Last month, legendary drive-in movie critic Joe Bob Briggs hosted a double feature of Friday the 13th movies on AMC, and now it has been confirmed that his next Shudder (and AMC+) special is going to air on a Friday the 13th! That is December 13th, and the special is called Joe Bob’s Christmas Carnage.
Shudder shared the following information: Snow is falling and the bodies are piling up for Joe Bob’s Christmas Carnage, when Joe Bob and Darcy host two holiday horror flicks featuring so much bloodshed that Santa will think twice before coming down this chimney. Details on the two movies that are going to be shown are likely to be kept under wraps until Joe Bob introduces them on the show.
The special will premiere live on Friday, December 13th and will then be available on demand as of December 15th. It will be available in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and Ireland.
Joe Bob has a series called The Last Drive-in with Joe Bob Briggs on Shudder, and we usually see multiple specials, like Joe Bob’s Christmas Carnage, in between seasons of the show. On The Last Drive-In, the world’s foremost drive-in movie critic hosts eclectic horror movies, talking about their merits, histories and significance to genre cinema.
Earlier this year, Shudder renewed The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs for a supersized sixth season that was designed to make sure Joe Bob would be an even more consistent presence on the streaming service throughout the year. Normally, a season of The Last Drive-In would see Joe Bob hosting double features every Friday for ten weeks straight. The sixth season took a different approach, having Joe Bob host a single movie every other Friday. Following a special Roger Corman double feature on March 15th, season 6 officially got started on March 29th and it wrapped up with a six movie marathon called The Last Drive-In: Nightmareathon (with special guest Rhonda Shear of USA Up All Night!) on August 30th. Before we got to the end of season 6, it had already been announced that Shudder had renewed The Last Drive-In for season 7. It hasn’t been revealed what sort of approach is going to be taken for that season, which will premiere sometime in 2025.
The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs is produced by Matt Manjourides and Justin Martell and directed by Austin Jennings. Joe Bob is joined on every episode by Diana Prince as Darcy the Mail Girl.
Are you a fan of Joe Bob Briggs, and will you be watching Joe Bob’s Christmas Carnage? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
After being quite vocal in the real-world political sphere, Robert De Niro is taking his politics to Netflix for a political thriller limited series about the aftermath of a devastating cyberattack that kills thousands of people and threatens to push a nation already on the precipice over the edge. Today, Netflix offers a first look at Zero Day, a six-episode event co-created and executive-produced by Eric Newman (Griselda) and Noah Oppenheim (NBC News).
Zero Day “is a limited series starring Robert De Niro as respected former U.S. President George Mullen, who, as head of the Zero Day Commission, is charged with finding the perpetrators of a devastating cyber attack that has caused chaos around the country and thousands of fatalities,” reads Netflix’s official synopsis. “As disinformation runs rampant and the personal ambition of power brokers in technology, Wall Street, and government collide, Mullen’s unwavering search for the truth forces him to confront his own dark secrets while risking all he holds dear.”
Premiering on Netflix on February 20, 2025, Zero Day stars Robert De Niro alongside Angela Bassett, Lizzy Caplan, Jesse Plemons, Joan Allen, Connie Britton, and Matthew Modine, with guest stars Bill Camp, Dan Stevens, Gaby Hoffmann, Clark Gregg, and McKinley Belcher III.
Zero Day is written and executive produced by Eric Newman and Noah Oppenheim, with Lesli Linka Glatter as executive producer and director of all six episodes. Michael S. Schmidt also serves as writer and executive producer, with Robert De Niro and Jonathan Glickman as executive producers.
In today’s first-look photos for Netflix’s Zero Day, we find Robert De Niro, Angela Bassett, Lizzy Caplan, Jesse Plemons, and more in their respective roles, all with varying levels of severity on their faces. Cyber attacks are some of the greatest threats we face in today’s fast-paced world, with the strike in Zero Day leading to deadly consequences. Shutting down the source is imperative, but former U.S. President George Mullen’s associates must traverse a tangled web before arriving at who’s responsible. Do they have what it takes to prevent another, more server attack? We’ll find out on February 20, 2025.
