There’s a brand new reason to have faith Terminator 6 will get the franchise back to its former glory. Rising star actress Mackenzie Davis, so good in Halt & Catch Fire, Breathe In, The Martian, Blade Runner 2049 and more, is in talks to join Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton in the film, although her role is still a mystery.
Various reports have her listed for a lead role, with THR calling her a “soldier-assassin”. Sounds like she may be on the hunt for Sarah Connor and the T-800, maybe? Perhaps she will even be a Terminator of some kind? A female Terminator would be interesting because James Cameron sees this one as a direct sequel to Terminator 2: Judgment Day, while ignoring Terminator 3 which featured a female Terminator. Terminator: Salvation and Terminator Genisys will also be ignored.
The report adds, “While Davis has a key role in the movie, she may not be the reboot’s true star. The producers have been undergoing an intense, and so far fruitless search to find a Latina for the story’s main role, according to sources.”
Coincidentally, Davis was up for the role of Domino in Deadpool 2 back when Terminator director Tim Miller was still attached. Looks like he finally got who he was looking for.
Schwarzenegger just told us that filming would begin this summer, for release on July 26th 2019. Davis will be seen next in Jason Reitman’s Tully opposite Charlize Theron.
If you haven’t made peace with the fact some of your favorite Avengers may not survive Infinity War, now would be a good time. Ten years in the making, the film has been described as an ending of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as we know it, coming as contracts for most of its biggest stars are wrapping up. We’ve been tracking the contractual appearances of Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, and others for so long that we know the clock has run out for them.
EW has dropped a ton of info on Avengers: Infinity War today, and you should definitely go check all of it out. But the only thing that really caught my attention had to do with the apparent end of these characters that we’ve come to know and love for the past decade. And this isn’t one of those comic book teases with “One shall fall!!” blasted on the cover, only to find out it was all a big fake out. Downey and Kevin Feige are warning fans to get ready for the real thing…
“This this time is different,” Feige said. “People need to be careful what they wish for.” He adds again to the idea of a big chapter of the MCU closing. “The notion of an ending, the notion of a finale, became very intriguing to us, in large part because you don’t see it that often in this particular genre.”
Downey almost sounds like he’s rooting for it to happen, and maybe he is after all of this time being crammed into the Iron Man tin can suit…
“Believe me, I’m tired of every movie, you know, ‘It’s the end! It’s Armageddon! It’s the Be All, End All, Forever!’ And then it’s … not…This one actually is. They’re not kidding. This is a heads-will-roll scenario.”
Downey continues, “Clearly, Kevin is, in addition to everything else, an excellent, almost clairvoyant troubleshooter. I think the trouble is the endlessness. Ten years later, we’re hanging out and having lunch, and kind of wondering when the draft is going to come in. Which one of us bites it and when?”
Captain America co-writers Stephen McFeely and Christopher Markus say it won’t be a dirt nap for everybody, but that some Avengers may get to “ride off into the sunset.” Awww, that sounds nice. But it would take something really horrible to make any of these heroes just up and quit, right? So even if that happens the best we can hope for is a bittersweet end.
Avengers: Infinity War opens April 27th. Check out a handful of new images below including one of Shuri (Letitia Wright) and Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) that made my little nerdy heart do backflips.
Netflix may have a handful of Marvel TV shows, but they want something to call their own. The streaming service has struck a deal with Rob Liefeld to bring his Extreme Universe of comic books into a cinematic universe. So if you were REALLY dying to see Brigade, Bloodstrike, and Bloodwulf (>sigh<) and Liefeld’s other “imaginative” characters get their own movies then this is your day.
Liefeld will be working with Akiva Goldsman who will be launching a writer’s room to kickstart a series of feature films. If all of this sounds vaguely familiar it’s because Liefeld and Goldsman struck a similar deal a year ago with another group, but that deal fell through. There have been many attempts to get Liefeld’s characters onto the big screen over the years, and nothing has really taken off. Goldsman is still attached to bring Liefeld’s popular (once) Avengelyne to the big screen, but that deal is with Paramount.
