Just about every young actor in Hollywood came running when George Lucas began looking for someone to play Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars: Attack of the Clones. Hayden Christensen was one of them, but he never believed he’d actually get the Star Wars role, particularly when he learned that major actors such as Leonardo DiCaprio were supposedly in the running.

“I was 18, and I got a call from my agent saying that they were casting for Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars and I thought, ‘Wow, how cool.’ But it just seemed too big,” Christensen told Empire. “And I remember asking my agent, ‘Is there maybe another role that they’re also casting right now that you can put me up for? Because Anakin sort of seems unattainable.’ And there was not. So I threw my name in the hat like everyone else.“

Christensen added, “I had heard that they’d met with Leonardo and a bunch of other actors. That just confirmed my thought that the role would go to another actor. Through the entire auditioning process I had told myself, from day one, that I wasn’t going to get the part. It just wasn’t a possibility. And I think that probably helped me a lot, because it just freed me up in a lot of ways. And so it really came as a surprise to me when I got the part.“

Playing Anakin Skywalker thrust Christensen into the spotlight, and the actor appreciated that George Lucas helped him deal with it. “It was a big adjustment for me,” he said. “Everything changed pretty quickly in my life when I got cast in Star Wars, you know? It was an exciting time, but everything was very new. I appreciated that George Lucas went out of his way to try to help me navigate a lot of that. But there’s no way of really preparing for it. You just sort of learn as you go.“

Unfortunately, the newfound attention wasn’t always positive, and Christensen faced the full force of disgruntled Star Wars fans.

Because Star Wars has had the cultural impact that it has, these characters almost become public domain, where people feel a sense of ownership over them. The character was criticised, my performance was criticised, and that part sucked. But I also felt like I had some context that perhaps helped a little bit. When Episode I came out, there was a lot of excitement that they were making a new Star Wars, and it was going to be the backstory of Darth Vader. But I had friends that were upset that the character was starting off as this young kid. And I watched the film, and I loved it. It was everything I wanted and more.

Christensen continued, “And I didn’t understand the disconnect between the movie that I saw, and the negativity in some of the reviews. In a way that sort of criticism, I think, comes from a certain failure of their own suspension of disbelief. If you’re gonna go sit in a theatre, and the opening scroll starts with, ‘A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away,’ that’s setting the stage that anything is possible. These people don’t need to sound and behave the way that we might expect. And if you’re going to sit down and think that you’re getting something that is of our current zeitgeist, then you’re setting yourself up for something else.” Thankfully, the actor’s return for Obi-Wan Kenobi and Ahsoka was celebrated by fans.

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Tulsa King was a big hit for Paramount+, and they quickly renewed the series for season 2, but it was reported last year that showrunner Terence Winter would be stepping down due to creative differences with creator Taylor Sheridan. However, it looks like Winter will be returning for the second season after all.

Terence Winter won’t be reprising his role of showrunner for Tulsa King season 2 but will focus primarily on writing for the show as well as working closely with Sylvester Stallone. “He loves these characters and loved working with Sly and was glad his post-strike schedule allowed him to return to write but not run the show,” one source told THR. This new role will also limit his contact with Taylor Sheridan. The production will be bringing in an as-yet-unnamed-executive producer and director to assist on the production side, but won’t have a traditional showrunner.

Sheridan has famously butted heads with other showrunners, who he claimed haven’t been motivated by his directives. “My stories have a very simple plot that is driven by the characters as opposed to characters driven by a plot — the antithesis of the way television is normally modeled,” Sheridan told THR last year. “I’m really interested in the dirty of the relationships in literally every scene. But when you hire a room that may not be motivated by those same qualities — and a writer always wants to take ownership of something they’re writing — and I give this directive and they’re not feeling it, then they’re going to come up with their own qualities. So for me, writers rooms, they haven’t worked.“

Tulsa King “follows New York mafia capo Dwight ‘The General’ Manfredi (Stallone), just after he is released from prison after 25 years and unceremoniously exiled by his boss to set up shop in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Realizing that his mob family may not have his best interests in mind, Dwight slowly builds a crew from a group of unlikely characters to help him establish a new criminal empire in a place that to him might as well be another planet.” The second season is expected to debut on Paramount+ this fall.

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When you look at the cast of Francis Ford Coppola’s adaptation of S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders, it’s pretty amazing how many up-and-coming young actors were involved, most of whom were complete unknowns at that point. Over forty years after its release, Coppola has shared audition footage of The Outsiders on Instagram, featuring Tom Cruise, Patrick Swayze, Matt Dillion, Ralph Macchio, and more. There’s even footage of actors who didn’t get roles in the movie, including a young Anthony Michael Hall.

