Pokémon TCG Pocket launched with a good amount of cards to collect, but it can become a drag once you start seeing the same cards pop up again and again. Whether you’re aiming to get the super rare Charizard with full gold background art or just the best Genetic Apex cards for your decks, the luster is lost when you…
Pokémon TCG Pocket launched with a good amount of cards to collect, but it can become a drag once you start seeing the same cards pop up again and again. Whether you’re aiming to get the super rare Charizard with full gold background art or just the best Genetic Apex cards for your decks, the luster is lost when you…
Last Updated on December 20, 2024
Look up! Into the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s Superman! With James Gunn continuing to restructure the DCU, he presented some of his vision to dozens of journalists ready to be wowed this past Monday. And boy, we were utterly wowed. When the Superman teaser trailer was revealed, you could note the wave of awe, relief, and excitement that quickly filled the Steven J. Ross Theatre on the Warner Brothers lot. It was a beautiful experience, and it’s frankly one of the best previews I’ve seen in a long while. I cannot wait for this flick!
Yes, I’m very aware that we’ve been fooled before with positive reactions. It’s easy to fall into the thrill of the promise with a project of this magnitude. Yet, sitting with several fans of Clark, Lois, and the gang, it was clear that something truly special was about to happen. And now, you can all get a look at what a roomful of journos were in delight over. As someone who has grown more than a bit tired of the fantastical world of powerful superhumans, the early trailer has me beyond hopeful that this will be one of Gunn’s best.
To me, Christopher Reeve remains my favorite interpretation of Clark Kent and Superman. Yet, I’m convinced that David Corenswet is the red-caped hero I’ve been waiting for. And the inclusion of Rachel Brosnahan and Nicholas Hoult as Lois Lane and Lex Luthor brings a smile to my face. One of the treats of this particular presentation was a Q&A with Gunn and crew right after the Teaser reveal. Mind you, it’s a loaded “teaser,” but I get the feeling it isn’t giving away much at all.
After the screening, the talented Eric Davis from Rotten Tomatoes and Fandango moderated a lively conversation with Mr. Gunn, Mr. Corenswet, Ms. Brosnahan, and Mr. Hoult. Read on, as they do a terrific job of not spoiling the upcoming feature. And let us know what you think? Now that the trailer has been released, how do you feel thus far about James Gunn’s Superman?
James Gunn on bringing Superman to a new audience:
JG: The truth for me is I didn’t come in here to write a Superman movie and say, oh, I want to honor this and honor that, and also be new and open to the fans. Those are the kind of thoughts I had along the way of writing the script originally and along the path of making the movie. But for me, I wanted to tell a story that excited me, moved me, and felt authentic. And it really just started in that. And it took a while to get to the place where the movie was able to begin. Some of it was, and some of the stuff that you see in the trailer here, but I knew that I wanted to have a Superman who stayed true to his origins of being the ultimate good guy.
And I think that it was a movie about kindness. It was a movie about being good. I remember talking to these guys when we had our cast dinner the night before we started shooting or something like that. I’m like, at the end of the day, the world doesn’t always seem to have so much good in it, and this movie has to truly be that. For it to truly be that, we had to be good to each other. We had to be good to the crew, and then it had to be that authentically. And so, for me, the movie is about that more than anything else.
On casting David Corenswet:
JG: The thing I think that connects him so much in some ways to Christopher Reeve is he has a lot of deep training. I’ve never worked in my entire life with such a rigorous actor. He challenged me on a daily basis to really get the most out of his character and get the most out of the story. Everything he does in the movie is utterly true. You don’t ever have a moment even watching dailies where you go, ‘David did something that feels stupid, that doesn’t feel real, that feels like he’s faking it, he’s phoning it in,’ never. He’s always completely present. It was sort of miraculous that the funniest thing was that I got both Rachel’s and David’s self-tapes on our very first day of casting. So, the thing that I was the most worried about was casting Superman at the beginning of this process. And after the first day, I was like, I think that guy’s pretty good.
David Corenswet on what traits he relates to with Superman:
DC: I think I sometimes experience a mismatch with people where I don’t get what somebody means by something or something that happened in a room where some people knew that there was some conflict going on or that somebody said something inappropriate, and I sort of missed that. I was always cut out of the drama when I was in school. Nobody ever cared to update me about it, and I never felt like I knew the exciting juicy gossip that was going on. And for that reason, I always sort of saw people as the best versions of themselves and saw relationships as the best versions of themselves. I don’t think it was in a terribly naive way. I think a lot of people consider Superman to be a naive character, at least to have a naivete about him. I think there’s an element of that, but I think it really is just sort of a blindness to the little imperfections and the little conflicts, the silly little things that we get caught up with as people. I tend to miss those, and I think Superman misses those, and that’s what keeps him steadfastly and determinately looking at the good and the hopeful and the future and grounded in the fun and playfulness of the present.
