When we found out Tom Cruise would be teaming with Elon Musk’s SpaceX for a movie literally filmed in space (!!!), the list of directors we thought he would trust for this was exceptionally small. Chris McQuarrie, sure. Joe Kosinski, maybe. Doug Liman? Definitely. Turns out, it’s Liman who got the call and he’ll be blasting off with Cruise on what is sure to be a groundbreaking project.
Deadline reports Liman will direct Cruise’s outer space adventure, which also has NASA on board to lend their expertise. Liman and Cruise have history, of course, having worked together on Edge of Tomorrow and most-recently American Made. Liman has been involved with a potential Edge of Tomorrow sequel, as well as a movie titled Luna Park which has been in development for a while and has Cruise attached.
Liman’s involvement in this space-faring movie isn’t a coincidence as he’s apparently been involved since the beginning and has already completed early work on a script. There’s going to be a lot of legwork done on this one so it could be a long time before launch. And that should work out because Liman still has post-production on Chaos Walking to finish. Cruise has Top Gun: Maverick coming up, and shooting on the delayed Mission: Impossible 7 should resume later this summer.
The intense, always-terrific Noomi Rapace reprises her role as punk cyber hacker Lisbeth Salander in "The Girl Who Played with Fire," but the second film in the “Millennium” series just doesn’t have the spark that “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” generated.
Nothing is ever truly dead in Hollywood. If there’s a recognizable brand it can always find life, even if the previous attempt missed the mark by a wide margin. Such is the case with adaptations of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy, which gave us the acclaimed Swedish films including The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, but were then Hollywood-ized into American remakes that failed to connect with viewers. And now it’s found new life, only this time as an Amazon series with a modernized twist.
Amazon Studios will join with Sony Pictures and Left Bank Pictures for a different take on The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. This version will continue to follow the story of hacker/vigilante Lisbeth Salander, only it won’t follow any of Larson’s novels or the sequels published after his 2005 death. Instead, the series will “place her in today’s world with a wholly new setting, new characters, and a new story.” Get ready for Lisbeth in the #MeToo era, which seems very fitting, actually.
Andy Harres (The Night Manager) will exec-produce alongside Rob Bullock. No other creative are on board yet.
The iconic role of Lisbeth Salander has been sought after by many actresses in the past, and helped make a name for Noomi Rapace who became an international star as a result. Rooney Mara played Salander in David Fincher’s R-rated remake, a film that did well but didn’t live up to Sony’s expectations. The role was then recast for Claire Foy in 2018’s flop The Girl in the Spider’s Web. [Variety]
Nov. 13, 2019 - Source: Ari Perilstein.310-749-4416/Getty Images North America)
While The Peanut Butter Falcon was a breakout for its star Zack Gottsagen, but directors Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz can pretty much write their own ticket. And what they’ve chosen to do next is work with one of the top actresses and producers in Hollywood, Margot Robbie, and two rising stars talents in Joey King and Kaitlyn Dever on a new series.
THR says Nilson and Schwartz will team with producer Margot Robbie for The Wildest Animals in Griffith Park. The comedy series will star Joey King, best known for films like The Kissing Booth and Wish I Was Here, and Kaitlyn Dever whose resume includes Booksmart and Short Term 12.
The series is based on the filmmakers’ time secretly living in the California park where they developed The Peanut Butter Falcon. And to highlight those experiences, while also providing a unique way to pitch since the coronavirus has shutdown traditional meetings, they put together a 9-minute video of the actresses and Robbie, along with photos of the directors when they were living in the park. Included were cutouts of studio bosses for Netflix, Amazon, and others as an audience cheering on their novel idea. Considering who is involved they probably didn’t need to go so far.
Apparently, this creative selling technique worked because a number of distributors are interested. And who wouldn’t be? This looks like the total package from top-to-bottom, so let’s just wait and see where The Wildest Animals in Griffith Park goes.
