RUMOURS Trailer (2024) Cate Blanchett, Alicia Vikander

RUMOURS Trailer (2024) Cate Blanchett, Alicia Vikander

RUMOURS Trailer (2024) Cate Blanchett, Alicia Vikander
© 2024 - Bleecker Street

Rumours

Release poster
Directed by Guy Maddin
Evan Johnson
Galen Johnson
Written by Guy Maddin
Evan Johnson
Galen Johnson
Produced by
Liz Jarvis
Lars Knudsen
Philipp Kreuzer
Starring
Cate Blanchett
Alicia Vikander
Cinematography Stefan Ciupek
Music by Kristian Eidnes Andersen
Production
companies
Square Peg
Buffalo Gal Pictures
Maze Pictures
Distributed by
Elevation Pictures[1] (Canada)
Plaion Pictures[1] (Germany)
Release dates
May 18, 2024 (Cannes)
October 11, 2024 (United States)
Running time 118 minutes
Countries Germany
Canada
Language English
Rumours is a 2024 black comedy film directed by Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, and Galen Johnson, and starring Cate Blanchett and Alicia Vikander.

The film had its world premiere at the 77th Cannes Film Festival on 18 May 2024.

Premise
World leaders meet at the G7 but get lost in the woods whilst trying to compose a joint statement on an unspecified global crisis. Beset by thick fog and menaced by undead bog bodies and a giant brain, they navigate the tortured passions between them.

Cast
Cate Blanchett as Hilda Ortmann, the Chancellor of Germany
Alicia Vikander as Celestine Sproul, the Secretary-General of the European Commission
Charles Dance as Edison Wolcott, the President of the United States
Roy Dupuis as Maxime Laplace, the Prime Minister of Canada
Denis Ménochet as Sylvain Broulez, the President of France
Nikki Amuka-Bird as Cardosa Dewindt, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Rolando Ravello as Antonio Lamorte, the Prime Minister of Italy
Takehiro Hira as Tatsuro Iwasaki, the Prime Minister of Japan
Zlatko Burić
Production
A German-Canadian production from Square Peg. Producers on the film are Liz Jarvis for Buffalo Gal Pictures, Philipp Kreuzer for Maze Pictures, and Lars Knudsen for Square Peg.[2]

Casting
Cate Blanchett joined the cast in October 2023.[3] In January 2024, Alicia Vikander and Charles Dance.[1]

Filming
Principal photography took place in Hungary in October 2023.[4] Filming locations also included Winnipeg in Canada.

Release
The film was selected to be screened out of competition at the 77th Cannes Film Festival, where it had its world premiere on 18 May 2024.[5]

Reception
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 81% based on 26 reviews, with an average rating of 6.0/10.[6] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 71 out of 100, based on 13 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[7]

References
Grobar, Matt (January 11, 2024). "Alicia Vikander & More Join Cate Blanchett In Ensemble Comedy 'Rumours' As Guy Maddin Pic Lands At Bleecker Street". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved January 11, 2024.
Lopez, Kirsten (January 11, 2024). "Dark Comedy 'Rumours' Starring Cate Blanchett and Alicia Vikander Acquired by Bleecker Street". The Wrap. Retrieved January 11, 2024.
Vlessing, Etan (October 5, 2023). "Cate Blanchett Boards Guy Maddin's 'Rumors' Dramedy". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 11, 2024.
Booth, Ned (October 5, 2023). "Rumors': Cate Blanchett To Star In Canadian Auteur Guy Maddin's Upcoming Drama, Shooting Stars Next Week". The Playlist. Retrieved January 11, 2024.
"The Screenings Guide of the 77th Festival de Cannes". Festival de Cannes. May 8, 2024. Retrieved May 8, 2024.
"Rumours". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved September 4, 2024.
"Rumours". Metacritic. Retrieved September 4, 2024.
vte
Guy Maddin
Feature films
Tales from the Gimli Hospital (1988)Archangel (1990)Careful (1992)Twilight of the Ice Nymphs (1997)Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary (2002)Cowards Bend the Knee (2003)The Saddest Music in the World (2003)Brand upon the Brain! (2006)My Winnipeg (2007)Keyhole (2011)The Forbidden Room (2015)The Green Fog (2017)Rumours (2024)
Short films
AccidenceBring Me the Head of Tim HortonThe Dead FatherThe Heart of the WorldThe Little White Cloud That CriedNight MayorOdilon Redon, or The Eye Like a Strange Balloon Mounts Toward InfinityNude CabooseSeancesSissy Boy Slap PartyStump the Guesser
Collaborators
Evan JohnsonGalen JohnsonLouis Negin
Categories: 2024 filmsCanadian political comedy filmsGerman comedy filmsFilms shot in WinnipegFilms shot in HungaryFilms directed by Guy MaddinBleecker Street films2020s Canadian films2020s German films2024 comedy filmsEnglish-language Canadian films
Today, Bleecker Street unveiled a trailer for Rumours. The political satire stars Cate Blanchett (Borderlands), Alicia Vikander (Firebrand), Nikki Amuka-Bird (Knock At The Cabin), and Charles Dance (Game of Thrones), among others, as world leaders tasked with attending the annual G7 meeting and coming up with solutions to address and handle a global crisis. The movie is set to premiere in theaters on October 18.

