Saturday Night Live legend Andy Samberg’s had a heck of a career on the big screen, with him having more than a few cult classics under his belt. There’s Hot Rod, the criminally underrated Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, plus the more recent Palm Springs. However, he’s rarely gotten to tackle straight drama, but he’s getting his chance this week in Lee, a long-gestating biopic of famed war photographer Lee Miller, who began life as a model before becoming one of the most noted war photographers of her time, famous for chronicling WW2 in the pages of Vogue Magazine.
In Lee, Samberg plays David Scherman, who was one of Miller’s contemporaries at Vogue and shot a famous photograph of Miller in Adolf Hitler’s bathtub in his Munich apartment. We also chatted with the great Andrea Riseborough, who was Oscar-nominated recently for To Leslie but is perhaps most famous to genre fans such as us here at JoBlo for her roles in Possessor and Mandy. In Lee, she plays Audrey Withers, another journalist working for Vogue. Our man Jimmy O was able to catch up with Samberg and Riseborough at the recent Los Angeles junket for Lee, and both raved about working with the great Kate Winslet on her passion project.
Check back for our review of Lee soon! Check out the interview embedded above!
All episodes of the coming-of-age Satanic Panic thriller series Hysteria! will be available to watch on the Peacock streaming service as of Friday, October 18th – but if you would prefer to watch the show on regular television, USA Network and Syfy will be simulcasting the first episode on October 18th, with USA Network going on to air episodes each Friday. With the premiere date just a few weeks away, a trailer for Hysteria! has been released and can be seen in the embed above. A new batch of images from the show have also made their way online, and those can be found at the bottom of this article.
Written and executive produced by Matthew Scott Kane, Hysteria! will be exploring America’s dark history of mass hysteria through the shocking story of the teenage Satanic Panic. The series follows a group of 1980s high school misfits as they exploit the growing hysteria around teen occult activity. Here’s the full official synopsis: When a beloved varsity quarterback disappears during the “Satanic Panic” of the late 1980s, a struggling high school heavy metal band of outcasts realize they can capitalize on the town’s sudden interest in the occult by building a reputation as a Satanic metal band, until a bizarre series of murders, kidnappings, and reported “supernatural activity” triggers a leather-studded witch hunt that leads directly back to them.
The cast includes Julie Bowen (Modern Family), Bruce Campbell (the Evil Dead franchise), Emjay Anthony (Physical), Chiara Aurelia (Cruel Summer), Kezii Curtis (Charm City Kings), Nikki Hahn (Magnum P.I.), Anna Camp (the Pitch Perfect franchise), Garret Dillahunt (The Last House on the Left remake), Nolan North (Pretty Little Liars), Elijah Richardson (Fantasy Football), Milly Shapiro (Hereditary), Allison Scagliotti (Warehouse 13), and Jessica Treska (Alex & Me).
Bowen’s character is Linda Campbell, “the mother of a teenage outcast. Linda experiences a series of supernatural disturbances that force her to question everything she knows about her son, as well as the growing threat of Satanism in their small Midwestern town.” Camp’s character is Tracy Whitehead, “a crusading Midwestern mother who has been the laughingstock of her community for years due to her extreme religious beliefs, but after a string of occult crimes and disturbances, she becomes a dangerous and unlikely leader of her small town.” And some more character details from Deadline: “Dylan Campbell (Anthony), Jordy (Aurelia), and Spud (Curtis) are a trio of outcasts who use their town’s Satanic Panic to their advantage by rebranding their heavy metal band Dethkrunch into a Satanic metal group, only to find themselves caught in the middle of a witch hunt. Faith (Hahn) is a sheltered teenage girl whose life is forever changed by a shocking, traumatic crime.” Campbell’s Chief Dandridge is “a small-town police chief whose understanding of his community is put to the test after a disturbing series of murders, disappearances, and unexplained phenomena.”
