While a bulk of the Hollywood film and television productions have been placed on hiatus during the writers/actors strikes, a handful of projects are getting some interim agreements with SAG-AFTRA allowing for them to move forward into filming. One of the those upcoming projects is a new sci-fi thriller, “The Astronaut,” hailing from writer/director Jess Varley and will begin shooting next month in Ireland.
Deadline is now reporting that Kate Mara (“The Martian”) is set to play the titular astronaut in the film, Sam Walker. She will appear in the project alongside fellow cast members Laurence Fishburne (“John Wick 4”) and Gabriel Luna (“The Last of Us”).
The outlet also provided a logline for the sci-fi film:
In the pic, astronaut Sam Walker (Mara) returns from her first space mission. She’s found miraculously alive in a punctured capsule floating deep off the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. Expecting to be reunited with her husband (Luna), she finds herself placed under intense NASA surveillance in a high security house for rehabilitation and medical testing under the control of General William Harris (Fishburne). However, when disturbing occurrences begin happening around the property, she fears that something extraterrestrial has followed her back to Earth.
The producing team assembled for “The Astronaut” consists of Fuller Media’s Brad Fuller (Paramount’s “A Quiet Place” and “A Quiet Place Part II,” Universal’s “The Purge” films) and Cameron Fuller, alongside Wonder Company’s Eric B. Fleischman (J.D. Dillard’s “Sleight”) and Chris Abernathy (“Barbarian”). Highland Film Group is handling the foreign rights to the movie at TIFF while CAA Media Finance and the UTA Independent Film Group are co-repping domestic rights.
Just yesterday, it was revealed that “Deadpool 3” was only halfway into production when filming was paused in the United Kingdom. Not only that, but the film’s director Shawn Levy (“Stranger Things,” “The Adam Project”) revealed that the first “X-Men” film under Marvel Studios would be a “descendant” of classic hybrid comedies like “Midnight Run,” “48 Hours,” and “Planes, Trains, & Automobiles.” A clear confirmation that Ryan Reynolds got his “road trip movie” with Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, which was his original idea from the jump for the third installment.
But that isn’t the only thing the Canadian director is dishing about the sequel.
Levy is doing press rounds at the Toronto International Film Festival for the upcoming Netflix series “All The Light We Cannot See” and was asked to comment about his reaction to all the rumors surrounding “Deadpool 3.” Signaling that not everything rumored on the internet about the film is actually accurate, what a shocker.
“I’d rather not weigh in on that, but I’ll say this,” Levy teases when asked to comment on the endless string of casting/character rumors. “The rumors of actors, singers, sports stars who are all apparently in ‘Deadpool 3’ are fabulous. If all I read was the internet, I would have the greatest cast ever assembled in the history of cinema, so I’ll simply say that some of those rumors are true, and some of them aren’t.”
The laundry list of who has been rumored for the film is a mile-long from Channing Tatum getting to play his version of Gambit (after the solo film was snuffed out) to the entire cast of all Fox-era Marvel films showing up. The latter just sounds like a miserable waste of a film’s runtime to be nothing but a cameo factory for characters that won’t be carrying over to the mainline MCU. However, Levy does seemingly refer to the Taylor Swift as Dazzler rumbling specifically (something that already seemed fishy since she is famously on a massive tour and way too busy). We should point out that the report of Jennifer Garner reprising the Elektra role was widely circulated by trade outlets and likely means that one is the real deal. Other rumors without much backing from trades or any might be less real.
On the topic of putting Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine in a version of the comic book costume, the director wasn’t hiding his personal excitement.
“Like the rest of the world, I’ve waited two decades to see Wolverine in a whole movie with Deadpool, and I don’t know if this is our last shot at Wolverine on screen, so I was going to make goddamned sure we get the old yellow and blue just once, and that we get it right,” Levy told EW. “It also helps that I’m making this movie within the MCU, so I have access to an army of the nerdiest nerds available to a Marvel project,” he continued when talking about the multiple iterations the Wolverine suit underwent.
