On April 5th, 20th Century Studios will be giving a theatrical release to The First Omen, which serves as a prequel to the 1976 horror classic The Omen (watch it HERE). The film stars Nell Tiger Free of the Apple TV+ series Servant, and Total Film has just unveiled a new image from The First Omen that features Free’s character.
The First Omen was directed by Arkasha Stevenson, based on characters created by David Seltzer. Here’s the synopsis: When a young American woman is sent to Rome to begin a life of service to the church, she encounters a darkness that causes her to question her own faith and uncovers a terrifying conspiracy that hopes to bring about the birth of evil incarnate.
Free is joined in the cast by Tawfeek Barhom (Mary Magdalene), Sonia Braga (Kiss of the Spider Woman), Ralph Ineson (The Northman), and Bill Nighy (Living).
The film was produced by David S. Goyer and Keith Levine, with Tim Smith serving as executive producer with Whitney Brown and Gracie Wheelan. The First Omen has earned an R rating for violent content, grisly/disturbing images, and brief graphic nudity.
We first heard that a prequel to The Omen was in development way back in 2016. At that time, Antonio Campos (The Devil All the Time) was in talks to direct First Omen from a script by Ben Jacoby (Bleed). Later The Conjuring writers Chad and Carey Hayes came on board to work on the script, and they were followed by author Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl). The film ended up in the hands of Arkasha Stevenson – who has previously directed episodes of the genre shows Channel Zero, Legion, and Brand New CherryFlavor. Stevenson rewrote the script with her writing partner Tim Smith, then Firestarter‘s Keith Thomas worked on it as well.
The Omen (1976) was followed by Damien: Omen II in 1978, Omen III: The Final Conflict in 1981, Omen IV: The Awakening in 1991, and a 2006 remake. So this is the sixth entry in the film franchise.
Are you looking forward to The First Omen? Let us know by leaving a comment below – and take a look at this image from the film while you’re scrolling down:
Yesterday, we saw the first images of what Bill Skarsgard of the It films is going to look like as goth rocker Eric Draven in director Rupert Sanders’ (Snow White and the Huntsman) remake of the 1994 classic The Crow (watch it HERE). There weren’t a lot of positive reactions, with many fans comparing Skarsgard’s look – which Sanders said was a mixture of his own look in the ’90s, “when we were squat-raving in London,” with modern influences like Post Malone and Lil Peep – to Jared Leto’s poorly-received version of The Joker in Suicide Squad. One person who took to social media to blast the look of the new Eric Draven was Alex Proyas, who directed the ’94 version of The Crow.
Sharing one of the images, Proyas said, “Eric Draven’s having a bad hair day. Next reboot thanks.” In the comments, he continued to mock the look: “I guess he’s supposed to be a bad mofo with all those tats and werewolves and skulls on his jacket. (crying laughing emoji)” “Samuel Adams! Jesus! He could at least drink something more bad-ass. (crying laughing emoji)” “Well at least the stills gave me a good laugh. I thought they were going to take a dump on Brandon Lee’s legacy for a moment.”
Directed by Proyas from a screenplay by David J. Schow and John Shirley (with uncredited rewrites from Walon Green, Terry Hayes, René Balcer, and Michael S. Chernuchin), the original The Crow has the following synopsis: The night before his wedding, musician Eric Draven and his fiancée are brutally murdered by members of a violent inner-city gang. On the anniversary of their death, Eric rises from the grave and assumes the gothic mantle of the Crow, a supernatural avenger. Tracking down the thugs responsible for the crimes and mercilessly murdering them, Eric eventually confronts head gangster Top Dollar to complete his macabre mission.
Brandon Lee, who was tragically killed during the production, turned in an incredible performance as our hero Eric Draven and was joined in the cast by Rochelle Davis, Ernie Hudson, Michael Wincott, Bai Ling, Sofia Shinas, Anna Levine, David Patrick Kelly, Angel David, Laurence Mason, Michael Massee, Tony Todd, and Jon Polito.
Sanders has directed the remake from a screenplay by Zach Baylin and Will Schneider. This time around, soulmates Eric Draven and Shelly Webster are brutally murdered when the demons of her dark past catch up with them. Given the chance to save his true love by sacrificing himself, Eric sets out to seek merciless revenge on their killers, traversing the worlds of the living and the dead to put the wrong things right.
