There are two million stories in the City of Lights, and these are some of them. Threading three Adrian Tomine graphic novels into a vaguely dreamlike (if occasionally sleepy) latticework of interweaving stories about love and sex, and sex, and sex, in modern France, Jacques Audiard’s “Paris, 13th District” begins with a scene that proves mighty emblematic of the film to come. Okay, technically it begins with a brief flash-forward and some woozy aerial shots of the title arrondissement — a diverse neighborhood of high-rises that erupted out of an Olympic-themed renovation program in the 1970s — as Paul Guilhaume’s camera peers into apartment windows and the symphony of urban life floods onto the soundtrack....

But if you ask Holly Gordon, chief impact officer of Participant, one of the film’s distributors, Porter’s drive to tell this story right now was no coincidence. “The ethos inside the company is that we trust our artists to show us the way. I can’t believe we’re still surprised, but we’re constantly surprised how we end up with a slate of films that started production two, three, four years ago but hit at zeitgeist moments,” Gordon told IndieWire....

“When I was in BPI [Bard Prison Initiative], I saw guys who were into everything negative, but when they got to BPI they became some of the most articulate and engaged people,” Hall said in an interview with IndieWire. The Bard Prison Initiative isn’t just changing how we see college in prison, but how we see the incarcerated people themselves. The PBS and Emmy-nominated documentary “College Behind Bars” seeks to showcase the students of BPI as well as the need for more prison college programs throughout the country....

Overall, Peacock ended Q1 with over 28 million active accounts on the platform and 13 million paid users. The streamer also reported a 25 percent increase in hours of engagement. Total users is up from 24.5 million accounts, as Comcast previously reported for the end of 2021, and that significant increase is due to the whopping amount of Q1 content to kick off 2022 — something that Comcast executives warn warranted one-off growth, which is not expected to be replicated again until Q4 of this year....

Deadline broke the news. Blanchett’s Dirty Films is still attached to produce the independent project with New Republic Pictures. IndieWire placed a call to Almodóvar’s representative, which was not returned at press time. Almodovar has been talking about this project for years, first discussing it with IndieWire in 2019 as “five short tales by one American writer” that take place in Texas, Oakland, and Mexico, with a mixture of English and Spanish....

Pete Davidson is officially joining the crew of Jeff Bezos’ spaceship Blue Origin. The “Saturday Night Live” breakout star will be accompanied by Party America CEO and angel investor Marty Allen, SpaceKids Global founder Sharon Hagle, Tricor International president and CEO Marc Hagle, University of North Carolina teacher Jim Kitchen, and Commercial Space Technologies president Dr. George Nield on the 20th mission of the Blue Origin. The flight is the fourth human excursion for the Blue Origin, after “Star Trek” alum William Shatner and “Good Morning America” co-host Michael Strahan both ventured to space on the rocket....

“Idris Elba comes to mind,” Brosnan said. “Idris is such a powerful presence and such a great former voice tensity. He would be magnificent. There’s Tom Hardy out there as well. Tom can really chew the furniture up, just be a ball boy — both men can.” Brosnan added, “And I think now that Daniel has left such an indelible footprint, they can go in many different ways. But your guess is as good as mine, who’s going to be the next Bond....

Simon’s comment got the attention of Morgan, who accused the television writer of acting like a “sycophantic chap rash” during an interview they had in the past. Morgan said Simon now spends his days “playing the vicious, horrible, illiberal liberal to appease [his] vile woke base.” The feud was exacerbated after Morgan tried to make a dig about “The Wire,” often credited as the greatest television series ever made. Simon said he met Morgan at Cannes during a panel in which Aaron Sorkin also attended....

The pro-Trump protestors, many of whom were armed and became rioters, pushed through barriers and law enforcement officers outside of the Capitol and breached the building on Wednesday afternoon. Rioters were filmed inside the building marching through Statuary Hall and other parts of the Capitol. CNN reported that flash bangs could be heard near the steps of the Capitol and in some instances officers were deploying pepper spray. Tear gas was also being used in the area but it was not clear if it had been deployed by protestors or police, according to CNN....

Here, Greene has made a(nother) sober, powerful, and even disarmingly playful film that hinges on performance as a kind of therapy. The difference is that the subjects of “Procession” — six middle-aged survivors of childhood sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic priests and clergy in the Midwestern United States — see the camera less as a way to commune with the past than a way to shake loose from the traumatic grip its held on them since they were children....

