If The Movie Critic is truly Quentin Tarantino’s final movie, you just know he’s going to fill it with all of his friends. And that will make for some exciting casting news, like today’s, as Deadline reports Brad Pitt will rejoin his Once Upon a Time in Hollywood director on the project.
It’s unclear if Pitt has the title role, that of a film critic who wrote for pornographic magazines in the 1970s. But it sure seems like Pitt would be a right fit for it. While Tarantino originally sought a white guy in his 30s, we’re talking about Brad Pitt here, and he’s pretty much ageless. It’s possible that the lead role is based on film critic and porn historian William Mangold, a Tarantino favorite.
This will be Pitt and Tarantino’s third time working together. Pitt won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as stunt double Cliff Booth in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. He also starred in Tarantino’s war film Inglourious Basterds.
Tarantino has talked a little bit about The Movie Critic and it sounds deeply personal, as it should be for his final film. It’s set in 1977 California, the same year as Rolling Thunder, and was inspired by a job Tarantino had loading porn magazines into the racks. He would read the second-string film critic in one of those mags, calling him “a guy who really lived but was never really famous.”
Expect Tarantino to do some revising of film history, as well, which could be interesting to see.
Taika Waititi may or may not do a sequel to Thor: Love & Thunder. He also may or may not direct a Star Wars movie. But one thing we definitely know he’s attached to is an adaptation of Klara and the Sun, which has Wednesday star Jenna Ortega aboard. And now that film gets a huge boost, as Deadline reports Amy Adams is in talks to join the cast.
Adams, a six-time Oscar nominee, is reportedly in talks to join the Klara and the Sun, based on Kazuo Ishiguro’s New York Times bestselling novel. Ortega plays an Artificial Friend designed to prevent loneliness. She is bought by a mother, played by Adams, to help her teen daughter Josie who loves the robot but is suffering from a mysterious illness. It’s Klara’s mission to save Josie and save her family from heartbreak.
Dahvi Waller wrote the screenplay, but it’ll be interesting to see if Waititi gives it his own spin as he often does.
Coming up for Adams is Nightbitch, Marielle Heller’s film arriving this fall. She last starred in Disney’s long-awaited sequel, Disenchanted, back in 2022, and before that Dear Evan Hansen and Zack Snyder’s Justice League.
Cillian Murphy is red hot right now. That’s what an Oscar nomination for the hit film Oppenheimer will do for ya. And it’s also why Sony just backed up the money truck to acquire Danny Boyle and Alex Garland’s 28 Years Later, the continuation of their zombie franchise.
So here’s the thing; Murphy is only aboard as a producer…for now. But there’s a chance he could appear in the film, having originally starred in the original, 28 Days Later, back in 2002. That movie was a critical favorite, which then launched a sequel, 28 Weeks Later, that wasn’t as well-regarded.
Sony won a bidding war that saw them going against Warner Bros. in the final two. They’ll look to give this sequel a budget of around $60M, and if it does well, another sequel will follow. That’s roughly four times the budget of 28 Weeks Later, which did not have Murphy, Boyle, or Garland attached.
The reunion of Boyle and Garland is a pretty big deal. They had a falling out and went their separate ways for years, with both having well-established filmmaking careers. Garland has been talking about getting out of filmmaking following his latest, Civil War, but it seems he’s down to keep writing.
All of that said, 28 Years Later has a much better shot at being the biggest hit of the franchise if Murphy is in front of cameras. [THR]
It’s been a while since an Antoine Fuqua movie has been heavily considered in the awards season; his style just doesn’t lend to it with the exception of 2001’s Training Day. But that could be about to change with Michael. Just looking at the talent in his upcoming Michael Jackson biopic, it could be his best shot yet.
Casting has begun in earnest, and the latest to join is Miles Teller, playing an attorney for Michael Jackson. His role could possibly be that of Howard Weitzman, Mike Geragos, or Thomas Mesereau, defense attorneys for Jackson at various points. Teller is coming off his role in Top Gun: Maverick, and will return for the upcoming sequel.
Also boarding the film is Nia Long, who will play family matriarch Katherine Jackson. Long is best known for her roles in Friday, Soul Food, and Love Jones.
They join a growing cast that includes Rustin star Colman Domingo as Joe Jackson, and Jaafar Jackson, Michael Jackson’s nephew, in the lead role. 9-year-old Juliano Krue Valdi will play MJ as a child.
The King of Pop’s story has a script from three-time Oscar nominee, John Logan, writer of Gladiator, The Aviator, and Hugo. Once again, this is looking like a clear awards season film whenever it’s completed. Filming begins soon. [Deadline]
Back in 2021 when we were all stuck at home because of the pandemic, Squid Game became a Netflix phenomenon. Maybe it’s because we were all hating life at the time, but we fell in love with watching people die in a twisted game show for money. Well, in 2024 Squid Game is coming back for season two, and it promises to raise the stakes.
The first images of Squid Game‘s second season have arrived, and in them we see Emmy-winning star Lee Jung-jae who returns as Seong Gi-hung. Looks like surviving the first games, and his subsequent trip to the U.S. to be with his daughter didn’t turn out so well. It looks as if he’ll be dragged back into the games once again to fight for his life.