Lionsgate is here to give you a shot in the arm with the latest trailer for its highly-anticipated action-thriller Den of Thieves 2: Pantera. Directed and written by Christian Gudegast, the Den of Thieves 2: Pantera trailer presents a balls-to-the-wall diamond heist in Europe, with ‘Big Nick’ O’Brien (Gerard Butler) and Donnie Wilson (O’Shea Jackson Jr.) burying the hatchet for a bullet-chewing-caper that could set them up for life.
Here’s the official synopsis for Den of Thieves 2: Pantera:
In Den of Thieves 2: Pantera, Big Nick is back on the hunt on the mean streets of Europe, closing in on Donnie, who is embroiled in the dangerous world of diamond thieves and the infamous Panther mafia, as they plot a massive heist of the world’s biggest diamond exchange.
Jordan Bridges (Den of Thieves, Mona Lisa Smile), Swen Temmel (The Covenant, Boss Level), Evin Ahmad (Snabba Cash, Beyond Dreams), Yaen Zates Atour (The Witcher, Robin Hood), Salvatore Esposito (Fargo, The Perfect Dinner), Orli Shuka (Gangs of London, War Machine), and Rico Verhoeven (Black Lotus, Undercover) star alongside Butler and Jackson Jr. as primary cast members.
Today’s Den of Thieves 2: Pantera trailer turns the heat to 11 with enough bullets, explosives, and high-stakes heisting to satisfy audiences looking to escape into a world overrun with criminals, pipe dreams, and best-laid plans gone to s**t. I can get behind Gerard Butler and Jackson Jr. joining forces, which is an intriguing enemies-to-friends narrative, especially since both have enough on the line to make them fight tooth and nail to complete the job. My only question is: Can they stop arguing long enough to map a clear path toward victory?
Jordan Bridges, Evin Ahmad, Swen Temmel, Salvatore Esposito, Ciryl Gane, Dino Kelly, Orli Shuka, Rico Verhoeven, and more join Gerard Butler and O’Shea Jackson Jr. for one of the new year’s most testosterone-filled action blowouts, with others waiting in the wings for their chance to shine.
What do you think about Lionsgate’s Den of Thieves 2: Pantera trailer? Are you a Den of Thieves fan? Will you watch the original film again before diving into this one? Let us know in the comments section below.
Check out the new poster for Den of Thieves 2: Pantera below:
Just when you thought The Polar Express was the creepiest thing about the holiday seasons, Coca-Cola enters the chat with an almost entirely AI-generated holiday commercial. As you can imagine, it has gone over about as well as New Coke. But before we go any further, you should check out the video, which is embedded below:
So we’ve got the usual Christmas staples in reindeer, snow and Santa – along with Coca-Cola’s trademark polar bears – but it won’t take perfect vision to notice just how phony all of it is, something that viewers have called the company out on in fervor. Some have stamped the ad as lifeless and hollow, while others have blasted Coca-Cola for its lack of creativity and snubbing actual artists of work. Oddly enough, the only part that looks organic – even at the animation level – is the iconic Coca-Cola font, although that’s primarily because generative AI didn’t have the capabilities to reproduce it. For the ad, Coca-Cola approached three different studios – Secret Level, Silverside AI and Wild Card – to deliver their best work…and this is what came of it, with the “winner” spending the better part of their day punching in key phrases just to end up with that dog. Look, there is something artificial about Christmas, but this takes it to a bizarre and off-putting level.
In a statement, a rep wrote, “The Coca-Cola Company has celebrated a long history of capturing the magic of the holidays in content, film, events and retail activations for decades around the globe. We are always exploring new ways to connect with consumers and experiment with different approaches. This year, we crafted films through a collaboration of human storytellers and the power of generative AI. Coca-Cola will always remain dedicated to creating the highest level of work at the intersection of human creativity and technology.”
