Genre icon Barbara Crampton makes sure to keep busy in the horror world. As we covered earlier today, a character with her voice and likeness will soon be added to the Texas Chainsaw Massacre video game, and now a trailer for another Crampton project – the horror film Snow Valley – has arrived online. You can check it out in the embed above. Gravitas Ventures holds the worldwide rights to Snow Valley and are planning to give the film a March 26th release.
The feature directorial debut of writer Brandon Murphy, who sadly passed away while the movie was in post-production, Snow Valley tells the following story: A newly engaged couple’s swank ski weekend goes horribly awry, when an unexpected guest arrives and the house’s dark supernatural forces begin to rise on the anniversary of a tragic event.
Crampton, whose credits include Re-Animator, From Beyond, Castle Freak, and Suitable Flesh, is joined in the cast by Rachel Michiko Whitney (The Card Counter), Cooper van Grootel (One of Us Is Lying), Tom Williamson (The Fosters), David Lambert (Aaron Stone), Paige Elkington (Wobble Palace), Ali Fumiko Whitney (Cabin Girl), newcomer Zachary Bird, Graham Watanabe (Mistletoe Mixup), Nicholas Schutt (The Wackness), and Clint Vanderlinden (Mythica: The Godslayer).
Rachel Michiko Whitney also produced Snow Valley with Chris Abernathy, Aaron B. Koontz, and Justice Laub. She told Rue Morgue, “It’s been a cathartic journey to find a home for the film to honor Brandon’s memory and celebrate the incredible work the entire cast and crew put into his directorial debut.“
Executive producer Andrea Chung added, “Wes Craven, who I worked with before his passing, once told me, ‘A good horror story can find humor in the most scary moments.’ I believe writer/director Brandon Murphy does a fantastic job in adding a humorous touch to the film’s darker themes that makes the film an enjoyable ride.“
What did you think of the Snow Valley trailer? Will you be watching this movie when it’s released later this month? Let us know by leaving a comment below – and take a look at the poster while you’re scrolling down:
Our Flag Means Death was cancelled by Max earlier this year, which was hugely upsetting for fans of the pirate comedy. There was hope that Our Flag Means Death might find a new home on another streaming service, but creator David Jenkins has confirmed that the series is on its way to Davy Jones’s locker.
“I can officially confirm that we’ve reached the end of the road,” Jenkins wrote on Instagram. “At least as far as this sweet show is concerned. After many complimentary meetings, conversations, etc it seems there is no alternate home for our crew. Thank you to all of you who sent us out with tremendous love and care. Your campaign was noticed across the industry. But more importantly it made all of us who worked on this show better able to deal with the loss.“
Jenkins continued, “To you wonderful fans: thank you. You are lovely and earnest. Those kinds of things feel in short supply at times. But they aren’t. A love like ours can’t disappear in an instant. When we see each other off in mystic, say hello. We won’t say goodbye, because we’re not leaving. We’re just taking a breather until next time we can share something together.” As Jenkins only had three seasons in mind for the series, it’s a shame he wasn’t able to finish it on his own terms.
“I love things in threes,” Jenkins told Variety last year about his three-season plan for the series. “That first act, second act, third act structure is so satisfying when it is done well, and you don’t overstay your welcome. I think this world of the show is a big world, and if the third season is successful, we could go on in a different way. But I think for the story of Stede and Ed, that is a three-season story.“
Our Flag Means Death is set in the early 18th century during the Golden Age of Piracy and follows the misadventures of gentleman-turned-pirate Stede Bonnet (Rhys Darby) and his crew aboard the Revenge as they try to make a name for themselves as pirates and cross paths with fame pirate captain Blackbeard (Taika Waititi).
The manga and anime community is in mourning today after hearing about the untimely death of Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama. As one of the art arena’s most influential and best-selling manga authors to ever walk the Earth, Mr. Toriyama leaves a legacy that will echo through the ages and generations. Toriyama died on March 1 of a blood clot in his brain, a representative from his production company Bird Studio said on Friday. A funeral service for close friends and family has already occurred, with news of Toriyama’s passing circulating through the communities he’s touched during his legendary career.
