Tag: Sony PIctures Television

Posted on in Television News

Antony Mackie Joins Live-Action ‘Twisted Metal’ Series From ‘Deadpool’ Screenwriters

PlayStation Productions is a newly formed production company meant to bring various Sony PlayStation IP/characters to film and television incarnations. One of those upcoming projects is a live-action television series based on the classic video game Twisted Metal, from Sony Pictures Television.

Deadline reports that Marvel Studios alumni Anthony Mackie (Altered Carbon, Black Mirror) has nabbed the lead role of John Doe in the series. Mackie recently became the new Captain America by the end of the Disney+ series The Falcon & The Winter Soldier, with the expectation he’ll reprise the superhero role in Captain America 4.

The project is based on a new take from Rhett Reese and Paul Wenrick (Deadpool) that will be written by Michael Jordan Smith (Cobra Kai), all three will executive produce.

Twisted Metal is a high-octane action comedy based on an original take by Deadpool scribes Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick about a motor-mouthed outsider offered a chance at a better life, but only if he can successfully deliver a mysterious package across a post-apocalyptic wasteland. With the help of a trigger-happy car thief, he’ll face savage marauders driving vehicles of destruction and other dangers of the open road, including a deranged clown who drives an all too familiar ice cream truck.

Doe is a smart-ass milkman who talks as fast as he drives. With no memory of his past, he gets a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make his wish of finding community come true, but only if he can survive an onslaught of savage vehicular combat.

Other PlayStation properties getting live-action adaptations includes an Uncharted movies led by Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg, an HBO series version of The Last of Us, and a feature film based on Ghost of Tsushima from John Wick franchise director Chad Stahelski.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in News, Television News

HBO’s ‘Last Of Us’ Series Adds ‘Mindhunter’ Actress Anna Torv

The Last of Us series from HBO has seemingly started shooting in Calgary this month and Variety reports that Australian actress Anna Torv has landed the role of Tess, a smuggler and hardened survivor. The rest of the cast consists of Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey as well as cast members Gabriel Luna, Merle Dandrige, Nico Parker, Murray Bartlet, Con O’Neill, and Jeffery Pierce.

Torv is likely best known for her work on shows such as Fringe and David Fincher’s Mindhunter.

The Last of Us takes place twenty years after modern civilization has been destroyed. Joel, a hardened survivor, is hired to smuggle Ellie, a 14-year-old girl, out of an oppressive quarantine zone. What starts as a small job soon becomes a brutal, heartbreaking journey, as they both must traverse across the U.S. and depend on each other for survival. 

Craig Mazin (HBO’s “Chernobyl”), Neil Druckmann (“The Last of Us” and “Uncharted” video game franchises), and Carolyn Strauss (HBO’s “Chernobyl” and “Game of Thrones”) are executive producers along with Naughty Dog’s Evan Wells and PlayStation Productions’ Asad Qizilbash and Carter Swan. Written by Mazin and Druckmann, the series is a co-production with Sony Pictures Television. PlayStation Productions, Word Games, and Naughty Dog produce.

It will be airing on both HBO and HBO Max.

Pascal is also expected to eventually return for Season 3 of The Mandalorian, which is apparently already shooting shooting in the Los Angeles/Manhattan Beach area. However, it’s unknown when Pedro Pascal will be joining the cast as the shoot for The Last of Us is expected to continue into the fall.

The Last of Us is part of a new wave of video game adaptations based on Sony-owned properties. Tom Holland leads a feature film adaptation of Uncharted and John Wick’s Chad Stahelski is attached to turn Sony’s popular samurai game, Ghost of Tsushima, into a movie as well.

SOURCE: VARIETY

Michael B. Jordan Developing New ‘Superman’ Project At HBO Max That Will Focus On Val-Zod

Posted on in News, Television News

‘Wheel Of Time’: Amazon Announces Fantasy Series Will Debut In November

Finally, Amazon has announced that their series adaptation of Robert Jordan’s fantasy novels The Wheel of Time will be heading to Prime Video on November.

The Wheel of Time is one of the most popular and enduring fantasy series of all-time, with over 90 million books sold. Set in a sprawling, epic world where magic exists and only certain women are allowed to access it, the story follows Moiraine, a member of the incredibly powerful all-female organization called the Aes Sedai, as she arrives in the small town of Two Rivers. There, she embarks on a dangerous, world-spanning journey with five young men and women, one of whom is prophesied to be the Dragon Reborn, who will either save or destroy humanity.   

Adapted for television by executive producer/showrunner Rafe Judkins (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Hemlock Grove). Larry Mondragon and Rick Selvage of Red Eagle Entertainment (Winter Dragon), Ted Field and Mike Weber of Radar Pictures (Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Winter Dragon), Darren Lemke (Shazam!, Goosebumps, Winter Dragon), Marigo Kehoe and Uta Briesewitz will also serve as executive producers, with Briesewitz set to direct the first two episodes. Rosamund Pike will serve as Producer and Harriet McDougal and Brandon Sanderson as consulting producers. The Wheel of Time is co-produced by Amazon Studios and Sony Pictures Television.

Wheel of Time’s cast consists of Rosamund Pike, Josha Stradowski, Madeleine Madden, Marcus Rutherford, Barney Harris, Zoë Robins, Daniel Henney, Álvaro Morte, Hammed Animashaun, Johann Myers, Priyanka Bose, Taylor Napier and Emmanuel Imani.

The project is such a priority for Amazon as they’ve already started filming Season 2 this week and Radar Films (Amazon’s partner on the show) is also developing a trilogy of feature films. Amazon must be seeing something with the dailies or Season 1 episodes that they believe enough in the show to move forward with Season 2 even though audiences haven’t seen a trailer for the first season.

SOURCE: AMAZON

Posted on in Television News

‘The Last of Us’: Kantemir Balagov Tapped To Direct Series Pilot For HBO

There is a new update concerning HBO’s upcoming Last of Us series based on the popular post-apocalypse video game franchise from Naughty Dog and PlayStation.

Last of Us is set 20 years after modern civilization has been destroyed and centers on the relationship between Joel, a smuggler in this new world, and Ellie, a teenager who may be key to a cure for a deadly pandemic. Joel, a hardened survivor, is hired to smuggle the 14-year-old girl out of an oppressive quarantine zone. What starts as a small job soon becomes a brutal, heartbreaking journey as they traverse the U.S. and depend on each other for survival.

The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that Kantemir Balagov will direct the series pilot.

Russian filmmaker Kantemir Balagov, the Cannes darling behind drama Beanpole, has been tapped to direct the pilot for the adaptation of the hit video game.

He replaces Chernobyl’s Johan Renck, who left due to scheduling conflicts.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER