Author: Christopher Marc

Posted on in Film News

Michael Shannon Is The Latest Addition To Brad Pitt’s Assassin Movie ‘Bullet Train’

Deadline reports that Man of Steel actor Michael Shannon has joined the growing cast of David Leitch’s (Deadpool 2, Atomic Blonde, John Wick) upcoming assassin film Bullet Train for Sony Pictures. His other credits includes The Shape of Water, Knives Out, Bad Boys 2, and Boardwalk Empire.

The film focuses on a group of assassins on Japanese bullet train in Tokyo.

Shannon is the latest addition to a cast that consists of recent Oscar winner Brad Pitt (Once Upon A Time In Hollywood), Joey King (The Dark Knight Rises), Andrew Koji (G.I. Joe Origins: Snake Eyes), Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Godzilla, Kick-Ass, Avengers: Age of Ultron), Brian Tyree Henry (Godzilla vs Kong, Widows, Joker, Eternals), and Zazie Beetz (Joker, Deadpool 2).

Sony Pictures hasn’t given Bullet Train an official release date and filming is taking place in Los Angeles, California.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News

‘Scream 5’ Officially Wraps and First Look At Returning Cast

Scream co-creator and screenwriter Kevin Williamson has posted on his Twitter account that they’ve completed filming on Scream 5 including an image of himself with franchise stars Neve Campbell and Courtney Cox.

Scream 5 is going to be a soft-reboot as we’ll see the return of main characters that will usher-in a new generation for the franchise, hopefully, that they’ll be making it a tradition to make a film every couple of years.

New additions to the cast include Jack Quaid, Melissa Barrera, Jenna Ortega, Dylan Minnette, Mason Gooding, Mikey Madison, Kyle Gallner, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Marley Shelton, and Mikey Madison. 

Ready or Not’s Matthew Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett are directing from a script penned by James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick.

Filming had been taking place in North Carolina and notoriously had multiple positive COVID-19 tests on set without pausing production.

The next installment is set to be released on January 14th, 2022.

SOURCE: KEVIN WILLIAMSON

Posted on in Film News

Dwayne Johnson Announces That ‘Red Notice’ Has Officially Wrapped Filming and Releases On Netflix In 2021

Yesterday, actor Dwayne Johnson took to Instagram to announce that his action film for Netflix titled Red Notice has finally completed production and posted a handful of images from the set including a nifty one with co-stars Gal Gadot and Ryan Reynolds.

In the world of international crime, an Interpol agent attempts to hunt down and capture the world’s most wanted art thief.

Dwayne also seemed to confirm the film will debut sometime in 2021.

Ryan Reynolds has already started shooting his next Netflix film The Adam Project in Vancouver. Johnson is expected to begin shooting his DC Comics film Black Adam in Atlanta next year.

SOURCE: DWAYNE JOHNSON

Posted on in Television News

Paul Bettany Describes Vision’s Unit For Some Reason – Is He The Dr. Manhattan of The MCU?

WandaVision actor Paul Bettany recently did an interview for Stir Crazy with Josh Horowitz to promote an upcoming film when the subject switched to the upcoming series along with the prospect of seeing Vision nude in the Disney+ series.

For whatever reason Josh Horowitz went one step further and brought-up the topic of Vision’s penis leading to Paul invoking Watchmen’s extremely hung Dr. Manhattan suggesting that the Avenger can also manipulate the size of his genitals at a whim, going even further to suggest it’s purple.

HOROWITZ: Do we finally get to see Vision’s penis finally?

BETTANY: “There is not nudity so to speak but I think people can answer this question for themselves…Vision can change his density so there’s that.”

HOROTWITZ: What color?

BETTANY: “He’s purple.”

Of course, all joking aside there isn’t likely going to be any nude scenes on the Disney+ plaform anytime soon given the family-friendly nature of the streaming platform but I’m sure weird questions like this will persist and continue now that Bettany has described Vision’s unit publicly.

WandaVision debuts January 15th on Disney+ and it remains to be seen where Viz will appear next in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

SOURCE: STIR CRAZY/COMEDY CENTRAL

Posted on in Film News

Elizabeth Olsen Suggests She’ll Begin Shooting ‘Doctor Strange 2’ Next Month

Not too long ago Marvel Studios executive vice president Victoria Alonso confirmed that WandaVision has finished filming which now allows Elizabeth Olsen to move on to her next big Marvel project, Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness. While franchise star Benedict Cumberbatch had previously suggested that he would begin filming this month it was a little less clear when Olsen would begin shooting her scenes as the film’s co-lead.

