Disney just can’t quit Rob Marshall, can they? The director has already directed three movies for the Mouse House: Into the Woods, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, and he’s currently wrapping up on Mary Poppins Returns. But that simply isn’t enough, so now he’s been offered to direct Disney’s live-action The Little Mermaid.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz….
Yeah, Marshall’s a pretty boring and obvious choice, but he’s made Disney a lot of money so it’s easy to see why they love him. The film should be a musical right up Marshall’s alley with music from Hamilton‘s Lin-Manuel Miranda and the legendary Alan Merken. The good news is that Disney is clearly happy with Marshall’s work on Mary Poppins Returns, which means it should make quite a splash when it arrives next holiday season.
On the other hand, Universal has their own live-action adaptation in the works…somewhere, and it sounds like they’re willing to push a few boundaries with the underwater tale. Sophia Coppola had been eyed to direct with Chloe Moretz as Ariel. But that one has sunken “under the sea” and may never come up to air. You can bet Disney won’t let the same thing happen to them. [Deadline]
Y’know that forever-developing John Gotti biopic John Travolta’s been working on? The one that used to be called Gotti: Three Generations and had Joe Pesci attached a lifetime ago? Well, just 10 days before it was finally to hit theaters, Lionsgate has cancelled the release, dropping it from their slate completely and selling it back to the original producers.
So what’s up? While initial reports painted a bleak picture for the project, Travolta took to Deadline to reveal his version of truth. Upset over the tiny platform release Lionsgate had planned, Travolta teamed up with producer Edward Walson, one of the guys behind Cafe Society and Wonder Wheel, to pursue other distribution options. Travolta no doubt sees this as a potential award-winning role for him as the infamous Gambino crime boss, and will want to position it for an appropriate wide release date in 2018.
Gotti is directed by Kevin Connolly, yes the guy from Entourage, and co-stars Kelly Preston, Stacy Keah, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Ella Bleu Travolta, and Spencer Lofranco.
Filming on The Crow Reborn finally seems to be happening. It only took about a decade of fits and starts, castings, firings, and legal messiness before Jason Momoa came on to star and Corin Hardy to direct. But not everybody is happy that it’s finally getting off the ground. Alex Proyas, who directed Brandon Lee in the cult favorite 1994 film, the one where the actor was tragically killed in a freak accident, thinks it’s a very bad idea.
Proyas’ took to Facebook and revealed why he thinks this reboot is a terrible idea, and you won’t be surprised to learn it has to do with Lee and the final performance of the young man’s short career. Here is just a small part of what he had to say…
“ ’The Crow’ would not be a movie worth ‘remaking’ if it wasn’t for Brandon Lee. If it wasn’t for Brandon you may never have even heard of this poignant little underground comic. It is Brandon’s movie. I believe it is a special case where Hollywood should just let it remain a testament to a man’s immense talent and ultimate sacrifice – and not have others re-write that story or add to it. I know sequels were made, and TV shows, and what have you, but the notion of ‘rebooting’ this story, and the original character – a character Brandon gave life to at too high a cost – seems wrong to me. Please let this remain Brandon’s film.”
You can see why Proyas would feel this way. Brandon Lee’s death on a movie he was directing must still haunt him all of these years later. But this is the age of blockbuster franchises and The Crow is a relatively well-known property and that means it can’t lay dormant for long. Hopefully this new version finds a way to honor Lee and do his memory proud.
Step right up, folks! We’re offering our DC readers the chance to attend a free advance screening of The Greatest Showman, starring Hugh Jackman as P.T. Barnum. The film also stars Michelle Williams, Zendaya, Zac Efron, and Rebecca Ferguson.
SYNOPSIS: “The Greatest Showman” is a bold and original musical that celebrates the birth of show business and the sense of wonder we feel when dreams come to life. Inspired by the ambition and imagination of P.T. Barnum, “The Greatest Showman” tells the story of a visionary who rose from nothing to create a mesmerizing spectacle that became a worldwide sensation. “The Greatest Showman” is directed by exciting new filmmaker, Michael Gracey, with songs by Academy Award® winners Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (“La La Land”) and starring Academy Award nominee Hugh Jackman. Jackman is joined by Zac Efron, Academy Award nominee Michelle Williams, Rebecca Ferguson and Zendaya.
Note the start time, because this screening takes place on Sunday, December 10th at 10AM at AMC Hoffman Center in Alexandria, VA. If you’d like to attend, simply register at the Gofobo ticketing site here and download one Admit-Two pass. Please remember that having tickets does not guarantee entry as all screenings are first come first served. You’ll need to arrive early to ensure receiving a seat. Enjoy the show!
