George Lucas handpicked Jake Lloyd to play young Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace out of thousands of kids. However, time hasn’t been kind to Lloyd, as the actor has faced a variety of mental and legal issues, which some believed were exacerbated by the negative reaction to The Phantom Menace.

Jake Lloyd’s mother, Lisa, recently spoke with Scripps News to provide an update on her son and to set the record straight on what he really thinks of Star Wars.

She explained that Jake first started having issues in high school when he began talking about “realities” and not knowing whether he was in this reality or a different one. One doctor suggested that he might have bipolar disorder, but the medications didn’t work and the delusions got worse. He even had to drop out of college after missing too many classes, all the while telling his mother that people were following him. He was eventually diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, but when the medications stopped working or he decided to self-medicate, he found himself in trouble with the law. Things got even worse with the unexpected death of his younger sister. “He just couldn’t handle it,” Lisa said. “He didn’t know how to process it. Someties he would just start saying that he really missed Madison. That’s about as much of a conversation as we’d have about it.“

One year ago, Lisa said that Jake suffered a full-blown psychotic break when driving home from McDonald’s with her. “He said he wanted to turn the car off. And he turned the car off in the middle of the three lanes, and we were in the middle lane,” Lisa explained. “There was a lot of yelling and screaming. The police got there, and they asked Jake some questions. He was talking to them, but none of it made sense. It was all word salad.” Thankfully, Jake wasn’t sent to jail, but rather ended up in a mental health rehabilitation facility which seems to be helping quite a lot.

He’s doing much better than I expected. He is relating to people better and becoming a little bit more social, which is really nice. It’s kind of like having more of the old Jake back, because he has always been incredibly social until he became schizophrenic.

Lisa also commented on her son’s thoughts towards Star Wars. “He loves all the new Star Wars stuff,” she said. “People think Jake hates Star Wars. He loves it.” She also disagreed with the belief that the reaction to The Phantom Menace contributed to Jake’s mental illness. “It would have happened anyway,” she said. “I believe that it was genetic. And his psychiatrist also agrees that Jake was going to become schizophrenic.” Lisa also stated that she did her best to shield her son from the prequel backlash.

“I protected him from the backlash. He was just riding his bike outside, playing with his friends. He didn’t know. He didn’t care,” Lisa said. “Everybody makes such a big deal about that. And it’s rather annoying to me because Jake was a little kid when that came out, and he didn’t really feel all that stuff because I didn’t let him online.” She added that her son didn’t quit acting because of Star Wars but more because of family issues, as she was going through a divorce at the time. “People say he quit because of ‘Star Wars.’ Well, that’s not true. It didn’t have anything to do with ‘Star Wars.’ It had more to do with our family,” she explained. “And we were going through a divorce. Things were unsettled and kind of rough. And Jake didn’t seem to be having a lot of fun auditioning anymore.“

Although Jake still has a ways to go, the future is looking brighter. “We’re in a lot better place. And we do have a lot of things to look forward to,” Lisa said. “We all love Jake, and we want to be around him. I just want him to be happy.“

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Owen Wilson is a well-known golf fan who is ready to take his love of the sport to the small screen. The actor is set to star in an untitled comedy series for Apple TV+, which is in development from Ford v Ferrari co-writer Jason Keller.

Wilson will star in the ten-episode series as Pryce Cahill, “an over-the-hill, ex-pro golfer whose career was derailed prematurely 20 years ago. After he gets fired from his job at an Indiana sporting goods store and his wife walks out on him, Pryce hedges his bets entirely on a troubled 17-year-old golf phenom.” In addition to starring in the series, Wilson will also executive produce alongside Keller. Propagate Content’s Ben Silverman will also executive produce the series with Howard T. Owens and Rodney Ferrell, Entertainment 360’s Guymon Casady, Piece of Work’s Lee Eisenberg and Natalie Sandy, and Chris Moynihan. The series will be directed by Jonathan Dayton & and Valerie Faris (Little Miss Sunshine).

