Author: Christopher Marc

Posted on in Film News, News

Rege-Jean Page & Noah Hawley Team For Untitled Netflix Heist Thriller Produced By Russo Brothers

British actor Rege-Jean Page left the hit Netflix series Bridgerton to pursue a Hollywood film career and it seemingly has already come full circle with him returning to the streaming giant for a new project.

Variety reports that Page has landed a lead role in an untitled heist film that will be written and directed by Noah Hawley (Lucy In The Sky, Legion, Fargo) with AGBO producing, the production company from Joe and Anthony Russo.

The Russo Brothers are also behind Netflix’s most expensive film The Gray Man that features Rege-Jean Page on the call-sheet alongside Ryan Gosling (The Nice Guys, Drive, Blade Runner 2049), Chris Evans (Snowpiercer, Captain America 1-3, Avengers 1-4), Ana De Armas (No Time To Die, Blade Runner 2049, Knives Out), Wagner Moura (Narcos), Jessica Henwick, Dhanush, Billy Bob Thornton (Fargo), Alfre Woodard (Luke Cage), Julia Butters (Once Upon A Time In Hollywood), Eme Ikwuakor (Inhumans, Moonfall) and Scott Haze (Venom, Jurassic World: Dominion, Minari).

To those who lurk in the shadows, he’s known as the Gray Man. He is a legend in the covert realm, moving silently from job to job, accomplishing the impossible and then fading away. And he always hits his target. Always. But there are forces more lethal than Gentry in the world. Forces like money. And power. And there are men who hold these as the only currency worth fighting for. And in their eyes, Gentry has just outlived his usefulness. But Court Gentry is going to prove that, for him, there’s no gray area between killing for a living and killing to stay alive…

Page recently wrapped on Dungeons & Dragons and is attached to star in The Saint reboot, replacing Chris Pine.

Meanwhile, Noah Hawley was officially announced back in December as working on a FX on Hulu series set in the Alien universe with Ridley Scott set as the Earthbound show’s producer.

It’s also unclear when this heist project will begin shooting.

SOURCE: VARIETY

Posted on in News, Television News

‘Shogun’: ‘F9’ Actress Anna Sawai & ‘Thor: Ragnarok’s Tadanobu Asano Join The FX Samurai Series

FX has been working on a new series remake of Shōgun that originally aired back in 1980 and starred legendary Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune (Yojimbo, Seven Samurai) as Lord Yoshii Toranaga. Their new incarnation of the samurai series will be led by Hiroyuki Sanada and British actor Cosmo Jarvis.

Shōgun is set in feudal Japan. It charts the collision of two ambitious men from different worlds and a mysterious female samurai: John Blackthorne (Jarvis), a risk-taking English sailor who ends up shipwrecked in Japan, a land whose unfamiliar culture will ultimately redefine him; Lord Toranaga (Sanada), a shrewd, powerful daimyo, at odds with his own dangerous, political rivals; and Lady Mariko, a woman with invaluable skills but dishonorable family ties who must prove her value and allegiance.

It was written by Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo, which is based on the iconic novel from author James Clavell.

A casting update from The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that actress Anna Sawai (F9: The Fast Saga) will be playing the show’s female lead, Lady Mariko.

Other additions include Tadanobu Asano, Fumi Nikaido, Tokuma Nishioka, Takehiro Hira, Ako, Shinnosuke Abe, Yasunari Takeshima, Hiroto Kanai, Toshi Toda, Hiro Kanagawa, Néstor Carbonell, Yuki Kura, Tommy Bastow, Moeka Hoshi, Yoriko Doguchi, and Yuka Kouri.

The Ronin exclusively reported the series would be directed by Reprisal’s Jonathan van Tulleken.

Filming is underway in Vancouver and there have been some indications that some second unit filming in Japan is on the table.

Production kicked-off in late September and is expected to wrap in April 2022.

Sanada also has a role in Keanu Reeves’ John Wick: Chapter 4 and will appear in David Leitch’s Japanese-set action pic Bullet Train starring Brad Pitt. Other Hollywood credits include Westworld, The Last Samurai, Mortal Kombat, Army of The Dead, The Wolverine, Avengers: Endgame, Sunshine, Rush Hour 2, and 47 Ronin.

SOURCE: THR

Posted on in Film News, News

Letitia Wright Reportedly Still Spreading Anti-Vaccine Conspiracies On ‘Black Panther 2’ Set

Back in December, Black Panther actress Letitia Wright posted a video on her Twitter account that questioned vaccines, including the COVID-19 vaccine and when fans questioned her on spreading conspiracy theories she spouted some weird religious statements in replies. After all that got media attention she apologized and then deleted the account.

Fellow MCU actor Don Cheadle briefly tried to defend the actress on Twitter before realizing what she was spreading around and quickly backtracked that support.

