After making Michael Ealy’s life a living Hell in the surprisingly fun erotic thriller Fatale, Hilary Swank has lined up her next project and it’s a lot more wholesome. Swank will produce and star in Speed Girl, playing trailblazing race car driver Janet Guthrie.
Deadline has the news on Speed Girl, which will have Swank starring as Guthrie, a pilot-turned-racecar driver who in 1977 became the first woman to the Indianapolis 500 and the Daytona 500. Of course, she battled sexism along the way in the male-dominated sport, also fighting for women racers to get more corporate sponsorships. She was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame just a couple of years ago.
Joining Swank as a producer is Avatar actor Joel David Moore, who has turned his talents to filmmaking of late. After directing 2016’s Youth in Oregon, Moore is now in post-production on two features. It’s unclear if he will take the helm for Speed Girl, as well.
It’s a reunion of two Star Wars alums who never had a chance to share the screen together. Earlier this year, we learned Daisy Ridley would star in The Marsh King’s Daughter, a psychological thriller directed by Neil Burger. And now we know it’ll be Ben Mendelsohn who will play the titular Marsh King, according to Deadline.
Originally set to star Alicia Vikander before Ridley came aboard, The Marsh King’s Daughter is based on the book by Karen Dionne, and centers on Helena, who was held captive with her mother in the wilderness by her father, Jacob Holbrook (Mendelsohn). Years later as an adult, Helena must face her past when Holbrook is released from prison and returns.
The adaptation wa penned by Elle Smith and The Revenant writer Mark L. Smith. Shooting begins in June. Next up for Mendelsohn is Joe Wright’s Cyrano, which opens this Christmas. He will also return as Talos for Marvel’s Secret Invasion series.
It’s been five years since Gareth Edwards’ last film, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and now he’s back with an original sci-fi story, True Love, that has a pretty big star: Deadline reports John David Washington will lead the film, which Edwards will write and direct.
True Love‘s plot is being kept under wraps for now, but it’s being described as a near-future sci-fi story. Edwards hasn’t swung and missed yet, having launched Legendary’s MonsterVerse franchise with Godzilla, which made over $1B worldwide.
Landing Washington is a big score, though. He’s red hot right now, following Tenet and his acclaimed performance in Malcolm & Marie. Next up for Washington is David O. Russell’s film Canterbury Glass with Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, and more.
For those who don’t know, me being one of those until about 5 minutes ago, Lady Killer is a Dark Horse comic series centered on a 1950’s housewife who leads a double life as a hired gun. That in and of itself sounds awesome, but let’s build on that. Get Blake Lively to star and then for the real cherry on top get Diablo Cody to write it. Done. Netflix, master of accomplishing the impossible, has setup this exact scenario. Ten years ago I would have seen this as an Angelina Jolie vehicle, but honestly I think Blake Lively is a much better get. Jolie has a dark side that can’t be hidden, but Lively, who’s come a LONG way since her Gossip Girl days is able to pull of suburban trophy wife AND relentless killer with equal aptitude. Look no further then her recent foray with Anna Kendrick in A Simple Favor to see both her sweet and salty sides. She deserves as much praise as her superstar husband, Ryan Reynolds, and this project has the creds to move her in that direction. Why? Well, I know comic book adaptations are a dime a dozen but this had the devil in the details.
That devil is Diablo (see what I did there?) Cody who is almost constantly lauded for her chops, but has shown herself to be most successful in female empowerment roles that have an edge an sincere sense of snark. No better place to cultivate this then in the arena that Lady Killer would build. Imagine someone in as a subservient role as a textbook 50s housewife, who has to put up with all the sexism and sexual harassments that two-martini lunch having husbands bring, knowing underneath it all that she is the true apex predator under that roof. Obviously, I’m a bit excited for this one.
