AnnaSophia Robb has joined Kathy Bates, John Malkovich, Tim Blake Nelson, Stephen Root and Lewis Pullman in the cast of “Thelma.” The Exchange is selling the film at Berlin’s European Film Market.
Robb starred in Hulu’s Emmy-winning series “The Act,” Hulu’s “Little Fires Everywhere” and HBO Max’s “The Carrie Diaries,” and is toplining Netflix’s upcoming “Rebel Ridge.”
“Thelma” tells the true story of the 11-year battle by the mother of John Kennedy Toole, the Pulitzer Prize winning author of “A Confederacy of Dunces,” to get his novel published after his suicide.
“Thelma” was written by Black List screenwriter Andrew Farotte, and is to be directed by Ken Kwapis, who was Emmy-nominated for “The Office” and “Malcolm in the Middle.” Kwapis’ film credits include “A Walk in the Woods” with Robert Redford, “He’s Just Not That into You” with Jennifer Aniston and “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.
Robb starred in Hulu’s Emmy-winning series “The Act,” Hulu’s “Little Fires Everywhere” and HBO Max’s “The Carrie Diaries,” and is toplining Netflix’s upcoming “Rebel Ridge.”
“Thelma” tells the true story of the 11-year battle by the mother of John Kennedy Toole, the Pulitzer Prize winning author of “A Confederacy of Dunces,” to get his novel published after his suicide.
“Thelma” was written by Black List screenwriter Andrew Farotte, and is to be directed by Ken Kwapis, who was Emmy-nominated for “The Office” and “Malcolm in the Middle.” Kwapis’ film credits include “A Walk in the Woods” with Robert Redford, “He’s Just Not That into You” with Jennifer Aniston and “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.
- 2/18/2023
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Stephen Root (Barry) and Tim Blake Nelson (Old Henry) have signed on to star alongside Oscar and Emmy winner Kathy Bates, two-time Oscar nominee and Emmy winner John Malkovich and Lewis Pullman in Thelma, an upcoming indie to be directed by two-time Emmy nominee Ken Kwapis. The Exchange will be introducing the title to international buyers at the 2022 Cannes Film Market, with ICM Partners and UTA Independent Film Group handling domestic.
Thelma recounts the true story of the mother of John Kennedy Toole (Pullman), the Pulitzer Prize winning author of A Confederacy of Dunces. Toole died by suicide before finding a home for his masterpiece, and his mother Thelma (Bates) made it her life’s mission, through outrageous gamesmanship, to see the book published. She eventually succeeded in getting the manuscript into the hands of writer Walker Percy (Malkovich), who became the novel’s champion. It...
Thelma recounts the true story of the mother of John Kennedy Toole (Pullman), the Pulitzer Prize winning author of A Confederacy of Dunces. Toole died by suicide before finding a home for his masterpiece, and his mother Thelma (Bates) made it her life’s mission, through outrageous gamesmanship, to see the book published. She eventually succeeded in getting the manuscript into the hands of writer Walker Percy (Malkovich), who became the novel’s champion. It...
- 5/11/2022
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Aaron Magnani has optioned screen rights to Walker Percy’s New York Times bestseller The Second Coming, with plans to develop the novel for film.
He’s currently in search of a director for the adaptation and will produce via under his Aaron Magnani Productions banner. Peter Arneson adapted the script and will executive produce.
The story centers on a wealthy, suicidal widower who searches for proof of God but finds much more when he meets a young woman fugitive from a mental hospital. Influenced by the real-life suicides of Percy’s father and grandfather and suspected suicide of his mother, the plot combines comedy, tragedy and romance, with themes of alienation and redemption.
“This story is very relatable to the world we have been living in,” said Magnani. “And the adaptation is as much a director’s piece as an actor’s piece and incredible character study.”
Percy...
He’s currently in search of a director for the adaptation and will produce via under his Aaron Magnani Productions banner. Peter Arneson adapted the script and will executive produce.
