Tag: Michelle Yeoh

'Blade Runner 2099': Amazon Cyberpunk Spinoff Series Adds 'Civil War' & 'Annihilation' Cinematographer Rob Hardy
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‘Blade Runner 2099’: Amazon Cyberpunk Spinoff Series Adds ‘Civil War’ & ‘Annihilation’ Cinematographer Rob Hardy

Amazon Prime Video and Alcon are behind a new spinoff streaming series set within the world of “Blade Runner” (50 years after the events of “Blade Runner 2049”) that has Oscar-winning actress Michelle Yeoh (“Everything Everywhere All At Once”) attached to star in an undisclosed role and has “Shōgun” director Jonathan van Tulleken involved on “Blade Runner 2099” as well.

The Ronin can confirm that Rob Hardy (“Mission: Impossible – Fallout”) has joined the crew of “Blade Runner 2099” as a director of photography. Hardy is likely best known as the cinematographer of a bunch of Alex Garland movies such as “Ex Machina,” “Annihilation,” the FX series “DEVS,” the folklore horror pic “Men,” and his most recent film, “Civil War.”

Based on the Philip K. Dick novel “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?,” the original 1982 film focused on a group of replicants who have escaped the off-world colonies to Earth, where their presence is considered illegal. Authorities have sanctioned their termination by hiring a retired Blade Runner, Deckard, to quickly silence the situation by killing them on sight once they’ve been confirmed as replicants and not the humans they’re pretending to be. After being introduced to a non-violent replicant who isn’t aware they are one, Deckard decides to whisk off with her toward the end, leading the hunter to become the hunted.

We haven’t seen the nine off-world colonies in the main two movies (they have been teased/shown in tie-in shorts), and it would be quite the jump for the franchise for events to transpire in a non-Earthbound setting.

'Blade Runner 2099': Michelle Yeoh To Star In Amazon's Cyberpunk Spinoff Series
Posted on in News, Television News

‘Blade Runner 2099’: Oscar-Winner Michelle Yeoh To Star In Amazon’s Cyberpunk Spinoff Series

Amazon Prime Video is riding high after their latest series “Fallout” has become their second biggest viewed show on the streaming service behind “Lord of The Rings: The Rings of Power,” and one of their other ambitious projects looks to help expand the “Blade Runner” universe with “Blade Runner 2099.”

Best Actress Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh (“Everything Everywhere All At Once”) is the first actor to join the limited cyberpunk series, according to various trade reports, including one from Variety. That would suggest that Yeoh is taking a lead role, but there aren’t any concrete plot or character details about who exactly the actress is playing in “Blade Runner 2099.”

The world of “Blade Runner” hails from the Philip K. Dick novel “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” but properly fleshed-out thanks to Ridley Scott in 1982 with the original movie and then Denis Villeneuve’s sequel “Blade Runner 2049.” As the title would suggest, there is going to be a 50-year time jump with this new streaming series, and we’ll keep our fingers crossed we’ll finally see some of these off-world colonies (nine colonies established back in 2049).

While both feature films have had a huge influence from both Japanese and Chinese atheistic, we really haven’t seen what these Asian countries look like in this universe. However, there is the assumption that various Asian countries like Japan are behind the effort to populate the off-world colonies, and Earthbound nations might be just as sparse as the United States.

One of the other impressive hirings for the spinoff series is director Jonathan van Tulleken, who most recently worked on the massive FX hit streaming series, “Shogun,” and helmed two episodes.

Yeoh has made her presence in Hollywood’s genre realm well-established going back to the 1990s when she joined the James Bond franchise with “Tomorrow Never Dies,” which nearly led to her own spinoff film but ultimately didn’t materialize. Some of those other genre projects include “Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings,” “Star Trek: Discovery,” Danny Boyle’s sci-fi thriller “Sunshine,” “American Born Chinese,” “The Witcher: Blood Origin,” had a brief cameo in “Guardians of The Galaxy Vol.2,” “Morgan,” “The Mummy: Tomb of The Dragon Emperor,” and James Cameron’s highly-anticipated “Avatar” sequels to the two previous multi-billion dollar successes.

An exciting development on a streaming project that could help add to the “Blade Runner” mythology.

SOURCE: VARIETY

Posted on in News

‘Shang-Chi 2’: Destin Daniel Cretton’s Dream Addition Would Be Jackie Chan

It’s really hard to miss the multiple nods to the films of Jackie Chan in Marvel’s Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Rings. Between hiring the late Brad Allan as the film’s stunt coordinator, a protege, and member of Chan’s stunt team. Not to mention hiring Chan’s Police Story 3 co-stars Michelle Yeoh and Yuen Wah in key support roles.

Marvel is officially moving forward with Shang-Chi 2 and we might have an idea who they might be gunning for after landing iconic Hong Kong actor Tony Leung as the charming and compelling antagonist, Wenwu.

During a recent chat with Cinema Blend, director, and co-writer Destin Daniel Cretton revealed that he’d be pleased-as-punch if he and Marvel were able to wrangle martial arts legend Jackie Chan for sequels.

