Denis Villeneuve’s Dune Part Two is finally upon us after the writer and actor strikes delayed the release for a few months. The hype surrounding the film is massive and the review from our own Chris Bumbray says of the film, “In this day of assembly line blockbusters, it’s a miracle that director Denis Villeneuve has managed to get not one but two incredible, uncompromised epics like this through the studio system. It works as a tentpole blockbuster, but Dune Part Two is also filmmaking at the highest level.” Josh Brolin makes his return in the second part as well, and although the Academy Award-nominated actor has sealed himself in comic book movie history as one of the greatest villains with his role as Thanos, he still makes sure to talk trash where trash is due.
Variety reports that the outspoken Brolin continues to bad mouth a career misstep he encountered in the past with the DC movie, 2010’s Jonah Hex. In a new GQ interview, Brolin would not hold back, saying, “I won’t ever stop sh*tting on Jonah Hex because it was a sh*tty f*cking movie!” He had admitted that the failure was squarely on his shoulders since he had rushed to hire a director for the film, and the one who took up the task, Jimmy Hayward, was far too inexperienced to take on a big-budget film and execute the vision that Brolin had for the DC property.
He was given two weeks by Warner Bros. to find a director and Brolin explained, “Then you meet somebody who has a lot of knowledge, Jimmy Hayward, and I remember it didn’t feel right. I loved that he was excited, but he just didn’t have the experience and he didn’t treat it like I would imagine somebody would want to treat it — to run back to their house at the end of their every day and watch tonal inspirations and Scorsese movies or this or that. He would be out partying instead.”
It was revealed that Brolin and Hayward recently reconnected and Hayward had “apologized for his part in the mess.” Hayward made amends as he revealed he’d been diagnosed with bone cancer and had undergone several surgeries. Brolin fully takes the blame for the film’s failure since he made the initial decision to hire a director who wasn’t the right fit, “It reminded me [that] you can’t just keep shitting on somebody. I don’t know what the f*ck’s going on in his life. I mean, total facial reconstruction, the whole thing.”
The romantic comedy Anyone but You (read our review HERE) has earned around $200 million at the worldwide box office (on a budget of $25 million) since its theatrical release back in December, and now Sony Pictures is bringing it home! The film received a digital release on February 20th (you can watch it at THIS LINK) and will be reaching DVD and Blu-ray on March 12th (pre-order HERE) – and today, right in between those two release dates, we’ve gotten our hands on an EXCLUSIVE clip from a bonus featurette! You can check it out in the embed above.
Here’s the film’s synopsis: In the edgy comedy Anyone But You, Bea and Ben Glen Powell look like the perfect couple, but after an amazing first date something happens that turns their fiery hot attraction ice cold – until they find themselves unexpectedly thrust together at a destination wedding in Australia. So they do what any two mature adults would do: pretend to be a couple.
Sydney Sweeney (Euphoria) and Glen Powell (Top Gun: Maverick) star as Bea and Ben, and they’re joined in the cast by Alexandra Shipp (Barbie), GaTa (Self Reliance), Hadley Robinson (The Boys in the Boat), Michelle Hurd (Star Trek: Picard), Dermot Mulroney (Young Guns), Darren Barnet (Never Have I Ever), and Rachel Griffiths (Six Feet Under).
Directed by Will Gluck, who also wrote the screenplay with Ilana Wolpert, Anyone but You was produced by Gluck, Joe Roth, and Jeff Kirschenbaum, with Sweeney serving as an executive producer alongside Alyssa Altman, Jacqueline Monetta, Catherine Bishop, Natalie Sellers, Charlie Corwin, Sidney Kimmel, Mark O’Connor, and Jonathan Davino.
Will you be checking out the digital or DVD / Blu-ray release of Anyone but You? Let us know by leaving a comment below – and let us us know what you thought of the exclusive featurette clip as well.
Following the success of Anyone but You, Sweeney and Powell are now looking for another project to do together.
