It’s a thin line between love and hate. Everyone knows that old chestnut, but does it also apply to workplace politics and office romance? That’s the question being asked in the rom-com The Hating Game, starring Riverdale‘s Lucy Hale.
Based on the Sally Thorne novel, The Hating Game stars Hale as Lucy Hatton, who is engaged in a professional rivalry with her workplace nemesis, played by Bridge of Spies actor Austin Stowell, while also falling in love with him.
The film is directed by Peter Hutchings in his first film since the 2018 Maisie Williams rom-com Then Came You. Also in the cast are Nicholas Baroudi and well-established screen veterans Corbin Bernsen, Gina Torres, and Sakina Jaffrey.
The Hating Game opens in select theaters and VOD on December 10th.
Based on the best-selling book, The Hating Game tells the story of ambitious good girl Lucy Hutton and her cold, efficient work nemesis, Joshua Templeton. Committed to achieving professional success without compromising her ethics, Lucy ultimately embarks on a ruthless game of one-upmanship against Josh, a rivalry that is increasingly complicated by her mounting attraction to him.
Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande are about to get witchy, as Deadline reports the duo will take the lead roles in the long-awaited adaptation of Wicked. Erivo will take on the role of Elphaba, the future Wicked Witch of the West, with Grande as her social-climbing rival, Glinda the Good Witch in a reimagining/prequel to L. Frank Baum’s classic The Wizard of Oz.
The film is being directed by Jon M. Chu, the Step Up veteran who has been on a crazy streak with Crazy Rich Asians and In the Heights. The less said about Jem and the Holograms, the better.
Wicked has been a Broadway smash, running pretty consistently for the last 18 years and winning multiple Tony Awards and Grammys in the process. Gregory Maguire’s 1995 book inspired the stage production by Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holtzman.
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Both Erivo and Grande are Broadway veterans at this point, although they’ve got gigantic shoes to fill. Their roles were previously played by Idina Menzel and Kristen Chenowith and we know the starry path their careers have taken.
Like so many other productions, Wicked has been the victim of multiple delays. It had been set to open in December 2019 but had its spot taken by another major Broadway adaptation, Cats, which turned out to be a disaster. The film was then moved to December 2021 only to be replaced once again, this time by Sing 2. During that time, original director Stephen Daldry dropped out, only to have Chu, who is probably a better fit, step in.
Filming on Wicked begins next summer so a 2023 release is likely.
I know we’re all eager to finally get a look at Mahershala Ali as Blade, we can’t overlook how great of a dramatic, Oscar-winning actor that he is. And it’s in films such as Swan Song (not to be confused with Udo Kier’s movie from a couple of months back) where Ali gets to show that off. Here, he reunites with Moonlight co-star Naomie Harris, along with Awkwafina, Glenn Close, and Adam Beach.
Written and directed by Benjamin Cleary, who won an Oscar for his short film Stutterer back in 2016, Swan Song stars Ali as a family man diagnosed with a terminal illness, offered the opportunity to replace himself with a carbon copy clone to shield his loved ones from grief.
Tough to argue with the cast, many of whom are Academy Award winners or nominees. To the best of my knowledge this is Cleary’s first major feature, and he talked about where he came up with the idea in a previous interview with Deadline…
“This started as a premise I had 10 years ago I’d stuck in a drawer, and then five years with the script, and when Mahershala’s name came up, I was like, ‘Can we even get him to just read it?’ He did, and we sat down and it became one of those conversations you sometimes have, where each minute you feel more energized and inspired. I could see within minutes I was sitting across from someone special, who was completely tuned into the heart of the script.
Swan Song debuts on Apple TV+ beginning December 17th.
Every so often you get news that is sure to blow the minds of many different corners of the pop culture universe. This is one of those pieces of news. Fan-favorite director Taika Waititi will direct an adaptation of The Incal, a masterpiece sci-fi graphic novel from El Topo director Alejandro Jodorowsky and legendary artist Moebius. Oh yeah, and all of this springs from Jodorowsky and Moebius’ failed attempts to make a Dune movie.
