Anthony Hopkins returns in a trailer for the film based on an extraordinary true story. Bleecker Street has released the new preview for One Life. The film showcases Hopkins as a man who happened upon a tragically developing encounter with refugee Jewish children who are in the path of Nazi occupation in Prague. Amazingly Hopkins’ younger version of the character had taken it upon himself to embark on a mission to save the children from the growing threat.
The official synopsis from Bleecker Street reads, “Based on the book If It’s Not Impossible…: The Life of Sir Nicholas Winton by Barbara Winton, ONE LIFE tells the incredible, emotional true story of Nicholas ‘Nicky’ Winton (Flynn), a young London broker who visits Prague in December 1938. In a race against time, Winton convinces Trevor Chadwick (Sharp) and Doreen Warriner (Garai) of the British Committee for Refugees in Czechoslovakia to rescue hundreds of predominantly Jewish children before Nazi occupation closes the borders. Fifty years later, Nicky (Hopkins) is haunted by the fate of the children he wasn’t able to bring to safety in England. It’s not until the BBC show That’s Life! re-introduces him to some of those he helped rescue that he finally begins to come to terms with the guilt and grief he carried – all the while skyrocketing from anonymity to a national hero.”
The film sports a cast that includes Anthony Hopkins, Johnny Flynn, Lena Olin, Romola Garai, Alex Sharp, Marthe Keller, Jonathan Pryce and Helena Bonham Carter. James Hawes directs from a screenplay by Lucina Coxon and Nick Drake. Joanna Laurie, lain Canning, Emile Sherman and Guy Heeley are all on board as producers. The executive producers of the film include Simon Gillis, Eva Yates, Barbara Winton, Maria Logan, Anne Sheehan and Peter Hampden.
Producer, Joanna Laurie, would describe the main challenge of development on the project. She remarked, “We had to do the thing which Nicholas found difficult: singling himself out. He really didn’t see himself as a hero, so our challenge was telling this extraordinary story while honoring his humility. The title of this film, ONE LIFE, could mean different things to different people but I think the movie asks us all to reflect, as Nicky did, about our choices as individuals and as a community. ”
This is it, folks! It’s time to blow the dust off the fedora, oil the whip, and venture into the unknown one last time as we celebrate the end of an era with a look back at the fifth film in the Indiana Jones franchise, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny!
Unleashed 15 years after Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and presented as Harrison Ford’s final performance as Dr. Henry Walton “Indiana” Jones Jr., Dial of Destiny finds a disillusioned Indy haunted by a villain from his past and pulled into a chase to recover the Antikythera, an Ancient Greek hand-powered orrery capable of predicting astronomical patterns and eclipses in advance. Commonly referred to as the first analog computer, the Antikythera is more than it seems in Dial of Destiny. In the film, the Antikythera can chart fissures in the fabric of space-time. Open for a brief measure of seconds; the apertures help transport explorers through history. Using the Antikythera, one could map a course through the past, possibly manipulating pivotal events. For a moment, imagine this device in the hands of the wrong people and feel the shivers run down your spine.
As a way of bucking tradition, Dial of Destiny is the first feature in the Indiana Jones franchise directed by someone other than Steven Spielberg. Shocking as this is, the answer to why Spielberg relinquished the reins to another director is simple: he wanted to pass the torch. Feeling it was time for a new generation to decide Indy’s fate, Spielberg exited directorial duties for Dial of Destiny in 2020 after several delays due to the Covid-19 pandemic. James Mangold quickly took hold of the production as the project’s new director, with Mangold, David Koepp, John-Henry Butterworth, and Jex Butterworth penning the script.
The deal to make a fifth Indiana Jones movie dates back to 1979 when Spielberg and George Lucas signed an agreement with Paramount for four sequels to 1981’s Raiders of the Lost Ark. Initially, George Lucas imagined Indy and Marion Ravenwood’s son, Mutt Williams, as the hero of the fifth chapter of the film series. However, Lucas changed his mind about making the combative greaser played by Shia LaBeouf in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull shortly after the divisive sequel’s theatrical release. While Lucas never gave an official reason for abandoning his idea for Mutt to pick up the whip, adverse fan reactions to the character could have played a part.