Others officially returning to the franchise alongside Reynolds include Morena Baccarin, Brianna Hildebrand, Shioli Kutsuna, Leslie Uggams, Karan Soni, Stefan Kapicic, and Rob Delaney. Some of those new casting additions on “Deadpool 3” are Emma Corrin (“The Crown”) and Matthew Macfadyen (“Succession”), who are expected to be playing villains. We’ll likely have to wait on Marvel to confirm/debunk other cast members that have been rumored for the last couple of months/years along with the rumored plot elements including the TVA and the Multiverse (Set photos seemingly have confirmed the potential destruction of the Foxverse).
One of the many films that were in the middle of filming before the Hollywood strikes impacted productions and placed them on hiatus was “Deadpool 3.” It will be the first big “X-Men” movie made by Marvel Studios after acquiring the franchise during the events of Disney’s merger with 21st Century and there were some high expectations when it landed a Marvel-level budget. When it was revealed that Hugh Jackman would be reprising the Wolverine role after giving a perfect send-off to the character in “Logan” there were some skeptical fans worried. Jackman has since tried to ease the nerves of die-hards by saying the film takes place before those events.
Director Shawn Levy (“Stranger Things”), who has recently worked with Ryan Reynolds on “The Adam Project” and “Free Guy,” was tapped to helm the film that had been shooting in the United Kingdom. He’s now talking about the film with Deadline and says the sequel is “very much an R-rated film,” reiterating every single other person from Disney or Marvel when speaking publicly about “Deadpool 3.”
“I’ll say this while making [‘Deadpool 3’], I only know how to make something that I love. Long before I loved Ryan Reynolds, I loved ‘Deadpool.’ ‘Deadpool 1’ is, to me, a perfect movie and so I wasn’t going to mess with the DNA of that franchise. Our movie is raw, its audacious, very much R-rated. We went to great lengths not to shoot it on soundstages with digital environments,” Levy said of the new sequel.
The filmmaker also suggested what films he’d compare “Deadpool 3″ to, I would say it’s more a descendant of ‘Mightnight Run,” and “48 Hours,” and “Planes, Trains & Automobiles.” I guess this means that Reynolds finally got his road trip Deadpool movie with Wolverine, which was said to be the original concept of his idea back when Fox was developing the film.
Filming isn’t expected to resume until the strikes have been resolved and with no end in sight, that likely means that fans should be preparing themselves for a release delay on a bunch of upcoming films, including “Deadpool 3” and other Marvel projects.
Earlier this year, with “Guardians of The Galaxy Vol.3” we saw what could potentially be the final Marvel Studios film from writer/director James Gunn as the filmmaker is going off to shoot “Superman: Legacy” next year alongside running DC Studios and developing more DCU projects that he’ll end up making himself like “Creature Commandos.” Marvel is still looking to mine the cosmic side of the MCU with the Skrulls revealed to be on Earth in “Secret Invasion,” “The Marvels” releasing in November as we’ll see the return of the Kree Empire as villains, and an upcoming “Nova” project also in the works focusing on the space hero after the destruction of the Nova Corps. at the hands of Thanos.
The Disney+ original “I Am Groot” has returned with a second season focusing on the little rascal in quirky/inventive shorts, and seems like director Kirsten Lepore (“Adventure Time”) after tackling two seasons of the animated shorts would be willing to fill Gunn’s seat as director on the next “Guardians of The Galaxy.” While speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, it was brought up about the potential of Lepore continuing the franchise by helming the next “Guardians” installment.
“Yeah, I’m open to it, for sure. Years ago, I was like, ‘I definitely want to do live-action!’ I was trying to move into live-action, and now, I think I’m more at peace. I don’t even want to say ‘at peace’ because I’m not settling. I love animation so much. I think I better understand what I bring to animation because it does take a really specific type of person to direct it. I’ve been doing it for so long and I feel very comfortable in that space, and I feel good at it. So I really enjoy working in animation — and I would be totally happy to work in animation for the rest of my life — but I would also be very curious to experiment with live-action,” Lepore responded when asked about directing the next “Guardians of The Galaxy” feature film.
It’s not like “Guardians of The Galaxy Vol.3” didn’t leave room for more installments it ends with Peter Quill on Earth trying to reconnect with his grandfather and homeworld. Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper) is now the team’s leader with Groot (Vin Diesel), Adam Warlock (Will Poulter), Cosmo (Maria Bakalova), Kraglin (Sean Gunn), Phyla (Kai Zen), and Blurp on the new roster going on missions.
