Nicolas Cage to Reunite With John Woo for ‘Gambino’ Mafia Boss Biopic

Nicolas Cage (“Longlegs,” “Pig”) is set to star in upcoming crime epic “Gambino” from director John Woo (“The Killer,” “Silent Night”), reuniting the pair almost 30 years since cult action hit “Face/Off.”

Woo will direct from a script written by “Bad Boys” scribe George Gallo and Oscar-winning “Green Book” writer/producer Nick Vallelonga, with the package launching at the AFM with WME Independent handling sales.

The title follows Cage’s Carlo Gambino, a butcher’s son from Sicily, who ruled New York’s underworld with quiet authority. But when his death sends shockwaves through the city, Pulitzer-winning journalist Jimmy Breslin follows the trail he left behind to uncover the man beneath the legend. As the synopsis reads: “Through the voices of those who loved him and those who feared him, Breslin peels back the composure that masked Gambino’s ruthlessness, revealing how this outsider rose to redefine power, loyalty, and the American dream.”

Cassian Elwes (“Dead Man’s Wire”), Edward Zeng (“Following Harry”) of NextG Films, Robert Daly Jr., and David Lipper of Latigo Films (“Not Without Hope,” “The Neglected”) will produce, with NextG Films financing. Cage, Gallo, and Vallelonga will also produce along with Ken Atchity, who developed the novel with James Pierre, published it through his Story Merchant Books, and initiated the project.

“At NextG Film, our vision is to unite the finest creative talents of Hollywood with the bold entrepreneurial spirit of Silicon Valley,” said Edward Zeng of NextG Film. “Together, we aim to deliver an epic cinematic experience that brings audiences back to the theater again and again—an experience that not only entertains, but inspires people to reflect on the world we live in today. Humanity stands at a crossroads. Through powerful storytelling and innovative artistry, we hope to remind everyone that the future is ours to shape, and it is our shared responsibility to make it better.”

News of “Gambino” will likely reignite excitement that Cage and Woo may soon embark on a sequel to “Face/Off,” the hit 1997 action thriller that pitted Cage’s terrorist-for-hire against John Travolta’s FBI agent. Paramount revealed in 1999 that it had plans to remake the movie with a new cast, but in 2021 it was reported that Adam Wingard would direct a film that would instead be a sequel to the first.

via Variety 

Dr. Bazan New Book: Brain Aging and Resilience

In his new book Dr. Bazan explores the Adaptability of the Human Brain in the Face of Aging and Adverse Conditions.

PURCHASE

Brain Aging and Resilience explores how amazingly adaptable our brains can be—even as we grow older or face difficult conditions. Drawing on decades of research, personal stories, and historical insights, Dr. Nicolas Bazan challenges common myths about aging. He shows that our neural networks can keep changing and supporting a rich, meaningful life well into old age.

The book traces how scientific understanding of the brain has evolved—from early beliefs about inevitable decline to modern discoveries about plasticity and regeneration. Dr. Bazan breaks down key topics like oxidative stress, neurogenesis, lifestyle factors that influence cognitive health, and new therapies that could boost brain resilience. He also offers practical, science-based tips readers can use to strengthen their own cognitive well-being.

Experts around the world praise the book. Nobel laureates describe it as a unique, enlightening, and inspiring guide to healthy aging—highlighting Dr. Bazan’s rare combination of scientific expertise, personal storytelling, and deep humanity.

The cover features a remarkable MRI scan of a 103-year-old man who maintained normal cognition. Despite age-related brain atrophy, his anterior cingulate cortex—an area linked to emotion, decision-making, and social behavior—remained strikingly well preserved. This real-world example underscores the book’s central message: the aging brain can be far more resilient than we once believed.

Check out this interview with Dr. Bazan about his research for this book: https://www.fox8live.com/video/2025/11/03/dr-bazan-new-book-brain-aging-resilience/

John Woo & Nicolas Cage Teaming Up Thirty Years After ‘Face/Off’ For New York Crime Boss Pic ‘Gambino’

 

John Woo and Nicolas CageGetty Images

“It’s like looking in a mirror, only” … 30 years later. Almost three decades after they graced screens with wild action pic Face/Off, movie legends John Woo and Nicolas Cage are teaming up again on crime biopic Gambino about notorious New York crime kingpin Carlo Gambino.

