Oscar Isaac sure looks ready to take on the mantle of Marvel superhero Moon Knight. In a new video released by his production company’s Instagram account, Mad Gene Media, Isaac is hard at work doing fight choreography. You’ll note that one of the hashtags included in the video is #TheOneYouSeeComing, which is a direct quote from Moon Knight in the comics. (“Moon Knight #5 to be exact.)
We’ve been tracking this project since it was first announced that Isaac would be taking on the role. Since then, May Calamay (Ramy) has signed on, and earlier this year it was revealed Ethan Hawke is joining the cast to play the villain, who most of the internet speculates will be Raoul Bushman. The series will be directed by Mohamed Diab, with Jeremy Slater (The UmbrellaAcademy) as showrunner. As with all of these new Marvel shows on Disney+, Kevin Feige is producing.
There’s not much else we know about Moon Knight now, but the involvement of all these extremely talented folks, and Marvel’s current success rate with WandaVision and now The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, means there’s a lot of excitement and anticipation. Filming is expected to get underway this June.
If you’re not a comics aficionado, it’ll probably help to know that Moon Knight is Marc Spector, a former Marine and CIA operative betrayed by his partner, the aforementioned Raoul Bushman. On his deathbed, Marc gets a visit from the Egyptian moon god Khonshu and thus becomes Khonshu’s human avatar. This gives him immense abilities.
It’ll be a while before we see Moon Knight—it’s expected to premiere sometime in 2022—but for now, you can check out Isaac hard at work in the video below:
Featured image: DEAUVILLE, FRANCE – SEPTEMBER 08: Oscar Isaac attends a photocall for “Operation Finale” on September 8, 2018 in Deauville, France. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)
Good news on a Friday is extra sweet. Director John M. Chu’s In the Heights will be arriving a full week early. Chu’s film, adapted from Lin-Manuel Miranda’s and Quiara Alegría Hudes’s musical was slated for a June 18 release, but you can now expect it in theaters and on HBO Max on June 11. The change comes a few days after the release of two new trailers, which jacked up the already considerable excitement for the film.
Chu shared the news himself on Twitter:
Surprise. We coming to Theaters one week earlier!!! There has been so much demand since our trailer release this week that we decided to get it out to you sooner. Let’s gooooooooooooo!!!! See you soon. JUNE 11th 2021. https://t.co/P5NB6z3INB
In the Heights tells the story of Usnavi (Anthony Ramos), a bodega owner with big dreams living in the largely Hispanic-American neighborhood of Washington Heights in New York City. The cast is potent—joining Ramos are Corey Hawkins, Melissa Barrera, Leslie Grace, Olga Merediz, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Gregory Diaz IV, Stephanie Beatriz, Dascha Polanco, and Jimmy Smits.
Chu’s directing chops are well-known at this point, and he couldn’t have been more primed to take on In The Heights. He’s best known for the massive hit Crazy Rich Asians, and he also directed and produced four films in the Step Up franchise. The man knows his way around a song and a dance.
Here are those two latest trailers in case you missed them:
Here’s the official synopsis from Warner Bros.:
The creator of “Hamilton” and the director of “Crazy Rich Asians” invite you to a cinematic event, where the streets are made of music and little dreams become big… “In the Heights.”
Lights up on Washington Heights…The scent of a cafecito caliente hangs in the air just outside of the 181st Street subway stop, where a kaleidoscope of dreams rallies this vibrant and tight-knit community. At the intersection of it all is the likeable, magnetic bodega owner Usnavi (Anthony Ramos), who saves every penny from his daily grind as he hopes, imagines and sings about a better life.
“In the Heights” fuses Lin-Manuel Miranda’s kinetic music and lyrics with director Jon M. Chu’s lively and authentic eye for storytelling to capture a world very much of its place, but universal in its experience.
Caption: (Left Center-Right Center) ANTHONY RAMOS as Usnavi and MELISSA BARRERA as Vanessa in Warner Bros. Pictures’ “IN THE HEIGHTS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Macall PolayCaption: (L -r) NOAH CATALA as Graffiti Pete, GREGORY DIAZ IV as Sonny, COREY HAWKINS as Benny and ANTHONY RAMOS as Usnavi in Warner Bros. Pictures’ “IN THE HEIGHTS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Macall PolayCaption: (L-r) COREY HAWKINS as Benny and LESLIE GRACE as Nina in Warner Bros. Pictures’ “IN THE HEIGHTS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Macall Polay
For more on HBO and HBO Max, check out these stories:
Featured image: Caption: Caption: (L-r) LESLIE GRACE as Nina Rosario and COREY HAWKINS as Benny in Warner Bros. Pictures’ “IN THE HEIGHTS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
Warner Bros. has released a Godzilla-sized cache of new photos for their upcoming battle of the titans, Godzilla vs. Kong. We’ve seen enough footage now to know that director Adam Wingard’s film is at least setting us up to root for Kong here. That was made evident in the first trailer, where we learned that Kong seemed to be the protector of an orphaned girl named Jia (Kaylee Hottle). As we wrote at the time, it’s hard to root against that dyanmic! The trailer and subsequent footage also gave us a Godzilla seemingly hellbent on destruction, which was a departure from Gareth Edwards’s Godzilla (2014) and Michael Dougherty’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019), in which the radioactive colossus was humanity’s protector.
Joining Godzilla, Kong, and Kaylee Hottle in the new images are Alexander Skarsgård, Rebecca Hall, Kyle Chandler, Demián Bichir, Julian Dennison, Millie Bobby Brown, Brian Tyree Henry, and Eiza González. Check out the new images below. Godzilla vs. Kong hits theaters and HBO Max on March 31.
Here’s the official synopsis from Warner Bros.:
Legends collide in “Godzilla vs. Kong” as these mythic adversaries meet in a spectacular battle for the ages, with the fate of the world hanging in the balance. Kong and his protectors undertake a perilous journey to find his true home, and with them is Jia, a young orphaned girl with whom he has formed a unique and powerful bond. But they unexpectedly find themselves in the path of an enraged Godzilla, cutting a swath of destruction across the globe. The epic clash between the two titans—instigated by unseen forces—is only the beginning of the mystery that lies deep within the core of the Earth.