Guillermo Del Toro’s The Shape of Water has been a consistent presence in the awards so far this season, but it has REALLY struck a chord with the Broadcast Film Critics Association. The group, which I am a proud member of, has honored Del Toro’s film with a whopping 14 Critics Choice Awards nominations.
Del Toro’s dark fairy tale dominated the acting and technical categories, earning nominations for Best Picture, Best Actress for Sally Hawkins, and Best Adapted Screenplay. Surprising are the nominations that went to Octavia Spencer and Richard Jenkins, which could be a sign of things to come. The Post, Dunkirk, Lady Bird, and Call Me By Your Name tied for a distant second with eight nominations. In a disappointing swerve, The Florida Project only finished with three nominations, and somehow, SOMEHOW, Mudbound was blanked for Best Picture. How is that possible?
In the BFCA we do things a little bit differently. Ironically, although we are a bunch of critics our choices tend to be more populist. So you get Daniel Kaluuya in the Best Actor category for Get Out, Patrick Stewart in the Best Supporting Actor field for Logan, and separate categories for action movies, sci-fi, and comedies where you’ll find Thor: Ragnarok, Wonder Woman, and more.
Full list of nominees, including TV, are below. The Critics Choice Awards will be announced on January 11th 2018.
BEST PICTURE
The Big Sick
Call Me by Your Name
Darkest Hour
Dunkirk
The Florida Project
Get Out
Lady Bird
The Post
The Shape of Water
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
BEST ACTOR
Timothée Chalamet – Call Me by Your Name
James Franco – The Disaster Artist
Jake Gyllenhaal – Stronger
Tom Hanks – The Post
Daniel Kaluuya – Get Out
Daniel Day-Lewis – Phantom Thread
Gary Oldman – Darkest Hour
BEST ACTRESS
Jessica Chastain – Molly’s Game
Sally Hawkins – The Shape of Water
Frances McDormand – Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Margot Robbie – I, Tonya
Saoirse Ronan – Lady Bird
Meryl Streep – The Post
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Willem Dafoe – The Florida Project
Armie Hammer – Call Me By Your Name
Richard Jenkins – The Shape of Water
Sam Rockwell – Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Patrick Stewart – Logan
Michael Stuhlbarg – Call Me by Your Name
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Mary J. Blige – Mudbound
Hong Chau – Downsizing
Tiffany Haddish – Girls Trip
Holly Hunter – The Big Sick
Allison Janney – I, Tonya
Laurie Metcalf – Lady Bird
Octavia Spencer – The Shape of Water
BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS
Mckenna Grace – Gifted
Dafne Keen – Logan
Brooklynn Prince – The Florida Project
Millicent Simmonds – Wonderstruck
Jacob Tremblay – Wonder
BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE
Dunkirk
Lady Bird
Mudbound
The Post
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
BEST DIRECTOR
Guillermo del Toro – The Shape of Water
Greta Gerwig – Lady Bird
Martin McDonagh – Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Christopher Nolan – Dunkirk
Luca Guadagnino – Call Me By Your Name
Jordan Peele – Get Out
Steven Spielberg – The Post
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Guillermo del Toro and Vanessa Taylor – The Shape of Water
Greta Gerwig – Lady Bird
Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani – The Big Sick
Liz Hannah and Josh Singer – The Post
Martin McDonagh – Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Jordan Peele – Get Out
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
James Ivory – Call Me by Your Name
Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber – The Disaster Artist
Dee Rees and Virgil Williams – Mudbound
Aaron Sorkin – Molly’s Game
Jack Thorne, Steve Conrad, Stephen Chbosky – Wonder
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Roger Deakins – Blade Runner 2049
Hoyte van Hoytema – Dunkirk
Dan Laustsen – The Shape of Water
Rachel Morrison – Mudbound
Sayombhu Mukdeeprom – Call Me By Your Name
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Paul Denham Austerberry, Shane Vieau, Jeff Melvin – The Shape of Water
Jim Clay, Rebecca Alleway – Murder on the Orient Express
Nathan Crowley, Gary Fettis – Dunkirk
Dennis Gassner, Alessandra Querzola – Blade Runner 2049
Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer – Beauty and the Beast
