Film
Liam Neeson to Star in New Naked Gun Film From The Lonely Island’s Akiva Schaffer
The Naked Gun will return with a new film, and in place of Leslie Nielsen, Liam Neeson will star — perhaps as the son of Nielsen’s character Frank Derbin. As Deadline reports, Dan Gregor and Doug Mand will pen the new Naked Gun script, while The Lonely Island’s Akiva Schaffer will direct and executive produce. Seth MacFarlane and Erica Huggins are producing the film through their company Fuzzy Door. Based on the crime spoof series Police Squad!, The Naked Gun franchise began in 1988 with the film From the Files of Police Squad! Nielsen starred in the original film as Det. Sgt. Frank Derbin, a lovable police officer who didn’t exactly have the brains for the job. Nielsen went on to star in two sequels, 1991’s The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear a...
Will Ferrell Is the Ghost of Ryan Reynold’s Present in Trailer for Spirited: Watch
The Ghost of Christmas Present regrets his choice of Scrooge in the first teaser trailer for the holiday musical, Spirited. Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds star in this twist on Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, which arrives in theaters November 11th and streams on Apple TV+ beginning November 18th. Ferrell stars as Ghost of Christmas Present, who every year sets out to reform one dark soul with the help of two spectral comrades. But everything flips when he meets Clint Briggs (Reynolds), and suddenly this old Christmas Present is forced to reexamine his past and wrestle with his future. The first trailer is a mix of tight musical choreography and loose comical riffs. A tap sequence leaves both leads wondering how the other knew the moves, and sweeping set piece dances are...
Darren Aronofsky Defends Putting Brendan Fraser in a Fat Suit for The Whale
Though Brendan Fraser is earning Oscar buzz for his portrayal of a 600-pound man named Charlie in The Whale, one of the major criticisms of the Darren Aronofsky film is that the actor had to wear a fat suit to portray his character. In an interview with Variety, the director defended his casting of Fraser instead of an obese actor, saying it was difficult to find someone who could pull off the role from an emotional perspective. Aronofsky also said it became “a crazy chase” to find an actor heavy enough for the role. “There was a chapter in the making of this film where we tried to research obese actors,” Aronofsky told Variety. “Outside of not being able to find an actor who could pull off the emotions of the role, it just becomes a crazy chase. Like, if you can’t find a 600-pound ac...
The Joy Luck Club Sequel in Development, Original Cast Expected to Return
The Joy Luck Club — Wayne Wang’s 1993 drama film based on Amy Tan’s eponymous novel — is getting a sequel, Deadline reports, with the original cast in talks to reprise their roles. The Joy Luck Club offered a poignant and nuanced depiction of relationships between Chinese-American women and their Chinese immigrant mothers. In its second iteration, the multi-generational saga will welcome a new array of family members as we see the mothers become grandmothers, and their daughters become mothers. Of course, it’ll also continue to explore the characters’ relationships and attitudes towards family, love, and womanhood in the context of their Chinese-American identity. Not only did The Joy Luck Club pave the way for future Asian-American-led blockbusters like Crazy Rich Asians an...
Cartoon Network Studios Swallowed by Warner Bros. Animation After Layoffs
Warner Bros. Television Group cut 26% of its workforce on Tuesday, October 11th as part of its parent company’s continued cost-cutting measures. Among the hardest-hit divisions was the animation department, which will consolidate Warner Bros. Animation (WBA) and Cartoon Network Studios (CNS) as part of a “strategic realignment.” “We are implementing a new streamlined structure in which the development and main production teams will now work across both Warner Bros. Animation and Cartoon Network Studios,” chairman Channing Dungey wrote in a company-wide memo (via Deadline). Both the development and production teams at WBA and CNS will be merged, with Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe operating independently from the other studios. As Cartoon Brew points out, the consolidation will likely make an...
Armageddon Time Review: James Gray’s Coming-of-Age ’80s Drama Proves Unsatisfying
This review is part of our coverage of the 2022 New York Film Festival. The Pitch: James Gray, an experienced outer-borough tour guide, brings us closer to his own Queens past in Armageddon Time, a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age drama (though he says he wasn’t aiming for that genre; more on that later). The film follows 12-year-old aspiring artist Paul Graff (Banks Repeta) as he struggles with school, makes a friend in his classmate Johnny (Jaylin Webb), clashes with his parents Irving (Jeremy Strong) and Esther (Anne Hathaway), and takes solace in the love of his grandfather (Anthony Hopkins). The 1980 presidential contest looms in the background; at one point, kids at a posh private school start an impromptu chant for Reagan at the mere mention of elections, just before an assembly ...