Mr. Toriyama’s Dragon Ball series debuted in 1984, sharing the story of a boy named Son Goku who aims to collect magical dragon balls to protect Earth from an alien humanoid race called Saiyans. Over the years, Dragon Ball has evolved into a global phenomenon, with multiple animated series, manga, video games, and merchandise depicting Goku’s mission and strive for victory. Toriyama’s Dragon Ball manga has sold over 260 million copies, making it one of the most iconic offerings in the action genre. Toriyama worked on Dragon Ball and other projects for 45 years and still has unfinished work waiting in the wings.
“It’s our deep regret that he still had several works in the middle of creation with great enthusiasm,” his studio said. “He would have had many more things to achieve. However, he has left many manga titles and works of art to this world.” Adding, “We hope that Akira Toriyama’s unique world of creation continues to be loved by everyone for a long time to come.”
News about Mr. Toriyama’s death is still making the rounds to his vast network of fans and admirers. Knowing Dragon Ball is a significant presence in the Fortnite community, players can expect to see their favorite characters from the time-honored series mass-populating Season 5, Chapter 2 of the battle royale multiplayer sensation (once the servers are back up).
We here at JoBlo wish Mr. Toriyama safe passage into the hereafter and extend our sincere condolences to his family, friends, and fans. Rest well, Mr. Toriyama. You will be sorely missed.
Last year, author Grady Hendrix contributed the 29 page short story Ankle Snatcher (you can read it HERE) to the Amazon Original Stories Creature Feature collection, which also featured stories by Joe Hill, Josh Malerman, Paul Tremblay, Jason Mott, and Chandler Baker. Now, Deadline reports that Sony has acquired the rights to make a feature film adaptation of Ankle Snatcher.
Hendrix’s story follows Marcus, who grew up believing his father killed his mother — then blamed it on the boogeyman under the bed. Always leave the lights on, his father warned, or the boogeyman will get you. Marcus still heeds the superstition, especially when he invites his new girlfriend over. Is Marcus haunted by a creature or has he just inherited his father’s murderous delusions? The night will tell.
Hendrix will be producing the film alongside Escape Artist’ Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, and Tony Shaw, and Aperture Entertainment’s Adam Goldworm.
The author’s works include BadAsstronauts (formerly known as Occupy Space), Satan Loves You, Horrorstör, My Best Friend’s Exorcism, Paperbacks from Hell: The Twisted History of ‘70s and ‘80s Horror Fiction, We Sold Our Souls, The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires, The Final Girl Support Group, These Fists Break Bricks: How Kung Fu Movies Swept America and Changed the World, and How to Sell a Haunted House. My Best Friend’s Exorcism was turned into a feature film that was released through Prime Video, and Horrorstör adaptations have been in the works for years. At first it was intended to be a TV series, now producers are aiming to turn it into a movie. A film adaptation of How to Sell a Haunted House is set up at Legendary Entertainment, and TV series adaptations of both The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires and The Final Girl Support Group are in the works.
Hendrix also co-wrote the films Mohawk and Satanic Panic, as well as the documentary Iron Fists and Kung Fu Kicks.
Are you a fan of Grady Hendrix’s work, and are you glad to hear Ankle Snatcher is getting the feature film treatment? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.
Few things are more aggravating than when you find yourself in need of a tow truck. Regardless of how excellent the towing agent is, there’s always a hassle waiting around the corner to cost you money, time, and sanity. Pop star and screen actor Demi Lovato is about to learn the brutal ways of the road by joining the cast of Tow, a new drama from director Stephanie Laing (Mammals, Physical, Made for Love).
Tow is Demi Lovato’s first dramatic role in a feature film. Rose Byrne (Insidious, Bridesmaids, Spy) and The Holdovers breakout Dominic Sessa join Lovato for the project, which is based on a true story. Tow stars Byrne as Amanda Ogle, “an unhoused Seattle woman who fought her way out of tow-company hell to reclaim her life and the car that held it all together after receiving a tow bill for $21,634.” (via Deadline)
Stephanie Laing is thrilled to tell Olge’s story. Speaking about the woman behind the drama, Liang previously said Olge is “a true champion,” and her story of “tenacity and perseverance” is an inspiration for those experiencing seemingly insurmountable hardships. Adapting Olge’s story of struggle and triumph are Jonathan Keasey, Brant Boivin, and Annie Weisman.