Coca-Cola is also actively promoting Create Real Magic, which lets you generate an AI scene inside of a snow globe, provided you’re super into the holiday spirit…which I was not, just to test the waters. I tried to make Santa recreate the scene from The Simpsons’ “Miracle on Evergreen Terrace” in which Bart accidentally burns the Christmas tree down and buries the presents in the yard but this was a little too risque for Ol’ Saint Nick, who prompted me with, “Oh dear, that sounds like quite an unexpected holiday adventure! Let’s flip the switch to a happy memory. Can you tell me about a moment of kindness you experienced during the holidays? Perhaps a shared laugh with family or a cozy gathering with friends?” So there are limits to AI!
For their part, Coca-Cola has also produced a live-action counterpart titled “Holiday Road”, which is immensely more human and emotional if not just because it features real people. Your move, Pepsi…
What do you make of Coca-Cola’s AI-generated holiday commercial? Is there value in what they’ve produced?
Plot: Season two finds new parents Ava and Nathan Bartlett three months into parenthood. Focused on taking care of her family, Ava is determined to resist her true crime obsession and return to work as a real estate agent while Nathan trains private tennis clients. But a series of new murders pulls her back in – is Matt behind the slayings? Is Tory, now entangled in a relationship with Matt, in danger? For a while, life is good — Ava’s TikTok habit and her new friend Drew provide a welcome distraction, and Nathan’s all in on reigniting his tennis career as well as his friendship with Matt — until danger comes knocking, literally.
Review: When the first season of Based on a True Storydropped last year on Peacock, I was not impressed with the story of a couple who started their own true-crime podcast with input from a real serial killer. The podcast-themed series has been done better, notably in Only Murders In The Building, but there is still some quirky charm in Kaley Cuoco and Chris Messina’s performances. With a new showrunner and a slight shift in the story’s focus, the second season of Based On A True Story builds on the comedy elements of this murderous mystery. Further, it develops the characters introduced in the first season. It is light entertainment featuring heavy topics but will surely resonate with fans of these actors.
At the conclusion of the first season, Based On A True Story showed Ava (Kaley Cuoco) and her husband Nathan (Chris Messina) cleaning up the residual evidence of the murder of Ava’s friend, Ruby Gale (Priscilla Quintana) when her husband, Simon (Aaron Staton) walks in on them. With serial killer Matt Pierce (Tom Bateman) off trying to rehab his murderous impulses, the finale left audiences wondering what would befall the married true-crime podcasters. Season two flashes forward three months and explains how the pair got out of their sticky situation. Now, with a newborn struggling with midnight feedings and parental stress, Ava and Nathan have moved on from their podcast, with Ava being a stay-at-home mom while Nathan is back to giving tennis lessons. That is until they learn Ava’s sister, Tory (Liana Liberto), and Matt are together in Mexico.
With Ruby’s murder still being investigated, Ava must try to cope with the loss of her friend as well as her role as an accomplice in the death. This involves listening to breastfeeding podcasts and spending time with a new friend, Drew (Melissa Fumero). Nathan’s friendship with Matt deepens despite knowing his deeper tendencies. As Ava and Tory deal with disagreements over Tory’s romance with Matt, a new killer arrives in town, which not only prompts a new take on their podcast. Awash in social media, with a focus mainly on TikTok influencers, the sophomore run of this series dives even further into the dark humor of murder and getting away with it while still maintaining a slightly off-kilter sensibility that makes it hard to feel like anything happening in this series is remotely realistic or plausible.