UCP, a division of Universal Studio Group, is producing Hysteria! Kane serves as executive producer with Chris Bender, Jake Weiner, and Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein. That may lead you to believe that Daley and Goldstein might have directed the pilot episode, but that’s not the case. The first episode of Hysteria! was directed by Kong: Skull Island‘s Jordan Vogt-Roberts.
What did you think of the Hysteria! trailer? Will you be watching this show next month? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
HYSTERIA! — “Speaking in Tongues” Episode 105 — Pictured: (l-r) Nolan North as Gene, Julie Bowen as Linda, Bruce Campbell as Chief Dandridge — (Photo by: Mark Hill/Peacock)HYSTERIA! — “Dance Macabre” Episode 104 — Pictured: (l-r) Kezii Curtis as Spud, Chiara Aurelia as Jordy— (Photo by: Mark Hill/PEACOCK)HYSTERIA! — “Speaking in Tongues” Episode 105 — Pictured: (l-r) Emjay Anthony as Dylan, Bruce Campbell as Chief Dandridge — (Photo by: Mark Hill/Peacock)HYSTERIA! — “”The Satanic Panic”” Episode 101 — Pictured: (l-r) Chiara Aurelia as Jordy, Emjay Anthony as Dylan Campbell— (Photo by: Daniel Delgado/PEACOCK)HYSTERIA! — “Can I Play With Madness?” Episode 103 — Pictured: Anna Camp as Tracy Whitehead– (Photo by: Daniel Delgado/PEACOCK)HYSTERIA! — “Can I Play With Madness?” Episode 103 — Pictured: (l-r) Kezii Curtis as Spud, Elijah Richardson as Cliff — (Photo by: Daniel Delgado/PEACOCK)HYSTERIA! — “A Subtle Kind of Murder” Episode 106 — Pictured: Nikki Hahn as Faith — (Photo by: Tina Rowden/PEACOCK)HYSTERIA! — “The Satanic Panic” Episode 101 — Pictured: Emjay Anthony as Dylan Campbell — (Photo by: PEACOCK)HYSTERIA! — “The Satanic Panic” Episode 101 — Pictured: Julie Bowen as Linda Campbell — (Photo by: PEACOCK)HYSTERIA! — “The Satanic Panic” Episode 101 — Pictured: Julie Bowen as Linda Campbell — (Photo by: PEACOCK)HYSTERIA! — “A Subtle Kind of Murder” Episode 106 — Pictured: Anna Camp as Tracy Whitehead — (Photo by: PEACOCK)
The emotional teaser trailer for the upcoming Netflix film Maria has been released. The trailer proudly displays the movie as an official selection in this year’s festival circuit, which includes the Venice Film Festival, the Telluride Film Festival, the New York International Film Festival and the BFI London Film Festival. The film stars Angelina Jolie as the titular character — Maria Callas. She is joined by Pierfrancesco Favino, Alba Rohrwacher, Valeria Golino, Kodi Smit-McPhee and Haluk Bilginer in the cast.
The official synopsis reads, “Academy Award®-winner Angelina Jolie is Maria Callas, one of the most iconic performers of the 20th century in acclaimed director Pablo Larrain’s operatic MARIA. The film follows the American-Greek soprano as she retreats to Paris after a glamorous and tumultuous life in the public eye. MARIA reimagines the legendary soprano in her final days as the diva reckons with her identity and life.”
Pablo Larraín, director of Jackie and Spencer, helms the film from a script by writer Steven Knight. Larraín also produces the movie alongside Juan De Dios Larraín, Jonas Dornbach and Lorenzo Mieli.
Larraín tells Netflix Tudum about his excitement in taking on this project, “I’m excited to partner again with the Netflix team who care so passionately about movies. This film is my most personal work yet. It is a creative imagining and psychological portrait of Maria Callas who, after dedicating her life to performing for audiences around the world, decides finally to find her own voice, her own identity, and sing for herself. I’m deeply honored to tell this story and share it with audiences worldwide like Maria did with her life.”
