“Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” Production Designer Adam Stockhausen on That Thrilling Opening Sequence

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“There is a lot to draw from, but there’s also a very high bar in terms of how visually exciting these films have been,” says production designer Adam Stockhausen (The Grand Budapest Hotel) of the Indiana Jones franchise.

The four previous films – Raider of the Lost Ark (1981), Temple of Doom (1984), Last Crusade (1989), and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) – were all helmed by Steven Spielberg, but for Dial of Destiny, which is the final chapter for Harrison Ford as the rugged, snake-fearing, Nazi-hating archeologist, director James Mangold (Ford v Ferrari, Logan) blends a visual style that acknowledges the existing material while layering a nuanced look for this latest continent-skipping thrill ride.  

It’s 1969, and Indiana Jones (Ford) is on the verge of retirement from teaching at New York’s Hunter College until an unexpected visit from his goddaughter Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) upends his plans for packing it. Helena is in search of a mysterious dial her father, Basil Shaw (Toby Jones), obsesses over. Still in possession of it, Helena steals it from Indy, and the two become intertwined when an old Nazi foe, Dr. Voller (Mads Mikkelsen), wants it for his own evildoing. 

To set up the sought-after artifact, in this case, Archimedes’ Dial, which may have the power to turn back time, the film opens with a suspenseful, action-packed prologue akin to Indy’s hunt for the Golden Idol in Raiders. The scene picks up in 1944, near the end of WWII, with Nazi scum loading a train with antiquities. It’s here a 37-year-old Indy attempts to rescue his captured friend Basil aboard a moving train and, in doing so, becomes in possession of the mysterious dial.

Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) in Lucasfilm's IJ5. ©2022 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) in Lucasfilm’s IJ5. ©2022 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.

Stockhausen was tasked with turning back the clock and, through reference material, designed a locomotive inspired by Hitler’s personal wartime train, the Führersonderzug. “What Hitler had didn’t look exactly like ours,” he says. “We borrowed from all over the place, but the basic starting point came from the real thing.”

To pull off the sequence that sees Indy elude Nazi soldiers in order to save Basil, Stockhausen designed multiple train cars to shoot on stage at Pinewood Studios in the UK. Custom cars were built for the front commander’s office, the treasure carriage holding the stash of artifacts, and a cafeteria car where Indy cleverly dresses like a Nazi soldier in order to blend in. Interiors had wood paneling, period fixtures, and the creamy colors of the era. “Martin Foley, our supervising art director, and the whole team did such an amazing job drawing, painting, building, and dressing each one. They were all jewel boxes,” says Stockhausen.

Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) in Lucasfilm’s IJ5. ©2022 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.

With such tight quarters, Stockhausen collaborated closely with cinematographer Phedon Papamichael (Ford v Ferrari) to spark a moody tone. “There are a ton of practicals embedded throughout lighting the train,” says Stockhausen. “We never took the roof off to light through.” The challenge in placing the fixtures was twofold. There had to be enough to provide a certain level of light but not too much to overexpose the colors of the walls and ceiling. “We did our first go at it, and we had to paint them again darker for the sake of getting the right balance of light,” he notes.

 

For the exterior work, the train starts its trek at a railway station nearby a castle which Stockhausen combined two different locations: England’s Bamburgh Castle and North Yorkshire Moors Railway station. The interiors of the medieval castle were beautifully dressed by set decorator Anna Pinnock (Tenet) to recreate the time period, while visual effects supervisor Andrew Whitehurst (Ex Machina) and the VFX team stepped in for when the train is in motion and when Indy comes face to face with Voller atop the speeding train.

(L-R): Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford), Doctor Jürgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen) and Basil (Toby Jones) in Lucasfilm’s IJ5. ©2022 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
(Clockwise from right): Colonel Weber (Thomas Kretschmann) and Doctor Jürgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen) in Lucasfilm’s IJ5. ©2022 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.

In finding the exterior locations, Stockhausen looked to a new scouting technique during the peak isolation period of the pandemic. “Normally, you would hop on a plane and go look at all these places, but we weren’t able to do that,” he says. “There was an innovative remote scouting system that we used where we were able to have someone with a camera walk around places and send a high-quality broadcast to Jim [Mangold] in Los Angeles and me in New York. We were able to discuss the locations live while we were looking at them. That’s how we chose the castle, but then, of course, when we could, we went there and made sure we liked it. The technique was especially good for this film. Lockdown aside, Indy travels the world, and this was a really good way to check things out.”

(L-R): Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) and Teddy (Ethann Isidore) in Lucasfilm’s INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY. ©2023 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.

In creating the opening train sequence, Stockhausen says they wanted to capture the magic of an Indiana Jones adventure. “I am answering a little bit for Jim, but I know he’ll say from a story point of view, from a filmmaking point of view, and certainly from a design point of view, we were definitely trying to acknowledge the legacy and history of the existing material and films.”

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is in theaters now.

 

For more on Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, check out these stories:

New “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” Teaser & Photos Hype Harrison Ford’s Final Indy Adventure

Many of the Best Stunts in “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” Are Practical

Featured image: Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) in Lucasfilm’s IJ5. ©2022 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.

 

 

“Extraction 2” Director Sam Hargrave on Lighting Chris Hemsworth on Fire, That Helicopter Scene & More

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Extraction 2 is one of the most relentlessly action-packed movies of the summer, with the excitement of an 80s action epic paired with explosive, cutting-edge stunts that rival the thrills of Mission: Impossible and John Wick. In the second installment of the smash hit Netflix franchise, Tyler Rake (Chris Hemsworth) is back from the brink of death and lets his emotions lead him into another dangerous covert operation. The movie’s immersive style and never previously attempted stunts were led by director Sam Hargrave once again. Somehow, Hargrave upped his game from the first film.

In the first act alone, Hemsworth takes on a prison yard of attackers, catches fire, and keeps fighting. The actor was game to do the sequence as a practical effect rather than CGI. “I will take that as part of my legacy. The person who lit Chris Hemsworth on fire,” Hargrave said. He added with a laugh, “The first person to light him on fire.”

The eye-catching moment happens during a large-scale fight early in the film. Both the feat itself and the cinematic effect of the scene draw viewers in.

Extraction 2. Chris Hemsworth as Tyler Rake in Extraction 2. Cr. Jasin Boland/Netflix © 2023

“I wanted to mix elements together on camera. It’s snowing, it’s nighttime, and then the contrast to that to get people excited, I thought, light him on fire,” Hargrave said. “CGI fires wouldn’t have the same reality. There are great companies that do some great work, and there are times that it would be really good, but for this, we needed it to be practical to work. Yeah, so—we lit him on fire. Now he can go down in the history of the action genre as an actor who lit himself on fire.”

Extraction 2. Chris Hemsworth as Tyler Rake in Extraction 2. Cr. Jasin Boland/Netflix © 2023

The camera plunges audiences into a hostile Georgian prison for a first-person view of Rake helping a young mother and her two children escape. The rescue attempts – or extractions – are a signature of the franchise. They’re also more graphic in a hard R-rated style. As Tyler Rake fights his way through the prison to secure the safety of his two new charges, anyone who gets in his way is treated much the same way a mama bear treats someone who attempts to get between her and her cubs. 

The race to safety unfolds in a seemingly continuous shot, which makes for peak exhilaration. “We designed the oner to be experienced as one shot, to provide an intense, immersive experience for the audience. For logistical and technical reasons, we chose not to actually do the sequence in one shot but rather hide seamless edits at certain points to allow us to focus our energy and resources on the many challenging segments and then edit them together to appear like one continuous shot,” Hargrave revealed.

The stakes escalate as the foot race gives way to a car chase. The camera swoops between vehicles for a thrilling and dangerous feel. The cuts are truly invisible, but they were necessary for logistics, Hargrave said. Shots are firing, cars are crashing, and actors are delivering dialogue. All that has to be seen and heard clearly.

“For the car chase portion specifically, we used a variety of different methods to achieve the dynamic shots I wanted,” he explained. “We used handheld cameras on the front and back of a UTV, the operator – often me – strapped in for safety. We would pass cameras from one operator to another through the windows of cars. We used a tool we termed ‘The Magic Scepter,’ which was a small, RED Monstro camera on a stabilized head, attached to the end of a carbon fiber pole with a remote operator responsible for pan and tilt of the camera, giving us the hand-held feel that we wanted to maintain for the sequence. It was pretty awesome. It allowed us to get the camera into places a traditional camera car arm could not go, especially weaving in and out of the trees in the dense forest location.”

EXTRACTION 2: Director Sam Hargrave on the set of Extraction 2. Cr. Jasin Boland/Netflix © 2023

The most unbelievable and daring moment is so impressive that it doesn’t even look physically possible. In fact, the stunt team wasn’t sure that it was, but they were willing to try. Helicopter pilot Fred North, who Hargrave said is ‘probably the best pilot in the world,’ was eager to push the bounds of the craft with something new and unscripted.

“It was Fred’s idea to land the chopper on the moving train,” Hargrave credited. “In the script, the helicopter was meant to hover over the train and the bad guys ‘fast rope’ down onto the roof of the train. Still, a tricky thing to do. But when Fred came in to talk about that sequence, he pitched me the idea of landing the chopper on the train instead. I looked at him, eyes wide, and said, ‘Can you do that?’ He said, ‘I don’t know, but I’m pretty sure I can, and how awesome would that be?!’ He was absolutely right. It was totally awesome!”

Hargrave had a front-row view of the once-in-a-lifetime event. “To capture that shot, I was operating the camera and had to walk right past the chopper as it landed on the train. I was 4 feet away from the body of the chopper as it landed. I could have reached out and hi-fived Fred as he landed, which I totally wanted to do. It was such an awesome shot. We saved the hi-fives for after we were safely back at base camp.”

Impressing Hargrave with a novel stunt would be a challenge. Before making his feature film directorial debut with Extraction, he sharpened his action skills as an award-winning stuntman, stunt coordinator, second unit director, and actor. Avengers: Endgame, Avengers: Infinity War, and Atomic Blonde all appear on his lengthy resume.

“From a stunt perspective, there’s a unique understanding of action,” Hargrave said of ascending to the directors’ chair. “Just being on a film crew, you have exposure. I think it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert. The more you do it, the more you’re around it, the more you become an expert in that field.”

The influence of action and stunts in cinema is profound. Hargrave noted that it even appears in our everyday lexicon. “We say ‘cut to the chase.’ Get to why we’re here. Get to the part people came to see, which is the action. Stunts are vital to this art form.”

Vital and historic. Action sequences pre-date talking pictures. Yet, the contributions that stunts make to film are often appreciated more at the box office than during award season.

“Action in movies has a long legacy that started way back before sound was recorded. People were doing action to entertain audiences,” Hargrave explained. “Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Douglas Fairbanks. It’s really wild when you think about it, not to wax political, but the Oscar category. To have a facet of the filmmaking process — action or stunts — not be recognized when it’s older than sound and also digital effects, which has a category. It’s wild to have something so vital to the storytelling process and integral to cinema, and to have it not be recognized is quite interesting. The percentages of films in theaters or even on streaming services that have action in them, whether or not it’s all-around action, that’s what brings people to the film.”

