All eyes have been on James Gunn’s upcoming DC Universe debut with Superman. The film has been in production for a number of weeks, and casting news continues to pour in. Most notably, it is getting revealed who will join Clark Kent, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olson and Perry White in the newsroom. It was recently reported that Mikaela Hoover and Christopher McDonald have joined the cast of Superman as Cat Grant and Ron Troupe, respectively. Cat Grant is a gossip columnist who was introduced as a potential love interest for Clark Kent, while Ron Troupe is regarded as one of the Daily Planet’s best reporters.
Today, courtesy of CBR, fans can get a first look at the Daily Planet in James Gunn’s Superman. DCU Updates posted photos on social media of the entrance to the famous Metropolis newspaper building. The pictures come from the Cleveland subreddit page, where it is revealed that the former Leader Building on Superior Avenue is being repurposed into the iconic workplace. A commenter even notes that surrounding buildings on the street are showcasing signs for fictional Metropolis businesses.
Superman stars David Corenswet (Pearl) as Clark Kent and Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvelous Ms. Maisel) as Lois Lane. The cast also includes Nathan Fillion (The Rookie) as Guy Gardner, a charismatic and slightly obnoxious member of the Green Lantern Corps; Isabela Merced (Dora and the Lost City of Gold) as Hawkgirl; Edi Gathegi (X-Men: First Class) as Mister Terrific; Anthony Carrigan (Barry) as Metamorpho; María Gabriela de Faría (Deadly Class) as The Engineer, a member of The Authority; Sara Sampaio (At Midnight) as Eve Teschmacher; Skyler Gisondo (The Righteous Gemstones) as Jimmy Olsen; Wendell Pierce as Perry White; Neva Howell as Martha Kent; Pruitt Taylor-Vince as Jonathan Kent; and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor.
DC Studios co-CEO Peter Safran has previously teased that Superman will not be an origin story and will focus on “Superman balancing his Kryptonian heritage with his human upbringing. Superman represents truth, justice and the American way. He is kindness in a world that thinks of kindness as old fashioned.” Superman is slated to hit theaters on July 11, 2025.
MaXXXine, the sequel to director Ti West‘s films Pearl and X, is swiftly approaching its July 5th theatrical release date, and the marketing materials have revealed the story of the ’80s-set film involves, to some degree, a real-life serial killer: Richard Ramirez, a.k.a. the Night Stalker. The decision to include the Night Stalker in the film hasn’t gone over well with some who have watched the trailers and West – along with cast members Mia Goth and Elizabeth Debicki – addressed the involvement of the Night Stalker in a new interview with Total Film.
Goth said the Night Stalker element anchors the story and “sets out a breadcrumb trail back to reality. It’s not just some big sweeping horror movie that’s purely for entertainment value. It’s rooted in something.”
When asked which characters might cross paths with the Night Stalker, Debicki said, “I won’t give anything away. The joy of [the film] is there are so many threads at play.“
West was asked if MaXXXine deals with the facts of the Night Stalker case or twists history like Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood imagined a different outcome for the Manson Family members who, in our reality, murdered Sharon Tate and her friends. West answered, “It has more in common with Summer of Sam, the Spike Lee movie [backdropped by the killings of David Berkowitz a.k.a. the Son of Sam, in New York during 1976 and 1977], than it does Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. It does play a significant role in the story, but in its own particular way.“
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 both the most recent trailer and the previous trailer, the Hollywood setting even allows for a visit to the Bates Motel.
Goth and Debicki (Tenet) are joined in the cast by singer Halsey, Kevin Bacon (Tremors), 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 is playing an agent for adult film and Z-list movie actors, Debicki’s character is a film director, Monaghan and Cannavale play LAPD detectives, and Bacon plays 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 Night Stalker appearing in MaXXXine? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
Anyone who’s ever worked in an office knows what a mind-numbing, soul-sucking experience it can be. And if you haven’t worked in an office, you know someone who has because they’re probably intent on telling you what a depressing bummer it is, day in and day out.
