will be allocated for the 2023/24 cycle and the balance will go into 2024/25.

Resources will be accessed in stages from the ministry of finance and the public service once the ministry of industry, investment and commerce approves eligible projects.

Jamaica’s film,...

Man of the moment, Idris Elba, led stars on the red carpet for the global premiere of "Luther: The Fallen Sun" in London on March 1. The 50-year-old wore a striking lilac suit for the occasion, complete with tunic top with an oversize collar and pleated shirt effect. He was joined by his wife, Sabrina Dhowre Elba, to celebrate the highly anticipated Netflix film.

The couple, who own beauty brand S'able together, were spotted laughing together, hugging, and, of course, looking achingly gorgeous while posing for the cameras. Sabrina was effortlessly chic for their star-studded date night, wearing a black, fitted, long-sleeved dress accessorized with pewter bubble belt straps across her waist. Her hair was styled into a sleek bob with side parting, and she added sphere drop earrings, winged eyeliner, and glossy lips to complete the look.

The Elbas married in 2019, after Idris proposed at a screening for his film "Yardie,...

Naomi Ackie wasn’t the only person slightly surprised when she was named among the nominees for the 2023 BAFTA Rising Star award, the British Academy’s annual honor for up-and-coming on-screen film talent.

As the Londoner explains, she’s been “working professionally” since she was 20. She’s now 31. She already won a very similar award almost six years ago, claiming the most promising newcomer honor at the 2017 British Independent Film Awards for Lady Macbeth (playing a terrified mute housemaid alongside fellow breakout Florence Pugh). At the same awards, she was nominated for best supporting actress.

Since then Ackie has appeared in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (a significant role as Stormtrooper-turned-resistance-fighter Jannah), Idris Elba’s directorial debut Yardie and as a child psychologist in Education, part of Steve McQueen’s acclaimed Small Axe anthology. In 2020, she even won a BAFTA TV Award, a best supporting actress honor for...

Based on the 1994 A.S. Byatt short story "The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye," George Miller's new film "Three Thousand Years of Longing" -- in theaters on August 26 in the United States -- stars Idris Elba as Byatt's titular djinn who appears to a human scholar named Alithea (Tilda Swinton) to grant her wishes in exchange for his freedom. "The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye" appeared in a collection of similar short stories that draw heavily from ancient texts and folk tales, linking up themes and characters from works such as the "Epic of Gilgamesh," "One Thousand and One Nights," and "The Canterbury Tales," as well as the works of William Shakespeare, and the myth of Cybele. Miller seemingly matched Byatt's thematic links by including multiple flashback scenes wherein the djinn interacts with figures of the distant past.

The central narrative of Miller's film takes place in a single hotel room in Istanbul,...

Don Letts with music producer and 99 Records founder Ed Bahlman on Singers & Players War of Words (99-002 LP) and Adrian Sherwood’s label: “I mean all the early On-u stuff is absolutely essential.”

In There And Black Again: The Autobiography Of Don Letts (Omnibus Press) we learn the fate of a screenplay (“inspired by Linton Kwesi Johnson’s Five Nights of Bleeding”) bought by the adventurous producer Michael White (Gracie Otto’s The Last Impresario) and its connection to Franco Rosso’s Babylon, co-written with Martin Stellman, starring Brinsley Forde, and a soundtrack put together by Dennis Bovell (The Slits Cut producer). Martin Scorsese, The Punk Rock Movie, Robert De Niro, The King of Comedy, Jerry Lewis, and The Clash shows at Bonds also have a link to Don Letts.

Music producer and 99 Records founder Ed Bahlman met Don Letts at The Roxy 45 years ago and was invited by Bernie Rhodes...

Exclusive: Award-winning screenwriter Brock Norman Brock has signed with Artist International Group for management.

Brock most recently co-wrote the script for Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre’s acclaimed drama The Mustang, starring Matthias Schoenaerts. That title, about a convict who trains wild mustangs as part of a rehabilitation program, was released by Focus Features in 2019.