For all the incredible set pieces in Extraction 2, Tyler Rake is driven by his emotions. There are some tear-jerking moments between the punches and firefights. In the end, Hargrave just wanted to make a great movie.

“I think that action is really only as good as the connection you have to the characters,” he said. “The more story and the more heart, you’re learning something about the characters through the action. I really started when I was younger, I was interested in film as an art form, and even before I went to film school, I was making short little videos with my friends. It was that overall desire to create a story for people. It took a lot to get there and go through the stunt world, but that was always the goal.”

Now in a professional capacity, Hargrave still credits his entire team for his successes. “Filmmaking is the most elaborate art form that I know of. You’re working with so many people. It takes so many creative minds to make something like this viable.”

 

Extraction 2 is now streaming on Netflix.

 

 

For more on big titles on Netflix, check these out:

“The Perfect Find” Director Numa Perrier on Creating Space For Romance With Gabrielle Union

“Extraction 2” Review Round-Up: Chris Hemsworth-led Action Film Punches Even Harder in Sequel

“Arnold” DP Logan Schneider on Shooting Schwarzenegger

Featured image: Extraction 2. Chris Hemsworth as Tyler Rake in Extraction 2. Cr. Jasin Boland/Netflix © 2023

 

Provincetown International Film Festival Honors the Great Billy Porter

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The irrepressible Billy Porter, actor, singer, and style maven, fit in perfectly with the quirky but sophisticated vibe of the Provincetown International Film Festival, which celebrated its 25th year June 14-18.

The Emmy, Tony, and Grammy award winner was this year’s Excellence in Acting Honoree at PIFF. Audiences also got an early look at his latest film, director Bill Oliver’s indie drama Our Son. Porter and Luke Evans portray husbands going through a divorce and fighting over the custody of their 8-year-old son.

To accept his award and engage in a conversation with author and film scholar B. Ruby Rich, Porter strode onto the stage at Town Hall wearing a long white linen tunic over black pants and adorned with chunky jewelry.

“I’ve always been a fashion person, always loved pushing the envelope,” Porter told the crowd. “I observed in this business what worked and what didn’t for people. Women get to play with looks and fashion and switch things up; men have to show up one way, or people question their masculinity which affects their paycheck. I took myself out of the masculinity game around 2005; it was not working for me. I thought, ‘I’ll never be masculine enough, so I’m going to the lane that is unoccupied and waiting until the world is ready.’”

L-r: Ruby Rich and Billy Porter. Courtesy Provincetown Film Festival.

Porter first grabbed attention as a Tony Award winner for the Broadway musical Kinky Boots. But his popular culture breakthrough came with his performance as Pray Tell in the FX series Pose, which earned him an Emmy in 2019. Porter recently appeared alongside Camila Cabello in director Kay Cannon’s Cinderella remake, playing the fairy Godmother. He’s also featured in the year’s hit comedy 80 For Brady.

 

Porter cited three disparate films that were major influences on him growing up in Pittsburgh: Spike Lee’s School Daze; Steven Spielberg’s The Color Purple; and Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet.

“I saw School Daze while I was in high school, and I’d never seen anything like it before. I was mesmerized. And it was a musical, low key but for real,” said Porter. “The Color Purple is Out of Africa for Black people. It’s epic even though it is trauma porn — Alice Walker, no shade — but what Spielberg was able to do was honor the history of the people. I love Baz Luhrmann! As a musical theater person, as a flamboyant person, he moves me with his unapologetic flamboyance. I trained [at Carnegie Mellon University] in the classics in the 1980s …. but what I love about Romeo + Juliet is it cracks open that classic text and puts it in a contemporary world so everyone on the planet could understand it.”

Porter traced his origins as an entertainer, now an Oscar away from EGOT status, to singing as a five-year-old in the church. He acknowledged his immediate and extended family for putting him on a path to success in show business. “I am grateful for the angels in my life early on who swept in and showed me different perspectives. Often, for Black underprivileged kids, it’s sports, but for me, it was the arts. They put me on the right road and taught me how to dream beyond my circumstance,” he said.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – JUNE 25: Actor Billy Porter participates in the annual Pride March on June 25, 2023 in New York City. Heritage of Pride organizes the event and supports equal rights for diverse communities without discrimination. (Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)

But, he added, “There was nothing that looked like me. By the time I got into Carnegie Mellon University for acting, they were putting stents on my wrists to make sure I would be perceived as masculine enough. It was 1987; they were trying to teach me to how to get work. The only [role models] were James Earl Jones, Denzel Washington, and Eddie Murphy — all straight and very often violently so. For the first 25 years of my career, I spent time trying to create space for something I’d never seen.”

Porter discussed his much-buzzed-about new project, a biopic of the renowned writer and intellectual James Baldwin. Porter will star as Baldwin and co-write the film with Dan McCabe, based on the 1994 book James Baldwin: A Biography by David Leeming.

“I was pitching a Sammy Davis, Jr. project to Byron Allen [of Allen Media Group Motion Pictures], and he said, ‘No. You have to do James Baldwin.’ That’s how it happened,” said Porter. “I was [recently] at a party talking to a professor in Toronto, and he didn’t know who James Baldwin was. That is unacceptable.”

The cadence of Porter’s speech and his measured but passionate response to Rich’s question about his youth in the church indicated what he might bring to a portrait of the fierce orator Baldwin.

“I grew up in the Pentecostal church, a space that was as dangerous as it was inspiring,” said Porter. “The fashion part, the love-your-neighbor part, there were so many things I got. But religion is man-made; spirituality is divine. God and the Bible have been weaponized … for the purpose of the power structure,” he said. “I am a survivor of sexual abuse from age seven to 12, and you are preaching from the pulpit that I’m the problem? Don’t get me wrong; this is not about bashing religion. It is about understanding how together we can hold the religious community responsible and build a different infrastructure spiritually.”

Featured image: L to R John Waters, Bully Porter, Andrew Peterson, PIFF’s programming director.

 

“Dune: Part Two” Trailer Reveals Love, War, & Christoper Walken’s Emperor Shaddam IV

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The official trailer for Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two is as magisterial and majestic as you’d expect, yet it also hints at what so many of the folks involved in the final film—we’re looking at you, Dave Bautista—have said about the second installment—it’s an absolutely ripping adventure.

The trailer opens with Timotheé Chalamet’s Paul Atreides in the desert of Arrakis, the vast, dangerous dune fields where he and his mother, Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), escaped after House Harkonnen’s brutal assault and slaughter of so many members of House Atreides in Part One. Paul and Lady Jessica were able to escape thanks to Chani (Zendaya), a member of the Fremen community who lives in the desert and who have called Arrakis home for generations. Yet Paul wasn’t looking to simply escape—he went into the desert with the hopes of leading the Fremen to a victory over House Harkonnen, the longstanding despotic overlords of the Spice-rich planet who have brutalized the Fremen, murdered his father, and killed so many of their friends. Unlike his father, Duke Atreides (Oscar Isaac), Paul believes in and actively seeks revenge. Part Two will track Paul’s struggle with his growing powers, his role as a prophet, and the powers aligning against him.

The official trailer reveals a lot of the new faces that will play such crucial roles in the final installment. Those include Austin Butler’s Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen, a young, brutal warrior whose destiny is intertwined with Paul’s (their fight is one of the most iconic moments in Frank Herbert’s book). There’s also Florence Pugh’s Princess Irulan Corrino, Léa Seydoux’s Lady Margot, and Christopher Walken’s Emperor Shaddam IV, the prime mover in the galactic empire, who is glimpsed for the first time here.

The trailer also reveals the return of one of Paul’s allies, Josh Brolin’s Gurney Halleck, a key ally going forward. While Part One was a brilliant piece of filmmaking and an incredible table-setter, the official trailer for Part Two reveals just how much of the most thrilling parts of Herbert’s story Villeneuve and his co-writer Jon Spaihts saved for last.

Check out the official trailer below. Dune: Part Two hits theaters on November 3.

For more on Dune: Part Two, check out these stories:

Warner Bros. Unveils Stunning “Dune: Part Two” Trailer at CinemaCon

Dave Bautista Says “Dune: Part Two” is More Cutthroat & Amped Up

Denis Villeneuve Adds Tim Blake Nelson to “Dune: Part Two”

“Dune: Part Two” Wraps Filming

Featured image: Caption: (L-r) TIMOTHÉE CHALAMET as Paul Atreides and ZENDAYA as Chani in Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures’ action adventure “DUNE: PART TWO,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Niko Tavernise

“Swagger” Creator Reggie Rock Bythewood on Soaring to New Narrative Heights in Season 2

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When looking for their next favorite series, fans of engaging drama—bonus points if you’re a lover of basketball—should look no further than creator and director Reggie Rock Bythewood’s series Swagger, which just premiered its second season on Apple TV+.

Based on the youth basketball experience of NBA superstar Kevin Durant, the story is centered around the Maryland-based team “Swagger DMV,” coached by Ike Edwards (O’Shea Jackson Jr.), a man committed to making both great ballers and world citizens of his team, led by star player Jace Carson (Isaiah Hill). Jace and his teammates are close both on and off the court. He also gets support from his mom, Jenna (Shinelle Azoroh), a woman sacrificing to make his son’s dream a reality, and his best friend Crystal (Quvenzhané Wallis), who is, herself, a player ranked among the best in the country. 

At the start of the first season, Jace is 14. The second season moves into the future, with most members of Swagger DMV in their junior or senior year in high school. Coach Ike and nearly his whole team have moved to an elite, mostly white private school, where he must work with strong-willed athletic director Dr. Emory Lawson (Orlando Jones). Jace and Crystal are moving beyond their friendship into romantic territory, and Jace’s teammates Nick (Jason Rivera), Phil (Solomon Irama), Royale (Ozie Nzeribe), and Musa (Caleel Harris) are all dealing with their own growing pains and challenges. 

Though Swagger is, first and foremost, a show about basketball, Bythewood interweaves these well-developed characters and their experiences into stories that speak to the most pressing issues of social justice happening today. The Credits spoke to Reggie Rock Bythewood about that balance, his inspiration for the look and feel of the show, and a riveting basketball game at mid-season that is shot all in one take. 

 

Swagger deploys mazes as a strong motif, which runs through both seasons of the series. It’s in the opening titles, the first scene of the series, and shows up both in the visual language and as part of the storyline. 

The opening image of Swagger is Jace being given a hand-drawn maze by his father. It becomes a metaphor for life because life is not a straight line. There are twists, turns, obstacles, and opportunities, and when we tap into the maze as a societal position, you can think of the civil rights movement, reconstruction, and the events of 2020 as part of this maze we’re all in. We either choose to move out, or we choose to stay stuck. Because that’s so much a part of our storytelling, it didn’t feel right to just call our shows episodes, so we called them mazes. Then the maze became a part of our cinematic approach. Even the way we film basketball feels like we’re a part of the action and have everybody all in the same maze. Playwright Edward Albee once said, “Sometimes you’ve got to go a long distance out of your way to come back a short distance correctly.” It really made sense for us and everyone else crazy enough to embrace this idea.