Lady Killer is coming to Netflix as part of the first look deal they have with Dark Horse, a deal that’s already brought hits in The Umbrella Academy and Polar. No release date has been mentioned, but we’ll be sure to keep you up to date on any developments. [Deadline]
Disaster movies come in all shapes and sizes of global catastrophe. Sometimes it’s an exploding volcano, a crashing asteroid, nuclear fallout, or monsters that affect the senses. In the case of the upcoming Netflix thriller Awake, it’s a lack of sleep.
Gina Rodriguez stars as a soldier who may hold the key to a cure when chaos breaks out in the aftermath of a global event that wipes out all electronics, rendering humanity unable to sleep.
The cast also includes Ariana Greenblatt, Barry Pepper, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Shamier Anderson, Finn Jones, and Frances Fisher. Really good group here, with a few who have been under the Netflix umbrella for a while. Leigh had a role in Annihilation, Jones was the guy who used to be Iron Fist, and Anderson was just seen in Stowaway. Rodriguez recently starred in the Netflix comedy, Someone Great.
Behind the camera is director and co-writer Mark Raso, in his first film since 2017’s Kodachrome. He and his brother Joseph Raso wrote the script based on an idea by National Treasure: Book of Secrets‘ Gregory Poirier.
Netflix will release Awake on June 9th.
“After a sudden global event wipes out all electronics and takes away humankind’s ability to sleep, chaos quickly begins to consume the world. Only Jill, an ex-soldier with a troubled past, may hold the key to a cure in the form of her own daughter. The question is, can Jill safely deliver her daughter and save the world before she herself loses her mind.”
Last night while attending a screening, I talked with a friend about our hopes to see Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead on the big screen. The problem, one that Netflix has dealt with for years, is that the largest theatre chains wouldn’t work with them because of the 60-day exclusivity they would require. Well, as we’ve seen over this last year of pandemic, that release window has shrunk down to nothing, and now one major chain is more than happy to work with the streamer on Snyder’s upcoming zombie film.
Variety reports Army of the Dead will open a week early on May 14th, exclusively in 600 theaters, with Cinemark accounting for 200 of those. The film will hit Netflix a week later as planned. This is a big deal, as Netflix finally cracks one of the major theater chains. If there’s an untapped revenue source for them it’s box office, and this could go a long way to changing that.
This follows on the heels of other studios striking exclusivity deals with theater chains, as the market looks to regain its footing. Times are changing, and we will be seeing more Netflix movies on the screen in the very near future.
Spencer Klein, Netflix’s head of distribution, said , “Following the success of our limited-run in-theatre tests with Cinemark for films like ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,’ ‘The Midnight Sky’ and ‘The Christmas Chronicles 2,’ we are looking forward to the wider theatrical release of ‘Army of the Dead.’”
For us in the DMV, the nearest Cinemark theater is in Fairfax, VA. You can bet I’ll be there!
Hollywood’s attempts to bring Red Sonja to the big screen have been plagued for years, stretching back to when Rose McGowan and Robert Rodriguez were attached, to when Bryan Singer became involved. But a couple of years ago, after Singer was given the boot, Transparent creator Joey Soloway came aboard and now the film has a new star: Ant-Man & the Wasp actress Hannah John-Kamen.
THR reports John-Kamen will play the fearsome Red Sonja in the upcoming live-action film. Soloway will direct and co-writhe the script with Tasha Huo, following the adventures of the warrior who is most-closely associated with Conan the Barbarian. The character was last seen on the big screen in 1985’s Red Sonja, played by Brigitte Nielsen and co-starred Arnold Schwarzenegger as a character implied to be Conan, but had a different name.
Along with her role as the villain Ghost in Ant-Man 2, John-Kamen can be seen in the recent action film SAS: Red Notice and the upcoming Resident Evil reboot. She also starred in Peacock’s short-lived Brave New World series.
It’s about to be a Nocturnal Animals reunion! Amy Adams and Jake Gyllenhaal, who starred in that 2016 thriller, are reuniting for an adaptation of Suzanne Simard’s forestry memoir Finding The Mother Tree.