Skarsgard is joined in the cast by singer FKA twigs, Danny Huston (Yellowstone), Isabella Wei (1899), Laura Birn (A Walk Among the Tombstones), Sami Bouajila (The Bouncer), and Jordan Bolger (Peaky Blinders).
What do you think of The Crow director Alex Proyas blasting the look of Eric Draven in the remake? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
The remake is set to reach theatres on June 7th. The original film is getting a 4K Blu-ray release on May 7th.
The episode of The Best of the Worst focusing on Freddy Krueger was written, narrated, and edited by Mike Holtz.
You wanna know what makes Freddy Krueger so scary? I mean, other than his obvious need to moisturize? He’s unavoidable. As unavoidable as death, taxes and Taylor Swift/Travis Kelce news stories. All he needs to be able to heinously take you out is for you to eventually sleep… and everyone sleeps.Everyone also poops but they haven’t made that movie yet. Just a really well marketed children’s book. See, you can physically escape Michael Myers. Hell, the guy can’t even run! He power walks. Like your grandparents in the mall before the shops open in the morning. You can escape Jason Voorhees by simply wearing his dead mom’s clothing and bossing him around. Some people would just call that a nice Friday night in. Possessed? Call a priest. The only number you’re calling if ole’ Fred Krueger wants to get all up in them dreams nice and deep like is 1-800-You’re-Fucked. So where did this crispy skinned dream demon come from? What motivates him to horrifically mutilate, dismember, creep out and sometimes eat his victims souls like meatballs? Excuse me… not “like” meatballs ACTUAL SOUL MEATBALLS. Welcome to THE BEST OF THE WORST Where we take a hard look inside of the gnarliest protagonists in our favorite movies on a category-by-category basis. Where they came from, what they’ve done, what makes them tick and what they might do next. Tune in next week for our special on Ezra Miller. (Just Kidding?)
Today we’re exploring all the gruesome wonder of our fedoraed friend Freddy Krueger. We’ll take a look at Fred’s best kill, his best quote, his scariest, coolest and meanest moments throughout all nine of his feature films. Yes, even the remake where his face looks Jim from American Pie had his way with a bowl full of CGI spaghetti.
Let’s start with… Freddy’s Best Kill
Nobody and I mean, NOBODY kills like Freddy. In the dream world he is capable of things other horror icons could never even conjure. Especially not Jason. He can barely work a doorknob. Freddy doesn’t just kill with creativity… he gets nasty with it! Also, something he did with Jason’s mom. Over the course of just the first six films, Freddy Krueger dispatches his victims by sucking their souls out of their mouths, stuffing them with food, turning them to cockroaches, trapping them inside their own waterbeds, melting them into motorcycles, shooting them up with drugs, turning them into blood geysers, killing them in comic book form, sucking them through tiny door holes, Holy Hell, you get the point. Freddy’s got a Golden Corral Buffet of options to choose from when it comes to your favorite kills.
But what is Freddy’s best kill? That comes in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors when he takes Phillip (Bradley Gregg) for a tip toe through the tuli-OH MY GOD THAT’S THE LEDGE OF A ROOF.
In the scene, Phillip is sound asleep when Freddy inhabits one of the puppets hanging from his wall. It’s a very Wallace and Gromit moment if Wallace and Gromit were hand crafted by Satan in Hell. What’s funny about this scene is that nobody even saw Freddy doing this. He’s literally doing it for his own enjoyment! He gets bored of himself however and quickly grows to full size like my problems when I try to bury them deep down. What? Never mind. Phillip wakes up and is unable to move or scream as Freddy, while laughing removes his bed sheets and starts slashing away. The camera pans back to reveal he has cut large incisions in each thigh and forearm which sucks but is a Sunday on the golf course drinking pina coladas with the entire Dallas Cowboys cheerleading squad compared to what happens next. YES, that was oddly specific. Mind your business! The tendons and muscles are pulled out from his booboos while still attached and then begin to walk him around the hospital looking like me, drunk at 3AM trying to find the water and pizza rolls. The imagery is bad enough but when you start to think about what that would feel like it puts anything you saw in Hostel, Saw or your parents’ bedrooms to shame. Well, almost.