Brock is perhaps best known for co-writing Nicolas Winding Refn’s critically acclaimed 2009 feature, Bronson, starring Tom Hardy, which told the story of the notorious British criminal of the same name. That Vertigo Films title premiered at the BFI London Film Festival and was in competition at Sundance, as well as the Sydney Film Festival, where it won Best Film.

Brock began his career in theater, seeing his play Here is Monster, directed by Mark Ravenhill, secure a nomination for the Verity Bargate Award, celebrating emerging playwrights. He also adapted the cult novel Yardie for Warp and StudioCanal,...

The Production Guild of Great Britain (Pggb), in partnership with the British Film Commission, has revealed the participants for its inaugural Diversity and Inclusion Mentor Scheme.

The program has matched 15 emerging talent mentees with experienced industry mentors working in U.K. film and high-end TV production.

Professor Lyndsay Duthie, CEO of Pggb, said: “This first cohort spans talent of differing ages at various points in their careers, all looking to progress to the next level. For the next six months they will receive dedicated regular contact time with their mentors, who will help them hone their goals, overcome challenges and implement effective steps to help them progress along their chosen path.”

Samantha Perahia, head of production for the U.K. at the British Film Commission, said: “Access to experienced crew is a vital component of any successful stage space development. This kind of initiative, which focuses on diversity and inclusion...

In a highly competitive situation and the first major deal of the Cannes Virtual market, MGM has landed global distribution rights to Zoe Kravitz’s directorial debut Pussy Island. The original film, written by Kravitz and E.T. Feigenbaum, will star Naomi Ackie alongside Channing Tatum. Bruce Cohen, Kravitz, Tiffany Persons and Tatum’s Free Association will produce, with Garret Levitz overseeing for Free Association.

Deadline revealed the project last week, and Kravitz described to Deadline the role she’d written for the lead actress, she said it was one that she would have loved to be playing, if she wasn’t directing. In Ackie, she has landed up a BAFTA winner who will play Whitney Houston in the Sony biopic I Wanna Dance With Somebody from director Stella Meghie. Ackie currently stars in season three of Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang’s Master of None, on which she also serves as an Executive Producer.

Now in its fourth edition, the showcase is funded and run by the BFI and the British Council, in partnership with BBC Film and Film4.

New films from Harry Wootliff, the directors of Notes On Blindness and Yardie star Aml Ameen are among the titles selected for this year’s Great 8, the annual Cannes buyers’ showcase of UK films from emerging directors.

The selected filmmakers will present unseen footage from their films to international buyers and festival programmers online on June 17. All eight films are in post-production and will be available to buyers at the pre-Cannes screenings virtual market (June...

Exclusive: Canadian public broadcaster CBC and BET+ have set the headline cast for The Porter, an original drama series about a group of 1920s railway workers who unite to form the world’s first Black union.

Aml Ameen, the British actor who starred in HBO/BBC’s award-winning I May Destroy You and Idris Elba-directed feature Yardie, leads the series as Junior Massey, an intelligent, smooth, ambitious, and fearless risk-taker and war veteran employed as a porter with the transcontinental railroad.

He is joined by Star Trek: Discovery actor Ronnie Rowe Jr, who plays Massey’s war buddy Zeke Garrett, and The Umbrella Academy star Mouna Traoré, who features as Massey’s wife Marlene, a worker with the Black Cross Nurses, an offshoot of Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association.

Produced by Winnipeg-based Inferno Pictures and Sphere Media’s Sienna Films, The Porter was created by Arnold Pinnock...

Titles include animation ’Kensuke’s Kingdom’ and Terence Davies’ next feature, ‘Benediction’.

The 10 biggest recipients of BFI production funding in 2020 received a total of £11.6m in support.

They include additional Covid-related production awards for BFI-backed projects interrupted at the start of pandemic such as Benediction, True Things and Pirates.