Liefeld has been cashing in on the fact he created characters like Deadpool and Cable, but the truth is that they were at their best once he had nothing to do with them. However, he never misses an opportunity to take credit for their big screen success, and will likely do so again when Deadpool 2 hits later this year. He’s not a bad guy, but he created knock-off characters (Seriously, look at that picture up there) with no depth or creativity and we should probably set the bar for any movies with them very low. [Deadline]
It’s now been more than a decade since the HBO hit The Sopranos ended its sixth season and the series as a whole in June 2007, but good things come to those who wait: Show creator David Chase has announced a prequel film, The Many Saints of Newark, according to Dateline.
Yes, that means you still won’t know what happens on The Sopranos after that cut to black finale, and of course, the death of star James Gandolfini in 2013 means a sequel of any kind would have required the recasting of Tony Soprano. So instead, Chase says the prequel film will be set in the 1960s, specifically during the 1967 Newark riots.
Historically, the race riots in July 1967 were sparked when a black man was arrested and beaten by two police officers, leading to nearly a week of violence in the streets, but there aren’t that many details available yet about whether the film will directly touch on those events or will be a larger story involving Italian organized crime and the black community of Newark.
This is what Dateline has so far, from reporter Mike Fleming Jr.:
The Many Saints of Newark, the working title for a feature prequel of The Sopranos that is set in the era of the Newark riots in the 60s. That was a time when the African-Americans and the Italians of Newark were at each other’s throats, and amongst the gangsters of each group, those conflicts became especially lethal.
Some of the beloved characters from the series will appear in the film. I couldn’t get any more information about the plot, but the time period indicates there will be room for Tony Soprano’s father, Giovanni “Johnny Boy,” the former captain of the Soprano crew (played in flashbacks by Joseph Siravo), and a younger version of his wife Livia (played indelibly in the show’s first season by Nancy Marchand), and Tony’s uncle Junior, played by Chianese.
The film will be another in the line of HBO series getting their own feature-length spinoffs, like those two shamefully bad Sex and the City movies. We’ll report more about The Many Saints of Newark as information becomes available — especially when a director is attached to the project. Any guesses?
A thoroughbred is a creature of such exquisite breeding that they are beyond reproach. Something foul must have creeped into the gene pool and infected the murderous teens at the heart of Cory Finley’s directorial debut, Thoroughbreds, because they are seriously messed up. A film full of twisted, despicable characters and savage wit, Finley doesn’t dare ask us to sympathize with any of them. Smartly, he bursts that bubble pretty early on, and by letting these privileged, overly mannered monsters run rampant our expectations for them are subverted enough that we begin to care how they turn out. I felt the same way about the devilish duo in Funny Games, characters that Thoroughbreds’ murderous antagonists share a lot in common with.
Rising stars Olivia Cooke and Anya Taylor-Joy are Amanda and Lily respectively, two childhood friends who grew up in the posh luxury of the Connecticut suburbs. Long estranged, they try to rekindle their dormant friendship when Amanda returns to town a total pariah after a series of disturbing events, including an opening scene where she seems to be preparing to butcher her horse, the oft-mentioned Honeymooner. Still outwardly odd and distant, willingly offering that she doesn’t “have any feelings”, Amanda is bluntly aware that her mother paid Lily to be friends with her again, even though Lily won’t admit to it. Not at first, anyway. Lily has been playing the polite goody two-shoes for so long that she’s a pressure cooker ready to burst.
The most fascinating aspect of Finley’s script is the shifting power structure between the girls. Amanda’s blunt honesty and reputation for violence draws something ugly out of Lily, but really it’s just her natural, wicked self. Together they cook up a nasty scheme to murder Lily’s stepfather (Paul Sparks), a douchebag who walks around indoors in goofy sunglasses and uses the workout machine at al hours of the day and night. The rumbling of his workouts adds an ominous note to the sparse, chilling score, especially in a tense latter scene.
