Top News

‘Face/Off’ Reboot in the Works at Paramount

  • Variety
‘Face/Off’ Reboot in the Works at Paramount
The 1997 action movie “Face/Off,” which starred John Travolta and Nicolas Cage, is getting a reboot.

Paramount has hired “22 Jump Street” screenwriter Oren Uziel to pen the script with Neal Moritz producing. David Permut, who was a producer on the original film, will executive produce. No actors or director has yet boarded the reboot.

John Woo directed the original movie from Mike Werb and Michael Colleary’s script. Travolta and Cage played FBI agent Sean Archer and terrorist Castor Troy, respectively, who each took on the other’s physical appearance via surgery in a complicated story triggered by the assassination of Archer’s son by Troy.

“Face/Off” also starred Joan Allen, Gina Gershon and Alessandro Nivola as Troy’s brother. The film, which carried an $80 million budget, was a solid performer with a $245 million global gross. Woo went on to direct “Mission: Impossible II,” “Windtalkers” and “Paycheck” in the next six years.
See full article at Variety »

Starz Sets Premiere Date For Crime Drama ‘Dublin Murders’

  • Deadline
Starz Sets Premiere Date For Crime Drama ‘Dublin Murders’
Starz is set to premiere European crime drama Dublin Murders on Sunday November 10. The Lionsgate-backed broadcaster has also unveiled the first trailer for the drama, which stars Killian Scott (C.B. Strike) and Sarah Greene (Penny Dreadful).

The series, which airs in an 8pm slot, is based on Tana French’s novels. Starz acquired the series, which was originally commissioned by the BBC, in December and it will air it in the U.S., Canada as well as on its Starzplay service across Europe and Latin America. It will launch on BBC One in the UK in October.

The psychological thriller is adapted by series creator and writer Sarah Phelps. Dublin Murders follows Rob Reilly (Scott) – a smart-suited detective whose English accent marks him as an outsider – who is dispatched to investigate the murder of a young girl on the outskirts of Dublin with his partner, Cassie Maddox (Greene
See full article at Deadline »

Jon M. Chu 'Stands With' Crazy Rich Asians Co-Writer Who Left Sequel Due to Pay Parity Dispute

  • PEOPLE.com
Jon M. Chu 'Stands With' Crazy Rich Asians Co-Writer Who Left Sequel Due to Pay Parity Dispute
Jon M. Chu, the director for Crazy Rich Asians, is opening up about Adele Lim — the screenwriter who co-wrote the highly successful 2018 film and left the sequel after a pay parity dispute.

In a lengthy statement posted to Twitter, Chu, 39, supported Lim after she turned down a job as co-writer on the sequel after failed negotiations.

“For those of you who are asking, you bet your a— I stand with Adele!” Chu wrote. “I believed in her before we ever shot the movie and believe in her beyond. As many of you can imagine, negotiations are tough and more often
See full article at PEOPLE.com »

Todd Phillips Shuts Down Rumor ‘Joker’ Sequel Will Star Robert Pattinson’s Batman

Todd Phillips Shuts Down Rumor ‘Joker’ Sequel Will Star Robert Pattinson’s Batman
Joker” director and co-writer Todd Phillips wants comic book movie fans to know that there is no chance of Joaquin Phoenix’s villain and Robert Pattinson’s Batman ever crossing over on the big screen. Pattinson’s Variety cover story sparked rumors last week that his upcoming iteration of Batman might meet Phoenix’s Joker at some point since both Warner Bros. releases exist outside of the DC Extended Universe. Phillips bluntly told Variety at TIFF that won’t be the case.

“No, definitely not,” Phillips said when asked if Phoenix and Pattinson would appear in a future film together.

While Phillips shut down the exciting possibility of a Phoenix-Pattinson crossover, the writer-director did say that just because Pattinson’s Batman won’t meet Phoenix’s villain doesn’t mean the new Caped Crusader won’t face off against his infamous foe.

“Oddly, in the states, comic books are our Shakespeare it seems,
See full article at Indiewire »

‘The Crown’ Abandons Plan to CGI Olivia Colman’s Eyes in Season 3

‘The Crown’ Abandons Plan to CGI Olivia Colman’s Eyes in Season 3
The casting of Olivia Colman as Queen Elizabeth II in “The Crown” Season 3 has caused something of a continuity controversy given the Oscar-winning actress has brown eyes. Claire Foy, who played the character in the first two seasons of the Netflix smash hit, has blue eyes, correctly matching the color of the real Queen Elizabeth II. Netflix’s first look images for “The Crown” Season 3 confirmed Colman was keeping her brown eye color in the role, but that doesn’t mean the production didn’t try to maintain eye color continuity.