Speaking with MTV three weeks after Kingdom of the Crystal Skull debuted in theaters, Lucas commented on his decision to euthanize his plans for Mutt, saying, “Indiana Jones is Indiana Jones. Harrison Ford is Indiana Jones. If it was Mutt Williams it would be ‘Mutt Williams and the Search for Elvis’ or something.” In the end, LaBeouf didn’t hand-jive his way to becoming the frontrunner of the franchise, which is a good thing, as his problematic reputation would have lent poorly to playing the central character for a decades-long commitment.
During the film’s planning stage, Spielberg and Lucas disagreed about where the next chapter could go. Lucas wanted the franchise to retain its supernatural roots while presenting an archaeological and historical bent. While Spielberg agreed, the two creatives began pulling Indy in different directions, with Lucas looking toward the future and Spielberg wanting to return to the past.
In an interview with the Times Online, Lucas explained the duo’s divide: “I’m in the future; Steven’s in the past. He’s trying to drag it back to the way they were, I’m trying to push it to a whole different place. So, still we have a sort of tension. This recent one came out of that. It’s kind of a hybrid of our own two ideas, so we’ll see where we are able to take the next one.”
The schism left Ford’s final Indy film in limbo, and during the creative lull, the Walt Disney Company obtained Lucasfilm, giving rights to the character’s upcoming odyssey to the House of Mouse. Then, in another move, Walt Disney Studios snagged the distribution and marketing rights to future installments of the Indiana Jones franchise from Paramount. With Walt Disney Pictures and Lucasfilm agreeing to co-produce the fifth film, Lucas relinquished the long-gestating film project to Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy. Collectively, the creative forces in charge of Indy’s fate felt the character needed one more adventure before hanging his hat on a line.
With the Antikythera chosen as the film’s MacGuffin, it was time to get the band back together and add a few new players to the cast. Without question, Ford would return as Dr. Jones for one last trip into danger. Still, the 80-year-old actor is no spring chicken and would require a body double to film Dial of Destiny’s extended opening sequence set in 1944. In addition to using state-of-the-art de-aging technology on Ford, Anthony Ingruber played Ford’s body double for select scenes.
The effects-driven sequence finds a younger Indiana Jones aboard a speeding train occupied by Nazis. There to rescue his Oxford colleague Basil Shaw (played by English actor Toby Jones) and retrieve the Lance of Longinus, a holy spear said to have pierced the side of Jesus Christ during the biblical figure’s crucifixion, Indy traverses the racing deathtrap with vigilance. The opening segment peacocks the film industry’s ability to delight and deceive, featuring close-calls, fisticuffs, and close-up shots of Disney‘s uncanny VFX magic.
Making her debut in the Indiana Jones franchise is Fleabag and Killing Eve actress Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who plays Helena Shaw, Indy’s opportunistic and brash goddaughter. Throughout Dial of Destiny, Helena acts as a thorn in Indy’s side by ignoring his instructions and carving a path toward a lucrative payday for selling the Antikythera to the highest bidder.
Much like how Indy travels with Short Round in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Helena partners with Teddy Kumar, a young Morrocan pickpocket and sidekick played by Ethann Isidore. Like Short Round, Teddy pulls his weight throughout the mission by navigating the backstreets of Tangier like a pro and making good use of his fake amateur pilot’s license.
Playing the part of the film’s primary protagonist, Jürgen Voller, is Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen. As a German scholar, scientist, and astrophysicist, Voller operates below the radar to achieve his lofty goal of reshaping the world in his image. After arriving in America, Voller adopted the name Schmidt and joined NASA to oversee the organization’s moon landing operation. Aware of the Antikythera’s power, Voller aims to rewrite history, correcting what he sees as past mistakes made by other genocidal dictators and tragically influential figures.
Other players in Dial of Destiny include Antonio Banderas as Renaldo, an old friend of Indy’s and an experienced frogman of watery depths. John-Rhys-Davies returns as Sallah, Indy’s long-time compatriot and grandchild wrangler, with a warm disposition and infinite stories to share. Karen Allen comes back to the franchise as Marion Ravenwood, Indy’s estranged wife and mother to the couple’s dearly departed son, Mutt, who died in the Vietnam War.
