In a presentation delivered to buyers this week during the virtual American Film Market, the stars of biopic “McCarthy,” Michael Shannon and Emilia Clarke, as well as its director Václav Marhoul and screenwriter Tom O’Connor, explained why the story of the venomous demagogue Joseph McCarthy had to be told now.

The film, now in development, follows McCarthy’s journey from being an ambitious Republican Senator to the most powerful and feared man in the U.S., culminating in a dramatic and absolute ruin.

“Given that McCarthy is such a darkly iconic figure in our history I was shocked that there had never been a film made about him,” O’Connor said.

O’Connor relied on research to tease out details of McCarthy’s origin story, such as his fascination with Adolf Hitler. “Being from Wisconsin, with a heavy German population, McCarthy had been given a copy of ‘Mein Kampf’ by one of his supporters, and came to really study Hitler’s techniques, particularly the big lie.”

Shannon, who plays McCarthy, said: “I had never stopped to consider the humanness of Jo McCarthy. I’d never even stopped to consider where he’d come from, how he was formed.”

He added: “I was fascinated to learn that he had been a boxer and that he had been in the marines. I think that physicality feeds into the strength of how he was able to convince people.

“Throughout the course of this story one thing that will dawn on the audience is how did a man this flawed and conflicted manage to pull the wool over so many people’s eyes.”

The film also shines a light of the part played by McCarthy’s politically ambitious wife, Jean Kerr. The role will be performed by Clarke, who said: “There have been parallels drawn between her and Lady Macbeth, and there is a calculated-ness to her that will allow her to be in a position of power at a time when no woman ever was going to get into that position of power.”

Clarke said of the screenplay: “It’s fascinating, and it’s nuanced, and it’s complicated, and it’s alarmingly familiar.”

She added: “I have to be a part of telling this story now so I can take some time and better understand what is it about politics that gets particular people to be incredibly persuasive.”

“We have so many Jo McCarthys around us at the moment,” said Marhoul.

Director Václav Marhoul (The Painted Bird) has tapped two-time Oscar nominee Michael Shannon (Nocturnal Animals) to star as controversial U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy in the biopic we first revealed last year.

McCarthy will look at the man behind anti-communist doctrine McCarthyism to understand what drove a lawyer and decorated former U.S. Marine down an unprecedented path of demagoguery, show-trials and venomous populism.

Emmy nominee Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones), Dane DeHaan (The Place Beyond the Pines) and Scoot McNairy (C’mon C’mon) will star together with Shannon.

Clarke will play McCarthy’s politically ambitious wife Jean Kerr; DeHaan will be his ruthless young lawyer Roy Cohn. Pic is slated to go into production in the fall 2022 in Prague and the U.S.

Tom O’Connor (The Hitman’s Bodyguard franchise) wrote the original screenplay. The film is produced by Zach Studin together with O’Connor. Rick McCallum, producer of the three Star Wars films – The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith will executive-produce.

HanWay Films has come on board to handle international sales and distribution of the movie and will commence sales at next month’s virtual American Film Market. CAA Media Finance will oversee the U.S sale.

Marhoul previously played in Competition at the Venice Film Festival for drama The Painted Bird.

Heads of department include cinematographer Vladimír Smutný (The Painted Bird, Kolja) and Emmy award-winning production designer Ján Vlasák (The Painted Bird).

As a kid in London, Emilia Clarke got a distinct vibe from her local comic book shop: “No girls allowed.”

The Emmy nominee and lead of the HBO pop culture juggernaut “Game of Thrones” was therefore doomed to spend her adolescence reading hand-me-down comics from her older brother and meeting caped crusaders on the big screen, she said.

“I read a lot of fantasy novels full of rich worlds as a child, like ‘Lord of the Rings.’ That was always the place my imagination would gravitate toward. Later on, when I went to Comic-Con for the first time at 22 with ‘Game of Thrones,’ I was amazed at what I saw — almost entirely men. Later, as tides turned in the industry and #MeToo emerged, I began to look at the community through those eyes and it was arresting,” she said.

