Tag: Andy Serkis

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

Posted on in Film News, News

Tom Hardy Planning ‘Venom 3’ & ‘Morbius’ Director Daniel Espinosa Spoils Eddie Brock Cameo

Tom Hardy is returning to the Eddie Brock role in Venom: Let There be Carnage, which he’ll earn a “story by” credit and is sounds like he’s already preparing for the potential of a third film. Hardy recently did a lengthy interview with Esquire and brought-up that he’s already in early planning stages for a Venom 3, but wasn’t ready to stay that it was sure bet as Sony Pictures still hasn’t greenlit it.

“I’m thinking about the third movie as well, because I think you need to write that at the same time. A third won’t be greenlit until the second is successful, but the studio were really, really pleased with number two.”

The British actor was also hopeful for crossovers and it looks like Morbius might be where that first happens.

Swedish outlet Movie Zine (via The Direct) recently spoke with Morbius director Daniel Espinosa (Snabba Cash, Safe House, Life) about the upcoming Spider-Man spinoff and seemingly spilled the beans about Tom Hardy’s cameo as Eddie Brock/Venom in the movie.

“It usually feels strange before the day begins, when you look at the schedule and stand on the set yourself. When you walk around there, the recording looks just like a Swedish production, but then when you look at the schedule and read names like Michael Keaton, Jared Leto, Tom Hardy, then it feels cool and very exciting.”

However, there have been statements from both Sony Pictures and Venom: Let There Be Carnage director Andy Serkis (See below) that Tom Holland’s Spider-Man won’t be involved in the Venom sequel, despite that Michael Keaton’s Vulture is expected to show up in Morbius (as seen in the trailer).

“Obviously, there are links between Venom and Spider-Man in the Marvel Universe and the Spider-Man story, but in this, we’re treating this very much as it’s his own world, the Venom story is his own world. There are nods and little moments just like this, the newspaper Daily Bugle, of course, but on the whole, he’s unaware, they’re unaware, at this point of other characters like Spider-Man. So that’s the way we’ve chosen to play this particular episode of the movie but well, we’ll wait and see, what little things you can pick out of it.”

Multiple projects are in the works at Sony Pictures with J.C. Chandor’s (Triple Frontier) Kraven The Hunter starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson and director Olivia Wilde’s (Booksmart, Don’t Worry Darling) untitled film (expected to be Spider-Woman) to be the next projects to go into production.

MORBIUS – One of Marvel’s most compelling and conflicted characters comes to the big screen as Oscar-winner Jared Leto transforms into the enigmatic antihero, Michael Morbius. Dangerously ill with a rare blood disorder, and determined to save others suffering his same fate, Dr. Morbius attempts a desperate gamble. What at first appears to be a radical success, a darkness inside him is unleashed and transforms this healer into a hunter.

VENOM: LET THERE BE CARNAGE – Tom Hardy returns to the big screen as the lethal protector Venom, one of MARVEL’s greatest and most complex characters. Directed by Andy Serkis, the film also stars Michelle Williams, Naomie Harris and Woody Harrelson, in the role of the villain Cletus Kasady/Carnage.

SOURCE: ESQUIRE & MOVIE ZINE

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‘Planet Of The Apes 4’: Weta Digital Returning With ‘Alita: Battle Angel’ VFX Supervisor Tapped

It was heartbreaking to see Wes Ball’s (Maze Runner Trilogy) big special effects event film Mouse Guard getting scrapped as part of the wave of films that got cancelled in the wake of Disney’s merger with 21st Century Fox and taking oversight on feature films in development at 20th Century Fox (now 20th Century Studios).

Ball would instead be announced as the director and co-writer on a fourth installment in the modern Planet of The Apes franchise, the filmmaker assuring fans the project wouldn’t be a reboot but taking place in the same universe as the last three movies. The director co-writing the new film with Josh Friedman, who has worked on Steven Spielberg’s War of The Worlds, Brian De Palma’s The Black Dahlia, Terminator: Dark Fate, the Snowpiercer series, and Apple’s Foundation.

It looks like the next film should have the same level of impressive visual effects as previous installments.