Finley isn’t keen on exploring why Amanda and Lily are who they are. There’s no deep commentary on their privileged upbringing turning them into disaffected killers. We’re left to consider that, hey, maybe they’re just naturally sociopathic, with no regard for the lives of others regardless of their social class. Anton Yelchin, in the late actor’s final screen performance, plays Tim, a petty drug dealer with big aspirations and minimum wage realities. Blackmailed into helping with the murder, Tim is just collateral damage in the overall scheme of things. While their haggling over the murder’s details is the one point when the movie drags (it’s always at a very deliberate pace), Tim is important for putting into context just how bad Amanda and Lily really are. They’re going to be fine no matter what happens; but somebody like Tim, with no resources and nobody to come help him, will be screwed for life. Do they care? Nah, not really. It’s just not in their nature.
With The Witch, Split, and Bates Motel under their belts, Anya Taylor-Joy and Olivia Cooke are no strangers to genre at this point. They’ve still never played characters quite like Lily and Amanda, though. Lily is the outwardly emotive one, and Taylor-Joy expresses it in self-doubt that evolves into a dangerous level of confidence. Cooke is the polar opposite, and while her character is referred to as “the crazy one”, there’s just enough vulnerability shown to make you wonder what’s really going on inside Amanda’s head. Meanwhile, their performances are matched by Finley’s skillful, patient hand at the camera. He’s smart enough to keep the focus on his two brilliant young stars and their unhinged performances, although he occasionally gives us an offbeat image or two. A scene where Amanda plays chess on a life size game board is a particular highlight, and had me thinking of those backyard cricket matches in Heathers.
Funny Games, Heathers…while it may seem crazy to put Thoroughbreds in the same sentence as those classic movies about killer teens, they explore many of the same themes just from different angles, with similarly snarky banter. The film isn’t overly concerned about the high school social scene, but peer pressure? Toxic friendships? Entitlement? Finley’s conclusion doesn’t wrap up his various ideas in a way that truly grips, but Thoroughbreds more than leaves an impression, it’ll have you hoping to see these troublemakers reunited on the big screen.
Six years after Karl Urban put on the helmet of justice in Dredd, audiences are still clamoring to see him reprise the role. While nothing official is in the works, fans are hoping he’ll come back for the Judge Dredd: Mega-City One series that was announced last year. But as for a big screen sequel, Urban is still getting asked about it, and while chatting with Joblo.com about his new movie Bent, the actor dropped a bit of a bombshell. The Dredd that we saw was actually directed by Ex Machina and Annihilation‘s Alex Garland.
“A huge part of the success of ‘Dredd’ is in fact due to Alex Garland and what a lot of people don’t realize is that Alex Garland actually directed that movie.”
Excuse me? So what happened to Pete Travis, the guy actually credited with it? Urban doesn’t say and the interviewer doesn’t ask, instead switching gears to inquire if Garland would possibly return to direct a sequel he would get credit for. Urban said…
“Right? That would rock my world. I just hope when people think of Alex Garland’s filmography that ‘Dredd’ is the first film that he made before ‘Ex Machina.’ You think about it in those terms; it goes ‘Dredd,’ ‘Ex Machina,’ ‘Annihilation.’”
The funny thing is, somebody at Wikipedia must have been listening because Garland’s filmography has been reorganized to put Dredd as his directorial debut. IMDB’s still draggin’ ass, though. Previously he was only listed as the film’s writer and producer, but those who followed the production know he was very involved with everything. So maybe at some point Travis was let go and Garland just took over? Whatever the case, it might explain why Dredd was so damn ahead of its time. Think about it, it was the R-rated comic book movie most of us would be clamoring for a few years later when Deadpool arrived.
We’ve still got nine months until Christmas but Illumination Entertainment thinks now is the perfect time to get you in the holiday mood. The studio behind Despicable Me has debuted their trailer for The Grinch, and the beloved Dr. Seuss character doesn’t look like he’s changed all that much.
