Author: Christopher Marc

Posted on in Film News, News

‘The Marvels’ Enlists ‘Doctor Strange 2’ & ‘Overlord’ Stunt Coordinator Jo McLaren

Director Nia DaCosta is hard at work in the United Kingdom with the Captain Marvel sequel, The Marvels, that stars Brie Larson as Carol Danvers, Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau, Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, and newcomer Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan (to debut in the Ms. Marvel series).

While most of the film’s crew has been revealed, The Ronin can confirm that the film’s stunt coordinator will be Jo McLaren. The veteran stunt woman recently worked with Marvel and director Sam Raimi on Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness. McLaren was also the stunt coordinator on Bad Robot’s WWII horror action pic Overlord alongside Alex Garland’s sci-fi film Annihilation and his tech thriller series DEVS.

We first revealed that James Gunn has hired Hawkeye’s stunt coordinator Heidi Moneymaker for Guardians of The Galaxy Vol.3, which will begin shooting next month if the IATSE strike can be avoided next week.

New additions to the cast are expected to include Zawe Ashton set to play a villain and Park Seo-Joon (Parasite) also is said to have a role.

Plot details on the pic are scarce, but there is an expectation that there will be cross-pollination between the casts of The Marvels and the Skull event series Secret Invasion, this was highlighted when Samuel L. Jackson shot his scenes for the film before announcing today on Instagram he’s starting shooting the Disney+ show.

Filming will mainly shoot at Longcross Studios in Surrey, England with a production team that has cinematographer Sean Bobbitt (Widows, Judas & The Black Messiah) and production designer Cara Brower (Candyman). However, we learned not too long ago that some sequences will be shot at Pinewood Studios UK, likely related to The Volume/StageCraft facilities.

The original film earned an impressive $1.128 billion at the global box office making it one of the most successful superhero debut films of all-time.

It’ll be interesting to see if Disney+ Day on November 12 will reveal any spinoffs connected to the cosmic side of the MCU or if they’ll announce a Season 2 commitment for Ms. Marvel.

The Marvels has a release date of November 11, 2022.

Posted on in Features

‘Eternals’ & Olympians Essentially Same Sect Of Immortal Aliens In The MCU?

The next big Marvel Studios release to grace the big screen will be Chloe Zhao’s Eternals, which will see the MCU version of the team. We already know that the film incarnation will be different than their comic book counterparts and a new detail might help link them to a similar group of god-like aliens.

Marvel’s Nate Moore recently revealed to Comic Book another slight tweak to the Eternals origin, stating the group of immortals are from an alien planet called Olympia.

“In the past we see the Eternals, who, in our version of the mythology, are immortal aliens from a planet called Olympia. [They’ve] been asked by the Celestials to come to Earth to rid the Earth of creatures called the Deviants. The Deviants are these parasitic aliens who go from planet to planet, and as they kill the apex predators on a given planet, they sort of take the characteristics of those predators and wipe out intelligent life. Well, the Eternals are heroes, so they’ve come to earth to eradicate the Deviants and allow humanity to thrive.”

In the comics, Olympia aka High Olympus was set on Earth in Greece.

Interestingly enough, The Olympians (Marvel’s cosmic version of the Greek pantheon of gods) will be officially introduced in Thor: Love & Thunder after Australian actor Russell Crowe revealed he’d be playing the MCU version of Zeus in the sequel.

I don’t exactly see why Marvel wouldn’t have Zeus and The Olympians also being from this planet of Olympia as a streamlined way to be less confusing to audiences by making the groups essentially interchangeable. This might also be why Zuras (Thena’s father) isn’t in the film, both Zeus and Zuras have similar character designs in the comics.

Zeus, of course, is the father of demigod Hercules Panhellenios aka The Prince of Power, who just happened to be on The Avengers roster around the same time as Gemma Chan’s Sersi and Kit Harington’s Dane Whitman aka Black Knight.

Adding a bit of fuel is that director Chloe Zhao told Empire Magazine that the Eternals are “akin to stories of Greek and Roman gods, who live very human lives with human traits, rivalries, jealousies and frailties.”

It’s hard not to notice this information only further distancing themselves from Thanos and Titan. In the trailer, Ajax (played by Selma Hayek) explained that The Mad Titan wasn’t a Deviant, which prevented them to interfere with his dastardly plan to kill half the universe (addition of Olympia could suggest he’s not an Eternal either). This line was also likely out of convenience because Marvel wasn’t even thinking about bringing Jack Kirby’s obscure creations, The Eternals, into the MCU until Chloe Zhao pitched them on the idea.