Nearly all 10 titles, with the exception of Earwig, also received £20,000 as part of pilot initiative BFI Step-up, which enabled productions to provide opportunities for production crew from under-represented groups to work on BFI-funded features

1. Kensuke’s Kingdom, Jigsaw Films (£1.62m)

Sally Hawkins, Cillian Murphy and Ken Watanabe are among the English-language voice cast of this animated feature,...

Sci-fi thriller marks feature directorial debut of Ireland’s Alan Friel.

Bankside Films has acquired worldwide sales rights to Irish filmmaker Alan Friel’s sci-fi thriller Woken, set to star Maxine Peake and Naomi Ackie.

The London-based sales agent will introduce the project to buyers at the upcoming American Film Market (AFM) next week. It is aiming to shoot in Ireland next year.

Ackie will play a young woman who wakes up on a remote island without any memory and is forced to re-learn everything about herself, including her husband and the baby she is carrying. When two disfigured men arrive on the island,...

Idris Elba and his wife Sabrina Dhowre are now parents to a baby boy.

The 47-year-old actor made the surprise revelation during an interview with Et Canada that he and the Somali model have welcomed a baby boy.

Idris Elba, who is also a father to Isan, 18, and Winston, 6, from previous relationships, was promoting his new movie, 'Concrete Cowboy' at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sunday.

“It really resonates with me, I’m a father of two boys, and definitely I can’t wait for my youngest to see this film,” he shared while discussing the importance of the film, though he didn't reveal the little one's name.

Idris Elba and Sabrina Dhowre first began dating around March 2017 before he popped the question at the London screening of his film Yardie in February 2018, reports PopSugar.

The pair eventually made things official with a gorgeous wedding in Morocco a year later.

Congratulations are in order for Idris Elba and Sabrina Dhowre - the couple have welcomed their first child together! While promoting his new film, Concrete Cowboy, at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sunday, the 48-year-old actor confirmed to Et Canada that he and the Somali model are now parents to a baby boy.

"So, it really resonates with me, I'm a father of two boys, and definitely I can't wait for my youngest to see this film," Idris said as he discussed the importance of the film, though he didn't reveal the little one's name. Idris is also a father to 18-year-old daughter Isan and 6-year-old son Winston, whom he has from previous relationships.

Idris and Sabrina first began dating around March 2017 before he popped the question at a London screening of his film Yardie in February 2018. They eventually made things official with a gorgeous wedding in Morocco a year later,...

“Wonder Woman 1984” star Connie Nielsen and “Doctor Who’s” Christopher Eccleston are set to star in psychological drama “Close to Me,” the first English-language drama to originate from Nordic Entertainment Group’s (Nent) fledgling U.K. operation.

Nent Studios U.K. is adapting British author Amanda Reynolds’ novel “Close to Me” in an eponymous six-part series that will debut on Nent Group-backed streamer Viaplay in the Nordic and Baltic regions as an Original, and air in the U.K. on Channel 4, which has acquired the project.

Mexican outfit Dopamine, which recently partnered with Nent Studios U.K. for scripted programs, will serve as a co-production partner on the series — a rare English-language scripted co-production for a Latin American business — while Nent Studios U.K. will distribute the title internationally.

The project is a major step forward for Nordic powerhouse Nent Group’s efforts in the U.K., a key...

Idris Elba might be a big name in Hollywood, but there are many strings to the 47 year-old’s bow. As well as being a world-famous actor, he’s also a DJ and musician that founded his own record label, the creator of British sitcom In the Long Run and Netflix’s recently-canceled Turn Up Charlie, made his feature directorial debut with 2018’s Yardie and even won a professional kickboxing fight in 2016.

Despite playing a featured role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the Thor franchise’s Heimdall and starring in box office hits like Prometheus, Pacific Rim, Zootopia, The Jungle Book, Finding Dory, Star Trek Beyond and Hobbs & Shaw, the defining role of Elba’s entire career is still arguably that of Detective Chief Inspector John Luther in the BBC’s acclaimed crime drama Luther.

