Film
Morgan Freeman Permanently Banned from Entering Russia
Morgan Freeman is among nearly 1,000 American citizens who’ve been permanently banned from entering the Russian Federation. In response to sanctions imposed by the US government over Russia’s unprovoked attack of Ukraine, Russia’s foreign ministry released the names of 963 Americans who are no longer welcome in their country. They include political figures like President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, as well as members of Congress, tech executives, and journalists, according to the Washington Post. Freeman and fellow actor and filmmaker, Rob Reiner, are also on Russia’s shit list. While the foreign ministry didn’t offer any explanation for Freeman’s and Reiner’s inclusions, they were likely flagged for their participation in the Comm...
Samara Weaving on the Joys of Playing a Diva in Hulu’s The Valet
“It is quite fun being a little bit evil. It’s just a bit more interesting than being nice all the time,” says The Valet star Samara Weaving, who didn’t realize until this interview how many times she’s played a “crazy actress” (her words) in the past few years. The Australian actress (and niece of Lord of the Rings star Hugo Weaving) got her first screen credit in 2008, and since then has appeared in projects including the Oscar-winning drama Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, the Showtime dramedy SMILF, and the delightfully twisty horror film Ready or Not. But she also played aspiring actress (and daughter of the studio head) Claire in the Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan Netflix series Hollywood in 2020, and in The Valet, she’s Olivia, a major star who convinces titular valet Antonio...
Margot Robbie to Star in New Ocean’s Eleven Movie
Margot Robbie is cashing in on Ocean’s Eleven: The actress is set to star in a new installment of the heist comedy franchise from Warner Bros. Per The Hollywood Reporter, the forthcoming Ocean’s will be directed by Jay Roach, whose 2019 drama Bombshell earned Robbie an Oscar nod for Best Supporting Actress. Both Robbie and Roach are also producing via their banners LuckyChap and Everyman Pictures, respectively. In terms of plot details, the team behind the project is keeping their poker faces on. However, we do know that it’s supposed to be independent from other Ocean’s films, set in Europe in the 1960s. Tapped-in Ocean’s fans know that Lewis Milestone’s Ocean’s 11 — which served as the inspiration for Steven Soderbergh’s franchise — was released in...
Johnny Depp’s Former Agent Says “Unprofessional Behavior” Hurt His Career, Not Amber Heard
The ongoing Johnny Depp–Amber Heard defamation trial centers on Depp’s claim that Heard’s abuse-detailing Washington Post op-ed hurt his career, but according to the actor’s former agent, Depp did much of that on his own. In her testimony, United Talent Agency’s Tracey Jacobs claimed that Depp’s “unprofessional behavior,” including lateness and substance abuse, made Hollywood studios reluctant to cast him in recent years. Though Depp long reigned as “the biggest star in the world,” “His star had dimmed due to it getting harder to get him jobs given the reputation he had acquired due to his lateness and other things,” Jacobs said. At one point, the actor even began relying on an earpiece to have his lines fed to him. “Crews don’t love sitting around for hours and hours waiti...
R.I.P. Vangelis, Composer Who Scored Chariots of Fire and Blade Runner Dead at 79
Vangelis, the acclaimed Greek composer who scored films including Chariots of Fire and Blade Runner, has died at the age of 79. According to the Guardian, Vangelis passed away in a French hospital, where he was reportedly being treated for complications related to COVID-19. Vangelis, who was born Evángelos Odysséas Papathanassíou in Agria, a coastal town in Magnesia, Thessaly, Greece, began composing music at the age of four. But when his parents enrolled him for music lessons, he quickly flunked out, preferring instead to develop his own techniques. In 1963 at the age of 20, Vangelis formed his first rock band with his childhood friends, and in 1966 he began scoring Greek films. Advertisement Related Video Two years later he achieved his first international hit, “Rain and Tears,” as part ...
Idris Elba Grants Tilda Swinton Three Wishes in Teaser for George Miller’s Three Thousand Years of Longing: Watch
If a Djinn had granted us three wishes, we might very well have spent one conjuring Three Thousand Years of Longing, the new flick from Mad Max mastermind George Miller. It stars Idris Elba and Tilda Swinton, and a 20-second teaser is out now. Swinton has been cast as Dr. Alithea Binnie, a levelheaded academic who doesn’t believe in magical nonsense. But while attending a conference in Istanbul, she chances upon an ancient Djinn (Elba), who offers her three wishes in exchange for his freedom. According to the official logline, “This presents two problems. First, she doubts that he is real and second, because she is a scholar of story and mythology, she knows all the cautionary tales of wishes gone wrong. The Djinn pleads his case by telling her fantastical stories of his pas...