Caption: (L-r) GODZILLA battles KONG in Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ action adventure “GODZILLA VS. KONG,” a Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures release. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary PicturesCaption: GODZILLA in Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ action adventure “GODZILLA VS. KONG,” a Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures release. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary PicturesCaption: (L foreground-r) KAYLEE HOTTLE as Jia with KONG in Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ action adventure “GODZILLA VS. KONG,” a Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures release. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary PicturesCaption: KYLE CHANDLER as Mark Russell in Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ action adventure “GODZILLA VS. KONG,” a Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures release. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary PicturesCaption: (L-r) GODZILLA and KONG in Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ action adventure “GODZILLA VS. KONG,” a Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures release. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary PicturesCaption: (L-r) GODZILLA battles KONG in Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ action adventure “GODZILLA VS. KONG,” a Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures release. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary PicturesCaption: KONG in Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ action adventure “GODZILLA VS. KONG,” a Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures release. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary PicturesCaption: GODZILLA in Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ action adventure “GODZILLA VS. KONG,” a Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary release. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary PicturesCaption: GODZILLA in Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ action adventure “GODZILLA VS. KONG,” a Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary release. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary PicturesCaption: (L-r) MILLIE BOBBY BROWN as Madison Russell, JULIAN DENNISON as Josh Valentine and BRIAN TYREE HENRY as Bernie Hayes in Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ action adventure “GODZILLA VS. KONG,” a Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures release. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary PicturesCaption: KONG in Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ action adventure “GODZILLA VS. KONG,” a Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures release. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary PicturesCaption: EIZA GONZÁLEZ as Maia Simmons in Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ action adventure “GODZILLA VS. KONG,” a Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary release. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary PicturesCaption: DEMIÁN BICHIR as Walter Simmons in Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ action adventure “GODZILLA VS. KONG,” a Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary release. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary PicturesCaption: KAYLEE HOTTLE as Jia with KONG in Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ action adventure “GODZILLA VS. KONG,” a Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary release. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary PicturesCaption: (L-r) EIZA GONZÁLEZ as Maia Simmons. ALEXANDER SKARSGÅRD as Nathan Lind, REBECCA HALL as Ilene Andrews and KAYLEE HOTTLE as Jia in Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ action adventure “GODZILLA VS. KONG,” a Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary release. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary PicturesCaption: (L-r) GODZILLA fights KONG in Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ action adventure “GODZILLA VS. KONG,” a Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary release. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary PicturesCaption: ALEXANDER SKARSGÅRD as Nathan Lind in Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ action adventure “GODZILLA VS. KONG,” a Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures release. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary PicturesCaption: GODZILLA in Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ action adventure “GODZILLA VS. KONG,” a Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary release. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary PicturesCaption: SHUN OGURI as Ren Serizawa in Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ action adventure “GODZILLA VS. KONG,” a Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures release. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary PicturesCaption: KONG in Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ action adventure “GODZILLA VS. KONG,” a Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures release. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary PicturesCaption: (L-r) JULIAN DENNISON as Josh Valentine, MILLIE BOBBY BROWN as Madison Russell and BRIAN TYREE HENRY as Bernie Hayes in Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ action adventure “GODZILLA VS. KONG,” a Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures release. Photo Credit: Vince ValituttiCaption: (L-r) MILLIE BOBBY BROWN and director ADAM WINGARD on the set of Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ action adventure “GODZILLA VS. KONG,” a Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures release. Photo Credit: Vince ValituttiCaption: (L-r) BRIAN TYREE HENRY and director ADAM WINGARD on the set of Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ action adventure “GODZILLA VS. KONG,” a Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures release. Photo Credit: Vince ValituttiCaption: (L-r) JULIAN DENNISON as Josh Valentine, MILLIE BOBBY BROWN as Madison Russell and BRIAN TYREE HENRY as Bernie Hayes in Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ action adventure “GODZILLA VS. KONG,” a Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures release. Photo Credit: Vince ValituttiCaption: Director ADAM WINGARD on the set of Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ action adventure “GODZILLA VS. KONG,” a Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures release. Photo Credit: Vince ValituttiCaption: (L-r) ALEXANDER SKARSGÅRD and director ADAM WINGARD on the set of Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ action adventure “GODZILLA VS. KONG,” a Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures release. Photo Credit: Vince ValituttiCaption: (L-r) Director ADAM WINGARD and EIZA GONZÁLEZ on the set of Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ action adventure “GODZILLA VS. KONG,” a Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures release. Photo Credit: Vince ValituttiCaption: (L-r) Director ADAM WINGARD and REBECCA HALL on the set of Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ action adventure “GODZILLA VS. KONG,” a Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures release. Photo Credit: Vince ValituttiCaption: (L-r) Director ADAM WINGARD, JULIAN DENNISON and MILLIE BOBBY BROWN on the set of Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ action adventure “GODZILLA VS. KONG,” a Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures release. Photo Credit: Chuck ZlotnickCaption: (L back-r) ALEXANDER SKARSGÅRD as Nathan Lind, REBECCA HALL as Ilene Andrews and KAYLEE HOTTLE as Jia in Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ action adventure “GODZILLA VS. KONG,” a Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary release. Photo Credit: Chuck ZlotnickCaption: KAYLEE HOTTLE as Jia in Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ action adventure “GODZILLA VS. KONG,” a Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary release. Photo Credit: Chuck Zlotnick
Featured image: Caption: (L-r) GODZILLA fights KONG in Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ action-adventure “GODZILLA VS. KONG,” a Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary release. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures
So the good news is, we are going to see director Cate Shortland’s Black Widow, almost certainly in theaters, this year. Let’s just take a moment to appreciate this fact. As with all the major, would-be 2020 releases, Black Widow underwent several delays due to Covid-19 and was eventually moved entirely to 2021. As of today, it’s slated for a May 7 release.
The question has been exactly how Disney will release Black Widow. Will they follow the pattern they laid out for Soul, Mulan, and Raya and the Last Dragon and release the film on Disney+? Thus far, it looks as if Disney is committed to giving Scarlett Johansson’s return an exclusive theatrical run—but this could change.
In an interview with CNBC, Disney CEO Bob Chapek said that Black Widow‘s release plans will likely be decided at the “last minute,” along with the rest of Disney’s upcoming film slate. Chapek and the rest of the studios are looking at an ever-evolving situation with movie theaters, one that is, blissfully, trending positive. “Our situation and our conditions change,” Chapek told CNBC. “Just a few weeks ago, theaters in New York and Los Angeles weren’t even open. Now, all of a sudden they’re open, so we’re waiting to see how prospective theatergoers respond to these reopenings. We’re going to remain flexible. We’ll make the call probably at the last minute in terms of how these films come to market, whether it’s Black Widow or any other title.”
Disney released Soul only on Disney+, while both Mulan and Raya and the Last Dragon received simultaneous releases in theaters and on Disney+ Premier Access. A third option would be a short theatrical release, followed by a much quicker streaming release. Whichever way Disney chooses to go—and it seems highly unlikely Black Widow won’t get some kind of theatrical run—the good news in general is we’ll finally get to see Johansson, Florence Pugh, Rachel Weisz, and David Harbour in action.
You’ve got exactly one week to stream every episode of The Office, for free, on Peacock. To celebrate the now-iconic comedy’s 16th anniversary, Peacock will be streaming all nine seasons of the series beginning today, March 18. Fans will also be able to compete for a Dundie Award, and all that’s required is, of course, a Peacock subscription. If you remember the Dundie Awards from the series, you’ll recall that Michael Scott (Steve Carell) would give them out for a variety of absurd “accomplishments” in his ongoing effort to boost office morale. For example, the “Jim Halpert Award” went to…Jim Halpert! (John Krasinski). The “Worst Salesman of the Year” award went to Oscar (Oscar Nuñez). Who wouldn’t want a chance to earn an award with such a prestigious history?
Peacock’s week-long Office extravaganza includes more than just the full nine seasons and the Dundie Awards competition—it also boasts The Office: Superfan Episodes. These are extended cuts that include brand new footage—starting with season 3—that will be manna from heaven for the show’s legion of fans, which now includes an entire generation that was too young to catch it the first time around and is falling in love with characters us graybeards have adored for what feels like forever.
Peacock’s offerings also include behind-the-scenes footage, playlists of memorable clips, and curated watch lists for those wanting a very specific kind of Office viewing experience. Offering The Office is a great way for the new streaming service to entice viewers with a bevy of streaming options already at their fingertips.
If you’re eager to participate in the Dundie Awards contest, you’ll need to share The Office-theme images and examples of your super fandom on Peacock’s Twitter and Instagram, tagging Peacock’s official profiles and using the #Dundies2021Contest. Submissions begin on March 18 through March 22 at 8 p.m. ET. Meredith herself (Kate Flannery) will announce the winners on Wednesday, March 24.
Featured image: BEVERLY HILLS, CA – JULY 24: Actor Steve Carell (L) and actress Jenna Fischer attend the panel discussion for “The Office” during the NBC 2005 Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on July 24, 2005 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)
Don’t worry, we haven’t just spoiled Ryan Reynolds making a cameo in Zack Snyder’s Justice League, but it wasn’t completely out of the realm of possibility. Now that we’ve made it to premiere day, a final flurry of Justice League reveals feels like a fitting capstone to our countdown. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Snyder reveals, among other things, that yes, he had envisioned Reynolds appearing in Justice League, reprising his role as the Green Lantern (he infamously played the green-hued superhero in 2011).
We’ve covered—at length—the long, winding road that led us to the release of the much clamored for Snyder Cut. Now, it’s time to look at a few of the curveballs along the way. One is the speculation that began on February 22 that Reynolds might be making a cameo in the film. Reynolds addressed and denied it, but what we didn’t realize at the time is that Snyder was really considering it.
“There was another idea I had for the Green Lantern that wasn’t Ryan, and so I thought that if we had gone down this path of Green Lantern, I would have had to have Ryan as the additional Lantern,” Snyder told THR. “Filling out the Lantern Corps a little bit more than, say, just one Green Lantern.”
That’s just one of the juicy nuggets Snyder reveals. Another is that the costumes they had to pull out of storage for the re-shoots had seen better days. Both Ben Affleck and Amber Heard required their Batman and Hera costumes, respectively, and found they hadn’t aged so well.
“Luckily it was post-apocalyptic, because we went through the three cowls that were in good shape,” Deborah Snyder, the film’s tireless producer, and Zack Snyder’s wife, told THR. “At one point, all of a sudden Ben put it on, and it just ripped. Because everything was disintegrating. Our costume people were like, trying to tape it up.”
“The costumes were definitely falling apart,” Zack Synder added. “But we held them together with some duct tape and baling wire and we muscled through. ”
As for that Jared Leto ad-lib, it’s what set the Justice League fandom on fire on February 14, when Leto’s Joker appeared in a new trailer debuted. “We live in a society,” the Joker says in the trailer. The line is a nod to a viral meme that has been around for years now. Yet it was ad-libbed by Leto when he came on board to shoot a new scene for the film, and it created a social media sensation.
