Tag: Natalie Portman

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Director Guy Ritchie Casts John Krasinski & Natalie Portman For Global Heist Adventure Flick ‘Fountain Of Youth’ At Apple

There doesn’t seem to be any stopping Guy Ritchie as The Hollywood Reporter has learned that the British director has selected his next feature film effort with “Fountain of Youth.” It will focus on “two estranged siblings who partner on a global heist to find the mythological Fountain of Youth” and landed at Apple Original Films/Skydance Media. The outlet also names actors John Krasinski (“Jack Ryan”) and Natalie Portman (“Thor: Love & Thunder”) as the two leads of the film playing the aforementioned siblings with an original script penned by James Vanderbilt.

The veteran screenwriter has a varied group of credits that include the John McTiernan-directed military whodunnit “Basic,” David Fincher’s fantastic serial killer pic “Zodiac,” the last two “Scream” movies, “The Amazing Spider-Man,” Dwayne Johnson’s Brazil-set actioner “The Rundown,” and the upcoming post-WWII drama “Nuremberg” starring Russell Crowe that is based on the novel “The Nazi & The Psychiatrist” by Jack El-Hai.

Ritchie has been a bit of a workhorse lately after delivering Disney a billion-dollar hit with “Aladdin” by shooting a string of quickly developed movies since 2018 that consist of “The Gentlemen,” “Wrath of Man,” “Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre,” “The Covenant,” and the upcoming WWII commando flick “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.” The filmmaker most recently reunited with Henry Cavill and Jake Gyllenhaal for an untitled action thriller, which will see them play two extraction specialists who are tasked to designate a route of escape for a senior female negotiator with that latter role being occupied by Eiza González (“Ambulance”).

Despite mainly focusing on grinding out a horde of action-packed films, Ritchie is also involved with a series spinoff of “The Gentlemen” as well that will drop on Netflix in the not-too-distant future which stars actors Theo James, Kaya Scodelario, and longtime pal/former football star Vinnie Jones (“Snatch”).

Eddie Halstead inherits large estate from father, unaware it fronts Pearson’s drug empire. With no crime experience, he must take over the operation or lose the estate.

Interestingly enough, the director’s former creative partner and producer Matthew Vaughn (“Layer Cake”) has also set up shop at the streaming service after Apple spent an impressive $200 million to acquire his spy-comedy “Argylle.” There had been talk that the film could spawn a new franchise which is said to be a motivating factor why Apple spent so much money on securing the film that will debut on February 2, 2024, with Universal Pictures handling the distribution before it lands on Apple TV+.

The report isn’t exactly clear when they plan to begin production on “Fountain of Youth,” but I’m sure we’ll be getting more details in the coming weeks and months on that front.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Posted on in Film News

New ‘Thor: Love & Thunder’ Set Photos Include First Looks At Jane Foster & Valkyrie Hanging Out In New Asgard

We recently saw set photos from Taika Waititi’s Thor: Love & Thunder that confirmed the return of the Loki play along with Matt Damon, Luke Hemsworth, and Melissa McCarthy being part of the scene. Also, we saw multiple members of the Guardians of The Galaxy shooting scenes as well but looks like those will be more brief any originally thought.

Some new photos from the Daily Mail reveal Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster aka Lady Thor with what looks like some Earthbound Asgard Warriors, potentially from New Asgard. They also include the first look at Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie, who is wearing a pinstripe suit in the photos. It certainly looks like the scenes are taking place in New Asgard and hint towards Jane’s transformation into Lady Thor.

The Asgardian guards/soldiers in the set photos have an interesting Earthbound military look to them but you can notice some are still using spears and shields.

I guess we’ll have to wait to see Christian Bale as Gorr The God Butcher as the character might end-up being motion-capture. We’ll likely know for sure if he’s spotted in a motion-capture suit.

It remains to be seen if we’re dealing with The Multiverse in Thor: Love & Thunder, given that it’s supposed to be a big part of Phase 4 and the Loki series will seemingly be the first project covering it in any real depth via Time Variance Agency.

