The trailer for uplifting drama Sing Sing has arrived ahead of its July theatrical release.
“To die. To sleep. To dream.” In the trailer for the movie, we see Colman Domingo’s character, who is facing 25 years to life at the infamous New York prison, heavily involved with the small theater within the walls, giving hope to those who take part in its productions.
Here is the official plot for the film, as per A24: “A theater troupe finds escape from the realities of incarceration through the creativity of putting on a play in this film based on a real-life rehabilitation program and featuring a cast that includes formerly incarcerated actors.”
Leading the cast is Colman Domingo, who had one heck of a 2023, earning Oscar, Golden Globe and SAG nominations for his tremendous performance in Rustin, as well as lending his voice to DreamWorks’ Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken, turning up in the latest Transformers movie, and playing a crucial role in The Color Purple. Sing Sing premiered at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival. He is also attached to a Nat King Cole biopic.
The supporting cast looks filled with some serious talent as well, notably Sound of Metal’s Paul Raci and Clarence Maclin, who actually went through the Sing Sing’s Rehabilitation Through the Arts program and has earned praise for playing himself. In fact, a good portion of the cast is made up of men who went through the same program. On this and working so closely with Maclin, Domingo previously said it was “the most open and raw that I’ve ever been. You can’t lie. You can’t lie with these guys…I did not think it was important to know about why [Maclin] was ever incarcerated. I wanted to be present with the person that he is today, knowing that the RTA program, what they strive to do, is true rehabilitation.”
Such a story may seem sappy on the surface, but with Oscar-nominated prestige and a dedication to the roots of the story, the movie — which holds a 93% on Rotten Tomatoes as of publication — may get around that.
What did you think of the trailer for Sing Sing? Give us your thoughts in the comments section below.
I have been a fan of director Jeremy Saulnier’s work ever since his feature debut Murder Party was given a home video release back in 2007, and it has been great to watch his career progress through Blue Ruin, Green Room, Hold the Dark, and episodes of True Detective season 3. Anything he does will have my attention, so I was excited when another Saulnier film called Rebel Ridge was announced back in 2019. Unfortunately, we still haven’t seen Rebel Ridge because the Netflix production was delayed by the pandemic lockdowns, then by the departure of lead actor John Boyega a few weeks into filming, reportedly due to “family reasons.” Saulnier did eventually manage to make the movie, though, and he talked about the troubled production during a recent interview with Film Stories.
Admitting that the making of Rebel Ridge saw him “slamming right into the Hollywood I’ve tried to avoid,” Saulnier said, “We came back three years in a row to make that movie.” The first time was disrupted by the pandemic and Boyega leaving was the “issue that shut us down in year two,” but the third time was the charm. With Aaron Pierre (M. Night Shyamalan’s Old, pictured below) taking over the lead role, Rebel Ridge did make it through production on the third attempt. It wrapped in the summer of 2022, has had a positive test screening, and will be getting a sound mix soon. Saulnier said, “Whatever happened to us along the way, it allowed us to cast a young man, Aaron Pierre, who’s on the rise, who would not normally be allowed to helm a – I think the budget’s 40 million, 37 million, whatever it is.“
That budget makes Rebel Ridge the biggest film Saulnier has made yet, as his previous highest budget was on Hold the Dark, made for less than $15 million. When asked if this film would have the same “sense of isolation” as his previous works, he said it’s the opposite. “It’s still a small town, but it is bureaucracy, it is the justice system, it is a militarized police force. All these things that go down. But it’s a lot of interactivity and talking and fighting. And it’s much more thrust into the mix. So maybe I had my fill of [isolation] and I wanted to go a different direction.“
Plot details are being kept under wraps, but the film has been described as a “high-velocity thriller that explores systemic American injustices through bone-breaking action sequences, suspense, and dark humor.” The movie co-stars the legendary Don Johnson, who previously had high praise for the film in an interview we did with him last year.
Are you a fan of Jeremy Saulnier’s work, and are you looking forward to Rebel Ridge? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
It never gets easier to look up the horrors of what real life humans are willing to perpetrate but some of them are harder than others. Looking into the purported Scottish myth that inspiredThe Hills Have Eyesfor example is a whole heck of a lot easier to do than find out the absolutely abysmal crimes that were committed against a young girl in The Girl Next Door. Sadly, today’s movie The Snowtown Murders, a.k.a. Snowtown (watch it HERE), is a lot closer to the sickening facts that happened to The Girl Next Door. While Australia already got our notorious spotlight shined on the fictional Mick Taylor who was a composite of two backpack killers, today we will look at the man who is known as the country’s worst serial killer and unpack what he did and who with. The movie is hard to watch and the true story was harder to read. Look out for any suspicious looking barrels as we find out what REALLY happened to The Snowtown Murders.
