Kaya Scodelario (The Gentlemen) and Billie Lourd (Booksmart) have signed on to star alongside Josh Gad (Frozen), Anthony Carrigan (Barry) and Alex Winter (Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure) in Winter’s dark comedy noir, Adulthood. Details as to their roles are under wraps.
Currently shooting in Ottawa, Canada, “Adulthood is about a sister and brother, Megan and Noah, who are barely hanging on in present-day America, like all of us. When they discover a dead body, long buried in their parents’ basement, the siblings are pulled back to the hometown they ran away from and into a rabbit hole of crime and murder.”
Novelist Michael M.B. Galvin wrote the script. In addition to Winter, producers on the project include Scott Kroopf (Limitless), Lisa Wolofsky (Tow) and Russell Hollander (Flight Risk), as well as Olive Hill Media’s Michael Cho and Tim Lee, and Fresh Fish Films’ Danny Roberts, H.S. Naji and Jackie Langelier.
Connie Tavel (Confess, Fletch) is exec producing alongside Mimi Rode for Olive Hill Media and Thorsten Schumacher for Rocket Science. Olive Hill Media and Fresh Fish Films are financing, with Rocket Science arranging finance for international sales.
This sounds like a really fun story to see play out! A release date has not yet been revealed, but stay tuned for more info as the production moves forward.
Two-time Oscar winner Mahershala Ali (Green Book, Moonlight, Leave the World Behind) is set to star with Tom Hardy (TheDark Knight Rises, Venom) in 77 Blackout, a crime thriller set on the night when the city that never sleeps lost power and plunged into chaos and lawlessness. Cary Joji Fukunaga (True Detective, Maniac, No Time to Die) is directing.
The synopsis reads: “In 1977, five rogue police officers formulate a plan to rob three criminal strongholds – the Hong Kong Triads, the Italian Mafia, and the Harlem Mob – all in one night.
“When a blackout sweeps the city the night of the robbery, the crew is forced to navigate a hellish landscape as years of being overworked and underpaid forces each of them to confront their own morality.”
This sounds like a great project for these two prolific actors. Stay tuned for into on the film as it heads into production.
Shailene Woodley (Ferrari, Big Little Lies), Ben Foster (Warcraft, The Mechanic) and Pablo Schreiber (Den of Thieves, First Man) will join the previously announced Alan Ritchson (Reacher, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare) in the action thriller Motor City. Potsy Ponciroli (Old Henry, Greedy People) will direct the picture, from a script written by Chad St. John, who will also produce.
The film follows the story of “John Miller (Ritchson), a Detroit auto-worker whose life and girlfriend (Woodley) are taken away from him when he’s framed by a local gangster (Foster) and sent to prison.
“On his release, Miller unleashes a maelstrom of vengeance on those who wronged him as he attempts to win his girl back.”
The Detroit-set film will be characterized by immersive visual storytelling, with stunningly choreographed and stylized action sequences and a gritty rock soundscape from 12-time Grammy Award-winner and Detroit native Jack White as musical director.
Production begins July 10 in New Jersey and AlUla, Saudi Arabia as part of Stampede Ventures’ 10-picture slate deal with Film AlUla.
Mano Animation Studios has revealed the first trailer for an animated feature film they’ve produced titled The Glassworker.
This is a hand-drawn animated feature film set in a location loosely inspired by Pakistan. The story follows “a young Vincent and his father Tomas run the finest glass workshop in the country and find their lives upended by an impending war in which they want no part.
“The arrival in their town of an army colonel and his young, talented, violinist daughter, Alliz, shakes their reality and tests the relationship between a father and son. The love that develops between Vincent & Alliz is challenged constantly by the differing views of their fathers.
“It is a time when patriotism & social standing are considered more important than free thought & artistic pursuits. It is a time when love is just not relevant.”
The movie was directed by Usman Riaz and this is his first feature film. As you can see from the art style the film was heavily inspired by Studio Ghibli.
The film features the voices of Art Malik, Sacha Dhawan, Anjli Mohindra, and Tony Jayawardene.
Mano Animation Studios is based in Karachi and it will be premiering at the 2024 Annecy Film Festival in France this summer. It opens in Pakistan first this July. There’s no word on when it will be released in the states.
There’s another Cinderella-inspired horror movie that’s been announced, and this one will focus on one of Cinderella’s stepsisters.
The movie is titled The Ugly Stepsister, and it’s being directed by Emilie Blichfeldt, who is making her directorial debut.
The movie will combine comedy and horror, and it’s described as “a daring and unexpected take on the world-famous tale, seen through the eyes of the Cinderella’s stepsister, Elvira.”
It’s explained: “The gory film follows Elvira as she battles to compete with her insanely beautiful stepsister in a kingdom where beauty is a brutal business. She will go to any lengths to catch the prince’s eye.”
She added: “It’s time the ugly stepsister’s story is lifted from the shadows of Cinderella, and cultivated as the iconic feminist narrative of the tyranny of beauty that it is.”
