Fresh off the well received wrestling drama The Iron Claw and soon to be seen in the comedy Ricky Stanicky, Zac Efron has now signed on to star in the thriller Famous for director Jody Hill – and he’ll be playing dual roles in the film, which is based on a novel by Blake Crouch!

Scripted by Chad Hodge, who created the short-lived, Crouch-inspired TV series Wayward Pines back in 2015, Famous has the following synopsis: Lance Dunkquist has one asset that’s about to change his life – he has the face of a movie star. And not just any movie star – Lance is the spitting image of a Hollywood icon, James Jansen. Lance is about to travel to Los Angeles to make his dream come true. Lance is going to be famous, no matter what it takes… The film aims to be a “provocative and highly entertaining Los Angeles-set thriller that explores the dark side of celebrity, and the lengths people will go to attain it.”

Efron will be playing both overzealous fan Lance Dunkquist and Hollywood heartthrob James Jansen.

Copies of Crouch’s novel can be purchased at THIS LINK. It has the following description: “My name is Lancelot Blue Dunkquist, and the best thing about me is, when you doll me up right, I look just like the movie star, James Jansen.” Meet Lance. 38-years-old. Works a meaningless job. Still lives above his parents’ garage. By all accounts, a world-class loser. Except for one glaring exception… He has a million-dollar face. Lance has been mistaken twenty-eight times for the Oscar-winning movie star, James Jansen, and for the last 10 years, he’s saved his money, studied Jansen’s films, his moves, his idiosyncrasies, even the way he speaks. Now, after an unceremonious termination from his job, Lance has decided that the time has come to go after his dream. From New York’s ridiculous avant-garde, off-off Broadway scene, to the surreal glitter of Los Angeles, follow Lance on his madcap journey of self-abandonment to become his likeness. Part comedy, part human tragedy, and part suspense, the world through the eyes of Lancelot Blue Dunkquist is like none you’ve ever seen.

Mr. Robot creator / Leave the World Behind director Sam Esmail is producing Famous with Chad Hamilton for Esmail Corp. The company’s Nick Krishnamurthy serves as executive producer. Black Bear will be presenting Famous to potential international distributors at the upcoming European Film Market, while CAA Media Finance and WME Independent represent the U.S. rights.

Jody Hill’s previous directing credits include The Foot Fist Way, Observe and Report, The Legacy of a Whitetail Deer Hunter, and episodes of Eastbound & Down, Vice Principals, The Righteous Gemstones, and Peacemaker.

Does Famous sound interesting to you? Share your thoughts on this Zac Efron / Jody Hill / Blake Crouch / Chad Hodge / Sam Esmail team-up by leaving a comment below.

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A pact between Apple Original Films, A24, Spike Lee, and Denzel Washington is making noise this Thursday with news about a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 crime drama High and Low. Lee and Washington are old friends, of course, with the duo’s fourth collaboration being for 2006’s Inside Man.

In Kurosawa’s High and Low, an executive of a Yokohama shoe company becomes a victim of extortion when his chauffeur’s son is kidnapped by mistake and held for ransom. Details about Lee’s remake are scarce, though we know it will be an English-language reimagining of the original—details about how and if the plot will differ from Kurosawa’s classic crime drama remains a mystery.

Alan Fox and Lee wrote the screenplay for the High and Low remake, with A24, Escape Artists, and Mandalay Pictures handling development. Production kicks off in March, with Todd Black producing for Escape Artists and Jason Michael Berman for Mandalay Pictures. In addition to directing and co-writing High and Low, Lee will executive produce through his 40 Acres studio and A Mule Filmworks. Joining Lee as an executive producer is Peter Guber for Madalay Films, Matthew Lindner for Juniper Productions, Chris Brigham, and Katia Washington. Mandalay’s Jordan Moldo is co-producing. According to reports, Spike Lee and Denzel Washington began thinking about collaborating on another film project last spring. Still, the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes delayed any forward momentum.