Lepore isn’t exactly unfamiliar with feature films after having been the animation director on the Oscar-nominated animated film “Marcel The Shell With ShoesOn,” and worked as a VFX artist on recent Best Picture winner “Everything Everywhere All At Once.” Having someone with an effects background might be sort of an asset if more than half the members of the new Guardians lineup are going to be digital characters. Marvel has hired directors from within the studio that have previously worked on MCU projects. Seeing Lepore recruited for a hypothetical “Guardians of The Galaxy 4” after already working closely with the studio on “I Am Groot” (already working with Diesel and Cooper) wouldn’t be all that shocking.
“I Am Groot” is currently streaming on Disney+ and you can watch the series trailer below.
Legendary is making sure that their Monsterverse franchise keeps expanding and a new spinoff series is expected to help with exactly that. Originally titled “Godzilla & The Titans,” the upcoming Apple TV+ series retitled “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters” is set to debut mid-November and aims to explore the origins of the secretive global organization Monarch. The group has been tasked for decades to not only keep the existence of Titans a secret but also have spent that same time researching them. It’s unknown if any of the new characters will make the ultimate jump to the feature films, but it wouldn’t be that shocking if the streaming series does end up planting seeds for the next solo “Godzilla” installment after “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” is released next year.
The series has multiple directors handling episodes but the one that stands out is Matt Shakman, who previously worked on Marvel’s “WandaVision” and is still attached to helm their high-profile reboot of “The Fantastic Four.” It also sees both Kurt Russell and son Wyatt Russell (“The Falcon & The Winter Soldier,” “Overlord”) working together on the same project, as they play the same character on the show, Army Officer Lee Shaw. But in different periods of the character’s life as part of Monarch.
Apple has released a first-look teaser trailer, which you can view below. The 10-episode run will debut in November with the first two episodes, followed by one episode every Friday through January 12.
Here is the show’s official logline via Apple:
Following the thunderous battle between Godzilla and the Titans that leveled San Francisco, and the shocking revelation that monsters are real, “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters” tracks two siblings following in their father’s footsteps to uncover their family’s connection to the secretive organization known as Monarch. Clues lead them into the world of monsters and ultimately down the rabbit hole to Army Officer Lee Shaw (played by Kurt Russell and Wyatt Russell), taking place in the 1950s and half a century later when Monarch is threatened by what Shaw knows. Based on the Monsterverse from Legendary, and starring Kurt Russell, Wyatt Russell, Anna Sawai, Kiersey Clemons, Ren Watabe, Mari Yamamoto, Anders Holm, Joe Tippett, and Elisa Lasowski, this dramatic saga — spanning three generations — reveals buried secrets and the ways that epic, earth-shattering events can reverberate through our lives.
As mentioned, “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters” will debut this November 17 on Apple TV+ and next year will see Adam Wingard’s “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” hit the big screen on April 12. Although given multiple release dates being shuffled around, it’s possible that the latter date could shift in the coming months.
December 8 will see the North American wide release of Studio Ghibli‘s high-anticipated animated film, “The Boy & The Heron.” A new original film that saw beloved Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki pull himself out of retirement and what may actually lead to more than just that upcoming supernatural post-war tale.
The revered studio’s vice president, Junichi Nishioka, spoke with CBC’s Eli Glasner on the red carpet for the Toronto International Film Festival. It opened the festival with an introduction from Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro (“Pinocchio”) praising the animated film and reminding the audience they were the first outside of Japan to experience it in a theater. Nishioka apparently revealed that “The Boy & The Heron” isn’t likely to be the final film for Miyazaki, as he’s still coming into the offices with “new ideas.”
“[Exciting] news for fans of Hayao Miyazaki. Studio Ghibli VP Junichi Nishioka tells us ‘The Boy & The Heron’ is not Miyazaki’s final film and that he is already coming into the office with new ideas,” Glasner said in a tweet on Thursday night.
