It’s kind of amazing that on a day that has seen multiple celebrities canned from their jobs due to misconduct allegations, and the arrival of the long-awaited Avengers: Infinity War trailer, that Ridley Scott has been able to command as much attention as he has. He deserves it for the quick turnaround on All the Money in the World, which he recast with Christopher Plummer after Kevin Spacey was shit-canned less than a month ago.
Today has seen Scott speaking out about the reshoots, which cost an estimated $10M, and the reveal of Plummer in some brand new TV spots. And now we have an all new trailer in which your usual cup of Kevin Spacey has been replaced by Christopher Plummer crystals.
Plummer takes over the role of oil tycoon J. Paul Getty, who steadfastly refuses to pay the random to save his kidnapped grandson. It’ll be interesting to see whether Plummer, Michelle Williams, or Mark Wahlberg earns any acting nominations out of this. And will all of Scott’s efforts possible lead him to a Best Director nod? Here’s the official synopsis:
All the Money in the World follows the kidnapping of 16-year-old John Paul Getty III (Charlie Plummer) and the desperate attempt by his devoted mother Gail (Michelle Williams) to convince his billionaire grandfather (Christopher Plummer) to pay the ransom. When Getty Sr. refuses, Gail attempts to sway him as her son’s captors become increasingly volatile and brutal. With her son’s life in the balance, Gail and Getty’s advisor (Mark Wahlberg) become unlikely allies in the race against time that ultimately reveals the true and lasting value of love over money.
All the Money in the World looks on schedule to open December 22nd.
Relax. Disney isn’t going to do something dumb like cast Anne Hathaway as the lead in their live-action Mulan. It’s a shame that nowadays stuff like that has to be said. They’ve done the Chinese legend right and cast an actual Chinese actress, Liu Yifei also known as Crystal Liu, after an extensive search that stretched five continents.
Why it took them so long and so far to find the Forbidden Kingdom actress is beyond me, but at least they made a strong choice. She’s also appeared alongside Nicolas Cage in 2014’s Outcast, and recently starred with Emile Hirsch in The Chinese Widow, a film that recently caused a bit of a stir at the Shanghai International Film Festival.
This will be Disney’s secone adaptation of the classic Mulan legend about
Hua Mulan, a young girl who poses as a man so she can fight in the military. The first was 1998’s animated movie, which earned $304M worldwide but was not well-received in China. Disney will obviously want to rectify that and casting Yifei was a good first step.
Directed by Niki Caro, Mulan will open in 2019. [THR]
Ridley Scott is sort of amazing. At 79 years old he’s still one of the busiest, most efficient directors around. Just a few months ago we were talking about his Alien: Covenant, and we quickly had to turn around to discuss his potential Oscars film, All the Money in the World. That’s just the start, though. In the wake of allegations made against Kevin Spacey, Scott quickly decided to replace him with his original choice, Christopher Plummer, mere weeks away from release and awards voting. It was a crazy gamble, but it might just pay off.
Speaking with EW, Scott says he decided immediately what needed to be done once the claims against Spacey were made. This despite the studio’s initial lack of confidence…
“They were like, ‘You’ll never do it. God be with you.’ [Laughs]…“I was finished with the film and was in [U.K. recording studio] Abbey Road finalizing the music. Someone was like: Guess what? And that’s where it began. I sat and thought about it and realized, we cannot. You can’t tolerate any kind of behavior like that. And it will affect the film. We cannot let one person’s action affect the good work of all these other people. It’s that simple.”
And if you thought Scott wasn’t going to get this thing done in time, think again. A new TV spot, which you can see below, has already been released with Plummer in the role of oil tycoon J. Paul Getty, who refuses to pay the ransom to save his kidnapped grandson.
“I move like lightning. I’m already two scenes ahead. It’s simple! If you know what you’re doing, you don’t need 19 takes. You do one for the actor, one for me. It’s all planned out. When you storyboard, you’ve already pre-filmed the movie in your head — the wide shots, close shots, establishing shots. You’ve gotten some of your weird ideas when you’re quietly sitting, storyboarding by yourself. After a while you learn to trust and listen to your intuition. And I listen to mine. I trust it.”
He continued, “I’ve been shooting since Monday [Nov. 20] and in with the editor every night since then. We’re not dealing with celluloid anymore; it’s all digital, and I send [the footage each day] to [editor Claire Simpson] and she cuts it, and I can go in and look after shooting. Everything I’ve shot is already in [the final cut] up through yesterday morning.”
And if Scott pulls off the impossible and this film turns out to be great, it only bumps up his chances at an Oscar. Who’s not going to want to vote for him after something like this? What he’s doing takes balls.
All the Money in the World also stars Michelle Williams and Mark Wahlberg, opening December 26th.