The story centers on a wealthy, suicidal widower who searches for proof of God but finds much more when he meets a young woman fugitive from a mental hospital. Influenced by the real-life suicides of Percy’s father and grandfather and suspected suicide of his mother, the plot combines comedy, tragedy and romance, with themes of alienation and redemption.
“This story is very relatable to the world we have been living in,” said Magnani. “And the adaptation is as much a director’s piece as an actor’s piece and incredible character study.”
Percy...
- 3/17/2022
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
"Lost" is one of the most influential shows of the 21st century, but it also has its fair share of influences. Across its six seasons, the fantasy-tinged sci-fi saga offered up references to everything from Ingmar Bergman's art-house film "The Seventh Seal" to Walker Percy's dark novel "Lancelot." One of the show's most-mentioned properties, though, is a lot more mainstream than either of those. "Lost" clearly loves the "Star Wars" movies.
The series wears its love for "Star Wars" on its sleeve. Sardonic Sawyer (Josh Holloway) and pop culture-loving Hurley (Jorge Garcia) both reference the series more than once, and Hurley even attempts to rewrite...
The post How Star Wars Subtly Influenced the Plot of Lost appeared first on /Film.
The series wears its love for "Star Wars" on its sleeve. Sardonic Sawyer (Josh Holloway) and pop culture-loving Hurley (Jorge Garcia) both reference the series more than once, and Hurley even attempts to rewrite...
The post How Star Wars Subtly Influenced the Plot of Lost appeared first on /Film.
- 2/22/2022
- by Valerie Ettenhofer
- Slash Film
Kathy Bates and John Malkovich are to lead the cast of feature ‘Thelma’, directed by Ken Kwapis (#BlackAF, The Office).
‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Lewis Pullman has also joined the cast.
The film will tell the true story of the mother of John Kennedy Toole (Pullman), the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Confederacy of Dunces. Toole died by suicide before finding a home for his masterpiece, and his mother Thelma (Bates) made it her life’s mission, through outrageous gamesmanship, to see the book published. She eventually succeeded in getting the manuscript into the hands of writer Walker Percy (Malkovich), who became the novel’s champion. It would be published in 1980, eleven years after Ken’s death, thereafter becoming a widely celebrated cult classic.
Also in news – First look images drop for season 2 of ‘Bridgerton’
Scribe Andrew Farotte penned the original screenplay. Steven P. Wegner and Filmula’s Johnny Lin are producing the feature.
‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Lewis Pullman has also joined the cast.
The film will tell the true story of the mother of John Kennedy Toole (Pullman), the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Confederacy of Dunces. Toole died by suicide before finding a home for his masterpiece, and his mother Thelma (Bates) made it her life’s mission, through outrageous gamesmanship, to see the book published. She eventually succeeded in getting the manuscript into the hands of writer Walker Percy (Malkovich), who became the novel’s champion. It would be published in 1980, eleven years after Ken’s death, thereafter becoming a widely celebrated cult classic.
Also in news – First look images drop for season 2 of ‘Bridgerton’
Scribe Andrew Farotte penned the original screenplay. Steven P. Wegner and Filmula’s Johnny Lin are producing the feature.
- 1/21/2022
- by Zehra Phelan
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Exclusive: Oscar and Emmy winner Kathy Bates, two-time Oscar nominee and Emmy winner John Malkovich and Lewis Pullman have signed on to star in Thelma, an indie directed by two-time Emmy nom Ken Kwapis.
Thelma recounts the true story of the mother of John Kennedy Toole (Pullman), the Pulitzer Prize winning author of A Confederacy of Dunces. Toole died by suicide before finding a home for his masterpiece, and his mother Thelma (Bates) made it her life’s mission, through outrageous gamesmanship, to see the book published. She eventually succeeded in getting the manuscript into the hands of writer Walker Percy (Malkovich), who became the novel’s champion. It would be published in 1980, eleven years after Ken’s death, thereafter becoming a widely celebrated cult classic.