“We went back and forth a bit, and I’ll give Jared credit for that little ad-lib there, because it was really, really beautiful,” Snyder told THR.
Snyder revealed that the scene he cooked up for the Joker and Batman was one of many ideas he’s had in the years between Justice League‘s 2017 theatrical release and the start of working on his Snyder Cut. He told THR, as many fans can attest, that he’d planted a slew of Easter Eggs in his previous DC films, and this Joker/Batman scene was one egg that finally hatched.
After getting Leto and WarnerMedia to come on board (neither happened automatically), Snyder ended up shooting Leto and Affleck separately. Then, like so much of his four-hour Justice League, Snyder and his team made it all work together in post.
The wait is finally over—Zack Snyder’s Justice League is available today, on HBO Max.
For more on Zack Snyder’s Justice League, check out these stories:
You may have heard we’re one day away from the premiere of a little film called Zack Snyder’s Justice League on HBO Max. It’s been a long, winding road from the theatrical release of Justice League back in 2017 to March 18, 2021, and there would be no new-and-improved superhero epic without producer Deborah Snyder. Snyder worked alongside her husband Zack to not only convince WarnerMedia that a Snyder Cut was worth it but to make it possible to pull it off in the midst of a global pandemic.
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Snyder explained what it took. It helped that she’s one of the world’s foremost experts on bringing DC characters to the big screen. She produced her husband’s first foray into the DC universe with 2013’s Man of Steel, which introduced Henry Cavill as Superman. She produced 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, which introduced Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne and set the stage for Justice League. She also produced both 2017’s Wonder Woman and 2020’s Wonder Woman 1984, helping Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot cement Wonder Women into the DCEU.
Yet even with all this experience, how did Snyder help convince WarnerMedia to invest in a new cut of a film that already premiered (Joss Whedon shepherded Justice League to completion after Zack Snyder had to leave the production), and pull it off on a truncated schedule and under extremely inhospitable circumstances due to COVID-19?
Snyder reveals to THR that, after the theatrical release of Whedon’s Justice League, she and Zack had kept a black-and-white cut of the film for friends and family, but they never expected it to be the seed to something larger. But then fans began clamoring for the “Snyder Cut” on social media, with that clamor reaching maximum volume on November 17, 2019, the second anniversary of the theatrical release. This led to some of the film’s stars—Gal Gadot, Ben Affleck, and Ray Fisher—joining the chorus. Thus begun the hashtag #ReleaseTheSnyderCut, and suddenly there was actual momentum.
Initially, the idea was to release the cut as it was on HBO Max without investing more money into it. Snyder helped put together a presentation that revealed the reach of #ReleaseTheSnyderCut on social media.
“We compared that to the top shows on Netflix, so we could then make the comparison of what the power of this fanbase was and how that translated into subscribers for HBO Max,” Snyder told THR about her conversations with Warner. “When they were like, ‘Well, we don’t want to spend the money on this,’ and then you are like ‘OK, but, you do see there’s an upside?'”
WarnerMedia was eventually swayed, and now the really hard work began. Working on new effects, finishing the film they were already working on (Netflix’s Army of the Dead), and plotting new scenes, Snyder helped oversee getting Affleck and Ezra Miller back for new scenes, as well as recruiting Jared Leto to reprise the Joker (he played him in 2016’s Suicide Squad). They managed this without ever having the actors appear together.
“Ezra was shooting Fantastic Beasts, so Zack directed him over Zoom,” Snyder tells THR. “His crew was gracious enough to shoot him, and Zack piped in over Zoom. Ben and Jared were not available on the same days, so they were shot separately. It was only three days. And we probably could have shot it faster, but with all the COVID-19 protocols it just takes a little bit longer to get things done. And also to get up and running with everybody. But it was so much fun.”
If you want a deeper dive into how Zack Snyder’s Justice League came about, and how crucial Deborah Snyder was to making it a reality, we suggest you read the full interview at THR.
For more on HBO and HBO Max, check out these stories:
I got a chance to speak to hair department head Mia Neal and makeup artist Sergio Lopez-Rivera about their work in George C. Wolfe’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom before the Oscar nominations were announced. Tasked with, among other challenges, turning Oscar-nominee Viola Davis into the real-life Ma was no easy feat, least of all because there wasn’t a ton of photographic evidence to work with. Add to that scorching temperatures during much of the shoot (they filmed in Pittsburgh in the summer of 2019) and the heavy makeup, wigs, and wardrobe required by the part, and Neal and Lopez-Rivera had their work cut out for them.
Spoiler alert—they succeeded. Neal, Lopez-Rivera, and hairstylist Jamika Wilson were nominated for Oscars for Best Makeup and Hairstyling. Even though they were surrounded by huge talents (and a slew of other future Oscar nominees), neither of them could have guessed at how meaningful this film would have been to them at the time, or how much the world would change shortly after they wrapped. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom was the late, great Chadwick Boseman’s last performance, for which he earned an Oscar nomination. By the time the news of his passing became public, we were in the midst of a global pandemic.
Neal and Lopez-Rivera discuss Boseman, Davis, the power of specificity and more. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Looking back on the film knowing all that’s come to pass since 2019, what are some of your feelings?
Sergio: When I first saw it, which was well after a year of working on it, I was just so emotional. Chadwick’s performance killed me, and then I just started to feel super proud to be a part of this. Just the role of Levee, the way that role is written, I believe it’s one of the greatest characters of all time. When I got the news, Viola actually called me because we were quarantining in Vancouver, we were going to be working on another movie, and I was devastated. Devastated because of the news, of course, but also devastated because I just couldn’t leave my room and go and give her a hug or anything. We had no idea. It was just absolutely awful. He just did an incredible job. I expect him to win absolutely everything.
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2020): (L to R) Viola Davis as Ma Rainey, Director George C. Wolfe, and Chadwick Boseman as Levee. Cr. David Lee / Netflix
In designing the makeup for Ma Rainey, how much of the historical record did you have to go on?
Sergio: You can create a character from one piece of information. For Ma Rainey, I couldn’t find a lot of material about her. There was an 8×10 photo that would have been a headshot that gave me enough to be able to design the eye makeup. You can also see in this grainy black and white photograph that’s she has gold teeth in her mouth, and you also know that she had the intention of rounding out her eyes on the bottom. I saw that the liner was detached from the water table, meaning the bottom lashes of your eye, on a downward scoop. That gave me the idea that this story that this woman was trying to do what was trendy at that time. What was beautiful for a woman in the 1920s was to have big eyes and small mouths. So I told myself this story that she was applying this makeup robotically as a matter of routine because she’d done it her whole life. She comes from Vaudville, and I wanted the makeup to be very jittery and badly applied and to sit on her face. I wanted it to speak a little bit about the struggle to be her, in this life, on this hot day in Chicago in the summer. I needed to service the character without it being distracting to the audience. It works, though, because I’m respecting those lines, and also because if you put anything in Viola Davis, she’s going to make it work [laughs].
Ma Rainey makeup sketch. Courtesy Sergio Lopez-Rivera
Is it harder to transform someone as recognizable as Viola?
Mia: Viola specifically gave me permission to really go there. Everything she had read about Ma Rainey really spoke to the fact that this was not an attractive woman, and so she did not want to try to make her pretty. I think that released any boundaries around really trying to create Ma Rainey and not factoring Viola into it, just focusing on the character and knowing that as long as I get this story right around her hair, and I can articulate that to Viola, that I know it’ll be a green light and I won’t get resistance.
Sergio: I can’t stress it enough what a different experience you’re having as makeup and hair artists when you know you don’t have to handle the vanity of the actor. When you don’t have to be precious about that, when somebody releases you from that, which is exactly what Viola did. It’s the most freeing thing because you can’t hide behind anything. This powerhouse of a performer is giving you permission to go there. There was this final push I needed which was on the first day after we’ve already done the camera tests and she’s familiar with what I’m about to do, I must have been a little hesitant, and she said to me, ‘Sergio, just think of Bette Davis in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? She could not have given me a better gift. First, because I love that movie, and second, because somebody told me that Bette Davis did her own makeup, and the reason was because no makeup artist would have the b*lls to do this to her [laughs]. I love that. I understand that logic. She couldn’t rely on another person to do this because no one would take it as far as she would.
Sergio and Jamika Wilson working on Viola on set. Courtesy Netflix.
Mia, tell me about crafting Ma’s hair.