The Ronin has learned that Weta Digital’s Phillip Leonhardt will be the visual effects supervisor on the untitled film having previously worked on Robert Rodriguez’s Alita: Battle Angel and Maze Runner: The Death Cure. Leonhardt is no stranger to the franchise with involvement on Matt Reeves’ War For The Planet of The Apes.

Weta Digital was working closely with Ball on Mouse Guard and Andy Serkis was going to have a role on that film, we would not be shocked if Serkis returned for Planet of The Apes 4. However, Serkis playing new chimpanzee role within the franchise could mimic how Roddy McDowall played both Cornelius and Caesar in the original string of films.

Folks unfamiliar with the original Planet of The Apes movies might be unaware that the modern trilogy really only covered pics such as Conquest of The Planet of The Apes and Battle For The Planet of The Apes, stories that don’t take place in the original timeline of the first two movies which is nearly 2,000 years in the future from the settings we’ve recently seen.

If I’m 20th Century Studios and Wes Ball, I would be ready at this point to make the true time jump to the point were the apes are running their own evolved society (less primitive and speaking) and potentially seeing a group of astronauts crash land on this planet having to navigate a setting where humans are no longer the dominate species. Beneath The Planet of The Apes revealed a secret group of mutated humans have gained the ability of telepathy (something that nobody has tackled since that installment), which could be an interesting spin as it’s not just a straight rehash of the original 1968 film and Tim Burton’s misguided reboot from 2001 starring Mark Wahlberg with fantastic makeup from Rick Baker.

Speaking of Wahlberg, we have our fingers crossed that Wes Ball hires someone with a little more age/skill to play a lead human role such as Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian, Game of Thrones, The Last of Us) for potential roles of Colonel George Taylor or John Brent.

It was revealed he would be reuniting with production designer Daniel Dorrance ((A Good Day To Die Hard, Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, Maze Runner: The Death Cure, The Expendables 3) on Planet of The Apes 4.

We have to assume that Ball will also bring on Maze Runner: The Death Cure cinematographer Gyula Pados (Predators, Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle, Jumanji: The Next Level), who has been working on David F. Sandberg’s DC Comics sequel Shazam! Fury of The Gods in Atlanta. Pados having extensive experience with exterior shoots would certainly make his addition to the project an asset.

How far along Planet of The Apes 4 is at the moment is unknown and when they hope to begin shooting.

Posted on in Film News

‘Venom 2’: Director Andy Serkis Says Characters Are Unaware of Spider-Man & Reveals Stephen Graham Is Playing Patrick Mulligan aka Toxin

In a trailer breakdown video from Venom: Let There Be Carnage director Andy Serkis posted by IGN, the filmmaker confirmed that the film takes place in it’s own world and that Stephen Graham plays an a police offer named Mulligan, who is most likely Patrick Mulligan the host of the symbiote known as Toxin.

SERKIS: “Obviously, there are links between Venom and Spider-Man in the Marvel Universe and the Spider-Man story, but in this, we’re treating this very much as it’s his own world, the Venom story is his own world. There are nods and little moments just like this, the newspaper Daily Bugle, of course, but on the whole, he’s unaware, they’re unaware, at this point of other characters like Spider-Man. So that’s the way we’ve chosen to play this particular episode of the movie but well, we’ll wait and see, what little things you can pick out of it.”

There is a strong possibility that Stephen Graham’s Mulligan could become Toxin leading to a new villain for Venom 3, the Netflix/Sony deal recently inadvertently confirmed plans for a third movie. However, Sony Pictures has yet to officially announce they have a script or even a director for it.

Stephen Graham is notorious for play gritty characters with credits such as Snatch, Boardwalk Empire, and The Irishman. It doesn’t hurt he co-starred with Tom Hardy on his series Taboo, which likely means working together on multiple films could be fun for the two friends.

I’m still curious if they’ll attempt to combine Naomie Harris’ Shriek with the symbiote Scream given the slight overlap or have someone else as the human host. The comic storyline Separation Anxiety would make for a good final movie.

SOURCE: IGN

Posted on in Film News

Tom Hardy’s ‘Venom: Let There Be Carnage’ Release Date Officially Moves From June 25th To September 17th

Yesterday, Sony Pictures announced that they’ve now moved their Venom sequel Venom: Let There Be Carnage from it’s summer release date of June 25th to the fall. The Sony/Marvel movie will be out in theaters on September 17th with Spider-Man: Now Way Home set for December 17th and Jared Leto’s Morbius on January 21st, 2022.

