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‘Carmen Curlers’ Producer Stinna Lassen Unveils Drama Slate for New Prodco Uma Film (EXCLUSIVE)

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Filmmakers Milad Alami (“Opponent,” “When the Dust Settles”), Kasper Barfoed (“The Chestnut Man,” “Trom”) and up-and-coming creatives Emma Sehested Høed and Jennifer Vedsted Christiansen are some of the Scandi talents plotting projects for the new Danish production banner Uma Film, formerly Good Company Films.

The Copenhagen-based shingle is run by three pedigreed female producers with a solid track record in Danish drama series and features. Stinna Lassen has produced for the Danish pubcaster DR their biggest hit in the last six-to-seven years,“Carmen Curlers”, under the spotlight at this week’s Göteborg’s TV Drama Vision as contender for the Nordic Film & TV Fond Prize for best screenplay of a Nordic series. Her earlier productions take in Alami’s acclaimed feature debut “The Charmer” and series “When the Dust Settled.”

Lassen’s colleagues Claudia Saginario and Marie-Louise Gyldenkrone were respectively producer and line producer on another DR’s smash local and international hit,“Cry Wolf.”

Uma Film’s fourth partner, who serves as executive producer and chairman of the board, is Denmark’s heavyweight film mogul and cultural personality Vibeke Windeløv, credited for more than 40 productions including Lars von Trier’s “Breaking the Waves” and “Dogville” and Susanne Bier’s “Love is All You Need.”

Discussing Uma Film’s DNA, Lassen says the producer-driven outfit’s ambition is to create high quality engaging content for a local and global audience, primarily long-form fiction, but also feature films. 

“We all come from features, but these days our area of expertise is premium series and we just love doing it!” says the high-powered 39-year-old. 

While Denmark is slowly recovering from the streaming crisis that paralysed the scripted business throughout 2022 and cost the local industry an estimated $200 million, Lassen says Uma Film was lucky to have a handful of projects in the works before the conflict kickstarted between Netflix, TV 2 Denmark, Viaplay and Danish creatives’ union reps.

“Development of drama series was almost dead for all 2022 and it will take time for the production wheel to get fully going again here,” admits Lassen, who says her company will produce fewer shows the next couple of years, but of very high quality, next to selected features with top talent.

Headlining Uma Film’2023 slate is the YA short form comedy “Killjoy,” set to premiere on TV 2 Denmark on March 26. The quirky six-part-series turns on the young Nanna who is living the seemingly perfect life with the perfect partner, until she is confronted with the fact that she actually fakes all her orgasms. That harsh truth triggers a desperate search for release in all aspects of her life.

Toplining the show as Nanna is Emma Sehested Høgh (“The Orchestra,” “The Cake Dynasty”) who serves as co-creator with helmer Jennifer Vedsted Christiansen.

“Emma and Jennifer are hugely talented new voices to watch. We are super proud to be working with them on this bold young adult show that will appeal to female viewers around the globe,” Lassen said.

The rest of the ensemble Danish cast takes in Gustav Giese (“Prisoner,”“Northwest”), Lila Nobel (“Cry Wolf,” “Elvira”) and Thomas Hwan (“The Chestnut Man,” “Follow the Money”). 

Besides “Killjoy”, which is leading TV 2 Denmark’s revamped bet On YA drama, Uma Film is in final stages of development with the broadcaster’s upcoming flagship drama “Danefæ” (the English title TBC), created by writer Lars K. Andersen (“The Legacy”, “Norskov”, “Flame & Citron”). Barfoed will direct. 

The six episode, 45-minute show weighs in as a marriage drama, paired with an archaeological murder mystery. The story revolves around the archaeologist Ester, who has neglected her own career, while married to the brilliant professor Michael Toksvig. This is about to change when she stumbles upon an archaeological find from the Vikings Age, which turns the history of Denmark upside down and puts her own marriage suddenly at stake.

Lassen said the series, to be produced with Nordic and European partners, is due to start filming this fall. 

