First “Joker 2” Image Reveals Return of Joaquin Phoenix’s Arthur Fleck
Joker: Folie À Deux has officially begun filming. How do we know this? Co-writer/director Todd Phillips has shared an image from the sequel to his critical and commercial 2019 hit Joker on Instagram, revealing Joaquin Phoenix’s Arthur Fleck catching a shave. The caption simply reads: “Day 1. Our Boy. #joker.”
I’m not sure I’d go so far as considering Arthur Fleck my boy, but you can’t fault Phillips for being excited about going deeper on this troubled,...
“The Whale” Screenwriter Samuel D. Hunter on Hard-Won Hope
In Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale, Brendan Fraser is transformed so completely he is nearly unrecognizable playing the title character. Fraser has been the frontrunner for Best Actor in the Oscars race since the film received a six-minute standing ovation at its Venice International Film Festival premiere in September.
The film is based on Samuel Hunter’s award-winning 2012 play of the same name, which is inspired by Hunter’s own challenges with eating disorders and growing up gay in the Midwest as part of an evangelical community...
Michelle Yeoh Will Star in “Wicked” Movies as Madame Morrible
This is a major casting coup. Michelle Yeoh, coming off a big year with her incredible performance in the astonishing Everything Everywhere All At Once, is joining the cast of director Jon M. Chu’s Wicked films.
Variety reports that Yeoh will be playing Madame Morrible, the headmistress of Crage Hall at Shiz University, joining a star-studded cast that includes Ariana Grande as Glinda and Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba. Bridgerton star Jonathan Bailey will play Fiyero,...
Bringing Stop-Motion Puppets to Life Through Sound in “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio”
As the Wood Sprite (Tilda Swinton) grants Geppetto’s (David Bradley) grief-stricken wish to bring forth a son from his wood carving, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio draws life where there are only puppets and sound where there is only silence. The hearty revamp of Carlo Collodi’s classic is so engrossing, you may not recognize the meta miracle the movie accomplishes in an inanimate world. However, there are endless marvels to be seen and heard.
Sound designer/supervisor Scott Martin Gershin developed a sound library that is as expressive as the film’s characters...
A Chat With Motion Picture Association Fellows Rhyan Lewis & Billy Davis
This year, the Motion Picture Association partnered with the Entertainment Industry College Outreach Program (EICOP) to launch a first-of-its-kind initiative—the MPA-EICOP Entertainment Law & Policy Fellowship. This is the first entertainment-focused law and policy program to serve outstanding recent graduates from Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), and other Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs).
The fellowship program, which lasts a year, provides housing, travel, and stipends, eliminating the systemic barriers that would bar a potential Fellow from the experience...
James Cameron Says “Avatar 4” Script “Goes Nuts”
With the early reactions to James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water coming in so overwhelmingly positive (the common theme was, essentially, “never bet against James Cameron“), the prospects for Cameron completing his entire Avatar saga (he has three more films planned) seems more possible than ever. Cameron already shot Avatar 3 and parts of Avatar 4 — they filmed The Way of Water and 3 concurrently — so they’ve already got that footage in the can...
“Bardo” Stars Daniel Giménez Cacho & Ximena Lamadrid on Taking a Trip With Alejandro Iñárritu
As with all films written and directed by Alejandro Iñárritu, the auteur’s new release Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths is difficult to define or categorize. He himself has said it is his most personal work, but viewers who love it have felt their own powerful connection to elements of the story. Without question, it is a cinematic experience that goes beyond suspension of disbelief and calls for surrender from its audience. This is no surprise,...
The Second “M3GAN” Trailer Introduces You to James Wan’s Terrifying Toy
During the previews before Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, there was a trailer that made people squirm a little in their seats—director Gerard Johnstone’s M3GAN. Now, a second trailer for the Universal Pictures horror flick is here, capturing what gave people an enjoyable jolt in the theater that night. M3GAN is, you’ll see, a robot built by a brilliant robotics engineer working at a toy company. This being a film from horror maestro James Wan (he wrote the story and produces,...
“Avatar: The Way of Water” First Reactions: A Stunning Visual Masterpiece
Never bet against James Cameron. This seems to be the overriding theme of the first reactions to his long-awaited sequel Avatar: The Way of Water, which arrives 13 years after his groundbreaking Avatar arrived in 2009.
The initial reactions are more or less uniformly positive, with critics and viewers alike marveling at how, once again, Cameron has seemingly reinvented what’s possible on screen. The staggering visuals, especially the scenes set underwater, come in for major praise,...
“The Flash” Will Speed Into Theaters a Week Early
Director Andy Muschietti’s The Flash will race into theaters a week earlier than expected, Warner Bros. has announced. The studio revealed on Monday that the stand-alone film starring Ezra Miller as the supersonic speedster Barry Allen will now head into theaters on June 16, 2023, up a week from its previous spot on June 23, 2023. This will give the film a little more distance from Disney’s big release of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, ...
