Tag: Nick Frost

Posted on in Film News, News

Nick Frost Joins Gerard Butler As Gobber In Universal’s Live-Action Feature Version Of Viking Fantasy Pic ‘How To Train Your Dragon’

Universal Pictures and DreamWorks are teaming up for a live-action feature film version of their popular animated franchise “How To Train Your Dragon” with co-writer/director Dean DeBlois returning to oversee and helm the project. While the 2023 writers and actors’ strike placed the project on pause there is now finally some movement on the casting front with supporting roles being filled. It’s been revealed by The Hollywood Reporter that British actor Nick Frost is set to play Gobber in the live-action incarnation.

He’ll star alongside Gerard Butler (“Plane”), who is reprising the Stoick the Vast, the leader of the island-dwelling Viking clan that is known as legendary hunters and killers of dragons. Stoick is also the father of our protagonist, Hiccup (played by “The Black Phone” actor Mason Thames), who isn’t as brave as other townsfolk until he decides to train/tame a rare dragon type he calls Toothless leading the Vikings to eventually cohabitate with the fire-breathers as sort of a symbiotic relationship in subsequent installments after they have a change of heart. “The Last of Us” actress Nico Parker is also set in the role of Astrid and we’re still waiting who will be cast as the other young Viking characters.

The Gobber part was originally voiced by former late-night host Craig Ferguson in the animated movies.

Frost is maybe best known to audiences for his co-starring role in Edgar Wright’s “Cornetto Trilogy” which he co-wrote with creative partner and star, Simon Pegg. Those films include “Shaun of The Dead,” “Hot Fuzz,” and “The World’s End.” He also had a supporting part in “Attack The Block,” an alien invasion flick that introduced many of us to a young John Boyega.

Hiccup is a Norse teenager from the island of Berk, where fighting dragons is a way of life. His progressive views and weird sense of humor make him a misfit, despite the fact that his father is chief of the clan. Tossed into dragon-fighting school, he endeavors to prove himself as a true Viking, but when he befriends an injured dragon he names Toothless, he has the chance to plot a new course for his people’s future.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Posted on in Film News

John Boyega Officially Returns To Kick More Alien Ass In Joe Cornish’s ‘Attack The Block 2’

Folks might be unfamiliar with how British actor John Boyega developed his career in Hollywood and it all started with Joe Cornish’s alien invasion comedy Attack The Block, the 2011 R-rated parody saw a group of London toughs led by Boyega’s Moses as animal-like alien invade their estate block. The group of hoodlums pivot to become protectors of fellow residents when it’s clear the aliens aren’t terribly friendly.

Attack The Block had a similar tone to Edgar Wright’s fantastic zombie flick Shaun of The Dead, which wasn’t that surprising as Edgar was a producer and has a longstanding working relationship with Joe Cornish. You might remember that the pair once co-wrote the original script of Marvel’s Ant-Man only to exit over creative differences.

The success of the cult film helped push John towards the chase for a franchise role as he had teased an interest in playing Marvel’s Blade in Attack The Block press interviews, taking the mantle from Wesley Snipes, almost a decade before Mahershala Ali was announced as the new Eric Brooks. It ultimately led to John auditing for J.J. Abrams and Lucasfilm to play Finn in Star Wars: The Force Awakens officially launching his career to a completely different level.

There has been talk from director Joe Cornish was considering about making Attack The Block 2 and there is now confirmation by Deadline that Boyega is set to return with Joe also returning to write and direct the mature sci-fi comedy. Edgar Wright is back as producer as well via Complete Fiction Pictures.

The original co-starred Nick Frost (Shaun of The Dead, Hot Fuzz) and Jodie Whittaker (Doctor Who), but it remains to be seen if they’ll reprise their roles.

It’s unknown when they’ll want to begin production as Joe is a tad busy shooting the Netflix series Lockwood over the summer.

ATTACK THE BLOCK – Trainee nurse Sam is walking home to her flat in a scary South London tower block when she’s robbed by a gang of masked, hooded youths. She’s saved when the gang are distracted by a bright meteorite, which falls from the sky and hits a nearby parked car. Sam flees, just before the gang are attacked by a small alien creature that leaps from the wreckage. The gang chase the creature and kill it, dragging its ghoulish carcass to the top of the block, which they treat as their territory. While Sam and the police hunt for the gang, a second wave of meteors fall. Confident of victory against such feeble invaders, the gang grab weapons, mount bikes and mopeds and set out to defend their turf. But this time, the creatures are bigger. Much bigger. Savage, shadowy and bestial, they are hunting their fallen comrade and nothing will stand in their way. The estate is about to become a battleground. And the bunch of no-hope kids who just attacked Sam are about to become her and the block’s, only hope.

SOURCE: DEADLINE