Around the Web: Star Wars Fan Passes, Tarantino Doc, BB-8 Rumors, Etc.
In today’s look at what we’re reading around the web, we begin with some very sad news; Star Wars superfan Daniel Fleetwood, who we wrote about last Friday, has passed away. Fleetwood was suffering from a rare form of cancer called spindle cell sarcoma, and his wife Ashley Tweeted out a plea for Daniel to get an early screening of Star Wars: The Force Awakens as his prognosis made making it to the December 18 premiere date possibly unlikely. A groundswell of support rose up around the plea (including from Force Awakens stars John Boyega, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Daisy Ridley and Peter Mayhew), and Disney and the various powers that be made it happen. Daniel was able to watch the still unfinished film. Only a few days later, Daniel passed away at the age of 32. Our heart goes out to his wife Ashley and their family. Here’s a link to donate to cancer research.
Variety reports that documentarian Tara Wood, who last year released 21 Years: Richard Linklater, is giving the same treatment to Quentin Tarantino. While you may have heard that Tarantino’s been in the news a bit lately, Wood’s film is premised on the idea that the first 21-years of an artist’s career define his or her work. Variety reports that Wood’s doc will include “interviews with frequent collaborators including Samuel L. Jackson, John Travolta, Christoph Waltz, Lucy Liu, Zoë Bell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jamie Foxx, Eli Roth, Robert Forster, Diane Kruger, Michael Madsen and Kerry Washington.” Tarantino’s next film, The Hateful Eight, comes out on Christmas day.
The Hollywood Reporter writes that scribe Adam McKay is open to returning for Ant-Man and the Wasp. “I was talking to [Paul] Rudd about it the other day. We’ll see what happens, but that would certainly be fun. I loved working with Marvel. And I have a couple of projects in development. One of them is more dramatic, one’s more comedy, still with a little bit of political teeth to it. And there’s a TV show idea I’ve been kicking around.”
i09 culls a lot of bits and bytes reported over the weekend, much of it wild, but fun, speculation, about things such as The Force Awakens new droid BB-8 being a female droid, a possible insane connection between Thanos and Star-Lord in The Guardians of the Galaxy and much, much more.
Bong Joon-ho is an amazing filmmaker, as anyone whose seen Snowpiercer or The Host can attest, so this news is thrilling. Netflix and Brad Pitt have teamed up to give the South Korean visionary a worthy budget for his upcoming Okja, which Vulture describes as “a Korean monster movie about a young girl who befriends a creature called Okja and embarks on an “adventure across [their] tough world.” The film will star Jake Gyllenhaal, alongside Paul Dano, Tilda Swinton, Kelly Macdonald, and Bill Nighy. Remember how amazing Swinton was in Snowpiercer? Wait, you haven’t seen it? Rectify this situation immediately.
