DEADLINE – EXCLUSIVE: With Anyone But You having just crossed $100M at the global box office and Top Gun 3 chatter lighting up the internet, Hollywood man of the moment Glen Powell has found his next project in the shape of thriller Huntington from Emily The Criminal writer-director John Patton Ford.

As we revealed last year, Euro studio Studiocanal and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri producer Blueprint are behind the project, which has now attracted Green Book and Spotlight outfit Participant as co-financier with Studiocanal.

We understand A24 is close to finalizing a domestic deal, though none of the parties could confirm at time of going to press.

The partners are aiming for an early summer shoot on the movie, which is described to us as “raucous revenge thriller” about Becket Redfellow (Powell), the heir to a multi-billion-dollar fortune who will stop at nothing to get what he deserves…Or what he thinks he deserves.

Patton Ford’s original screenplay is inspired by Studiocanal’s 1949 Ealing Comedy library title Kind Hearts and Coronets, starring Alec Guinness. Huntington skews darker than the original caper classic but leans into witty and zingy banter, we hear.

Studiocanal quietly soft-launched the project at AFM and will continue selling international in earnest at next month’s EFM where it will be among the hot projects. Studiocanal will retain rights in its territories UK, France, Germany, Australia/NZ, Poland and Benelux, and the studio is committing to a theatrical rollout.

In another shiny addition, casting director Lucy Bevan (Barbie, The Batman, Belfast) is aboard to handle casting.

EVP Global Production Ron Halpern and SVP Global Production Joe Naftalin will oversee for Studiocanal, with Pete Czernin and Graham Broadbent at Blueprint Pictures, and Robert Kessel for Participant. Participant’s Jeff Skoll and Robert Kessel are executive producers. Participant and Studiocanal are teaming up for the first time.

John Patton Ford said: “I feel tremendously privileged to make this film with Studiocanal, Blueprint Pictures and Participant. It speaks volumes about these companies that they have chosen to make an original and progressive movie such as this. And Glen Powell is the icing on the cake.”

Studiocanal CEO Anna Marsh, Ron Halpern and Joe Naftalin commented: “All of us at Studiocanal were blown away by John’s film Emily The Criminal at Sundance, and then bowled over by his wildly entertaining screenplay for this project. We have loved working with him on it, and we are so excited to now have cast the extraordinary Glen Powell in the role of Becket. We are thrilled to have partnered on the film with our friends at Participant and delighted to be back in business once again with Pete, Graham and the team at Blueprint Pictures. What a team! It’s going to be a lot of fun.”

Kind Hearts And Coronets concerns Louis D’Ascoyne Mazzini, the son of a woman disowned by her aristocratic family for marrying out of her social class. After her death, a vengeful Louis decides to take the family’s dukedom by murdering the eight people ahead of him in the line of succession to the title. The BAFTA-nominated film was included in Time‘s 2005 list of the top 100 films since 1923.

Powell has Universal’s Twisters and Richard Linklater’s Hit Man due for release in 2024. Patton Ford’s 2022 Sundance hit Emily The Criminal, starring Aubrey Plaza, was picked up by Netflix.

Powell is repped by CAA, The Initiative Group, and Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole. Patton Ford is repped by CAA, Mike Dill and Lowell Shapiro at Black Box Mgmt, and lawyer Morris Yorn.

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER – The news follows Tom Cruise inking a headline-grabbing (though nonexclusive) deal with Warner Bros.
Paramount is hoping to refuel the Top Gun franchise for liftoff once more, for a third film in the storied franchise.

Top Gun: Maverick co-writer Ehren Kruger is penning a script for what would be a new installment, and sources say Maverick director Joe Kosinski would also return to direct. Puck first reported the news of Kruger’s involvement. The intent is to reunite Tom Cruise with his next-gen co-stars Miles Teller and Glen Powell.

The development comes days after Warner Bros. Discovery announced that Cruise had signed a deal to star in and produce movies for Warners, though that pact is nonexclusive. The actor’s recent films have largely been at Paramount, though he did not have a deal there. While some could view the Top Gun news as a tit for tat in the war for Cruise headlines, the reality is this sequel has quietly been in development since late fall.

Paramount could not be reached for comment.

Maverick was a massive overperformer at the box office in 2022, earning $1.5 billion globally and sparking Steven Spielberg to credit Cruise with saving the theatrical business, which had been beleagured by the coronavirus pandemic. The feature followed decades after Tony Scott’s 1986 Top Gun, which helped cement Cruise as a rising movie star.

Don’t expect to see the new Top Gun movie in the near term. Cruise is currently working on an eighth Mission: Impossible movie, which will keep him occupied until at least its release, currently set for May 2025. And it took a few years of development before Maverick became airborne. Still, this development further cements one thing that became apparent after this week: Cruise is still an in-demand star and studios will be battling for his time and attention for years to come.