Working as Voller’s lapdog enforcer is Boyd Holbrook’s Klaber, a Neo-Nazi unafraid to get his hands dirty at his master’s behest. Shaunette Renée Wilson plays Agent Mason, a CIA agent assigned to keep Voller’s nose clean in the face of his erratic behavior and habit of going off-script. Unfortunately, Wilson’s hypnotic presence is wasted in Dial of Destiny, resulting in one of the film’s most significant missteps. Finally, there’s Olivier Richters as Hauke, Klaber’s silent muscle and brick shithouse in desperate need of swimming lessons.
With much of the cast assembled and Mangold ready to make history as the first director besides Spielberg to helm an Indiana Jones feature, filming began in the United States, with the challenges of a global pandemic infecting aspects of the project’s production. Thanks partly to extended safety precautions during the COVID-19 crisis, Mangold established a remote location scouting system to limit the travel needed to secure filming environments. For this process, camera operators shot prospective settings and then sent the footage to Mangold and production designer Adam Stockhausen for review.
Other filming locations for Dial of Destiny include England’s famous Pinewood Studios, Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland, the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, the Leaderfoot Viaduct over the River Tweed near Melrose in the Scottish Isles. Much like Indy’s exploration throughout cinematic history, filming for Dial of Destiny found cast and crew members traveling to different parts of the globe, including sections of Scotland, Italy, the Kingdom of Morocco, and even the depths of the Mediterranean Sea.
Mangold wanted to film on location as much as possible despite the looming pandemic threat. He shied away from using Industrial Light & Magic’s Stagecraft technology in favor of practical effects, saying part of what made past Indy films exciting was seeing the actors performing in tangible environments. While rehearsing for the effects-heavy flashback sequence depicting Indy’s search for the Lance of Longinus and his compatriot Basil Shaw, Harrison Ford honored the tradition of hurting himself while filming an Indy movie by injuring his shoulder during a fight scene. Mangold reconfigured the filming schedule as needed while Ford healed the damage, a casualty of the actor insisting on doing most of his stunts.
The filming process for Marion Ravenwood’s reunion with Dr. Jones only lasted a day and a half. Allen kept her part in the movie confidential for years, later saying the secrecy often “felt like torture.” Whenever the press would ask her about returning for Mangold’s film, she’d like to say, “I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you.” Allen also said she was delighted to reprise Marion for the sequel, though she would have liked a more prominent part.
Rather than pairing Indy and Marion for Ford’s final mission, Mangold and the Butterworths created Helena Shaw specifically for Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Written as an homage to Marion Ravenwood, Shaw executes most of the extreme action in Dial of Destiny. She’s mysterious and opportunistic, unafraid of risking life and limb to get what she wants. She puts Indy through his paces, reminding him of the good old days when fate fed you a boulder and monkey brains for breakfast. Rumors about Waller-Bridge leading an Indy spin-off continue to circulate on the internet, though we have yet to hear official word on the concept. Speaking with Variety, Kathleen Kennedy said it was “entirely possible” for Shaw to star in her own film.
On the musical end of the spectrum, Spielberg announced in 2016 that, like other chapters in the franchise, John Williams would return to compose the score. In 2022, Williams said Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny would be his final film project, with plans to retire on the horizon. However, Williams retracted his statement at the start of 2023, saying, “You can’t ‘retire’ from music. It’s like breathing. It’s your life. It’s my life. A day without music is a mistake.” Williams’ Dial of Destiny score is among my favorites in the franchise. The soundtrack contains thrilling hooks, creative variations on old arrangements, and a sense of whimsy that places audiences at the heart of the action.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny contains 2,350 effects shots created and arranged by Industrial Light & Magic. Among the film’s most impressive effects (though some would disagree) is the de-aging technology used to depict Indy during World War II. Initially, the scene was 5 minutes long. Then Mangold expanded the sequence to 25 minutes, creating a jaw-dropping display of how far Disney can take us into the Uncanny Valley. While the effect isn’t perfect, it’s leaps and bounds ahead of Rogue One‘s Grand Moff Tarkin incident, the inhuman baby Renesmee of Twilight fame, or Dwayne Johnson’s Scorpion King from The Mummy Returns.