If you’ve been keeping up with The Test of Time, you have probably learned what the rules are in terms of what we tackle. Those rules, of course, are that there are no rules whatsoever and we cover whatever sounds good or we think would be an interesting topic. In the Mouth of Madness (watch it HERE) came out in Italy in late 1994 and that means, gulp, that movie is now 30 years old. It came during an interesting time in the master of horrors career when he was running flop after flop and being disappointed by studios interference and stars that weren’t willing to be true collaborators. It’s the ending of a loose trilogy and in some people’s estimation his last great film. Is In the Mouth of Madness a tale that stands the Test of Time, or should it be put in the bargain bin of the now defunct crown books? Lived any good books lately?
Plot
Carpenter had kind of a roller coaster of a run throughout his career. In 1988,They Live would come out during election week and be #1 at the box office with a professional wrestler in the lead and a plot where Carpenter could really express his views. A couple of years went by and he was stuck in a contract dispute with They Live production company Alive Films which led to several movies not happening. These included a Dracula movie, a Cher vehicle, and even The Exorcist III. It’s a fools errand to regret these not happening but it is fun to wonder what if, particularly on the Dracula flick or his version of Exorcist III. Chevy Chase had purchased the script to Memoirs of an Invisible Man and Carpenter was convinced to work on it. Long story short, it was a disaster of epic proportions. Chase was as hard to work with as we’ve heard he can be on various projects and the movie only made 14 million on a 30–40-million-dollar budget. Carpenter was burned by a big studio project again, this time at Warner. But why the heck are we talking about one of Carpenter’s worst and more forgettable movies? Well, something good came of the project and that was the casting of Sam Neill in Memoirs that would lead to the star and director working again on today’s movie. Neil even suggested a shot or two for Carpenter, specifically the aerial view shots later in the movie at the hotel.
In the Mouth of Madness was written in the late 80s by sometimes screenwriter but 3-time Oscar nominated mega producer Michael De Luca. While his first thought was to offer it to John Carpenter, he had to turn it down. Later he agreed to direct after he got past the debacle of Memoirs and his gig with Tobe Hooper in Body Bags. While De Luca is better known as a producer, particularly later in his career, he has some interesting writing credits. In addition to today, he also has 7 episodes of Freddy’s Nightmares, the screenplay for Freddy’s Dead The Final Nightmare, and a story credit on Judge Dredd. Carpenter would do the music with Jim Lang and the movie would be produced by Sandy King with the special effects being done by Howard Berger, Robert Kurtzman, and Greg Nicotero among others.
The cast is a fun mix with the main characters being played by Sam Neill, Julie Carmen, and Jurgen Prochnow with cool smaller turns from the likes of Bernie Casey, John Glover, David Warner, and Charlton Heston among other notables. I’ll save the comments section some time and mention that this was Anakin Skywalker himself Hayden Christensen’s first role. Sam Neill is no stranger to horror with The Omen 3, Possession, and Dead Calm but this is my favorite role in the genre for him. You may not recognize Julie Carmen at first, but she is Regine Dandridge from the criminally underrated Fright Night 2 and Prochnow has been around forever seemingly with his role in Das Boot being unmissable, well, certainly compared to House of the Dead.
The movie follows the disappearance of a Stephen King stand in named Sutter Cane and a fraud investigator named John Trent who is hired by the publisher to find him. Trent takes his role seriously and dives headfirst into the world of Cane in order to find his whereabouts. He is taken to the no longer existing town of Hobbs End which is the location for a ton of the author’s stories. Think Castle Rock for King or New England for the inspiration of the movie’s H.P. Lovecraft. The publisher sends one of their employees with John and he slowly loses his mind and eventually no longer believes the disappearance and events as a publicity stunt, but the world ending. This is lent credence as the framing of the story is a bookend with Trent being brought into an asylum to tell his story and when we catch up, we get to see the end of the world. It’s a movie full of practical effects, Lovecraft inspirations both direct and subtle, and some really good scares.
Signs of the Time
The easy one here is the inability to get ahold of the author in the middle of the mystery. While at the time of filming, there were things like fax machines, cell phones, and email, it wasn’t as prevalent as it is now and there weren’t any of the social media outlets or even immediate ways to get ahold of people. Add in the fact that the author was already kind of a recluse, and he would be hard to get a hold of and find anyway. It’s one of the nice ways that movies OF the time still make sense in that regard while screenwriters today have to figure out ways to make cell phones irrelevant. Often, it can come off as forced or nonsensical but here it makes sense organically in the story. Its kind of the reason that Sam Neill’s character is hired in the first place because he is good enough at his job and coming up with the truth that he would know how to find the dude and be patient.