Mia: It’s funny, Viola wore two wigs, and one of them was made of horsehair and the other was made of European hair. The night before we shot the tent scene it rained, so when we got there it was wet outside, muddy, and the humidity was definitely at 100 percent. This was the first day we were filming with the horsehair wig. I’ve never worked with horsehair, I have no idea how this wig is going to hold up, and Jamika came up to me and said, ‘The wig is not moving.’ Crazy enough, we realized that this is probably why Ma Rainey wore horsehair wigs. This thing maintained its continuity. It’s cut and formed and set into a style and you don’t have to worry about it changing. So for Ma Rainey, it was essential for her to have a wig she could travel with.
Viola getting a hair touch-up on set. Courtesy Mia Neal/Netflix.
It’s interesting how often you both used products and materials Ma would have used.
Mia: If you don’t get inside the head of these characters, it will read as fake. You have to know specifically why this person had this, why they made this decision, and if you don’t, and it’s just like, Oh this is cute! Or, Oh, that’s pretty!, when you watch a movie you’ll think, ‘This doesn’t feel right. Something about this is off.’
Sergio: When you design a character, specificity is your friend. The way you fail at this is when you’re telling the story of the makeup artist or the hairdresser, what they perceive as pretty or not pretty. You lose the authenticity of the moment. When you start to map out a character, the first thing I do is go into history. What’s the socioeconomics of this particular character? Does she come from money? Did she get an education? What does she have access to? As a black woman in the 1920s that was performing, that needed makeup, her choices were super limited. Also, she had darker skin, which was looked down upon even in her own community. The desire was always to be lighter than you are, that’s why one of the first cosmetics available to people of color was bleaching creams. You start to get these bits of actual historical truths, and then you have a foundation to build someone and make decisions on their behalf.
Chadwick Boseman as Levee, Colman Domingo as Cutler, Viola Davis as Ma Rainey, Michael Potts as Slow Drag and Glynn Turman as Toledo. Cr. David Lee/NETFLIX
So you’ve got Viola using products that would have been available in the 1920s?
Sergio: With Viola, it was relatively easy because the things I have to erase from her are the smooth skin of a 21st-century woman that has access to facials and skincare, and that 21st-century smile, which is beautiful and white and perfect. Then another trick that helps is to change their eyebrows. Because in the 1920s eyebrows are so specific, and because Ma comes from the theater, I had this idea that she would have shaved her eyebrows like a lot of women did at the time, only to draw them back with a doll-like expression that was considered very beautiful in the 1920s. I was having her trying to mimic something and not quite succeed.
Mia: Once I spoke with [Oscar-nominated costume designer] Ann Roth, and watching how Ann put Ma in a fur coat during the summertime, that gives you an idea. This woman is very decadent. She does not follow the rules, and you know that from the research—she’s married and she has a girlfriend. We know that part. Something about seeing her in the summertime with a fur coat on set me off. It spoke to the psychology behind this character, in which this is the first generation of her family in this country that’s free. She was from a sharecropper family in Georgia, she changes her name, she moves, she travels, she sings, she breaks every rule of that time period. So that’s where the hair comes in, her second wig had to be made of European hair because that’s what she sees when she looks in the magazines and she thinks, I want that. She’s not going to be denied that.
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2020): Viola Davis as Ma Rainey. Cr. David Lee / Netflix
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is available on Netflix.
For more on Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, check out our interview with Branford Marsalis, and Oscar-nominated production designer Mark Ricker.
Featured image: Viola Davis getting a touch-up on set. Courtesy Sergio Lopez-Rivera/Netflix.
We know that the Sam Wilson/Falcon (Anthony Mackie) and Bucky Barnes/the Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) haven’t always gotten along (they were straight-up enemies in Captain America: The Winter Soldier), but when they team up for Marvel’s The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, their partnership will be taking place at a time when the world will really need them to put past differences aside. Granted, Sam and Bucky have been on the same side since Captain America: Civil War, but they’ve always had Captain America (Chris Evans) as their common and trusted link. This won’t be the case when the series starts, of course. Cap was an old man by the time Avengers: Endgame finished, having handed over the shield to Sam. And while we always knew The Falcon and the Winter Soldier would be set after Endgame, we finally know just when—roughly six months after Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Cap, and the rest defeated Thanos and brought back everyone he snapped out of existence.
The specificity of six months is important. When director Kari Skogland spoke with Collider, she said, “Everything narratively was informed by that event for us. It meant that we’re just past the shock of it. We’re just past the joy of it — because we’re imagining that there would be a lot of joy, in people returning. Now we’re into the reality of it, which is complicated.” It’s an intriguing premise, setting the series essentially during a global hangover, after celebrating the return of loved ones must turn into figuring out how to piece the world back together. It’s also a very weird time for the MCU writ large—Iron Man and Cap and Black Widow and Vision are all gone (despite the upcoming Black Widow and the recently concluded WandaVision), and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier will give us our first proper glimpse at what the MCU will look like going forward.
L-r: Falcon/Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), director Kari Skogland, and Sarah Wilson (Adepero Oduye) on the set of Marvel Studios’ The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.’ Photo by Chuck Zlotnick. Courtesy Marvel Studios.
How complicated is the world in which Sam and Bucky are trying to operate in and protect? Arguably even more complicated than when half the population had been erased. Here’s Skogland to Collider on some of their challenges: “With half the population Blipped away, you’ve got different economic circumstances, different border circumstances. Different countries were cooperative, that weren’t before. Neighbors are cooperating, who weren’t necessarily getting along before. People moved into houses that they didn’t own before. Everything changed. Now we’re into that moment. We’re past the surprise of it and now we’re into the realities of it. I think that makes for a very different place in the story, because we can get not only grounded about it, but we can drill into how people respond to that. Some of it’s good and some of it’s not so good.”
This is potent territory for the series to explore. It also helps explain why The Falcon and the Winter Soldier consists of hour-long, action-packed episodes—there’s going to be a lot for our begrudging partners to take on. We don’t have to wait long to see how these two capable, if very different, heroes face the challenge–The Falcon and the Winter Soldier premieres on Disney+ on march 19.
And in case you missed it, here’s the final trailer.
For more stories on what’s streaming or coming to Disney+, check these out:
We’ve shared the early reactions, the final trailer, and now, a huge cache of new photos—all there’s left to do is watch the darn thing. At long last, Zack Snyder’s Justice League is upon us, premiering on HBO Max on March 18. With a runtime of four hours, Zack Snyder’s Justice League is easily the longest superhero film ever released—longer than both Avengers: Infinity and Avengers: Endgame. Yet thanks to these strange times we live in, and the unique nature of this release, we’ll all get to watch Justice League in the comfort of our own homes, meaning we can pause whenever we like. Plus, the fact that the film is broken into six chapters means that, for those not prepared to ingest the whole meal at once, you have pre-built demarcations for where you can pause.
Now onto the photos, which gives us a sense of just how much new stuff Snyder put into this film. The two most intriguing images for our money are of the film’s big bads, Ciarán Hinds’ Steppenwolf and Ray Porter’s Darkseid, the latter a brand new addition to the film. You’ll also get Superman (Henry Cavill) in his black suit, one of the (many) things Snyder had envisioned for his film that was left out of the theatrical release in 2017.
Check out the photos below:
Ciarán Hinds (Steppenwolf). Courtesy HBO Max.Jason Momoa (Aquaman / Arthur Curry), Gal Gadot (Diana Prince / Wonder Woman), Ray Fisher (Cyborg / Victor Stone). Courtesy HBO.Ezra Miller (The Flash / Barry Allen). Courtesy HBO Max.Ray Fisher (Cyborg / Victor Stone). Courtesy HBO Max.Ben Affleck (Batman / Bruce Wayne), Gal Gadot (Diana Prince / Wonder Woman), Zack Snyder (Director). Courtesy HBO Max.Gal Gadot (Diana Prince / Wonder Woman). Courtesy HBO Max.Ray Fisher (Cyborg / Victor Stone). Courtesy HBO Max.Henry Cavill (Superman / Clark Kent). Courtesy HBO Max.Henry Cavill (Superman / Clark Kent). Courtesy HBO Max.Ben Affleck (Batman / Bruce Wayne). Courtesy HBO Max.Ray Fisher (Cyborg / Victor Stone), Ezra Miller (The Flash / Barry Allen), Ben Affleck (Batman / Bruce Wayne), Henry Cavill (Superman / Clark Kent), Gal Gadot (Diana Prince / Wonder Woman), Jason Momoa (Aquaman / Arthur Curry). Courtesy HBO Max.Joe Morton (Silas Stone). Courtesy HBO Max.Ray Porter (Darkseid). Courtesy HBO Max.Jason Momoa (Aquaman / Arthur Curry). Courtesy HBO Max.Jason Momoa (Aquaman / Arthur Curry), Ray Fisher (Cyborg / Victor Stone), Ezra Miller (The Flash / Barry Allen). Courtesy HBO Max.
