The Cast of That Thing You Do is Reuniting for a COVID-19 Fundraiser
The spread of COVID-19 has been devastating in ways big and small, yet it has also brought out the best in people. While the virus has physically separated most of us, it has brought us together in appreciation (and, in some cities, nightly applause) for the astonishing courage and commitment of our healthcare professionals. COVID-19 has also managed to remind us that there are heroes all around us; the folks who work at our grocery stores, clean up our hospitals and clinics and deliver our food...
Your First Look at Timothée Chalamet in Dune
Looking ahead even a week at this point feels almost like hubris, considering how fluid—and how scary—everything is. Yet looking ahead is also a way to maintain a little hope, and there are some things to be hopeful about. For sci-fi lovers, the fact that director Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation (and reboot) of Dune was already in the can before the spread of COVID-19 shuttered productions all over the globe is one small but potent kernel of joy...
Check out the Surprise Trailer for Groundhog Day 2!
When Sony Pictures released this trailer for what they said was Groundhog Day 2, we thought that this was the all-time greatest sneak reveal of a film we had no idea had even been in the works, let alone shot and completed! What better surprise film than a sequel to the legendary 1993 comedy by Harold Ramis, starring Bill Murray as a misanthropic weatherman forced to relive the same day over and over and over again, when our own reality seems like the same (terrifying) day over and over and over again?...
Taika Waititi Teases His Thor: Love and Thunder Script
You had to know that if Thor: Ragnarok and Oscar-winning screenwriter of Jojo Rabbit Taikia Waititi is going to “live-watch” his own film on Instagram, he’s going to bring it. And that’s precisely what the mega-talented writer/director did last night when he showed up on Instagram to live-watch Ragnarok and ended up dishing about his upcoming sequel, Thor: Love and Thunder, introducing special guests, and generally having a blast...
Disney+ Reveals Maggie Simpson Short Film Playdate With Destiny Coming Tomorrow
Yes, your streaming options are bountiful, but there’s something special about finding out there’s a brand new animated short revolving around The Simpsons’ most reliably adorable character, Maggie. Disney+ has announced that Playdate With Destiny, a new animated short film starring the one and only Maggie, will be available for streaming starting tomorrow, Friday, April 10. Disney+ made the announcement via Twitter, with a note from The Simpsons creator Matt Groening.
Straight from the source...
Matt Reeves Talks The Batman & His Favorite Previous Caped Crusader Films
On January 28 of this year (a lifetime ago, I know), The Batman began filming in London. Writer/director Matt Reeves was finally shooting his vision of the Caped Crusader (played by Robert Pattinson) plying his dangerous trade in a grittier, more noir version of Gotham. Reeves had been working on the script for years and had assembled a fantastic cast and crew. Then production was shut down on March 14—along with essentially over other major film and television series—due to the spread COVID-19...
CBS Bringing Back Sunday Night Movies, Sony Pictures Reveals KIDS ZONE!
Studios all across the world are dealing with production shutdowns due to the spread of COVID-19. Now that we’re weeks into this unprecedented scenario, we’re starting to see how the folks who make our films and television shows are getting creative. Universal Pictures is already running first-run films in your home, with other studios following suit, including Warner Bros., Disney, and Lionsgate. HBO has made 500 hours worth of programming free for a limited time,...
Shazam! Director Reveals How He Made His Horror Short at Home
Last week Shazam! director David. F Sandberg revealed that he’d spent part of his quarantine getting back to his roots and filming the horror short Shadowed. Working with his wife and collaborator Lotta Lotsen, Sandberg conceived of, shot, and edited this three-minute creep-fest all without leaving his home. Now, Sandberg has released a video showing exactly how he pulled this off.
You probably won’t be surprised that Shadowed was a complex undertaking...
Good Deeds Give us Reason to Hope (And Applaud)
If you’re lucky enough to be able to social distance and healthy enough to “simply” worry and absorb a relentless amount of bad news, then you’re probably primed for a little bit of positivity. If you live in a city where there’s nightly applause for our heroic healthcare workers, you’ve gotten a taste of how good it feels to take a moment to marvel at the courage and compassion of people all around us. People we usually don’t think about that much about...
Chris Hemsworth is a Mercenary With Nothing to Lose in Extraction Trailer
Perhaps what we need right now, those of us lucky enough to be able to stay home and practice social distancing, is a good, old-fashioned action flick. Something big. Something relentlessly entertaining. Something starring a well-known and liked star and written, directed and produced by folks who know their way around a spectacle. Well, we’ve got all that in spades in Extraction, Netflix’s upcoming thriller starring Chris Hemsworth, and produced and written by Hemsworth’s directors in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, ...