Rachel Brosnahan on her Lois Lane:
RB: I’ve always been inspired by this character. She’s somebody who is ambitious, courageous, hungry, and determined to get the greatest story almost at any cost. I’ve always loved this character and was so excited by the opportunity to bring all of those things that have been true of her in every iteration. But also one of the things I love about this character is that almost more than any other character in these comics and in the movies, she evolves to fit what it would mean to be an intrepid journalist of each generation or each decade that she’s presented in. So I think our challenge, and James and I are talking about this, I think before the chemistry read about how she might fit into the canon of today. Today, we’re living in a world where print journalism, to some, is perhaps an endangered art form, and she’s somebody who dedicated her entire life to it. And then I think as far as what else is different, you’ll have to check out the movie to see, but I love that she’s somebody who doesn’t understand what the word no means, and it’s motivating for her. We definitely see that side of her in this film.
Nicholas Hoult on playing Lex Luthor:
NH: The thing about this, Lex, I think that was most exciting for me was it being in a James Gunn universe, like you said, that is so emotionally raw and powerful but huge in the scope of the world and what he’s creating. And I think with this Lex, I mean obviously, he’s smart and ruthless, and he has to outmaneuver Superman on certain levels because he can’t match him in others. But there’s also something about this character, hopefully from my standpoint, where even though you perhaps don’t agree with his process, there’s an element where you can understand on some levels where he’s coming from and why, perhaps what he’s pushing as his ideology is perhaps better for humanity.
James Gunn on the opening of the trailer, and Krypto:
JG: I think that we are seeing that from the beginning. We’re seeing a little bit of a different side of Superman than what we’ve seen normally on screen, and this movie, at the end of the day, is not about power. This movie is about a loose term of the word, a human being, and who he is as a person and as a person who’s struggling with his day-to-day life. And we see a different aspect of him at the beginning. So I thought it was a cool place to start the trailer and the movie, frankly. His relationship with Krypto is complicated. He’s not nearly the best dog in scenes. There’s a lot more to Krypto than you see in this trailer.
But yeah, I also thought that it was a way to say that yes, we’re embracing all of the Superman mythology. There’s a way that superhero movies have taken these characters and said, okay, yeah, it’s Batman, but it’s not any of the other stuff. It’s Superman, but it’s not any of the other stuff. It’s boom, boom, boom, boom. But in our world, he lives in a world with superheroes. This is an alternative history fantasy world where superheroes exist, but it’s also incredibly grounded. It’s about real people having real lives. There just happens to be metahumans there, but Superman exists. He has friends who are other superheroes. He has people he doesn’t get along with, but who are other superheroes? He’s got a flying dog. He’s got a giant fortress that springs from the ground. He has giant monsters. He has a lot of the things that we love from the Superman comics and the Superman mythology that we haven’t been able to see as much of in filmed media. And definitely haven’t been able to see in a grounded way, which is what I hope we’ve created.
Rachel on the relationship between Superman and Lois Lane:
RB: They have been close, at least at moments. But what I love about their relationship, kind of through every iteration of the comic books and all the films and television series, is that they’re soulmates. They’re united in the fact that they are both in relentless pursuit of truth and justice, but they approach the world in totally different ways. She’s somebody who, because of her profession but also because of who she is, questions everything. She questions everyone she’s trying to see around every corner, and that’s the way that she faces the world. And Superman, as David said earlier, is just radically present in every moment. He solves every issue that’s directly in front of him. And I think the ways that they are opposite is something that is fun to watch. It’s fun to watch that and kind of bump up against each other sometimes. And then it’s fun to watch the ways in which they really are united. That’s a little bit of a nothing burger of an answer, but yeah, they both work hard and play hard and love hard.
David on wearing the suit:
DC: I think the first thing that comes to mind, I’m sure there are many things that I will remember as I think back on our time shooting, the first thing that comes to mind is the difference between the feeling of playing Superman, which is not that glamorous. It’s a lot of being tied up to cranes and pulleys and having your legs held up by stuntmen to get you in the right position.
And the suit, I think looks a lot cooler than it feels. Literally, on a hot day, I’m cooking inside of it, but the thing that took me off guard, there’s also the process of people asking about the first time you put on the suit, and when you have the amazing chance to build a suit from the ground up with an amazing costume department, you don’t put on the suit for the first time. You put on parts of it, and then it gets fitted, and more pieces get put in. So, for me, it was the first time that other people saw me on YouTube. It’s like when you get, I don’t know, a nice haircut, and you forget about it, but then you walk around, and everybody’s like, whoa, you look great. For once.
I walked on set, and I had other people who saw me in the suit for the first time, so I got to see other people see Superman. And I didn’t feel like Superman, but it was so amazing watching my castmates and the crew members who are also getting to work on this amazing historic piece of media. The moments when they saw it for the first time or when they saw Superman fly for the first time, not getting to be that particularly, but getting to witness them, witness it. And then the best thing is seeing kids see it when crew people would bring their kids to set or getting to see first person, a five, 6-year-old kid see Superman. There’s nothing like it. It’s amazing.