Before Owen Wilson hits the links for Apple’s golf series, he will start shooting Lips Like Sugar, a crime thriller set during the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. Woody Harrelson will star alongside Wilson, with the pair playing Phil Harris and John, two homicide detectives who are working “to solve a possible serial killer case while police and city officials demand that all murders in LA be labeled Missing Persons until the Olympic torch is doused and the international media has left town. The detectives’ paths cross with Tracy Anderson and Andi Campos (Kathryn Newton and Sasha Calle), a pair of teenage girls that have formed a fast and intense friendship, with Montana transplant Tracy recently arrived in town with her mother (Juliette Lewis) and enamored of all things Hollywood. When Tracy disappears, Carr, Harris and Andi race a ticking clock to find her.” Music video director Brantley Gutierrez is set to helm the movie from a script by Anthony Tambakis (Warrior).

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Owen Wilson is a well-known golf fan who is ready to take his love of the sport to the small screen. The actor is set to star in an untitled comedy series for Apple TV+, which is in development from Ford v Ferrari co-writer Jason Keller.

Wilson will star in the ten-episode series as Pryce Cahill, “an over-the-hill, ex-pro golfer whose career was derailed prematurely 20 years ago. After he gets fired from his job at an Indiana sporting goods store and his wife walks out on him, Pryce hedges his bets entirely on a troubled 17-year-old golf phenom.” In addition to starring in the series, Wilson will also executive produce alongside Keller. Propagate Content’s Ben Silverman will also executive produce the series with Howard T. Owens and Rodney Ferrell, Entertainment 360’s Guymon Casady, Piece of Work’s Lee Eisenberg and Natalie Sandy, and Chris Moynihan. The series will be directed by Jonathan Dayton & and Valerie Faris (Little Miss Sunshine).

Before Owen Wilson hits the links for Apple’s golf series, he will start shooting Lips Like Sugar, a crime thriller set during the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. Woody Harrelson will star alongside Wilson, with the pair playing Phil Harris and John, two homicide detectives who are working “to solve a possible serial killer case while police and city officials demand that all murders in LA be labeled Missing Persons until the Olympic torch is doused and the international media has left town. The detectives’ paths cross with Tracy Anderson and Andi Campos (Kathryn Newton and Sasha Calle), a pair of teenage girls that have formed a fast and intense friendship, with Montana transplant Tracy recently arrived in town with her mother (Juliette Lewis) and enamored of all things Hollywood. When Tracy disappears, Carr, Harris and Andi race a ticking clock to find her.” Music video director Brantley Gutierrez is set to helm the movie from a script by Anthony Tambakis (Warrior).

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It had been more than two decades since Hayao Miyazaki won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature, having first taken home gold with 2002’s Spirited Away. Until this year, he only saw just two more nominations, with Howl’s Moving Castle and The Wind Rises losing out to Wallace & Gromit and Elsa & Anna. But this past weekend, at 83, Miyazaki once again came out victorious, edging out the likes of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and Pixar’s Elemental. While many of us cheered the achievement, there was one sourpuss who thought the movie he starred in was “robbed”.

Shameik Moore, who voiced Miles Morales / Spider-Man in Across the Spider-Verse, took to social media on the night of the Academy Awards to say that his movie was “*robbed”, prompting followers to call out the arrogance of the comment. As such, Moore addressed the response soon after, admitting he was bitter. “Respect to the winners. It’s true, I’m definitely a sore loser, but we didn’t lose, Spiderverse has impacted ALOT of lives, we may not have been acknowledged tonight but life goes on, and BEYOND….. yea get ready”.

For the most part, a lot of people really wouldn’t have been that upset if Across the Spider-Verse took home the Oscar over The Boy and the Heron, as it has a massive fanbase (heck, our readers named it the Best Animated Film at this year’s Golden Schmoes, even beating out Miyazaki). It also would have been the rare sequel to take home that prize. But come on, if you’re going to lose to a force that isn’t 11-time winner Pixar, it may as well be Miyazaki. This was exactly the point that co-writer/producer Christopher Miller made following the loss, posting on Instagram, “So proud of our team. You created a new cinematic language whose impact will be felt culturally and within the industry for years to come. And if you’re gonna lose, might as well lose to the GOAT.”

Sadly, Moore’s reaction to the Across the Spider-Verse is indeed tasteless. He would later apologize for his “nature” by blaming his youth (Moore is 28), finally maturely congratulating the winner.

Do you think Across the Spider-Verse deserved to win the Oscar? Or was The Boy and the Heron deserving of a second Hayao Miyazaki win?