However, nothing stops them from making Titans like Starfox part of the Eternals/Olympian group.

The MCU version of Deviants could also have a larger connection to Lemurians and world of Namor/Atlantis, if Lemuria and Atlantis both were sunk during The Great Cataclysm (potentially shown in Eternals). This might explain why we see Deviants coming out of the ocean in the trailer footage and possibly where they’ve been hiding out for 5,000 years until the events of the film.

I guess we’ll have to wait and see when Eternals releases on November 5.

Posted on in News

IATSE To Strike On October 18 If Deal Isn’t Reached Causing Massive Halt In Film & Television Production

Some folks might be aware of the writers’ strikes in the past, however, something just as impactful to the production of film and television is looming.

The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Hollywood’s major below the line union is on the cusp of a strike that could take place on Oct. 18 at 12:01 a.m. and lead to major stoppage on multiple film and television projects if they can’t reach a deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

The unions are seeking a 10-hour turnaround between shifts for all workers, as well as a 54-hour turnaround on weekends. They are also seeking increased meal penalties, as a way to force productions to stop for lunch, and an end to discounted rates for streaming services.

IATSE has a membership that consists 60,000 and the strike authorization vote passed with 98.7% support back on October 4 (thanks to a huge online campaign to vote yes on strike authorization).

The two sides returned to the bargaining table on Oct. 5, a day after IATSE announced the results of a strike authorization vote. The vote passed overwhelmingly with 98.7% support and 90% turnout.

This situation could be resolved before a strike is triggered, however, if not, this could be devastating to the entertainment industry if a strike goes past weeks/months.

SOURCE: VARIETY

Posted on in News, Television News

RUMOR: George Clooney Reunited With Oscar Isaac To Direct Episode Of Marvel’s ‘Moon Knight’

While Moon Knight has wrapped filming, there seem to be plenty of surprises left as we still don’t know the full cast/characters of the Marvel Studios series that will air on Disney+ in 2022.

Moon Knight, aka Marc Spector (Oscar Isaac), 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. 

Filming took place in Budapest, London, and Jordan with an established directing team that consists of Mohamed Diab, Justin Benson, and Aaron Moorhead.

The Ronin has learned that George Clooney (The Midnight Sky, The Monuments Men, Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind) may have directed an episode of Moon Knight for Marvel after finishing his shoot on the Boston-set drama The Tender Bar that stars Ben Affleck.

However, we’re treating this as a rumor as we can’t confirm the tidbit at this time and we’re unsure if he’ll have an acting role as well.

It’s worth mentioning that Oscar Issac and George Clooney have worked together before on the Clooney-directed thriller Suburbicon, so there is an established working relationship.

Clooney wouldn’t be new to directing television as he tackled a series adaptation of the war satire Catch-22 at Hulu and the HBO series Unscripted.

The actor-turned-director has a complicated relationship with comic book projects as he played Batman in Joel Schumacher’s Batman & Robin leading to a franchise reboot that was eventually assigned to Christopher Nolan giving us The Dark Knight Trilogy.

Recently, Brad Pitt and Clooney took lead roles in a non-superhero pic directed by Jon Watts at Apple Studios, who just wrapped up the MCU’s Spider-Man trilogy with Spider-Man: No Way Home. Watts had also been announced as the director of Marvel’s Fantastic Four reboot last December.

There is an expectation that Marvel Studios will be making a big presentation on November 12 at the Disney+ Day event and give 2022 shows like Moon Knight a promotional push, hopefully, we’ll get some footage or first look images as Oscar Isaac as Marc Spector/Moon Knight.

Posted on in News, Television News

Ridley Scott Already Taking Shots At Noah Hawley’s ‘Alien’ Series: “It’ll Never Be As Good As The First One”

Last December, it was made official by Disney that Noah Hawley (Legion, Fargo) would be making an Earthbound series set within the Alien franchise for FX On Hulu with Ridley Scott taking a producing role (Scott being the gatekeeper of the Alien franchise via Scott Free).

While speaking with The Independent, Ridley Scott gives the impression he might be more hands-off than we previously expected and proceeded to theorize the show will “never” be as good as his original 1979 film, which comes off as more of a dig towards Hawley than trying to motivate the successful creator of FX’s Legion and Fargo to outshine Alien.

“Wherever [the series goes], whatever they do, ‘It’ll never be as good as the first one,’ [Scott grins] ‘That’s what I’ll say.’”

These somewhat passive-aggressive comments aren’t terribly shocking given that Ridley Scott seems to big his own biggest cheerleader and believing he alone knows what is best for the Alien franchise. Then again, Alien: Covenant ended up one of the biggest misfires in the franchise and due to it’s weak audience response, the cliffhanger ending never paid off similar to Prometheus.

