Director Andy Muschietti and his producer / sister Barbara Muschietti, the filmmaking team behind Mama and the $1 billion grossing adaptations of Stephen King’s It, recently teamed up with Skydance to form a new horror label called Nocturna – and the first project that will be coming out of the Nocturna partnership is called They Will Kill You. Deadline reports that Zazie Beetz, whose credits include Joker, Bullet Train, and Deadpool 2, has just signed on to star in the film.
Beetz will be taking on the role of a woman who answers a help-wanted ad to be a housekeeper in a mysterious New York City high-rise. She doesn’t realize she is entering a community that has seen a number of disappearances over the years.
The Muschiettis are producing They Will Kill You alongside David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, Don Granger, and Dan Kagan, as well as Nocturna Co-Heads of Film, Russell Ackerman and John Schoenfelder.
Kirill Sokolov – who is said to be known for his dark sense of humor – will be directing the film from a screenplay he wrote with Alex Litvak. Sokolov previously directed the action comedy No Looking Back and the comedic thriller Why Don’t You Just Die!, both of which were Russian productions. Litvak is best known for writing the 2010 Predator sequel Predators with Michael Finch. He went on to co-write Paul W.S. Anderson’s version of The Three Musketeers and the TV movie Secret Society of Second Born Royals.
When Nocturna was announced earlier this year, Dana Goldberg, Skydance’s chief creative officer, said: “Andy and Barbara are visionary filmmakers who have mastered the art of scary event movies that connect with global audiences, and David and I along with the entire Skydance team are thrilled to partner with them on the launch of Nocturna. It’s fitting that They Will Kill You will be our first project, as it perfectly encapsulates Nocturna’s mission of delivering unique and entertaining horror experiences that will live in the audiences’ nightmares for years.“
Does They Will Kill You sound interesting to you? What do you think of Zazie Beetz signing on to star in the film? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
John McTiernan is a household name. A man who defined action films. Let’s just name a few…we got Die Hard, Predator, Die Hard With A Vengeance, and yes, Last Action Hero. He has also made some other great films like The Thomas Crown Affair and The Hunt for Red October. He has made some stinkers, such as Medicine Man, The 13th Warrior, and Basic. But what if I told you that there’s a film he directed that was the catalyst to his ending up in federal prison? Sounds crazy, right? But it’s true. Today, we are here to look at Rollerball. It’s a movie whose word of mouth is so bad that you’d think we would have covered it on our Awfully Good Channel. But alas, this will be the first time we dive in. So sit back, relax, and take it all in as we check out What Happened To Rollerball.
To begin, let’s jump back to the late 90s. John Is well on his way to making his new big film, The Thomas Crown Affair. It’s here he strikes up the idea of wanting to remake Rollerball. Now, for those who don’t know, this movie isn’t an original idea. It was originally made in 1975, starring James Cann. The film is set in a dystopian future where global corporations have replaced national governments. It centers on Jonathan E., a superstar player of the violent sport rollerball. The game, designed to demonstrate the futility of individualism, becomes a tool of control. Jonathan’s fame and individual prowess threaten the corporate agenda, leading executives to pressure him to retire. As he resists, the game’s rules are made increasingly lethal, culminating in a final match with no penalties or time limits. Despite these efforts, Jonathan’s defiance and survival in the ultimate game challenge the corporate bigwigs, symbolizing a stand against corporate domination.
For what it’s worth, it’s a pretty good movie. Something that feels right to have made back in the 70’s…but how would that have worked with the 2000’s crowd? Well, if you think about it, X Games and extreme sports were becoming very popular around that time. John had a proven track record where he could make most things he created turn to gold. He would begin working on the script. The first draft was considered great, even surpassing the original film, but John wasn’t a fan of it preaching social commentary. John unleashed his action prowess and thought audiences would want to see more scenes involving Rollerball. After multiple rewrites, he made sure it included weird costumes and stunts and felt like something out of the WWE, as well as give it an underdog-driven story.
