Marvel’s “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” Wraps Filming
Big news over the weekend—Marvel Studios’ Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings wrapped filming, the first-ever MCU movie with an all-Asian cast. We know this thanks to some exuberant social media posts from the film’s director Destin Daniel Cretton and its star Simu Liu. Each took to Instagram, and Liu released a passionate statement on Facebook, too, about wrapping production on their film for Marvel’s Phase 4.
Cast and crew finished filming down in Sydney,...
Simon Kinberg Will Write & Produce “Battlestar Galactica” Film for Universal
One of television’s most beloved series, a cult favorite among sci-fi fans, is finally getting a proper big-screen adaptation. Longtime X-Men scribe, producer, and recently director (Dark Phoenix) Simon Kinberg will be writing and producing Battlestar Galactica for Universal. The Hollywood Reporter scoops that Kinberg and producer Dylan Clark will be adapting the nuanced series about humans on distant planets trying to outrun the sentient machines hellbent on destroying them...
Tom Hanks and Director Paul Greengrass Re-Team for “News of the World”
Director Paul Greengrass and Tom Hanks delivered one of the more riveting films of the early 2010s with 2013’s Captain Phillips, which took on the true story of Captain Richard Phillips and the 2009 hijacking of the MV Maersk Alabama, which he captained, by Somali pirates. It was the first hijacking of an American cargo ship in 200-years, and in Greengrass and Hanks’ hands, Captain Phillips retold that story in a taut, breathtaking way...
“A New York Christmas Wedding” Writer/Director Otoja Abit on His Debut Feature
When we attended the Savannah Film Festival in 2018, one of the filmmakers we covered was Otoja Abit, an actor who had roles in television series (The Defenders, The Night Of) and film (Stonewall), who was in Savannah to screen his short, Jitters. The 12-minute film centered on Abit’s central character, a man undergoing some last-second concerns in the moments before his wedding...
Jared Leto Reprising Joker Role in “Zack Snyder’s Justice League”
That sound you hear is tens of thousands of “Snyder Cut” Justice League fans going nuts. The Hollywood Reporter has multiple sources that confirm that Jared Leto will be reprising his version of the Joker in Zack Snyder’s upcoming Justice League for HBO Max. Leto played the iconic supervillain in David Ayer’s 2016 Suicide Squad, and now THR says Leto has joined Snyder as he shoots additional footage for his long-awaited “Snyder Cut,”...
The Official Trailer for David Fincher’s “Mank” is Dazzling
The official trailer for David Fincher’s Mank is here, and it looks as sumptuous as the teaser, only now with way more meat on the bones. Mank is Fincher’s first feature film since 2014’s Gone Girl—and in Fincherian fashion, it looks as taut and tense as a violin string. Making matters even more intriguing, Fincher’s film is based on a script from his father, Jack Fincher, and is centered on the legendary screenwriter Herman J...
Justin Lin Will Direct Final Two Films in “Fast & Furious” Franchise
While director Justin Lin is currently hard at work in postproduction on F9, Deadline reports that Lin will also be directing the final two films in the epic saga. Universal Pictures will wrap up the franchise after Lin brings that final two films—10 and 11—to a close. The Fast & Furious franchise is the highest-grossing series in the studio’s history—beating out Jurassic Park, no less. Lin will steer the franchise to its close as its’...
Screenwriter Madhuri Shekar on Adapting Her Own Audio Play for Blumhouse’s “Evil Eye”
This month, Blumhouse Productions has released a collection of unsettling thrillers in partnership with Amazon Prime, just in time for Halloween. One of these films is Evil Eye, in which a romance turns dark when a mother becomes convinced her daughter’s ‘perfect’ new boyfriend has supernatural connections to her own past. The story is centered in Indian and Indian-American culture, with a cast of actors that are of Indian descent, including Sarita Choudhury and Sunita Mani...
“Selena: The Series” Harnesses a Bevy of Latinx Talent to Tell a Legend’s Story
At a time when voices denouncing the lack of diversity in media representation resound clear across the American cultural landscape, it will be beyond thrilling to watch Netflix’s Selena: The Series. The new series is a Latinx production celebrating the life of the legendary Mexican-American singer, and its production will also put the spotlight on a bounty of talented Latinx creatives.
Born in Texas into a working-class family of Mexican and Native American heritage,...
“The Batman” is Using Technology From “The Mandalorian” For Select Scenes
The reason it took so long to get a proper live-action Star Wars series on TV was because the technology had to catch-up to the demands of television. That finally happened, of course, for series creator Jon Favreau and his team on The Mandalorian. Favreau, cinematographers like Emmy-winner Greig Fraser, and the wizards at Industrial Light & Magic helped create a virtual production unit that allowed The Mandalorian to film real-time visual effects using an LED wall and the Unreal real-time game engine (made by Epic Games)...