Demi Lovato, who got her start on the children’s learning program Barney & Friends, also appeared in a string of family-friendly series and TV movies like Just Jordan, As the Bell Rings, Camp Rock, and more. She pursued a career in music, eventually selling more than 24 million records in the United States. You can also catch her in releases like Princess Protection Program, Glee, and the Netflix comedy film Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, starring Will Ferrell, Rachel McAdams, and Dan Stevens.
As for Dominic Sessa, he stars as the troubled teen Angus Tully in Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers. Paul Giamatti and Da’Vine Joy Randolph complete the main cast for a story about a cantankerous history teacher at a prep school who must remain on campus over the holidays with a grieving cook and a troubled student who has no place to go. The Holdovers is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video, and it’s well worth your time to check it out.
What’s your worst roadside assistance story? Tell us in the comments section below.
These days, Peter Jackson is best known for directing big budget spectacles. He took the Hobbits to Mordor, he cast Benedict Cumberbatch as a dragon, he brought us the sight of a motion-capture King Kong smacking around a bunch of dinosaurs. But when he was just getting his career started, he was making very different kinds of movies: horror comedies that were drenched in blood and pretty much every other bodily fluid you can think of. In 1992, he brought the world what may be the bloodiest film ever made: a zombie comedy he would call Braindead, but many fans know it as Dead Alive. And if you haven’t seen this one yet (you can watch it HERE), it’s the Best Horror Movie You Never Saw.
Peter Jackson never had any formal film school training, and not just because they didn’t have such courses in his home country of New Zealand. Even if they had been available, he wouldn’t have enrolled. He didn’t want to be told or shown how to make movies, he wanted to learn by doing it himself. His interest in movies started with a desire to be a special effects artist. Since he was making his own effects at home, he needed to film them. That led him into making shorts. Then he dedicated four years worth of weekends into making his feature debut, the alien invasion gross-out Bad Taste, which he considers to be his own version of going through film school. While he was working on that project, he met fellow New Zealand based writers Stephen Sinclair and Fran Walsh, with the latter soon becoming his wife and starting a family with him. Sinclair had an idea for a zombie movie, so the trio fleshed that idea out into a screenplay, drawing inspiration from George A. Romero’s Dead trilogy, Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead films, and Stuart Gordon’s Re-Animator while also mixing in a gleefully maniacal sense of humor that would make the guys in Monty Python’s Flying Circus proud. Jackson decided to make his subversive splatter puppet movie Meet the Feebles before getting the zombie movie into production, but once he was done working with drug-addled, homicidal, sodomy-loving puppets, he circled back to the living dead.
The title on the script was Braindead. That’s what Jackson always intended for the film to be called. It was released as Braindead in some territories. But in other territories, it was released as Dead Alive. Since that’s the title that seems to be used most often when the film is referenced, that’s what we’ll call it here.
The story is set in 1957 because Jackson figured viewers would be able to buy into the insanity of the events more if it were a period piece. It begins on Skull Island – the setting of King Kong and a place the director would revisit a decade later. A New Zealand zoo official has come to obtain a creature that can only be found on the island, a vicious little beast called a rat monkey. Something that is said to be the product of rats breeding with unwilling tree monkeys. The natives, who use the rat monkey in black magic rituals, aren’t happy about this intrusion, but it’s the zoo official’s associates that hack him to pieces when they realize he has been scratched by the rat monkey. The nasty critter is taken to the Wellington Zoo, where it happens to scratch one of the guests: Vera Cosgrove, the overbearing mother of the meek Lionel. Lionel takes his mum home and tries to take care of her, but the scratch of the rat monkey soon has her falling to pieces, turning into a monstrous zombie… and patient zero in a zombie outbreak that Lionel at first tries to contain. Then, it becomes obvious that he’s going to have to destroy these undead creatures. With the assistance of his love interest Paquita and his sleazy Uncle Les, he sets out to end the zombie threat, leading to a glorious final sequence that’s an extended bloodbath.