The Crown” director Ben Caron told The Guardian in a recent interview that the production first tried to use blue contact lenses on Colman to get her to match both Foy and the real Queen Elizabeth II. The problem was that the contact lenses got in the way of Colman’s acting. Caron said it felt as if Colman “was acting behind a mask…
See full article at Indiewire »

Muppets Series From Josh Gad, Adam Horowitz, Edward Kitsis Scrapped at Disney Plus

Muppets Series From Josh Gad, Adam Horowitz, Edward Kitsis Scrapped at Disney Plus
Disney Plus has abandoned plans for a scripted Muppets series that was being worked on by Josh Gad, Adam Horowitz, and Edward Kitsis.

Though the trio’s planned take on the beloved Jim Henson characters had never been formally announced, sources confirm that it had been in the works for months at the streaming service. According to an individual with knowledge of the decision, Gad, Horowitz, and Kitsis decided to walk away from the series after new leadership at Muppets Studios opted to take the series in a different direction.

The news comes less than three weeks after Disney announced
See full article at Variety - TV News »

Jennifer Lopez in Talks to Headline Super Bowl Halftime Show

  • The Wrap
Jennifer Lopez in Talks to Headline Super Bowl Halftime Show
Jennifer Lopez is in talks to headline the 2020 Super Bowl halftime show.

Us Weekly was the first to report that the “Hustlers” star is in conversations with the National Football League to follow up Maroon 5’s Super Bowl halftime performance from earlier this year. Citing an anonymous source, Entertainment Tonight later reported that Lopez is at “the top of the NFL’s list” and said the two parties have been in talks for “a while.”

Representatives for Roc Nation and the NFL did not immediately return TheWrap’s request for comment. Reps for Lopez declined to comment.

Also Read: Jennifer Lopez Debuts Sexy, Empowering 'Hustlers' in Toronto

Should a deal manifest itself, Lopez would perform at Super Bowl Liv on Feb. 2, 2020 in Miami.

News of Lopez’s potential involvement comes a month after the NFL closed a deal with Jay Z’s Roc Nation to serve as the league’s
See full article at The Wrap »

‘Uncut Gems’ Film Review: Adam Sandler Is a Memorable Mess in Safdie Brothers’ Wild Ride

  • The Wrap
‘Uncut Gems’ Film Review: Adam Sandler Is a Memorable Mess in Safdie Brothers’ Wild Ride
If you’re looking for cinematic tour guides to the road to ruin, you can’t do much better than Josh and Benny Safdie. The New York-based indie filmmaker brothers are masters of a certain type of adrenalized, immersive storytelling that puts us up close with characters whose default mode is desperation.

Two years ago, they rocked Cannes with the heist-gone-wrong thriller “Good Time,” starring a mesmerizing Robert Pattinson. And this year, they’ve hit Telluride and now Toronto with “Uncut Gems,” a blast-furnace character study starring Adam Sandler as a New York jewelry salesman with an unerring instinct for finding a way to screw up everything he touches.

After a brief prologue set in an Ethiopian mine, “Uncut Gems” delivers the most instructive trick shot imaginable: It opens on a rock containing opals that seem to shimmer with every color of the rainbow, with the camera plunging into the
See full article at The Wrap »

Ellen Page: I’d Be ‘Thrilled’ to Only Play Queer Roles (Video)

  • The Wrap
Ellen Page: I’d Be ‘Thrilled’ to Only Play Queer Roles (Video)
Ellen Page, who just premiered her feature film directorial debut “There’s Something in the Water” at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival, said she would be “thrilled” to only play queer roles from now on, explaining that she’s been asked several times whether she might be typecast since coming out as gay five years ago.

“The (one) thing I get a lot is, ‘Are you worried about being typecast about playing queer?’ Because that’s what I play mostly,” she said at TheWrap’s Power Women Toronto panel Monday night at the Thompson Hotel with fellow directors Kasi Lemmons (“Harriet”) and Halina Reijn (“Instinct”). “You would never ask a heterosexual actress that, as being typecast as straight. Why would I not want to play those roles? Quite frankly, I would be thrilled if it’s every role I ever played again!”

Page, whose documentary focuses on the injuries caused
See full article at The Wrap »

How Cautious Clay Ended Up on Taylor Swift’s ‘Lover’

How Cautious Clay Ended Up on Taylor Swift’s ‘Lover’
This past June, R&b singer Cautious Clay was on tour in Bergen, Norway when he received a frantic 2 a.m. phone call from his lawyer. “They were like, ‘You have to approve this sample….We need an answer in 24 hours.”

