Tag: FX

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‘Shōgun’ Star/Producer Hiroyuki Sanada Cites Talented & Collaborative International Crew For Cultural Authenticity In FX’s Epic New Samurai Series: “It Was Like A Dream Team For Me”

This week saw the debut of the FX series remake of ‘Shōgun‘ and one of the key aspects of the show’s growing buzz is easily the painstaking detail that has gone into the show’s depiction of 1600s Japan. After watching the episodes they released, it’s extremely clear that everyone on the show is aiming to do something we don’t see very often when it comes to Hollywood productions, showcasing Japanese culture in both a respectful and authentic way to a Western audience. The costumes, production design, props, and sets are all worthy of Emmy nominations before the rest of the show has been fully shown in its entirety. Giving such a loving touch to a Western samurai production that really hasn’t been done on this scale since the original version of the show from 1980 (“The Last Samurai” and “Silence” being excellent attempts in their own right).

During an interview with Rotten Tomatoes (See below), the show’s producer and star Hiroyuki Sanada, who plays Lord Yoshii Toranaga (A role previously played by the iconic Toshiro Mifune) in the samurai series, explains how they were able to achieve such authenticity with the show despite shooting primarily in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. And it all comes down to having access to talented Japanese department heads and crew members that were able to work side-by-side with the local Canadian crew calling the collaborative effort his “dream team.”

“We tried to make it authentic as much as possible because it’s very important to introduce our culture to the world correctly. So, this time we could hire a Japanese crew, experts for the samurai drama for each department. Wigs, props, costume, master of gesture, and we had a great team. A great collaboration between Western crew and Japanese crew working together. It was like a dream team for me. And I really enjoy.”

Having Japanese producers, a showrunner/creator, cast, writers, department heads, and crew members seemingly have all contributed to this stunning example of how samurai projects should be handled by Hollywood on the big and small screen alike moving forward. It’s worth noting that in Japan, it’s extremely common in both the film and television industry to work on multiple projects focused on samurai, so it was only a logical choice to make sure to use these veteran Japanese artisans as a resource on the ‘Shōgun’ revival.

Speaking of Rotten Tomatoes, “Shōgun” holds a 100% critic rating and 95% audience rating on the aggregator and speaks to the quality of the series. The public has only had access to the first two episodes with more coming each subsequent Tuesday until all 10 episodes have aired. The show can be watched on Hulu in the United States and is considered a Star Original on the Disney+ app in other regions such as Canada, The United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Australia.

Based on James Clavell’s novel, FX’s Shōgun is set in Japan in the year 1600 at the dawn of a century-defining civil war. Lord Yoshii Toranaga is fighting for his life as his enemies on the Council of Regents unite against him, when a mysterious European ship is found marooned in a nearby fishing village.

You can watch that full interview with the cast below.

SOURCE: ROTTEN TOMATOES

Posted on in News, Television News

‘Shōgun’ Trailer: New Red-Band Trailer For FX’s Ambitious Mature Samurai Series Debuting On Hulu & Disney+ This February

Yesterday, FX released a new trailer for their remake of the samurai drama series ‘Shōgun‘ that showcases the mature nature of the remake of the 1980s network incarnation that skews more violent and will feature sex scenes. A sign this show, debuting February 27 on Hulu,, will be a much more accurate take of the era of Shogunate, the brutal rulers of Japan.

In various regions like United Kingdom and Canada, that don’t have access to Hulu, the series will be available for Disney+ subscribers.