Writer/Director Eliza Hittman on her Bracing, Brilliant Film Never Rarely Sometimes Always
When Eliza Hittman, writer/director of Never Rarely Sometimes Always, took the stage after the premiere of her film at the Sundance Film Festival on January 24th of this year, she was greeted with rapturous applause. She and the stars of her film have gained critical acclaim for her intimate, powerful portrayal of one teenager’s perilous journey of the soul. Never Rarely Sometimes Always is about the challenges facing 17-year-old Autumn (Sidney Flanigan),...
Watch Shazam Director David F. Sandberg’s New Short Horror Film
Look, the most important thing for everyone to do right now, those of us not in essential jobs and not on the front lines of fighting the spread of COVID-19, is to practice social distancing. There was a whole flurry of Tweets going around at the beginning of the pandemic, reminding us what some other famous folks did during their quarantine. For example, did you know that Shakespeare wrote “King Lear” while in quarantine during the plague?...
A Quiet Place: Part II & Top Gun: Maverick Get New Release Dates
While all dates are subject to change at the moment considering the unprecedented situation we find ourselves in, there is some news on the film release front worth sharing. Paramount Pictures has announced that two of their big releases for this year have new release dates. John Krasinski’s highly anticipated A Quiet Place: Part II and the return of Tom Cruise’s speed-needing super pilot in Top Gun: Maverick will be out on the first weekend in September and during Christmas,...
Steven Spielberg Introduces the New AFI Movie Club
While those of us not on the front lines of battling the spread of COVID-19 are all hunkered down and doing our part by staying at home, we’ve gotten our fair of share of great watch lists from some major talents. Rian Johnson and Edgar Wright shared their favorite 70s musicals and comedies, respectively, while James Gunn offered a top ten list of films you probably haven’t seen but should. Our own Desson Thomson gave us a thorough compendium of shows and films we could be enjoying,...
An Aspiring Costume Designer Contemplates Life after COVID-19
The call came in 2014. It was 6 o’clock at night, Rachel Apatoff remembers. Would she be interested in working as a costume production assistant on a little TV show called Mad Men? It would bring her a straight 10 months of work, a nice stretch of employment for anyone in the industry, not just for a costumer.
Well, sure, Apatoff told them. When did they want her to start?
Tomorrow at 8 AM,...
A Most Beautiful Thing Director Mary Mazzio Films a Miracle on the Water
Director Mary Mazzio was set to take her documentary A Most Beautiful Thing to SXSW this year. Then the spread of COVID-19 became such an undeniable reality in the United States that SXSW was canceled. The news of that cancellation came along with the shuttering of film and TV productions all across the globe. Once theaters started closing, world premieres were pushed back months, too.
“It’s a bummer, but we’ve now pivoted,...
Spike Lee Shares his Unproduced Script for Jackie Robinson Biopic
Yesterday we got a surprise gift from writer/director/actor John Krasinski revealed Some Good News, his DIY news program he revealed on YouTube that he and his family filmed from their homes. True to its title, Some Good News showed us video from all over the world, from Italy to the United States and points in between, which featured much deserved praise for healthcare workers battling the spread of coronavirus. Some Good News also featured two interviews;...
John Krasinski Creates Some Good News & Interviews Steve Carell
If you’re looking for something funny and heartwarming (and frankly, who isn’t right now?), John Krasinski has got you covered. The writer/director of A Quiet Place (parts I and II) and, of course, a former member of The Office‘s phenomenal ensemble cast, has a new YouTube series called Some Good News, which delivers exactly what its title promises. The first episode, now streaming, also includes an interview between Krasinski and Steve Carell about their work on The Office,...
Post-Production Crews Pivot To Homework To Keep The Lights On
Anybody walking down West 45th Street in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood on a recent Tuesday might not have noticed them. In the narrow parking lot of the eight-story building marked 432, men loaded equipment cases into waiting vehicles. Two of those enclosures contained Sony BVM-X300s, top-of-the-line professional monitors that colorists use to finish tv shows and films for broadcast. Each can easily cost $30,000.
This wasn’t the scene of a brazen heist in broad daylight; it was the execution of one TV and film industry studio’s business continuity plan...
Contagion Star Kate Winslet Wants You to Help Stop the Spread of COVID-19
Studios, stars, and now the cast of one of the best films ever made about a pandemic have come together to deliver PSAs about the spread of COVID-19. Steven Soderbergh’s 2011 film Contagion is a deeply chilling thriller, and also a realistic glimpse at how healthcare professionals, government officials, and regular people try to deal with a global pandemic. Writer Scott Z. Burns researched the film by going to the CDC and learning first-hand how they handle pandemics,...
