Tag: Olivia Wilde

Posted on in Film News, News

‘Avengelyne’: Olivia Wilde To Direct Margot Robbie In Comic Book Flick Penned By ‘Poor Things’ Screenwriter At WB

Margot Robbie, LuckyChap, and Warner Bros. are continuing their working relationship after “Barbie” became the biggest film at the global box office in 2023 (earning a massive $1.4 billion). A report from Deadline has revealed the studio has scooped up a new superhero hero package that will see Robbie star in a feature film adaptation of the Rob Liefeld (co-creator of “Deadpool”) comic book, “Avengelyne.” Published by Image Comics, the comic focuses on an angel who fights the forces of evil.

The surprising aspect is the impressive creative team assembled for the film, which is director Olivia Wilde (“Book Smart”) and Aussie screenwriter Tony McNamara (“The Favourite,” “The Great”), the latter coming off the Oscar-winning movie “Poor Things.”

Here is how the outlet describes the property in their report, which sounds like a combination of Mike Mignola’s “Hellboy” meets former “Spawn” heroine Angela (now an Asgardian and ruler of Hel in Marvel Comics):

“Avengelyne is an angel who fights the forces of evil and often finds herself face-to-face with demons and monsters. She was the most feared warrior in heaven’s Warhost, having single-handedly broken into Pandemonium, the outer fortress of hell, to confront the devil himself. She is a fallen angel, banished from heaven by God after being tricked into questioning his love for humans. Avengelyne was stripped of all her angelic abilities, other than her great strength and her blood, which, once extracted from her body, could be used as a weapon or a miracle when it is empowered by quoting verses from the Bible. Avengelyne uses her powers to fight demons on Earth and is being groomed to be humankind’s last hope in a coming Armageddon.“

McNamara is a screenwriter known for biting wit and comedic timing, making him just the right kind of creative to help potentially overhaul a property that could be reworked for a global audience.

Robbie isn’t a stranger to the comic book genre after playing the DC Comics villain/antihero Harley Quinn in two “Suicide Squad” movies from directors David Ayer and James Gunn alongside a spinoff with “Birds of Prey” that was helmed by Cathy Yan. Her future as the character doesn’t seem all that concrete with various resets of the DCU from DC Studios, and Gunn has yet to announce a fourth project with Robbie back in the Quinn role. LuckyChap and Robbie have also been trying to get a remake of “Tank Girl” (created by Gorillaz co-founder/artist Jamie Hewlett) going with director Miles Joris-Peyrafitte, but there hasn’t been any word of what stage that is currently in.

Wilde has been itching to get into the superhero genre for years now as the filmmaker was once attached to direct a Marvel Comics project in 2020 that had been referred to in reports as “Spider-Woman” for Sony Pictures. However, there really hasn’t been an update since that project was first announced, and Marvel Studios’ participation was never made official.

This isn’t the first time Liefeld has attempted to get his lesser-known comic book characters into films and television. There was a time when Netflix was looking to flesh out the Liefeld properties like the “Extreme Universe,” until that deal, first announced in 2018, went up in smoke. That deal included the rights to Brigade, Bloodstrike, Lethal, Cybrid, and Kaboom. Things might have gone south potentially, we speculate, after the streamer had buyer’s remorse about acquiring the Millarworld (Mark Millar’s comic book material) source material when their expensive series adaptation of “Jupiter’s Legacy” failed to secure an audience ending its run at one season.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News

‘Star Wars’ Actress Daisy Ridley Reacts To ‘Spider-Woman’ Fancast & Is Loving ‘WandaVision’ – “I Would Love To Play Spider-Woman”

A while back it was revealed that director Olivia Wilde was hired by Sony Pictures to develop a new Marvel film, which was reportedly going to be a Spider-Woman film. This could mean that Marvel and Sony could be working together again as the main version of the character is a S.W.O.R.D. Agent and originates outside of the Spider-Man comics, clearly allowed to be used by Marvel.