Over 100 artists worked on the opening sequence for more than three years. The team used artificial technology to scan and archive Ford’s character from previous films and a recent scan of Ford’s face, de-aged by VFX experts. Next, expert lighting technicians toiled day and night to light the scene, hiding seams with shadow and tempering Indy’s complexion using simulated light. It’s a stunning sequence and a testament to how far we’ve come since the days of spirit-summoning arks and Nazis melting faster than a snowman in the Sahara.
Oddly, some fans took issue with the film’s time-traveling mechanic. I say “oddly” because after encountering dark magic, cannibals, an ageless Grail Knight, and interdimensional beings, you’d think that time travel would be par for the course. Still, some viewers were disturbed by characters accidentally traveling to the Siege of Syracuse in 212 BC, where Archimedes and his compatriots engaged in battle with the Romans. Filmed in Sicily, early rumblings about Romans patrolling the Dial of Destiny set confused fans before the film’s release, with many wondering if Mangold’s time-traveling mechanic was too far-fetched for an Indy movie.
Thankfully, the Siege of Syracuse sequence presents one of the film’s strongest emotional payoffs, as Indy attempts to convince Helena to leave him in the past. Unfortunately for Dr. Jones, remaining in the past would create a time paradox, possibly rewriting future events to catastrophic effect. Aware of the damage Indy could cause by staying behind, Helena knocks her godfather out with some chin music and returns him to his proper time and place.
When Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny premiered at the 76th Cannes Film Festival, the film received a five-minute standing ovation alongside mixed reactions from critics. The tepid response to Mangold’s sequel quickly spread like wildfire across the internet, sewing seeds of doubt in fans and press members awaiting their early screenings. Adding to the film’s weak reception was a call to boycott Dial of Destiny for a list of peculiar reasons. Some in the boycott camp claim Mangold used the film to take political potshots by having Helena point out the process of capitalism when talking about how the Antikythera exchanged hands throughout history. Others say Dial sold its soul to set up spin-off potential for Helena while reducing Indy to an angry, washed-up drunk. The list continues, but I’ll leave it up to you to tumble down that dark rabbit hole. Despite its franchise legacy, Dial of Destiny underperformed with a global total of $384 million against the long-gestating project’s $294.7 million budget.
It isn’t easy to share a positive opinion about Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny without feeling like Flynn Rider from that “Surrounded By Swords” meme, but here I am. I enjoyed the hell out of Ford’s swan song when I saw the movie in theaters and liked it even more during my most recent rewatch. Is it the ideal ending? Probably not, but what were the chances of this project satisfying Indy fans from every faction?
I applaud the Indiana Jones franchise for never shying away from the character’s age and think Dial of Destiny makes excellent use of the senior adventure’s experience and world-weariness. Like Woody’s fear of being replaced by Buzz Lightyear, Indy feels like a cobweb-covered relic in an age of space races, rockstar worship, and cult-related serial killings. Dial of Destiny taps into the aging explorer’s insecurities, but once the race to recover the Antikythera gets rolling, he’s reborn alongside scrappy, torch-carrying companions.
While not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, with Shaunette Renée Wilson’s Agent Mason all but wasted, uneven emotional beats and strained nods to previous films in the franchise, Dial of Destiny still manages to feel like a roller coaster fueled by thrills and nostalgia. I love seeing the band back together, as fleeting as Marion and Sallah’s roles might be. Mangold’s film sets out to remind fans of the good times while closing the book on one of cinema’s most memorable characters, and Dial of Destiny delivers on those fronts and more.
Expectations can act like a poison while anticipating the end of an era, especially for something as iconic as the Indiana Jones franchise. I think Dial of Destiny is a great Indiana Jones film, and I shudder to think of when we’ll get another adventure film series worthy of spanning four decades and change. May your contributions to cinema and the imaginations of fans and filmmakers be long remembered, Dr. Jones. Thanks for everything, and rest knowing your place in history is shining, immovable, and eternal.