Season 2 of the HBO series adaptation of the video game The Last of Us has been filming since February, aiming for a 2025 premiere – and while we’re still months away from 2025 and production is still underway, a trailer for the new batch of episodes has made its way online. The Last of Us season 2 trailer can be seen in the embed above!
The story of the The Last of Us video game is set years after a fungal plague wiped out much of humanity, transforming most into vicious zombie-like monsters, the story follows Joel, who’s living in a militarized quarantine zone. He has a close relationship with Tess, who operates in the black market of this community. Together, they’ve become known by the local criminal underworld for their ruthlessness. On a mission to reclaim their stolen guns, they run into the leader of the Fireflies, a resistance group, who tasks them with smuggling a young girl named Ellie out of the zone. This mission soon becomes much more than they were prepared for.
For the HBO series, Pedro Pascal plays Joel, who is “tormented by past trauma and failure. He must trek across a pandemic-ravaged America, all the while protecting a girl who represents the last hope of humanity”. He is joined in the cast by Bella Ramsey as Ellie, “an orphan who has never known anything but a ravaged planet and who struggles to balance her instinct for anger and defiance with her need for connection and belonging… as well as the newfound reality that she may be the key to saving the world”; Anna Torv as Tess, “a smuggler and hardened survivor in a post-pandemic world”; Gabriel Luna as Joel’s brother Tommy, “a former soldier who hasn’t lost his sense of idealism and hope for a better world”; Merle Dandridge as Marlene, “the head of the Fireflies, a resistance movement struggling for freedom against an oppressive military regime”; Nico Parker as Joel’s daughter Sarah; Jeffrey Pierce as Perry, “a rebel in a quarantine zone”; Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett as Bill and Frank, “two post-pandemic survivalists living alone in their own isolated town”; and Storm Reid as Ellie’s best friend Riley.
New season 2 cast members include Jeffrey Wright (American Fiction) as Isaac, “the quietly powerful leader of a large militia group, known in the video game as the Washington Liberation Front, who sought liberty but instead has become mired in an endless war against a surprisingly resourceful enemy,” Isabela Merced (Alien: Romulus) as Dina, a romantic love interest for the Ellie character; Kaitlyn Dever (Booksmart and No One Will Save You) as Abby Anderson, a major character from the video game who is described as being “a skilled soldier whose black-and-white view of the world is challenged as she seeks vengeance for those she loved”; Danny Ramirez (Top Gun: Maverick) as soldier named Manny, Ariela Barer (How To Blow Up a Pipeline) as young doctor Mel, Tati Gabrielle (You) as military medic Nora, Spencer Lord (Riverdale) as Owen, “a gentle soul trapped in a warrior’s body,” and Young Mazino of Beef as Jesse, “a pillar of his community who puts everyone else’s needs before his own, sometimes at terrible cost.” (Jesse also happens to be Dina’s ex.) Schitt’s Creek Emmy winner Catherine O’Hara is also in there, in an unspecified role. Merced said Dever is “one of the most talented actors I’ve ever worked with.”
Are you looking forward to The Last of Us season 2? What did you think of the trailer? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
Director Fede Álvarez’s contribution to the Alien franchise, Alien: Romulus (read our review HERE), reached theatres last month, and now we have learned that movie is set to receive a digital release next month! Alien: Romulus will be available to watch in the comfort of your own home, on the likes of Prime Video, Apple TV, and Fandango at Home, as of October 15th. Some retailers will be offering a 2-Movie Collection digital bundle that pairs the film with the original Alien. The 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD physical media release will follow on December 3rd. An image of the 4K steelbook can be seen at the bottom of this article.
It has been said that the story Alvarez and co-writer Rodo Sayagues crafted for Alien: Romulus is not directly connected to the other films in the Alien franchise (which isn’t exactly true), but it’s not ignoring any of the other entries, either. Alvarez has been clear about the fact that his story takes place within the established franchise continuity. In fact, it slots right in between the events of Alien and Aliens. It has the following official logline: The sci-fi/horror-thriller takes the phenomenally successful “Alien” franchise back to its roots: While scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station, a group of young space colonizers come face to face with the most terrifying life form in the universe.
