Actor Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment, the production company behind films like Moonlight and The Big Short, is in talks to sell a significant stake to French media conglomerate Mediawan, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
The company has received bids from a few potential investors, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private negotiations. Mediawan, which has been backed by KKR & Co., is the front-runner. Plan B is expected to make a final decision in the next couple of weeks. Talks could still fall apart, and another bidder could still win.
F1 team bosses meet Brad Pitt as film project takes off
The film will be directed by Joseph Kosinski, who was responsible for Tron: Legacy, Oblivion, Only the Brave and the recent hit Top Gun: Maverick.
Like the last named film the F1 project will be produced by Bruckheimer, whose lengthy CV includes the original Top Gun, NASCAR movie Days of Thunder and the Pirates of the Caribbean series.
With a screenplay by Ehren Kruger, who also wrote Top Gun: Maverick, the story revolves around a veteran driver who mentors an up-and-coming youngster.
Lewis Hamilton is closely connected with the project as a producer, and his manager Penni Thow is also involved. Apple Screen is underwriting the project.
All team bosses were invited to the F1 hospitality building in Austin today to meet Pitt, Bruckheimer and Kosinski, with Stefano Domenicali among those also present.
Essentially the gathering was an opportunity for the Hollywood guys to give the teams an idea of what they plan to do.
The meeting focused on a demonstration of the technology used in Top Gun: Maverick, and specifically how CGI was successfully combined with real action footage.
The teams will have individual meetings with the film people over the remainder of the Austin weekend. It’s not yet clear whether they will be asked to supply current or near current cars for use in the production.
Kosinski stressed recently that shooting real cars in action will be a key part of the production.
Although details are still being discussed, F1 is expected to offer full co-operation, including sanctioning filming on race weekends.
Paltrow on Reviving Her Friendship With Ex Brad Pitt
Gwyneth Paltrow’ s husband is understanding of her friendship with her ex. ET’s Cassie DiLaura spoke with the 50-year-old Goop founder on Wednesday, and Paltrow revealed how she rekindled her friendship with Brad Pitt and how her husband, Brad Falchuk, feels about her doing so.
Paltrow and Pitt dated in the ’90s and got engaged in 1996, before calling it quits later that year.
“When we first broke up, we weren’t friends for a while and then we sort of found our way back, probably about 18 or 19 years ago, something like that, and then just kind of stayed in touch over the years,” Paltrow told ET, after publishing a Q&A with Pitt on Goop earlier this year.
‘Babylon’ Will Now Premiere Before Christmas
Paramount’s Babylon is shifting release dates, abandoning its plans to open in limited release at Christmas, and instead heading to a wide release on December 23, releasing in the wake of Avatar: The Way of Water. The film was originally planned to go wide on January 6 before the changes.
BP Gallery Update
• x011 July 16 – Bullet Train (Photocall) – Paris, France.
• x016 August 23 – Bullet Train (Photocall) – Kyoto, Japan.
• x016 September ?? – Global Green Intimate Dinner – Los Angeles, CA.
• x001 September 25 – Paris, France.
• x001 October 01 – Bad Bunny concert – Los Angeles, CA.
• x003 October 04 – Los Angeles, CA.
Geena Davis dishes on co-stars Bill Murray, Brad Pitt and Susan Sarandon in new memoir
Whether you remember it or not, Geena Davis is a treasure, a diverse and talented actress with a filmography that boasted some of the finest movies of the 1980s and early 1990s. Now, Davis is reflecting on some of her career highs and lows, chiefly as they relate to some famous co-stars.
Geena Davis also spoke highly of Brad Pitt, who got his breakout in 1992’s Thelma & Louise. “He was very self-effacing and sweet and kind and whatever. It never felt like he was All That.” (But, of course, he is.) She also heaped praise on co-star Susan Sarandon, who she called “a revelation.”
Financial Times
In Thomas Houseago’s WE collective, friendship and recovery are as important as the art
We’re just three dudes, and we’re just making stuff,” says Leeds-born, LA-based artist Thomas Houseago. He’s talking about himself, two of his closest friends – who happen to be the musician Nick Cave and the actor Brad Pitt – and their new collective art exhibition. The bizarreness of this trio is not lost on him. “We know we are totally ridiculous. But it’s real,” he adds, his voice full of energy. “If you see Brad Pitt – the Brad Pitt, right? You know, six pack, abs, whatever – that’s a movie creation. It’s fantastic, I love it. He’s one of the greatest actors of his generation. But there’s another human, that I know, who has enabled me to breathe in a new way. And I would like to think I’ve done the same for him.”
• x006 Financial Times Photoshoot.
• x001 Financial Times.
PS. Is there anyone able and willing to provide magazines scans from Financial Times and Billboard, please?
Brad Pitt’s Plan B Seeking Potential Buyer
Plan B — the Oscar-winning banner run by Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner — is seeking a potential buyer. The Moonlight and Minari shingle has tapped Moelis & Co. to shop for a buyer or potential investors.
Moelis & Co. declined to comment. Plan B reps could not be reached for comment.
Plan B has become an awards season regular with credits that include 12 Years a Slave, Selma and The Big Short, along with blockbuster titles like World War Z. This year, the company is behind MGM’s Women Talking, Universal’s She Said, Netflix’s Blonde and HBO Max’s Father of the Bride. (Plan B was started in the early 2000s by Pitt and then-wife Jennifer Aniston, with Pitt taking over the company after the couple divorced.)
In TV, Plan B’s credits include HBO’s The Normal Heart and Amazon’s The Underground Railroad, which reunited the company with Moonlight director Barry Jenkins.
Plan B has a first-look deal for TV with Amazon Studios and a features deal with MGM.
This news of Plan B’s search for a potential buyer comes as top-tier Hollywood production banners are courting big bucks for outright acquisitions and major numbers for equity investments.
Billboard
Hidden amid the grounds of a sprawling Provence estate, a historic recording space is reborn — and its co-founders want to make it a “sanctuary for artists to come in and do their thing” again.
I think we need a bigger table,” says Brad Pitt with a proud grin. It’s a rare rainy day in Provence, France, and for the first time, the superstar is about to sit down to a family-style lunch at the newly rebuilt Miraval Studios. An elevated-rustic assortment of tarts, salads, fresh cheese and bread spread out before him. He just needs to find a chair.
Tucked away within Château Miraval’s 2,200 acres — grounds so vast and lush that getting lost driving through them would be easy, but not so bad — Miraval Studios is as private and exquisite a place as any music (or music history) buff could imagine. And yet, it has sat dormant for nearly two decades.
Today, Pitt relays how eager he has been to reopen the space since he started spending time at the property in 2008. (He and ex-wife Angelina Jolie later purchased it for a reported $60 million in 2012.) All it took was being introduced to renowned French producer-engineer Damien Quintard, whom Pitt calls a “wunderkind,” to finally make his dream of creating the ultimate artist escape a reality. Come this month, just over a year since the two first met, Miraval Studios will formally reopen.
• x030 Billboard Photoshoot.
BP Media Update
• x03 Misc Photoshoots: NY Times (2011) & W (1999)
• x06 Advertisements Breitling
• x01 Advertisements Edwin (2012)
PS. These sorta updates take me forever, but they are worth it. I hope you SB visitors can appreciate this content :)