Benedict Cumberbatch voices the Christmas-hating grump, with Kevin Smith’s buddy Scott Mosier making his directing debut. He’ll be co-directing alongside The Secret Life of Pets’ Yarrow Cheney. Here’s the synopsis, although you already know the story:
Each year at Christmas they disrupt his tranquil solitude with their increasingly bigger, brighter and louder celebrations. When the Whos declare they are going to make Christmas three times bigger this year, the Grinch realizes there is only one way for him to gain some peace and quiet: he must steal Christmas. To do so, he decides he will pose as Santa Claus on Christmas Eve, even going so far as to trap a lackadaisical misfit reindeer to pull his sleigh. Meanwhile, down in Who-ville, Cindy-Lou Who-a young girl overflowing with holiday cheer-plots with her gang of friends to trap Santa Claus as he makes his Christmas Eve rounds so that she can thank him for help for her overworked single mother. As Christmas approaches, however, her good-natured scheme threatens to collide with the Grinch’s more nefarious one. Will Cindy-Lou achieve her goal of finally meeting Santa Claus? Will the Grinch succeed in silencing the Whos’ holiday cheer once and for all?
I’m not seeing anything new about this version of The Grinch that makes it a must-see, unless Illumination plans on adding a Minion or two into the story? This is still a holiday classic and audiences have proven they love what the studio is doing (they also gave us Sing which was great). I expect this will be huge when it opens on November 9th.
Jon Favreau has been one of the most reliable players in the Marvel bullpen. He helped launch the MCU by directing and co-starring in Iron Man 1 & 2, and scored a cool $1B with his live-action take on The Jungle Book. For years it’s been rumored/expected that he would become part of the Star Wars universe in some way, too. And now it’s finally happening as Favreau will take on what has been the white whale project for Star Wars fans.
Disney has announced Favreau will write and exec-produce a live-action Star Wars series for their upcoming streaming service in 2019. We have no idea about the plot, characters, setting…anything, really, but we do know that a handful of Star Wars projects are in development.
“I couldn’t be more excited about Jon coming on board to produce and write for the new direct-to-consumer platform,” said Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy in a statement. “Jon brings the perfect mix of producing and writing talent, combined with a fluency in the Star Wars universe. This series will allow Jon the chance to work with a diverse group of writers and directors and give Lucasfilm the opportunity to build a robust talent base.”
This Disney subscription service is going to be a monster, and this is only just the beginning.
While Saoirse Ronan may not have won Best Actress for her performance in Lady Bird, the 23-year-old already has three Oscar nominations to her credit. She’s hotter than ever right now, and you can bet the added buzz surrounding her is going to benefit her upcoming projects. One of those that could use some shine is The Seagull, which looks like it could be another winner.
Ronan is part of an ensemble that includes Oscar winner Annette Bening, Corey Stoll, Elisabeth Moss, Brian Dennehy, Billy Howle (Ronan’s On Chesil Beach co-star), and Mare Winningham. Directed by Michael Mayer (A Home at the End of the World) and based on the play by Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, the story follows an aging actress who pays a visit to her brother’s country estate, bringing her successful novelist boyfriend with her. Ronan plays a neighbor who falls for the boyfriend, despite already being in a relationship with Bening’s son. Drama!
You might’ve forgotten that Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst is also a movie director. It’s okay if you did forget because he’s hasn’t directed anything since 2008’s The Longshots starring Ice Cube and Keke Palmer. His only feature before that was the indie drama The Education of Charlie Banks, notable only for starring Jesse Eisenberg. Well Durst is behind the camera again for a film that is apparently based on some creepy stuff that went down back when he was famous. He’s not famous anymore, is he?
John Travolta is starring in Moose, which Durst co-wrote and is directing based on a real-life stalker who terrorized his life back in the day. Travolta plays the titular stalker, who is obsessed with an action star played by Devon Sawa. Eventually his fixation twists into a need to destroy the actor’s life.
Is there anybody who thinks for a second that Travolta wouldn’t whup Devon “Final Destination” Sawa’s butt?
The film is shooting right now, and I imagine it’ll go straight to VOD or something. Neither Travolta or Sawa are big draws and Durst has never made a hit movie.