While Kaley Cuoco’s popularity on The Big Bang Theory shifted to a more layered performance in the short-lived series The Flight Attendant, the actress’s approach to playing Ava feels annoying this season rather than endearing. Chris Messina plays Nathan as an exhausted and exasperated partner in crime to his wife and makes for a far more interesting character. Ava’s decision-making is completely strange and becomes more challenging to watch as the season progresses. On the flip side, Liana Liberto gets much more to do this season as Tory’s relationship with Matt gives the pair significant screentime. Tom Bateman, sporting a man bun and full beard, is the most endearing serial killer since You‘s Joe Goldberg. Bateman is great as this character, and where the series takes him by the eighth and final episode improved significantly compared to where the first season concluded. New cast members Melissa Fumero and Sara Paxton are excellent in their roles and help round out this ensemble.
Series creator Craig Rosenberg elected not to return for the second season as showrunner of Based On A True Story after writing all eight first-run episodes, but he sticks around as executive producer. Director Alex Buono returns to bring some consistency behind the camera along with executive producers Jason Bateman and Michael Costigan. New showrunner Annie Weisman takes over the day-to-day and scripted the premiere episode. Weisman is best known for her work on Desperate Housewives, About A Boy, and The Path, and she created the Apple TV+ series Physical with Rose Byrne. The sensibility from Physical‘s balance of the darkly comedic and dramatic does show in this season of Based On A True Story. However, the overly crisp visuals and production style still feel a little mismatched. Rather than a single writer, this season counts seven scribes on eight episodes. There certainly is some better depth to this season, but it still feels a little uneven once you wrap the season finale and reflect on the story as a whole.
Based On A True Story has always had an intriguing concept of pairing ordinary people with a psycho killer. Still, the concept wore thin in the first season before flipping the idea around for a slightly better second batch of episodes. While I like Chris Messina, Liana Liberto, Tom Bateman, and the other ensemble members, I did not like Kaley Cuoco’s turn as Ava this time. I have nothing against the actress, but this season struggled to feel cohesive, and the end of the season seems to indicate another tonal shift will be coming in the potential third season. Fans of the first season will likely enjoy this next chapter in the story of Ava, Nathan, Matt, and Tory, but it did not improve enough for me to change my opinion. Despite better consistency in the writing and a more challenging mystery to solve, Based On A True Story still falls a little flat compared to better series with similar concepts.
Season two of Based on a True Story premieres on November 21st on Peacock.
Back in 2015, we heard that Milla Jovovich (Resident Evil) was in talks to star in the George R.R. Martin adaptation In the Lost Lands, which at the time was set to be written and directed by Constantin Werner (The Pagan Queen). That version of In the Lost Lands never made it off the ground – but seven years later, the project was revived, with Jovovich still in the lead and her husband Paul W.S. Anderson (Event Horizon) taking over as director. Two years after we heard that In the Lost Lands was back on, it was announced that Vertical had picked up the distribution rights to the finished film. And now we know when we’re going to have the chance to see it, as it has been revealed that Vertical is planning to give In the Lost Lands a theatrical release on February 28th.
Scripted by Anderson and Werner, the film centers on a queen who, desperate to fulfill her love, makes a daring play: she hires the sorceress Gray Alys, a woman as feared as she is powerful. Sent to the ghostly wilderness of the Lost Lands, Alys and her guide, the drifter Boyce, must outwit and outfight man and demon in this fable that explores the nature of good and evil, debt and fulfillment, love and loss.
Jovovich plays Gray Alys and is joined in the cast by Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy) as Boyce.
This adaptation of In the Lost Lands was produced by Anderson, Jovovich, Bautista, and Werner, along with Jeremy Bolt, Robert Kulzer, and Jonathan Meisner.