Damn.
Originally published between 1980-1988, The Incal is set in a dystopian society and follows shabby private investigator John Difool, who happens upon a powerful artifact known as The Incal that is sought by many factions across the galaxy. Joined by a ragtag crew, Difool embarks on an unlikely journey to save the universe and learn the true duality and meaning of existence.
Some concepts and style of The Incal are borrowed from Jodorowsky and Moebius’ unused Dune adaptation. What they ended up with might be even better, anyway. The Incal is considered a classic and has been revered for decades.
“The films and graphic novels of Alejandro Jodorowsky have influenced me and so many others for so long,” said Waititi. “I was stunned to be given the opportunity to bring his iconic characters to life and I am grateful to Alejandro, Fabrice and everyone at Humanoids for trusting me to do so.”
Waititi will not only direct, but work on the script alongside Jemaine Clement and Peter Warren.
Next up for Waititi is his soccer film Next Goal Wins. He’s currently working on Marvel’s Thor: Love & Thunder, and has a Star Wars movie coming sometime down the line.
Five years after Sing peaked at over $600M at the box office, Illumination has dropped the trailer for its sequel. Sing 2 promises an even bigger showcase for the singing animals with star-studded voices. Only this time, the crew isn’t putting together a show to save their struggling venue, they’re taking the show on the road and hitting the big city.
Matthew McConaughey returns as Buster Moon, with Reese Witherspoon as Rosita, Scarlett Johansson as Ash, Nick Kroll as Gunter the pig, Taron Egerton as Johnny the gorilla, and Tori Kelly as Meena. Bobby Cannavale voices gangster Jimmy Crystal, who helps them put on the show but at a risky price. Grammy winner Halsey plays his spoiled daughter, and there are other new characters voiced by Pharrell Williams, Letitia Wright, Eric André, and Chelsea Peretti.
The trailer also teases a cover of U2 song “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” performed by Johansson and Bono, who voices a reclusive rocker who is reluctant to be part of the show.
Directed once again by Garth Jennings, Sing 2 opens in theaters on December 22nd.
Marvel really loves their holiday-themed specials right now. Not only is there a Christmas one from James Gunn featuring Groot of the Guardians of the Galaxy, but we’ve been hearing of their search for a Latino lead actor to star in a Halloween special on Disney+ that will likely center on theWerewolf by Night. Well, that hunt for a star has come to an end as Gael Garcia Bernal has been cast according to TheWrap.
Previous rumors had In the Heights’Anthony Ramos up for the role, but that looks to have been a mistake. Or, perhaps, Bernal was just the guy Marvel decided to run with. You certainly can’t blame them. The Golden Globe-winning Mexican actor has been a fixture since breaking out in 2000’s Amores Perros, then again with 2001’s Y tu Mama Tambien. He was most recently seen in M. Night Shyamalan’s thriller Old. As far as Disney experience goes, Bernal voiced one of the many characters in Pixar’s Coco.
Details on the werewolf-themed project are being kept under wraps. It’s not even confirmed to be about Werewolf by Night, although that has been the buzz. The most recognizable version is Jack Russell, an adventurer with a cursed bloodline, he was able to transform into a werewolf at will. He’s been associated with the character Moon Knight, who has a Disney+ series on the way starring Oscar Isaac.
The second incarnation is Jake Gomez, whose werewolf connection is steeped in Native American lore.
It’s possible Marvel won’t use either version of the character, but instead decide to try something new. The Marvel Halloween special is expected to shoot early next year.
Netflix is going all in on Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog, clearly seeing it as their best shot for a Best Picture nomination and perhaps a victory. They’re probably right. Campion’s first movie in twelve years has been critically acclaimed since debuting in Venice, with star Benedict Cumberbatch looking like a frontrunner for Best Actor and his co-star possibly up for awards, as well.
