In today’s film news roundup, Fox Searchlight starts a shorts channel, Uma Thurman signs with ICM and Miramax signs animation exec Michael Lachance.
SEARCHLIGHT SHORTS
Fox Searchlight Pictures’ chairmen Nancy Utley and Stephen Gilula have announced the launch of “Searchlight Shorts” as a collection of short films.
The shorts are available on Fox Searchlight’s YouTube channel and “Searchlight Shorts” Facebook page. The first film to be released on the Fox Searchlight social media channels is the recent best live action short Oscar winner “Skin,” in which a young boy has an innocent encounter with an African American man at a supermarket and his parents react to the exchange with racial violence.
Other short films to be featured include “Feathers” and “Birdie,” which were acquired in late 2018; “Lavender,” which made its premiere at Sundance earlier this year; and the recently acquired “Sew Torn.” Fox Searchlight plans to release a new short on its YouTube channel once a month.
THURMAN SIGNING
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Uma Thurman, best known for her Oscar-nominated performance in “Pulp Fiction,” has signed with ICM Partners.
Thurman will be seen this spring in Netflix’s “Chambers,” starring opposite Tony Goldwyn. She will also return to the stage in “Ghosts” at the Williamstown Theater Festival this summer. She has completed production on various upcoming film releases including Lars Von Trier’s “The House That Jack Built”; “The Con is On,” directed by James Haslam; and “Down a Dark Hall,” directed by Rodrigo Cortés. She will also star opposite Robert De Niro in Tim Hill’s “The War with Grandpa.”
Thurman left CAA last year a few days after disparaging the agency over its alleged lack of response to injuries she sustained during the filming of “Kill Bill.” She is managed by Jason Weinberg.
MIRAMAX HIRING
Bill Block, CEO of Miramax, has announced that Michael Lachance has joined the company as executive vice president of the newly created Family and Animation division.
He will be overseeing the creative direction of the division under Bob Osher. Lachance is a studio executive and writer with over 20 years of experience in the entertainment industry, most recently at Sony Pictures Animation, where he developed “Hotel Transylvania” and its sequel, “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2” and the Smurfs franchise.
Prior to his time at Sony, Lachance was a senior development executive at DreamWorks Animation and conceived the original idea for “Kung Fu Panda” and spearheaded the development of “Madagascar,” “Shrek 2” and “Shrek the Third.”