“With In the Lost Lands, we’ve created a movie with a completely unique visual style and storytelling that uses cutting-edge technology to bring the story to life like never before,” Anderson said in a statement. “So, it was always important to me that it be seen on the big screen. That’s why I couldn’t be more thrilled that Vertical is bringing In the Lost Lands to American theaters.“
When asked if the characters played by Jovovich and Bautista would be fighting each other, Anderson told Variety, “Oh yeah, I mean you can’t have Milla and Dave in a movie and not have them have a go at it. It’s an adaptation of a George R.R. Martin story so you know it’s going to be dark and twisted and have wonderful characters. Because that’s what George does.“
Are you interested in In the Lost Lands, and are you glad to hear that it’s going to receive a theatrical release in February? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.
A year and a half ago, it was announced that Neill Blomkamp, the director of District 9, Elysium, Chappie, Demonic, and Gran Turismo, was preparing to go into production on an alien abduction thriller called They Found Us, which had Joel Kinnaman of TheSuicide Squad and the RoboCop remake attached to star. At first, the plan was to film in Australia, but then the decision was made to film in Saudia Arabia instead. About seven months after the first announcement, pre-production shut down so the project could rework its financial structure while hostility in the region where filming was going to take place increased due to the Israel-Gaza conflict. Now, Deadline reports that They Found Us is moving forward again, with the filming location shifting back over to Australia and Julius Avery of Overlord and The Pope’s Exorcist replacing Blomkamp as director.
When Blomkamp was at the helm, we heard that They Found Us had a screenplay by Moon Knight‘s Jeremy Slater and would see Kinnaman taking on the role of a father who takes his daughter Kaylee on a camping trip in the Utah wilderness, in an effort to heal their broken relationship. When they are attacked by a hostile extraterrestrial lifeform, they are forced to fight for their lives against a humanoid beast determined to kidnap them and take them to an unknown and terrifying alien world. Avery is going to have to find a different actor to take on the father role, as Kinnaman has also dropped out of the project.
It’s not clear if filming in the actual Utah wilderness was ever considered. Filming is expected to begin in Australia sometime in the first half of 2025.
They Found Us is being produced by Wyck Godfrey and Marty Bowen of Temple Hill Entertainment. Temple Hill’s John Fischer serves as executive producer alongside Stuart Ford, whose company AGC Studios is providing the financing.
What do you think of Julius Avery replacing Neill Blomkamp as the director of They Found Us? Who would you like to see replace Joel Kinnaman in the lead role? Share your thoughts on this alien abduction thriller by leaving a comment below.
When Gladiator hit the big screen in 2000, it created quite the cinematic buzz. The film earned a ton of praise from both critics and fans alike, earning Academy Awards for Crowe and the coveted “Best Picture” – among other nominations and wins. While Ridley Scott did not win for his nomination, he more importantly had a bonafied hit on his hands. And this weekend, the director is bringing audiences back into the world of battles to the death in the long awaited sequel, Gladiator 2. Replacing Russell Crowe this time around is Paul Mescal. Returning from the original film is Connie Nielsen. And rounding out the cast, you have Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal, Joseph Quinn, Fred Hechinger, Derek Jacobi, and more.
Recently, I had the great honor of speaking with several cast members, as well as the legendary director himself. First up, Paul Mescal and Ridley Scott discussed returning to the brutal time of the Gladiator. As well, Scott discussed the casting of Mescal, and where he discovered him. And like him, it’s the first performance I was introduced to Mescal as well, and I’ve enjoyed his career ever since. And this sequel was no exception. It’s quite the entertaining flick. Having spoken to Ridley before, it is always a thrill to hear what the man has to say. As well, it was a pleasure speaking to both of these fine fellows.
We also spoke one one-on-one with Connie Nielsen, Denzel Washington, and Fred Hirchinger. Nielsen, who is excellent in the role, is an incredibly charming interview. She talked about returning, and the impact on the film and the character. The great Mr. Washington discussed his characters relationship to the role played by Mescal. And of course, working with Ridley Scott, who he has worked with quite often. And finally, one of my my new favorite actors, Fred Hechinger was happy to talk about playing the spoiled and deeply wounded Emperor Caracalla. If you haven’t seen him in Thelma, I highly recommend that as well.
