YouTube has finally launched its much-trailed “Playables” offering, a selection of games you can play directly within YouTube. Why does this exist? Maybe a big launch exclusive? Perhaps something that will rival the consoles? Free stuff you can’t get elsewhere? Nope.

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Here we are with another case of “Wait, that was a book first?” Although, having watched the movie for the first time and seeing its reputation online, this is also a case of “Wait, that was a movie?” William Friedkin was a master filmmaker and although most of his stone-cold classics happened before 1990, he proved he still had plenty in the tank with things like The Hunted and Bug to name a couple. He was a replacement director which seems surreal considering his talents and he was one of 3 credited writers on a little remembered horror movie adaptation from 1990. The Guardian (watch it HERE) is based on The Nanny from 1987 and it’s a strange pairing of source material and finished product. Both pieces of media are mostly slept on in their respective fields but how close did Friedkin and the other writers come to matching the book? Always do a background check on your employees as we find out what happened to this adaptation.

The Movie

Universal pictures in 1989 decided to option a book by Dan Greenburg who had had some success with his works being adapted already. The movie was The Guardian, and it was based on the novel The Nanny from 1987. Originally the studio had tapped Sam Raimi to direct after he was coming off the failure of Crimewave and the success of Evil Dead II. He would drop out to direct Darkman and boy; did we luck out. While the original script for The Guardian may have turned out to be a decent Sam Raimi flick and, lets be honest here, there’s a strong chance we would have seen Bruce Campbell in a bigger role here, if he stays, we most likely don’t get Darkman and that would be a travesty. Exit Sam Raimi and enter the legendary Oscar winner William Friedkin. It’s claimed by the original writers that the first script was sillier and more up Raimi’s alley, but Friedkin would get very involved and rewrite it enough to get a credit.

Friedkin started his Hollywood career with the TV movie The People Vs. Paul Crump in 1962 but hit it big in the 70s with a trio of heavy hitters that were The French Connection, The Exorcist, and Sorcerer that was a remake of the great 50s French film The Wages of Fear. While he would never match that trilogy again, the man who died out of spite to haunt David Gordon Green, would have hits well into the 2000s. The writers on the movie include Friedkin as well as both Steven Volk and author of the book Dan Greenburg. Greenburg had a solid and lengthy career that included a lot of adapting his own work. This and Private School are probably his most famous movies but none of them really lasted in the public zeitgeist.

Volk, by accounts behind the scenes, was driven to a nervous breakdown with the number of changes, had a fun career with his first screenplay being for Ken Russell’s Gothic. After today’s movie he did the TV movie Ghostwatch and with all the attention that the superb Late Night with the Devil is getting… you should go check out Ghostwatch. Not the same, but similar styles. The rewrites didn’t just stress Volk out either as many of the actors, particularly Jenny Seagrove, were frustrated by the constant changes. Speaking of which, Jenny Seagrove, along with Dwier Brown, Carey Lowell round out the main 3. The late, great Miguel Ferrer and Brad Hall round out the cast. Seagrove, who plays the villain here, also appeared in Local Hero among a ton of other things.

Dwier Brown has been a that guy for a while with credits in Field of Dreams, House 1 and 2, To Live and Die in LA, and Gettysburg. Carey Lowell hasn’t had the longest career, but it is an impactful one with 50 episodes of Law and Order and of course as one of the tougher Bond Girls in Licence to Kill. Miguel Ferrer needs no introduction, but I’ll call out Night Flier and Brad Hall is actually more of a writer than actor. The movie made 17 million but I can’t find its budget and it did not do well with critics, with Roger Ebert hating it more than most.

The Story

The Nanny is a relatively short novel written by Dan Greenburg and published in 1987. Greenburg was born in Chicago and got degrees from the University of Illinois and UCLA. While he was first published in Esquire magazine, he would go on to be an editor for other publications and end up writing several fiction and non-fiction stories. His first wife was famous author and director Nora Ephron and even though we are discussing an adult horror novel today, his biggest contribution to literature is through a series of kids’ books called the Zak Files. This would even be turned into a Canadian TV series that lasted over 50 episodes. To stay relevant, he would often visit schools and chat with kids there or even throw some of his ideas at them to see what they thought. He had a modicum of success in the Hollywood realm as well. In addition to today’s movie being adapted by Friedkin and company, he would also write screenplays for some of his other works that got turned into film or tv series. He lived until the age of 87 and just passed away at the end of 2023.

