In 2008, when GOG.com was launched, it was called Good Old Games. As Steam was on the rise and digital distribution was clearly to become the future of gaming, a Polish company that had just released its first game—a relatively obscure RPG called The Witcher—wanted to get in on the act. The goal was updating and…
In 2008, when GOG.com was launched, it was called Good Old Games. As Steam was on the rise and digital distribution was clearly to become the future of gaming, a Polish company that had just released its first game—a relatively obscure RPG called The Witcher—wanted to get in on the act. The goal was updating and…
For a guy who broke out playing a lovelorn, prank-playing paper salesman, John Krasinski has done all right for himself. OK, a lot of people still crushed on his quirky looks and clever pranks, but to be named People’s Sexiest Man Alive is on another level entirely.
Cheekily speaking on his reaction to the title, John Krasinski said, “Just immediate blackout, actually. Zero thoughts. Other than maybe I’m being punked. That’s not how I wake up, thinking, ‘Is this the day that I’ll be asked to be Sexiest Man Alive?’ And yet it was the day you guys did it. You guys have really raised the bar for me.”
One might think that a middle-aged man being named People’s Sexiest Man Alive would be an anomaly, but it’s actually pretty common for someone in at least their mid-40s to get the title. In fact, in the past 10 winners, only one – Michael B. Jordan – was in his 30s. And one – Patrick Dempsey – was in his 50s, making him the second-oldest to be named People’s Sexiest Man Alive, two years younger than the then-59-year-old Sean Connery. Prior to that run, there was a string of five winners in their 30s. Even still, the average age circles 40.
Like a true gente, John Krasinski gave credit to his relationship with wife Emily Blunt while poking fun at the inevitable punishment within the house. “It’s that beautiful thing where when you’re married to someone, you’re constantly learning and changing and evolving. And I’m so lucky to go through all that with her…I think it’s going to make me do more household chores. After this comes out, she’ll be like, ‘All right, that means you’re going to really earn it here at home.’”
John Krasinski has branched out better than most of his fellow Office-mates, branching out heavily into both the horror genre with the A Quiet Place movies and producing Rosemary’s Baby prequel Apartment 7A, as well as the action genre, showcasing his skills by taking over the Jack Ryan franchise. While the namesake Amazon Prime Video series ended, the story will continue in a feature film.
What do you think of John Krasinski being named People’s Sexiest Man Alive?
The post John Krasinski named People’s Sexiest Man Alive appeared first on JoBlo.
Tonight, on a very special episode of Boy Meets World, Shawn gets crunk…Boy Meets World, like many sitcoms (especially of the Disney-backed TGIF variety), had its share of episodes that took on serious issues, hitting on everything from child abuse to teenage sex to cults. But one episode that still sticks with Rider Strong is “If You Can’t Be With the One You Love”, which focused on Shawn Hunter developing an alcohol dependency, something he doesn’t think the show handled well at all.
As Rider Strong remembered of the season five episode of Pod Meets World (the Boy Meets World rewatch podcast he co-hosts), Shawn was seeing “having a good time with Cory and doing handstands and peeing on cop cars and just, like, woohoo, fun loving. And then in that second half, it’s as if he’s a 45-year-old alcoholic who’s like, ‘I can’t stop, but I gotta keep doing this.’ I don’t think that’s realistic.” He added, “The real problem that I see is it’s actually a disservice to people. The real issue with drinking is that often it’s sneakier, it’s weirder, it’s slower. It slowly takes over people’s lives…to condense it is to oversimplify the issue in a way. The counterargument I’m making in my own head is that it’s for children. And for children, you just wanna see that drinking is bad. Stay away from it for as long as you can. Do it when you’re older.”
The episode found Shawn becoming so belligerent that at one point he shoves his girlfriend Angela (Trina McGee), in one of the biggest slights to her character because, as co-host Danielle Fishel noted, Shawn got to keep her as his girlfriend without facing that set of consequences.
Overall, Rider Strong insists that those behind the scenes of Boy Meets World dropped the ball on that episode, saying that by trying to break down that sort of story into one block of your Friday night did no justice to the seriousness of the topic. He, too, felt the same way about “Prom-ises, Prom-ises”, the once-banned episode that he said mishandled the topic of sex and birth control.
What do you remember about this episode of Boy Meets World? How do you think the matter was handled?
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I really liked Lego Horizon Adventures, a game that’s exactly what it sounds like. It tells an embellished version of the events of Horizon Zero Dawn, the first game in Guerrilla’s series of post-apocalyptic open-world adventures, with colorful Lego bricks and the slapstick humor you’d expect from a lovingly made…
As screen-to-stage adaptations go, taking on Stanley Kubrick and one of the most acclaimed comedies of all time is bold. But Dr Strangelove, which just opened at the Noël Coward Theatre in London’s West End, sounds like a tempting proposition rather than a sacrilegious one: adapted by Armando Iannucci, starring Steven Coogan, it’s a union between comedy screen royalty of our own time.