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“42 years ago we cast ‘The Outsiders’ in a unique way,” Coppola wrote in the caption. “We had all the actors together on a soundstage and would alternate different actors reading for different roles. It was interesting because each of them was watching their competition, so while it could’ve been a volatile situation, it turned into a very positive one.  There emerged the natural respect and sense of colleagueship among them. The result worked beautifully and reminded me of my days as a camp counselor.” The footage has been available previously on various home-media releases, but it’s still fun to see.

A few of the actors involved chimed in after Coppola posted the audition video from The Outsiders, including Ralph Macchio, who said, “These auditions and this film experiences still inform me today. Feels like this was just yesterday!” C. Thomas Howell, who starred as Ponyboy, added, “The people that came to these auditions… so many went on to have great careers. Amazing.” The film follows the rivalry between two gangs, the poor Greasers and the rich Socs, which heats up when one gang member accidentally kills a member of the other. I probably haven’t watched the movie since… whatever grade it was that we read the novel, perhaps it’s time for a revisit.

Coppola has been hard at work on Megalopolis, his long-in-development passion project. Details have largely been kept under wraps, but it’s said to center on an architect who seeks to rebuild New York City as a utopia after a disaster. The film boasts quite the star-studded ensemble cast, including Adam Driver, Forest Whitaker, Nathalie Emmanuel, Jon Voight, Laurence Fishburne, Giancarlo Esposito, Aubrey Plaza, Shia LaBeouf, Chloe Fineman, Kathryn Hunter, Dustin Hoffman, DB Sweeney, Talia Shire, Jason Schwartzman, Bailey Ives, Grace Vanderwaal, and James Remar.

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James Gunn took to Instagram to celebrate the first day of principal photograph on Superman: Legacy, except, that’s not what the movie is called anymore. The new title of Superman: Legacy is now simply… Superman.

“Overjoyed to be announcing the start of principal photography on SUPERMAN today, February 29, which just so happens to be – coincidentally and unplanned – Superman’s birthday,” Gunn wrote. “When I finished the first draft of the script, I called the film Superman: Legacy. By the time I locked the final draft, it was clear the title was SUPERMAN. Making our way to you July 2025.“

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The image which James Gunn posted on Instagram includes a close-up of Superman’s suit covered in snow, which could be our first official look at the new costume. I can’t wait to see more. Warner Bros. really needs a hit to launch this new DC Universe, so I’ve got my fingers crossed that Superman will get things started on the right foot.

Superman will star David Corenswet (Pearl) as Clark Kent and Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvelous Ms. Maisel) as Lois Lane. The film will also feature Nathan Fillion (The Rookie) as Guy Gardner, a charismatic and slightly obnoxious member of the Green Lantern Corps; Isabela Merced (Dora and the Lost City of Gold) as Hawkgirl; Edi Gathegi (X-Men: First Class) as Mister Terrific; Anthony Carrigan (Barry) as Metamorpho; María Gabriela de Faría (Deadly Class) as The Engineer, a member of The Authority; Sara Sampaio (At Midnight) as Eve Teschmacher; and Skyler Gisondo (The Righteous Gemstones) as Jimmy Olsen. Nicholas Hoult is also set to appear as Lex Luthor, which Gunn finally confirmed late last year.

Co-chair of DC Studios Peter Safran has teased that Superman will not be an origin story and will focus on “Superman balancing his Kryptonian heritage with his human upbringing. Superman represents truth, justice and the American way. He is kindness in a world that thinks of kindness as old fashioned.” Superman is slated to hit theaters on July 11, 2025.

What do you think of the Superman: Legacy title change? Does just plain Superman work better?

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If there’s one positive thing even the many people he’s had feuds with might say about Vin Diesel, it’s that when he latches onto a character or concept, he doesn’t let them go. He may have skipped the first sequel to The Fast and the Furious, but once he did return to the role of Dominic Toretto, he made sure the sequels kept reaching theatres at a fast and furious pace. Few movie-goers seem to care about the Richard B. Riddick character beyond Pitch Black, but that hasn’t stopped Diesel from continuing to push sequels forward – and apparently Riddick 4 isn’t far off from production. Then there’s his 2015 fantasy/action film The Last Witch Hunter, which didn’t gain a lot of fans (although JoBlo’s own Alex Maidy dug it). Diesel liked it, so we might just get a The Last Witch Hunter sequel one of these days.

