Author: Madiha Ahmed

Homeland came to a conclusion after eight seasons earlier this year, but director and executive producer Lesli Linka Glatter says Showtime’s Claire Danes-led, action-packed spy drama always found a way to live on the edge right up until the end. “It was always a new experience. You could never kind of lay back and rest. You were always having to … Continue reading ‘Homeland’ Director Lesli Linka Glatter On The Spy Series’ Final Season – Contenders TV Continue Reading →

Filmmaker Feras Fayyad joined me for Deadline’s Contenders Television: The Nominees all-day event to discuss his multiple-Emmy nominated The Cave, the harrowing documentary he spent 3 1/2 years making. It chronicles the plight of hospitals trying to provide urgent medical care during the five-year Syrian civil war. His focused on one that, as many have been forced to do, … Continue reading ‘The Cave’ Director Feras Fayyad Talks About Its Personal, Affecting Story – Contenders TV Continue Reading →

RuPaul’s Drag Race has been slaying the Emmys for the past couple of years, winning two trophies for Outstanding Reality Competition Program while host RuPaul Charles snatched his fourth consecutive Emmy last year for Outstanding Host for a Reality or Competition Program. The show made history — or “herstory” — in 2019 as the first series … Continue reading ‘#FreeRayshawn’ Cast On Why Quibi Drama “Is So Powerful” – Contenders TV Continue Reading →

The first time Hugh Jackman won an Emmy was for hosting the Tonys. He says he didn’t even know there was a category for that, and was so convinced he wouldn’t win he didn’t prepare a speech. In fact he did win, and based on that experience he says he will at least have something ready in … Continue reading ‘Bad Education’s Hugh Jackman On “Cautionary Tale” Of A Massive Fraud – Contenders TV Continue Reading →

“I didn’t know it would work until I met with Quibi,” Most Dangerous Game writer-showrunner Nick Santora said about being approached to work on a project for the new upstart media service that offers entertainment on your phone — in some cases feature-length films delivered in up to 15 or so short doses. Santora is Emmy nominated for his first Quibi … Continue reading ‘Most Dangerous Game’s Christoph Waltz & Nick Santora On Telling Classic Story In Shortform Quibi Bursts & Season 2 – Contenders TV Continue Reading →

In a stark reversal of his past position, President Donald Trump said on Saturday that he is mulling a pardon for Edward J. Snowden, who leaked classified documents about vast government surveillance. “There are many, many people — it seems to be a split decision — many people think that he should be somehow be treated differently … Continue reading President Trump Considering Pardon For Edward Snowden: “I’m Going To Take A Very Good Look At It” Continue Reading →

Despite many more high-profile, starry productions, one of Netflix’s most talked-about shows this year was arguably its most low-key. Inspired by Deborah Feldman’s bestselling memoir of the same name, the four-part Unorthodox tells the story of Esther “Esty” Shapiro (played by newcomer Shira Haas), a 19-year-old Hasidic Jewish woman living in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Esty struggles to conform to her … Continue reading Despite many more high-profile, starry productions, one of Netflix’s most talked-about shows this year was arguably its most low-key. Inspired by Deborah Feldman’s bestselling memoir of the same name, the four-part Unorthodox tells the story of Esther “Esty” Shapiro (played by newcomer Shira Haas), a 19-year-old Hasidic Jewish woman living in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Esty struggles to conform to her community’s expectations, even consenting to an arranged marriage, but eventually she finds the courage to escape. Moving to Berlin, Etsy starts over, but it isn’t long before her past life catches up with her… Joined by breakout star Haas from Tel Aviv and showrunner/writer Anna Winger from Berlin, the panel discussion for Deadline’s Contenders Television: The Nominees began by playing a clip in which Haas’ character sings a powerful song in Hebrew. RELATED STORY ‘Live In Front Of A Studio Audience’s Norman Lear On Breaking Emmy Records & Barriers “That Should Not Have Existed In the First Place” – Contenders TV “It might have been this scene that I was most nervous and excited about,” Haas admitted afterwards. “I mean, it’s a story about a woman finding her voice, and in this scene, she’s literally finding it, and she’s even surprised that it came out of her. It’s kind of like a scream. It’s such a symbolic scene.” Although the show differs quite radically from the book, Winger explained that the writer was on board from a very early stage. “Deborah is a friend,” she said, “and so there was a lot of back and forth initially about how to bring this to screen, and the amount of creative freedom that we would need to be able to break it apart and put it back together differently. In a funny way, you have to kill the original in order to create something new, and we did that with her blessing.” The idea to take Esty to Berlin came out of conversations with producer Alexa Karolinski (“a filmmaker who lives in L.A., but she’s from Berlin”). Said Winger, “We had a lot of ideas of other things about the city that we wanted, about the layers of experience of being Jewish in Berlin that we wanted to include—layers of history that we thought really resonated with the Hasidic experience.” Winger said she has been overwhelmed—although not, perhaps, completely surprised—by the attention the series has received worldwide. “There’s something about the specificity of Esty’s journey that I think a lot of people relate to,” she said. “And it’s also been really moving for us to see the degree to which it has crossed borders of faith and culture into places [where] people don’t have any contact at all with this community, or even Jews in general. It’s been popular in India and in the Latin American worlds, Catholic worlds, Muslim worlds and Hindu worlds. So I think that somehow there’s something about the specificity of her journey that really [resonates].” Added Haas: “I totally agree. I really fell in love with this project while reading it. And I think also, in the last few months, that a story about freedom, and about finding yourself, is more relevant than ever.” Check back for a video of the panel soon. Continue Reading →

Life Below Zero cinematographers Michael Cheeseman and Danny Day came in from the cold long enough to find out that they were nominated for more Emmys this year for their Nat Geo docuseries, which is now working on its latest season in remote Alaska. Cheeseman and Day, already three-time Emmy winners for the show’s cinematography, joined on location … Continue reading ‘Life Below Zero’ Team On How To Keep Cameras From Freezing And Capturing The Wilds Of Alaska – Contenders TV Continue Reading →

Refresh for updates The top grossing titles at the weekend domestic box office, were straight from Canada with Paramount’s SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run landing the No. 1 spot with $900K from 300 locations per the Melrose Ave studio with $345K on Friday, and $300K on Saturday, -13%. SpongeBob Movie, along with Trolls: World Tour, have been the only new major studio … Continue reading ‘Sponge On The Run’ & ‘Unhinged’ Kick Off Domestic Weekend Box Office In Canada – Sunday Continue Reading →

Lenny Abrahamson was nominated a few years ago for the Best Director Oscar for helming Room, which opened up several cinematic opportunities for him. Yet for his latest project, Hulu’s Normal People, he says there was no question he wanted to work in television. During Deadline’s virtual Contenders Television: The Nominees all-day event, Abrahamson, an Emmy nominee for Outstanding Direction of … Continue reading Hulu’s ‘Normal People’ Director & Star On Allure Of The Television Medium – Contenders TV Continue Reading →