The trailer for Rumours is intriguing, to say the least. It starts as a political comedy in which the world leaders seem greatly unqualified for their jobs. And then it transforms into something else entirely. Inverse seems to have summed it up best by calling it a cross between Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove and the horror classic Night of the Living Dead. All of this because the group of politicians suddenly find themselves trapped in a nightmare scenario in which zombies, monsters, weird creatures, and... a giant brain? are out to get them.

The change in tone certainly explains why the movie attracted the attention of Ari Aster. The horror master, and Hereditary and Midsommar director, executive produced Rumours along with Blanchett. Rumours may be worth the watch for its bold genre-bending elements alone. The movie is described as a "comedy, apocalyptic horror, and swooning soap opera" and, so far, critics seem to think that the satire managed to pull off this unusual combination of genres — the movie currently stands tall with an 82% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes. Rumours has already had early screenings at important film festivals such as Cannes and the Toronto Film Festival.

Who's The Team Behind 'Rumours'?

Rumours was directed and written by a trio: Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, and Galen Johnson, who have worked together on a number of projects that include The Forbidden Room, The Green Fog, and several short films. For the cast of Rumours, they also recruited Roy Dupuis (La Femme Nikita), Takehiro Hira (Shōgun), Rolando Ravello (Rossosperanza), Denis Ménochet (Beau is Afraid). In her review of Rumours, Collider's Emma Kiely called it "hilariously absurd" and stated it "spends its runtime throwing bonkers surprises at you." Kiely wrote that the satire has a "perfectly chosen cast" and singled out Blanchett's performance as "her horniest and most pathetic" — in the best way possible.

In an interview with Phoebe Chen, Johnson broke down why they decided to put a humorous and zombie spin on a G7 meeting with world leaders. He stated:

"Real-world political figures like the G7 leaders have an inherent cartoon-like or fictional quality; you can empathize with them because they’re human, maybe partially admire them because they’re important, and then withdraw your empathy and admiration, because they're monstrous or idiotic. This back and forth generated a lot of excitement in us. The idea of tackling the G7 as an entity itself was originally a subplot in another script that we had been working on. There’s something about all of these extremely powerful people getting together annually, in an awkward semi-social setting, that made us laugh every time, and we wanted to explore it fully."

Rumours premieres in theaters on October 18. You can check out the trailer above.

rumours-movie-poster-showing-charles-dance-and-cate-blanchett-holding-hands.jpeg
7
10
Rumours
Comedy
Horror
Rumours depicts the predicament of the G7 leaders as they inadvertently get lost in the woods while heading to their annual summit. In the face of mounting dangers and without communication, they must collaborate to draft a vital provisional statement addressing an unfolding global crisis, testing their resilience and diplomacy.

Release Date
October 18, 2024
Director
Evan Johnson , Guy Maddin , Galen Johnson
Cast
Cate Blanchett , Rolando Ravello , Charles Dance , Nikki Amuka-Bird , Roy Dupuis , Denis Menochet , Takehiro Hira , Alexa Kennedy , Ralph Berkin , Alicia Vikander , Tomi Kosynus , Zlatko Buric
Runtime
118 Minutes
Writers
Guy Maddin
Studio(s)
Square Peg , Buffalo Gal Pictures , Maze Pictures
Distributor(s)
Elevation Pictures , Plaion Pictures
The fall film season is an odd one. Not only are we in a time when studios release big-budget films with A-list casts, but we also have festival favorites making their debuts in cinemas. And “Rumours” seems to fall in that latter category.