Nicolas Hoult on working with James Gunn, and seeing David in the suit for the first time:
NH: The script, to begin with, was so unique and fun. The world was vivid and just full of so many exciting characters and moments and emotions, and that was reading it. I felt giddy. I was like, this is exciting. This is new and a different take. And then, on set with all his collaborators, he’s inviting and warm. He knows exactly what he wants and is clear on that, but he is also open to ideas with everyone on set. So it’s a wonderful environment to work in because no matter who you are, if you bring a good idea and James likes it, then it’ll be incorporated.
I’ve got to add one more thing. When I saw David in the costume, I was in awe, and I hate to admit, it made me feel warm and fuzzy, made me feel like a kid again. There was one scene where he flies into the set, and I was watching, and I was like, I had a little grin, a little private grin on my face. I thought, this is amazing. Then I turned around and saw everyone else in the room with the same look on their face watching him. And that’s the effect that he’s talking about that it has on everyone. I think it’s really special.
James Gunn on the score:
JG: Yeah, I think that I knew from the beginning what I wanted to do with the music. I had thought about it a lot. Are we going to do something completely different? Are we going to use the Williams theme? Williams seems one of my [my favorites]. The soundtrack is one of my favorite soundtracks of all time.
When I was a kid, the thing that I loved the most about the movie was the music. That was the thing I took home with me more than anything else, but I knew we were doing something that was heartening back to the past. I was also looking forward to the future, and so it was about finding that balance.
John Murphy is a composer who I love working with, and he started working on the music before the script was even finished and was one of the first people I gave the script to, along with Peter Safran and a couple of others, so that he could start writing music for it. And I said, I want to use a version of the Williams team, but I want to do our own version of it. And so that’s what you hear.
What’s really amazing is how that leads into a lot of other pieces, some of which harken back to the Williams score, but some of which are purely John Murphy, and it’s used beautifully throughout the movie. John’s been working nonstop for almost two years, putting the score together. As a lot of people know, I write the score and the basic elements of the score beforehand. We play those on set while we’re shooting, and we did it with this, but it’s about finding with everything with this movie, it’s finding that balance between the novel and the traditional and where is that line, and it’s accepting both of those things.
Check out these pics of our man JimmyO at the launch event:
The post James Gunn Superman Teaser Trailer Revealed with a Q&A from the launch event! appeared first on JoBlo.
Look up! Into the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s Superman! With James Gunn continuing to restructure the DCCU, he presented some of his vision to dozens of journalists ready to be wowed this past Monday. And boy, we were utterly wowed. When the Superman teaser trailer was revealed, you could note the wave of awe, relief, and excitement that quickly filled the Steven J. Ross Theatre on the Warner Brothers lot. It was a beautiful experience, and it’s frankly one of the best previews I’ve seen in a long while. I cannot wait for this flick!
Yes, I’m very aware that we’ve been fooled before with positive reactions. It’s easy to fall into the thrill of the promise with a project of this magnitude. Yet, sitting with several fans of Clark, Lois, and the gang, it was clear that something truly special was about to happen. And now, you can all get a look at what a roomful of journos were in delight over. As someone who has grown more than a bit tired of the fantastical world of powerful superhumans, the early trailer has me beyond hopeful that this will be one of Gunn’s best.
To me, Christopher Reeve remains my favorite interpretation of Clark Kent and Superman. Yet, I’m convinced that David Corenswet is the red-caped hero I’ve been waiting for. And the inclusion of Rachel Brosnahan and Nicholas Hoult as Lois Lane and Lex Luthor brings a smile to my face. One of the treats of this particular presentation was a Q&A with Gunn and crew right after the Teaser reveal. Mind you, it’s a loaded “teaser,” but I get the feeling it isn’t giving away much at all.
After the screening, the talented Eric Davis from Rotten Tomatoes and Fandango moderated a lively conversation with Mr. Gunn, Mr. Corenswet, Ms. Brosnahan, and Mr. Hoult. Read on, as they do a terrific job of not spoiling the upcoming feature. And let us know what you think? Now that the trailer has been released, how do you feel thus far about James Gunn’s Superman?
James Gunn on bringing Superman to a new audience:
JG: The truth for me is I didn’t come in here to write a Superman movie and say, oh, I want to honor this and honor that, and also be new and open to the fans. Those are the kind of thoughts I had along the way of writing the script originally and along the path of making the movie. But for me, I wanted to tell a story that excited me, moved me, and felt authentic. And it really just started in that. And it took a while to get to the place where the movie was able to begin. Some of it was, and some of the stuff that you see in the trailer here, but I knew that I wanted to have a Superman who stayed true to his origins of being the ultimate good guy.
And I think that it was a movie about kindness. It was a movie about being good. I remember talking to these guys when we had our cast dinner the night before we started shooting or something like that. I’m like, at the end of the day, the world doesn’t always seem to have so much good in it, and this movie has to truly be that. For it to truly be that, we had to be good to each other. We had to be good to the crew, and then it had to be that authentically. And so, for me, the movie is about that more than anything else.