However, it’s unclear what those “ideas” could be and if they will ultimately materialize into a script someone else at the studio directs. Another option could be that Miyazaki makes the project himself, again. I’m sure die-hard fans of the studio and filmmaker will be delighted to hear any tidbits/details about that project.
There are more rounds of reviews for “The Boy & The Heron” as it screens at TIFF and you can check out the film’s first-look trailer below alongside the film’s official synopsis.
“A young boy named Mahito yearning for his mother ventures into a world shared by the living and the dead. There, death comes to an end, and life finds a new beginning. A semi-autobiographical fantasy about life, death, and creation, in tribute to friendship, from the mind of Hayao Miyazaki.”
Exiting news for fans of Hayao Miyazaki. Studio Ghibli VP Junichi Nishioka tells us The Boy and the Heron is not Miyazaki’s final film and that he is already coming into the office with new ideas. #TIFF23pic.twitter.com/u9DyyPhJwu
“The Crow,” a mature comic book film released in 1994, has seen a handful of soft reboots/remakes over the years with three follow-up installments and a Canadian television series “The Crow: Stairway To Heaven” led by actor Mark Dacascos (“John Wick 3”) that looked to first reboot the Eric Draven story. Played by the late Brandon Lee in the original film, Draven is an aspiring musician who is killed alongside his fiancee and is returned to the land of the living (via a supernatural crow) to get revenge against a local group of gangsters/thugs in Detroit. The long-gestating feature film reboot finally getting made was only just a matter of time and has gone through various stages over the years such as having actors like Jack Huston (“Boardwalk Empire”) and Jason Momoa (“Game of Thrones”) attached at different points to play the lead before eventually Swedish actor Bill Skarsgård (“IT”) landed the part for director Rupert Sanders (“Ghost In The Shell”).
The film had been seeking distribution partners and Deadline has revealed that Lionsgate has made a deal to handle the film’s domestic distribution as part of the film market linked to the Toronto International Film Festival with CAA Media Finance putting this eight-figure deal together.
Skarsgård had recently played the main villain of Lionsgate’s “John Wick 4” and joined the cast of Robert Eggers’ vampire pic, “Nosferatu.” Other actors among the cast of “The Crow” include FKA Twigs, DannyHuston, Laura Birn, Sami Bouajila, and Jordan Bolger. Production on the remake took place in Prague, Czech Republic, and Munich, Germany.
A release date wasn’t mentioned in the report, but it’s assumed that it could come out sometime in 2024.
Below is the logline for the original 1994 film:
The night before his wedding, musician Eric Draven (Brandon Lee) and his fiancée are brutally murdered by members of a violent inner-city gang. On the anniversary of their death, Eric rises from the grave and assumes the gothic mantle of the Crow, a supernatural avenger. Tracking down the thugs responsible for the crimes and mercilessly murdering them, Eric eventually confronts head gangster Top Dollar (Michael Wincott) to complete his macabre mission.
Actor Giancarlo Esposito has been getting multiple second-winds thanks to his renewed popularity from shows like “Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul,” allowing him to continue exploring various genres such as sci-fi fantasy with playing a minor Imperial villain in “The Mandalorian” series (Each season having varying levels of screentime). But he seems to be embracing calls from the internet to take on comic book roles within the worlds of Marvel and DC.
While speaking with a crowd at Comic Con Panama, the actor revealed (See video below via Mint Doom on Twitter) that he’s had an early chatter with DC Studios co-head James Gunn about potentially joining the newly reset DCU, which had officially kicked off earlier this month with “Blue Beetle.” However, a character wasn’t declared nor were the subjects discussed in that talk assumed to have taken place before the strikes.
“I have been talking to James Gunn about the possibility of being in a movie – so who knows?”
What we do know is that Gunn is on the hunt for actors to play multiple roles in “Superman: Legacy,” but the names being mentioned for someone like Lex Luthor have been attributed to actors like Alexander Skarsgård, Bill Skarsgård, and previous Clark Kent hopeful, Nicholas Hoult. Fans might want to pigeon-hold the actor to only being right for villains, but Esposito seems to be keen to rebuff that notion. Planet).