Isaiah Hill and Torshawn Roland  in Episode 205 “Are We Free” of Swagger ( (photo courtesy of Apple)

The opening titles for the show were done by artist Lisa Whittington, and her painting “Emmett Till: How She Sent Him and How She Got Him Back” was a big inspiration for the series. Explain the impact the art had on the visual color story and story arcs of Swagger. 

The first season began with Jace at 14, so I thought about the most famous 14-year-old in American history, Emmett Till. I started to look at paintings and imagery of him, wondering if I would pull a color palette from there, and then I came across Lisa Whittington’s painting of Emmet. Inside it, there were what I came to call Emmett Blue, Emmett Yellow, and Emmett Red. All of these colors symbolize something for us, and they have a strong influence on the color palette of the first season. In the second season, we didn’t go away from those colors completely, but the color palette matured and grew up a little bit to reflect that the characters are older. 

Both seasons have color stories in which the colors get muted in the middle and spring back to life or brighten at the end of the season. 

Sometimes when you do something like this, you don’t necessarily expect an audience to realize that, but you think sometimes subconsciously, it’ll filter in, and some might pick up on it. We do give the color an arc and the wardrobe an arc. They’re telling their own story. 

L-r: O’Seah Jackson Jr. and Isaiah Hill in “Swagger.” Courtesy Apple.

There’s a show in the second season, “Are We Free,” where Team Swagger plays at a juvenile detention center, and the entire basketball game is filmed in one shot. It was inspired by what cinematographer Roger Deakins did in 1917.

Cinematically, 1917 is such a beautifully shot film, and it looks like it’s all in this one shot, but obviously, they hid cuts, and originally, that was going to be our approach. “Why don’t we find a way to compose this basketball game where we can hide cuts, but it still feels seamless, like it’s one shot?”  Then we were in rehearsal and getting closer, and I just kept feeling like we could pull it off.  No hiding cuts; let’s just do it. And so I huddled with cinematographer Cliff Charles and cameraman John Lyke, who we call Roller Red because he’s on rollerblades while he’s shooting the camerawork. The other thing is we just had great help from our cast, who worked really hard in achieving the choreography. We would do speed changes, so it’d be fast, then slow motion, and then back to 24 frames, but within all that, we never cut. I think it put us into the game in a way we haven’t been inside of one before. 

Cast of Swagger in Episode 205 “Are We Free” of Swagger (photo courtesy of Apple.)

And there’s meaning that goes beyond the basketball itself. 

Right. There’s also the social element of it, with them feeling confined to this one space. They’re playing on a basketball court with a chain link fence all the way around it, so it’s almost like its own little incarcerated game. And the question of, “Are we free?” just permeates the story throughout that entire hour of the show.

Was it all choreographed? 

There was very specific choreography, but it’s basketball, so sometimes we don’t make our shots. If somebody’s making a basket, we don’t use visual effects for that. We don’t lower the rim; it’s at 10 feet, so because it’s basketball, somebody might shoot and miss it. When that happened, we kept going. We actually have another version of the game where the team that loses in this show wins, as opposed to the team that won when we shot. So the choreography was specific, but all the sorts of things that were mistakes ended up becoming great mistakes, and there’s a documentary-esque quality to that scene that came through, I think. 

Episodio 2. Jordan Rice, Isaiah Hill, and Shinelle Azoroh in “Swagger.” Courtesy Apple.

In Swagger, there are women in front of and behind the camera, in the writing, editing, producing, and everywhere below the line. You even had Jordan Rice, who plays Jace’s sister Jackie, and is an aspiring director, shadow you. Can you speak to that? 

Well, taking it outside of any political correctness, it just feels very organic to me to have a diverse set and to work with very talented women. I don’t do it because it’s the right thing to do, which it is; I do it because it makes the product better. The women that work on the show have raised the level of Swagger, and so it’s just me being smart. I’m surrounded on my set by really smart, creative people who just happen to be women.  In particular, for 205,  “Are We Free,” I really enjoyed my collaboration with Racquel Baker, who wrote the script with me. She’s on the rise, and I just know we’re going to be hearing from her a lot. Also, Angela Latimer, I think, is one of the best editors I’ve ever worked with. I’m fortunate to have so many talented people on this show. 

Supervising producer E. Monique Floyd, Reggie Rock Bythewood, and John Carlos on the set of Episode 205 “Are We Free” of Swagger ( (photo courtesy of Apple TV+) 

Next, you’re working on Genius: MLK/X, about Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Your Swagger episode “Are We Free” features John Carlos, who raised his fist at the 1968 Olympics. Why are projects that have a social justice component important to you? 

I think it’s really important to do storytelling from a lens that aspires to hold a mirror up to society to challenge perspectives and give humanity to real-life people and fictional characters that haven’t been out there and just give voice to our culture.

 

New episodes of Swagger Season Two stream every Friday on Apple TV+.

 

 

 

 

For more stories on Apple TV series and films, check these out:

“Stephen Curry: Underrated” Trailer Shows how an NBA Legend Was Made

Watch Dinosaurs Protect Their Eggs in “Prehistoric Planet 2” Clip With Sir David Attenborough

“Killers of the Flower Moon” Trailer Unveils Martin Scorsese’s Star-Studded Epic

Featured image: Isaiah Hill in “Swagger.” (photo courtesy of Apple) 

 

How “Kandahar” Location Manager Félix Rosell Mapped Out Gerard Butler’s Afghan Escape

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The road to filming Kandahar had to be built, literally. Directed by Ric Roman Waugh (Angel Has Fallen, Greenland), the espionage thriller stars Gerard Butler as CIA operative Tom Harris turned Afghanistan’s Most Wanted after his operation is exposed by a whistleblower. Though the movie title references the Afghan city, it was Saudi Arabia that stood in for the picturesque landscapes seen in the film.

The production found footing in Al’Ula, located in the Medina province of the Middle East country, to film its striking desert sequences, many of which required supporting infrastructure to be built prior to shooting. “I can construct any road, anywhere now,” says Félix Rosell, a Spain-based supervising location manager whose work includes Ridley Scott’s Exodus: Gods and King, Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049, and the Emmy-winning Netflix series Black Mirror. It’s in these arid vistas that Tom Harris, alongside his Afghan translator Mo (Navid Negahbhan), are hunted by outside forces, including a motorcycle-riding deadly assassin named Kahil (Ali Fazal).

Ali Fazal stars as Kahil Nazir in director Ric Roman Waugh’s KANDAHAR, an Open Road Films / Briarcliff Entertainment release.
Credit: Hopper Stone, SMPSP | Open Road Films / Briarcliff Entertainment

The screenplay comes from Mitchell LaFortune, a former defense officer who served in Afghanistan. In writing the story, LaFortune created the characters of Tom and Mo from people he met during deployment. “Mo is based on a real person: He was a translator that I worked extensively with in 2011 and 2013. He was a man I really wanted to write something great for — I thought that the sacrifices he made as an individual to keep us all safe was so inspirational,” LaFortune says in the production notes.

Navid Negahban stars as Mohammad “Mo” Doud and Gerard Butler as Tom Harris in director Ric Roman Waugh’s KANDAHAR, an Open Road Films / Briarcliff Entertainment release.
Credit: Hopper Stone, SMPSP | Open Road Films / Briarcliff Entertainment

Rife with hair-raising action, it’s the budding relationship between Tom and Mo that roots the harrowing narrative – one that layers humanity’s deepest questions about a war-torn country. In mapping out their escape, Rosell was tasked with finding locations in and around Al’Ula to backdrop the Afghan setting. The Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah (approx. an eight-hour drive south) filled in for the livelier urban sequences.

Travis Fimmel stars as Roman Chalmers in director Ric Roman Waugh’s KANDAHAR, an Open Road Films / Briarcliff Entertainment release. Credit: Hopper Stone, SMPSP | Open Road Films / Briarcliff Entertainment

One hurdle for the production takes place inside a Tajik Militia Camp in the Farah province of Afghanistan. It’s here Tom and Mo are imprisoned while heavily armed forces attack from the outside. Juxtaposing the adobe-style buildings and desert blue sky is a large area of lush crops that lead up to the barrier walls. Rosell found a nearby farm to stand in for the militia camp, which was reimagined by production designer Vincent Reynaud. “We had to create an irrigation system and plant the crops a few months before shooting just to make it green,” he says. Because the scene has military forces ascending from all sides, roads were built not only for the vehicles in the sequence but for the production equipment filming the action.

(l-r) Navid Negahban stars as Mohammad “Mo” Doud, Gerard Butler as Tom Harris and Travis Fimmel as Roman Chalmers in director Ric Roman Waugh’s KANDAHAR, an Open Road Films / Briarcliff Entertainment release. Credit: Hopper Stone, SMPSP | Open Road Films / Briarcliff Entertainment

A key consideration to location scouting was logistics. “You cannot go too far away from the main cities because when you go in the middle of the desert, it can be a nightmare,” says Rosell.  “The good thing for us is that Al’Ula has many different types of landscapes, and we were able to find everything within an hour from our base.”

Another colossal sequence takes place adjacent to an active airport, a scene that has a number of explosions. Roads were created to the remote location, and the action choreography was meticulously planned. “The sequence was tricky because the fence that you can see in the scene belonged to the Al’Ula airport,” says Rosell. “We had a few days that were quite tense because of the flights that were coming in and going out. We couldn’t have anything exploding, and we had personnel inside the airport at all times to relay any emergency so we could stop.”

Gerard Butler stars as Tom Harris in director Ric Roman Waugh’s KANDAHAR, an Open Road Films / Briarcliff Entertainment release.
Credit: Hopper Stone, SMPSP | Open Road Films / Briarcliff Entertainment

A similar moment of contention was a bustling escape sequence that was shot in Al’Ula’s city center. “There’s an explosion of a car in the middle of the town, so we had to talk to 250 shops and vendors doing business on those streets and made an agreement with them to make it work,” says Rosell. “Having the support of all the shops and the people makes you proud to do all the work because it is such an important part of the film.”

Rosell’s guiding principle was to find locations that visually worked for the story, but at the same time, they had to be close in proximity. “We would have to do things the same day. One minute, we’re shooting a scene of explosions, and then we would be shooting in secret houses. All of it had to be nearby but look like another place in another city,” he says. The success of the production, Rosell says, started from the top. “Ric is a good director because he makes it clear what he wants. It makes it quite easy to work with him.”

 

Featured image: Gerard Butler stars as Tom Harris in director Ric Roman Waugh’s KANDAHAR, an Open Road Films / Briarcliff Entertainment release. Credit: Hopper Stone, SMPSP | Open Road Films / Briarcliff Entertainment

 

How the “Wednesday” VFX Supervisor Created Thing, Nevermore, and More

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The “mysterious and spooky” Addams Family gets revitalized in Tim Burton’s hit series Wednesday, which stars Jenna Ortega as the emotionally reserved child, complete with pigtails, black attire, and a deadpan affect that suggests this youngster is the oldest of souls.