Freddy leads Phillip to the rooftop and it isn’t to do a dramatic recreation of Chad Kroeger and Josey Scott’s Spider-Man 3 music video for “Hero”. Even Freddy has his limits when it comes to torture. Phillip, about to be walked off the edge to his death, looks up to the sky to see Freddy as big as dead Mufasa or the Stay Puft Marshmallow man in the sky, puppeteering his half-severed veins from the clouds. It’s an absolutely amazing show that really shows off what Freddy is capable of if you’re dumb enough to fall asleep on his watch. Not to mention a shot that still holds up special effects-wise today. It’s just freaky in a hard to explain way. Freddy then cuts Phillip’s veins and watches him fall to his death as his friends look on. And of course, he laughs because… well…. he’s an asshole.
So that was Freddy’s Best Kill… what was Freddy’s MEANEST kill?
Well, that prize belongs to the underrated A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master. As Debbie (Brooke Theiss) hits the bench press. She falls asleep mid rep. Which I see all the time at the gym. Dudes just passing out mid rep like Mitch McConnell after a glass of milk. Totally checks out. In a really cool shot, Freddy shows up in the reflection of her weights. “I don’t believe in youuuuu” she says as if she’s auditioning for Hamlet. Freddy says all too earnestly “Well, I believe in you” before he starts pushing down on the barbell she’s holding up. Here’s where things get Twisted Sister on us. The weight barring down on her is so strong that her arm skin starts to slowly rip off around her elbows. In a surprisingly gooey fashion. She sits up with her arms flopping around on their hinges like an inflatable tube-man before eventually severing completely. But wait, there’s more! Out of the holes formerly known as her arms starts to grow COCKROACH ARMS. Or Tentacles. Or someth-it’s absolutely disgusting whatever it is. All the while Freddy stands there, watching and laughing. Because well… he’s an asshole.
Debbie tries to run away and finds herself in some kind of corridor that’s beginning to lift off the ground. She looks down and realizes there’s sticky yellow goo everywhere as cockroach limbs continue to grow out of her skin. She falls down and her hair sticks to the goo. As she lifts her head OH MY GOD THIS IS SO GROSS her skin rips off entirely to reveal a big sticky cockroach head. She is now a full-on cockroach. BUT WAIT THERE IS STILL MORE YET… An eyeball fully encompasses the window as we realize she is in a roach motel that Freddy is holding and staring into. He says “You can check in, but you can’t check out” before squishing it as yellow goo flies out. I haven’t eaten a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles gas station handheld pie since. Or before. This is not only the most gruesome kill I can think of for obvious reasons but also the most torturous, therefore making it the meanest. Imagine having your limbs ripped off, then having them grow cockroach tentacles, and having your skin ripped off by sticky goo. Then you go, “Hey, I’m a cockroach! But I’m still alive!” Do I even want to be? Let me think about th-DEAD.
Honorable mention goes to the way Fred tortured poor Carlos (Ricky Dean Logan) in Freddy’s Dead when he mocked him for having a hearing impairment before turning his hearing aid up to level “holy shit” and torturing him that way. It’s bad. But it’s still not quite a slow cockroach transformation. There’s also that time he murdered a recovering drug addict by saying “Let’s get high” and pumping her arm veins with a lethal overdose. Did we mention Freddy’s an asshole?
Freddy’s Most Badass Moment
Freddy has quite the body count when you consider Freddy’s Dead opens with an Oregon Trail graphic saying he’s wiped out the LITERAL entire child population of Springwood, OH. But his biggest on-screen body count moment happens to also be his most badass. The pool party in A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge. In this scene, a large group of teens are drinking, eating, and touching each other’s body parts in all sorts of weird ways when Freddy literally jumps on the scene and starts disrespecting his surroundings. Director Jack Sholder and writer David Chaskin definitely did some disrespecting in their own right with Freddy’s Revenge when it came to the rules of the character established by his predecessor Craven… but when this scene strikes it’s all worth it, if just for the moment.
Freddy goes absolute ham sandwich on everyone at the party slicing and dicing his way through faces, stomachs and even a pool chair. Teens fall into the pool which Freddy sets ablaze, pockets of fire shoot out from all over like a KISS concert and he knocks over the grill and at least 7 to 23 adult beverages before corralling all the kids up against the fence line and telling them “You’re all my children now!” in one of the most iconic moments of the entire franchise. But he isn’t done… when one teen steps forward and does his best “Hans, bubby!” Ellis from Die Hard impression and tries to negotiate with Freddy, Freddy hilariously says “Help yourself, f*cker!” before slapping him with a fist full of knives like he owed him money.
