Author: Christopher Marc

Posted on in Film News, News

Edgar Wright’s ‘Last Night In Soho’ Starring Anya Taylor-Joy Will Have World Premiere At Venice Film Festival

It looks like Denis Villeneuve’s Dune will have some company at the Venice Film Festival.

Edgar Wright’s psychological horror film Last Night In Soho will officially have it’s world premiere at the Italian film festival as well. This will be the first time one of his films has been shown there. The British filmmaker said in a tweet, “I’m incredibly honoured that Last Night In Soho has been chosen to have its World Premiere at this year’s Venice Film Festival. It’s very exciting for me show a film of mine in Venice for the first time and bring Soho to the Lido.”

LAST NIGHT IN SOHO – A young woman, passionate in fashion design, is mysteriously able to enter the 1960s, where she encounters her idol, a dazzling wannabe singer. However, 1960s London is not what it appears, and time seems to fall apart with shady consequences.

Wright’s cast for Last Night In Soho consists of Anya Taylor-Joy (The Witch, The Queen’s Gambit, The Northman), Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie (Jojo Rabbit), Matt Smith (Doctor Who), Terence Stamp (Superman II), Diana Rigg, Rita Tushingham, Michael Ajao, and Synnøve Karlsen.

Focus Features recently bumped the film’s release from October 22 to October 29, to avoid sharing the debut weekend with Dune.

Last Night In Soho’s lead Anya Taylor-Joy is a busy lady, as she is set to begin shooting George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road prequel Furiosa at Fox Studios Australia in August and will be seen in Robert Eggers’ Viking epic that will hit theaters on April 8, 2022.

Edgar Wright is working on a bunch of projects including a remake of the Arnold Schwarzenegger dystopian sci-fi flick The Running Man, the new version at Paramount Pictures is expected to be more faithful to original source material and will be adapted from the Stephen King novel written under his pen name Richard Bachman. Before The Running Man, the filmmaker was developing a sci-fi about robots in 2054 with the Simon Stephenson adaption Set My Heart To Five at Working Title Films.

SOURCE: EDGAR WRIGHT/VENICE FILM FESTIVAL

Posted on in Film News

‘Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania’ Director Peyton Reed Announces Filming Has Finally Started; Plus First Set Photo

2021 will see one of the largest group of MCU movies shot as Doctor Strange: In The Multiverse of Madness and Spider-Man: No Way Home wrapped earlier this year. Stuff such as Thor: Love & Thunder, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, The Marvels (Captain Marvel 2), Ant-Man 3, and Guardians of The Galaxy Vol.3 will have kicked-off filming.

While we’ve had a few teases that production was underway before this week, it looks like Monday has seen cameras begin to roll on Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania (Dust Bunny) and director Peyton Reed posted on Twitter that production has started (spotted by Ant-Man News) but was sadly deleted. It included our first set photo that had Cassie’s ugly rabbit doll in a lab set.

You can check out that post/image from Peyton Reed below.

The cast includes Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Kathryn Newton as the newest incarnation of Cassie Lang, Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Jonathan Majors playing the film’s villain Kang The Conqueror (the evil variant of Loki’s He Who Remains).

The title suggests a return to the Quantum Realm and having Kang involved would give the impression that this will be another MCU film that will incorporate The Multiverse, as Loki has introduced audiences to the idea of variants and different universes interacting with each other. Kang and his variants are expected to become the successors to Thanos becoming the MCU’s big bads for years to come.

We previously revealed the film’s production designer is Will Htay and they return to San Francisco to shoot various exterior scenes. Main production is taking place at Pinewood Studios UK and they’ll have access to The Volume/StageCraft that director Peyton Reed previously used on Season 2 of The Mandalorian.

Ant-Man & The Wasp will debut in theaters on February 17, 2023.

SOURCE: PEYTON REED VIA ANT-MAN NEWS

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‘Westworld’: ‘Reminiscence’ & ‘Collateral’ Cinematographer Paul Cameron Confirmed To Return For Season 4

Westworld Season 4 is indeed moving forward at HBO as production recently had to pause filming this month due to a positive COVID test (House of The Dragon had to pause too). The sci-fi thriller series is based on the Michael Crichton film that was released back in 1973 and landed a sequel in 1976 called Futureworld.

A dark odyssey about the dawn of artificial consciousness and the question of free will, the show was created for television by Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, who are also executive producers. Nolan directed the season’s premiere episode, which has surpassed nine million viewers across all platforms.