Relative newcomer Timothy Balme was cast as Lionel. Ian Watkin, who already had two decades of credits at that point, plays his hilariously unpleasant Uncle Les. Elizabeth Moody, who also had several credits, is Lionel’s mum Vera. Apparently Jackson drew from his own life when coming up with the idea of Lionel and Vera’s living situation, since he lived with his own mom until he was 27, around the time he married Fran Walsh. Thankfully, he has assured that his relationship with his mother was much healthier than Lionel and Vera’s. Mrs. Jackson wasn’t a shrew with a homicidal past.
At one point, there was a possibility that Dead Alive might be a New Zealand and Spain co-production. So Jackson decided to cast a Spanish actress as store cashier Paquita, whose Tarot card-reading grandmother says she’s destined to be romantically entangled with Lionel. The role went to telenovela star Diana Peñalver, who had never seen a horror movie before, as she wanted to avoid having nightmares about them. But while the potential Spanish investors ended up backing out, Peñalver stayed with the production. She gave a charming performance, and even delivers one of the film’s most memorable lines: “Your mother ate my dog!”
Jackson was able to secure the three million dollar budget through the New Zealand Film Commission, which had also funded Bad Taste and Meet the Feebles. Then filming began, with an eleven week shooting schedule. Most of which the cast had to endure while coated with gore that was provided by Richard Taylor and his special effects team, soon to be known as Weta Workshop. The actors were uncomfortable and irritated. The gore was sticky. The main set started to smell so bad that it would make people queasy. The syrup in the fake blood fermented under the lights. Yet everyone carried on without complaining.
Making a film with so many special effects would have been a challenge for a lot of filmmakers, but Jackson has said that he actually found the production to be an easy experience. He loved being surrounded by effects, having an excuse to blow things up and make monsters. And he definitely got to do that on this movie. His approach to Dead Alive was to push the splatter beyond the saturation point. To make it so ridiculous, there would be no way viewers could be shocked or offended by it, they would just have to laugh at it with the filmmaker. Jackson didn’t have any interest in making serious, hardcore horror films. As he told Film Threat, “I like comedy too much. I could never make a film that took itself too seriously. Fundamentally, I just want to entertain people, so I usually trade in cheap laughs for true horror. The more over-the-top a gag is, the funnier it will be. I don’t see a problem with that so long as it’s properly executed.”
Rather than the effects, the challenge for him on this one was working with the cast. As he said, Dead Alive was his first opportunity to work with real actors. And working with them made him more interested in the dramatic scenes than he had been previously, opening a new door for him as he moved forward in his career. He wouldn’t be sticking to only making over-the-top horror comedies from this point on.
As Dead Alive started to make its way out into the world in 1992, Jackson learned that not everyone found it palatable. Some did still manage to get shocked and offended by the bloodshed. Some countries were just fine with it. New Zealand and Australia had no problem putting it in their theatres under the title Braindead. The British Board of Film Classification was won over by its light-hearted, comical nature. They considered giving the film a 15 certificate, allowing younger movie-goers to check it out, but in the end figured it had to have an 18 certificate simply due to the amount of gore. Meanwhile, the movie was outright banned in South Korea, Singapore, and Finland, although Finland later reversed the ban. There are versions available in Germany where much of the gore and violence has been removed. The uncut version is banned there, and it’s illegal to show it.
American distributor Trimark is the one that changed the title, since there had just been another horror movie called Brain Dead, starring Bill Pullman and Bill Paxton, released in 1990. Jackson wasn’t enthusiastic that they decided to call it Dead Alive, but he has let it be known that the 97 minute version released in the U.S. is his preferred cut of the film. That’s seven minutes shorter than the unrated Braindead available in other countries, but those lost minutes aren’t the result of censorship. Jackson made the cuts himself and feels the film plays better without those minutes. There is an R-rated cut available in the U.S. that is only 85 minutes long. The minutes in that one were lost due to the censors, and it’s not recommended that you seek it out. If you watch Dead Alive, you have to see the unrated gore. The film is a fun, quirky comedy even between the gross-out moments, but you need the experience of seeing the blood and pus spew across the screen. That’s all part of its charm.