Freddy in this moment was out there, in the open, in front of everyone (unlike poor Jesse deep down inside) and he absolutely made the most of it. None of those kids are ever going to be okay again. Even the ones he didn’t filet.
Freddy’s Best Quote!
Lest we forget Freddy’s verbal prowess. The guy had a way with his tongue. Ew! Not like that, NOT LIKE THAT! Freddy has more one liners than the Terminator himself, ranging from iconic “THIS IS GOD!” to hilarious “Rick, you little meatball!” Hell, even 2010 managed to squeak out a classic one with “We still have six more minutes to play.” Freddy has more famous quotes than the bible. So, picking the best one was tough. But it has to be the one Robert Englund himself ad-libbed: “Welcome to primetime, bitch!” which is, coincidentally what I say before I show a girl my comic book collection. Works every time.
Also fictional is the Dream Warriors scene where Jennifer (Penelope Sudrow) falls asleep watching TV and it’s really hard to blame her for it because she tried her best… I mean she was putting cigarettes out on her arms like Judd Nelson’s Dad in The Breakfast Club on Christmas. Now in dream world, she walks towards the television set nestled in the upper corner of the wall (more on that later) before Freddy’s robot arms and head pop out of the TV set and he snatches her up. “Welcome to primetime, bitch!” is yelled by Krueger before slamming her head inside of the TV. Then, he leaves her body dangling there like a human Christmas ornament. To this day, I will never understand why Neil “I definitely wear whitey tighties and cry after sex” Gordon didn’t think something strange was afoot at the Circle K when that little girl somehow Spud Webb’d herself into the TV attached to the ceiling… but a great quote none-the-less and one they used as a pre-title quote later in the franchise.
Next up? FREDDY’S BEST LOOK!
From movie-to-movie Freddy’s look changes in the subtlest of ways. From his classic original look in Wes Craven’s 1984 film to A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge with his darker, slimier, oozing makeup and FX all the way to his modernized look in Wes Craven’s New Nightmare. Which absolutely looked badass if it weren’t for those pleather pants. Dudes legs looked like a Black Friday couch from Big Lots. Really, the look of Freddy will be in the eye of the beholder. Hell, I wouldn’t argue with you if you said the coolest Freddy has ever looked was in the original when he rips his own face off just to mess with Tina for funsies. For my money, though? He’s never looked scarier than as full-on Demon-Freddy in Freddy vs. Jason.
Not his overall look throughout the majority of the film but rather a specific short-lived scene where he goes ultra red, hovers above a boat dock like a witch and gets real-freakin-naughty with this super red, extremely demonic and gnarly sudden and new makeup There’s something about seeing Freddy turning up the anger and malevolence to 11 for a moment, mixed with the bright red flesh tones that reminds you this isn’t video game Freddy anymore. But seriously, amazing work by the FX team here.
How about Freddy’s best death? Jesus Christ, is everything a competition?
The worst thing you can say about Freddy as a character (despite what some of those silly ass sequels tried to put him through) is that he’s TOO unstoppable. Even in the classic original, you have to admit the whole “just turn your back on him, show him you aren’t afraid and he’ll go away!” ending was a total cop out. In Nightmare 2 they kill him off by *checks notes* making out with him? His demise in Nightmare 3 is kind of silly when Neil “definitely rude to food service workers” Gordon slaps some holy water on his corpse and he turns into a kaleidoscope. In 4, his reflection kills him even though we’ve confirmed he’s seen it at least twice by now, in… oh you know what? Nobody can kill Freddy like Jason can so let’s just go with Freddy vs. Jason when Jason full on thunderpunches his entire chest out with his own glove and then carries his head off for some weird reason. I mean, seriously….what are you gonna do with that head Jason? Put it next to your 3rd grade swimming trophies? Just kidding. We know those don’t exist! Ouch!
That being said, Freddy winks at the camera as they walk away… still alive. Other movies have killed him more definitively, sure. But in a world where Kincaid’s dog pissing fire onto his grave can bring him back to life… has anyone REALLY ever killed Freddy? Other than the people out there right now deciding to actively not make more movies? Nah.