The original Road House movie starring Patrick Swayze is a classic, so I’ll admit to being more than a little skeptical of the upcoming remake starring Jake Gyllenhaal. Well, Amazon MGM Studios has released the first trailer for the new Road House movie and damn if it hasn’t won me over completely.
You’ve got Jake Gyllenhaal slapping the shit out of everyone, a colourful Florida location filled with alligators, hard-hitting action you can actually follow, and Conor McGregor chewing the scenery in his first film role; I love it.
Per the official logline: “In this adrenaline-fueled reimagining of the ’80s cult classic, ex-UFC fighter Dalton (Gyllenhaal) takes a job as a bouncer at a Florida Keys roadhouse, only to discover that this paradise is not all it seems.” In addition to Gyllenhaal, Road House stars Daniela Melchior, Billy Magnussen, Jessica Williams, Joaquim De Almeida, and Conor McGregor. The film aims to pay homage to the original while providing its own unique and exhilarating spin to introduce Dalton, the roadhouse, and all its chaos to a new generation.
Now that we’ve got a look at how fun the movie appears to be, it’s all the more disappointing that it won’t be released in theaters. In fact, Doug Liman criticized that choice yesterday, saying he will be boycotting the movie’s premiere at SXSW. Road House reportedly tested higher than any movie in Liman’s career, more than Mr. and Mrs. Smith and The Bourne Identity, and Liman feels that it could be a smash hit in theaters if Amazon would allow it. “Contrary to their public statements, Amazon has no interest in supporting cinemas,” Liman said. “Amazon will exclusively stream Road House on Amazon Prime. Amazon asked me and the film community to trust them and their public statements about supporting cinemas, and then they turned around and are using Road House to sell plumbing fixtures.“
Road House will debut on Prime Video on March 21st in more than 240 territories worldwide.
It may have taken some people a while, but it looks as if Ryan Gosling has shown that he’s Kenough. While there is much commotion around nomination snubs for Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig for Barbie, Gosling would make a statement that showed his gratitude for the recognition. But mainly, he would also defend and praise his co-star and director in the wake of them receiving no nominations. While Gosling stood by Robbie and Gerwig, Gosling’s better half, Eva Mendes, would show her excitement as his nomination became a catharsis for the backlash he would receive upon first getting cast in the role of Ken. Many had voiced their opinion on social media that Gosling was too old to portray Ken.
According to Variety, Mendes took to her Instagram to post a photo of a Rolling Stone article that featured the headline, “Sorry to be the one to say it, but Ryan Gosling is giving major cringe as Ken in Barbie.” In Mendes’ post, she wrote the caption, “So proud of my man. So much hate when he took on this role. So many people trying to shame him for doing it. Despite all the #NotMyKen ridicule and articles written about him, he created this completely original, hilarious, heartbreaking, now iconic character and took it all the way to Oscars. So beyond proud to be this Ken’s Barbie.”
Last summer, prior to the film’s premiere, Gosling himself responded to online critics who mocked his age as he dryly joked with GQ, “I would say, you know, if people don’t want to play with my Ken, there are many other Kens to play with. It is funny. This kind of clutching-your-pearls idea of, like, #notmyken. Like you ever thought about Ken before this?” The humorous star would continue, “Ken’s entire existence has been to just enjoy the beach and not really exist for any sake other than to be Barbie’s guy. And everyone was fine with that, for him to have a job that is nothing. But suddenly, it’s like, ‘No, we’ve cared about Ken this whole time.’ No, you didn’t. You never did. You never cared. Barbie never f*cked with Ken. That’s the point. If you ever really cared about Ken, you would know that nobody cared about Ken. So your hypocrisy is exposed. This is why his story must be told.”
PLOT: Will Ferrell learns that one of his closest friends and collaborators is now trans. Unsure of the ground rules in the next stage of their relationship, the two drive from New York to Los Angeles together and reconnect.
REVIEW:Will & Harper is a gentle, often hilarious documentary about two friends reconnecting after one comes out as trans. The fact that one of the friends is Will Ferrell made it a must-see for me at Sundance. But, it has a lot of resonance beyond its showbiz aspects, with it a nuanced portrait of a life in transition. It starts with essentially being about how the world views Ferrell’s friend, Harper, but eventually, it becomes more about how she views herself.
