Prime Video and Blumhouse Television are teaming on the upcoming psychological thriller House of Spoils, starring Academy Award winner Ariana DeBose. The film continues a collaboration forged by the two companies in 2019 and will be directed by Bridget Savage Cole and Danielle Krudy from their own script, based on their original idea. House of Spoils reunites Cole, Krudy, Secret Engine, and Amazon Studios following Amazon Studios’ acquisition of worldwide rights to Cole and Krudy’s Blow the Man Down, produced by Secret Engine, ahead of the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival.
House of Spoils will premiere on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide. Production will begin this fall.
A tense, psychological and sensuous thriller, the film follows an ambitious chef (DeBose) who opens her first restaurant–a farm-to-table affair on a remote estate–where she battles kitchen chaos, a dubious investor, crushing self doubts, and the powerful spirit of the estate’s previous owner who threatens to sabotage her at every turn.
Prime Video and Blumhouse recently wrapped production on the slasher-comedy horror film Totally Killer, directed by Nahnathcka Khan starring Kiernan Shipka, Olivia Holt, Julie Bowen, and Randall Park, and will release on December 16 the horror-drama and Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner Nanny from first-time feature writer/director Nikyatu Jusu. Additionally, the two companies released the Welcome to the Blumhouse eight-film series in the past two years.
DeBose is best known for her groundbreaking performance in Steven Spielberg’s reimagining of West Side Story, for which she received Oscar, BAFTA, Critics Choice, and SAG Awards for her star turning role as Anita. In winning her Oscar, she became the first openly queer Afro Latina to win an Academy Award. DeBose will next star in Sony Pictures’ Kraven the Hunter which will be released January 13, 2023 and Matthew Vaughn’s action film Argylle for Apple. She will also star in Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s space thriller I.S.S.
Last year, DeBose had a breakout role in Schmigadoon!, the Lorne Michaels’ executive produced Apple TV+ musical comedy, for which she will return for its second season. She also received critical acclaim for her performance in Ryan Murphy’s Netflix adaptation of the hit-Broadway musical The Prom. Onstage, DeBose is perhaps best known for her role as “Disco Donna” in "Summer: The Donna Summer Musical," which earned her a 2018 Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical, and as an original cast member of Lin Manuel Miranda’s hit musical "Hamilton."
Cole and Krudy’s debut feature Blow the Man Down premiered at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival, winning the festival’s prize for Best Narrative Screenplay before premiering internationally at the Toronto International Film Festival, and was nominated for an Indie Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay.
“Since Blow the Man Down, we have been huge fans of Bridget and Danielle’s unique filmmaking voice and knew we needed to be a part of whatever they wanted to do next,” said Julie Rapaport, head of movies at Amazon Studios. “Pairing their thrilling script with Ariana’s incredible talent is a dream come true, and we could not be more excited to bring this story to the screen and to our customers around the world.”
“We’re excited to see Ariana’s fresh, bold and spirited energy that won her an Oscar in a role that is completely different,” said Chris McCumber, president of Blumhouse Television. “And with the gifted filmmaking team of Bridget and Danielle, the talent in front of and behind the camera is exceptional.”
Producers are Jason Blum for Blumhouse; Alex Scharfman, Lucas Joaquin, and Drew Houpt for Secret Engine; and Adam Hendricks and Greg Gilreath for Divide/Conquer. Executive producers are Chris McCumber and Jeremy Gold for Blumhouse Television.
DeBose is represented by CAA, AC Management, Jackoway Austen Tyerman, and The Lede Company. Krudy and Cole are represented by Grandview and CAA.
Harvey Weinstein hit with new sex crime charge in New York
Harvey Weinstein pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a new sex crime charge in New York, as he awaits retrial in his landmark #MeToo case.
Details of the new allegations were not immediately available. He was charged with committing a criminal sex act.
The jailed ex-movie mogul has long maintained that any sexual activity was consensual.
Prosecutors revealed last week that Weinstein had been indicted on additional sex crime charges that weren't part of the case that led to his now-overturned 2020 conviction. But the new indictment was sealed until his arraignment.
Prosecutors have said that the grand jury heard evidence of up to three alleged assaults — two in hotels in the Tribeca neighborhood and one at a lower Manhattan residential building. The purported incidents took place from the mid-2000s to 2016, prosecutors said.
But it's not clear whether any of those allegations underlie the new indictment.
While bracing for the new charges, Weinstein also is awaiting retrial after New York state's highest court this spring overturned his 2020 conviction on rape and sexual assault charges involving two women. The high court, called the Court of Appeals, ordered a new trial, which is tentatively scheduled to begin Nov. 12.
The Court of Appeals ruled that the then-trial judge unfairly allowed testimony against him based on allegations that were not part of the case. That judge's term expired in 2022, and he is no longer on the bench.
Prosecutors have said they'll seek to fold the new charges into the retrial, but Weinstein's lawyers say it should be a separate case.
Weinstein, who also was convicted in 2022 in a Los Angeles rape case, remains behind bars while awaiting his New York retrial.
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