Mahershala Ali’s Role In ‘True Detective’ Was Originally Meant For A White Actor

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December 4, 2018

The awards season is once again a busy time for Mahershala Ali, as the Oscar-winning Moonlight star has an acclaimed performance in Green Book that’s likely to have him vying for gold. He also voices Prowler in Sony’s animated Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. It’s been quite the meteoric rise for Ali, who also has the lead in HBO’s third season of True Detective, although he says that role was never meant to go to him or any African-American for that matter.

Speaking with BlackKklansman star John David Washington as part of Variety‘s fascinating Actors On Actors series, Ali says he was initially offered a supporting part in True Detective as the lead was envisioned for a white actor. But Ali saw this as his moment to break out of the supporting roles that have defined his career, and to show creator Nic Pizzolatto that casting him in the lead would open up a new to explore racism in Arkansas, which is one of the season’s major themes…

“I could’ve played that second lead, that supporting character. But in my mind, I was like, ‘I’ve done this my entire career though. I’ve never done that. At that time, I’m 43 years old. If it don’t happen now, it really may not happen.”

Ali said he sent Pizzolatto images of his grandfather who was an actual state police officer in the ’60s and ’70s…

“I was like, ‘See, we existed in this space. In the ’60s and the ’70s. State police officers.’ I was like, ‘I think your story would be served, I think the story would be improved in this case, if this lead character was black.”

Ali continued, “You’re asking someone questions, and [you’re] the lead detective. If [they’re] white, they might not look at me. When I ask them a question, they’re addressing [the white detective]’. Racism is not experienced as the n-word, all the time. It’s more like, ‘Yo, you wouldn’t even look me in the eye.’ Or I said thank you and he just brushed me off. He was like, ‘Yo, let’s do this.’”

This is already shaping up to be a return to form for True Detective, which had what many consider to be a down season. The series returns to HBO next year on January 13th, so we won’t have to wait long.

Rupert Wyatt Exits Showtime’s ‘Halo’ TV Series

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John Nolan

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December 4, 2018

Live-action adaptations of the Halo video game have had their share of ups and downs. For more than a decade multiple attempts have been made with some pretty big names, including Peter Jackson, Neill Blomkamp, and Steven Spielberg. While a digital series starring Luke Cage’s Mike Colter and exec-produced by Ridley Scott did get completed, Showtime set forth on a new series that would be directed by Rise of the Planet of the Apes’ Rupert Wyatt. Well, it’s just hit a significant hurdle as Wyatt has dropped out.

According to Variety and confirmed by Gary Levine, Showtime’s president of programming, Wyatt had to exit the project as director and exec-producer due to scheduling changes. Kyle Killen remains on board as showrunner. Here’s a statement from Wyatt himself…

“It’s with great disappointment that changes to the production schedule of Halo prevent me from continuing in my role as a director on the series. My time on Halo has been a creatively rich and rewarding experience with a phenomenal team of people. I now join the legion of fans out there, excited to see the finished series and wishing everyone involved the very best.”

Wyatt has directed just four movies in his career: The Escapist, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, The Gambler, and the upcoming thriller Captive State. However, scheduling problems seem to be a consistent thing for him. You might recall he was attached to the X-Men spinoff Gambit but dropped out for the very same reason.

Showtime has already begun casting on Halo and will shift their attention to finding a new director in time for production next year.

IndieWire’s David Ehrlich Has Dropped Another Awesome Countdown Of The Year’s Best Films

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John Nolan

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December 4, 2018

We’re counting down to the end of the year, and that means every critic worth their salt will be dropping their best movies lists. I try to make it a point not to highlight the work of other critics here on the site, but I make a special case for David Ehrlich’s beautifully-edited video countdowns. While our tastes differ greatly most of the time, not so much this year, he does such a good job finding just the right music and just the right scenes to create a theme that carries through from start to finish.

This is one time where me and Ehrlich largely agree on the choices. Maybe not quite in the same order, but we share a number of titles and most years I can’t say that. Be sure to head over to IndieWire to get a full breakdown of how he made his choices, and check out The 25 Best Films of 2018 countdown below.

‘Watership Down’ Trailer: James McAvoy And Nicholas Hoult Lead A Rabbit Revolution

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John Nolan

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December 4, 2018

Richard Adams’ novel Watership Down may feature a bunch of cute and cuddly rabbits, but the story is one of survival, loyalty, spirituality, and hardship. Fun! Actually, the book is one of the most beloved of the last century and has been adapted on a handful of occasions, with two major ones in 1978 and 1999. Now BBC and Netflix have teamed up for a 4-part miniseries with a star-studded voice cast and a budget of over $25M. So how did it turn out?

The first trailer for Watership Down sticks true to the book’s themes of loyalty and faith. The largely allegorical tale follows a group of rabbits, led by Hazel and his seer brother Fiver, as they flee their home after a vision that it will be destroyed by humans. The hurdles they face are many, but they must stick together to build a better life for themselves and assure a future for their kind.

