FREIDA PINTO TO LEAD PERIOD SET TV SERIES THE HENNA ARTIST BASED ON ALKA JOSHI'S INDIA SET NOVEL! PINOCCHIO UK TRAILER AND POSTER WITH ROBERTO BENIGNI

     FREIDA PINTO TO LEAD

HENNA ARTIST TV ADAPTATION

While we are waiting for William Dalrymple's The Anarchy to be turned into an epic TV series and for ITV to air The Singapore Grip, another exotic

The series will be produced by Miramax

series has just been announced: as Deadline writes today, Freida Pinto has optioned TV rights on THE HENNA ARTIST novel by Alka Joshi with an aim to produce it and star in it. The story revolves around 17 year old Lakshmi, who escapes from an abusive marriage and makes her way alone to the vibrant 1950s pink city of Jaipur. There, she becomes the most highly requested henna artist — and confidante — to the wealthy women of the upper class. But trusted with the secrets of the wealthy, she never can reveal her own. It is a beautiful story of independence, family, heartbreak and success, led by a captivating heroine with an indomitable spirit! Michael Edelstein will executive produce.

     'PINOCCHIO' TRAILER

IS A LITTLE BIT TOO CREEPY

You can also check out a British poster for latest Italian big screen adaptation of PINOCCHIO in which Oscar winner Roberto Benigni plays Geppetto ! The live-action adaptation of the classic story of a wooden puppet

Pinocchio is airing throughout Europe this Summer and Autumn

named Pinocchio who comes to life, already aired in Italian cinemas last winter but will hit different European cinemas throughout summer and autumn. It arrived in UK this week.

FONDA LEE'S JADE CITY FANTASY BOOK TO BECOME EPIC TV SAGA AT PEACOCK! YOU CAN FIND LOVE FAR AWAY FROM HOME IN SUBLET GAY ROMANTIC DRAMA TRAILER WITH JOHN BENJAMIN HICKEY, NIV NISSIM!

     'JADE CITY' BOOK

TO BE TURNED INTO EPIC SHOW

Jade City is the first book in the saga

If you are in the mood for a series in the vein of Into The Badlands and Warrior, NBC's streaming service Peacock has bought TV series adaptation rights on JADE CITY, the first book in the fantasy trilogy The Green Bone Saga by Fonda Lee. Breck Eisner will be one of the producers of this epic saga of magic and martial arts where two rival clans will fight to the bitter end for love, honour and power. Set in an Asia inspired fantasy metropolis reminiscent of 70s Hong Kong, Jade holds mystical powers and our two warring families will fight to the end over its control. Dave Kalstein will also produce beside writing the script.

     1ST 'SUBLET' CLIP

AN ISRAELI GAY ROMANCE

The movie will get US release next year

And another delightful gay movie for you today as well after those two from yesterday: Israeli movie SUBLET will play in US cinemas next year directed and written by Eytan Fox. It sees Tonny award winner John Benjamin Hickey playing a New York Times travel writer who comes to Tel Aviv after suffering a tragedy. The energy of the city and his relationship with a gorgeous younger man (Niv Nissim, in his debut performance) brings him back to life. They are  from different generations and have had very different lives, but have so much to share with

The movie contains delightful male nudity and sex

each other. Sublet already had its premiere at The Tribeca Film Festival 2020. The film celebrates the freedoms that we had before covid and that we miss today: to travel, explore, make connections and get a new take on the world!

VIGGO MORTENSEN FACES LANCE HENRIKSEN AS HIS HOMOPHOBIC FATHER IN FALLING DRAMA TRAILER! BREAKING FAST TRAILER BRINGS A MUSLIM DOCTOR SOME MUCH NEEDED GAY LOVE

     'FALLING' TRAILER

FOR A FILM BOTH WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY VIGGO MORTENSEN

Falling is out in cinemas late Autumn

Two gay themed films for you today, beginning with a film both written and directed by Viggo Mortensen who also gave himself the lead role in family drama FALLING in which acting legend Lance Henriksen plays a conservative father who, suffering from an illness, moves from his rural farm to live with his gay son's family in Los Angeles where things get tense. Viggo plays his gay son in a relationship with an Asian guy (Terry Chen), who has to deal with his father's primitive non acceptance of his sexual orientation. Laura Linney also stars in the film which will hit European cinemas this Autumn: Spain

Beside directing and writing, Viggo also composed the music for the film

from October, France and UK November. The film premiered in USA this January on Sundance Film Festival. Viggo Mortensen also did the music for his directorial debut.