What is the Same

A couple moves from Chicago to another big city where the husband, Phil, gets a job at an advertising firm and the wife works with interior design. They become pregnant and have a baby boy but both wish to work still and decide to go through an agency to hire a nanny. While an English woman is a possibility, they aren’t entirely sold on her until they ultimately decide to hire her. She bonds with the child almost instantly and Phil even walks in on her giving the boy a bath with her inside the tub too. He finds her very attractive and even has a dream that he is having an affair with her. There are some questionable things that come up about the nanny and the couple is warned by a former employer of the dangerous that nanny presents.

People that have a relation to the couple die and its clear that nanny is something much more than just a caretaker. They try and flee from the nanny but one of the family members becomes sick with a coma like mystery illness and they are forced to fight the nanny to save themselves. Phil is able to kill her and all three of the family members surprise their shocking ordeal.

What is different?

This is a case of a bunch of writers, including the original author, bringing in a ton of different ideas as well as the director having a certain vision. That director is William Friedkin, and he typically has the sway to get what he wants. The bare bones of the story is certainly present. The book couple is Phil and Julie Pressman while the movie is Phil and Kate Sterling. They have a baby boy in both stories with Jake as the name in the movie and Harry in the book. They end up hiring a very attractive English Nanny who is named Camilla in the movie and Luci Redmon in the book. The two types of media split fairly drastically from there, however.

The book opens with a flash forward of the nanny creature going after Phil and his family in a house in upstate New York from both Phil and the monster’s point of view. Also, the book takes place after the couple moves to New York while the movie takes place in LA. The movie shows us exactly what the Nanny is, kind of, as she is with a different family and takes the younger child to a tree to sacrifice. That’s probably the main difference. The movie monster is a tree nymph monster that has ties to a specific tree and must keep it alive while the book nanny monster is more of an undead creature. The book does a good job not really explaining much or showing what she’s really capable of until the end while the movie takes the make-up and special effects approach to show what she is. She can also summon and even shift into the form of a wolf in the movie while the book she is just very strong and resilient to most attacks.

The tertiary characters also vary from page to screen with Phil’s coworkers being focal points and his boss even dying trying to protect him. What’s cool in the book is that we never really know how The Nanny kills her victims but boy is it described as brutal in the aftermath. The boss character in the book, Mary Margaret Sullivan, is somewhat replaced by Ned who is the architect that built the house that Kate and Phil moved into. He has a crush on Camilla and finds out what she really is even though it costs him his life before he tries to warn them with a phone message. The violence in the movie is really amped up from the book while the story has a much more dread inducing implied tone. A great example of this is the biker scene from the movie where Camilla and her tree absolutely wreck a gang that is trying to assault her.

While there are quite a few things taken directly from the book such as some of the names and even scenes, they are clearly two different stories told from the same idea. We learn of what Camilla did through the poor family shown in the beginning while book Phil finds out by calling the references given by Lucy. There are very short chapters intercut that have a nameless man in a hospital of some kind and we slowly learn that his family was destroyed by Lucy and he eventually gets a call in to Phil. While the book has that opening chapter just like the movie shows the prologue chapter of the family before, it’s much more effective and original told by short, disjointed chapters that randomly appear. One of the final big differences is with the ending. While Julie and Harry in the book become comatose from whatever power that the nanny exudes, its just the baby in the movie and the movie has a much more definitive ending. Camilla is killed along with her tree and melts away completely while the final chapter of the book has miss Redmon trying to get with another client, having healed from all of her injuries and possibly being immortal.

Legacy

Both in the realms of Fredkin’s filmography and 90’s horror in general, The Guardian isn’t discussed or even remembered fondly. It has a Scream Factory Blu-ray and is a neat if not messy horror movie to enjoy once. The same, however, could be said of the book which has no Wikipedia entry let alone any other YouTube deep dives into it. While it is one of a handful of books by the author that got turned into a movie, its certainly not his most famous contribution. That being said, it’s a very quick read and not an expensive book to find. While neither will stay with you for the rest of your life, I think the book explores more interesting and clear ideas and makes its characters much more relatable in the end. My vote is the book but check both out and decide for yourself.

A couple of the previous episodes of WTF Happened to This Adaptation? can be seen below. To see the other shows we have to offer, head over to the JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channel – and subscribe while you’re there!

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Journey back to the tranquil locations of the tropical beaches and vast oceans with the new teaser trailer for Moana 2. Disney has just shared the new look at the sequel to the popular 2016 film starring Dwayne Johnson and Auli‘i Cravalho as their respective characters — Maui and Moana. In addition to the teaser trailer, Disney has also released a couple of teaser posters that sets the stage for a new adventure across the sea.