The Snowtown Murders, or just Snowtown, was announced by Screen Australia as an important film that they would be funding in 2010. Screen Australia is the principal government film funding operation for the country that goes for movies about Australia and made by Australia. Two books were the basis of the screenplay with Debi Marshall’s Killing for Pleasure: The Definitive Story of the Snowtown Murders and Andrew McGarry’s Snowtown Murders: The Real Story Behind the Bodies in the Barrels Killings. The screenplay and story for the movie was written by Justin Kurzel and Shaun Grant. Kurzel only has this as a major screenplay but has directed a few notable movies besides today’s powerful story such as Macbeth with Marion Cotillard and Michael Fassbender, the forgettable Assassins Creed adaptation, and The True History of the Kelly Gang. Shaun Grant has written a handful of movies including other collaborations with Kurzel and the Teresa Palmer thriller Berlin Syndrome.
Australia has a fun history with horror including the very successful and still fondly remembered run of Ozploitation movies. Next of Kin, Turkey Shoot, and Road Games are just a few examples of a hell of a run from the 70s and 80s that included slashers, supernatural movies, and even soft-core skin flicks. While they never stopped making movies into the 90s and beyond, they both slowed down in release and changed their approach in a lot of ways. From the fun and fantastic of the nihilistic 70s and excess of the 80s to the gritty realism of the 2000s with movies like Rogue and the aforementioned Wolf Creekand its sequel. Snowtown isn’t your traditional horror movie but just like the true story it’s based off of, its much more horrifying than some of the other movies we talked about.
A lot of the actors used in the movie were locals to add to the gritty realism of the movie. They werent professional actors and even though it comes through on film, it almost adds a documentary feel like Night of the Living Dead. The heart of the movie is Jaime Vlassakis, played by Lucas Pittaway. Pittaway has only done two other feature films to go along with tons of shorts and that’s a shame because he has an intensity and star face that could take him anywhere. If he is the heart of the movie, then the dark soul of Snowtown is Daniel Henshall’s John Bunting. Henshall has turned his starmaking role here into a bunch of other roles including parts in Ghost in the Shell and These Final Hours while also appearing in the nation’s favorite new horror movie; Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook.
The movie opens with a voiceover and an introduction to the family and main characters of the movie. Jaime, his mother Elizabeth, and his 2 younger brothers and older half brother Troy all live in the poor area of Salisbury. Elizabeth is dating a man Jeffery who turns out to be a pedophile and takes pictures of the kids and it is alluded that he abuses them as well. She finds out and attacks him. He still lives across the street but a new man by the name of John is introduced to Elizabeth by her cross-dressing friend Barry. John protects the family and terrorizes Jefferey with loud noises, defacing of property, and even mangled kangaroo parts until he eventually moves away. John becomes the missing father figure for everyone except Troy who seems indifferent at best and hates him at worst. John also riles up the rest of the neighborhood to see who is willing to do what to the rest of the alleged pedophiles in town since the police aren’t doing enough.
(Factometer 50%) A lot of this movie is painfully, tragically accurate to the real murders and atrocities that the community went through. they used a lot of the same names with Jaime, Mark, Elizabeth, John, and a few others being names after the real people that were involved. Jaime lived with his mother and his half brother Troy. Bunting moved on to the same street as the family and was very good at being the cult leader type figure depicted on film. He was able to get associates to agree with him and talk them into things that would end up putting a lot of them in jail or in the ground. There doesn’t seem to be a Barry character in real life and while there wasn’t a pedophile boyfriend of Elizbeth, there was a history of sexual abuse with many of the people that lived in the area.
Troy starts a fight with Jaime but shockingly and horrifically, it turns into a sexual assault perpetrated on Jaime by Troy. John has Barry give up all of the names of supposed pedophiles in the area. John shaves his head and Jaime’s to continue to bond with him and then asks him why he allows people to push him around and take advantage of him. He then has Jaime practice shooting a gun by killing John’s dog that he apparently doesn’t care about. Jaime shoots him but is clearly broken up about it and John has to finish the job. We then hear a recording or Barry saying he is going to go away for a while and on screen we see an ominous slow-motion of John and one of his associates looking menacing outside. John and Jaime, who is now fully bought in on John’s beliefs, go and visit another supposed pedophile and his mother even though the mom says he is harmless.
(Factometer 50%) While it happened earlier in his life, Jaime did confide in Bunting that Troy had assaulted him when he was 13. While there wasn’t a Barry in real life to give up the names and instead Bunting would just pick people at random to accuse them of the crimes. He was prejudiced against people with weight problems and homosexuals and the fact that he was sexually assaulted when he was younger only helped to fuel his anger. While I couldn’t find anything in the realm of the dog shooting scene, Bunting definitely had Jaime, as well as a lot of other members of the community, under his spell. He also worked at an abattoir and claimed that killing animals was the best part of the job. Finally, in regards to that chilling voicemail from Barry, that was how Bunting would stay under the radar as he had all of the victims after a certain point create these.