In the past, Esposito has mused about a personal desire to play more heroic comic book characters such as Professor Charles Xavier from the “X-Men.” While fan sites/accounts have made massive leaps about Esposito taking certain roles, none of that has actually been backed up by more credible sources like the studios themselves or trades. More or less when the actor has on occasion brought up characters, it has been his personal reaction to internet fan-castings and not likely something he’s actually been offered.
Things like this might not even materialize into a role and could simply be a meeting of the minds that goes nowhere. Then again, we could see him being a good fit as a more cheerful version of, Perry White, Clark and Lois’ boss at the Daily Planet. There are also multiple other high-profile DCU projects in the works as well such as “The Brave & The Bold,” a second season of “Peacemaker,” an animated project focused on the “Creature Commandos,” and even more on the horizon.
Few days ago I was at an event in my country, and I got to see and meet Giancarlo. He answered lots of questions 👀 This one I recorded left me surprised (someone asked if he had a chance to appear in DC films) #dccomics#jamesgunnpic.twitter.com/GPH5ET3QrS
It has been a moment since filmmaker Gareth Edwards tackled an original project after helping to launch the lucrative Monsterverse franchise for Legendary with his “Godzilla” reboot and helped usher in the modern era of “Star Wars” thanks to “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.” The last film Edwards worked on his own thing was “Monsters” back in 2010. Well, he’s coming back with a vengeance in his upcoming film “The Creator,” which he compares to a Vietnam War film with a glossy sci-fi paint-job.
During a recent Q&A (See videos below) session where they showcased some new IMAX footage from the film, the director explained to Deadline how the film’s lead, John David Washington, first met with Gareth and had to come clean about being a massive “Star Wars” fan even to the point he was mulling over not wearing his “Star Wars” mask to the pandemic-era meeting as not to offend but said it “wouldn’t be true to himself” as he had been wearing that mask consistently in that time.
He also talked about the other lead of the film. Madeleine Yuna Voyles is the youngster that was cast in the role of Alfie, the new artificial intelligence “threat” that Joshua aims to protect from human hands and Edwards explains how he came around to filling that key role. He was a bit worried that during her audition the actor was being too well prepped before doing an emotional scene that made them all cry, but ultimately ended up doing it again and realizing that she was indeed the actor they needed to play Alfie.
“I don’t know what we would have done if we hadn’t found the right kid, we got really lucky but the version of this movie where we didn’t find Madeleine…I’m glad I live in the universe where that happened. I hate movies with little kids because they can be so annoying, that was my biggest fear making this movie…so it’s the biggest relief when she’s beyond her years it’s like she’s reincarnated or something,” Edwards said of discovering his co-lead that would make or break his movie.
The film focuses on the military threat of A.I. after it started dropping bombs and while the film’s setting is 2070, Edwards jokingly thinks he might have gone too far into the future.
“I have a trick with A.I. is to get the timing as a sweet spot window where it’s before the apocalypse and not after, which I think is in November — maybe December — and so, I think we got really lucky. The joke would be that when you write a film, especially a science fiction film, I try to avoid putting a date … at some point, you have to so, I picked 2070. Now I feel like an idiot because I should’ve gone for 2023 ’cause everything that’s been unfolding in the last few months is kind of scary and weird.”
It’s also a war movie where Edwards describes the pic as a mix between Ridley Scott’s “Blade Runner” and Francis Ford Coppola’s Vietnam War pic “Apocolypse Now,” the latter is fitting since they shot on location in Vietnam. One of “80 locations” Edwards claims to have been used in the making of the film.
I have to gush a little bit about the potential of “The Creator.” Honestly, we don’t often see an original film of this scale get major backing from a major studio like 20th Century Studios/Disney after being originally developed at New Regency. I can’t express how important it is for original blockbusters to wiggle their way into the marketplace this didn’t used to be as uncommon as it is now in the era of cinematic universes/reboots. I don’t know how studios expect to get to the next “Star Wars” or “Avatar” without taking risks with original projects from visionary directors and screenwriters.
It also doesn’t hurt that there is some “Dune” and “Star Wars” lineage mixed in here with Hans Zimmer composing the film’s score and Oscar-winning cinematographer Greig Fraser having contributed to the film’s visuals as well.