We’ve seen plenty of movies take place in the corporate world, but few of them have ever touched upon the monotony of the experience quite like “Office Space,” Mike Judge’s incisive takedown of cubicles, office managers, and the drudgery of a Nine to Five in a soulless office building. In fact, one needn’t have worked in an office to relate to its characters who search for something meaningful in their boring jobs. Most everyone’s had a job that made them want to slam their head against the wall, and “Office Space” seems dedicated to those of us who’ve known that pain.
When it came out in 1999, “Office Space” landed with a thud and seemed destined to be tossed into the filing cabinet of cinema history, but thankfully, this underdog eventually had its day – becoming an endlessly quotable cult classic featuring characters you can’t soon forget. So we’re gonna need you to go ahead and file your TPS reports – mmkay? -because then we’re gonna go ahead and take a look at What Happened to “Office Space.”
The creator of “Office Space”, Mike Judge, knew a thing or two about being a cog in a corporate machine. Before he was known as the mind and multiple voices behind animated hits like “Beavis and Butthead” and “King of the Hill,” Judge spent plenty of years working in offices when he was considering a career in science and engineering after graduating with a Bachelor’s in physics. Imagine if he had taken that path… But growing bored with the culture and lifestyle that came with devoting his life to science, Judge abruptly turned his attention to animation, quitting his job and focusing on creating weird, short animated films. You know how that went: Judge eventually developed a short called “Frog Baseball” into the “Beavis and Butthead” series for MTV, putting him on the pop culture map almost immediately. Not long after, Judge created another hit series, “King of the Hill”, which premiered on Fox in 1997 to great acclaim and ratings. Judge ended up getting an overall deal at Fox, whose president at the time, Peter Chernin, liked one of Judge’s other low-budget animated shorts, “Milton,” about a distressed office drone whose life is made miserable by a smarmy boss. Naturally, Milton was based on someone Judge had encountered during his time as an engineer, a sad sack whose desk was constantly getting moved around the office for no particular reason.
The shorts aired on SNL and MTV’s Liquid Television and became something of a cult hit, and Chernin suggested to Judge that he develop a feature film about the Milton character. Judge didn’t think there was a whole feature there, instead offering to create an ensemble workplace comedy in the vein of 1976’s “Car Wash.” He came up with a treatment that Fox liked and eventually wrote the screenplay in 1996 after completing work on the first season of “King of the Hill.” Chernin’s interest in making the workplace comedy stemmed from the fact that while Fox was having success with big-budget event pictures like “Independence Day” and “Titanic,” he thought they should – to borrow a cringe-y term – balance their portfolio, with potential hits in different genres.
Initially, Judge was made to understand he didn’t need to cast big stars in the film, with the studio apparently telling him they just wanted the best actors for their low-budget movie. Judge put together a table read with a few actors he’d been working with on “King of the Hill” – David Herman and Stephen Root – while some other actors were there to audition for different parts. The character of Michael Bolton, the gangsta rap-loving programmer with a temper, was written for Herman specifically, but all the other roles were up for grabs. Judge was initially going to play Milton himself, but he asked Root to look at the animated short right before the table read on a whim. Root nailed the character’s signature mumble and instantly won the part. When the shooting started, Root’s eyeglasses were so thick that he had to wear contact lenses just to see through them. He had no depth perception while wearing them and had to rehearse all of Milton’s movements beforehand because he could barely see what was in front of him.
Judge didn’t think the table read was a success, however, disliking the rest of the actors they had brought in. At a certain point, Fox changed its mind about not wanting a star in the movie and sought out Matt Damon to play the lead role of Peter Gibbons. Recently, an Oscar winner for Good Will Hunting, Damon was allegedly interested in the role, but Judge was hesitant because he didn’t think Peter should have quote-unquote “star power.” Still, Judge met with Damon to talk about potentially teaming up on the project.
Meanwhile, the film’s casting director, Nancy Klopper, auditioned Ron Livingston, then best known as the “third guy” in “Swingers.” Klopper was knocked out by Livingston’s audition, thinking he had nailed the very specific way in which Judge’s characters speak. After sending Judge the audition tape, he too was convinced Livingston was the man for the job.
The studio, however, was not thrilled with casting Ron Livingston over Matt Damon. They wanted Livingston to do an official screen test for them and wondered if he could lose some weight via fasting before then. Thinking his reps were playing a trick on him when he was told this, Livingston said, “haha good one,” – only to find they weren’t kidding. The studio really wanted him to slim down for the screen test in a matter of a few days. Livingston later said he did a little jump rope, but that was about it.
