The biblical thriller Mary has reportedly wrapped production in Morocco, and Deadline reveals that the film will feature Sir Anthony Hopkins in another royal role after portraying the former King of Asgard, Odin, as well as Lear in the Prime original film, King Lear. Hopkins plays King Herod in the thriller that’s directed by DJ Caruso, whose credits include Disturbia, Eagle Eye and the Vin Diesel actioner xXx: Return of Xander Cage. He joins newcomer Noa Cohen, who plays the titular role. Cohen was chosen after a worldwide casting search and happened to grow up an hour away from where Mary was born in Israel. Cohen can be seen in the Israeli YA series My Nephew Bentz, Infinity and the 2022 feature Silent Game.

The plot synopsis, per Deadline, reads,
“In coming-of-age story Mary, the title character is shunned following the otherworldly conception of her child and forced into hiding. King Herod’s relentless drive to maintain power at any cost ignites the murderous pursuit of the newborn child that he believes is a threat to his reign on the throne. The film sees the young Mary and Joseph on the run and having to hide their baby, Jesus, at all costs.”

The movie also stars Mila Harris (Young Mary), Ido Tako (Joseph), Stephanie Nur (Salome), Susan Brown, (Anna the Prophetess), Ori Pfeffer as (Joachim), Hilla Vidor (Anne), Gudmundur Thorvaldsson (Marcellus) and Dudley O’Shaughnessy, Eamon Farren, Mili Avital, Milo Djurovic, Charley Boon, Kelsie Lewis and Jade Croot.

In addition to this film, Hopkins can be seen as Emperor Vespasian in the upcoming Roland Emmerich show, Those About to Die, which will stream on Peacock. While announcing Those About to Die, Emmerich said, “I have always been fascinated by the history of the Roman Empire…So much still seems relevant for our society today – from the entanglement of politics and sports to the disciplines of the competitions, which haven’t changed much either over the last 2000 years. The most electrifying spectacles for the masses still involve two men in an arena, beating each other up, and the chariots of today are called race cars whose drivers still crash and often pay with their lives.”

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Last week, the Netflix streaming service released Ripley, a limited series adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s novel The Talented Mr. Ripley that sees Andrew Scott taking on the title role. (You can read our review HERE). Tom Ripley is a character who has been fascinating readers and viewers for decades, as he was at the center of multiple novels written by Highsmith (The Talented Mr. Ripley, Ripley Under Ground, Ripley’s Game, The Boy Who Followed Ripley, and Ripley Underwater). Ripley was originally set up Showtime, where Schindler’s List Oscar winner Steven Zaillian – who wrote and directed all eight episodes of Ripley – was planning to use all of the Ripley novels as “a road map to showcase Ripley’s transformation from con artist to serial killer” over the course of an on-going series. Now that Ripley has made its way out into the world on Netflix, Scott and Zaillian have both said that it’s possible the show could return for more seasons that could adapt more of the books… they just need to take a break first.

Speaking with The Wrap, Zaillian said, “I think other (seasons) are certainly possible. We have the rights to all the books, so we could do it. I’ll need a little break but yeah, I think he’s a good enough character that you could do more.“

In a separate interview, Scott said, “It’s been such a long, long process with this one. I’m just very interested to see how this one goes out. To be honest, after this year, I’m just looking forward to taking a break.“

Ripley shows us what happens when Tom Ripley, a grifter scraping by in early 1960s New York, is hired by a wealthy man to travel to Italy to try to convince his vagabond son Dickie Greenleaf to return home. Tom’s acceptance of the job is the first step into a complex life of deceit, fraud and murder.

Dickie Greenleaf is played by Johnny Flynn (The Lovers). Dakota Fanning (The Equalizer 3) plays Marge Sherwood, “an American living in Italy who suspects darker motives underlie Tom’s affability.”

There have been multiple previous adaptations of Highsmith’s Ripley novels, but there has never been a series of adaptations with the same star or from the same creative team, so I would love to see Ripley run for five seasons and make its way through all of the books. Previous adaptations include the 1960 film Purple Noon (where Ripley was played by Alain Delon), the 1977 film The American Friend (with Dennis Hopper as Ripley), the 2002 film Ripley’s Game (John Malkovich was Ripley in that one), the 2005 film Ripley Under Ground (with Barry Pepper as Ripley), a 1956 episode of the TV series Studio One, and perhaps most famously, the 1999 film The Talented Mr. Ripley, where Ripley was played by Matt Damon.