Diesel has previously teased that another Last Witch Hunter was in the works back in 2019 and 2020, and today he took to Instagram to confirm that he still intends to return to that story and character someday. He wrote, “I have been blessed to embody so many iconic characters… some universal, and some that only some of you know. It was an honor to bring an immortal to the screen for Lionsgate… someday I will explain where my head and heart was and why the character of Kaulder was so significant to me… it was a powerful moment in my life, as many of you know. Can’t wait until you see where the immortal goes next.“

Directed by Breck Eisner, The Last Witch Hunter had a story crafted by Cory Goodman, Matt Sazama, and Burk Sharpless: The modern world holds many secrets, but the most astounding secret of all is that witches still live amongst us; vicious supernatural creatures intent on unleashing the Black Death upon the world. Armies of witch hunters battled the unnatural enemy across the globe for centuries, including KAULDER, a valiant warrior who managed to slay the all-powerful QUEEN WITCH, decimating her followers in the process. In the moments right before her death, the QUEEN curses KAULDER with her own immortality, forever separating him from his beloved wife and daughter in the afterlife. Today KAULDER is the only one of his kind remaining, and has spent centuries hunting down rogue witches, all the while yearning for his long-lost loved ones. However, unbeknownst to KAULDER, the QUEEN WITCH is resurrected and seeks revenge on her killer causing an epic battle that will determine the survival of the human race.

Would you like to see Vin Diesel reprise the role of Kaulder in a The Last Witch Hunter sequel? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.

I only saw The Last Witch Hunter once, back in 2015, and all I remember about it is that I didn’t enjoy it…

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What’s black and red and sinister all over? Our first look at Rinzler in Disney’s next chapter of the TRON franchise, TRON: Ares. In the official first-look image from TRON: Ares, Rinzler gives us an over-the-shoulder stare while wearing a black suit lined with red trim. They’re holding a matching black Identity Disc in their right hand and ready to smoke the competition.

TRON: Ares “follows a highly sophisticated Program, Ares, who is sent from the digital world into the real world on a dangerous mission, marking humankind’s first encounter with A.I. beings.”

TRON: Ares is a follow-up to Disney’s 1982 seminal science fiction film TRON and the 2010 sequel, TRON: Legacy. Jared Leto leads the cast of TRON: Ares, with Greta Lee, Evan Peters, Hasan Minhaj, Jodie Turner-Smith, Arturo Castro, Cameron Monaghan, and Gillian Anderson filling out the primary cast.

TRON: Ares is in production in Vancouver and is slated for a 2025 release. Joachim Rønning (Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, Kon-Tiki, Pirates of Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales) directs from material written by Steven Lisberger, Bonnie MacBird, and Jack Thorne.

Speaking about the forthcoming TRON film, Rønning said, “I’m excited to be part of the TRON franchise and bring this new film to fans around the world. ‘TRON: Ares’ builds upon the legacy of cutting-edge design, technology and storytelling. Now more than ever, it feels like the right time to return to the Grid.”

Sean Bailey, Jeffrey Silver, Justin Springer, Jared Leto, Emma Ludbrook, and Steven Lisberger are the producers, with Russell Allen serving as executive producer.

TRON: Ares was an unfortunate victim of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes last year, causing the film’s production to be delayed. Speaking about the film’s status at the time, Rønning posted the following message to social media. 

“Today was supposed to be our first day of principal photography on TRON: ARES (a movie subsequently about AI and what it means, and takes, to be human),” Rønning said in a straight-forward Instagram post in August. “Instead, we are shut down with over a hundred and fifty people laid off. It’s indefinite, which makes it exponentially harder for everyone…The AMPTP, SAG-AFTRA and WGA need to speed up the negotiating process and not leave the table until it’s done. This is Hollywood. We close deals for breakfast. Why do we suddenly have all the time in the world when every day is so precious? These tactics are extremely frustrating. It’s time for diplomacy so we can get back to work – under conditions that are fair to everybody #amptp #sagaftra #wga”. That Tron: Ares centers around artificial intelligence is quite interesting, considering the topic is a major point in negotiations for both unions.”

Are you excited about TRON: Ares? What do you think about today’s first look image? Let us know in the comments section below.