READ MORE: 2024 Fall Film Preview: 50 Movies To Watch

As seen in the new trailer, “Rumours” tells the story of powerful politicians who come together for the annual G7 summit. While there, they attempt to draft a provisional statement regarding a global crisis. But that is far from the only thing happening, as the film goes between comedy, apocalyptic horror, and soap opera.

The film stars Cate Blanchett, Roy Dupuis, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Charles Dance, Takehiro Hira, Denis Ménochet, Rolando Ravello, Zlatko Buric, and Alicia Vikander. “Rumours” is written and directed by Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, and Galen Johnson.

READ MORE: ‘Rumours’ Review: Guy Maddin’s Bonkers Political Satire With Cate Blanchett Loses Steam Midway Through [Cannes]

We saw “Rumours” as part of this year’s Cannes Film Festival, and in our review, we said, “Still, out of the many things one can call the strange little creature that is ‘Rumours,’ dull is certainly not one of them. There’s much pleasure to be had in watching the large-framed Ménochet wrestle a slimy ghoul inside an open grave or Dance deliver a melancholic monologue on the unbearable grief of not having been assassinated a la Kennedy.”

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“Rumours” is expected to arrive in theaters on October 18. You can watch the new trailer below.

Here’s the synopsis:

Ricocheting between comedy, apocalyptic horror, and swooning soap opera, Rumours follows the seven leaders of the world’s wealthiest democracies at the annual G7 summit, where they attempt to draft a provisional statement regarding a global crisis. With unexpected, uproarious performances from a brilliant ensemble cast that includes Cate Blanchett, Alicia Vikander, and Charles Dance, these so-called leaders become spectacles of incompetence, contending with increasingly surreal obstacles in the misty woods as night falls and they realize they are suddenly alone. A genre-hopping satire of political ineptitude, the latest film from incomparable directors Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson is a journey into the absurd heart of power and institutional failure in a slowly burning world.
Alicia VikanderCate BlanchettRumours

Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, and Galen Johnson’s buzzy satirical film “Rumours” is one step closer to theaters.

Cate Blanchett, Alicia Vikander, and Charles Dance star in the ensemble political film that centers on seven leaders of the world’s wealthiest democracies at the annual G7 summit, where they attempt to draft a provisional statement regarding a global crisis.

The official synopsis reads: “These so-called leaders become spectacles of incompetence, contending with increasingly surreal obstacles in the misty woods as night falls and they realize they are suddenly alone.”

Maddin, Evan Johnson, and Galen Johnson co-write and direct. The trio reunite after helming “The Forbidden Room” in 2015, with “Rumours” being billed as a combination of “comedy, apocalyptic horror, and swooning soap opera” per the logline.

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Roy Dupuis, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Takehiro Hira, Denis Ménochet, Rolando Ravello, and Zlatko Buric also star.

“Rumours” premiered at Cannes and will go on to screen at TIFF and NYFF. Writer/director Evan Johnson said in the press notes that real-life summits already have an “inherent cartoon-like or fictional quality.” In fact, “Rumours” actually is an expanded subplot of a different film the trio of filmmakers have in the works.

Maddin added that “Rumours” includes B-movie elements like a massive AI brain that’s the size of a Volkswagen, a fact that IndieWire critic David Ehrlich referenced in his review.

“The AI chatbot is maybe the most acutely hilarious thing that Maddin and the Johnsons have ever put on screen,” Ehrlich wrote, while adding that the feature is “dryly hilarious” and a festival favorite.

“The joke is that the most powerful elected officials on the planet are all gormless nincompoops whose only real conviction is that they deserve to be the most powerful elected officials on the planet, and ‘Rumours’ puts that conviction to the test in any number of dryly hilarious ways,” Ehrlich penned. “The film takes place at — and with stated gratitude for — the G7 forum somewhere in rural Germany, where the heads of state from seven of the world’s richest countries gather to jerk each other off. […] But literally jerking each other off would probably be more productive than the actual end purpose of the summit, which is to co-write some anodyne statement about bettering humanity or whatever. It’s the illusion of work at a presidential level, and these people take it very seriously.”