When it came time for casting, John wanted to strike a balance between honoring the original film’s spirit but also appeal to contemporary audiences. Jonathan Cross, changed from Jonathan E for some reason, was originally offered to Keanu Reeves. He would turn it down, and the role went to Ozstryker. Sorry, I mean Chris Klein from American Pie. His youthful charm and athleticism were exactly what John envisioned for his main character. Next up was LL Cool J as Marcus Ridley, Jonathan’s friend and mentor in the Rollerball world. Rebecca Romijn was also cast in the film. While her role is pivotal to the plot, she comes off as more of a mere romantic interest. The rest of the cast included Jean Reno, Naveen Andrews, and Stellan Skarsgard.
Film production only lasted 15 weeks, from July to November 2000. Principal photography took place in Montreal, Canada, Wyoming, and San Francisco. and Almaty, Kazakhstan. The choice of locations was influenced by the need to create a futuristic and visually striking backdrop for the film’s dystopian setting. Montreal provided urban landscapes and modern architecture, while Kazakhstan offered unique and exotic scenery that added to the film’s otherworldly atmosphere. Additionally, some interior scenes were filmed on soundstages to create the immersive world of Rollerball’s high-stakes sport.
John McTiernan sought to infuse Rollerball with a frenetic energy and visual dynamism that would captivate audiences. To achieve this, he employed fast-paced editing and dynamic camera work and updated the sport of Rollerball with more extreme stunts and visual effects.
In May 2001, when it was time to screen the film, test audiences responded negatively. The film’s first cut was over two hours long so MGM, the film’s distributor, would move the release date to July 13 of that year. They would give another go with test screenings to hopefully find the right audience for it. After the first test screen disaster, Harry Knowles, an infamous critic from Ain’t It Cool News, was invited by McTiernan to view the film in Long Island. In his review of McTiernan’s original cut, he said that the movie was bad, as well as it being a hard-R film with much nudity and some brutal violence in the sports scenes. He stated, “The ‘Rollerball’ edit I saw was one of the worst films I’d seen in my life. There was jeering in the theater,”. A fun fact about Knowles is that he was one of the people who read the original first draft of the script, which John rejected, and said that it was an amazing script that solved all the problems of the original film.
Following all of the negative test screenings, MGM requested reshoots and re-edits to take place, reducing the film to a PG-13 rating. This was done to get a wider audience to see it. At the time, a new head of marketing was put into place at MGM. He asked John to move the 2001 summer release date in favor of a better film. It allowed for more time to devise a better marketing strategy as well. Instead of August 2001, it would get pushed to February 2002. If you have ever followed Box Office reports from the 2000s as well as through the middle of the 2010s, you will know that January-February film releases were considered “dump months”. That means unless it’s a holdover film that was up for awards or a film to coincide with Valentine’s Day, it would be in for a huge disaster to even make a dent in the box office. Towards the end of 2001, John shot two weeks of new footage, including the film’s ending, and cut down on both violence and nudity. Action scenes were cut down or edited, as well as blood and nudity.
The original score, composed by Brian Transau, was removed because it sounded “too Arabic.” He would be replaced with Luc Besson’s collaborator Eric Serra. Eric would add a new score, while some of the songs originally included in the soundtrack would also be removed or changed for the film. Strangely, the score would be released for purchase, but not the soundtrack, which included songs from P.O.D., Rob Zombie, Slipknot, who make an appearance in the film Drowning Pool, and Godsmack.
Rollerball was released to theaters on February 8, 2002. It placed third on opening weekend behind newcomers Big Fat Liar and Collateral Damage. It would gross around $9 million that first weekend. On its second weekend, the film disappeared out of the top 10, ranking in 13th place, somehow grossing another $3 million. After seven abysmal weeks in theaters, it would finish its box office run domestically with $18 million. Internationally, it would gross a meager $6 million, with the final worldwide total being $25 million. It was considered a colossal flop with a production budget of $70 million.