In the 1964 Cold War satire, Peter Sellers proved virtuoso in playing an Air Force captain, the US president, and a sinister German scientist. Coogan not only goes one better – also playing Texan pilot Major Kong – but pulls it off live, bouncing in and out of war rooms and B-52 cockpits. He’s consistently funny, especially as a face-twisting, arm-popping Dr Strangelove.
And yet. And yet…While there’s knowing delight to this theatrical feat, it also hampers the pace. This deferential Dr Strangelove can feel an oddly lumpen and effortful show. Yes, Coogan acquits himself well against the legend that is Sellers, but it begs the question: is that really what we want in theatre? A continual looking over actors’ shoulders for whether someone did it better on screen, 60 years ago?
As a theatre critic, I’ve watched a tsunami of film-to-stage adaptations. Right now in London, you can see Back to the Future, Magic Mike, Mean Girls, Moulin Rouge, Mrs Doubtfire, The Lion King, and the about-to-open The Devil Wears Prada musical. Large-scale touring is even more in-hoc: you could be visited by Hairspray, Aladdin, Heathers, Grease, Ghost, Kinky Boots, Mary Poppins, Madagascar, Cruel Intentions…at any moment there’s a film-to-stage adaptation quite literally waiting in the wings.
This is not a new trend: Disney twigged there were mega-bucks to be made in putting movies on stage thirty years ago. Their first attempt, Beauty and the Beast in 1994, received a critical mauling – “padded, gimmick-ridden, tacky and, despite the millions, utterly devoid of imagination”, according to Variety. Unfortunately, some of these are complaints I’d still throw at the less-inspired film adaptations today.
But then came The Lion King, which opened on Broadway in 1997 and in the West End in 1999, directed by Julie Taymor who proved you could absolutely fashion a distinctly theatrical version of a kids’ cartoon on stage. It’s surely no coincidence that one of the most inventive screen-to-stage adaptations – making magical use of masks and puppetry – is also the most enduring and profitable, earning over $10 billion worldwide. (Avatar, the highest-grossing film, made less than $3 billion.)
Yet a lot of producers seemed to learn one lesson – famous films make wildly profitable stage shows! – without giving much thought to the other lesson – famous films can make wildly imaginative stage shows.
I have no quarrel with adaptations where there’s an urgent desire to re-tell a story in a new medium or an exciting vision for how to do that. One of my favourite shows of recent years was My Neighbour Totoro – transferring in March to the Gillian Lynne Theatre – which enchanted in how it played with scale, puppetry, and live performance, giving new form to Studio Ghibli’s animations.
Similarly, Jack Thorne beautifully translated the icy, yearning chill of Let the Right One for the stage. The bombast of Andrew Lloyd Weber’s 1991 musical version of Sunset Boulevard matched the self-deluding grandeur of the film’s heroine – and recently proved sharply urgent in Jamie Lloyd’s new staging. Tim Minchin’s songs for Groundhog Day added witty and moving new layers, and putting the dancing at the heart of An American in Paris, 42nd Street, Billy Elliot or Strictly Ballroom in a theatre feels both logical and delightful.
But too many shows follow the ‘Popular Movie: The Musical’ formula without seemingly questioning whether the story would actually benefit from this treatment – adding songs, but not adding value. I suspect producers are seeing pound signs rather than real theatrical vision. Take, for example, the rash of high school movies-turned-musicals: Heathers, Mean Girls, Cruel Intentions, Clueless and Bring It On. Perfect snarky little confections on screen, these stories rarely benefit from having earnest or mawkish songs added.
Even more tricky is the casting conundrum. As with Dr Strangelove, stage versions of Back to the Future, Pretty Woman, Sister Act, Mrs Doubtfire, or the about-to-open The Devil Wears Prada have another huge mountain to climb: their legendary central performances. It’s tough to recreate their unique flavour while missing their main ingredient. How do you match the memory of Robin Williams? Can Pretty Woman work without Julia Roberts? (On the basis of the recent musical, I’d say: absolutely not). Faithful copies end up feeling like pale imitations and cultural ouroboros: content cannibalising itself, especially when hit musicals in turn then prompt new movie versions (see Mean Girls, Hairspray).
The abundance of adaptations is largely down to them being seen as ‘safe bets’ – understandably appealing in the current tough financial climate for theatres. In the same way that remakes, franchises and IP-led movies have dominated cinema recently, stage versions of well-loved titles are seen as bankable. But the churn presumably also reflects what audiences have proven willing to stump up for. There’s clearly a significant nostalgia pound, spent right across culture: when money is tight, people are more willing to shell out for something they already know they like. Nostalgia is cosy; adaptations promise comforting familiarity.
But creatively, I’d argue it’s bad news for theatre. Screen-to-stage adaptations have a flattening effect: they are by their very nature predictable, to the point of often feeling lazy and cynical at their core (even if I still applaud the huge amounts of work that goes into performances, songs, design, and so on). Dr Strangelove hasn’t convinced me otherwise: it’s fun, it’s funny, but it’s deferential to a fault. Despite Coogan, it can’t silence the whisper that says you could just watch the movie.
Still, it’s at least an unexpected adaptation – I genuinely didn’t see this one coming. And I wonder if it hints that we might be nearing the end of this wave of adaptations, or at least a slowing of the tide? Could we be running out of obvious, bankable titles to adapt?