The cast includes Cailee Spaeny (Priscilla), Isabela Merced (Madame Web), David Jonsson (Industry), Archie Renaux (Shadow and Bone), Spike Fearn (The Batman), and Aileen Wu (Away from Home).
The film’s home video release will include the following bonus features (which may vary by product and retailer): Return to Horror: Crafting Alien: Romulus featurette, which has five chapters: The Director’s Vision – Discover how one of today’s greatest horror directors, Fede Alvarez, collaborated with master filmmaker Ridley Scott to craft a new, heart-pounding chapter in the Alien franchise. Creating the Story – Learn what inspired the story of Alien: Romulus and see the many easter eggs from previous Alien installments that you may have missed. Casting the Faces – Meet the stars of Alien: Romulus as they take us inside the hearts and minds of their characters. Explore the parallels between Rain and the iconic franchise heroine, Ripley, and learn how filmmakers brought back a face from the past. Constructing the World – Explore the massive, practical sets of Alien: Romulus that hearken back to the futuristic style established in the ’80s and get up close and personal with a hoard of practically built facehuggers, chestbursters, and xenomorphs. Inside the Xenomorph Showdown – Experience the film’s climactic zero-gravity sequence from every angle as filmmakers break down what it took to make the moment spectacular. From sets and performances, to wirework, stunts, and VFX, see how it all came together. / Alien: A Conversation – A special conversation with Ridley Scott and Fede Alvarez for the Alien 45th Anniversary theatrical re-release. / Alternate / Extended Scenes – Check out scenes that didn’t make the final cut.
Will you be checking out the digital release of Alien: Romulus, and/or buying a physical media copy of the film? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
While Ridley Scott’s Alien and James Cameron’s Aliens are considered to be two of the greatest sci-fi movies ever made, Alien 3 (watch it HERE) continues to divide audiences to this day, more than 30 years after it was first released. There are fans who hate it, there are fans who love it, and the film’s director doesn’t even like to talk about it. With the new episode of their new show Lance and Arrow at the Movies, Arrow in the Head founder John “The Arrow” Fallon and Lance Vlcek have decided to revisit Alien 3 and sit down for a debate: is this movie a gem or a cinematic disaster? You can hear what they had to say about it by watching the video embedded above.
Here’s what Lance and Arrow at the Movies is all about: Join hosts The Arrow and Lance as they engage in colorful debates about old and recent genre films. With a vibe that’s both groovy and a little rough around the edges, we’re here to talk shop with a whole lot of passion.
Directed by David Fincher (making his feature debut) from a script credited to Walter Hill, David Giler, and Larry Ferguson – with Vincent Ward earning a story credit – Alien 3 has the following synopsis: Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) is the only survivor when she crash lands on Fiorina 161, a bleak wasteland inhabited by former inmates of the planet’s maximum security prison. Once again, Ripley must face skepticism and the alien as it hunts down the prisoners and guards. Without weapons or modern technology of any kind, Ripley leads the men into battle against the terrifying creature.
Sigourney Weaver was joined in the cast by Charles S. Dutton, Charles Dance, Brian Glover, Ralph Brown, Paul McGann, Danny Webb, Lance Henriksen, Pete Postlethwaite, Holt McCallany, Peter Guinness, Christopher Fairbank, Phil Davis, Vincenzo Nicoli, Leon Herbert, Niall Buggy, Hi Ching, Carl Chase, Clive Mantle, DeObia Oparei, and Paul Brennen, with Tom Woodruff Jr. performing inside the xenomorph costume.
Are you a fan of Alien 3? Where would you rank it in the Alien franchise? Check out this episode of Lance and Arrow at the Movies, then let us know what you think of the movie by leaving a comment below. Join the debate!
