Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
007, X-Files, and Hanks as Lincoln.
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Callum Turner is the next James Bond.
At the Berlin Film Festival this weekend, Callum Turner was asked by a reporter point-blank if he wanted to comment on the fact that he was rumored to be the next James Bond.
He looked directly at the reporter and said:
“You’re right, it’s too early for that question.”
Then he looked to the right and poked his tongue out, hiding a cheeky smile, and then calmly collected himself, much as James Bond might, and directly said that he wouldn’t comment on it at this time.
Callum Turner, out of all the actors in consideration, Jacob Elordi, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Harris Dickinson, has always felt like the right choice to play 007. Because Bond, above all else, must have a steel shell.
And Callum Turner, in role after role, exudes an icy, charming confidence.
Just look at his last theatrical release, A24’s Eternity, where he plays a soldier who’s waited 70 years in the afterlife for his wife, Elizabeth Olsen. Turner, in every scene, is noble, and Olsen naturally swoons over him.
Turner captures this steely exterior quite naturally, and it’s a commonality across every Bond, from Sean Connery to Daniel Craig. But Turner also has a rare quality, something that he hasn’t shown in many films, which is an essential element.
Bond, although 90% stoic, has rare but important moments where he is open to his own vulnerability.
Just watch Daniel Craig lose Eva Green in Casino Royale. In this moment, when he pulls her ashore, Craig dips internal and embraces his grief.
Turner also has the ability to do that.
This is best shown in an underseen, underloved film called Tramps (2016). That film sees Callum Turner and Grace Van Patten race around New York City with a raw fear that a gangster will hunt them if they don’t recover a valuable briefcase.
In this film, we see Turner’s energy and an ability to capture vulnerability.
That’s vital for every modern Bond actor facing his deepest adversaries. These are the moments that make a Bond film. When he meets his equal. And the actor playing Bond must show that even though he’s 007, he’s also human.
This dual nature of Turner feels perfect for the role.
And even though it’s still indeed a speculation, our vote is for Turner. Under Denis Villeneuve’s direction, he would be a beautiful Bond.
For More:
Berlinale Callum Turner “casting announcement” video.
A24’s Eternity trailer.
The side of Turner you haven’t seen. Netflix’s Tramps trailer.
Daniel Craig loses Eva Green in Casino Royale clip.
THE INDUSTRY TLDR
Hulu greenlights Ryan Coogler’s X-Files pilot with Danielle Deadwyler starring.
Nick Reiner enters a not guilty plea.
AMC Q4 $1.28B revenue (down 4%), 56.3M attendance (down 10%).
Paramount has reportedly raised its offer for WBD.
Searchlight signs Cate Blanchett’s Dirty Films for first-look film/TV deal.
HBO picks up The Slightest Touch (Colin Farrell doc).
Hulu adapts Mexican psychological horror The Haunting of Alejandra.
Ashley Lyle & Bart Nickerson (creators: Yellowjackets) sign Paramount overall deal.
Robert Carradine (Revenge of the Nerds, Lizzie McGuire) died at 71.
Reading Rainbow revival gets 24 episodes from Sony.
Tom Hanks plays Abraham Lincoln in Lincoln in the Bardo (dir: Duke Johnson).
Lily Collins plays Audrey Hepburn in a film about Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
Winona Ryder joins Wednesday S3 as a guest star, reuniting with Jenna Ortega.
Kino Lorber’s MHz acquires Montmarte.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
Special agents Scully and Mulder are back on the scene. Ryan Coogler is officially writing and directing an X-Files pilot for Hulu. EP’d by original X-Files creator Chris Carter.
Danielle Deadwyler is the first agent to be cast, no word on who will be the Mulder to her Scully (assuming that’s her role). Deadwyler was gut-wrenching in the true story drama Till (2022, trailer), so we’re excited to see her take on the supernatural.
Jennifer Yale (Peacock’s The Copenhagen Test) will showrun. It’s a good choice as The Copenhagen Test has a lot of X-Files-esque elements in it. Black box sights, mental control via new technology, etc.
Coogler has a deep interest in the paranormal (Sinners) and the technological (Black Panther), both of which he portrays on screen with an obsessive truth. If it’s out there, Coogler has found it.
Nick Reiner just entered a not guilty plea. He is currently being represented by a public defender after being charged with first-degree murder of his parents, Michele and Rob Reiner. This plea allows them more time for the public defender to review the case, with a possible trial date set for April 29th.
