Tag: John Francis Daley

Posted on in Film News

‘Dungeons & Dragons’: British Actress Daisy Head & Stunt Coordinator Brad Martin Join Fantasy Film

Filming is underway on Paramount’s new Dungeons & Dragons movie but there is yet another casting announced that has arrived. Game Night directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein are behind the project.

British actress Daisy Head, the daughter of Buffy’s Anthony Head, has landed a role in project led by Chris Pine, according to Deadline. Daisy is likely best known from Underworld: Blood Wars, the new Wrong Turn film, and the Netflix series Shadow & Bone.

A potential plot synopsis was spotted online and an Icelandic outlet confirmed last month the country is being used as a filming location. Other filming locales include Belfast and France.

An ex-Harper turned thief escapes from prison with his partner, a female barbarian, and reunites with a no-talent wizard and a druid new to their team in an effort to rob the cheating conman who stole all their loot from the heist that landed them behind bars, and used it to install himself as the Lord of Neverwinter. Only the traitor is allied with a powerful Red Wizard who has something far more sinister in store.

On the crew front there is another impressive addition.

Brad Martin confirmed on his Instagram account that he’s officially the second unit director and supervising stunt coordinator on the fantasy remake. He was the second unit director on the Underworld franchise and was the stunt coordinator on action flicks such as Underworld, Live Free or Die Hard, Tropic Thunder, The Other Guys, Safe, The Expendables 3, Gemini Man, Greenland, and Martin most recently tackled the stunts on Marvel’s series The Falcon & The Winter Soldier.

The rest of the fantasy film’s production team consists of cinematographer Barry Peterson (Game Night) and production designer Raymond Chan (The Falcon & The Winter Soldier).

Other Dungeons & Dragons cast members are Michelle Rodriguez (Avatar, F9, Alita: Battle Angel), Rege-Jean Page (Bridgerton, The Gray Man), Justice Smith (Detective Pikachu, Jurassic Park: Fallen Kingdom), Sophia Lillis (It), Chloe Coleman (Avatar 2, Gunpowder Milkshake) and Hugh Grant (The Gentlemen, Five Eyes) is reportedly playing a villain.

Paramount will unleash Dungeons & Dragons on March 3, 2023.

Posted on in Film News

‘Dungeons & Dragons’: Paramount Reportedly Adds ‘Bridgerton’ Actor Rege-Jean Page To Their Fantasy Remake

A casting update for Paramount Pictures’ new Dungeons & Dragons film from The Hollywood Reporter reveals that Bridgerton actor Rege-Jean Page has closed a deal for a role in the fantasy film that will be directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein .

Dungeons & Dragons is based on the beloved table top game that eventually incorporated various universes including elements from the Fafhrd & The Gray Mouser series of novels created by American fantasy author Fritz Leiber.

Page joins a cast that includes Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, and Justice Smith.

The Ronin previously confirmed production under the working title Chainmail will be taking place in Belfast, Northern Ireland and France. The film’s cinematographer will be Barry Peterson (Game Night) and production designer Raymond Chan (The Falcon & The Winter Soldier).

John Wick franchise creator Derek Kolstad (The Falcon & The Winter Soldier, Nobody) is also developing a live-action Dungeons & Dragons series for Hasbro/eOne as reported last month by The Hollywood Reporter.

Paramount Pictures has given the film a release date of May 27th, 2022.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Posted on in Film News

‘The Falcon & The Winter Soldier’ Production Designer Raymond Chan Confirmed For Paramount’s ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ Reboot

The Ronin has been able to confirm that production designer Raymond Chan has indeed been added to the production team of Paramount’s new Dungeons & Dragons reboot, a fantasy film based on the beloved table-top game from directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein.

Chan recently worked on the Disney+ series The Falcon & The Winter Soldier along with previous MCU credits as the supervising art director on Thor: The Dark World, Guardians of The Galaxy, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Doctor Strange, and Avengers: Infinity War.

Filming will be taking place in Belfast, Northern Ireland and exterior shots in France.

It stars Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, and Justice Smith.

Dungeons & Dragons could become a huge franchise for Paramount if successful given the game’s revitalized popularity in the last couple of years (Stranger Things is partly to thank) with the demographic they’re aiming for, mainly, kids under the age of 18. Television has been skewing more in the realm of mature content concerning recent fantasy projects which leaves kids missing out on the genre, something that Paramount could capitalize on.

Posted on in Television News

‘Dungeons & Dragons’ Series In Development From ‘John Wick’ Creator Derek Kolstad – Multiple Projects In The Works

As production is expected to begin soon in Belfast, Northern Ireland for a new live-action Dungeons & Dragons movie from Paramount Pictures, more projects within the fantasy table-top franchise is reportedly in the works. The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that Hasbro/eOne is now in the early stages of development on a series with the help of writer Derek Kolstad.

Derek Kolstad, the creator and writer behind the John Wick franchise, has been tapped to pen and develop a pitch for a live-action series based on the Dungeons & Dragons universe.