On the feature side, Uma Film is preparing Alami’s next Danish project after the Berlinale Panorama-bound “Opponent.” “No Child Left Behind” will reunite Lassen and Alami with “The Charmer” writer Ingeborg Topsøe. The realistic drama, turning on gang violence and crime – which is crippling many of Sweden and Denmark’s disadvantaged suburbs – will be built as a major European co-production. 

Elsewhere, Lassen is finishing the shoot of DR Drama’s “Carmen Curlers” Season 2, serving as executive producer. 

“I’ve had a brilliant collaboration with creator-writer Mette Heeno and we’ve been overwhelmed by the response from the Danish audience,”,she said, citing the strong ratings average of 1.2 average combined viewers on DR for the original show. Season 2 is scheduled to bow on DR later this year. “Carmen Curlers” is repped internationally by DR Sales. 



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‘Weekend Update’ April Fool’s Prank: ‘SNL’ Audience Member Yells ‘You Stink!’ at Colin Jost

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Michael Che, co-anchor of “Weekend Update,” played a prank on fellow host Colin Jost on the April Fool’s day episode of “Saturday Night Live.”

The segment kicked off as normal, with Jost delivering piercing commentary about former president Donald Trump’s indictment by a grand jury on Mar. 30. But as Jost levied each jab, his jokes were received with timid chuckles. After Jost concluded his portion of the banter, Che made another joke about the ex-president that resulted in uproarious laughter.

Dismayed but not deterred, Jost pressed on with another joke. Following the punchline, an audience member shouted, “You stink!” which caused Jost’s head to immediately fall into his hands. No longer able to keep it together, Che erupted into laughter alongside the viewers, explaining to Jost he told the audience not to laugh at him as an April Fool’s Day prank.

“Am I not mic’d?” Jost said, nearly at the point of tears while imitating the questions running through his brain during the live episode. “And then I was like, ‘Oh I just suck.’”

As the segment continued, Jost struggled to regain composure. Che swiftly proceeded to the next gag as Jost murmured, “God, you’re evil.”

“That’s the meanest thing you’ve ever done to me,” Jost continued. “I’m covered in sweat.”

The audience emitted a chorus of vocal support, cheering and clapping for the comedian, which he jokingly dismissed: “Don’t you even dare,” he told viewers, still processing the anxiety he felt from being pranked on live television.

Watch the April 1 segment of “Weekend Update” below.



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Megamind Sequel TV Show Peacock Release Window Revealed

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Peacock’s Megamind sequel TV show finally receives a release date window. Premiering in 2010, Megamind followed Will Ferrell as the titular alien super villain, who, after defeating his long-time nemesis Metro Man, (Brad Pitt), creates a new hero to fight, only to realize he’s made someone worse than himself. Tina Fey and Jonah Hill also starred in the animated comedy, which has become a meme-ified sensation on the internet over time.


Now, a new advertisement in Kidscreen magazine (via Issu) reveals the release date window for the Megamind series, after being announced nearly a year ago in 2022. The official poster, which features the mischievous blue alien looking into the camera, reveals the series will premiere in 2024. However, an exact release date is still unknown at the time of writing.

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Everything To Know About The Megamind TV Series

Megamind concluded on a happy note, with the blue alien realizing his place in the world as a hero rather than a villain. This happens after Megamind’s creation became more dangerous than he could have ever imagined, and had to learn how to be a real hero to save Metro City. The film ended with all the city thanking him for his help, and a museum rebuilt in his honor with Metro Man cheering him on from the sidelines.

However, his role as a superhero will be put to the test in the Megamind TV series. The show will reportedly follow Megamind as he learns the ropes to becoming Metro City’s newest protector. Megamind’s brainbots will record every step of the way as he shares his journey with the world. As the series log line reveals, Megamind will be “the world’s first superhero influencer.” Considering it’s been over a decade since its release, and internet culture has shifted greatly since then, Megamind as an influencer seems fitting given his hilarious legacy on social media.