The request was coming from an unlikely source: Taylor Swift. The popstar in the later stages of putting together her forthcoming album, Lover, and she was interested in incorporating the beat of Cautious Clay’s 2018 song “Cold War.

Two months later, when Swift released her seventh album album in August,
See full article at Rolling Stone »

Sean Parker Investing in Peter Jackson’s Weta Digital

Sean Parker Investing in Peter Jackson’s Weta Digital
Technology entrepreneur Sean Parker has made a “significant” investment in Peter Jackson’s Weta Digital special effects company.

Parker and Jackson made the announcement jointly. They did not disclose the size of Parker’s investment or the specific role he would play.

“I’ve long admired Peter Jackson’s and Fran Walsh’s work, and the ground-breaking VFX and animation that Weta Digital has created over the last two decades,” Parker said. “The visionary leadership, imagination, and technical expertise of Weta Digital was vital to the creation of Academy Award winning films such as ‘Avatar,’ ‘King Kong,’ and ‘Lord of the Ring.’ I look forward to helping grow Weta Digital and I’m excited to partner with Peter, the leadership of Weta, and its incredibly talented team.”

Jackson said in a statement, “Sean Parker brings an invaluable expertise that will fortify Weta Digital from a technological perspective, while also focusing
See full article at Variety - Film News »

See David Hasselhoff’s New Video for ‘Open Your Eyes’ Cover With Stooges’ James Williamson

See David Hasselhoff’s New Video for ‘Open Your Eyes’ Cover With Stooges’ James Williamson
David Hasselhoff has unveiled a cheekily dramatic rendition of the Lord of the New Church’s 1982 song, “Open Your Eyes.” The track will appear on the singer’s album titled after the tune, set for release on September 27th via Cleopatra.

Hasselhoff stays faithful to the original’s foreboding melodies and lyrics that warn of political corruption and manipulation and the impending fallout, which still resonate today. He urgently gesticulates throughout the clip, which highlights the gravity of the song’s themes, but also does so with a knowing wink.
See full article at Rolling Stone »

Sean Parker Invests in Peter Jackson’s VFX Company Weta Digital

  • The Wrap
Sean Parker Invests in Peter Jackson’s VFX Company Weta Digital
Sean Parker, the entrepreneur behind Napster and Facebook, has taken a minority stake in Weta Digital, the New Zealand-based visual effects company formed by Peter Jackson.

Weta Digital is the team behind the CGI characters Gollum in the “Lord of the Rings” films and Caesar from the “Planet of the Apes” movies, as well as designing Middle Earth and Pandora from “Avatar.”

“I’ve long admired Peter Jackson’s and Fran Walsh’s work, and the ground-breaking VFX and animation that Weta Digital has created over the last two decades. The visionary leadership, imagination, and technical expertise of Weta Digital was vital to the creation of Academy Award-winning films such as ‘Avatar,’ ‘King Kong’ and ‘Lord of the Rings.’ I look forward to helping grow Weta Digital and I’m excited to partner with Peter, the leadership of Weta, and its incredibly talented team,” Parker said in a statement.

Also
See full article at The Wrap »

Toronto Film Review: ‘And We Go Green’

Toronto Film Review: ‘And We Go Green’
When asked about the founding of Formula E, a motorsport circuit that uses only electric cars, its current leader, a former Spanish politician named Alejandro Agag, lights a stogie and tells the unvarnished truth. Advertisers were starting to cool to Formula One for environmental reasons, and Agag admits that business incentivized the development of Formula E more than concern for the air that he’s filling with cigar smoke. The confession reflects the ethos of “And We Go Green,” a documentary about the series’ fourth year that presents itself as a planet-conscious endorsement of clean-energy technology, but is mostly about the brash personalities competing for the championship. It’s the type of engaging-but-shallow sports doc that pops up frequently on streaming services, which seem the finish lines it will ultimately cross.

