Been impressed by the casts Marvel has put together for both WandaVision and Falcon and the Winter Soldier? You should be, they were incredible for the studio’s first forays into Disney+ television. Based on who they’re getting for Secret Invasion, Marvel isn’t letting the star power fade in the slightest.
Following the recent news of Olivia Colman’s joining of Secret Invasion, Variety now reports the Khaleesi herself, Emilia Clarke, has joined the cast. That’s right, Games of Thrones‘ Mother of Dragons will be making her way into the Marvel Cinematic Universe alongside Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, and Kingsley Ben-Adir.
Who is Clarke playing? Of course, we have no friggin’ idea but let the speculation begin. Personally, I’d love to see her as Lyja, a shapeshifting Skrull connected to the Fantastic Four. Secret Invasion deals with the infiltration by the Skrulls into our government, superheroics, all aspects of society.
Next up for Clarke is the FBI drama Above Suspicion which opens next month.
Adaptations of Jane Austen’s many novels are a regular thing, with last year’s EMMA standing out as a recent example of how to do them right. They happen so often it’s tough to get excited, but casting Dakota Johnson in Netflix’s new take on Persuasion, which to the best of my knowledge has rarely been made into a feature, is one way to do it.
THR reports Dakota Johnson will star in a modern version on Persuasion, to be directed by Carrie Cracknell in her feature directing debut. Cracknell is a British playwright and stage director who most recently worked with Jake Gyllenhaal on Sea Wall/ A Life.
The novel was published in 1817 and was the last to be fully completed by Austen. Here’s the synopsis for this new film:
Living with her snobby family on the brink of bankruptcy, Anne Elliot is an unconforming woman with modern sensibilities. When Frederick Wentworth—the dashing one she once sent away—crashes back into her life, Anne must choose between putting the past behind her or listening to her heart when it comes to second chances.
Johnson has come a long way from 50 Shades of Grey, with her emphasis on smaller films of late. In the last couple of years she’s starred in The Peanut Butter Falcon, The High Note, and most recently in the dramedy Our Friend.
No word on when Persuasion shoots, but don’t worry, Netflix will make sure we are all very aware when it does.
Released in 2018, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was looked upon, at first, like a novelty in Sony’s comic book franchise. That is until it actually came out, everyone absolutely loved it, and the film went on to not only win an Oscar for Best Animated Feature, but universal calls for a sequel. We’ve known all along that one was coming, and now we know who will be taking the helm.
Variety reports Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson will co-direct Into the Spider-Verse 2, completely replacing the previous award-winning team. That’s a bit of a surprise, but it’s good to see them continue to bring in people of color to tell Miles Morales’ story.
Phil Lord and Chris Miller are back to write the screenplay, however, so there’s some continuity there.
Chances are the name that sticks out to you here is Kemp Powers, who has been all over the place this awards season. Not only was he one of the writers behind Pixar’s Oscar-nominated Soul, but he also wrote Regina King’s acclaimed One Night in Miami based on his own stageplay. Dos Sandos and Thompson are both making their feature debuts, although they have previous credits on Teen Titans, The Legend of Korra, and more. Thompson also served as production designer on the previous Spider-Verse movie.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse 2 opens October 7th 2022.
“The crew behind the ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’ set such a ridiculously high bar, and we’re humbled to take on the challenge of charting the next chapter in the story of Miles Morales,” the new directors said.
“We are so lucky to have Joaquim, Justin and Kemp on the ‘Spider-Verse’ team,” Lord and Miller added. “We are huge fans of Joaquim’s work — he makes his characters so heartfelt and unique, and he can tell an emotional story with an action sequence the way a musical does through a song. Justin is a maverick filmmaker who relentlessly pursues visual innovation and surprise but always in support of the emotional storytelling. Kemp’s work is incisive and ambitious and funny — with a writer’s wisdom and a director’s heart — he just knows what matters in every scene. All three of them elevate every project they take on, and they are certainly raising our game. We honestly just like them and want to be their friends and we’re hoping working on this movie together for the next few years will totally make that happen.”