For as long as I can remember, fairy tales have been an integral part of storytelling in animation. In my youth, I remember Disney princesses and nightmarish monsters bringing new twists on the stories of Grimm, Andersen, Aesop, Carroll, and more to life with vibrant colors, engaging characters, and endless amounts of imagination. As Grandfather Time traversed the timeline, the tradition of reimagining cautionary tales endured, bringing characters like Alice, Aurora, Pinocchio, Rapunzel, and Saoirse to screens. Today, fairy tales feel as if they’re few and far between. So, it’s fitting to see Vicky Jensen, the director of Shrek, a film that invites many characters to join the adventure, bringing the genre back to form with Skydance Animation‘s enchanting new film Spellbound.
JoBlo recently attended a sneak peek at Spellbound, where several of the project’s filmmakers shared their insight and passion for Skydance Animation’s latest foray into a fairytale kingdom. On deck to give us a guided tour around the film’s enchanted land, Lumbria, were Vicky Jenson (Director), Susan Fitzer (Editor), Brian Pimental (Head of Story), Brett Nystul (Production Designer), Guillermo Ramirez (Character Art Director), with entertainment journalist Scott Mantz moderating.
Before we dive into what we’ve learned, I want you to have all the background. Spellbound follows the adventures of Ellian, the tenacious princess who must go on a daring quest to save her family and kingdom after a mysterious spell transforms her parents, the King and Queen of Lumbria, into monsters.
Work on Spellbound began seven years ago when Skydance Animation approached Vicky Jenson to direct the project. Jenson, who’s no stranger to fairytale filmmaking thanks to Shrek, says Spellbound is a “fairytale take on a modern story.” The creative team behind the film used classic elements like a kingdom, king, queen, and princess to share a new allegory focusing on family. Concerning the world of Spellbound, Jenson wanted the project to reflect her Latin roots, so instead of taking inspiration from Anglo motifs, the team studied Ancient Spain and Moorish influences to complete Lumbria’s look and surrounding territories.
Creating the kingdom of Lumbria was a labor of love between artists from Skydance Animation and Madrid. Instead of presenting the forests as a dark, foreboding labyrinth of twisted trees and briar patches, the team added pops of color to the environment to give it a more magical feel. Lumbrians built the royal castle atop a spiraling tree containing several layers as the wood curls toward the sky. Like Tool’s 2001 studio album “Lateralus,” Spellbound emphasizes spirals at every opportunity, weaving the shape into architecture, swirling waterways, and other masses of natural splendor.
While Spellbound strives to touch on many colors of the electromagnetic spectrum, the artists kept the palette simple while designing Castle Lumbria and its neighboring edifices. However, the fortress’s surrounding area contains interconnected islands bordering a circular waterfall that holds the secret entrance to the kingdom. Lush green hills and flower fields envelop the watery entrance on all sides, much like the vast poppy field in TheWizard of Oz, but with less asbestos raining from the sky.
Rachel Zegler, who voices Princess Ellian, signed onto the film early in its production cycle. Vicky Jenson says they found her online before she started shooting Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story. The team at Skydance Animation was so impressed with her early performances that many of them made it into Spellbound‘s final cut. Ellian is athletic, playful, goofy, a little clumsy, and unspoiled by the effects of social media. Princess Ellian wears various outfits throughout the film to help her feel like an actual person instead of a static character. Despite her wardrobe variety, Ellian’s outfits have a certain cohesion, and many include spirals to keep with Lumbria’s overall design.
If you study the character designs for King Solon (Javier Bardem) and Queen Ellsemere (Nicole Kidman), you’ll notice their monster forms reflect their human counterparts. The royal couple are already in their monster forms when the story begins, with their human forms presented in flashbacks and later in the narrative. When King Solon is a monster, he curls up into a ball to reflect his protective nature, while Queen Ellsemere’s monster disposition is quieter and more reserved. You could even say she’s cat-like. Initially, Spellbound focused more on magic, with neighboring kingdoms at war, wielding spells and incantations to overcome others. However, Jenson and her team felt the magic overshadowed character growth and focus. Instead, the team scaled back the magical elements and concentrated on the royal family dynamics.