The acclaimed dramedy from Bill Lawrence is back. After a successful run with Ted Lasso and a new detective series with Bad Monkey, Lawrence’s other Apple TV+ hit, Shrinking, resumes session on October 16. The trailer for the new season has just dropped and is ready for more healing.
The comedy-drama has won raves throughout its first season. Co-created by Jason Segel, Bill Lawrence and Brett Goldstein, Shrinking follows grieving therapist Jimmy (Segel), who starts to break the rules and tell his clients exactly what he thinks. Ignoring his training and ethics, he finds himself making huge, tumultuous changes to people’s lives, including his own. Harrison Ford stars alongside Jason Segel as Dr. Paul Rhoades, one of Jimmy’s colleagues at the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Center, who has Parkinson’s disease. Christa Miller, Jessica Williams, Michael Urie, Luke Tennie, and Lukita Maxwell also star.
“We have loved the engaging, touching and hilarious world of Shrinking since the beginning, and it has been wonderful to watch as audiences around the world continue to connect with these big-hearted characters,” said Matt Cherniss, head of programming for Apple TV+. “We can’t wait for viewers to experience what the cast and creative team have for season two.“
Our own Alex Maidy was a big fan of the series. “Shrinking is a damn near-perfect show that I could not get enough of,” Maidy wrote in his review. “It is funny where it needs to be funny and dramatic in all the right places. The entire cast is exceptional, and I felt emotionally invested in every episode. Shrinking is precisely the type of show we need in this day and age, full of quotable lines, great supporting actors, and one of Harrison Ford’s best performances ever. It is very different from Ted Lasso but hits the same notes differently. I doubt anyone will finish this series and not have good things to say about it. If I have any problem with Shrinking, it is that there was not enough of it. I hope this show clicks and runs for multiple seasons so we can keep watching these characters grow and make us cry a little but laugh even more.”
The 90s was a great time for adaptations. Jurassic Park is the gold standard, of course, but there was so much more. That book’s author, Michael Crichton, also had Sphere and Congo get greenlit and released while we would see non-horror output like Forrest Gump (yeah, really. Look up that strange book) and Shawshank Redemption, which account for the greatest film of all time… and Forrest Gump. On the horror side we would have Silence of the Lambs, the wonderful IT TV miniseries, Exorcist III, and a fun little monster movie throwback called The Relic. At the time, I just thought it was a cool creature feature designed specifically for 12-year-olds like me but looking back all these years later I found out it was an adaptation of a book by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child in what would be the first of 22 separate stories for one of the chief protagonists. That’s all well and good but how well does The Relic adapt Relic? Be careful what crates you open up from the jungle as we find out what happened to this adaptation.
The Movie
When the book Relic came out in 1995 it was quickly snatched up by Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall who know a thing or two about producing big movies. From there it would be produced by Gale Ann Hurd and Sam Mercer and released by Paramount Pictures. The director chosen was Peter Hyams and he has quite a fun career resume. He also did End of Days and the only other thing even close to horror would be A Sound of Thunder but some of the other movies he has done that I really like are The Presidio,Outland, which is High Noon in space, Running Scared, and Time Cop, with a special shout out to Stay Tuned. While his career ended about 10 years ago, his cinematic catalogue is both fun and eclectic.
Hyams wanted Harrison Ford to be Lt. Vincent D’Agosta but that would eventually fall to Tom Sizemore where he got to do some of his best leading work. The character of Dr. Frock could have also been played by a more recent heavy hitter as Alec Baldwin, Al Pacino, Christopher Lloyd, and Robert DeNiro were all considered but it eventually went to James Whitmore. Whitmore is Brooks from Shawshank but also a two-time Oscar nominee who would be in a million other things including other great creature feature, 1954’s Them, a personal favorite of mine. Sizemore passed in 2023 but had a hell of a career, and life for that matter, for better and for worse. Just some of my other favorites include True Romance, Saving Private Ryan, and Strange Days. Rest in Peace sir.