The relationship between John and Elizabeth has become rocky but the hold over Jaime from Bunting is still very strong. Jaime comes home late with Bunting watching the other kids and when Jaime asks what happened to his hand, Bunting casually walks him outside and shows him the dead body of his friend who was a heroin junkie that got Jaime hooked too. He also shows him Barry and tells him to man up when he throws up. Jaime is forced to help cover up and Bunting holds court again but has a meaner steak this time. Things continue to escalate, and Bunting wakes up Jaime to show him Troy and they proceed to torture and murder him with Jaime’s help while also recording another message to explain that he is going away for a while. The scene goes on for an excruciatingly long time until Jamie is the one to deliver the killing blow.
(Factometer 50%) One of the victims was indeed a drug addict who also got Jaime addicted to heroin. Troy also met an eerily similar fate with the men waking him up with an attack and killing him. While Jaime in the movie is seemingly a much more sympathetic person and at times a victim himself, he helped Bunting with a lot more from the actual killings to getting the financial information from the other victims. In a horrifying attention to detail, many of the deaths were as awful as what we see Troy go through, even if that is the only one, we see on film. I think that’s best for everyone making it through this movie. It also adds more shock value when most of the killing happens off screen and then we see a full on murder that lasts a long time.
The cycle of violence continues with now seemingly anyone chosen to be killed. Mentally challenged, overweight, and even just homosexual victims are picked by Bunting and executed. Jaime continues to fall deeper and deeper into either depression of apathy depending on how you look at it. Mark Haydon, one of the main accomplices, admits that he drunkenly told his wife about everything they had done. This leads to her murder and then Jaime leading his stepbrother to the abandoned bank fault in Snowtown where he is killed as the movie ends. The movie draws out the trip to go look at a computer for a long time where Jaime has a chance to change his mind but he doesn’t.
(Factometer 75%) This last section of film is probably the closest to real life. Mark did tell his his wife everything and admitted to that fact. Bunting killed her and Mark apparently laughed when he saw the body, showing how deep into the Bunting cult he was. Jaime also helped get all the financial information from the victims which allowed Bunting to collect money to both support himself and spend on things to keep his followers happy. The lure of a cheap computer in the late 90s was in fact what got Jaimes step brother David out to the bank and he was the last victim. Chillingly, Bunting and Robert Wagner who was Bunting’s main accomplice, cut off, fried up, and ate a piece of David before putting the rest of him in the barrel.
The movie tells us what happened to everyone but when the barrels were found, Wagner and Bunting were given multiple life sentences without the possibility of parole and Jaime would get life sentences as well but with some parole options down the line after helping the police. His mother would die of cancer shortly after the three men were taken into custody. The shock remains the most brutal killing in the countries history and the movie is very close to what actually happened. That fact makes the movie one of those that you should watch once, but may never want to again. Snowtown does an almost too accurate job of showing us what REALLY happened in Australia during the 90s.
A couple of the previous episodes of WTF Really Happened to This Horror Movie? can be seen below. To check out the other shows we have on the JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channel, head over to the channel – and subscribe while you’re there!
The Brothers Sun premiered on Netflix on January 4 and just a few days ago, the show was revealed to be cancelled after one season by the streaming giant. The show offered a darkly comedic unraveling of a secret turf war between crime factions experienced through a naive son in one of the families. The series received a fresh critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes as well as a high viewer score. In the review from our own Alex Maidy, he said, “The Brothers Sun could be the first solid binge of 2024. With a good amount of action, a great amount of heart, and characters worth investing in, this series manages to blend elements of the series Netflix has been importing for years with an original story rooted in Hollywood storytelling.”
All the praise was not enough for Netflix to continue with the show and the star, Academy Award-winner Michelle Yeoh, recently took to Instagram for her reaction to the news of the cancellation. According to Variety, She posted pictures featuring the cast and crew with the caption, “Heartbroken… and finding it so hard to understand why… however, I am so very proud of My ‘Brothers Sun’ family and what we presented to the world. heads held high.”
One of the show’s stars, Justin Chien, who plays Yeoh’s son Charles, would also respond to the news by being grateful for the experience and thanking those who have shown support. He posted on his Instagram, “Thank you for riding with us on this labor of love. It will take some time to digest this news, but I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart for your love and support for the show. Thank you for every post, tweet, edit, interaction, etc. It fills me with so much joy knowing that the show resonated with so many people. Your love made all of our collective work, sacrifices, and heartache, worth it.” Additionally, Chien gave thanks to the Brothers Sun team for “giving their blood, sweat, and tears to make the best show possible” and would show gratitude to the Netflix executives for “giving our story a platform and giving me the opportunity to play a dream role.”