Looking ahead, there are fewer adaptations on the horizon for 2025. There are actually some plays headed to the West End! Granted, a production of Clueless arrives in February, and Disney is doing Hercules, while a musical of 13 Going on 30 has just been announced – but surely that’s the sound of the nostalgia barrel being scraped, rather than a sign of its rude health. Personally, I’d be happy if theatre did begin to tire of simply aping the hits of the silver screen. After all, we don’t want anyone to attempt 2001: The Musical.
The post When did theatre become so reliant on film? appeared first on Little White Lies.
I really liked Lego Horizon Adventures, a game that’s exactly what it sounds like. It tells an embellished version of the events of Horizon Zero Dawn, the first game in Guerrilla’s series of post-apocalyptic open-world adventures, with colorful Lego bricks and the slapstick humor you’d expect from a lovingly made…
Before Deadpool & Wolverine became one of the biggest movies of the year, there were many different concepts for what the movie could be, including one that would have revealed that Wade Wilson had been in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) the entire time.
“We had a ‘Deadpool’s Deleted Scenes Extravaganza’ where we were going to try and show that he was in the MCU the whole time – you just didn’t see his scenes, they were all on the cutting room floor,” executive producer Wendy Jacobson explained on Assembled: The Making of Deadpool & Wolverine, adding they were “really just trying to find a reason for this movie to be.” It would have been a fun idea, but once Hugh Jackman entered the picture as Wolverine, the film found its purpose.
Jacobson mentioned that another concept was a shot-for-shot remake of Thor: The Dark World with Deadpool. It’s probably for the best that one didn’t happen.
Taking place six years after the events of the last movie, Deadpool & Wolverine finds Wade Wilson (Reynolds) toiling away in civilian life with his days as Deadpool behind him. But when his homeworld faces an existential threat, he must suit up once again and convince a reluctant Wolverine (Jackman) to help save his universe. In addition to Reynolds and Jackman, the cast also includes Matthew Macfadyen, Emma Corrin, Morena Baccarin, Leslie Uggams, Karan Soni, Brianna Hildebrand, Shioli Kutsuna, Rob Delany, Stefan Kapičić, and more.
Our own Chris Bumbray had a lot of fun with Deadpool & Wolverine, which sounds like a real crowd-pleaser. “Have you ever been to a concert and wished that your favourite band would stop playing their not-as-good new stuff and play the hits? That’s exactly what Marvel is doing with Deadpool & Wolverine,” Bumbray wrote in his review. “After a rough run of movies, with many saying their Phase 5 has been disastrous, this feels like an everything but the kitchen-sink attempt by the company to win back those fans who feel alienated by the new direction the company seemed to be heading in. With this, you have a rock ‘em, sock ‘em thrill ride that delivers fans exactly the movie they wanted to see, with nary a message to be found amidst all the charred, sliced and diced corpses our heroes leave in their wake. It’s glorious fun.” The film is now available on 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray/DVD, and just premiered on Disney+.
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It was reported just last month that Warner Bros. was developing a potential Game of Thrones movie, and HBO’s Casey Bloys has confirmed that it is in the works, although it’s still in the very early stages.
“They’re going to develop [an] idea,” Bloys said. “We’ll see if it’s good. We’ll read the scripts along with them. I think it could be fun and interesting. I mean, that’s the point of development, you see is there a story that’s worthy of being in theaters and a big spectacle? I think it would be fun.” Despite the confirmation, there’s still no guarantee that the project will actually move forward. Bloys added that George R.R. Martin is involved in the process of developing the potential movie.
Speaking of Martin, the Game of Thrones creator has been critical of certain story elements in the second season of House of the Dragon. In a since-deleted blog post, Martin had argued that creative changes will have a “butterfly effect” on later seasons. When asked about the public disagreement, Bloys said, “We love George, obviously. I want him to be happy. He’s very important to us. But when we put shows together, we’re putting marriages together. Marriage can be difficult, especially in the creative decisions of adapting work. Sometimes it gets rocky. Would I prefer that everybody get along? Of course, but it’s a creative process.“
A third season of House of the Dragon is on the way, with another spinoff, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, set to debut on HBO in 2025. There have been a number of Game of Thrones projects which have been scrapped, including a Jon Snow series which Kit Harington has said is now on the shelf. “Currently, it’s off the table, because we all couldn’t find the right story to tell that we were all excited about enough,” Harington said. “So, we decided to lay down tools with it for the time being. There may be a time in the future where we return to it, but at the moment, no. It’s firmly on the shelf.” Although the Jon Snow spinoff is no longer in development, Bloys said he would be open to revisiting it down the line.
The post HBO boss confirms Game of Thrones movie and addresses George R.R. Martin’s House of the Dragon criticism appeared first on JoBlo.
Whatever anxiety you felt watching people get killed for not licking a cookie fast enough or standing still for long enough in the first season of Netflix’s Squid Game is nothing compared to what series creator Hwang Dong-hyuk felt while making it. According to the acclaimed South Korean director, the stress of making…