Bill Murray Paid $100,000 Settlement for “Inappropriate Behavior”: Report
Bill Murray paid a $100,000 settlement to a female staffer on the now-shelved movie, Being Mortal, according to a report in Puck. The news comes as Geena Davis’ new memoir alleges that Murray screamed at her on the set of their 1990 crime comedy, Quick Change. Being Mortal was set to be director Aziz Ansari’s feature film debut before it was shelved due to Murray’s “inappropriate behavior.” At the time, Murray said, “I had a difference of opinion with a woman I’m working with. I did something I thought was funny, and it wasn’t taken that way.” He added, “The world is different than it was when I was a little kid… What I always thought was funny as a little kid isn’t necessarily the same as what’s funny now. Things change and the times change, so it’s...
Aubrey Plaza “Freaked Out” Robert De Niro: “I Did Some Questionable Things”
Aubrey Plaza is known for playing intense characters in projects like Parks and Rec and Ingrid Goes West, but in a recent panel promoting her upcoming movie Emily the Criminal, the actor admitted she took her method acting too far while working with Robert De Niro on the set of 2016’s Dirty Grandpa. While speaking at a London Film Festival ScreenTalk session (via Variety) on Monday (October 10th), Plaza said one of her agents “heard Bob’s a little freaked out” during the filming of Dirty Grandpa, in which she played a character named Lenore whose “one goal” was to have sex with De Niro’s Dick Kelly. “I didn’t have time to get to know him, he shows up in a puff of smoke and there’s no chatting at the water cooler,” Plaza explained. “By the time he’d show up, I’m in character. My c...
Nick Kroll Plans to Work Until He’s “Very Old, Out of Touch, and No Longer Funny at All”
Nick Kroll’s got a lot going on right now: The recent release of his new Netflix standup special Little Big Boy; his supporting role in one of the year’s most discussed films, Don’t Worry Darling; and the upcoming new season of Big Mouth, the animated coming-of-age comedy he co-created with Andrew Goldberg, Mark Levin, and Jennifer Flackett. Not to mention the many, many other projects he’s guest-starred in over the last few years, a list that includes What We Do In the Shadows, Our Flag Means Death, Bob’s Burgers, Dickinson, and Curb Your Enthusiasm. “I’ve been so lucky to be able to be on so many of the shows that I liked,” Kroll tells Consequence. “And it’s something that I’ve tried to work on, to tell those people that I like their show and that if they ever wanted to have me on i...
Allison Williams’ AI Experiment Goes Wrong in M3GAN Trailer: Watch
Making new friends is hard, but in the trailer for Universal’s upcoming horror M3GAN, we meet someone who might be able to help. See Allison Williams in the official clip released today ahead of the film’s January 13th release. Gemma (Williams) is a toy-company roboticist who’s suddenly thrown into parenthood when her 8-year-old niece Cady (The Haunting of Hill House‘s Violet McGraw) becomes orphaned. In an effort to curb Cady’s grief, Gemma introduces her to the prototype of M3GAN, a child-size, lifelike doll that uses artificial intelligence to become your new best friend: “Ever since I was little, I dreamed of this perfect toy that would protect a kid from ever feeling lonely or sad,” Gemma says in the clip. This doll’s name is M3GAN, short for Model 3 Generative Android, and its g...
Disney Pushes Back Blade Release Date to September 2024
Oh, well, there’s always next phase: Marvel Studios has paused production on its hotly-anticipated Blade reboot, according to The Hollywood Reporter. As a result, Disney has pushed the film back from its original November 3rd, 2023 premiere date to September 6th, 2024. The decision will disappoint Blade fans, though it doesn’t come as a total surprise; the star-crossed project lost director Bassam Tariq just weeks before filming was set to begin in November. As the search continues for a replacement, crew members were notified Tuesday of the pause on production. According to one source, “They want to really get it right.” Filming is expected to pick up in 2023. Advertisement Related Video Blade’s shift in dates has caused a cascading effect on the rest of the MCU’s Phas...
R.I.P. Angela Lansbury, Golden Age Hollywood Star Dead at 96
Dame Angela Lansbury, the acclaimed British-American actress and one of the last surviving film stars of Hollywood’s Golden Age, has died at 96. “The children of Dame Angela Lansbury are sad to announce that their mother died peacefully in her sleep at home in Los Angeles at 1:30 AM today, Tuesday, October 11th, 2022, just five days shy of her 97th birthday,” her family said in a statement. Angela Brigid Lansbury was born in London to an English father and Northern Irish mother. After her father died from stomach cancer when Lansbury was nine years old, she coped by throwing herself into films and acting. The onset of the Blitz during World War II prompted Lansbury and her mother to relocate to the United States, where Lansbury began her stage acting career in New York City. Advertisement ...
