Month: March 2024

Heartstopper season 3, Olivia Colman

Just last week, Netflix announced that Heartstopper season 3 will premiere in October, but unfortunately, the great Olivia Colman won’t be returning.

I couldn’t do number three. I couldn’t fit it in. I feel awful about that,” Olivia Colman told Forbes about Heartstopper season 3. “I feel like I was part of one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever been part of.” Colman played Sarah Nelson in the series, the mother of the main character Nick (Kit Connor). Should there be a fourth season, Colman would love to return, provided more scheduling difficulties don’t get in the way.

Heartstopper series creator Alice Oseman took to Instagram to explain that they “tried absolutely everything we could” to get Colman back but that it “wasn’t meant to be, and that’s just the way the TV world works sometimes.” It remains to be seen how Colman’s absence will change the story in season 3. “Nick’s story from the comics is still there, still infinitely important to me, and Sarah’s role as emotional support for Nick will shift to other characters in the story for now,” Oseman said. “If we get a season four, I would love for Olivia to be a part of it again!” I haven’t watched the series for myself, but judging by fan reaction, Colman’s character was much-loved and will surely be missed.

Here’s the official logline for Heartstopper season 3: “Charlie would like to tell Nick that he loves him. Nick also has something important to say to Charlie. As the summer holiday ends and the months race on, the friends begin to realize that the school year will come with both its joys and its challenges. As they learn more about each other and their relationships, plan social events and parties and start thinking about university choices, everyone must learn to lean on those they love when life doesn’t go to plan.

Heartstopper has proven to be an extremely popular series for Netflix, receiving acclaim from fans and critics alike. The streaming service gave it a two-season renewal just a month after its premiere.

The post Heartstopper: Olivia Colman won’t be back for season 3 of the Netflix series appeared first on JoBlo.

Justin Simien, Heist: Or How to Steal a Planet

THR reports that Haunted Mansion director Justin Simien to set to helm Heist: Or How to Steal a Planet, a sci-fi crime thriller based on the comic series by Paul Tobin and Arjuna Susini.

The comic is “set on the planet Heist, home to billions of the worst criminals in the galaxy. The ruling pan-galactic government has no idea what to do with the planet, but a conman named Glane Breld and his band of thieves know exactly what to do with Heist: steal it. The story follows Breld on his madcap scheme to pull off the biggest heist in the history of the galaxy.” I’m not too familiar with the comic series, but that sounds like fun. Christopher Yost, best known for Thor: Ragnarok and The Mandalorian, will pen the script.

In a statement, Justin Simien said, “How To Steal Planet wowed me and I’m humbled by the challenge of bringing a genre bending dose of afro-futurism to the culture.” Tommy Oliver, who will produce the project through his Confluential Films banner, added: “How to Steal a Planet is just a good time. I can’t imagine a better duo than Justin Simien and Christopher Yost to bring this to the screen, especially as a part of Confluential’s growing slate of tentpole films from creators of color.

Heist: Or How to Steal a Planet isn’t the first comic adaptation Justin Simien is attached to, as he’s also developing an adaptation of Geoff Jones and Gary Frank’s Geiger for Paramount. “Set in the years after a nuclear war has ravaged the planet, desperate outlaws battle for survival in a world of radioactive chaos,” reads the official description of the Geiger comic. “Out past the poisoned wasteland lives a man even the Nightcrawlers and Organ People fear. Some name him Joe Glow, others call him the Meltdown Man. But his name…is Geiger.

Simien had also been discussing the possibility of a sequel to Haunted Mansion, but after the mixed reviews and underperforming box office, I’d wager that’s no longer in the cards.

Those of you who have read the comic, what are your thoughts on a movie adaptation of Heist: Or How to Steal a Planet?

The post Justin Simien to direct sci-fi crime thriller Heist: Or How to Steal a Planet appeared first on JoBlo.

Jake Gyllenhaal, Batman Begins, Christopher Nolan

Jake Gyllenhaal was one of the top contenders to play Bruce Wayne in Batman Begins, and although the role went to Christian Bale, director Christopher Nolan called Gyllenhaal personally to tell him he didn’t get the role.

To [Nolan’s] credit and to Baz [Luhrmann’s] credit, both of those directors called me personally to tell me [I didn’t get the role],” Jake Gyllenhaal said on The Howard Stern Show. “And they will tell you why. When you get that far, there’s a real legitimacy to you potentially getting something. It’s not like they’re going, ‘Oh, thanks so much.’ They are going, ‘I saw these aspects of you that I really wanted in the role and are wonderful, but in the end I ended up moving this way because it matches better with this person who is opposite you or would be opposite you. The color of their hair or their height, whatever it is!! There are all these non factors that really are the inexplicable stuff that if you start to pick away at it doesn’t work, it’s not healthy.”