The film is a Western, but not your typical entry in the genre, as it explores themes familiar to Campion. Identity, particularly of a sexual nature, are at the heart of a story about two cattle rancher brothers of very different dispositions. Cumberbatch’s Phil Burbank is a surly, cruel man who takes to torturing Rose (Kirsten Dunst), the new wife of his easygoing brother George (Jesse Plemons). But entering into this mix is Rose’s son, Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee), who is going through an identity crisis of his own that will test what it truly means to be a man in the Old West.
Also in this terrific ensemble are Thomasin McKenzie, Keith Carradine, Francis Conroy, Peter Carroll, and Adam Beach.
I absolutely loved this film when I saw it at Middleburg just weeks ago, and can’t wait to see it again in a few days.
The Power of the Dog opens in select theaters on November 17th, then Netflix streaming on December 1st.
Severe, pale-eyed, handsome, Phil Burbank is brutally beguiling. All of Phil’s romance, power and fragility is trapped in the past and in the land: He can castrate a bull calf with two swift slashes of his knife; he swims naked in the river, smearing his body with mud. He is a cowboy as raw as his hides.
The year is 1925. The Burbank brothers are wealthy ranchers in Montana. At the Red Mill restaurant on their way to market, the brothers meet Rose, the widowed proprietress, and her impressionable son Peter. Phil behaves so cruelly he drives them both to tears, revelling in their hurt and rousing his fellow cowhands to laughter – all except his brother George, who comforts Rose then returns to marry her.
As Phil swings between fury and cunning, his taunting of Rose takes an eerie form – he hovers at the edges of her vision, whistling a tune she can no longer play. His mockery of her son is more overt, amplified by the cheering of Phil’s cowhand disciples. Then Phil appears to take the boy under his wing. Is this latest gesture a softening that leaves Phil exposed, or a plot twisting further into menace?
The Nintendo Entertainment System was released in 1985, and if you were an 8-year-old kid like me, obsessed with video games, it was an absolute must have. Think my parents agreed? Or even had a fucking clue what a “Nintendoo” (my Dad always pronounced it this way) was? Well, the upcoming HBO Max holiday film 8-Bit Christmas might have been taken from aspects of my own life, and that of millions of other kids.
Starring Neil Patrick Harris, Winslow Fegley, June Diane Raphael, and Steve Zahn, the simple premise centers on a boy who really wants the latest video game system for Christmas, but his parents absolutely forbid it.
The film is directed by Michael Dowse, best known for Take Me Home Tonight, Goon, Stuber, and most recently Coffee & Kareem which was just awful. Kevin Jakubowski wrote the script adapted from his own novel.
8-Bit Christmas hit HBO Max on November 24th.
From New Line Cinema and HBO Max comes “8-Bit Christmas,” a humorous and heartfelt look back at the adventures of childhood. Set in suburban Chicago in the late 1980s, the story centers on ten-year-old Jake Doyle’s herculean quest to get the latest and greatest video game system for Christmas.
Let’s be honest; if you’re watching Netflix’s Red Notice it’s for one thing. Well, three things: Dwayne Johnson, Gal Gadot, and Ryan Reynolds. You can’t argue with the potential in uniting these three mega-stars for one snazzy, high-spirited comedy caper. They’ll probably all end up in a superhero movie together someday…actually, that’s very possible with Johnson and Gadot sharing the same DC universe and Reynolds like an expelled student from it. This indomitable trio is pretty much the only thing keeping this empty calorie flick together. Enjoy it for what it is, because it doesn’t aspire to be anything other than a reason to keep your Netflix subscription active a couple more hours.