Zack Snyder and his legion of fans got their wish. The Snyder Cut of Justice League has been petitioned into existence on HBO Max sometime in 2021. While Snyder continues to tease what will be his original vision for the failed superhero flick, estimates put the budget to complete it between $20M-$30M. Turns out, that number is on the low side, perhaps by a great deal.
HBO Max boss Bob Greenblatt talked about Zack Snyder’s Justice League while appearing on Vox’s Recode Media podcast, and he makes it clear the production won’t be simple and it definitely won’t be cheap…
“Because it isn’t as easy as going into the vault and there’s a Snyder Cut sitting there to put out,” said Greenblatt. “It does not exist. Zack is actually building it and it’s complex including…new VFX shots, it’s a radical rethinking of that movie and it’s complicated and wildly expensive…I’ll just say I wish it was just 30 million and stop there. It’s an enormous undertaking and very complex.”
There’s going to be a lot of debate about this when all is said and done. If it doesn’t turn out to be a massive boon for HBO Max then Warner Media will have to explain why they thought it worthy to dump tens of millions of dollars into a movie that already failed once.
I just finished watching the new trailer for Summerland, a film set during World War II that tells the story of a boy named Frank, an evacuee of London, who’s sent to live in the country with a grumpy writer (Gemma Arterton). I’m almost rolling my eyes at that 2-second synopsis, you can usually tell when a film has making you cry as one of its prime directives and more often then not the result is the dramatic equivalent of a series of jump-scares in a horror movie. A paint by numbers series of events aimed at base human instincts designed to illicit a proven but cheap result, in this case crying.
There are three things moving Summerland above this realm, according to the trailer, that I didn’t consider. Gemma Arterton, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, and a layered story that seems equal parts unique and believable. The trailer reveals that Arterton is so solemn because she’s lost the woman she loves and has obviously been ostracized for that very love. Factor the many angels from which grief appears to come, and the palpable chemistry between her and young Frank and already you’re in a great place. That’s not even to mention that Raw has been amazing in a quasi-similar story, (Black Mirror‘s ‘San Junipero’ episode) and you have something that, at a bare minimum, deserves a further look.
Check out the trailer below and let us know what you think!
Follow all of our coverage for this film right here!
Released in 1986, Jim Henson’s Labyrinth wasn’t a huge hit. Much like another of Henson’s detours away from the comedy of his beloved Muppets, The Dark Crystal, the film never really found an audience until much later when it became a cult classic. Go to a comic-con nowadays and you may still find people dressed up as David Bowie’s goblin king Jareth. A sequel has been talked about, and even taken a few steps forward over the years, and now it has been reborn again with Doctor Strange director, Scott Derrickson.
Deadline reports Derrickson will direct a sequel to Labyrinth, penned by Maggie Levin. No details on the plot just yet, but presumably it will find someone else having to traverse a bizarre maze-like labyrinth to retrieve something valuable. In the original film, Jennifer Connelly played a girl who ventured into the otherworldly labyrinth to find her brother, who she wished away.
The most recent attempt at a sequel had Fede Alvarez (Evil Dead) directing from a Jay Basu script. Guardians of the Galaxy writer Nicole Perlman was attached before that.
Derrickson is basically trading one sequel for another. He only recently exited Doctor Strange 2over creative differences, and now he jumps into the world of Jim Henson. Levin is probably best known for writing an episode of Hulu/Blumhouse’s Into the Dark horror anthology.
This has been sorta in the atmosphere for a while, but now it’s official: Edgar Wright’s Last Night in Soho won’t arrive until 2021.
It was just a couple of weeks ago that Focus Features pulled Wright’s psychological thriller from its September 2020 release date due to the outbreak of coronavirus, and the closure of movie theaters around the world. With the fall season already pretty stacked, it was a wonder where exactly the film would fit in. Well, it fits in next year in April 2021. Here’s Wright’s tweet confirming the move himself…
Last Night in Soho was directed and co-written by Wright alongside 1917 co-writer Krysty Wilson-Cairns. The cast includes Anya Taylor-Joy, Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie, Matt Smith, Michael Ajao, Synnøve Karlsen, Diana Rigg, Terence Stamp, and Rita Tushingham.
