Category: Film News

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‘Loki’ Stunt Coordinator & ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’ Actress Monique Ganderton Down To Work On Marvel’s ‘X-Men’ Reboot

Monique Garderton is the stunt coordinator and second unit director of Marvel’s popular Loki series with multiple other MCU credits such Avengers: Endgame (as stunt coordinator), Avengers: Infinity War (played on-set Proxima Midnight), Captain Marvel, Captain America: Civil War, Thor: Ragnarok, Iron Man 3, and Guardians of The Galaxy (doubled for Karen Gillan’s Nebula). Currently, she is working on Marvel’s She-Hulk series led by Tatiana Maslany as Jennifer Walters, which is still shooting in Atlanta under the working title of Clover.

The stunt coordinator recently took fan questions (to celebrate the recent episode of Loki) from followers on Instagram stories and was asked about her desire to work on Marvel’s reboot of the X-Men franchise and said she’d love to. She has experience with the last era of X-Men, playing Death in the opening sequence of X-Men: Apocalypse alongside doing stunt work on X-Men: The Last Stand (doubling for Rebecca Romijn/Mystique) and The Wolverine. Garderton’s shared behind the scenes images of her work on previous X-Men films with her response.

Given how many female characters are connected to the X-Men franchise having her leading/overseeing the reboot’s stunt work and potentially direct second unit action sequences feels like something that is very likely going to happen, if she continues to work on Marvel projects for the foreseeable future.

While there is a script in development on Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool 3, Marvel Studios and Kevin Feige haven’t indicated officially that the main X-Men movies are coming anytime before 2025. There are plenty of unverified rumors about plans for the mutants, but we’ll have to wait a little longer for the studio to give us some real official updates.

Wade Wilson (possibly alongside other Deadpool character) is carrying over to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as there has been strong indication from Kevin Feige they’ll be doing a hard-reboot with the main X-Men team like they’re doing with Jon Watts’ Fantastic Four.

Interestingly enough, I previously suggested that Marvel should consider Loki director Kate Herron for X-Men.

SOURCE: MONIQUE GANDERTON

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‘John Wick 4’: Lance Reddick Officially Returns As The Soft-Spoken Badass Charon

Lance Reddick was assumed to be returning for John Wick: Chapter 4 and that has now been officially confirmed after Deadline reported the actor’s reprising the role of Charon, Reddick posted on Twitter reaffirming the news.

His soft-spoken character was mostly on the sidelines in the first two installments but in John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, Charon was given a bunch of action scenes when he alongside Keanu Reeves’ John Wick have to defend The Continental from the formidable forces of The High Table.

John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum ended with John Wick surviving the fall from the roof of The Continental hotel after Ian McShane’s Winston shot him. Winston’s motivations weren’t entirely clear as he didn’t seem shocked that Mr. Wick got away and could be giving The High Table a false sense of security. Wick eventually lands at the feet of Laurence Fishburne’s Bowery King, who had his organization taken away from him by The High Table and convinces John to go to war with him against the mysterious group of criminal syndicate puppet masters. 

Filming began recently in Germany at Babelsberg Studio, the same stage facility used for Atomic Blonde and The Matrix 4.

The franchise’s newest additions joining for the fourth film include Japanese action star Horiyuki Sanada as Watanabe, Hong Kong action star Donnie Yen playing Wick’s old pal, British martial artist Scott Adkins (The Expendables 2, Doctor Strange), Atomic Blonde’s Bill Skarsgard, Stowaway’s Shamier Anderson, and the film’s female lead played by Japanese-British singer Rina Sawayama. Returning with Reddick are Ian McShane as Winston and Laurence Fishburne back as the Bowery King.

We’re still in the dark about established characters played by Halle Berry, Asia Kate Dillion, John Leguizamo, Peter Stormare, Common, Jason Mantzoukas, Anjelica Huston, Said Taghmaoui, Yayan Ruhian, and Cecept Arif Rahamn making an appearance in John Wick 4.

Berry is currently busy shooting her sci-fi drama The Mothership for Netflix.

The Ronin first reveled and confirmed cinematographer Dan Laustsen would be back behind the camera.

