‘Band of Brothers’ Follow-Up WWII Series ‘Masters of The Air’ Casts Austin Butler & Callum Turner

Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg previously were behind HBO’s WWII series Band of Brothers and The Pacific about American soldiers that fought in European and Pacific campaigns. They’re currently working on a new show, Masters of The Air, that HBO passed on and landed at Apple TV+. An adaption of the novel from Donald L. Miller that focuses on bomber pilots aka bomber boys, which will be written by John Orloff and Graham Yost.

The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that Once Upon A Time In Hollywood’s Austin Bulter and Fantastic Beasts 2 actor Callum Turner. They have landed the roles of Maj. Gale Cleven and Maj. John Egan.

Masters of the Air is the deeply personal story of the American bomber boys in World War II who brought the war to Hitler’s doorstep. With the narrative power of fiction, Donald Miller takes you on a harrowing ride through the fire-filled skies over Berlin, Hanover, and Dresden and describes the terrible cost of bombing for the German people. Fighting at 25,000 feet in thin, freezing air that no warriors had ever encountered before, bomber crews battled new kinds of assaults on body and mind. Air combat was deadly but intermittent: periods of inactivity and anxiety were followed by short bursts of fire and fear. Unlike infantrymen, bomber boys slept on clean sheets, drank beer in local pubs, and danced to the swing music of Glenn Miller’s Air Force band, which toured US air bases in England. But they had a much greater chance of dying than ground soldiers. Masters of the Air is a story of life in wartime England and in the German prison camps, where tens of thousands of airmen spent part of the war. It ends with a vivid description of the grisly hunger marches captured airmen were forced to make near the end of the war through the country their bombs destroyed.

According to a report from Deadline from October, No Time To Die director Cary Joji Fukunaga is attached to tackle episodes. Also, I can confirm that Alien: Covenant and Raised By Wolves production designer Chris Seagers is going to be working on the series.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS

Jesse Plemons To Play FBI Agent In Martin Scorsese’s Thriller ‘Killers of The Flower Moon’ – DiCaprio Takes Smaller Supporting Role

There is news via The Hollywood Reporter that Leonardo DiCaprio will be taking a different role in Martin Scorsese’s expensive thriller Killers of The Flower Moon as Jesse Plemons is reportedly taking over Leo’s part of FBI Agent Tom White.

DiCaprio will instead play Ernest Burkhart, the nephew if powerful rancher played by Robert De Niro and the husband of Lily Gladstone’s Mollie.

Based on David Grann’s best-selling book, the Apple Original Film adaptation takes place in 1920s Oklahoma and depicts a string of brutal murders of Osage Nation Native Americans, which came to be known as the Reign of Terror. The Osage Nation, who were the richest people per capita in the world, were killed one by one after oil was discovered on their land. As the death toll rose, the newly-created FBI took up the case and unraveled a chilling conspiracy and one of the most monstrous crimes in American history.

Plemons is best known for his television work on shows such as AMC’s Breaking Bad and FX’s Fargo, he recently worked on the Netflix drama I’m Thinking of Ending Things and Martin Scorsese’s gangster flick The Irishman.

Filming is said to begin this May and could become a conflict with making Jordan Peele’s secret project for Universal, as the outlet confirms Plemons is indeed being eyed for a lead role there as well.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

‘Killers of The Flower Moon’: Lily Gladstone Joins Leonardo DiCaprio & Robert De Niro In The Martin Scorsese Crime Thriller

Variety has revealed that actress Lily Gladstone has joined the next Martin Scorsese film Killers of The Flower Moon, which already stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro.

Eric Roth adapted the script from David Grann’s novel.

Based on David Grann’s best-selling book, the Apple Original Film adaptation takes place in 1920s Oklahoma and depicts a string of brutal murders of Osage Nation Native Americans, which came to be known as the Reign of Terror. The Osage Nation, who were the richest people per capita in the world, were killed one by one after oil was discovered on their land. As the death toll rose, the newly-created FBI took up the case and unraveled a chilling conspiracy and one of the most monstrous crimes in American history.

Gladstone, a descendant of the Blackfeet and Nez Perce tribes, will play the role of Mollie Burkhart, an Osage married to Ernest Burkhart, who is nephew of a powerful local rancher. 