Last month, Deadline announced actress Aurora Perrineau would be joining the next season.

The Ronin can confirm that cinematographer Paul Cameron will return to shoot an episode for Season 4. Cameron is known for his string of action film credits that include Michael Mann’s Collateral, Tony Scott’s Man On Fire, Len Wiseman’s Total Recall reboot, Swordfish, and Dead Man Down.

Cameron previously worked on Jonathan Nolan-directed episodes of Westworld and could suggest that Nolan will helm this Season 4 one that the cinematographer is involved with.

He also worked on Lisa Joy’s Reminiscence, the feature film directorial debut of the Westworld showrunner that stars Hugh Jackman and Rebecca Ferguson with a theatrical/HBO Max release date of August 20.

REMINISCENCE – Nick Bannister (Jackman), a private investigator of the mind, navigates the darkly alluring world of the past by helping his clients access lost memories. Living on the fringes of the sunken Miami coast, his life is forever changed when he takes on a new client, Mae (Ferguson). A simple matter of lost and found becomes a dangerous obsession. As Bannister fights to find the truth about Mae’s disappearance, he uncovers a violent conspiracy, and must ultimately answer the question: how far would you go to hold on to the ones you love?

Posted on in News, Television News

EXCLUSIVE: ‘The Book Of Boba Fett’ Directing Team Expected To Include ‘Extraction’s Sam Hargrave

The next big live-action Star Wars project from Lucasfilm will be The Book of Boba Fett series starring Temuera Morrison as Boba Fett and Ming-Na Wen as Fennec Shand. Executive producers Robert Rodriguez, Dave Filoni, and Jon Favreau are confirmed as directing episodes alongside Bryce Dallas Howard and we have another name to add to the list.

The Ronin is hearing that The Mandalorian Season 2 second unit director Sam Hargrave has been given at least one episode to direct on The Book of Boba Fett and could be still doing second unit stuff throughout the series as well.

Hargrave recently directed Chris Hemsworth in the action-packed Netflix film Extraction that was produced by The Russo Brothers. His other stunt coordinator/second unit work includes Atomic Blonde, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, Captain America: Civil War, Deadpool 2, and The Accountant.

The Book of Boba Fett has already wrapped and will debut on Disney+ sometime in December according to Lucasfilm. We should expect a trailer to drop sometime between now and the fall.

As teased in a surprise end-credit sequence following the season finale of The Mandalorian, the legendary bounty hunter’s journey will continue in The Book of Boba Fett. Jon Favreau, executive producer of The Mandalorian, confirmed today on Good Morning America that the new series is currently in production and will arrive December 2021, only on Disney+.

The Book of Boba Fett will be set within the timeline of The Mandalorian and star Temuera Morrison as the titular bounty hunter, along with Ming-Na Wen as Fennec Shand. Robert Rodriguez — who directed Chapter 14 of The Mandalorian, a thrilling installment that reintroduced Boba Fett to the Star Wars galaxy — joins Favreau and Dave Filoni as executive producer.

Cinematographer Dean Cundey has been revealed to be working behind the camera. His fantastic collection of credits consists of Escape of New York, The Fog, Halloween, The Thing, Big Trouble In Little China, Jurassic Park, Back To The Future Trilogy, Apollo 13, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

We previously confirmed that Emmy-winning production designer Andrew Jones (The Mandalorian Season 1-3) worked on The Book of Boba Fett as well.

The studio is pushing forward with a wave of live-action projects as Andor, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and The Mandalorian Season 3 are said to be in various points of production with things such as The Acolyte, Lando, Ahsoka, and Rangers of The New Republic also in development stages at Lucasfilm.

EXTRACTION – A black-market mercenary who has nothing to lose is hired to rescue the kidnapped son of an imprisoned international crime lord. But in the murky underworld of weapons dealers and drug traffickers, an already deadly mission approaches the impossible.

Posted on in News, Television News

‘Jurassic Park’ & ‘The Thing’ Cinematographer Dean Cundey Worked On ‘The Book Of Boba Fett’

The last season of The Mandalorian ended with a huge tease for a Boba Fett series The Book of Boba Fett. We would later learn that it would begin airing on Disney+ sometime in December 2021 along with producers Robert Rodriguez, Dave Filoni, and Jon Favreau directing episodes. It would also star Temuera Morrison and Ming-Na Wen back in their respective Star Wars roles.