Chien would close out his post, saying, “Thank you all for your love. Without you, this wouldn’t mean nearly as much as it does. I gave everything I had to this show, and I can’t wait to do the same in the next project, whatever, whenever it may be — I promise I will give it my all. Love, Chairleg.”
Over the past three decades, few filmmakers have mastered their craft better than David Fincher. With a fastidious eye for framing and a deep focus on directorial details, Fincher has fashioned some of the most precisely orchestrated cinematic outings since his big screen debut in 1992. Yet, for most avid cinephiles and casual movie fans alike, Fincher will almost always be most associated with Se7en and Fight Club in the 90s and perhaps The Social Network and Gone Girl in the 2010s. If that’s an accurate assessment, then it begs the question – what is David Fincher’s all-time most underrated movie? While the recent release of The Killer is a worthy candidate, and a serious case can be made for Zodiac, The Game continues to be a criminally unheralded psychological thriller that, upon repeat viewings, toys and torments the audience with devious plotting and duplicitous tricks as only Fincher can forge.
Often considered the first post-modern mainstream movie on record, The Game has deservingly garnered a lot more love in the past 25 years than when it was released in 1997. With that in mind, there are a ton of fascinating factoids and interesting tidbits behind the scenes of The Game that even hardcore fans of the film may not be privy to, including the movie’s origin, the inspiration for the project, major casting, and character changes, filming locations, on-set injuries and mishaps, alternate endings, Fincher’s ultimate displeasure with the result, and a lot more, let’s leap off the roof and find out What Happened to David Fincher’s The Game!
Written by John Brancato and Michael Ferris, The Game originated as a spec script purchased by MGM in 1991. When the studio put the project in turnaround that same year, Propaganda Films scooped up the rights, and director Jonathan Mostow was assigned to direct the movie. At the time Mostow was on board, Kyle MacLachlan and Bridget Fonda were cast in the lead roles of Nicholas Van Orton and Christine, respectively. The film got so far as a planned shooting schedule slated for February 1993. However, in early 1992, The Game was transferred from MGM to PolyGram Filmed Entertainment. During the transition, Mostow bowed out as the director but remained on board as an executive producer.
Once producer Steve Golin purchased the rights to the film from MGM, he handed the script to David Fincher. Although Fincher enjoyed the plot twists featured in the story, he recruited his writing partner Andrew Kevin Walker, who wrote Se7en, to punch up the screenplay. In particular, Walker was tasked with making Van Orton more cynical and meanspirited. Fincher and Walker slaved over the script for the next six weeks, doing everything in their power to tighten up the narrative. Oddly enough, Fincher cited three movies as inspirational touchstones for The Game, telling The Washington Times that Van Orton’s character was envisioned as a “fashionable, good-looking Scrooge, lured into a Mission: Impossible situation with a steroid shot in the thigh from The Sting“. Somehow, neither of those movies readily translates to the final result.
We’ll dive into how Fincher’s cinematic inspirations did not have the intended effect on The Game later. For now, it’s worth noting that by 1996, writer Larry Gross was recruited to revise the screenplay with Walker. One of the first changes made included an originally scripted scene in which Van Orton kills Christine before committing suicide in the final act. In Fincher’s view, the scene did not make sense and needed to be removed.
One of the most interesting facts about The Game has to do with the casting of the film. First of all, Fincher initially intended to make The Game before Se7en. However, when Brad Pitt became available, Fincher made Se7en his top priority and put The Game on the back burner. The critical and commercial success of Se7en allowed the producers of The Game to increase their budget, which ultimately ballooned to $70 million. As such, Fincher and the producers approached Michael Douglas to star as Nicholas Van Orton in The Game. At first, Douglas balked, claiming that PolyGram wasn’t a big enough distributor to release a financially viable film. Once Douglas finally boarded the project, his star status helped launch the movie’s production. But here’s where things get truly bizarre.
At the 1996 Cannes Film Festival, PloyGram announced that two-time Oscar-winner Jodie Foster would star opposite Douglas in The Game. At first, Foster was set to play Christine. However, Fincher was not comfortable casting such a bona fide movie star like Foster in a supporting role. As a result, Fincher wanted to change Foster’s character to be Van Orton’s daughter. This did not sit well with Douglas and his infamous ego, and he insisted that Foster’s character be changed from Van Orton’s daughter to his sister. Foster found this incredibly odd since she happens to be 19 years younger than Douglas. Moreover, Foster felt she couldn’t possibly play Douglas’ sister after the two actors appeared together in the 1972 movie Napoleon and Samantha. In that film, Douglas played Foster’s legal guardian and served as a father figure. At the time the movie was made, Douglas was 28 years old while Foster was only nine.
