Deadline is reporting that Widows actor Brian Tyree Henry is the latest addition to the growing cast of Sony’s assassin action film Bullet Train from John Wick director David Leitch (Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2, Hobbs & Shaw). As the title would suggest the story takes place on a Tokyo bullet train populated with multiple assassins.
Brian Tyree Henry was recently revealed to be playing an openly gay character in Marvel’s Eternals and will also be seen in Godzilla Vs Kong next year.
He joins a cast that also consists of Oscar-winner Brad Pitt, Joey King (The Dark Knight Rises), Andrew Koji (Snake Eyes), and Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kick-Ass, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Godzilla, The King’s Man).
Deadline is reporting that director Mohamed Diab (Clash) has been selected by Marvel Studios to direct their Moon Knight series which has Oscar Isaac in talks to play Marc Spector.
Moon Knight, aka Marc Spector, a mercenary who has numerous alter egos — cabbie Jake Lockley and millionaire playboy Steven Grant — in order to better fight the criminal underworld. But later he was established as being a conduit for the Egyptian moon god Khonshu. Most recently, the character was a consultant who dresses in all-white and goes by the name Mr. Knight.
Yesterday, it was revealed that Star Wars and Dune actor Oscar Isaac was in talks with Disney/Marvel to land the role which might suggest that they are taking more of a film star approach with the character. Something slightly different from the other recent Disney+ castings.
Filming is expected to spend a good chunk of time in the United Kingdom but when is a little bit of a question as Isaac is attached to star in an HBO limited series titled Scenes From A Marriage with Jessica Chastain. Marvel Studios also has plenty of new stuff on their plate with the television as She-Hulk, Hawkeye, and Ms. Marvel are expected to begin shooting in Atlanta soon.
We should expect a bunch of casting news coming in the coming weeks and months.
Actor Lewis Tan (Deadpool 2) has posted images on his Instagram account that all but confirm that he and co-star Ludi Lin (Aquaman, Power Rangers) are heading back to Australia for some reshoots for New Line Cinema’s Mortal Kombat reboot as the duo are sharing a long flight together. Tan wearing a stylish Scorpion mask.
Principal photography originally took place at Adelaide Studios in South Australia.
Austraila, like New Zealand, has been one of the more safer places for film production as Marvel’s Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings wrapped-up recently after filming in Sydney. Thor: Love & Thunder is now expected to take over the Shang-Chi stages at Fox Studios Australia as production is said to begin in early 2021.
Mortal Kombat’s cast consists of Ludi Lin as Liu Kang, Hiroyuki Sanada as Scorpion, Chin Han as Shang Tsung, Jessica McNamee as Sonya Blade, Josh Lawson as Kano, Lewis Tan possibly playing new character Cole Turner, Joe Taslim as Sub-Zero, Tadanobu Asano as Raiden, Mehcad Brooks as Jax, and Sisi Stringer as Melina.
The film had been scheduled for release on January 15th, 2021 but it’s looking like it’ll be getting a delay given that Warner Bros. hasn’t even released a trailer for the action pic and we don’t know how long these reshoots could last. It does seem like New Line would be cutting it really close to have the film ready on time and it remains to be seen if WarnerMedia will even stick to a theatrical release.
The Hollywood Reporter has learned that Netflix has secured a new thriller titled Born To Be Murdered that stars Tenet’s John David Washington and Ex Machina’s Alicia Vikander that takes place in Greece. It’s unclear how much Netflix paid for the acquisition.
The film that shot back in 2019 is produced by Luca Guadagnino (Scarface) and is the directorial debut of Ferdinando Cito Filomarino, who was the second unit director on Luca’s films Call Me By Your Name and Suspiria.
Set in Athens and the Epirus region of Greece and tells of a vacationing couple, played by Washington and Vikander, who fall prey to a violent conspiracy with tragic consequences.
John recently worked with Christopher Nolan on the sci-fi action film Tenet and Alicia Vikander had been expected to shoot a sequel to Tomb Raider in the near future.
Born To Be Murdered is expected to be released sometime in 2021 but hasn’t been given a drop date officially.