It’s now been revealed by American Cinematographer that legendary director of photography Dean Cundey has shot multiple episodes of The Book of Boba Fett. The outlet recently revealing that Season 3 of The Mandalorian has already started production.

He recently completed episodes of the Star Wars series The Book of Boba Fett.

Cundey’s fantastic run of credits includes Halloween, The Fog, Escape From New York, Big Trouble In Little China, Jurassic Park, Back To The Future Trilogy, Apollo 13, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Hook, Casper, The Flintstones, and Road House.

We can only hope that Robert Rodriguez has been able to convince Kurt Russell to take a role in the Star Wars show.

Temuera Morrison spoke with Rotten Tomatoes not too long ago and gave us some teases about the upcoming series along with confirm Rodriguez (Planet Terror, Desperado, Alita: Battle Angel) returned to direct episodes.

“Well, we can’t say too much, but we’re going to see his past and where he’s been since The Empire Strikes Back. Somebody pointed out he’s been kind of stuck in this one place, and now’s the time to actually go back in time and check out his journey and find out more about him. They brought Robert back in to direct a few more. There’s some wonderful directors involved,” Morrison said.

Lucasfilm still hasn’t announced a full cast for The Book of Boba Fett, but we should expect a teaser trailer before the end of the fall.

The button scene saw Fett and Fennec Shand essentially take over Jabba’s Palace and potentially hints at the series could be taking place more in the criminal underworld than previous Star Wars projects. I wouldn’t be terribly shocked if ends up playing to the gangster elements that the franchise has always tipped-toed around even with something like Solo: A Star Wars Story.

SOURCE: AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER

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EXCLUSIVE: ‘The Empty Man’ Director David Prior Joins Guillermo del Toro’s Horror Anthology Series ’12 After Midnight’

Netflix and Guillermo del Toro are working together on a bunch of live-action and animation projects including a darker version of Pinocchio that he is co-directing with Mark Gustafson (Fantastic Mr. Fox) that will be using stop-motion animation. They’re also partnering on a new horror anthology series 12 After Midnight (formerly 10 After Midnight) that will see a group of hand-selected directors will be working on including Guillermo del Toro and Australian director Jennifer Kent (The Babadook, The Nightingale)

The Ronin can exclusively reveal that American director David Prior has joined the horror anthology project and is now part of the 12 After Midnight directing team.

Prior previously wrote and helmed the 20th Century Studios horror film The Empty Man, that starred James Dale Badge (Iron Man 3, The Pacific, The Departed), Marin Ireland (Hell or High Water), Stephen Root (Barry, Perry Mason), Ron Canada (The Strain, House of Cards, The West Wing), Robert Aramayo (Amazon’s Lord of The Rings, Game of Thrones), Joel Courtney (Super 8), and Sasha Frolova (Little Women, Red Sparrow, Mare of Easttown).

Guillermo del Toro has wrapped on his Nightmare Alley remake for Searchlight Pictures and is co-writing a sequel to Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark.

We’ll be excited to see what other horror directors that Guillermo will pick to direct the rest of the episodes.

THE EMPTY MAN – This supernatural horror film, drawn from the Boom! Studios graphic novel, centers on shocking events originating in a small Midwestern town. After the mysterious disappearance of a group of teenagers, James Lasombra (James Badge Dale), a troubled retired cop, is thrust into action to investigate. Following leads that may tie a secretive occult-minded group to a terrifying local legend, he soon realizes that his life — and the lives of those close to him — are in terrible danger.

Posted on in Film News, News, Television News

Andrew Koji Says ‘Bullet Train’ Set Was Claustrophobic & Season 3 Of ‘Warrior’ Aims To Start Shooting Spring 2022

Paramount Pictures is releasing a new origin film set within the G.I. Joe franchise with Crazy Rich Asians lead Henry Golding is playing a young version of Snake Eyes. The action blockbuster is about to hit theaters and Storm Shadow actor Andrew Koji is during the press tour to promote the G.I. Joe reboot.

While speaking with Collider, the British actor confirms that the third season of his martial arts series Warrior won’t begin shooting until the spring of 2022 and will wrap sometime around that summer.

He also briefly spoke about what it was like shooting the Brat Pitt assassin flick Bullet Train during the pandemic and the claustrophobic set brought on action scenes on film that mainly takes place on speeding train along with the mask/face shield they were required to wear.