Leading the voice cast are James McAvoy and Nicholas Hoult, along with John Boyega, Ben Kingsley, Gemma Arterton, Daniel Kaluuya, Olivia Colman, Peter Capaldi, Rosamund Pike, Taron Egerton, Gemma Chan, and Tom Wilkinson. But I have to say the animation is simply not that great. It looks like the computer animation for an educational series, not a major television work costing in the millions. The story and voice acting should go a long way, though.

BBC will premiere Watership Down on December 22nd, with a Netflix run to follow.

Ben Mendelsohn To Star In HBO’s Stephen King Series ‘The Outsider’

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John Nolan

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December 4, 2018

Pretty soon it’ll be hard to find a Stephen King novel that hasn’t been optioned, and now it’s gotten to the point where his brand new stuff is already spoken for. HBO is getting into the action this time by picking up the rights to King’s recent crime-horror novel, The Outsider, to be adapted into a series with some talented people worth getting hyped over.

Jason Bateman will direct the first two episodes and exec-produce The Outsider with Ben Mendelsohn taking the lead role. For those unfamiliar, King’s novel follows police detective Ralph Anderson who has an open-and-shut case against a man accused of rape and murder. But just as Ralph is ready to close the books, a supernatural element is introduced that turns the case upside down.

The series will run for ten episodes, all written by Richard Price, known for his work on Clockers and The Wire.

Mendelsohn can do pretty much anything, but I like the idea of him in the creepy world of Stephen King. Bateman has been making moves behind the camera for a while now, having directed the films Bad Words and The Family Fang, both pretty underrated. He’s also helmed episodes of his Netflix series, Ozark. [Variety]

Dylan O’Brien Will Voice Bumblebee In The Solo ‘Transformers’ Film

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John Nolan

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December 4, 2018

For years in the animated Transformers series Bumblebee happily chatted alongside Optimus Prime and his human pal, Spike. But in Michael Bay’s live-action movies Bumblebee has been totally silent up until last year’s Transformers: The Last Knight, prompting a surprised response from Optimus. In the trailers for Bumblebee’s upcoming solo film he’s been quiet again, speaking through 1980s media clips since this is a prequel set in the era. But apparently that won’t always be the case and we will hear him speak, and Bumblebee is going to sound a lot like that kid from The Maze Runner.

IGN has confirmed that Dylan O’Brien will voice Bumblebee in the film, and you don’t bring in somebody like that for one or two lines. This suggests Bumblebee will be saying quite a lot at some point, maybe even having whole conversations with Hailee Steinfeld’s character. Transformers producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura gave details on the casting…

“Since we were approaching this as an origin story, we felt that it was appropriate that you got to hear his voice. That’s the simple logic that we employed. The longer term implication of that is different. But the short-term implication of that is, since we really are resetting the mythology, essentially, of who Bumblebee is. And so, that seemed to us to be the appropriate, to get the chance to hear what he sounds like.”

“Dylan has that great quality in his voice of youthful exuberance, and also sort of trustworthiness. I think those are the two qualities that we wanted Bumblebee to have.”

I get it. Steinfeld’s young, O’Brien’s young, you want them to sound age-compatible, I guess? Something tells me there’s going to be more to their friendship than meets the eye.

Bumblebee hits theaters on December 21st, but you can check out in an early preview on December 8th.

Brie Larson Joins Charlie Kaufman’s Next Film ‘I’m Thinking Of Ending Things’

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John Nolan

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December 4, 2018

Turns out this is Brie Larson’s night, and we’re seeing both sides of the talented actress’ career opportunities. There’s the blockbuster side seen in the brand new trailer for Captain Marvel, and now there’s the news she’ll be starring in the next film by Anomalisa director, Charlie Kaufman, titled I’m Thinking of Ending Things.

We learned of the film at the start of the year but hadn’t heard anything about it since. Like so many filmmakers whose work doesn’t really align with the theatrical experience, Kaufman has found a new home at Netflix for the film about a suicidal woman who is abandoned by her boyfriend while en route to meet his parents. In the wake of this sudden detour she begins to unravel in terrifying ways. Kaufman will direct and adapt based on the book by Iain Reid.

So from the big screen to the small screen for Larson, in what sounds like a tremendously exciting role. Because of his work on Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Being John Malkovich, Adaptation., and other high-concept films, Kaufman remains a critical darling and Netflix should allow him the freedom to work without worrying about box office. His previous film, the critically-acclaimed Anomalisa, opened in 2015 and only made $5M despite an Oscar nomination. Since then Kaufman has filled his time with for-hire work, including the screenplay for upcoming YA flick Chaos Walking. [Deadline]

The Second ‘Captain Marvel’ Trailer Is Here, And It Is Glorious!

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John Nolan

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December 4, 2018

Wow…I’d really hate to be Thanos right about now.