SOURCE: VARIETY

‘Kitbag’: Apple Studios Nabs Ridley Scott’s Napoleon Film Starring Joaquin Phoenix – Shooting Early 2022 In The UK

Deadline has revealed that Apple Studios has secured Ridley Scott‘s Napoleon film Kitbag that will star recent Oscar-winner Joaquin Phoenix, the pair had previously worked together on Gladiator. They also reveal production is expected to begin early 2022 in the United Kingdom.

All The Money In The World screenwriter David Scarpa penned the script.

The film is an original and personal look at Napoleon’s origins and his swift, ruthless climb to emperor, viewed through the prism of his addictive and often volatile relationship with his wife and one true love, Josephine. The intention of the film is to capture Napoleon’s famous battles, relentless ambition and astounding strategic mind as an extraordinary military leader and war visionary.

Ridley Scott is supposed to begin shooting his fashion world crime thriller Gucci next year and is finishing-up the post-production of The Last Duel. He’s also producing an original earthbound Alien universe series for FX on Hulu coming from Noah Hawley and has stated he’s talking with 20th Century Studios about a follow-up to Alien: Covenant.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

MGM Says ‘No Time To Die’ Is Not For Sale Despite Report of Talks With Apple and Netflix

A report from Bloomberg states that MGM has held talks with Netflix and Apple (Apple TV+) about taking the latest James Bond installment titled No Time To Die to streaming with a massive deal, but the studio is declining to comment on those talks pointing out that the film isn’t for sale and they’re committed to releasing the film theatrically.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. held discussions with Apple Inc. and Netflix Inc. about taking its new James Bond film directly to streaming, according to people familiar with the situation, but the studio says it’s committed to a theatrical release.

The film, “No Time to Die,” could fetch hundreds of millions of dollars in a potential streaming sale, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the discussions were private. MGM declined to comment on any talks, but said the film “is not for sale.”

A deal like that would be massive and I have to assume would be extremely pricey given how costly the production budget is to make one of these James Bond films. However, it might cap what the producers, EON, and MGM would end up making in comparison to a regular theatrical run and might not be terribly appealing.

UPDATE: Variety says they were asking for a massive $600 million which was too rich for the streaming companies.

However, multiple insiders at rival studios and companies said that a possible Bond sale was explored overtly, and believe that MGM was at least open to the possibility of unloading their crown jewel for a princely sum. The studio was said to be looking for a deal of roughly $600 million — a price tag that was deemed too rich for two of the free-spending streaming services.

The film recently moved to a theatrical release on April 2nd, 2021.

NO TIME TO DIE – Bond has left active service and is enjoying a tranquil life in Jamaica. His peace is short-lived when his old friend Felix Leiter from the CIA turns up asking for help. The mission to rescue a kidnapped scientist turns out to be far more treacherous than expected, leading Bond onto the trail of a mysterious villain armed with dangerous new technology. 

SOURCE: BLOOMBERG

‘No Time To Die’ Director Cary Joji Fukunaga To Direct WWII Series ‘Masters of The Air’ For Apple TV+ – Produced By Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg

Deadline reports that No Time To Die director Cary Joji Fukunaga will helm at least three episodes of the upcoming WWII series Masters of The Air for Apple TV+.

The wartime series will be produced by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, who were behind HBO’s Band of Brothers and The Pacific. Cary’s Parliament of Owls joins the producing team alongside Amblin Television and Playtone.

HBO passed on the expensive series and it eventually landed at Apple.

I previously reported that Alien: Covenant and X-Men: First Class production designer Chris Seagers would be working on the show. Seagers is no stranger to the WWII genre as he also worked on Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan as an art director.

Here is a synopsis of the Donald L. Miller book Masters of the Air: America’s Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany, which the series is based on.

Masters of the Air is the deeply personal story of the American bomber boys in World War II who brought the war to Hitler’s doorstep. With the narrative power of fiction, Donald Miller takes you on a harrowing ride through the fire-filled skies over Berlin, Hanover, and Dresden and describes the terrible cost of bombing for the German people.

Fighting at 25,000 feet in thin, freezing air that no warriors had ever encountered before, bomber crews battled new kinds of assaults on body and mind. Air combat was deadly but intermittent: periods of inactivity and anxiety were followed by short bursts of fire and fear. Unlike infantrymen, bomber boys slept on clean sheets, drank beer in local pubs, and danced to the swing music of Glenn Miller’s Air Force band, which toured US air bases in England. But they had a much greater chance of dying than ground soldiers.