The rest of the main cast stars Penelope Ann Miller, Oscar winner Linda Hunt, and Clayton Rohner in supporting roles. Hunt has no other horror releases but has great turns in the God of War video game series, Silverado, and Kindergarten Cop. Miller has been around for what seems like forever but never broke through to that upper echelon even with roles in Carlito’s Way and Chaplin to name a few. Another star for the movie is behind the scenes and he’s used to that. Stan Winston helped create the creature effects for the movie and they look great, at least when they are practical and maybe not in the high-definition view of a Blu-ray. The movie was filmed at an actual museum but not at the one it takes place at. The Museum of Natural History in New York was offered seven figures to shoot there but between fears of children being scared and the reputation of management given in the book (one of the authors used to work there and wasn’t kind in the novel apparently), the producers moved to Chicago to shoot at the Field Museum of Natural History and also a soundstage in LA for tunnel scenes where Sizemore got the flu twice.
The movie was also written by 4 screenwriters and while that is usually a death sentence, it worked out fine here. Ric Jaffa, Amy Holden Jones, John Raffo, and Amanda Silver collaborated on the project and combined, they have things like Jurassic World, the new Planet of the Apes movies, Indecent Proposal, the remake of The Getaway, The Slumber Party Massacre, and Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story. The movie was supposed to be released in 1996, but special effects postproduction would push it to January of 1997 where it would be a bit of a flop, grossing 48 million on its 40-60 million dollar budget.
The Book
Relic was written in 1995 by Lincoln Child and Douglas Preston in what would become a series starring the main detective, Pendergast. This would be the start of an absolutely epic amount of collaborative works between the two that would lead to many opportunities. They each have their own books too, including a lot of non-fiction from Preston, but their main output has been together and mostly with Pendergast. Surprisingly, they only have today’s movie as adaptations of their work, but George Clooney was once attached to a project called The Monster of Florence, based on a book Preston wrote with crime reporter Mario Spezi. If that movie had been made, Clooney would have been playing Preston himself.
Preston has done a lot of neat extra-curricular stuff, like being involved in the previously mentioned Italian Serial Killer case and going on an expedition in 2015 to one of the last unexplored places on earth. He later became president of The Authors Guild in 2019. Child has written mostly in the techno horror realm when not writing with Preston.
What is the same?
The story follows the exploits of an anthropologist on an expedition in South America looking into a tribe and their culture and monsters. When his ship comes back into harbor he is nowhere to be found with no sign except his crates. A dock worker is killed and then a guard at the museum that the anthropologist worked at is also killed and Vincent D’Agosta is brought onto the investigation to see what is going on. Dr. Green and Dr. Frock are questioned about the case as well as their missing peer but disregard the whole thing initially. The Museum also wants to keep the case under wraps as they are hosting a big gala and opening a new exhibit showcasing superstition and myth from across the globe.
They look over the crates that were sent to the museum, but they are filled with only plants as packaging without any actual items. These plants are later revealed to be rich in a specific type of protein and some DNA left behind by the killer reveals itself to be part human. This leads the museum scientists to hypothesize that not only is the killer an ancient creature, but it is also in fact their former colleague who sent the plants as food. Furthermore, all of the deaths involved the hypothalamus gland being removed which also ties into the plant’s protein. The gala moves forward as planned but a series of events leads to the power being shut down as well as the security gates going into lockdown.
Many guests escape but a lot of them and museum staff are trapped along with D’Agosta. The creature, who has human intelligence along with a gaggle of other animal DNA, stalks the guests throughout the museum and kills both staff and regular guests. A SWAT team comes in to try and save the patrons but is slaughtered by the creature after it takes out the guests and staff in the main lobby. Most of the civilians are led out danger via the sewer that crosses the street while Dr. Green is able to help kill the creature.
What is Different?
