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    Zelniker, Monte launch Illuminate Pictures

    By SHOOTUpdated:No Comments2133 Views
    HOLLYWOOD, Calif. --

    Two entertainment industry veterans–award-winning feature film writer/director/producer Richard Zelniker (A Test Of Will, Fix aka Ménage a Trois), and editor/producer Chris Monte, who has worked on editing such acclaimed films as Where God Left His Shoes, winner of the Humanitas Prize, and The Return of Joe Rich–have joined forces to form Illuminate Pictures.

    Borne from friendship and a positive collaborative relationship on the coming-of-age teen film, Mischief Night, the Illuminate Pictures partners are also announcing plans to begin production on another high school film, BFF. The psychological thriller Bright Midnight also tops the new company’s initial seven-picture slate.  Zelniker will direct both projects that he co-wrote.  Zelniker and Monte will produce.

    Monte also owns and operates Magic Hair Studios, a 12-year-old boutique television and film editorial and finishing facility.

    An industry screening of Mischief Night is scheduled for the early part of April with subsequent screenings to follow over the next several weeks. The film was an official selection of the 2013 Hollywood Film Festival.

    Illuminate Pictures is housed in Magic Hair Studios. The partners are hard at work moving the slate of new material ahead while the editorial and finishing work at Magic Hair continues.   In addition to its own productions, Illuminate Pictures will work with outside projects including feature films and episodic television. 

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    Sean Penn to direct Warner Bros. movie about a police officer at the Jan. 6 Capitol riot

    Tuesday, June 16, 2026
    Sean Penn appears at the Hammond Cinema Vanguard Award ceremony as part of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in Santa Barbara, Calif., on Feb. 9, 2026. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)

    Sean Penn will direct a movie about a police officer who was at the Jan. 6 Capitol riot in 2021, Warner Bros. announced Tuesday.

    Following his Oscar-winning performance in "One Battle After Another," Penn will direct the as-yet untitled film from his own script. Bradley Cooper is in talks to star, though no deal has been finalized.

    Representatives for Penn and Warner Bros. didn't comment Tuesday on the movie's protagonist but said he's based on a real person.

    When Penn attended the 2022 hearings of the House Select Committee investigating the deadly attack on the Capitol, he sat between Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police officers Michael Fanone and Daniel Hodges, both of whom responded to the attacks.

    Fanone testified that he rushed to the scene and was "grabbed, beaten, tased, all while being called a traitor to my country." The assault, which stopped only when he said he had children, caused him to have a heart attack. Hodges also testified about his harrowing experience.

    At the hearings, Penn said he was attending as "just another citizen" to observe and see if justice would be served.

    The film is described as being about "an unexpected friendship." Production is expected to start mid-2027.

    The movie's announcement comes just days after the U.S. Justice Department said it will not challenge Paramount Skydance's proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. The $111 billion deal, agreed to in February, will put the Warner Bros. film studio under the control of David Ellison, Paramount's chief executive.

    Ellison and his father, the Oracle founder Larry Ellison, have strong ties to President Donald Trump. On Sunday, Ellison attended the Ultimate Fighting Championship event at the White House.

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