Here’s the official synopsis:
Batman and Wonder Woman enlist a team capable of protecting the world from the impending threat of Steppenwolf and his Parademon army, who are scouring the universe for three hidden Mother Boxes that would enable Steppenwolf to transcend worlds, lay waste to all enemies, and restore his good standing with his master, Darkseid. Though most of Batman and Wonder Woman’s initial efforts are met with resistance, they ultimately recruit Aquaman, Cyborg, and The Flash. But in order to help preserve the future of mankind, first they must each overcome their own demons.
After Steppenwolf secures two of the boxes buried deep within Themyscira and Atlantis, the superheroes are forced to take advantage of Cyborg’s unique connection to the one remaining. Harnessing the box’s capabilities to resurrect a final team member, they inadvertently provide Steppenwolf with an opportunity to obtain it – setting him up for imminent domination. With DeSaad and Darkseid waiting in the wings and posing catastrophic threats of their own, can this unique band of heroes dismantle the Mother Boxes before Steppenwolf’s synchronization is complete?
An epic, unabridged, and wildly different cut that will more than satisfy the fans who championed its release, Zack Snyder’s Justice League offers a bounty of extended fight scenes; deeper dives into character history – including a brand-new backstory for Victor Stone, his father, and Star Labs, which ties directly into one of the Mother Boxes’; expanded roles for Steppenwolf, Lois Lane, and Martha Kent; two additional forces of evil; and so much more.
For more on Zack Snyder’s Justice League, check out these stories:
For more on HBO and HBO Max, check out these stories:
The Mauritanian director Kevin Macdonald has plumbed the depths of state-sanctioned terror before, notably in his riveting 2006 film The Last King of Scotland, featuring a ferocious performance by Forest Whitaker playing Ugandan dictator Idi Amin. His work in The Mauritanian might seem, on first blush, to be another trip to the dark side. Yet Macdonald’s film, led by stellar performances from Jodie Foster, Benedict Cumberbatch, and, most crucially, Tahar Rahim, is centered not on brutality by on core decency.
That decency exists, first and foremost, in Rahim’s portrayal of the titular Mauritanian, Mohamedou Slahi, who was scooped up at a wedding in the North African country following 9/11, and ultimately accused—but never sentenced—of aiding and abetting the terrorists who flew planes into the World Trade Towers. Slahi spent more than 14-years in America’s noman’s land prison, Guantanamo Bay, where he was tortured into confessing to things he didn’t actually do. The film is based on Slahi’s memoir “Guantanamo Diary,” and both Rahim and Macdonald said not a moment went by when they weren’t cognizant of the fact that they were telling this remarkable man’s story. “I’ve never met anyone as extraordinary as him in my whole life,” Macdonald says of Slahi. “He has this warmth to him, this humor, this intelligence, this incredible ability to empathize, and there’s also a kind of naivete and innocence about him that’s very sweet. So, I wanted to make a film about that particular person going through this, rather than a nakedly political film.”
L-r: Tahar Rahim and Kevin Macdonald on the set of “The Mauritanian.” Courtesy STX.
To that end, The Mauritanian is, in Macdonald’s telling, a feel-good film.
“It’s an inspiring movie,” Macdonald says. “I know that people tend to say, ‘Oh it’s a movie set in Guantanamo about a prisoner, it involves torture,’ but it’s a very human movie about amazing characters who are all heroic in their own way. To me it’s not a dark movie in that way, to me it’s actually a movie about the best and the worst that human beings can do.”
Rahim, a French-Algerian actor who made such an indelible impression in Jacques Audiard’s riveting 2009 drama A Prophet, is simply sensational here as a man trying to keep his sanity, and humanity, in insane and inhumane conditions. He’s defended by Jodie Foster’s attorney Nancy Hollander, who struggles, for years, to remind colleagues that Slahi is, or should be, entitled to certain inalienable rights. This was a hard case to make in the post 9/11 environment when not only fear but a rapacious appetite for revenge was in the air in the circles of power within the American government and its legal representatives.
“I think obviously with a subject like this, you couldn’t have made this film within ten years of 9/11,” Macdonald says. “I think in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 and in the first few years, there was so much anger and so much irrationality attached to the period, and the wound that caused to America, I don’t think anyone would have agreed to finance it, or gone to see it if it had been financed.” By the time it did become possible, Macdonald was prepared to help tell Slahi’s story. “It does feel like 9/11 now is twenty years ago, it’s becoming history. I think a film like this is able to be made where we can say, ‘What about the other side? What about the people who suffered from the Muslim side of this? A Muslim man accused of terror was treated appallingly, like a lot of the people in Guantanamo. The estimate is that over 80% of the people who were in Guantanamo had nothing at all to do with terrorism, and they were just picked up mostly in Afghanistan because of the leaflets that were dropped by the U.S. military saying turn in Al Qaeda veteran and get $10,000.”
Mohamedou Slahi’s case wasn’t without its nuances, and suspicions of him weren’t completely fabricated from nothing. “The vast majority of people who ended up in Guantanamo, it’s now recognized had nothing at all to do with terrorism,” Macdonald says. “Mohamedou was one of them, but he had a slightly more complex and interesting story than being a farmer.”
German intelligence picked up a phone call from Bin Laden’s satellite phone to Slahi, and while he wasn’t actually involved in any way to 9/11, this connection was more than enough. “He got picked up because, as one of the interrogators said to him, ‘You’re just like all the 9/11 terrorists. You’re a Muslim man, educated in the West, did a technical degree—which in his case was electrical engineering—who went to Afghanistan, who trained,'” Macdonald says. “So he fit the profile, an intelligent, Westernized Muslim, and he’d gotten that phone call from Bin Laden’s sat phone, and that was the thing. The German Secret Service picked up on that, he was then put on a watch list.”
Tahar Rahim in “The Mauritanian.” Courtesy STX.
One of the things Rahim told us was that while his character is the film’s central focus and emotional draw, and Foster’s dogged defense attorney is easy to root for, it’s Cumberbatch’s military prosecutor Stuart Couch whose arc is most important. He begins the film pressing for Slahi to get the death penalty, but he is a man of principle, and the more he learns about Slahi’s case, and his treatment in Guantanamo, the more he begins to question everything. “It’s the system that’s bad,” Macdonald says, “there isn’t a bad guy in this film. There’s a guy who we think at the beginning—Benedict’s character—is going to be the bad guy. One of the fascinating things about this story is Benedict’s prosecutor is a Marine guy, a lawyer, a Republican, a Christian, everything you’d normally think that make him the guy who is going to bring Mohademou down and be a proponent of torture, but the reality is that Stuart Couch is an incredibly brave man who stood up against the flow of everyone saying, ‘We’ve got to get this guy the death penalty, it doesn’t matter what shortcuts we take. It’s our job to avenge 9/11.’ That took a lot of guts.”
Benedict Cumberbatch and Kevin Macdonald on set of “The Mauritanian.” Courtesy STX
Macdonald was intent on not objectifying the torture Slahi endures, but rather make it very specific to this person we learn to care about over the course of the movie. “What I want to do is make it subjective,” Macdonald says. “To be with Mohamedou as much as possible, to be in his head. We’ve had a long time to get to know him and hopefully really like him by the time we get to the point where we see him being mistreated, so we’re empathizing with him fully. We’re not on the outside looking abstractly.”
As for Jodie Foster, Macdonald was, of course, well aware she doesn’t take on my roles these days. “I never expected her to do the film,” he says. “I sent this to her because I thought Nancy was her. I sent it to her knowing she’d say no because she doesn’t really act anymore.” Yet he got in touch with Foster’s agent and, three days later, Foster replied. ” She really engaged in with the politics, she engaged with Mohademdou and his plight, she worked her socks off publicizing it. Her level of engagement is a tribute to her, and she’s also just a fantastic actor who taught me a lot.”
Kevin Macdonald and Jodie Foster on set of “The Mauritanian.” Courtesy STX
Foster’s pedigree can be daunting, even for a director as skilled as Macdonald. “It can be a little intimidating because she’s worked with so many amazing directors, she brought her total commitment to it, and never once made me feel like, oh, I’ve been directed by Scorsese and Zemeckis, who are you? She’s not like that. She’s totally responsive to you as a director, totally responsive to notes, just a really lovely person to work with. She should act more!”
Foster is also no the first actor/director Macdonald has worked with. “I once did a film with Ben Affleck, who had made a couple of great movies already, and you’re conscious of the fact they know what’s going on on the other side of the camera,” he says. “But in both cases, with Ben and Jodie, they’re really able to switch off, I think they find it a bit of a relief. That’s your problem, they might think. I’m just here to act!”