It’s a complex question because Harper Steele made her transition later in life, with her being sixty-one as the movie starts. She’s interesting, having been the writer on many of Ferrell’s best-loved comedies and SNL skits. As Ferrell mentions in the intro, anything that he did in his career that was unusual, such as Eurovision, his Spanish film Casa de miPadre, The Spoils of Babylon, or the Lifetime movie A Deadly Adoption, was written by Harper. She also wrote TheLadies Man and worked on Saturday Night Live for twenty years. That she and Ferrell are so funny makes this an uplifting, good-hearted documentary that’s empathetic toward everyone.
One of the best bits in the movie follows Harper as she enters a dive bar in Oklahoma. We learn that she’s always enjoyed visiting seedier places, and she’s not sure how well a trans person will be accepted. As such, when she walks into the bar and sees a Confederate Flag hanging next to a Trump for President and anti-Joe Biden posters, we assume the worst. Instead, the customers are universally kind and accepting, even before Will Ferrell shows up.
Somewhat less uplifting is an episode where the two visit a steakhouse in Texas and receive an awkward reception. Ferrell himself makes an ill-advised decision to make a show of the event, donning a Sherlock Holmes costume and holding court, leading to the two being observed as if they were in a fishbowl.
That makes Will & Harper effective, showing how people across all political and social spectrums react to the trans community. To its credit, no one is especially vicious to Harper’s face outside of a sequence where they read cruel tweets. She’s misgendered a few times, but it’s pretty much always by accident, and she never takes it personally – nor does Ferrell. They don’t go around lecturing people; they’re just honestly interested in how people genuinely feel – and for the most part, everyone they meet face to face is tolerant and means well.
Of course, the fact that Will Ferrell is around for the whole thing skews the experience, as it’s unlikely anyone would disrespect this beloved entertainer to his face. But, as the Oklahoma episode proves, even those Harper herself prejudges as intolerant may not be so. It’s an essential lesson for everyone to remember, as political division often binds us to the fact that people are people.
As such, Will & Harper is a hopeful, uplifting film that feels like a story of our time. Director Josh Greenbaum includes plenty of Will Ferrell schtick (he once again takes his clothes off for comic effect) and starry cameos from their real friends (including Kristen Wiig, Tim Meadows, and Will Fortee, among others). Still, he doesn’t overload the film with comedy. Ultimately, it’s a slice of life that will resonate for many of us.
Imagine you’re in the middle of watching Patrick Ewing and Hakeem Olajuwon try to outscore each other in game 5 of the NBA Finals when all of a sudden your broadcasters cut to O.J. Simpson slowly engaging in a police chase. Imagine further that you’re now so invested in the chase that you couldn’t possibly pull yourself from the TV. And who is that you see but Snake Plissken. That’s right, Kurt Russell has direct ties to the O.J. Simpson chase which came a few days after the murder of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown, and her friend Ron Goldman.
As Kate Hudson told Jimmy Kimmel, the family lived near Simpson’s home at the time and Kurt Russell found his opportunity to be part of history. “It was the big chase. And Kurt…O.J. was on the 405 and Kurt all of sudden just went, ‘Oh, he’s going home’ Next thing you know, he gets in the car and he leaves and he goes to O.J.’s house. I don’t know why! Just to see what happened, you know? And we’re all like, ‘Where are you going?’ He’s like, ‘I’ll be right back.’ And then he goes with his friend…Literally, we’re watching the news because we’re watching the NBA Finals, it was interrupted. And we saw our dad on television behind the caution tape.”
That’s wild enough, but as Kurt Russell’s son Oliver added, there were far more infamous figures that his old man encountered. “He had a run-in with Ted Bundy” sometime after his prison escape, with the serial killer allegedly eating Russell’s food while he was camping. Oliver Hudson, too, claimed that “he beat up…Tex Watson, who was Manson’s right-hand guy,” although Kate seemed a little skeptical on that one…Details on that story are even slimmer, but we hope he gave him the what-for à la Cliff Booth in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – a movie Kurt Russell acted in. We wonder if he shared that story with Tarantino…
Later that year, Kurt Russell would lead Stargate to a nearly $200 million worldwide gross. So we’ll just go on and assume this was some sort of viral marketing.