The show may only be comprised of 20 episodes over five seasons that aired between 2010 and...

UK casting experts Jina Jay and Shaheen Baig helped craft the course.

The UK’s National Film and Television School (Nfts) is to launch a casting certificate course, believed to be the first of its kind from a major film school.

The 24-week evening course will begin in September 2020 and has been set up to meet growing demand within the industry and boost inclusivity in casting.

The course has been curated by London-based casting directors Jina Jay and Shaheen Baig. Jay has worked on projects including Black Mirror, The Night Manager and The Grand Budapest Hotel while Baig has cast on Peaky Blinders,...

The Maze Runner‘s Aml Ameen has boarded Susan DeRose’s drama, Charming the Hearts of Men, with Kelsey Grammer, Anna Friel, and Sean Astin. It’s said to be a fictional account inspired by true events. The story is about a woman who struggles to find gainful employment at the time of the Civil Rights movement and her only skill is her “charm.” Richard T Lewis is producing the project which is currently filming in Georgia. Ameen, last seen in Idris Elba’s directorial debut film, Yardie, will play Walter, the Congressman’s (Grammer) chauffeur and confidant. He’s repped by UTA, Link Management, The Artist’s Partnership in the UK, and attorney Dave Feldman.

Matty Cardarople has been cast in American Cherry, a romance thriller from writer/director Marcella Cytrynowicz. Sarah May Sommers stars in the film which follows a teenage girl...

Idris Elba and Sabrina Dhowre tied the knot in a romantic Morocco wedding back in April, and now they're finally sharing the official photos from their big day. The newlyweds appeared on the cover of July's special bridal issue of British Vogue, where the Turn Up Charlie actor opened up about falling in love with his wife as soon as he met her and why he used to think he would never marry again.

"We've been literally inseparable since we met," he said. "You know, I'm 47 this year, been married and lived a full life before I even met Sabrina. It wasn't something that I wanted to do, get married again. But . . . "

Idris and Sabrina began dating back in 2017 before getting engaged a year later at a screening of the actor's film Yardie in London. At their wedding, Sabrina stunned in an off-the-shoulder white gown that she later traded in...

Idris Elba has worn a lot of hats: actor, DJ, director — but it was the time he spent working a series of dull jobs that solidified his desire to pursue a career in the arts. Appearing in a string of roles on British television, he first saw his name appear in Variety on May 10, 1999, in a review of the French film “Belle maman,” starring Catherine Deneuve. The film expanded his acting chops, leading three years later to what he calls his most pivotal portrayal — as Stringer Bell in HBO’s “The Wire.” Since then, Elba has starred in some of Hollywood’s biggest franchises, directed the feature film “Yardie” and co-created and starred in the Netflix comedy series “Turn Up Charlie.” He plays the villain in this summer’s “Fast & Furious” sequel “Hobbs and Shaw,” and continues for a fifth season in his Golden Globe-winning role as the titular...

Amazon Prime Video has confirmed that five original shows will be debuting new episodes on the streaming service in June including the third season of the animated hit “Creative Galaxy”; the sophomore season of the thriller “Absentia; and the first installment of the Japanese drama “Final Life.” There will also be two new movies this month: the documentary “Chasing Happiness,” which chronicles the rise to fame of the Jonas Brothers; and the Idris Elba crime drama “Yardie.”

Likewise, there will be plenty of films making their first appearances on Amazon Prime Video in June including the first five films in the “Rocky” franchise and several entries in the “Rush Hour” series.

Below is the full schedule of everything that is coming to Amazon Prime Video in June 2019. Unlike Netflix, Amazon does not disclose the shows and movies leaving the service in any given month. We’ve done some digging and...