Another factor and one that could easily go into the section of what holds up is the effects. Minus one or two things here, this was the tail end of the mostly practical effects era. While big budget movies like Jurassic Park could use CGI to go with their practical effects, to get the job done on a smaller scale, it was still mostly a rubber and corn syrup kind of era. The trick was getting the right people to do the right thing for you. In the Mouth of Madness does a wonderful job showing why practical was still the way to go and you can see shades of it in today’s movies. From Malignant using a trained stuntperson just like the character who crawls out of the car after Sam Neill’s Trent to the gore effects and miniatures that show up from time to time in both big and small budget alike.
What Holds Up
This movie is shockingly good 30 years on. From the acting to the story to the effects to the earned ending, everything still holds together wonderfully and doesn’t overstay it’s welcome. Starting with the acting, we get to see characters that are mostly one dimensional with Charlton Heston’s literary mogul to Jurgen Prochnow’s Sutter Cane and most in between. The standout here is Neill’s Trent who we see in both flashbacks and in the present. He has a full arch as every main character should and we get to see him go from hardened skeptic to frightened believer. While all the other performances add up to great set pieces and scenes, the movie would be made or broken from whoever played Trent and Neill brings everything we need to it and doesn’t even hide his New Zealand accent!
The effects here are great too. While they are also a sign of their times, that’s exactly what we look for. Horror fans harken back to the time of pre-CGI and a lot of fans during this era who went on to be directors or movie creators themselves tend to try and recreate that same look and feel. The creatures, both miniature form and large and in charge like the ending as well as the gore and make-up all stand out and still look good even on high-def formats. This includes the costuming and set design as well as little things like all the covers for the already published Sutter Cane books that harken back to the 80’s horror novel boom that operated much like the video era. The covers of these books and sometimes outlandish titles would get people to buy them regardless of the quality of the actual story.
Finally, speaking of story, apart from direct adaptations like Re-Animator or Castle Freak, this is as good as we will get to a Lovecraft type story. Many of the names of the characters or places are reminiscent of Lovecraft and his themes of the unknowable and other side. Even little set ups and payoffs like every character having blue eyes when you get a close up followed by Trent having a dream of Cane telling him blue was his favorite color. This scene works and is remembered by most people because the bus and everything on it has a blue tint, but the blue eye detail goes that much deeper.
What Doesn’t Hold Up
Is it a cheat to say nothing? Probably, so here we go. As much as I love the effects here, there are a couple that do NOT stand the test of time with the mask worn by the kid on the bike, some of the town kids make-up, and the part where Cane peels his face open to reveal the world outside the book and let the rest of the creatures in all kind of fall flat, especially compared to the rest of movies goods. The only other nitpick I can levy on this movie is that the music isn’t quite as good as the rest of the man’s movies but that’s like saying I didn’t have as good of food at this 3 star restaurant as I did the 4 star one. It’s still good and even superior to many of it’s contemporaries, just not as good as the auditory perfection we are used to.
Verdict
In the Mouth of Madness may have been a flop when it was released in theaters, but it was good then and it’s better now. While it’s not Carpenter’s last good movie with both Escape From L.A. and Vampires being fun, I have no problem calling it his last GREAT one. 30 years later and this movie needs to be in everyone’s regular rotation because it more than stands the Test of Time.
A couple of the previous episodes of The Test of Time can be seen below. To see more, click over to the JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channel – and subscribe while you’re there!
A24 and We’re All Going to the World’s Fair director Jane Schoenbrun have teamed up for a new horror movie called I Saw the TV Glow, which JoBlo’s own Chris Bumbray had the chance to see at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year (you can read his 5/10 review at THIS LINK). Yesterday, A24 took to social media to unveil a poster for the film, and to promise that a trailer would be online today. True to their word, they have already dropped the trailer online, and you can check it out in the embed above! I Saw the TV Glow is scheduled to reach theatres on May 3rd.