Programme Name: I May Destroy You - TX: 08/06/2020 - Episode: n/a (No. 1) - Picture Shows: Arabella (MICHAELA COEL) - (C) Val Productions - Photographer: Natalie Seery
Dating, sex, relationships…all of it has changed and you can just look at the way they are covered in films and TV to see it. HBO’s new series I May Destroy You promises to explore them in a bold new way, led by BAFTA-winning writer, co-director, and star Michaela Coel as a woman reexamining her life after a sexual assault.
Coel, whose series Chewing Gum put her on the map, leads the provocative series about a London journalist whose career is on the upswing. But when her drink is spiked and she becomes the victim of an assault, she must find a way to come to terms with what happened. There’s a personal component to this, as Coel has talked about being assaulted during her time on Chewing Gum.
The cast of I May Destroy You includes Weruche Opia (Inside No9) and Paapa Essiedu (Kiri), Aml Ameen (Yardie), Adam James (Belgravia), Sarah Niles (Catastrophe), Ann Akin (Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams), Harriet Webb (Plebs), Ellie James (Giri/Haji), Franc Ashman (Peep Show), Karan Gill (Flesh & Blood), Natalie Walter (Horrible Histories), and Samson Ajewole.
I May Destroy You hits HBO on June 7th.
SYNOPSIS: Following triumph from a piece of writing that garnered internet acclaim, Arabella Essiuedu (Coel) – easily distracted, non-committal and carefree – finds herself feted as the ‘voice of her generation,’ with an agent, a book commission and a helluva lot of pressure. After being sexually assaulted in a nightclub, her life changes irreversibly and Arabella is forced to reassess everything: her career, her friends, even her family. As Arabella struggles to come to terms with what has happened, she begins a journey of self-discovery.
After working with Ryan Murphy on American Crime Story and his recent series, Hollywood, Darren Criss is taking the reins for himself. Royalties is the multi-talented actor’s new music industry show, and to say the talent assembled for this is extraordinary would be an understatement. Even those only vaguely familiar with Criss, such as myself, have plenty of reasons to seek out Quibi and give this one a look.
Criss wrote and stars in Royalties, playing one-half of a songwriting duo alongside Kether Donohue, better known to me as the only reason to have watched FX’s You’re the Worst. The pair must navigate their growing popularity with creative freedoms, the constant tug of war that all artists must endure.
Not only did Criss write the screenplays, but all of the songs used in the series, as well. He’s joined on the series by Amy Heckerling, known for some of the all-time great comedies such as Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Clueless, and Look Who’s Talking. The cast surrounding Criss is Julianne Hough, Jackie Tohn, Bonnie McKee, Jennifer Coolidge, John Stamos, Tony Revolori, Lil Rel Howery, Mark Hamill, Rufus Wainwright, Sabrina Carpenter, and To All The Boys: PS I Love You‘s Jordan Fisher. Damn.
Royalties hits Quibi on June 1st. Check out the trailer below, followed by the full tracklist for the upcoming soundtrack which will be released on June 12th. One of those songs, you’ll notice, is by Hamill. Luke, we didn’t know you still had it in you.
“This is a Theme Song (From Royalties)” – Darren Criss, Kether Donohue, Royalties Cast “Just That Good (From Royalties)” – Rufus Wainwright, Royalties Cast “Break It In (From Royalties)” – Lil Rel Howery, KingJet, Royalties Cast “Let Your Hair Down (From Royalties)” – Bonnie McKee, Royalties Cast “Kick Your Shoes Off (From Royalties)” – Bonnie McKee, Royalties Cast “Mighty As Kong (From Royalties)” – Mark Hamill, Royalties Cast “I Am So Much Better Than You At Everything (From Royalties)” – Darren Criss, Royalties Cast “Make You Come True (From Royalties)” – Jordan Fisher, Royalties Cast “Prizefighter (From Royalties)” – Julianne Hough, Royalties Cast “Also You (From Royalties)” – Jackie Tohn, Darren Criss, Royalties Cast “I Hate That I Need You (From Royalties)” – Jennifer Coolidge, NIve, Darren Criss, Royalties Cast “Perfect Song (From Royalties)” – Sabrina Carpenter, Royalties Cast
Comparisons to The Devil Wears Prada will come easily for Nisha Ganatra’s music-industry comedy The High Note. But with its less-devilish, just as high-maintenance boss and lighter humor it’s more in harmony with Ganatra’s previous film, last year’s Late Night, in which another young upstart seeks to make it big in a field that cares more about the aspirations of men than women. It’s a smart, witty, film that features Dakota Johnson in another pleasantly doe-eyed performance, although she’s repeatedly upstaged by the savvy, chic, and passionate Tracee Ellis Ross.