     'BREAKING FAST' TRAILER

 WORLD'S 1ST RAMADAN ROMCOM

We've been seeing more and more gay themed films in Hollywood in recent years, but I don't think we've seen a gay romantic film in which one guy

Breaking Fast is coming early next year

is Muslim and another a hot blond hunk. Vertical has acquired US rights for BREAKING FAST a romantic comedy set against the twinkling lights of West Hollywood with the story following Mo (Haaz Sleiman), a practising Muslim still reeling from heartbreak. When an All American guy named Kal (Michael Cassidy) offers to join him in his nightly Iftars –the traditional meal eaten by Muslims during Ramadan – meal after meal, the two start to discover they have more in common than meets the eye. Enjoy the trailer below if you can overlook the wildly annoying best friend of the lead character. The film be out in cinemas and VOD early next year.

LEGENDARY WW2 SERIES THE WINDS OF WAR GETTING A NEW TV REMAKE BY SETH MACFARLANE! ISRAEL PREPARING THEIR MOST EXPENSIVE EPIC TV SAGA EVER THE BEAUTY QUEEN OF JERUSALEM! MEXICAN GOTHIC TV SERIES AT HULU

     'THE WINDS OF WAR' 

GETS NEW TV ADAPTATION

The new series will be shopped to networks

It was already adapted into a classic mini series with Robert Mitchum and Jean Michael Vincent which was a massive TV hit back in the 80s, and now THE WINDS OF WAR will be turned into a television series again by Seth MacFarlane at NBC Universal, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The Pulitzer Prize winning World War II epic novel by Herman Wouk, published back in 1971, tells the epic story of one American family’s turbulent voyage across the continents and across the years that spanned throughout the global war. The novel also got a sequel titled War and Remembrance later that same decade. The original TV series had more than ten Emmy nominations at the beginning of the 80s.

     'THE BEAUTY QUEEN OF JERUSALEM' BESTSELLER

 TO BECOME ISRAEL'S MOST EXPENSIVE SERIES EVER

Yes TV has already ordered two seasons

Speaking of adaptations, Deadline reports that Israeli Yes TV has ordered two seasons of new series THE BEAUTY QUEEN OF JERUSALEM based on the novel by Sarit Yishai Levy, which was a huge bestseller. Planned as one of the most expensive TV series in Israel the multi generational historical melodrama will be shot in Hebrew, English, Ladino and Arabic. Posed to air as soon as next year, the ambitious series will chart the passionate and tragic history of a family living through the Ottoman Empire, The British Mandate and Israel’s War of Independence. Beside Michael Aloni, Hila Saada, Itzik Cohen and Yuval Scharf, the cast will

Exclusive first look at the lead cast of the new series

also have a newcomer actress Swell Ariel Or who will play the title role of Luna Armoza, the beauty queen of Jerusalem.

     'MEXICAN GOTHIC' 

TV ADAPTATION AT HULU

Mexican Gothic will be adapted at Hulu

Hulu is, meanwhile, developing a mini TV series together with Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos as producers, of MEXICAN GOTHIC fantasy horror book by Silvia Moreno Garcia which was published in June. The story follows Noemí Taboada, a young socialite who travels to the Mexican countryside and the mountains of Hidalgo in hopes of rescuing her cousin, who has recently married into a reclusive mining family, after receiving a frantic letter in the mail. Noemí seeks to unveil the family’s violent and menacing secrets, but her confidence is quickly threatened and there may be no escaping the walls of her strange, new home.

CALLUM TURNER HAS GOD FOR A RIVAL IN HIS FIGHT FOR LOVE IN THE BIG OTHER ROMANTIC COMEDY TRAILER

     'THE BIG OTHER' TRAILER

SENDS CALLUM TURNER TO ROME

We, sadly, still don't have English ones, but German trailer and poster for THE BIG OTHER (aka Divine and Der Gottliche Andere) are here with our dear Callum Turner. The movie is out this week in Germany: While he is

The movie is out August 13th in German cinemas

reporting on the election of the Pope in Rome, the completely atheistic TV reporter Gregory falls in love with Maria (Matilda de Angelis), of all people, who is about to become a religious sister and is thus actually  promised to God. After a mysterious accumulation of obstacles that Gregory is confronted with when trying to get closer to Maria, he finally has to admit that in the fight for Maria's love he is dealing with a supernatural competitor, who in the truest sense of the word Word is omnipotent. This German Italian co production, directed and written by Jan Schomburg, does not have a UK or US release date yet. 

ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL FAMILY TV SERIES TO AIR ON CHANNEL 5 THIS AUTUMN AFTER ALL! FIRST PHOTO WITH DIANA RIGG!

     ALL CREATURES BIG & SMALL

TO ARRIVE THIS FALL AFTER ALL

Well, here is at least one thing to look forward to this Autumn: although they said it would be left for next year, now it seems that the remake of ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL will come to Channel 5 this Autumn

The new series will also air on PBS for US audience

after all (which is logical given that  they've shot a Christmas episode too). The latest update is first photo of Diana Rigg as Mrs Pumphrey! The series will

Callum Woodhouse returns to TV after Durrells

air on PBS Masterpiece in USA. There are talks that the second season has already been ordered.

All Creatures Great And Small
based on James Herriot’s cherished collection of stories, chronicles the heartwarming and humorous adventures of a young country vet. This new adaptation will preserve the rich spirit, tone and values of Herriot’s iconic characters and stories and will bring to life his sharply observed, entertaining and incredibly funny tales of country life in the North of England for a modern audience, introducing a new generation to his life-affirming stories.

Who Is Playing The Big Creatures?

With Nicholas Ralph taking the lead role of James Herriot, the cast also includes Samuel West as Siegfried Farnon, the wonderfully eccentric veterinary surgeon and proprietor of Skeldale House who reluctantly hires the

Diana Rigg wll play Mrs Pumphrey in the series!

recently qualified Herriot into his rural practice; Anna Madeley as Mrs Hall, the resident housekeeper and matriarch of Skeldale House; Callum Woodhouse as Tristan, Siegfried’s errant and charismatic younger brother;

Playground Entertainment, who is also doing Dangerous Liaisons for Starz and Tortall Universe epic series, is producing this mini series

and Rachel Shenton as Helen Alderson, an independent local farmer’s daughter who helps her father manage the family farm and care for her younger sister. Diana Rigg is Mrs. Pumphrey, the delightfully eccentric

Nicholas Ralph leads the new mini series as the village vet

owner of the overly indulged Pekingese Tricki-Woo; Matthew Lewis is Hugh Hulton, a wealthy landowner and rival to James for Helen’s affections; and Nigel Havers is General Ransom, the fastidious manager of the local racecourse.

PREMIUM SPOTLIGHT ON RUSSIAN 19TH CENTURY COSTUME SERIES SECRETS OF MRS KIRSANOVA AKA SMALLTOWN MYSTERIES

  'SMALLTOWN MYSTERIES'

MEET CUNNING MRS KIRSANOVA

The series aired in Russia back in 2019

Among more than 4,400 posts that we've published so far, there are those that get continuous high hits for a very long time, usually those on international dramas about which we wrote among first in English. One of such series was definitely Russian period set drama Detective Anna which aired on Amazon Prime. You obviously loved that series shot in 2016 and 2017, but what is interesting is that the series was followed by a prequel series THE SECRETS OF MRS KIRSANOVA also known as SMALLTOWN MYSTERIES. In it Olga Lerman portrays Larissa Kirsanova, a young mathematics teacher,

Olga Lerman plays the lead role in the 50 episode series

who, back in 1878 arrives in a small provincial town of Bogorodsk. Produced by Star Media in 50 episodes, the costume drama aired on weekdays in Russia

The series aired daily on their national TV Russia 1

back in the winter of 2019!

  The Story Of The Series
In 1877, Larisa Kirsanova's fiancé, nobleman Pavel Bestuzhev (Anton Batirev), mysteriously disappeared in St. Petersburg, and for some unknown reason did not appear at the wedding with her. After the incident, Kirsanova quarrels with her father and goes to Bulgaria for the Russian-Turkish war, where she works as a sister of mercy in a front-line hospital. Immediately after the end of hostilities, in 1878, Larisa comes to her own aunt, Lizaveta Prokofievna

The series was even nominated for TV awards in Russia

(Evgenia Simonova), in Bogorodsk, where she gets a job at a local female gymnasium as a mathematics teacher, and tries to find a clue to the

The series was made by the same team that created Detective Anna

disappearance of her beloved, at the same time revealing a lot of confusing crimes that happen in that town. But unlike the main character of the series

The series is filled with authentic 19th century costumes

Detective Anna who possessed paranormal abilities, Mrs. Kirsanova reveals secrets exclusively with the earthly power of her "mathematical" mind and iron logic.