The Mauritanian is available On Demand now.
Featured image: Kevin Macdonald and Tahar Rahim on set of “The Mauritanian.” Courtesy STX
The 93rd Academy Awards will air live, on ABC, this April 25, and your nominees are officially in. This year marked the first time the Academy waived the requirement that a film had to have a limited theatrical release in order to qualify, a nod to our shared reality in which the pandemic laid waste to the film release schedule, thousands of theaters were closed, and many big titles were delayed.
Without further ado, let’s get to the nominees. David Fincher’s Mankleads with 10 nominations, while Darius Marder’s Sound of Metal and Lee Isaac Chung’s Minarihad the next largest haul, grabbing 7 nominations each. Close behind them are Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland, Shaka King’s Judas and the Black Messiah, Emerald Fennell’s Promising Young Woman, and Aaron Sorkin’s The Trial of the Chicago 7all garnered six nominations.
We’ll have more on the nominations later, but for now, here’s the full list:
Judas and the Black Messiah – Will Berson & Shaka King
Minari – Lee Isaac Chung
Promising Young Woman – Emerald Fennell
Sound of Metal – Darius Marder & Abraham Marder
The Trial of the Chicago 7 – Aaron Sorkin
Best Adapted Screenplay
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm – Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Dan Swimer, Peter Baynham, Erica Rivinoja, Dan Mazer, Jena Friedman, and Lee Kern
The Father – Christopher Hampton and Florian Zeller
Nomadland – Chloe Zhao
One Night in Miami – Kemp Powers
The White Tiger – Ramin Bahrani
Best International Film
Another Round – Demark
Better Days – Hong Kong
Collective – Romania
The Man Who Sold His Skin – Tunisia
Quo Vadis, Aida? – Bosnia and Herzegovinia
Best Documentary Feature
Collective
Crip Camp
The Mole Agent
My Octopus Teacher
Time
Best Documentary – Short Subject
Colette
A Concerto Is a Conversation
Do Not Split
Hunger Ward
A Love Song for Latasha
Best Animated Feature Film
Onward
Over the Moon
A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon
Soul
Wolfwalkers
Best Film Editing
The Father
Nomadland
Promising Young Woman
Sound of Metal
The Trial of the Chicago 7
Best Cinematography
Judas and the Black Messiah
Mank
News of the World
Nomadland
The Trial of the Chicago 7
Best Production Design
The Father
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Mank
News of the World
Tenet
Best Costume Design
Emma.
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Mank
Mulan
Pinocchio
Best Makeup & Hairstyling
Emma.
Hillbilly Elegy
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Mank
Pinocchio
Best Visual Effects
Love and Monsters
The Midnight Sky
Mulan
The One and Only Ivan
Tenet
Best Original Score
Da 5 Bloods
Mank
Minari
News of the World
Soul
Best Original Song
“Fight for You” – Judas and the Black Messiah
“Hear My Voice” – The Trial of the Chicago 7
“Husavik” – Eurovision
“Io Si (Seen” – The Life Ahead
“Speak Now” – One Night in Miami
Best Sound
Greyhound
Mank
News of the World
Soul
Sound of Metal
Best Live-Action Short Film
Feeling Through
The Letter Room
The Present
Two Distant Strangers
White Eye
Best Animated Short Film
Burrow
Genius Loci
If Anything Happens, I Love You
Opera
Yes-People
Featured image: (L-r) DARRELL BRITT-GIBSON as Bobby Rush, DANIEL KALUUYA as Chairman Fred Hampton and LAKEITH STANFIELD as Bill O’Neal in Warner Bros. Pictures’ “JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo by Glen Wilson
Earlier we shared what’s likely the final trailer for Zack Snyder’s Justice League, and now we can provide the early reactions to the film from critics and journalists. With only a few days remaining until Snyder’s second crack at Justice League bows on HBO Max, there are people out there who can actually tell us whether all this hype and hoopla has paid off. We know Snyder’s film is a four-hour extravaganza (luckily, there are six chapters, meaning six built-in breaks, should you need them), but how does the film play?
The initial reactions are…very positive! It seems Snyder really has delivered on his promise of bringing out a more cohesive, emphatic storyline. The reasons these assorted superheroes team up, so long used to working alone, is just one aspect that Snyder’s cut gives more time to. Most of the reactions note that while, sure, four hours is a long time, Snyder’s cut is vastly superior to the theatrical film in just about every way. Oh, and HBO Max is the perfect medium to enjoy it in.
Without further ado, here are a few of the initial takes:
#ZackSnydersJusticeLeague is the stronger cut by far. Yes, it’s long, but for most of that 4-hour running time, the material has purpose. The 2017 cut got away with the characters coming together simply because it was a superhero team-up movie …
Zack Snyder’s Justice League: I enjoyed it thoroughly. It’s both very different, and eerily similar, to the original film with almost all of the changes and additions improving the characters and story. Better motivations. Bigger stakes. It’s bloated but superior & worth the wait pic.twitter.com/h7PRADzeJn
#TheSnyderCut is loaded with scenes people haven’t seen & are going to love. It is such a better movie than the theatrical cut of #JusticeLeague. Night and day difference. Saying that have no idea how this version could have ever been released in theaters. Perfect for @hbomax. pic.twitter.com/Fnamv6GcKj
I can now say that I have watched #ZackSnydersJusticeLeague and it is far superior to the original theatrical version. Rich character development, much better action, a coherent story & some terrific badass moments. Definitely a long watch, but I never felt tired of it. Well done pic.twitter.com/QXyQLdUApv
#ZackSnydersJusticeLeague is bombastic, ambitious, and so rewarding. It’s the kind of cinematic storytelling the team has deserved for decades, and a complex love letter to the legacy of DC Comics as a whole. It’s not completely perfect, but the joy that it brought me was. pic.twitter.com/5U6jAJcd7L
#ZackSnydersJusticeLeague does indeed exist, I seen it THREE TIMES now, & IT IS FREAKIN’ AWESOME! I had an absolute blast watching each time & shocked at just how good it actually is and how well it plays! Action packed, it hits all the beats & that @Junkie_XL score is straight🔥 pic.twitter.com/UgFW1Le9kA
ZACK SNYDER’S JUSTICE LEAGUE is a masterpiece. Snyder brings his brilliant technical & emotional storytelling to an awesome continuation of what he beautifully built in MAN OF STEEL & BvS. Great mix of soundtrack & score. 1.33 aspect ratio is incredibly immersive. Loved R-Rating. pic.twitter.com/JWbZx9041K
And that’s a wrap, folks. Writer/director Matt Reeves The Batman has finally wrapped, which means that its March 4, 2022 release date feels entirely realistic now.
The last Batman-related news we got was in early January when it was revealed that Robert Pattinson, Ben Affleck, and Michael Keaton would all be playing the Caped Crusader in 2022. DC Films president Walter Hamada confirmed that the three actors will portray Gotham’s greatest in films set in parallel worlds. “I don’t think anyone else has ever attempted (the multiverse concept on screen),” Hamada told Brooks Barnes at the New York Times. “But audiences are sophisticated enough to understand it. If we make good movies, they will go with it.”
Now that the Pattison-led The Batman has wrapped and appears on schedule for its March 2, 2022 release, it seems this plan really will work out. This means that in 2022, we’ll have a 34-year-old Pattinson, the 48-year-old Affleck, and the 69-year-old Keaton all playing Batman across two Earths and many thousands of theaters. We’ll have gone from a pandemic-caused lack of Batman to a bounty of Batmans. We’re not complaining.
Reeves shared the good news about The Batman wrapping via Twitter:
The first trailer for The Batman that Reeves revealed at the 2020 DC FanDome event was fantastic, and now that they’ve wrapped, we should get an even more fulsome trailer in the nearish future detailing a bit more of the plot. The first trailer was scored to Nirvana’s “Something in the Way,” one of the moodiest pieces of music that the legendary band ever released, and it only hinted at the troubles in Gotham. It also seemed to tease the notion that Batman’s biggest foe in the film would be Paul Dano’s the Riddler, but we know there will be quite a few baddies about. The Batman boasts a rogues gallery, after all, including Zoé Kravitz’s Catwoman, John Turturro’s Carmine Falcon, and Colin Farrell as the Penguin (not glimpsed in the trailer.)
We should know more soon, now that filming is done.
For more on Warner Bros. and HBO Max, check out these stories:
We are a mere three days away from the long-awaited release of Zack Snyder’s Justice League. To that end, HBO Max has released the second trailer, with Snyder’s return to his epic superhero ensemble premiering this Thursday, March 18, on HBO Max.