Written and directed by Schoenbrun, I Saw the TV Glow tells the story of two teenage outcasts who bond over their shared love of a scary television show. However, the boundary between TV and reality begins to blur after it is mysteriously canceled.
Justice Smith (Jurassic World: Dominion) and Brigette Lundy-Paine (Bill & Ted Face the Music) play the teenage outcasts and are joined in the cast by Helena Howard (The Wilds), Danielle Deadwyler (The Harder They Fall), Amber Benson (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Ian Foreman (The Holiday Switch), Michael C. Maronna (The Adventures of Pete & Pete), Conner O’Malley (Palm Springs), Emma Portner (Ghostbusters: Afterlife), and Danny Tamberelli (also of The Adventures of Pete & Pete).
I Saw the TV Glow is being produced by Emma Stone through her company Fruit Tree, along with her Fruit Tree partners Dave McCary and Ali Herting. Sam Intili and Smudge Films’ Sarah Winshall are producing as well. A24 handled the financing and will also be handling the worldwide distribution.
Bumbray said in his review that the film is “so experimental that it feels like a half-baked attempt at a genre version of Inland Empire-era David Lynch.” Which, I have to admit, definitely lowered my interest in this one.
What did you think of the trailer for I Saw the TV Glow? Will you be catching this movie on the big screen when it’s released in May? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
Reacher‘s Alan Ritchson has soared to fame since getting cast in the Prime Video series based on the Lee Child crime novels. The actor has been gaining even more notoriety as he boasts an even bigger physique this season and has displayed a comic book-accurate superhero physique that prompted fans to consider him to get cast as a new Batman. While Batman could still be a possibility, one superhero role he had unfortunately missed out on was Thor, which now is synonymous with Chris Hemsworth. According to Variety, Ritchson had auditioned for the 2011 film Thor as the Marvel Cinematic Universe started moving their shared universe train.
Ritchson admits he was banking on his looks and thought his appearance was enough to land him the lead role in the Kenneth Branagh-directed MCU movie. The Reacher star explained, “I didn’t take it seriously. I was like, ‘They’ll throw me the part if I look like the guy; nobody really cares about acting.’” The casting people for the film would show him otherwise as they told his reps that, although he had a great look, he didn’t have “the craft” down. Chris Hemsworth ultimately got the role, and Ritchson’s career path would take a different trajectory. At that point in his career, Ritchson had appeared as a superhero, playing Aquaman in Smallville and he would go on to be in a big franchise as he did the voice and motion capture for Raphael in the 2014 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie and its sequel, which he professes were both nightmares to make.
Ritchson would eventually land a comedic part in his breakout role as Thad Castle in the Spike TV sitcom Blue Mountain State. He also assumed after Blue Mountain State premiered “that there would be a cornucopia of comedies for me to choose from,” but he admits he was not receiving offers. Flash forward to the success of the show Reacher and Ritchson says, “I had about 50 offers the weekend after Season 1 of Reacher opened. I knew my life had changed.” He has since appeared in movies like Fast X and will be starring in the upcoming Guy Ritchie film, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.
PLOT: An astronaut realizes that the marriage he left behind might not be waiting for him when he returns to Earth. Desperate to fix things with his wife, he is helped by a mysterious ancient creature he finds hiding in the bowels of his ship.
REVIEW: It should no longer be surprising when Adam Sandler stars in dramatic roles. When Paul Thomas Anderson’s Punch-Drunk Love was released in 2002, Sandler was best known for films like Big Daddy and Little Nicky. Even though Sandler still releases broad comedies like Hubie Halloween and Murder Mystery, the actor has proven his talents in movies like Uncut Gems and Hustle. Adam Sandler’s latest dramatic project is Spaceman, a science-fiction tale set in the void of the solar system. Partnered with Oscar nominee Carey Mulligan and acclaimed director Johan Renck, Spaceman is another solid performance from Adam Sandler that once again proves how good he is given the right material. While the movie itself may not be as good as some of Sandler’s aforementioned dramatic projects, it is still an interesting story about isolation and love.