“Rumours” is produced by Liz Jarvis, Philipp Kreuzer, and Lars Knudsen, with Blanchett, Ari Aster, and Phyllis Laing executive producing. Jorg Schulze, Mary Aloe, Gillian Hormel, Joe Neurauter, Tyler Campellone, Adrian Love, Michael O’Leary, Andrew Karpen, and Kent Sanderson also executive produce.

“Rumours” premieres October 18 in theaters from Bleecker Street. Check out the trailer below. Read the IndieWire review here.

Read More:
Cate Blanchett
Film
Guy Maddin
Rumours
Trailers
Rumours, the new film starring Cate Blanchett and Alicia Vikander, has landed its release date for the UK and Ireland.

The black-comedy, which has been directed by Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, and Galen Johnson, follows seven major leaders of state as they get lost in the woods following a G7 Summit meeting.

Ahead of its premiere at the 68th BFI London Film Festival next month, the wide theatrical release for UK and Irish audiences has now been set, with the release date scheduled for December 6.

rumours
Universal
Related: Best streaming services 2024 — including Disney Plus, Netflix, iPlayer and Apple TV+

In addition to Blanchett and Vikander, the all-star cast also features Charles Dance, Roy Dupuis, Denis Ménochet, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Rolando Ravello, Takehiro Hira and Zlatko Burić, with the three directors also penning the screenplay.

“Rumours follows the seven leaders of the world’s wealthiest democracies at the annual G7 summit, where they attempt to draft a provisional statement regarding a global crisis,” reads the logline.

“These so-called leaders become spectacles of incompetence, contending with increasingly surreal obstacles in the misty woods as night falls and they realise they are suddenly alone,” it continues, with the project described as a “darkly absurd exploration of power and institutional failure in a slowly burning world".

cate blanchett in rumours trailer
Bleecker Street
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The film has received generally positive reviews since its premiere at the 77th Cannes Film Festival in May, accruing an 83% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes from its first 29 reviews.

A selection of reviews can be read below:

Slant Magazine
“The film is winningly defined by its peculiar admixture of national pride and self-deprecation.”

Daily Telegraph
“This triumphantly stupid ensemble comedy... casts the G7 leadership adrift in a B-movie, essentially turning the heads of the leading liberal first-world democracies into the Mystery Machine gang from Scooby-Doo.”

Variety
“The ineffectiveness of rhetorical politics and symbolic diplomacy is kookily but ruthlessly skewered in Rumours, a wildly entertaining shaggy-dog satire.”

The Hollywood Reporter
“The whole thing sometimes feels like a skit show that just barely holds together until the filmmakers and cast bring it all home... Like the best comic fantasies, Rumours has more than a grain of tragic truth to it.”

Rumours is released in cinemas on October 18 in the US and December 6 in the UK.
Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina) has been set to star opposite Cate Blanchett in Rumours, a comedy from writer-directors Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson (The Green Fog), which Bleecker Street has snapped up for release in U.S. theaters this year.

The film follows the seven leaders of the world’s wealthiest liberal democracies at the annual G7 summit after they become lost in the woods and face increasing peril while attempting to draft a provisional statement regarding a global crisis.

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Also featuring in a top role in the pic, which recently wrapped production in Hungary, is Genie Award winner Roy Dupuis (Shake Hands with the Devil). Additional cast includes Charles Dance (Game of Thrones), Denis Ménochet (Inglourious Basterds), Nikki Amuka-Bird (Knock at the Cabin), Rolando Ravello (Perfect Strangers), Takehiro Hira (Gran Turismo), and Zlatko Burić (Triangle of Sadness).

Hailing from Ari Aster and Lars Knudsen’s Square Peg, the production company behind such acclaimed films as Hereditary and Dream Scenario, the project is their second with Bleecker Street, on the heels of the Zellner Brothers’ recently announced Sasquatch Sunset, starring Riley Keough and Jesse Eisenberg, which is set to world premiere at this month’s Sundance Film Festival.