“The Mandalorian” Releases Action-Packed Teaser Ahead of Premiere
We are a mere ten days away from the premiere of season two of The Mandalorian. To that end, Disney+ has released a new teaser that leans heavily into the series’ ripping action. Considering our hero is the titular legendary bounty hunter (Pedro Pascal), it should come as no surprise that it would be filled with blaster fights and cantina brawls. Yet season one was a revelation due to how gobsmackingly beautiful it looked (thanks in huge part to The Mandalorian team’s bespoke technology,...
“The Baby-Sitters Club” Star Xochitl Gomez Joins Benedict Cumberbatch in “Doctor Strange 2”
The doctor has a new ally (we think). Deadline reports that a new face is joining Benedict Cumberbatch in Doctor Strange 2—The Baby-Sitters Club star Xochitl Gomez. The news surrounding Doctor Strange has been swirling lately, with intriguing revelations worthy of the Sorcerer Supreme himself. In early October it was revealed that Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange would be showing up in Spider-Man 3, ...
Co-Director Lisa Cortés on Voting Rights Past & Present in “All In: The Fight for Democracy”
Amazon’s recent documentary about voting rights and voter suppression, All In: The Fight for Democracy, opens to newscast audio from November 6, 2018, covering the Georgia governor’s race between Stacey Abrams and Brian Kemp. That election, which would have seen Abrams become the country’s first African-American woman governor had she been elected, became a flashpoint for a nationwide recognizance of contemporary issues surrounding the closure of polling stations, deliberate under-training of poll monitors, voter roll purges, and other voter suppression tactics...
Production Designer Talks Riots & Courtrooms in Aaron Sorkin’s “The Trial of the Chicago 7”
The Trial of the Chicago 7 revisits the circus-like legal proceedings that pitted anti-war activists including Abbie Hoffman (Sacha Baron Cohen), Tom Hayden (Eddie Redmayne), Black Panther Bobby Seale (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), and lawyer Bill Kunstler (Mark Ryland) against a hard-nosed judge (Frank Langella) over charges that they conspired to incite violent riots at the 1968 Democratic Convention.
Written and directed by Aaron Sorkin, the movie (which came out on October 16 on Netflix) features the dramatist’s famously sharp dialogue along with shots of tear gas,...
“His Dark Materials” Reveals Sweeping Season 2 Trailer
If you’ve been hankering for some sweeping fantasy action, HBO has just the ticket—a new trailer for His Dark Materials‘ second season is here, and it’s appropriately massive. The series, adapted from Philip Pullman’s beloved novel trilogy of the same name, got off to a gangbusters start with a stellar season one. The show follows Lyra Belacqua (Dafne Keen), an irrepressibly brave young girl with a troublesome family past and a refusal to let grownups,...
Pixar Releases Gorgeous New “Soul” Trailer
Pixar’s Soul is going to be a real Christmas treat. The studio’s latest wonder will be available for all Disney+ subscribers on Christmas Day, forgoing a theatrical release due to the pandemic. While it would be preferable to see the film on a giant screen with a state-of-the-art sound system, we’re happy that director Pete Docter (Up, Inside Out)’s latest will be available during the holiday season, at a moment where we could all use some cheer...
DP Phedon Papamichael on Designing for Dialogue in Aaron Sorkin’s “The Trial of the Chicago 7”
Aaron Sorkin is well-known for his densely-packed dialogue, and The Trial of the Chicago 7, his retelling of the 1969 trial that saw counter-culture luminaries like Abbie Hoffman and Bobby Seale tried for conspiracy and inciting a riot, the writer-director is true to form. The film, which debuts on Netflix on October 16th, swerves between the trial and the defendants’ memories, to revisit what each of the seven accused was doing the day the police went after previously peaceful protestors outside the 1968 Democratic National Convention...
Writer/Director Miranda July on Her Joyously Original Third Feature “Kajillionaire”
Miranda July wears many hats—writer, filmmaker, actress, performance artist, and more. Indeed, her name appears as bylines on magazine articles, as director, writer, and actor in feature-film credits, and as an author on book covers (she has penned an award-winning collection of short stories and published both fiction and nonfiction). Her artistic diversity is perhaps what makes her projects so unique and nuanced and wonderful to engage with.
July’s breakthrough on the big screen came with the 2005 release of Me and You and Everyone We Know,...
It’s Milla Jovovich vs. Beasts in First “Monster Hunter” Trailer
If you were asked to place a bet on either Milla Jovovich or some seriously massive and angry monsters, where would you place your money? Yeah, us too. Jovovich is one of the great action stars of her generation, and she’s back to kick butt—in this case, monster butt—in the first official trailer for director Paul W.S. Anderson‘s Monster Hunter. Jovovich and Anderson go back a long way, having worked together on the Resident Evil franchise,...
George Miller to Direct “Mad Max: Fury Road” Prequel Centered on Furiosa
Just absolutely phenomenal news. In case you missed this yesterday, the great George Miller is following up Mad Max: Fury Road—one of this century’s best action films—with a prequel centered on Furiosa, the indomitable character played by Charlize Theron. Miller is directing and producing from a script he co-wrote with Nick Lathouris, and his stars are Anya Taylor-Joy as the young Furiosa, Chris Hemsworth, and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II.
The news that Taylor-Joy,...