Based on the novel Spaceman of Bohemia, the film opens with Jakub Procházka (Adam Sandler) aboard a vessel on its way past Jupiter to investigate the mysterious Chopra Cloud, a nebula of purple particles that appeared in the sky. An experienced astronaut for the Czech space agency, Jakub has been alone aboard his ship for over one hundred and thirty days. The isolation has begun to eat at Jakub, including a rattling toilet that has prevented him from sleeping. Jakub communicates with Peter (Kunal Nayyar) and his commanding officer, Commissioner Tuma (Isabella Rossellini), but has not heard from his wife Lenka (Carey Mulligan). Unbeknownst to Jakub, Lenka has decided to end their marriage despite being pregnant with their child. As Jakub contends with his loneliness, he reminisces about his love for Lenka as he heads toward the goal of his mission. That is when Hanus appears. Voiced by Paul Dano, Hanus is an alien who looks like a giant spider and can read Jakub’s thoughts.
The introduction of the alien creature initially frightens Jakub, but throughout the film, he forms a friendship with the spider that alleviates his isolation similar to how Tom Hanks had Wilson the volleyball in Cast Away. Hanus probes Jakub’s mind which allows the astronaut to question the decisions that led him to this journey and away from Lenka. On Earth, Lenka struggles with her isolation as she shuts off communication with Jakub even as she confides in Zdena (Lena Olin) about her feelings. The shifting focus between Jakub in space and Lenka on Earth allows for Adam Sandler and Carey Mulligan to explore the relationship between their characters through memories and dream-like visions. The surreal and ethereal look of these scenes is the most beautiful part of Spaceman which is anchored in Cold War-era designs for the Earth-based scenes at the Czech mission control and homes of the various characters. The technology on display appears archaic and accentuates the slightly odd look and tone of the film, echoing a similar feel in the film Swiss Army Man which, coincidentally, starred Paul Dano.
Clocking in at an hour and forty-seven minutes, Spaceman employs very deliberate pacing rooted in softly-spoken dialogue that at times comes across as rigid or wooden. I initially found the delivery of the dialogue to feel like it was being translated from a foreign language but this eventually transitions to the scenes taking on an almost poetic quality. Almost everyone aside from Adam Sandler boasts an accent of one kind or another and Sandler’s delivery occasionally borders on a vague European lilt. The European sensibility of the film gives Spaceman a feel unlike any other Sandler project to date, but it often feels like it is masking a weaker film by wrapping it in quirkiness to hide a lack of depth. The middle of act of the film often languishes in repeated moments that drive a wedge between Jakub and his alien friend before bringing them back together as he realizes more about himself. Adam Sandler spends so much of Spaceman alone or acting opposite a CGI creation that the film serves as a showcase for his acting abilities that he struggles to meet. Adam Sandler is quite good in this film but a stronger actor likely would have been a better fit.
Screenwriter Colby Day does not deviate much from the source material, keeping the setting, names, and tone of Jaroslav Kalfar’s novel. This allows director Johan Renck to dive into visual tricks he has not explored much to date. Renck, a veteran music video director, has helmed numerous television series like Bates Motel, VIkings, Bloodline, Breaking Bad, and Halt and Catch Fire but his critical acclaim came after he made 2019’s HBO series Chernobyl. By following up on that stunning project with Spaceman, Renck gets to blend stylistic elements from his music video work with a feature film format. Renck balances out the visual magic of this project, born from cinematographer Jakob Ihre, with a haunting score from composer Max Richter. The music in Spaceman is something quite stirring and when that is played against the dreamy tone of the images on screen, this film feels grander than it actually is. So much of the movie feels like an experiment for Renck as a director that it sacrifices the balance between being an edgy indie film with a mainstream crowdpleaser.
Believe it or not but Spaceman is the weirdest movie of Adam Sandler’s career. As a science fiction drama, the film feels like an arthouse twist on Interstellar and Solaris but through the lens of a filmmaker too reliant on familiar tropes of the genre. Spaceman wants to say something prescient about the human condition and how it relates to loneliness and isolation. But, because it wallows in an existential sadness where the energy of the characters never rises above sombre, the movie is just too slow to garner any momentum. Spaceman is not a bad movie but it wastes an opportunity to say something substantial. While it could have benefited from a livelier edit, Spaceman is still an endearing watch with a great performance from Adam Sandler and a heartbreaking one from the always-excellent Carey Mulligan. This movie will not go down as one of Sandler’s defining performances, but it will certainly be an interesting footnote along the way.