Ripley is a Showtime and Endemol Shine North America co-production, in association with Entertainment 360 and Filmrights. Zaillian serves as executive producer alongside Garrett Basch, Guymon Casady, Ben Forkner, Sharon Levy, and Philipp Keel of Diogenes. Scott is a producer on the series.

Would you like to see Ripley continue for a season 2 (and beyond)? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.

The post Ripley season 2 might happen after Andrew Scott takes a break appeared first on JoBlo.

Fortnite’s new Avatar: The Last Airbender skins are live, and fans seem to be enjoying playing as Toph, Aang, Zuko, and Katara. All of the skins coincide with an in-game Avatar event that lets players control the elements like a bender from the show. As such, it’s not too surprising Sokka, one of the series’ main…

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Fortnite’s new Avatar: The Last Airbender skins are live, and fans seem to be enjoying playing as Toph, Aang, Zuko, and Katara. All of the skins coincide with an in-game Avatar event that lets players control the elements like a bender from the show. As such, it’s not too surprising Sokka, one of the series’ main…

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Hailee Steinfeld is no stranger to the supernatural, having voiced Gwen Stacy in the immensely popular animated Spider-Man movies — Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-verse — and fighting alongside Transformers in the spin-off prequel Bumblebee. She also was teased to return to the MCU in the post-credits scene of The Marvels. Now, the actress is set to star in Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan’s secret genre project. Earlier, it was reported that Jack O’Connell of Unbroken is in talks to play the villain. Delroy Lindo is also attached and there’s said to be “a musical element” to his character. Recently, Loki‘s Wunmi Mosaku was also reported to have joined the project.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, leaked details indicate that Mosaku may be playing Jordan’s love interest while O’Connell is a villain with ties to the KKK. While the details of the project remain tight-lipped, it’s also too early to tell what role Steinfeld will be playing or how her character fits into the story. Coogler has written the script for this project, which is being described as both a genre picture and a period piece. The project is set up at Warner Bros., is expected to have a budget of around $90 million, and is scheduled for a theatrical release on March 7, 2025.

The folks at World of Reel have shared that this movie is RUMORed to be about vampires battling the Ku Klux Klan. They have heard that “Coogler’s film would be set in the ’30s South, centering on vampires, with dual twin roles for Jordan and that it would be heavy in ‘anime influences.’ The ’30s Jim Crow South setting is not an accident. There’s been word that the plot would center on Vampires going to war against the Ku Klux Klan. That actually makes total sense given the setting of the film which is smack dab in the middle, and during, the height of the Klan.“

This project was kept very tightly under wraps that when it was looking for a studio to call home, “executives and buyers were forced to make the pilgrimage to the Beverly Hills offices of WME, the agency that represents Coogler and Jordan, in order to take a gander on the script and get details.”

The post Hailee Steinfeld joins Michael B. Jordan and Ryan Coogler for their untitled supernatural film appeared first on JoBlo.

Production on MaXXXine, the sequel to director Ti West‘s films Pearl (watch it HERE) and X (watch that one at THIS LINK), wrapped way back in May of 2023, and we still have a few months to wait before A24 gives it a theatrical release on July 5th… but the folks on the Motion Picture Association ratings board already had the chance to watch the movie, and they have picked their rating for it. MaXXXine has earned an R for strong violence, gore, sexual content, graphic nudity, language and drug use. Sounds like a good time at the movies to me!

MaXXXine is written and directed by West. Mia Goth reprises the role of X survivor Maxine Minx, a burlesque performer and adult film actress with the goal of being a star. The film has the following synopsis: In 1980s Hollywood, adult film star and aspiring actress Maxine Minx finally gets her big break. But as a mysterious killer stalks the starlets of Hollywood, a trail of blood threatens to reveal her sinister past. As you can see in the recently released trailer, the Hollywood setting even allows for a visit to the Bates Motel.