Elizabeth has revealed to travel outlet CN Traveller that she’ll be in England over the holidays either shooting/prepping for the sequel.

OLSEN: “I did a really strange deep-dive into how an American could legally live in the UK and I saw that there’s a retirement visa once you reach 54. I feel as if British people work to live – they don’t live to work, unlike in LA and New York. I am moving back soon to film the sequel to Dr Strange, so I’ll be there for Christmas, just outside London. Even given the current circumstances, it will be a nice trip.”

I’ve previously confirmed that filming will be mainly taking place at Longcross Studios in Surrey under the working title Stellar Vortex. Secondary filming locations were supposed to include Norway and New York City at one point. Spider-Man’s Sam Raimi has stepped in to direct after Scott Derrickson exited over creative differences with the studio. Hopefully, we’ll start getting some more casting news if they’re really undergoing filming soon.

Doctor Strange 2’s cast also is confirmed to include Benedict Wong as Wong and Chiwetel Ejiofor as Baron Karl Mordo. Newcomer Xochitl Gomez has reportedly joined the film in undisclosed role that many believe could be Young Avengers/Ultimates member America Chavez aka Miss America.

The United Kingdom is currently in their second lockdown which allows for film and television production, but further restrictions are now expected to go beyond December. We’ll have to wait and see if the government drops the hammer on productions in the coming weeks/months.

The Loki and WandaVision series are said to lead directly into films like Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness.

WandaVision’s debut on Disney+ has been delayed to January 15th, 2021 and Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness is expected to release on March 25th, 2022.

SOURCE: CN TRAVELLER

Posted on in Film News

Zoe Saldana and Jennifer Garner Join Fellow Marvel Alumni Ryan Reynolds In Sci-Fi Flick ‘The Adam Project’ – Adds ‘X-Men’ Franchise 2nd Unit Director

Today, Netflix officially announced that actresses Zoe Saldana (Avatar, Star Trek, Guardians of The Galaxy) and Jennifer Garner (Daredevil, Elektra, Peppermint, The Kingdom) have been added to the cast of Shawn Levy’s sci-fi action film The Adam Project, which is said to include time travelling.

The ladies join fellow Marvel alumni Ryan Reynolds as filming began this week in Vancouver and is expected to complete in early March.

The Ronin can confirm that the Brian Smrz will act as the second unit director on The Adam Project and will be overseeing the film’s action sequences. Brian’s credits include X-Men 2, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, X-Men: First Class, X-Men: Days of Future Past, X-Men: Apocalypse, X-Men: Dark Phoenix, Iron Man 3, Terminator Genisys, The Predator, Rise of The Planet of The Apes, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, and Venom: Let There Be Carnage.

There is word that production designer Claude Pare (IT, X-Men: Dark Phoenix, Spider-Man: Far From Home) may have joined the crew as well.

This might suggest the film will skew more in the action realm.

Reynolds has been working closely with Netflix lately with their pricey action films 6 Underground and Red Notice. He previously worked with director Shawn Levy on 20th Century Studios’ Free Guy that had been bumped from a December release to sometime in 2021.

FREE GUY – A bank teller who discovers he is actually a background player in an open-world video game, decides to become the hero of his own story…one he rewrites himself. Now in a world where there are no limits, he is determined to be the guy who saves his world his way…before it is too late.

Netflix has yet to announce a release date for The Adam Project but late 2021 or early 2022 is a good bet.

Posted on in Film News

Margot Robbie Is Curious To See The Ayer Cut of ‘Suicide Squad’

On the heels of Zack Snyder’s Justice League coming to HBO Max as an extended miniseries there have been multiple calls from fans for Warner Bros. to release the original cut of David Ayer’s Suicide Squad. The director has confirmed there was plenty of tinkering and many scenes removed from the theatrical cut.

Harley Quinn actress Margot Robbie has now revealed on The Happy Sad Confused podcast that while she never saw this cut of the film she would like to.

ROBBIE: “I never saw the Ayer Cut. I know we shot a lot of stuff that didn’t make it into the movie. I would be very curious myself.”

Earlier this month, David Ayer took to Twitter to debunk a rumor that the Ayer Cut was coming to HBO Max replying with “not true”. There really hasn’t been any official signs that it is coming anytime soon.

