Did you hold your breath during the heart-stopping, crystal-clear action scenes in the Netflix thriller The Gray Man? You can thank Otto Nemenz and his cameras for that.
For over 40 years, Otto Nemenz International, Inc. in Culver City (and previously Hollywood) has provided digital cinema cameras, lenses, and accessories to motion picture productions across the country. But it’s more than just the top-notch equipment ONI provides that makes this 40+ person operation exceptional. It’s the personalized service they provide to clients, as well as their commitment to nurturing the next generation of producers, which makes ONI such a beloved figure in the film and production industry.
With remarkable experiences that span massively successful productions from the High School Musical franchise to The Fast and Furious franchise, ONI has developed decades-long relationships in Hollywood by providing customized camera packages from its vast inventory of the latest cameras.
Han’s Toyota Supra (left) and Dom’s Dodge Charger (right) attempt to stop the monstrous three-section armored vehicle dubbed the Armadillo in F9, co-written and directed by Justin Lin. Courtesy Universal Pictures.
Now, ONI’s founder and namesake, Otto Nemenz, is passing on his expertise to the next generation of producers and camera specialists. ONI regularly offers informal two- to six-week onsite internships that allow local students to shadow cameramen and women, taking part in hands-on opportunities with skilled technicians. Otto Nemenz understands that the best way for beginners to hone their skills is to practice – and he provides these apprentices with well-maintained equipment and a deep well of knowledge and expertise. ONI is committed to continuing these programs to help increase technical production skills in California and keep entertainment jobs in the Golden State.
“I’ve made a home here in California, and I want to do my part to help ensure film and TV productions come back to our community again and again,” said Otto Nemenz. “Part of that is building up the next generation of talented camera specialists. Part of that is making sure we always provide the highest quality service to our clients. Even so, businesses like mine need help from state and community leaders to ensure California remains the nation’s go-to production hub for decades to come.”
In a 2020 Variety piece, cinematographer Robert McLachlan summed it up best when explaining his longstanding professional relationship with Otto Nemenz: “I have used Otto Nemenz exclusively for my camera rental needs since 2013 when I took over Ray Donovan for Showtime. The service was so impressive we continued to use them when the show moved to New York in 2018. Even though they don’t have an office there, the service was impeccable.”
Liev Schreiber as Ray in RAY DONOVAN THE MOVIE. Photo Credit: Cara Howe/SHOWTIME.
Across four decades, dozens of productions, and countless lenses, ONI has been responsible for some of the most memorable scenes in film and TV history. Meanwhile, Otto Nemenz has built a community of dedicated camera specialists who are making their lives in California and gearing up for the next big production.
For more on The Gray Man, check out these stories:
When Game of Thrones ended its game-changing 8-season run on HBO—with a highly controversial final season, no less—HBO was left with a dragon-sized hole to fill. Game of Thrones became one of the most popular shows of all time, thrilling (and occasionally infuriating) viewers for almost a decade. And now, the first GoT related series to make it to air is nigh, with critics getting a glimpse at the House of the Dragon pilot. The new series will focus on the dragonlords of House Targaryen some 200 years before the events in Game of Thrones, and the early reactions to the pilot are very promising.
House of the Dragon will chronicle the growing unrest in Westeros as the intrigue within House Targaryen barrels towards a civil war. The series comes from showrunners Ryan J. Condal and former Game of Thrones director Miguel Sapochnik. Crucially, George R. R. Martin, the man who brought Westeros to life with his novels, is on board as a producer. Considering how hard HBO worked to make sure the first series to follow Game of Thrones was built for success, it’s not that surprising that House of the Dragon sound as if it starts off on the right track.
Arguably the most important thing that House of the Dragon had to get right for anything else to work was casting, and it seems like they nailed it. The three key Targaryens are led by Paddy Considine as King Viserys, a man looking to find an heir to the throne; Emma D’Arcy is Princess Rhaenyra, heir apparent to the Iron Throne; and Matt Smith as Daemon Targaryen, the younger brother of King Viserys and heir presumptive. The cast also includes Olivia Cooke as Alicent Hightower, Rhys Ifans as Otto Hightower, Eve Best as Princess Rhaenys Velaryon, Steven Toussaint as Lord Corlys Velaryon, and Sonoya Mizuno as Mysaria.
And what are the critics who have seen the House of the Dragon pilot saying? Let’s take a brief tour:
The #HouseOfTheDragonHBO pilot very efficiently explains its context in relation to GoT, introduces its core characters, and lays out the central conflict of the series. It’s an easy to follow premiere with vibrant colors and detailed texture. Absolutely a worthy successor so far pic.twitter.com/3lARILHfuv
For those curious about the series, without spoilers, I can say that the thing I really dig is the fact that it still feels epic in scale and scope while telling a personal and intimate story about one family, showcasing both their love and dysfunction
I did not like the last season of #GameofThrones. At all. But I’ll admit the series premiere of #HouseOfTheDragonHBO is really well done and I’ll definitely continue watching. After the episode ended they showed an extended preview of the season and looks cool. pic.twitter.com/wzuIMkZWe0
The official Andor trailer is here, and it reveals Disney+’s hugely ambitious new Star Wars series with a thrilling two-minute-long look. Whereas our first look at Andor gave us a glimpse at the drum beat of rebellion spreading across the galaxy, the official trailer gets deeper into the heart of the story, which is set before the events depicted in Rogue One when Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) was part of a team of rebels who successfully lifted the Death Star plans off the empire—and paid the ultimate price for their efforts.
In Andor, we see how the titular pilot and thief became one of the leaders of the rebellion and how he and many of his comrades had to figure out a way to infiltrate the Empire from the inside. The trailer not only gives us plenty more of Luna’s Andor but also reveals the return of Forest Whitaker’s resistance fighter Saw Gerrera, another key figure we met in Rogue One.
Andor will give us a rebellion-eyed view of how the Empire’s death-grip on the galaxy was challenged by normal people tired of being abused. Andor will begin with a bang—a three-part premiere on September 21, for a 12-episode series.
Check out the trailer below:
Here’s the official synopsis for Andor:
The “Andor” series will explore a new perspective from the Star Wars galaxy, focusing on Cassian Andor’s journey to discover the difference he can make. The series brings forward the tale of the burgeoning rebellion against the Empire and how people and planets became involved. It’s an era filled with danger, deception and intrigue where Cassian will embark on the path that is destined to turn him into a rebel hero.
If you spot Star Trailers on the streets of Los Angeles, you may not be surprised to see the Quixote brand on the side. After all, Quixote Studios is the entertainment industry’s premier studio and equipment rental company in Los Angeles. But I bet you didn’t know those trailers are actually suits of shining armor on wheels.
Founded by Mikel Elliott and Jordan Kitaen, Quixote Studios has 24 soundstages throughout the Los Angeles area that are highly sought after by production companies and studios around the country. That may be because Quixote’s Core Values are rooted in those of the whimsical knight from the 17th-century novel that inspired its name.
According to Mikel, it was Don Quixote’s relentless optimism and dogged refusal to accept the limits of reality that made him the perfect model for their business. And just like the character of their same name, authenticity, honor, and a sense of daring make up the tip of Quixote’s spear.
Those values have shaped Quixote to be the entertainment industry’s leading supplier of stages, equipment, and vehicles. No surprise, they’ve also given rise to highly successful productions, including Ray Donovan, Criminal Minds, Jumanji, Westworld, and the new Perry Mason.