But Kurt Russell isn’t the only celebrity with ties to the Manson Family, as fellow Disney Legend Angela Lansbury saw that Charlie and company were having too great of an impact on her daughter and so moved her family to Ireland. There is no evidence that she shared campfire beans with Ted Bundy.
Tom Hollander and Tom Holland may share 95% of a name, but what they don’t share is a massive Marvel paycheque.
While appearing on Late Night With Seth Meyers, Tom Hollander revealed that he was once mistakenly sent a box-office bonus meant for Tom Holland. “People in the account’s department of my agency got confused. We were with the same agents briefly. And it was a terrible moment,” Hollander said. “I went to see my friend who was doing theater in England. I sat smugly in the audience just having done a BBC show for $30,000 … the interval came and I checked my email and I got one from the agency saying, ‘Payment slip for first box office bonus for ‘The Avengers.’”
Hollander was curious, but upon opening the email, he was left shaken by just how much it was. “It was an astonishing amount of money,” Hollander said. “It was not his salary. It was his first box-office bonus. Not the whole box-office bonus, the first one. And it was more money than I’d ever [seen]. It was a seven-figure sum.“
While Tom Hollander may not be quite as recognizable as Tom Holland these days, it’s not like he hasn’t appeared in his own share of blockbusters. He played Cutler Beckett in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, and also appeared in Elizabeth: The Golden Age, Valkyrie, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, Bohemian Rhapsody, The King’s Man, and more. He will next be seen playing Truman Capote in the second season of Ryan Murphy’s Feud anthology series, Feud: Capote vs. The Swans. The series will debut on January 31st.
As for Tom Holland, he’s expected to return as Spider-Man for a fourth installment of the franchise, but he’s said that he will only return if it makes sense for the character’s legacy. “All I can say is that we have been actively engaging in conversations about what it could potentially look like for a fourth rendition of my character,” Holland said last year. “Whether or not we can find a way to do justice to the character is another thing. I feel very protective over Spider-Man. I feel very, very lucky that we were able to work on a franchise that got better with each movie, that got more successful with each movie, which I think is really rare, and I want to protect his legacy. So, I won’t make another one for the sake of making another one. It will have to be worth the while of the character.“
According to THR, screen tests for the role of Supergirl took place yesterday, with sources saying that the casting has been narrowed down to Milly Alcock (House of the Dragon) and Meg Donnelly (The Winchesters).
DC Studios’ James Gunn and Peter Safran were said to be present for the Supergirl testing. The character is expected to be introduced in Superman: Legacy before taking the lead in her own movie, Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. Milly Alcock and Meg Donnelly were first mentioned as contenders for the Supergirl role two weeks ago, along with Emilia Jones (Locke & Key).
Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow will be scripted by Ana Nogueira, based on the Tom King comic series of the same name. The search is still on for a director, but Gunn has teased that this version of Supergirl will be different. “In our series we see the difference between Superman who was sent to Earth and raised by loving parents from the time he was an infant, versus Supergirl who was raised on a rock, a chip off Krypton, and watched everyone around her die and be killed in terrible ways for the first 14 years of her life, and then came to Earth when she was a young girl,” Gunn said. “She’s much more hardcore, she’s not exactly the Supergirl we’re use to seeing.“
James Gunn is currently prepping Superman: Legacy, which is expected to start shooting in March. The film will star David Corenswet (Pearl) as Clark Kent, with Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvelous Ms. Maisel) as Lois Lane. We’ll also see Nathan Fillion (The Rookie) as Guy Gardner, a charismatic and slightly obnoxious member of the Green Lantern Corps; Isabela Merced (Dora and the Lost City of Gold) as Hawkgirl; Edi Gathegi (X-Men: First Class) as Mister Terrific; Anthony Carrigan (Barry) as Metamorpho; María Gabriela de Faría (Deadly Class) as The Engineer, a member of The Authority; Sara Sampaio (At Midnight) as Eve Teschmacher; and Skyler Gisondo (The Righteous Gemstones) as Jimmy Olsen. Nicholas Hoult is also set to appear as Lex Luthor, which Gunn finally confirmed last month. Superman: Legacy is slated to hit theaters on July 11, 2025.