What most fans of The Game don’t know is that Foster sued PolyGram in court for $54.5 million for the casting snafu, despite her production company, Egg Pictures, co-producing the movie. Foster was also forced to bow out of the movie due to her scheduling obligations on Robert Zemeckis’ Contact. Even so, Foster sued PolyGram for an oral breach of contract, in which she claimed the company agreed for her to appear in The Game.
After the lawsuit was settled out of court, the Conrad character was offered to Jeff Bridges. Once Bridges passed on the part, Sean Penn was ultimately cast as Nicolas Van Orton’s brother Conrad. Meanwhile, the role of Christine was awarded to Deborah Kara Unger. According to Entertainment Weekly, Unger won the role after submitting an audition tape in which she recreated a two-minute sex scene from David Cronenebrg’s Crash. After Douglas initially thought the audition was a practical joke, he and Fincher met with Unger in person and were immediately taken by her presence and she was given the role. While filming the movie, Unger reportedly suffered a fractured foot and was forced to hop inside a filthy dumpster filled with live rats to film one exterior scene. Considering Fincher’s infamous number of takes, it’s unknown how many times Unger went dumpster diving while filming The Game.
Another casting tidbit that often goes unnoticed relates to Nicholas’ father. The character is hauntingly depicted in flashbacks plummeting from the roof of Nicholas’ childhood home to his suicidal demise. Believe it or not, Charles Martinet, the actor who famously voiced Nintendo’s Mario for decades, plays Van Orton’s father in The Game. Guess he didn’t have enough star power to survive the fall. Get it, Mario, star power…oh never mind.
Principal photography on The Game officially began on August 13, 1996, and lasted until January 7, 1997. Although PolyGram insisted on filming in Los Angeles because it was more cost-effective, the five-month, 100-day film shoot took place primarily in San Francisco, California, and the surrounding Bay Area. Fincher originally considered filming in Chicago, Illinois, and Seattle, Washington, but Chicago did not have the kind of Victorian mansions Fincher sought for the project and Seattle was devoid of a financial district to hint at the kind of “old money, Wall Street Vibe” that San Francisco had. The steep hills of San Francisco were also emphasized visually by Fincher to underscore the class differences among the characters in the film. Most of The Game was shot at night and on weekends, with several pickups completed in Los Angeles as well. One of the most striking locations in the movie includes Nicholas’ gaudy mansion, which was filmed at Filoli Mansion in Woodside California, located roughly 25 miles south of San Francisco. Other famous San Francisco sites include Golden Gate Park and The Presidio of San Francisco.
To establish the noirish, nocturnal visual tableau of the movie, Fincher hired the late great cinematographer Harris Savides to light and lens the picture, a collaborator he was familiar with from his music video days in the early 90s. Savides was nicknamed Haggis, and whether it’s true or not, Fincher once told Empire Magazine that a can of haggis can be found in every single scene of the movie as an inside joke relating to his longtime DP. Regardless, Savides sought to achieve a “rich and supple” texture with the aesthetic of the movie and used The Godfather as an inspirational blueprint to film in stunning locations while retaining a portentous tone.
Meanwhile, Fincher used a chemical printing process known as Bleach Bypassing to give the Technicolor nighttime sequences a smoother appearance. For Fincher, the challenge was to keep audiences deceived while keeping them engaged through “45 minutes of red herrings.” To keep the audience’s undivided attention amid Nicholas’ Kafkaesque nightmare, Fincher opted to film scenes as straightforward as possible with one camera rather than confusing viewers with multiple cameras, which runs the risk of “boring people with coverage.” According to Fincher in the DVD audio commentary for the film:
“My tact on it was I wanted to present in as wide a frame and as unloaded a situation point-of-view as possible. As much as a kind of simple proscenium way, ‘this is what’s going on, this is what this guy sees, and to experience the movie through Michael Douglas. And you have to be cautious of doing too much cinematic engineering.”
One of the most intense scenes in the film comes when Nicholas’ taxi flies off a dock and plunges into the San Francisco Bay. The exterior shot of the taxi submerging underwater was filmed near the famous Embaradero waterfront in San Francisco. However, the interior of the taxi cab was filmed with Michael Douglas in a water tank on a soundstage at Sony Pictures Studio in Los Angeles. Douglas was fitted into a contraption dressed to resemble the interior of the taxi cab, with three cameras rolling simultaneously to capture the underwater footage. Thanks to the movie magic and power of editing, the harrowing sequence feels like one contiguous take, despite being filmed piecemeal on location and in a studio backlot.
