Tag: Samuel L. Jackson

Posted on in Film News

Henry Cavill Returns To Spy Genre With Matthew Vaughn’s ‘Argylle’; Bryan Cranston, John Cena & More Join Too

Matthew Vaughn’s next feature film Argylle is officially a go!

A while back, The Ronin first revealed that the title for Vaughn’s flick would be Argylle (originally we thought it was a working title) along with confirmations that the film’s production team would consist of cinematographer George Richmond (Fantastic Beasts 3, Kingsman: The Secret Service, Kingsman: The Golden Circle, Rocketman, Eddie The Eagle) and production designer Daniel Taylor (Tetris).

Deadline has now revealed/confirmed the full cast after a handful of names from the cast were revealed yesterday by Observer.

The spy flick based on the upcoming novel by Ellie Conway will star Henry Cavill (The Witcher, Man of Steel), Sam Rockwell (Iron Man 2, Moon, Seven Psychopaths, Three Billboards), Bryce Dallas Howard (Black Mirror, Jurassic World, Jurassic World: Dominion), Bryan Cranston (Godzilla, Breaking Bad), Catherine O’Hara (Home Alone, SCTV, Schitt’s Creek, John Cena (Bumblebee, F9: The Fast Saga), and Samuel L. Jackson (Pulp Fiction, The Hateful Eight, Django Unchained).

This will be a return for Cavill to the spy genre after taking roles in Guy Ritchie’s The Man From U.N.C.L.E and playing a villain in Christopher McQuarrie’s Mission: Impossible – Fallout opposite franchise star Tom Cruise.

Director Matthew Vaughn will be reuniting with Cavill after working with him on his second feature film Stardust and more recently worked with Jackson on Kingsman: The Secret Service.

Conway’s novel follows the world’s greatest spy, Argylle, as he is caught up in a globe-trotting adventure.

Here is the character information from the Observer.

Bryce Dallas Howard is in talks to star in the lead role. Tricked into thinking she’s a writer, her lethal skills return with her memories, setting her down a path of revenge against the shadowy organization she used to work for, the Division. Also in talks to star are Sam Rockwell as a former Division agent and our heroine’s love interest, and Samuel L. Jackson as a rogue agent dedicated to exposing the corruption within the clandestine spy network.

Singer Dua Lipa will also make her acting debut in the project and teased a release in 2022 alongside a teaser poster.

Argylle is said to be the first of a planned trilogy.

We were previously able to confirm filming will be taking place in London as Deadline adds filming begins this August.

Giant Freaking Robot first dished on early plot details.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News

Kevin Feige Says Marvel Studios Moving Away From 6-9 Picture Deals; Similar To Ones Samuel L. Jackson & Scarlett Johansson Made During Phase One

In the early days of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the studio was trying to make sure they were landing actors on the cheap and to sweeten the pot Ike Perlmutter assumed that giving actors contracts consisting of six to nine film commitments would off-set the low pay (Chris Hemsworth earned only $150K for Thor) they would get on the first round of feature films (television and streaming wasn’t even considered back then).

One of the biggest Marvel deals made was when Samuel L. Jackson signed on to play Nick Fury in at least nine films. Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige has revealed to The Hollywood Reporter during an interview to promote Black Widow that they’re moving away from those extensive deals from the Phase One era.

“That got a lot of attention way back when, with I think [Scarlett Johansson, and Chris Hemsworth and Chris Evans] and Sam Jackson. It varies now. It varies, project to project, cast to cast. Really, what we want are people that come in, are excited to be in the universe, are excited at the opportunity to do more things, as opposed to being locked into contractual obligations,” the studio head told The Hollywood Reporter.

Interestingly enough, Jackson and Hemsworth are working on new projects as Johansson is expected to end her MCU run with Black Widow after reportedly earning an impressive $15 million ($5 million more than she got for leading Ghost In Shell) for the solo outing releasing on Friday.

BLACK WIDOW – In Black Widow, Natasha Romanoff confronts the darker parts of her ledger when a dangerous conspiracy with ties to her past arises. Pursued by a force that will stop at nothing to bring her down, Natasha must deal with her history as a spy and the broken relationships left in her wake long before she became an Avenger. Directed by Cate Shortland and produced by Kevin Feige, the movie stars Scarlett Johansson reprising her role as Natasha Romanoff. Florence Pugh stars as Yelena Belova, David Harbour as Alexei Shostakov aka Red Guardian, and Rachel Weisz as Melina Vostokoff.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Posted on in Film News

Matthew Vaughn’s Spy Film ‘Argyle’ Reportedly In Talks To Add Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell & Samuel L. Jackson

A while back, The Ronin first revealed that Matthew Vaughn’s (The King’s Man) next feature film would be using the working title Argyle along with confirmations that the film’s production team would consist of cinematographer George Richmond (Fantastic Beasts 3, Kingsman: The Secret Service, Kingsman: The Golden Circle, Rocketman, Eddie The Eagle) and production designer Daniel Taylor (Tetris).

