Netflix Orders “The Witcher” Prequel Series
If you enjoyed The Witcher as much as we did, you’ll be pleased to hear that the universe of everyone’s favorite monster-slayer (played by Henry Cavill) just got bigger. Netflix has ordered a six-part limited prequel series titled The Witcher: Blood Origin, which will take us back to the very first Witcher and the moment when the worlds of monsters, men, elves, and more converged.
Blood Origin is set 1200 years before the events in The Witcher and will take place in the world of elves.
Meet the Fight Coordinators Who Gave “The Old Guard” Their New Moves
Years before Wonder Woman, Black Panther, and Captain Marvel came out, Charlize Theron set the bar for female action heroes in 2005 when she starred in the sci-fi bloodbath Æon Flux. She followed that with her incredible performance as Furiosa in Mad Max: Fury Road and then as a super-spy more than willing to fight in Atomic Blonde. Now Theron returns to the fray as immortal ax-wielder Andy in The Old Guard.
Rethinking Old Age in Sergio Navarretta’s “The Cuban”
The Cuban, director Sergio Navarretta’s (Arctic Dogs) new feature out on streaming and in theaters on July 31st, melds two missives into one sweetly heartfelt film: a tribute to Afro-Cuban jazz and a reminder to cherish our elders. Opening in the cold light of a Canadian nursing home, brisk nurses attend to Luis Garcia (Oscar-winner Louis Gossett Jr.), the film’s titular star. Luis, a former jazz musician, is gripped by dementia and Alzheimer’s,
“Self Made” DP Kira Kelly on Why Black Stories Matter
Cinematographer Kira Kelly shot Ava DuVernay‘s 2016 Oscar-nominated 13th documenting how American prisons target Black men. Then she filmed miniseries Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker, named after the hair products entrepreneur who became the country’s first Black female millionaire. Most recently, she shifted into rom-com mode for an episode of Insecure, set in South L.A.
Amy Roberts on the Subtly Changing Fashion in Season 3 of “The Crown”
The third season of The Crown, Netflix’s lavish, semi-fictionalized series about Queen Elizabeth II and her family, sees the monarch, Prince Philip and Princess Margaret entering middle age. Claire Foy hands off the role of Elizabeth to Olivia Colman, with Helena Bonham-Carter and Tobias Menzies joining the cast as her sister and husband. Kicking off in 1964 with a Soviet spy scandal ripped from the headlines and ending with the Queen’s 1977 Silver Jubilee,
The Top 5 European Filming Regions to Visit This Summer
For many, containing the coronavirus means this will be a travel-free summer, but for many in the broader European region, travel opportunities are opening back up. With some judicious planning, there’s plenty to do, even if you can’t make it to your preferred, farthest-flung destination. Enter film tourism: though you might be stuck a bit closer to home, trips arranged around visits to real-life locations familiar from films and television offer another form of escapism,
How Director Mimi Leder Shaped Apple TV+’s “The Morning Show”
Hollywood has become somewhat more diverse since the eighties when director Mimi Leder became the first woman to graduate from the American Film Institute. And yet, as her latest drama The Morning Show illustrates, some male entertainment moguls still give talented women a hard time. Originally inspired by Brian Stelter’s book “Top of the Morning: Inside the Cutthroat World of Morning TV,” showrunner Kerry Ehrin (Friday Night Lights) re-tooled the Apple TV+ series as a #MeToo saga centered on the firing of popular infotainment anchor Mitch Kessler (Steve Carell) for sexual misconduct.
Emmy-Winning Director Randy Wilkins on Capturing His Mentor Spike Lee
Randy Wilkins is a three-time Emmy Award-winning writer, director, and editor from the Bronx who has edited a handful of Spike Lee joints, including She’s Gotta Have It and Rodney King for Netflix. But for his latest project, Apple TV’s Dear… the tables were turned, and Wilkins was tasked with interviewing and directing Spike Lee, his longtime mentor.
“It was weird,” Wilkins says. “There was pressure for sure.
“Saturday Night Live” Wants to Resume Filming in Studio 8H—Just No Audience
Some hopeful news—Saturday Night Live is working out a way to possibly return to their legendary studio, 8H, in NBC’s 30 Rockefeller Center next season. The catch is that this would likely be without a live studio audience. Variety has the scoop that executive producer Lorne Michaels and NBC are hoping to find a way to get cast and crew back to the studio to produce SNL in-house (perhaps not all of them at the same time,
This “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World” Reunion Table Read is a Must-Watch
Much of the news in the film and TV world has been pretty bleak as of late, so why not enjoy something that’s just absolutely and totally joyous? That, my friends, is what this Scott Pilgrim vs. The World reunion table read is—pure, undiluted happiness. Co-writer/director Edgar Wright‘s beloved 2010 flick featured a veritable smorgasbord of talent, and nearly all of them returned for this giddy virtual table read. You can watch the entire thing below.