We still haven’t got clarity officially from Sony if it will indeed be Spider-Woman or if Marvel will be involved like with their Spider-Man movies. If they were working on it this would mean it would be automatically part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe while stuff like Venom, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, and Kraven The Hunter are seemingly in Sony’s own spinoff universe. Morbius’ trailer hinting a direct connection with Spider-Man: Homecoming as it featured Michael Keaton’s Vulture.

There has been a growing call to have Star Wars alumni Daisy Ridley in the role of Jessica Drew aka Spider-Woman. Her co-star Oscar Isaac recently joined the MCU nabbing the Marc Spector role for the upcoming Disney+ series Moon Knight.

Sariah Wilson has now spoke with Ridley and dished about that conversations on Twitter when the subject of the fancasting for Marvel heroine Spider-Woman came-up. She didn’t seem to know about it but seemed game while curious if it was part of the MCU or some off-shoot.

Ridley also revealed she is watching Marvel’s WandaVision and is loving it.

This is hardly evidence that any real talks have actually happened or are currently taking place, but Wilson seemed to finally put Spider-Woman on Daisy’s radar after outcry from her fans to take the superhero role.

I’m still waiting on Sony Pictures to release more details on the Olivia Wilde film.

SOURCE: SARIAH WILSON

Posted on in Film News

Florence Pugh To Star In Universal’s Whodunit ‘The Maid’

Universal has secured the rights to the upcoming murder mystery novel The Maid written by Nita Prose, which won’t even be published at Penguin Random House/HarperFiction until 2022. Deadline also reports that Midsommar-breakout actress Florence Pugh is set to play the role of Molly the maid in the new film, however, a director nor screenwriter were named at this time.

Set at the Regency Grand Hotel, where Molly the maid leaves every room perfect and pristine, while getting to know each guest’s dirty secrets. A Clue-like, locked-room whodunnit, The Maid explores Molly’s descent into the murderous underbelly of her gilded workplace, while telling a timely story about the strengths of our differences.

Florence has been having an interesting career so far with credits that include The Outlaw King, the AMC series The Little Drummer Girl, Little Women, and will be seen next in the solo Black Widow film opposite Scarlett Johansson. There are even reports she’s already primed to reprise the Yelena Belova role in the Hawkeye series which is currently in production. The actress is currently filming the New Line Cinema thriller Don’t Worry Darling from director Olivia Wilde.

It certainly sounds like genre got a large shot-in-the-arm thanks to Rian Johnson’s popular Knives Out and we expect to see more movies of these types being announced in the future alongside Rian’s untitled sequel.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News

Olivia Wilde Thriller ‘Don’t Worry Darling’ Halts Due To Positive COVID-19 Test – Had Been Filming In Los Angeles

Yesterday, Deadline confirmed that Los Angeles filming on the New Line Cinema thriller Don’t Worry Darling has temporarily paused due to a positive COVID-19 test from an undisclosed member of the production, not to be part of the main cast. The period film being directed by Booksmart’s Olivia Wilde has an impressive cast that includes Florence Pugh, Harry Styles, Chris Pine, KiKi Layne, Gemma Chan, Nick Kroll, and Olivia Wilde.

Production will pause for 14 days.

New Line tonight temporarily shut down production on the Olivia Wilde-directed film Don’t Worry Darling when a member of the production tested positive for COVID-19. The studio confirmed it happened, something that is an occupational hazard for any film or TV show that is shooting right now. They shut down right away.

With the United States hitting 103,000+ single day new positive COVID-19 cases, an all-time record, there is a good chance that other productions in and outside of California are likely going to see more productions hit with positive tests. Even with aggressive safety protocols in place.

The New Line project isn’t the only project filming stateside that has had hiccups due to positive tests as Dwayne Johnson (along with his family) tested positive just weeks before Netflix’s Red Notice was set to resume filming in Atlanta. Speaking of Atlanta, Marvel Studios has a huge presence in the area with Disney+ shows wrapping up alongside Spider-Man 3, Hawkeye, Ms. Marvel, and She-Hulk all set to film there.