When crafting a Biblical drama like Mary Magdalene, there are basically two approaches one can take. You can either be as faithful as possible to the text, ensuring you won’t offend the large faith-based audience who have proven their box office might over the last few years. Or you can dare to try something different, like what Darren Aronofsky did with Noah, and risk backlash while possibly courting an audience who wouldn’t have turned up otherwise. It seems that director Garth Davis has chosen the latter approach with Mary Magdalene, and that makes this new trailer rather intriguing.
Starring Rooney Mara, who Davis worked with on Lion, and Joaquin Phoenix as Jesus Christ, the film is told from her perspective, a fact that is already bound to be controversial in some circles. Chiwetel Ejiofor takes on the role of Peter with Tahar Rahim as that judas…well, Judas. But the draw here is going to be the reunion of Mara and Phoenix, who first worked together a few years ago on Spike Jonze’s Her. It’s clear this version of Mary will not be silent or relegated to the background; again, that’s going to upset a few folks.
Here’s the synopsis: Set in the Holy Land in the first century C.E., a young woman leaves her small fishing village and traditional family behind to join a radical new social movement. At its head is a charismatic leader, Jesus of Nazareth, who promises that the world is changing. Mary is searching for a new way of living, and an authenticity that is denied her by the rigid hierarchies of the day. As the notoriety of the group spread and more are drawn to follow Jesus’ inspirational message, Mary’s spiritual journey places her at the heart of a story that will lead to the capital city of Jerusalem, where she must confront the reality of Jesus’ destiny and her own place within it.
You don’t need to hear from me just yet. Watch the amazing trailer for Avengers: Infinity War now! Get pumped!
That is so not the footage they showed at Comic-Con, and that’s a good thing. While there are certainly elements of it, like the hair raising on Peter Parker’s arm, his flashy new Iron Spider suit, bearded Captain America, Thanos talking trash upon his arrival on Earth, Thor’s encounter with the Guardians of the Galaxy, who are positioned here to look like the cavalry, there’s so much more that nobody has seen. Poor Vision! Told you not to wear that Infinity Gem right in the middle of your stupid forehead! It’s incredible to see all of these heroes together, even minor characters, like Black Panther’s Dora Milaje fighting alongside Captain America (“Get this man a shield!”), it’s just remarkable the ambition of what the Russo Brothers are trying to accomplish.
It looks like it could be one gigantic mess, right? But in Marvel we trust, right? Hell yeah. Avengers: Infinity War opens May 4th 2018, and don’t expect all of our favorite heroes to come away unscathed. In fact, the ominous new teaser basically promises they won’t:
An unprecedented cinematic journey ten years in the making and spanning the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel Studios’ “Avengers: Infinity War” brings to the screen the ultimate, deadliest showdown of all time. The Avengers and their Super Hero allies must be willing to sacrifice all in an attempt to defeat the powerful Thanos before his blitz of devastation and ruin puts an end to the universe.
Here is what we definitely know about Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers 4: some characters aren’t going to survive to see it through. With Marvel celebrating their tenth anniversary next year, interviews have uniformly been about the “new” and “different” Marvel Cinematic Universe following those movies, and that means some heroes will be reaching the end of their story. As for who…well, we won’t find out for a while yet, but directors the Russo Brothers tell Vanity Fair they know exactly whose stories they are allowed to close the book on…
“So we know who we’re allowed to kill, and that’s about it. I don’t even think Marvel had any ideas about where they would go after [3 and 4]. It’s not an end for all of these characters; it’s an end for some of these characters. So some of these characters will go on. So it’s more complicated, that’s why it’s not a clean ending.”
Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn is down for all of that. He adds that death needs to become a part of the MCU if all of these stories are going to have lasting impact…
“I think part of that is also the natural evolution of the series. You can’t keep making movies that are too similar. You can’t make the same movie over and over again. If Marvel is going to survive, they have to start making movies with characters who are a little different. They have to start allowing characters to die. They have to start having stakes really mean something if they want people to stay interested.”
Oh come on, he must’ve forgotten about Quicksilver. How could he possibly forget Quicksilver!? Did his death mean nothing?! Anyway, Gunn is right, and I think with the arrival of Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War, which opens May 4th, we are going to see some characters we love bite the dust.
When rumors began, then stalled, that Disney was in talks with 21st Century Fox to acquire their film and TV properties, potentially bringing the X-Men over to the MCU for the first time, I told you to just sit back and wait. This story wasn’t over, and Disney would be back at the negotiating table soon. And it looks like that is happening now, based on an updated report by Deadline.
According to Mike Fleming, Disney is “progressing speedily toward that rumored acquisition of Fox”. It seems that both sides have gone quiet lately which, at least according to the trade, means that a deal could be near. It would follow a similar pattern to Disney’s negotiations to buy Lucasfilm and Marvel, and we know how that turned out.
I don’t need to stress to you how huge this would be, just to have the X-Men and Fantastic Four (which means characters like Silver Surfer and Galactus) as part of the MCU, but think beyond that. The acquisition of Fox properties would also bring with it the Alien franchise, The Simpsons, Avatar, Predator, and so much more. And you thought Disney was powerful before?