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER – Based on the true story of naval aviator duo Lt. Tom Hudner and Ensign Jesse Brown, ‘Devotion’ also stars Jonathan Majors and Joe Jonas, and marks Powell’s second naval aviation film this year.
When Glen Powell decided he wanted to play real-life naval officer Tom Hudner nearly six years ago, someone else already held the screen rights to the story.

“That person had a couple drinks at a Hollywood party and told me they weren’t planning on making this movie,” Powell recalled to The Hollywood Reporter at the film’s premiere on Tuesday. “And I said, ‘Would you mind if I made it?’ And they were like, ‘Yeah, sure.’ So I went to [author Adam Makos], and I said, ‘Hey, if you let me have this, I promise I’ll tell it in the best way possible.’”

Based on Makos’ novel Devotion: An Epic Story of Heroism, Friendship, and Sacrifice, the film follows the true story of naval aviator duo Lt. Hudner (Powell) and Ensign Jesse Brown (Jonathan Majors) — the navy’s first Black carrier pilot — during the Korean War.

“I knew [this story] stood a chance when Glen Powell came to me,” Makos remembered. “I had to Google him because Glen was not the actor he is now. He wasn’t the superstar yet.” Makos said his test for Powell was for the actor to meet Hudner himself, along with the Brown family.

“Next thing you know, Glen and I were sitting at the kitchen table with Tom having waffles,” the author said. “He treated him like a grandfather.”

Coming off of a breakout role in Top Gun: Maverick as bad boy pilot Jake “Hangman” Seresin, Powell is aware of the unlikely coincidence of starring in two naval aviation movies in one year. When the Top Gun opportunity came about, the actor remembered having to make the tough decision of whether or not he could pursue both projects. It was Tom Cruise’s support that helped pave the way for Powell’s role in the Top Gun sequel.

“I said, ‘Hey, Tom, I already have a naval aviation movie that’s really close to my heart,’” Powell recalled. “And Tom said, ‘There’s room for two. You can do Top Gun, you can do Devotion. You don’t have to choose.’ The fact that Tom gave me the liberty to make both, Black Label and Sony gave me the liberty to make both — I feel like these are two movies that could not be more different from each other, but really complement just the love of aviation and the legacy of our men and women in uniform.”

“I was afraid that Top Gun was going to derail this when he was offered that role,” Makos said of his reservations at the time. “I thought, ‘Jeez, he’s gonna go for that. He’s gonna leave us behind.’ Because who wouldn’t want to act alongside Tom Cruise?”

With Cruise’s blessing, the role of Hangman in Top Gun: Maverick was born — a character much different from Hudner — and Powell moved forward with Devotion.

Directed by J.D. Dillard, the film also stars Majors, who portrays Brown in the film. Dillard — whose own father served as a naval flight officer — noted that Majors and Powell’s off-screen bond mirrors their wingmen relationship on screen.

“I am just so grateful to have caught those men when I did,” said Dillard. “They’ve become brothers and friends in this process, but they’re also incredible actors… The two of them just bring such life and nuance and richness to these roles, and now they’re enormous. They were always on that path, but to sort of watch it happen — I’m so excited for them.”

With upcoming roles in Creed III and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Majors took a different approach in his preparation to play Brown. “For me, when you play someone that walked and talked and loved in real life, it’s a matter of inspiration,” Majors said of his process. “You’re not using too much imagination. It’s inspiration — we’re in an acting class now — which has the same amount of energy to it, it just allows you to process it differently. You have to figure out what inspires [Brown] most. It’s clearly flight, but what about flight inspires him? Where do you find that inspiration? When he holds his daughter up, he understands what it is to actually be in the air, so you’re looking for those things. It’s a quieter process because you have to listen to something that’s not present.”

Joe Jonas also makes his big screen debut in the film as real-life naval officer Marty Goode. Jonas — whose grandfather served in the military — prepped for the role by studying photos of Goode and listening to his voice. Once production wrapped, Dillard asked Jonas if he would be up for writing the end-credits song.

“I saw [the film in its early stages] with my buddy Ryan Tedder and there was a grand piano in the screening room, and we just started writing the song,” Jonas remembered of creating the track “Not Alone.” The inspiration was about “being there for somebody, whether you’re there physically or spiritually, whatever it may be, and the importance of that. It took a lot of really digging through the layers, making sure that everything hit the right way that I wanted it to. I’m so proud of how it came together.”

As for his acting career, Jonas said he “would love to do more,” adding “It’s definitely a passion of mine. I’ve got some things brewing. I’ve talked about some projects with Black Label Media, developing some things, so it could be a busy year.”

Devotion hits theaters on Nov. 23.

Nearly 300 UltraHD screen captures of from Top Gun: Maverick have just been added into the photo gallery! Don’t forget to purchase the film on your choice streaming service, and continue to see it in theaters!

Film Productions > 2022 | Top Gun: Maverick > Captures