I had recently been able to confirm production would be mainly taking place in the London area.

Well, now Observer is reporting that MARV Films is currently in talks to add Bryce Dallas Howard (Jurassic World, Black Mirror, Spider-Man 3), Sam Rockwell (Iron Man 2, Three Billboards, Jojo Rabbit, Moon), and Samuel L. Jackson (Captain Marvel, The Avengers, Secret Invasion, Spider-Man: Far From Home).

Bryce Dallas Howard is in talks to star in the lead role. Tricked into thinking she’s a writer, her lethal skills return with her memories, setting her down a path of revenge against the shadowy organization she used to work for, the Division. Also in talks to star are Sam Rockwell as a former Division agent and our heroine’s love interest, and Samuel L. Jackson as a rogue agent dedicated to exposing the corruption within the clandestine spy network.

However, the trio admittedly haven’t closed deals and might not ultimately join the pic but the likelihood is good.

Samuel L. Jackson’s Marvel series Secret Invasion will be filming in the United Kingdom and Sam Rockwell’s Justin Hammer is expected to appear as a key figure in Don Cheadle’s Armor Wars series as well (Hammer featured in the Marvel Comics source material). It’s worth mentioning that commitments to the those Marvel shows could possibly conflict with Argyle’s shooting schedule.

Giant Freaking Robot was the first outlet to report details on the film.

Vaughn’s latest film The King’s Man will be released by Disney in December and there are still expectations that Kingsman 3 will be shooting in the near future, wrapping up the Eggsy/Harry Hart trilogy.

THE KING’S MAN – As a collection of history’s worst tyrants and criminal masterminds gather to plot a war to wipe out millions, one man must race against time to stop them. Discover the origins of the very first independent intelligence agency in The King’s Man.

SOURCE: OBSERVER

Posted on in Television News

Working Title For Marvel’s ‘Secret Invasion’ Series Is ‘Jambalaya’

The Ronin has exclusively confirmed that the working title for Marvel’s Skrull event crossover series, Secret Invasion, will be Jambalaya. This is simply the production title the studio will use during the filming of the show in the United Kingdom, which is said to go in front of cameras sometime in the fall.

In the comics, Secret Invasion focuses on the reveal that multiple people in power and even superheroes have been replaced with an alien race with the ability to shape-shift, called the Skrulls. They were first introduced in Captain Marvel as peaceful cosmic refugees and covered for Nick Fury and Maria Hill while they were seemingly off-world having a space station built (for S.W.O.R.D.?), as seen at the end of Spider-Man: Far From Home.

The versions of the Skrulls we’ve previously seen don’t have Super-Skrull abilities, because that had been tied to the Fantastic Four film rights. With the rights back at Marvel Studios, it means that the Skrulls can now mimic the superpowers of various heroes and villains in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, making them even more dangerous opponents than before.

While the show is being billed as a crossover event they haven’t officially announced if cast members from the Captain Marvel sequel, The Marvels, will have duel roles on the Disney+ series, but it’s sort of expected given that S.W.O.R.D. is likely a key element in both projects. It also doesn’t hurt that Nia DaCosta’s The Marvels is confirmed to be filming primarily at Longcross Studios in Surrey, England, making the possibility of cast cross-pollination very good.

Secret Invasion’s impressive cast already consists of Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Ben Mendelsohn as Skrull leader Talos, Oscar-winner Olivia Colman (The Favourite, Hot Fuzz, The Crown), four-time Emmy nominee Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones, Solo: A Star Wars Story), Kingsley Ben-Adir (One Night In Miami, Peaky Blinders) said to be playing a villain, and most recent addition to the Marvel series is character actor Christopher McDonald (Hacks, Happy Gilmore).

The show’s head writer is Kyle Bradstreet with directors Thomas Bezhucha (Let Him Go) and Ali Selim (The Looming Tower) recently announced.

Other recent working titles for Marvel feature film projects include the following.

BLACK WIDOW = BLUE BAYOU

ETERNALS = SACK LUNCH

SHANG-CHI & THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS = STEAMBOAT

DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS = STELLAR VORTEX

SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME = THE NOVEMBER PROJECT

THOR: LOVE & THUNDER = THE BIG SALAD

CAPTAIN MARVEL 2 = GOAT RODEO

BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER = SUMMER BREAK

ANT-MAN & THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA = DUST BUNNY

Given that production is taking place later in the year, we shouldn’t expect to see Secret Invasion begin airing on Disney+ until late 2022 or early 2023.