Frank called the project “a valentine to movies, I’m going to do it as a film noir and a movie within a movie. And it’s a really nasty, wonderful, thriller.” The book centers on Albert Albinus, a middle-aged art critic who takes a special interest in Margot Peters, a 17-year-old aspiring actress and model. They form a mutually parasitic relationship, abetted by Margot’s old flame Axel Rex, who reunites with her to suck the life out of Albert....

In a cover story for Harper’s Bazaar, Zellweger revealed that film producers previously asked her to drink wine before nude scenes. “There have been times I have been in, you know, on set, where a producer’s ready for me to go ahead and take my clothes off: ‘Here, drink this wine, ’cause then you’ll do it,’” Zellweger said. “And, you know, I’m not gonna take that wine, but I would like a phone....

“It was gutsy,” said producer Allyn Stewart (“Sully”). “It wasn’t playing that romantic comedy. It was a taxing, intense, character.” Wright, of course, is familiar with intense characters after six seasons as the formidable Claire Underwood in “House of Cards.” She also directed herself in 10 of those episodes. “I wasn’t looking to get some sleep, evidently,” she said. “It was so much fun to direct that show, learning while I was doing it....

So, who are the special snowflakes among the Screen Actors Guild? Anne Thompson has already posted IndieWire’s SAG Awards predictions on the film front, and below you can find our expectations for TV. The pandemic continues to cause disarray, as many perennial contenders saw production delays that pushed them out of eligibility. That means “The Handmaid’s Tale” isn’t competing in the Drama categories, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” won’t be back in the Comedy mix, and maybe, just maybe, “Game of Thrones” won’t be nominated this year....

Ronan’s friends told her they “didn’t really feel like there were many movies that actually represented the lesbian experience” aside from Sebastian Lelio’s 2017 romance drama “Disobedience,” starring Rachel Weisz and Rachel McAdams. Ronan said that her friends spoke to her about “the intimacies” of a gay relationship, adding, “Not just the sexual side of it, but just the relationships as a whole.” Winslet handpicked Ronan to star opposite her in the film, which was filming after Ronan’s Oscar-nominated turn in “Little Women....

We get it: As Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, or Matthew McConaughey told us long ago, there’s zero stigma when movie stars take on a prestige limited series. Still, when a movie star as big as Scarlett Johansson makes her TV debut, this is more than a gig: After the Bob Chapek-era “Black Widow” debacle, it’s a chance for her to create more agency over her career. Developed by These Pictures, the show gender-flips the book’s protagonist; the 1995 Warner Bros....

Nothing can replicate the experience of heading out to the movie theater. But, like with so many communal experiences, we’ve had to adapt since the start of the pandemic, and there are plenty of ways to replicate a version of the theatrical experience in a safe, socially distant, or single household-only manner. The best option? Investing in a few key purchases to turn your backyard (or front yard, or patio, or any outdoor space) into a home theater....

Here’s the synopsis: “In ‘Severance,’ Mark Scout (Adam Scott) leads a team at Lumon Industries, whose employees have undergone a severance procedure, which surgically divides their memories between their work and personal lives. This daring experiment in ‘work-life balance’ is called into question as Mark finds himself at the center of an unraveling mystery that will force him to confront the true nature of his work… and of himself.”...

Corbett isn’t sure how many episodes of the upcoming 10 he will star in, but he did say, “I think I might be in quite a few,” adding, “I like all those people, they’ve been very nice to me.” What exactly “Sex and the City” will look like circa 2021 is starting to take shape, but with two major characters missing from the reboot: Chris Noth’s Mr. Big, whom Carrie was last seen married to in “Sex and the City 2,” and more controversially, Kim Cattrall as the sex-positive comic relief of the series, Samantha Jones....

Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, and now living in Los Angeles, the longtime character actor considers himself a city dweller. Six-foot-tall and bearded, he has a gentle, mountain man–like presence, but Zooming out of his L.A. home in the hills, he’s a far cry from Ted Kaczynski, aka the Unabomber, whom he plays in the new film “Ted K.” For director Tony Stone’s imagining of the Harvard-educated math prodigy who ran afoul of civilized life to live off the land in the 1970s and meticulously carry out a string of executions and bombings, Copley had to learn how to do things like skin rabbits, chop wood, and survive in freezing, hypothermia-approaching temperatures....