World Movie News: The Last 24 Hours
Chile mourns Sebastián Lelio, a new Cliff Booth trailer, Narnia’s Bowie inspiration, a 1408 sequel & Nollywood’s Diewait Ikpechukwu.
Morning, all. I’m sorry to begin with sad news, as the film world has lost one of its most acclaimed international directors, Sebastián Lelio, at just 52. Here’s all the rest of Friday’s news, including the new Cliff Booth trailer, ahead of what’s looking like a very busy weekend at the cinema.
Sebastián Lelio, 1974–2026: The Chilean director of A Fantastic Woman died on Friday at the age of 52, and was found dead at his home in the Las Condes district of Santiago. His partner, the actress Amalia Kassai, announced his death on Instagram, saying he died “due to health reasons”, and his family has asked for privacy. Born in Mendoza, Argentina, and raised in Chile from the age of two, Lelio broke through with Gloria (2013), starring Paulina García, which he remade in English as Gloria Bell with Julianne Moore and John Turturro. A Fantastic Woman, starring Daniela Vega as a trans woman facing hostility after the death of her partner, won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2018 ceremony, which was Chile’s first. He went on to direct Disobedience with Rachel Weisz and Rachel McAdams, Netflix’s The Wonder with Florence Pugh, and the Chilean musical The Wave, which premiered at Cannes in 2025. He was working on his tenth feature, Chilean Poet, based on Alejandro Zambra’s novel. Sony Pictures Classics called him a one-of-a-kind filmmaker whose work continued to evolve and surprise audiences around the world. Rest in peace.
A new Cliff Booth trailer: Netflix released a second trailer on Friday for David Fincher’s The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth, the Quentin Tarantino-scripted sequel to Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. It’s 1977, eight years after the original, and Brad Pitt’s Cliff is working as a projectionist before he’s pulled into a new round of dirty work, including blackmail and extortion. Elizabeth Debicki, Scott Caan, Carla Gugino, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Peter Weller are among the cast. It opens exclusively in IMAX for two weeks on 25 November, although the US chains Regal and Cinemark won’t screen it, and arrives on Netflix on 23 December. It’s one of six Netflix films, alongside La Bola Negra, The Mosquito Bowl and Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew, for which Netflix has promised to report box office numbers, a first for the streamer.
Narnia’s Bowie inspiration: Greta Gerwig has said that Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew is inspired by David Bowie and confirmed that Meryl Streep voices Aslan, according to Variety. As I mentioned in the Bowie “Stage” item last month, he’s clearly everywhere this winter.
Good news for Stephen King fans: A sequel to the 2007 Stephen King adaptation 1408 is in the works from the original’s director, Mikael Håfström. Natalia Dyer will star, with Elijah Wood in a supporting role, and John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson are negotiating to return as secondary characters, according to Variety.
Romania’s moment at the AFM: Romania has been named the first Country of Focus at the American Film Market, and Fjord director Cristian Mungiu, whose Palme d’Or winner arrives in UK cinemas next Friday, says Romanian films have real potential in international markets. He has also been updating on talks about a Romanian production rebate.
Diewait Ikpechukwu: The Nollywood actor died on Thursday aged 71, the Actors Guild of Nigeria confirmed on Friday. He was best known for playing traditional rulers and other authority figures, including in Evil Men, alongside Pete Edochie, Python King, The Guilty and Omera. He was chairman of the Actors Guild’s Enugu chapter, where he mentored younger actors, and he had also worked as a radio sports commentator before moving into film. Rest in peace.
Birthdays: Kamal Haasan, the star of Nayakan and Vikram, turns 72 today, and Lindsay Duncan of Birdman, About Time and H is for Hawk turns 76.
That’s all for today.
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