Gyllenhaal continued, “To me, I just go: ‘Look at how far you got! So just try and keeping going.’ That’s what I felt. I remember getting a call from Christopher Nolan and thinking, ‘I just got a call personally from Christopher Nolan. That’s pretty cool. I’ve gotten pretty far. I went from them going they aren’t sure [about me] to a call saying they’re really thinking about you for this movie. So okay, I should keep going. I should just keep going.

The actor clearly didn’t let the loss of the role get him down, but he might get another shot at the Dark Knight. With The Brave and the Bold just over the horizon, DC Studios will be casting a new Batman, and Gyllenhaal recently said that he’d still be interested. “Oh, man. That’s a classic. It’s an honor,” Gyllenhaal said. “Speaking of playing roles that other incredible actors have played in the past, to me actually roles that other incredible actors have played in the past, which, to me, actually, when I think about it, I’m going to play Iago in Othello with Denzel Washington, and I think about like the history of actors that have played that role throughout time, and I’m intimidated by that. So that’s the first level. That’s what I’m working on right now. But of course. It would be an honor always. Those types of things and those roles are classics.

Jake Gyllenhaal can currently be seen starring in Road House on Prime Video. Our own Chris Bumbray reviewed the film, and while it was unfortunately more of a “mixed bag” than he had hoped, he still had fun with it. “It’s pretty entertaining, even if it’s not the absolute rollercoaster ride the trailer promised. It has some good fight sequences, but it’s short of action until about halfway in,” reads the review. “When it sticks to punch-ups, the movie is great, but when it spreads out into boat chases and explosions, the streaming nature of the film becomes more apparent. You start to wonder why they didn’t study the original movie closer, which proved car chases, explosions, and gun battles are ultimately unnecessary in a film about people getting kicked in the head.” You can check out the rest of Bumbray’s review right here.

The post Jake Gyllenhaal says Christopher Nolan called to tell him he didn’t get Batman Begins role appeared first on JoBlo.

Cuckoo Hunter Schafer

Nearly two years have gone by since we heard that production had wrapped on Cuckoo, a new horror film from writer/director Tilman Singer that stars Hunter Schafer (Euphoria), Dan Stevens (The Guest), Jessica Henwick (Love and Monsters), Marton Csókás (Freelance), Greta Fernández (Santo), and Jan Bluthardt (Tatort)… and we’re going to have to wait a bit longer before we’ll have a chance to see it. Neon had been planning to give Cuckoo a theatrical release on May 3rd, but now our friends at Bloody Disgusting have learned that the release date has been pushed back to August 9th. They also got their hands on a new poster for the film, and you can check that out at the bottom of this article.

Here’s the official synopsis: Reluctantly, 17-year-old Gretchen leaves her American home to live with her father, who has just moved into a resort in the German Alps with his new family. Arriving at their future residence, they are greeted by Mr. König, her father’s boss, who takes an inexplicable interest in Gretchen’s mute half-sister Alma. Something doesn’t seem right in this tranquil vacation paradise. Gretchen is plagued by strange noises and bloody visions until she discovers a shocking secret that also concerns her own family.

A while back, Variety revealed that the film sees Schafer face off against a mysterious bird-like monster with a scream-like call who seeks to impregnate women with her evil spawn. The story, written by Singer, is based off the lore of the cuckoo bird, some of which are brood parasites, meaning they lay their eggs in the nests of other species. 

A press release notes that Dan Stevens turns in a “brilliant and terrifying” performance in the film, and he has described his role as a “delicious antagonist role.”

At one point, it was announced that Gemma Chan (Eternals), Sofia Boutella (The Mummy 2017), Zita Hanrot (Love, Death & Robots), Proschat Madani (Walking on Sunshine), and John Malkovich (Being John Malkovich) would be in the movie as well, but it looks like most of them had to drop out of the project before filming began.

This is the second feature for Singer, following the 2018 supernatural horror film Luz, which Bluthardt had a role in. Luz told the story of “a young cab driver fleeing from the grasp of a possessed woman, whose confession could endanger the lives of everyone who crosses her path.” Several of Singer’s Luz collaborators joined him on Cuckoo. In addition to Bluthardt, also returning from Luz were cinematographer Paul Faltz, composer Simon Waskow, and production designer Dario Mendez Acosta.

Cuckoo was financed by Neon. The film is being produced by Markus Halberschmidt, Josh Rosenbaum, Maria Tsigka, Ken Kao, Thor Bradwell, Ben Rimmer, in a cooperation between Germany’s Fiction Park and the States’ Waypoint Entertainment. It’s executive produced by Tom Quinn, Jeff Deutchman, Emily Thomas, and Ryan Friscia for Neon. Additional funding came from the Film und Medien Stiftung NRW, HessenFilm, and the German Federal Film Fund.

Are you looking forward to Cuckoo, and are you disappointed to hear that the release date has moved back three months? Let us know by leaving a comment below – but first, take a look at this poster:

Cuckoo

The post Cuckoo: Hunter Schafer horror film gets a new poster as release date moves back 3 months appeared first on JoBlo.