The official synopsis from Disney reads,
“Opening only in theaters Nov. 27, 2024, Moana 2 reunites Moana and Maui three years later for an expansive new voyage alongside a crew of unlikely seafarers. After receiving an unexpected call from her wayfinding ancestors, Moana must journey to the far seas of Oceania and into dangerous, long-lost waters for an adventure unlike anything she’s ever faced. Directed by David Derrick Jr., Jason Hand and Dana Ledoux Miller, and produced by Christina Chen and Yvett Merino, Moana 2 features music by Grammy® winners Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, Grammy nominee Opetaia Foaʻi, and three-time Grammy winner Mark Mancina.”

Moana 2 was announced, produced and is due for release all in this year. The film was one of the new projects showcased at the Disney panel at CinemaCon, which was introduced by none other than Dwayne Johnson, flanked by a group of Polynesian dancers. “It’s so much deeper of a movie to me, and it’s so much deeper of a movie to Disney as well,” Johnson said. “We are so excited to welcome back audiences all over the world to a new adventure.” Johnson then played a clip from the sequel, which finds Moana returning to her home island and the debut of a brand-new song, “We’re Back.” At least one character isn’t big on belting out the tune, as they ask, “Do we have to sing?” To which everyone responds, “Yes, we have to sing!”

It was also announced last year that the first film was to get a live-action adaptation. Disney announced its plans for the live-action reimagining with the help of Dwayne Johnson, who plays Demigod Maui in 2016’s animated original. Johnson will reprise his role in Kail’s live-action adaptation and produce through his Seven Bucks Productions alongside Dany Garcia and Hiram Garcia. Beau Flynn also produces via Flynn Pictures Co. Jared Bush, who wrote the animated original, returns to pen the remake. Further information on this development has not been released since this animated sequel was announced.

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One month ago today, the Netflix streaming service unveiled a batch of images that gave us our first look at the upcoming romantic comedy A Family Affair, which is scheduled to begin streaming on June 28th. With that date now just one month away, a trailer for A Family Affair has been released, and you can check that out in the embed above.

The film was directed by Richard Lagravenese, whose previous credits include Living Out Loud, A Decade Under the Influence, Freedom Writers, P.S. I Love You, Beautiful Creatures, and The Last Five Years. Speaking with the Netflix promotional website Tudum, Lagravenese said he was drawn to the material because, “I saw in it a coming of age story for three different characters at three different stages of their lives. I was going through my own sort of transition into what Gail Sheehy called Second Adulthood, where after you’ve fulfilled all your expectations and you’ve been what you need to be for everyone else, and you’ve achieved something and children are grown and all that stuff, you get a chance of being who you are and the things that you lost along the way.“

The first produced screenplay by writer Carrie Solomon, A Family Affair has the following synopsis: A surprising romance kicks off comic consequences for a young woman, her mother and her movie star boss as they face the complications of love, sex, and identity.

Nicole Kidman (Moulin Rouge) stars as “Brooke Harwood, Zara’s writer mother who falls into bed with movie star Chris Cole… who just happens to be Zara’s former boss.” Zac Efron (The Iron Claw) is “moderately conceited movie star Chris Cole: Zara’s nightmare boss, the star of the blockbuster Icarus Rush franchise, and Brooke’s new paramour.” Joey King (The Kissing Booth) plays “Zara, the harried assistant to Chris Cole who finds herself in a horribly awkward position when he falls in love with her mother.” Liza Koshy (Players) is in the cast as Zara’s close friend, Eugenie, and Kathy Bates (Misery) plays “Leila, Brooke’s wisecracking mother-in-law and a voice of wisdom in Brooke and Zara’s lives.”

Joe Roth and Jeff Kirschenbaum produced A Family Affair, while Solomon served as an executive producer with Michelle Morrissey and Alyssa Altman.

What did you think of the trailer for A Family Affair? Will you be watching this movie when it starts streaming on Netflix next month? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

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The trailer for Yorgos Lanthimos’ new film has arrived. The filmmaker has already followed up his Poor Things run with Kinds of Kindness, which reunites him with the Academy Award-winning star of his last film, Emma Stone, as well as her Poor Things co-star, Willem Dafoe. The new trailer from Searchlight Pictures displays the chaotic nature of the film, with all the clips feeling non-sequitur. And with Sweet Dreams providing the soundtrack for the trailer, it certainly hammers home the dream-like feeling of this abstract movie.

When director Yorgos Lanthimos and actress Emma Stone make a feature film together, Academy Award nominations follow. Their 2018 collaboration The Favourite was nominated in the Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Production Design, Costume Design, Cinematography, and Editing categories, with supporting actresses Stone and Rachel Weisz also earning nominations and lead actress Olivia Colman taking home an Oscar for her performance. Their 2023 collaboration Poor Things racked up nominations in the Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Original Score, Cinematography, Editing, and Supporting Actor (Mark Ruffalo) categories – and won Oscar gold for Makeup and Hairstyling, Production Design, Costume Design, and Stone’s performance in the lead role. We’ll have to wait and see if Kinds of Kindness earns any nominations, but the odds are in its favor.