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It had been more than two decades since Hayao Miyazaki won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature, having first taken home gold with 2002’s Spirited Away. Until this year, he only saw just two more nominations, with Howl’s Moving Castle and The Wind Rises losing out to Wallace & Gromit and Elsa & Anna. But this past weekend, at 83, Miyazaki once again came out victorious, edging out the likes of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and Pixar’s Elemental. While many of us cheered the achievement, there was one sourpuss who thought the movie he starred in was “robbed”.

Shameik Moore, who voiced Miles Morales / Spider-Man in Across the Spider-Verse, took to social media on the night of the Academy Awards to say that his movie was “*robbed”, prompting followers to call out the arrogance of the comment. As such, Moore addressed the response soon after, admitting he was bitter. “Respect to the winners. It’s true, I’m definitely a sore loser, but we didn’t lose, Spiderverse has impacted ALOT of lives, we may not have been acknowledged tonight but life goes on, and BEYOND….. yea get ready”.

For the most part, a lot of people really wouldn’t have been that upset if Across the Spider-Verse took home the Oscar over The Boy and the Heron, as it has a massive fanbase (heck, our readers named it the Best Animated Film at this year’s Golden Schmoes, even beating out Miyazaki). It also would have been the rare sequel to take home that prize. But come on, if you’re going to lose to a force that isn’t 11-time winner Pixar, it may as well be Miyazaki. This was exactly the point that co-writer/producer Christopher Miller made following the loss, posting on Instagram, “So proud of our team. You created a new cinematic language whose impact will be felt culturally and within the industry for years to come. And if you’re gonna lose, might as well lose to the GOAT.”

Sadly, Moore’s reaction to the Across the Spider-Verse is indeed tasteless. He would later apologize for his “nature” by blaming his youth (Moore is 28), finally maturely congratulating the winner.

Do you think Across the Spider-Verse deserved to win the Oscar? Or was The Boy and the Heron deserving of a second Hayao Miyazaki win?

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We’re just a week away from the premiere of X-Men ’97, the highly anticipated relaunch of the beloved ’90s animated series, but in a shocking move, Marvel has fired creator Beau DeMayo.

THR reports that DeMayo was fired from X-Men ’97 last week, with his company e-mail immediately deactivated as cast and crew were informed that the creator was out of the picture. DeMayo’s Instagram account, which he frequently updated, has also been deleted. The reason behind the firing is unknown, as Marvel had no comment and DeMayo’s reps didn’t return calls. DeMayo had already completed work on the second season of X-Men ’97 and had even been brainstorming ideas for a potential third season, which makes his abrupt exit all the more mysterious.

DeMayo had previously worked with Marvel on the Moon Knight series and even had a hand in one of the early drafts of the Blade movie. He also wrote for The Witcher, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, The Originals, and more.

The original X-Men animated series spanned five seasons on Fox as part of the Fox Kids programming block, debuting in 1992 before it ended in 1997. The revival series will pick up right where the original left off, with many members of the voice cast reprising their roles or voicing new characters. Here’s how Marvel describes the series: “Following a familiar team with the “DNA of the original show,” an impactful event in X-Men ‘97 will launch the reunited X-Men into an all-new chapter that will resonate with fans of the original series.“

More to come…

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Tom Ripley is a character who has been fascinating readers and viewers for decades. Not only was he at the center of multiple novels written by Patricia Highsmith (The Talented Mr. Ripley, Ripley Under Ground, Ripley’s Game, The Boy Who Followed Ripley, and Ripley Underwater), but those novels have also received multiple adaptations: the 1960 film Purple Noon (where Ripley was played by Alain Delon), the 1977 film The American Friend (with Dennis Hopper as Ripley), the 2002 film Ripley’s Game (John Malkovich was Ripley in that one), the 2005 film Ripley Under Ground (with Barry Pepper as Ripley), a 1956 episode of the TV series Studio One, and perhaps most famously, the 1999 film The Talented Mr. Ripley, where Ripley was played by Matt Damon. Now Andrew Scott is taking on the role for Ripley, a limited series adaptation of The Talented Mr. Ripley that will be released through the Netflix streaming service on April 4th – and during an interview with Empire, Scott said he didn’t judge or try to diagnose his questionable character.

Schindler’s List Oscar winner Steven Zaillian has written and directed all eight episodes of Ripley. In the series, Tom Ripley, a grifter scraping by in early 1960s New York, is hired by a wealthy man to travel to Italy to try to convince his vagabond son Dickie Greenleaf to return home. Tom’s acceptance of the job is the first step into a complex life of deceit, fraud and murder.