Tessa Thompson is Charlotte Hale in “Westworld.” Photograph by John Johnson/HBO
Quixote’s accelerated growth within the entertainment industry can be seen all over the Los Angeles area, with their recent acquisition spanning Pacoima in the San Fernando Valley, quickly becoming a new hub of Hollywood production. QNOVA, Quixote North Valley is home to 300,000 square feet of warehouse, mills, production office space, 10 sound stages, and tons of parking across 20 acres. Already, this major investment has attracted the interest of Amazon, Netflix, and HBO, who recently signed leases.
“We are investing heavily in the Los Angeles market — which is the global capital of movie, television, and TV advertising content,” said Elliott. These investments build up the local infrastructure and bring shows, revenue, and jobs to a new frontier for streaming in the Los Angeles area.
Indeed, from just one custom-built motorhome that began serving commercials and photo shoots nearly 30 years ago to hundreds of motorhomes, trucks, and trailers that now serve the greater Los Angeles area, one thing has remained consistent for Quixote, Its cavalry of fortune donned in shining armor protects good fortune and precious cargo for the entertainment industry.
Featured image: Thandie Newton is ‘Maeve’ in Westworld. Photograph by John P. Johnson/HBO
Creating spectacular superhero action scenes, constructing fantastical locations, visually evoking an era, or creating trippy illustrations are forms of visual effects. And they are all a key part of visual storytelling. Many viewers don’t know how these elements are created or who produces them.
The artists at Mammal Studios are a fantastic example, having woven their visual effects magic on many of the biggest blockbusters from the last decade—Black Panther, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Army of the Dead, Black Widow, Birdbox, Suicide Squad, and Thor: Love and Thunder —as well as Emmy-nominated shows such as Veep and Yellowstone. The success of Mammal Studios highlights the impact of small visual effect studios based in California.
Although the process of creating visual effects for films and television may be hard to wrap your head around, it always starts at the very beginning of production. Greg Liegey, Mammal Studios’ visual effects supervisor known for Yellowstone, Mayor of Kingstown, and Bad Boys for Life, says that his team starts by working with the director and crew on concept art and general outlines. A Senior Supervisor will then attend filming and consult with the crew, and once ‘the plates’ (background shots) are developed, they are loaded into the computer, and artists can begin their work.
Tom Holland is Spider-Man and Alfred Molina is Doc Ock in “Spider-Man: No Way Home.” Courtesy Sony Pictures.
Mammal Studios’ artists create new backgrounds, remove wires from stunt people, add muzzle flashes to gunfights, add entire buildings or groups of extras to frames, and turn real-life locations like a drinking water plant outside of Toronto into Kingstown Prison. All of this work can be sent directly to the director as QuickTime shorts, shaping the creative process.
Mammal Studios is based in Hollywood, but the idea of a small visual effects shop working with the biggest studios in the world was a gamble at first. In 2013, a small group of visual effects industry veterans – including Liegey and specialists from projects including Titanic and Black Widow – noticed that most of the largest studios were either shutting down or moving out of the state. So, they adapted to changing conditions and founded a studio named after the small, successful mammals who took over the earth.
From that beginning, Mammal Studios proved that a small studio based in California could produce amazing work on the biggest blockbusters in the world. Liegey says, “It was a contrarian idea. People thought we were nuts…But we’re banking on our experience and connections, hoping to stay in L.A. We have families here.”
Now, Mammal Studios recruits artists and technical wizards straight from schools in Los Angeles and San Francisco, allowing those young creators to gain valuable, real-life experience while staying close to their friends and families. It is a wonderful example of why major productions love to work in California, maintaining relationships across the community and embracing a commitment to developing the next generation of film and TV talent.
For more on Thor: Love and Thunder, check out these stories:
My man! You can almost hear Jason Momoa, as Arthur Curry, say these words as Bruce Wayne pulls up in one of his outrageously expensive cars to help his buddy Aquaman with a new problem.
That’s right, Bruce Wayne is re-teaming with Arthur Curry in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.
Momoa has revealed that Ben Affleck is returning as Bruce Wayne/Batman for the Aquaman sequel, revealing the big news after some fans on a Warner Bros. bus tour had figured out that Affleck was filming with him. Momoa took to Instagram to share the news:
It looked like Affleck was done playing Batman back in 2019 after he officially retired, citing the toll the role took on his mental and physical health, yet when the Snyder Cut of Justice League came out, there was a ton of renewed interest in Affleck’s take on the Caped Crusader. Then word came that Affleck was not only coming out of retirement and putting back on the cape and cowl but that he had a role alongside Michael Keaton’s version of Batman in The Flash, due out in 2023. Now that surely seemed like the last time Affleck would play Batman. Until now.
We currently have three versions of Batman in the DCEU—Affleck and Keaton’s, set to appear in The Flash together (at least, in the same film if not in the same universe), then Keaton will go on to take his Batman into the upcoming HBO Max film Batgirl, while Affleck reunites with his old pal Arthur Curry in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, due in theaters on March 17, 2023.
Then there’s Robert Pattinson’s Batman, who wowed audiences earlier this year in the standalone The Batman and will appear in Matt Reeves’ sequel.
That’s a lot of Batmen, but it’s a situation that’s not built to carry on into the future. So for now, let’s enjoy this embarrassment of Batman riches while we can.
For more on Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, check out these stories:
For writer/director Anna Gutto’s feature debut Paradise Highway, a trucker named Sally will do whatever it takes to keep her brother Dennis (played by Frank Grillo) alive long enough so that he can get out of prison and restart his life. This means she’ll take on jobs that are hardly legal, but she believes victimless, in order to make a little extra money and placate the powers that be that hold his life, while behind bars, in their hands. The siblings were once the victims of abuse themselves, and their connection is of the “us against the world” variety. This is what makes life for Sally that much worse when the job at the heart of Paradise Highway is revealed—instead of moving some contraband across state lines, Sally’s being told she needs to help move a young girl, Leila (Hala Finley) in what turns out to be a child sex trafficking ring.
And who did Gutto manage to land for the role of the foul-mouthed, truck-driving Sally? Juliette Binoche, of course, one of the most beloved French actresses alive and possibly the last person you might imagine in the role. Still, it took about nine seconds to believe Binoche as Sally, the second you watch the way she moves, both out in physical space and within the confines of her beloved truck, you forget you’re watching a famous French actress and are entirely drawn into Sally’s world. Watching Binoche transform herself into a credible trucker plying the American highways is but one remarkable feature of Paradise Highway, a film that reveals how that American highway system is used to support one of the ugliest, most heinous crimes imaginable.
We spoke to Binoche about her preparation for playing a truck driver, what drew her to Gutto’s thriller, and what it was like performing with young Hala Finley.
What was it about the script for Paradise Highway that most connected with you?
Child sex trafficking is important to talk about it, to be aware of, so we can see with new eyes that it can happen in the western world, where people think we’re protected and it can’t happen here. We’re not protected. This film helps us to understand that. I didn’t know that sex trafficking happens with truck drivers, and that’s how they move from one state to another. It also touches on the topic of choosing a new family. Choosing your heart family over your blood family. This film shows how difficult it is to unplug an unhealthy blood family situation and how you take the risk when you choose your heart family, because it can be terrifying. So I liked that topic as well. And I was excited to work with Morgan Freeman and Frank Grillo, and to help Anna Gutto. It was her first feature film, and I was very happy to be a part of it.