John Wick 4 will hit the big screen on May 27, 2022 and Lionsgate had confirmed plans to make John Wick: Chapter 5, but will no longer shoot back-to-back with the next installment. Franchise creator and architect, Derek Kolstad, stated that he won’t be involved in the next two films and suggested John Wick 5 could be the final pic.

Reddick is also playing Resident Evil villain Albert Wesker in a new live-action series at Netflix.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

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Karen Gillan Says Working With Taika Waititi On ‘Thor: Love & Thunder’ Was A Fun Experience; Teases ‘Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol.3’ Script Is “Incredible”

Karen Gillan is ditching the blue makeup for her latest feature film, Gunpowder Milkshake, an all-female action project at Netflix that seemingly takes cues from modern flicks like John Wick. The Scottish actress is currently doing press for the movie and revealed to Variety what it was like working with director Taikai Waititi earlier this year during the Australian shoot for Marvel’s Thor: Love & Thunder.

“Taika is amazing. It was so cool to take this character and work with him. Taika definitely brings out a different, more silly sight of Nebula, for sure. Which makes total sense because his stuff is more wacky and bonkers, in the best possible way. His technique is so improvisational, especially in a big blockbuster film, you don’t expect to get that much freedom to improvise. He just shouts out things like, ‘Do this! Say that again! Again!’ It’s such a fun experience,” Karen Gillan said of her experience working with director Taika Waititi on Thor: Love & Thunder.

She also adds that James Gunn’s script for Guardians of The Galaxy Vol.3 is “incredible” without expanding upon that in any great detail. The third installment will begin shooting this November according to Star-Lord actor Chris Pratt and has a release date of May 5, 2023.

Gillan’s action pic Gunpowder Milkshake hits Netflix on July 14 and has a sequel in early development at StudioCanal.

GUNPOWDER MILKSHAKE – Sam (Karen Gillan) was only 12 years old when her mother Scarlet (Lena Headey), an elite assassin, was forced to abandon her. Sam was raised by The Firm, the ruthless crime syndicate her mother worked for. Now, 15 years later, Sam has followed in her mother’s footsteps and grown into a fierce hit-woman. But when a high-risk job goes wrong, Sam must choose between serving The Firm and protecting the life of an innocent 8-year-old girl – Emily (Chloe Coleman). With a target on her back, Sam has only one chance to survive: Reunite with her mother and her lethal associates, The Librarians (Michelle Yeoh, Angela Bassett, and Carla Gugino). These three generations of women must now learn to trust each other, stand up to The Firm and their army of henchmen, and raise hell against those who could take everything from them.

SOURCE: VARIETY

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Director Bong Joon Ho Says His Animated Film Won’t Release Until 2025-2026; Inspired By ‘The Deep: The Extraordinary Creatures Of The Abyss’

South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon Ho (The Host, Memories of Murder, Snowpiercer) was on the rise long before his Best Picture and Best Director Oscars for the fantastic thriller, Parasite. After the film’s release, he’s gathered quiet a large following in the west among mainstream audiences and we’re all excited to see what he gives us next.

Bong Joon Ho is currently at the Cannes Film Festival (Parasite won the Palme d’Or previously in 2019) this week and dished about a couple of upcoming projects he’s been working on via Indie Wire, including his untitled animated film. It was revealed back in May, that the director would be making an animated film inspired by the 2007 French scientific book The Deep: The Extraordinary Creatures of The Abyss from Claire Nouvian. However, it won’t be his next project as he’s now announced that it likely won’t be ready for a release until 2025 or 2026.

“…Inspired by a French scientific book that my wife bought and brought home. The pictures of the sea creatures were extraordinary. After that my imagination took over,” the director said of his untitled animated film. He continued to give a potential timeline for the release date, “The underwater colors are absolutely splendid. The starting point was the book. The story and animation flows from it. Animation is something I really wanted to try. I think the project will be done after my next film. I have the team for special effects. It may come out in 2025 or 2026.”

Check out a flip-through of the book below which is visually stunning.

Bong Joon Ho is also working alongside Adam McKay for a HBO series that takes place within the same world of Parasite, except will be set in the United States, the filmmaker reiterating earlier in the year that the project isn’t a remake but an original story.