Black List screenwriter Andrew Farotte penned the original screenplay.
Thelma recounts the true story of the mother of John Kennedy Toole (Pullman), the Pulitzer Prize winning author of A Confederacy of Dunces. Toole died by suicide before finding a home for his masterpiece, and his mother Thelma (Bates) made it her life’s mission, through outrageous gamesmanship, to see the book published. She eventually succeeded in getting the manuscript into the hands of writer Walker Percy (Malkovich), who became the novel’s champion. It would be published in 1980, eleven years after Ken’s death, thereafter becoming a widely celebrated cult classic.
Black List screenwriter Andrew Farotte penned the original screenplay.
- 1/19/2022
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
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Need new books to add to your reading list? Quentin Tarantino has a few recommendations for you. The director, screenwriter, producer, and author shared his literary picks during an interview with “The Bigger Picture” podcast late last month to promote his debut novel, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.”
Besides speaking in depth about what it took to pen his first novel, and revealing plans for a potential book version of “Reservoir Dogs,” Tarantino discussed the art of film novelizations, before listing a few books that inspired his work.
Regardless of whether you’re a fan of Tarantino’s movies, diving into a good book is the kind of fun summer activity that...
Need new books to add to your reading list? Quentin Tarantino has a few recommendations for you. The director, screenwriter, producer, and author shared his literary picks during an interview with “The Bigger Picture” podcast late last month to promote his debut novel, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.”
Besides speaking in depth about what it took to pen his first novel, and revealing plans for a potential book version of “Reservoir Dogs,” Tarantino discussed the art of film novelizations, before listing a few books that inspired his work.
Regardless of whether you’re a fan of Tarantino’s movies, diving into a good book is the kind of fun summer activity that...
- 7/19/2021
- by Latifah Muhammad
- Indiewire
The director of Arlington Road, The Mothman Prophecies, Pearl Jam’s Jeremy and many more reflects on his career and some of the movies that made him.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Arlington Road (1999)
The Mothman Prophecies (2002)
Firewall (2006)
The Orphanage (2007)
Nostalgia (2018)
Avatar (2009)
Titanic (1997)
Chef (2014)
The Laundromat (2019)
Honeymoon In Vegas (1992)
Demonlover (2003)
Under The Sand (2000)
Mulholland Dr. (2001)
Under The Skin (2013)
The Great Beauty (2013)
Slap Shot (1977)
Network (1976)
Straw Dogs (1971)
The Pawnbroker (1964)
Star Wars (1977)
The Exorcist (1973)
Jaws (1975)
The World’s Greatest Athlete (1973)
All The President’s Men (1976)
Liquid Sky (1982)
The Brother From Another Planet (1984)
City Of Hope (1991)
Stop Making Sense (1984)
Snowpiercer (2013)
The Flintstones (1994)
Matinee (1993)
Batman (1989)
Transformers (2007)
A History Of Violence (2005)
Heaven Can Wait (1978)
Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941)
Psycho (1960)
Psycho (1998)
Mandy (2018)
Phantom Thread (2017)
Magnolia (1999)
Boogie Nights (1997)
The Master (2012)
There Will Be Blood (2007)
The Mustang (2019)
Inherent Vice (2014)
The New World (2005)
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)
The Last Word (2017)
Cocaine Cowboys (2006)
The Burglar (1957)
What Lies Beneath...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Arlington Road (1999)
The Mothman Prophecies (2002)
Firewall (2006)
The Orphanage (2007)
Nostalgia (2018)
Avatar (2009)
Titanic (1997)
Chef (2014)
The Laundromat (2019)
Honeymoon In Vegas (1992)
Demonlover (2003)
Under The Sand (2000)
Mulholland Dr. (2001)
Under The Skin (2013)
The Great Beauty (2013)
Slap Shot (1977)
Network (1976)
Straw Dogs (1971)
The Pawnbroker (1964)
Star Wars (1977)
The Exorcist (1973)
Jaws (1975)
The World’s Greatest Athlete (1973)
All The President’s Men (1976)
Liquid Sky (1982)
The Brother From Another Planet (1984)
City Of Hope (1991)
Stop Making Sense (1984)
Snowpiercer (2013)
The Flintstones (1994)
Matinee (1993)
Batman (1989)
Transformers (2007)
A History Of Violence (2005)
Heaven Can Wait (1978)
Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941)
Psycho (1960)
Psycho (1998)
Mandy (2018)
Phantom Thread (2017)
Magnolia (1999)
Boogie Nights (1997)
The Master (2012)
There Will Be Blood (2007)
The Mustang (2019)
Inherent Vice (2014)
The New World (2005)
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)
The Last Word (2017)
Cocaine Cowboys (2006)
The Burglar (1957)
What Lies Beneath...