The overall story is very similar but there are a few key differences. The movie moves pretty quickly from the doctor story back to the museum part but the book takes a gap of seven years between the jungle portion and the museum portion. There is also a lengthy epilogue in the book that sort of deconstructs the details not given during the main story including what the creature is exactly and what happened to the team sent there. Further along in the epilogue is when a character finds out that the creature WAS the research scientist, Whitney in the movie and Whittlesey in the book. He also learns how to create and perfect the mutagen and plans to sell it as a drug followed by controlling an army of creatures. The museum staff also knew about what was going on, at least to a degree, and covers it up in the novel while the movie has them as just blissfully and stubbornly unaware.
Regarding the characters, there are a lot of changes ranging from very minor to completely plot changing. Two kids go missing and are killed in the book but found alive in the movie. Frock dies in the movie but goes on to be one of the villains in the sequel book called Reliquary. One of the main characters of the book and one that would go on to star in a lot of future books, Pendergast, is nowhere to be seen in the movie. The majority of his role is handled by D’Agosta played by Sizemore and the D’Agosta character from the book is now a younger police officer named Hollingsworth who does a lot of what D’Agosta does in the book. The creature’s death in the book happens when Pendergast shoots it in the eye which also hits the brain while the movie has Dr. Green final girl it up and blow the thing to bits after tricking it in the offices part of the museum.
Legacy
I had no idea the movie was based on a book, let alone that it had a sequel and a character that would go on to have a hell of a run in their own series. The book is a pretty easy read and it isn’t the best thing I’ve read, for this show or in general, but by those terms it’s not the worst either. The movie holds a special place in my heart, as I saw it in theaters as a 12-year-old and had an absolute blast with it. I still had a great time with the movie now and enjoyed it more than I thought I would on this viewing. The book is a fine book but if I’m looking to consume this story, I’ll stick with the much shorter movie version even if it is smaller scale and a little dumbed down. If you want a cool literary duology featuring a mythic creature and its origins, check out the two books but if you want to see a fun and at times schlocky creature feature that gives the late Tom Sizemore one of his best roles.
A couple of the previous episodes of What Happened to This Adaptation? can be seen below. To see the other shows we have to offer, head over to the JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channel – and subscribe while you’re there!
The production of Happy Gilmore 2 is underway and while fans of the first may wait in anxious anticipation, Sandler himself expressed an excitement about being back on the greens. “The idea that me and my buddy Tim Herlihy had and the more we talked about it and scene to scene worked on it, it built, and we feel very strong about the movie itself,” Sandler said. “We’re happy where it’s at and this is an exciting time for us. I don’t know how all of a sudden our brains said, ‘Let’s do that.’ It just kind of happened.”
One fan who is ecstatic about being involved with the project is Margaret Qualley. The actress who can be seen in Kinds of Kindness and The Substance proclaimed that she “can die happy now” after landing a part in the film. However, according to The Hollywood Reporter, in order to secure the role for her, Qualley’s husband, Jack Antonoff, lied to Adam Sandler about her golfing skills. While on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Qualley admitted that the original film was her “favorite movie” and its star was her “first crush.” She explained, “I saw that there was gonna be a Happy Gilmore 2 and I emailed my agents right away and I said, ‘Anything it takes — no part is too small. Please. I gotta be a part of this, I’m begging you. Please. Whatever it takes.’”
Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon then revealed a text message exchange between Sandler and Antonoff as Sandler asked, “Does your wife golf at all?” Then, Antonoff would convey, “Yeah she’s actually good.” Qualley came clean, “What a good husband. And I can’t golf. He lied for the sake of the family.… I never golfed a day in my life. I’m terrible, actually.” She noted that she “took some lessons, but mostly, I’m still bad.” The actress would emphasize that being in the sequel was “the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” even though it’s a “tiny part.” She continued, “I’m essentially deep background, but I can die happy now.”
When I hear the name Elizabeth McGovern, I immediately think of ’80s projects she worked on like Ordinary People, Racing with the Moon, Once Upon a Time in America, The Bedroom Window, and, most of all, She’s Having a Baby. Which probably gives away the fact that I have never watched Downton Abbey. McGovern has continued working steadily over the decades since the ’80s movies I mentioned, and these days is likely best known for playing the role of Cora Crawley on Downton Abbey and then reprising that role in two feature films. Next up: Variety reports that McGovern has signed on to join the cast of Anne Rice’s The Talamasca.