Critics and audiences ripped this film to shreds, sitting at 3% on Rotten Tomatoes. The critics’ consensus states: “ Removing the social critique of the original, this updated version of Rollerball is violent, confusing, and choppy. Klein makes for a bland hero. Roger Ebert said it was “an incoherent mess, a jumble of footage in search of a plot, meaning rhythm and sense.”
The film was nominated for several awards, including the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress. Have no fear, though, because Rebecca Romijn didn’t walk away a winner here…nope. That award went to Madonna for her cameo in Die Another Day. The 2002 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards, an award show that ended in 2006, won several awards, including Worst Director, Worst Remake, and Worst Female Fake Accent. Madonna once again beat out Rebecca Romijn for Worst Actress, this time for Swept Away. Man, 2002 wasn’t kind to Madonna, was it?
Rollerball was released on VHS and DVD in the summer of 2002. Trying to cap what most DVDs at the time were doing, it would be released as the R-rated version. It would come packed with extras, including The Stunts of Rollerball feature, which this writer would say is the best of the bunch, an Interactive Yearbook, which basically highlights reels of the cast, Rob Zombie’s music video “Never Gonna Stop”, as well as a commentary from Rebecca, Chris, and LL Cool J…unfortunately John McTiernan doesn’t add any insight to the making of the film. Having sat down and listened to the commentary, I can tell you It’s also the weakest bonus feature. There’s no new perspective to gain from listening to it, so just avoid it. Unfortunately, DVD sales didn’t improve this film’s overall reception or legacy.
The legacy of this film isn’t just that it is a bad film. As stated before, John McTiernan went to jail for his involvement in a wiretapping scandal. During the production of Rollerball, McTiernan hired private investigator Anthony Pellicano to wiretap Charles Roven, a producer he worked with on the film. McTiernan was attempting to gain leverage in a professional dispute. When the FBI investigated Pellicano’s activities, McTiernan initially denied his involvement. However, evidence eventually surfaced, proving that he had indeed hired Pellicano.
McTiernan was charged with making false statements to the FBI and perjury. In 2006, he pleaded guilty to the charges but later tried to withdraw his plea, claiming his legal counsel had misled him. This attempt was unsuccessful, and in 2010, McTiernan was sentenced to one year in federal prison, three years of supervised probation, and a $100,000 fine. He began serving his prison sentence in April 2013 and was released in February 2014.
So, What Happened to Rollerball? Well, despite high expectations of McTiernan’s successful track record with action films, the 2002 remake was a critical and commercial failure. It suffered from a weak plot, lackluster performances, and excessive reliance on action sequences. It failed to capture the essence of the original film’s social commentary, instead opting for mindless spectacle. Additionally, the production was plagued by issues such as budget overruns, studio interference, and logistical challenges, including a director having a hard time with it. Ultimately, Rollerball serves as a cautionary tale of the pitfalls of Hollywood remakes and the importance of staying true to the spirit of the source material.
Just before Halloween back in 2022, it was announced that Willa Fitzgerald and Kyle Gallner – who both have experience working in the Scream franchise, as Fitzgerald was in the Scream TV series and Gallner appeared in the 2022 Scream movie – were set to star in the “cat and mouse thriller” Strange Darling. A few months ago, we learned that Magenta Light Studios will be giving Strange Darling a wide theatrical release in the United States on August 23rd – and now a trailer has arrived online to give us a preview of what this movie will have in store for us when it reaches the big screen in a couple months. You can check it out in the embed above.
Reviews from audience members who saw the movie at Fantastic Fest last year indicate that it will work best if viewers have as little information as possible going in. We previously heard that it has something to do with a spontaneous hookup gone terribly wrong. Now the official synopsis reveals that nothing is what it seems when a twisted one-night stand spirals into a serial killer’s vicious murder spree.