Which just brings me to the end of what’s best about Freddy. The facts are that he just may be the greatest horror villain of all time. He’s not very killable. He’s absolutely unescapable. His weapon of choice is original and iconic. He can be absolutely hilarious, which, in the right hands, manages to take absolutely nothing away from how frightening he can be. I SAID IN THE RIGHT HANDS, stop waving your copy of Freddy’s Dead at me, Greg! He’s creative. He has cool makeup FX and a classic costume.
Freddy Krueger is one of a kind. Still an asshole. But a one of a kind asshole.
Sample episodes of a couple of our other shows can be seen below. To see more, click over to the JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channel – and subscribe while you’re there!
As with Toho’s Godzilla, Ultraman is another popular Japanese property that gets rebooted with new content every now and then. Netflix has just revealed a new look at its upcoming animated film, Ultraman: Rising, with a teaser trailer, a series of new stills and a new poster. The film comes from directors Shannon Tindle and John Aoshima. Tindle wrote the screenplay with Marc Haimes and features a cast that includes Christopher Sean (You, Hawaii Five-O), Gedde Watanabe (Sixteen Candles), Tamlyn Tomita (Avatar: The Last Airbender) Keone Young (Men in Black 3, Star Wars Rebels), Julia Harriman (Camp Rock). The animated feature is produced by Tom Knott and Lisa M. Poole.
The official synopsis from Netflix reads, “With Tokyo under siege from rising monster attacks, baseball star Ken Sato reluctantly returns home to take on the mantle of Ultraman. But the titanic superhero meets his match when he is forced to adopt a 35-foot-tall, fire-breathing baby kaiju. Sato must rise above his ego to balance work and parenthood while protecting the baby from forces bent on exploiting her for their own dark plans. In partnership with Netflix, Tsuburaya Productions, and Industrial Light & Magic, Ultraman: Rising is written by Shannon Tindle and Marc Haimes, directed by Shannon Tindle, and co-directed by John Aoshima.”
Shannon Tindle and co-director John Aoshima released a statement expressing their passion for this project. The statement reads, “Our team has worked hard to craft a story that fans and non-fans of this iconic character can enjoy. ULTRAMAN: RISING is a film for everyone. It’s a funny, action-packed, popcorn movie that tackles family, identity, and the struggle to maintain balance in an insane world. This June, we hope you’ll gather ‘round with the folks you love to see what happens when a titanic superhero rediscovers the power of family thanks to an unlikely ally- a sweet, 35-foot-tall, fire-breathing baby kaiju.”
Ultraman: Rising is scheduled to premiere on Netflix on June 14, 2024.
The hype leading up to The Dark Knight in 2008 was the closest we’ve come to reliving Bat-Mania that took over pop culture in 1989 leading up to the first Batman. Much of the hype came from the revelation of Heath Ledger’s take on the Joker. Christopher Nolan’s star was on the rise as people resonated with his 2005 reboot Batman Begins, and his interpretation of the clown prince of crime was a fresh burst of energy. A number of photos and a teaser from the film was released when the world was dealt the devastating news about the passing of Heath Ledger. Ledger’s career had gained immense steam after performances in Monster’s Ball and Brokeback Mountain.
A new detail was revealed about the day Heath Ledger was found unresponsive as Stephen Gaghan, the Oscar-winning writer of Traffic, appeared on a new limited series podcast called Development Hell. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the host of the podcast, Malcolm Gladwell, would examine how his book, Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, would not come to realization as a film adaptation. Gaghan revealed that he and Ledger were in the midst of developing a movie based on Gladwell’s book and when Ledger was found dead inside a Manhattan apartment on January 22, 2008, a copy Gladwell’s book was sitting on Ledger’s nightstand and a draft of Gaghan’s screenplay was lying next to him on the bed.
He recalled getting a curious phone call from Ledger’s father, who told him the devastating news, “They were there with the body and our script was in bed with him, and your book was on the bedside table. I think my number was on the script, like written. These guys, as you can imagine, they are in shock and they dialed that number and I don’t know why.” Gaghan continued, “I’m in an airport with my wife [Minnie Mortimer] just going from one place to another, and I literally just collapse, never happened to me before or since. My feet went out from under me. I just literally sat down because I was like, what? The emotion, what they were going through, I should not have been a party to in any way really, and yet as a human or as somebody who just cares, I just was there and I was listening and my wife was looking at me. I remember her face and I was just like, I was speechless. I just listened and listened and listened. It was just really, really sad. And it’s still sad. For me, I just had to put a pin in it.”