- 4/21/2020
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
James Fox and Mick Jagger on the set of Performance
"This year, I was on the London Film Critics' Circle awards committee to determine who would receive the group's annual Dilys Powell Award for contribution to British cinema, which wasn't the most simple of tasks," writes Guy Lodge. "Many worthy names were bandied about, but the final choice is one no one could take issue with: venerable London-born director and former cinematographer Nicolas Roeg. It's hard to think of someone more deserving of career recognition: in addition to helming such offbeat classics as Performance, Don't Look Now and The Man Who Fell to Earth, Roeg brought equal formal vigor to his lensing of Far From the Madding Crowd and Petulia, among others. The choice strikes a chord with me personally, given that The Witches was something of a formative film for my seven year-old self. Indeed, Roeg's was the first...
"This year, I was on the London Film Critics' Circle awards committee to determine who would receive the group's annual Dilys Powell Award for contribution to British cinema, which wasn't the most simple of tasks," writes Guy Lodge. "Many worthy names were bandied about, but the final choice is one no one could take issue with: venerable London-born director and former cinematographer Nicolas Roeg. It's hard to think of someone more deserving of career recognition: in addition to helming such offbeat classics as Performance, Don't Look Now and The Man Who Fell to Earth, Roeg brought equal formal vigor to his lensing of Far From the Madding Crowd and Petulia, among others. The choice strikes a chord with me personally, given that The Witches was something of a formative film for my seven year-old self. Indeed, Roeg's was the first...
- 12/3/2011
- MUBI
Note: the following piece contains spoilers.
One time in my fleeting youth, I encountered George Clooney in the Warner Brothers screening room on 53rd Street after a National Board of Review screening of Steven Soderbergh’s The Good German. This is before I had, despite my ongoing poverty and lack of renown, spent ample time around movie stars and the merely sort-of famous at sundry locations, both foreign and domestic, becoming relatively at ease in their strange company. I still often felt not unlike the protagonist of Walker Percy’s The Moviegoer, as he follows William Holden through a blustery New Orleans afternoon, sensing some protean, dynamic aura from a man he had only seen as light reflected off of (or emanating from) the movie screen. I nervously approached Clooney, as he began to exit the screening room’s staging area after enduring a surely exhausting series of boredom-inducing exchanges...
One time in my fleeting youth, I encountered George Clooney in the Warner Brothers screening room on 53rd Street after a National Board of Review screening of Steven Soderbergh’s The Good German. This is before I had, despite my ongoing poverty and lack of renown, spent ample time around movie stars and the merely sort-of famous at sundry locations, both foreign and domestic, becoming relatively at ease in their strange company. I still often felt not unlike the protagonist of Walker Percy’s The Moviegoer, as he follows William Holden through a blustery New Orleans afternoon, sensing some protean, dynamic aura from a man he had only seen as light reflected off of (or emanating from) the movie screen. I nervously approached Clooney, as he began to exit the screening room’s staging area after enduring a surely exhausting series of boredom-inducing exchanges...