Warner Bros. Announces New Plans to Distribute “Tenet” Non-Traditionally
As we’ve watched the United States struggle—maddeningly, tragically—with COVID-19, the news that Warner Bros. is delaying Tenet‘s theatrical release date indefinitely is sad but inevitable news. Christopher Nolan‘s latest was set to be the big blockbuster that would auger a return to some semblance of normalcy in the States, playing in theaters all across a healing country. This has been made impossible by the spread of the disease.
KiKi Layne on Her Lethal Left Hook (And More) in “The Old Guard”
With her star turn in Barry Jenkins’ If Beale Street Could Talk, KiKi Layne left a lasting impression on critics and producers alike. In director Gina Prince-Bythewood‘s The Old Guard, now streaming on Netflix, Layne shows herself to be a performer capable of handling wildly divergent roles. Her character, Nile Freeman, the youngest and newest member of a team of immortal mercenaries, is a highly trained Marine with a strong moral compass,
All Hail Beyoncé’s New “Black Is King” Trailer
We were still floating from Beyoncé dropping the surprise first trailer for Black Is King on us when Disney+ revealed a new, somehow more gorgeous trailer for the superstar’s upcoming visual album yesterday. And Black Is King really does come from Beyoncé—she wrote, directed, and executive produced this project, based on her music from her album “The Lion King: The Gift,” which she crafted for 2019’s live-action The Lion King.
How the Confined Spaces in “Greyhound” Added Authentic Intensity
In Greyhound, Tom Hanks is a naval captain of a US destroyer that spends three days in the North Atlantic trying to protect a fleet of merchant vessels from a pack of preying U-boats. The script, written by Hanks, is a fictional account that draws inspiration from C.S. Forester’s book “The Good Sheperd” and unravels like a game of chess with life and death consequences.
Directed by Aaron Schneider and lensed by cinematographer Shelly Johnson,
5 Outrageous Hays Code Rules Ryan Murphy’s “Hollywood” Breaks
Ryan Murphy’s Hollywood on Netflix is a dreamy, inspiring, and triumphant glimpse at what mainstream storytelling might have accomplished if female, Black, and queer artists had been openly driving the narrative on our screens since the 1940s.
Like many of the actors in Hollywood, Dylan McDermott plays a character within a character. McDermott’s Ernie West dallies on the fringes of the entertainment scene but is never able to break into the industry until his former employees ascend the movie studio ladder and collaborate on the most groundbreaking script to hit Tinseltown.
Netflix’s “Project Power” Trailer Starring Jamie Foxx & Joseph Gordon-Levitt is Scorching
Last Friday, Netflix released director Gina Prince-Bythewood‘s critically acclaimed new film The Old Guard, about a team of immortal beings trying their level best to keep humanity from destroying itself. Good luck with that. (The film is awesome). Now, the streaming giant has revealed the first trailer for Project Power, a different kind of superhero story, starring Jamie Foxx, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Dominique Fishback in a film from directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman.
“Tenet” Runtime Revealed
Christopher Nolan‘s movies have always been robust. His last theatrical release, the brilliant World War II drama Dunkirk, was a very brisk 1 hour and 46 minutes long. Yet before that nearly wordless masterpiece, Nolan released his cosmic epic Interstellar in 2014 at a whopping 2 hours and 49 minutes. Before that, it was his trilogy capping The Dark Knight Rises in 2012,
“Palm Springs” Breaks Hulu’s Record For Biggest Opening Weekend
A little less than a month ago we shared the trailer for Palm Springs, the Sundance darling from director Max Barbakow, starring Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti. Their romantic comedy broke a Sundance sales record when it sold to Hulu and Neon for $17.5 million this past January. It looks as if the investment was worth it; Hulu confirmed to IndieWire that Palm Springs broke the streaming platform’s record for opening weekend views.
The Uncut Version of Hitchcock’s “Psycho” Coming to U.S. for First Time
Perhaps now isn’t exactly the right time to spend hours with Alfred Hitchcock, considering our reality has enough tension, anxiety, and dread? Or, maybe you’re one of those people who actually find solace in scary movies, which offer a chance to safely experience tension, anxiety, and dread within the comfort of your own sanitized home and in two dimensions? If you’re in the latter category, Universal Home Entertainment has some good news for you in the form of a brand new box set—The Alfred Hitchcock Classics Collection—which offers viewers in the United States their first-ever chance to see Hitchcock’s uncut version of Psycho.
Naya Rivera: Former Co-Stars and More Pay Tribute
By now you’ve heard the tragic news that Glee star Naya Rivera died at the age of 33. She was boating with her 4-year-old son on Lake Piru in Southern California. It’s devastating news.
As a Grammy-nominated singer and actor, Rivera was best known for playing cheerleader Santana Lopez on Glee. Rivera recently starred in the TV adaptation of Step Up, which had recently moved to Starz for its second season.
