There may be seven deadly sins but David Fincher is maxing his Ks at eight — well, four, as there is really no set distributor that can handle 8K. As such, it was a 4K restoration of Seven that was screened at this year’s TCM Classic Film Festival, although Fincher is still proud of the work presented to viewers.
Appearing at the annual festival, David Fincher pointed out that those who catch this quasi-8K transfer of Seven may be caught off guard by the “imperfections”, which he is well aware of. “It is what it is, warts and all…And some of it is spectacular and some of it is stuff that I would change or fix today, but I didn’t want to mess with that. There’s a lot of imperfections, there’s a lot of things that you just don’t see on film. When people say they love the look of film, what they’re talking about is chaos, entropy, and softness. Now, of course, we live in an HDR world where you get those kinds of very deep, rich, velvety blacks for free.”
As with any high-definition transfer, that of Seven presented the issues of “how much”, something that can easily limit the authenticity and filmic quality — too much and the transfer looks overproduced, ruining the experience and discrediting so much of the filmmakers’ work. For this, Fincher had plenty of meticulous details (no surprise there) on how this was approached for Seven. “And we had to negotiate that fine between what to fix or not…So we attempted to go back in and fix to make it match. And kind of repaint stuff and just take out water spots and little edge flashes. And some of it is impossible to get it to match, certainly by today’s standards. So there was a lot of excavation.”
It took around six months alone for David Fincher and his team just to compile their notes to get moving on the Seven transfer. It will be pretty incredible once distributors can catch up with 8K, which will allow all of Fincher and company’s work to be seen the way they intended three decades later. Even so, a 4K downscale is nothing to lose your head over, so fans should be on the lookout for the Blu-ray release early next month.
Will you be checking out Fincher’s Seven on 4K? Which other film of his would best benefit from an 8K treatment?
If you loved the Fallout TV series and want to dive into a game that’s like it, but not too like it, we curated a list for you. We’ve also got some hidden Nintendo Switch secrets to make the most of the handheld console, lingering Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth help, and yeah, we’re back into Destiny 2. Read on for the major…
If you loved the Fallout TV series and want to dive into a game that’s like it, but not too like it, we curated a list for you. We’ve also got some hidden Nintendo Switch secrets to make the most of the handheld console, lingering Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth help, and yeah, we’re back into Destiny 2. Read on for the major…
Saturday Night Live skits have given us some of the funniest and most enjoyable movies of their eras. OK, there aren’t many – we’re really mostly talking about The Blues Brothers, the Wayne’s World double feature and MacGruber – but what’s there is choice comedy. On the other side, we have crap like It’s Pat, The Ladies Man and Stuart Saves His Family, all proving that just because something works for five minutes doesn’t mean it can sustain 90. Take another recurring skit, Debbie Downer, for another example, who Rachel Dratch turned into a signature character in more than a half-dozen appearances. Thankfully such a movie never happened – something that Dratch is perfectly fine with.
Speaking with ComicBook.com, Rachel Dratch recognized that while the character stands as one of her greatest contributions to SNL, she just wouldn’t have the legs to make it on the big screen. “I used to get asked that a lot about the Debbie Downer movie, but the thing about Debbie Downer is she’s best in small doses, I think. I think with a whole movie – even a sketch, like the first couple were great and then people are on to you after, you know, they know what to expect – So I think a whole movie might not work. I think some things are best in teeny tiny little snippets…We never did because she barely could make it the seven minutes sometimes…So 90 minutes would probably be a snooze fest.” While she’s absolutely correct – then again, imagine how much of Debbie Downer’s life there is to explore… – we’d also like to imagine Dratch went full-on Debbie Downer when saying so, complete with sad sack sound effects.