RHONA MITRA JOINS RUPERT PENRY JONES, ELLIE BAMBER IN PRISONERS OF PARADISE PERIOD SET EPIC DRAMA! I'M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS TRAILER WITH JESSIE BUCKLEY, TONI COLLETTE, DAVID THEWLIS

  'PRISONERS OF PARADISE'

Rhona Mitra will play aunt Betty in the film

SEND RHONA MITRA TO MAUR ITIUS

A few weeks ago your trusted spy informed you that Rupert Penry Jones will play Ellie Bamber's uncle in period set drama PRISONERS OF PARADISE and now she's getting a hot aunty too in Rhona Mitra! The movie, set to start shooting next month at Mauritius, is set in 1925, and follows 17 year old orphan Lucy Gladwell (Ellie Bamber) who is sent from England to live under the guardianship of her uncle George Huyton (Rupert Penry Jones). Initially seduced by the sumptuous beauty of her surroundings, Lucy finds herself at odds with her violent uncle who is not the benign influence he pretends to be, and she soon falls in love with Krishna (Mehdi Dehbi), a worker from a nearby plantation.

  I'M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS

 UNLEASHES A BIZARRE TRAILER

And if you are in the mood for something extremely weird here is the trailer for I'M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS movie which hits

The film hits Netflix September 4th

Netflix September 4th! Despite second thoughts about their relationship, a young woman (Jessie Buckley) takes a road trip with her new boyfriend (Jesse Plemons) to his family farm. Trapped at the farm during a snowstorm with Jake's mother (Toni Collette) and father (David Thewlis), the young woman begins to question the nature of everything she knew or understood about her boyfriend, herself, and the world. This exploration of regret, longing and the fragility of the human spirit, is inspired by Iain Reid's bestselling namesake novel. Check out the trailer below and tell us what you think.

HUGH GRANT GOES MISSING ON NICOLE KIDMAN IN THE FIRST TRAILER FOR SKY'S AND HBO'S MINI SERIES THE UNDOING

  'THE UNDOING' TRAILER

NICOLE KIDMAN & HUGH GRANT

Beside the first trailer for Raised by Wolves, HBO has also released a trailer for THE UNDOING mini series which they did together with Sky Atlantic. The series will debut October 25th on HBO.

The Story Of The Undoing
based on Jean Hanff Korelitz’s book You Should Have Known, centres on successful therapist Grace Sachs (Nicole Kidman), who is living with her devoted husband (Hugh Grant) and young son (Noah Jupe) who attends an elite private school in New York City. Overnight a chasm opens in her life: a

The cast also includes Donald Sutherland and Edgar Ramirez

violent death, a missing husband, and, in the place of a man Grace thought she knew, only a chain of terrible revelations. Left behind in the wake of a spreading and very public disaster, and horrified by the ways in which she has failed to heed her own advice, Grace must dismantle one life and create another for her child and herself.

FUTURE IS SCARY IN HBO'S AND RIDLEY SCOTT'S TRAILER FOR RAISED BY WOLVES SF SERIES WITH TRAVIS FIMMEL!

  'RAISED BY WOLVES'

GETS FIRST SCARY TRAILER

I'm definitely not sure what to think of it, it looks both cheap and expensive at the same time: HBO Max has released the first trailer for their

The series will stream from September 3rd

science fiction series RAISED BY WOLVES which will stream from September 3rd produced by Ridley Scott who has also directed first two episodes of the ten part mini series.

The story revolves around two androids — Father and Mother — tasked with raising human children on a mysterious new planet after the Earth was destroyed by a great war. As the burgeoning colony of humans threatens to be torn apart by religious differences the androids learn that controlling the beliefs of humans is a treacherous and difficult task. This rather terrifying and disturbing series stars Travis

Amanda Collin and Abubakar Salim play the android mother and father

Fimmel, Abubakar Salim and Amanda Collin.The series, which was originally meant for TNT, is HBO's original show of the highest profile so far.