SOURCE: DAILY MAIL

Posted on in Film News

First Set Photos From ‘Thor: Love & Thunder’ Reveal Kraglin Has Joined The Guardians – Plus Looks At Nebula & Star-Lord

As filming on Marvel’s Thor: Love & Thunder has officially kicked-off in Sydney, Australia last week. The first real-deal set photos featuring cast members have finally arrived online via The Daily Mail.

The images can be seen by clicking the source link at the bottom of the page.

These set photos include first looks at Chris Hemsworth’s Thor (minus fat suit), Chris Pratt’s Star-Lord, Karen Gillan’s Nebula, and Sean Gunn’s Kraglin is wearing a Guardians patch suggesting he’s joined the team alongside Thor for some sort of adventure. Kraglin also seems to have Yondu’s arrow technology as well which should make him a bit more of an asset than in previous films.

Filming is taking place during Australia’s summer which is why you’ll see many cast members are holding fans, something we often see on these Aussie sets. The scene seems to be focused mainly on Thor’s involvement with the Guardians of The Galaxy as he joined them at the end of Avengers: Endgame leaving Earth and New Asgard behind.

A full casting roster has yet to be announced by Marvel Studios but it looks like it will include Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Natalie Portman as Lady Thor aka Jane Foster, Tessa Thompson as King Valkyrie, Chris Pratt as Star-Lord aka Peter Quill, Karen Gillan as Nebula, Christian Bale as Gorr The God Butcher, Dave Bautista as Drax The Destroyer, Jaimie Alexander as Lady Sif, Sean Gunn as Rocket/Kraglin, Taika Waititi in a bigger role as Korg, and Matt Damon is playing an undisclosed character too.

There is a really good chance given the involvement of The Guardians, that the new Thor movie could help establish the events of James Gunn’s Guardians of The Galaxy 3.

Thor: Love & Thunder is currently set to be released on May 6th, 2022 but I wouldn’t get too attached to that date as there might be more shifts from Disney adjusting their 2021-2022 theatrical schedules.

SOURCE: THE DAILY MAIL

Posted on in Film News

Chris Hemsworth Announces Marvel’s ‘Thor: Love & Thunder’ Has Officially Started Filming In Australia

Thor: Love & Thunder has officially started filming in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia according to franchise star Chris Hemsworth after a new post on his Instagram account revealing the production has begin today during a Welcome to Country ceremony that Chris and director Taika Waititi attended.

HEMSWORTH: “A beautiful start to our shoot today with a Welcome to Country ceremony from the Gamay dancers of the Gadigal and Bidiagal Nation and performance and karakia by Maori dancers from Te Aranganui. Indigenous Australians may be just as proud of this country, but many see January 26th as a date signifying the beginning of dispossession, disease epidemics, frontier violence, destruction of culture, exploitation, abuse, separation of families and subjection to policies of extreme social control. Let’s begin the healing and stand together in unity and support with our First Nations people with solidarity and compassion. Let’s find a date where all Australians can celebrate this beautiful country together”

Production will be taking place at Fox Studios Australia the same facility recently used for Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings.

A full casting roster has yet to be announced by Marvel Studios but it looks like it will include Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Natalie Portman as Lady Thor aka Jane Foster, Tessa Thompson as King Valkyrie, Chris Pratt as Star-Lord aka Peter Quill, Karen Gillan as Nebula, Christian Bale as Gorr The God Butcher, Dave Bautista as Drax The Destroyer, Jaimie Alexander as Lady Sif, Sean Gunn as Rocket/Kraglin, and Taika Waititi as Korg.

At the end of Avengers: Endgame, we saw Thor join the ranks of Guardians of The Galaxy which explains why a bunch of those actors are in Sydney.

Matt Damon is also there to shoot scenes but it’s unknown if he’ll be reprising the role of the Asgardian actor or will take another role entirely. There seem to be more actors yet to be announced or revealed by the Australian press.