Paradise Highway‘s subject matter is difficult; how was the filming process itself?
I could never imagine myself being a truck driver in America, first of all. That would be like, what? If someone told me that’s what I’d do in 2021! So it’s a small film that we made with very little money in a time period that was very condensed in Mississippi, where it was hot with a lot of mosquitos, and we had night shoot to day shoot to night shoot to day shoot, back and forth for or five times. We had a young actress in Hala Finley who could only work a few hours a day, so there were challenges. But we made it, and we made it with passion and a lot of belief in it.
Hala Finley as Leila and Juliette Binoche as Sally in Paradise Highway. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Lionsgate
You really carry yourself like a truck driver, to say nothing of how intimate with the truck you appear. What was that process like for you in becoming comfortable in the role of Sally?
Well, thank you. I ate in truck stops [laughs]. That’s the start. It’s such unhealthy food, being stuck on these highways where they drive nonstop. I was appalled to see the food, which is not good. I spent time with female truck drivers and observing what it felt like being in the heat. I studied maps, trying to understand where I was, and give the intensity the story needed because otherwise, you wouldn’t believe it.
L-r: Writer/director Anna Gutto and Juliette Binoche. Courtesy Lionsgate.
The details you get in this movie about child sex trafficking are harrowing, and there’s an early sequence in the film in which you need to physically restrain Hala’s character. How did you approach that sequence?
The good news is that Hala is such a good actress that I just believed what I was seeing in front of me and feeling in front of me, so that made our journey easier. We could listen to each other and be with each other. Hala is so raw and truthful when you act with her, so that also helped. As an actress, you jump into what you need to do, so I don’t take things personally, I’m selling you what I’m doing. I remember several times with Hala, the scene when she kills the man and we’re struggling with that weapon, it was quite rough between us. I remember opening my arms so we’d cuddle and calm down the intensity. I think that’s when she probably trusted me, when I opened my arms to her. I think before we started shooting, she was a little distant because she’d had some experiences in the past where she felt the actors weren’t always generous. So when she felt like I was taking care of her, both physically and emotionally, that’s when we could laugh and cry together.
Hala Finley in “Paradise Highway.” Courtesy Lionsgate.
There’s quite a bit left unsaid in Paradise Highway, which deepens the sense that Sally has created her life on the road to get away from an unspeakable past. We edge towards a specific horror when Dennis (Frank Grillo) puts Leila in a dress Sally once wore—did you and Anna speak about the specifics of her past, the stuff we only get hints of?
We talked about that dress. With Anna, we had lots of discussions about Sally, and what was the most beautiful thing is she trusted me, which gives you wings because it makes all the possibilities happen.
Paradise Highway is available on demand now.
Featured image: Juliette Binoche as Sally in Paradise Highway. Photo Credit: Nick Burchell
There was a moment when writer/director Jordan Peele and production designer Ruth De Jong realized they were going to shoot Nope practically. Tucked in the Agua Dulce area of California’s Santa Clarita Valley is the Firestone Ranch, which would become the setting for the Haywood home where OJ (Daniel Kaluuya) and his sister Emerald (Keke Palmer) discover an unexpected visitor living in the sky above them.
“The property is this huge basin surrounded by these hills, which makes it even scarier because there’s no way out,” says De Jong, who reunites with Peele after their work on Us (2019). “When we found this ranch, we knew it was epic and decided to shoot everything practically.”
Daniel Kaluuya as OJ Haywood in Nope, written, produced, and directed by Jordan Peele.
De Jong designed the ranch from the ground up, researching mid-1800s to 1900s farm houses up and down the California coast and central valley. The end result is a mash-up of different homes that influenced her and set designer Jim Hewitt. “It has a bit of an East Coast vibe, but it’s very true to ranches in California,” she notes. “I wanted it to melt into the landscape but be iconic.”
(from left) OJ Haywood (Daniel Kaluuya) and Emerald Haywood (Keke Palmer) in Nope, written, produced and directed by Jordan Peele.
Every detail of the home was grounded in authenticity. De Jong also designed livable places for all the horses within existing arenas and stalls found on the property. “I came up under Jack Fisk (The Revenant, There Will Be Blood) as his art director for ten years, and he is so enthralled about his approach to making things real and true to life. I think that’s now ingrained in my DNA. When I was building the house, the first person I went to was our cinematographer Hoyte [van Hoytema], and I asked if there are any constraints I needed to consider. He was like, ‘Ruth, you design the house you want, and I will shoot the house you design.’ That was really freeing and incredible because it allowed the house to be completely real. We went six feet into the ground and made everything completely structurally sound for the crew to bring dollies up to the second and third floor.”
(from left) Daniel Kaluuya and writer/producer/director Jordan Peele on the set of Nope.
De Jong also dove into the background of the characters to develop the design. “Because a ranch like this would be pretty pricey in this day in age, we thought about how the Haywood’s could have afforded this on a horse wrangler salary,” she says. “We said that their father [played by Keith David] bought the house but didn’t fix it up. It has the same vintage wallpaper from the owner’s back 50-60 years ago. The furniture is kind of schlubby and the kitchen has a vintage stove and standard appliances.” Set decorator Gene Serdena filled the home with minimal pieces that had come with them through life – a not too little, not too much approach.
Another key aspect of the ranch was giving Peele and van Hoytema the opportunity to shoot 360-degrees interior and exterior. “I get involved in all aspects of filming, not just how to build the house, but how the crew is going to use it,” says De Jong. “I didn’t want any bogies or base camp to be seen from any angle. To make your movie, every minute of everyday matters. Jordan is such a great proponent of that and said everything on the entire ranch is a hot set.”
The approach paid off, especially for a climactic scene near the end of the movie where the house becomes covered in blood because of the entity in the sky attacking them. To pull off the sequence, a vast rain bar system was created along with gallons of food-grade blood that would be dumped onto the house. Over the course of several days, production shot all the interior house shots where Emerald and Fry’s electronics guru Angel (Brandon Perea) are stuck inside as the entity circles above OJ, who is hiding out in a van. Then working with special effects and visual effects, they saturated the earth and house with blood to show the aftermath of the following morning. “All of that was practical,” notes the production designer. “Even the stuff we strapped on the roof. We were throwing everything up there, a wheelchair, and an ice cream machine. It was a lot of fun to shoot.”
Keke Palmer as Emerald Haywood in Nope, written, produced and directed by Jordan Peele.
Looking back, De Jong is proud that they never skimped out on doing things practically. Even all the Sky Dancers that were placed in the field to alert the characters of the entity were practical. The electrical department came up with a way to control each one through an iPad. “It’s so satisfying to do a movie as practically as possible,” she says. “It’s an achievement.”
Putting together the irresistibly gripping story of writer-director Jordan Peele’s third film Nope was picture editor Nicholas Monsour, who has a shorthand with the auteur, having collaborated on Us (2019) and a number of episodes of Key and Peele.
Set in the outskirts of Hollywood, OJ Haywood (Daniel Kaluuya) and his sister Emerald (Keke Palmer) find themselves up against a mysterious entity living in the sky above their home. The editor had a tremendous amount of footage to work with, shot by cinematographerHoyte van Hoytema, a first cut that ran close to four hours. Monsour sat down with The Credits to share how the final story found its way to the silver screen.