Once shooting got underway, the studio still made their dissatisfaction with the leading man known. When they’d look at the dailies, the studio heads would tell Judge that Peter needs to smile more, not look so miserable. Naturally, Judge noted the obvious and said that was the entire point, that Peter is unhappy with his life in the first act. But it just seemed like the studio was not excited to be in the Ron Livingston business, and Judge began worrying that they were going to make him recast Peter only a few days into shooting. Obviously, Judge stuck by him and Livingston stayed on the project, evidently using the work of famed screen curmudgeon Charles Grodin as inspiration.
While Judge was allowed to fill out the supporting roles with all manner of veteran character actors and comedians, the studio still felt that they needed an A-lister somewhere in the film; if not the main protagonist, then his girlfriend Joanna. The script went to Jennifer Aniston, world-famous by then thanks to “Friends,” and because she wasn’t getting offered smaller character parts like Joanna, the actress agreed to do the film. Livingston would later joke that she probably agreed to be in the movie thinking she’d be sharing the screen with Matt Damon. For his part, having Aniston be a part of his movie made Judge nervous, so fearful was he that he might end up ruining her movie career.
The crucial role of Bill Lumbergh was nabbed by Gary Cole, not exactly known for his comedic chops back then – unless you count the “Brady Bunch” movies. Cole based the entirety of Lumbergh on the animated version of the character, pinning down the voice just right. While the character wasn’t based on any one specific person, Lumbergh had his roots in fast food managers Judge would have to deal with when he was slaving over fryers as a teenager. His bosses would say things like “why don’t you go ahead and change the fryers, okay?” which would understandably enrage the young man. Judge would say he hates that kind of passive-aggressive style of management, hence why the Lumbergh character is so easy to despise.
Another of the vast array of memorable characters is Lawrence, Peter’s beer-guzzling neighbor. Lawrence was indeed based on someone Judge once knew while he was still in engineering; his neighbor was an auto mechanic who made more money than Judge did and seemed completely content with his blue collar life, in stark contrast to Judge’s unhappiness with his fancy science job. Judge auditioned several people for Lawrence, including up-and-comers Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn, but Diedrich Bader’s take on the character completely won him over.
Judge took on the role of Stan, the obnoxious manager at Tchotske’s – where Joanna works – because he couldn’t find an actor he thought fully understood the part, everyone played it well over the top. After deciding to tackle it himself, Judge donned a wig and fake mustache to the set to complete the transformation, resulting in most of the crew not realizing it was Judge under the facade. The scenes discussing Joanna’s flair weren’t in the original drafts of the script; they were added later in the production because there was the feeling that Aniston didn’t have enough to do in the movie.
Principal photography took place in Austin, Texas, in May of 1998. Judge made his home in Texas and thought the anonymity of many of its towns was perfect for the film, even though he’d received suggestions that it should be set in New York City. He wanted the atmosphere to be the same as the one he’d been in. The main shooting location was in an actual office building that they’d cleaned out and made into their own cubicle-filled purgatory. Unsurprisingly, it was hot in Texas in May, with a brutal heatwave seeming to coincide with the start of production. The second shooting day was dedicated to the brutal beatdown of the office copy machine, and if the actors are convincingly pissed off-looking, that’s because the temperature was near 100 degrees by then. Incidentally, Judge really did have himself an enemy in the form of a copier while making the “Beavis and Butthead” movie, once telling a friend he was going to destroy the thing and videotape it for posterity.
During production, there were numerous fires burning through Mexico and Central America due to a drought, and the smoke would gradually make its way up to Texas. In addition to playing havoc with the air quality, the skies of Texas were consistently white from all the smoke, forcing the production to wait until clearer days for the exterior scenes. The opening traffic jam sequence was continuously postponed until they could find a day without such oppressive smoke.
When the film was finished, Fox still wasn’t sure what it had on its hands. Marketing the film was going to be difficult, with the film’s unique sense of humor and worldview fairly challenging to sum up in a 30-second commercial. Judge didn’t like any of the marketing material suggested by the studio, especially the one-sheet which depicted an office worker covered in post-it notes. They sent him several cuts of the theatrical trailer and he hated two of them specifically, while of course those were the two the studio liked the most.