Amazon Prime Video is out with its list of new titles coming in June, and it includes the new Jonas Brothers movie, “Chasing Happiness.” Featuring never-before-seen footage of the brothers’ younger years, the film offers long-time JoBros fans a personal look at Nick, Joe and Kevin’s journey to success, from a family struggling to make ends meet to their ascent to pop stardom. The Amazon Original is out June 4, just ahead of the band’s comeback album, “Happiness Begins,” out June 7.

Another June highlight is “Yardie,” which is directed by Idris Elba and set in ’70s Kingston, Jamaica and ’80s Hackney, London. “Yardie,” which will be released on June 17, centers on the life of a young Jamaican man named D who has never fully recovered from the murder of his older brother Jerry Dread. Dispatched to London where he reconnects with his childhood sweetheart, Yvonne and his daughter who...

Amazon Prime Video has unveiled everything coming to the streaming service in May, and highlights include new series “Good Omens” on May 31 and the second and final season of “Fleabag” coming May 17.

“Sneaky Pete,” a Prime original series about a con man who pretends to be a family’s long-lost grandson, arrives for its third season on May 10. Prime subscribers can also watch the horrors of 2018’s “Suspiria” unfold in their own home. The Prime original film starring Dakota Johnson comes to the streaming service May 3.

Other highlights include existing films like “Reservoir Dogs,” seven installments of the “Friday the 13th” franchise, and the first “Mission: Impossible” movie. Licensed TV series coming to the streamer include Season 3 of ITV’s British comedy “The Durrells,” and Season 4 of the BBC’s drama “Poldark.”

Also Read: 'Fleabag' Season 2: Phoebe Waller-Bridge Goes to Battle With God in New Trailer (Video...

Idris Elba is on a hot streak. The star of Netflix’s new series, Turn Up Charlie, is in talks to come aboard Mouse Guard, the 20th Century Fox film adaptation to David Petersen’s Eisner-winning comic book series, which is being directed by Wes Ball (Maze Runner trilogy). If the deal goes through, he’ll join Andy Serkis and Thomas Brodie-Sangster in the motion capture pic, which is set in medieval times and follows brotherhood of mice during medieval times sworn to protect the fellow rodents in their midst.

Matt Reeves is producing the film through his 6th & Idaho shingle along with Boom! Studios’ Ross Richie and Stephen Christy. OddBall (Wes Ball’s production company) is producing the project.

Elba, last seen on the big screen in Avengers: Infinity War, marked his directorial debut with Yardie, which had its U.S. theatrical release earlier this month. He recently signed...

Sabrina Dhowre celebrated her upcoming marriage to fiancé Idris Elba with a getaway alongside some of her best friends.

Dhowre shared photos of her bachelorette party on Sunday in which she thanked her nine friends for attended a weekend trip to Utah’s Amangiri resort.

In the photo, the model and her friends embrace each other with their backs facing the camera. The bride-to-be wore a white satin robe while her friends wore peach satin pajamas with “Bride’s Squad” written across the back.

“Had the most amazing weekend with the most amazing people. I love you all so much ??,” Dhowre wrote in the caption,...

Horses and men have been mythic companions as long as movies have been around, so why does it feel as if within only the last couple of years, with “The Rider,” “Lean on Pete,” and now French filmmaker Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre’s touching drama “The Mustang,” have we gotten a fuller examination of this relationship?

Maybe because we’re finally seeing horses treated as flesh-and-blood characters and not simply beautiful accessories or four-legged extensions of the rider’s personality (or just vehicles for transport). Which is surely why de Clermont-Tonnerre was drawn to the stories coming out of prison programs around the world that utilized animals as therapy — living, breathing, loving creatures who could help resocialize those coarsened by incarceration.

But “The Mustang” — which de Clermont-Tonnerre wrote with Mona Fastvold (“The Childhood of a Leader”) and Brock Norman Brock (“Yardie”), and which recently premiered at Sundance — isn’t just about...

Ami Ameen as D, in Idris Elba’s directorial debut, the Jamaican-British crime thriller Yardie. Photo courtesy of Rialto Pictures

Actor Idris Elba makes his directing debut with Yardie, a tale about a young Jamaican, haunted by his DJ brother’s murder, who makes his way to London in the employ of a Kingston-based gang boss.