Blichfeldt said in a statement: “With this ‘beauty horror’ I want to seduce the audience into a ‘girl-dreaming-of-marrying-the-prince-fairytale,’ before revealing its true and raw insides.”
The production company producing the film, Momento International, added: “It is highly contemporary in its exploration of what one is willing to do to meet society’s imposed beauty standards on women.”
They went on to say: “Emilie is finally giving a voice to the underdog in a very entertaining way, allowing audiences worldwide to connect with her.”
I’ve only ever seen the stepsisters in the Cinderella story as a couple of spoiled brats, so this will be a different and interesting take on this part of the story.
Lea Myren stars in the film alongside Thea Sofie Loch Naess and Ane Dahl Torp.
During a recent interview with CB, Eckhard opened up about the film and talked about what it was like for him to read the script for the first time.
Eckhart said: “That movie’s extraordinary, that movie’s special, and it wasn’t just special on the screen. It was special in the script. It was special in the writing.”
He recalls: “I’ll tell you a story about that. I was at home and a guy came to my house with the script. He handed me the script, and he waited outside for two hours while I read that script, and then I handed it back to him and he left.”
The actor continued: “And I remember reading that script going, oh, I felt like I just read a novel, a good novel. And I thought, how in the world can you incorporate this many main characters into a plot, into a movie, into a script, and make it work? But there it is, and Chris put everything that was in that script up on the screen.”
He went on to talk about Nolan’s work on the film, saying: “And if you look at Gotham City and what’s going on in Gotham City now, before that, Chris made that movie real. And of course you had Heath who just went off the charts.”
He added: “But look what happened. It’s a big city that has feckless and cowardly politicians, corrupt politicians who have given that city over to a mafia. And now the people who cannot walk the streets at night cannot.
“They have to entrust themselves into somebody to come save them. And if you think about it, how pertinent and how relevant that storyline is, it’s oppression. And so I think the movie lives beyond entertainment and cinema.”
I recently re-watched The Dark Knight and was once again floored by how freakin’ incredible that movie is!
Marvel Studios has revealed yet another possible title for its upcomingAgatha series. The new title is Agatha: The Lying Witch with Great Wardrobe. The title is obviously a nod to C.S. Lewis’ classic Narnia novel The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.
Marvel shared the title on social media and then deleted it five minutes later, but not before a screenshot of it was snapped. There’s no reason why. Maybe it was late April Fools Day joke?
The series has gone through multiple titles since it was announced including Agatha: House of Harkness. This was later changed to Agatha: Coven of Chaos. Another title eventually came up with Agnes of Westview, before it changed again to Agatha: Darkhold Diaries. The most recent title was simply…Agatha.
Is Marvel just messing with fans on purpose with the title of this series? It’s so weird that it’s gone through so many different titles.
The series star Kathryn Hahn, who previously talked about returning to play this character, saying: “I wish I could tell you anything. I can tell you that it’s pretty fan- fabulous, I’m going to say that, I was going to say fantastic, but then I decided to go with fabulous.”
She added: “It’s an amazing cast. I’m in awe of everyone’s work in this show and I think people are going to be surprised. I don’t – I think they’re gonna think it’s one way and, of course, it’s gonna go a million different avenues kinda like WandaVision.”
Agathais described as a “dark comedy” in the MCU. When we last saw Agatha, she attempted to take Wanda Maximoff’s magic for herself, and Wanda trapped her in the “Agnes” persona.
The description for the first episode of the show reads, “In the first episode we see Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn) finally break out of a spell she has been trapped in.
“She can’t wait to go back to her old murderous ways only to find that she is powerless. The only way forward for her is to embark on a perilous quest to get her powers back with the help of an unlikely friend or two.”
The series also stars Aubrey Plaza as Rio Vidal, Patti LuPone is playing Lilia Calderu, and Sasheer Zamata is playing Jennifer Kale. Joe Locke also appears in the show but is only listed as “Teen” while Ali Ahn is playing a character named Alice.
Other returning cast members from WandaVision include David Payton, David Lengel, Asif Ali, Amos Glick, Brian Brightman, and Kate Forbes. They join Deborah Jo Rupp and Emma Caufieldwho are also returning cast members.
Greta Lee (Past Lives) and Kingsley Ben-Adir (Bob Marley: One Love) are in talks to star in director and producer Louis Leterrier’s (The Incredible Hulk, Now You See Me) upcoming sci-fi horror film11817.
In the film, “Inexplicable forces trap a family of four inside their house indefinitely. As both modern luxuries and life or death essentials begin to run out, the family must learn how to be resourceful to survive and outsmart who — or what — is keeping them trapped…”
Leterrier previously talked about the movie, saying: “Directing projects where the audience gets behind the characters has always been my focus. However complex, flawed, heroic, we identify with them as we live through their journey.”
He added: “It’s what excites me about 11817‘s wholly original concept and the family at the heart of our story. This is an experience that movie audiences won’t forget.”