When Neill Blomkamp got candid about Alien 5 over the summer, the director cited Ridley Scott as the reason his movie never went into production and how he basically intervened with the studio to have him thrown off Alien 5, potentially because of Chappie.

“At the end of the day even though Ridley Scott is producing it, he brought that to the world, so if he changes his mind or if there is a director on it he doesn’t want, whatever it may be, it’s his. I understand that, it makes logical sense to me.”

“It’s possible that Ridley watched Chappie and he was like, this guy can’t do Alien so let’s just go ahead and move on.”

Scott already taking minor shots on the series in the press isn’t all that surprising, hopefully, he won’t throw his weight around for a second time to get another Alien project killed/blocked.

The director has The Last Duel and House of Gucci hitting theaters alongside period dramas Kitbag and a sequel to Gladiator on the horizon to go behind cameras in the near future. While he’s teased talks with 20th Century Studios about a third Alien prequel, that hasn’t been made official or greenlit.

FX boss John Landgraf previously indicated back in August that the show could be ready for 2023 (possible 2022 shoot) and will feel like it is part of the cinematic universe.

“I think you’ll also see that the show will feel like a part of the cinematic universe you’re familiar with in terms of Alien. I have optimism that that show may well roll out in 2023. It will probably roll out 2023, but we want to get it right.”

Noah Hawley is also busy lining up an untitled heist thriller at Netflix starring Rege-Jean Page and will be produced by The Russo Brothers.

Granted, Alien is an amazing movie, but it comes off as reductive and childish for Scott to dismiss the potential of the series before it’s even started filming.

SOURCE: THE INDEPENDENT

Posted on in Film News, News

‘Blade’: Director Bassam Tariq Praises Wesley Snipes/Original Film Alongside Reboot’s Black Talent

Not too long ago, director Bassam Tariq (Mogul Mowgli) confirmed to The Playlist he had signed-on to direct the new Blade reboot for Marvel Studios and kept coy about his plans for the Daywalker.

“Character is very important for me. I don’t think of genre, I think of character. It’s not so boxed in as people imagine it to be [working with Marvel Studios]. It’s quite exciting. And I think the reality is there is no Blade canon, you know? If you ever read the comics, they’re always changing…Unfortunately, the [comic book series] never lasted that long.”

If you’re not familiar with the behind-the-scenes development of Blade, star Wesley Snipes worked closely with director Stephen Norrington and screenwriter David S. Goyer shaping the exploitation comic book character for the big screen.

While speaking with IndieWire last month, the Pakistani-American filmmaker praised not only what Wesley Snipes did as a creative force on the original films, but also highlighting the work that star Mahershala Ali and screenwriter Stacy Osei-Kuffour (Watchmen, Hunters) are doing as fellow collaborators on the reboot.

“What’s exciting about the film that we’re making is [there] hasn’t been a canon for Blade, as we’re reading through the comics and everything. Him being a daywalker is the one thing that’s been established, and you know we can’t deny what Wesley Snipes did, which was he basically got this whole ball rolling. A Black man created the superhero world that we’re in, that’s just the truth. For me to now be working with somebody as talented and a juggernaut as Mahershala Ali, and the writer Stacy Osei-Kuffour, I’m just so — I’m so honored to be working with real Black juggernauts and Black talent. For me to just be with them in this room and listen and learn as I build this out, it’s really an honor.”

It’ll be interesting if they’ll consider bringing The Vampire Nation to the MCU and we still don’t know if the R-rated action franchise will be turned into something more family-friendly with the studio’s standard PG-13 rating. Then again, Marvel has confirmed Deadpool 3 will be R-rated, giving us hope projects like Blade might also keep it’s mature aspects.

Outside of trade reports of Blade shooting next year, we don’t have an official release date (will likely be announced soon) or a supporting cast that will be assembled around Mahershala Ali.

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.

SOURCE: INDIEWIRE

Posted on in Film News, News

‘Eternals’: Marvel’s Nate Moore Confirms Ebony Blade & Black Knight Won’t Be Showing Up

A while back, Eternals actor Kit Harington was asked by Total Film about the future of his character Dane Whitman, who in the comic books is the Avengers member, Black Knight. He gave the impression that his character will simply be a human that gets caught-up in the Eternals adventure.

“The human character of the story. He’s not an Eternal. He’s a character who works with the Natural History Museum in London. But he’s not an Eternal – that’s the main takeaway!”