Then-president of the 20th Century Film Group, Tom Rothman, hated the use of rap music throughout and was trying with all his might to get it all cut from the film. Judge didn’t want to do it, arguing that the fact you don’t associate that kind of music with this type of movie is exactly what made it funny, but he agreed that if a focus group didn’t like it either, he’d remove it. If they went for it, Rothman would acquiesce. When they showed the movie to a theater of about 20 people, the woman in charge of the focus group attempted to persuade them the rap music was too aggressive, but every single one of the participants enjoyed it. Rothman, who was at the theater for this, simply shrugged to Judge and allowed him to keep it in.
“Office Space” opened in wide release on February 19, 1999. It came in eighth place, well behind titles that had been in theaters for weeks. The news his Judge hard; convincing him he’d made a huge error and ruined his and everyone else’s career. The film finished its domestic run with a meager $11 million and for all the world looked like it would be forgotten by the next quarterly earnings report…
But then a funny thing happened. As so often occurs with good movies that are box office bombs, cable and home video gave “Office Space” an extra life. Comedy Central specifically would show it often, exposing it to an audience that might not have even heard of it when it was in theaters. Suddenly Mike Judge was hearing from people like Jim Carrey, Chris Rock, and John Landis that they loved the movie. Madonna even told Judge she liked it, admitting she had a crush on Michael Bolton.
Dave Grohl walked up to Ron Livingston on the street and told him “Office Space” changed his life, to which Livingston could only reply, “mine too.” Gary Cole suddenly found himself confronted by Lumbergh-quoting pedestrians wherever he went.
Eventually, “Office Space” became one of Fox’s highest-selling DVDs, helping to usher in a factory’s worth of quotable dialogue and meme-friendly references. Hell, we only say “TPS report” because of “Office Space,” and you can probably credit the movie with popularizing the term “O-face” as well. The stapler company Swingline was forced to come out with red staplers because people were demanding them and even making their own.
The cast has gone on to do plenty, but the majority of them will probably always be remembered for their work on this droll comedy. As for Judge, his TV work will always be his primary calling card, but there’s no doubt we’re all better off that he decided to take a swing at the live-action world with “Office Space.” Now we’re gonna need you to go ahead and watch it today around 9, mmkay? Greeeat.
Gladiator II has curious eyes on it as many await to see how Ridley Scott will continue the story that seemingly ended with Maximus Decimus Meridius. Although Russell Crowe himself is closely associated with the film, having won an Academy Award for Best Actor for the movie, as well as the movie itself taking home the gold. Crowe would not hold back on his feelings, saying how uncomfortable he was about the sequel being made. “I’m slightly uncomfortable with the fact they’re making another one — because, of course, I’m dead and I have no say in what gets done. But a couple of the things I’ve heard I’m like, ‘No, no, no, that’s not in the moral journey of that particular character’. But I can’t say anything, it’s not my place, I’m six foot under. So we’ll see what that is like.”
Paramount is not holding back on their hype for this sequel. According to Variety, the studio previewed new footage of the historical epic at the 2024 CineEurope trade show. Paramount President of International Theatrical Distribution Mark Viane would talk up the footage and declared that he and his peers were blown away by early footage that they saw. Ridley Scott appeared in an introductory video before the footage and stated how he felt that the new installment was ”well worth the wait” as it comes 24 years after the original. Viane would also make the proclamation that Gladiator II has some of the “biggest action sequences ever put on film.”
Variety also described another video introducing the footage, which was a comedic sketch “especially made for CineEurope — featuring Viane and various members of his team dressed as Romans and gladiators as they acted out scenes from the original movie, replacing the dialog for industry in-jokes (Variety got a mention). In this version of the story, however, Viane’s afterlife wasn’t the corn fields of Elysium, but the golf course.”
The long-awaited sequel stars Paul Mescal (Normal People), 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.” Denzel Washington also co-stars as a supplier of weapons for the Romans.
They are also joined in Gladiator II by Fred Hechinger (The White Lotus) as Emperor Geta (replacing Barry Keoghan in the role, as he had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts), 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). Connie Nielsen will also be returning as Lucious’ mother Lucilla.
