movies

Georgia Native Danny McBride With Flannery O’Connor Award

Published

21 minutes ago

July 28, 2026

Multihyphenate Georgia native Danny McBride is set for a hero’s welcome when he attends the state’s Rome International Film Festival (RIFF) in November.

The festival, based in Floyd County’s biggest city, will present The Righteous Gemstones writer and actor with its 2026 Flannery O’Connor Award during the festival’s 23rd edition running from November 5 to 8.

Created in memory of late Savannah-born writer Flannery O’Connor, the award recognizes artists whose work embodies “the bold, distinctive and enduring spirit” of Southern storytelling.

McBride was nominated by filmmaker and 2025 Flannery O’Connor Award recipient Jerusha Hess, with support from RIFF leadership, including Executive Creative Director Seth Ingram. He is the sixth recipient of the honor and the first Georgia-born filmmaker to receive the award after Billy Bob Thornton, Ethan Hawke, Maya Hawke, Tim Blake Nelson and 2025 recipient Jerusha Hess.

Working under the banner of Rough House Pictures, McBride has built a body of work that blends sharp comedy, social commentary and characters while reaching audiences around the world. A native of Statesboro, Georgia, he has consistently drawn upon the culture, contradictions and eccentricities of the American South in creating stories that are both deeply regional and universally resonant

Best known as the co-creator, writer, executive producer and star of HBO’s Eastbound & Down, Vice Principals and The Righteous Gemstones, with film credits including Pineapple Express, Tropic Thunder, Up in the Air, Alien: Covenant, and This Is the End, McBride is on a roll right now.

Aside from the success of his newly released book, Thrilling Tales of Modern Men, which debuted on The New York Times Best Seller list in its first week of publication, McBride has a recently been tapped to write the next G.I. Joe movie at Paramount.

During his time at RIFF, McBride will participate in a career retrospective and live In Conversation masterclass, offering audiences a behind-the-scenes look at his creative process, career trajectory and approach to storytelling.

“Few contemporary storytellers have shaped the cultural conversation around the South as powerfully and fearlessly as Danny McBride,” said Ingram.

“His work is hilarious, provocative and deeply human. Like Flannery O’Connor, Danny understands that the South is a place filled with contradictions, larger-than-life personalities, humor, heartbreak and unexpected grace. Both artists challenge audiences to look beyond stereotypes and confront deeper truths about family, faith, ambition and identity.”

O’Connor, whose life was explored in Ethan Hawke’s 2023 film Wildcat, is best known for her collections of short stories such as A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories, and novels including Wise Blood, which was adapted to the big screen by John Huston, and The Violent Bear It Away.

“Growing up in the South shaped my perspective as a storyteller in ways I’m still discovering,” McBride said. “Flannery O’Connor’s voice is one of the most important and distinctive in Southern literature, so being connected to her legacy through this award is incredibly meaningful.”

The Flannery O’Connor Award name is used with permission from the Mary Flannery O’Connor Charitable Trust.

movies

Meta Golding Joins ‘Memory Of A Killer’ As Season 2 Series Regular

Published

4 minutes ago

July 28, 2026

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EXCLUSIVE: Meta Golding (The Pitt, Ransom Canyon) has been cast as a series regular opposite Patrick Dempsey in Season 2 of Fox‘s Memory of a Killer.

Inspired by the book and 2003 award-winning Belgian film De Zaak Alzheimer, Memory of a Killer stars Dempsey as Angelo Flannery/Doyle, who leads a dangerous double life while hiding an even deadlier personal secret, he is slowly losing his memory.

In what is currently a one-year deal, Golding will play Mel, Angelo’s (Dempsey) childhood sweetheart. A Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist who has spent her career diving headfirst into the world’s darkest corners — and has the scars to prove it. Mel is not a delicate flower: she’s sharp, funny, direct, and constitutionally incapable of looking away from the truth. She and Angelo were childhood sweethearts, but their romance was cut short by Angelo’s tragic past. She reappears in Angelo’s life and becomes his love interest of the season – while working alongside him to avenge a tragic loss. Mel is the season’s moral engine and its emotional heartbeat — the woman who forces Angelo to reckon with who he is, what he’s done, and whether the two of them can survive what’s coming together.

Michael Imperioli also stars in Memory of a Killer, which is produced by Warner Bros Television and Fox Entertainment. Executive producers include Dempsey and showrunners Aaron Zelman and Glenn Kessler. Arthur Sarkissian and Martin Campbell also executive produce, along with Peter Bouckaert of Eyeworks.