Dickie Greenleaf is played by Johnny Flynn (The Lovers). Dakota Fanning (The Equalizer 3) plays Marge Sherwood, “an American living in Italy who suspects darker motives underlie Tom’s affability.”

Scott told Empire, “You have to be respectful (to the source material), but not too reverent, because otherwise there’s no point in doing this. You’ve got to put your own stamp on it. Some people will like this version, and some people will like other versions, and that’s okay. What you have to do is understand why this character remains so fascinating for people. I think to characterize him with any very particular neuroses would be a mistake. I never wanted to look at him as a psychopath. I didn’t want to label his sexuality too much. I didn’t want to just diagnose him with anything. The challenge was not to judge him.“

Ripley was originally set up Showtime, where Zaillian was planning to use all of the Ripley novels written by Highsmith as “a road map to showcase Ripley’s transformation from con artist to serial killer” over the course of the on-going series. Now that it’s a limited series on Netflix, we’ll have to wait and see if there will be any further Ripley series to cover the stories told in the books beyond The Talented Mr. Ripley.

Ripley is a Showtime and Endemol Shine North America co-production, in association with Entertainment 360 and Filmrights. Zaillian serves as executive producer alongside Garrett Basch, Guymon Casady, Ben Forkner, Sharon Levy, and Philipp Keel of Diogenes. Scott is a producer on the series.

Are you a fan of the Tom Ripley stories, and will you be watching Ripley on Netflix? What do you think of what Andrew Scott had to say about the approach he took to the character? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

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Ari Aster, the twisted filmmaker behind Hereditary, Midsommar, and Beau Is Afraid, is lining up his most star-studded feature yet, Eddington. Rumored to be a Western, Eddington is moseying close to production with Pedro Pascal (The Last of Us), Emma Stone (Poor Things), Austin Butler (Dune: Part Two), Joaquin Phoenix (Beau Is Afraid), Luke Grimes (Yellowstone), Deirdre O’Connell (Outer Range), Michael Ward (Top Boy), and Clifton Collins Jr. (Jockey) joining the primary cast. 

The mysterious project hails from A24, with Aster directing from his own script. Additionally, Aster produces alongside Lars Knudsen through their Square Peg studio. Darius Khondji, the Academy Award-winning cinematographer behind Bardo and Uncut Gems, is on board to make the film stunning, with production beginning as early as this week.

Aster is one of Hollywood’s most talked about filmmakers of recent memory. His 2018 horror film Hereditary, starring Toni Collette, Milly Shapiro, Gabriel Byrne, and Alex Wolff, still gives people nightmares. The visceral and disturbing film about a grieving family haunted by tragic and otherworldly occurrences put Aster on the map as a talent to watch. Aster followed Hereditary with the Swedish horror film Midsommar in 2019. Starring Florence Pugh, Jack Reynor, Vilhelm Blomgren, Will Poulter, and William Jackson Harper, Midsommar tells the trippy tale of a couple who travels to Northern Europe to visit a rural hometown’s fabled Swedish mid-summer festival. What starts as an idyllic retreat quickly devolves into an increasingly violent and bizarre competition at the hands of a pagan cult.

Finally, Aster’s Beau Is Afraid stars Joaquin Phoenix as a mild-mannered but anxiety-ridden man who confronts his darkest fears after his mother dies as he embarks on an epic, Kafkaesque odyssey back home.

Beau Is Afraid only earned $12 million worldwide, but the film’s underperformance hasn’t soured Aster’s reputation as a risk-taking filmmaker able to produce thought-provoking films. Eddington is packed with A-list celebrities, including Emma Stone, who won a Best Actress Oscar for her riveting performance in Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things at the 96th Academy Awards.

We’re anxious to learn more about Eddington beyond its Western setting. How about you? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

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Shudder announced a while back that they had renewed The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs for a supersized sixth season that will make sure Joe Bob is an even more consistent presence on the streaming service throughout the year. We previously heard that the Last Drive-In special A Tribute to Roger Corman, which is set to air on Shudder (and AMC+) March 15th, wasn’t considered part of the new season, with The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs season 6 officially beginning on March 29th – but now a trailer for season 6 has made its way online, and according to this trailer (which can be viewed in the embed above), they’ve decided to go ahead and count A Tribute to Roger Corman as part of the season. Since this special kicks it off, The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs season 6 begins this Friday!