“If we could ever get Jackie [Chan] into a movie that would be a lifelong dream of mine. Yeah. Let’s put it out there.”

I’d personally love to see Jackie Chan play Shen Kuei, aka, Cat having crossed paths with Shang-Chi in the comics. It would also allow Chan to play another complex character playing both antagonistical rival and potential ally.

Shen Kuei is a man based in Hong Kong who dealt in espionage and counterespionage and who became known as Cat because of his cunning, stealth, and mysteriousness.

Destin is set to direct and write the sequel, but other than the button scene teasing the origin of the Ten Rings being explored we don’t know what direction the second film will go along with what characters they’ll attempt to use. However, seeing The Makluans (an alien race of giant dragons) and The Xian (god-like beings from The Seven Cities of Heaven) is likely extremely good.

The filmmaker also teased wanting to use a specific location in the first film but stopped short of revealing where that would be.

“There was one setting that we were not able to do in this movie, but I won’t say what it is because I really hope that we get to do it again in another film.”

Meanwhile, fans are crossing their fingers that the Shang-Chi franchise might be a good place to reboot the Iron Fist characters/mythology for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as the film studio is seemingly rolling out new versions of the Netflix characters in projects like Hawkeye with Vincent D’Onofrio back as The Kingpin.

It’s worth mentioning that Iron Fist actress Jessica Henwick was asked to audition (not reprise the Colleen Wing role) for an unnamed part in Shang-Chi, only to make The Matrix Resurrections instead.

We’re still waiting for Disney to give Shang-Chi 2 an official release date.

SOURCE: CINEMA BLEND

Posted on in Film News, News

‘Shang-Chi’: Michelle Yeoh Confirms ‘Police Story 3’ Co-Star Yuen Wah Has Role

Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings will feature some established martial artists such as Tony Leung as Wenwu, Michelle Yeoh as Ying Nan, and Andy Le as Death Dealer. There is another name to add to the list, legendary actor Yuen Wah likely best known from Kung Fu Hustle.

The Hong Kong actor got his start in a similar way to Jackie Chan, working on Bruce Lee movies. Those credits include Fist of Fury, Enter The Dragon, Way of The Dragon, and Game of Death.

There were signs the actor might be appearing in Shang-Chi. Director Destin Daniel Cretton had posted an image on Instagram with Yuen Wah earlier this month from 2020 in Australia, but didn’t say if he would be in the film or not.

Michelle Yeoh has confirmed that her Supercop aka Police Story 3 co-star is indeed in the film after posting a neat set photo with him in costume (see below).

Shang-Chi will hit theaters exclusively on September 3.

SHANG-CHI & THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS – Marvel Studios’ “Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings” stars Simu Liu as Shang-Chi, who must confront the past he thought he left behind when he is drawn into the web of the mysterious Ten Rings organization.

Joining Simu Liu in the Marvel cast includes Tony Leung as Wenwu, Awkwafina as Shang-Chi’s friend Katy, and Michelle Yeoh as Jiang Nan, as well as Fala Chen, Meng’er Zhang, Florian Munteanu, and Ronny Chieng. Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings is directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and produced by Kevin Feige and Jonathan Schwartz, with Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, and Charles Newirth serving as executive producers. David Callaham & Destin Daniel Cretton & Andrew Lanham wrote the screenplay for the film, and experience it in theaters on September 3, 2021.

SOURCE: MICHELLE YEOH

Posted on in Film News, News

EXCLUSIVE: Paul Feig’s ‘The School Of Good & Evil’ Shot By ‘Jurassic World: Dominion’ Cinematographer John Schwartzman

Director Paul Feig’s (Spy, Last Christmas, Bridesmaids) next feature film will be The School of Good & Evil for Netflix, from a script penned by David Magee (Life of Pi, Mary Poppins Returns, Finding Neverland) and Laura Solon (Office Christmas Party, Let It Snow) based on the bestselling book by Soman Chainani.

Best friends Sophie and Agatha are about to discover where fairytale legacies go to school: the School for Good and Evil, where ordinary boys and girls are trained to be fairy tale heroes and villains. With her princess ambitions, Sophie knows she’ll be picked for the School for Good and join the ranks of past students like Cinderella and Snow White. Meanwhile, Agatha, with her grim aesthetic and wicked cat, seems a natural fit for the villains in the School for Evil. Yet soon the girls find their fortunes reversed: Sophie is dropped into the School for Evil, Agatha into the School for Good. But what if the mistake is the first clue to discovering who Sophie and Agatha really are? Their friendship will be put to the test in this thrilling and comedic story where the only way out of a fairy tale is to live through one.

The Ronin can exclusively reveal that the adaptation will have cinematographer John Schwartzman, who previously worked with director Paul Feig on his holiday pic Last Christmas. His other credits include Jurassic World, The Little Things, The Amazing Spider-Man, Dracula: Untold, The Green Hornet, and Universal’s big upcoming blockbuster release Jurassic World: Dominion.

We can also confirm that the film’s production designer will be Andy Nicholson, who previously worked on Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Assassin’s Creed, Captain Marvel, Gravity, and Netflix’s big action pic Red Notice.