“Yardie” is slang for Jamaican gang members, a term the pops up on the streets of the London’s Hackney neighborhood, home to large Jamaican immigrant community. It is where D (Ami Ameen) finds himself after his boss King Fox (Sheldon Shepherd) sends him to London to deliver a package of drugs to Rico (Stephen Graham), a fuzzy-haired, white Jamaican under-boss.

But the story really starts years earlier in Jamaica, where 10-year-old Dennis (Antwayne Eccleston), who goes by the nickname D., lives just outside Kingston with his older brother, a street DJ known as...

There’s something missing in “Yardie,” Idris Elba’s directorial debut, but I can’t quite place my finger on it. The acting is decent, the cinematography is well-executed, and the music is on point, but the delivery and the tone are completely mismatched. It feels as if the film itself is aching to say something more, but is ultimately muted by choices the freshman director withheld from making.

Based on the 1992 book by Victor Headley, the film opens in 1973 Kingston, Jamaica. There’s a gang war, and young D (Antwayne Eccleston) is being raised by his older brother, Jerry Dread while King Fox (Sheldon Shepherd) — a gang leader, don, and music producer — acts a sort of father figure to both. During a concert meant to unite rival gangs in Kingston, Jerry is gunned down, leaving D to be raised by King Fox.

Years later, adult D is working for...

Alexander Skarsgård is doing double time this weekend. The actor stars in two new Specialty titles heading out into a crowded field, including The Aftermath from Fox Searchlight and The Hummingbird Project from The Orchard. The Aftermath, starring Keira Knightley and Jason Clarke, heads to New York and L.A. Friday ahead of a target of a few hundred theaters by early next month. Jesse Eisenberg, Alexander Skarsgård and Salma Hayek front The Hummingbird Project from The Orchard, launching in four New York and L.A. theaters, while Focus Features is bowing Sundance’s The Mustang with Matthias Schoenaerts, Connie Britton and Bruce Dern. Cohen Media Group is taking Chinese director Jia Zhang-ke’s Cannes debut Ash Is Purest White to select locations on both coasts. The company is hoping to take advantage of the Lunar New Year and slow slate of foreign fare. Oscilloscope picked up doc Combat Obscura...

“Yardie,” Idris Elba’s directorial debut, is a more personal take on the routine crime film. Despite all of the genre’s double-crosses, failed heists, and Mexican stand-offs, the repetition of these tropes has lessened their impact (a generation of ironic Tarantino rip-offs surely didn’t help). But “Yardie,” based on a novel by Jamaican-born British author Victor Headley, is rooted in enough layers of personal devastation and regret to make the movie more emotionally wrought than many of its peers.

Continue reading ‘Yardie’: Idris Elba Makes His Directorial Debut With A Tortured, Emotional Crime Thriller [Review] at The Playlist.

A small-imprint–published slab of pulp fiction that became a huge literary sensation, Victor Headley’s 1992 novel Yardie drops readers into a London filled with ex-pat Jamaican kingpins, gang wars, alleyway assassinations and an antihero — “D.,” short for Dennis — who works his way up the underworld ladder. The writing was rough-and-ready straightforward, without the tough-guy stylistics of a Chandler or an Ellroy; the patois-heavy prose felt like it both represented Britain’s West Indian community and gave the rise-and-fall narrative a unique edge. An under-served demographic of readers found the...

Danny Perkins, the former Studiocanal UK boss, has lifted the lid on his new film first Elysian Film Group for the first time.

Perkins, speaking at the Intv conference in Israel, revealed that producer Kate Solomon has co-founded the company with and he has plans to produce television series in addition to feature films. Solomon will run the production side of the business, while Perkins will oversee the business side.

Solomon has produced titles including Green Zone, Entebbe and Legend. She has developed projects with the likes of Working Title and Film4 and worked with Paul Greengrass on United 93.