FX’s Shōgun, an original adaptation of James Clavell’s bestselling novel, is set in Japan in the year 1600 at the dawn of a century-defining civil war. Producer Hiroyuki Sanada stars as “Lord Yoshii Toranaga” who is fighting for his life as his enemies on the Council of Regents unite against him. When a mysterious European ship is found marooned in a nearby fishing village, its English pilot, “John Blackthorne” (Cosmo Jarvis), comes bearing secrets that could help Toranaga tip the scales of power and devastate the formidable influence of Blackthorne’s own enemies — the Jesuit priests and Portuguese merchants. Toranaga’s and Blackthorne’s fates become inextricably tied to their translator, “Toda Mariko” (Anna Sawai), a mysterious Christian noblewoman and the last of a disgraced line. While serving her lord amidst this fraught political landscape, Mariko must reconcile her newfound companionship with Blackthorne, her commitment to the faith that saved her and her duty to her late father.

The show’s full cast consists of Ako as Daiyoin ‘Lady Iyo’, Anna Sawai as Lady Mariko, Cosmo Jarvis as John Blackthorne, Fumi Nikaido as Ochiba No Kata, Hiro Kanagawa as Igarashi, Hiroto Kanai as Kashigi Omi, Hiroyuki Sanada as Yoshii Toranaga, Moeka Hoshi as Usami Fuji, Nestor Carbonell as Rodrigues, Shinnosuke Abe as Toda Hiroshige ‘Buntaro’, Tadanobu Asano as Kashigi Yabushige, Takehiro Hira as Ishido Kazunari, Tokuma Nishioka as Toda Hiromatsu, Tommy Bastow as Father Martin Alvito, Toshi Toda as Sugiyama, Yasunari Takeshima as Muraji, Yoriko Doguchi as Kiri no Kata, Yuka Kouri as Kiku, and Yuki Kura as Yoshii Nagakado.

You can watch that brand new trailer below.

SOURCE: FX

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‘Alien’ Series: Timothy Olyphant Reportedly Playing An Android In New Earthbound Show From Noah Hawley

As production on the new “Alien” series is expected to resume in the new year according to creator/showrunner/director Noah Hawley, a big casting addition has been revealed by Deadline. The outlet reports that veteran actor Timothy Olyphant (“Justified”) has joined the sci-fi horror series that had been shooting in Thailand and is said to be playing an android character. Synthetic characters in the “Alien” franchise have been both friends (Walter, Bishop, Call) and foes (Ash, David) to our human leads.

Olyphant and Hawley previously worked together on the fourth season of “Fargo.”

The rest of the cast consists of Sydney Chandler, Alex Lawther, Samuel Blenkin, Essie Davis, Adarsh Gourav, and Kit Young.

While we’re waiting on more concrete plot details the show is expected to take place in the events of the original “Alien” from 1979 and specifically is set on Earth, the first installment of the main franchise to do so. Outside of Paris scenes in “Alien Resurrection” and the opening of “Prometheus.” There is an expectation it will focus on the greedy and evil corporation Weyland Industries/Weyland-Yutani, who act as the secondary antagonists that throw various expendable crew members into the meat grinder in an attempt to secure the Xenomorph for their biological weapons program.

Meanwhile, on the film front, we’re expected to have “Alien: Romulus” by director Fede Alvarez released on August 16, 2024. That pic is said to be focused on a young group of off-world colonists that are forced to confront the Xenomorph/Xenomorphs.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

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Earthbound ‘Alien’ Series Filming Moving Ahead In Thailand Despite Strike, Adds ‘Andor’ Actor Alex Lawther

Between the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike, there isn’t much in the way of productions going on in the United States as film/television workers are looking to get a fair deal in the wake of streaming and the increasing threat of artificial intelligence. While multiple shows and movies have halted some are pushing through such as the upcoming/untitled Earthbound “Alien” prequel streaming series coming from Noah Hawley (“Fargo,” “Legion”)

A new report from Deadline is now confirming that filming in Thailand is going ahead as planned with the addition of actors such as “Andor” supporting cast member Alex Lawther (“Black Mirror”) and Samuel Blenkin (“Black Mirror,” “The Sandman”). The rest of the cast includes Sydney Chandler (“Don’t Worry Darling”), Essie Davis, and Adarsh Gourav. All the deals had reportedly been secured before the strike and Equity performers (the UK union for actors) have been told if they walk they would be sued. Sounds like a totally normal and not all bizarre environment to be shooting a show in.