The actors give great comedic performances. Balme’s Lionel bumbling through the zombie situation. Moody’s Vera trying to impress visitors even while her face is falling off. Peñalver’s Paquita pursuing a romance with Lionel despite all the weirdness around him. Watkin’s Uncle Les being inappropriate and repugnant. Or even, in a smaller role, Stuart Devenie as the martial arts skilled Father McGruder, who sets out to remove some zombie hoodlums from the cemetery while declaring, “I kick ass for the Lord!”
Jackson was right, his movie is so silly that you can’t take any of it seriously, no matter what happens on the screen. From mutilation to dog eating, it’s all a joke. And it’s a great, hilarious joke. While paying tribute to the likes of Romero, Raimi, and Gordon, Jackson made something worthy of being ranked alongside the films made by those legends. He and his co-writers set out to show viewers zombie gags they had never seen before, and somehow they were able to do that. The zombie encounters in this movie are packed with cool, clever moments. A zombie with a light bulb in its head. One that has a garden gnome in place of its head. Uncle Les pulling out zombie teeth with pliers so they can’t bite. Zombies that are hopped-up on animal stimulant. Zombies having sex. A zombie baby! We had seen a zombie getting taken out with a lawnmower in Night of the Creeps, but Jackson takes it much further.
It’s impossible to talk about Dead Alive without mentioning the lawnmower scene. It definitely makes an impression. Online trivia claims that three hundred liters, or seventy-nine gallons, of fake blood were used in the filming of this scene… Although an interview with Jackson in Fangoria magazine indicates it was a whole lot more than that. Jackson said the lawnmower was rigged to shoot out three hundred liters of blood per minute. So you can see why this would be the favorite scene of a lot of viewers.
But there are so many great moments in Dead Alive, it can be difficult to choose a favorite. The martial arts fight in the cemetery is definitely a contender. And Jackson has his own pick… a scene that doesn’t have any gore in it at all. It’s a scene that easily could have been removed without having any impact on the film. For a while, it looked like there might not be enough time or money to film it at all. But Jackson managed to fit it in at the very end of the shoot. It’s the scene where Lionel takes the zombie baby Selwyn out for a day in the park. Jackson told Fangoria, “It’s a very Buster Keaton, slapstick kind of sequence. It wasn’t necessary to the plot or anything, but I knew it’d be a real fun scene. We went to the park to shoot it on a day which happened to be beautiful and sunny. After a month spent on the gore-drenched house set, where everyone had just about started to go crazy, it was great. It’s also become my favorite scene to watch.” This scene is great to watch with an audience during theatrical screenings. When a drunk in the park cheers at the sight of Lionel punching the zombie baby and beating it against the side of the swingset, it might get the biggest laugh of anything in the movie.
Dead Alive was a financial failure in the United States. It couldn’t even reach 250,000 dollars during its theatrical release. But it quickly gained a cult following, with horror magazines like Fangoria letting their readers know that Dead Alive was something they needed to see and Peter Jackson was a filmmaker to keep an eye on. As we all know, he did just fine without Dead Alive setting the box office on fire. His next film was the psychological drama Heavenly Creatures, which earned him and Fran Walsh their first Best Screenplay Oscar nomination. He made one more horror comedy, The Frighteners, then he was off to the worlds of Hobbits and Kong, with more Oscar nominations and some wins along the way. Including Best Picture, Best Screenplay, and Best Director.
A while back, Jackson said he was going to restore Dead Alive and possibly Bad Taste and Meet the Feebles for 4K releases. Fans are anxiously waiting to see those… And we’re also desperately clinging on to the hope that someday he’ll return to horror comedy. It’s been more than thirty years since he made a splatter movie, and that’s way too long. It’s time for him to go back to his roots. Set the prestige and big budgets aside and give us something that’s down and dirty and coated with gore.
While we wait and hope for that to happen, Dead Alive is still just as fun to watch now as it was when it first came out. So if you haven’t seen it yet, seek out the unrated cut. Whether it’s the 104 minute Braindead version or 97 minutes of Dead Alive, you’re bound to have fun. Put it on and take a trip to Wellington, New Zealand. Visit with Lionel Cosgrove and his friends and family. And bask in the joy of watching them get splattered with blood and guts. As one of the taglines says, “You’ll laugh yourself sick!”