Many animated movies introduce outstanding sidekick characters, like Archimedes (The Sword in the Stone), Pascal (Tangled), Cri-Kee (Mulan), and Ray (The Princess and the Frog). Spellbound includes Ellian’s traveling partner, Flink, a mute hamster, weasel, raccoon, and munchkin-like creature who unwaveringly supports the princess in any scenario. Netflix’s sneak peek at Spellbound included a drawing session with the film’s Character Art Director, Guillermo Ramirez, who took us through a step-by-step tutorial on drawing Flink. You can check out the results of my drawing below. My art chops are rusty, and I always draw with Crayola crayons, so erasing lines to clean up the sketch isn’t possible. Still, I like the way my drawing of Flink turned out.
Other characters in Spellbound include the Oracles, played by Nathan Lane (Luno – Oracle on the Moon) and Tituss Burgess (Sunny – Oracle of the Sun). Despite his decades of excellence on the stage and screens, Lane believed he was unfit for the part and suggested getting Jason Alexander (Seinfeld) instead. Once Lane realized the team was serious about him being perfect for the part of Luno, he joined the film enthusiastically. While in the recording booth, Lane improved a lot of dialogue, and many of his clever, off-the-cuff bits made it into the film’s final cut.
While many contemporary animated films tend to avoid musical numbers, favoring fast-paced action sequences and villainous monologues, Spellbound embraces its musical roots. The songs play an integral part in telling Ellian’s story and help bring the kingdom of Lumbria to life. Not only do the lyrics bring nuance to the characters and their emotions, but they also reveal aspects of the plot. Brian Pimental cleverly incorporates the music into environments and character actions throughout the film. There’s a moment in the movie when Ellian reflects on her parents’ situation while walking the remnants of a ruined castle. As her song begins, droplets of water fall from the ceiling, landing on the strings of an open piano, the notes serving as the opening for her tune. It’s tiny flourishes like this when the music in Spellbound elevates beyond a straightforward narrative number.
During a Q&A session, I asked Vicky if she had a favorite fairytale and if any story in particular helped lay the foundation for Spellbound. She says she likes “dark” fairytales, like The Little Mermaid. She enjoys it when characters have challenges to overcome or when they have a deep wish, and a spell makes it possible. Instead of taking inspiration from one fairytale, Jenson says Spellbound takes cues from various stories. One tale that comes to mind is The Twelve Dancing Princesses by the Brothers Grimm, featuring a spell cast over an entire kingdom. Other stories that come to mind when thinking about Spellbound are Little Red Riding Hood, Goldilocks, and The Unknown World.
Like many fairytales from generations past, Spellbound hopes to explore the subconscious and tap into metaphorical storytelling. When they’re upset, young people often see their parents as monsters. In Spellbound, Ellian’s parents are monsters, bringing the metaphor to life with sharp teeth, armored scales, and unpredictability. There’s still so much we’ve yet to see regarding Spellbound, though it will resonate with young audiences who see themselves in Ellian and the challenge before her. Dark forests hold more than glowing eyes, gnashing teeth, and sharp claws. As you traverse the shadowy wood, you meet your nightmares head-on and emerge stronger on the other side. Spellbound wants to hold your hand as you cross the thicket and sing you a song to light the way.
Spellbound director Vicky Jenson spoke with me about her latest film to add more insight to our coverage.
At the start of our conversation, I asked Vicky about dedicating seven years of her time and effort to Spellbound. I wanted to know what stood out about the film to warrant that level of commitment. “It had a lot to say, which I really appreciated,” Vicky said. “It’s the story of a family going through a really difficult time and finding their way back to each other by the end. It’s about having a happy ending, but not the one you’d expect. I adored that. I thought it was a story that needed to be told, that hadn’t been told.”