Denzel Washington’s next film is one cinephiles didn’t think would ever happen: Gladiator 2. Ridley Scott directs the Gladiator sequel from a script by David Scarpa (All The Money In the World). The film stars Paul Mescal (Aftersun) as Lucius, the young boy who idolized Maximus (Russell Crowe) in the original movie. The cast also includes Denzel Washington (The Equalizer 3), Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian), Joseph Quinn (Stranger Things), Connie Nielsen (Wonder Woman), May Calamawy (Moon Knight), Lior Raz (The Crowded Room), Peter Mensah (Spartacus), Matt Lucas (Wonka), Fred Hechinger (The White Lotus), and Derek Jacobi (Murder on the Orient Express).

Speaking with Deadline in November, Ridley Scott explained how Washington’s character parallels Lucius, saying, “There’s a parallel character, the owner of a business that supplied weapons for the Romans, who supplied the oil when they traveled, who supplied the wine they drink. They wouldn’t drink water, they drank wine. When they traveled, who would supply wagons and horses and tack? There had to be the arms dealers of the period; here is a man who already rich from supplying the weapons, the catapults. His hobby is like a racing stable except it’s gladiators. He’s got a stable of 30 or 40 gladiators. He likes to actually see them fight and it evolves that that’s where he came from. He was captured in North Africa, and evolved into a free man because he was a good gladiator. But he hides that because also he’s now realizing the potential of his actual power. He’s wealthier than most senators, so already has thoughts and designs of the possible idea of taking power from these two crazy princes.”

Are you a fan of Kurosawa’s High and Low? What changes have been made to the story to fit Lee’s directorial style and sensitivities? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

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The legendary sibling directing duo of Joel and Ethan Coen went their separate directorial ways after the 2018 film The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, and while there’s talk they’re going to be reuniting to make a horror movie, in the meantime we’ve gotten Joel’s first solo directing effort with The Tragedy of Macbeth, and we’ll be seeing Ethan’s first solo directing effort when Focus Features brings the road trip comedy caper Drive Away Dolls to theatres on February 23rd. Some critics have already had a chance to see the movie, and with two weeks to go until its wide release, the first reactions have started showing up online. We have gathered some of them together below.

First, we have a reaction from JoBlo’s own Chris Bumbray:

The majority of the reactions available now lean toward the positive, with viewers having fun laughing along with this fast paced, silly movie:

Of course, no film is for absolutely everyone, so here’s a negative reaction as well:

Scripted by Ethan Coen and his wife Tricia Cooke, Drive Away Dolls follows Jamie, an uninhibited free spirit bemoaning yet another breakup with a girlfriend, and her demure friend Marian, who desperately needs to loosen up. In search of a fresh start, the two embark on an impromptu road trip to Tallahassee, but things quickly go awry when they cross paths with a group of inept criminals along the way.

Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan star as Jamie and Marian. They’re joined in the cast by Beanie Feldstein, Colman Domingo, Pedro Pascal, Bill Camp, and Matt Damon.

Coen and Cooke produced the film with Robert Graf, Tim Bevan, and Eric Fellner.

Drive Away Dolls was first announced in 2007, at which time Allison Anders (Gas Food Lodging) was going to be directing the film from Coen and Cooke’s script. Selma Blair, Holly Hunter, Christina Applegate, and Chloë Sevigny were all considered for the lead roles… but the film never made it into production until Coen decided to take the helm in 2022.

What do you think of the first reactions to Drive Away Dolls? Are you looking forward to seeing this movie? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

Whether they’re alone, working as a team, or not even directing the movie, I see anything the Coen brothers are involved with, so I will definitely be watching Drive Away Dolls.

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The tea leaves have aligned, and industry insider Daniel Richtman sees another casting for Lionsgate‘s Highlander reboot emerging from the pattern. According to Richtman, Michael Fassbender (The Killer, Shame, Prometheus) plays the villain in the Chad Stahelski-directed reimagining of the classic action film. According to Richtman, Fassbender is in talks to star alongside Henry Cavill (The Witcher, Argylle, Justice League) as a “Mongol Warrior.”

Please remember that whispers about Michael Fassbender’s involvement with Highlander are rumors. We must wait for Lionsgate to make it official.

The new rumor already has Highlander fans buzzing about Fassbender playing a version of the original Highlander villain, the Kurgan. Portrayed by Clancy Brown in the 1986 fantasy action-adventure film, the Kurgan is an immortal warrior and thorn in the side of Connor MacLeod, the Highlander (Christopher Lambert).