If it comes down to Milly Alcock and Meg Donnelly, who would you like to see take on the role of Supergirl?
The upcoming Road House remake is set to premiere at the upcoming SXSW film festival, but director Doug Liman won’t be attending. This isn’t down to any scheduling issue or because he’s busy with another project, but a purposeful choice to protest Amazon not giving Road House a theatrical release.
In a guest column for Deadline, Doug Liman explained why he won’t be attending the Road House premiere, despite considering it to be one of his best movies.
“When Road House opens the SXSW film festival, I won’t be attending. The movie is fantastic, maybe my best, and I’m sure it will bring the house down and possibly have the audience dancing in their seats during the end credits. But I will not be there,” Liman said. “My plan had been to silently protest Amazon’s decision to stream a movie so clearly made for the big screen. But Amazon is hurting way more than just me and my film. If I don’t speak up about Amazon, who will? So here we go.“
Liman added that he had signed on to make a theatrical motion picture for MGM, but when Amazon bought MGM, the streaming giant told Liman, “make a great film and we will see what happens” in regard to its release. Road House has reportedly tested higher than any movie in Liman’s career, more than Mr. and Mrs. Smith and The Bourne Identity, and Liman feels that it could be a smash hit in theaters if Amazon would allow it. “Contrary to their public statements, Amazon has no interest in supporting cinemas,” Liman said. “Amazon will exclusively stream Road House on Amazon Prime. Amazon asked me and the film community to trust them and their public statements about supporting cinemas, and then they turned around and are using Road House to sell plumbing fixtures.“
Not only does this voice deprive Jake Gyllenhaal, who Liman says gives a “career-best performance,” the opportunity to be recognized come award season, but it could negatively shape the industry for decades to come. “If we don’t put tentpole movies in movie theaters, there won’t be movie theaters in the future,” Liman said. “Movies like Road House, people actually want to see on the big screen, and it was made for the big screen. Without movie theaters, we won’t have the commercial box office hits that are the locomotives that allow studios to take gambles on original movies and new directors. Without movie theaters we won’t have movie stars.” Liman tried to convince Amazon to give Road House a theatrical release, even asking them to allow him to sell the project to another studio that would, but they said no. You can read the entirety of Liman’s letter on Deadline.
Road House will debut on Prime Video on March 21st in more than 240 territories worldwide.
The live-action How to Train Your Dragon movie began shooting last week, and there have been a few new additions to the cast.
Julian Dennison (Deadpool 2), Gabriel Howell (Bodies), Bronwyn James (Masters of the Air), and Harry Trevaldwyn (The Bubble) have joined the cast of How to Train Your Dragon as Fishlegs, Snotlout, Ruffnut, and Tuffnut, respectively. In the original animated movie, Fishlegs was voiced by Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Snotlout was voiced by Jonah Hill, Ruffnut was voiced by Kristen Wiig, and Tuffnut was voiced by T.J. Miller.
Dean DeBlois, who wrote and directed all three of the animated movies, will return to write, direct, and produce the live-action movie. It was announced last year that Mason Thames (The Black Phone) would star as Hiccup alongside Nico Parker (The Last of Us) as Astrid. Gerard Butler is also set to reprise his role of Stoick the Vast, the character he voiced in the animated movies, with Nick Frost also cast as Gobber the Belch, Stoick’s trusted friend and advisor.
The original animated movie takes place in a mythical Viking village and follows Hiccup, a young Viking who aspires to continue his tribe’s tradition of becoming a dragon slayer. But after finally capturing his first dragon, Toothless, he learns that there is more to the creatures than he had assumed. It was followed by How to Train Your Dragon 2 and How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, with the three films grossing over $1.6 billion worldwide. The franchise also spawned a handful of short films, TV series, video games, and more. The last How to Train Your Dragon movie was said to bring the entire series to a conclusion, but the franchise has been a hugely popular one, so it made sense when Universal and Dreamworks Animation first announced that they would be rebooting it with a live-action adaptation.
How to Train Your Dragon will be released on June 13, 2025.