On casting David Corenswet:
JG: The thing I think that connects him so much in some ways to Christopher Reeve is he has a lot of deep training. I’ve never worked in my entire life with such a rigorous actor. He challenged me on a daily basis to really get the most out of his character and get the most out of the story. Everything he does in the movie is utterly true. You don’t ever have a moment even watching dailies where you go, ‘David did something that feels stupid, that doesn’t feel real, that feels like he’s faking it, he’s phoning it in,’ never. He’s always completely present. It was sort of miraculous that the funniest thing was that I got both Rachel’s and David’s self-tapes on our very first day of casting. So, the thing that I was the most worried about was casting Superman at the beginning of this process. And after the first day, I was like, I think that guy’s pretty good.
David Corenswet on what traits he relates to with Superman:
DC: I think I sometimes experience a mismatch with people where I don’t get what somebody means by something or something that happened in a room where some people knew that there was some conflict going on or that somebody said something inappropriate, and I sort of missed that. I was always cut out of the drama when I was in school. Nobody ever cared to update me about it, and I never felt like I knew the exciting juicy gossip that was going on. And for that reason, I always sort of saw people as the best versions of themselves and saw relationships as the best versions of themselves. I don’t think it was in a terribly naive way. I think a lot of people consider Superman to be a naive character, at least to have a naivete about him. I think there’s an element of that, but I think it really is just sort of a blindness to the little imperfections and the little conflicts, the silly little things that we get caught up with as people. I tend to miss those, and I think Superman misses those, and that’s what keeps him steadfastly and determinately looking at the good and the hopeful and the future and grounded in the fun and playfulness of the present.
Rachel Brosnahan on her Lois Lane:
RB: I’ve always been inspired by this character. She’s somebody who is ambitious, courageous, hungry, and determined to get the greatest story almost at any cost. I’ve always loved this character and was so excited by the opportunity to bring all of those things that have been true of her in every iteration. But also one of the things I love about this character is that almost more than any other character in these comics and in the movies, she evolves to fit what it would mean to be an intrepid journalist of each generation or each decade that she’s presented in. So I think our challenge, and James and I are talking about this, I think before the chemistry read about how she might fit into the canon of today. Today, we’re living in a world where print journalism, to some, is perhaps an endangered art form, and she’s somebody who dedicated her entire life to it. And then I think as far as what else is different, you’ll have to check out the movie to see, but I love that she’s somebody who doesn’t understand what the word no means, and it’s motivating for her. We definitely see that side of her in this film.
Nicholas Hoult on playing Lex Luthor:
NH: The thing about this, Lex, I think that was most exciting for me was it being in a James Gunn universe, like you said, that is so emotionally raw and powerful but huge in the scope of the world and what he’s creating. And I think with this Lex, I mean obviously, he’s smart and ruthless, and he has to outmaneuver Superman on certain levels because he can’t match him in others. But there’s also something about this character, hopefully from my standpoint, where even though you perhaps don’t agree with his process, there’s an element where you can understand on some levels where he’s coming from and why, perhaps what he’s pushing as his ideology is perhaps better for humanity.
James Gunn on the opening of the trailer, and Krypto:
JG: I think that we are seeing that from the beginning. We’re seeing a little bit of a different side of Superman than what we’ve seen normally on screen, and this movie, at the end of the day, is not about power. This movie is about a loose term of the word, a human being, and who he is as a person and as a person who’s struggling with his day-to-day life. And we see a different aspect of him at the beginning. So I thought it was a cool place to start the trailer and the movie, frankly. His relationship with Krypto is complicated. He’s not nearly the best dog in scenes. There’s a lot more to Krypto than you see in this trailer.
But yeah, I also thought that it was a way to say that yes, we’re embracing all of the Superman mythology. There’s a way that superhero movies have taken these characters and said, okay, yeah, it’s Batman, but it’s not any of the other stuff. It’s Superman, but it’s not any of the other stuff. It’s boom, boom, boom, boom. But in our world, he lives in a world with superheroes. This is an alternative history fantasy world where superheroes exist, but it’s also incredibly grounded. It’s about real people having real lives. There just happens to be metahumans there, but Superman exists. He has friends who are other superheroes. He has people he doesn’t get along with, but who are other superheroes? He’s got a flying dog. He’s got a giant fortress that springs from the ground. He has giant monsters. He has a lot of the things that we love from the Superman comics and the Superman mythology that we haven’t been able to see as much of in filmed media. And definitely haven’t been able to see in a grounded way, which is what I hope we’ve created.
