Welcome to the Weakley Film News for… Friday the 13th! Oh yeah! Let’s see what kind of happenings there are this week in film and entertainment!
In this week’s “Whoa whoa whoa – say that again?” story, Disney’s planned live-action Dumbo film, directed by Tim Burton, may have a star attached. Will Smith is in talks to appear in the big-eared flying elephant story.
Yep. I know I could repeat that, but saying it again wouldn’t add more logic to the idea. No idea yet who Smith would play in the film, but that hardly matters either, it STILL won’t lower your eyebrows from an expression of shock and disbelief.
In this week’s “Well, now THIS is cool news” story, the always fantastic Peter Dinklage is said to be in early talks for a role in Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity Wars. Marvel ain’t talkin’, but the buzz is that Dinklage is to appear in both Infinity War and the sequel to it.
This worked out because Game of Thrones season 7 recently wrapped, so he can now be available for the Avengers film which starts shooting in early summer.
In this week’s “And it begins…” story, according to his best friend William Friedkin, author William Peter Blatty, who wrote The Exorcist, has died at the age of 89.
In this week’s “Return appearances” story, screenwriter for Deadpool 2 has confirmed that we will see Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead in the sequel. And so will the cab driver Dopinder. Awesome!
In this week’s “But will he sing and dance?” story, James Corden has joined the cast of the upcoming sort of sequel Ocean’s 8 film, directed by Gary Ross, and starring Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, Sarah Paulson, Rhinna, Mindy Kaling, Awkwafina, and Helena Bonham Carter.
Ross has described Ocean’s 8 as a sort of continuation of Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s 11 remake with George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and Matt Damon. No word on who Corden will play as of yet, but I like that guy, and he will surely be a highlight of the film. Not because of the rest of the cast – I love this cast – but it is yet another sequel to a remake of a much better original film, so really what are you doing, Hollywood?
In this week’s “Not Mrs. Claus, Ms. SANTA CLAUS” story, the ever so delightful Anna Kendrick is in negotiations to play none other than Santa Claus, in Disney’s new family holiday movie, Nicole, a tale of a female Santa Clause.
Marc Lawrence will direct, with Suzanne Todd will produce. Lawrence will also write the script, whose details are being kept hush hush.
In this week’s “Are people still watching this show?” story, American Horror Story has been renewed for two more seasons by FX. And that’s in addition to the upcoming current 7th season. So that will be a total of nine seasons. Apparently unlike myself, this last season AHS: Roanoke was still well watched by people. I started to watch it but found it to be less inspired than the first couple seasons, so I stopped tuning in. Maybe it picked up later but I just wasn’t feeling it.
Though the theme of the show this year is shrouded in secrecy, both Sarah Paulson and Even Peters will return.
In this week’s “Let’s try this again” story, Warner Bros. has found the writers of their Green Lantern film. David S. Goyer and Justin Rhodes will be penning that. Goyer has. of course, been the key architect i the DC Universe of films over at Warner Bros., having his hand in writing Man of Steel and Batman v Superman, which is weirdly disappointing after he wrote Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight. So, this new Green Lantern film reboot is already on shaky ground for my money.
The film will, however, include Hal Jordan AND John Stewart as Green Lanterns, and has been described stylistically as “Lethal Weapon in Space”. Oh dear.
In this week’s “Vague, as usual” story, Fox may have spilled the beans on their next X-Men movie title. We know 20th Century Fox has Deadpool 2 on the way, and X-Men: The New Mutants not far beyond that. And there’s been some hopeful chatter about a Wolverine/Deadpool crossover film (Squee!), but a primary X-men film is the next question at hand.
And that appears to have been currently titled X-men: Supernova. Maybe it’s a working title, maybe it has direct connections ton X-Men comic series, who knows. But there you have it. Speculate away!
In this week’s “Sybil ain’t got nothin’ on Cate Blanchett” story, the film Manifesto, written and directed by Julian Rosefeldt, isn’t exactly new – it debuted as a multi-screen art installation. But now it’s going to Sundance FIlm Festival to showcase the bonkers talents of Cate Blanchett.
The actress plays a whopping 13 separate and distinct characters in the film, from a homeless man to a schoolteacher to Amy Adams in Arrival (I’m not sure what that means) with the dialogue coming from the manifestos of artists, architects, and filmmakers. But if you thought she was a great actress now, apparently wait til you see this.
The official synopsis: “Tour-de-force: a term so overused that we need an undeniable acting performance to renew its meaning for cinema. Cate Blanchett has just given us one, going all-out in Manifesto. Already respected as one of the best actresses in film, Blanchett raises the bar even higher by playing 13 different roles in Manifesto, embodying some of the most influential and emotional artist manifestos in history.”