We haven’t gotten a new Saturday Night Live adaptation in well over a decade. Not that we’re overdue or clamoring for one, but there might be some interest in, say, The Californians or Stefon getting their own movies. Going back to the ‘90s, two were actually in at least minor discussion: one centering on Chris Farley’s motivational speaker Matt Foley, as well as another for Dana Carvey and Kevin Nealon’s bodybuilders Hans and Franz, with the pair close to recruiting Arnold Schwarzenegger for the movie. The latter was more or less axed due to some of the aforementioned SNL movies tanking and Arnold stepping aside.
What is your favorite Saturday Night Live adaptation? Which skit do you think would make a great movie?
Back in 2000, director Ridley Scott (and screenwriters David Franzoni, John Logan, and William Nicholson) took us back to 180 AD for Gladiator, which told the story of Roman general Maximus Decimus Meridius (played by Russell Crowe), who is favored by Emperor Marcus Aurelius to be his successor because his own son, Commodus, is unfit to rule. Commodus disagrees, so he murders his father, has Maximus arrested, and has Maximus’s wife and son killed. While Commodus establishes himself as the new emperor, Maximus escapes from captivity – only to be captured again, this time by slavers who sell him off to become a gladiator. Soon he’s fighting in front of Commodus in Rome’s Colosseum… and it all builds up to Commodus challenging Maximus to a duel. Gladiator was a major box office success and racked up multiple Academy Award wins, including Best Picture. So there was already talk of a sequel in 2001, but it ended up taking more than twenty years to get a sequel into production. Gladiator II is now ready to reach theatres on November 22nd – so we have put together a list of everything we know about this sequel.
DIRECTOR AND SCRIPT
Ridley Scott always planned to return to the helm for Gladiator II. The hold-up was the script. Since Maximus died at the end of Gladiator, screenwriters found it very difficult to figure out how to continue the story, especially since the initial idea was that Russell Crowe would return as Maximus in some capacity. The first writers to be involved were David Franzoni and John Logan, who crafted a story that would pick up fifteen years after the events of the first movie and center on the Lucius character, who was a child played by Spencer Treat Clark in Gladiator. While the Praetorian Guards rule Rome, Lucius would be trying to find out the truth of his parentage because the idea was always that, even though his mother (Commodus’s sister Lucilla, played by Connie Nielsen) would say that his father was the late Lucius Verus, it was actually Maximus. This story would have allowed for some prequel elements, but would have also seen Maximus being resurrected… somehow. According to Crowe, there was a time when they were just going to have Maximus rise from the dead like Jesus Christ.
Musician Nick Cave was hired to write his own version of the script, and this one has gotten a lot of attention because how over-the-top and insane it was. Cave’s title of choice was Christ Killer, and would have (as Cave explained on Marc Maron’s podcast) “found Maximus in purgatory as he’s sent down by the gods, who are dying in Heaven because there’s this one god, there’s this Christ character, down on Earth who is gaining popularity and so the many gods are dying so they send Gladiator back to kill Christ and his followers. Maximus was tricked by the gods, as the Christ character that they’ve sent him to kill was his own son, the one who died in the first movie. The end of the film would have found Maximus living forever, fighting battles throughout history, such as the Crusades, World War II, and Vietnam, before ending up as a General in the modern-day Pentagon.”
Things got quiet for a decade after Cave turned in his script, but in 2017 Scott started pushing the sequel forward again while swearing that he had found a way to bring Maximus back that would make sense. The Town and Top Gun: Maverick writer Peter Craig was hired to write a new script that would again center on Lucius, this time 25 to 30 years after the events of Gladiator. Craig found the idea tough to crack, so then Scott brought on his Napoleon writer David Scarpa. And it’s Scarpa who wrote the script that finally went into production in 2023.
CAST
Paul Mescal (Normal People) leads the long-awaited sequel, playing the adult Lucius. One report let us know, “Before he died, Maximus rescued Lucius and his mother from the clutches of the young man’s uncle, Commodus. The event left an impression on Lucius, who aspires to be as formidable as Maximus as he braves a harsh world.” Mescal is joined in the cast by Fred Hechinger (The White Lotus) as Emperor Geta, Joseph Quinn (Stranger Things) as Emperor Caracalla, and – in roles that weren’t specified when their involvement was announced – Pedro Pascal (The Last of Us), Lior Raz (The Crowded Room), Peter Mensah (Spartacus), and Matt Lucas (Wonka).
