Behind the Scenes Buzz with The Witcher and Nomadland

NOMADLAND FIRST FILM CONFIRMED FOR VENICE: The Searchlight title Nomadland is the first studio film confirmed for the 77^th Venice International Film Festival, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The road movie drama stars Frances McDormand, and is helmed by Chloe Zhao. It will also bow at the Toronto Film Festival on the same day, September 11^th. Venice will announce its full competition line-up today (Tuesday).

NETFLIX SETS THE WITCHER PREQUEL: Netflix has announced that The Witcher: Blood Origin, a limited series from The Witcher universe. The limited series will feature six parts and serve as a prequel to the hit. It’s set in the elven world 1200 years before the world of The Witcher. Showrunner Declan de Barra said: “As a lifelong fan of fantasy, I am beyond excited to tell the story The Witcher: Blood Origin. A question has been burning in my mind ever since I first read The Witcher books – What was the Elven world really like before the cataclysmic arrival of the humans? I’ve always been fascinated by the rise and fall of civilizations, how science, discovery, and culture flourish right before that fall. How vast swathes of knowledge are lost forever in such a short time, often compounded by colonization and a rewriting of history. Leaving only fragments of a civilization’s true story behind. The Witcher: Blood Origin will tell the tale of the Elven civilization before its fall, and most importantly reveal the forgotten history of the very first Witcher.”

DUPLASS BROTHERS SIGN PODCAST DEAL: Mark and Jay Duplass have signed on to produce their first podcasts with Spotify. The deal has the indie filmmakers and actors set to create original scripted and unscripted podcast series under their Duplass Brother Productions banner. “We are incredibly excited to partner with Spotify for our first foray into podcasting,” Mark and Jay Duplass said in a statement. “Also terrified because making a truly engaging narrative podcast seems really, really difficult. Was this a mistake? Maybe we should pull out of this deal before they announce?”

WE ARE WHO WE ARE RELEASE DATE SET: The Oscar-nominated Luca Guadagnino‘s TV series for HBO, We Are Who We Are, is set to drop on HBO September 14^th. The eight-part drama will also be available to stream on HBO Max. Chlo Sevigny and newcomers, including Jack Dylan Grazer and Jordan Kristine Seamn star in the series, which tells the story of two American teens living on an American military base in Italy.