EXCLUSIVE: The Holdovers and Tony star Dominic Sessa is headlining Weston Razooli‘s new sprawling action movie, Shades of Paradise, we understand.

Razooli wrote and directed the pic, which is set, and recently wrapped in Spain. Shades of Paradise follows four small-time criminals who are thrown into an odyssey of violence and betrayal following a jewel-heist. The movie was shot on 2-perf 35mm film by Simone D’Arcangelo (The Settlers).

Also starring are Jack Dylan Grazer, Naira Lleo, Najwa Nimri, Rojuu, Zack Harrod, Teru Castilla Serrano, Romann Berrux, Rhys Mitchell, and Stanislav Baretsky. Oscar nominated producers Andrew Morrison of Kaplan Morrison produced the project.

Razooli’s debut feature as a writer and director was Riddle of Fire, which premiered at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival’s Director’s Fortnight and later at TIFF Midnight Madness banner. Razooli also starred, edited and made the costumes and props for Riddle of Fire.

Additional Producers for the project include Mark Lampert, Oleg Nodelman and Michael D’Alto. EPs are David Kaplan for Kaplan Morrison; Elisa Lleras, Alba Barneda, Marta Cruanas, Claude Amadeo, Randal Sandler, Chris Triana, Heather Nodelman, Michael Barasch, Candy Barasch, Jesse Ozeri, Otto Eckstein, Julia Barasch, Samarth Kulkarni, Anastasiya Siro, Marlowe Griffin Lyddon, Jack Chinery, Brendan Lyddon, Magnus Thomassen, Raju Prasad, and Garrett Cayton.

Sessa can currently be seen starring as a young Anthony Bourdain opposite Antonio Banderas, Leo Woodall, and Stavros Halkias in the A24 feature film Tony directed by Matt Johnson. Before that, Sessa starred in Stephanie Laing’s feature film Tow opposite Rose Byrne, which premiered at Tribeca Film Festival. Last year, he was seen in the Lionsgate feature, Now You See: Now You Don’t opposite Jesse Eisenberg, Isla Fisher, Dave Franco, Woody Harrelson, Morgan Freeman, Justice Smith, and Ariana Greenblatt. This past winter, Sessa starred in the Michael Showalter directed Amazon feature, Oh. What. Fun. opposite Michelle Pfeiffer and Chloë Grace Moretz. The actor made his feature film debut starring as Angus Tully in Alexander Payne’s Oscar winning The Holdovers opposite Paul Giamatti and Da’Vine Joy Randolph. For his performance in the film, Sessa was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor and won Best Breakthrough Performance at the 2024 Critics Choice Awards and Film Independent Spirit Awards. The actor is repped by CAA, Untitled Entertainment and Hansen Jacobson Teller. Razooli is repped by Range Media Partners and Granderson Des Rochers

Kaplan Morrison is a New York-based production company founded by producers David Kaplan and Andrew Morrison. Their first three films under the banner are Brady Corbet’s Academy-Award Nominated The Brutalist, Mona Fastvold’s The Testament of Ann Lee, which was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actress for Amanda Seyfried; and Beth de Araujo’s Josephine, which won this year’s Grand Jury Prize and Audience Awards at Sundance. They just wrapped production on David Robert Mitchell’s They Follow in LA and are producing Corbet’s highly anticipated next feature.

Paramount began marketing a massive $44.4 billion debt offering today to fund its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery as it awaits a decision by a federal judge that’s the last remaining hurdle to clinching the deal.

“The actual closing date of the acquisition is uncertain,” Paramount said in an SEC filing. The merger “will only be consummated following the satisfaction or waiver of the closing conditions in the WBD merger agreement.” It set an Oct. 7 marker for the purposes of the offering.

The David Ellison-led company has satisfied all conditions but one, a federal court judge must approve the proposed settlement of an antitrust lawsuit against Paramount by 12 State Attorneys General led by California’s Rob Bonta. Ellison and Bonta unveiled the agreement a week ago but U.S. District Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin declined to approve it at a Sept. 24 hearing, Instead, she set aside a few days for opposition briefs. Responses were due by noon PT today with the AGs and Paramount both defending the settlement.