May Calamawy (Moon Knight) is in there as well, and while we don’t know who she’s playing, it was said that her character is quite important to the story, so Scott did a “thorough search” before Calamawy earned the role over the course of multiple auditions.
Gladiator cast member Derek Jacobi is reprising the role of Senator Gracchus and Connie Nielsen is back as Lucius’s mother Lucilla. Scott made sure to involve Nielsen as much as possible during the development of the story.
Denzel Washington (American Gangster) is playing someone Scott described to Deadline as being a character who is parallel to Lucius. “The owner of a business that supplied weapons for the Romans, who supplied the oil when they traveled, who supplied the wine they drink. They wouldn’t drink water, they drank wine. When they traveled, who would supply wagons and horses and tack? There had to be the arms dealers of the period; here is a man who already rich from supplying the weapons, the catapults. His hobby is like a racing stable except it’s gladiators. He’s got a stable of 30 or 40 gladiators. He likes to actually see them fight and it evolves that that’s where he came from. He was captured in North Africa, and evolved into a free man because he was a good gladiator. But he hides that because also he’s now realizing the potential of his actual power. He’s wealthier than most senators, so already has thoughts and designs of the possible idea of taking power from these two crazy princes.”
Absent from the cast is Russell Crowe, as Maximus remains in his grave after all. Crowe doesn’t seem pleased that people keep asking him about the sequel – during an appearance at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, he said, “They should be f*cking paying me for the amount of questions I get asked about the f*cking film that I am not even in.” – but he has also said that he thinks it will be “absolutely spectacular” and he’s jealous of the experiences Mescal got to have on set.
PRODUCTION
Gladiator II started filming in May of 2023 – and the production wasn’t an easy ride. A month into filming, six crew members were left with non-life-threatening burn injuries when they were accidentally caught in a large explosion that went off during the filming of a stunt sequence. A studio spokesperson assured The Sun that “The safety and full medical services teams on-site were able to act quickly so that those who were impacted immediately received necessary care. They are all in stable condition and continue to receive treatment.”
Two months into filming, production had to shut down due to the Screen Actors Guild strike. The strike went on from July into November, with Scott using that time to edit together 90 minutes of footage (and possibly film some more footage with non-SAG extras). Before filming could resume in December, the deteriorating sets had to be repaired. A massive recreation of ancient Rome, including a life-size Colosseum, had been built for the production, and these open-air sets had to be left sitting there for four months while the strike played out. So it took some time to fix them up before the cast and crew could get back to work.
The strike helped the budget get out of hand. The movie was supposed to cost $165 million, but The Hollywood Reporter revealed that costs had ballooned to somewhere in the $250 million to $310 million range. For this project alone, the studio lost $600,000 a week during the strike.
There were also rumblings from PETA about the mistreatment of horses and monkeys on the set, but crew members refuted those claims, saying the Humane Society was always on set to oversee the treatment of the animals.
Filming wrapped in January after taking place in England, Morocco, and Malta. By filming in Malta (which was also a filming location for the first movie), the production earned a €46.7 million rebate, which is over $50 million in USD. So that brings some relief, despite the budget being out of control.
CINEMACON TRAILER
A five-minute trailer, which was preceded by a video introduction in which Scott said Gladiator II is “more spectacular than the original,” was screened at the CinemaCon event in early April. JoBlo’s own Chris Bumbray was in attendance and reported that the trailer was incredible. He wrote in, “Paul Mescal looks a lot like Russell Crowe, with the same beard. Lucius is a gladiator trained by Denzel Washington’s character. Meanwhile, Pedro Pascal is a Roman general trying to lead a revolt against the sadistic emperor (Joseph Quinn). At some point, Quinn and Mescal meet in the gladiator ring for a battle. The games are more sadistic this time, with the gladiators fighting wild baboons unarmed and a rhino. You also see lots of Connie Nielsen, who seems to be in cahoots with Denzel and opposes the emperor. Gladiator II has aton of action and intrigue. Mescal and Pascal look like they handle the action side, with no shots of Denzel fighting.”