What was your initial reaction to the story reading the script?
I read a pretty early draft, but even before I read the script, Jordan had briefed me on what he was thinking about writing and talked about the broad strokes. When I read it, I really loved the specificity of the characters and the setting and how many layers you could already bring just to the basic facts of the story – about being a brother and sister and about their relationship to Hollywood and moviemaking. With it being about this family business set outside of Los Angeles around this sibling story, I hadn’t seen that done very much, and that was immediately interesting because it felt familiar but new at the same time. It was a really interesting starting place that felt grounded in a real setting to then launch into this unbelievable sci-fi and supernatural world that unfolds in Nope.
(from left) OJ Haywood (Daniel Kaluuya) and Emerald Haywood (Keke Palmer) in Nope, written, produced and directed by Jordan Peele.Pee
Did Peele reference any films for you to consider as examples of story or pace going into the project?
Jordan, by and large, may think that way, but he doesn’t talk about a project too much in terms of references. He’s incredibly collaborative and interested in what everyone he chooses to work with brings from their own backgrounds and ideas. Between us, we have a common area for things we both love, but we also love things that are different. I think that’s true for all his collaborators. We will bring a slightly different mixture of stuff. Jordan likes having his actors really inhabit their roles and bring what they want. There is a kind of rawness, but he was thinking about ‘70s American maverick filmmaking as well as the origin of the blockbuster and the big creature feature and big epic sci-fi movies. It really went without saying that we’d think about movies like Close Encounters and Alien.
Writer/producer/director Jordan Peele on the set of Nope.
Close Encounters and Alien are two classics. Any others?
Before production Jordan did gather all the key crew and had us watch the original King Kong [1933]. He kind of put it to use that this is the movie we had to make now with everything we know about movies and everything we could do. It was kind of a benchmark of what this could accomplish.
The backbone of Nope is this wonderful brother-sister dynamic. How did you want to approach their personalities to let them shine through on screen?
My job as an editor is made so much richer when you have actors like Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, and Steven Yeun. Even Keith David, who plays OJ’s and Emerald’s father, makes an amazing impact in a short amount of screen time. They are all living in their roles and finding these non-verbal ways as well as through the dialogue to create interesting dynamics between their characters. It means that rather than hunting for the one moment you’re trying to communicate, you instead have so many choices. It’s obviously richer and more fun and engaging working with actors of this caliber, but some things emerged very clearly with their characters.
Keke Palmer as Emerald Haywood in Nope, written, produced and directed by Jordan Peele.
Like what?
Jordan talked about how he always wanted to see how characters with diverse backgrounds would really feel and deal with these situations of sci-fi and otherworldly encounters. How would they emerge in these moments of crisis, excitement, and action? With OJ and Emerald, OJ is the one who stayed on the ranch and followed in his father’s footsteps but was never really a natural performer. He’s more internal, and you have to see what’s going on behind his eyes. In contrast, Emerald is the natural performer of the family but never got a chance to shine. There’s friction between them, but behind it, there’s this very specific history they both share and a relationship to their larger-than-life father.
The Gordy chimp storyline makes its mark on the themes of the movie. How did the alternating timeline play out in the cutting room?
The interesting thing with Jordan is he’s developing everything simultaneously from when he starts. He’s thinking about casting, music, where he might shoot all the way through the preproduction, production, and post. It’s never a fixed object where he stops thinking creatively. Somewhere around halfway through the edit, Jordan had this notion of bringing Gordy’s storyline up to the beginning of the movie. It wasn’t in the script that way, but it was based on a number of things. The biggest one, and I think Jordan was correct in it, was in deciding to lay in the deeper layers and the meanings in the film in an abstract way that you don’t totally understand earlier in the movie. To invite the audience into the more complicated, interesting layers of entertainment, spectacle, exploitation, and horror.
Hoyte van Hoytema and Jordan Peele on the set of “Nope.” Glen Wilson/Universal Pictures
Peele really knows when to invite us into a moment. It seemed as if you stayed on certain shots to allow the viewers to sink into the environment or what a character is looking at.
Initially, there was an instinct we both shared to linger on some of the shots. There are so many embedded, interesting things in the locations and the characters’ qualities; staying on the shot a little longer allows you to explore what’s in the frame. The level of detail in the production design and costumes really rewards you with more to think about as nothing is there by accident.
Keke Palmer as Emerald Haywood in Nope, written, produced and directed by Jordan Peele.
The ending of Nope is this beautiful crescendo of action and change in the characters. How did you approach everything that was going on?
There are a number of things happening, so it was very important we gave the visual effects team the right timing to apply all their incredible work. We were in constant dialog with each other, and once we found the right mechanical timing and the experience of the spectacle, we were able to lay in the relationship with the characters, especially the brother and sister story, in non-verbal ways. We wanted to make sure that the moments and the performance we were using felt right for the characters subjectively and what we wanted the audience to feel.
How did you achieve that balance?
It was a very interesting balance. In a big, epic sci-fi film, you can often become detached because you’re seeing these massive events unfold. The camera can often show you all the cool stuff but lose a sense of being rooted in the characters’ psychology and experience. Finding the right balance really pays off when you feel more affected by the events.
Were there any moments in the film you think best speak to finding these more grounded, human moments?
One of the most beautiful things in the script is this hand-off in the third act from the brother to the sister, where it becomes almost her story where Emerald becomes this female protagonist. It works on a meta-level and a specific story level where this character, who is a bit of an outsider in her family, earns this moment and runs with it at the end of the movie. We really wanted it to feel earned and satisfying and show how these characters negotiate what’s at stake for them.
(from left) OJ Haywood (Daniel Kaluuya), Angel Torres (Brandon Perea) and Emerald Haywood (Keke Palmer) in Nope, written, produced and directed by Jordan Peele.
Featured image: (from left) OJ Haywood (Daniel Kaluuya), Emerald Haywood (Keke Palmer) and Angel Torres (Brandon Perea) in Nope, written, produced and directed by Jordan Peele.
We can think of no filmmaker better suited to adapt Carlo Collodi’s iconic story about a wooden marionette who’s magically brought to life to help heal the soul of a grieving woodcarver than Guillermo del Toro. And now, at long last, we have our first really good look at what the visionary behind Nightmare Alley, The Shape of Water, and Pan’s Labyrinth has done with the material.
The trailer introduces us to Sebastian J. Cricket (Jiminy Crickett in the original story), our Orthopeteran guide through this new take on Pinocchio, and voiced by Ewan McGregor. “I have so much to say,” Sebastian J. Cricket says as the trailer opens, “about imperfect fathers and imperfect sons.” Sebastian is here to tell us the story of the woodcarver Geppetto who lost his son and, in his howling grief, carved a new one out of an old tree.
Del Toro has been pursuing the project for years, and this most passionate of directors said in a statement when the project officially got underway in 2018 that no other story affected him as deeply as the one about the wooden boy brought to life. “No art form has influenced my life and my work more than animation, and no single character in history has had as deep of a personal connection to me as Pinocchio. In our story, Pinocchio is an innocent soul with an uncaring father who gets lost in a world he cannot comprehend. He embarks on an extraordinary journey that leaves him with a deep understanding of his father and the real world. I’ve wanted to make this movie for as long as I can remember.”