Strange Darling was written and directed by J.T. Mollner (Outlaws and Angels), and filming took place in Portland, Oregon. The film was produced by former Miramax CEO Bill Block, Chris Ivan Cevic, Steven Schneider, Roy Lee, and actor Giovanni Ribisi, who also served as the director of photography.
Fitzgerald and Gallner were joined in the cast by Oscar nominee Barbara Hershey (The Entity) and Emmy nominee Ed Begley Jr. (Better Call Saul). According to IMDb, the cast of the film also features Madisen Beaty (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood), Bianca A. Santos (Ouija), Steven Michael Quezada (Breaking Bad), Eugenia Kuzmina (Bad Moms), Denise Grayson (The Social Network), and Duke Mollner – who happens to be the director’s father, and also had a role in Outlaws and Angels.
Kyle Gallner is a genre regular whose credits also include Red, The Haunting in Connecticut, Jennifer’s Body, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Red State, The Walking Dead, The Cleanse, Alien Code, Ghosts of War, Smile, The Passenger; Mother, May I?; and the upcoming Smile sequel. Willa Fitzgerald doesn’t have as many horror credits as Gallner, but she was in the Netflix series The Fall of the House of Usher, which was headed up by Mike Flanagan.
What did you think of the trailer for Strange Darling? Does this look like a movie you’d want to see on the big screen during its August theatrical run? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
Marvel’s upcoming Blade movie is back in the news and yet again it isn’t for good reasons. Yann Demange (‘71 and Lovecraft Country) has left the project as director, which marks the second director to exit the film in three years. This is the latest setback for the project, which was announced in 2019 with much…
Marvel’s upcoming Blade movie is back in the news and yet again it isn’t for good reasons. Yann Demange (‘71 and Lovecraft Country) has left the project as director, which marks the second director to exit the film in three years. This is the latest setback for the project, which was announced in 2019 with much…
In the time-honored tradition of Private Benjamin, Legally Blonde and Disney Channel original Cadet Kelly, Emma Roberts stars in the new comedy about a ditzy socialite who gets in over her head when she joins an organization with incredible odds to overcome. Amazon MGM has just released the new trailer for Space Cadet, which has Roberts’ character Rex lying to become accepted into NASA, only to find that she got more than she bargained for. The film also stars Tom Hopper, Poppy Liu and Gabrielle Union, Kuhoo Verma, Desi Lydic, Sebastián Yatra, Yasha Jackson, Andrew Call, Troy Iwata, Josephine Huang, Dave Foley, Sam Robards and Joshua Harto.
The official synopsis reads, “Tiffany “Rex” Simpson (Emma Roberts) has always dreamed of going to space, but life isn’t going quite as planned. Determined to turn things around, she aims high and with the embellishing touch of her supportive best friend Nadine (Poppy Liu), her “doctored” application lands her in NASA’s ultra-competitive astronaut training program. In over her head, Rex relies on her quick wits, moxie and determination to get to the top of her class. NASA program directors Pam (Gabrielle Union) and Logan (Tom Hopper) certainly take notice, but can this Florida girl get through training and into the cosmos before she blows her cover? Written and directed by Liz W. Garcia (“Purple Hearts,” “The Sinner”), Space Cadet is a comedy about the power of being yourself, following your dreams and shooting for the stars.”
Interestingly, last year, Roberts was also once slated to star in another astronaut film, which was a sci-fi thriller called The Astronaut. She would eventually drop out with Kate Mara taking her place as the lead. The Astronaut would mark the writing and directing debut of Jess Varley. Varley had previously contributed a segment to the anthology film Phobias. The screenplay Varley wrote has the following synopsis: When astronaut Sam Walker (Mara) returns from her first space mission, she’s found miraculously alive in a punctured capsule floating deep off the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. General William Harris (Fishburne) arranges for her to be placed under intense NASA surveillance in a high security house for rehabilitation and medical testing. However, when disturbing occurrences begin happening around the property, she fears that something extraterrestrial has followed her back to Earth.