PARASITE – Ki-taek’s family of four is close, but fully unemployed, with a bleak future ahead of them. The son Ki-woo is recommended by his friend, a student at a prestigious university, for a well-paid tutoring job, spawning hopes of a regular income. Carrying the expectations of all his family, Ki-woo heads to the Park family home for an interview. Arriving at the house of Mr. Park, the owner of a global IT firm, Ki-woo meets Yeon-kyo, the beautiful young lady of the house. But following this first meeting between the two families, an unstoppable string of mishaps lies in wait.

SOURCE: INDIE WIRE

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Kevin Feige Says Marvel Studios Moving Away From 6-9 Picture Deals; Similar To Ones Samuel L. Jackson & Scarlett Johansson Made During Phase One

In the early days of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the studio was trying to make sure they were landing actors on the cheap and to sweeten the pot Ike Perlmutter assumed that giving actors contracts consisting of six to nine film commitments would off-set the low pay (Chris Hemsworth earned only $150K for Thor) they would get on the first round of feature films (television and streaming wasn’t even considered back then).

One of the biggest Marvel deals made was when Samuel L. Jackson signed on to play Nick Fury in at least nine films. Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige has revealed to The Hollywood Reporter during an interview to promote Black Widow that they’re moving away from those extensive deals from the Phase One era.

“That got a lot of attention way back when, with I think [Scarlett Johansson, and Chris Hemsworth and Chris Evans] and Sam Jackson. It varies now. It varies, project to project, cast to cast. Really, what we want are people that come in, are excited to be in the universe, are excited at the opportunity to do more things, as opposed to being locked into contractual obligations,” the studio head told The Hollywood Reporter.

Interestingly enough, Jackson and Hemsworth are working on new projects as Johansson is expected to end her MCU run with Black Widow after reportedly earning an impressive $15 million ($5 million more than she got for leading Ghost In Shell) for the solo outing releasing on Friday.

BLACK WIDOW – In Black Widow, Natasha Romanoff confronts the darker parts of her ledger when a dangerous conspiracy with ties to her past arises. Pursued by a force that will stop at nothing to bring her down, Natasha must deal with her history as a spy and the broken relationships left in her wake long before she became an Avenger. Directed by Cate Shortland and produced by Kevin Feige, the movie stars Scarlett Johansson reprising her role as Natasha Romanoff. Florence Pugh stars as Yelena Belova, David Harbour as Alexei Shostakov aka Red Guardian, and Rachel Weisz as Melina Vostokoff.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

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Quentin Tarantino Muses That Longtime Pal Robert Rodriguez Should Direct ‘Once Upon A Time In Hollywood’ Spinoff Movie Focused On ‘Lancer’

Quentin Tarantino has been on a press tour to promote his new novelization as Once Upon A Time In Hollywood and while he’s spend a lot of time talking about hypothetical things he might direct (likely won’t), he mused during an interview with The Q&A With Jeff Goldsmith Podcast (via The Playlist) about Robert Rodriguez directing a spinoff film about the Lancer stuff, where Timothy Olyphant played James Stacy aka Johnny Madrid Lancer.

“I actually imagine when I send Robert Rodriguez Once Upon A Time In Hollywood [the novelization], I think he’s going to read the book and go, ‘Well, what’s going on with Lancer? If you don’t want to do it, I’ll do it! I could see that being a great Robert Rodriguez movie,” Tarantino said on the podcast about Rodriguez potentially being allowed to make a spinoff film.

The pair have a longstanding relationship as Quentin Tarantino appeared as an actor in Robert’s Desperado, Planet Terror as part of their double-feature experiment Grindhouse, and the vampire pic From Dusk Till Dawn (also written by Tarantino). They also co-directed on rarely talked about Tim Roth-led hotel anthology Four Rooms the first Sin City movie.

However, Rodriguez is busy as it comes. He recently wrapped on the Star Wars series The Book of Boba Fett for Lucasfilm, is currently working on the Ben Affleck thriller Hypnotic, and also developing a sequel to We Can Be Heroes for Netflix. It remains to be seen if he’d want to make a Lancer movie but being a workaholic he’d find time at some point.