Also coming back are Lee Byung-hun as Front Man and Gong Yoo as the Recruiter. New to the cast is popular South Korean actress Park Gyu-young. They’re joined by an extensive ensemble that includes Yim Si-wan, Kang Ha-neul, Wi Ha-jun, Lee Jin-uk, Park Sung-hoon, Yang Dong-geun, Kang Ae-sim, Lee David, Choi Seung-hyun, Roh Jae-won, Jo Yuri, Won Ji-an.
It’s safe to say that Netflix has high hopes for Squid Game‘s return. But circumstances that made it such a hit three years ago have changed. Will it continue to be one of the streamer’s biggest shows ever?
It’s well-known that when someone goes to prison, it impacts their entire family. This universal truth is exemplified in the Sundance breakout documentary Daughters. Heartbreaking, joyous, and eye-opening, this first-time effort from documentarian Natalie Rae and community activist Angela Patton looks at how restrictions made inside American prisons ultimately hurt the children of inmates and how important the father/daughter relationship is.
Daughters follows a ten-week program in a DC jail, where male inmates take parenting classes during that time. There they talk about their own childhoods, personal patterns, and current relationships with their children and their children’s mothers. They also build a bond between each other. At the end of the ten weeks, their daughters are brought to the jail for a father/daughter dance.
The filmmakers spend as much time, if not more, following the inmates’ daughters as they get ready for the dance and process the possibility of touching their fathers again. In a stand-out moment, one girl confesses she hasn’t been able to physically hold her dad in three years due to 2014 regulations that have limited “touch visits”.
For many of the young women in the program, the upcoming event brings complicated emotions. Aubrey Smith, 5 when we first meet her, is excited to see her father but doesn’t fully understand. When we first meet Santana Stewart, she is about 10 years old. Living with her mother and two younger sisters, she resigns herself to never have children and not get married until she is 45. She blames this mentality on her father, Mark, who has been in and out of prison most of her life.
It’s about halfway through Daughters when the actual dance occurs. In one of the most moving moments of the film, the girls are reunited with their dads, and in a twist I didn’t see coming, Santana runs to her father screaming “Daddy!”. The film’s last hour is filled with these heartwrenching small moments of children reaching out for the love and guidance of a parent. You learn that 95% of the men who complete this program don’t reoffend. The filmmakers never share what each inmate is in for, because it doesn’t matter. Nothing should keep a child from being about to hug their dad or hold his hand.
Despite its exquisite composition and moving story, Daughters is directed by two newcomers. The first is Natalie Rae, a first-time director with only three music videos under her belt. Her partner is Angela Patton, who is also a first-time director, is the CEO of Girls for a Change and the co-founder of Camp Diva. It’s the latter program that started and piloted the “Date with Dad Dance Program” in Richmond, VA. While some may believe that the founder and leader of a program shouldn’t direct a film about her work, Patton chooses to focus on the daughters rather than the organization.
Daughters’ last 20 minutes are spent reconnecting with the girls three, four, and even five years after that first initial dance. Some stories are where you’d expect them to be, others are joyous triumphs or devastating surprises. It’s in the latter where you wish filmmakers spent more time on giving more context to those moments that payoff. Overall, Daughters is a well-crafted and important film about the effects of the legal system on those who are the purest definition of innocent.
Daughters boasts celebrity producers like Kerry Washington and Jessica Seinfeld and was just acquired by Netflix.
Stress Positions captures a very specific moment in time. Mid-pandemic, New York City, everyone doesn’t know what’s happening, misinformation is flying, and every millennial is trying their best. At the heart of Theda Hammel’s first feature is a dilapidated brownstone where the wifi doesn’t work and where a Moroccan model recuperates from a broken leg that everyone is mesmerized by.
John Early plays Terry Goon, a broke millennial, living out the final days of his marriage in his estranged husband’s rundown partyhouse. His nephew, Bahul (Qaher Harhash), a model whom Terry is not close to, was hit by an ambulance at the beginning of summer. When we meet him he is on the mend but heavily guarded by Terry, who has yet to sign his divorce papers despite his husband (John Roberts) moving on and traveling across the world mid-pandemic.
All of this is told through Terry’s friend, Karla, a pushy and inconsiderate transwoman and massage therapist (Theda Hammel) who all but forces her way into the house when Terry throws his back out. Like most people in his life, she doesn’t respect his wishes, whether that’s leaving his nephew alone or respecting his COVID protocols. As Terry keeps getting into accidents and more people come to the house for various reasons, people start to realize their own neuroses and issues are part of the problem.
If experimental farce is a genre, then this film is the definition of it. John Early captures a millennial in crisis with the panic, relatability, and wherewithal of a young blonde ingenue in a 1930s screwball comedy. He is the neurotic heart of Stress Positions, though Hammel doesn’t tap into him as much as she should.
Instead, she heavily leans into the experimental part of the genre. Throughout the film, there are these long art-house-style monologues that are supposed to provide deeper insight into Bahul and Karla’s characters. However, because no one grows or changes throughout the narrative, these voiceovers and accompanying visuals just feel jaded and extravagant.