Rachel on the relationship between Superman and Lois Lane:
RB: They have been close, at least at moments. But what I love about their relationship, kind of through every iteration of the comic books and all the films and television series, is that they’re soulmates. They’re united in the fact that they are both in relentless pursuit of truth and justice, but they approach the world in totally different ways. She’s somebody who, because of her profession but also because of who she is, questions everything. She questions everyone she’s trying to see around every corner, and that’s the way that she faces the world. And Superman, as David said earlier, is just radically present in every moment. He solves every issue that’s directly in front of him. And I think the ways that they are opposite is something that is fun to watch. It’s fun to watch that and kind of bump up against each other sometimes. And then it’s fun to watch the ways in which they really are united. That’s a little bit of a nothing burger of an answer, but yeah, they both work hard and play hard and love hard.
David on wearing the suit:
DC: I think the first thing that comes to mind, I’m sure there are many things that I will remember as I think back on our time shooting, the first thing that comes to mind is the difference between the feeling of playing Superman, which is not that glamorous. It’s a lot of being tied up to cranes and pulleys and having your legs held up by stuntmen to get you in the right position.
And the suit, I think looks a lot cooler than it feels. Literally, on a hot day, I’m cooking inside of it, but the thing that took me off guard, there’s also the process of people asking about the first time you put on the suit, and when you have the amazing chance to build a suit from the ground up with an amazing costume department, you don’t put on the suit for the first time. You put on parts of it, and then it gets fitted, and more pieces get put in. So, for me, it was the first time that other people saw me on YouTube. It’s like when you get, I don’t know, a nice haircut, and you forget about it, but then you walk around, and everybody’s like, whoa, you look great. For once.
I walked on set, and I had other people who saw me in the suit for the first time, so I got to see other people see Superman. And I didn’t feel like Superman, but it was so amazing watching my castmates and the crew members who are also getting to work on this amazing historic piece of media. The moments when they saw it for the first time or when they saw Superman fly for the first time, not getting to be that particularly, but getting to witness them, witness it. And then the best thing is seeing kids see it when crew people would bring their kids to set or getting to see first person, a five, 6-year-old kid see Superman. There’s nothing like it. It’s amazing.
Nicolas Hoult on working with James Gunn, and seeing David in the suit for the first time:
NH: The script, to begin with, was so unique and fun. The world was vivid and just full of so many exciting characters and moments and emotions, and that was reading it. I felt giddy. I was like, this is exciting. This is new and a different take. And then, on set with all his collaborators, he’s inviting and warm. He knows exactly what he wants and is clear on that, but he is also open to ideas with everyone on set. So it’s a wonderful environment to work in because no matter who you are, if you bring a good idea and James likes it, then it’ll be incorporated.
I’ve got to add one more thing. When I saw David in the costume, I was in awe, and I hate to admit, it made me feel warm and fuzzy, made me feel like a kid again. There was one scene where he flies into the set, and I was watching, and I was like, I had a little grin, a little private grin on my face. I thought, this is amazing. Then I turned around and saw everyone else in the room with the same look on their face watching him. And that’s the effect that he’s talking about that it has on everyone. I think it’s really special.
James Gunn on the score:
JG: Yeah, I think that I knew from the beginning what I wanted to do with the music. I had thought about it a lot. Are we going to do something completely different? Are we going to use the Williams theme? Williams seems one of my [my favorites]. The soundtrack is one of my favorite soundtracks of all time.
When I was a kid, the thing that I loved the most about the movie was the music. That was the thing I took home with me more than anything else, but I knew we were doing something that was heartening back to the past. I was also looking forward to the future, and so it was about finding that balance.
John Murphy is a composer who I love working with, and he started working on the music before the script was even finished and was one of the first people I gave the script to, along with Peter Safran and a couple of others, so that he could start writing music for it. And I said, I want to use a version of the Williams team, but I want to do our own version of it. And so that’s what you hear.
What’s really amazing is how that leads into a lot of other pieces, some of which harken back to the Williams score, but some of which are purely John Murphy, and it’s used beautifully throughout the movie. John’s been working nonstop for almost two years, putting the score together. As a lot of people know, I write the score and the basic elements of the score beforehand. We play those on set while we’re shooting, and we did it with this, but it’s about finding with everything with this movie, it’s finding that balance between the novel and the traditional and where is that line, and it’s accepting both of those things.
The post James Gunn Superman Teaser Trailer Revealed with a Q&A from the launch event! appeared first on JoBlo.
Guy Pearce has come a long way from his days on the Aussie soap opera, Neighbours, to his newest film, The Brutalist, for which he’s receiving major accolades. When reviewing The Brutalist, our own Chris Bumbray said, “Pearce, in particular, has never played a role like Van Buren, with him hiding his sadism behind a polished mid-Atlantic accent similar to the one used by John Huston when he played one of the screen’s great villains in Chinatown. Pearce plays him as a man of great charisma but little in the way of scruples. Yet, he’s not two-dimensional; he is also capable of great compassion, even if it comes with an asterisk.”