Posted on in Film News

Producers Fighting In Court To Remake Horror Classic ‘The Blob’

Producers Richard Saperstein (The Mist) and Brian Witten (American History X) have been developing a remake of the classic monster film The Blob, that effort goes back to 2009. The Blob originally starred a young Steve McQueen in 1958 version and eventually led to an extremely well-made reboot in 1988 that is easily one of the best examples of practical effects in the horror genre. In the original film, the gooey man-eating creature was an alien lifeform and in the 1980s remake it was a bio-weapon created by the U.S. government both taking place in a small town.

A drive-in favorite, this sci-fi classic follows teenagers Steve (Steven McQueen) and his best girl, Jane (Aneta Corseaut), as they try to protect their hometown from a gelatinous alien life form that engulfs everything it touches. The first to discover the substance and live to tell about it, Steve and Jane witness the blob destroying an elderly man and grow to a terrifying size. But no one else has seen the goo, and policeman Dave (Earl Rowe) refuses to believe the kids without proof.

The pair of producers are fighting in the Los Angeles Superior Court to get more time to made their incarnation of The Blob, as The Hollywood Reporter outlines the lawsuit as they argue they had an oral agreement with original rights holder, Worldwide Entertainment Corporation’s Judith Harris, to be given more time and are also falling back on using COVID-19 as reason why they weren’t able to make the film in a timely manner.

In Los Angeles Superior Court, Saperstein and Witten are now suing to retain rights. They claim that Harris orally agreed to an extension and then failed to put it in writing despite multiple emails and even a $50,000 offer. And if a judge doesn’t recognize this as an oral agreement, they are falling back on the claim that COVID-19 represents a force majeure event that “prevented them from attempting to produce the Picture,  and as a result, the Extension term must be tolled through the present date.”

Here is the original synopsis for the remake that had been making the rounds, it remains to be seen if they’ve changed these plot details since 2017-2019.

When a band of miners uncover something hidden deep beneath the earth they unwittingly unleash a hideous creature beyond imagination. Now the townsfolk must fightback, before it destroys everything.

Directors Rob Zombie and Simon West (Con Air, The Expendables 2) had been involved with various incarnations of the remake with Samuel L. Jackson attached to star at some point. Jackson talked-up his involvement back in August 2017 to the Toronto Sun during the promotion of Kong: Skull Island and mentioned that the producers had secured financing from China.

JACKSON: “I’ve been preparing to use it my whole life. I’ve been running from or chasing King Kong, Godzilla the Wolfman, whatever, since I was a kid (in Chatanooga, Tenn.). We’d go home and pretend to do all that stuff. So I’m doing Kong for the same reason I’ll probably be doing The Blob. I just got a call the other day (where the producers) said they finally got their money from China to do Blob. I mean, I do a lot of movies, a lot of independent movies, for different reasons. But I’m a fan, and a lot of times I choose a movie because it’s something I would have chosen to see when I was a kid. How do you say no to that?“

It wasn’t mentioned if Samuel L. Jackson is still going to star in the film as he’s aiming to shoot Marvel’s Secret Wars this fall in the United Kingdom and might also have a role in Nia DaCosta’s The Marvels. Production on The Blob was targeting a shoot in the United Kingdom years ago, but what ultimately happens is unclear.

The worst thing that could happen is if they pursue a generic film that focuses on weak CGI effects rather than doing some stuff in-camera.

I have fond memories of the 1988 version that was co-written by Frank Darabont (The Mist, The Walking Dead, Shawshank Redemption) and director Chuck Russell (A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors), mainly because of it’s gore effects which sort of holds up while some of the miniature-work doesn’t.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Posted on in Television News

Marvel Hires Thomas Bezucha & Ali Selim To Direct Skrull Series ‘Secret Invasion’

Marvel Studio is assembling a very solid cast for their Secret Invasion series that will be led by Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury and Ben Mendelsohn’s Talos with new additions such as Oscar-winner Olivia Colman (The Favourite, Hot Fuzz, The Crown), four-time Emmy nominee Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones, Solo: A Star Wars Story), and Kingsley Ben-Adir (One Night In Miami, Peaky Blinders) said to be playing a villain.

We finally know who will be directing as The Hollywood Reporter reveals that the studio has chosen Thomas Bezhucha (Let Him Go) and Ali Selim (The Looming Tower) to direct the event show that is going to explore a version of the Skrull invasion plot from the comic books. Multiple heroes are revealed to be the shape-shifting aliens as they were slowly replaced to allow the Skrulls to secure positions of power all over Earth.