The story, from creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, is directed by Tim Burton and charters Wednesday to Nevermore Academy – a school her parents Morticia (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and (Gomez (Luis Guzmán) attended 25 years before. With her arrival comes some seriously supernatural weirdness. Oh, and a killing spree she intends to solve, no matter how many twists and turns come her way. Did we mention she’s still just a child? 

To bring everyone’s favorite macabre family to the small screen, visual effects supervisor Tom Turnbull (Halo, Fringe) oversaw a monstrous workflow of effects. Here, he discusses what went into creating the supernatural story, working with Burton, and recreating the beloved Thing (performed by Victor Dorobantu).

The show’s popularity really took off. Did you see something special as the season progressed?

It was definitely incremental. When I heard the pitch, it was kind of “Well, that might work.” Reading the scripts, I could see how well the character, and especially Wednesday’s dialogue, was written. The first time I watched Jenna on set was when I knew we were onto something. It did not take a genius to see how perfectly and meticulously she played the character; it was obvious.

Jenna Ortega really does seems tailor-made for the role. 

It was when I started to get cut scenes that I really saw the full potential. It wasn’t just one thing; all the pieces came together, and all the departments were working to their highest ability, yielding something that was clean, precise, and fresh. And then I saw that Wednesday dance scene. I’d be lying if I said I knew it was going to be a hit on the level it achieved—no one did—but I knew it was special a few weeks into the shoot.  

 

You have a shorthand with show creators from Into the Badlands, but this was your first collab with Tim Burton. What were the early conversations in terms of building the visual look of the series?

I worked with Al and Miles for three seasons of Badlands, so I came to Wednesday with a strong relationship and understanding of how they work and what their expectations would be. That’s a great place to be. There was a great comfort zone and a lot of trust. You are correct that I had never worked with Tim before. I knew that I was going into a situation where I would be working with a director who had more VFX experience than me, and I have been doing this for over thirty years. I was not about to out Burton Tim Burton. My strategy was to be the best facilitator that I could be.

 

The Nevermore sets and nearby town are exquisite. How was your collaboration with production designer Mark Scruton to bring them to life?

The design was built upon a practical location, Cantacazino, a gray stoned villa in the Carpathian Mountains, that allowed us to film exterior scenes and coverage, mostly in-camera. The art department expanded it by mocking up 2D concepts, adding buildings, clock towers, and rooftops to make it fit in an Addams Family world.

Wednesday. Jenna Ortega as Wednesday Addams in episode 106 of Wednesday. Cr. Vlad Cioplea/Netflix © 2022

The concepts were handed off to VFX to develop into a 3D model and environment. Working with Painting Practice in the UK, we modeled up all the main structures and began a series of Unreal explorations to understand it spatially, both as a complex of buildings and how it sits in the environment. The final production model and shot work were handled by MPC Toronto. In many of the wider shots, only around 10-20% of them were real. We always kept that little bit of plate, which is what grounded the shots in reality. There were never any fully CG Nevermore shots – that would have created a very different feel.

And what about the town of Jericho?

Jericho, the town near Nevermore, was brilliantly designed by Mark Scruton such that it needed very little CG augmentation. It’s what I love to see from a designer, a big set with lots of filming possibilities that does not need CG help. There are plenty of other things to spend VFX money on. 

Wednesday. Episode 103 of Wednesday. Cr. Vlad Cioplea/Netflix © 2022

One of the beloved characters in the series is Thing. What went into its creation?

My first phone call with Tim focused almost exclusively on Thing. Tim was clear that Thing needed to be derived as much as possible from a live performance on set and needed to be practically achieved as possible. A lot of Thing was in the writing, and a huge amount was in Victor Dorobanatu’s performance. The role of VFX from prep through post was to make him come together as a believable, nuanced, and empathetic character. To make him 100% real, never an effect or a gimmick.

 

What techniques were involved for Thing’s movement?

The basic technique behind Thing is exactly the same as the 90’s movies. Thirty years later, we had a much more sophisticated toolset than they did, which enabled us to elevate the execution. I think where we excelled with Thing had to do with focusing on character and performance. Prep was essential. We worked on every scene with Victor to explore ways for Thing to move and communicate.

Wednesday. Thing on the set of Wednesday. Cr. Tomasz Lazar/Netflix © 2022

Can you walk me through the process?

On set, we would be at the director’s monitor, making sure that both the physical and emotional performance was intact and consistent. If a shot was impossible to execute successfully on set, we would augment it in post or, on occasion, replace him with 3D animation. In that sense, 3D was our backup plan when practical solutions would not give us the result we needed.  

Wednesday. Victor Dorobantu as Thing on the set of Wednesday. Cr. Tomasz Lazar/Netflix © 2022

And what did you do when you had to go 3D?

When we did go 3D, the animation task was to recreate Victor’s character and performance as true to life and as seamless as possible. MARZ, who did our 3D Thing shots, was given the task to replace a perfectly good practical performance from Victor with a 3D version such that we could not tell the difference. No one has yet come up to me and correctly identified which Things were real and which were 3D, so I think we fooled them. 

 

Monsters were another part of the VFX creative web. The Hyde was the most important. Can you share how VFX developed and created him?

The Hyde was a creature that Tim cared very much about. Unlike other creatures, such as werewolves and zombies, there was no precedent or preconceived ideas of what it should be. Tim’s brief referenced the artwork of Big Daddy Roth, a monster car artist from the ’60s, and a toy line called the “Weirdos.” Both had a wild-eyed, crazed berserker vibe to them. Just add homicidal rage, and you have a Hyde. The brief was delivered to several concept artists, with none of them solidly hitting the mark. Tim responded by producing a pen-and-ink concept of his own that became the essence of the creature. A Z-Brush model was sculpted up, and that was our Hyde. 

How were the Hyde scenes shot?

We filmed Hyde scenes with a stunt person on stilts to give the actors and crew something to hang their work on. The stunt team put their heart and soul into it. The final fight scene had them throwing each other around and flying into trees on wires, all done with the knowledge that they would be painted out and replaced in post. They seemed good with that. 

Wednesday. Daniel Himschoot as Monster in episode 106 of Wednesday. Cr. Vlad Cioplea/Netflix © 2022

Wednesday season one is streaming on Netflix.

For more on big titles on Netflix, check these out:

“Extraction 2” Review Round-Up: Chris Hemsworth-led Action Film Punches Even Harder in Sequel

“Arnold” DP Logan Schneider on Shooting Schwarzenegger

“The Witcher” Season 3 Trailer Finds Geralt at the Center of a Storm

Featured image: Wednesday. Thing in episode 101 of Wednesday. Cr. Courtesy Of Netflix © 2022

 

“The Perfect Find” Director Numa Perrier on Creating Space For Romance With Gabrielle Union

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The Perfect Find (now streaming on Netflix) begins with Gabrielle Union’s New York City fashionista Jenna recovering from a bad breakup at her mother’s house. What makes matter most is this is happening in the wake of the humiliating collapse of her high-profile career. But Jenna’s not the type to pout, so she stages a comeback and, along the way, falls for a much younger man, Eric (Keith Powers). As rom-com fate would have it, handsome Eric just happens to come with personal baggage that could obstruct Jenna’s professional future.

The woman in charge of this romantic comedy is director Numa Perrier, who made a splash writing, directing, and starring in the indie feature Jezebel. Based on her own experiences as a “cam girl,” the film premiered at the 2019 SXSW festival. Afterward, Perrier received a Twitter direct message from uber-producer Ava DuVernay inviting her to direct an episode of the long-running drama series Queen Sugar. Then rom-com veteran Union reached out to Perrier about taking the reins for The Perfect Find.

Shot in New York City, The Perfect Find marks the latest pivot in an unusual journey filled with “lots of zig-zags,” Perrier wryly acknowledges. Born in Haiti, she was adopted and grew up with seven siblings in a tiny Washington State farming community. “My family didn’t go to movies, but I watched a lot of television,” Perrier says. “I loved soap operas.”

Speaking from her home in Los Angeles, Perrier talks about bonding with Union, capturing magic on the Brooklyn Bridge, and putting her indie experience to use in The Perfect Find.

 

You must have forged a strong connection with Gabrielle Union, given how effectively the two of you bring her Jenna character to life. You’d never worked with her before, so how did you and Gabrielle find common ground?

I was excited when I got the script [by Leigh Davenport] from her team because Gabrielle’s not just an actress, she’s an icon for our community, and I was looking to do a good messy love story in the rom-com space. When I met with Gabrielle here in L.A., we spoke for hours about this story. I had gone through a big breakup and big career upheaval a couple of years earlier and was just starting to get to the other side of it, so I deeply connected to this character. And Gabrielle’s been in many rom coms but, in the last few years, opened up more and more [about her personal life] to her fan base and beyond. People love her for being transparent about the hardships she’s had to navigate at her age and in this chapter in her career. Gabrielle wanted to translate that into her character Jenna, who’s reinventing herself, or really getting back to who she truly is after facing these challenges. Gabrielle knows that [experience] like the back of the hand, and she wanted to finally show it in this rom-com space.

The Perfect Find. (L to R) Gabrielle Union as Jenna and director Numa Perrier on the set of The Perfect Find. Cr. Alyssa Longchamp/Netflix © 2023

Production on The Perfect Find got delayed for a year because of COVID. How did you spend that time?

I spent that year doing a deeper dive into Gabrielle. I watched every movie I hadn’t seen, re-watched movies I had seen, and saw every episode of Being Mary Jane. I got to understand Gabrielle’s habits and how she likes to work. That put me in a stronger position to direct her.

So you arrive on set, and you’re in charge of creating funny scenes. Coming from this intense indie drama Jezebel, how did you approach the comedy in The Perfect Find?

Jezebel was my coming-of-age story, a true story, but there were a lot of laughs in that theater because sex is funny, you know, and the things people do to meet their desires can be very funny. Here, it was important to create a space where our actors feel comfortable enough to improvise. Gabrielle is hilarious, and Keith Powers is also very funny. I just encouraged them to open up and be free. Since there were already good jokes in the script, between that and letting our actors do some improv on top of it — that’s how we got there.

The Perfect Find. (L to R) Gabrielle Union as Jenna, Aisha Hinds as Billie and La La Anthony as Elodie in The Perfect Find. Cr. Alyssa Longchamp/Netflix © 2023

On the romantic side of the equation, one of the film’s most affecting scenes takes place at night on the Brooklyn Bridge in New York. What was it like capturing this tender sequence between Jenna and Eric?