Robbie has since moved on as Harley Quinn with Cathy Yan’s Birds of Prey and James Gunn’s The Suicide Sqaud set to be released on August 6th, 2021. It’s possible we could see more of her as the character that’s if Harley survives the Suicide Squad sequel.

SOURCE: HAPPY SAD CONFUSED PODCAST

Posted on in Television News

‘The Batman’ Spinoff Series At HBO Max Loses Showrunner Terence Winter Over Creative Differences

The Gotham PD series aka Gotham Central at HBO Max from Matt Reeves has reportedly lost writer and showrunner Terence Winter (Boardwalk Empire, Sopranos) according to The Hollywood Reporter. Terence Winter is apparently exiting the DC Comics series due to creative differences with Matt Reeves and producers.

The Boardwalk Empire creator, who was poised to write and serve as showrunner on Matt Reeves’ TV spinoff of The Batman has departed the HBO Max series. Sources say creative differences are to blame for the split as Winter’s vision for the drama did not match what Reeves and other producers had in mind. A search is under way for a new showrunner for the untitled drama.

Winter is keeping busy developing a new mob series for HBO and an anthology series titled Dail M For Murder.

The report doesn’t mention who will be replacing him as showrunner.

Gotham Central isn’t the only DC Comics series in the works at HBO Max as James Gunn is expected to begin shooting Peacemaker early next year and there is also a Green Lantern show featuring multiple lanterns is also coming together.

Matt Reeves is currently busy with the production of The Batman in the United Kingdom.

Here is what Matt had to say about the series at DC FanDome back in August.

REEVES: “The idea of this story was a story in which Gotham, which has this depth of corruption, and the idea that we could do a series that is going deeper into an aspect of it, which in this case is the corrupt police department, the corrupt inner workings of the city. And the way we’re gonna do this series. Terence Winter is just an incredible writer, so the idea that we got him to do this, just is literally a dream. The idea is, we go back to year one, and year one is the beginning of the first emergence, the first appearance of this masked vigilante that starts to unsettle the city, and you start to see the story through the POV of these corrupt cops, and one in particular. And the story is actually a battle for his soul.”

“He’s a cop over generations and the history of corruption in Gotham is enormous and goes back many years, and the story is like, as you realize that there’s this myth-building in the background, you’re actually in a new place where you’ve never seen these characters before – some of them we’ll touch on that you may have seen in the comics, but others are totally new. Then you can go down an avenue and go into detail that you couldn’t do in a movie, and to go into these rich places and meet entirely new characters that Terence is going to create.”

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Posted on in Film News

Will The Long Delayed ‘Indiana Jones 5’ Finally Begin Filming In August?

Development on a fifth and possibly final Indiana Jones film starring Harrison Ford has been in the works for five years at Lucasfilm. The project has been delayed for ages now after a string of release dates went from July 19th, 2019 to July 10th, 2020 to July 9th, 2021 to the most recent date being July 29th, 2022.

You might remember that Steven Spielberg exited the film and Lucasfilm eventually hired Logan director James Mangold. It’s expected that Mangold is working on the script after screenwriters David Koepp (Jurassic Park) and Jonathan Kasdan (Solo: A Star Wars Story, Willow series) have moved on.

It’s possible that they might finally inching closer towards filming. A new production grid for the untitled Indiana Jones 5 is making the rounds online and one of the places it landed yesterday was Daniel Richtman’s Patreon page.

However, we have to note there were at least two other production grids that suggested that filming would begin in 2019 and 2020 that never actually happened due to script issues. I wouldn’t be terribly quick to say this is lock without confirmation from the studio and casting begins but could give some insight when Lucasfilm hopes to get filming started next year.

They’ll also have to contend with lingering COVID-19 that won’t be entirely gone in the summer of 2021 (even with a vaccine in circulation) and potentially risking the heath of the nearly 80 year old Harrison Ford. Disney and Lucasfilm taking another mulligan until 2022 wouldn’t be the most shocking development.

Back in February, Ford himself told CBS Sunday Morning that they would begin shooting this year and those plans didn’t come together.

FORD: “Trying not to look silly, running around in tight pants and high boots… I’ll give you a more appropriate answer considering that I’m gonna start doing Indiana Jones in about two months. I’m always delighted to come back to these characters. When we have the opportunity to make another, it’s because people have enjoyed them, I feel obliged to make sure that our efforts are as ambitious as they were when we started.“

Last we heard from Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy, Indiana Jones 5 is indeed a continuation.