Lionsgate is looking to Stahelski to guide the short- and long-term creative direction, franchise strategy, and strategic growth of the Highlander and John Wick properties to ensure that quality, tone, and vision remain consistent. Stahelski will work side by side with the franchise producers – Thunder Road’s Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee on the Wick franchise and Neal H. Moritz and the estate of the late Peter S. Davis on Highlander – to maximize the potential of these unique and valuable properties.

“This deal expands on the great creative relationship we already have in place on John Wick and extends it to our Highlander franchise,” Joe Drake, the outgoing chair of the Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, and Adam Fogelson, chair of the MPG, said. “From the outset, Chad has been the creative force defining the world of Wick; as we continue to think about the future for that world, we want Chad, working together with Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee of Thunder Road, as our stewards guiding us and strategizing together at every step. This deal makes it official, and we look forward to his steady hand and creative input not just on the film he is making, but other stories that arise from it. He is a true visionary, and we are thrilled to have him in our corner.”

“I am pleased to be able to grow my relationship with Lionsgate in this new oversight role for the John Wick universe and its further expansion,” said Stahelski. “John Wick is so close to my heart and to be able to continue shepherding it will be a blast for me. I’m so happy to also be launching another franchise with Highlander, a world that is so rich with engaging stories to be told.”

What do you think about the possibility of Michael Fassbender playing the villain in Chad Stahelski’s Highlander? Will Fassbender and Cavill have great chemistry? In what form will the Kurgan take in Stahelski’s version if that is the way he chooses to go with the classic character?

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One of the biggest financial flops of the 90s was the Renny Harlin pirate flick Cutthroat Island. The high-seas romp, which starred Geena Davis, cost nearly $100 million and only eked out $10 million in the US. It was a big enough flop that it sunk the studio that produced it, Carolco Pictures, but Harlin and Davis were able to bounce back fairly quickly and make The Long Kiss Goodnight, which has since become a classic. However, it’s worth noting that the stink left over from their pirate epic muted the latter film’s box office.

Despite being one of the biggest disasters of the nineties, Cutthroat Island is finally getting a 4K Blu-ray release. Check out all the details here. While (initially) only available at Wal-Mart, the loaded disc (which includes a Renny Harlin commentary) should encourage fans to give the movie another shot because it’s a pretty good movie. Here’s the thing – in 1995, Harlin and Davis, for some reason or another, were the target of some very hostile press, and the movie never really got a fair shake critically. It’s a rip-roaring adventure epic with some fantastic (practical) action set-pieces and a terrific action heroine role for Davis that’s ripe for rediscovery. She also has top-shelf support from Matthew Modine as her heroic love interest, while Frank Langella is amazing as the movie’s villain Dawg Brown (Davis gets a terrific one-liner in the final battle with him – “bad dawg”). It also has a great score by John Debney and is legit better than most of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies (outside of the great first one).

Hopefully, now that it’s getting an excellent re-release; it’ll lead to a re-appraisal of one of Harlin’s most underrated films. We love Renny Harlin here at JoBlo – check out two of our interviews with him below!

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Three-week projections for Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two are in, and the highly-anticipated sequel could ride a sandworm all the way to the bank! The follow-up to Villeneuve’s 2021 epic gives theater owners and film industry workers something to feel spicy about, with conservative predictions giving the movie a $65M+ launch. That projected total is 59%-83% higher than the original, which debuted at $41M.

Legendary/Warner Bros released Dune during the pandemic, with the science-fiction spectacle going day-and-date in theaters and on HBO Max. The simultaneous release cut into Dune’s box office totals, but fans longing for a big-screen blockbuster still showed up to theaters, making Dune the second highest-grossing day and date/HBO Max movie for Warner Media at $402M worldwide.

Early tickets for Dune: Part Two went on sale on January 26, with receipts stacking like hotcakes, outpacing Universal’s Oppenheimer, which is quite the feat. Dune: Part Two may blow past the projected $65M+ as theater offerings have been slim for weeks. Movie fans are a tenacious bunch with money burning in their pockets. It seems harsh to lay the saving of a dismal box office at Dune’s feet, but Hollywood is still recuperating from the pandemic and strikes.