It has a fantastic cast that includes folks such as Oscar-winner Charlize Theron (Mad Max: Fury Road, Atomic Blonde, The Old Guard, F9: The Fast Saga) as Lady Lesso, Michelle Yeoh (Shang-Chi, Gunpowder Milkshake, Last Christmas, Crazy Rich Asians) Professor Anemone, Laurence Fishburne (Man of Steel, John Wick 2, John Wick 3, Ant-Man & The Wasp) as the Schoolmaster, Kerry Washington (Django Unchained, The Last King of Scotland, Scandal) as Professor Dovey, Sophia Anne Caruso as Sophie, Sophie Wylie as Agatha, Demi Isaac Oviawe as Anadil, Kaitlyn Akinpelumi as Dot, and Freya Theodora Parks as Gester.

Filming is taking place in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The location has been recently used for Paramount’s Dungeons & Dragons movie led by Chris Pine, Robert Eggers’ Viking epic The Northman, and famously was the home for eight seasons of HBO’s Game of Thrones.

Netflix has yet to announce a release date for The School of Good & Evil.

Posted on in Film News

Karen Gillan’s Action Pic ‘Gunpowder Milkshake’ Already Has A Sequel In Early Development

The other day, a heap of a announcements and production updates made by StudioCanal revealed a bunch of projects on the horizon including Paddington 3, Benedict Cumberbatch’s WWII drama War Magician, and one interesting tidbit that just caught our eye was that Karen Gillan’s action pic Gunpowder Milkshake has a sequel in early development.

Gunpowder Milkshake hasn’t even released as it’ll debut on Netflix in the U.S. next week on July 14.

The action pic was helmed by Big Bad Wolves co-director Navot Papushado with a fantastic supporting cast that includes Lena Headey (Dredd, Game of Thrones), Paul Giamatti (Billions, Sideways, Shoot Em Up), Chloe Coleman (Avatar 2-5), Michelle Yeoh (Avatar 2-5, Shang-Chi, The Witcher: Blood Origin, Crazy Rich Asians), Angela Bassett (Strange Days, Black Panther, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever), and Carla Gugino (Spy Kids, The Lookout, Sin City, Watchmen).

We’re a wave of John Wick inspired female led action projects with Gunpowder Milkshake alongside things likes Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s Kate and Kate Beckinsale’s Jolt (taking cues from Jason Statham’s Crank films as well) also on their way soon.

GUNPOWDER MILKSHAKE – Sam (Karen Gillan) was only 12 years old when her mother Scarlet (Lena Headey), an elite assassin, was forced to abandon her. Sam was raised by The Firm, the ruthless crime syndicate her mother worked for. Now, 15 years later, Sam has followed in her mother’s footsteps and grown into a fierce hit-woman. But when a high-risk job goes wrong, Sam must choose between serving The Firm and protecting the life of an innocent 8-year-old girl – Emily (Chloe Coleman). With a target on her back, Sam has only one chance to survive: Reunite with her mother and her lethal associates, The Librarians (Michelle Yeoh, Angela Bassett, and Carla Gugino). These three generations of women must now learn to trust each other, stand up to The Firm and their army of henchmen, and raise hell against those who could take everything from them.

SOURCE: STUDIOCANAL VIA THR

Posted on in Television News

‘The Witcher: Blood Origin’ Series Adds Michelle Yeoh As Nomadic Sword-Elf Scían

Netflix is moving forward with a second series set within the fantasy world of The Witcher, as they’re assembling a cast for their prequel The Witcher: Blood Origin. Their flagship series starring Henry Cavill (Man of Steel, Mission: Impossible – Fallout) has wrapped on Season 2 in the United Kingdom.

Set 1,200 years before the world of The Witcher, Blood Origin will tell the story of the creation of the first prototype Witcher, and the events that lead to the pivotal ‘conjunction of the spheres’, when the worlds of monsters, men, and elves merged to become one.

The streaming giant has officially announced today that action star Michelle Yeoh has nabbed a role in Blood Origin, revealing she’ll play an elf. Yeoh’s recent credits include Star Trek Discovery, Marco Polo, Last Christmas, Crazy Rich Asians, Dr. Karina Mogue in James Cameron’s Avatar sequels, Karen Gillan’s action flick Gunpodwer Milkshake, and Marvel’s upcoming Asian-led superhero blockbuster Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings (will be released on September 3).

The Witcher: Blood Origin has cast Michelle Yeoh as Scían. The very last of her nomadic tribe of sword-elves, she is an artist with the blade, on a deadly quest that will change the fate of the Continent.

Irish actor Laurence O’Fuarain (Game of Thrones, Vikings) had recently joined the series in the role of Fjall. Jodie Turner-Smith (Without Remorse) was going to star as well before her reported exit.

The original series is based on the novels by Polish fantasy author Andrzej Sapkowski that was eventually turned into the internationally popular video game franchise from CD Projekt Red. Netflix is also developing an 10-episode anime series based on their new game release Cyberpunk 2077 that will be titled Cyberpunk: Edgerunners and seems like only a matter of a time before a live-action project is announced.

SOURCE: NETFLIX