“..With a gorgeous production and luscious cinematography that would make Baz Luhrmann proud, Rosefeldt puts Blanchett in the everyday world — as a housewife, a factory worker, or a TV anchor — declaring the words that have inspired whole art movements. Manifesto is entertaining while also asking us to question if these passionate statements still hold true and inspire us today.”
This sounds fascinating, if not potentially pretentious. I’d check this out.
In this week’s “Make yourself at home” story, Netflix and Vertical Entertainment have acquired the psychological thriller Berlin Syndrome. It will screen at Sundance’s World Dramatic Competition today.
The film is directed by Cate Shortland (Lore) and stars Teresa Palmer and Max Riemelt. Palmer plays an Australian photographer who has a romantic encounter with a man in Berlin (Riemelt) and soon finds herself locked in his apartment.
This sounds intriguing. Vertical is planning for an early summer 2017 release.
In this week’s “Well, there’s a first time for everything” story, the Deadpool gang just released a tongue-in-cheek For Your Consideration video, but people are wondering if the film may actually get some big nominations this year. Deadpool indeed got some nominations at the Golden Globes. Ryan Reynolds was nominated for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy, and even Best Picture in the same category. And Tim Miller was nominated for first Time Director by the DGA, AND writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick are up for a WGA award for adapting the Marvel comic book.
Could this be the year a Marvel film gets some Oscar notice? How bonkers would that be? Odds are still low, but the fact that Deadpool is getting noms from three major industry guilds is unprecendented. Especially from a film that came out last February. I’ll actually be pretty stoked if it gets some Oscar noms.
In this week’s “Aaaw” story, Kirsten Dunst is now engaged to actor Jesse Plemons. Ain’t that cute?
In this week’s ” From Breakfast Club brain, to alleged bully” story, Breakfast Club actor Anthony Michael Hall, age 48, pleaded Not Guilty to a charge of felony battery on Dec. 1st after an arrest warrant was issued following an alleged physical altercation with his neighbor.
The judge warned Hall not to contact Richard Sampson, the neighbor, or his family or girlfriend.
Hall is accused of breaking his neighbor’s wrist during a heated confrontation outside their Playa del Rey condo three months ago. A video of the alleged incident, supposedly showing the actor and his neighbor, was caught on tape.
“[Hall] got into a tussle with someone else in the complex. I heard yelling out my front door and walked out to see what was going on,” Samson previously told PEOPLE. “I told him, ‘You need to calm down.’ Within two seconds, he was in my face and said some very unpleasant things to me. He then shoved me and I fell to the ground.”
Samson was in a cast for two months and is now in physical therapy.
The Los Angeles County D.A. charged Hall with felony battery with great bodily injury. The addition of the bodily injury charge increased the maximum jail term from four years to seven.
Well, I guess if people are still referring to me as the actor from a film I did in 1985, I’d have a short fuse, too. I mean, c’mon people, he was in Edward Scissorhands, The Dead Zone series, The Dark Knight, Warehouse 13, Psych…he’s kept busy. Yeah, still a dick move, though.
And in this week’s “Is this some kind of fetish now?” story, back in the ’90’s Mark Wahlberg did an obnoxious ad for Calvin Klein underwear. You knwo the one, where he’s basically grabbing his own balls and has a pained expression on his face. Yeah, well now Justin Bieber has done a similar ad, but without the ball-grabbing.
Wahlberg was on Conan O’Brian and of course COnan brought it up:
“How do you feel about Justin Bieber doing it, did he reach out to you in any way?” O’Brien asks.
Walberg responds, “Actually, you know what, he is a very nice young man, he’s a friend of mine, I’ve spent time with him. He did send me the pictures and I was like, ‘You don’t send a guy pictures like this in your underwear.’”
O’Brien is incredulous, so Wahlberg explains: “He was proud, you know, it was a big deal for him to do. And I was like, I am at 45, a dad and a husband, a father of four, I’m trying to move away from that image. But, you know what? People give him flack for growing up in the spotlight and they say he has a bit of an attitude, but look at the look on my face, I mean, I was the biggest punk in the world. He’s very nice and young and polite in comparison to what I was.”
Yeah, Mark, we know. It’s pretty common knowledge that you were a pretty horrible person back in the day. Or maybe still is? I don’t dare speculate.
~ Neil T Weakley, your average movie-goer, thanks for tuning into this week’s wacky stories!