The film is officially described as a triptych fable, following a man without choice who tries to take control of his own life; a policeman who is alarmed that his wife who was missing-at-sea has returned and seems a different person; and a woman determined to find a specific someone with a special ability, who is destined to become a prodigious spiritual leader.

While walking the red carpet at the Golden Globes, Lanthimos described Kinds of Kindness as follows: “It’s three contemporary stories, and there’s a core of actors — seven total — who play one character in each story,” he said. “So, they’ll play three different characters.”

Joining Emma Stone in the cast are Willem Dafoe (The Lighthouse), Jesse Plemons (Civil War), Hong Chau (The Menu), Margaret Qualley (Drive Away Dolls), Joe Alwyn (The Favourite), Mamoudou Athie (Jurassic World: Dominion), and Hunter Schafer (The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Song Birds & Snakes).

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Many of us thought that Jeremy Renner returning to movies and TV was an impossible mission itself. But now he is on a tear, returning for Mayor of Kingstown and showing genuine interest in reprising some of his franchise roles. The MCU’s Hawkeye would be one of the more obvious choices, but what about Brandt from Mission: Impossible? As Renner suggested, that is one he could absolutely return for.

Speaking with Collider, Jeremy Renner said current conditions may make him ready to reprise William Brandt, the useful IMF analyst he played in 2011’s Ghost Protocol and 2015’s Rogue Nation. “I had to leave that. I was supposed to do more with them. I love those guys. I love Tom [Cruise] so much. We had so much fun, and I love that character a lot. It requires a lot of time away. It’s all in London. I had to go be a dad. It just wasn’t gonna work out then.” Renner opted to step away from the Mission: Impossible roles so he could focus on his duties as a father.

While the Mission: Impossible series has carried on just fine with Renner’s Brandt, his return would be a welcome one, as not only has the character proven to be a strong part-time addition but Renner, as we all know, remains committed to giving everything he has to fans.

Outside of Mission: possible, Renner has been open about returning as Hawkeye for more Avengers outings, sharing exactly this during an interview with our own Chris Bumbray while also noting that his constant recovery from his 2023 accident could play into a decision. “Getting asked back to do those things would always be an honour. I’m always willing to get ready. I think I need something to look forward to, or something to try and achieve…keeps me going in my progress.”

Whatever Jeremy Renner wants to commit to, we know that he’ll give it his all, displaying a level of resilience and strength that has wowed his fans in the time since his accident.

Would you want to see Jeremy Renner return as Brandt for another Mission: Impossible movie? Are there any other characters you want to see him reprise? Let us know in the comments section below. 

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If you’ve been looking to bring your Jaws collection into the realm of 4K Ultra HD, we’ve got good news! The original Steven Spielberg movie (star Richard Dreyfuss recently found himself in hot water) was released on 4K in June 2020, followed by Jaws 2 in July 2023, and now Jaws 3 and Jaws: The Revenge will join them on July 23rd.

Below, you can check out some cover art for the 4K Ultra HD releases of Jaws 3 and Jaws: The Revenge, as well as a three-movie collection that will include all three sequels bundled together.

Jaws 3, also known as Jaws 3-D, stars Dennis Quaid as Mike Brody, the son of Martin Brody, who is now the chief engineer at SeaWorld Orlando. When a giant thirty-five-foot Great White Shark infiltrates the park and begins killing the employees, it’s up to Mike to save the day, all in glorious 3D. The film is also famous for representing the height of Quaid’s cocaine habit in the ’80s, with the actor later saying that he was high in “every frame” in which he appears.

Jaws: The Revenge brought back Lorraine Gary as Ellen Brody, who is now widowed and convinced that another shark has been seeking revenge on her family. Upon release, the film was absolutely trashed by critics, even more so than Jaws 3, but honestly, it’s kind of fun. You’ve got to laugh at a movie with the tagline, “This time, it’s personal.” The film also stars Michael Caine, who took the role purely for the money after they offered him $1 million for less than two weeks of work. “It was only a 10-minute role. It was only 10 days’ work,” Caine said. “In Nassau. In the Bahamas. And they were going to pay me a million bucks for 10 days, and I said, ‘Hey, I’ll do that.’” In a story he’s told a handful of times, Caine insists that he hasn’t watched Jaws: The Revenge, but he has “seen the house it bought, and it’s marvelous.“

With Jaws 3 and Jaws: The Revenge joining the first two films on 4K Ultra HD, the franchise will be complete… with the notable exception of Jaws 19.