Perkins has plans to produce a musical, a family film and is also developing a handful of television series.

He announced he was leaving Studiocanal, where he ran the UK, last June.

During his tenure at the firm, Perkins oversaw UK distribution on box office hits including Paddington 1 & 2, Legend, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,...

Idris Elba's acting experience was certainly useful while making his directorial debut Yardie, but so were his music chops, garnered from his years of moonlighting as a DJ.

Yardie, adapted from the Victor Headley novel of the same name, centers around a young Jamaican man unable to move on from the murder of his older brother and caught up in a life of crime. The film's journey through 1970s Kingston and 1980s London shines a light on the dawn of sound-system culture, meaning there's no shortage of reggae-infused beats throughout.

"Music — reggae music especially — has been ...

Idris Elba's acting experience was certainly useful while making his directorial debut Yardie, but so were his music chops, garnered from his years of moonlighting as a DJ.

Yardie, adapted from the Victor Headley novel of the same name, centers around a young Jamaican man unable to move on from the murder of his older brother and caught up in a life of crime. The film's journey through 1970s Kingston and 1980s London shines a light on the dawn of sound-system culture, meaning there's no shortage of reggae-infused beats throughout.

"Music — reggae music especially — has been ...

Music legends Dennis Bovell and Ed Bahlman unite before the preview of Franco Rosso's powerful Babylon with Brinsley Forde at BAMcinématek Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

When I arrived with Ed Bahlman (99 Records) at the Brooklyn Academy of Music for my conversations with Brinsley Forde and Dennis Bovell, two key figures for Franco Rosso's Babylon, co-written with Martin Stellman, produced by Gavrik Losey, and shot by two-time Oscar winner Chris Menges (for Roland Joffé's The Killing Fields and The Mission), Brinsley, Dennis, and Seventy-Seven founder Gabriele Caroti were standing in the lobby. Ed greeted Dennis and they immediately reconnected by sharing memories of The Slits, Viv Albertine's memoir, Chris Blackwell, Adrian Sherwood, Pop Group, Mark Stewart, Public Image Ltd, Bruce Smith, Neneh Cherry, Linton Kwesi Johnson, the Reggae Lounge, and of course, Ari Up and the making of Cut.

Brinsley Forde shines in Franco Rosso's Babylon Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze...

Director Franco Rosso’s “Babylon” was never released in America. It’s a 1980 film with subtitles and no big-name stars that centers on poor black male youths in London living among neighbors who shout, “Go back to your country!” from their bedroom windows on a regular basis. It’s about their daily resistance to hate and navigating a system that is rigged against them.

The characters speak in Jamaican patois, and there is no white savior. In many ways, it is the antithesis of what mainstream audiences in America were interested in watching at that time. But 39 years later, it finally sees the light of day in U.S. theaters.

Releasing “Babylon” today underscores its unfortunate relevance, though it also makes it vulnerable to criticism shaped by modern society and conversation. For instance, the screenplay by Rosso (who died in 2016) and co-writer Martin Stellman deserves acclaim for highlighting the stories...

Idris Elba is a larger-than-life personality, but the upcoming Netflix comedy “Turn Up Charlie” manages to squeeze his persona into a surprisingly intimate package. As showcased in the trailer below, the show lets the well-established international star blend his love of music with a unique story that examines the concepts of fame and family.

According to the official Netflix synopsis: “‘Turn Up Charlie’ centers on the titular Charlie (Elba), a struggling DJ and eternal bachelor, who is given a final chance at success when he reluctantly becomes a ‘manny’ to his famous best friend’s problem-child daughter, Gabby (Frankie Hervey).”

Piper Perabo and Jj Feild star as Gabby’s struggling parents — Elba and Gary Reich co-created the series, the first eight episodes of which were directed by Tristram Shapeero and Matt Lipsey.

“Turn Up Charlie’s” premiere is just one of Elba’s ongoing exciting moments on the horizon — the...