Meanwhile, Paramount introduced the $44.4 billion offering, which includes about $32 billion in investment-grade debt, in both dollars and euros, and the equivalent of $12.4 billion in high-yield (junk) bonds, which have higher interest rates. According to Bloomberg, Bank of America and Citigroup were hosting calls today to market the debt and racked up enough demand to cover the offering.

Paramount said it will use the proceeds, along with cash on hand, borrowing under previously announced term loan financings, and equity financing, to fund the purchase of WBD.

A total $51.9 billion in debt financing transactions include a $7.5 billion seven-year Term B loan that lenders started marketing last week. The company has set a $49 billion bridge loan as contingent financing if the permanent financing isn’t in place by deal close.

In the filing, and assuming the Oct. 6 close, Paramount calculated its total cash consideration payable to WBD common stockholders at $78 billion including the $31 a share payout, about a week of a so-called ticking fee that kicks in Oct. 1, and payments at closing of about $1.1 billion for vested WBD equity awards.

Paramount unveiled its planned WBD acquisition in February with an equity value of about $80 billion and an enterprise value around $110 billion. Equity value reflects what WBD shareholders walk away with in cash. Enterprise value is equity value, plus debt, minus cash — or what the whole deal is worth.

Warner had about $34 billion in debt and $3.4 billion in cash as of June.

With a market capitalization of $11.5 billion, Paramount Skydance is significantly smaller than WBD (market cap of $77.4 billion). The merged company will carry over $80 billion in long term debt as Par assumes WBD’s obligations and piles on more to finance the acquisition. Annual interest expenses will be well over $6 billion, a level that has alarmed deal critics. Ellison has targeted $6 billion in synergies across the combined company.

Equity funding includes up to $46.7 billion, plus ticking fees, from the Lawrence J. Ellison Revocable Trust and $250 million from RedBird Capital. But they won’t be paying that amount as both have assigned their subscription rights to other parties, including sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Qatar, and U.S. investment bank LionTree. The outside investors will each receive newly issued nonvoting shares of Paramount Class B stock at close. The Trust has committed to backstop the equity financing.

The Ellisons were also said to be eying Elon Musk and other wealthy individuals to come on as equity investors.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day fans could soon have a new reason to snag another ticket for the record-setting blockbuster.

A theatrical rerelease is in the works from Sony Pictures that would add previously unseen footage, including a scene involving Rosario Dawson that did not make the version that hit screens July 31, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. A theatrical date has not yet been revealed for the potential rerelease that is expected to include other unspecified footage.

Tom Holland, Zendaya, Sadie Sink and Jon Bernthal star in director Destin Daniel Cretton‘s superhero movie that stands as the highest-grossing title ever at the domestic box office with more than $950 million. It also ranks No. 3 on the all-time worldwide chart with $2.49 billion. Hailing from Marvel Studios, Spider-Man: Brand New Day continues chugging along at the box office, collecting $4.1 million domestically over the most recent weekend.

This news follows Marvel Studios’ Avengers Endgame: Encore having topped the domestic box office over the weekend, with the rerelease of the 2019 box office smash grossing $26 million to prevail over a slew of newcomers. That rerelease was timed to drum up additional excitement for Disney’s release of Avengers: Doomsday on Dec. 18.

During a fan event in July, Dawson told the crowd that she had filmed a scene for Brand New Day as Claire Temple — the Marvel character she previously portrayed on the series Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist and The Defenders — but that it ended up on the cutting room floor.

“My character is somewhere in that same universe, and I really love that,” Dawson said at the time. “I hope I get to be Claire again.”

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is just shy of becoming the first title to surpass $1 billion at the North American box office, meaning that the rerelease could push it over the edge. Endgame stands just above Brand New Day at No. 2 on the global chart, with the former’s recent return to theaters having brought its worldwide cume to $2.885 billion.

Deadline previously reported on the rerelease.