Clarke started dreaming about what a comic book might look like from her perspective — a notion that quickly gained steam. She recruited an all-female creative team and made a comic featuring what is undoubtably one of the most progressive female heroes in the genre.

“M.O.M.: Mother of Madness” will publish in July from Image Comics, co-written by Clarke and Marguerite Bennett (“Bombshells,” “Josie and the Pussycats”) with art from Leila Leiz (“Horde”).

“In doing my research, I found that 16% of comic book creators are female, according to a 2019 study, and only 30% of comic book characters are women. On the other hand, roughly half of comic book buyers are female. Something did not sit right with me in that exchange, and all these signs were telling me to go make my own,” said Clarke.

“M.O.M.” is centered on Maya, a busy single parent whose life is upended by the discovery of superpowers.

Emilia Clarke will co-write the new Image Comics series M.O.M.: Mother of Madness, featuring a superpowered single mother.

Emilia Clarke is well known for her role as the “Mother of Dragons” Daenerys Targaryen on Game of Thrones. Her newest project for Image Comics also focuses on a mother — one who just so happens to have superpowers.

M.O.M.: Mother of Madness is a three-issue miniseries written by Clarke and Marguerite Bennett, with illustrations from Leila Leiz. It centers on single mother Maya, who discovers she has superpowers and uses them to fight a human trafficking ring. Speaking to EW, Clarke described the series as having a tongue-in-cheek approach to humor similar to Deadpool, but with a feminist angle. [Source]

Emilia Clarke is in final negotiations to join Marvel Studios’ “Secret Invasion,” the hot original series quickly coming together at Disney Plus.

The “Game of Thrones” headliner’s role is naturally under wraps, and marks her first foray into the Marvel universe. She joins previously-reported cast Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Kingsley Ben-Adir, and Olivia Colman.

Marvel Studios declined to comment on the matter. Reps for Clarke did not immediately comment on the matter.

“Secret Invasion” was announced as a development property last year, one of Marvel’s many planned titles for Disney Plus. Jackson is reprising his MCU role of Nick Fury, while Mendelsohn will play the Skrull Talos as he did in the feature film “Captain Marvel.”

The series is said to follow a group of shape-shifting aliens who have been infiltrating Earth for years. Ben-Adir has been set as the a main villain. Kyle Bradstreet is attached to write and executive produce. Kevin Feige’s unit is producing the series for the streamer, as it does all other MCU titles, including the hits “WandaVision” and “Falcon and the Winter Soldier.”

Clarke is a four-time Emmy nominee for her portrayal of Daenerys Targaryen on HBO’s global smash “Game of Thrones,” which just celebrated the 10th anniversary of its premiere. She is also a multiple Critics Choice Award nominee and was the 2018 recipient of the BAFTA Britannia Award for British Artist of the Year. Clarke is an AMPAS member and was also noted as one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People. She is repped by Range Media Partners, CAA, and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller, Hoberman, Newman, Warren, Richman, Rush, Kaller & Gellman.

Her film credits include the holiday film “Last Christmas,” “Me Before You,” “Terminator Genisys,” and “Solo: A Star Wars Story.” She’ll voice a role in the upcoming animated film “The Amazing Maurice.” [Source]

“I once had a facialist who told me I needed fillers … I was literally just like, ‘get out.'”

As the face of Clinique, it goes without saying that we want to steal all of Emilia Clarke’s skincare secrets.

In a new interview with ELLE UK, the Last Christmas actress got candid about Botox and injectables, and whether she’d ever consider having plastic surgery. Discussing the “worst skincare advice” she’d ever been given, Clarke revealed, “I once had a facialist who told me I needed fillers and I showed her the door. I was literally just like, ‘get out.’ Her exact words were, ‘Then, you can have your face back.’ At that point I was 28.”

However, Clarke has a healthy approach to aging, as she told the publication, “You’ve got this idea of aging, and then you’ve got the idea of what aging makes you look like. At 34, I am wiser, more intelligent, I’ve had more experiences, I’ve done all this stuff and I’m proud of that. You can only do that because you are the age you are. Time is the only thing allows you to do those things. So, if my face is gonna reflect the time that I’ve spent on this earth, I’m down for that.”