- 10/6/2011
- by Brandon Harris
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
"A onetime yakuza turned jailbird turned filmmaking enfant terrible, the now-75-year-old Japanese director Kōji Wakamatsu has long been loved by cinema cultists for an outrageous string of 1960s provocations made under the guise of the pinku eiga — or 'pink' film." Steve Dollar at GreenCine Daily: "These typically low-budget sex romps could be as insane, surreal, or mind-bending as possible, as long as they included a minimum amount of nudity and softcore humping. Wakamatsu, seizing the opportunity, used the form to pursue the extremes, reveling in obsessive sex and violence as a leftist critique of Japanese society. Beyond the outrage and sleaze of The Embryo Hunts in Secret [1966]; Go, Go Second-Time Virgin [1969]; and Ecstasy of the Angels [1972], was a form of perverse shock treatment. Wakamatsu took a break from the camera in 1977, and didn't return for 27 years. But he still wants to mess with your head."
Steve Erickson for Moving...
Steve Erickson for Moving...
- 5/8/2011
- MUBI
Terrence Malick makes us believe in magic when we know it doesn't exist. He has created his own legend as an unreachable recluse
He may be the only film-maker working now to whom the word "magical" can be applied, yet in nearly 30 years he has directed just five films. He has a degree in philosophy from Harvard; he taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; he has published a translation of Heidegger's Vom Wesen des Grundes. He has a reputation as a recluse, whereas in reality he is a charming, amiable fellow happy to talk about a wide range of topics – but not film. He came close once to doing a film of Walker Percy's novel The Moviegoer, and in 1999 he did produce a picture about the great Ethiopian runner, Haile Gebrselassie, called Endurance. Then a year later he produced another documentary, The Endurance, about the polar explorer Ernest Shackleton.
He may be the only film-maker working now to whom the word "magical" can be applied, yet in nearly 30 years he has directed just five films. He has a degree in philosophy from Harvard; he taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; he has published a translation of Heidegger's Vom Wesen des Grundes. He has a reputation as a recluse, whereas in reality he is a charming, amiable fellow happy to talk about a wide range of topics – but not film. He came close once to doing a film of Walker Percy's novel The Moviegoer, and in 1999 he did produce a picture about the great Ethiopian runner, Haile Gebrselassie, called Endurance. Then a year later he produced another documentary, The Endurance, about the polar explorer Ernest Shackleton.
- 4/21/2011
- by David Thomson
- The Guardian - Film News
Atlanta – Atlanta's Theatrical Outfit is taking advantage of an opportunity to stage "A Confederacy of Dunces" with a new adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel that opens Saturday.The Louisiana State University Press, which owns the rights, rarely permits more than staged readings of adaptations of John Kennedy Toole's comic novel, published in 1980, about life in New Orleans in the early 1960s.Lsu Press won't say why only a handful of productions have been permitted.Two years ago, the Outfit's artistic director, Tom Key, was offered a chance to adapt the book for a full production. Book-It Repertory Theatre in Seattle, which also accepted the opportunity, staged its version last fall.The novel focuses on Ignatius J. Reilly, a medievalist who holds a master's degree but makes no effort to put it to use. At 30, he spends most of his time going to movies or in his room in his widowed mother's home.
- 8/13/2010
- backstage.com
If ever there were ever a book destined to both invite and elude a satisfactory film adaptation indefinitely, Jim Thompson's 1952 pulp magnum opus "The Killer Inside Me" is it.
Much like Walker Percy's 1961 novel "The Moviegoer," the spare prose, snapshot precise detail and intimate first person narration of "Killer" project a film directly into the reader's head more lucid and haunting than anything likely arrive on a movie screen via creative committee.
And, at least as far as Hollywood is concerned, the lead characters in both books (a genial psychopath deputy sheriff in Thompson's, and an emotionally unreachable Korean War veteran in Percy's) aren't exactly the kinds of seize the moment protagonists typically tasked with driving three acts of complications and changes to a satisfying climax that leaves an audience with happily shaking heads when the lights come up.
To my knowledge "The Moviegoer" remains in development limbo as an option contract,...