As much as still enjoy the work of director Neill Blomkamp (“The Creator” certainly feels like it shares DNA with his work) after becoming such a creative voice within the sci-fi genre with “District 9,” “Elysium,” and to a lesser extent his visually brilliant pic “Chappie” (I still think most of the production design on the film is top-tier). It feels like he sort of has fizzled out after attaching himself to high-profile franchise sequels like “Alien 5” and “RoboCop Returns” potentially getting drained creatively trying to work within a frustrating studio system while developing his own video game and shooting a bunch of various short films on his own dime. However, he recently ended up with his first number one at the box office in a long time with his sports drama “Gran Turismo.”Rooting for more genre-focused material from Blomkamp, but I’m still grateful that folks like Edwards can pick up the slack and that studios like New Regency are still willing to make such fantastic-looking sci-fi that isn’t based on existing material when other studios/executives repelled by spending big bucks on original ideas (“The Creator” is said to have cost something in the neighborhood of $86 million).
We’ve already seen this summer what audience-friendly originals can look like at the box office with Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” out-earning “Inception” and Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” (Not a sequel/reboot/remake) inching closer to becoming Warners’ highest-grossing film. It’s worth mentioning that 20th Century is indeed investing more than expected on various IP-focused sci-fi projects such as new feature film installments in both the “Alien” and “Predator” franchises in the shadow of something as massive as the “Avatar” films.
Amidst a future war between the human race and the forces of artificial intelligence, Joshua (Washington), a hardened ex-special forces agent grieving the disappearance of his wife (Chan), is recruited to hunt down and kill the Creator, the elusive architect of advanced AI who has developed a mysterious weapon with the power to end the war… and mankind itself. Joshua and his team of elite operatives journey across enemy lines, into the dark heart of AI-occupied territory… only to discover the world-ending weapon he’s been instructed to destroy is an AI in the form of a young child.
“The Creator” will be heading to theaters on September 29 and you can watch a neat featurette about the sci-fi pic below.
Gareth Edwards mentions Francis Ford Coppola and Ridley Scott as influences of his as he notes #TheCreator is “a mix of ‘Blade Runner’ meets ‘Apocalypse Now’” pic.twitter.com/QcXAaJCpFt
Gareth Edwards on the timing of #TheCreator, which follows a future war between the human race and artificial intelligence, being aligned with the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes this year pic.twitter.com/9UM5zCc6N6
American filmmaker Michael Mann is behind some of the most thrilling action and dramatic pieces of cinema from his film “Manhunter” introducing the world to Hannibal Lector years before “Silence of The Lambs” to the crime masterpiece “Heat,” the director seemingly has a sixth sense about what it takes to put extremely cool elements and imagery onto the big screen. Mann returns this year with “Ferrari” a film that explores the life of Formula 1 driver and car magnate, Enzo Ferrari, played by the dashing and aptly named Adam Driver (A role originally meant for Aussie actor Hugh Jackman).
A new first-look trailer (See below) has been released online and we now have a better idea of what to expect from the biopic, which will seemingly mix the elements of the thrill of racing alongside the equally dramatic home life of Ferrari. Joining Driver on the call sheet includes Penélope Cruz, Shailene Woodley, Sarah Gordon, Gabriel Leone, Jack O’Connell, and Patrick Dempsey.
The film also boasts Oscar-winning cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt, who also worked on another film that will be screening at the Venice Film Festival with David Fincher’s assassin thriller “The Killer.”
NEON, the film’s distributor, has released the following synopsis for “Ferarri”:
It is the summer of 1957. Behind the spectacle of Formula 1, ex-racer Enzo Ferrari is in crisis. Bankruptcy threatens the factory he and his wife, Laura built from nothing ten years earlier. Their volatile marriage has been battered by the loss of their son, Dino a year earlier. Ferrari struggles to acknowledge his son Piero with Lina Lardi. Meanwhile, his drivers’ passion to win pushes them to the edge as they launch into the treacherous 1,000-mile race across Italy, the Mille Miglia.
While the film makes its debut at the Venice Film Festival, a fitting tribute to the Italian subject/setting, audiences will have to wait a bit longer to experience “Ferrari” for themselves as it will be released in theaters on Christmas.
THE RONIN 