AI is such big business right now it’s propelled Nvidia, that company that you once knew for making your GeForce graphics cards, to becoming the biggest business in the world. And yet the technology is so far next to useless in all but the most specific circumstances. For example, McDonald’s has just announced it’s…
AI is such big business right now it’s propelled Nvidia, that company that you once knew for making your GeForce graphics cards, to becoming the biggest business in the world. And yet the technology is so far next to useless in all but the most specific circumstances. For example, McDonald’s has just announced it’s…
Back in 1985, Emilio Estevez and Andrew McCarthy shared the screen in the Joel Schumacher-directed coming-of-age film St. Elmo’s Fire, which was a box office hit that’s still remembered fondly to this day, even though the critical response wasn’t very positive. In the build-up to the release of that film, Estevez and McCarthy were set to co-star in another project, called Young Men with Unlimited Capital… but unfortunately, eighteen days before the release of St. Elmo’s Fire, New York Magazine published an article by David Blum in which Blum dubbed several of the hottest young actors of the day the Brat Pack. The actors mentioned in that article were shocked and offended by the Brat Pack label – so much that Estevez refused to do Young Men with Unlimited Capital with McCarthy, killing the project. Thirty-nine years later, the story of Young Men with Unlimited Capital has still never made it to the screen.
The death of Young Men with Unlimited Capital is mentioned in the recently released Brats, which was directed by McCarthy. Streaming on Hulu, Brats “looks at the iconic films of the 1980s that shaped a generation and the narrative that took hold when their young stars were branded the “Brat Pack.” McCarthy reunites with his fellow Brat Packers — friends, colleagues and former foes, including Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, Ally Sheedy, Emilio Estevez, Jon Cryer, Lea Thompson and Timothy Hutton, many of whom he had not seen for over 30 years — to answer the question: What did it mean to be part of the Brat Pack? McCarthy also sits down for a first-time conversation with writer David Blum, who fatefully coined the term Brat Pack in a 1985 New York Magazine cover story.”
McCarthy goes to visit Estevez in Brats, and during their talk Estevez mentions (with thanks to USA Today for the transcription of their conversation), “You and I didn’t do a movie because of (the Brat Pack article),” adding that it had “one of the best scripts I had read in a long time.“
McCarthy replies, “You were going to do it, and they wanted me to do it too, and then they told me that you didn’t want me to do it. It hurt my feelings a lot. But I just assumed it was simply the Brat Pack fallout.“
Estevez confirmed, “I didn’t want to have anything to do with any of us. If it were Judd (Nelson), I would have said the same thing.“
It’s a shame it didn’t happen, as Young Men with Unlimited Capital sounds like it had the makings of a great film – especially with Emilio Estevez and Andrew McCarthy in the lead roles. Based on a book that was published in 1974, it would have told “the inside story of the legendary Woodstock Festival” from the perspective of the two people who paid for it. The book has the following description: It started with an ad, placed by Joel Rosenman and John Roberts as a way to find interesting work after college. It led Rosenman and Roberts to stage a gathering that changed the face of popular culture: the Woodstock Music and Art Fair in August 1969. Woodstock is rightly remembered as the pivotal event that united a generation, but the behind-the-scenes story is less utopian–and absolutely fascinating. Rosenman and Roberts describe their shock as they realized, after a long struggle to find a site and placate area residents, that the festival was attracting a crowd ten times larger than expected, stalling traffic for miles around, and forcing thousands of ticket holders to be turned away. The instant city of Woodstock created mind-boggling logistical problems for Rosenman and Roberts: mud, shortages of food, water, and medical help, a death, births, bad drugs–and waking up their local banker in the middle of the night to get $15,000 for The Who and the Grateful Dead, who refused to go onstage without cash in their pockets. By the time Jimi Hendrix played “The Star-Spangled Banner” at 6:30 Monday morning, there were “only” 25,000 people left, but Rosenman and Roberts faced a sea of mud and trash, irate neighbors, bad press (“Nightmare in the Catskills”), staggering debts, and some seventy separate legal proceedings against them. But the ultimate impact of that weekend was far greater-and far more triumphal for all involved. Young Men with Unlimited Capital is both an amazing and humorous story, and one that chronicles a defining event of 1960s America.