About a year and a half ago, we heard that AMC was developing a third TV series based on the works of Anne Rice, adding to the franchise they’ve been building out of the Vampire Chronicles novels and the Mayfair Witch books written by Rice. A few months ago, the show – which is going by the working title of The Talamasca – was officially ordered to series, with the plan being for episodes to start airing sometime in 2025. This entry in the franchise that AMC is calling the Anne Rice Immortal Universe will follow a secretive society called the Talamasca that’s responsible for tracking and containing witches, vampires, werewolves and other creatures. Members of the Talamasca have already been introduced in the AMC shows Anne Rice’s Interview With the Vampire and Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches.
McGovern’s co-stars on the show will include Nicholas Denton of Glitch and Dangerous Liasions, who has been cast as a character named Guy Anatole, and William Fichtner of Heat and The Dark Knight.
Denton’s character Guy Anatole is “brilliant, handsome and sharp on the surface, but he’s always known his mind works a little differently. On the cusp of graduating law school, he is approached by a representative of the Talamasca, a secretive agency that monitors and protects us from the supernatural world. When Guy learns that the Talamasca has been tracking him since his childhood, he falls headlong into a world of secret agents and immortal beings who, up to now, have maintained a fragile balance with the mortal world. But for that balance to hold, and for Guy to survive, he will have to learn to embrace the dark, treacherous depths of his true and singular self.”
Fichtner is playing Jasper, “a mysterious American who has quietly assumed control and influence over the Talamasca’s London Motherhouse. Though his motives and methods are cloaked in shadow, his charm and righteous sense of purpose are as dangerous as the power he’s pursuing.” McGovern’s character is Helen, “a seasoned veteran of the Talamasca, and the leader of its New York Motherhouse. She has long suspected that London’s Motherhouse has fallen under the influence of traitorous elements, and a mysterious death prompts her to recruit Guy Anatole (Denton), who will become her protégé.“
John Lee Hancock, whose credits include The Blind Side and the Stephen King adaptation Mr. Harrigan’s Phone, is writing the Talamasca series and will be serving as showrunner alongside Mark Lafferty of The Right Stuff and Halt and Catch Fire. Hancock will also be directing the first episode. All of AMC’s Anne Rice projects are produced by AMC Studios and executive produced by Mark Johnson.
Talamasca is scheduled to start filming in Manchester, England next month. Dan McDermott, president of entertainment and AMC Studios for AMC Networks, provided the following statement when the series was announced: “This is a story we’ve been developing and wanting to tell from the earliest moments of this franchise, focused on a fascinating and compelling secret society that has already appeared in both of our existing Anne Rice series, the Talamasca. As with all of these shows, we are thrilled to have such a high level of talent involved, represented here by John Lee Hancock and Mark Lafferty, and of course working closely with producer Mark Johnson as the creative head of our Anne Rice Immortal Universe.“
Hancock added: “This all started for me with a call from Mark Johnson, who asked if I’d ever heard of the Talamasca. I was intrigued by the idea of an organization that, to me, had more than a passing resemblance to the CIA or MI6, which are necessary but not always necessarily transparent. An organization with its own secrets. Thankfully, Dan McDermott liked the take and so did Mark Lafferty, who is so talented and accomplished in the world of television. Many thanks to everyone from Gran Via to Mark Lafferty, to our talented writers and everyone at AMC, who have been supporters, advocates and cheerleaders from day one. I couldn’t be more thrilled to be involved and look forward to presenting a third series in the Anne Rice Immortal Universe.“
Are you a fan of Interview with the Vampire (you can read our review of the first season HERE and the second HERE) and/or Mayfair Witches (our review of that show’s first season is HERE), and are you interested in seeing what John Lee Hancock and AMC do with Anne Rice’s The Talamasca? What do you think of Elizabeth McGovern joining the cast? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