The phrase “And we go green!” is the “And we’re off!” of a Formula E race, though the
See full article at Variety - Film News »

Why Hollywood’s Talk of ‘Inclusion Riders’ Fizzled

  • The Wrap
Why Hollywood’s Talk of ‘Inclusion Riders’ Fizzled
When Frances McDormand emphatically spoke of “inclusion riders” at the end of her 2018 Oscars speech, the ensuing publicity and support seemed poised to usher in a new era of inclusion in Hollywood. But the hiring clause has not been widely embraced in Hollywood for the same reason the inclusion rider was created in the first place: an overwhelming lack of accountability and a deflection of responsibility among deal-makers in the industry. The legal clause allows high-profile talent to pressure studios to equitably hire a diverse cast and crew on film, TV and other projects. While showrunners like Ava DuVernay, Ryan Murphy and Lisa Hanawalt have supported underrepresented talent in recent projects like “Queen Sugar,” “Pose” and “Tuca and Bertie,” the rider that made the rounds on social media following the Oscars puts that kind of work into writing to hold studios legally accountable. Also Read: Michael B Jordan Accepts Frances McDormand's Invitation,
See full article at The Wrap »

WWE’s Elias Injured, Out of Tuesday’s ‘King of the Ring’ Semifinals on ‘SmackDown Live’

  • The Wrap
WWE Superstar Elias (real name Jeffrey Sciullo) has been injured and will no longer compete in the King of the Ring semifinals on Tuesday’s “SmackDown Live.” He was set to battle Chad Gable for right to face Baron Corbin in the tournament finals at Sunday’s “Clash of Champions” pay-per-view.

“Due to an injury, Elias will not compete in his scheduled King of the Ring semifinal match against Chad Gable,” the wrestling promotion said in an article published to its website. “Stay with WWE Digital platforms and watch ‘SmackDown Live’ tonight on USA Network at 8/7c for further updates as the situation develops.”

An individual with knowledge of the situation tells TheWrap the “SmackDown” creative team has known about Elias’ injury for a while and he was not hurt today. But his planned faceoff with Gable on tonight’s show was still being advertised as recently as Monday night on “Raw.
See full article at The Wrap »

Live After Death: Inside Music’s Booming New Hologram Touring Industry

Live After Death: Inside Music’s Booming New Hologram Touring Industry
A recent tribute concert dubbed The Bizarre World of Frank Zappa in Huntington, New York had all the markings of a concert by the rock iconoclast from nerdy fans geeking out about the night’s guitar players before the show to doo-wop intro music but with one marked problem: Frank Zappa died in 1993. The mustachioed musician at the center of it all, playing alongside erstwhile members of Zappa’s band, wasn’t a real person at all. It was a hologram.

To be fair, the apparition truly looked like an
See full article at Rolling Stone »

Millie Bobby Brown Is Developing a Netflix Film With Her Sister

Netflix is working on a new film, A Time Lost, with Millie Bobby Brown. The Stranger Things star is developing the movie with her older sister, Paige Brown.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film is based off an original story by the Brown siblings, centered on “a long-standing feud between two Long Island families that comes to a head when one of their teenage daughters is diagnosed with cancer.” Anna Klassen, who is penning the script for another Netflix project, Dorothy and Alice, will adapt the screenplay for A Time Lost.
See full article at Rolling Stone »

‘A Very Brady Renovation’ Has the Highest-Rated Premiere in Hgtv History

  • The Wrap
Hgtv’s “A Very Brady Renovation” just earned the popular cable channel’s highest ratings for a premiere in history, with a 1.43 rating among adults 25-54 and a 1.52 rating in terms of total viewers. We’ll get the actual viewer tally tomorrow.

Monday’s 90-minute episode was Hgtv’s highest-rated telecast in more than two and a half years. The time slot soared 160% versus the year-ago levels and +211% over the last six weeks.

“A Very Brady Renovation” was the No. 1 non-sports telecast of the night among adults 25-54 on basic cable.

Also Read: 'Flip or Flop' Star Tarek El Moussa on Why He and Ex-Wife Christina Agreed to Do Another Season

“We knew ‘A Very Brady Renovation’ would exceed every expectation,” Jane Latman, president of Hgtv, said Tuesday in a statement. “This initial ratings and digital performance report has been nothing short of impressive and our entire team is celebrating.
See full article at The Wrap »

Toronto Film Review: ‘The Platform’

Nameless cooks hustle in the opening montage of Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia’s brutalist nightmare “The Platform.” Their kitchen is a blend of the delicate and the savage. A violinist plays as blades rip through fish, and the head chef caresses a dangling ham. When finished, they’ve assembled a still-life masterpiece of lobster, papaya and cake on a concrete slab. The feast could feed hundreds, but it never does. As it descends, level by level, down a residential tower, each pair of cellmates have minutes to gobble as much as they can before the food moves on to the next floor. With no distractions except for that day’s meal, the citadel is a test of survival and humanity. Says an intake officer (Antonia San Juan), “We prefer to call it a vertical self-management center.”

He and writers David Desola and Pedro Rivera are curious about how the poor devour each other.
See full article at Variety - Film News »
An error has occured. Please try again.

Recently Viewed