Well, it’s now October and there is a report from The Hollywood Reporter that Wright is still pushing those conspiracies on the set of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in Atlanta and that fallout from December led her American reps to part ways.

A number of performers, from Rob Schneider (now shooting Netflix’s Home Team) to Letitia Wright (filming Marvel’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever) have shared anti-vaccine positions on social media. In Wright’s case, a set source says she has espoused similar views about the COVID-19 vaccines on the Atlanta production. The British actress quietly parted ways with her entire U.S. team of representatives in the wake of a backlash over posting a controversial anti-vaccine video in December.

The interesting part mentioned is that Disney are not requiring vaccines and that won’t be instituted until mid-October, meaning that Black Panther 2 and other productions that have started are exempt from the new sticker system (potentially putting cast and crew at risk).

Disney, the studio behind Black Panther, will begin rolling out a sticker system on all of its new productions in mid-October that requires visible proof of COVID-19 vaccination status, as stipulated in a return-to-work agreement between AMPTP and Hollywood’s unions. Those in Zone A who are fully vaccinated will have a wristband. Those who are not, will not. (Anything already shooting is not covered.)

While it’s unknown what Wright’s vaccine status actually is, the actress was sent to a hospital after an on-set accident and could have put people that were in contact with her during that treatment at risk, including hospital staff and other patients.

This is extremely odd in retrospect, since someone that might have been immune-compromised (like the late Chadwick Boseman) could have been at greater risk for seriously illness or death by interacting with unvaccinated co-stars/crew members.

Not to mention the irony that Wright’s character Shuri is supposed be the brightest scientists in the MCU and the woman playing her seems to be anti-science.

Black Panther: Wakanda releases on July 8, 2022.

SOURCE: THR

Posted on in Film News, News

‘Friday The 13th’ Screenwriter Winning Domestic Rights A Preview Of ‘Predator’ Lawsuit?

Hollywood is looking at a bunch of various copyright lawsuits, one of the most notable ones is focused on Friday The 13th with the film’s producer and writer fighting in court claiming rights to the franchise.

Today, it was announced via The Hollywood Reporter that Friday The 13th screenwriter Victor Miller has won an appeal to secure the domestic rights to the horror franchise from producer Sean Cunningham.

On Thursday, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a win for him in a copyright termination battle. As a result, he’s set to reclaim the domestic rights to the franchise.

Cunningham had claimed Miller’s script was work for hire, which was refuted by a federal judge back in 2018.

It’s a big win for Marc Toberoff, who is representing other screenwriters trying to get the rights/copyright to their material.

The original killer in the 1980 film was Pamela Voorhees, the mother of Jason, who had drowned at Camp Crystal Lake due to the negligence of the camp staff. At the end of the film, an undead Jason leaps from the water and became the staple killer for the franchise moving on.

Crystal Lake’s history of murder doesn’t deter counselors from setting up a summer camp in the woodsy area. Superstitious locals warn against it, but the fresh-faced young people — Jack (Kevin Bacon), Alice (Adrienne King), Bill (Harry Crosby), Marcie (Jeannine Taylor) and Ned (Mark Nelson) — pay little heed to the old-timers. Then they find themselves stalked by a brutal killer. As they’re slashed, shot and stabbed, the counselors struggle to stay alive against a merciless opponent.

Attorney Marc Toberoff, is also representing John and Jim Thomas with their own attempt to get the rights to their 1987 script that was turned into the Predator franchise. One of the handful of keystone IP properties at 20th Century Studios that Disney inherited when they purchased 21st Century Fox.

There is a possibility that this appeals win for Victor Miller, might lead to the Thomas Brothers also getting participation with the domestic rights to Predator. However, we’ll have to see how things shape-up in the courtroom, as each one of these copyright cases aren’t apples-to-apples.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Posted on in News, Television News

‘True Lies’ Series At CBS Replaces Jamie Lee Curtis With ‘She-Hulk’ Actress Ginger Gonzaga

A True Lies sequel series was originally being pitched to Disney+ by McG (Terminator: Salvation) with an expectation that Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis potentially reprising their roles from the James Cameron action film.

Sadly, the project was passed-over and headed to CBS as a pilot with Arnold Schwarzenegger being replaced with television/character actor Steve Howey (Shameless) as the new Harry Tasker.

Now, Variety has a casting update that comedic actress Ginger Gonzaga (She-Hulk) is taking over the Helen Tasker role, that was previously played by Jamie Lee Curtis, the wife of secret spy Harry Tasker (Howey).