Space Cadet is set to take off on Prime Video on July 4.
Back in April, it was announced that Lionsgate and Blumhouse Productions have made a multi-picture pact that will see Blumhouse reimagining horror classics from the Lionsgate library – and the development and production of a new The Blair Witch Project is the first project on that slate. That announcement has inspired the stars of the original film – Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard, and Michael Williams – to start speaking up aboutthe fact that they have never been properly financially compensated for the roles they played into turning the original film into a massive hit that spawned a franchise.
Made on a budget of $35,000, The Blair Witch Project was purchased by Artisan Entertainment for $1.1 million and went on to earn over $248 million at the worldwide box office when it was released in 1999. Donahue, Leonard, Williams, who used their own names in the film and improvised the dialogue while being paid $500 a week during production, had it in their contracts that they were to earn 1% participation in profits in excess of $1 million. The reward they got for the box office success were fruit baskets, followed by a performance bump in the low five figures. While the movie was raking in the millions, Donahue was driving a fifteen-year-old car (which died right under a Blair Witch Project billboard) to a temp job, Leonard was serving food for a caterer, and Williams was working for a moving company. As Artisan built out a franchise based on their names and likenesses, pumping out all sorts of Blair Witch merchandise, the trio had to sue to get compensation just as Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 reached theatres in 2000. That resulted in a $300,000 settlement that was paid out to them over several years. In the meantime, they were having trouble getting acting jobs because they had played themselves in The Blair Witch Project and casting directors figured that’s all they were capable of. Leonard has continued working in the business throughout the years, but Donahue and Williams have both had to step away at times. The biggest victory in the settlement was that Artisan, which is now Lionsgate, can’t use their names and images to make money for themselves anymore… but the company is still doing it. So when Lionsgate made Blair Witch in 2016 and centered it on the fictional version of Donahue’s younger brother, Donahue had to invoke the settlement to keep her face and last name out of the movie. In 2022, she again had to go after the company when they allowed the use of her scream in the film Tár.
In April, the Blair Witch Project stars let it be known they they want to receive residuals “equivalent to the sum that would’ve been allotted through SAG-AFTRA, had we had proper union or legal representation when the film was made” and they want to be consulted on any future Blair Witch installments.
Speaking with Variety, Williams started to cry while talking about the situation. “Everybody’s wondering what happened, and your wife is in the grocery line and she can’t pay because a check bounced. You’re in the most successful independent movie of all time, and you can’t take care of your loved ones. … I’m very grateful for what I have now and how f*cking hard I fought to get it. But it still impacts me. … Giant corporations don’t care that this happens to young artists. It’s bullshit. And that’s got to change somehow. Hopefully, we will help somebody to see: Don’t do what we did.“
When the directors and producers of The Blair Witch Project were contacted by Variety, they provided the following statement: “25 years later, who would have thought we’d still be talking about The Blair Witch Project, a film made by a group of total Hollywood outsiders? We’re hopeful Heather, Joshua and Mike find a satisfying conclusion to their conversations with Lionsgate. For us, this anniversary provides an exciting opportunity to celebrate the movie and its legacy with fans.“
As the Variety article wraps up, Leonard says, “I don’t need Lionsgate to like me. I don’t care that they know that I think their behavior has been reprehensible. I don’t want my daughter to ever feel like anything is more valuable than her self-worth.” Donahue adds, “Is there value there or not? If there’s value, compensate us accordingly, and if there’s no value, then just stop using us.“
A lot more information can be found at the Variety link.
What do you think of the stars of The Blair Witch Project having to fight to be compensated for their work and the use of their identities / likenesses? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
Dragon Age fans have been waiting a decade for The Veilguard. The fourth game in BioWare’s fantasy RPG series will continue the story set up by the ending of Dragon Age: Inquisition in 2014, and it’s bringing back several familiar faces from previous games, comics, and books. However, one returning character has…