A screenwriter with massive action chops, Derek is best known for creating the successful John Wick franchise at Lionsgate starring Keanu Reeves, he’s also worked on Marvel’s The Falcon & The Winter Soldier and the Bob Odenkirk action flick Nobody that will be released by Universal next month.

They also mention that other writers are working on multiple other projects, but they stopped short from naming who they are and what they’re developing. This sounds a lot like how a handful of Transformers projects were developed all at once for Hasbro/Paramount, using a writers’ room format to hash-out many different film projects. While there are plenty of stories within the umbrella of the Dungeons & Dragons mythology, it’s unknown if the series will be something original or connected to various table top modules or existing stories/characters.

Paramount’s feature film starring Star Trek actor Chris Pine will be directed by with a release date of Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, the duo behind the comedy Game Night. More casting announcements are expected within the coming weeks/months.

The fantasy genre is getting many high-profile television projects with a Lord of The Rings and Wheel of Time series at Amazon, both expected to have large budgets. HBO is about to begin production on their Game of Thrones prequel House of The Dragon this spring. Streaming giant Netflix has their The Witcher series adaptation starring Henry Cavill that is in the middle of filming Season 2 with another spin-off show in the works and they also recently secured film/television rights to Robert E. Howard’s iconic fantasy character Conan.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Posted on in Film News

Chris Pine Tapped To Swing A Sword In Paramount’s ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ Movie

Filming on Paramount/eOne’s Dungeons & Dragons (working tile Chainmail) is expected to begin sometime in the spring with locations set to include Belfast, Northern Ireland and various spots in France. It was recently confirmed that Game Night cinematographer Barry Peterson would be reuniting with directors Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley. The director of photography has been location scouting in 2020 getting ready for production to take place in 2021.

The Hollywood Reporter has learned that Chris Pine is now in talks to take an unnamed lead role in the fantasy flick. We still don’t have a good picture of what type of film they’re going for as people could easily be sucked into a game or it simply might explore the mythology of Dungeons & Dragons as straight fantasy film. There is an expectation since the adventure game is played with a group of people that Pine will be part of an ensemble of actors playing the lead roles.

The iconic table-top game was a huge hit in the 1980s and recently got a resurgence thanks to Netflix’s Stranger Things popularizing it with a new generation. It’s mostly a hodgepodge of fantasy elements and creatures either created via the Monster Manuel or influenced by existing material pulled from various literary sources.

Pine is likely best known globally for his lead roles in the Star Trek and Wonder Woman films making him an obvious franchise player in the eyes of a studio. This wouldn’t be the first time Chris has swung a sword as he played Scottish historical hero Robert The Bruce in the Netflix film The Outlaw King from director David Mackenzie.

I watched it recently and was quite impressed with Pine’s accent.

THE OUTLAW KING – The untold, true story of Robert The Bruce who transformed from defeated nobleman, to reluctant King, to outlaw hero over the course of an extraordinary year. Forced into battle in order to save his family, his people and his country from the oppressive English occupation of medieval Scotland, Robert seizes the Scottish crown and rallies a ragtag group of men to face off against the wrath of the world’s strongest army lead by the ferocious King Edward 1 and his volatile son, the Prince of Wales.

Directors Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley made waves with their comedy Game Night, but also penned Marvel’s successful Spider-Man: Homecoming and led the duo being hired to direct The Flash for Warner Bros. only for them to eventually exit.

Dungeons & Dragons currently has a release date of May 27, 2022.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Posted on in Film News

‘Game Night’ Cinematographer Barry Peterson Confirmed For Paramount’s ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ Movie – Will Shoot In Belfast and France

The Ronin has spotted some Instagram posts from cinematographer Barry Peterson (21 Jump Street, 22 Jump Street, Game Night, Zoolander) that has him location scouting for the upcoming shoot of the new Dungeons & Dragons movie in Belfast, Northern Ireland and France.

The Hasbro fantasy property is based on a beloved tabletop game that also integrated fantasy author Fritz Leiber’s City of Lankhmar from his Fafhrd & The Gray Mouser stories that take place in the world of Nehwon. It’s an expansive IP with decades worth of material to pull from for a film franchise.

These posts would confirm that he’ll be reuniting with Game Night directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein. The pair of directors had been previously attached to direct The Flash for Warner Bros. and co-wrote the screenplay for Spider-Man: Homecoming.

Production designer Owen Paterson (The Matrix, Godzilla, Captain America: Civil War, Godzilla vs Kong, V For Vendetta, Speed Racer, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions) is also part of the fantasy film’s crew. Owen happened to work on George Miller’s failed DC Comics film Justice League: Mortal.

The film’s working title during production was previously confirmed to be Chainmail.

They’ve been casting for ages which means that we should start hearing about actors soon as production is finally coming together in Northern Ireland.

Dungeons & Dragons is set to be released on May 27th, 2022 by Paramount Pictures.

SOURCE: BARRY PETERSON