Gaghan revealed that the package deal of the production included having Leonardo DiCaprio signed on as a producer of the film. However, for Gaghan, when the news broke of Ledger’s passing, he would decide to let go of the project. “I’d gotten to be very, very close with him instantly. I just had a real connection with him that was kind of unusual and really special to me. I got really excited and I started seeing him as the main character. Once I started seeing that I couldn’t unsee it, and obviously it was very delicate in a way.”
If you want to view paradise, simply go and buy a ticket…That’s right, a sequel to last year’s Wonka – a surprise smash in the candy-coated eyes of many, raking in nearly $620 million worldwide – may be in the works, which should come as no surprise. But what could we expect from everybody’s favorite chocolatier? Its director may have some ideas in the vat…
As Paul King told ComicBook.com, a Wonka sequel may be inevitable based on its success and reception. At the same time, he and fellow minds behind the movie don’t see a need to rush it into production. “It’s definitely something we’re thinking about…One of the things I love most about David Heyman, my producer, is that he has made so many great movies that he doesn’t feel the pressure to just make a movie because it can be made. He has this great saying which reassures me enormously where he goes, ‘We’ll have a think, see what we can come up with, and then see if we want to make it,’ and it’s incredibly liberating…”
And if Wonka doesn’t get a sequel? Well, so be it because making the movie that has the greatest chocolate shop the world has ever seen may be enough. “We can wait a beat, and if we don’t come up with a story, this is a movie with a beginning, a middle, and end that works on its own…Of course there are some ideas sloshing around, but we don’t have a story yet, so we’ll see what happens.”
Wonka absolutely has potential for a sequel, as the movie only explored the earliest days of Willy, leaving plenty of room to dive into what came after these events. Heck, Wonka creator Roald Dahl even continued the adventures in book form. The nice thing here is that the filmmakers wouldn’t have to rely strictly on Dahl’s words, as they can interpret and mold the character as they wish. After all, Timothée Chalamet is going to be the Wonka for generations to come, with all due respect to the great Gene Wilder, of course.
Do you think Wonka is deserving of a sequel? Where do you see the story going? Give us your hopes for a second movie below!
PLOT: After not leaving the palace for quite some time, Chancellor Elena Vernham has grown increasingly paranoid and unstable when she turns to a volatile soldier, Herbert Zubak, as an unlikely confidant. As Zubak’s influence over the chancellor continues to grow, Elena’s attempts to expand her power eventually result in both the palace and the country fracturing around her.
REVIEW: Politics, violence, sex, and humor are all elements that have made quality programming ranging from Game of Thrones to Veep. In The Regime, these elements are played for laughs as much as they are chills and provides a platform for Kate Winslet to deliver her most distinct role yet. As Elena Vernham, the Chancellor of a fictional European country, Winslet portrays an autocrat who thinks she has more power than she actually does. By showing the clearly decadent and sometimes silly decision-making, The Regime gives new meaning to absolute power having the ability to corrupt absolutely. A darkly comedic satire about the dangers of political oppression, The Regime is a surreal story that eerily echoes some far too-real leaders in the world today. With a standout performance from Matthias Schoenaerts, The Regime is a smartly written tale that chronicles the downfall of a country in a matter of months using comedy to tell a bleakly possible tale.
Told across six hour-long episodes, The Regime opens with the arrival of Herbert Zubak (Matthias Schoenaerts), a soldier responsible for an atrocity within the borders of the Central European country. Brought to the palace, Zubak meets Elena Vernham (Kate Winslet), the Chancellor in power after defeating the prior leader, Edward Keplinger (Hugh Grant). Taking control back, Elena follows in her late father’s footsteps, as he was chancellor before Keplinger. It becomes evident immediately that Elena has issues as she is dreadfully afraid of mold and other pathogens, leading to her having not left the grounds of the palace in a very long time. Elena is aided by her cabinet of ministers as well as Agnes (Andrea Riseborough), her aide and manager. Agnes’ son serves as Elena’s surrogate child while Elena’s husband, Nick (Guillaume Gallienne) works at no-profit causes in his capacity as first spouse. Elena immediately feels a connection to Zubak and he in turn is infatuated with her. At the start, there is a distance between the aristocratic chancellor and the working-class Zubak, but that changes by the end of the first episode.