More details to come…

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As far as Marvel movies go, Black Widow is one of the most divisive entries in the long-running series of inter-connected superhero slugfests. While some fans feel the movie was too late to the party, others say it was a questionable display of Marvel’s dependence on shotty VFX above character-driven narratives. On another end of the spectrum, Ray Winstone, who plays Dreykov, the film’s Big Bad and dominating force behind the Red Room project, says making the movie was a nightmare. Winstone’s experience in the film was so exhausting that the actor tried to have himself recast.

Speaking with Radio Times, Winstone said, “It was fine until you have to do the reshoots,” Winstone said about his Black Widow experience. “Then you find out that a few producers have come down, and your performance is too much, it’s too strong… That’s the way Marvel works. It can be soul-destroying because you feel like you’re doing great work.”

Unfortunately for Winstone, contracts are binding, and you either complete the work or risk repercussions from a studio with an army of salivating lawyers waiting to pounce on the next limping victim of the Marvel machine.

“I actually said, ‘You ought to recast it because that was it for me,’” he admitted. “You end up doing it again because you’re contracted to do it. Otherwise, you end up in court. It’s like being kicked in the balls.”

Woof! If it’s any consolation, the job is complete, and Winstone can continue distancing himself from the overwhelming experience.

While Scarlett Johansson says she’s done playing Black Widow in the MCU, other characters featured in her solo film have only begun to grace the silver screen, like David Harbour’s Red Guardian, Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova, and Olga Kurylenko’s Taskmaster. All three characters star in the Jake Schreier-directed Thunderbolts, with Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes), Wyatt Russell (John Walker), Hannah John-Kamen (Ava Starr), Rachel Weisz (Melina Vostokoff), Lewis Pullman, Geraldine Viswanathan, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus as primary cast members.

What do you think about Ray Winstone’s statements? He’s not the first actor to express ire due to an MCU movie shoot, and I doubt he’ll be the last. Did you enjoy his performance in Black Widow? Let us know in the comments section below.

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It doesn’t take much to rev people’s engines regarding anticipation for George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road prequel Furiosa, but we will hit the nitrous anyway. According to a thread on Reddit, attendees for a Furiosa test screening are giving brief, spoiler-free impressions of the film despite signing a strict NDA not to spill the beans. The Furiosa test screening happened in Burbank, Los Angeles, California, with lawless audience members saying the high-octane prequel is “VERY GOOD!”

In the Reddit post, the author says, “Furiosa is VERY GOOD. Really good. One person described it as a film for Mad Max fans first and general audiences second. While still being an amazing experience.”

While reactions to Furiosa’s first trailer were mixed, the Reddit user says the VFX team has upgraded the visuals significantly. I’m not going to say I told you so, but yeah. Polishing effects take time, and promotional campaigns for blockbuster films tend to start several months before a film’s release.

The Reddit user also says a new trailer is coming “very soon,” as the Furiosa playlist on YouTube was updated two days ago.

It’s important to remember that none of this information comes from an official source, so take everything you read here with a grain of salt.

“As the world fell, young Furiosa is snatched from the Green Place of Many Mothers and falls into the hands of a great Biker Horde led by the Warlord Dementus,” reads the Furiosa synopsis. “Sweeping through the Wasteland they come across the Citadel presided over by the Immortan Joe. While the two Tyrants war for dominance, Furiosa must survive many trials as she puts together the means to find her way home.”

There have also been rumblings that the film will have its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival next year. “We kept an extraordinary memory of the world premiere of ‘Fury Road’ at Cannes,” Cannes chief Thierry Fremaux told Variety in October. “It would be wonderful to welcome them again with ‘Furiosa,’ especially since George Miller was a marvelous jury president in 2016. I know he’s working on the film and I hope it will be at Cannes.”

How excited are you about Furiosa racing into theaters on May 24, 2024? Let us know in the comments section below.

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Director Renny Harlin (A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master) and producer Courtney Solomon have teamed up to make a trilogy of movies inspired by the 2008 film The Strangers (watch it HERE), and we’ve previously heard that Lionsgate will be releasing these Strangers movies – which are said to be titled The Strangers: Chapter 1, The Strangers: Chapter 2, and The Strangers: Chapter 3 – to theatres throughout 2024. We know for sure that The Strangers: Chapter 1 is set for a theatrical release on May 17th, and today a new poster for the film has arrived online to remind us that it’s coming soon. You can check out the new poster at the bottom of this article.