Today, Netflix announced formally they’ll be teaming up with Ubisoft Film & Television to develop a live-action series for the streaming service based on the popular and long running video game franchise. They are now currently seeking a showrunner and a cast will likely be assembled once that search is over.
The latest installment of the video game titled Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla will explore the era of the Vikings.
A feature film starring Michael Fassbender was released back in 2016 by 20th Century Fox which flopped at the box office earning $240.7 million globally on a budget of $125 million.
ASSASSIN’S CREED – Cal Lynch travels back in time to 15th-century Spain through a revolutionary technology that unlocks the genetic memories contained in his DNA. There, he lives out the experiences of Aguilar de Nerha, a distant relative who’s also a member of the Assassins, a secret society that fights to protect free will from the power-hungry Templar Order. Transformed by the past, Cal begins to gain the knowledge and physical skills necessary to battle the oppressive organization in the present.
Ubisoft had also been developing a feature film based on their pandemic video game IP The Division at Netflix from director David Leitch (Deadpool 2, Atomic Blonde, John Wick) with Jake Gyllenhaal and Jessica Chastain attached to star. However, there hasn’t been any concrete updates in ages.
Assassin’s Creed seemingly would fit alongside other live-action series connected to video games such as their upcoming Resident Evil series and The Witcher (fantasy novels turned into popular video games) series which is heading into Season 2.
We’ve seen a handful of the new castings for the Disney+ shows such as Canadian actresses Iman Vellani for Kamala Khan aka Ms. Marvel and Tatiana Maslany for Jennifer Walters aka She-Hulk. However, both of those picks felt more in the realm of television castings from Marvel Studios and could be actors they can transform into international stars such as they did with Thor’s Chris Hemsworth and are expected to do with Shang-Chi’s Simu Liu.
If Marvel Studios ultimately hires Oscar Issac for Marc Spector (fingers-crossed he signs on officially) they would be landing one of the more high profile leading actors since the likes of Brie Larson for Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel and the late Chadwick Boseman who played T’Challa aka Black Panther, both known mostly for their film work at the time of being cast in their respective roles. The last big high-profile casting announcement was when Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali was announced for the role of Eric Brooks aka Blade back in July 2019 at San Diego Comic-Con, who happened to have been dabbling in television at the time with Netflix’s Luke Cage and HBO’s True Detective.
We already know that Kevin Feige has confirmed that the Disney+ characters would eventually move into feature films but the Moon Knight casting, to me, suggests Marc Spector is a hot commodity for Marvel Studios and they needed a high-profile actor to play him.
It’s worth noting that Oscar Isaac has been making films regularly for the last 18 years (started in 1996) but has previously only agreed to make three television projects such as the HBO miniseries Show Me A Hero, voice work on the Disney animated series Star Wars: Resistance, and is about to make another HBO limited series titled Scenes From A Marriage co-starring Jessica Chastain. That is only two live-action TV projects that were made for HBO. Agreeing to make a streaming series on Disney+ would be a big deal given his limited television work and the time commitment attached it alongside a Marvel contract.
Oscar is known as an actor internationally thanks to playing Poe Dameron in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, and recently taking the role of Duke Leto Atreides in Denis Villeneuve’s first Dune installment, all massive films giving him global exposure that a lot of other Marvel leads didn’t have before landing their franchise gigs.
It’s expected that will Dune release globally before Moon Knight begins to air on Disney+ with their new release date of October 1st, 2021.
Landing someone as popular and busy as Isaac would suggest to me that Moon Knight is likely heading to the feature films very very soon. His high-profile screams film casting rather than Marvel looking to develop new talent in a streaming series before. I wouldn’t be shocked if he showed up in other New York City projects or at the very least in Mahershala Ali’s upcoming Blade reboot, as both anti-heroes are wading in the realm of Marvel’s supernatural and horror corner.
It remains to be seen if he shows up in other movies before getting his own but this totally feels like Oscar was picked because he’s a well-known film actor that can help elevate a lesser-known hero like Moon Knight into the mainstream.
Marvel hired Oscar even before a director/directors have been chosen which could be considered another sign that he’s wanted for things beyond the series sooner rather than later. I’m quite curious if Marvel will end up pursing experienced film directors for the Moon Knight series instead of folks primarily known for television/streaming series. That could be another sign of how committed Marvel would be boosting the profile of this character before moving into the films.
I’ll keep my hopes up that Marvel can convince people like Alex Garland to direct episodes given his experience working with Oscar Isaac on Annihilation and Ex Machina. Garland made the comic book film Dredd in 2012 and recently tackled television with DEVS.
With that all said, I’m excited to see how this project comes together.
Deadline is reporting that Oscar Isaac has landed the Marc Spector role in Marvel Studios’ upcoming Moon Knight series for Disney+ and is currently in negotiations with the studio.
Moon Knight aka Marc Spector, is a mercenary who has numerous alter egos — cabbie Jake Lockley and millionaire playboy Steven Grant — in order to better fight the criminal underworld. But later he was established as being a conduit for the Egyptian moon god Khonshu. Most recently, the character was a consultant who dresses in all-white and goes by the name Mr. Knight.
The actor happens to be partly Jewish which was apparently a requirement for actors to play Marc Spector.
Oscar is no stranger to Marvel Comics projects as he played X-Men villain En Sabah Nur aka Apocalypse in X-Men: Apocalypse for 20th Century Fox (pre-merger) and briefly voiced Miguel O’Hara aka Spider-Man 2099 in the Oscar-winning animated film Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse.
His other film credits include Dune, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Triple Frontier, Robin Hood, A Most Violent Year, Drive, Ex Machina, Annihilation, The Bourne Legacy, and Operation Finale.
He was also lobbying to play Solid Snake in a Metal Gear Solid movie for Sony Pictures.
Moon Knight is confirmed to spent some time filming in United Kingdom but has yet to land a director/directors when filming will begin is a little unclear but likely won’t begin until sometime in 2021.
Today, director Roland Emmerich has announced via Twitter that his latest sci-fi project Moonfall has started filming and posted a teaser image that also revealed that he will be reuniting with Midway cinematographer Robby Baumgartner (Blindspotting, The Guest) and production designer Kirk M. Petruccelli (The Incredible Hulk, Ghost Rider).
Production is currently taking place in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, the province happens to be the nation’s COVID-19 hot-spot and there is a possibility that the country/Quebec could shut down for a second time leading to delays.
Moonfall’s cast consists of Patrick Wilson (Aquaman, The Conjuring, Watchmen), Halle Berry (X-Men, John Wick 3), Stanley Tucci (Captain America: The First Avenger), John Bradley (Game of Thrones), and Charlie Plummer.
Deadline adds that legendary Canadian actor Donald Sutherland (Ad Astra, Invasion of The Body Snatchers, The Hunger Games franchise) and Eme Ikwuakor (Inhumans) are rounding out the cast of the film said to be budgeted between $100-120 million.
A mysterious force knocks the Moon from its orbit around Earth and send it hurtling on a collision course with life as we know it. With only weeks before impact, a ragtag team launches a last-ditch mission into space to land on the lunar surface and save the planet from annihilation.
Director Roland Emmerich is no stranger to genre with credits that include Universal Soldier, Stargate, Independence Day, and Godzilla.
Lionsgate is expected to release Moonfall sometime in 2022.
If James Gunn has anything to do with it, I don’t think we’ll be seeing Michael Rooker’s Yondu coming back from the dead anytime soon. As the Guardians of The Galaxy franchise writer/director replied to a fan on Twitter that he’s not terribly interested in bringing back Yondu outside of flashbacks as it would ruin the character’s sacrifice.
GUNN: “I get sometimes you can bring back characters in a cool way. But usually, if a character dies, and it’s a meaningful part of the story, the character should stay dead. So unless it’s a flashback, Yondu will stay dead, as far as I’m concerned. Otherwise, it ruins his sacrifice.”
GUNN: “And that’s exactly why, as long as I have the power, Yondu will stay dead. I don’t want to cheapen moments like these.”
With these comments from James, I wouldn’t hold your breath about Yondu’s return for Multiverse projects or randomly coming back from the dead in the next Guardians installment.
Back in April, Michael Rooker shared James’ sentiment on co-star Michael Rosenbaum’s podcast Inside You while being open to playing another Marvel character in the future.
