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‘Downstate’ Delays First Broadway Preview Due To Illness

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Bruce Norris’ play Downstate will delay its first Broadway preview by two days due to illness within the company, the show announced today.

The new first preview date is Monday, October 19, at Broadway Booth Theatre. Opening night of Sunday, November 15 remains unchanged.

Show reps did not specify who was ill or the nature of the illness. Ticketholders of the canceled Saturday, October 17, show will be refunded or given the opportunity to rebook by contacting point of purchase with questions.

Norris’ controversial play about a group home housing convicted sex offenders is directed by Joe Mantello and produced by Scott Rudin and Barry Diller. Downstate has been widely praised by critics in pre-Broadway stagings, occasionally drawing the ire of right-wingers like Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who tweeted about the show, “So now the corporate media is praising pedophilia,” a misguided simplification that the production now uses in its marketing campaign.

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The official synopsis: “In downstate Illinois, four men convicted of sex crimes against minors live together in a group home, their every movement governed by restrictions that continue to close in around them. The house’s fragile order begins to fracture as an accuser arrives to confront his abuser, bringing with him a storm of unspoken memories. Shockingly funny, savage and furiously political, Bruce Norris’s play pulls audiences into a world where punishment is unending, compassion itself can feel like a transgression, and forgiveness is always out of reach.”

The Broadway staging of Downstate will feature Cassie Beck, K. Todd Freeman, Francis Guinan, Adrian Martinez, Al’Jaleel McGhee, Thomas Sadoski, Ivy Wolk and Liza Colón-Zayas.

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Anthony Mackie Is Seeking Revenge In ’12 12 12′ Trailer

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The upcoming Apple TV series 12 12 12 has dropped its first trailer, starring Anthony Mackie and Jamie Dornan, which can be found above. The eight-episode drama will premiere on Friday, November 13.

From creators and executive producers Dudi Appleton and Jim Keeble, each episode of 12 12 12 unfolds across three timelines of a heist: the 12 months of planning, the 12 hours of the heist, and the 12 days following the heist. The series follows a disgraced FBI agent (Mackie) and an American career criminal (Dornan) who play a zero-sum game of cat and mouse across Europe. At the center of it all is the daring, epic raid on a bank vault deep beneath the streets of Zurich.

Jack Kesy, Agathe Rousselle, Sallie Harmsen, José Garcia and Kali Reis also star.

The project reunites Mackie and Dornan, who co-starred in the movie Synchronic, as well as Mackie and director Kari Skogland, with whom he collaborated on The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

Skogland directs multiple episodes, including the pilot, and serves as an executive producer. In addition to starring, Dornan and Mackie executive produce, with Mackie executive producing under his Make It With Gravy production banner alongside Samantha Corbin-Miller, David Knoller and Jason Spire for Inspire Entertainment. The series is produced by Paramount Television Studios and Anonymous Content.

Watch the action-packed trailer above.

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Alexander Witt To Direct Coming-of-Age Sailing Pic Feathering The Wind

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EXCLUSIVE: Director and cinematographer Alexander Witt is set to direct Feathering the Wind, a coming-of-age feature set against the high-speed world of competitive youth sailboat racing as its producer gear up to take the production to the market at the AFM.

Witt has built an extensive career directing and shooting second-unit action for some of Hollywood’s biggest films and franchises, with credits including Gladiator, The Bourne Identity, the James Bond films Skyfall and Casino Royale, Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Infinity War and Michael Mann’s Ferrari.

He also brings decades of experience directing commercials and features. His feature directing credits include Resident Evil: Apocalypse and the Sayen film trilogy. His commercial work includes campaigns for Reebok, Honda and Helly Hansen, among others.

Actor-producer-writer Christopher Atkins and Michelle Alexandria of Light Year Pictures are producing. Atkins, who first broke onto the big screen opposite Brooke Shields in The Blue Lagoon has more than 80 acting credits to his name. Alexandria is executive producer on the upcoming Maserati: The Brothers with other productions in the works including Kaitlyn’s Chance and Ethan Almighty.

Feathering the Wind is billed as a timeless coming-of-age story set against the speed, danger and intensity of competitive youth sailboat racing.

“I’m really excited to have Alexander on board,” said Atkins. “It’s a timeless coming of age wrapped in incredible high-speed youth sailing sequences – an F1 on the water. Alexander brings sensitivity to the story and the action experience to bring it to the screen. It’s a perfect match.”

“Alexander’s extraordinary body of work brings a level of skill, vision and prestige that is invaluable. The beauty, speed and intensity of sailing deserve to be experienced on the big screen, and I can’t wait to see Alexander make this film his own,” said Alexandria.

Also attached to the filmmaking team is veteran aerial and aquatic cinematographer Jordan “Jordy” Klein Jr., whose credits include The Abyss, Cocoon and Splash. Klein began his career working alongside his father, Academy Award-winning underwater cinematographer Jordan Klein Sr., building a career that has spanned decades of aquatic and aerial filmmaking.

Feathering the Wind is produced by Light Year Pictures and is represented by entertainment attorney Peter Capozzi of Kelley Martin Capozzi LLP. Additional casting and production details will be announced in the coming weeks.

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Disney Offers $20M For Character.AI Assets As Startup Files For Bankruptcy

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After hiring Character.AI‘s former CEO as its chief technology officer, Disney is looking to acquire assets from the 5-year-old startup as it files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

The company, which allows users to create and interact with AI-generated avatars, said it made the filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. It said it hopes the process will allow it to “facilitate a value-maximizing sale of all or substantially all” of its assets. The Character.AI platform will continue to operate during the bankruptcy.

The Disney agreement, reached prior to the filing, would give the media giant a non-exclusive perpetual license of select intellectual property and company claims from Character.AI. Disney would pay $20 million and provide resources during a transition period as the company explores a sale. Disney is classified under bankruptcy law as the “stalking-horse bidder” for the IP, but its bid is subject to “higher or better offers,” CharacterAI noted in a statement.

Disney appointed former Character.AI chief Karandeep Anand as its first CTO last month. He reports directly to CEO Josh D’Amaro, who succeeded Bob Iger in the top job earlier this year with a stated goal of improving the company’s technology and AI efforts. D’Amaro became familiar with interactive technology prior to becoming CEO during his tenure as the head of Disney’s experiences division, which includes its theme parks.

While its lawyers have not hesitated to send cease-and-desist letters to AI companies, Disney is among the big media companies looking for ways to get in the AI game and profit from its boom. During the latter part of Iger’s tenure, Disney made a splashy deal with OpenAI soon after the company launched its controversial Sora 2 video model. Under the deal, Disney was to have licensed a number of its characters for use on Sora and also invest $1 billion in OpenAI, which is looking to go public soon at a valuation possibly exceeding $1 trillion. The transaction was scuttled two months later after OpenAI shut down Sora, which had drawn a host of legal complaints alleging copyright violation.

Character.AI said it is aiming to conclude the sale process by late November or early December.

“Over the past year, Character.ai has taken meaningful steps to sustain and improve its business in the face of significant legal, regulatory, and operational headwinds,” CEO Colin Adams said in a statement. “After a comprehensive review of the available alternatives, the board determined that this court supervised sale process provides the Company with the best opportunity to maximize value for all stakeholders. As we navigate this process, maintaining a safe and engaging user experience for our Character.ai community remains a top priority.”

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