The outlet adds shooting has already started this week with none of the actors on set being SAG-AFTRA, which allows them to shoot the show without crossing the picket line. Actors like Chandler, who are part of the union, are said to be not involved in the current round of filming as it’s expected their scenes will be shot at a later date once the actors’ strike is resolved.

Of course, is sort of an odd time for the “Alien” franchise as the newest feature film from filmmaker Fede Alvarez had recently wrapped filming as that project had been upgraded from a Hulu-exclusive to landing a prime August 16, 2024, theatrical release date from 20th Century Studios/Disney. The thinking likely is that given how big of a hit “Prey” has been they didn’t want to lose an opportunity to actually make some cash off the sci-fi horror film.

It’s still unclear when the FX on Hulu series will be airing as the scheduling for shooting scenes with the attached SAG-AFRTRA actors will likely be determined by how long the strike goes on back in the United States. What hypothetically could end up happening if the studio runs out of patience is that those striking actors could end up being recast, although, that seems like an extremely stupid move on their part.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Television News

EXCLUSIVE: FX’s ‘Alien’ Series Adds ‘Gravity’ Production Designer Andy Nicholson

The Ronin can exclusively reveal a nifty department head hiring for the upcoming Alien series on FX that hails from showrunner Noah Hawley with Ridley Scott‘s involvement via his production company Scott Free. We’ve been able to confirm that production Designer Andy Nicholson has been tasked for the Earthbound prequel series.

The spinoff Alien series is expected to take place before the events of the main canonical Alien films, which should be interesting since neither the original Ripley films or Scott’s two prequels featuring the homicidal android David have never hinted or established that the xenomorph had ever been on Earth (The AVP movies aren’t really considered canonical) or experimental on by humans.

Nicholson’s career as a production designer spans across all sorts of films such as Gravity, Captain Marvel, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Assassin’s Creed, and the Netflix action-comedy Red Notice.

Hawley is no stranger to genre television working on series like the massively popular Fargo (loosely inspired by the Coen Brothers film) and the mind-bending X-Men series, Legion. What’s interesting is we still haven’t heard any real concrete casting announcements, but that is expected to change as production ramps up.

This isn’t the only Alien project on the horizon either, a new feature film is also on the way as a Hulu exclusive with both Scott Free and 20th Century Studios partnering. The project is expected to be a streaming only venture, although, after the demand to see their Predator prequel Prey on the big screen the studio might reconsider giving the new pic a short theatrical run.

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FX’s ‘Shōgun’ Adds ‘Lord Of The Rings’ Director Charlotte Brändström

The Ronin can confirm that Swedish-French television director Charlotte Brändström has joined the FX samurai series Shōgun. She recently worked on Amazon’s Lord of The Rings series, Netflix’s The Witcher, Outlander, Jupiter’s Legacy, and The Man In The High Castle.

FX has hired Hiroyuki Sanada (Westworld, John Wick 4, The Last Samurai), British actor Cosmo Jarvis, and Anna Sawai (F9: The Fast Saga) as the leads of Shōgun.

Shōgun is set in feudal Japan. It charts the collision of two ambitious men from different worlds and a mysterious female samurai: John Blackthorne (Jarvis), a risk-taking English sailor who ends up shipwrecked in Japan, a land whose unfamiliar culture will ultimately redefine him; Lord Toranaga (Sanada), a shrewd, powerful daimyo, at odds with his own dangerous, political rivals; and Lady Mariko (Sawai), a woman with invaluable skills but dishonorable family ties who must prove her value and allegiance.

The new project currently shooting in Vancouver was written by Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo, which is based on the novel by author James Clavell. It had been adapted for American television back in 1980 and starred legendary Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune (Yojimbo, Seven Samurai) as Lord Yoshii Toranaga. 