It was a dream come true to be directing my first studio feature in one of my favorite cities. I fought a lot to get everything we wanted out of New York. With the Brooklyn Bridge, we didn’t have ownership of the full bridge, so there was going to be a lot of foot traffic, as there always is on a summer night in Brooklyn. But there was a thunderstorm that night. We almost had to shut down because the lightning might pose a danger to our crew. I remember walking on the bridge in the rain, praying to the sky, to mother nature, to the gods, “Please don’t let that lightning come too close because this is the only shot we have to get this scene.”

The Perfect Find. (L to R) Gabrielle Union as Jenna and Keith Powers as Eric in The Perfect Find. Cr. Alyssa Longchamp/Netflix © 2023

So what happened?

The rain stopped. The thunder and lightning stopped. We had this pocket of time to capture a beautiful scene, and it looked like we owned the bridge. Everyone who would have been walking across the bridge had gone home because of the rain. All our big stressful scenes came with backstory challenges that ended up making for a better film.

One rom-com rule seems to be: any time you want to make a scene feel more dramatic, add rain.

Add rain! Because rain makes you feel like cuddling, it’s very romantic, the sound and everything, so yeah, the rain ultimately gave us more romance. The look of the rain gives it so much texture, and you see that throughout the film. There was a lot of rain.

Circling back to Jezebel, which helped create this opportunity to direct a big studio film, you went from being an actress self-taping yourself for auditions, to shooting a short film, to making your first feature. How did you make that leap?

The one slice of meat that you’re missing in this sandwich is that I spent eight years as part of a collective called Black and Sexy TV, a YouTube channel where it was me and three other like-minded filmmakers. We made skits at first, then I said we should start doing episodic content and put out our own web series. I was in production every day of my life, seven days a week, with no days off. I either created, wrote, acted in, produced, or directed over a dozen series. But I also heard a voice telling me, “Go make your feature,” and the voice got louder and louder. I had the script in my dresser, I pulled it out. We took a two-week hiatus from Black and Sexy, and I made my movie in ten days. I didn’t feel nervous. I felt ready.

 

Does your indie film experience inform the way you operate on this big studio project?

When I came to Los Angeles, I took any class I could for actors. I’d go into the room to audition for people, but I also would self-tape, and that led to my first short film. I borrowed a Panasonic 24 P camera, went to the Rite-Aid, and bought a bunch of colored light bulbs. That’s how we lit the scene. It was very hook-or-crook, indie do-it-yourself filmmaking. I still apply that [aesthetic] today. The producers come into my office, there’s a problem, and I’ve got a solution because I’m used to solving problems all the time in this micro-budget land. You know, more money, more problems. But who better to solve them than an indie filmmaker?

The Perfect Find takes place in the fashion world. Do you consider yourself a fashionista?

I do, in a funny way. I used to collect vintage gloves, and that hobby turned into me designing my own collection of gloves during the early days of Black and Sexy TV. They were couture, elegant, and handmade. So I understand how hard it is to break into the fashion industry and how doubly hard it is to break in as a Black woman. With Perfect Find, I understood just enough of the fashion component of the story to be able to dig in.

The Perfect Find. (L to R) Alani “La La” Anthony as Elodie, Shayna McHayle as Carlita and Steelo Brim as Tim in The Perfect Find. Cr. Alyssa Longchamp/Netflix © 2023

The Perfect Find follows the contours of a classic rom-com, but it’s also grounded in the Black experience. You even reference Nina Mae McKinney, America’s first Black movie star, by including a snippet of her 1929 silent film Hallelujah. Did you think of The Perfect Find simply as a romantic comedy, or did you specifically design it to be a Black romantic comedy?

Everyone can laugh and enjoy this, but I did The Perfect Find for the culture; I did it for Black women like me and anyone who loves us. “Come on, let’s do this; it’s a good ride to go on.” In the past, I’ve not always known how I feel about labeling something Black or not. What kind of mother am I, what kind of artist am I, and does Black go in front of that? I’ve come to the conclusion that, yes, it does. It’s important that we are celebrated and can run the full gamut, the full spectrum of things going on in our lives. So to answer your question, this is a very Black rom-com.

For more on big titles on Netflix, check these out:

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Featured image: The Perfect Find. (L to R) Gabrielle Union as Jenna and Keith Powers as Eric in The Perfect Find. Cr. Alyssa Longchamp/Netflix © 2023

“Star Wars”: How Rey’s Upcoming Movie is Linked to the Past & Future of the Franchise

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This past May at the Star Wars Celebration, we learned that the future of the franchise now has a clear direction, with three new feature films currently slated for release. The most surprising of those films had to be the announcement that Daisy Ridley was returning as Rey for her own movie, to be directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, which will pick up her story 15 years after the events in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. That project, like the others, is being mostly kept under wraps, with only some scant details as to what the overall plan is. But, in a recent interview with Total Film, Lucasfilm chief Kathleen Kennedy did offer some very intriguing hints at the future of the galaxy. One of those was that Rey’s story will be directly connected to the upcoming James Mangold-directed epic that will peer deep into the ancient past of the Force.

“I think what’s always great about Star Wars is it’s a big galaxy, and we’re coming off what was a major war with the First Order,” Kennedy told Total Film. “And now, Rey has made a promise to Luke, and that’s really the core of where we’re going and what this story will be. And I think it offers just tremendous opportunity to introduce new characters and start with something fresh because we culminated with what George [Lucas] was creating, and now we take all of that and move it to the next chapter.” 

Yet while Kennedy and the rest of the Star Wars Galaxy Brain Trust will be pushing the franchise forward, Rey’s story will connect directly to James Mangold’s upcoming film, which will be exploring events in ancient galactic history. We learned in The Rise of Skywalker that Rey was the granddaughter of the villain Emperor Palpatine, making her lineage with the Force a deep, complex, and lasting one. Mangold’s feature will take us back to the Force’s very beginnings, which, Kennedy says, compliments Rey’s story.

“It was something that Jim [Mangold] immediately sparked to, and I think it’s a really nice compliment to what we’re doing with moving into the future with Rey and then understanding a bit more of where this all came from,” Kennedy told Total Film. “Because it will be at the heart of creating the new Jedi Order, so to get a real sense of where that might have begun with the dawn of the Jedi could be pretty cool.”

As for now, the next chapter in the overarching Star Wars saga will happen on the small screen as Ahsoka premieres on Disney+ on August 23.

For a closer look at where things currently stand in the Star Wars slate, both on Disney+ and on the big screen, click here.

For more on all things Star Wars, check out these stories:

A New “Star Wars” Movie is Part of Disney’s Upcoming, Reshuffled Film Slate

James Mangold’s Upcoming “Star Wars” Film has a Thrilling Premise

New “Ahsoka” Images Reveal the First “Star Wars” Series to Leap From Animation Into Live-Action

Daisy Ridley Will Return as Rey in First “Star Wars” Film Since “The Rise of Skywalker”

Featured image: Rey (Daisy Ridley) in STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER. Courtesy Lucasfilm/Walt Disney Studios.

“Superman: Legacy”: David Corenswet & Rachel Brosnahan Cast as Superman & Lois Lane

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Earlier today, we told you about the casting process for James Gunn’s upcoming Superman: Legacy—well, we’ve got a rather super-sized update—your next Superman and Lois Lane are David Corenswet and Rachel Brosnahan. Corenswet and Brosnahan nabbed the highly coveted, hotly contested roles after a weekend of screen tests just this past June 17.

The duo was cast after an intense process. In the end, Corenswet and Brosnahan were auditioning against Nicholas Hoult and Tom Brittney for Clark Kent/Superman and Phoebe Dynevor and Emma Mackey for Lois Lane, respectively. The Hollywood Reporter scooped that writer/director Gunn, who is also the new co-chief at DC Studios alongside Peter Safran, then assembled the footage to show to a deciding committee of top executives.

It’s no exaggeration to say these were two of the biggest roles in the entire history, with all eyes on Gunn and Safran (and now, Corenswet and Brosnahan) as the new co-chiefs of DC Studios and the two performers hope to reinvigorate the DC Studios universe with Superman: Legacy, the first film under the new leadership. For Superman, Gunn needed someone who could play the wholesome, believably dorky Clark Kent and then look stellar in the Superman costume when he’s the Krypton-born Man of Steel. It’s the first time we’ve seen a new Superman on the big screen since Henry Cavill stepped into the role for Zack Snyder in 2013’s Man of Steel. Meanwhile, Brosnahan will offer the first new interpretation of the crucial Lois Lane since Amy Adams took on the character for Snyder’s film. 

Corenswet first broke out in Ryan Murphy’s The Politician and then starred in the TV hitmaker’s Hollywood. He’s also appeared in HBO’s We Own This City and A24’s horror sequel Pearl. 

Brosnahan has been delighting viewers and winning awards with her work in Amazon’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. She first broke on the scene in the series that started it all for Netflix, House of Cards. 

Now that Superman and Lois Lane are cast, Gunn will likely turn his attention to the villain Lex Luthor. Alexander and Bill Skarsgård were both mentioned, and before them, the role was actually Nicholas Hoult’s had he wanted it, but he decided to try for Superman. Perhaps now he’ll play the iconic villain. 

Gunn’s aiming for Superman: Legacy to begin filming in early 2024 in an effort to hit the July 11, 2025 release date. There are still two movies from the previous DC regime yet to premiere—Blue Beetle and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom—yet the future for DC is now clearly visible, and David Corenswet and Rachel Brosnahan are a huge part of it.

For more on all things Warner Bros./DC Studios, check out these stories:

“The Flash” Director Andy Muschietti to Direct New Batman Movie “The Brave and the Bold”

“The Flash” New Images Tease Michael Keaton’s Batman and Sasha Calle’s Supergirl

James Gunn’s “Superman: Legacy” Will Begin Filming in Early 2024

Featured image: L-r: HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – AUGUST 16: David Corenswet attends the Los Angeles Premiere of Netflix’s “Look Both Ways” at TUDUM Theater on August 16, 2022 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images)NEW YORK; NEW YORK – APRIL 11: Rachel Brosnahan attends Prime Video’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” Season 5 Premiere at The Standard Highline on April 11, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images)

The Brilliant “Barbie” Marketing Team Secretly Created an Actual Barbie DreamHouse

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One of the most highly anticipated films of the summer season, Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, has continued to garner mass attention through a slew of engaging advertising campaigns. Between a consistent social media presence and the renovation of an actual DreamHouse available for stay, the hope is that audiences will flock to theaters on July 21 for the film’s theatrical release. 

For those unfamiliar with Barbie’s premise, the film follows Barbie (Margot Robbie) living in her picture-perfect world, where all the Barbies and Kens co-exist in peace and harmony. However, a zany, Dua Lipa-esque musical number cannot distract Barbie from questioning her reality. To find fulfillment, she — and her trusted confidant Ken (Ryan Gosling) — decide to travel to the real world and find the answers to the meaning of life. They find that the actual Los Angeles isn’t, in fact, perfect and that reality itself is lousy with imperfection. 