Obviously, the filmmaker feels that Lee and Ben-Adir are the actors that he wants to see bring his characters to life.
Lee is coming off a string of hits including Past Lives, Apple TV drama The Morning Show and Sony’s Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, while Ben-Adir’s last two movies include Bob Marley: One Love and Barbie.
Additional casting is underway on the project, which is based on a script by Matthew Robinson.
Roadside Attractions has released a trailer for the upcoming period film Firebrand, which stars Jude Law as King Henry VIII and Alicia Vikander as his sixth wife Katherine Parr.
The movie is based on a true story and it looks like it tells quite an intense story as Katherine challenges the King.
The synopsis reads: “In blood-soaked Tudor England, twice married, accomplished, and educated Katherine Parr (Vikander), reluctantly agrees to become the sixth wife of the tyrannical King Henry VIII (Law).
“Her consent to marry him carries great personal risk, given that her predecessors are either vanquished, beheaded, or dead. When Henry appoints her as Regent, the nation’s ruler during his absence when he departs to fight overseas, he lays a dangerous path for her.
“Henry’s courtiers, suspecting she’s sympathetic to radical Protestant beliefs that have taken root in the kingdom and are a threat to their power, scheme against her and cast doubts upon her fidelity to the increasingly ailing and paranoid King.
“Once Henry returns to England, his courtiers convince him to turn his fury on the nation’s radicals, including Katherine’s childhood friend Anne Askew, who becomes one of the scores of people convicted of treason and burned at the stake.
“Horrified and privately grieving, Katherine finds herself under ever-increasing scrutiny and suspicion. Knowing that even a whisper of scandal might lead to her downfall, Katherine must unleash her own scheme to fight for survival.”
Firebrand was directed by Karim Aïnouz and it arrives in theaters on June 14th.
Actor Ernie Hudson’s character Winston Zeddemore has been around since the first Ghostbusters movie back in 1984.
We were introduced to Winston when he walked into the iconic Ghostbusters firehouse in NYC looking for a job. He was interviewed by Janine Melnitz (Annie Potts) and then swiftly offered a position by Ray Stantz (Dan Aykroyd). The rest is history, but we never knew much about Winston before he was hired by the ghost busting team.
In a recent interview with CinemaBlend, Hudson shed a little light on his character’s backstory, explaining: “Well, when we first did the original movie, there was a whole section of Winston having been in the Air Force, been [a] demolitions expert.
“He came in, and part of his whole introduction was sharing that history [, which] never made it to the film. But Winston, you know, I think he was more than qualified for the job of ghostbusting. And, but, you know, sometimes, certainly in the African American community, you may be qualified, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re gonna get the job. So, at that point in Winston’s life, he’s just looking for a steady paycheck, like he says so well in the movie.”
He went on to talk about where the character is now, and how happy he is with how far he’s come: “But what was important for me, and thankfully, Sony, and [director/producer] Jason Reitman felt the same way, that it was important for him to, 40 years later, not be still looking for a job.
“It was important to me that he be an example of what’s possible, I think in Afterlife, he mentioned that I want to be an example of what was possible. … He’s managed to, you know, have a family. He does have a family we don’t get introduced to in this movie, and he’s been, you know, socially responsible and responsible to his community to not have forgotten where he [came] from.
“And I think a large part of what Ghostbusters is that part of them that still appreciates the fact that these guys were there for him at a time when he really needed it. When he came into that [firehouse], he really needed a job and didn’t believe whatever these crazy people were doing.
“But he became a believer, and I think he feels a certain loyalty and dedication to them. I think he’s still paying Ray’s rent. But he’s just one of those people.”
These days, the veteran Ghostbuster is now the head of Zeddemore Industries, a global enterprise that he started after he retired from ghost busting.
The end of Afterlife saw Winston purchase the old firehouse as part of his effort to re-establish the eponymous group. And by Frozen Empire, he’s established the Paranormal Research Center.
Needless to say, he’s no longer a man in need of a job but, as Ernie Hudson further explained, there’s one aspect of the character that has not changed: “What I really appreciated, for me, is the fact that he’s been successful and still held on to his humanity. Because [there are] so many examples.
“You know, the guy who was ruthless, he’s hard, he does these awful things – be it in the streets or in the boardroom – that goes against humanity. And I like the fact that Winston, hopefully, is an example of what’s possible and still hold on to what’s important, and your humanity, your community.
“And, unfortunately, we haven’t seen a lot of that in the movies. But, if the franchise moves forward, I’d like to see, you know, just more of that, as well. … And I look at my own life, I go, ‘You know what? I’ve been very, very blessed.’
“I haven’t had to do or even consider some things that I’ve heard other people doing. … There is a God and there is, in my mind at least, and you know, we can live a good life. That’s what I hope Winston represents of humanity.”
I love the character of Winston Zeddemore, and I’m glad Ernie Hudson is happy with the full arc he’s been able to see him take.
Winston is a good guy, and a badass Ghostbuster, and I look forward to seeing him in another movie, if that’s what’s in the cards for this franchise.