During halftime on Thursday Night Football we got the second trailer for Marvel’s upcoming ‘Captain Marvel’ which we’ve all been dying for more of since we first saw that logo show up on Nick Fury’s pager at the end of Infinity War. Seeing as those not into the source comics had/have little to no idea who Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel is, it was a little surprising that they went so light on the overall picture in the first trailer using that opportunity to setup the time period (what’s up 90’s!) and show off their de-aging process with Nick Fury and Phil Coulson. Well, if you were one of those folks who were still wondering what was so special about the first lady of Marvel, you have your answer.

The trailer wastes no time introducing the main baddies of the flick, the Skrulls, right away (making sense of that old-lady punching scene from the first trailer for the uninitiated). From there a breathtaking view of the Marvel galaxy as we find out a bit about Danver’s backstory, that she was found and saved by the Kree and turned into one of their best warriors. We’re given great looks at Jude Law’s as of yet unnamed character. This is a Marvel trailer after all so the story reveal is a BIG second to the main act, Captain Marvel’s powers on FULL display. There is little question after watching this why Fury went right to that pager, she is bad-ass on a level we haven’t seen before, flying through space blasting ships out of the sky with energy pulses from her hands. One things for sure, there’s going to be one hell of a throw down when Avengers 4 comes out

**Bonus points for turning her comic’s Mohawk look into a cool feature of her suit.

Check it out below and look for Captain Marvel in theaters this March.

‘Mamma Mia’-style Film Using Prince’s Songs Is In The Works

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John Nolan

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December 3, 2018

When a legend like Prince passes away it’s inevitable that Hollywood will eventually make a movie about their life, and honestly, I think a lot of people have been anxiously waiting for a biopic on the purple-clad rocker. Well, the good news is they are getting a Prince movie. The bad news is it’ll be done in the style of Mamma Mia.

Universal has purchased the rights to a bunch of Prince’s greatest hits with the plan of developing an original movie musical based on his songs. So yeah, you’re getting Mamma Mia rather than Purple Rain, folks. Apparently, Universal and the Prince estate believe the quasi-biographical Purple Rain was so definitive they want to steer as clear from it as possible.

This is kind of amazing, right? Bohemian Rhapsody is killing it at the box office all around the world, and that’s about Queen. A Prince movie, done well, could do even better. Besides, Purple Rain is…well, let’s call it a unique film, hardly what anybody would call a straight-up biography, so doing a biopic on Prince has little chance of being anything like it.

I think the biggest fear is actually finding someone to play Prince, so maybe doing an original film with his music driving the narrative isn’t such a bad idea. Casting Pierce Brosnan in a singing role? THAT is a bad idea. Don’t make that mistake. [Variety]

New ‘Star Wars 9’ Rumor Hints At A Step Backward For Kylo Ren

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John Nolan

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December 3, 2018

Following the supposedly controversial Star Wars: The Last Jedi, some fans are worried J.J. Abrams will try to undo Rian Johnson’s work with Star Wars 9. Filming is taking place right now across the pond, and secrecy is tighter than ever so we don’t know much of anything about what he’s planning. But there’s a new rumor making the rounds that suggest some of those fan concerns may be justified. Consider this your possible SPOILER warning!

According to the folks at MakingStarWars, who are generally pretty reliable, Kylo Ren is bringing back a piece of hardware that we thought he had left behind. If you recall in The Force Awakens he came outfitted with a helmet and mask that was reminiscent of Darth Vader’s, a tribute to his grandfather Anakin Solo who had gone over to the Dark Side just as he did. But in one of the most emphatic moments of The Last Jedi, Kylo Ren shattered the mask into pieces after being ridiculed by Supreme Leader Snoke. The moment was important because it was emblematic of Johnson’s theme of letting the past die. Kylo Ren quit being just a poor imitation of Darth Vader, shattering the helmet as a first step to becoming his own man, and possibly a more dangerous figure within the Dark Side.

Well, the rumor says that Kylo Ren is bringing the helmet back. Ugh. No, not just a new version of the same helmet, but literally the same helmet, pieced together with “some kind of red crystalline bonding material”. That might look cool, but the original mask looked cool. Kylo Ren still didn’t need it. This rumor first surfaced at StarWarsLeaks and it says something that two different sources are hearing the same thing. They add that it appears he has the helmet in multiple scenes, too, so this isn’t just a momentary thing. Maybe this is a symbolic gesture, to show Kylo Ren’s backsliding further into villainy, but he doesn’t need that. His actions at the end of The Last Jedi were more than enough.

Hopefully this is just a rumor because I don’t want to see Kylo Ren take such a drastic step backward. Worse, I fear this is a sign that many things will be dialed back as some kind of statement against what Johnson did on The Last Jedi. I’m generally interested in seeing how the trilogy wraps up with so many pieces knocked off the board or drastically altered, so if Abrams goes back on that I’ll be sorely disappointed.