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The Bad Boys are back, baby! There have been some early screenings of Bad Boys: Ride or Die in the past weeks, and the first reactions on social media are quite positive. Our own Chris Bumbray caught a screening last week and was a big fan, saying the sequel was just as much fun as the last movie.

Fun seems to be the name of the game, with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence proving they’ve still got it as Detectives Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett. These types of first reactions are generally quite positive, but if you’ve been a fan of the Bad Boys franchise, particularly the last movie, chances are pretty good you’ll have a blast with this one as well.

Bad Boys: Ride or Die finds Lowrey and Burnett investigating corruption with the Miami PD. However, they’re turned into fugitives after being set up, forcing them to work outside the law to crack the case.

Directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah have said that Bad Boys: Ride or Die will have a lighter tone than its predecessor. “I think that there’s going to be way more comedy,” El Arbi said. “The third one had the dramatic tone. With this one, it’s really our purpose to get people laughing and having a good time in the theater. Martin [Lawrence] is going to a higher level in this one. This is the culmination of the Marcus Burnett arc.“

In addition to Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, Bad Boys: Ride or Die will feature the return of a number of actors from previous movies, including Jacob Scipio, Vanessa Hudgens, Alexander Ludwig, Paola Núñez, and Joe Pantoliano as Captain Conrad Howard. New additions to the cast include Eric Dane, Ioan Gruffudd, and Rhea Seehorn. Tasha Smith is also onboard to play Marcus Burnett’s wife, replacing Theresa Randle, who played the character in the first three movies in the franchise.

Bad Boys: Ride or Die is slated to hit theaters on June 7th.

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Glen Powell may be blowing up thanks to roles in Top Gun: Maverick and Anyone But You, but like any other actor, he struggled on his way to the top and lost out on some major roles, including Han Solo in Solo: A Star Wars Story.

While chatting with GQ UK, Glen Powell spoke of coming “agonizingly” close to playing Han Solo, only to drop the ball at the last moment. “I can joke about it now,” he said, “[but] I blew that final audition.” The role ultimately went to Alden Ehrenreich, but with Powell’s charisma, you can see why Disney was interested in him in the first place. The actor also said he screwed up auditions for Captain America and Cowboys & Aliens over the years, but he’s accepted that it just wasn’t meant to be.

“It’s haunting when you blow those moments,” Powell said. “But that’s one of the parts of [the Hollywood myth] that’s not true. That was always somebody else’s ride to go on. You know what I mean? It was never yours to go on. If you put your time in, you’ll get your ride.“

Powell has expressed a disinterest in superhero roles; in fact, he was one of the few young actors in Hollywood who didn’t audition for the new Superman movie. However, he said he was “on the set of Twisters with David Corenswet when he got the call. He’s a hustler and he deserves it.” That said, he does have an interest in the Dark Knight. “I was always a Batman guy,” Powell said. “I would have a wild take on Batman. It definitely would not be like a Matt Reeves tone — it’d probably be closer to Keaton.” Even if Powell doesn’t get to play Batman at some point, he has appeared in a Batman movie, getting his head smashed in by Bane in The Dark Knight Rises.

The actor has more than a few projects on his slate, including a remake of The Running Man with Edgar Wright, a reimagining of Warren Beatty’s Heaven Can Wait, an unknown J.J. Abrams event film, and Top Gun 3.

Glen Powell will next be seen in Twisters, playing storm-chasing superstar Tyler Owens. He stars alongside Daisy Edgar-Jones, who plays Kate Cooper, “a former storm chaser haunted by a devastating encounter with a tornado during her college years who now studies storm patterns on screens safely in New York City. She is lured back to the open plains by her friend, Javi (Anthony Ramos) to test a groundbreaking new tracking system. There, she crosses paths with Tyler Owens (Powell), the charming and reckless social-media superstar who thrives on posting his storm-chasing adventures with his raucous crew, the more dangerous the better. As storm season intensifies, terrifying phenomena never seen before are unleashed, and Kate, Tyler and their competing teams find themselves squarely in the paths of multiple storm systems converging over central Oklahoma in the fight of their lives.” The film will hit theaters on July 19th.

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Multiversus, the Warner Bros. crossover platform fighter starring Batman, Shaggy, Arya Stark and more, is out for real this time after going into a year-long hibernation. Now that it’s back and out of beta, the fighting game community is assessing if it could have the longevity of fighting games like Super Smash Bros.…

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