Other actors on the show consist of Tadanobu Asano, Fumi Nikaido, Tokuma Nishioka, Takehiro Hira, Ako, Shinnosuke Abe, Yasunari Takeshima, Hiroto Kanai, Toshi Toda, Hiro Kanagawa, Néstor Carbonell, Yuki Kura, Tommy Bastow, Moeka Hoshi, Yoriko Doguchi, and Yuka Kouri.

We also exclusively reported the series would have Reprisal’s Jonathan van Tulleken on the directing team.

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‘Alien’: FX Says Noah Hawley’s “Very Grounded” Series Could Release In 2023 & Will Feel Part Of The Cinematic Universe

We’re all excited to see Noah Hawley’s latest entry in the Alien franchise with his FX series that will be produced by Ridley Scott. FX boss John Landgraf spoke at the TCA presentation via Deadline and gave some brief updates on the Earthbound show he’s calling “very grounded.”

First, Landgraf made it clear that the “beast” of a show will feel familiar to fans.

“I think you’ll also see that the show will feel like a part of the cinematic universe you’re familiar with in terms of Alien.”

He also teased a potential release in 2023.

“I have optimism that that show may well roll out in 2023. It will probably roll out 2023, but we want to get it right.”

Noah Halwey has talked up the idea of an Alien story focusing on the humanity/company angle previously and told Vanity Fair the following:

“Those are great monster movies, but they’re not just monster movies. They’re about humanity trapped between our primordial, parasitic past and our artificial intelligence future—and they’re both trying to kill us. Here you have human beings and they can’t go forward and they can’t go back. So I find that really interesting…It’s a story that’s set on Earth also. The alien stories are always trapped… Trapped in a prison, trapped in a space ship. I thought it would be interesting to open it up a little bit so that the stakes of ‘What happens if you can’t contain it?’ are more immediate.”

“On some level it’s also a story about inequality. You know, one of the things that I love about the first movie is how ’70s a movie it is, and how it’s really this blue collar space-trucker world in which Yaphet Kotto and Harry Dean Stanton are basically Waiting for Godot. They’re like Samuel Beckett characters, ordered to go to a place by a faceless nameless corporation. The second movie is such an ’80s movie, but it’s still about grunts. Paul Reiser is middle management at best. So, it is the story of the people you send to do the dirty work…In mine, you’re also going to see the people who are sending them. So you will see what happens when the inequality we’re struggling with now isn’t resolved. If we as a society can’t figure out how to prop each other up and spread the wealth, then what’s going to happen to us? There’s that great Sigourney Weaver line to Paul Reiser where she says, ‘I don’t know which species is worse. At least they don’t fuck each other over for a percentage.’”

It’ll be interesting who they will ultimate cast and might end up start production sometime in 2022, given that 2023 target mentioned for a release.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Television News

EXCLUSIVE: FX’s Samurai Series ‘Shōgun’ Adds ‘Reprisal’ Director Jonathan van Tulleken

FX is finally moving forward with their long-gestating series remake of Shōgun that originally aired back in 1980 and starred legendary Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune (Yojimbo, Seven Samurai) as Lord Yoshii Toranaga. Their new incarnation of the samurai series will be led by Hiroyuki Sanada and British actor Cosmo Jarvis.

It was written by Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo, which is based on the novel from author James Clavell.

Shōgun is set in feudal Japan. It charts the collision of two ambitious men from different worlds and a mysterious female samurai: John Blackthorne (Jarvis), a risk-taking English sailor who ends up shipwrecked in Japan, a land whose unfamiliar culture will ultimately redefine him; Lord Toranaga (Sanada), a shrewd, powerful daimyo, at odds with his own dangerous, political rivals; and Lady Mariko, a woman with invaluable skills but dishonorable family ties who must prove her value and allegiance.