We know that the world of Willy Wonka is one of “pure imagination”, but this is ridiculous! A supposed Willy Wonka experience in Scotland is getting worse reviews than the chocolatier’s actual child-killing factory, going viral as a disaster that calls to mind the cheese sandwiches at Fyre Fest.
Check out the website’s official description and some pictures from the Willy Wonka event below:
“Dive into the whimsical of Willy’s Chocolate Experience!, a place where chocolate dreams become reality. Book your adventure now and embark on a journey filled with wondrous creations and enchanting surprises at every turn!” This was not the case…actually, I’m not even sure there were even turns!
Parents at a “Willy Wonka immersive experience” in Glasgow called the police after their children were left in tears upon seeing the quality of the warehouse event, for which they paid $45 each. pic.twitter.com/dwJ4GVBgMv
As you can see in the promo, the Willy Wonka experience promised a lot that they just didn’t deliver on. And we’re not just talking about chocolate, but “catgacating”, “cartchy tuns” and even “exarserdray lollipops.” And yet not one instance of catgacating was found!
That might seem like gibberish, but it might actually be the result of artificial intelligence, meaning it’s possible that an actual human being lost out on work because of that “writing”. Paul Connell, the comedian and actor who was cast as Willy Wonka recounted his nightmare, saying, “The script was 15 pages of AI-generated gibberish of me just monologuing these mad things…The bit that got me was where I had to say [regarding a fictional villain], ‘There is a man we don’t know his name. We know him as the Unknown. This Unknown is an evil chocolate maker who lives in the walls.’…They even misspelled my contract but I do have a legally binding ‘Coontract [sic]’. But I stayed up all night learning it thinking this would make sense in the dress rehearsal when I see all the tech.” Taking a look at some of these pictures, “tech” might be short of “technicality.”
According to The New York Times, treats promised to the little ones were anything but, with one attendee saying his “children got two jelly beans each…And then they got a half a cup of lemonade.” He added that there were a handful of chairs for people to sit in and a “half-inflated bouncy castle.”
The event was held in Glasgow in a location called the Box Hub Warehouse, one Google review for which showcases a shoe sale. No, tickets are not refundable.
Working with divas who think they’re better than the rest of the people on set can never be easy. Standing up to them must be even harder. But Rebecca Ferguson has done both, revealing that she was berated in front of the crew but retaliated by telling them to “f off.”
Speaking on Reign with Josh Smith, Rebecca Ferguson remembered, “I did a film with an absolute idiot of a co-star. This person would literally look at me and look at the whole crew and say, ‘You call yourself an actor? This is what I have to work with?’…And I think I was so vulnerable and uncomfortable that I got screamed at. But because this person was number one on a call sheet, there was no safety net for me. So no one had my back. And I would cry walking off set.”
Rebecca Ferguson added that at one point she had to stand up for herself – and so she did. “I looked at this person and I said, ‘You can F off. I’m gonna work towards a tennis ball. I never want to see you again.’ And then I remember the producers came up and said, ‘You can’t do this to number one. We have to let this person be on set.’”
Rebecca Ferguson’s filmography isn’t terribly expansive yet, so it may not be all that hard to begin to deduce who this unnamed co-star might be. She already said it wasn’t Mission: Impossible lead Tom Cruise or The Greatest Showman’s Hugh Jackman, so they’re out. She also doesn’t say whether it’s a male or female, coyly saying “this person.” But I’m putting the odds on a male… (it sounds like she’s talking about a guy, but who knows?) So, who do we have to consider that would have been number one on the call sheet for at least one day? Some have speculated Michael Fassbender, but by all accounts, they got along just fine making The Snowman and did plenty of interviews together. Others have pointed to Hugh Grant on Florence Foster Jenkins or Ewan McGregor on Doctor Sleep, although there might not be enough to support that. She and McGregor did many interviews together as well as a few talk shows where they were all smiles, and no one has ever accused McGregor of anything like this. However, the “tennis ball” comment does perhaps narrow it down to a CGI spectacle like Hercules…but Dwayne Johnson is known to be most professional on a set.