And while the scope of The Brutalist is grand in its own right, it’s still a small movie when compared to big studio blockbusters. GQ recently profiled Pearce and the actor reflected on his attempt to be a leading man for the special effects-laden adventure film The Time Machine. Pearce recalls, “I think the process of it felt way too big for me. I can’t make [sense of] this idea of studio films where you just get told what to do by people afraid to lose their jobs. I remember there were discussions at the beginning about how I was going to look. A couple of the executives say, ‘No, he’ll just cut his hair and he’ll just do this and he’ll do that.’ And I’m in the room going, Hello? I’m immediately feeling like my intuition doesn’t mean anything here. That’s a killer for me.”
He continued, “It was the first time I really felt that there was not just a disconnect, but a kind of greater power up there that you couldn’t even really talk to.” While The Time Machine would do well in the international market, it was not formidable competition against other big movies at the time and would be likened to John Carter‘s reception. Pearce would rebound from this attempt with 2004’s The Proposition, where he finally felt he found his place as an actor. He speaks about how his director on that film, John Hillcoat, knew how to pull the performance he needed out of him, “I think it was clearer to him that I’m a versatile actor. I’m interested in all walks of life, and I just want to explore all walks of life…. I had to really dig in deep with John, do lots of research with him, and create a bit of a character for myself, try to find how vulnerable and who this person was.”
Funnily enough, it was at a screening of The Proposition that Pearce’s agent finally knew what road to lead him down, “I remember seeing The Proposition with my agent Chris [Andrews, of CAA] at the Toronto Film Festival in 2005. And when we came out of the screening, Chris said to me, ‘Okay, I now get what it is you’re trying to do.‘ And that was a real important moment for me…to have him understand the career that I’m trying to create.”
The post Guy Pearce reflects on his attempt to do big studio movies with The Time Machine appeared first on JoBlo.
Pick any time that Steven Spielberg had a film coming out and chances are that it was one of your most anticipated movies of the year. Even when it’s announced the buzz begins. But at a certain point — and not to get sad here — that will be no more. And only then will we truly realize that we took it all for granted.
Appearing on the Talking Pictures podcast, Jason Reitman recounted to host Ben Mankiewicz going to the set of Jurassic Park and watching a scene being shot (hey, your dad being Ivan Reitman has some perks) and being blown away long before audiences were. On Spielberg as a whole, Reitman made the case, “We take for granted being in the hands of a master. And when Steven is making E.T. or Indiana Jones or Jurassic Park, yeah, they’re movies that you can – nowadays, you can literally just stream any of them any time you want. But when those movies first come out and you’re in the hands of a genuine master, like Hitchcock-level master – in my opinion, Shakespeare-level master…We take for granted in real time that there was a moment that [Jurassic Park] hit theaters and no one had ever seen anything like it. And he’s a guy who…proved it by making it back to back with [Schindler’s List] that he can actually use not 100% effort and still crush you.”
It’s true — we shouldn’t take the filmmakers we love for granted. And yet we kind of do, just figuring that every few years we’ll get another touch of — if not a full-on — masterpiece from Spielberg. Look at it with just his two most recent films: he gave us one of the best-shot musicals maybe ever with West Side Story and then a genuinely human portrait of the/his American family in The Fabelmans. As well-received as they were, did we even fully realize how special those releases are?
And while this is undoubtedly a compliment to his mastery, we really do just expect someone like Spielberg – a guy nearing 80 – to continue to give us personal and profound works. Whether he’s giving his own twist on a classic or channeling his childhood or going back to the well, we can’t wait to see it on the big screen (heck, we even take the movie theater experience for granted!). It’s like the quote, “I wish there was a way to know you’re in the good old days before you’ve left them.” This will come once again in 2026, with Spielberg releasing an untitled movie that is currently full of mystery but in some way centered around UFOs. That he gets the honor of helping kickstart the summer season – which he is no stranger to – is yet another high compliment. The cast so far features Wyatt Russell, Emily Blunt, Colin Firth, Colman Domingo, and more.
What is your favorite memory of seeing a Steven Spielberg movie on the big screen?
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The image of Santa Claus has been curated over the years to become wholesome and a symbol of happiness. In the past, he had been seen as a representation of Saint Nicholas or Father Christmas. In the 80s, he seemed to take a darker turn as horror filmmakers decided to use his visage to corrupt the viewer’s expectations. This sweet and gentle man would now be a killer. Multiple films decided to use this idea, and a whole sub-genre of horror Christmas movies was born. (Sure, we already had the classic Black Christmas by then, but it didn’t have a killer Santa in it.) Which ones are the best killer Santa movies?
Most killer Santa Clauses are villains, but this newer movie had the jolly man fighting for the side of good. This little twist makes the film even more fun. A wealthy family is held hostage, and it turns out their only hope is the fat man himself. David Harbour plays the legendary figure who is losing faith in the holiday. When he stumbles upon the situation, there is no choice but to free the family. What follows is Saint Nick messing up a whole group of mercenaries led by John Leguizamo. He kills one by putting a grenade down the back of their pants. When he starts to run away, Santa stops and looks into the camera, saying, “I have to watch.” He turns around just as the grenade goes off in all of its gory glory.