George Gallo (Bad Boys franchise) and Oscar winner Nick Vallelonga (Green Book) have scripted the project, which WME Independent is launching for sales at this week’s American Film Market.

The movie will follow Oscar winner Cage’s Carlo Gambino, a butcher’s son from Sicily, who rules New York’s underworld with quiet authority. But when his death sends shockwaves through the city, Pulitzer-winning journalist Jimmy Breslin follows the trail he left behind to uncover the man beneath the legend. Through the voices of those who loved him and those who feared him, Breslin peels back the composure that masked Gambino’s ruthlessness, revealing how this outsider rose to redefine power, loyalty and the American dream.

Gambino was one of the most notorious figures in organized crime in America last century. The Sicilian boss was leader and namesake of the Gambino crime family of New York, playing a powerful role in mob matters for more than 50 years until his death in 1976.

Gambino was revealed a few years ago but has been totally retooled with director Woo, star Cage, seller WME and new producers and financiers.

Mudbound and The Butler producer Cassian Elwes now is producing with Edward Zeng (Following Harry) of NextG Films, Robert Daly Jr and David Lipper of Latigo Films (Not Without Hope). NextG Films is financing. Cage, Gallo and Vallelonga also will produce. John Burnham is an executive producer along with Ken Atchity, who developed the novel with James Pierre, published it through his Story Merchant Books, and initiated the project.

Industry vet Elwes and Chinese tech entrepreneur and NextG founder Edward Zeng last year launched a $100M fund to invest in movies.

“At NextG Film, our vision is to unite the finest creative talents of Hollywood with the bold entrepreneurial spirit of Silicon Valley,” Zeng said. “Together, we aim to deliver an epic cinematic experience that brings audiences back to the theater again and again — an experience that not only entertains, but inspires people to reflect on the world we live in today. Humanity stands at a crossroads. Through powerful storytelling and innovative artistry, we hope to remind everyone that the future is ours to shape, and it is our shared responsibility to make it better.”

Face/Off wasn’t the last time Woo and Cage teamed up. They in fact worked together in 2002 on WWII pic Windtalkers. So it’s 23 years since their last rodeo.

Action supremo Woo, master of the “bullet ballet,” is known for such iconic movies as The Killer and Hard Boiled as well as Hollywood pics Hard Target, Face/Off and Mission: Impossible II. He most recently remade The Killer for Peacock with Omar Sy, Sam Worthington and Nathalie Emmanuel.

Leaving Las Vegas Oscar winner Cage made waves last year with horror Longlegs and has Spider-Noir, Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse and John Madden biopic Madden in production. He’s also aiming to film the Lords of War sequel soon.

In a fun twist, Cage’s Face/Off co-star John Travolta previously played another Gambino boss, John Gotti, in a 2018 biopic.

Cage is represented by WME, Stride Management and Patrick Knapp at GGSSC. John Woo is represented by IAG, Burnham at Atlas Artists and Tom Hansen and Stuart Bookman at Hansen, Jacobson, Teller.

via Deadline 

How To Be Productive: Understanding Time, Work and Creativity by Dr. Ken Atchity

Film Courage: One of your many books Ken is WRITE TIME? And in the forward you say that the world can be divided into two people, productive people and non-productive people. And you say that productive people have a love affair with time. I’ve love to know what makes someone on the right side of time and what make someone where time is their enemy?

Dr. Ken Atchity, Author/Producer: Well that’s a very good question put in a very intelligent way that makes it hard to get a handle on it because time is…time doesn’t really exist. Time is a human construct, we created time. Squirrels and chipmunks don’t have much idea of time. They know that the sun rises and the sun goes down and they know that it rains but they don’t think the way that we do and they don’t keep track of their birthdays for example, only humans do that. And it’s unfortunate because you’re only as old as you think you are. And that’s the way a squirrel looks at it and nobody is arguing with the squirrel about it but humans know better.