Megamind isn’t the first DreamWorks animated film to be revived by Peacock. Their 2019 comedy Abominable debuted its own series on the streaming platform in 2022 titled Abominable and the Invisible City. However, its timeline is hard to compare to Megamind‘s in that it only took a few years to get it onto Peacock. While an exact release date has yet to be revealed, an early 2024 release is likely, with further updates likely to come later this year.

Source: Kidscreen (via Issu)

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‘The Mandalorian’ Panel Kicks Off PaleyFest LA 2023: Three Key Takeaways

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The Dolby Theater became home to the Star Wars fandom on Friday night, with viewers gathering for a screening of episodes of “The Mandalorian” along with a panel at the 2023 PaleyFest Los Angeles. Pedro Pascal and Katee Sackhoff, stars of the Disney+ live-action series, and executive producers Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni and Rick Famuyiwa joined Entertainment Tonight’s Ash Crossan to talk everything Mando.

Filoni took the stage wearing his iconic black cowboy hat, while Pascal giggled at heckling fans who shouted “papi chulo!” and other comments pertaining to his good looks.

Since its premiere in 2019, “The Mandalorian” has shocked “Star Wars” fans, starting, of course, with the reveal of the oh-so endearing Grogu (aka Baby Yoda) in Season 1, followed by the appearance of Luke Skywalker in Season 2. The show is set after the fall of the Empire and follows Mandalorian bounty hunter Din Djarin (Pascal) as he protects Grogu and tries to reunite Mandalorians alongside Bo-Katan Kryze (Sackhoff).

Over the last five years, Favreau, Filoni, Famuyiwa, Pascal and Sackhoff have worked hard to create something that would delight “Star Wars” fans over and over again. Here are three key takeaways from their “The Mandalorian” panel.

The fan experience is king, so it’s important to keep details under wraps.

A tight-lipped Filoni sunk deeper into his cowboy hat as he tried to dodge questions about upcoming episodes and seasons. “There’s so much you don’t know,” he told the moderator.

It was clear that secrecy over plot and character details was extremely important to the integrity of production. Prior to the Season 1 premiere, no merch was created for the show in order to keep Baby Yoda a secret until fans saw him on screen. Favreau and Filoni also revealed that two separate shoots occurred to keep the Luke Skywalker appearance under wraps in Season 2; even Pascal and Sackhoff had no idea about the matter, though Pascal joked he had an intuition it was happening.

The producers emphasized how important it was to make sure all fans were on the same page to keep the collective spirit of the Star Wars fandom alive.

“’Star Wars’ is about the community of ‘Star Wars’ as much as it is the story,” said Favreau. Therefore, it was crucial that everyone working on “Mandalorian” made sacrifices for the sake of joint fandom celebration.

Seeing the story come to life can get pretty surreal.

There was a moment when the moderator asked Pascal a question, to which the actor replied, “Was that question for me?”

He admitted that he had spaced-out while thinking about the creation of the show. “There’s a moment when you think, ‘Well, yes, this comes from George Lucas, but you guys created this,’” he said to the producers sitting next to him. “I forget that it doesn’t all come from an encyclopedia.”

Sackhoff said she actually didn’t really believe Filoni the first time he pitched a live-action Star Wars series to her. “At the time, I thought you were drunk,” she said. When she finally stepped on set for the first time, she said the experience was “surreal.” Filoni concurred and explained how strange it is to watch his ideas jump from page to screen.

“I see them all the time in my head,” he said. “And then they’re just there.”

There’s always more to come.

Despite doing their best to keep future episodes under wraps, everyone on the panel expressed enthusiasm towards the continuation of “Mandalorian.”

“There’s so much left to do,” Sackhoff said about her character, revealing that she wants to see a lot more development of Bo-Katan.

“We really enjoy making it so we’re going to keep doing it,” Filoni said. “Something that I’ve thought about that I think is interesting is that, probably, people will tell stories with a lot of these characters well after I’m gone.”

From somewhere in the balconies, an audience member in yelled down to him: “Clone yourself!”



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