Mark Tildesley, Véronique Melery – Phantom Thread
BEST EDITING
Michael Kahn, Sarah Broshar – The Post
Paul Machliss, Jonathan Amos – Baby Driver
Lee Smith – Dunkirk
Joe Walker – Blade Runner 2049
Sidney Wolinsky – The Shape of Water
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Renée April – Blade Runner 2049
Mark Bridges – Phantom Thread
Jacqueline Durran – Beauty and the Beast
Lindy Hemming – Wonder Woman
Luis Sequeira – The Shape of Water
BEST HAIR AND MAKEUP
Beauty and the Beast
Darkest Hour
I, Tonya
The Shape of Water
Wonder
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Blade Runner 2049
Dunkirk
The Shape of Water
Thor: Ragnarok
War for the Planet of the Apes
Wonder Woman
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
The Breadwinner
Coco
Despicable Me 3
The LEGO Batman Movie
Loving Vincent
BEST ACTION MOVIE
Baby Driver
Logan
Thor: Ragnarok
War for the Planet of the Apes
Wonder Woman
BEST COMEDY
The Big Sick
The Disaster Artist
Girls Trip
I, Tonya
Lady Bird
BEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY
Steve Carell – Battle of the Sexes
James Franco – The Disaster Artist
Chris Hemsworth – Thor: Ragnarok
Kumail Nanjiani – The Big Sick
Adam Sandler – The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)
BEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY
Tiffany Haddish – Girls Trip
Zoe Kazan – The Big Sick
Margot Robbie – I, Tonya
Saoirse Ronan – Lady Bird
Emma Stone – Battle of the Sexes
BEST SCI-FI OR HORROR MOVIE
Blade Runner 2049
Get Out
It
The Shape of Water
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
BPM (Beats Per Minute)
A Fantastic Woman
First They Killed My Father
In the Fade
The Square
Thelma
BEST SONG
Evermore – Beauty and the Beast
Mystery of Love – Call Me By Your Name
Remember Me – Coco
Stand Up for Something – Marshall
This Is Me – The Greatest Showman
BEST SCORE
Alexandre Desplat – The Shape of Water
Jonny Greenwood – Phantom Thread
Dario Marianelli – Darkest Hour
Benjamin Wallfisch and Hans Zimmer – Blade Runner 2049
John Williams – The Post
Hans Zimmer – Dunkirk
TELEVISION NOMINATIONS FOR THE 23rd ANNUAL CRITICS’ CHOICE AWARDS
Best Drama Series
American Gods (Starz)
The Crown (Netflix)
Game of Thrones (HBO)
The Handmaid’s Tale (Hulu)
Stranger Things (Netflix)
This Is Us (NBC)
Best Actor in a Drama Series
Sterling K. Brown – This Is Us (NBC)
Paul Giamatti – Billions (Showtime)
Freddie Highmore – Bates Motel (A&E)
Ian McShane – American Gods (Starz)
Bob Odenkirk – Better Call Saul (AMC)
Liev Schreiber – Ray Donovan (Showtime)
Best Actress in a Drama Series
Caitriona Balfe – Outlander (Starz)
Christine Baranski – The Good Fight (CBS All Access)
Claire Foy – The Crown (Netflix)
Tatiana Maslany – Orphan Black (BBC America)
Elisabeth Moss – The Handmaid’s Tale (Hulu)
Robin Wright – House of Cards (Netflix)
Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
Bobby Cannavale – Mr. Robot (USA)
Asia Kate Dillon – Billions (Showtime)
Peter Dinklage – Game of Thrones (HBO)
David Harbour – Stranger Things (Netflix)
Delroy Lindo – The Good Fight (CBS All Access)
Michael McKean – Better Call Saul (AMC)
Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
Gillian Anderson – American Gods (Starz)
Emilia Clarke – Game of Thrones (HBO)
Ann Dowd – The Handmaid’s Tale (Hulu)
Cush Jumbo – The Good Fight (CBS All Access)
Margo Martindale – Sneaky Pete (Amazon)
Chrissy Metz – This Is Us (NBC)
Best Comedy Series
The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
Black-ish (ABC)
GLOW (Netflix)
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon)
Modern Family (ABC)
Patriot (Amazon)
Best Actor in a Comedy Series
Anthony Anderson – Black-ish (ABC)
Aziz Ansari – Master of None (Netflix)
Hank Azaria – Brockmire (IFC)
Ted Danson – The Good Place (NBC)
Thomas Middleditch – Silicon Valley (HBO)
Randall Park – Fresh Off the Boat (ABC)
Best Actress in a Comedy Series
Kristen Bell – The Good Place (NBC)
Alison Brie – GLOW (Netflix)
Rachel Brosnahan – The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon)
Joaquin Phoenix is about to go HAM on a bunch of sex traffickers, and that’s pretty awesome. We’re going to see multiple Phoenix performances next year but the most intense, the most unrelenting, the most violent, is sure to be in Lynne Ramsay’s You Were Never Really Here.