Some people look at time as the enemy and some people look at it as a friend. There is an old Spanish saying that is “There is more time than life,” which I always thought was a wonderful way of looking at it because that is what a productive person would say “there is more time than life.” And another Spanish or Italian saying says that “Life is short, but wide.” And that’s another way of productively looking at it. Like people say “How can you do as much stuff as you do?” Well that’s because that’s what I do. I don’t do anything else. And I used to give classes on time management and do a lot of studies on it, in fact WRITE TIME is filled with time management theories. And one of the things I noticed about people was they had no idea where their time went. And they go “I don’t know where you find all the time.” And I would say “I don’t know where you lose it.”

I mean we all have the same amount of time and they go “How much time do we have by the way? How much time is in a week?” And 2 out of 10 people can ask the question right off the top of their heads because they’ve never really multiplied 25 by 7 and realized exactly how many hours there are in a week.

Everybody has the same amount of time. So what I would do in a time management class at UCLA or elsewhere is I would say let’s chart your time this week. I just want you to make a chart of what you do with your time and let’s come in and talk about it next week when we come back together. And they would come back in and that was before I asked them how many hours there were in a week I would wait for the third week to ask that question.

And some people would come in with 98-hour weeks and some people would come in with 62-hour weeks and nobody seem to agree in general how many hours there were in a week because the hours they gave me didn’t add up, they didn’t make sense. They’d say “I sleep six hours a day.” But it turned out in the third week of analysis that instead of 6 hours a day they were actually sleeping 10 hours. They just were telling themselves they were sleeping 6 hours a day.

How much time do you spend talking on the telephone? Most people thought they maybe spent 15 minutes a day, when in fact it might be an hour a day. And watching television (of course). Some people said they were only watching an hour a day when they were actually watching three hours a day.

But a productive person knows exactly how long it takes to do something. Like when I write a screenplay or a book, I can tell you how many hours it takes to do it and so I know that I can get it done in a certain amount of time. Agatha Christie apparently wrote as many as 10 books a year. She had to use four or five pen names because she just kept writing. When you think about it writing is a function of how fast you type. Because I always say (in my writing book including that one) if you’re making a rule not to sit down to write if you don’t know what you’re going to write then you’ll never waste any time and you’ll never have writer’s block. So simply don’t sit down until you know what you’re going to write. It’s just a matter of how fast can you type. So it’s better to be walking along the beach thinking about the structure of your story then it is to be wasting a lot of time sitting in front of the computer typing stuff and throwing it away and all that stuff. Just figure it all out in your head. “Well what if I forget it?” Well guess what? If you forget it that’s probably good. You are forgetting forgettable things? You won’t forget it when it starts getting really good. Because then it will do what Faulkner said, it will start haunting you and you won’t be able to forget it and then you’ll just write it down.

William Saroyan was asked once how long it took him to write the Human Comedy because somebody had told the journalist it had took him three days and he said “No, it took me all my life to write it. It just took me a few days to type it out.”…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).

Ike’s Love & Sandwiches Partners with Iron Chef Cat Cora to Launch New ‘Mr Irrelevant’ Sandwich

'Mr. Irrelevant' is made with a promise that every bite counts.

At Ike’s Love & Sandwiches, being picked last just means you’re about to surprise everyone. Iron Chef Cat Cora and Ike himself have come together to turn an NFL punchline into a bold sandwich celebrating the resilience in all of us.

The term “Mr. Irrelevant” traditionally pokes fun at the last pick in the pro football draft, but this sandwich flips the script. “Mr. Irrelevant” isn’t about being overlooked – it’s about the power of showing up. Ike, a self-made success story in the competitive sandwich game, resonates deeply with this term.

                         

“Cat and I both root for the doubted because we were both counted out early in our careers. Everyone has star potential, and this sandwich is a tribute to that,” said Ike Shehadeh, the heart and soul behind Ike’s. “The Mr. Irrelevant is what resilience tastes like!”