Dave Bautista has been pretty open that if he were to make the jump from Marvel Studios to DC, it would be to play Bane, the infamous breaker of Batman’s back. While there’s no plan for that to happen any time soon, during an interview with Zack Snyder at Justice Con for their film Army of the Dead, Bautista revealed that it isn’t just some hope he has to play Bane, but that he actually took his demand to Warner Bros. execs…
“It would be Bane, all day. It is no secret,” Bautista said. “I really want to play Bane. I want to play Bane so much that I went to Warner Bros., had a meeting with them, had a meeting with DC, walked through the door and said, ‘I want to play Bane. I’m not kidding. They said, ‘Wow, wow. We’re not even looking for anyone for Bane.'”
While we have no idea when he might have made these intentions known, we can make a pretty good guess. In the weeks following James Gunn’s firing by Marvel, Bautista openly expressed his interest in making the jump to DC to work with the director on The Suicide Squad. Bane, who has been a member of that team in the comics, would’ve been an awesome addition to the cast. It never came to be, and Bautista will get to join Gunn for Guardians of the Galaxy 3 as originally intended.
Still, we have to think Bautista will get his wish one of these days, right? Especially with The Batman kicking off a new franchise for the Dark Knight? And who doesn’t want to see Bautista snap Robert Pattinson like a twig? I know I do.
Ever since Michael Keaton was revealed to be returning as Batman for The Flash, the man himself has been keeping coy about it. Refusing to divulge anything, Keaton has left it up in the air whether the stories were true, and that meant questioning whether Ben Affleck was suiting up as the Dark Knight, too, since that was reported, as well. However, in the midst of yesterday’s Flash logo reveal also came official confirmation that, yes, Keaton is indeed back.
The Wrap got confirmation from Keaton’s talent agency that he will be reprising his role as Batman in Andy Muschietti’s The Flash. He joins star Ezra Miller, Kiersey Clemons, Ron Livingston, Maribel Verdú, Sasha Calle, Saoirse-Monica Jackson, and Ben Affleck in the speedster’s upcoming solo movie. This will be the first time since 1992’s Batman Returns that Keaton has donned Batman’s cape and cowl.
How Keaton’s Batman fits into the story is still unclear. We know the script by Christina Hodson will be a time travel one, possibly with Barry Allen traveling back to try and prevent his mother’s death and thus free his father from prison. The consequences of Barry’s actions have significant effects on the timestream, which is probably why two different versions of Batman will be present. Another story from a few months ago stated that Keaton would be sticking around in the DCEU, while Affleck bids adieu.
Filming on The Flash has begun, and opens November 4th 2022.
I have to imagine that, if you’re an Australian actor, being cast in a Mad Max film has to be one of the highest honors you can have bestowed on you. Chris “Thor” Hemsworth has officially received that honor, being cast in the upcoming Mad Max spin-off Furiosa, but that golden-haired overachiever didn’t stop there. Nope, he was also on hand to announce that the Australian production will begin next year with legendary Mad Max director, George Miller.
The pair took to the pulpit in a press conference in New South Wales to let the world know that not only would Furiosa begin filming next year, but that it is going to be the largest production Australia has ever hosted. After a year of COVID and the ensuing economic destruction this is a glowing ray of hope for the people of Australia. A standard Hollywood production floods the local economy with revenue, so you can imagine what the biggest production to film in Australia is going to do for the economic outlook of the locals.
So, yeah, that’s awesome, helping out your people! But where’s the juice? What details did we get? Well….none, really. That doesn’t mean this doesn’t elicit excitement. I think it’s safe to say that the entire world was blown away by Mad Max: Fury Road. Miller describes this as something more. While Furiosa will be a prequel to Fury Road, don’t expect a similar story. Word is that while Mad Max: Fury Road was a single story told over a span of hours/days, Furiosa will be more of an epic covering years in the life of it’s title character. They’re already off to a good start, casting Anya Taylor-Joy in the lead role who has absolutely exploded on the Hollywood scene since her initial casting.
Check out the tweet containing the press conference below, and click here for all of our Furiosa coverage!