Phoenix, kinda looking like Mel Gibson during his wacko “ostracized from Hollywood” phase, plays a former FBI agent and PTSD-afflicted Gulf War vet hired to rescue a senator’s daughter from a sex trafficking right, and how the case sends him teetering over the edge. Let’s just say he’ll do anything it takes to get the job done. Here’s the official synopsis:
A traumatized veteran, unafraid of violence, tracks down missing girls for a living. When a job spins out of control, Joe’s nightmares overtake him as a conspiracy is uncovered leading to what may be his death trip or his awakening.
Also starring Judith Roberts, Ekaterina Samsonov, John Doman, Alex Manette, Dante Pereira-Olsen, and Alessandro Nivola, You Were Never Really Here opens April 6th 2018.
It’s the For Colored Girls reunion nobody was asking for ! Tessa Thompson and Whoopi Goldberg are to be reunited in IFC’s indie road trip movie, Furlough, starring alongside Melissa Leo. Laurie Collyer will direct from a script by Barry Strugatz.
The road trip comedy follows a woman (Thompson) who lives with and cares for her aging mother (Goldberg), while working part-time at a jail. At work, she is given a chance to show off her abilities when she is assigned to accompany an unruly prisoner (Leo) on an emergency furlough to visit her dying mother. Things don’t go as planned.
Also part of the cast are Edgar Ramirez, La La Anthony, and Anna Paquin. Beween Goldberg, Leo, and Paquin the film has a total of three Oscar winners. Pretty impressive. [Variety]
We already knew Sony’s sequel to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo would have a completely rebooted cast, and now we’re seeing the replacement process completed. Borg/McEnroe star Sverrir Gudnason has taken on the role of Mikael Blomquist, which was previously played by Daniel Craig. He’ll be starring alongside Claire Foy who has taken over as Lisbeth Salander from Rooney Mara.
Fede Alvarez will be behind the camera for the adaptation of The Girl in the Spider’s Web, based on the fourth Millennium novel. Sylvia Hoeks of Blade Runner 2049 will play Lisbeth’s twin sister, with The Square‘s Claes Bang as a villain. As for the plot, it will apparently deal with a mysterious part of Lisbeth’s past coming back to haunt her.
The Girl in the Spider’s Web opens October 5th 2018. [Variety]
Mary Elizabeth Winstead is joining Aaron Paul in The Parts You Lose, about the unlikely friendship that forms between Wesley, a young deaf boy, and a fugitive on the run. When the cops close in on his location, Wesley must decide where to place his loyalties. Newcomer Danny Murphy is also part of the cast, with Winstead playing Wesley’s mother. Darren Lemke (Jack the Giant Slayer) wrote the script for Christopher Cantwell to direct.
Barry Jenkins’ adaptation of James Baldwin’s If Beale Street Could Talk is putting together an incredible cast. Joining now is Narcos star Pedro Pascal, alongside Kiki Layne, Stephan James, Teyonah Parris, Dave Franco, Colman Domingo, Regina King, Brian Tyree Henry, Ed Skrein, Diego Luna, Michael Beach, and Finn Wittrock. The film follows a pregnant Harlem woman as she does whatever it takes to get her fiancé out of prison. [Variety]
In a day we’ll finally have the trailer for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, but in the run-up to it we’ve been treated to a number of teasers that have revealed…well, that people really need to stop fuckin’ around with dinosaurs. Seriously, they could make an Idiocracy sequel out of all the stupid things man has done trying to keep dinosaurs around in these movies. Like…oh, I dunno…creating a dinosaur sanctuary near an active volcano.
Speaking with EW, Bryce Dallas Howard provides more plot details. She says the film takes place a few years after Jurassic World, Claire and Owen’s relationship seems to be in neutral, but she needs his help getting the dinosaurs she’s rescued off of Isla Nublar which is about to become the new Pompeii…
“Claire’s founded an organization, Dinosaur Protection Group, and they’re finding a way to get these dinosaurs off the island. She reaches out to [Chris Pratt’s character] Owen Grady to let him know this is happening.”
Despite surviving the events of the last movie, Claire and Owen don’t seem to be on the same page romantically at this point.
“When you see them at the beginning of this story, you get caught up as to what’s going on. But it’s not what you would necessarily expect.”
Nah, I think we get it. Romantic tension and all that.
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom opens June 22nd 2018. Check out some new photos below, including our first look at the newly-introduced Baryonyx!