As the series progresses, time jumps of weeks and months show the rising power of Zubak over Elena which ebbs and wanes, leading the chancellor to take on more control of her country, much to the dismay of her cabinet. With rising tensions between Vernham and private business leaders in her country as well as the United States, in the form of Martha Plimpton as an emissary from the President, Elena’s mental state becomes more and more absurd. It is fascinating to watch as Kate Winslet portrays Elena as both a spoof of real political leaders as well as making her a villainous personality. The dynamic between Winslet and Schoenaerts is quite something as their differing political ideals conflict with their personal connection to one another, leading to increasing tension among those closest to them. Each episode jumps forward weeks or months in time as we see the decisions made by Vernham quickly disintegrate her country from stable to the brink of destruction. The shifting alliances and allegiances allow the story to cover a wide swath in a short amount of time which also works against the series.
As front and center Kate Winslet and Matthias Schoenaerts are, other characters seem destined for more substantial arcs that do not work quite as well, most notably Andrea Riseborough. The Oscar-nominated actress has the most distinct physical appearance in the series and her character bridges the upstairs/downstairs gap between those who work in the palace versus those in power. Each episode sets Riseborough up for some key developments which sadly are left unresolved by the end of the series. The same goes for the spouses and cabinet members who all seem to exist merely to propel the Vernham and Zubak characters toward their fates at the conclusion of the series. That may ultimately be the goal for the story that The Regime set out to tell, but it feels lopsided when subplots end up going nowhere in favor of the main narrative. This may also explain why Riseborough is the most recognizable actor in the cast after Winslet and Schoenaerts. Hugh Grant’s brief role in the series gets more attention in the trailer than Riseborough even though he is limited to a single episode.
Creator Will Tracy is no stranger to dark satire having co-wrote 2022’s The Menu alongside Seth Reiss. Tracy scripted three of the six episodes of The Regime with the others credited to Seth Reiss, Sarah DeLappe (Bodies Bodies Bodies), Juli Weiner (Last Week Tonight with John Oliver), Jen Spyra, and novelist Gary Shteyngart. Directing duties are split between Jessica Hobbs (The Crown) and Stephen Frears. Frears is best known for helming Dangerous Liaisons, The Grifters, High Fidelity, and The Queen. Both Frears and Hobbs bring experience helming palace intrigue tales to this fictional story that is surreally realistic. While set in a fictional country, the touches in the production design call to mind Russia as much as England while also putting the United States in its place. Filmed in a way that keeps the focus on the characters as much as the descent into totalitarianism, The Regime is beautifully filmed.
A concise and biting satire, The Regime starts as a comedy and incrementally transforms into a drama. The balance of humor keeps the narrative moving along through all six chapters and will consistently have you questioning whether you should be laughing or if you should be scared at how close to reality much of this story truly is. The best stories are the ones that hit the right level of tone and The Regime does so across multiple. While I had hoped many of the subplots introduced focused on supporting characters had been wrapped more satisfyingly, there is no doubt as to how good Kate Winslet and Matthias Schoenaerts are as these characters. The Regime is a wonderfully disturbing dramatic comedy and a shockingly prescient comedic drama. This is a story that will keep you guessing until the very last scene.
They say you should never meet your idols. But it probably can’t hurt if they’ve endlessly hyped your movie. Earlier this month, Godzilla Minus One director Takashi Yamazaki got to meet one of his cinematic heroes, Steven Spielberg, bringing a full circle moment for the Japanese filmmaker.