This might be the most over-the-top title on the list, and that’s saying something. Goldberg, yes the wrestler Goldberg, plays Santa. In this movie, we learn that Santa is actually the son of the Devil. He lost a game of curling with an angel and had to be the jolly man we all know for 1,000 years. Well, time is up, and now it’s back to his demonic ways. His first order of business is killing a bunch of famous people that everyone has wanted to punch in the face for a long time. After that, he starts killing anyone he can get his hands on. Only an angel and apparently a couple of local teenagers can stop him. It is a goofy fun time.
This is sort of a cheat as it is from one movie and one TV show. In 1972, Amicus Productions put out a Tales From The Crypt anthology movie. One of the stories involved a woman (Joan Collins) who killed her husband on Christmas Eve, being killed by a demented man in a Santa suit. The same story was redone for the HBO series and was done better, in my opinion, because of Larry Drake’s portrayal of the evil St. Nick. Both are great watches and so much fun.
The only entry on the list to feature a killer robot Santa! That alone should sell you on the film. For some reason, people thought it would be a good idea to retrofit decommissioned military robots into store Santas. Surely, nothing can go wrong. Except, of course, it does as one comes to life and goes on a killing spree that spares no one. A kid gets an axe to the head. This Terminator-fueled holiday film is bonkers and a lot of fun. Seeing a robot Santa driving an ambulance into cop cars is enough to get you in the holiday spirit.
One of the earliest killer Santa films shows Harry as a young boy. He sees his mother and father getting “intimate” while his father is dressed up in a Santa costume. Upon realizing Santa isn’t real, he cuts himself with a broken snow globe. When he grows up, he works for a toy manufacturing company and tries to spread Christmas cheer all year round. When he feels taken advantage of at work, he snaps and begins a killing spree while dressed up as Santa Claus. He begins to find those that he feels have been naughty and gives them more than a lump of coal.
The movie is supposed to be a “remake” of Silent Night, Deadly Night, but it really has nothing to do with that film. However, having a killer Santa running around with a flamethrower and chucking people into a wood chipper makes for a fun movie. A small Wisconsin town is besieged by the killer Santa and has to figure out where he will strike next. The film is an entertaining bloodbath that will get any horror fan into the holiday spirit, even with Malcolm McDowell chewing up all the scenery he can get his hands on as the town sheriff. While not as legendary as the film it’s supposed to be a remake of, it still brings a lot of fun.
Technically, this film doesn’t have a killer Santa in it, but it does show where mall Santas come from. They are usually evil anyway. An excavation team finds a large being encased in ice, but soon they all disappear. A boy and his father find a bearded man in their shed, believing it might be Santa. They quickly find out he is one of Santa’s “helpers.” Santa is an evil being who had been imprisoned in ice years ago but now seems on the verge of being released. A swarm of these “helpers” arrives to stop the villagers from destroying Santa for good. A fun Finnish film about evil Santas and the strange folklore around them.
This French film has gained steam over the years, especially after being shown on Joe Bob Brigg’s The Last Drive-In. A homeless man gets a job as a mall Santa but is fired after slapping a child. He heads to the manager’s house but finds that only a young kid and his sick grandad are home. What he doesn’t realize is that the kid is a technical genius who sets up booby traps all across their house. It quickly becomes a battle between the young lad, who seems obsessed with Rambo. Take one part Die Hard and one part Home Alone, then you get Deadly Games. Worth checking out.
This entry from The Netherlands shows St. Nicholas as an evil bishop who kidnaps children when there is a full moon on December 5th. A teenager and a disgraced police detective are the only ones who understand what is happening. They have to confront St. Nicholas and his minions before he kidnaps any more children. This film plays on old folklore legends that Santa is based on and has a lot of fun with the ancient European traditions that most American viewers may not know. It’s a great watch that brings something a little different to the killer Santa subgenre.
While it’s not the first, it is for sure the most well-known killer Santa movie. The film was such a big deal that protests from parent groups got it pulled from theaters. Film star Mickey Rooney wrote a letter shaming the filmmakers, saying they should be run out of town for sullying the image of Santa. He would later star as the evil Toy Maker in the 5th entry in the series. This film not only has a killer Santa but, in fact, has two of them!
Billy sees his parents killed by a maniac in a Santa outfit. He had a rough time living in an orphanage but was released on his 18th birthday. When he gets a job at a retail store, he is forced to dress up as Santa for the kids. This brings back memories of his parent’s death, and he snaps. He goes on a killing spree as he decides who has been “naughty,” whittling down his naughty list one-by-one. The film features one of the most famous holiday horror deaths. Billy lifts Linnea Quigley while she is topless and impales her on a set of deer antlers mounted to the wall. A great film that should be enjoyed every Christmas season.
What are your favorite killer Santa movies? Let us know in the comments.
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Last Updated on December 20, 2024
With charges dropped, convictions made, a premiere under the belt, and a world debut still on the horizon, it would seem that most of the dust would be settled surrounding Rust. But Alec Baldwin, whose involuntary manslaughter charges were dismissed back in July, isn’t done fighting his own fight, pointing to the way he was treated as an avenue to explore in the future.