Along those lines, I think the most interesting part of Fleming’s comments has to do with the reaction around Hollywood which is anything but positive..
“Not surprisingly, the reaction around town is not enthusiasm, because of the uncertainty that comes with potentially reducing a major studio to content generators under the Disney silo system.”
I have to admit, as much as I want to see X-Men vs. Avengers on the big screen someday, I too worry about Disney basically becoming the gatekeepers for every major pop culture property on the planet. We’ve already seen the landscape tilted so heavily that, with a few rare exceptions, the only movies anybody wants to go see are franchises, superhero movies, tentpoles, etc. And thus, those are the only movies some studios take time to make. How much worse do you think it’ll get if everything is kept under one house?
And then there’s just the depressing thought that a once great studio like Fox could be, as Fleming puts it, a “content generator” for Disney. An acquisition by Disney would be the end of 20th Century Fox as we’ve always known it. We’d be looking at a sad end to a great part of Hollywood history, and I don’t know if seeing Wolverine and Spider-Man cross paths is worth that.
You probably recognize the name Greg Berlanti from being the guy who crams your TV full of comic book shows like Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, and Riverdale, but he’s also stepped it up to the big screen on occasion. His last movie was 2010’s rather underrated family dramedy Life As We Know It (he also co-wrote Green Lantern, but we’ll ignore that), but now he’s back with Love, Simon which deals with the difficult topic of coming out as gay.
The film stars Nick Robinson from The Kings of Summer and Everything, Everything, as the titular teenage boy struggling to tell his family and friends that he’s gay. The situation is made more complicated by the class bully who has found out Simon’s secret and is threatening to reveal it, plus Simon must find the identity of the anonymous classmate he’s fallen for online.
I like this trailer because it’s so different from the punishing “coming out” movies we used to get years ago. This one is light, funny, and looks like it could be enjoyed by all. I do think it’s time Robinson move on past the high school roles, though.
Featuring a terrific young cast that includes Katherine Langford, Alexandra Shipp, Jorge Lendeborg Jr., Miles Heizer, Keiynan Lonsdale, Logan Miller, Jennifer Garner, Josh Duhamel, and Tony Hale, Love, Simon opens March 16th 2018.
In the post-Weinstein era, certain stars and filmmakers have become radioactive. Had plans to make a movie with Kevin Spacey? Might want to hold yer horses there, bub. Some have managed to skate on by relatively unscathed, though. Mel Gibson’s offenses came so early that he’s already been forgiven, which is sorta weird. And there’s also Johnny Depp, who continues to appear in movies like it ain’t nothin’ despite allegations of domestic abuse by his ex-wife, Amber Heard.
Despite this, and that he hasn’t had a non-Jack Sparrow hit movie in ages, Depp is busier than ever. And one of his most prominent roles is coming up when he plays the evil Grindelwald in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. There are plenty of voices out there condemning Depp’s continued presence in the world J.K. Rowling built, a world that is fairly wholesome, but director David Yates has nothing but good things to say in his comments to EW…
“Honestly there’s an issue at the moment where there’s a lot of people being accused of things, they’re being accused by multiple victims, and it’s compelling and frightening. With Johnny, it seems to me there was one person who took a pop at him and claimed something. I can only tell you about the man I see every day: He’s full of decency and kindness, and that’s all I see. Whatever accusation was out there doesn’t tally with the kind of human being I’ve been working with.”
Yates continues to back him up by saying Depp has defenders in some of the past women in his life, and because there aren’t multiple accusations against him…
“By testament, some of the women in [Depp’s] life have said the same thing — ‘that’s not the human being we know. It’s very different [than cases] where there are multiple accusers over many years that need to be examined and we need to reflect on our industry that allows that to roll on year in and year out. Johnny isn’t in that category in any shape or form. So to me, it doesn’t bear any more analysis. It’s a dead issue.”
If you’re talkin’ about it, it’s not a dead issue. Anyway, it’s not up to Yates to decide Depp’s guilt or innocence, but the court of public opinion can be quite lethal. They better hope nothing else about Depp becomes public.
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald opens November 16th 2018.
Last night kickstarted the two-night Crossover event for the Arrowverse with Supergirl and Arrow (on a special night so that the episodes were back to back) showing what was supposed to be the wedding of Barry Allen and his longtime love Iris West. Everyone from our favorite DC shows were there. Kara and Alex as well as almost everyone from Arrow, Legends of Tomorrow, and The Flash were there for the festive occasion.
Leave it up to Nazi doppelgangers of our favorite DC heroes to crash the party!
So far, the crossover event is rivaling last year’s “Invasion” storyline with some interesting twists and turns. Tonight, will be the conclusion of our heroes versus their “Earth-X” counterparts Take a look at the trailer below.
Of course we here at PDC will have a recap once the corssover is over, so stay tuned!