Nia DaCosta’s The Marvels will feature three generations of female superheroes and could have ties to the series.

Filming is said to begin this fall in the United Kingdom with a 2022 debut being eyed.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Posted on in Television News

Marvel’s ‘Secret Invasion’ Series Reportedly Adds Kingsley Ben-Adir As A Lead Villain

Deadline is reporting that British actor Kingsley Ben-Adir is taking a role in Marvel’s Secret Invasion series opposite Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury and Ben Mendelsohn as Skrull Leader Talos. They claim the One Night In Miami actor will be playing an unnamed lead villain, which could mean he might end up playing a member of a villainous sect of Skrulls.

Filming is expected to take place sometime this year in the United Kingdom and will debut on Disney+ in 2022. However, while Kyle Bradstreet is writing the series a director or directors have yet to be announced.

Marvel now has access to many Skrull characters including Kl’rt aka The Super-Skrull after securing The Fantastic Four rights. The Super-Skrull has the ability to mimic the power-set of the Fantastic Four members, a aspect of the Skrulls that haven’t been able to use until now. This could see Skrulls copying the powers and abilities of existing heroes and villains in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The big power we’ve seen used multiple times is their ability to shape-shift as shown in Captain Marvel, Spider-Man: Far From Home, and WandaVision.

WandaVision ended with Teyonah Parris’ Monica Rambeau meeting up with a Skrull seemingly teasing her addition to Secret Invasion and potentially the S.W.O.R.D. space station The Peak. There is an assumption that Skrull-centric series will lead directly into Captain Marvel 2, which will include Monica Rambeau, Brie Larson’s Carol Danvers, and Iman Vellani’s Kamala Khan aka Ms. Marvel. It’s possible the three leading ladies could end up appearing in the show along with Zawe Ashton, who is reportedly playing the villain of Captain Marvel 2 and could easily be playing a troublesome Skrull.

The Skrulls and Secret Invasion could be a launching point to see S.W.O.R.D. becoming a much bigger entity in the MCU (even more than S.H.I.E.L.D. was) moving forward, the group comes from the pages of X-Men comics with mutant characters such as Abigail Brand and Dr. Hank McCoy aka Beast are among their ranks. We still don’t know how and when Marvel will introduce mutants outside of Deadpool 3 (possibly shooting next year) being in active development.

Olivia Wilde (Don’t Worry Darling, Booksmart) is said to be co-writing and directing a Marvel film for Sony Pictures, trades claiming that the character she will be adapting for the big screen is going to be Spider-Woman. If the version they are tackling is indeed Jessica Drew, it’s a character Marvel Studios has access to given that Drew debuted outside of the Spider-Man comics and was established as a agent of S.W.O.R.D. making her a good contender to eventually join the cosmic organization introduced in WandaVision. In Secret Invasion, Jessica Drew is revealed to be the Skrull Queen Veranke, the main antagonist of the comic books that the series is going to be influenced by.

Speaking of The Fantastic Four, we still don’t know how Marvel Studios is going to introduce those characters despite fans wishes that Reed Richards would show up on WandaVision. There is a chance that S.W.O.R.D. could end up becoming the connective tissue as they’ve established the group is doing off-world missions and we clearly saw at the end of Spider-Man: Far From Home that Nick Fury was getting a space station built by the Skrulls. Some are speculating that Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania (coming in 2022) could be another entry point for Fantastic Four because of Jonathan Majors playing Kang The Conqueror, however, we don’t know if that will be the case. Director Jon Watts more than likely will be aiming to do an origin film or at the very least include a new MCU origin for the team in his reboot.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News

Director Spike Lee Would Consider Making A Marvel Movie “If The Right Opportunity Comes Across”

While Marvel Studios likely won’t be landing Martin Scorsese anytime soon, another landmark New York filmmaker is keeping the superhero door open.

In a recent chat with Entertainment Weekly, Oscar-winner Spike Lee revealed he would be open to the idea of making a Marvel movie if the right project and opportunity materialized. Lee didn’t mention any franchises or characters he’d like to tackle but had grown up reading Spider-Man comics.

LEE: “I have nothing against Marvel. I grew up reading Spider-Man comic books. To me, DC Comics was always corny… I’m just saying. I was all about Marvel. If the right opportunity comes across, I’m not campaigning for it, but I will give it consideration.”

One of Chadwick Boseman’s final performances was in Spike’s Vietnam War drama Da 5 Bloods.