Forestry? Yep. The story follows Simard’s research into the discovery of “Mother Trees” and the underground network that connects all trees through a web of fungi. Adams will not only star as Simard but produce the film through her Bond Group Entertainment label. Gyllenhaal will produce, as well.
Doesn’t sound very exciting, does it? But Adams’ producing partner Stacy O’Neil does a pretty good of selling it, saying it “excited us with a narrative about the awe-invoking power of nature and the compelling parallels in Suzanne’s personal life. It forever transformed our views of the world and the interconnectivity of our environment. ‘Finding the Mother Tree’ is not only a deeply beautiful memoir about one woman’s impactful life, it’s also a call to action to protect, understand and connect with the natural world.” [Variety]
Leave it to Loki, the god of mischief, to disrupt the natural order of things on Disney+. Because not only has the upcoming Lokiseries from Marvel Studios moved up its release date a couple of days to June 9th, new episodes will debut on Wednesdays instead of Fridays like WandaVision and Falcon and the Winter Soldier did.
You might be asking yourself why this matters? Well, it avoids potential conflicts down the road, as the Loki finale would’ve been going head-to-head with Black Widow on Friday, July 9th.
Tom Hiddleston dropped the news himself in a brief video message in which he talks up Loki as if he’s one of the MCU’s top heroes. Of course, that’s not true, and this series won’t have him playing the hero, either. After stealing the Tesseract in Avengers: Endgame, disrupting the timeline something fierce, Loki has been charged by the Time-Variant Authority with fixing what he broke. The cast includes Owen Wilson, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Sophia Di Martino, Wunmi Mosaku, and Richard E. Grant.
Marvel Studios’ “Loki” features the God of Mischief as he steps out of his brother’s shadow in a new series that takes place after the events of “Avengers: Endgame.” Tom Hiddleston returns as the title character, joined by Owen Wilson, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Sophia Di Martino, Wunmi Mosaku, and Richard E. Grant. Kate Herron directs “Loki,” and Michael Waldron is head writer.
The final season of Game of Thrones really pissed fans off, and HBO has some making-up to do. The first thing they attempted was to launch into a bunch of potential spinoffs, but when that didn’t work out the decision was made to focus on one, House of the Dragon, which has finally entered production and we’re getting our first images.
What you’ll take away from them? Yes, this is indeed a Game of Thrones show. A prequel taking place before the events of the previous series, the focus is on House Targaryen, the same clan that gave us the Mother of Dragons herself. You’ll recognize all of the blonde hair, for sure. It’s a family trait.
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HBO has released a description for each character pictured:
Emma D’Arcy as “Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen”: The king’s first-born child, she is of pure Valyrian blood, and she is a dragonrider. Many would say that Rhaenyra was born with everything… but she was not born a man.
Matt Smith as “Prince Daemon Targaryen”: The younger brother to King Viserys and heir to the throne. A peerless warrior and a dragonrider, Daemon possesses the true blood of the dragon. But it is said that whenever a Targaryen is born, the gods toss a coin in the air…
Steve Toussaint as “Lord Corlys Velaryon” (“The Sea Snake”): Lord of House Velaryon, a Valyrian bloodline as old as House Targaryen. As “The Sea Snake,” the most famed nautical adventurer in the history of Westeros, Lord Corlys built his house into a powerful seat that is even richer than the Lannisters and that claims the largest navy in the world.
Olivia Cooke as “Alicent Hightower”: The daughter of Otto Hightower, the Hand of the King, and the most comely woman in the Seven Kingdoms. She was raised in the Red Keep, close to the king and his innermost circle; she possesses both a courtly grace and a keen political acumen.
Rhys Ifans as “Otto Hightower”: The Hand of the King, Ser Otto loyally and faithfully serves both his king and his realm. As the Hand sees it, the greatest threat to the realm is the king’s brother, Daemon, and his position as heir to the throne.
The series was co-created by George R.R. Martin and Ryan Condal, with the latter also writing each episode. While there’s no confirmed release date, 2022 seems like a good bet.