As for the scene in which Nicholas suddenly awakes in a Mexican tomb, the scene was genuinely shot in Mexicali, Baja, California in Norte Mexico. Sam Peckinpah fans may notice how Nicholas adorns the same dusty suit worn by Warren Oats in the badass 1974 movie Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia. Far from a coincidence, the entire sequence was meant as an affectionate homage to the twisted Peckinpah classic.
Speaking of classic twists, the ending of The Game has long courted controversy, with many feeling that Conrad’s grand charade is a total copout at best and an insulting slap in the face at worst. The notion that everything Nicholas endured was one big practical birthday joke orchestrated by his brother left many viewers upset and feeling cheated with an unsatisfying sense of closure that essentially rendered all of the events before completely meaningless. It’s also worth noting that an alternate ending was filmed for The Game, which takes place following Conrad’s revelation that Nicholas’s entire misadventure has been one giant calculated ruse.
In the alternate ending, instead of having one awkward final encounter with Christine, Nicholas exits the hotel alone at night and wanders toward the sidewalk. When asked if he’d like a taxi, Nicholas devilishly glints at the camera and says, “No, I don’t think so. Thank you,” and ambles down the sidewalk by himself. While this feels like a more germane conclusion than the one featured in the theatrical release, Michael Douglas still feels strongly about the movie in retrospect. When promoting Ant-Man in 2015, Douglas told Collider:
“I think what I’m most proud about is that it’s one of the very few movies that you could not guess the ending. That’s why I’m such a big sports fan, with sports you can never guess what’s gonna happen. Most movies you get halfway through and you can kind of guess the ending. The Game you could never figure out what the ending was gonna be. David Fincher is a very talented filmmaker. It was an extremely tough shoot, it was very long, a lot of nights. I thought it was a really well-made picture, very unpredictable and I do hear that picture when I talk about movies that I’ve made that people liked a lot.”
Unfortunately, Fincher isn’t as proud of the picture as Douglas seems to be, often lamenting his inability to construct a tighter third act and more gratifying finale. Fincher credits his wife and longtime producing partner Cean Chaffin for urging him not to make The Game and blames himself for stubbornly ignoring her concerns at the time.
According to Fincher via Playboy, Chaffin: “Was extremely vociferous, for instance, when she said, ‘Don’t make The Game’ and in hindsight, my wife was right. We didn’t figure out the third act, and it was my fault because I thought if you could just keep your foot on the throttle it would be liberating and funny. I know what I like, and one thing I definitely like is not knowing where a movie is going. These days, though, it’s hard to get audiences to give themselves over. They want to see the whole movie in a 90-second trailer.”
What Fincher thought would be liberating and funny turned out to be a joke too dark and twisted for many viewers to appreciate at the time. Although the film drew mostly positive reviews from critics and earned $109.4 million worldwide against a $70 million budget, The Game was viewed as a minor disappointment compared to the box office success of Fincher’s Se7en. However, the movie has become a beloved cult classic over the past 25 years and is now often regarded as one of Fincher’s most underrated features. Ironically, the very aspects of the film that may have alienated audiences in 1997 have been reappraised as a progenitor of post-modern cinema. Fincher perfectly articulates the post-modern phenomenon and how it applies to The Game, telling The Independent:
“Movies usually make a pact with the audience that says: we’re going to play it straight. What we show you is going to add up. But we don’t do that. In that respect, it’s about movies and how movies dole out information.”
Indeed, by putting viewers into Nicholas’ shoes and viewing the action through his perspective, the movie implicates the audience as the protagonist and the entire experience becomes less about the final destination than the winding journey. The plot is less about where Nicholas ends up and more about how the movie plots function, manipulate, trick, tease, and misguide moviegoers with images and exposition. This distinction may not have been appreciated widely in 1997, but with viewers becoming more sophisticated over the past 25 years, The Game remains more important than ever nowadays. Fincher may not feel that way personally, but in terms of how the film has been received retroactively, The Game has fittingly become much more lasting and durable than a puzzling cinematic toy.
More than a decade has gone by since the Twilight Saga ran its course on the big screen, with five movies telling the story of the four books in author Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series. So, of course, Lionsgate is working to figure out ways to revive the franchise. While there are some side stories and reimaginings that could still be brought to the screen (Life and Death: Twilight Reimagined swaps the genders of the lead characters, Midnight Sun tells the story of the first Twilight book from the perspective of a different character, The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner is a novella featuring one of the vampires from the saga), it doesn’t seem like they’re interested in greenlighting any of those projects. Last year, it was announced that a Twilight TV series was in development – and now Variety has confirmed that Lionsgate Television is shopping around a small screen version of the story – not as a live-action show, but an animated series!