Not mentioned in that write-up was the fact that the trailer features “a scene where they flood the Colosseum and have the gladiators fight sharks.” Which might sound over-the-top and ridiculous to some, but in the early days of the Colosseum, the place would occasionally be flooded so it could be used to host staged ship battles called naumachia… and yes, apparently they would release sharks and other sea creatures into the flooded structure as well. So there is a reflection of reality in this insanity.
That’s everything we know about Gladiator II right now, but with the release date just seven months away, we should be learning more about the film very soon.
Save Martha or scrap her? The “Save Martha” moment in Zack Snyder’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was divisive to say the least, with Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent having a connection that somehow changed the entire mood and gave them some common ground, ultimately snubbing what should have been one of the all-time great fights in superhero movie history. To some, it was a deep moment of confrontation over their mutual losses, a necessary inclusion that built on the mythology of each man. But to most of us, it was just about the hokiest thing imaginable.
Zack Snyder has been open in his understanding that the Martha scene in Batman v Superman may not work for everybody, but now he is again explaining why he decided to move forward with it. During the writing process, Snyder was told by co-writer Chris Terrio, “‘You know that [their] mothers have the same name’…And he goes, ‘Yeah, like imagine that Batman sees Superman as an alien, as a monster, but realizes that his dead mother has the same name as this thing that he considers nonhuman. Like, that’s gonna get him.’ And I’m like, ‘That is gonna get him, that’s amazing.’”
Snyder built on his stance on the Martha scene, saying, “What else could he say to Batman, holding the Kryptonite spear about to plunge it into his heart? Like, what is he gonna say to convince him that his love of humanity is as high as Batman’s? I mean, really, Superman could kill him in a second, like literally in a second, so that was why I was like, ‘Ok well, he’s gotta play every possible trick.’”
That trick would essentially rob viewers of the full-blown showdown – with a determined victor – that the title Batman v Superman promises (hell, even Freddy vs. Jason got closer!). On top of that, Snyder’s explanation kind of sounds like he and Terrio weren’t all that confident in how to get themselves out of the jam of taking a side and so threw the Martha moment in to force a redirection.
What did you think of the Martha scene in Batman v Superman? Did it work on any level or is it a silly moment? Give us your take in the comments section below!
It looks like this weekend’s two big, original IP, new releases, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare and Radio Silence’s Abigail, are struggling to find an audience at the weekend box office. While we predicted that Abigail might have a chance at cracking $20 million this weekend, the film will make closer to half that, with Deadline’s numbers suggesting it’ll likely only make about $10 million, despite decent reviews (including ours). Why is it struggling? It’s hard to say, but part of the reason might be that A24’s Civil War, which was last weekend’s box office champ, is having a better hold than expected. It’s looking like it will only slip about 57% in week 2, which is a surprise as everyone thought the B-minus CinemaScore and controversial premise meant that the film would be front-loaded. Rather, it looks like the film has become a must-see, with the controversial word-of-mouth helping make it a movie people need to see. Sometimes, controversy can be a good thing, folks (check out our chat with Alex Garland, who weighed in on the movie’s California/ Texas team-up here).
Meanwhile, Guy Ritchie’s The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is having a devil of a time finding its audience, with it currently being trounced by Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire in its fourth week. Due to its complicated financing structure, the movie isn’t out on Canadian screens, which is certainly hampering its box office potential, and as of right now, it looks like it’ll open with $8.7 million. That’s not a great number for the movie that was supposed to help launch Henry Cavill as a leading man, but the notion of it hitting streaming in Canada and in most international territories (including the UK – where it should have done its best business) is a mind-boggling choice, although I suppose that’s how those movies are financed these days.
