In brief: Chelsea Handler returns as TCAs host and more

Chelsea Handler has been tapped to host the 30th annual Critics Choice Awards, marking her third straight year hosting the show, the Critics Choice Association announced on Thursday. The awards, which honor the finest in cinematic and television achievement, have historically been the most accurate predictor of Academy Award nominations. The 30th annual Critics Choice Awards will air live Jan. 12 …

Deadline reports Tom Hardy, Helen Mirren and Pierce Brosnan are in final talks to star in Guy Ritchie‘s series for Paramount+, tentatively titled The Associate. The one-hour drama “follows two generations of gangsters, the business they run, the complex relationships they weave and the man they call upon to fix their problems.” Hardy is reportedly up for the role of Harry, the fixer, “a man who is as dangerous as he is handsome,” while Mirren and Brosnan would star as the crime family’s respective matriarch and patriarch …

Kevin Costner‘s next project will be the surf thriller Headhunters, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Costner will star in the movie he co-wrote with cinematographer Steven Holleran, making his feature film directorial debut. Headhunters, per the official logline, combines “kinetic energy of surf culture with the suspense of horror.” It will star Costner as “a washed up American ex-pat” who recruits a group of surfers to search an uncharted island to pioneer the “perfect wave.” To their surprise, the island is inhabited by an ancient tribe of headhunters guarding it at all costs, leading to a battle for survival. Production is set to start in November …

Stephen Graham, who played Hayden Stagg in the sixth and final season of Netflix’s Peaky Blinders, tells Deadline he’ll be starring in the streaming service’s movie based on the series, joining Cillian Murphy, Rebecca Ferguson, Barry Keoghan and Tim Roth. Plot details are being kept under wraps, but series creator Steven Knight describes the film as “an explosive chapter in the Peaky Blinders story. No holds barred. Full-on Peaky Blinders at war” …