In mid-October, filming on the Netflix western The Harder They Fall starring Idris Elba and Regina King that was taking place in New Mexico paused for COVID-19 tests as well. Elba famously had previously dealt with the Coronavirus while in Australia and shared his experience on social media.

There were reports that Spyglass Media’s Scream 5 had three crew members contract COVID-19 in North Carolina but kept on filming anyways which sounds extremely risky from an insurance perspective and to the safety of their cast/crew.

Production bubbles seem to be where things are headed and might be a way to curb potential future shut downs. Bubbles limit the contact of people working on the film to outsiders and hinder the chance of positive tests, the NBA bubble was a huge success story over the summer.

Director Olivia Wilde is expected to follow-up Don’t Worry Darling with an untitled Sony/Marvel film which is reportedly focusing on Jesscia Drew aka Spider-Woman.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News

Olivia Wilde Talks About Landing Her Rumored ‘Spider-Woman’ Movie and Teases Marvel Studios Involvement

There has been an assumption since it was reported that Booksmart director Olivia Wilde was hired for an unnamed Marvel film for Sony Pictures, rumored to be Spider-Woman, that Marvel Studios would be involved as a co-producer. Potentially making the film for Sony like they are with the three Spider-Man films starring Tom Holland. 

While reaffirming she landed the gig during a chat with the podcast Shut Up Evan hosted by Evan Ross Katz (via Entertainment Weekly), Wilde invoked the name of Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige but stopped short from saying Marvel Studios are directly involved with the project or even confirming its indeed Spider-Woman. 

WILDE: “God, listen to me trying to avoid Kevin Feige’s pellet gun.”

Olivia went on to talk about more women being able to bring their own perspectives to the superhero film genre which is has been dominated by male directors/writers. 

WILDE: “Look, we are seeing this incredible influx of female directors and storytellers getting to take hold of this genre, of the superhero space, and infuse it with their own perspective. So, not only do I get to tell this story as a director, but I get to develop this story, and that was what made it so incredible for me.”

“I’m just honored to be amongst this wave of women who are showing up and saying ‘we are not only going to step in and try and tell this story like men do, we’re actually going to reframe the stories themselves. And the industry is, as far as I can tell, really supportive of that. There is a sea change and it’s because of these decades of trailblazers who demanded this over and over and over again and it’s finally broken through and I’m very fortunate to be there with it.”

I’m not entirely convinced just yet that is will be another Sony/Marvel co-production as they haven’t come out and made this official. I don’t really understand why they would hide this information after the report of Wilde was directing the film and her confirmation, unless they’re waiting for some event to make the big announcement. 

Then again, Jessica Drew the traditional version of Spider-Woman, is a product of HYDRA brainwashing (not unlike The Winter Soldier) with a connection to Captain America villain Ophelia Sarkissian aka Viper (also known as Madame Hydra), who pretended to be Jessica’s birth mother. Jessica also became an Agent of S.W.O.R.D., the cosmic counterpart of S.H.I.E.L.D. that will be introduced in WandaVision and is expected to have a larger role in Nia DaCosta’s Captain Marvel 2.

Drew did not debut in the pages of Spider-Man comic books and means that Marvel Studios has direct access to her.

Even with movies like Venom, Morbius, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, and Kraven The Hunter you’ll see them interact directly with Marvel Entertainment (still under Kevin Feige’s purview), their liaison branch, does work alongside filmmakers and studio producers at Sony Pictures to make sure the characters are being properly represented to the public. 

She may have genuinely spoken with Kevin Feige but it remains to be seen if this was via Marvel Entertainment or Marvel Studios, I’ll be hoping for the latter alongside everyone else. 