KENNEDY: “Oh, Harrison Ford will be involved, yeah. It’s not a reboot, it’s a continuation…He can’t wait he absolutely is.”

In the past, Harrison Ford has debunked the talk of Chris Pratt (mixing him up with Chris Pine) taking over the role in a reboot stating to the Today Show the character is expected to die with him.

FORD: “Nobody is going to be Indiana Jones, don’t you get it? I’m Indiana Jones. When I’m gone, he’s gone. It’s easy. This is a hell of a way to tell Chris Pine this. I’m sorry, man.”

Back in 2016, screenwriter David Koepp revealed to Collider that franchise creator George Lucas wouldn’t be part of the story/script process.

It’s unclear if we’ll be seeing supporting characters like Wan Li aka Short Round or Henry Jones III aka Mutt appear in the final installment. I’d personally like to see them attempt to develop a new protege character and place Indy in the Henry Jones Sr. role as seen in The Last Crusade.

SOURCE: DANIEL RICHTMAN/PRODUCTION WEEKLY

Posted on in Television News

Jon Bernthal Still Hopeful Marvel Will Ask Him To Reprise ‘The Punisher’ Role – “I’ll Be Ready”

Despite fan wishes and rumblings that Marvel Studios was going to resurrect the Netflix lineup of Marvel shows for Hulu/Disney+, that doesn’t seem to be happening as Marvel Television was re-branded as Marvel TV Studios with Kevin Feige overseeing future television projects after Jeph Loeb exited the company.

This hasn’t detoured The Punisher actor Jon Bernthal and has been vocal about reprising the Frank Castle role if Marvel wants him to. This is reinforced in a new interview with Geek House Show (via The Playlist). As great as Jon’s enthusiasm is, as he points out himself he’s not part of those decisions.

BERNTHAL: “I think with that, there’s always hope, you know? It’s unbelievably humbling how much people responded to this version of Frank. I can’t tell you how much he means to me. He’s in my blood. He’s in my bones. And for me, it’s not really a question ever with this kind of stuff about whether you get the opportunity to do it or not…It’s not about whether we do it, it’s about doing it right. And doing the version the fans really deserve.”

“We’ll see. All of those decisions are made in rooms I’m not invited into. That’s okay with me…When we get the call to go, I’ll be ready. And I’ll do everything I can to make sure we do it right or we don’t do it at all.”

The actor first played Frank Castle in Season 2 of Daredevil before getting his own solo Punisher series that landed two seasons itself before it was cancelled.

Jon Bernthal sounds more optimistic than Daredevil’s Charlie Cox, who said he wasn’t even expecting the series to get a Season 3 despite the online fan campaign #SaveDaredevil and poured cold water on the rumor he was going to be involved with Spider-Man 3.

We ultimately don’t know what Kevin’s plans are for characters like Frank Castle, Matt Murdock, Elektra Natchios, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Danny Rand (despite Iron Fist connections rumored for Shang-Chi). Also, if he wants to bring them into the real Marvel Cinematic Universe I’m unconvinced he’ll even ask those actors to return to their roles or attempt soft-reboots with new actors instead. Even if characters are slowly reverting back to Marvel from Netflix the contracts for actors and showrunners (many have found new gigs) have expired, meaning that Marvel TV Studios has zero obligations anymore.

Fiege didn’t seem terribly interested in continuing the Loeb era of Marvel Television projects as reflected with the cancellations and it doesn’t look like those projects will find new lives elsewhere. It might also irk Disney to have off-shoots on places like Netflix and rebooting might be a way to sever any ties to those Netflix shows or being branded as “MCU”.

However, speaking of Spider-Man 3, Jamie Foxx is seeming getting a second shot at playing Electro in what is likely going to be an MCU take on the character not unlike J.K. Simmon’s new version of J. Jonah Jameson first seen in Spider-Man: Far From Home. There is a chance they could bring Cox and Bernthal back but ignore the events of the Netflix shows entirely given that Feige and the producing team didn’t have oversight on that material which would suggest they’re more likely to just jettison it.

There has been zero sign from Marvel that they’re even interested in using those characters anytime soon, so we’ll just have to be patient.

SOURCE: GEEK HOUSE SHOW