Much like Walker Percy's 1961 novel "The Moviegoer," the spare prose, snapshot precise detail and intimate first person narration of "Killer" project a film directly into the reader's head more lucid and haunting than anything likely arrive on a movie screen via creative committee.
And, at least as far as Hollywood is concerned, the lead characters in both books (a genial psychopath deputy sheriff in Thompson's, and an emotionally unreachable Korean War veteran in Percy's) aren't exactly the kinds of seize the moment protagonists typically tasked with driving three acts of complications and changes to a satisfying climax that leaves an audience with happily shaking heads when the lights come up.
To my knowledge "The Moviegoer" remains in development limbo as an option contract,...
- 6/16/2010
- by Bruce Bennett
- ifc.com
We all have film sequences that stick in our minds. Some are shared by many – such as the shower scene from Psycho – others are particular to us. Here our film critic and a panel of leading movie-makers reveal their favourites. What are yours?
Who will ever forget the first time they saw the 45-second shower-room murder in Hitchcock's Psycho? I remember 1959 and 1961 as the years when my first two children were born. But the first thing that comes to mind about the year in between was seeing Psycho, which I'd been looking forward to since a radio programme I'd produced the previous October, when Hitchcock had enticingly described Psycho as "my first real horror film". Entering the Plaza, Lower Regent Street, the day the film opened, I passed the cardboard cut-out of Hitchcock in the foyer, from which a tape recording of the Master's familiar Leytonstone undertaker's voice warned us...
Who will ever forget the first time they saw the 45-second shower-room murder in Hitchcock's Psycho? I remember 1959 and 1961 as the years when my first two children were born. But the first thing that comes to mind about the year in between was seeing Psycho, which I'd been looking forward to since a radio programme I'd produced the previous October, when Hitchcock had enticingly described Psycho as "my first real horror film". Entering the Plaza, Lower Regent Street, the day the film opened, I passed the cardboard cut-out of Hitchcock in the foyer, from which a tape recording of the Master's familiar Leytonstone undertaker's voice warned us...
- 3/15/2010
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
When Image Journal published its Top 100 Books of the Century, it became my reading list for over a year. Their refreshing selections from 100 different authors manifested “a genuine engagement with the Judeo-Christian heritage of faith, rather than merely using religion as background or subject matter.” Image included some of my then-favorites like Walker Percy, Flannery O’Connor, C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkein. These writers wrestled honestly with faith, and the list led me to read Frederic Beuchner’s Godric, G.K. Chesterton’s The Man Who Was Thursday, Annie Dillard’s Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Shusaku Endo’s Silence, Graham Greene’s The Power and...
- 3/2/2010
- Pastemagazine.com
Oren Moverman's directorial debut, The Messenger, is the first war movie of the Obama era. The movie is infused with an intellectualness and inclusiveness that would make our president proud. The pathos and humanity of the movie remind me of the film Coming Home and the Walker Percy novel The Moviegoer. With flawless performances from Ben Foster and Woody Harrelson the film feels like a slow camera movement through the communities of a country at war. I have spent the last eight years of my life opening up the New York Times every morning and hoping to not see a new addition to the Names of the Dead feature wherewith the paper of record records for us the names of our latest military members killed in one of the current wars. Many days, I'm unlucky. The heart...
- 11/12/2009
- by Anthony Swofford
- Huffington Post
CANNES -- Donal Logue's sophomore directing turn, The Second Coming, has attracted Bill Paxton, who is attached to star in the production for producer Orian Williams, with co-financing by Elie Samaha and Markus Barmettler. The feature, adapted from Walker Percy's novel of the same name by Logue and Jeff Kitchen, is the story of a depressed, suicidal widower who falls in love with a young woman who's escaped from a mental institution. "On one level they could be crazy," said Logue, "but on another they're saner than anyone." Williams and Logue, who's also producing, are aiming to begin principal photography in Greenville, S.C., early next year.
- 5/19/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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