Boasting an all-star cast alongside Robbie and Gosling that includes Simu Liu, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Helen Mirren, Kate McKinnon, America Ferrera, Dua Lipa, Will Ferrell, and more, Barbie promises the kind of summer joy ride we could all use, and a chance to follow Gerwig as she imagines the deeper implications of what life is like for Mattel’s favorite doll. Gerwig has become of the great young directors working today (Ladybird, Little Women), and she’s said what drew her to take on Barbie was fear.  “It was something that was exciting because it was terrifying,” she said on Dua Lipa’s podcast At Your Service. “It felt like vertigo, starting to write it, like: ‘Where do you even begin, and what would be the story?’ And I think it was that feeling I had, knowing that it would be really interesting terror. Usually, that’s where the best stuff is, where you’re like, ‘I am terrified of that.’ Anything where you’re like, ‘This could be a career-ender — then you’re like, ‘I should probably do it.’”

She did it, and ever since then, the Warner Bros. marketing team has been making sure her efforts were supported by a stellar promotional campaign. Barbie has already been making its mark on the internet with its splashy, exuberant marketing. Earlier this year, the Barbie team rolled out a viral social media campaign with different Barbies and Kens smiling next to a phrase describing their character. The campaign also included an A.I.-powered selfie generator, where fans could join in on the fun.  

And that’s not all. The Barbie team is also partnering with Xbox on a number of projects, including adding Barbie-themed cars to their popular racing video game, Forza Horizon 5, and developing a Barbie-themed Xbox controller. This is not the first collaboration Xbox has had with a well-loved franchise, as the video gaming brand has also worked on a Space Jam: A New Legacy controller and Spongebob-themed sets.  

But perhaps the most extravagant and eye-catching marketing tactic for Barbie has been the renovation of a real-life Malibu Barbie DreamHouse in California—a house that had previously been outfitted, although far less aggressively, to serve as the location of Barbie’s 60th anniversary in 2019. Adorned with flashy décor, painted in bright colors, and sporting a huge infinity pool, this marvel of advertising can actually be booked on Airbnb starting July 18. Those selected for the stay in the mansion will also be able to take Ken-style roller skates and an Impala surfboard back home with them after their time in the DreamHouse. 

Though the house boasts much of Barbie’s favorite home accessories, the DreamHouse also promises a sort of “Kenergy,” as Ken’s influence can be felt throughout the space. According to the Airbnb listing, Ken took over the DreamHouse from Barbie over the summer, adding a few key pieces that make the home more Ken-friendly. From grooving out in the home’s built-in disco to looking into Ken’s fabulous wardrobe, it’s clear that the DreamHouse is here to intensify the allure of Barbie.  

If that isn’t enough, Airbnb plans to make a one-time donation to Save the Children in celebration of Barbie’s release. Save the Children is an organization dedicated to providing learning resources and support for building girls’ confidence. This allows girls to excel in school and primes them to be the leaders of tomorrow. 

Right now, Barbie is all the buzz, and with the marketing campaigns listed above, it’s obvious why—with top-tier talent both in front and behind the camera, the movie requires a top-tier effort from all those involved in promoting the film.

Barbie is in theaters on July 21.  

For more on Barbie, check out these stories:

Things Get Real for Margot Robbie’s Iconic Doll in Official “Barbie” Trailer

“Barbie” Trailer Reveals Margot Robbie in Greta Gerwig’s Live-Action Look at Mattel’s Iconic Doll

Margot Robbie’s “Barbie” Reveals First Photo, Release Date at CinemaCon

Featured image: Caption: MARGOT ROBBIE as Barbie in Warner Bros. Pictures’ “BARBIE,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures

“The Blackening” Cinematographer Todd A. Dos Reis on Lensing a Horror-Comedy Romp

Posted on by babrams

It’s almost hard to believe The Blackening is cinematographer Todd A. Dos Reis’ first feature film. He’s been in the business for decades, having shot a variety of television shows, including Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Bosch: Legacy, and Entourage. Before becoming a cinematographer for a long list of hit shows and music videos, he even worked on two Jean-Claude Van Damme classics, Hard Target and Double Impact, as an assistant cameraman.

The cinematographer’s career is full and varied, and it shows with the complete control of camera and tone in director Tim Story’s The Blackening. The horror-comedy brings a group of college friends together for a reunion in a cabin in the woods, where they’re terrorized by masked killers and a board game called The Blackening. The less said about the plot, the better—The Blackening is a film whose surprises you really want to enjoy without warning.

Recently, we could’ve spent days talking to Todd A. Dos Reis about his career but focused on his exceptional nighttime photography in The Blackening.

 

You made a contained space very cinematic with the game room, where the characters play the titular game. The colors really pop, especially green. How’d you want to create a mood in the house?

We had a very strange house in Brentwood that worked for most of it. It worked for everything except for the hallway and the basement scenes. I’m glad you picked up on the green because I really wanted to make that pop. There was a little more outside that didn’t make it into the final cut, but I like having green work for so many different things. I not only use it in this movie, but I use a lot of my television series for different reasons. But for this, it felt right just to have a weird element to be there. Whoever owned this house had some 30-year-old lighting fixture out in the backyard that they use for who knows what, hunting raccoons or something. I wanted to use it to play off of the cool colors. I use a lot of cool colors on the outside and on the inside of the house.

Antoinette Robertson as Lisa, Grace Byers as Allison, Jermaine Fowler as Clifton and Dewayne Perkins as Dewayne in The Blackening. Photo Credit: Glen Wilson

It always helps stretch the budget a little, right?

Since we had very little money, I had to use what they had there at the house. There was track lighting all around. When we needed another look, I basically just gelled what they already had up there and augmented it with a few of our movie lights. But in that game room, they spend a lot of time playing the game, and we had to make sure we created a look that wasn’t so bright and comedy-esque.

You and director Tim Story handle that tone well. It’s right up next to the line of horror parody, but it still falls within the horror-comedy genre. How’d you maintain that?

Tim and I talked about that. What we did is basically split up the duties. I knew he was a master at comedy, so he handled the comedy of it, and I wanted no part of the comedy as far as lighting goes. I lit it as a straight horror movie. I didn’t do anything you would see in a normal comedy, like a brighter light. I tried to keep it moody and shadowy and rich.

Yvonne Orji as Morgan and Jay Pharaoh as Shawn in The Blackening. Photo Credit: Glen Wilson

Was that game room a technical nightmare? You have a large cast, a tight space, and yes, they spend a lot of time there.

We could always go around the table because there was never a time when one character didn’t have something to say or a reaction shot or a reveal. Whether it be a three-shot or two-shot or singles, we just had to do it.

What’s it like working with and lighting an ensemble cast?

They’re all beautiful, and this range of skin tones was a challenge, but I knew if I had that exposure right in the middle, they’d all fall in. But I never really thought about how not to make them pretty or how to make them pretty because they were beautiful actors. I take the time to light the structure of their faces. These people were very easy to light. So that wasn’t a challenge [laughs].

Antoinette Robertson as Lisa in The Blackening. Photo Credit: Glen Wilson

You have some good nighttime photography in the movie with a lot of clarity. How’d you achieve that rare feat in a horror movie?

That was a challenge. We just always had to play that fine line between what’s too dark and what’s too bright. I tried to play the low end of it. We just make sure it’s not too dark for that one crazy theater in Silver Lake where the bulb is wearing out, and it’s gonna be really dark. So, how do we make sure that they see everything they need to see to make this a successful horror-comedy?

 

You actually have a really cool lens flare that helps you in a basement sequence.

Do you want me to tell you the trick?

Yes, please.

I’ve done a lot of music videos, so I’ve played with a lot of different toys and glass and flares. Over the decades of working, I would use this thing called a streak filter. [It was] made for when cinematographers or directors wanted to shoot spherical, but they wanted that anamorphic feel, but maybe you couldn’t afford anamorphic lenses. They’d put a streak filter on the camera and any kind of spotlight, like a headlight or a flashlight, and it gives you that streak. I’ve used it a lot in many series. If there’s a dream sequence, the streak filter’s coming out.

The Blackening is in theaters now.

For more on upcoming films and TV series, check out these stories:

Many of the Best Stunts in “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” Are Practical

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“Stephen Curry: Underrated” Trailer Shows how an NBA Legend Was Made

 

Featured image: Melvin Gregg as King, Grace Byers as Allison, Antoinette Robertson as Lisa, Sinqua Walls as Nnamdi, Jermaine Fowler as Clifton, Dewayne Perkins as Dewayne, and Xochitl Mayo as Shanika in The Blackening. Photo Credit: Glen Wilson

Many of the Best Stunts in “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” Are Practical

Posted on by babrams

The Indiana Jones franchise has always been a joyous ode to old-school filmmaking, where practical effects and stunts give viewers the kind of swashbuckling, cave-spelunking, snake-avoiding, boulder-barreling, whip-cracking adventure they now expect from an Indy film. Considering the previous four films in the franchise were all directed by Steven Spielberg, it’s no surprise they were endlessly creative in the way they kept devising the most devilishly dangerous situations for Indy (Harrison Ford, obviously) to puzzle his way out of, and more times than not, the magic we viewers saw on screen was created right there on location or on set. For director James Mangold, taking over for Harrison Ford’s last adventure as Indy in Dial of Destiny, making sure the action matched, if not topped, the previous installments was paramount. In a new “Behind the Action” video for the film, Mangold, the cast, and Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy talk about the Herculean effort of putting together a proper Indiana Jones film, one breathless action sequence at a time.

Whether it’s a chase on horseback, in a tuk-tuk, on a motorcycle, or dangling out of a plane, the action in Dial of Destiny was largely created by stunt performers, ace practical effects wizards, and in some cases, the performers themselves. “When you’re able to keep it real, that feels more visceral for the audience,” Harrison Ford says in the middle of the new look.

“Harrison still has that brash Indy attitude,” says none other than Steven Spielberg, while his co-star Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who plays his goddaughter Helena, the woman who kickstarts Indy’s final adventure, adds that “there’s so much action and spectacle in this film, but also, it’s got heart.”

“It’s not just action for action’s sake,” Ford adds, “you can see a human experience.”

Yet the action is primary to any good Indy adventure, and as the new video shows, there’s a ton of it in Dial of Destiny. The film opens with an epic sequence from Indy’s past, then finds him in his present day (1969) on the cusp of retirement. That’s when Waller-Bridge’s Helena presents him with information that the Dial of Destiny, a relic he once came into contact with ages ago, is once again in play, and she’s determined to set out on a dangerous mission to secure it. You know Indy’s not just going to sit around and wait for word of the outcome. Thus, the dynamic duo’s adventure begins. 

Joining Ford and Waller-Bridge are Mads Mikkelsen as Jürgen Voller, Boyd Holbrook as his henchman Klaber, Antonio Banderas as Indy ally Renaldo, Thomas Kretschmann as Colonel Weber, Toby Jones as Basil (Helena’s father), and John Rhys-Davies as Sallah.

The Dial of Destiny is the fifth film in the franchise, following Spielberg’s four previous Indiana Jones films; Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), The Temple of Doom (1984), The Last Crusade (1989), and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008).