McGregor joins a star-studded cast voicing Pinocchio’s characters, including Cate Blanchett, Tilda Swinton, Christoph Waltz (voicing the fox), Finn Wolfhard (voicing Lampwick), Gregory Mann (voicing Pinocchio), and David Bradley (voicing Geppetto).
Check out the immensely wonderful trailer below. Pinocchio arrives on Netflix this December.
Here’s the synopsis for Pinocchio:
Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro reinvents Carlo Collodi’s classic tale of the wooden marionette who is magically brought to life in order to mend the heart of a grieving woodcarver named Geppetto. This whimsical, stop-motion musical directed by Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson follows the mischievous and disobedient adventures of Pinocchio in his pursuit of a place in the world.
Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio. Jason Schmidt/NETFLIX
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Netflix’s spy thriller The Gray Man was only the beginning.
The streaming giant has big plans to turn the Russo Brothers’ breathless caper, starring Ryan Gosling as a prodigiously talented assassin for the CIA, into a franchise. With the film bowing this past Friday night, Netflix has already revealed plans to add a sequel starring Gosling and a spinoff, both of which are already in development.
For the sequel, Gosling will return in another Russo Brothers-helmed flick, with screenwriter Stephen McFeely penning the sequel. McFeely not only wrote The Gray Man but also co-wrote Avengers: Endgame, Avengers: Infinity War, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, all Russo Brothers films.
“The audience reaction to The Gray Man has been nothing short of phenomenal. We are so appreciative of the enthusiasm that fans across the world have had for this film,” Joe and Anthony Russo said in a statement. “With so many amazing characters in the movie, we had always intended for The Gray Man to be part of an expanded universe, and we are thrilled that Netflix is announcing a sequel with Ryan, as well as a second script that we’re excited to talk about soon.”
The Gray Man spinoff film will come from Deadpool screenwriters Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese, although the details are still a state secret.
The Russo Brothers and McFeely adapted The Gray Man from Mark Greaney’s book series of the same name. In the film, Gosling plays Sierra Six, a former felon pulled out of prison by the CIA to work at their behest dispatching bad guys around the world. However, when he runs afoul of some unsavory types at the agency for starting to question their motives, they send a sadistic mercenary perfectly named Lloyd Hansen (Chris Evans, enjoying himself) to take him out. Thus begins a highly-dangerous cat-and-mouse game through Europe that ends, as it must, with a ferocious showdown.
It will be a while until we know what comes next for Gosling’s Sierra Six, but with how The Gray Man ended, there are plenty of bad guys still looking for him and plenty of danger for him to sort out with his blend of ruthless proficiency and humor.
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After Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige revealed the MCU’s big plans to bring back the Avengers in Phase 5 and 6, the question became who would direct these mammoth super-team epics. The Russo Brothers helmed both Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, the latter of which closed out what Marvel Studios called their Infinity Saga and ended a definitive chapter in the MCU’s expansionist history. Since Endgame, the MCU has broadened considerably to include new superheroes and even new realms. Now, however, we know who will be leading the Avengers in their first big reunion since they vanquished Thanos—Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings director Destin Daniel Cretton.
The Hollywood Reporterhas the scoop, revealing that after introducing Shang-Chi to audiences in 2021 in an immensely appealing origin story, Cretton will be helming the first Avengers film since 2019’s Endgame. Cretton not only proved his Marvel mettle with Shang-Chi, but he’s also developing a Disney+ series for the studio centered on Wonder Man with Brooklyn Nine-Nine writer/producer Andrew Guest. And he’s working on the Shang-Chi sequel.
A follow-up question on Avengers: The Kang Dynasty might be who, exactly, will be in the Avengers at that point. The team has undergone some major personnel changes—no more Iron Man or Black Widow, a new Captain America (Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson), and who in the world knows if Elizebeth Olsen’s Scarlett Witch will be invited back. To say nothing of the potential new recruits, including Shang-Chi himself.
Avengers: The Kang Dynasty will be the first of a two-Avenger film release that will close out Phase 6. The Kang Dynasty arrives on May 2, 2025, followed by Avengers: Secret Wars on November 7, 2025. We know that Kang himself is being played by Jonathan Majors, who first appeared in the Disney+ series Loki and will next feature as the villain in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, due on February 17, 2023. Quantumania officially launches Phase 5, and the lead-up to The Kang Dynasty.
Yet there’s still the rest of Phase 4 to contend with first and one mega final film to cap it off—Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
As always, the Marvel Cinematic Universe keeps on expanding.
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Cinematographer Paul Cameron had worked on big pictures like Michael Mann-directed Collateral and Denzel Washington thriller Déjà Vu, so he could afford to be skeptical six years ago when he first heard about a new TV series loosely based on an old Michael Crichton sci-fi novel. Cameron says, “I remember when my agent called and said Jonah Nolan wants to talk to you about Westworld, my first reaction was: ‘Might not be not my cup of tea.'” But once Cameron met with Nolan and partner Lisa Joy, he became a key collaborator, helping to establish the HBO series’ look by shooting Westworld‘s much talked about 2016 pilot. In 2020’s season 3, he helmed the 4th episode, “The Mother of Exiles.” This season, Cameron returned to direct Aaron Paul, Thandie Newton, Ed Harris, Evan Rachel Wood, and Jeffrey Wright in “Generation Loss,” the 4th episode, which aired earlier this month.
Speaking from his home outside of Bend, Oregon, Cameron described how he and his cast overcame scorching temperatures, tight schedules, and challenging locations to shape a memorably complicated Westworld episode.
Even by Westworld standards, your “Generation Loss” episode seems mighty complicated, cutting between three timelines, multiple locations, and a half dozen stressed-out characters. How do you organize all of that?
Basically, I cut the scenes in my head before I film them.
The first scene flashes back to when Aaron Paul’s Caleb and Thandie Newton’s Maeve attack the Lighthouse. Where did you film that?
That opening sequence we filmed in Cabo, Mexico, which has this beautiful old lighthouse on the beach there. When I landed at the airport, the producer Mark Tobey said, “Dude, there’s a hurricane coming; we need all the cameras and crew at the Viceroy Hotel,” which is where they were shooting other assets for the show. This flashback scene was actually the last thing I needed to film for my episode, so I said, “Respectfully, if I can have one camera and a drone?”
But wait, there’s a hurricane coming?
Yeah, about 20 hours away. We showed up at six in the morning with the drone and an Arriflex [Alexa] Studio camera with a 1000-foot [film] mag, which I ended up operating in 105-degree weather while my DP was doing lighting set-ups. A few people got heat exhaustion by the end of the day, including me. I was literally foaming at the mouth trying to finish my last scenes. It was supposed to be a two-day shoot, but I convinced the producers I could do it in one.
Caleb gets shot and might die while Maeve tries to comfort him. You need to capture extreme emotions in extreme heat on a tight schedule, so you must have been grateful to be directing actors of this caliber.
Aaron and Thandie are such professionals! Outside, exposed to the heat, 100 percent humidity, of course, you want to keep them from getting heat stroke. Fortunately, the communication was so good between the three of us; I could tell them, “Save your energy for when I turn the camera on,” or I could tell Aaron, “Just give me a little action in the foreground while I focus on Thandie, and that’ll be fine.” They both understand exactly where the camera is and know how to save it for their closeups.