The bomber crews were an elite group of warriors who were a microcosm of America—white America, anyway. The actor Jimmy Stewart was a bomber boy, and so was the “King of Hollywood,” Clark Gable. And the air war was filmed by Oscar-winning director William Wyler and covered by reporters like Andy Rooney and Walter Cronkite, all of whom flew combat missions with the men. The Anglo-American bombing campaign against Nazi Germany was the longest military campaign of World War II, a war within a war. Until Allied soldiers crossed into Germany in the final months of the war, it was the only battle fought inside the German homeland.

Masters of the Air is a story of life in wartime England and in the German prison camps, where tens of thousands of airmen spent part of the war. It ends with a vivid description of the grisly hunger marches captured airmen were forced to make near the end of the war through the country their bombs destroyed.

Cary has worked on television before with the first season of the hit HBO series True Detective. He most recently directed the final Daniel Craig era Bond movie titled No Time To Die which that has been delayed a second time from November 20th to April 2nd, 2021.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Fantastic Concept Artwork From Roland Emmerich’s Abandoned ‘Foundation’ Movie At Sony – Based On The Beloved Isaac Asimov Novels

Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series of novels are considered some of the best examples of the science fiction genre and is getting a series adaptation at Apple TV+ that will begin airing in 2021. 

Check out the upcoming show’s teaser trailer below. 

Based on the award-winning novels by Isaac Asimov, Foundation chronicles a band of exiles on their monumental journey to save humanity and rebuild civilization amid the fall of the Galactic Empire

Before there was a show, director Roland Emmerich (Stargate, Independence Day) attempted to make a feature film version for Sony Pictures that ultimately didn’t come together. 

Production designer Oliver Scholl has posted a bunch of Foundation concept artwork on his website that was created between 2010-2011. 

Scholl’s credits as a production designer include Venom, Edge of Tomorrow, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Independence Day, Godzilla 1998, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., and Suicide Squad. He also worked in the art department on sci-fi films such as Stargate, Mission To Mars, Titan A.E., and A.I. Artificial Intelligence. 

The artwork certainly has a scale that we’re not really used to from Roland and does have an Avatar feel to it.

Artwork by Manuel Plank, James Clyne, Steve Burg, The Aaron Sims Company, with the help of Michael Meier, Oliver Scholl

SOURCE: OLIVER SCHOLL

TRAILER: First Look Reveal of Apple TV+ Sci-Fi Series ‘Foundation’ – Based On The Isaac Asimov Novels

Apple has released the first look trailer footage from their upcoming science-fiction series Foundation, based on the classic novels written by visionary author Isaac Asimov.

Foundation is set to be released on Apple TV+ sometime in 2021.

Based on the award-winning novels by Isaac Asimov, Foundation chronicles a band of exiles on their monumental journey to save humanity and rebuild civilization amid the fall of the Galactic Empire.

SOURCE: APPLE

Apple Teaming With Paramount For Martin Scorsese’s Pricey Crime Drama ‘Killers of The Flower Moon’

 

When various reports surfaced that Martin Scorsese’s next film Killers of The Flower Moon had its budget balloon to $200-230+ million it seemed like Paramount Pictures wouldn’t likely move forward with it. 

The project is based on the novel Killers Of The Flower Moon: The Osage Murders And The Birth Of The FBI by author David Grann with a script penned by screenwriter Eric Roth (Dune, Munich, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button).

KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON – A mystery about a series of murders of wealthy Osage Native Americans in Oklahoma in the early 1920s, after oil deposits were discovered beneath their land. The ensuing investigation established the FBI and was a pivotal moment in the evolution of America from its frontier era.

Oscar winners Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro are set for the lead roles. Leo and Robert haven’t worked together since the 1993 film This Boy’s Life, where De Niro played Leo’s abusive stepfather. 

Multiple suitors had been in the mix to help finance including Universal, MGM, Apple, and Netflix.  

Deadline first reported that a deal seemingly has been struck with Apple partnering to help cover the costs. The film will be distributed first theatrically by Paramount and the film would later become an exclusive streaming title on Apple TV+. 

Production was expected to take place this spring/summer in the state of Oklahoma before the Coronavirus and budgetary issues delayed things. 

Apple had recently acquired the Tom Hanks WWII film Greyhound from Sony Pictures as another Apple TV+ exclusive. 

Hopefully, we’ll start hearing more casting news shortly. 

SOURCE: DEADLINE