Helen is described as Harry’s supportive wife, mother of two teenage kids and a linguistics professor who is getting annoyed by Harry’s constant business trips away from home. Increasingly angered, she feels as if she’s been robbed of the life she once envisioned for herself. Thrilled when Harry invites her along for a trip to Paris, Helen is in for a rude shock when she sees a very different side to her husband, learning that he is in fact a world-class spy.

Matt Nix (Burn Notice) is writing the pilot with Anthony Hemingway (The Wire, Red Tails) directing. It sounds like CBS could turn the project into a generic mid-budget series that likely won’t be terribly exciting in any real way, but Hemingway directing is giving me a slight glimmer of hope.

McG and James Cameron will executive produce.

Interestingly enough, True Lies is based on a French film La Totale! that was released back in 1991.

TRUE LIES – Secretly a spy but thought by his family to be a dull salesman, Harry Tasker (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is tracking down nuclear missiles in the possession of Islamic jihadist Aziz (Art Malik). Harry’s mission is complicated when he realizes his neglected wife, Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis), is contemplating an affair with Simon (Bill Paxton), a used-car salesman who claims he’s a spy. When Aziz kidnaps Harry and Helen, the secret agent must save the world and patch up his marriage at the same time.

SOURCE: VARIETY

Posted on in Film News, News

Apple Studios Lands Director Jon Watts’ Thriller Starring Brad Pitt & George Clooney

Director Jon Watts has been spending a good chunk of the last ten years working on a Spider-Man trilogy for Marvel Studios, after making waves with his thriller Cop Car. He’s currently putting the finishing touches on Spider-Man: No Way Home and during that post-production process has been shopping around a massive package deal that has almost every studio/streamer in the Hollywood drooling.

Watts will write and direct an untitled thriller starring Brad Pitt and George Clooney as two lone wolf fixers given the same assignment.

Deadline reports after a large bidding war, Apple Studios has surfaced as victorious, however, not mentioning how much the deal is worth. The film will get a theatrical release which is not as common when streamers get their mitts on original projects.

The group vying for the film include Sony Pictures, Lionsgate, Annapurna, MGM Studios, Universal Pictures, Warner Bros., Apple, Netflix, and Amazon.

It’ll be interesting to see when the thriller begins shooting as Watts has been attached to direct Marvel’s Fantastic Four reboot since last December, but is one of the few MCU films still waiting on an official release date.

At this point, we shouldn’t expect Fantastic Four to begin shooting before 2023.

Watts’ film Cop Car is very much recommended if you’ve only seen his work at Marvel.

COP CAR – When two rebellious young boys stumble across an abandoned cop car hidden in a secluded glade they decide to take it for a joyride. When the small town sheriff (Kevin Bacon) goes looking for his missing car, the boys find themselves in the center of a deadly game of cat and mouse and the only way out is to go as fast as their cop car can take them.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News, News

Ridley Scott Says ‘Gladiator 2’ Should Be Ready To Begin Shooting After ‘Kitbag’

A weird project that director Ridley Scott has been developing over the years is a sequel to his Oscar-winning ancient Rome action film, Gladiator. However, the project would follow a grown Lucius Verus, rather than Russell Crowe’s Maximus, given the latter died.

While speaking with Empire Magazine, director Ridley Scott has revealed that he hopes to get cameras rolling on the untitled Gladiator sequel after he completes his upcoming Napoleon film, Kitbag, that will star Oscar-winner Joaquin Phoenix (Gladiator, Joker) and Jodie Comer (The Last Duel, Killing Eve).

“I’m already having [the next] Gladiator written now. So when I’ve done Napoleon, Gladiator will be ready to go.”

Filming on Kitbag is said to begin shooting next year in the United Kingdom and could suggest that Gladiator 2 might begin sometime in 2023.

Returning to ancient Rome should be interesting given that Scott will have way more special effects tools (CGI) than he did in the late 1990s.

GLADIATOR – Set in Roman times, the story of a once-powerful general forced to become a common gladiator. The emperor’s son is enraged when he is passed over as heir in favour of his father’s favourite general. He kills his father and arranges the murder of the general’s family, and the general is sold into slavery to be trained as a gladiator – but his subsequent popularity in the arena threatens the throne.

SOURCE: EMPIRE

Posted on in News, Television News

‘The Book Of Boba Fett’ Begins Airing December 29 On Disney+ & Tackles The Criminal Underworld

It’s been made official that The Book of Boba Fett will begin airing December 29 on Disney+ and the first solid synopsis for the Star Wars series has been released. Confirming that Boba Fett will indeed be focused on the criminal underworld, as teased with the Jabba’s Palace sequence in season two of The Mandalorian.

Fett will continue into 2022 with other Star Wars shows set to debut next year such as Obi-Wan Kenobi, Andor, and the third season of The Mandalorian.

Here is the official press release from Lucasfilm.

