“Darkest Hour — I promise I won’t make any present-day jokes,” NBC News star Chuck Todd vowed at the top of a panel discussion preceding the period political drama’s screening Thursday in Washington, during which participants enthused about Britain’s Prime Minister Winston Churchill and everyone tried hard not to draw…

It's hard to spot the precise reason for Winston Churchill's cinematic bloom, whether in Telluride and Toronto with the scheduled festival showings of Joe Wright's Darkest Hour; at the box office, with the success of Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk; or on the indie circuit the recent debut of Jonathan Teplitzky's Churchill…

A career of great performances has brought Gary Oldman only one Oscar nomination, for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Might an epic performance as British Prime Minster Winston Churchill finally earn him some long overdue love from the Academy? Here is the first extensive look at Darkest Hour, the Joe Wright-directed drama…

EXCLUSIVE: He shall fight on the beaches. Gary Oldman is in talks to play Winston Churchill in Brit production powerhouse Working Title’s Darkest Hour. Joe Wright is directing the epic drama, which takes place in 1940 as Churchill becomes Prime Minister in the midst of World War II and faces a moment of truth. Anthony…

EXCLUSIVE: Joe Wright is in talks to direct Brit production powerhouse Working Title’s Winston Churchill pic Darkest Hour. The director, who has a long history with Working Title co-toppers Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner, seems perfectly suited to the material, which takes place in 1940 as Churchill becomes Prime Minister…

EXCLUSIVE: Peter Chelsom will direct The Paladin for The Firm. Chelsom, whose credits include Shall We Dance, Hector And The Search For Happiness and Serendipity, was set by Jeff Kwatinetz to helm the WWII tale. Script is by Jason Keller and Eric Pfeffinger. Set during the darkest days of the war, The Paladin tells…

EXCLUSIVE: Paramount Pictures is in final talks to acquire The Ministry Of Ungentlemanly Warfare: How Churchill’s Secret Warriors Set Europe Ablaze And Gave Birth To Modern Black Ops, a book rights package that got a three-party bidding war going last week. It’s a period fact-based WWII tale that The…

EXCLUSIVE: After The Theory Of Everything garnered five Oscar nomination including Best Picture, writer-producer Anthony McCarten, producer Lisa Bruce and Working Title partners Eric Fellner and Tim Bevan have set a 2016 production start and are re-teaming for the epic WWII drama Darkest Hour. Working Title acquired…

UPDATE: I’ve gathered more intelligence on the flashy late night spec script deal made by Universal for Aaron Berg‘s Section 6 script about the formation of the British intelligence agency MI6. It’s not only an exceptional deal for a new writer; I’m hard pressed to come up with the last…

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