Michael Burns, vice chairman of Lionsgate, brought up the project during a media conference, saying, “We’re going to go out with the Twilight series, an animated series, I think there’ll be a lot of interest in that.” That was the same conference where he also revealed that another John Wick-related TV series is also in the works.
When we first heard that Lionsgate would be taking Twilight to TV, it was said that Meyer was expected to be involved with the series, with Wyck Godfrey and Erik Feig serving as executive producers. Feig was the executive at Summit Entertainment (formerly a standalone studio, now a Lionsgate label) who bought the Twilight film rights after Paramount Pictures’ MTV Films had put the project through three years of development hell. Godfrey’s company Temple Hill produced all five of the films, which earned a total of more than $3 billion at the global box office.
The first of the Twilight movies was directed by Catherine Hardwicke, who recently suggested that Jenna Ortega and Jacob Elordi would be good choices to star in a reboot.
Do you agree with Lionsgate Television that a Twilight animated series would be a great idea? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.
The Lexes meet! Nicholas Hoult has had an illustrious career, which already includes a go-around as a comic book superhero in a big franchise as he played Hank McCoy, also known as Beast, in the later versions of the X-Men movies. Now, he will be playing Superman’s famous arch-nemesis, Lex Luthor, for James Gunn in the upcoming DCU reboot, Superman. The film has commenced its production with each day getting teases left and right with Gunn posting photos from the set and a big teasing reveal of the new Superman suit. In one of the cast images, Nicholas Hoult is shown in full bald glory as he reports for duty as Lex.
Just prior to filming, Hoult would stop by Michael Rosenbaum’s Inside of You podcast for an interview. The Hollywood Reporter reveals that Hoult discussed his preparation for playing Lex. Hoult revealed that some dialogue from the comic, All-Star Superman, provided the inspiration for the direction of his incarnation. He explained, “There’s that bit in All-Star Superman [comic book series] where he talks about his muscles being real and hard work and all that. I kind of took that as a little bit of fuel for the fire.” However, he would point out that it’s more of a psychological jumping off point for his portrayal and that we won’t likely be showing off his physique in the film.
Of course, although Rosenbaum is now a prominent podcast host, it’s not lost on Hoult that he’s talking to a vet of the character and even revealed that Rosenbaum’s Smallville interpretation was his first exposure to the character in live action and it became his personal favorite. “The first ever Lex I saw was you. Yeah, I grew up, Smallville was on. That was the show I would watch and see my first iterations of Superman and Lex and all those stories. I’ve since seen Richard Donner’s movies and all the other ones and kind of seen some of the other performances but you’re like the one. … It’s the best.”
The Renfield star also commented on his experience auditioning for Gunn. He revealed that Gunn has the “ability to keep things fun and alive and try things in the moment and be like, just shouting out from the monitors, ‘Say this line. Do this! Do that!’ And that’s something that I really enjoy. … That’s the whole process of prep for me is like, be prepared as possible so when you get there you can throw it all away and do whatever you want in the moment.”
Dune: Part Two has been a phenomenon even prior to its release, with sold-out screenings, pushes for an Oscar campaign already and some questionable tie-in merchandise…But one story adds an entirely new element to not only for fans but director Denis Villeneuve, who granted a dying man’s wish to see Dune: Part Two before he passed away.
Josée Gagnon, who runs the Canada-based charity L’Avant, recounted his journey of getting in touch with Dune: Part Two director Denis Villeneuve and producer wife Tanya Lapointe in hopes of making the screening happen, even though it was more than a month and a half before the film was due to hit theaters. They had invited him to see it in Los Angeles, but the man was too weak to travel. Instead, they sent an assistant with Villeneuve’s laptop, which contained a full version of the film. The screening happened on January 16th.
As Gagnon wrote on Facebook (via Google Translate), “They were extremely touched by this man’s last wish. They told me, ‘It’s precisely for him that we make films.’” Still, it was an arduous journey in making the intimate Dune: Part Two screening happen. “Nothing was possible. Time was passing. The dying man was dying. A race against time. Then with the help of my accomplice and Denis’ team, we managed to create something wonderful…”
That wonderful moment found the man’s dreams coming true, experiencing Dune: Part Two before the general public. “The man was so weak that we thought he might die while watching the film. He didn’t have the strength to listen to it all. It didn’t matter. This man who had a very difficult start to life saw extremely important people mobilize to carry out his last wish. Then that was worth all the gold in the world.” The man would die just a few days later.
This is a pretty remarkable and touching story, one that even further puts the filmmakers behind Dune: Part Two in good light, showing a level of humanity that we don’t often associate with Hollywood.