Throughout Stress Positions, we meet Karla’s author girlfriend (Amy Zimmer), the MAGA-loving-peeping-tom trans woman upstairs (Rebecca F. Wright) who doesn’t say a word, the politically incorrect GrubHub delivery man whom Terry is lusting after and Karla actually bangs, and the entire rave crew Terry’s soon to be ex-husband brings to the house. These characters are less frustrating when Hammel is leaning into the farce aspects of the film, but when she tries to find a deeper meaning in all of this queer chaos, Stress Positions falls flat.
Jason Schwartzman is known for playing awkward sad sack characters trying to get their shit together. His breakout role in Wes Anderson’s Rushmore is a great example of this. He’s now starring in indie filmmaker Nathan Silver’s latest called Between the Temples which premiered at Sundance earlier this month.
Schwartzman plays Ben, a cantor at an Upstate New York Synagogue still reeling from the death of his wife. His mothers (Caroline Aaron and Dolly De Leon) are hellbent on fixing him up with another Jewish woman, despite his clear aversion to it. His recent troubles leave him unable to sing, a pivotal part of his job. He is still able to mentor young people in his congregation through the bat and bar mitzvah studies.
It’s during one of those classes that he re-meets Carla Kessler (Carol Kane), his elementary school music teacher. Because she never received one fifty-plus years ago, she insists that he help through the bat mitzvah process. As the two get closer, experiment with drugs and learn the Torah together, things get more complicated as other influences start to shake Ben’s life and newfound purpose.
Silver brings a lo-fi, raw, surrealist quality to his films, and Between the Temples is no exception. He finds the humor in flawed and unlikeable characters, creating farce in a cacophony of voices. I don’t think everything about his latest film works as well as he thinks it does and because of its surrealist presentation, messages and meanings get lost.
Jason Schwartzman feels like the actor to star in a Nathan Silver production. There is a melancholy to his eyes, a jadedness to his tone, and a vulnerable openness about him that makes him the perfect conduit for this story. When he is by himself the character can get frustrating, but add in Carol Kane, and it’s a match made in comedy heaven.
Kane brings a sweet, eager curiosity to her dynamic with Schwartzman. Together, they bounce through Silver’s script and bring out the best in their characters and their performances. As they grow together, people like Karla’s son, Ben’s Rabbai, and his daughter, Dolly De Leon’s character, all try knowingly or unknowingly to keep them apart.
Shot on 16mm, there’s a wonderful grounded nature to Silver’s visual aesthetic. This contrasts nicely with his script. While Between the Temples isn’t for everyone, those who get it won’t be able to look away from it.
Author Henry James’ 1903 novella The Beast in the Jungle is considered one of his finest literary works, and it has been adapted often. It seems to have become very popular of late, with an Austrian version by director Patric Chiha released last year. But it’s Bertrand Bonello who has taken it to a sci-fi level with his adaptation, The Beast, which stars Léa Seydoux and George MacKay.
Bonello, a veteran award-winning filmmaker behind The Pornographer, Saint Laurent, Coma, and more, wrote and directed The Beast. It’s safe to say this is a loose adaptation or inspiration than a straight adaptation. The film takes place in a future society ruled by artificial intelligene, and where human emotions are considered a threat. Seydoux plays Gabrielle, who has decided to have all of her strong emotions purged, only to then meet Louis, a man she feels a powerful connection to.
Also in the cast are Guslagie Malanda and Dasha Nekrasova. The film made its world premiere last year at the Venice International Film Festival.
Here’s the official synopsis: In the near future where artificial intelligence reigns supreme, human emotions have become a threat. To get rid of them, Gabrielle must purify her DNA by going back into her past lives. There, she reunites with Louis, her great love. But she is overcome by fear, a premonition that catastrophe is on the way.
Hot off his role battling Keanu Reeves in John Wick: Chapter 4, Hong Kong legend Donnie Yen is ready to unleash more kung fu on the big screen. Deadline reports that Yen will star in Kung Fu, the big-screen take on the classic 1970s TV series that starred David Carradine.
David Leitch, who helped launch the John Wick franchise and also directed Deadpool 2, Bullet Train, and Atomic Blonde, is aboard as a producer with plans to direct. He’s been attached since 2020. Stephen Chin wrote the script.
Original Kung Fu creator, Ed Spielman, is an exec-producer on the project.
Yen is perfect for the role of Kwai Chang Caine, a Shaolin martial artist who fled China after his master’s murder. Wandering the Old West alone in search of his half-brother, Caine’s peaceful nature is often put to the test when called to fight against injustice.
Along with the lengthy list of Hong Kong classics to his credit, including his popular Ip Man franchise, Yen has starred in many blockbuster Hollywood films including Rogue One, Mulan, and the aforementioned John Wick: Chapter 4.
“Donnie Yen is both an immensely talented actor and an action film legend, and it is a privilege to have a true martial arts master leading this global film,” said Leitch. “With Donnie in place as our leading man, it will be a thrill to collaborate with him, our creative partners, and Universal in reimagining this beloved story for the big screen.”