Check out the “Behind the Action” video below. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny hits theaters on June 30:

For more on Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, check out these stories:

New “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” Teaser & Photos Hype Harrison Ford’s Final Indy Adventure

New “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” Featurette Whips Up Excitement

Steven Spielberg Saw “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” & Loved It

“Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” Drops Action-Packed Official Trailer

Featured image: (L-R): Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) and Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) in Lucasfilm’s Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. ©2022 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.

James Gunn’s “Superman: Legacy” Deep Into Casting Clark Kent, Lois Lane & More

Posted on by babrams

One of Superman’s many abilities is super-hearing, and this is sort of what many of the outlets that cover Hollywood are attempting to deploy as they track the casting process on James Gunn’s Superman: Legacy. 

The names that seem confirmed as the finalists for the two lead roles of Clark Kent and Lois Lane are Nicholas Hoult, David Corenswet, and Tom Brittney all vying for the role of Clark Kent/Superman, and Rachel Brosnahan, Phoebe Dynevor, and Emma Mackey going for Lois Lane. The Hollywood Reporter scoops that writer/director Gunn, who is also the new co-chief at DC Studios, held screen tests over the June 17 weekend with the above-mentioned list and then assembled the footage to show to a deciding committee of top executives.

THR’s sources say that Gunn assembled the performers in predetermined pairs: Nicholas Hoult was paired with Rachel Brosnahan; Tom Brittney was paired with Phoebe Dynever; and David Corenswet joined Emma Mackey. The pairs filmed several scenes with the men in makeup and wardrobe as the Daily Planet‘s Clark Kent and the women dressed as journalist Lois Lane.

On Sunday, the men did more screen tests, but this time, in full costume as Superman. Mackey came back to portray Lois Lane opposite each of the three Supermen. THR‘s sources caution that although Mackey was the only woman asked back on Sunday, it doesn’t necessarily mean the part is hers, although one would be forgiven for wondering.

Casting is, of course, one of the most—if not the most—crucial parts of pre-production, and casting for Superman and Lois Lane in a movie that’s meant to kickstart the new DC Studios era under Gunn and co-chief Peter Safran is extra critical. For Superman, Gunn needs someone who can appear credibly wholesome, believably dorky as Clark Kent, and then look stellar in the Superman costume and believable as the Man of Steel. Whoever gets the role will be the first new Superman in more than a decade since Henry Cavill stepped into the role for Zack Snyder in 2013’s Man of Steel. 

Superman and Lois Lane aren’t the only huge roles Gunn is casting for. The villain Lex Luthor is already drawing big names, with brothers Alexander and Bill Skarsgård both being mentioned. What’s interesting is Nicholas Hoult was initially wanted for the part, but he decided to try for Superman. Other roles include a new group of superheroes called the Authority, who make up part of a world in which superheroes already exist.

Once these huge decisions are made, Gunn will move towards filming Superman: Legacy in early 2024 in an effort to hit the July 11, 2025 release date. It will be the first movie to come out of his and Safran’s new look DC Studios, reintroducing the most iconic Superhero in the DC canon (we can hear Batman groaning in their Batcaves). There are still two movies from the previous DC regime yet to premiere—Blue Beetle and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom—yet Gunn’s Superman: Legacy will be the film that officially begins a new era at the studio. It makes sense to start with Superman, which is why getting the right man in the red cape and the perfect romantic and professional foil in Lois Lane are so important.

For more on all things Warner Bros./DC Studios, check out these stories:

“The Flash” Director Andy Muschietti to Direct New Batman Movie “The Brave and the Bold”

“The Flash” New Images Tease Michael Keaton’s Batman and Sasha Calle’s Supergirl

James Gunn’s “Superman: Legacy” Will Begin Filming in Early 2024

Michael Keaton’s Batman Fights General Zod in New “The Flash” Teaser

Featured image: LONDON, ENGLAND – FEBRUARY 22: L-r: Featured image: SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA – APRIL 18: Director James Gunn attends the press conference for “Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol.3” at the Conrad Hotel on April 18, 2023 in Seoul, South Korea. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images); A Superman costume from the 2013 Man of Steel film worn by Henry Cavill and designed by Michael Wilkinson and James Acheson is on display at the DC Comics Exhibition: Dawn Of Super Heroes at the O2 Arena on February 22, 2018 in London, England. The exhibition, which opens on February 23rd, features 45 original costumes, models and props used in DC Comics productions including the Batman, Wonder Woman and Superman films. (Photo by Jack Taylor/Getty Images)

“Stephen Curry: Underrated” Trailer Shows how an NBA Legend Was Made

Posted on by babrams

Stephen Curry is one of those rare athletes that usher in a new era in their chosen sport through the brilliance of their play. Curry isn’t just a phenomenal basketball player, he’s a transformational one, credited with extending not only where it was plausible for a shooter of his skills to launch a three but forcing the rest of the league to adapt to a dynamic, free-flowing, total-court style of play. With out-of-this-world ballhandling skills and one of the sweetest shots in the game’s history, Curry is also one of the most fun players to watch. He regularly does things on the court that seem to transcend sport and become art itself. Or, perhaps more accurately, he’s simply proof that professional athletes are, in fact, artists, and what they create, in real-time for the whole world to see, can be as aesthetically beautiful as anything that goes on the screen or the canvas.

In short, watching Stephen Curry play is so much like watching a master artist at work that Stephen Curry: Underrated is a documentary that demanded to be made. Yet what Underrated reveals—it’s right there in the title—is that Steph, as he’s affectionately known throughout the league—didn’t enter the NBA as the surefire future Hall of Famer he became. In fact, his blazingly brilliant career has been largely unexpected, and as director Peter Nicks’ doc reveals, this undersized superstar came into the league from a small college (Davidson, in North Carolina) and was so slight it was assumed he’d get roughed up and ridden out of the NBA. Yeah, that never happened.

We know now, of course, that Curry ends up becoming a four-time NBA champion, two-time NBA MVP, and nine-time All-Star., and the all-time three-point leader in NBA history. Curry’s status as an NBA legend was cemented a while back, but Underrated is a nice reminder that greatness is never guaranteed; it’s the result of a Herculean effort that begins long before the cameras are rolling.

Check out the trailer below. Stephen Curry: Underrated streams on Apple TV+ on July 21:

Here’s the official synopsis for Stephen Curry: Underrated:

The remarkable coming-of-age story of one of the most influential, dynamic, and unexpected players in the history of basketball: Stephen Curry. This feature documentary — blending intimate cinéma vérité, archival footage, and on-camera interviews — documents Curry’s rise from an undersized college player at a small-town Division I college to a four-time NBA champion, building one of the most dominant sports dynasties in the world.

For more stories on Apple TV series and films, check these out:

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Featured image: Stephen Curry in college. Courtesy Apple TV+. 

New “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” Images Include Closer Look at Tom Cruise’s Craziest Stunt

Posted on by babrams

We now know why Tom Cruise and his Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One team filmed his insane motorcycle-into-BASE jump stunt on day one. The short answer—the stunt was so complex and difficult that, if something had gone wrong, at least it would have happened before they’d spent millions of dollars and many days and nights filming other parts of the film. Once successfully completed, the cast and crew could focus their full attention on the rest of the film without the highly difficult sequence looming in their near future. And this is precisely what happened. Cruise and the talented stunt crew conceived pulled it off, and Dead Reckoning Part One continued filming thereafter.

Now, Paramount has made a huge cache of new images available, and quite a few of them detail what Cruise and co-writer/director Christopher McQuarrie are calling the most complex and challenging stunt in the franchise’s long, stunt-loving run. As mentioned, Cruise had to drive a motorcycle at top speed off the edge of a cliff and go directly into a successful BASE jump, requiring him to master motocross racing, motocross jumping, and, of course, piloting the parachute after successfully deploying at just the right time. [The massive ramp the crew built was later turned into a proper cliff in post-production by the visual effects team.] Here are images that give you a peek at what it looked like to be there:

Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie on the set of Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One from Paramount Pictures and Skydance.
Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie on the set of Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning – Part One from Paramount Pictures and Skydance.
Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One from Paramount Pictures and Skydance.
Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning – Part One from Paramount Pictures and Skydance.
Tom Cruise on the set of Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One from Paramount Pictures and Skydance. Courtesy Paramount Pictures.
Tom Cruise plays Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning – Part One from Paramount Pictures and Skydance.
Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One from Paramount Pictures and Skydance.
Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One from Paramount Pictures and Skydance.

The new images also reveal the hugely talented ensemble surrounding Cruise. Dead Reckoning Part One follows the seismic events in Fallout, where Cruise’s Hunt, along with his trusty team of Isla Faust (Ferguson), Benji (Pegg), and Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames), helped stave off a potential nuclear nightmare. Now, the weapon they’re deployed to keep out of the hands of the bad guys is more dangerous than ever—artificial intelligence. In the wrong hands, the AI has the potential to cause an entire system collapse of the known world order. Enter Ethan and the IMF squad.

The new images include the abovementioned stars, plus some key returning players like Vanessa Kirby’s White Widow and newcomers, too, including Pom Klementieff’s Paris, Hayley Atwell’s Grace, Shea Whigham’s Jasper Briggs, Indira Varma, Esai Morales, and Mariela Garriga.

Check out the images below. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning hits theaters on July 12:

Frederick Schmidt and Vanessa Kirby in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One from Paramount Pictures and Skydance.
Tom Cruise and Hayley Atwell in Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One from Paramount Pictures and Skydance.
Pom Klementieff in Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One from Paramount Pictures and Skydance.
Rebecca Ferguson in Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One from Paramount Pictures and Skydance.
Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One from Paramount Pictures and Skydance.
Rebecca Ferguson and Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One from Paramount Pictures and Skydance.
Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg in Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One from Paramount Pictures and Skydance.
Tom Cruise and Hayley Atwell in Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One from Paramount Pictures and Skydance.
Pom Klementieff in Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One from Paramount Pictures and Skydance.
Tom Cruise and Henry Czerny in Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One from Paramount Pictures and Skydance.
Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg in Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One from Paramount Pictures and Skydance.
Henry Czerny, Rob Delaney, Lincoln Conway, Indira Varma, Cary Elwes, Mark Gatiss and Charles Parnell in Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One from Paramount Pictures and Skydance.
Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One from Paramount Pictures and Skydance.
Mariela Garriga in Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One from Paramount Pictures and Skydance.
Rebecca Ferguson and Christopher McQuarrie on the set of Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One from Paramount Pictures and Skydance.
Pom Klementieff in Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning – Part One from Paramount Pictures and Skydance.
Hayley Atwell, Pom Klementieff, Vanessa Kirby and Christopher McQuarrie on the set of Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One from Paramount Pictures and Skydance.
Tom Cruise and Simon Pegg in Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning – Part One from Paramount Pictures and Skydance.
Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames in Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One from Paramount Pictures and Skydance.
Indira Varma in Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One from Paramount Pictures and Skydance.
Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One from Paramount Pictures and Skydance.
Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning – Part One from Paramount Pictures and Skydance.
Shea Whigham in Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One from Paramount Pictures and Skydance.
Simonn Pegg in Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One from Paramount Pictures and Skydance.
Shea Whigham and Greg Tarzan Davis in Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One from Paramount Pictures and Skydance.
Esai Morales and Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One from Paramount Pictures and Skydance.
Hayley Atwell and Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One from Paramount Pictures and Skydance.