Does Young Men with Unlimited Capital sound like an Emilio Estevez / Andrew McCarthy ’80s collaboration that deserved to make it to the screen? What do you think of the fact that it crumbled simply because of the Brat Pack article? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.
Two simple yet iconic words from the film Footloose would seal Kevin Bacon and the theme song in 80s culture nostalgia for the rest of time — “Let’s dance!” This year would mark the 40th anniversary of the dance-themed high school movie. Dean Pitchford, who wrote the script and the songs for Footloose, was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame during a ceremony at the Marriott Marquis in New York City on June 13. Bacon would perform with his brother, Michael, in tribute to Pitchford, as well as “Let’s Hear it for the Boy” singer, Deniece Williams.
People got to speak with Bacon at the event, where he shared more insight into the role that changed his life. “[Pitchford] was part of a group of people including the director and the producer who really wanted me to be in the movie — and the studio did not. I’ll never forget how hard they worked to try to convince the studio that I was the guy to play the part, and that’s something that I’ll always appreciate.” When asked if he ever thought the film would have the impact it still does today, Bacon answered, “No.” Then, he expounded,
I figured the song would have a lasting legacy, but the movie… I mean, I like the movie. I think it’s cool, but how can you predict that?”
Over the years, Bacon had spoken ad nauseum about how he couldn’t escape that title song. Pitchford himself joins Bacon in his disbelief that the movie had become such a massive part of pop culture, “Who knew? I mean, it was a tiny movie. and we had no idea that it would last for 40 years and continue to be a cultural touchstone. It gets referenced whenever there is a ban on dancing. It gets referenced whenever there are books being burned. It’s continued to somehow be relevant, and I’m very, very happy about that.”
Bacon’s relationship with music extends well beyond Footloose as he himself is a songwriter and sees Pitchford as a peer. The Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F star spoke of Pitchford’s career when he said, “It’s great when somebody works that hard and has that much success, and they get a little pat on the back. Songwriters, sometimes, are people that kind of live behind the scenes, right? They’re not frontmen, and the fact that they get the chance to shine at an event like this, I think, is super cool.”
There are many things in this weird and wonderful world that go together perfectly; mac and cheese, bacon and eggs, beer and curry, Pegg and Frost, Han Solo and Chewbacca, Affleck and Lopez. OK, there are some things that go well together. However, there are two popular worlds that are a huge part of this particular writer’s life, that get on together like a house on fire; rock music and horror movies. Both genres embody everything that’s good about their respective industries and over time there have been many collaborations between the two worlds. Various rockers have lent either their musical, or acting, talents to the movie world and horror in particular, including the likes of Ozzy Osbourne, Henry Rollins and David Bowie. What we’re going to focus on primarily is a collaboration between one of the most prominent British rock stars of all time, Lemmy Kilmister, whose band Motorhead wrote a track for good ol’ Pinhead and co in Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth, fittingly called “Hellraiser”. So, stop scrolling through those YouTube shorts funny cat videos, and get ready to be transported to a time when rock stars drank hard, partied harder, and took on the similarly badass Cenobites, here on JoBlo Horror Originals!
Rock music and the world of heavy metal may be a polarising musical genre for some, but if you ‘get’ the impact the music can have on an individual, it can be a transportative and therapeutic experience. Yup, that’s right, folks, heavy, aggressive music is incredibly good for the soul. What fills my horror and gore loving black heart more than anything is seeing the impact and appreciation the younger generation has for classic rock and metal. I’m often surprised, but elated, when my band cranks out a classic rock tune and we talk with the younglings afterwards about how awesome they think the likes of Iron Maiden, Megadeth and Guns n’ Roses are, to name but a few.
There’s one such band who formed in 1975 and released their eponymous debut album, ‘Motorhead’ in 1977, who not only tore a new hole in the rock industry, but whose legacy lives on through their music and alternative endeavours. Motörhead is undoubtedly one of the most influential and enduring bands in the history of rock music. Known for their relentless energy, gritty sound, and rebellious attitude, they became synonymous with the genre of heavy metal and earned a dedicated following worldwide. I was fortunate to meet their legendary, and sadly late, lead singer Lemmy on a trip to Barcelona a while back, and his friendly, warm persona was in stark contrast to the gravelly voiced dude who prowled around the stage. He even got the friends I was with a couple of VIP passes to their show that evening.
