Wytches is a creator-owned horror series Snyder began alongside the mononymous artist Jock last year for indie publisher Image Comics, and its first volume comes out in a collected edition this week. It follows the travails of the Rooks, a family struggling with alcohol abuse, disability, and — in the case of their daughter, Sailor — crippling anxiety issues. They move to a small town and stumble upon the town’s history with tall, grotesque, forest-dwelling creatures called wytches (the y being crucial — it turns out that witches are merely humans who have involved themselves with wytches, though I won’t spoil the details).
So, I know there’s only so much you can say about this, but Wytches got picked up by Brad Pitt’s production company, Plan B, for a movie adaptation. What’s the status there?
The film version seems to be going along great. Plan B has been really wonderful to us, sort of giving us a window into that process and putting us in touch with the screenwriter, who’s just finished his first draft. He was actually just in South America and he was going hiking, and he found this series of underground caverns and sent us pictures, me and Jock. And he was like, “I found a [wytch] burrow!” I love the version that they’re making, which cuts pretty close to ours with a few small differences.
It’s a special mother-daughter trip for Angelina Jolie Pitt and 9-year-old Shiloh. The mom of six brought her daughter to Lebanon on Friday to spend time with a 12-year-old Syrian girl named Hala, whom Angelina met a year ago during a trip for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
“Shiloh is very aware that I hold refugee families in high regard and has been asking to come on missions and meet them for many years,” Jolie Pitt tells PEOPLE. “She had heard about Hala since my last visit to Lebanon, and has been wanting to meet her and her brothers and sisters.”
She continues, “It was wonderful that they were able to meet, play together, and make friends. So many refugees are children. I’ve often heard them say that the most painful thing is not that they have lost their homes – it is that they have lost their friends.”
The first five of 20 eco-friendly modular homes arrived on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation and are being set on their foundations this week.
Founded by actor Brad Pitt, the Make It Right foundation and the Fort Peck Tribes are hoping to have the first five families moved into their new homes by Aug. 1. Plans are to have the entire housing project filled by Dec. 1.
The homes, built in Washington state, are being laid down in a sustainable village project on the old Poplar airport site. They are built from state-of-the art recycled materials and are LEED Platinum standard, foundation officials said.
The tribes are in the process of preselecting the tenants to live in the homes and conducted a lottery system among the 127 applicants. The tenants will ultimately be able to own the homes.
“We’ve had a fantastic application run and are now working on certification (of residents),” said Deb Madison, a board member of the tribes’ company, Integrated Solutions. The company is the developer of the homes, which were designed by foundation architects with input from Assiniboine and Sioux tribal members.
Marion Cotillard is in negotiations to co-star with Brad Pitt in Paramount, New Regency and Graham King’s untitled period spy thriller.
Robert Zemeckis is directing the pic from a script by Steven Knight.
King, who first developed the project and brought it to Pitt, will produce alongside Zemeckis and Steve Starkey. The project will be produced through King’s GK Films banner with New Regency. Executive producers are Knight, Jack Rapke, Patrick McCormick and Denis O’Sullivan.
The logline for Knight’s script is being kept under wraps.
The pairing of Pitt and Cotillard was almost not meant to be as the shoot date for this movie did not initially work with Cotillard’s schedule. She will next shoot the Fox and New Regency action pic “Assassin’s Creed” with Michael Fassbender.
Based on the late Michael Hastings’ controversial best-seller The Operators
Netflix has scooped up rights to the Brad Pitt film about the rise and fall of General Stanley McChrystal that was being shopped at the Cannes film market.
Animal Kingdom helmer David Michod wrote the screenplay and will direct the satire, originally titled The Operators and now dubbed War Machine, which will be produced by Netflix and Pitt’s Plan B. New Regency and RatPac Entertainment, who were once onboard the project, are no longer involved.
The film, which begins shooting in August, will be streamed in 2016 on Netflix and get a theatrical release as well.
Based on the late Michael Hastings’ controversial best-seller The Operators, the story centers on the commanding general of international and U.S. forces in Afghanistan and offers a behind-the-scenes portrait of our military commanders, their high-stakes maneuvers and the ensuing political firestorm that shook the United States when he was forced to resign. But the film has changed course from its original dramatic vision when the rights were bought and will now be tonally in the vein of Wag the Dog. Pitt will star as Gen. McChrystal.
HBO has put in development Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, a comedy project based on David Shafer’s darkly comedic debut novel, with Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment executive producing. Chuck alum Zev Borow will write and executive produce the adaptation, a half-hour comedy about three young adults grappling with the usual thirtysomething problems – boredom, authenticity, and omnipotent online oligarchy. Shafer will serve as a co-executive producer.
Published last year, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot landed on a number of 2014 Best Books list, including those from Time magazine and NPR.
Domhnall Gleeson is featured on the cover of Interview Magazine this month and is interviewed by none other than Angelina Jolie. The pair touched on various topics in their interview, including Star Wars, but the most pressing question came from Jolie’s other half.
In the interview, Jolie put the following question to Gleeson.
“So, Brad had a question for you. “What the hell is the M doing in your name if you’re not going to use it?”
At first, Gleeson turned the tables.
“…maybe he can answer why there isn’t an M in Brad?”
After Jolie complimented his name and asked if it was “old Irish,” Gleeson gave Jolie a quick Gaeilge class.
• x022 The Big Short – On set (04/10/15).
• x023 January 24 – Producers Guild Awards – Los Angeles, CA.
• x007 February 16 – ASC Awards – Los Angeles, CA.
• x007 Photoshoots (#138 & #205).
Thanks Vaska!
HBO Films Debuts NIGHTINGALE, Starring David Oyelowo, Today
The HBO Films single-character drama NIGHTINGALE, starring Golden Globe nominee David Oyelowo (“Selma”), will debut TODAY, MAY 29, it was announced by Michael Lombardo, president, HBO Programming.Directed by Elliott Lester from a screenplay by Frederick Mensch, NIGHTINGALE is a provocative drama that probes the darkest corners of a disturbed mind, as a war veteran begins to unravel thread by thread. This searing story of solitude and isolation offers a poignant look at how life has failed one man.
“We are proud to be partnered with Plan B on this bold and powerful film,” said Lombardo. “This extraordinary solo performance by the incomparably talented David Oyelowo clearly demonstrates why he is one of the most gifted actors today.”
“We are thrilled and honored to help bring NIGHTINGALE to an audience,” says executive producer Brad Pitt. “Sincere props to our friends at HBO for giving this extraordinary and courageous film its day.”