SOURCE: THE Q&A WITH JEFF GOLDSMITH PODCAST

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Matthew Vaughn’s Spy Film ‘Argyle’ Reportedly In Talks To Add Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell & Samuel L. Jackson

A while back, The Ronin first revealed that Matthew Vaughn’s (The King’s Man) next feature film would be using the working title Argyle along with confirmations that the film’s production team would consist of cinematographer George Richmond (Fantastic Beasts 3, Kingsman: The Secret Service, Kingsman: The Golden Circle, Rocketman, Eddie The Eagle) and production designer Daniel Taylor (Tetris).

I had recently been able to confirm production would be mainly taking place in the London area.

Well, now Observer is reporting that MARV Films is currently in talks to add Bryce Dallas Howard (Jurassic World, Black Mirror, Spider-Man 3), Sam Rockwell (Iron Man 2, Three Billboards, Jojo Rabbit, Moon), and Samuel L. Jackson (Captain Marvel, The Avengers, Secret Invasion, Spider-Man: Far From Home).

Bryce Dallas Howard is in talks to star in the lead role. Tricked into thinking she’s a writer, her lethal skills return with her memories, setting her down a path of revenge against the shadowy organization she used to work for, the Division. Also in talks to star are Sam Rockwell as a former Division agent and our heroine’s love interest, and Samuel L. Jackson as a rogue agent dedicated to exposing the corruption within the clandestine spy network.

However, the trio admittedly haven’t closed deals and might not ultimately join the pic but the likelihood is good.

Samuel L. Jackson’s Marvel series Secret Invasion will be filming in the United Kingdom and Sam Rockwell’s Justin Hammer is expected to appear as a key figure in Don Cheadle’s Armor Wars series as well (Hammer featured in the Marvel Comics source material). It’s worth mentioning that commitments to the those Marvel shows could possibly conflict with Argyle’s shooting schedule.

Giant Freaking Robot was the first outlet to report details on the film.

Vaughn’s latest film The King’s Man will be released by Disney in December and there are still expectations that Kingsman 3 will be shooting in the near future, wrapping up the Eggsy/Harry Hart trilogy.

THE KING’S MAN – As a collection of history’s worst tyrants and criminal masterminds gather to plot a war to wipe out millions, one man must race against time to stop them. Discover the origins of the very first independent intelligence agency in The King’s Man.

SOURCE: OBSERVER

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Karen Gillan’s Action Pic ‘Gunpowder Milkshake’ Already Has A Sequel In Early Development

The other day, a heap of a announcements and production updates made by StudioCanal revealed a bunch of projects on the horizon including Paddington 3, Benedict Cumberbatch’s WWII drama War Magician, and one interesting tidbit that just caught our eye was that Karen Gillan’s action pic Gunpowder Milkshake has a sequel in early development.

Gunpowder Milkshake hasn’t even released as it’ll debut on Netflix in the U.S. next week on July 14.

The action pic was helmed by Big Bad Wolves co-director Navot Papushado with a fantastic supporting cast that includes Lena Headey (Dredd, Game of Thrones), Paul Giamatti (Billions, Sideways, Shoot Em Up), Chloe Coleman (Avatar 2-5), Michelle Yeoh (Avatar 2-5, Shang-Chi, The Witcher: Blood Origin, Crazy Rich Asians), Angela Bassett (Strange Days, Black Panther, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever), and Carla Gugino (Spy Kids, The Lookout, Sin City, Watchmen).

We’re a wave of John Wick inspired female led action projects with Gunpowder Milkshake alongside things likes Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s Kate and Kate Beckinsale’s Jolt (taking cues from Jason Statham’s Crank films as well) also on their way soon.

GUNPOWDER MILKSHAKE – Sam (Karen Gillan) was only 12 years old when her mother Scarlet (Lena Headey), an elite assassin, was forced to abandon her. Sam was raised by The Firm, the ruthless crime syndicate her mother worked for. Now, 15 years later, Sam has followed in her mother’s footsteps and grown into a fierce hit-woman. But when a high-risk job goes wrong, Sam must choose between serving The Firm and protecting the life of an innocent 8-year-old girl – Emily (Chloe Coleman). With a target on her back, Sam has only one chance to survive: Reunite with her mother and her lethal associates, The Librarians (Michelle Yeoh, Angela Bassett, and Carla Gugino). These three generations of women must now learn to trust each other, stand up to The Firm and their army of henchmen, and raise hell against those who could take everything from them.