With over twenty studio albums, it’s hard to separate their back catalogue down to the ones I love, and the ones I’m not so keen on, as every album has its merits. Top of the list has to be Ace of Spades, with its legendary title track, plus some standout tracks like “Fast and Loose”, “The Hammer” and “(We Are) The Road Crew”. I also love the spaghetti western themed album cover, with Lemmy and co resplendent in their leather and cowboy hats. Other favourites have to be 1979’s Overkill, Orgasmatron from 1986, “Bastards” from 1993 and “Bomber” from 1979. Like I said earlier, I like all of their albums, but I guess if I was choosing my least favourite, I’d probably point my cranked up Rickenbacker at the likes of March or Die, which is kind of ironic given that this video is dedicated to one of its songs; “Hellraiser”, but more on that shortly. I probably also listen to Hammered, Snake Bite Love and Kiss of Death a little less frequently than others.
What it all boils down to, though, is that Motorhead gained a huge amount of fame and notoriety during the 80s and 90s, and like many other rock and metal acts, they were soon thrust upon the mainstream media in other, more cinematic, ways. Guns n’ Roses famously lent their standout track from their Use Your Illusion II album, “You Could be Mine” in James Cameron’s groundbreaking sci-fi sequel, Terminator 2: Judgment Day and they also appeared in Clint Eastwood’s 1988 action crime flick The Dead Pool in a funeral scene and also a sequence where Slash fires a harpoon gun through a window. Other notable rock acts that have made their mark on the horror world are Alice Cooper, who recorded songs for Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives and famously played Freddy Krueger’s father in Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare and, of course, White Zombie frontman Rob Zombie, whose music is not only hugely influenced by the horror genre, but who has also gone on to direct some popular, and not so well received, horror movies.
This all leads us to a horror franchise that as soon as the first instalment, Hellraiser, was released in 1987, had firmly established itself in pop culture. Mainly thanks to the devilishly handsome cenobite himself, Pinhead, plus his similarly fetching colleagues of course. The movie spawned many sequels over the years, mainly thanks to its unique world-building and themes of desire, pain and the pursuit of pleasure. Including popular songs and appearances by musical artists was one of the key selling points of movies back in the 80s and 90s, so with the huge popularity of both Hellraiser and Hellbound: Hellraiser II, the production team turned to Motorhead to produce a song that would fit in nicely with the third movie, Hellraiser III: Hell in Earth.
The song “Hellraiser” was initially co-written by the bat-bothering Ozzy Osbourne, with Zakk Wylde and Lemmy Kilmister, and was originally recorded for Ozzy’s 1991 album No More Tears. Lemmy and the other members of Motorhead tweaked some lyrics in the song slightly and re-recorded it for the third entry in the Hellraiser series. Neither version of the song had anything to do with dimension hopping BDSM demons but I guess the opportunity to collaborate with one of the most prominent names in rock was too good to pass up. The song was released in 1992 to promote the band’s tenth studio album and features on the end credits of Hell on Earth.
The opportunity to promote both song and movie meant that a kick-ass, hilarious video could be produced for the movie as a neat tie-in, and included a specially shot appearance from Pinhead himself. The video opens with an ominous warning from Kirsty Cotton, the original heroine from the first Hellraiser movie, which is taken from her cameo in part three. We then see the members of Motorhead, then comprised of Lemmy, guitarists Wurzel and Phil Campbell and drummer Mikkey Dee, play to what looks like a mostly empty venue. Apart from Pinhead and some dodgy looking henchmen. The following few minutes sees one of the band’s roadie’s being abducted by Pinhead and his beastly mates, plus a lovely game of cards between Lemmy and the Hell Priest himself, while the rest of the band watch on. The video ends with Lemmy seemingly putting a spell on Pinhead whose head stretches and morphs in defeat. Or so it seems.