Some promo art for the new season was also unveiled, and you can check that out at the bottom of this article.

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.

The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs season 6 is taking a different approach than the previous seasons, where double features aired on a weekly basis. This time, episodes will air every other Friday night, and instead of the usual double features, Joe Bob will be presenting “single titles and surprises”. Single titles every other Friday is how Shudder intends to spread the episodes out over a longer period of the year (apparently, the season will continue into September). Deadline noted that The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs, which was previously filmed in Texas and then New Jersey, is now set up at the Senoia, Georgia studios where the Walking Dead shows have been filmed, and this location gives Joe Bob access to a backlot for the first time.

Joe Bob provided the following statement: “As everyone knows, you should never invite me into your home, because I always show up. Shudder has graciously invited me to stick around for a sixth year, and I intend to use that kindness to haunt your phones, laptops and big-screen TVs with the most ghastly examples of perversity in the history of cinema. Plus a few old jokes and some celebrity guests who will still return our phone calls. Put it all together and it spells PARTAY.“

Courtney Thomasma of Shudder owner AMC Networks said, “We’re delighted to bring Joe Bob, Darcy and the rest of The Last Drive-In Team back for our biggest season yet of crazy, scary and crazy-scary movies and specials, with the most entertaining commentary on TV. Joe Bob will be hosting more movie nights than any previous season and we can’t wait to continue the Friday night party with our Shudder family.“

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.

Will you be watching The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs season 6? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

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Hayao Miyazaki’s cerebral fantasy film The Boy and the Heron is flying onto Max in the United States after winning the Best Animated Feature Oscar at this year’s awards ceremony. In addition to bringing Miyazaki’s latest breath-taking animated feature to the streaming platform, Warner Bros. Discovery is entering a multiyear pact with GKids to extend Max’s exclusive U.S. film streaming rights for Studio Ghibli. 

Per the new deal, Max will be the future home of The Boy and the Heron, with a premiere date to be announced later this year. The agreement also secures exclusivity on Max for other films in Studio Ghibli’s library, including Princess Mononoke, My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, Porco Rosso, and more.

“Our subscribers are always looking for unique stories, and we are happy to continue to offer these award-winning, critically acclaimed films and to add ‘The Boy and the Heron’ to our deep and rich Max content offering,” Elizabeth Bannan Atcheson, VP of content acquisitions, Warner Bros. Discovery, said in a statement.

After his mother dies during WW2, a young Japanese boy, Mahito Maki (Soma Santoki), is sent to live with his Aunt, Natsuko (Yoshino Kimura), with whom his munitions factory owner father is trying to start a new family. Traumatized by the death of his mother and struggling to accept his circumstances, Mahito finds himself lured into a fantasy world out of time and space by an antagonistic grey Heron (Masaki Suda). As Mahito struggles to make sense of the new macrocosm, he ends a vicious cycle of generational trauma, ultimately making peace with his new surroundings by accepting the winds of change. The Boy and the Heron is a beautiful, frequently trippy tribute to the act of honoring the memory of a loved one and forging a new path that begins with healing.

The English language dubbed version of the film features the voices of Christian Bale (Ford v Ferrari, Amsterdam, The Pale Blue Eye), Dave Bautista (Dune, Guardians of the Galaxy), Gemma Chan (The Creator, Eternals, Crazy Rich Asians), Willem Dafoe (At Eternity’s Gate, The Florida Project), Karen Fukuhara (The Boys, Suicide Squad), Mark Hamill (The Machine, House of Usher), Robert Pattinson (The Batman, Tenet, upcoming Mickey 17), and Florence Pugh (Oppenheimer, Black Widow, Little Women). Luca Padovan joins the cast as Mahito Maki, and Mamoudou Athie, Tony Revolori, and Dan Stevens are featured as the Parakeets. GKids handled casting and produced the English version in close consultation with Studio Ghibli, with ADR direction by Michael Sinterniklaas at NYAV Post, and an English script adaptation by Stephanie Sheh. The English language dub was produced under the SAG-AFTRA Foreign Dubbing Agreement.

When it hits the streaming service, will you watch The Boy and the Heron on Max? Let us know in the comments section below.

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