The new trailer brings Darkseid (Ray Porter) into the center of the action, with his mission to maul a divided planet finally revealed. The basic gist of Darkseid’s plan seems very solid, in fact. Without Superman (Henry Cavill) around to protect Earth, humans and their pitiable planet are now open for supervillain business. It’ll be up to Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) and his brand new super-team to try and beat back both Darkseid and Steppenwolf (Ciarán Hinds).
Speaking of Superman, we know he doesn’t stay in the ground for good. The trailer also gives us a glimpse of him rocking his black suit, definitely not a good sign for Darkseid or Batman, for that matter. At least not initially. Not only is this new trailer available, but so, too, are the first reactions to Snyder’s souped-up film. We’ll have more on those soon.
For now, feast your eyes on the official second trailer, and remember, Zack Snyder’s Justice League finally arrives on March 18.
Here’s the official synopsis:
Batman and Wonder Woman enlist a team capable of protecting the world from the impending threat of Steppenwolf and his Parademon army, who are scouring the universe for three hidden Mother Boxes that would enable Steppenwolf to transcend worlds, lay waste to all enemies, and restore his good standing with his master, Darkseid. Though most of Batman and Wonder Woman’s initial efforts are met with resistance, they ultimately recruit Aquaman, Cyborg, and The Flash. But in order to help preserve the future of mankind, first they must each overcome their own demons.
After Steppenwolf secures two of the boxes buried deep within Themyscira and Atlantis, the superheroes are forced to take advantage of Cyborg’s unique connection to the one remaining. Harnessing the box’s capabilities to resurrect a final team member, they inadvertently provide Steppenwolf with an opportunity to obtain it – setting him up for imminent domination. With DeSaad and Darkseid waiting in the wings and posing catastrophic threats of their own, can this unique band of heroes dismantle the Mother Boxes before Steppenwolf’s synchronization is complete?
An epic, unabridged, and wildly different cut that will more than satisfy the fans who championed its release, Zack Snyder’s Justice League offers a bounty of extended fight scenes; deeper dives into character history – including a brand-new backstory for Victor Stone, his father, and Star Labs, which ties directly into one of the Mother Boxes’; expanded roles for Steppenwolf, Lois Lane, and Martha Kent; two additional forces of evil; and so much more.
For more on HBO and HBO Max, check out these stories:
Writer/director Ryan Coogler spoke to Jemele Hill on a recent episode of her podcast Jemele Hill is Unbotheredand shared the heartbreak, and the difficulty, of writing the script for Black Panther 2 without Chadwick Boseman. Boseman’s passing on August 28, 2020, at 43 years old, shocked his millions of fans worldwide, as it did the filmmaking community where he so respected and adored. Boseman had been quietly undergoing treatment for colon cancer while maintaining his busy work schedule, delivering stellar performances without letting much of the world know what he was going through. His passing was a colossal blow to the film community, his many fans, and to the millions of kids whose perceptions of what was possible, and whose stories mattered, were irrevocably changed when they saw him in Ryan Coogler’s 2018 juggernaut Black Panther.
What would happen to this incredibly rich, wonderful world that Boseman had helped Coogler create? This was one of the burning questions that Coogler has been facing, and that he opened up to Hill about. Marvel made it clear last December that Boseman’s role of T’Challa would not be recast. In speaking to Hill, Coogler talked about trying to focus on Black Panther 2 while also absorbing this massive loss. “One thing that I’ve learned in my short or long time on this Earth is that it’s very difficult to have perspective on something while you’re going through it,” Coogler told Hill. “It’s one of the more profound things that I’ve gone through in my life, having to be a part of keeping this project going without this particular person who is like the glue who held it together.”
Coogler has turned the loss into a reason to celebrate the fact he had a chance to come to know Boseman, to work with and befriend him. This perspective of gratitude has fueled him as he charts a path forward without his star. Yet because of the nature of Coogler’s work, he said the line between the personal and professional is blurred. “You have a professional life, you’ve got a personal life,” he told Hill. “Personal life, I’m going to say that when you work in something that you love, those things blend, they come together. I’m trying to find a work-life balance. But I’m not there yet, so this is without a question the hardest thing I’ve had to do in my professional life.”
The world will be waiting to see how Coogler handles Boseman’s passing. Black Panther was more than just a film, it was a cultural phenomenon. There is immense pressure on Coogler and his creative team to figure out a way to do the impossible; honor Boseman’s legacy, and the legacy of T’Challa, the King of Wakanda, while simultaneously creating a satisfying new chapter in the broader story of Black Panther. For anyone who has watched Coogler navigate his career, there is little doubt he will find a way.
Black Panther 2 is slated to premiere on July 8, 2022.
Last week we looked at the career of Anthony Mackie, the Falcon himself, who has been building to this moment for two decades now. The moment we’re referring to is starring in Marvel’s upcoming Disney+ series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which features Mackie’s high-flying Avenger Sam Wilson/The Falcon and Sebastian Stan’s tortured (and lethally effective) Winter Soldier as they deal with a world without Iron Man and Captain America. Now, Marvel has released a new video that tracks Falcon throughout the MCU, from the first time we met him in Captain America: The Winter Soldier through his heroic return in Avengers: Endgame.
You may have forgotten, but when first meet Sam Wilson, he keeps his abilities a secret—for a bit—from Steve Rogers. Sam was working at Veteran Affairs when he meets Steve while jogging around the National Mall in Washington D.C. Okay, to be more accurate, he watches as Steve blows past him several times while jogging. Anyway, soon enough Sam reveals his flying capabilities and becomes a major reason Cap is able to not only handle the Winter Soldier but also able to defeat a resurgent Hydra and a compromised S.H.I.E.L.D. From there, the Falcon officially joins the Avengers and takes part in the Battle of Sokovia in Avengers: Age of Ultron, protect the Avengers compound in the first Ant-Man, get Cap’s back in more ways than one in Captain America: Civil War, and, tragically, pay the ultimate price in Avengers: InfinityWar—only to rematerialize in Endgame and help the Avengers finally end Thanos. So yeah, Sam’s been through it all.
Yet now, for the first time, Sam’s leading the show in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Until that series premieres on Disney+ on March 19, you can get your crash course in the Falcon’s involvement in the MCU below:
Here’s the official synopsis from Marvel:
Marvel Studios’ “The Falcon and The Winter Soldier” stars Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson aka The Falcon, and Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes aka The Winter Soldier. The pair, who came together in the final moments of “Avengers: Endgame,” team up on a global adventure that tests their abilities—and their patience. Directed by Kari Skogland with Malcolm Spellman serving as head writer, the series also stars Daniel Brühl as Zemo, Emily VanCamp as Sharon Carter, and Wyatt Russell as John Walker.
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Featured image: Falcon/Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) in Marvel Studios’ ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.’ Photo by Chuck Zlotnick. Courtesy Marvel Studios.
In our first installment of our Future Critics series, sixth-grader and East Coaster Benji Cherukuri schooled us on the work of composers Nicholas Britell and Hans Zimmer. In our newest installment, eighth-grader and West Coaster Elisa Monagas gives us the goods on two epic film series, Frozen and Harry Potter, as well as sharing what she plans on being when she grows up (reader, we were both surprised and delighted).
While we won’t spoil what Elisa’s aspirations are, we can tell you that when she’s not discussing films with us, she loves playing board games and cards with her friends and enjoys watching (and performing in) musical theater. Over this past pandemic year, during her free time, Elisa seems to have watched the entire catalog of content available on Disney+! She lives with her two dads in Los Angeles, California.
Let’s get to it, shall we?
In part I, Elisa talks about one of her favorite film franchises, Frozen, and the importance of having a female director like Academy Award-winner Jennifer Lee, who co-wrote and co-directed Frozen and Frozen II and is one of the most successful filmmakers in Hollywood.
In Part II, Elisa touches upon her love of Disney’s animated movies (hence devouring the Disney+ catalog), then turns her attention to Harry Potter. A proper completist, Elisa only watches each new installment after she finishes the book it’s based on it. In our discussion, Elisa focuses specifically on two things—the incredible transformation of Ralph Fiennes into evil sorcerer Voldemort, and her love for (and connection to) Hermione Granger. For the Voldemort transformation, Elisa is duly impressed with the work of the CGI artists who managed to erase Ralph Fiennes nose—in every frame—to give him that snake-like visage. As for her connection to Hermione, well, this is partly where Elisa’s dream job comes into play.
There are few living Americans as iconic as Tina Turner. The legendary musician seemed like an unstoppable force during her early career, a dynamo capable of anything, everything. Her partnership, both romantically and musically, with Ike Turner seemed idyllic. For 16-years they’d co-created some of the most compelling music being produced, including hits like “A Fool in Love” and “Proud Mary.” Everything seemed perfect.