If convicted, Nick faces life in prison or possibly the death penalty. Read our Rob Reiner obit here: https://theindustry.co/p/rob-reiner-rip.
AMC Theatres Q4 earnings. Plus, the change from last year:
$1.28bn revenue
↓ 4%
$127M net loss
Down from $298M loss in Q3 2025
56.3M attendance
↓ 10% (from 62.4M)
CEO Adam Aron stated that AMC is:
“Is exceptionally well positioned to capitalize on a recovering box office. And as I have said many times before, the not-so-secret formula to a full box‑office recovery is straightforward, we need more great movies from our studio partners.”
He pretty much said the same thing last quarter when he was banking on Avatar 3 and Wicked 2, which didn’t deliver.
Tidbits:
Paramount has raised its offer to buy Warner Bros. Discovery. The exact amount should be disclosed later today. Although the last bid was $30/share. They hinted that they would be willing to go to $31.
Searchlight Pictures is getting into business with two-time Oscar winner Cate Blanchett’s Dirty Films (Carol), signing a first-look film and TV deal. The production company and the studio will together develop and produce feature-length movies and series for streaming under Searchlight Television. Their first collaboration, Sweetstick, the directorial debut of Die My Love co-writer Alice Birch, starring Blanchett, recently wrapped filming.
HBO picks up The Slightest Touch. It’s a doc featuring Colin Farrell with his friend Emma Fogarty, who suffers from a rare skin condition. The doc follows their friendship with Farrell and her completing a marathon. There’s a heartwarming quality to the entire thing that seems to really resonate. Premiering at the Dublin International Film Festival on Feb 28th. More info here.
Hulu is blending psychological horror with a little Mexican mythology in the series adaptation of The Haunting of Alejandra from author V. Castro, with Steven Paul Martinez (wri. CBS’ Bull) penning the scripts. From 20th Century and Eva Longoria’s Hyphenate Media Group (Land of Women), this postpartum thriller sees a lawyer and new millennial mom who must face the haunting legend of La Llorona.
Yellowjackets may be coming to an end, but the show’s creators are sticking with Paramount. Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson have signed an overall deal with Paramount Television Studios to develop and produce scripted series. Sticking within the family, the producing couple had a prior deal with Showtime creating original series like Yellowjackets, which will air its final season late this year. Good sign they didn’t hop ship like Taylor Sheridan.
PBS’ beloved children’s show Reading Rainbow gets a 24-episode pickup with Sony Pictures Television and Buffalo Toronto Public Media. Mychal Threets, the joyful Librarian, will return as host with Sesame Street producer Kristen McGregor on board as showrunner. Lots of celebrity guests, reading, and laughs, the new episodes are currently in development.
Mini Tidbit:
Netflix’s Criterion Collection
Olympics 2x 2022
Hans Zimmer’s new score
All the above tidbits and more here.
Renewals:
Fox’s Extra (for S33)
First look:
A24’s The Backrooms
Release dates:
Apple TV’s Unconditional (series)
Just acquired
Release: May 8
Cohen Media Group’s Eagles Of The Republic
Premiere: Cannes
Release: April 17th
Shoot dates:
BBC and A24’s The Ministry of Time
Shoot date: Late 2026
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
From Daniel Day-Lewis to Henry Fonda, Tom Hanks is the newest leading man to portray President Abraham Lincoln in the live-action/stop-motion animated film Lincoln in the Bardo based on George Saunders’ moving bestselling novel.
When you see both the sheer number of real-life portrayals along with the types of roles Hanks gravitates towards, it’s surprising he’s never taken on a U.S. president.
Astronaut Jim Lovell in Apollo 13 (1995)
Walt Disney in Saving Mr. Banks (2013)
Captain Phillips in Captain Phillips (2013)
Pilot Sully Sullenberger in Sully (2016)
Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee in The Post (2017)
Fred Rogers in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019)
From Starburns Industries (Rick and Morty) and director Duke Johnson (co-director of Anomalisa), the new film will look at the president in a deeply vulnerable state while he grieves the death of his son told both live-action and through multiple animation styles.
Hanks has recently embraced the wacky world of Wes Anderson in films like Asteroid City (2023) and The Phoenician Scheme (2025) with his newest role, a sort of blend of two chapters in the actor’s career in one film. Production will take place in London.
While no one could ever be Audrey Hepburn, this casting comes remarkably close. Lily Collins (Netflix’s Emily in Paris) will play the Hollywood starlet in a film about the making of the endlessly referenced Truman Capote classic Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961).