The Ronin can exclusively reveal that director Jonathan van Tulleken (Trust, Misfits, Top Boy, Reprisal) has signed on to the samurai series and will helm an undisclosed amount of episodes.

Sanada is currently busy with Chad Stahelski’s John Wick: Chapter 4 taking a role alongside franchise star Keanu Reeves and will appear in David Leitch’s Japanese-set action pic Bullet Train starring Brad Pitt. Other Hollywood credits include Westworld, The Last Samurai, Mortal Kombat, Army of The Dead, The Wolverine, Avengers: Endgame, Sunshine, Rush Hour 2, and 47 Ronin.

Production on will take place from late August to June of next year in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Speaking of Toshiro Mifune, Bryan Cogman (Game of Thrones, Amazon’s Lord of The Rings) is developing a contemporary series remake of Akira Kurosawa’s classic Yojimbo, that originally starred Mifune. Remakes from the west aren’t new for Yojimbo, as Sergio Leone did his version with A Fist Full of Dollars starring Clint Eastwood and there is the lesser known gangster version Last Man Standing from director Walter Hill that starred Bruce Willis.

Shōgun likely won’t be ready to drop until later in 2022.

Posted on in Television News

Noah Hawley Reveals His Earthbound ‘Alien’ Series Is Returning To Franchise Roots By Tackling Class Warfare Again; “A Story About Inequality”

In December, FX confirmed they were indeed moving forward with an original series set within the Alien universe with Noah Hawley (Fargo, Legion) and producer Ridley Scott. However, the project wasn’t going to be a continuation of the David or Ripley stories, as it would be taking place on Earth.

During a new interview with Vanity Fair, Noah Hawley is giving tiny tidbits about the project and reaffirming his plans to take more of human angle with the show. Something that sort has got lost with Scott’s wishy-washy prequels and the horrible cash-grab Alien vs. Predator films.

“Those are great monster movies, but they’re not just monster movies. They’re about humanity trapped between our primordial, parasitic past and our artificial intelligence future—and they’re both trying to kill us. Here you have human beings and they can’t go forward and they can’t go back. So I find that really interesting…It’s a story that’s set on Earth also. The alien stories are always trapped… Trapped in a prison, trapped in a space ship. I thought it would be interesting to open it up a little bit so that the stakes of ‘What happens if you can’t contain it?’ are more immediate,” Hawley told Vanity Fair.

He also brought-up returning to the franchise’s main dynamic between the greedy corporation (Weyland-Yutani) exploiting it’s workforce, something that was a key element of the first three Alien movies.

Hawley states the show will focus on the human dynamics, “On some level it’s also a story about inequality. You know, one of the things that I love about the first movie is how ’70s a movie it is, and how it’s really this blue collar space-trucker world in which Yaphet Kotto and Harry Dean Stanton are basically Waiting for Godot. They’re like Samuel Beckett characters, ordered to go to a place by a faceless nameless corporation. The second movie is such an ’80s movie, but it’s still about grunts. Paul Reiser is middle management at best. So, it is the story of the people you send to do the dirty work…In mine, you’re also going to see the people who are sending them. So you will see what happens when the inequality we’re struggling with now isn’t resolved. If we as a society can’t figure out how to prop each other up and spread the wealth, then what’s going to happen to us? There’s that great Sigourney Weaver line to Paul Reiser where she says, ‘I don’t know which species is worse. At least they don’t fuck each other over for a percentage.'”

Folks seem to be losing their minds about these comments, however, I have to question if they have actually watched the Ellen Ripley movies that mainly focused on the rich exploiting the poor workforce to get their hands on the xenomorph to make billions off it by turning it into a bio-weapon.

The original film saw the company secretly install a robot (Ash) and direct the Nostromo crew to the derelict ship, Ripley discovers the company sees the crew is expendable (seen as glorified space truckers) and Ash tries to kill her when she discovers the company is willing to sacrifice them all to get their hands on the alien. Walter Hill and David Giler (did rewrites on Alien and co-wrote Aliens with James Cameron) seemingly took elements directly from the Joseph Conrad (his book Heart of Darkness inspired Vietnam War film Apocalypse Now) novel Nostromo, that was about human greed connected to a fictional silver operation in South America.

