THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER – The ‘Gray Man’ and ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ alums will both exec produce the untitled series from AGBO, with ‘The Eternals’ duo Kaz and Ryan Firpo set to write.
Regé-Jean Page and Glen Powell are headed West.

The Bridgerton alum and Top Gun: Maverick grad are poised to star in an untitled reimagining of Butch and Sundance for Amazon. The straight-to-series drama, which landed at Amazon following a competitive situation with both Disney+ and Peacock bidding, will be exec produced by Joe and Anthony Russo’s AGBO. Cousins Kaz and Ryan Firpo (The Eternals) will pen the scripts for the series, which is envisioned as a larger franchise with multiple series and spinoffs.

Details are slim, and all parties involved declined to comment as deals have yet to close, but sources say the untitled Butch and Sundance series will take place in an alternate America akin to Apple’s For All Mankind and Amazon’s former Man in the High Castle.

The idea for the reimagined Butch and Sundance started with the Russos and AGBO, who brought in Page during their collaboration for Netflix’s The Gray Man. Page will play Butch Cassidy, while Powell will take on the role of the Sundance Kid. AGBO brought in Powell as the co-lead execs at the company are fans of the his. Page and Powell, along with the Russos’ AGBO, then brought in the Firpos to write. Page and Powell will also be credited as exec producers and will continue to remain actively involved in the show’s creative.

Mike Larocca, Angela Russo-Otstot and Scott Nemes will also exec produce for AGBO alongside Joe and Anthony Russo, Page and Powell. An episode count has not yet been determined as the project remains in its early stages. A director has not yet been identified.

The new Butch and Sundance extends AGBO and the Russos’ relationship with Amazon, where they already have sprawling drama Citadel in the works. The so-called global event series from the Avengers: Endgame directors and Josh Applebaum and Andrew Nemec is described as a spy thriller starring Richard Madden and Priyanka Chopra. The series, which was greenlit in mid-2018, has experienced a round of expensive reshoots amid creative challenges behind the scenes.

The Page-Powell series takes inspiration from 1969’s Western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. The feature starred Paul Newman as Butch and Robert Redford as the Sundance Kid and followed the duo as they were on the run from authorities following a string of train robberies. The pic won four Ocsars, was selected for preservation by the U.S. National Film Registry by the Library of Congress and named as the 73rd greatest American film by the AFI.

The AGBO take on Butch and Sundance comes as Scott Steindorff and Dylan Russell’s Stone Village TV is also prepping a series based on Charles Leerhsen’s book about the famed outlaws, Butch Cassidy: The True Story of an American Outlaw. The project is currently being shopped with a deal for a writer also in the works, sources say.

Page, for his part, broke out in season one of Shonda Rhimes’ first show for Netflix, Bridgerton. He has the Dungeons & Dragons feature film in the works. He’s repped by CAA, the U.K.’s The Artists Partnership, Johnson Shapiro and Shelter PR.

Powell, in addition to Top Gun: Maverick, counts Netflix’s breakout Set It Up, Hidden Figures, Everybody Wants Some! and The Expendables 3 among his credits. He’s repped by CAA, Johnson Shapiro and the Initiative Group.

The Russos and AGBO are with CAA.

Glen is in attendance in Toronto for press and the premiere of Devotion at the Toronto International Film Festival and I’ve added photos and video interviews from today with the director and his cast mates.

Events > 2022 > Sep 11 | Toronto International Film Festival – Variety Studio – Day 3

WVLT – our people were honored Saturday night including Top Gun actor Glen Powell and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley for their work revolved around veterans.

Glen Powell played ‘Hangman’ in the new Top Gun: Maverick movie and was awarded the Bob Hope Award for Excellence in Entertainment.

“This is by far the coolest moment in my career as far as honors go,” Powell said.

Powell said he spent most of the year on military bases as he trained for his roles in Top Gun and a new movie coming out in November called DEVOTION. He said it was great to see so many Medal of Honor recipients in once place at the Knoxville Convention Center.

“Hard to describe how I can now find myself in a room with what I believe are the best of our country,” Powell said.