The horror magazine Scream learned that the film is described as being “a good old whodunit slasher,” while Goth described it as “a superhero movie.” She said that because, “Maxine, as a character, has come a long way. She’s a survivor, she’s gone through a lot. When we meet her again, in this new world that she’s in, she’s really fought for everything that she has, and she’s not about to give that up. She’s going to fight for what she has. She’s a badass. There’s a strength to her. And she’s a really proactive, determined, focused woman. She goes after what she wants, and she’s not really going to take no for an answer.“

Goth and singer Halsey (who can be seen with Goth in the first look image at the bottom of this article) are joined in the cast by Kevin Bacon (Tremors), Elizabeth Debicki (Tenet), singer Moses Sumney, Michelle Monaghan (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang), Bobby Cannavale (Netflix’s The Watcher), Lily Collins (Emily in Paris), and Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad. The Hollywood Reporter noted that Esposito will be playing an agent for adult film and Z-list movie actors, Debicki’s character is a film director, Monaghan and Canavale are playing LAPD detectives, and Bacon is playing a private detective.

MaXXXine is being produced by A24, Ti West, Jacob Jaffke, Kevin Turen, and Harrison Kreiss. Mia Goth serves as executive producer. 

What do you think of the reasons given for MaXXXine‘s R rating? Are you looking forward to seeing this movie in July? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

The post MaXXXine earns an R rating for strong violence, gore, and more appeared first on JoBlo.

Star Wars Outlaws, the open-world scoundrel game from Ubisoft and Massive Entertainment, is adding another familiar face. Following the story of thief Kay Vess, Outlaws will dive into the seedy underbelly of that galaxy far, far away. Moving in those lawless circles, Kay is sure to run into some iconic characters,…

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Star Wars Outlaws, the open-world scoundrel game from Ubisoft and Massive Entertainment, is adding another familiar face. Following the story of thief Kay Vess, Outlaws will dive into the seedy underbelly of that galaxy far, far away. Moving in those lawless circles, Kay is sure to run into some iconic characters,…

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About two years ago, we heard that Halle Berry had signed on to star in a horror movie called Mother Land, with genre regular Alexandre Aja on board to direct. Last year, the project went into production under a new title, Never Let Go. Last night, it was announced that Lionsgate will be giving Never Let Go a theatrical release on September 27th (the date they previously had reserved for Saw XI, which has been pushed back a year) – and now a teaser poster for the film has made its way online. You can check it out at the bottom of this article.

Berry is joined in the cast by Percy Daggs IV (The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey) and Anthony B. Jenkins (Florida Man). Shawn Levy, Dan Cohen, and Dan Levine of 21 Laps (the production company behind Stranger Things and Free Guy, among other things) are producing the film with Aja. Berry is executive producing alongside Holly Jeter and 21 Laps’ Emily Morris. Chelsea Kujawa and Scott O’Brien are overseeing the project for Lionsgate.

Scripted by Kevin Coughlin and Ryan Grassby, Never Let Go follows a mother (Berry) and her fraternal twin sons (Daggs and Jenkins) who have been tormented by an evil spirit for years and are convinced to never let go of their family’s protective bond. But when one of the boys questions if the evil is real, their connection is severed, triggering a terrifying fight for survival. Here’s a different version of the synopsis: As Evil takes over the world beyond their front doorstep, the only protection for a mother (Berry) and her twin sons is their house and their family’s protective bond. Needing to stay connected at all times – even tethering themselves with ropes – they cling to one another, urging each other to never let go. But when one of the boys questions if the evil is real, the ties that bind them together are severed, triggering a terrifying fight for survival.

Aja’s previous directing credits include High Tension, The Hills Have Eyes, Mirrors, Piranha 3D, Horns, The 9th Life of Louis Drax, Crawl, and Oxygen. We first heard about Never Let Go (then known as Mother Land) almost exactly two years ago, when it was announced that Mark Romanek had signed on to direct the film. There were eight years between Romanek’s first film One Hour Photo and his second feature Never Let Me Go, and it looked like this was going to be his third movie. Eleven years (at the time) after Never Let Me Go. But then Romanek dropped out and Aja signed on. Now we continue to wait and see if Romanek is going to make a third feature.

Does Never Let Go sound interesting to you? Let us know by leaving a comment below – and while you’re scrolling down, take a look at the teaser poster with its snakeskin background.

The post Never Let Go: Halle Berry / Alexandre Aja horror film gets a teaser poster and September release date appeared first on JoBlo.

The Witcher is a massive IP spanning anime, books, comics, a series of games (and cameos in battle royale shooter Fortnite and 3D brawler SoulCalibur VI), and a television series on Netflix. The franchise’s lead, Geralt of Rivia, has journeyed far beyond the expectations that fantasy author Andrzej Sapkowski might’ve…

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