The High Note is about two women trying to figure out the next stages of their careers; Grace (Ross), the superstar singer and all-around diva who has lost her creative fire, driven into repeating the same covers (Covers being the movie’s original title) of her well-worn hits because that’s what people want to hear. The other, Maggie (Johnson), her beleaguered personal assistant with a music background and aspirations of being a record producer. Maggie is one of those only-found-in-Hollywood-movies characters suffering the “L.A. struggle”, meaning she says she’s barely getting but seems to be suffering no actual hardships. Her apartment, which she shares with a nurse friend (Zoe Chao, at her irascible best), looks like it was pulled straight out of a magazine for the rich and famous.
The High Note works best when Johnson and Ross can play off one another, keeping the focus on the movie’s core relationship between Maggie and Grace. While a love of music is what bonds them, the tighter connection is they are both women who have aspirations bigger than the industry seems to want for them. Ice Cube plays Grace’s pushy longtime manager, who is trying to urge her into a Vegas residency and a live album of classic hits, basically everything she doesn’t want to do. Maggie sees the potential in a brand new album, which she would produce, naturally, and while Grace wants to do it she got smacked with bad reviews the last time she did something fresh. Fear has stifled the veteran, while the youngster is a little too gung-ho.
Diversions into less-rewarding subplots stifle The High Note far too often during its two-hour runtime. While Kelvin Harrison is charming and surprisingly soulful as a rising star with a wary attitude towards the business (she meets him performing outside of a high-end grocery), his arrival pulls Maggie away from Grace as she takes on the added burden of becoming his producer. It also introduces a number of lousy sitcom situations in which she’s forced to lie (frequently) to everyone around her as she juggles both of her careers. A late-in-the-film twist is such a cockamamie pile of nonsense it’s hard to believe screenwriter Flora Greeson came up with it, as if a movie about two supremely-talented women making their mark in the music biz wasn’t enough.
This is Ross’ first major film in years, and she plays Grace like a cinematic version of her own mother, Diana Ross. She is R&B royalty, a queen of the stage who knows exactly how fierce she can be, but has ceded too much control to maintain her comfortable place on the throne. It’s a dynamic, powerful performance by Ross, and those who love her attitude, voice, and sense of style will be into it from the opening number. Speaking of which, the movie’s jazzy, bluesy soundtrack is another win, with Ross and Harrison capturing the breezy feel of the L.A. music scene. Johnson is good, as well, but like many of her past characters you’re pushed to the edge of frustration at Maggie’s naivete. Johnson knows how to play that role and play it well, and to be fair, she gives Maggie a believable transition from musical bystander into a creative force of her own. When the screenplay stops trying to convince us that Maggie is really toughing this one out (Even her father, played by Bill Pullman, is a radio DJ of some renown. She ain’t hurtin’.) she’s a likeable enough character.
The number of successful female music producers is astonishingly small. The older women get, the tougher it is for them to be taken seriously. In one of the movie’s best moments, Grace explains just how high the odds are of being successful later in one’s career, and the odds grow virtually insurmountable if you’re black. The High Note really hums when it uses humor to deliver these moments of insight, letting us into the anxieties and concerns that women must face even when at the top of the charts. When combined with a snappy soundtrack and a dash of fairy tale wish fulfillment, The High Note is worth singing about, even though it could’ve been more.