Thor: Love & Thunder is currently set to be released on May 6th, 2022 but I wouldn’t get too attached to that date as there might be more shifts from Disney adjusting their 2021-2022 theatrical schedules.

SOURCE: CHRIS HEMSWORTH

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Chris Pratt’s Star-Lord Joins ‘Thor: Love & Thunder’ Character Lineup – Will Other Guardians Appear?

At the end of Avengers: Endgame, we saw Thor join the ranks of The Guardians of The Galaxy and that seemingly will be carrying over to Thor: Love & Thunder.

The Hollywood Reporter says that after Chris Pratt does some additional photography for The Tomorrow War he’ll join the production of Thor: Love & Thunder (working title The Big Salad) sometime next year in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Reprising the Peter Quill/Star-Lord role for the Thor sequel.

Love and Thunder is due to shoot in Australia in January, and Pratt will do a short round of additional photography for his sci-fi movie The Tomorrow War before heading to the land Down Under.

I have to assume the rest of the Guardians cast will being showing up as well.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Posted on in Film News

‘Thor: Love & Thunder’s Working Title of ‘The Big Salad’ Might Be Another Nod To A ‘Seinfeld’ Episode

The other day, Production Weekly posted what seems to be the official working title for Marvel’s Thor: Love & Thunder which apparently will be The Big Salad during the filming at Fox Studios Australia in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia early next year.

While many believe this could be a hint to “Fat Thor” going on a diet it more likely is director Taika Waititi following in the footsteps of Spider-Man 3 director Jon Watts and honoring classic Seinfeld episodes.

Here are the previous Seinfeld references from the Spider-Man working titles.

Spider-Man: Homecoming = Summer of George

Spider-Man: Far From Home = Fall of George

Spider-Man 3 = Serenity Now

The Big Salad, just happens to be a title of a Seinfeld episode from Season 6, where as you’d guess a “big salad” happens to be part of the plot.

At Elaine’s request, George purchases a “big salad” to go for her from Monk’s. George’s girlfriend Julie hands Elaine the salad in Jerry’s apartment, and Elaine thanks her. George is displeased that Julie took the credit for the salad, and tells Elaine that he bought it. Elaine is irritated at George for making a point of such a trivial matter, and briefly vents to Julie about this. Julie is so irate that George told Elaine she didn’t buy the salad that she breaks up with him.

All four working titles seem to connect directly to the George Constanza character and I’m a little curious if there could be a Spider-Man connection to the Thor sequel.

The cast will consist of Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie The King of Asgard, Natalie Portman as Jane Foster aka Lady Thor, Taika returning in a bigger role as Korg, and Oscar-winner Christian Bale is reportedly playing the film’s villain.

With Tom Hiddleston’s Loki wondering around the Multiverse in his Disney+ series there is a good chance he could end up appearing in Thor: Love & Thunder or even Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness.

We don’t know much about the film but Natalie Portman suggested that they will indeed include Jane Foster’s cancer journey when adapting the Mighty Thor elements for the feature film while speaking with Yahoo! not too long ago. Having a superhero dealing with cancer could be incredibly powerful for kids that are on treatment or are cancer survivors.

PORTMAN: “I can’t tell you that much. I’m really excited. I’m starting to train, to get muscles. If there can be all these female superheroes, the more of them they are, the better it is. I’m trying to think — it’s based on the graphic novel of the Mighty Thor. She’s going through cancer treatment and is a superhero on the side.”

For the time being the sequel is going to be released theatrically by Disney on February 11th, 2022, as week before Valentine’s Day.

SOURCE: PRODUCTION WEEKLY

Posted on in Film News

Natalie Portman Suggests Jane Foster’s Cancer Journey May Be Explored In ‘Thor: Love & Thunder’ – “She’s Going Through Cancer Treatment”

With filming for Thor: Love & Thunder expected to begin around January-February at Fox Studios Australia in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, we haven’t really had much of an update on the project until now.