For more on Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, check out these stories:

Why Tom Cruise’s “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” Motorcycle Stunt Was Filmed Day One

“Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” Early Reactions Marvel at Jaw-Dropping Action Epic

“Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” Will Be Longest Film in Franchise History

Featured image: Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One from Paramount Pictures and Skydance.

New “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” Teaser & Photos Hype Harrison Ford’s Final Indy Adventure

Posted on by babrams

We are only a few days away from the release of director James Mangold’s Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, and now we’ve got our final look at a fresh teaser and a new batch of photos from Indy’s last adventure. Mangold becomes the first man not named Steven Spielberg to lead Harrison Ford through an Indy film, and not only that, he’s got the added pressure of making sure this final adventure is worthy of one of the most iconic franchises in film history.

The new teaser hypes Indy’s ultimate quest as he follows his courageous goddaughter Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) as the pair set out to find the titular Dial, a powerful relic that Indy had once come into contact with, which can, if brandished by the wrong person, become a dangerous weapon. So, Indy and Helena find themselves face-to-face with the very unsavory types they don’t want to possess the Dial, led by Jürgen Voller(Mads Mikkelsen). As if that wasn’t bad enough, Indy and Helena also come face-to-antennae with hundreds of creepy crawlies in a cave—it’s not an Indiana Jones movie unless some insects and reptiles get their star turn—as their quest takes them into the dark corners of both man and nature.

“We love Indiana Jones because we love movies,” director James Mangold had said in a recent featurette for the film. We love the cause and effect, the tripwire of events. All these pieces fit together to make the lightning in a bottle of an Indiana Jones film. But also, it just fits Harrison like a glove.”

The film finds Indy in his present day (1969) as the world has changed around him. Indy’s finally retiring as a professor, but when Helena presents him with information that the Dial of Destiny is once again in play, and she’s determined to set out on a dangerous mission to secure it, you know Indy’s not just going to sit around and wait for word of the outcome. Thus, the dynamic duo’s adventure begins. 

Joining Ford, Waller-Bridge, and Mikkelsen are Boyd Holbrook as his henchman Klaber, Antonio Banderas as Indy ally Renaldo, Thomas Kretschmann as Colonel Weber, Toby Jones as Basil (Helena’s father), and John Rhys-Davies as Sallah.

The Dial of Destiny is the fifth film in the franchise, following Spielberg’s four previous Indiana Jones films; Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), The Temple of Doom (1984), The Last Crusade (1989), and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008).

Check out the new photos below. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny whips into theaters on June 30:

Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) in Lucasfilm’s INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY. ©2023 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
(L-R): Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) and Teddy (Ethann Isidore) in Lucasfilm’s INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY. ©2023 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
(L-R): Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) and Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) in Lucasfilm’s Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. ©2022 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
Doctor Jürgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen) in Lucasfilm’s INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY. ©2023 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) in Lucasfilm’s INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY. ©2023 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) in Lucasfilm’s INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY. ©2023 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) in Lucasfilm’s INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY. ©2023 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
Doctor Jürgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen) in Lucasfilm’s INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY. ©2023 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
(L-R): Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) and Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) in Lucasfilm’s INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY. ©2023 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
(L-R): Teddy (Ethann Isidore), Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) and Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) in Lucasfilm’s INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY. ©2023 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
(L-R): Doctor Jürgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen, standing), Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) and Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) in Lucasfilm’s INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY. ©2023 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.

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Featured image: (L-R): Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) and Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) in Lucasfilm’s INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY. ©2023 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.

Ethan Coen’s “Drive-Away Dolls” Trailer Finds Margaret Qualley & Geraldine Viswanathan Hitting the Road

Posted on by babrams

Film lovers rejoice anytime the Coen Brothers release a new feature, and the same is now true anytime one of the brothers unveils their own feature film. We were rightly enthused when Joel Coen’s Macbeth came out, a sizzling adaptation of the deathless Shakespeare tale starring Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand, no less, and we’re equally thrilled about Ethan Coen’s Drive-Away Dolls, an altogether different kind of film from one of the greatest American filmmakers working today.

Drive-Away Dolls stars Margaret Qualley as Jamie and Geraldine Viswanathan as Marian, two girlfriends at wit’s ends with their lives who decide a road trip is just what the doctor ordered. Their destination? Tallahassee, Florida, where, according to Jamie, they’re going “to get their act together, together.” There’s one slight hiccup in their plan—when they rent a car (from none other than Bill Camp), they end up inadvertently taking one that contains some elicit goods (also destined for Tallahassee, hence the mixup) put there by some very bad men. A flat tire leads to them popping the trunk to get to the spare. Instead, they find a briefcase, one of the great MacGuffin props (see; Pulp Fiction), and thus, their road trip becomes a real, honest-to-God adventure when they pop that sucker open and realize what they’ve got on their hands.

Goons are sent after the girls—the cast is fantastic and includes Pedro Pascal, Colman Domingo, Matt Damon, and Beanie Feldstein—but they soon find out that Jamie and Marian aren’t a pair of pushovers who will just hand over the goods. In fact, when Jamie said they were going to get their act together, it turns out what they needed was some motivation from some unsavory types to find their true calling. As badasses.

Drive-Away Dolls looks like a deliciously fun ride.

Check out the trailer below. Drive-Away Dolls hits theaters on September 22.

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Featured image: (L to R) Margaret Qualley as “Jamie” and Geraldine Viswanathan as “Marian” in director Ethan Coen’s DRIVE-AWAY DOLLS, a Focus Features release. Credit: Courtesy of Working Title / Focus Features

Get Spooked in New “Haunted Mansion” Behind-the-Scenes Set Visit

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Director Justin Simien knows a thing or two about how to tease terror and delight out of a single story. In Haunted Mansion, the Bad Hair filmmaker teams up with another seasoned talent at combining chills with giggles, Ghostbusters screenwriter Kate Dipoold (she also wrote on Parks and Recreation and penned The Heat), to turn the iconic theme park ride into a proper feature. Now, in a new video released by Disney, the Haunted Mansion cast and crew reveal how they conjured their star-studded movie to life.

“I wanted everything to feel as if it came right off the ride,” said Simien, as we see the intricate details of production designer Darren Gilford’s set, which is picture perfect, from the busts to the wallpaper to the ghoulish candlesticks that look like little demons.

“You just felt like…this really feels haunted,” says star LaKeith Stanfield, who plays Ben, a paranormal tour guide and one of the people hired by single mom Gabbie (Rosario Dawson) to help her exorcise her newly purchased mansion after she discovers that it’s—wait for it—haunted.

“It’s kind of amazing seeing the Haunted Mansion come to life,” says Owen Wilson, who plays Kent, a priest, another one of the folks that Gabbie hopes can help her rid her new home of its spectral squatters.

“What we wanted to do is preserve the details that fans remember and expand the universe around them,” Simien says. “The thing that makes the ride so cool is the mansion already has a history, and our characters are discovering it. For me, the secret to this movie was always going to be the ensemble.”

Simien’s gathered quite the cast to help him achieve his goal. Joining Stanfield, Dawson, and Wilson are Tiffany Haddish as Harriet, a psychic; Danny DeVito as Bruce, a historian; and Chase W. Dillon as Travis, Gabbie’s son. The cast also boasts Dan Levy, Jamie Lee Curtis, Winona Ryder, and Jared Leto as The Hatbox Ghost. The gang all seemed to have a great time together. “It was fun to go to work every day,” says Wilson.

Check out the video “Welcome Foolish Mortals” here. Haunted Mansion creeps into theaters on July 28.

(L-R): Owen Wilson as Father Kent and Director Justin Simien on the set of Disney’s live-action HAUNTED MANSION. Photo by Chuck Zlotnik. © 2023 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
(L-R): Rosario Dawson as Gabbie, Tiffany Haddish as Harriet, LaKeith Stanfield as Ben, and Owen Wilson as Father Kent in Disney’s live-action HAUNTED MANSION. Photo Jalen Marlowe. © 2023 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Featured image: (L-R): Chase Dillon as Travis, Rosario Dawson as Gabbie, LaKeith Stanfield as Ben, Owen Wilson as Father Kent, and Tiffany Haddish as Harriet in Disney’s HAUNTED MANSION. Photo by Jalen Marlowe. © 2023 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

The First “Dumb Money” Trailer Reveals the GameStop Stock Movie We Need Right Now

Posted on by babrams

Even for those of us who find the stock market a nebulous web that ensnares as much as it baffles and bores, the GameStop lunacy of 2022 caught nearly everybody’s attention. The nearly moribund mall video game store was the unlikely nexus of a brief but potent stock inferno when, for a miraculous moment in time, it seemed as if regular Joe and Jane investors were finally taking it to the billionaire hedge fund class and beating them at their own game. After a “short squeeze” event in early 2021, retail investors rallied behind the company and drove up the stock’s value to insane degrees, momentarily minting millions for lots of regular folks who joined the investing frenzy early and infuriating the hedge fund machers who had bet on the company’s continued decline.

Director Craig Gillespie’s Dumb Money, based on Ben Mezrich’s book and adapted by Rebecca Angelo and Lauren Schuker Blum, captures the insanity by focusing on Keith Gill (Paul Dano), a man who invests his life’s savings into the GameStop stock and posts about it on Reddit. His stock tip lights the match that sets the markets on fire, turning this everyman into an unlikely hero for thousands in a perceived battle between his David and the billionaire class’s Goliath. The first trailer reveals Gillespie’s comedically golden cast, which includes Pete Davidson, Vincent D’Onofrio, America Ferrera, Nick Offerman, Anthony Ramos, Sebastian Stan, Shailene Woodley, and Seth Rogen.

If you liked The Big Short (and we certainly did), Dumb Money seems a surefire bet. For all those people who can’t afford to “play” the stock market or who plain don’t understand it, the appeal of films like The Big Short and Dumb Money is they educate and entertain, even if, in the end, it seems Goliath always wins.

Check out the trailer below. Dumb Money hits theaters on September 22.

Here’s the official synopsis:

Dumb Money is the ultimate David vs. Goliath tale, based on the insane true story of everyday people who flipped the script on Wall Street and got rich by turning GameStop (yes, the mall videogame store) into the world’s hottest company. In the middle of everything is regular guy Keith Gill (Paul Dano), who starts it all by sinking his life savings into the stock and posting about it. When his social posts start blowing up, so does his life and the lives of everyone following him. As a stock tip becomes a movement, everyone gets rich – until the billionaires fight back, and both sides find their worlds turned upside down.

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Featured image: Paul Dano stars as Keith Gill in DUMB MONEY. Courtesy Sony Pictures