Olivia Wilde is currently busy directing the New Line Cinema thriller Don’t Worry Darling starring Florence Pugh, Dakota Johnson, Chris Pine, and Harry Styles, which takes in a California desert community during the 1950s. 

SOURCE: SHUT UP EVAN 

Posted on in Film News

Director Olivia Wilde Confirms Attachment To Sony’s Marvel Film While Teasing ‘Spider-Woman’ – Will Marvel Studios Co-Produce?

Hours ago, Deadline first reported that Booksmart‘s Olivia Wilde would be directing and co-writing a new Spider-Man spinoff film at Sony Pictures. They claimed that sources believe it would focus on Spider-Woman best known as Jessica Drew.

Olivia Wilde has now confirmed this news on Twitter and added a spider emoji, suggesting that the Spider-Woman tidbit was indeed accurate.

Adding to the Spider-Woman thing is that Wilde didn’t correct actor Josh Gad when he brought-up the involvement of Marvel Studios and suddenly after the news Marvel dropped a piece to help inform people about Jessica Drew aka Spider-Woman, the timing doesn’t seem to be an accident. The expectation here is that this could be another co-production between Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios, leading the latter being behind the production like with Tom Holland’s Spider-Man trilogy.

Unlike with other Spider-Man characters that are getting spinoffs at Sony, Jessica Drew debuted in the pages of Marvel Spotlight #32 and 50 issues of her own solo series meaning she is fair game for Marvel Studios to use and is why there had been plenty of expectations of a co-production between Sony and Marvel.

Jessica Drew connects to multiple characters outside of Spider-Man as she was an Agent of S.W.O.R.D., the cosmic version of S.H.I.E.L.D. that will be introduced in the Marvel Cinematic Universe via WandaVision and Captain Marvel character Monica Rambeau.

Drew has origins with HYDRA brainwashing her to become Arachne and Ophelia Sarkissian aka Viper (Madame Hydra) pretended to be her birth mother.

There is an expectation that S.W.O.R.D. will have a sizable role in Nia DaCosta’s Captain Marvel 2, where we could first see Jessica if she is indeed being planned on being inserted into the MCU in a similar way to Tom Holland’s Spider-Man was in Captain America: Civil War.

S.W.O.R.D. could also be carrying over to something like Ms. Marvel as well.

Then again, Spider-Woman would more likely be an origin film given how different it is compared to the various other “Spider-People” connected to Peter Parker.

When this project will begin shooting is a little unknown as Wilde is about to begin shooting her thriller Don’t Worry Darling this fall.

Posted on in Film News

Olivia Wilde Hired By Sony To Direct Female-Led Marvel Film That Could Be ‘Spider-Woman’

Deadline has breaking Marvel movie news as Olivia Wilde (Booksmart) has been hired by Sony Pictures to direct a new Spider-Man spinoff film which they claim will be Spider-Woman. Wilde will also co-write with partner Katie Silberman, a previous script was penned by Gary Spinelli (American Made, Chaos Walking).

Amy Pascal, who is the main producing force of the Spider-Man franchise at Sony is producing the project as well.

The original version of Spider-Woman is Jessica Drew, a character that is most likely shared by both Sony and Marvel Studios. However, Marvel isn’t mentioned in this write up which could suggest they might not be involved in whatever incarnation they’re attempting despite previous rumblings that Marvel/Sony would talking about coming together for a co-production.

There is a chance this could be a Spider-Gwen project given the character’s popularity in the wake of Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse‘s Oscar win and reportedly getting her own spinoff animated film featuring other female characters.

Other female Marvel projects in development at Sony include Black Cat, Silver Sable, Jackpot, and a Madame Webb film from director S.J. Clarkson.

I guess we’ll have to wait for some official announcement from the studio.

Olivia is currently busy with her thriller Don’t Worry Darling shooting this fall with a cast that consists of Florence Pugh, Chris Pine, Shia LaBeouf and Dakota Johnson. This would suggest this Marvel film won’t begin filming anytime soon.

SOURCE: DEADLINE