While speaking with Yahoo! Life, franchise actress Natalie Portman briefly suggested that we might indeed be seeing Jane Foster’s going through cancer treatment in the film just like her comic book counterpart.

PORTMAN: “I can’t tell you that much. I’m really excited. I’m starting to train, to get muscles. If there can be all these female superheroes, the more of them they are, the better it is. I’m trying to think — it’s based on the graphic novel of the Mighty Thor. She’s going through cancer treatment and is a superhero on the side.”

Portman could be simply relaying plot points about the Mighty Thor story, but I don’t really see Marvel removing that important element of the hero.

It was announced at San Diego Comic-Con 2019 that Natalie Portman would be playing Lady Thor in the film giving her a strong reason to come back for the sequel and possibly allows her to play the Marvel Comics heroine for many years.

Having a superhero that is undergoing cancer treatment or is a cancer survivor can be extremely powerful to kids with cancer or in remission. I can speak from direct experience that kids really looked up to Deadpool when they discovered he has cancer in that first film.

I’m sure Chadwick Boseman, the man, will also have a huge impact on kids as well as an example of strength. In the wake of the revelation that actor Chadwick Boseman was secretly undergoing cancer treatment during the film of multiple films including Black Panther, it’s not that hard to imagine that a fictional character could juggle superhero duties while fighting cancer.

I’m sure fans will have opinions on this but I think if handled properly it could be an extremely powerful and important part of Marvel’s new direction of representation.

Joining Portman in the Thor sequel will be fellow cast members Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson, Taika Waititi, and Christian Bale, the latter reportedly playing a villain.

Thor: Love & Thunder is expected to be released on February 11th, 2022, unless there are further delays or shifts with the Marvel slate.

SOURCE: YAHOO! LIFE

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ILM’s StageCraft VFX Will Be Implemented For Marvel’s ‘Thor: Love & Thunder’ In Australia – ‘Ant-Man 3’ Will Most Likely Use It At Pinewood Studios UK

In a post-COVID-19 world, it looks like Disney is looking to adopt safer methods of production which includes expanding the use of the StageCraft technology used to shoot the first two seasons of The Mandalorian. Using this technology means less production crew would be potentially put in harm’s way for set construction and also limit the number of secondary exterior locations as productions traveling to multiple countries might not be the wisest idea at the moment. 

The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that ILM’s StageCraft technology will be used for Marvel Studios’ Thor: Love & Thunder (MCU Cosmic mentioned this previously) at Fox Studios Australia in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

This comes after writer and director Taika Waititi had used the technology when filming the final episode of the first season of Lucasfilm’s Star Wars series The Mandalorian. 

There has been an expectation that Thor: Love & Thunder will begin shooting sometime between January-February of next year as director Destin Daniel Cretton is trying to finish up production on Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings allowing Taika to move in for the Thor sequel. 

THR adds that they’ll also be adding StageCraft to the Pinewood Studios UK facility. 

 In addition, ILM is building a StageCraft volume at Pinewood Studios in London (expected to open in February), and a larger custom volume at Fox Studios Australia that will be used for Thor: Love and Thunder. Waititi previously used virtual production when he helmed the final episode of The Mandalorian season one.

Actor Ewan McGregor previously confirmed that his Star Wars series Kenobi directed by Deborah Chow (The Mandalorian) would be implementing the technology during an interview with Ace Universe back in June. 

The next Marvel Studios feature film to shoot at Pinewood Studios UK is expected to be Peyton Reed’s Ant-Man 3, who happened to direct an episode of The Mandalorian for Season 2 just like Taika and may also be familiar with StageCraft after his own experience with that show. 

Yesterday, I posted an update of sorts on Ant-Man 3 via Twitter that they are deep in pre-production and that we should expect some massive action sequences given they’ll be moving filming from Pinewood Atlanta Studios to Pinewood Studios UK, the latter facility has been used for the Star Wars films and traditional all of the James Bond movies as well. 

We should expect this installment to feel more like an event. 