SOURCE: STUDIOCANAL VIA THR

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Chris McKay Compares His Horror-Comedy ‘Renfield’ Movie To ‘Evil Dead 2’; ‘Rick & Morty’s Ryan Ridley Wrote The Hard-R Universal Monsters Pic

The Tomorrow War director Chris McKay was announced as replacing Dexter Fletcher (Rocketman, The Saint) on Universal’s Renfield movie, based on the Dracula assistant, and part of their Universal Monsters umbrella. The kicker is that the horror film will be a comedy written by Rick & Morty’s Ryan Ridley and McKay is teasing that it’s violence will be taking cues from Sam Raimi’s beloved Evil Dead 2.

“Renfield is a story about Dracula’s assistant set in modern times, and it’s kind of a codependency success story. And it’s a comedy. It’s a horror movie. It’s an action movie. It’s about bad bosses. It’s written by Ryan Ridley, who worked on Rick and Morty, and it’s a really funny and emotional. It’s gonna be like a hard-R action movie, crazy-violent in an Evil Dead 2 kind of way. That’s gonna be fun,” the filmmaker revealed about his upcoming Renfield project at Universal Pictures. 

If you’re unfamiliar with the 1987 film directed by Sam Raimi, it was pretty much a remake of the previous Evil Dead film, however, taking a slapstick angle as the original was a slightly more straightforward horror movie without as many comedic elements. 

Ryan Ridley is part a group of Rick & Morty writers moving into the realm of live-action projects as Michael Waldron is behind the Loki series, worked with Sam Raimi on Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness, and is attached for untitled Star Wars movie that will be produced by Kevin Feige. Jessica Gao is the head writing on Marvel’s She-Hulk series and Jeff Loveness is behind the script for Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania.

EVIL DEAD 2 – The second of three films in the Evil Dead series is part horror, part comedy, with Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell) once again battling horrifying demons at a secluded cabin in the woods. After discovering an audiotape left by a college professor that contains voices reading from the Book of the Dead, Ash’s girlfriend Linda (Denise Bixler) becomes possessed by evil spirits that are awakened by the voices on the tape. Ash soon discovers there is no escaping the woods.

SOURCE: VARIETY

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Director Chris McKay Teases ‘The Tomorrow War’ Sequels

Last week saw the debut of Chris McKay’s sci-fi action film The Tomorrow War, while there have been mixed reviews, as a streaming film all Amazon is going to care about is how many people watched it and for how long. The filmmaker spoke with Variety over the weekend and teased potential ideas for future installments if the studio/streamer want to pursue them.

“We had such a fun design process. We talked about the world of these creatures, where they came from, how they were created or raised, and how they were maybe being used. I like world-building experiments, especially when you have the potential of some kind of time travel. I think that a sequel could go in a lot of fun areas and the ethnographic study of the whitespikes in their world and where they came from, and what their purpose was, and all of that kind of thing. So yeah, I think that could be a lot of fun. And with this cast, too, we’re just getting started,” Chris McKay told Variety on the potential of follow-up films.

While Chris McKay is keen for multiple films, neither Skydance/Paramount Pictures or Amazon have announced official plans for more films.

I watched it myself and while there were some interesting elements like their jump to the future and enlisting regular people, I almost fell asleep a couple of times while watching it and there were some questionable character/story choices and some odd things technical-level.

However, I’m sure there will be plenty of people willing to watch sequels.

THE TOMORROW WAR – The world is stunned when a group of time travelers arrive from the year 2051 to deliver an urgent message: Thirty years in the future mankind is losing a global war against a deadly alien species. The only hope for survival is for soldiers and civilians from the present to be transported to the future and join the fight. Among those recruited is high school teacher and family man Dan Forester (Chris Pratt). Determined to save the world for his young daughter, Dan teams up with a brilliant scientist (Yvonne Strahovski) and his estranged father (J.K. Simmons) in a desperate quest to rewrite the fate of the planet.

SOURCE: VARIETY