“Yeah, it’s very different. It’ tight, it’s very claustrophobic. Also, we shot it all during COVID times. It’s going to be one of them few big blockbuster films that was made purely during COVID. [motions to mimic putting on a mask/face shield] It’s super claustrophobic, you’ve got the mask and the shield shout-out to Chris Stag, who took care of us…There is just less room, less space,” the actor told Collider what it was like shooting Bullet Train.

The rest of Bullet Train’s cast includes Joey King (The Dark Knight Rises), Michael Shannon (Knives Out, Man of Steel), Oscar-winner Sandra Bullock (Gravity, Speed), Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kraven The Hunter, Godzilla, Kick-Ass, Avengers: Age of Ultron), Karen Fukuhara (The Boys, Suicide Squad), Brian Tyree Henry (Godzilla vs Kong, Widows, Joker, Eternals), Hiroyuki Sanada (The Wolverine, Avengers: Endgame, Sunshine, Westworld, The Last Samurai), Logan Lerman (Fury, Hunters), Lady Gaga (Gucci, A Star Is Born, Machete Kills), Masi Oka (Heroes), Zazie Beetz (Joker, Deadpool 2), and rapper Bad Bunny.

Sony will release David Leitch’s (John Wick, Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2, Hobbs & Shaw) next action film on April 8, 2022.

SNAKE EYES – An ancient Japanese clan called the Arashikage welcomes tenacious loner Snake Eyes after he saves the life of their heir apparent. Upon arrival in Japan, the Arashikage teach him the ways of the ninja warrior while also providing him something he’s been longing for: a home. However, when secrets from Snake Eyes’ past are revealed, his honor and allegiance get tested — even if that means losing the trust of those closest to him.

SOURCE: COLLIDER

Posted on in Film News, News

David Lowery Is Aware ‘Peter Pan & Wendy’ Will Be A New Generation’s ‘Peter Pan’ Movie & Hopes It Will Appeal To Adults As Well As Kids

After tackling a reboot of Pete’s Dragon, director David Lowery has been shooting a new Disney film with Peter Pan & Wendy. Based on both the original novel and the beloved animated film that was released back in 1953. 

While speaking with Collider, David Lowery mentioned he understands that he’s making a new generation’s Peter Pan movie and is aiming to make the best version he can that will appeal to both children and adults alike. 

“It’ll be an entire generation’s first Peter Pan movie, and that’s something I don’t take lightly. I want this to be a movie that is important to the children who see [it],” said Lowery. “And I want to make a movie that will matter… that the kids will look back on fondly and think that they got something from it, that they learned something from it, that it mattered to them. And I hope that adults will feel the same way, because as someone who is just now finally feeling comfortable with calling myself an adult, I think there’s a lot of valuable material that we’ve pulled from the source, from the text,” Lowery told Collider. 

The filmmaker also mentions while they’ll be true to the book and using things from the original animated film, he alludes to them ignoring the racist stuff concerning the Native American characters and the notorious musical number What Makes The Red Man Red?. The film being released in the 1950s didn’t have the Native community or sensitivity in mind when making that “creative choice.”

“…Very true to the original book and to the elements of the Disney movie that we can adapt. Obviously, there’s a lot of things about the animated film that you’re just going to leave to the darker side of history, but we’re not reinventing the tale. But I hope that we are illuminating it and making it a movie of great import.”

The cast includes Alexander Molony as Peter, Black Widow’s Ever Anderson as Wendy, Jude Law as Captain Hook, Jim Gaffigan as Mr. Smee, and Yara Shahidi as Tinker Bell.

Peter Pan & Wendy will hit Disney+ sometime next year.

David Lowery’s next release will be The Green Knight (not for kids), as it’s still set to head to domestic theaters on July 30, while it recently had its United Kingdom date pulled due to increased COVID cases. The film is an R-rated take on one of the many Arthurian legends, oddly enough, one that J.R.R. Tolkien wrote about. 

THE GREEN KNIGHT -An epic fantasy adventure based on the timeless Arthurian legend, The Green Knight tells the story of Sir Gawain (Dev Patel), King Arthur’s reckless and headstrong nephew, who embarks on a daring quest to confront the eponymous Green Knight, a gigantic emerald-skinned stranger, and tester of men. Gawain contends with ghosts, giants, thieves, and schemers in what becomes a deeper journey to define his character and prove his worth in the eyes of his family and kingdom by facing the ultimate challenger. From visionary filmmaker David Lowery comes a fresh and bold spin on a classic tale from the knights of the round table.