As an actress, the Game of Thrones star has, at times, felt the pressure to get work done. She revealed, “You hear about all your contemporaries getting it done and you’re like, ‘Does that mean I have to? Should I be doing that?’ And then you work on a movie and the director of photography lights you beautifully and you get over it.”

Emilia Clarke refused to let anyone take the humanity out of her “Thrones” character.

Emilia Clarke reveals in the new “Game of Thrones” book “Fire Cannot Kill a Dragon” that she pushed back against the series’ creative team on several occasions when they gave her notes on how to play her character Daenerys that she did not want to follow (via Insider). Clarke said it was important for her to inject Daenerys with a level of humanity that viewers would relate to, and she refused to allow anyone involved with the show to make her character too “cold and expressionless.”

“There was a number of times I was like, ‘Why are you giving me that note?’” Clarke told “Fire” author James Hibberd. “While I am quite consistently a ‘How can I help?’ kind of person, there were a few moments where I was like, ‘Don’t tell me what to do with my girl. I know what to do!’”

Clarke continued, “It’s like Daenerys’ calling card became cold expressionlessness. I always wanted to infuse that with some humanity because no one’s consistently like that. I would sometimes fight back a little: ‘I get that she has to be steely and unforgiving and a powerful force. But in this moment she’s also a goddam human being. So I’m going to give you that and I really pray that you take that in the edit.’”

The charity reading will take place on Sunday 25 October

A virtual reading of Tom Stoppard’s The Real Inspector Hound will take place via Zoom at 7pm on 25 October.

Jonathan Church will direct Sanjeev Bhaskar (Magnus), Samantha Bond (Cynthia), Simon Callow (Moon), Emilia Clarke (Felicity), Freddie Fox (Simon), Derek Jacobi (Birdboot), Jennifer Saunders (Mrs Drudge) and Gary Wilmot (Hound) in the production, which is narrated by Robert Lindsay.

Stoppard’s farce, which first premiered in 1968 with a cast including the likes of Richard Briers and Ronnie Barker, parodies the Agatha Christie thrillers.

The show won’t be recorded or repeated, with all proceeds from tickets (costing £35) going to the Royal Theatrical Fund. A previous reading of Private Lives raised more than £44,000 earlier this year. [Source]

Lockdown Theatre, in association with The Royal Theatrical Fund, will present a virtual reading of Noël Coward’s Private Lives September 13 at 7 PM GMT (3 PM ET).

Jonathan Church will direct a cast that includes Oscar winner Emma Thompson (Howards End, Sense and Sensibility) as Amanda, Tony and Olivier winner Robert Lindsay (Me and My Girl) as Elyot, Sanjeev Bhaskar (Art, Spamalot) as Victor, and Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones, The Seagull) as Sybil.

The Zoom reading will be followed by a live Q&A with the cast and director, moderated by Paul Jackson.

Tickets are £35, and all the funds raised will be used as a crisis grant to support those struggling financially in the theatre industry due to the ongoing pandemic. For tickets and additional information, visit RTFLockdown.com. [Source]

The Edinburgh TV Festival has announced new speakers and sessions for the 2020 line up including actor Emilia Clarke .

Emilia Clarke will team up with Paul Feig, who last year directed her in the movie Last Christmas, for a peer-to-peer session that will take in their work and careers. 

The team behind Sky original Gangs of London, Sky’s biggest drama launch since Chernobyl, reunite to dissect the appeal of the critically acclaimed family crime epic. The show’s stars, Ṣọpẹ Dìrísù and Pippa Bennett-Warner join award-winning creator and director Gareth Evans, writer Lauren Sequiera and Pulse Films executive producer, Thomas Benski, to discuss the challenges and opportunities for storytelling on TV versus film, choreography of the fight scenes, and how they delivered the style of big budget, US sensibilities to the UK’s small screen.

Other sessions include Europe’s top public broadcasters giving their take on the challenges and opportunities ahead. Joining Noel Curran, Chair of the European Broadcasting Union, the panel includes Delphine Ernotte, chief executive, France Télévisions; Thor Gjermund Eriksen, director general, NRK and Ulrich Wilhelm, chairman, ARD. [Source]