What did you go see this weekend? Let us know in the talkbacks.
Johnny Depp has been on the longest hiatus of his career ever since making it in Hollywood. Even with his defamation case with Amber Heard having settled, fans wondered just when he would step in front of the camera again. That came at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, when Depp and director Maïwenn unveiled Jeanne du Barry, the actor’s first film since 2020’s Minimata. Now, Depp is giving due credit to his director for standing by his side and giving him the chance that even some of his closest collaborators were hesitant to.
Posting on Instagram, Depp shared a photo from a red carpet event for Jeanne du Barry – in which he plays Louis XV – along with the following caption: “Endlessly grateful to the incomparable Maïwenn for choosing me as her King of France in ‘Jeanne du Barry’. Now playing across the UK & Ireland. JD.X”
While we still await confirmation on whether or not Johnny Depp will hit the high seas again with Disney after their falling out, the actor is indeed looking to mark his return to film. In addition to Jeanne du Barry, Depp will also direct his first feature in more than 25 years, helming biopic Modì, about Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani.
During Jeanne du Barry’s premiere last year, Johnny Depp recalled feeling “exposed”, which is really saying something considering the non-stop press he was getting during the trial. It probably didn’t help that it received a seven-minute standing ovation, which must be simultaneously overwhelming and awkward. As mentioned in Johnny Depp’s post, Jeanne du Barry is currently out in select regions. It is due out in North America on May 2nd, while Modì is also expected to be released this year.
The official plot of Jeanne du Barry: “Jeanne du Barry follows Jeanne Vaubernier (Maïwenn), a working-class woman determined to climb the social ladder, using her charms to escape her impoverished life. Her lover, the Comte du Barry (Melvil Poupaud), wishes to present her to King Louis XV (Johnny Depp) and orchestrates a meeting through the influential Duke of Richelieu (Pierre Richard). The encounter goes far beyond his expectations for it was love at first sight for the King and Jeanne. Through this ravishing courtesan, the king rediscovers his appetite for life and feels he can no longer live without her. Making Jeanne his last official mistress, scandal erupts as no one at Court will accept a girl from the streets into their rarified world.”
How do you feel about Johnny Depp’s return? Do you want him to take on more mainstream projects than what he’s focusing on or are you just happy he’s back? Share your thoughts below!
THE STORY: A goofball gym teacher (Mark Harmon) is forced to teach a remedial English class over the summer.
THE PLAYERS: Starring: Mark Harmon, Kirstie Alley, Dean Cameron, Courtney Thorne-Smith & Shawnee Smith. Music by Danny Elfman. Directed by Carl Reiner.
THE HISTORY: Hollywood spent a couple of years trying to make Mark Harmon happen as a movie star. Fresh off an arc on “St. Elsewhere” which infamously had his character contract AIDS from a one-night stand, his career was red hot. For a while, he was seriously considered to replace Don Johnson on “Miami Vice” after contract negotiations fell through, and in 1987-88, we got a bunch of starring vehicles that would try him out in a variety of genres to see if one would stick. He did action in The Presidio (even doing his own stunts – although the film was stolen by co-star Sean Connery), drama in Stealing Home, and zany comedy in this week’s film, Summer School (1987).
Freddy Shoop! No, I get that. People wanted a teacher like Freddy Shoop. Heck, I wanted a teacher like Freddy Shoop. [Laughs.] I give all that credit, every bit of it, to Carl Reiner. He was so special, and it was so much about his opinion. I had an agreement with him going into that movie. He was the one who grabbed me and said, “I want you to do this role. You, specifically.” And it’s funny: He made that decision based on an interview he saw me doing on The Today Show with Bryant Gumbel when I was promoting The Deliberate Stranger (where he played Ted Bundy). – Mark Harmon – The AV Club Interview
Directed by Carl Reiner, this was another youth-oriented comedy featuring a wild cast of characters, not unlike the then-popular Police Academy series, albeit done with a lot more style by guys like Reiner and writer Jeff Franklin (famous for creating “Full House”). Harmon was cast against type In a role that seems like it was tailor-made for a guy like Steve Guttenberg, and while not a smash hit, the PG-13 flick grossed a solid $35 million in the U.S, not bad at all and coming in ahead of classics like The Lost Boys, Planes, Trains & Automobiles, and The Princess Bride.