Parallels of greed from Nostromo was doubled-down in Aliens (Sulaco name came from the book too), as seen when Ellen Ripley tries to explain what happened to the ship and crew they simply dismiss her story. Carter Burke, a Weyland-Yutani suit, pretends to be concerned about Ripley as a manipulation tactic and it’s discovered that he personally got all the colonists on LV-426 killed (colonists and Newt’s parents shown in the director’s cut) without warning them about the alien. Not only that, he also was willing to kill the Marines (sabotaging their freezers on the trip home) alongside turning Ripley and Newt into hosts to bring back the xenomorph back to Earth for the company’s weapons program. Silver being replaced with the promise of a perfect bio-weapon. When he was caught by Ripley, he tries to rationalize his greed and when that doesn’t work he unleashes facehuggers upon her.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=casQQhO1jkw

In David Fncher’s Alien 3, Ripley crash lands on a prison colony planet and the Warden blindly is following orders from the company only for her to warn them that they might kill everyone in the installation just for witnessing the xenomorph to keep it a secret as the previous two movies backed-up that conclusion.

Lastly, Alien Resurrection saw a black site military operating trying to clone an alien queen, then hiring space pirates to hijack a transport full of innocent workers kidnapping them to become hosts (essentially killing them) for soldier aliens before everything hits the fan. Yet, another attempt to get a bio-weapons program going.

To say the Alien franchise isn’t about politics is complete ignorance.

SOURCE: VANITY FAIR

Posted on in Television News

Oscar-Winning Cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle Reunited With Danny Boyle On Sex Pistols Series; Behind Films Such As ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ & ‘Dredd’

The Ronin can confirm that director Danny Boyle has been working with Oscar-winning cinematographer of Slumdog Millionaire, Anthony Dod Mantle, on his biopic series at FX about the British punk bank The Sex Pistols. Mantle’s credits also include the gorgeous Alex Garland comic book film Dredd, T2 Trainspotting, 127 Hours, Antichrist, Trance, Rush, 28 Days Later, Millions, The Last King of Scotland, and the HBO series The Undoing.

Anthony has a stunning eye and at the very least Pistol is going to look spectacular as you can see with some select samples of his work below.

The six-episode series comes from the perspective of guitarist Steve Jones and is based on his book Lonely Boy. It was adapted by Craig Pearce and Frank Contrell Boyce.

Pistol’s extensive young cast consists of Thomas Brodie-Sangster (The Queen’s Gambit) as Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren, Talulah Riley (Westworld) set to play punk design icon Vivienne Westwood, Toby Wallace as Steve Jones, Anson Boon as Johnny Rotten, Louis Partridge as Sid Vicious, Jacob Slater as Paul Cook, Christian Lees as Glen Matlock, Iris Law as punk icon Soo Catwoman, Maisie Williams (Game of Thrones) as punk icon Jordan, Dylan Llewellyn as Wally Nightingale, Sydney Chandler as Chrissie Hynde, and Emma Appleton as Nancy Spungen.

That’s not the only reunion on the show’s crew as production designer Kave Quinn is also confirmed for the Apple series. Quinn previously working with Boyle on Trainspotting, Shallow Grave, and A Life Less Ordinary. Other credits are Matthew Vaughn’s Layer Cake starring Daniel Craig pre-James Bond, Harry Brown, The Woman In Black, and the FX series Black Narcissus starring British actress Gemma Arterton.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bS2qRi1mcg

Danny Boyle famously was originally attached to No Time To Die (known back then as just Bond 25), but left over creative differences with the script and decided to make his Beatles-themed comedy Yesterday instead.

FX hasn’t announced an official air date for Pistol.