L-r: Aaron Paul and Paul Cameron on the set of “Westworld.” John Johnson/HBO
Cut to a new time frame in Temperance, the 1920s Chicago simulation, where Maeve and Caleb kidnap Tessa Thompson’s evil Charlotte Hale and drive out to a demolition site in the desert where all hell breaks loose: Ed Harris’s Man in Black goes nuclear, there’s a massive explosion plus Hale tries to infect poor Caleb so he’ll do her bidding.
The real challenge there was to keep Aaron in this intense emotional state. We’re shooting at night in this quarry in southern California, the next night, we’re back at the quarry, three weeks later, we shoot in the shed, three weeks after that, we do the “stylized shed” where he’s being held by Hale. As a cinematographer, I’ve often seen directors asking the actor to do the scene from beginning to end, move the camera, and then do it again from beginning to end so they can get coverage. Jonathan was concerned we might be asking a lot, but once Aaron understood what I was doing visually, emotionally, and editorially, he said, “I’ll go there as many times as you need me to go there.”
Aaron Paul is Caleb in “Westworld.” Photo by Photograph by John Johnson/HBO
And it also must be tricky because the actors don’t necessarily know what’s going to happen next to their characters?
The actors have questions. They want to know what’s going on. But the complexity of the show is such that you don’t want to reveal certain things. I didn’t want to give Aaron the pages for the end of the episode because I didn’t want him to know where Caleb was going. And working with Tessa, she’s a fabulous actress, and she has feelings — they all have feelings — about where they hope their characters are going. As the director, part of my job is to keep the actors where they are [emotionally] and “release” them at the time they need to be released. It’s interesting to juggle information and emotional beats because I like to push things left and right a little bit, open some doors and hope new attributes emerge through the actors’ performances. But it’s a thin line. You have to trust the writing and can’t really go off track.
Tessa Thompson and Paul Cameron on the set of “Westworld.” John Johnson/HBO
After the quarry shootout, the timeline jumps ahead once again to New York City, where Hale taunts “Caleb” with devastating information. You shot those sequences in Manhattan’s Hudson Yards complex, which must be challenging.
I hadn’t had the experience of working with four other directors until we did these scenes in New York. Every day you start out saying, “I need three or four hours.” They say, “We’ll give you three.” But then the first director goes over, and now the second director’s gone over, and suddenly you’ve got one hour to film this scene in Hudson Yards. You have one shot to get Aaron running out onto the street.
Tessa Thompson is Charlotte Hale in “Westworld.” Photograph by John Johnson/HBO
There, he’s surrounded by dozens of pedestrians who stop on a dime at Hale’s command.
You read something like that in the script and wonder how you’re going to pull it off. We had 120 practical extras when Hale snaps her fingers and everybody freezes. We used a God mic to explain things to the extras, and it was amazing to see how they welcomed the challenge. We did it in two or three takes.
Jeffrey Wright is Bernard in “Westworld.” Photograph by John Johnson/HBO
Meanwhile, Jeffrey Wright’s Bernard and Caleb’s now-grown daughter Frankie (Aurora Perrineau) search for a weapon buried in the desert. In contrast to all this action, Evan Rachel Wood anchors a scene opposite James Marsden that almost feels like a rom-com. Her new Christina character is completely different from the rancher’s daughter-turned-badass Dolores that Wood portrayed in earlier seasons. What’s it like to direct Evan Rachel Wood?
Rachel’s a highly tuned professional. She understands the camera. She can be on her phone talking to somebody when you tell her you need another take, and to swing the lens and push in a little closer for a look. You go, “Okay, we’re going to roll.” She’ll just turn, step in front of the camera, “Action.” Make the look. Perfect. I don’t know how she does it.
Coming from a cinematography background, how did you develop your vocabulary for talking to actors and steering their performances?
As long as you understand the scene and have an idea of where the story’s going, it just feels natural for me to address performance from that level.But you have to know the script as well as the writers who wrote it, which is something you don’t really do as a cinematographer.
You obviously enjoy a good rapport with Westworld creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy. Most recently, you shot her directorial debut Reminiscence last year. How has your collaboration with this couple evolved?
Literally, within five minutes of meeting Jonathan, he and I were talking about what we were going to do on Westworld. I was 100 percent in before I left the room. It was exciting to help Jonathan and Lisa, with production designer Nathan Crowley, conceptualize how to make the western thing feel real for that first season. I was a big advocate for building Westworld in Utah for the ins and outs. I’d shot a lot of things with Tony Scott at Dead Horse Point near Moab, so when I pitched Jonathan, Lisa and Nathan on Westworld being built in Red Rock country, they loved the idea.
Beyond that pilot, you earned another Emmy nomination for shooting the first episode of Season 3. Through cinematography, you’ve continued to shape the look for Westworld, which must be gratifying.
Last season, I went to Singapore and scouted the City of Arts and Sciences in Spain with Jonathan and Lisa, and then I stayed behind and shot plates that could be used throughout the season. It’s rare for a cinematographer to function on a level where you’re invited to come up with ideas because, normally, you don’t get brought in at that level. And then, to be utilized creatively as a director? That’s a great opportunity because Jonathan and Lisa are such amazing storytellers.
With the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever trailer exploding with 172 million views in 24 hours, a lot of people wanted to know, who’s cover of Bob Marley’s iconic “No Woman, No Cry” can be heard throughout it? The answer is the Nigerian artist Tems, and her cover is one of the three tunes that Hollywood Records and Marvel Music have released in a prologue soundtrack.
Tems’ version of “No Woman, No Cry” also includes a Kendrick Lamar sample of “Alright,” with Tems singing “We gonna be alright” from Lamar’s song while the trailer moves through images of the country of Wakanda and some of Wakanda’s most familiar faces—Letitia Wright’s Shuri, Lupita Nyong’o’s Nakia, Angela Bassett’s Ramona, Danai Gurira’s Okoye, and Winston Duke’s M’Baku—who are all mourning the loss of Chadwick Boseman’s T’Challa. Boseman died tragically in August of 2020 from colon cancer, and how Wakanda Forever handles his tragic passing has long been one of the film’s central mysteries. The trailer gave us a few clues, and set to Tems gorgeous version of the Marley classic with the Lamar motif, revealing a sense of mourning and grief that amplified the first half of the trailer. Then, it was time for Namor the Sub-Mariner (Tenoch Huerta), the film’s villain, to step in, and the vibe gradually changed to one of defiance.
The other two songs on the prologue soundtrack speak to the elegiac and mournful spirit—”A Body, A Coffin” by Amaarae, and “Soy,” by Santa Fe Klan.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever comes from director Ryan Coogler, from a script he co-wrote alongside his Black Panther collaborator Joe Robert Cole. Joining the above-mentioned familiar faces from the original Black Panther and Tenoch Huerta as the film’s villain are new cast members, including Dominique Thorne (playing Riri Thomas, who will soon have her own Marvel series on Disney+, Ironheart), Michaela Coel, Alex Nivilani, and Mabel Cadena.
Have a listen to Tems’ “No Woman, No Cry” below. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever hits theaters on November 11.
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The desire to see Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther follow-up Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is immense. In fact, the first trailer for Coogler’s sequel drew one of the biggest responses in Marvel history, nabbing an astonishing 172 million views in its first 24 hours, a source close to Marvel confirmed with Variety.