WHY IT’S GREAT: While Summer School did pretty well at the box office and was also a video hit, it’s not a movie that’s often talked about when we discuss classic eighties comedies. Fair enough, as it’s no Ferris Bueller’s Day Off or even especially funny, but it’s a pleasant programmer that made me pretty happy as a kid. Reiner’s got a big heart, and made Summer School into a movie that’s aged well and stands as a prototypical eighties comedy, but with a leading man who’s distinctly not a jerk.
You see, a lot of the eighties comedy leads come off as assholes through a modern lens. There’s a reason for this. Bill Murray was able to make palatable and even cool this kind of iconoclastic, take no shit leading man, and he’s great – but there’s only one Bill Murray. When people tried to ape him – oh man were the results not pretty. I feel like if virtually any other untested lead had played Mr. Shoop in Summer School, he would have tried to ape Murray, but Harmon makes the part his own. Rather than do the smart-ass thing, he opts to show off a goofy sweetness that makes him appealing. Sure, he doesn’t want to be teaching summer school and wants to be the “cool guy”, but he does it without a shred of meanness. Of course, he’s got the dickweed superintendent to show up in order to get Kirstie Alley as the teacher next door, but he does it just by being chill. Harmon makes the character legitimately cool.
A couple of years ago, they called and were going to reissue Summer School on DVD as a special edition after 20 years or whatever. They said, “We’d like you to do a commentary with Carl.” I said, “Are you kidding me? A chance, now that I’m older and wiser, to get to sit down with Carl Reiner and just tell him personally what he means to me? Yeah. Sign me up. Count me in.” [Laughs.] So, yeah, that’s what I’ll take from that experience. Mark Harmon – The AV Club Interview
It’s weird that Harmon never quite made it as a leading man after this, but the issue probably was that his follow-up movies were just never as good, with him never again working with the caliber of talent he did in his two most successful flicks, this and The Presidio. No matter, he’s done pretty damn well for himself on NCIS, but again, with consistently good material he could have been a movie star.
Otherwise, Summer School spots a strong teen cast of likable kids, with the standouts being Dean Cameron as Chainsaw and Gary Riley as his buddy Dave, maybe the first modern film geeks to ever show up in movies. The two are horror obsessed, “Fangoria” reading guys that should bring back a lot of nostalgia for anyone that loved gore in that era. Plus there’s Courtney Thorne-Smith as a surfer, Shawnee Smith as a pregnant teen, and more. And oh yeah, Danny Elfman does the soundtrack, which is pretty perfectly eighties and arguably has a stronger cult following than the film it comes from.
BEST SCENE: My first exposure to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre came through Summer School when Chainsaw organizes a class screening, and I dig the way Reiner seems to understand the cult around Hooper’s film, not dismissing it as trash, like many other older directors of the era might have.
PARTING SHOT: Again, Summer School isn’t a classic, but it’s still a pretty pleasant piece of eighties nostalgia with a cool leading man (with a great dog sidekick), a great soundtrack and a real sense of fun. It’s a nice little gem.
Some cliche somewhere said that ‘a picture is worth a thousand words.’ This has proven to be the case for me and especially when it comes to fan art. I have always sought out great fan art and have wanted to share it with as many people as possible. “Awesome Art We’ve Found Around The Net” is the outlet for that passion. In this column, I will showcase the kick-ass artwork of some great artists, with the hopes that these artists get the attention they deserve. That’s the aim. If you have any questions or comments, or even suggestions of art or other great artists, feel free to contact me at any time at theodorebond@joblo.com.