Takashi Yamazaki had the chance to meet Steven Spielberg at the Oscar Nominees Luncheon, with the former receiving an invitation due to Godzilla Minus One being nominated for Best Visual Effects – a first for any movie in the franchise’s now-70-year history – and Spielberg up for producing Maestro. That’s monumental enough, but that Spielberg had high praise for the movie takes the experience to another level. In a social media caption, Takashi Yamazaki wrote (via Google Translate), “I met God. What should I do now? Cry…Moreover, he has seen Godzilla three times. He said he liked the characters. He also happily received a Godzilla figure…” Now the right thing for Spielberg would be to send Yamazaki an E.T. doll…
Yamazaki also said at the event (via The A.V. Club), “Steven Spielberg said, ‘Oh, you’re the director of Godzilla. I saw it three times.’ I couldn’t believe it, because Spielberg is like a god to me, just for what he’s done for the film industry. But it sounded very real. [Spielberg went on to say,] ‘I saw it once in my home, and then I had to go see it again in IMAX, then Dolby Atmos.’ You can’t make that up.”
OK, this is straight-up awesome for Yamazaki, who has been working in the film industry since the mid-’80s. After moving from visual effects departments into writing and directing in the early part of the century, Yamazaki marked himself as one of the modern visionaries of Japanese cinema. As such, he earned the spot to direct Godzilla Minus One, which takes partial influence from, yes, works by Steven Spielberg.
The Sopranos fans were shocked when Drea de Matteo joined OnlyFans last year, but the actress has credited the choice with helping to save her home from going into foreclosure.
“It saved us,” Drea de Matteo told The Daily Mail. “OnlyFans saved my life, 100 percent. I can’t believe I’m saying that, but it really did save us. Anybody that wants to condemn me and put me down, go for it. I just hope you never find yourself in the position I was in to take care of two little kids. It saved my home of many years that was very important to us.” She added that it just took five minutes before she had enough money to “pay back compass real estate who kept the sale of my house.“
Joining OnlyFans wasn’t a choice de Matteo made lightly, but she had just $10 in her bank account and was desperate for money, not just to save her home and family, but also to help support her mother with dementia. “I did it, but I didn’t want to do it,” she said. “I got a lot of heat for doing it and it went f*cking viral and people went nuts.” She added that the original idea was to create a podcast on OnlyFans with her husband: “That was what it was going to be originally, you know, like with him rubbing my feet because you have to add a little something for OnlyFans in there.“
De Matteo continued, “Anybody that wants to condemn me and put me down, go for it. I just hope you never find yourself in the position I was in to take care of two little kids.” The money she has made from OnlyFans also helped her start Ultrafree, her streetwear clothing brand.
Despite starring in The Sopranos, Sons of Anarchy, and more, de Matteo has said that she never made all that much money. “People find that hard to believe that I was never really paid very much money for any of the jobs I’ve done,” de Matteo told Fox News last year. “People think I’m fucking made of gold, and I’m not. I’ve worked job to job. And I’ve turned down tons of jobs in the past just to be with my children because their dad’s on the road, and he’s not around as much.” She also said she lost work due to her beliefs against the COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
Any subscribers to Drea de Matteo on OnlyFans out there? Don’t worry, I won’t tell.
According to THR, The Rings of Power showrunners Patrick McKay and JD Payne have signed a new three-year deal with Amazon MGM Studios. The report also mentions that McKay and Payne have begun breaking the initial story for The Rings of Power season 3, but that a writers’ room has not yet been assembled and an official order hasn’t been given. Considering how much money has already been invested in the series, I’d say a third season is pretty much a given unless something catastrophic happens.
“We began this remarkable journey with JD and Patrick more than five and a half years ago and have never looked back,” said Vernon Sanders, head of television, Amazon MGM Studios. “We continue to be amazed by the scope and scale of their vision and the enormous global success achieved by The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power in its record-breaking first season. We can’t wait for Prime Video customers to experience the epic adventure and high-stakes drama that JD and Patrick are continuing to build throughout season two and beyond. Naturally, the studio is thrilled to extend our overall deal with these brilliant creative minds as they continue to deliver on their passion for great storytelling.“
It’s also expected that the show’s production will be moving from Bray Studios to a new production facility at Shepperton Studios in the U.K. The second season doesn’t have an official release date yet, but it has wrapped filming and will be released later this year.
It has previously been reported that the Rings of Power has been designed to span five seasons, with the showrunners even teasing that they even know what the final shot will be. “We even know what our final shot of the last episode is going to be,” Payne said prior to the show’s premiere. “The rights that Amazon bought were for a 50-hour show. They knew from the beginning that was the size of the canvas – this was a big story with a clear beginning, middle and end. There are things in the first season that don’t pay off until Season 5.”