It’s worth mentioning that Spike and Samuel L. Jackson have been working together for over 30 years with his early films School Daze and Do The Ring Thing. You might also remember that Sam embraced the filmmaker on stage when Spike was awarded his Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay in 2019. The idea that the pair could reunite for a Nick Fury movie wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibilities given that Marvel had been developing a solo film before some elements of that were folded into Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

Jackson will reprise the Nick Fury role in Secret Invasion and is expected to appear in Captain Marvel 2.

Another interesting project could be an MCU reboot of Luke Cage or Heroes For Hire as Lee could certainly make a NYC-set project feel authentic and might bring a fun vision for it. We know that Marvel/Disney is open to making R-rated projects as Deadpool 3 is confirmed to be heading in that direction and might also be the case for Mahershala Ali’s Blade reboot as well.

However, being open to the idea doesn’t mean anything is going to come from this statement but it’s surely neat to hear that Spike is open-minded.

SOURCE: ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

Posted on in Film News

‘Captain Marvel 2’: Zawe Ashton Tapped To Play A Villain – Will She Play Skrull Queen Veranke?

Deadline was the first to break the news that Marvel Studios has hired actress Zawe Ashton to play an undisclosed villain in Captain Marvel 2.

Candyman’s Nia DaCosta is directing a cast that consists of Brie Larson as Carol Danvers, Ms. Marvel’s Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan, and WandaVsion’s Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau.

Given that Secret Invasion is said to be a crossover event series on Disney+, there is a good shot that Ashton is playing a Skrull, possibly Queen Veranke. When the Fantastic Four rights reverted back to Marvel they also got full control of the Skrulls, ability to use various characters such as the Super-Skrull and their ability to mimic/copy the power-sets of superheroes. A female version of Super-Skrull could be nifty as well, even though that character is primarily known as a Fantastic Four baddie.

However, there are plenty of other cosmic villains Ashton could end up playing.

Moonstone could be another option as well.

Secret Invasion might help established the events that will be later explored in Captain Marvel 2 as both productions are expected to take place in the United Kingdom later this year. Captain Marvel introduced the Skrulls as the enemies of the Kree Empire, only to reveal they were refugees seeking a new home and we might end up villainous incarnations surface which could become a big problem for Earth.

This a good chance that we could see Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Randall Park, and Kat Dennings take roles in the sequel as well given the likelihood S.W.O.R.D. will have a large part to play and depending on how their respective Disney+ series end.

Captain Marvel 2 currently has a release date of November 11th, 2022 and could suggest a production start in summer/fall.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Television News

‘Secret Invasion’: Kevin Feige Says They Won’t Have As Many As Characters The Comic But Will Tap Into The Paranoia

We knew that a Nick Fury series was on the way from Marvel Studios and it was confirmed during the Disney Investor Day event as Secret Invasion starring Samuel L. Jackson and Ben Mendelsohn returning as Skrull leader Talos. 

The Secret Invasion is a story in Marvel Comics that reveals various characters had replaced with the alien baddies Skrulls leading to a huge clash between superpowered Skrulls mimicking the powers of many Marvel heroes and villains. This element had been directly connected to the Fantastic Four rights via the Super-Skrull, but with those rights finally returning to Marvel it allows them to use those other Skrull abilities beyond shapeshifting. 

In the comics, it’s a massive event on the level of Avengers: Endgame but the series seemingly won’t be on that scale according to Kevin Feige while speaking with Comic Book to promote WandaVision‘s debut on Disney+ later this month. Revealing that fans shouldn’t expect the volume of characters in the show as the comic since they’ll be focusing on Sam and Ben’s characters. 

FEIGE: “Well, there were more characters in the Secret Invasion comic series than there were in Endgame so, no. It’s not that but it very much is a showcase for Sam Jackson and Ben Mendelson and tapping into the paranoia elements of the Secret Invasion comic series that was great with the twists and turns that that took. So, that’s certainly our focus more than, ‘Can we cram in more characters than Endgame? like publishing?'”

Expectations certainly need to be tempered a bit considering that the Marvel series will have more limitations with more targeted casting than the films because the time commitment to a series is likely a lot more of an ask than with a feature film with a runtime of two-plus hours. 

S.W.O.R.D. is all but assumed to be involved in the series and will be introduced in WandaVision. 

The series is expected to shoot around the same time as Nia DaCosta’s Captain Marvel 2 in the United Kingdom, so there is a good shot that there could be some crossover with those characters rather than others that might be harder to connect. We’ll be excited to hear if the project will indeed have a direct crossover with Olivia Wilde‘s Spider-Woman film given that Jessica Drew has a role to play in Secret Invasion. 

Stay tuned for more information on the Skrull event in the coming months.

SOURCE: COMIC BOOK