The trailer was revealed this past weekend as part of Marvel Studios’ massive presentation at Hall H, where Coogler and members of the cast were on hand to give the world its first glimpse at the sequel. There is an undeniable sadness beneath the celebration, however, with Wakanda Forever forging a path forward without Black Panther himself, Chadwick Boseman, who died tragically, at 43, in August of 2020. How Coogler and his talented cast and crew managed to make that work is part of the mystery surrounding the project, and the trailer gave us the first glimpse of how they were going to approach Boseman’s loss. The answer, unsurprisingly, is with a tremendous amount of love and respect. Yet Black Panther: Wakanda Forever will also thrill, and the first look, which revealed the film’s big bad is Namor the Sub-Mariner (Tenoch Huerta), was not short on excitement.
How good is 172 million views? Consider that when the trailer for the original Black Panther bowed in 2017, it gobbled up 88 million views. Variety also tracked its social mentions, which neared a million with 893,000. Trending topics once the trailer bowed included Chadick Boseman, T’Challa, Ryan Coogler, Namor, Shuri, Angela Bassett, and Ryan Coogler. The hashtag #WakandaForever sat in the top spot for more than five hours.
With 172 million views in its first 24 hours, Wakanda Forever is now one of the biggest trailer launches for standalone movies in Marvel history. The reigning king is Spider-Man: No Way Home, which pulled in an unbelievable 355.5 million views, followed by Thor: Love and Thunder‘s 209 million. Unsurprisingly, in the non-standalone category, the last two Avengers movies did gangbusters business, with Endgame and Infinity War netting massive numbers. The first teaser for Endgame drew 289 million, while the first teaser for Infinity War grabbed 230 million.
One key stat for Wakanda Forever is it was likely hampered by the time the trailer dropped—at 9:20 pm ET on a Saturday night. That’s a tough hour to start the clock, rather than, say, a Friday morning at 9 am when people have the entire workday to watch it. Yet the excitement surrounding the film overwhelmed that less-than-ideal starting time.
The majority of the Black Panther cast will return to honor T’Challa’s legacy and forge a new path. They include Lupita Nyong’o, Letitia Wright, Danai Gurira, Angela Bassett, Florence Kusamba, and Winston Duke. Joining Tenoch Huerta in the new faces department are Dominique Thorne (playing Riri Thomas, who will soon have her own Marvel series on Disney+, Ironheart), Michaela Coel, Alex Nivilani, and Mabel Cadena.
If you want to re-watch that trailer or check it out for the first time to see what all the fuss is about, please be our guest. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever arrives on November 11.
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This is how Black Adam (Dwayne Johnson) describes his immense, DCEU-shaking abilities in the new sneak peek at Black Adam that was revealed this past weekend at San Diego’s Comic-Con. Johnson’s titular superhero, or perhaps more accurately, super anti-hero, was “born out of rage”—murdered thousands of years ago as a slave, he was resurrected through his son making the ultimate sacrifice. Reborn and next-level powerful, Black Adam is definitely not the warm and electrically cuddly type like Shazam. Black Adam is also no Avenger, or even Batman—he plays for keeps, and he’s not sure he’s equipped to be called a hero at all.
“The world needed a hero,” he says at the end of the teaser. “Instead, it got me.”
The new sneak peek offers some fresh footage of what’s shaping up to be one of the biggest DCEU releases ever. Black Adam comes from director Jaume Collet-Serra, and will feature the Justice Society—Hawkman (Aldis Hodge), Doctor Fate (Pierce Brosnan), Cyclone (Quintessa Swindell), and Atom Smasher (Noah Centineo).
“You have two choices,” Doctor Fate tells Black Adam. “You can be the destroyer of this world, or you can be its savior.” Black Adam will tell the story of that choice and will reshape the DCEU in the process.
Check out the new sneak peek below. Black Adam arrives in theaters on October 21.
Here’s the official synopsis for Black Adam:
Nearly 5,000 years after he was bestowed with the almighty powers of the ancient gods—and imprisoned just as quickly—Black Adam (Johnson) is freed from his earthly tomb, ready to unleash his unique form of justice on the modern world.
Featured image: Caption: DWAYNE JOHNSON as Black Adam in New Line Cinema’s action adventure “BLACK ADAM,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures
What would be the most annoying way to be woken up? How about having an airhorn blasted in your ear? This is how Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) wakes up his cousin, Jennifer Walters (Tatiana Maslany) in the official trailer for She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. Bruce is testing Jennifer, seeing what kind of control, or lack thereof, she has over her giant green alter ego. But he’s also doing it because it’s funny. Such is the vibe of Marvel Studios’ upcoming Disney+ series, which centers on Jennifer’s work as a lawyer with a big green dash of MCU magic. In fact, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law is being described as a legal comedy, and for those of you old enough to remember Ally McBeal, imagine that tone, but here Ally can throw a two-ton boulder a hundred yards.
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law introduces us to Jennifer’s day job, in which she’s tasked with representing some of the “eccentric superhumans” that are popping up all over the world. One of those superhumans is none other than Frog-Man, an obscure member of the Marvel canon making his first on-screen appearance in the MCU. Another is Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth), also known as Abomination, who you might remember tried to kill the Hulk a while back.
Our two Hulks, Frog-Man and Abomination are far from the only superhumans involved. Wong (Benedict Wong) is on hand to help instruct Jennifer the best he can. There’s also Jameela Jamil as Titania, She-Hulk’s rival. The trailer also confirms that the series will break the fourth wall, with Jennifer directly addressing the camera from time to time. This decision was inspired by John Byrne’s comic series “Sensational She-Hulk,” which did the same when it appeared in the 90s.
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law was created by Jessica Gao, with directing duties led by Kat Coiro and supplemented by Anu Valia.
Check out the trailer below. She-Hulk: Attorney at Law makes its case on Disney+ on August 17.
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Still buzzing from that Black Panther: Wakanda Forevertrailer? Us, too. Yet Marvel had more to share during their time in Comic-Con’s Hall H. Three years after Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige unveiled the plans for Phase 4 there, he was back to discuss Phase 5 and even hint at what’s in store in Phase 6.
Before we can get to Phase 5 and 6, however, we need a glimpse of what’s left in Phase 4.
End of Phase 4
Phase 4 carries on in just a few weeks with the August 17 release of She-Hulk: Attorney at Lawon Disney+, which stars Tatiana Maslany as Jennifer Walters (she’s Bruce Banner’s cousin, folks), who reps superheroes in need of a smart lawyer who also happens to be capable of deadlifting a thousand pounds (or more) when she’s green.
Up next is arguably Marvel’s most anticipated film of the year, Ryan Coolger’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which carries on without Chadwick Boseman, who tragically passed away in August 2020. Wakanda Forever arrives in theaters on November 11 and will feature Namor the Sub-Mariner (Tenoch Huerta) as the main villain. Namor will be arriving in a Wakanda still reeling from the loss of its king. Wakanda Forever officially concludes Phase 4.
Phase 5
What better way to kick off Phase 5 than with the quantum realm-messing hijinx of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, which arrives on February 17, 2023. Quantumania will find Jonathan Majors reprising his role of Kang the Conquerer from Loki after he runs into Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) and his daughter Cassie Lang (Kathryn Newton), as well as Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly), Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), and Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) in the quantum realm. Majors has a major role to play in how the MCU will be shaped going forward, as you’ll see when we get to Phase 6.
Secret Invasionis up next, premiering in the spring of 2023 on Disney+. The series finds Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and his frenemy Talos (Ben Mendelsohn) teaming up after their adventures in Captain Marvel and also features Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders), James Rhodes (Don Cheadle), and Everett K. Ross (Martin Freeman). Newcomers include Kingsley Ben-Adir, Olivia Colman, and Emilia Clarke.