Appearing as a guest on David Duchovny’s Fail Better podcast, Alec Baldwin stated bluntly that “I think there’s more to come. There’s more to come, but the more to come is now my effort, and it’s going to be undeniably a successful effort, to raise and to expose what really happened. I was counterpunching. I was on the defensive. I was being accused. I was being indicted.”
While Alec Baldwin didn’t specify exactly what he intends to do or expose, he did link it to his frustrations with the media, saying, “The truth of what happened has never been told, never. We have more sh*t that’s going to come out in ensuing legal filings and so forth that…These last three years, people have just dined out. Because in this country, when people hate you on that level, they want three things. They want you to die.” We’ve seen how vehement Alec Baldwin can get, so there are no low expectations as to what he has in store.
With the manslaughter charges against him dropped, Alec Baldwin has some reason to have a hopeful outlook on his future and feel reinvigorated. That said, he wished that a jury was the one who made a decision, as it would have been perceived better in the public eye. Even still, he does have a couple of projects lined up, although we all know that all eyes will be on Rust – except for Baldwin’s, who says he has no plans to watch the final cut of the film just yet. No official release date has been set at this point.
What do you anticipate from Alec Baldwin over the next year? Do you see more lawsuits coming from the Rust tragedy?
The post Alec Baldwin teases “more to come”, rails against the media after Rust case appeared first on JoBlo.
With charges dropped, convictions made, a premiere under the belt, and a world debut still on the horizon, it would seem that most of the dust would be settled surrounding Rust. But Alec Baldwin, whose involuntary manslaughter charges were dismissed back in July, isn’t done fighting his own fight, pointing to the way he was treated as an avenue to explore in the future.
Appearing as a guest on David Duchovny’s Fail Better podcast, Alec Baldwin stated bluntly that “I think there’s more to come. There’s more to come, but the more to come is now my effort, and it’s going to be undeniably a successful effort, to raise and to expose what really happened. I was counterpunching. I was on the defensive. I was being accused. I was being indicted.”
While Alec Baldwin didn’t specify exactly what he intends to do or expose, he did link it to his frustrations with the media, saying, “The truth of what happened has never been told, never. We have more sh*t that’s going to come out in ensuing legal filings and so forth that…These last three years, people have just dined out. Because in this country, when people hate you on that level, they want three things. They want you to die.” We’ve seen how vehement Alec Baldwin can get, so there are no low expectations as to what he has in store.
With the manslaughter charges against him dropped, Alec Baldwin has some reason to have a hopeful outlook on his future and feel reinvigorated. That said, he wished that a jury was the one who made a decision, as it would have been perceived better in the public eye. Even still, he does have a couple of projects lined up, although we all know that all eyes will be on Rust – except for Baldwin’s, who says he has no plans to watch the final cut of the film just yet. No official release date has been set at this point.
What do you anticipate from Alec Baldwin over the next year? Do you see more lawsuits coming from the Rust tragedy?
The post Alec Baldwin teases “more to come”, rails against the media after Rust case appeared first on JoBlo.
One of my favourite conspiracy theories involves people questioning whether Tom Cruise has ever actually seen a movie. I mean, I’m sure he has… right? He must have… The man loves movies. All kidding aside, Tom Cruise is always down to support the big-screen experience, and he recently joined the cast of A Complete Unknown at a special screening in London. Check out some pictures from the event below!
The screening of A Complete Unknown was also a Top Gun: Maverick reunion, as the Bob Dylan biopic features Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez. She played LT Natasha “Phoenix” Trace in the Top Gun sequel. Greg Tarzan Davis also showed up for the screening. He played LT Javy “Coyote” Machado in Top Gun: Maverick and reunited with Cruise for Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning. He played Degas, a US Intelligence agent, and is expected to return for the upcoming Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
Our own Chris Bumbray caught a screening of A Complete Unknown earlier this month and was blown away. “[I] found myself utterly immersed in this biopic, with Chalamet just as good as everyone says he is,” Bumbray said. “I’ll post my full review when the embargo breaks next week, but it’s up there with The Brutalist and Nosferatu as one of my favourite movies of the year. It even functions as a quasi-sequel to Walk the Line, with Cash a supporting player in the film, with Boyd Holbrook filling in for Joaquin Phoenix.“
Here’s the official synopsis: “Set in the influential New York music scene of the early 60s, A Complete Unknown follows 19-year-old Minnesota musician Bob Dylan’s (Timothée Chalamet) meteoric rise as a folk singer to concert halls and the top of the charts – his songs and mystique becoming a worldwide sensation – culminating in his groundbreaking electric rock and roll performance at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965.” In addition to Chalamet, A Complete Unknown stars Edward Norton, Elle Fanning and Monica Barbaro. The film also co-stars Boyd Holbrook, Dan Fogler, Norbert Leo Butz, and Scoot McNairy.
A Complete Unknown will hit theaters on December 25th.
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