Disney+ announced today that The Book of Boba Fett — the new Lucasfilm series teased in a surprise end-credit sequence following the Season 2 finale of The Mandalorian — will premiere on Wednesday, December 29, exclusively on the streaming service. Disney+ also debuted the key art for the series, which you can see for yourself below.

The Book of Boba Fett, a thrilling Star Wars adventure, finds legendary bounty hunter Boba Fett and mercenary Fennec Shand navigating the galaxy’s underworld when they return to the sands of Tatooine to stake their claim on the territory once ruled by Jabba the Hutt and his crime syndicate.

The Book of Boba Fett stars Temuera Morrison and Ming-Na Wen. Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, Robert Rodriguez, Kathleen Kennedy, and Colin Wilson are the executive producers. Karen Gilchrist and Carrie Beck serve as co-executive producers, with John Bartnicki producing and John Hampian as co-producer.

Posted on in Film News, News

Guy Ritchie’s Spy Thriller ‘Operation Fortune’ Starring Jason Statham Releases On January 21

British director Guy Ritchie has been returning to his roots making more adult-focused action films with the gangster flick The Gentlemen and the thriller Wrath of Man, the latter seeing the filmmaker reunited with action star Jason Statham.

Statham and Ritchie shot a new spy movie last year during the pandemic and we have a huge update. Miramax has officially announced Five Eyes has been given the new title of Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre and will be released in theaters on January 21, 2022.

Operation Fortune was written by Ivan Atkinson and Marn Davies.

The feature follows MI6 guns-and-steel agent (Statham) who is recruited by a global intelligence agency to track down and stop the sale of a deadly new weapons technology that threatens to disrupt the world order. Reluctantly paired with CIA high-tech expert, Fortune sets off on a globe-trotting mission where he will have to use all of his charm, ingenuity and stealth to track down and infiltrate billionaire arms broker. 

The cast also consists of Aubrey Plaza, Cary Elewes, Josh Hartnett, Hugh Grant, Peter Ferdinado, and rapper Bugzy Malone. Ritchie reunited with Wrath of Man/The Gentlemen crew members such as cinematographer Alan Stewart and production designer Martyn John.

We have to assume that Miramax is hoping Operation Fortune is the start of a franchise.

Jason Statham is about to begin shooting the next Expendables installment for Millennium Films and is attached to a new thriller, The Bee Keeper, for Miramax.

Guy Ritchie is currently developing a new WWII film at Paramount Pictures with The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare. An action pic that focuses on the first British commando unit. The script has previous drafts were penned by Arash Amel, Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson. There is an expectation that Ministry could be next, if that comes together sooner rather than later.

Honestly, it seems like Ritchie is doing everything he can to avoid make Aladdin 2, which he’s been attached to for years now.

https://twitter.com/fortunemovie/status/1442884960633823235
Posted on in Film News, News

Andy Serkis Was “Slightly Mortified” By Snoke’s Death In ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’

Actor/director Andy Serkis is making the press rounds to help promote his latest directorial effort, Venom: Let There Be Carnage and finally is talking about his experience on Star Wars.

While speaking with geek outlet iO9, the topic predictable turned to Star Wars and specifically the death of his big villain, Supreme Leader Snoke. It was expected that Snoke would become the new Emperor Palpatine and that was cut short, literally, with a death scene in the throne room.

Serkis reveals that he was shocked to find out while reading the Star Wars: The Last Jedi script that his new villain wouldn’t survive the second film, giving the impression he assume Snoke would become a franchise staple or at least stick around for the third film.

“I was devastated when I read that script because it was all going so well. I was like, ‘Man, this is a boss character. I’m going to love playing… what!? You’re kidding me, what?’ I was like ‘Okay, is a good idea? I supposed it is. I was slightly mortified, pardon the pun. It was all in the right, I think. I loved playing that character and I love the face-off scene between Kylo Ren and Rey, and so it was great.”

Serkis also says that he was kept in the dark about the origins of Snoke that were revealed in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, which isn’t terribly surprising since there were multiple incarnations of Episode 9 and the Palpatine stuff seemed to be tagged-on once Colin Trevorrow exited.

“The journey towards discovering that he was a Palpatine clone was something that happened during the process because everything was so secret since Force Awakens.”

I personally wasn’t a fan of the return of Palpatine, as they could have made Snoke an immortal entity that has died thousands of time and simply brought him back in The Rise of Skywalker. Oh well.

Luckily, Serkis was doing motion capture work and allows him return to play future characters, if called upon for other film and television projects.

There is an assumption that Andy Serkis, while won’t play Caesar, will be involved in the fourth Planet of The Apes installment from director Wes Ball. The pair almost worked together on Mouse Guard, one of the large budget projects that got killed during the Disney/Fox merger.

SOURCE: iO9