The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s 10 Greatest Needle Drops
This article is part of Consequence‘s Marvel Pop Culture Week, examining all the ways in which the MCU invokes our world’s pop culture and creates its own. Here, we’re taking a look at the MCU’s best needle drops. As of May 2022, there are 28 films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (excluding the six upcoming projects, multiple television shows, and the “One Shot” series). From Jon Favreau’s experiment with Iron Man in 2008 to Sam Raimi’s grand return to superhero flicks with this year’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, there are now hours upon hours of quippy dialogue, Stan Lee cameos, and epic CGI battles to satisfy our hunger for adventure. And as much as Kevin Feige deserves credit for overseeing the direction of the MCU, building such a massive, beloved body of work takes a...
Downton Abbey: A New Era Delivers Exactly the Sort of Period Drama Fans Crave
The Pitch: It may have been a few years since the last one, but never mind that; it’s time for the newest episode of Downton Abbey! Yes, all your favorite characters are back as the clock chimes on the year 1928, and the good folks of this lovely English countryside continue to puzzle over the encroachment of the modern world. First automobiles, then the telephone, and now — moving pictures! What is a stately English manor and its staff and residents to do?!? The above is this writer’s best efforts to inject some extra drama into a description of Downton Abbey: A New Era, the second theatrically-released installment continuing the saga of the wildly popular ITV/PBS period drama. But also, that’s really not necessary. While this isn’t something unique to Downton, it has always been a franch...
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Being Rebooted for Hulu
It’s been two decades since Stephen Norrington’s messy adaptation of Alan Moore’s The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, which is apparently enough time to get a reboot off the ground. According to The Hollywood Reporter, 20th Century Studios is taking another crack at the comic book franchise as a feature film for Hulu. Penning the screenplay will be Justin Haythe, who is known for his work on Revolutionary Road and Red Sparrow, with Don Murphy revisiting his producer role from the original adaptation. Murphy will be joined by producing partner Susan Montford and Erwin Stoff of 3 Arts Entertainment. THR reports that unlike the 2003 film, which went as far as adding Tom Sawyer as a US Secret Service agent, Haythe is returning to the core comic books for a more faithful ...
11 Funniest Moments From This Is Spinal Tap
(Editor’s Note: In light of news that This is Spinal Tap 2 is in the works, we are republishing this article. Originally published in 2019 to coincide with the 35th anniversary of the iconic rockumentary This Is Spinal Tap, Marty DiBergi Jr., son of filmmaker Marty DiBergi, took a look back at the film’s funniest moments. Below are his words, as he takes us on a trip through the classic film’s most humorous scenes.) My name is Marty DiBergi, Jr. I’m a writer. In the late fall of 1982, my father, filmmaker Marty DiBergi, heard that the UK band Spinal Tap were releasing a new album called Smell the Glove, and were planning their first tour of the United States in almost six years. He jumped at the chance to make a documentary, which hit theaters in March 1984, and the rest is history. L...
Christopher Walken Is the Emperor in Dune: Part Two
The casting process for Denis Villeneuve‘s next movie seems to be Dune just fine: Christopher Walken will lord over Part Two as the ruler of the universe himself, the Padishah Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV, The Hollywood Reporter notes. The Emperor didn’t appear in the 2021 movie Dune, which covered the first half of Frank Herbert’s classic novel. But his actions were felt from the first moments, which picked up with his assigning Duke Leto Atreides (Oscar Isaac) to the spice-rich desert planet Arrakis. Duke Leto brought his family along, including his son Paul (Timothée Chalamet). Joining Walken in Part Two will be Florence Pugh, who was already cast as the Emperor’s daughter Princess Irulan, and Austin Butler, who will portray the heir ...
Adam Driver and Forest Whitaker Lead Cast of Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis
Francis Ford Coppola has announced the cast for his long-gestating film Megalopolis, including Adam Driver, Forest Whitaker, Nathalie Emmanuel, and more. Jon Voight and Laurence Fishburne are also attached to the director’s dream final project. The latter actor began his career with Coppola’s 1979 classic Apocalypse Now opposite Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, and Martin Sheen. Although he was 14 when the film began, production took so long that he was 18 by the time it was released in theaters. Coppola is self-financing the film and per Deadline, the story is described as follows: “The fate of Rome haunts a modern world unable to solve its own social problems in this epic story of political ambition, genius, and conflicting interests.” Production on the film is set to begin later this fall....