The cast of Netflix’s next Adam Sandler film, Spaceman, is getting a little too good to ignore. Following the recent addition of Oscar nominee Carey Mulligan, now comes word from Deadline that she’ll be joined by her Wildlife director, Paul Dano, and The Big Bang Theory‘s Kunal Nayyar.
Directed by Chernobyl‘s Johan Renck, the film is an adaptation of Jaroslav Kalfar’s novel Spaceman of Bohemia. Sandler stars as “an astronaut sent to the edge of the galaxy to collect mysterious ancient dust as he finds his earthly life falling to pieces. He turns to the only voice who can help him try to put it back together. It just so happens to belong to a creature from the beginning of time lurking in the shadows of his ship.”
So this is going to be pretty weird. Dano’s great at creepy, weird movies so this is perfect. He’s currently set to play Riddler in Matt Reeves’ The Batman, and recently joined Steven Spielberg’s upcoming film based on his childhood. This will be the first major big screen role for Nayyar following The Big Bang Theory‘s finale. He did have a couple of roles last year voicing Trolls World Tour and appearing in the family film Think Like a Dog.
It’s finally happening. After years of delays, Warner Bros. and DC’s The Flash movie is finally sprinting at full speed. Production is underway on the superhero film starring Ezra Miller as speedster Barry Allen, and director Andy Muschietti has revealed a first look at the logo.
It’s been a long time coming, with plans frequently derailed by WB’s move away from the SnyderVerse after the failure of Justice League, plus the cavalcade of filmmakers who have passed on the project. Muschietti joined the film back in 2019, following on a pair of blockbuster It films.
The story is penned by DC favorite Christina Hodson (Birds of Prey) and we know it’ll be a multiverse story similar to “Flashpoint”. Joining Miller in the cast are Kiersey Clemons as his love interest Iris West, Ron Livingston (who replaced Billy Crudup) and Maribel Verdú as Barry’s parents, Sasha Calle as Supergirl, plus Michael Keaton and Ben Affleck reprising their past Batman roles.
Remember when they were talking about a sequel to that robot flick Real Steel? That’s probably never gonna happen, but the next best thing could be on the way. Vin Diesel, who can get a green light for pretty much anything, will star in a Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots movie for Universal and Mattel.
In what sounds like the sci-fi version of Fast & Furious because it’s “all about family”, Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots will center on a father who along with his son form an unlikely bond with an advanced war machine.
F’real. I mean, that is literally the Real Steel plot, isn’ it?
It’s unclear if Diesel is the father or perhaps, as he was for The Iron Giant, the voice of the droid.
The script is by Ryan Engle, who previously wrote the video game flick Rampage. While there’s no director attached yet, perhaps they should go ahead and hire Shawn Levy to direct it?
Diesel will not only star but produce the film with his siste, Samantha Vincent. If all goes well, you can bet they’ll try to launch a franchise and maybe even cross it over into F10, the next Hobbs & Shaw, or Jurassic World. You scoff but it’s not out of the realm of possibility, is it?
Remember when we used to joke about Marvel’s ability to attract these amazing A-list actors? Glenn Close in Guardians of the Galaxy??? Robert Redford in The Winter Soldier??? Now it’s just commonplace, so that news of Oscar winner Olivia Colman joining the cast of Marvel’s Secret Invasion series isn’t a shock. It’s just amazing God damn news.
THR reports Colman is in talks to join Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, and Kingsley Ben-Adir in Secret Invasion on Disney+. That’s the show which will have Nick Fury and Talos weeding out a group of shapeshifting Skrulls who have infiltrated the superhero ranks and the U.S. government.
Who would Colman be playing? Of course, we have no idea. Is it too much for me to hope she’s playing a version of Veranke, empress of the Skrull Empire?
Colman is one of the most accomplished actors around, known for her Oscar-winning performance in The Favourite and her work on The Crown. She’s currently up for yet another Oscar for her supporting role in The Father. Not that Marvel needs it, but Colman’s presence brings so much cred it’s ridiculous.
Secret Invasion is expected to arrive next year on Disney+.