As the title suggests, Venom 2 will feature Woody Harrelson’s Cletus Kasady as the film’s villain as the dangerous murderer is the human host to Carnage. The violent Marvel supervillain will be paired up with Naomie Harris’ Frances Barrison aka Shriek. We’ll see the return of Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock aka Venom and the new addition of The Irishman’s Stephen Graham taking a role as well.

The sequel was directed by Andy Serkis, who shot second unit on Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy and most recently made Mowgli: Legend of The Jungle. It goes without saying that Serkis has a lot of experience with motion-capture and visual effects.

The first Venom installment originally dropped in October and having the release closer to the fall might be a good way for the studio to recoup their costs.

SOURCE: SONY PICTURES

Posted on in Film News

Wes Ball Reveals New ‘Planet of The Apes’ Movie Is Written By ‘Avatar 2’ Screenwriter Josh Friedman – Teases Weta Digital’s Return?

Despite original reports that Wes Ball’s new Planet of The Apes film would be a hard reboot of the franchise, the director has come out publicly to debunk that the film will be ignoring or undoing the work of the last three films. 

While speaking with Discussing Film, Wes dropped an interesting tidbit about the creative team working on the new Apes film that includes Avatar 2 and Terminator: Dark Fate screenwriter Josh Friedman tackling the script. 

BALL: “We were using the same material, the same kind of technology, we were using a lot of the same people involved – I had asked Andy Serkis to join Mouse Guard. So it was kind of natural fit. I understand where it came from and my big thing was: what do you do for a Planet of the Apes sequel? One, those last three movies are one of the great trilogies we have in modern movie history. They are just so well done. They honored the original movies they sprang from, the Charlton Heston movies, but they grounded it in a modern sensibility and it just worked. Caesar is one of the great movie characters that we’ll have throughout time. So what do you do to follow that up, right? At the same time, I wasn’t interested in doing a part four either. We want to also do our own thing.”

“We have a take. We have a way of staying in the universe that was created before us, but we’re also opening ourselves up in being able to do some really cool new stuff. Again, I’m trying to be careful here. I’ll say this, for fans of the original three don’t worry – you’re in good hands. The original writers and producers that came up with Rise and Dawn, Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, they’re also on board with this. Josh Friedman is writing this thing, a lot of the same crew is kind of involved. We will feel like we’re part of that original trilogy, but at the same time we’re able to do some really cool new stuff. It will be really exciting to see on the biggest screen possible.”

It sounds like that “technology” tidbit would infer that Weta Digital will be making a return for his incarnation. Weta had previously worked on all three of the recent films. 

Interestingly enough, Wes worked closely with Weta Digital in the past on his Maze Runner sequels Mazer Runner: The Scorch Trials and Maze Runner: The Death Cure. 

He was also set to work again with Weta for his fantasy film Mouse Guard before Disney and 20th Century Studios pulled the plug on it post-merger. The graphic novel adaptation was going to be produced by Matt Reeves with Andy Serkis taking a lead role as the villain. 

The director also mentions they’re still in the scripting and production design phase of the film but could begin “virtual production” soon.

BALL: “Well, Planet of the Apes is moving forward and we have a giant art team cranking away on some incredible concept art. We’ve got the screenplay continuing to move forward, that will take the time that it takes and so that’s all good. Planet of the Apes is moving forward baby! Not only that, but we could actually be in virtual production relatively soon because it’s largely a CG movie.”

I’m really curious if they’re going to push the franchise deep into the future side of things. As the recent trilogy only covered the settings of the final films in the franchise that took cues from the final two installments, Conquest and Battle. 

I think it’ll be interesting to see what the ape society looks like in two thousand years or at the very least a couple of hundred years. Wes can surely honor the look and legacy of the first three films while pushing the franchise in a new direction to give it new life along with showcasing what ape cities could like in the future. It also allows them to bring back Andy Serkis to play another chimpanzee character, not unlike how Roddy McDowall played Cornelius and then later on his son Caesar. 

SOURCE: DISCUSSING FILM