The cast of these films includes Madelaine Petsch (Riverdale), Froy Gutierrez (Cruel Summer), Rachel Shenton (All Creatures Great and Small), Gabriel Basso (Hillbilly Elegy), and Ema Horvath (The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power). The Strangers: Chapter 1 centers on Petsch’s character as she drives cross-country with her longtime boyfriend (Gutierrez) to begin a new life in the Pacific Northwest. When their car breaks down in Venus, Oregon, they’re forced to spend the night in a secluded Airbnb, where they are terrorized from dusk till dawn by three masked strangers. Lionsgate plans from there to expanding the story in new and unexpected ways with its sequels.

The new Strangers trilogy was filmed in Slovakia, and all three movies were shot simultaneously. Solomon produced them with Mark Canton, Christopher Milburn, Gary Raskin, Charlie Dombeck, and Alastair Birlingham. Andrei Boncea, Dorothy Canton, and Roy Lee serve as executive producers. Rafaella Biscayn, Frame Film SK, Johanna Harlin, Juan Garcia Peredo, and Alberto Burgueno are co-producing. 

Harlin has said The Strangers: Chapter 1 “is close to the original movie in its set-up of a young couple in an isolated environment in a house and a home invasion happening for random reasons.” Then Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 “explore what happens to the victims of this kind of violence and who the perpetrators are of this kind of violence. Where are they coming from and why?“

Madelaine Petsch and Courtney Solomon will be appearing at the Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle this weekend, where a “first conversation about The Strangers: Chapter 1” panel is scheduled to be held tomorrow evening, so we’ll probably be hearing more about this movie very soon. In the meantime, take a look at the new poster, then let us know if you’re looking forward to this Strangers trilogy.

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PLOT: Cash is trying to live an honest and quiet life, but when Big Cat forces him back into her services, he proves capable of anything to protect the town and the only family he has left.

REVIEW: After 2020’s Fatman, I’ve been patiently waiting to see what the Nelms Brothers would get up to with their next venture. Their more low-budget approach to action has a lot of potential, especially with the right lead. And while they don’t have Mel Gibson, they do have Orlando Bloom re-entering the action genre. But this isn’t some bombastic, new take on blockbusters. Red Right Hand is similar to the action fare you’d find in the bargain bin at Walmart. The action itself is very staged and low impact. And the story fails to surprise, following down the same expected path that these movies often take. But there are some moments that stand out.

After his brother fails to pay back money for their farm, Cash must return to a life he’d left. Forced to commit crime for his family, he decides enough is enough, and takes the Queenpin of the area on. It’s a pretty basic setup, but it allows the audience to easily connect with the story’s purpose. Cash’s brother is a drunk who can’t take care of himself, let alone his teenage daughter. So Cash is tasked with doing both, all while trying not to get killed during his night job.

Orlando Bloom is pretty decent as Cash, a man who’s got a past but is clearly trying to live an honest life. I was a little thrown off by his accent at first, but he settled into it. The role is about as stereotypical as you can get, but it mostly works as Bloom is always easy to root for. When I first heard about Red Right Hand, I was most interested in Andie MacDowell‘s turn as a villain. I really enjoyed her in Ready or Not, so I was happy to see this darker side to her. She seems to be reveling in it and is a clear highlight.

If, like me, you were hoping for a significant role of Garret Dillahunt then prepare to go on quite the journey because he was my favorite aspect. I won’t pretend it’s not a bumpy road getting there though. His preacher character doesn’t really come into his own until the second half and does feel a little roped in. Would have helped if he’d appeared in the first half a little more. The bad guys are comically evil, eating food that’s not theirs, laughing at their misdeeds, and treating everything like it’s their property. It’s pretty easy to root against these guys, even if the payoff isn’t entirely satisfying. The acting is a little all over the place, with many of the bad guys hardly able to even get their lines out.

Unfortunately, the script is insanely weak, with nothing but small-town logic applied to the crimes. They seem to excuse everything with this just being set in the Appalachian Mountains. Characters are very quick to pull a gun intended for murder, even if it’s a cop. And the events unfold in the most obvious and stupid way possible, with characters appearing at opportune moments. Hell, there were even instances where the person firing the gun, didn’t make sense for the character placement in the scene.

I thought the one “sure thing” going into this film would be Nick Cave’s “Red Right Hand” blaring out at some point. But we just never receive that. I just sat there, waiting for it to happen. And I think that’s a good summary of the film: just waiting for something to happen. When it finally does, there are some good moments, but those are few and far between. I liked where Red Right Hand ended up but the journey getting there was rather bland. Here’s hoping the next Nelms Brothers film finally puts all the pieces together.

RED RIGHT HAND IS AVAILABLE DIGITALLY NOW!

Orlando Bloom

AVERAGE

6

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