Bong Joon Ho’s “Mickey 17” Starring Robert Pattinson Reveals First Look
Oscar-winning director Bong Joon Ho’s first film since his masterpiece Parasite swept the Academy Awards has revealed a brief, tantalizing sneak peek. Mickey 17, starring Robert Pattinson, is the latest from the South Korean master, returning him to the sci-fi genre in which he’s made some of his most ambitious films, from 2006’s The Host to 2013’s Snowpiercer and his 2017 Netflix film Okja. A new teaser reveals a glimpse at Pattinson in the lead role and reveals that the film will arrive on February 29,...
“Women Talking” Composer Hildur Guðnadóttir on Scoring Sarah Polley’s Astonishing New Film
Based on the novel by Miriam Toews, writer/director Sarah Polley’s new narrative Women Talking considers how a group of women can move forward after the shocking betrayal and abuse by men in their isolated religious community. The backstory of the novel and subsequent film, which is set in 2010, mirrors horrific true events that took place at a Mennonite colony in Bolivia. For over four years, nine men secretly sedated over a hundred girls and women, raping them while they were unconscious...
“The Legacy of Ant-Man” Special Looks Reveals Glimpse at “Quantumania”
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania officially kicks off Marvel’s Phase 5. Now, thanks to a special look at the legacy of Ant-Man revealed at Brazil’s Comic-Con, we’ve got fresh footage of the microscopic mayhem coming our way in Quantumania.
Quantumania will find Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), his daughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton), Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly), Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer), and Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) all heading into the Quantum Realm...
First “Indiana Jones 5” Trailer Reveals Indy’s Epic Return
At long last, we have our first look at Indiana Jones 5. What’s more, we’ve got the official title—Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.
Indy (Harris Ford, naturally) is back for one last adventure, and he’s in good hands in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny with ace director James Mangold. The first trailer opens with Indy’s old pal Sallah (John Rhys-Davies) talking about how much he misses the magic and adventure of the old days...
“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” Trailer Reveals Big Changes for Our Galactic Misfits
Everyone’s favorite band of galactic misfits is back.
The trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 has been revealed—Marvel Studios presented it at the Comic-Con Experience 2022 in São Paulo, Brazil, where Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige presented the trailer alongside Zoe Saldana (Gamora, of course). The trailer opens in perfect Guardians fashion, with our cosmos-hopping pals arriving on an Earth-like planet (folks, it’s not Earth) and Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) letting the awed planetary inhabitants know that the Guardians come in peace...
“Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” Trailer Reveals the Maximals, Predacons, & Terrorcons
The seventh installment of the Transformers franchise arrives with a trailer that boasts snippets of a Biggie Smalls classic, the reveal of some beastly Transformers like a massive metallic giant ape, and the reveal of the most terrifying alien robots of them all. The film, inspired by the ’90s Beast Wars cartoon, also boasts a fresh new cast, led by stars Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback, with new transformers voiced by none other than Michelle Yeoh (!!) and Pete Davidson...
Getting Sea Sick With “Triangle of Sadness” Production Designer Josefin Åsberg
Satirical black comedy Triangle of Sadness, writer/director Ruben Östlund’s first English-language feature, debuted at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Palme d’Or. The Swedish auteur is known for 2014’s Force Majeure and The Square, which in 2017 also won the Palme d’Or and was nominated for a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.
Triangle of Sadness, like Östlund’s previous films, examines classism and the decadence of the famous and the ultra-rich...
Netflix Unveils Trailer For “Harry & Meghan” Doc Series
We’ve got our first look at the trailer for Netflix’s upcoming docu-series Harry & Meghan, which promises viewers access to the life of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle that you simply cannot get anywhere else. Two-time Oscar nominee Liz Garbus (What Happened, Miss Simone?) has been given unprecedented access to the royal couple, and the result is a six-part series that promises to give us their story in their own words, from their secretive early romance to the headiest and most public days of their marriage,...
“Avatar: The Way of Water” IMAX Featurette Focuses on Jake & Neytiri’s Family
“The first film was a discovery of the forest, a discovery of Pandora on your banshee,” says Avatar: The Way of Water star Zoe Saldana in this new IMAX featurette. “It was unlike anything any of us had ever seen. And now it’s The Way of Water, and it’s a world all on its own, and I felt like I was rediscovering Pandora all over again.”
We are now just two weeks and change away from James Cameron’s long-awaited sequel to his 2009 record-breaker Avatar, ...
“Bones And All” Writer/Producer David Kajganich on Creating a Consuming Cannibal Love Story
When screenwriter David Kajganich decided to adapt the YA novel Bones And All by Camille DeAngelis, he approached his friend and longtime collaborator, director Luca Guadagnino (Call Me by Your Name), about taking on the project — the two had worked together on Suspiria and A Bigger Splash. Though professional commitments initially prevented Guadagnino from doing so, eventually, all the pieces fell into place,...