A couple previous episodes of the Best Horror Movie You Never Saw series can be seen below. To see more, and to check out some of our other shows, head over to the JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channel – and subscribe while you’re there!
Hack the planet! Oh, wait, that’s a different movie about hackers. Never mind. After scaring the daylights out of horror fans in A24‘s Talk to Me – which recently won the Best Horror category at the 22nd Golden Schmoe Awards – Sophie Wilde is lining up her next project with New Regency’s adaptation of the UbiSoft video game Watch Dogs. With over 50 million players since the franchise began in 2014 with the release of Watch Dogs and Watch Dogs: Bad Blood, the film adaptation finds French genre filmmaker Mathieu Turi (The Deep Dark, Meander, Hostile) in the director’s chair. Turi directs Watch Dogs from a script by Christie LeBlanc, who wrote the Alexandre Aja-directed Netflix film Oxygen.
UbiSoft’s Watch Dogs franchise includes the games Watch Dogs, Watch Dogs: Bad Blood, Watch Dogs 2, Watch Dogs: Legion, and Watch Dogs: Legion – Bloodline. The franchise plot varies from game to game, though Watch Dogs generally revolves around different hacker protagonists stirring up trouble in fictionalized versions of real-life cities. Someway or another, these individuals find themselves pulled into criminal underworlds, where lawlessness reigns, and savvy computer skills could turn the tide in their quest to topple evil corporations and stick it to the man.
As you traverse the city and establish yourself as a hacker not to be f*cked with, everything from corrupt companies to crime bosses and rival hackers try to stand in your way. Your adversaries use the ctOS (central Operating System). This fictional computing network connects every electronic device in a city into a single system and stores personal information on most citizens. (via Deadline) Your job is to hack the ctOS and use it to control the city’s devices, boundaries, and security systems.
Sophie Wilde recently wrapped production on Halina Reijn’s upcoming thriller Babygirl. In the film, a successful CEO begins an illicit affair with her much younger intern, and calamity ensues. Nicole Kidman, Harris Dickinson, Antonio Banderas, Jean Reno, John Cenatiempo, and Vaughan Reilly join Wilde as primary cast members.
Are you a fan of UbiSoft’s Watch Dogs franchise? Which installments of the series have you played? Are you interested in what Turi’s adaptation can mean for the game’s future? Let us know in the comments section below.
Although Phoebe Tonkin was in the 2012 shark thriller Bait and the high profile 2022 flop Babylon, most viewers probably know her from her work in television: she has been on multiple episodes H2O: Just Add Water, Home and Away, The Secret Circle, The Vampire Diaries, The Originals, Westworld, Safe Harbour, and more. I just finished watching a Netflix series she was in, Boy Swallows Universe, which I thought was pretty great. Now Tonkin has the lead role in a thriller called Night Shift, which just received a VOD and limited theatrical release today, courtesy of Quiver Distribution. To help you figure out whether or not Night Shift is a movie you’d like to see, we have a clip and the film’s trailer embedded above.
Written and directed by Paul China and Benjamin China, a.k.a. The China Brothers, Night Shift has the following synopsis: While working her first night shift at a remote motel, a young woman, Gwen Taylor (Phoebe Tonkin), begins to suspect that she is being followed by a dangerous character from her past. As the night progresses, Gwen’s isolation and safety, however, are made all the more worse when she starts to realize that the motel might also be haunted.
Tonkin is joined in the cast by Lamorne Morris (New Girl), Madison Hu (The Brothers Sun), Patrick Fischler (Happy!), Lauren Bowles (Veep), Christopher Denham (Billions), Connor Price (X Company), Jess Varley (Take Back the Night), and Tom Dang (The Sympathizer).
Night Shift was produced by Eric B. Fleischman, Maurice Fadida, John Hodges, Bradley Pilz, and Dennis Rainaldi.
I was impressed by Phoebe Tonkin’s performance in Boy Swallows Universe and I’m always looking for a good thriller to watch, so I’m totally on board to check out Night Shift.