A lot of stand-up comedians have bad nights, but only a select few get leaked to mainstream media and prove to be TMZ fodder. But that’s just what happened to Nick Swardson at a recent gig, showing up on stage inebriated to the point that he couldn’t go on with his act and was escorted off stage.
In clips that surfaced online, Nick Swardson is seen repeatedly saying, “Here we go” and referring to Jason Statham in The Beekeeper, teasing an impression that never quite materialized in the way Swardson probably intended. This was quickly greeted with boos and walk-outs. At one point he asks, “Do you want me to finish this or no?” Tickets buyers did not, to which Swardson sloppily responded, “But what if…I finish this?” He was not allowed to finish his set, being taken off stage around 20 minutes in. At this point, a stage manager told the crowd, “We’ve decided to conclude the show early in the best interest of those who bought tickets…We apologize for what you’ve seen tonight. Please email the box office. We’ll be responding to inquiries and processing credits and refunds.”
On Monday, the day after the disastrous performance in Colorado, Nick Swardson took to social media to address the situation, posting on X, “Just casually woke up on TMZ. Travel tip: don’t drink and take edibles in high altitude. F*cking brain diarrhea. I’ll make it up to you Beaver Creek!”
Just casually woke up on TMZ. Travel tip: don’t drink and take edibles in high altitude. Fucking brain diarrhea. I’ll make it up to you Beaver Creek!
After the lights were turned off, Nick Swardson stayed on stage, asking the remaining attendees, “Who here knows who Norm MacDonald is?”, referring to Swardson’s friend who died in September 2021. This does seem like the most troubling point in the night; and while we don’t know if Swardson’s drunkenness was a reaction to memories of MacDonald or if there is actually a point in the set that works in a MacDonald bit (having not seen Swardson perform; I’ll keep my $30 thank you very much), his closeness with the late comedian may point to a serious issue of coping for Swardson.
It can be easy to mock a comedian who bombs – or is bombed – but Nick Swardson’s alcohol intake on set has been documented before by those in attendance. Obviously this is no joke and hopefully he gets any help he may need. Fellow comedian Adam Carolla – whose own drinking has been the discussion of fans – showed his support, writing, “Love you, Nick.”
According to his official website, Nick Swardson – who recently leant his voice to Leo for friend Adam Sandler – has more shows this month in Colorado before heading to Florida, New York and Connecticut.
What do you make of Nick Swardson’s disastrous set?
A lot of stand-up comedians have bad nights, but only a select few get leaked to mainstream media and prove to be TMZ fodder. But that’s just what happened to Nick Swardson at a recent gig, showing up on stage inebriated to the point that he couldn’t go on with his act and was escorted off stage.
In clips that surfaced online, Nick Swardson is seen repeatedly saying, “Here we go” and referring to Jason Statham in The Beekeeper, teasing an impression that never quite materialized in the way Swardson probably intended. This was quickly greeted with boos and walk-outs. At one point he asks, “Do you want me to finish this or no?” Tickets buyers did not, to which Swardson sloppily responded, “But what if… I finish this?” He was not allowed to finish his set, being taken off stage around 20 minutes in. At this point, a stage manager told the crowd, “We’ve decided to conclude the show early in the best interest of those who bought tickets… We apologize for what you’ve seen tonight. Please email the box office. We’ll be responding to inquiries and processing credits and refunds.”
On Monday, the day after the disastrous performance in Colorado, Nick Swardson took to social media to address the situation, posting on X, “Just casually woke up on TMZ. Travel tip: don’t drink and take edibles in high altitude. F*cking brain diarrhea. I’ll make it up to you Beaver Creek!”
Just casually woke up on TMZ. Travel tip: don’t drink and take edibles in high altitude. Fucking brain diarrhea. I’ll make it up to you Beaver Creek!
After the lights were turned off, Nick Swardson stayed on stage, asking the remaining attendees, “Who here knows who Norm MacDonald is?”, referring to Swardson’s friend who died in September 2021. This does seem like the most troubling point in the night; and while we don’t know if Swardson’s drunkenness was a reaction to memories of MacDonald or if there is actually a point in the set that works in a MacDonald bit (having not seen Swardson perform; I’ll keep my $30 thank you very much), his closeness with the late comedian may point to a serious issue of coping for Swardson.
It can be easy to mock a comedian who bombs – or is bombed – but Nick Swardson’s alcohol intake on set has been documented before by those in attendance. Obviously this is no joke and hopefully he gets any help he may need. Fellow comedian Adam Carolla – whose own drinking has been the discussion of fans – showed his support, writing, “Love you, Nick.”
According to his official website, Nick Swardson – who recently leant his voice to Leo for friend Adam Sandler – has more shows this month in Colorado before heading to Florida, New York and Connecticut.
What do you make of Nick Swardson’s disastrous set?