Cat Cora added, “Ike and I share a passion for feeding people with love. Mr. Irrelevant is celebration of everyone’s unique contributions. Just like in the kitchen or on the field, every role is crucial, no matter how big or small.”

“Mr. Irrelevant” is made with a promise that every bite counts. Packed with layers of savory ham, an underdog meat in the sandwich game, crispy bacon, Ike’s mouthwatering Godfather sauce, sweet honey mustard, melty American cheese, and a crunch of chips—all hugged by Ike’s signature Dutch Crunch bread slathered in Dirty Sauce—this sandwich is a flavor fest destined to steal the spotlight.

Dive into the bold world of “Mr. Irrelevant” at all Ike’s locations. Experience the unique blend of flavors that champions the spirit of the underestimated. Make your first pick online at ikessandwiches.com and root for those told it couldn’t be done by following @ikessandwiches.

via QSR Magazine

Mr. Irrelevant™ Launches Global Brand Celebrating Resilience and Turning Doubt Into Triumph

 

New York, NY – Mr. Irrelevant™ once was just a label for the last name called on draft day, but now it represents a broader movement redefining what it means to be overlooked. Mr Irrelevant™ proudly announces its official launch as a global storytelling and lifestyle platform dedicated to those who have been doubted or underestimated. More than just a sports term, Mr. Irrelevant™ represents the universal journey of turning adversity into achievement.

Whether on the field, in business, or in daily life, everyone faces moments where they’re told they aren’t good enough. Mr. Irrelevant™ champions these stories—celebrating athletes, entrepreneurs, artists, scientists, military, and everyday heroes rising above challenges to prove that relevance isn’t given, it’s earned.

“Our ambition is to take an expression that historically meant ‘last’ or ‘least’ and redefine it as a badge of honor,” said David Rubenstein, co-founder of Mr. Irrelevant Enterprises, LLC. “Mr. Irrelevant™ speaks to anyone who has been counted out but came back stronger. It’s about resilience, empowerment, and finding inspiration in everyone’s journey.”

A Multi-Faceted Movement

Mr. Irrelevant™ is building a 360-degree platform that includes:

• Original Entertainment: A flagship podcast hosted by acclaimed broadcaster Josh Lewin; films, documentaries, and streaming content
• Lifestyle Products: Apparel, footwear, accessories, and collectible merchandise
• designed to inspire fans and embody the brand’s message of perseverance
• Licensed Goods: Through partnerships led by Stuart Pollock of Bridge Licensing, the brand is expanding into:
• Print and publishing, including books and magazines, starting with 50 Irrelevants Who Rocked the World (2025), an Amazon #1 New Release
• Food and beverage products
• Home goods, jewelry, and clothing
• Digital collectibles and gaming
• Toys, sporting goods, trading cards and memorabilia
• Co-branded collaborations with major sports and lifestyle brands

“Mr. Irrelevant™ resonates across multiple industries,” said Stuart Pollock, Chief Strategic Partnership Officer of Bridge Licensing, representing the brand. “By offering products that consumers can connect with emotionally—from clothing lines to food and fitness—we are creating a lifestyle brand that empowers and motivates people worldwide.”

From Afterthought to Global Inspiration
Mr. Irrelevant’s first major film project is in development, inspired by the journey of a college quarterback picked last in the football draft who beats the odds – and personal adversity — to achieve greatness. The original screenplay was written by Steve Alten, author of The Meg and The Meg 2, a billion-dollar film franchise. Collaboration by Academy Award winner Terry George (Hotel Rwanda, In the Name of the Father) makes “Mr. Irrelevant” the first football movie penned by an Oscar recipient. This cinematic adaptation will serve as a high-profile expression of brand storytelling, supported by podcasts, books, and merchandise that deepen fan engagement.

About Mr. Irrelevant™
Mr. Irrelevant™ is a global storytelling and lifestyle brand dedicated to celebrating resilience, perseverance, and overcoming challenges. Through entertainment, licensed products, and community-building initiatives, Mr. Irrelevant™ inspires everyone to rise above doubt and embrace their true potential.

via Licensing International