Perhaps not so surprisingly, Vicky then mentioned how aspects of Spellbound are reminiscent of the classic Robin Williams comedy Mrs. Doubtfire, saying, “Families like Eilian’s hadn’t really been explored like this in an animated film. The closest thing I could think of is Mrs. Doubtfire. It’s super fun but very real and honest about facing the hard stuff. At the same time, with a lovely ending that makes you feel good.”
Next, I asked Vicky where she would go in the kingdom of Lumbria to relax, somewhere she could curl up with a good book. She said, “Wow, that’s so cool,” in response to the question. Yeah, I’m bragging. What? Anyway, she continued, “Some of the rooms around the castle are so beautiful. I love the trees. You never know what might have grown or been carved by the gardener’s hands throughout the kingdom. I wish we could have done more down by the water. The market square is really wonderful, but we have these waterways throughout, with beautiful boats on them, but we just soar past them.” Vicky continued, “We surrounded the whole castle with a Niagara Falls-like waterway, like a moat in reverse.
Lastly, I asked Vicky if there’s a moral or message she hopes audiences take away from Spellbound. She said, “I’ll try not to get too preachy, but if there’s love, there’s family. It doesn’t matter what the family looks like. If parents can extend themselves and really listen to their kids and make them feel loved, that goes miles.” She added, “It goes the other way, too. Kids need to understand that parents are people, they’re not just monsters. People make mistakes, but making each other feel loved, that’s family.”
Spellbound arrives on Netflix this Friday, November 22, 2024.
This past summer, it was announced that NBC has given an official series order to Suits: LA, a spinoff of the USA Network series which unexpectedly became the hottest TV series of last summer, despite coming to an end over four years ago. Suits: LA comes from original creator Aaron Korsh and stars Stephen Amell as Ted Black. In addition to Amell, the new series also stars Josh McDermitt, Lex Scott Davis, and Bryan Greenberg. Victoria Mahoney directed the pilot and also serves as an executive producer alongside Aaron Korsh, David Bartis, Doug Liman, and Gene Klein.
Deadline has now reported that the original show’s star, Gabriel Macht, is set to return as Harvey Spencer for a recurring role in Suits: LA. It is being said that Macht will have a guest arc on the show, which means this will not merely be a cameo. The actor would even tease his return via Instagram as he posts a video of him suiting up in fashionable threads and the post would read, “When an old friend is in need…it’s time to take care of things and make those very ‘things’ right.”
The plot for Suits: LA will revolve around “Ted Black (Amell), a former federal prosecutor from New York who has reinvented himself by representing the most powerful clients in Los Angeles. His firm is at a crisis point, and to survive, he must embrace a role he held in contempt his entire career. Ted is surrounded by a group of characters who test their loyalties to both Ted and each other and they can’t help but mix their personal and professional lives. All this happens while the show slowly unravels the events that years ago led Ted to leave behind everything and everyone he loved to start all over.”
The original Suits series takes place in a fictional New York City corporate law firm and follows Mike (Patrick J. Adams), a college dropout who never attended law school but is able to talk his way into getting a job working for attorney Harvey Specter (Gabriel Macht) thanks to his impressive photographic memory. The series also stars Rick Hoffman, Sarah Rafferty, Gina Torres, and Meghan Markle. The series spanned nine seasons and 134 episodes. We’ve already seen one Suits spinoff, with Pearson following Gina Torres’ character as she entered the dirty world of Chicago politics, but the series was cancelled after just one season
Although the pilot for Suits: LA isn’t expected to include any members of the original cast, the door is open for them to appear. Patrick J. Adams has expressed a willingness to return if asked. “If I got the phone call, I’m ready to suit up again,” said Adams earlier this year. “I love the show, I love the character and I loved working with all these people.“