What did you think of the Night Shift clip and trailer? Will you be watching the movie this weekend? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
For those in the L.A. area: the Lumiere Cinema in Beverly Hills is holding a special screening of Night Shift tonight at 8:45pm, with The China Brothers, Phoebe Tonkin, and Lamorne Morris in attendance for a post-screening Q&A. Tickets are available HERE.
Bond portrayers in the past have bounced around the globe a bit, beginning with Scot Sean Connery before moving on to Brit Roger Moore, Aussie George Lazenby, Wales’ own Timothy Dalton, then off to Ireland with Pierce Brosnan, before landing on five-timer Daniel Craig, yet another Brit. But for the next James Bond, Brosnan thinks it’s time to return to Ireland, albeit much farther south. So who does Brosnan think could be the next 007? The name’s Murphy, Cillian Murphy.
Speaking with BBC at the Oscar Wilde Awards – so named after the Irish wit – Pierce Brosnan said, “Cillian would do a magnificent job as James Bond on His Majesty’s Secret Service.” This even sounds like Brosnan might be calling for a redo on that 1969 entry, which featured Lazenby’s one-off shot at 007. This wouldn’t be too surprising considering Brosnan has less been enthusiastic about Lazenby compared to other portrayers, saying, “George Lazenby, with mighty flair and a valiant heart, had given it his best.” And we all know how that “best” turned out…
Cillian Murphy was also in attendance at the event, which took place just ahead of the 96th Academy Awards, where he is the odds-on favorite to win Best Actor. With that, if Cillian Murphy were to ever take the role of James Bond – and does win on Sunday – he would be the only person to play the character to already have an Oscar. (Connery won Best Supporting Actor for The Untouchables years after handing over his Aston Martin keys.)
Speaking of Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan has discussed the possibilities of directing a James Bond movie before, saying, in part, “The influence of those movies in my filmography is embarrassingly apparent. It would be an amazing privilege to do one.” It wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility for Nolan to want to cast Murphy, either, seeing as they’ve worked together six times already. Then again, while Brosnan may be genuinely pulling for Murphy or just tossing out his name as the man of the hour, at 47, he has very likely aged out.
What do you think of the idea of Cillian Murphy taking on James Bond? Would he be a good fit or is he simply too old to give it a go? Give us your thoughts in the comments section below!
You didn’t really think Halloween Ends would be the end of the Halloween franchise, did you? That movie may have brought an end to one version of Michael Myers, but the filmmakers can always go back to an earlier iteration – or create a whole new one. Last October, we learned that Halloween will continue with a TV series that Miramax is developing with the company they share the rights to the franchise with, Malek Akkad’s Trancas International Films. Now Miramax’s Marc Helwig has given Deadline an update on the project, revealing that it’s a “creative reset” that takes the franchise back to the original film, John Carpenter’s 1978 classic.
Helwig said the Halloween TV series is “on a fast track, it’s a big priority for us. We’ve had lots of exciting conversations in recent months with a number of really talented people, and I think we’ll have a pretty good idea of what we’re going to be doing very soon. We’re hoping to lock down the creative team very soon. The foundation of (the show) is the original film, the John Carpenter movie, the characters of that film, and perhaps a group of characters that we haven’t really focused on that much in recent film versions or even in a number of them. It’s a creative reset completely and going back to the original film, as opposed to spinning out of any of the more recent film adaptations.“
Judging by that quote, it sounds like we’re going to be seeing the story of Michael Myers, Doctor Loomis, and Laurie Strode and her friends play out all over again, this time on the small screen.
Miramax and Trancas are looking to build a new Halloween universe with this TV series, so it could run for multiple seasons while also branching out into movies.
Are you interested in seeing how the Halloween TV series is going to turn out? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.
Halloween (and A24’s upcoming Friday the 13th series Crystal Lake) follow in the footsteps of Bates Motel, Hannibal, and Chucky, which have brought iconic horror characters to the small screen for multiple seasons. While there was a Friday the 13th TV series in the ’80s, it didn’t have anything to do with Jason Voorhees or his mother… but Freddy Krueger did host an anthology series called Freddy’s Nightmares for a couple seasons.
