The WEAKLEY FILM NEWS 11-3-2017
Wow, alraedy another week of informative stuff!
In this week’s “Creepy guy” story, actor Kevin Spacey is now among the people accused of sexual harassment, and with that comes the appropriate responses from various places. Netflix is halting production on House of Cards indefinitely. The hit show This Is Us is cutting a reference to Spacey in tonight’s (Tuesday’s) episode.
Frankly, I think Netflix should just write Spacey out and let Robin right take center stage, but that’s just me.
However, it looks like Netflix is planning a spin off to House of Cards. Netflix and House of Cards producer Media Rights Capital are exploring a number of possible ideas, include a project focused on Doug Stamper (Michael Kelly) to be written by Eric Roth, an executive producer on the flagship drama.
UPDATE: Oh, now it looks like Netflix may have Kevin Spacey’s character killed off.
The show’s producers are considering killing off the show’s main character in the wake of sexual-harassment allegations made against Kevin Spacey over the last week. The series’ upcoming sixth season will also be its last.
Spacey’s representative has said that the Oscar-winning actor is “taking the time necessary to seek evaluation and treatment. No other information is available at this time.” Killing his House of Cards character off is just one option the show’s producers are considering, according to the original report.
In this week’s ” Oh, look, MORE creepiness” story, actor Jeremy Piven is accused of sexual harassment – the Gropy McGroperson kind.
CBS is “looking into” the allegations that he groped actor Actress Ariane Bellamar, a former Playboy Playmate whose TV credits include appearing on the ABC Family unscripted series Beverly Hills Nannies, tweeted Monday that Piven groped her years ago on the set of Entourage and at the Playboy Mansion.
“‘Member when you cornered me in your trailer on the #Entourage set?” she tweeted at Piven. “‘Member grabbing my boobies on the [couch] without asking??”
She later added that “Piven, on two occasions, cornered and forcefully fondled my breasts and bum. Once at the mansion and once on set.”
It is unclear whether Bellamar, who did not appear on Entourage, is accusing Piven of groping her on set during production of the HBO series that ended its eight-season run in September 2011, or during the 2015 feature film.
Either way, it’s all just so horrible. C’mon, guys. We have to be better than this.
In this week’s “Blake Lively: Super Spy!” story, Blake Lively’s spy thriller The Rhythm Section has landed a Feb. 22, 2019, release date from Paramount Pictures.
The studio has also dated an untitled Tyler Perry project for April 12, 2019. Paramount bought the rights to The Rhythm Section in August with The Handmaid’s Tale exec producer Reed Morano on board to direct from a script by Mark Burnell with James Bond producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli producing. IM Global will finance the film.
The movie is a contemporary adaptation of the first of Burnell’s “Stephanie Patrick” series of four British novels. Lively will play the titular heroine, who is on a path to self-destruction after the death of her family in an airplane crash. After discovering from a journalist that the crash wasn’t an accident and watching that journalist get killed, she adapts the identity of an assassin in order to track down those responsible.
In this week’s “Digging up the old” story, Paramount, feeling good about their It film based on Stephen King’s novel, is looking to cash in on more of King’s work by remaking Pet Sematary.
Starry Eyes helmers Kevin Kolsch and Dennis Widmyer have been tapped to direct the remake at the studio.
Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Mark Vahradian are producing the remake to the 1989 horror classic, which was directed by Mary Lambert and written by King, along with Steven Schneider. Jeff Buhler and David Kajganich wrote the script, and Alexandra Loewy is executive producing for Paramount.
The original “Pet Sematary” was based on the King novel, which follows the travails of a family who moves into a new home next to a cemetery endowed with powers that allow the creatures buried in it to come back from the dead.
The original brought in $57 million on an $11 million budget, which led to a less commercially successful 1992 sequel starring Edward Furlong and Anthony Edwards.
Who knows if this is a good idea, but… “Sometimes, dead is betta.” (You know I had to say it).
Kolsch and Widmyer first gained notoriety with their 2014 indie horror pic Starry Eyes, which caught the eyes of various studio execs and was partly funded by a successful Kickstarter campaign.
They are currently attached to Mama 2 and The Bringing.
In this week’s “JGL” story, Joseph Gordon-Levitt has signed on to star in 7500, an airline hijacking thriller, replacing Paul Dano, who was originally attached to the project.
JGL will play Tobias Ellis, a co-pilot whose smooth commercial trip from Berlin to Paris is interrupted by terrorists armed with glass bottles who try to take over the flight. Ellis has to first fight off his attackers and then negotiate with them to ensure the safety of everyone on board. Dano was originally attached to the project but had to bow out due to scheduling conflicts.
7500 will mark the feature debut of German director Patrick Vollrath, who attracted attention and an Oscar nomination, for best live-action short, with his 2015 thriller Everything Will Be Okay. He is repped by Gotham Group in the U.S. and Schlag Agency in Germany.
In this week’s “Jon Snow gets a new series” story, actor Kit Harington is starring in a new limited episode show going to HBO.
HBO has acquired the BBC One miniseries Gunpowder headlined by the Game of Thrones star, it was announced Tuesday.
The three-part thriller is based on the real-life 17th century events that led to Guy Fawkes Day. Harington stars as Robert Catesby, who was the driving force behind the Gunpowder Plot in London in 1605. A committed Catholic at a time when Protestant England persecutes Catholics relentlessly, Catesby’s refusal to abandon his religion brings him to the edge of financial, social and psychological ruin.
Peter Mullan (Quarry), Mark Gatiss (Sherlock) and Liv Tyler (HBO’s The Leftovers) also star in the miniseries. Ronan Bennett (Top Boy) penned the project, which was directed by J Blakeson (The Disappearance of Alice Creed).