Everybody plays according to type here, which should make their fans super happy. Johnson plays bruising FBI agent John Hartley, who is tipped off that the world’s most wanted thief Nolan Booth (Reynolds) is set to swipe one of the fabled golden faberge eggs given to Cleopatra by Mark Antony. There are three in total, one in the Rome museum about to be hit, another owned by a rich private collector, and another that is long-missing. You probably already figured it out, but the eggs don’t really matter much. They are excuses to bring these characters together. They might as well have been Cadbury Creme Eggs. The theft goes belly up with Hartley and Booth engaged in some fast-paced cat ‘n mouse play that ends up with them both in Bali at Booth’s tropical getaway. After Hartley and fellow Interpol inspector Urvashi Das (Ritu Arya) make the bust, the egg still manages to slip through their fingers. Das, assuming Hartley was in on the scam the whole time, tosses him in the gulag right alongside Booth, who is only too happy to talk incessantly about how much he hates this situation.
Turns out, both men are being played by The Bishop aka Sarah Black (Gadot), who is pulling their strings from the shadows. Actually, she’s pretty upfront about the whole thing, taking pleasure in making her opponents look like lumbering oafs. Hartley and Booth, who can barely get along well enough to stay in the same room, decide to put their differences aside.
For Johnson and Reynolds, Red Notice basically plays like a cross between two of their biggest individual franchises: Hobbs & Shaw and The Hitman’s Bodyguard. Reynolds rat-a-tat-tats insults and quick jabs at his co-star, while Johnson grimaces, smirks, and plays the charming tough guy. These two aren’t required to stretch much more than their facial muscles here, but the interplay between them is genuinely quite fun. Issues of trust pop up between these men on opposing sides of the law, with a healthy number of double-crosses keeping things off-balance.
The most enjoyable moments are watching Gadot shrug off her serious Wonder Woman persona for some playful villainy. Her performance isn’t even like her time in the similarly-paced Fast & Furious movies, but more like her double-identity role in the little-seen action comedy Keeping Up with the Joneses. The Baron always seems to have the guys’ number, whether it’s physically besting the cowardly Booth, or flirting with Hartley to get his guard down. A dance number between the two steams things up ala The Thomas Crown Affair, one of many films that Red Notice directly draws influence from, along with National Treasure and Indiana Jones.
Written and directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber, who began his career as an ace comedy filmmaker (We’re the Millers, Dodgeball) before swerving into action-comedy with Johnson in tow (Central Intelligence, Skyscraper), Red Notice leaps and bounds from one international setpiece to the next: from a Russian prison break to a bonkers underground copper mine chase. Reportedly the most expensive movie Netflix has ever produced at something north of $160M, one might think travel budget accounts for most of it. However, due to the pandemic, the entire thing was actually shot in Atlanta. I think we can guess where that money actually went, but when you have a chance to attract Johnson, Reynolds, and Gadot you do it. There’s even a certain popular redhead popstar who makes a funny cameo that was worth shelling out some coin for.
Red Notice doesn’t demand much of its stars, nor does it give them much to work with. But what it does give them is what their fans want to see, so how can you really get upset over that? If you like these three stars, and let’s be honest most of us do, then watching them play around in familiar spaces is hardly the worst thing in the world. You won’t feel like someone has stolen away with your precious time.
Red Notice is available in theaters on November 5th, then streams exclusively on Netflix beginning November 12th.
Think about it; if Gal Gadot came at you with an apple, you’d eat that shit. Straight up. And that joint might be poisoned, but it’s Gal Gadot so you wouldn’t blink an eye. Well, you’ll get to see her serve up just such a deadly delicacy in Disney’s live-action Snow White, as Deadline reports she has joined the cast.
Gadot is in final negotiations to play the Evil Queen in Snow White, joining West Side Story star Rachel Zegler as the titular fairy tale princess. The film will be directed by The Amazing Spider-Man filmmaker Marc Webb, with new music composed by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, the Oscar- and Tony-winning duo behind La La Land and The Greatest Showman.
The news comes as Gadot’s latest blockbuster, Red Notice, is set to open in select theaters before hitting Netflix next week. She’s also developing a Cleopatra movie and has Kenneth Branagh’s Death On the Nile coming up. Currently, Gadot is shooting on Hands of Stone, and yes she will reprise her role as Wonder Woman in a third film.