Beyond their shared expressive brows and similar signature style, Collins’ role as the big city romantic heroine in the Netflix hit could almost be seen as a direct homage to Tiffany’s Holly Golightly. Both characters are spontaneous dreamers who like to prioritize both their couture and street smarts above all else.
From Imagine Entertainment, the film is based on Sam Wasson’s book Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M. with Dickinson creator Alena Smith writing the script and Collins on board as a producer via her Case Study Films to tell the true story behind the scandalously iconic film that defined Hepburn’s legacy.
Tidbit:
After playing mother and daughter in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024), Winona Ryder is set to share the screen again with Jenna Ortega on Wednesday, as a guest star for its upcoming third season. Not long after her Netflix series Stranger Things wrapped up, it was only a matter of time till she would join Ortega and her longtime collaborator Tim Burton at one of the streamer’s other hits. Her role is being kept under wraps with production ongoing in Ireland.
Mini Tidbits:
We all know El Chapo, but what about his wife? Rafael Amaya (played a drug kingpin in El Señor de los Cielos) is joining a new untitled series as the infamous cartel leader. The drama will center on his wife, Emma Coronel, and what she faced living by his side. The role of Coronel has yet to be cast.
Selma Blair (Cruel Intentions) is joining the inspirational indie Ethan Almighty - Ethan’s Law. The film is based on the miraculous experience of a man and his rescue dog, Ethan, whose story shakes Blair’s character, Claire, helping her to rediscover herself and her faith because of their journey.
FESTIVALS AND RESOURCES
London TV Screenings: Warner Bros. International Television Production producer, Wall to Wall (Netflix’s Dope), is debuting two nonfiction documentary projects at the London TV Screenings this week. Full details here.
The BAFTAs have issued an apology after John Davidson, a man with Tourette’s syndrome, shouted a racist slur at Delroy Lindo and Michael B. Jordan during the ceremony. We’re glad they issued an apology. Of course, this was not Davidson’s fault as he has Tourette’s. He issued a statement saying, “I am, and always have been deeply mortified if anyone considers my involuntary tics to be intentional or to carry any meaning.”
Sony Pictures Television Elevate Actors Program. Click here for more info.
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT / INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Kino Lorber’s MHz Networks acquires Montmartre.
Synopsis:
Celeste, a cancan dancer in a Montmartre cabaret, desperately tries to find her brother and sister.
From the trailer it seems lively and overdramatic in a fun way. It’s funded by Disney and TF1 (French Network). No word on release date.
The BBC is expanding its drama slate with a trio of new originals:
1536
Wri: Ava Pickett (Hulu’s The Great)
Prod. Comp: Drama Republic (Netflix’s One Day)
Synopsis:
Set in Tudor England against the backdrop of Anne Boleyn’s arrest. Follows Anna, Mariella, and Jane, three young women in an Essex village whose lives change forever when King Henry VIII has Queen Anne Boleyn arrested.
Shy & Lola
Wri: Amanda Coe (Apple Tree Yard)
Cast: Hayley Squires (The Night Manager), Bel Powley (A Small Light)
Prod. Comp: BBC’s Clerkenwell Films (Baby Reindeer)
Synopsis:
Shy and Lola, two very different women who are forced to become allies when a murder entangles them in the criminal underworld operating in Shy’s small coastal town in the North of England.
D-Notice
Wri(s): Adam Patterson (Rogue Agent), Declan Lawn (Blue Lights)
Prod. Comp: Hot Sauce (The Big Fat Quiz of Everything)
Synopsis:
Set in a world of investigative journalism, explores how truth and power speak to one another through the D-notice mechanism, which allows the government to advise journalists about national security.
These three series are at early stages of development with no word on when they’ll hit our screens just yet.
Mini Tidbit:
Netflix invests in Bond… sort of. Netflix along with All3Media, and Prime Video are funding a new building in NFTS (UK’s top film school). It will be named the Albert R. Broccoli Building, in honor of the late Bond producer. More info here.
That terrifying viral video from the early 2010s Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared (teaser) is now a British series headed to comedy streaming service Dropout (fka CollegeHumor). The colorfully creepy show will drop episodes biweekly beginning Mar. 20th.
ON THIS DAY
1947. Edward James Olmos born in LA.
Written by Gabriel Miller and Madelyn Menapace.
Editor: Gabriel Miller.
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