I was also able to confirm Marvel/Disney is aiming to release the film sometime in 2020, however, release dates for the next little while will be in flux and most will unlikely be set-in-stone for the foreseeable future given multiple projects will begin production in 2021 meaning that some projects may have be delayed to 2023.

Peyton Reed recently mentioned that the film would be “bigger” and “sprawling” while speaking on The Jess Cagle Show and reaffirmed via Yahoo! Entertainment that Evangeline Lily’s Wasp would be getting equal billing on the sequel. 

REED: “They’re a partnership, and she’s a very, very important part of that. And that was a very gratifying thing, I guess technically we were the first Marvel movie with a female hero in the title of the movie. Finding that balance in that movie, that’s very important to me because that’s very much a men’s playing field, historically. But that’s really, really changing now in a great way.”

I’m personally holding out the hope that we’ll see the film morph into some sort of MCU version of Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim as Peyton Reed hasn’t been shy about how the films have been influenced by Japanese kaiju projects like Ultraman. Moving the setting of the film outside of San Francisco might also help shake things up given that Scott Lang might be allowed to move a little more freely around the world after the events of Avengers: Endgame.

Most recently the Pinewood facility has been used for Black Widow and Eternals both films are expected to be larger in scale than Ant-Man or Ant-Man & The Wasp. There is also an expectation that the Moon Knight series will spend some time there as well and we should be getting some updates on that show in the near future. 

Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness is confirmed for Longcross Studios in Surrey, England and it’s unknown at this point if they’ll have access to the StageCraft tech, but it’s possible. 

This new technology certainly would cut-down costs and post-production time, the safety element is simply a massive benefit.

Posted on in Film News

Natalie Portman Says ‘Thor: Love & Thunder’ Aims To Begin Shooting Early 2021 In Australia

Natalie Portman appeared in a video on Tennis superstar Serena Williams’ Instagram account where she revealed the potential new production start date for the upcoming Thor installment. 

PORTMAN: “We’re shooting at the beginning of next year in Australia.”

As announced at San Diego Comic-Con in 2019, Natalie is set to return as Jane Foster but will be taking on the alter ego of Lady Thor in Thor: Love & Thunder allowing her to potentially take on the mantle in future films. 

It’ll be interesting to see if Lady Thor has a connection to The Multiverse via the Loki series or if there is another route they’ll be going to explain how Jane was able to receive the power of Thor. In the comics, Thor has a human alter ego named Dr. Donald Blake (who transforms into Thor taking cues from Shazam!) which has never really been touched upon and could be easily handed over for Jane/Lady Thor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. 

Other characters expected to return alongside Chris Hemsworth’s Thor and Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie include Taika Waititi’s Korg (I previously reported last summer of an increased role for his character in the sequel) and Korg’s pal Miek. 

Oscar-winner Christian Bale (The Dark Knight, American Psycho, Ford v Ferarri) is said to be playing the film’s villain and is the first of the new additions to the franchise. 

We should be hearing more casting news before the end of the year. 

Filming on Love & Thunder had originally been slated to begin shooting next month at Fox Studios Australia in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. That wasn’t able to happen because Shang-Chi had to pause production after the COVID-19 outbreak in Australia led to director Destin Daniel Cretton cautiously quarantine himself during production and the film paused for multiple months until it was safe to resume. 

Production dates, in general, should be taken with a grain of salt for upcoming new projects even when it is coming from actors because they’re extremely fluid in the age of COVID-19. However, there is a really good chance this one sticks because Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings (hasn’t officially resumed filming) could be completed by then and Australia is certainly in better shape than other countries where Marvel films are expected to shoot. 

Fingers crossed there aren’t any further delays on Shang-Chi that could lead to more headaches for the Thor sequel. 

Marvel Studios and Disney recently updated Thor: Love & Thunder‘s release date to February 11th, 2022, but this could easily change in the coming months if the Black Widow release has to be bumped to February 12th, 2021 from November 6th. 

SOURCE: SERENA WILLIAMS