SOURCE: COLLIDER

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Wes Anderson Expresses A Fondess For Anime Series ‘Neon Genesis Evangelion’

Filmmaker Wes Anderson has tackled the animation genre with his lovely stop-motion pics “Fantastic Mr. Fox” and “Isle of Dogs.” Although, he has revealed a deep love for one of the most popular sci-fi anime franchises as Anderson mentioned to Goop that he was enthralled with the Japanese anime series “Neon Genesis Evangelion” from 1995-1996. 

“This is a Japanese cartoon that is very difficult to describe and might not sound that great if I tried anyway. It is 24 episodes, and we watched them all in less than a week because you start to want to believe it’s real. This could spawn something like Scientology,” Anderson told Gwyneth Paltrow for a directors’ list of favorite DVD rentals for her website Goop. 

The quote was spotted by IndieWire and added to their list of Wes Anderson’s favorite films.

Once upon a time, a live-action “Neon Genesis Evangelion” movie was in development with Peter Jackson‘s Weta Workshop hired to come up with a bunch of neat concept artwork that went nowhere. A director was never attached despite the hiring of Weta and was placed into limbo due to various legal battles entangling the rights. It’s yet another what-if project alongside Jackson’s live-action “Halo” movie he tried to make with newcomer director Neill Blomkamp at 20th Century Fox before they pivoted to make “District 9” when “Halo” dissolved. 

Maybe, one day, Wes Anderson will attempt his own “Pacific Rim“-type project (animated?) like Guillermo del Toro before he retires from filmmaking. His latest pic “The French Dispatch” hit the Cannes Film Festival last week and is gearing up to shoot his next film, starring Tilda Swinton and Bill Murray, later this year in Spain.

NEON GENESIS EVANGELION – When the Angels start attacking the planet Earth in the year 2015, only a handful of 14-year-old EVA pilots are able to stop them. Young Shinji Ikari suddenly finds himself forced to pilot EVA-01, a giant organic mecha, designed and constructed by NERV, that is the only thing that can stop the Angels.”

SOURCE: GOOP

Posted on in Film News, News

Neill Blomkamp Says ‘District 10’ Has A Connection To American History

Filmmaker Neill Blomkamp hasn’t much luck trying to put together a big studio film as he exited a string of movies he tried to develop such a purposed “Alien 5 (second incarnation) starring Sigourney Weaver, a direct sequel to the original RoboCop with “RoboCop Returns,” and most recently he was the original director of “Greenland before Ric Roman Waugh was brought on. 

Blomkamp has been not-so-quietly developing a sequel to his big hit film, District 9, with his co-writer and wife Terri Tatchell (“District 9,” “Chappie“) and has given us an update of sorts. 

The original sci-fi film produced by Peter Jackson was an obvious allegory to South Africa’s apartheid, and it looks like “District 10” will continue that political/sociological edge to it as the filmmaker revealed to IGN during an interview this month the film will focus on “a topic in American history.”

Aliens, referred to with the slur “prawn,” arrived in South Africa thirty years ago, and when they are relocated out of the slum things go bad quickly. Sharlto Copley‘s Wikus van de Merwe dowses himself with alien fuel that eventually transforms him into an alien and is made assurances that if he helps another alien get to the main ship, he’ll return with the technology to turn him back into a human. 

Blomkamp continued, “That script continues to be written. It’s looking good. It took a decade to figure out, to come up with a reason why to make that film as opposed to just make a sequel.”

It’s possible that the treatment of Native Americans or African-Americans could be the crux of the sequel, but that is pure speculation based on the last film spotlighting European colonialism.

His next release will be the horror flick Denomic and may end up returning to complete Inferno starring fellow Canadian Taylor Kitsch.

DISTRICT 9 – Thirty years ago, aliens arrive on Earth — not to conquer or give aid, but — to find refuge from their dying planet. Separated from humans in a South African area called District 9, the aliens are managed by Multi-National United, which is unconcerned with the aliens’ welfare but will do anything to master their advanced technology. When a company field agent (Sharlto Copley) contracts a mysterious virus that begins to alter his DNA, there is only one place he can hide: District 9.

SOURCE: IGN