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Rumours is a Canadian-German co-production, with financing from Telefilm Canada and Manitoba Film & Music, Orogen Entertainment Ltd. and Minnow Productions, in association with ZDF/ARTE. Producers are Liz Jarvis for Buffalo Gal Pictures, Philipp Kreuzer for Maze Pictures, and Knudsen for Square Peg. Exec producers include Andrew Karpen and Kent Sanderson for Bleecker Street, Aster for Square Peg, Jörg Schulze for Maze Pictures, and Phyllis Laing for Buffalo Gal Pictures. Executive producers for Orogen Entertainment are Blair Ward, Anders Erden, Lauren Case and Eric Harbert. Exec producers also include Gillian Hormel, Mary Aloe and Stefan Kapelari. Laokoon Film Group’s Judit Stalter is co-producer along with exec producers Gábor Sipos and Gábor Rajna. Elevation Pictures is distributing in Canada, and Plaion Pictures in Germany. Protagonist Pictures is handling international sales.

An Oscar winner best known for films like The Danish Girl and Ex Machina, Vikander has most recently been seen starring as Katherine Parr, the last of King Henry VIII’s wives, in Karim Aïnouz’s drama Firebrand, which world premiered last year at Cannes. In the last few years, she’s also been seen in Olivier Assayas’ Max comedy Irma Vep, as well as A24’s The Green Knight, the acclaimed Justin Chon drama Blue Bayou, Julie Taymor’s The Glorias, and more. She is represented by UTA.

Blanchett is repped by CAA; Dupuis by Premier Role; Dance by Tavistock Wood Management; Ménochet by Agence Adequat and United Agents; Amuka-Bird by Accelerate, Greene Talent, Link Entertainment and Felker Toczek Suddleson; Burić by Art Management; and Maddin by Loeb & Loeb. Kent Sanderson and Avy Eschenasy negotiated the acquisition deal for Bleecker Street, with CAA Media Finance on behalf of the filmmakers.

Bleecker Street recently acquired U.S. rights to James Hawes’ One Life, starring Academy Award winner Anthony Hopkins, and the Tony Goldwyn-directed Ezra, both of which world premiered at TIFF. The company also has taken U.S. on British comedy Fackham Hall, starring Hero Fiennes-Tiffin and more, and UK rights to Hayao Miyazaki’s latest acclaimed feature, The Boy and the Heron, alongside Elysian Film Group and Anonymous Content. Most recently releasing Meg Ryan’s rom-com What Happens Later and Waitress: The Musical, Bleecker’s upcoming slate includes a pair of thrillers: Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s space station-set I.S.S., which opens January 19, and Stone Age pic Out of Darkness, which is out February 9.
Canadian filmmaker Guy Maddin teams up with frequent collaborators Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson on ‘Rumours’ an absurd black comedy film about world leaders meeting at the G7 Summit to talk about an existential global threat facing humanity.

‘Rumours’ had its world premiere out of competition at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival and was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this month. The film is also set to be screened at the 62nd New York Film Festival.

The film features Academy Award-winning actresses Cate Blanchett and Alicia Vikander alongside a star-studded cast of Charles Dance, Roy Dupuis, Denis Ménochet, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Rolando Ravello, Takehiro Hira, and Zlatko Buric.

Release Date
Directed by Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, and Galen Johnson, ‘Rumours’ opens in select US theaters on October 18, 2024.

Synopsis
Ricocheting between comedy, apocalyptic horror, and swooning soap opera, Rumours follows the seven leaders of the world’s wealthiest democracies at the annual G7 summit, where they attempt to draft a provisional statement regarding a global crisis. With unexpected, uproarious performances from a brilliant ensemble cast that includes Cate Blanchett, Alicia Vikander, and Charles Dance, these so-called leaders become spectacles of incompetence, contending with increasingly surreal obstacles in the misty woods as night falls and they realize they are suddenly alone.

A genre-hopping satire of political ineptitude, the latest film from incomparable directors Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson is a journey into the absurd heart of power and institutional failure in a slowly burning world.

Reviews
David Ehrlich in an IndieWire review gave the film a positive score of B-, writing, “‘Rumours’ thrives in its broadness, especially as the lack of political specificity that it offers to its characters only deepens the fact that there isn’t a single real credo shared between them.”

Robbie Collin in a Daily Telegraph review gave the film a perfect score of 5/5, writing, “This triumphantly stupid ensemble comedy… casts the G7 leadership adrift in a B-movie, essentially turning the heads of the leading liberal first-world democracies into the Mystery Machine gang from Scooby-Doo.”

Official Trailer
Watch the official trailer for ‘Rumours.’