Dune: Part Two “will explore the mythic journey of Paul Atreides as he unites with Chani and the Fremen while on a warpath of revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family,” says the film’s official synopsis. “Facing a choice between the love of his life and the fate of the known universe, he endeavors to prevent a terrible future only he can foresee.”

Denis Villeneuve directs from a screenplay he co-wrote with Jon Spaihts based on Frank Herbert’s novel. The film is produced by Mary Parent, Cale Boyter, Villeneuve, Tanya Lapointe, and Patrick McCormick. The executive producers are Josh Grode, Herbert W. Gains, Jon Spaihts, Thomas Tull, Brian Herbert, Byron Merritt, and Kim Herbert, with Kevin J. Anderson as a creative consultant.

Do you plan on seeing Dune: Part Two during the film’s opening weekend? Can Villeneuve’s highly-anticipated sequel be the shot in the arm the box office needs? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Dune: Part Two rides a sandworm into theaters on March 1, 2024.

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The French horror film The Animal Kingdom has been making the festival rounds for the last year, and after reaching theatres in its home country last October it ended up earning 12 Nominations at this year’s César Awards, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Actor. We’ll have to wait a couple weeks to find out if it’s going to win those César Awards (the ceremony is set to be held on February 23rd), but in the meantime a trailer for the film’s American release has made its way online and can be seen in the embed above. Magnet Releasing will be giving The Animal Kingdom a theatrical and VOD release on March 15th.

Directed by Thomas Cailley, who also wrote the screenplay with Pauline Munier, The Animal Kingdom, which is described as “a visionary thriller”, drops viewers into an extraordinary world where mutations in human genetics cause people to transform into hybrid creatures, François does everything he can to save his wife, who is affected by this mysterious condition. As some of the creatures disappear into a nearby forest, François embarks with Emile, their 16-year-old son, on a quest to find her with help from a local police officer. From acclaimed director Thomas Cailley, the film world premiered as the opening night selection of Cannes Un Certain Regard.

Romain Duris (The Beat That My Heart Skipped) stars as François and is joined in the cast by Paul Kircher (Winter Boy) as Emile and Adèle Exarchopoulos (Blue Is the Warmest Color) as the helpful local police officer.

Cailley made his feature directorial debut with the comedy Love at First Fight back in 2014 and has since directed six episodes of the mystery series Ad Vitam, which he co-created.

Pierre Guyard produced The Animal Kingdom, with Eve François Machuel serving as executive producer and Philip Boëffard and Christophe Rossignon as associate producers.

What did you think of the trailer for The Animal Kingdom? Does this look like a movie you’d like to check out next month? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.

The post The Animal Kingdom trailer: French horror film makes its way to the U.S. in March appeared first on JoBlo.

It seems like so many stories that arise from Hollywood are caked with negativity, toxicity and sometimes sheer evil. So when one with such positivity and hope comes along, it feels not only fresh but also puts a new light on the powers of the famous and the surprising capabilities of our favorite actors. This time around, the focus is on Christian Bale, who is helping complete a 16-year project that puts roofs over the heads of siblings in the foster care system.

The project recently broke ground, putting in motion an initiative that Christian Bale has kept close to his heart. At the event, Bale explained the purpose of the plan, saying, “With our Together California model, [the village] is something absolutely new, totally transformative and something completely needed. Imagine the absolute pain and the trauma of losing your parents or being torn from your parents, and then losing your brothers and sisters on top of that, that’s no way to treat kids…And so, we will be the hub for that. I hope that this village will be the first of many, and I hope that people, Californians and Angelenos, know to come join us in opening our eyes to what’s happening right under our noses. These are our children, and we must help our children.”

Together California, which is on pace to be completed next year, is pegged at costing $22 million, with a portion of the budget going towards an expansive property just outside of Los Angeles that includes 16 homes, two studio apartments and a 7,000 square foot community center. Through Together California, Bale joins The Big Short co-star Brad Pitt in his affinity for constructing homes for those in need.

But it has indeed been a long journey for Christian Bale and company. “I had the very unrealistic idea that within one year I’d have created a miniature Sound of Music with kids singing on hills in an endlessly joyful environment. But I discovered no, it takes an awful long time and really well-motivated people. It’s complicated and tough to help kids. It should be a hell of a lot easier than it was but I didn’t flinch for one second.”