Writer/director James Gunn was in San Diego to hype Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, due on May 5, 2023. Footage revealed that Vol. 3 would feature our first look at how Rocket (Bradley Cooper) became the walking, talking raccoon we all know and love. Joining franchise regulars Chris Pratt, Karen Gillan, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, and more are Will Poulter as Adam Warlock and Chukwudi Iwuji, from Gunn’s Peacemaker, who will play the High Evolutionary.
Echo arrives on Disney+ in the summer of 2023 and carries on the story of Hawkeye antagonist Maya Lopez (Alaqua Cox), with guest appearances expected from Charlie Cox’s Matt Murdock/Daredevil and Vince D’Onofio’s Wilson Fisk/Kingpin.
Also arriving in the summer of 2023 is season two of Loki, which wasn’t part of Marvel’s big presentation at Hall H.
Blade is one of the most anticipated films in Marvel’s entire Phase 5, due in theaters on November 3, 2023. Mahershala Ali plays the titular vampire hunter, with Bassam Tariq directing.
Up next is the Disney+ series Ironheart, due in the Fall of 2023. Here we’ll be reintroduced to a character we’re about to meet in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, the brilliant inventor Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne). Sam Bailey and Angela Barnes will direct from scripts led by head writer Chinaka Hodge.
Everyone’s favorite lunatic is back in Agatha: Coven of Chaos on Disney+ in the winter of 2023/2024. Kathryn Hahn reprises her WandaVision role as Agatha Harkness and comes from that brilliant series’ head writer Jac Schaeffer.
In the spring of 2024, Daredevil: Born Again will continue Phase 5, with Charlie Cox’s Matt Murdock/Daredevil now becoming a full member of the MCU with a brand new Disney+ series. Also, Born Again has a—wait for it—18-episode first season. Cox had a fun cameo in Spider-Man: No Way Home, while Daredevil‘s big bad, Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio), had an important role in Hawkeye.
Captain America: New World Order arrives on May 3, 2024. Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) has now officially taken on the mantle of Captain America after a long, torturous road in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, but Feige revealed little more than the title in Hall H.
Thunderbolts officially ends Phase 5 on July 25, 2024, and features a bunch of MCU bad boys and girls teaming up to do some good. While Feige didn’t reveal the cast, there are plenty of options, including Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova, Daniel Brühl’s Baron Zemo, Hannah John-Kamens Ghost, Olga Kurylenko’s Taskmaster, and Wyatt Russell’s John Walker.
Phase 6
Feige revealed three major titles slated for Phase 6. The first is Fantastic Four, which is slated for a November 8, 2024 release, and will see the resurrection of that supergroup. The second is Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, set to hit theaters on May 2, 2025, and will be the first part of a two-part Avengers epic (think Infinity War and Endgame) with Jonathan Majors’ Kang the Conquerer featuring heavily. The third is Avengers: Secret Wars, which will actually end Phase 6 on November 7, 2025. There are a lot of ways Marvel could go with this film, either borrowing from a Marvel comics series that began in 2015 and featured the destruction of two worlds and the surviving variants of Marvel characters living in a hellscape known as Battleworld or, the mid-1980s “Secret Wars” series that inspired it.
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Featured image: SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA – JULY 23: Kevin Feige, President of Marvel Studios, participates in the Marvel Studios’ Live-Action presentation at San Diego Comic-Con on July 23, 2022. (Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney)
The very first look at co-writer/director Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever pulses with feeling. The teaser opens to Tems’ cover of Bob Marley’s deathless “No Woman, No Cry,” with Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o) standing on a gorgeous coastline, silently taking in the beauty of her surroundings and, we imagine, the immensity of her loss. Wakanda Forever was supposed to see Chadwick Boseman reprise his role as T’Challa/Black Panther, of course, but Boseman tragically passed away in August 2020, and the cast and crew, with Coogler leading the way, had to reimagine the world of Wakanda, and the world of Black Panther, without its North Star. This is the first chance we’ve had to see how they managed it.
The first minute or so of the teaser trailer finds many of our heroes from the original Black Panther at a moment of reflection and mourning. T’Challa’s remaining family, little sister Suri (Letitia Wright), and mother Ramonda (Angela Bassett), are all that’s left, and they’ll factor in even more crucially than they did in the first film. Then there’s T’Challa’s most trusted leader of the Dora Milaje, Okoye (Danai Gurira), and his proud, powerful friend M’Baku (Winston Duke), the leader of the Jabari Tribe. The entire country of Wakanda appears to be absorbing the loss of T’Challa, and the beauty that Coogler and his team have marshaled to depict their mourning is astonishing.
Then, subtly, the trailer shifts from a mood of reflection to defiance. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever reveals its villain—Namor the Sub-Mariner (Tenoch Huerta)—a king himself and a villain with immense powers. The trailer doesn’t reveal why Namor is coming for Wakanda, but you could reasonably assume it’s because, with T’Challa’s death, there’s a power vacuum in the country. Namor rules an underwater realm, and the image of his people holding onto the sides of whales as a means of transportation is wonderful. But they do not come in peace.
As the trailer builds to its emotional apex, a devastating speech by Ramonda, who has lost two kings (her husband and her son) in succession, we get a glimpse at the very end of something very special. It’s a new Black Panther. Of course, there’s no knowing, not yet, who’s in the suit.
New cast members include Dominique Thorne (as Riri Williams), Michaela Coel (Aneka), Mabel Cadena (Namora), and Alex Livanalli (Attuma).
Check out the thrilling first trailer below. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever opens on November 11, 2022.
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San Diego’s Comic-Con is officially underway, and the first major studio film to grace the vaunted Hall H was Paramount’s long-awaited Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. This is the first time in three years that Hall H has been populated, and the Dungeons & Dragons team didn’t disappoint. Nor does the first official trailer, which reveals the star-studded epic led by Chris Pine, Regé-Jean Page, and Michelle Rodriguez.
D&D stars Pine, Page, Rodriguez, and Sophia Lillis were on hand in San Diego to share the first looks at the film. So, too, was Hugh Grant, who plays the film’s villain and was making his first-ever Con appearance. He was enjoying himself. At one point he joked that they’d tried to bring Sense and Sensibility to Comic-Con, but didn’t make it in.
The film comes from directors Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, the directing pair who helmed the immensely enjoyable Game Night. Daley revealed at Comic-Con that he’s been an avid D&D player since he was 14. “Anyone who plays D&D knows it’s not just a game. It’s the feeling you get when you play the game.”
The trailer opens with Pine’s thief informing us he’s a part of a thieving team (hence the honor among them), and we learn that, in true D&D fashion, each member of the team has specific skills. Rodriguez’s character, for instance, is a barbarian and possesses great strength. Page’s character has incredible courage. Pine’s? Well, he makes plans. (It’s one of the best jokes in the trailer). We also learn this band of merry thieves accidentally unleashed the greatest evil the world has ever known, and the thrust of the film’s storyline will be their attempt to rectify the situation. The trailer is set to Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love,” includes some impressive creatures, huge fight sequences, and a cast that seems to be enjoying themselves immensely.
In short, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves looks fun, which is the first thing you want from an adaptation of the most iconic role-playing game of all time.
Check out the trailer below. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves opens in March of 2023:
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