In his role in DEVOTION, Powell will play Medal of Honor recipient Tom Hudner. Hudner was a U.S Navy aviator during the Korean War, becoming one of the most celebrated wingmen.

“They do an extraordinary thing and they don’t feel like anyone else would’ve done it differently but I think it’s when incredible people with strong moral fabric and courage rise to the occasion,” Powell said.

Also honored was former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. She was given the Patriot Award, the highest award given by the Medal of Honor Society.

”It feels strange to be here because it’s truly a room full of heroes like you can’t put into words why I’m going to be why I’m going to be on that stage outside of just thanking them,” Haley said.

Two others honored Saturday night are Dr. Tim Miller and Courtney Kube. Dr. Miller received the Distinguished Citizen Award and served as a plastic surgeon to help soldiers injured while in the line of duty. He also served in Vietnam from 1965-1966.

Courtney Rube received the Tex McCrary Award for Excellence in Journalism. She is an NBC correspondent covering the Pentagon and Department of Defense.

KNOX NEWS – He’s starred as Marine Corps aviator (and famed astronaut) John Glenn in “Hidden Figures.” He’s played Army Sgt. Chutsky in the Iraq War drama “Sand Castle.” And he’s back in the cockpit this fall as Lt. j.g. Tom Hudner, a real-life Medal of Honor recipient who was given the award of valor for his actions as a U.S. Navy pilot in the Korean War.

Despite his many turns as an American warrior – and extensive preparation for the parts – actor Glen Powell offers he’s a bit nervous to be in the company of 34 Medal of Honor recipients when he comes to Knoxville this weekend to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor Society’s Bob Hope Award.

“I’m looking forward to listening. Listening and taking it all in,” Powell said. “That’s for me what the room is about.

“I wouldn’t know what else to do. I mean, I don’t often get star-struck but I feel like in this room I’ll probably be very quiet and humbled by it all, and just taking it all in.”

Powell spoke to Knox News editor Joel Christopher on Thursday from the Toronto International Film Festival, where “Devotion” premieres Monday. “Devotion” will be released widely on Nov. 23.

DEADLINE – The Toronto Film Festival is back this year.

Seriously, it’s really back.

Unlike last year, which was a significantly quieter festival with fewer stars and feature films at a count of 130, this year TIFF will see the celebratory closing down of King Street (sans streetcars), full-capacity maskless theaters, no proof of vaccinations, live press conferences and the return of concessions and orange shirt volunteers. It also will feature a robust curation of 260 feature films, of which Thursday the fest announced 18 galas and 45 special presentations.

In a fall and holiday corridor at the domestic box office that’s chock-a-block full of adult counterprogramming primed for awards season, distributors require a TIFF launch now more than ever in order to generate buzz and stoke older moviegoers who are still slow to return during the pandemic. A critically acclaimed film out of TIFF can propel a movie to cross over to wider audiences. Cases in point: the 2019 TIFF world premiere of Hustlers, which became Jennifer Lopez’s highest-grossing live-action movie stateside with $105 million, and even the 2018 North American premiere of A Star Is Born, which saw its way to a $215M-plus stateside gross, eight Oscars noms and one win.

“There are movies that will launch on the heels of the festival, that I hope adult audiences will see and revive that moviegoing habit. Thankfully that’s been done with the summer blockbusters. There’s a different kind of movie that launches in the fall, and we’re hoping audiences go and see them,” says TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey.

Outside of the already announced nine world premieres — including opening-night Netflix movie The Swimmers from Sally El Hosaini, Rian Johnson’s Netflix title Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, Billy Eichner’s Bros, Clement Virgo’s Brother, Sanaa Lathan’s On the Come Up, the Harry Styles Amazon Prime pic My Policeman, Viola Davis starrer The Woman King, Steven Spielberg’s autobiopic The Fabelmans and Lena Dunham’s Catherine Called Birdy — there are works by Martin McDonagh (The Banshees of Inisherin); Sam Mendes (Empire of Light); Tyler Perry (A Jazzman’s Blues); Catherine Hardwicke (Prisoner’s Daughter); Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale starring a very transformed, and big, Brendan Fraser; Peter Farrelly (The Greatest Beer Run Ever); and Reginald Hudlin (the Sidney Pointier documentary Sidney) among several others.