“I’ve got no idea whether my character goes on or not. I had read up on who he could be, or might be. So there’s the possibility for a longer trajectory. And hopefully, I think this is the tip of the iceberg for my character. I hope. But I just don’t know, you know? I’m as in the dark as anyone else. And I try not to live too far ahead in the future with anything. Even when I was in Game of Thrones, even on the sixth season, I presumed the seventh season wasn’t going to happen!”

This idea that the Black Knight stuff via Ebony Blade will be saved for later on is being echoed by Marvel Studios.

Longtime Marvel Studios producer Nate Moore revealed during a set visit (via Screen Rant), that Eternals won’t exactly focus on Dane Whitman becoming his superhero persona. Mentioning that the Ebony Blade (gives him his powers) and Black Knight will be something they tackle “down the road.”

“We think he’s interesting and a great character and actually Kit Harington, who just wrapped yesterday, was fantastic, but we very much explore the relationship between Dane Whitman and Sersi, which is again something for comic readers … you won’t see the Ebony Blade in this movie. He’s not going to be a Black Knight necessarily, but that is something that we get to play with down the road.”

It’s not entirely shocking that the first Eternals film is aiming to develop the relationship between Dane and Sersi, before giving him his superhero status.

The film is confirmed to have two post-credit scenes, so, we’ll be curious if those will involve some teases for Dane Whitman’s Black Knight, the Ebony Blade, or something else completely.

“A magical blade forged by Merlin and Sir Percy from the Starstone meteorite. The Ebony Blade was enchanted to cut through any object, to prevent the death of its wielder, and to deflect any magic, but it also carried a curse that would slowly corrupt any user and cause a lust for violence, bloodshed, and death.”

We’ll have to wait and see where Kit Harington’s Whitman will show up next. It’ll be interesting to see Marvel Studios finally cover a true fantasy project after sort of wading in those waters with the Thor franchise (skewed more cosmic) and elements seen in Shang-Chi.

Eternals will finally hit theatres on November 5.

ETERNALS – The immortal heroes, the Eternals, came here 7,000 years ago, since the dawn of man, to “protect humans from the Deviants.” Sersi reveals that she hasn’t seen some of the other Eternal teammates for centuries. With the monstrous creatures, the Deviants, long thought lost to history, mysteriously return, Ikaris decides that it’s time for them to “find the others” and defend humanity once again. As the epic story unfolds, Sersi and Ikaris reunite with Kingo (played by Kumail Nanjiani), Sprite (played by Lia McHugh), Gilgamesh (played by Don Lee), Thena (played by Angelina Jolie), Makkari (played by Lauren Ridloff), Phastos (played by Brian Tyree Henry), and Druig (played by Barry Keoghan).

SOURCE: SCREEN RANT

Posted on in Film News, News

‘Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol.3’: Will Poulter Reportedly Lands Adam Warlock Role

Over the weekend, The Cosmic Circus posted the rumor that British actor Will Poulter was in the mix to play Adam Warlock in James Gunn’s Guardians of The Galaxy Vol.3 and it seems that was on point.

Today, Deadline is supporting the rumor by reporting that Poulter has signed-on to play Adam Warlock.

There is a shot that he could also be playing the villainous incarnation, Magus too.

Guardians of The Galaxy Vol.2 ended with a tease that Ayesha, Golden High Priestess of The Sovereign, is going to bring Adam Warlock into the sequel as his cocoon was shown. Gunn has since denied that Adam Warlock will be in the film among other rumors connected to the film including the casting of Star Wars actor Mark Hamill.

Back in 2017, Gunn told IGN that Adam Warlock would be part of the cosmic universe post-Infinity War/Endgame, while also dodging a confirmation of Warlock’s involvement in the third installment. We do know that Ayesha is coming back though.

Will Poulter’s credits include the fantastic Ari Aster horror pic Midsommar (led by Black Widow actress Florence Pugh), Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, The Revenant, and Kathryn Bigelow’s Detroit. He had been originally attached as a key cast member on the Lord of The Rings series at Amazon, only to bail months before production started in Auckland, New Zealand and was replaced with Game of Thrones’ Robert Aramayo.

James Gunn confirmed the news on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/JamesGunn/status/1447694295121678347

The Hollywood Reporter briefly adds that British actors Rege-Jean Page (Bridgerton, The Gray Man, Dungeons & Dragons, The Saint), and George MacKay (1917) were part of a shortlist of actors considered for Adam Warlock.

Filming will begin this November in Atlanta and the United Kingdom.