Known for playing Rosa Parks in the NAACP-nominated film Behind the Movement, Golding recently recurred on HBO Max’s The Pitt and Netflix’s Ransom Canyon and was part of the main cast of Paramount+’s Rabbit Hole. On the film side her credits include Hunger Games: Catching Fire and Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2. Golding is repped by Charlton Blackburne Management, Paradigm and Yorn, Levine, Barnes, Krintzman.

Season 2 of Memory of a Killer is set to premiere midseason 2027 on Fox.

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Alexandra Daddario Joins Indie ‘American Fever Dream’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Published

13 minutes ago

July 28, 2026

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EXCLUSIVE: Alexandra Daddario (The White Lotus) has wrapped a lead role in American Fever Dream, an indie drama marking the feature directorial debut of Jaclyn Noel, which also stars Christopher Convery (Prisoner’s Daughter), Julian Morris (Pretty Little Liars), and Spenser Granese (Marty Supreme).

Written and directed by Noel, American Fever Dream spans nearly two decades and follows a hopeful middle-class family as they slowly descend into poverty, revealing the devastating collapse of the American Dream.

Daddario stars as Carrie, a mother struggling to hold her family together as their circumstances steadily deteriorate. Convery plays her son James, with Morris as her husband, Bo. No word on Granese’s role.

American Fever Dream is produced by Apoorva Guru Charan (Joyland, Take Me Home) through her All Caps banner, alongside Nick Young, Noel, Lauren Mann (Swiss Army Man, The Card Counter), Daddario, and Heather Francis.

Emmy nominated for her work on HBO’s The White Lotus, Daddario will soon wrap production on Season 3 of AMC’s Mayfair Witches. Most recently, she appeared in Tommy Dorfman’s I Wish You All the Best and Nora Kirkpatrick’s A Tree Fell in the Woods opposite Josh Gad, Ashley Park, and Daveed Diggs. This November, she’ll be seen starring opposite Finn Wittrock in Hershey, a biopic exploring the complex legacy of the Hershey chocolate dynasty. She is repped by CAA, Untitled Entertainment, and Jackoway Austen Tyerman.

Seen recently in the indies Prisoner’s Daughter and Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game, Convery is repped by Paradigm, Untitled Entertainment, and Jackoway Austen Tyerman.

Perhaps best known for roles on the shows Pretty Little Liars and Hand of God, Morris’ recent credits include The Twelve Dates ‘Til Christmas and guest star roles on The Good Fight and The Morning Show. He is repped by United Agents, Untitled, and McKuin Frankel Whitehead.

Granese has recently been seen in the Oscar-nominated Marty Supreme from A24, along with such series as Grotesquerie, Dope Thief and S.W.A.T. Upcoming, he’ll be seen playing a villain role in a Lionsgate home invasion flick from director Julian Labrádor. He is repped by Untitled and Jackoway Austen Tyerman.

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‘Below’: Josh Harnett Vs Sea Creature In Trailer For Netflix Series

Published

28 minutes ago

July 28, 2026

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There’s something lurking in the waters off the coast of Newfoundland in Netflix‘s latest drama series Below.

The trailer, released Tuesday, introduces viewers to Calvin Penney (Josh Hartnett), a big‑hearted but stubborn small town fisherman who’s still haunted by his father’s mysterious death from decades ago.

When an unidentified sea creature begins terrorizing his hometown, Calvin must fight to hold his close-knit community together. Determined to keep his son Wade (Charlie Heaton) and the rest of his family safe, he teams up with a visiting marine researcher (Mackenzie Davis) to confront the creature and reveal the island’s buried secrets before it’s too late.

Watch the trailer above.

The series stars Josh Hartnett (“Calvin Penney”), Mackenzie Davis (“Fonda Howander”), Charlie Heaton (“Wade Penney”), Ruby Stokes (“Mary Penney”), Kaleb Horn (“Noah”), Rohan Campbell (“Jay Penney”), Willow Kean (“Ruth Penney”)

Created by Jesse McKeown, the six-part limited series is said to tackle themes of family, community, and change while blending multiple genres including local mythology, suspense and humor.

Executive producers are Jessica Rhoades (through her company Pacesetter), Chris Hatcher, Josh Hartnett, Jamie Childs, Louise Sutton, Sharon Hall