Other star-studded world premieres include Jennifer Lawrence in the U.S. military veteran drama Causeway; Nicolas Cage in Butcher’s Crossing; Anna Kendrick in Alice, Darling; Jessica Chastain (who started her path to a Best Actress Oscar win last year at TIFF with The Eyes of Tammy Faye) and Eddie Redmayne in Netflix’s The Good Nurse; Anya Taylor-Joy, Nicholas Hoult and Ralph Fiennes in The Menu; Lily James and Emma Thompson in What’s Love Got To Do With It?; Jonathan Majors and Glen Powell in Devotion; Judi Dench in Sir Richard Eyre’s geriatric ward drama Allelujah; and Sally Hawkins and Steve Coogan in Stephen Frears’ The Lost King.

Last year, films competing for the coveted Oscar bellwether TIFF prize, the Grolsch People’s Choice Award, were required to screen at the festival in-person and online. This year those rules have changed as Bailey says “We are a fully in-person festival.”

In regards to the hybrid nature of this year’s 47th edition, “We will only have a small sampling of films available in Canada for at-home viewing online. The festival is happening in-person, in theaters, and that’s where we want to see everyone.”

“We’re excited to welcome some of the most celebrated figures in movies back to Toronto to present their Gala and Special Presentation films,” he continues. “With stories that span six continents and feature performances you just have to see, this lineup delivers the rich experiences we wait all year for. Cinema is alive. Red carpets are back. And the best audience in the world awaits them in Toronto.”

Typically, Spielberg’s awards-season entries go down to the wire in post before their release (remember 2005’s Munich?), but here’s the three-time Oscar winner has a November release roaring to go at TIFF. Not to mention, the filmmaker doesn’t always world premiere his movies at festivals; Ready Player One being the last title at SXSW. Talking about how TIFF notched the filmmaker’s first ever movie at the festival, Bailey explained, “We are longtime partners with Universal Pictures. We speak with them about what they have coming up in the fall — this was, of course, high on our list, and on their list as well.”

“When we saw the film, we responded in a strong emotional way. I sent a note, which was passed on to Steven, about our own reaction to the film, how moved we were by it, how it’s a beautiful love letter to films and movies,” he continues.

“Toronto is a place where the audience is paramount. The audience defines the shape of the festival, defines the films that everyone is speaking about and go on to further notice and elsewhere,” Bailey said. “The emotional reaction that we had when we saw it will be amplified when our audience sees it; that embrace will be stronger and fiercer than anywhere else.”

Talk about a festival that’s looking to be loud a year after Hollywood was reluctant to venture across the re-opened Canadian border: mega-performing artist Styles will reportedly be in Toronto for the world premiere of his love triangle movie My Policeman. However, curiously not receiving a North American premiere after its Venice Film Festival world premiere is the Styles-starring, Olivia Wilde-directed erotic drama Don’t Worry Darling. Sources have told Deadline that a situation didn’t want to be created at TIFF whereby a star such as Styles has competing projects pulling on his profile. Says Bailey about why Don’t Worry Darling is M.I.A. at TIFF, “Great question, not one for me, that’s one for Warner Bros,” further adding that in regards to Styles’ other title at the fest, “if you’re looking for edgy, you’re going to want to see My Policeman.”

With the vibrant return of an in-person festival, Bailey says that drive-in premieres, which were implemented during the pandemic, will be no longer.

“We had a two-year run with drive-ins and it was an exciting new thing for us to do, but there’s all kinds of new complications of showing movies to people who are sitting in their cars, as you can imagine, but for the moment, we’re done,” Bailey says.

Before the pandemic forced TIFF to go hybrid over the last two years, attendance in 2019 reached a reported 307,362 in its last in-person event. Bailey feels upbeat that with the increased offerings this year, audiences will indeed return to the fest.

“We are expecting full houses. We know from the ticket packages that we had going for the last few weeks, some of them have already gone off sale, but there’s a lot still available. There’s enough appetite for what we’ve seen so far that we’re expecting a big audience.”