As the details of her personal life and the abusive, toxic, and controlling behavior of Ike became public, Turner became more than just a musical juggernaut, but a survivor. “I started to really see I had to make a change,” we hear Turner say in the official trailer for Tina, HBO’s upcoming documentary about her. But that change would difficult, and there was no guarantee Turner’s career would survive.
Academy Award-winning directors Dan Lindsay and T.J. Martin offer frank conversations with Turner, from her home in Zurich, Switzerland, as well as a treasure trove of never-before-seen footage, audiotapes, and personal photos to tell the story of Turner’s life. Or perhaps we should say, lives. Left with little more than her name after her divorce from Ike, Tina Turner rose from the ashes of that miserable relationship to record, at the age of forty-four, “Private Dancer” in just two weeks in 1983. It became a cultural phenomenon, as did the single “What’s Love Got to Do With It,” which rose to the number one spot on the Billboard 100. “Private Dancer” went on to sell 12 million copies, and Turner’s rebirth was official.
By 1993, Turner was being played by another legend, Angela Bassett, in a feature film about her life. Tina covers all of this, with archival footage that spans 60-years, and interviews with luminaries like Bassett and Oprah Winfrey, as well as music journalist Kurt Loder, who co-wrote “I, Tina,” Turner’s autobiography. Needless to say, this all makes for rich material, and Tina promises to give us a glimpse of one of the most enduring, beloved musicians of the 20th century.
Check out the trailer below. Tina debuts on HBO on March 27.
Here’s the synopsis from HBO:
Tina is a revealing and intimate look at the life and career of musical icon Tina Turner, charting her improbable rise to early fame, her personal and professional struggles throughout her life, and her even more improbable resurgence as a global phenomenon in the 1980s. The documentary debuts SATURDAY, MARCH 27 (8:00 PM- 10:00 PM ET/PT) on HBO and will be available to stream on HBO Max.
This unvarnished, dynamic account features insightful interviews with Tina herself, conducted in her hometown of Zurich, Switzerland, and with those closest to her. It also features a wealth of never-before-seen footage, audiotapes, and personal photos, telling a deep and absorbing story about the queen of rock ‘n’ roll in all its complexity.
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Composer Henry Jackman began composing his first symphony at the age of six. He has since risen to become one of film’s top composers, by leveraging both his classical training and his experience as a record industry producer. His diverse credits include working with Hans Zimmer on The Dark Knight, as well as many scores of his own, including Wreck-It Ralph, Kong: Skull Island, and Captain Phillips. He has been a longtime collaborator with producer/directors Joe and Anthony Russo, creating scores for 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, 21 Bridges, and most recently 2020’s Extraction. Now Jackman has partnered with the Russo Brothers again on their new film Cherry, starring Tom Holland. Decidedly indie in flavor, the film follows an army medic with post-traumatic stress disorder whose life devolves into drug addiction and serial bank robbery. For Cherry, Jackman masterfully combines more traditional classical elements, experimental sound washes, and quirky instrumentation into music that uniquely articulates the antiheroic protagonist’s emotions and trajectory. The Credits spoke to Henry Jackman about his score and the artistic freedom a great collaboration provides.
How did you get involved with the project, and what were some of the discussions with Joe and Anthony early on?
I’ve known Joe and Anthony since the days of Winter Soldier, and It’s been quite a collaboration. We’re constantly talking to each other. They mentioned this project a while ago, and it was something I was getting excited about because of the way they were talking about it. They were knee-deep in Avengers, but they had gotten this new company AGBO, and they outlined their artistic vision in general terms, and it seemed to me that Cherry was the centerpiece of their own artistic venture. I read the script, and you could tell from it that was a very unconventional, and there was an eccentricity and quirkiness to the writing and the approach. It wasn’t until I got the first cut that I saw that voice, that eccentricity, had been amplified massively. The sorts of skills we’ve seen Joe and Anthony succeed in on huge blockbusters were now suddenly focused on Cherry. Regardless of the inherent interest of the subject matter, the actual filmmaking was courageous and innovative, and of course, this impacts the music.
What is fascinating about the Cherry score is it has both experimental and traditional elements.
The mission brief was sort of, ‘Forget everything you know.’ We know that you’ve done all these symphonic scores. This is more like imagining being a recording artist who is making a really weird indie album. We’ve got to go really experimental’. This big speech about experimental sounds and weird textures was getting me really excited. Then Joe throws in, ‘On the one hand, it has to be not what you expect, contrapuntal, counterintuitive, and explorative, but it can’t just wind up being a sort of diverse dog’s breakfast of things that don’t come together. You’ve got to push the movie score outside of all the boundaries, and then you’ve got to bring it all back together again in a musical embrace, and make the whole thing unified’. I said, ‘Yeah, no problem. I’ll have it by tomorrow morning’.
L-r: Forrest Goodluck, Tom Holland, Kyle Harvey and Michael Gandolfini in “Cherry,” premiering globally March 12, 2021 on Apple TV+.
One of the most unexpected cues is “Carnival of Losers”, which sounds almost like a Chopin Mazurka.
One of the narrative themes of the movie that was important to discuss is the idea of the loser. It doesn’t matter whether it’s him going to a party, or him signing up to the military without a better thought of what do to with his life, in almost every situation he’s a bit of an outsider and at odds with everyone, including himself. We had a collaborative discussion about when we see him with James and his gang, with their going nowhere lives, in some car that hardly even works. Instead of having some sort of depressing, on-the-nose cue that is highlighting, in a really obvious way, the loser thing, what about if it was a bit witty and formal, and a bit more of a highbrow classical piece? The one thing you don’t expect to describe these guys’ lives and how hopeless they are is something formal.
The cues definitely play against the story.
Yes. A lot of these discussions had to do with counterpoint. We had two golden rules with Cherry. One was to not stray from the protagonist’s perspective, and two was whatever would be the obvious thing to do in the score, do the opposite. So blue-collar dudes, in a car, unemployed, smoking weed, you wouldn’t go, ‘Oh, I know. What about a Chopin-esque piano sonata?’ You end up with that slight rub between what you’re seeing onscreen and then being offered something that still plays into the idea of being a loser, but it comes at it from a slightly highbrow perspective. The other thing I did was, with the melody, I created something that has a downward gravitational pull. It’s ever heading downwards.
Did you set any rules for yourself? How did you get some of the sounds in the more experimental parts of the score?
One of the things I was avoiding was plug-ins. I was using a lot of synths from the late 70s and early 80s, and I was just playing them live with no sequencing. I would play until I found a take I liked, and then edit between a couple of takes, like the sort of thing you would have done in the late 70s. I was bouncing sounds back through synths to get these cruddy filtering effects, and half the time my synths are not particularly well-behaved. There’d be weird noises, and cables crackling, and a lot of the time I was pleased to find it would work out well. You start losing control of certain things in a good way. The overall effect, once you get done and you listen to it, is it isn’t some shiny, computer-y, overly controlled sound. It actually feels more human.
Tom Holland and Ciara Bravo in “Cherry,” premiering globally March 12, 2021 on Apple TV+.
The cue “Madison” is definitely Beatles-influenced.
That’s so well-spotted. Once we got a bit of a vibe going with “Madison,” I realized it just needed some color, that would simultaneously do a lot of things, and that, from a story point of view, suggests folly in some way. It also has to have a bit of old school about it, which makes Cherry feel a bit uncool, and not at all slick. I was thinking of “Fool on the Hill”, and so I added Mellotron flute. Some of the drum production’s a bit trip-hop influenced. I thought using the Mellotron flute might trigger a bit of the feeling of the absurd in a good way. With “Strawberry Fields” and “Fool on the Hill,” there’s something of the surreal associated with that sound, and it comes from that psychedelic period. It’s a melange of surreal sounds. You can imagine Joe and Anthony asking what is going on, but with the first version of the song, they asked if I could make it both dirtier and weirder somehow.
It’s wonderful to get that kind of affirmation from the directors.
That’s the encouragement you want. I can’t emphasize that enough. It affects the whole creative process if in the early days of cues you get a reaction of ‘Hey. Don’t go this far’. That will affect the whole musical journey of the score. If you think you’ve done something pretty cool and the reaction is, ‘Yes, this is cool. We need to go further. It’s got to be grimier, dirtier, sexier, and more surreal’, it’s a creative blank check. If this music is more interesting or experimental than other scores I’ve done, it’s only because it’s the territory where that is possible.
Cherry premiered in select theaters on February 26th, and globally on Apple TV+ on March 12th.
Featured image: Tom Holland in “Cherry,” premiering globally March 12, 2021 on Apple TV+.