Christian Bale recently voiced in the English dub of Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron.

What is your favorite Christian Bale movie or performance?

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And the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor goes to…The heavy favorite this year is Robert Downey Jr. for Oppenheimer – and even those he’s in competition with know he’s a shoo-in for the Oscar. Sterling K. Brown, who is up for American Fiction, recently admitted that the statue is Downey Jr.’s to lose.

Speaking on The Graham Norton Show (via EW), Brown suggested that the nomination itself is a sort of victory, saying, “There’s no losing yet. It will happen in its own due time…I know that I’m not going to win.” But he knows the Oscar will go to Downey Jr., who plays Lewis Strauss in Oppenheimer. “I’mma tell you: Robert Downey Jr.’s gonna win, and he’s incredibly deserving. He’s an incredible actor. Like, you should give him love…The fact that I get a chance to be nominated along with him and Mr. [Robert] De Niro and Ryan Gosling and [Mark] Ruffalo…I’m just happy to be in the room.” De Niro, Gosling and Ruffalo are nominated for Killers of the Flower Moon, Barbie and Poor Things, respectively; of all of the nominees, only De Niro has a previous win in the category, although Ruffalo does lead in nominations with four.

Outside of his sure-thing bet on Best Supporting Actor being awarded to Downey Jr., Brown predicted that Colman Domingo would win Best Actor for Rustin, although he’s way off base here as the odds-on favorite is Paul Giamatti, with Cillian Murphy proving to be his only real competition if any. If you have strong feelings about the awards, make sure to have your say over at The Golden Schmoes! Our nomination period starts Monday

This Oscar nomination is Downey Jr.’s third and second in the Best Supporting Actor category, after 2009’s Tropic Thunder. He was previously nominated for Best Actor for Chaplin, which RDJ has since gone on to say he’s grateful he didn’t win as it may have screwed with his ego.

It’s pretty cool seeing how humble and giving Brown is here coming off of his first Academy Award nomination. He already has three Primetime Emmy Awards, all in different categories and for different projects.

Do you think the Best Supporting Actor Oscar is a lock for Robert Downey Jr. or is there room for a surprise? Let us know below!

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It feels that the term “superhero movie” used to be a subgenre that could take on many forms. For example, Logan was a Western epic with super-powered characters at the core, but the tone was nothing like any of the other X-Men films of years past. Or the way Constantine gave us a dark horror-thriller with demons and monsters but kept the detective-slash-noir aesthetic and allowed it to bleed through. But, these days, it feels like nearly all of the caped cinema we’re getting fits into the same all-encompassing, mass-appealing mega-genre that has started to feel the same across every film- With the rare exception of movies like The Batman or Marvel’s recent Werewolf By Night, there’s been a frustrating lack of variety in the tones of modern comic book cinema. But back in 2011, Marvel was in the infancy of building out there now-dominating connected universe by way of introducing different characters in their films, before crossing over into one giant blockbuster event with Marvel’s Avengers.

With Iron Man already being two films in and Thor and the Hulk being introduced in their outings, it was time for Kevin Feige and the folks at Marvel Studios to rewind the clocks to 1942 and introduce audiences to one of the MCU’s most iconic heroes- in Captain America: The First Avenger.

If the Iron Man movies were a high-octane action romp, Thor was a Shakespearian ode to the Renaissance era, and The Incredible Hulk was… I don’t know, something? Marvel Studios wanted to tell the story of Captain America in an adventurous trip to the past where we can meet the man who unknowingly made it possible for the Avengers to come together nearly 70 years later. The film offers a full origin story for Steve Rogers as the character. Also, it brings in some history to help fill out the already-established MCU, giving the entire connected universe a sense of lore and detail that connects these films even further. But, by this time, Marvel’s confidence in the success of their projects led them to use this movie to dabble and experiment with the historical war epic genre- and in some ways, it works, and in other ways, it simply does not. But of course, the big question today is how this movie stacks up against the standards or lack thereof in today’s world of comic-riddled content. Let’s find out in today’s episode of Marvel Revisited.

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