The returning cast will be Chris Pratt as Peter Quill aka Star-Lord, Elizabeth Debicki as Ayesha, Karen Gillan as Nebula, Dave Bautista as Drax, Zoe Saldana as Gamora, Pom Klementieff as Mantis, Sean Gunn as Kraglin, Bradley Cooper as the voice of Rocket Raccoon, and Vin Diesel as the voice of Groot. 

It’s crew is expected to include production designer Beth Mickle (The Suicide Squad, Drive), cinematographer Tico Poulakakis (Foundation), the visual effects supervisor will be Stephane Ceretti (Eternals, Guardians of The Galaxy, Doctor Strange, Ant-Man & The Wasp), and will have Hawkeye stunt coordinator Heidi Moneymaker crafting the film’s action sequences.

Guardians of The Galaxy Vol.3 has a release date of May 5, 2023

SOURCE: THE COSMIC CIRCUS & DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News, News

Jake Gyllenhaal In Negotiations To Join The Next Guy Ritchie Movie That Begins Shooting By End Of 2021

Director Guy Ritchie post-Aladdin has been hyper-focusing on a bunch of his own movies at Miramax, despite being loosely attached to helm an Aladdin sequel for Disney, he’s been spending more time putting together his own projects to avoid having to do the sequel.

His recent run includes the release of the Matthew McConaughey gangster pic The Gentlemen (being developed into a television series) and Jason Statham’s armored truck thriller Wrath of Man (a remake of the 2004 French film Le Convoyeur). Ritchie recently wrapped on a big globetrotting spy project, Operation Fortune (previously called Five Eyes), that stars folks such as Statham, Aubrey Plaza, Josh Hartnett, and Hugh Grant.

Deadline reports of a mysterious new film from Guy Ritchie at Miramax that will begin before the end of the year with American actor Jake Gyllenhaal in negotiations to take a lead role.

A title and plot details are unknown but given that casting is ramping up we’ll likely learn concrete information soon.

It’s a shocking development given that Ritchie had been developing a World War II action drama for Paramount Pictures, based on the novel The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare by Damien Lewis. Focusing on the first unit of British black ops commandos.

Previous drafts of the script were penned by Arash Amel, Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson.

When France fell to the Nazis in 1940, Churchill declared that Britain would resist the advance of the German army–alone if necessary. Churchill commanded the Special Operations Executive to secretly develop of a very special kind of military unit that would operate on their own initiative deep behind enemy lines. The units would be licensed to kill, fully deniable by the British government, and a ruthless force to meet the advancing Germans. The very first of these “butcher-and-bolt” units–the innocuously named Maid Honour Force–was led by Gus March-Phillipps, a wild British eccentric of high birth, and an aristocratic, handsome, and bloodthirsty young Danish warrior, Anders Lassen. Amped up on amphetamines, these assorted renegades and sociopaths undertook the very first of Churchill’s special operations–a top-secret, high-stakes mission to seize Nazi shipping in the far-distant port of Fernando Po, in West Africa.

Jake Gyllenhaal has been lining up a wave of genre pics including the war drama Combat Control and Image Comics movie Prophet with Extraction director Sam Hargrave involved with both projects. He’s also attached to star alongside actress Jessica Chastain in Netflix’s film adaptation of the video game The Division with Rawson Marshall Thurber (replacing David Leitch) directing, the graphic novel thriller Snow Blind from director Gustav Möller (The Guilty), and sci-fi film based on the Robert Kirkman (Invincible, The Walking Dead) comic Oblivion Song.

Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre will officially hit theaters on January 21 and a trailer is likely coming within weeks.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News, News

‘The Killer’: Tilda Swinton Joins Michael Fassbender In David Fincher’s Assassin Thriller

David Ficher is returning to genre filmmaking. His latest pic, The Killer, will see actor Michael Fassbender play an assassin in adaptation of the Alexis Nolent’s graphic novel that will have a script from Se7en’s Andrew Kevin Walker.

A man solitary and cold, methodical and unencumbered by scruples or regrets, the killer waits in the shadows, watching for his next target. And yet the longer he waits, the more he thinks he’s losing his mind, if not his cool. A brutal, bloody and stylish noir story of a professional assassin lost in a world without a moral compass, this is a case study of a man alone, armed to the teeth and slowly losing his mind.

The Playlist got word directly from Tilda Swinton in a recent interview that she has joined the cast of the action thriller.

Filming is expected to begin next year in Paris, France with cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt (Mank).

While this is the first graphic novel/comic book adaptation for David Fincher, it won’t be his first attempt to tackle genre material as his first feature film was Alien 3 and had been trying to direct a sequel to Brad Pitt’s World War Z until things fell apart.

SOURCE: THE PLAYLIST