Pinhead actor Doug Bradley looked back on his time shooting the video and reminisced about the card game featuring something synonymous with Motorhead, saying fittingly that, “the card game finished with me getting the ace of spades”. The idea, according to the actor, was that “Lemmy wins the game, but at the price of losing his soul.” The actor also reminisce about how Lemmy would order a decanter full of what he described as ‘amber liquid’ AKA whiskey, naturally, that the British rock legend threw back while filming the scene.
Motorhead actually recorded another song for the movie, aptly called “Hell on Earth”, and while it’s directly inspired by the Hellraiser franchise, it’s a touch pedestrian, and doesn’t rock as much as the movie’s better known and more memorable track, “Hellraiser”. A few years ago, back in 2021 which was, in fact, thirty years after Ozzy’s first effort, both versions of the song were cut together in a special edition ‘30 Anniversary Mix’. The version features vocals by both Lemmy and Ozzy Osbourne and an awesome animated video was created to showcase the song, replete with the rock legends chugging whiskey, playing video games in a seedy bar and laying waste to interdimensional beasties. Directors Mark Szumski and Gina Niespodziani did a great job with the video’s visuals, and it’s a joy to see animated Lemmy take on a huge green winged demon, armed with only his Rickenbacker bass guitar.
Ultimately then, for us fans of both heavy metal and horror movies, the opportunity to look back on collaborations such as Motorhead’s journey to rock out, and play cards with the Cenobites, is a real thrill. Their music has been synonymous with everything that was iconic about the metal genre in the 80s and 90s, and while Lemmy often dabbled within the movie world on various projects, perhaps the most legendary collaboration he had was on Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth.
The rock legend sadly passed away on December 28th, 2015, after a short battle with an aggressive form of cancer, and heart failure. His legacy lives on through Motorhead’s music, and there’s not many characters like him left in the world of heavy metal and rock music. Hopefully we’ll get the opportunity to re-evaluate some other kick-ass rock and horror team-ups here at JoBlo. But, for now, grab yourself a wee dram of whiskey, crank up your Rickenbacker to eleven, and dive back into freakish fun that is Hellraiser: Hell on Earth. Lemmy would appreciate it, I’m sure!
Before director Richard Donner passed away back in July of 2021, he had been developing a fifth and final entry in the Lethal Weapon film franchise, saying that he, as the director of the first four films, had a “privilege and duty to put it to bed.” When Donner died, he passed that duty over to franchise star Mel Gibson – not a bad choice, given that Gibson has directed some major box office hits himself, and won the Best Director Oscar for Best Picture winner Braveheart. Back in 2022, Gibson assured us that Lethal Weapon 5 is going to happen one of these days. Now, during an interview on the Inspire Me podcast, Gibson has revealed that he has gotten the screenplay – which has been worked on by the likes of Richard Wenk (The Equalizer) and Jez Butterworth (Edge of Tomorrow) – to a point where he’s happy with it.
Gibson said (with thanks to MovieWeb for the transcription), “I’m going to direct the fifth film in the Lethal Weapon series. You know, Richard Donner, who did the other four, sadly passed away. He was a good friend, and he kind of tasked me with carrying the flag home on that one. It’ll be an honor for me to do that. He [Richard Donner] had gotten a fair way into the screenplay, so we’ve used what was there, and we kept poking at it, working at it a little. I’m pretty happy with it, it’s good, I had a lot of fun doing it.“
Gibson confirmed that Lethal Weapon 5 will retain the sense of humor the franchise is known for, while also dealing with some “hard issues.”
Gibson would conclude the update by saying that audiences can expect the same brand of humor that has been injected throughout the long history of the Lethal Weapon franchise, but that the new film will also deal with some “hard issues.” That brings to mind a quote franchise co-star Danny Glover gave back at the start of 2020, when he said, “I don’t want to give away the plot on the script that I read, but I found the plot had very strong relevance to some of the things that are happening today.“
It was previously said that Lethal Weapon 5 had kind of gotten “lost in the shuffle” at Warner Bros. when the company merged with Discovery Inc. in mid-2022, but here’s hoping Gibson will be able to get it into production soon.
Are you looking forward to seeing Mel Gibson and Danny Glover play Riggs and Murtaugh one more time in Lethal Weapon 5? Share your thoughts on this project by leaving a comment below.