But the most cited name on social media regarding who Rebecca Ferguson’s mysterious and volatile co-star is Rogue Nation/Fallout‘s Alec Baldwin…I don’t know, he always seems so calm…At the same time, this seems like something Tom Cruise would have shut down immediately, knowing how seriously he takes the environment. We may never know, but that can’t stop us from speculating.
Who do you think Rebecca Ferguson is talking about? Give us your best name and supporting evidence in the comments section below.
The upcoming Michael Jackson biopic is currently in production, but where would the iconic singer be without the Jackson 5? Lionsgate, along with Universal Pictures International, announced that eight actors have been cast to play Michael Jackson’s brothers in the Jackson 5, with four actors playing the younger versions of Jermaine, Marlon, Tito, and Jackie, and the other four taking over the roles as the characters age.
Jayden Harville and Jamal R. Henderson will play the younger and older versions of Jermaine Jackson, Jaylen Lyndon Hunter and Tre Horton will play Marlon, Judah Edwards and Rhyan Hill will play Tito, and Nathaniel Logan McIntyre and Joseph David-Jones will play Jackie.
“The truly epic nature of this film required a total of ten actors with the talent to portray the Jackson 5 through the years,” said producer Graham King in a statement. “I’m thrilled to bring this extraordinary group of actors and performers to worldwide audiences in this film.“
The rest of the cast includes Nia Long as Katherine Jackson, Colman Domingo as Joe Jackson, Miles Teller as long-time lawyer John Branca, Juliano Krue Valdi as young Michael Jackson, and Jackson’s real-life nephew Jaafar Jackson as the adult version of Michael. Antoine Fuqua is directing from a script by John Logan. We got our first look at Jaafar Jackson in costume as his famous uncle earlier this month, and the likeness is pretty damn uncanny. The production has the cooperation of the Jackson estate, which means that they’ll be able to use his music, but it remains to be seen how much of the famous singer’s troubles will be addressed.
“Michael will bring audiences a riveting and honest portrayal of the brilliant yet complicated man who became the King of Pop,” reads the official description. “The film presents his triumphs and tragedies on an epic, cinematic scale — from his human side and personal struggles to his undeniable creative genius, exemplified by his most iconic performances. As never before, audiences will experience an inside look into one of the most influential, trailblazing artists the world has ever known.” Michael will hit theaters on April 18, 2025.
Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building has never had any trouble assembling an all-star cast, and that trend continues with the new season. It was announced today that Emmy-winning eyebrow enthusiast Eugene Levy has joined the cast of season 4 of Only Murders in the Building.
Details of Eugene Levy’s role in the fourth season are being kept under wraps, but it’s said it will be recurring. Other new additions to the cast include Molly Shannon, who will be playing a high-powered Los Angeles businesswoman, and Eva Longoria, whose character is being kept under wraps. Meryl Streep, who was featured in the last season, will also be returning. Eugene Levy and Martin Short go way back, all the way to SCTV, so it should be a treat to see them reunite on season 4 of Only Murders in the Building.
Only Murders in the Building was created by Steve Martin, Dan Fogelman, and John Hoffman. The first season followed three strangers (Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez) who share an obsession with true crime and suddenly find themselves wrapped up in one when a grisly death occurs inside their exclusive Upper West Side apartment building.
Here’s a SPOILER ALERT if you’re not caught up. The last season of Only Murders in the Building ended with the unexpected murder of Sazz (Jane Lynch), Charles-Haden Savage’s (Martin) stunt double from his time starring on Brazzos. As she dies, she tries to write something with her fingers, but we’re not sure exactly what it is.
“We thought to keep it as oblique as possible for now, just to keep our options open for the next season, but it feels very in her character to send a message,” series co-showrunner John Hoffman explained to THR last year. “She’s been trying to do it to Charles throughout the season. She’s hinting to him in episode five that she’s picking up some ham radio chatter, certainly, right when she arrives in the finale, she’s saying, ‘Can I grab you for a few minutes? It’s a little sensitive.’ So, there’s something on her mind and something she may know but to be found out.“
(@CultureCrave) 