ROOKER: “No way, I’m dead. I’m dead. My character is dead. I would play something else, I wouldn’t mind. I would play something else, but why would I want to play Yondu? Yondu had a wonderful…amazing sendoff that you would ever want in cinematic Marvel history. My god, dude, why do you want to spoil that by bringing the character back now?”
However, while recently promoting his new movie Love & Monsters on Mama’s Geeky, the actor revealed an openness to the idea of a prequel series for Yondu on Disney+.
ROOKER: “I will sign on to anything I’m out of work right now. So, bring it on, baby. I really truly enjoyed playing Yondu it was beautifully written, well drawn out…it was a very well rounded character. Of course.”
You can watch that lovely exchange below.
Gunn is currently working on the post-production of The Suicide Squad (coming August 6th, 2021) and won’t be jumping into Guardians of The Galaxy 3 until he finishes up there.
Production on the Guardians sequel was expected to take place in Atlanta, Georgia under the working title Hot Christmas before Gunn was fired and later rehired after already committed to making The Suicide Squad for Warner Bros. Pictures.
Sadly, Guardians of The Galaxy 3 is without a release date.
There had been plenty of rumors of Marvel Television trying to make a new Blade series for streaming services despite a trade report from 2013 stating that Marvel Studios was developing an in-house script via their writers program. Mahershala Ali was announced as the new Eric Brooks aka Blade at San Diego Comic-Con 2019, however, it was clear that Marvel hadn’t hired a director or screenwriters at that point.
Marvel’s Kevin Feige confirmed that Mahershala approached them specifically about Blade as they really planning on making a film at the time.
While speaking on the podcast The Tight Rope (via The Direct), Ali revealed that he started asking Marvel about Blade coming back to the fall of 2016 after the Season 1 of Luke Cage premiered on Netflix. Adding that Marvel Television had indeed been considering making a Blade series before landing the part and alludes that Blade may remain “darker in tone”.
ALI: “So I did this Marvel show for Netflix called Luke Cage, right? And so in doing that show, the day it premiered I had turned to my agent and I had said ‘what are they doing with Blade?’. Because I kept hearing that they were trying to find a way to remake it and put it back together, and it was exciting for me to get to be in that Marvel space in TV, but for me my goal had always been film. But also being able to participate in television in very specific ways that had real meaning, but my larger goal was to be able to really navigate between film and television, and so I turned to my agent and I said you know, what’re they doing with Blade? And he goes I check on it, and so there was this long process of them speaking about, at least in the television division, really wanted to make it a TV show again, but not necessarily, trying to acquire the rights still, and some thing’s kinda going on, so it took a couple of years.”
“But it was really my participation in Luke Cage that sparked the idea, married with being so inspired by Wesley Snipes’ work, and what he had done, and how much had changed since his iteration of Blade, and how that had really sorta like ushered in this era of like this Marvel and DC sort of like comic book stuff, and so, for me, like I just felt like since they were having conversations about bringing it back into being, I just wanted to be considered for it because I had definitely a connection, at least in my mind to Wesley Snipes going way back to high school when people used to joke and say we looked alike, and all this stuff.”
“Wesley was someone who I recognized, and yet had an impact on my confidence, and in just me sort of just kinda like standing in my own truth and own strength in a certain way, so I always kind of followed his choices, and really was inspired by his work, and so many others, but Wesley in particular, and so I just brought it up as someone who wanted to, I really wanted to take on that role, and tackle that, and also I love that it’s darker, that’s all in terms of tone, he’s a little bit darker than some of the other ones, and so that element was attractive to me.”
There was a brief update from Deadline that Marvel Studios is currently seeking black writers to pen a Blade script but a director has yet to be named. While there had been fan speculation that Blade could be ready for release in late 2022, where it is in the development process would say that was never an option and would be very difficult to begin shooting before 2022 given how many projects Marvel Studios is busy with at the moment.
BLADE – A half-mortal, half-immortal is out to avenge his mother’s death and rid the world of vampires. The modern-day technologically advanced vampires he is going after are in search of his special blood type needed to summon an evil god who plays a key role in their plan to execute the human race.
THE RONIN 