The three-hour drama will air over three nights, running Monday through Wednesday, Dec. 18-20, at 10 p.m.
Gunpowder is a particularly personal one for Harington, who is a descendant of Catesby, the character he plays in the series. “Three years ago, Daniel West and I conceived and began developing Gunpowder with Kudos and Ronan Bennett,” Harington says. “We are now thrilled to share this unique story with the U.S. audience. I can’t think of a better place to do that than my home at HBO.”
Gunpowder marks the first production for Harington’s Thriker Films banner. The series recently made its debut in the U.K. and wraps its run Nov. 4.
Wait, so the U.K. has already seen it? Sneaky.
In this week’s “Bad Mom’s Extended Universe?” story, the directors want to make more of these for other holidays.
The STXfilms pic is being released a mere 15 months after the original Bad Moms, starring Kunis, Kristen Bell, and Kathryn Hahn. Co-director Jon Lucas noted in his intro that the 34-day shoot took place in Georgia in May, then thanked the movie’s below-the-line employees: “Our crew made Atlanta in the summer look like Chicago in the winter.”
Lucas and co-director Scott Moore were giddy on the red carpet at the Regency Village Theatre in Westwood, Calif., suggesting they’re hoping to make more Bad Moms movies — possibly tied to other holidays.
“There have been eight Fast and Furious movies,” Lucas noted. “You can only make a movie this quickly if everyone is on the same page. The cast and crew were so good. They covered up all our defects.”
Peter Gallagher, who plays the father of Kunis’ character, said A Bad Moms Christmas will be a tonic for moviegoers seeking laughs — since there’s a common understanding of the pressures of the holiday season.
Sure. Just make it funnier than most holiday films, ok?
In this week’s “Say it isn’t so!” story, Mark Hamill actually didn’t want to return to play Luke Skywalker for Force Awakens!
Mark Hamill didn’t want to return to Star Wars, and he knew that he had a defense against saying no to 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens: Harrison Ford would never agree to playing Han Solo again. And then he did.
“I was just really scared,” Hamill admitted in a New York Times profile. “I thought, why mess with it? The idea of catching lightning in a bottle twice was ridiculously remote.”
Thankfully, there was Ford, who had until that point distanced himself from the franchise.
“He’s too old and too rich and too cranky… He’s not going to do this” is how Hamill recalls his attitude to the Times. But when Ford agreed to return, Hamill had no bluff left to call, and realized that he had to come back as well. Or, as he puts it, “Can you imagine if I was the only one to say no? I’d be the most hated man in nerd-dom.”
On the plus side, at least he managed to avoid almost all of The Force Awakens. Although, as he now admits, that felt like a risk in and of itself. “If it smacks the audience as a cheat or a gimmick, if there’s a big groan in the house, the egg’s on my face, not J.J.’s,” he remembered about his apprehension for being the movie’s last scene reveal.
Thankfully, he later came around to the idea, saying, “When they talk about you that much in a movie before you even show up, that’s fabulous.”
Mark Hamill, we love you, dude.
In this week’s “Crazy crazy crazy” story, actor Thomas Jane reveals some plot details of the Predator reboot.
Shane Black is remaking the film Predators starring Thomas Jane. In an interview with Shadow Nation (via DenOfGeek), Jane talked about the film:
“We play these veterans from like Afghanistan or the Iraq War or whatever. But we’re all fucking crazy so we go to the VA hospital to get our meds. We’re all like shellshocked, PTSD soldiers. We’re at the VA hospital and we’re in group therapy and of course, somebody flips out – this is backstory, I don’t think we really see this – somebody flips out and we all get arrested and get thrown onto the bus to go down to the hospital and they throw this other guy on the bus too.
And he’s a guy they’ve actually marked to kill him because he’s seen a UFO, he’s seen the Predator ships come down so they lock him up and throw him in with us lunatics. They’re going to take that bus, drive it down to a ditch and shoot us all just to get rid of this one guy. But, of course, we take the bus over and we’re all like ‘fuck that, man, let’s go kill these fucking Predators ourselves.’ And we’re just crazy enough to believe that this guy really did see a UFO and there’s these aliens out there. So that’s kinda cool!”
Is it me, or does Thomas Jane sound a little crazy, too?
In this week’s “It never ends” story, director Brett Ratner has now been accused of sexual harrassment by multiple women.
In light of that, Playboy Enterprises “is putting all projects with Ratner’s production company, Ratpac Entertainment, on hold.” That includes Ratner’s planned biopic of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, which was slated to star Suicide Squad‘s Jared Leto.
“We are deeply troubled to learn about the accusations against Brett Ratner. We find this kind of behavior completely unacceptable,” a spokesperson said in a statement. Our original article follows.
After spending years staying quiet in fear of losing out on potential jobs, people in Hollywood are starting to stand up and speak out about incidents that may have previously been swept under the industry’s rug. Director and producer Brett Ratner (Rush Hour, X-Men 3) has now been accused of sexual harassment or misconduct by six women, including actresses Natasha Henstridge and Olivia Munn.
There is SO much more to tell o this but we jsut don’t have the space. If you want to read more, go over to /Film: http://www.slashfilm.com/brett-ratner-sexual-harassment/
In this week’s “Going casual” story, Elizabeth Banks and Margo Robbie will star in Paper Bag Princess for Universal.
Universal Pictures has optioned the rights The Paper Bag Princess and sees the bestselling children’s book as a possible directing vehicle for Elizabeth Banks, Variety has learned. Margot Robbie (The Wolf of Wall Street), who is producing the project with Banks, may appear in the film. Katie Silberman (Set It Up) is attached to write the screenplay.
Bidding on the project was heated, with Warner Bros. also circling the film, according to sources. The book is written by Robert Munsch and illustrated by Michael Martchenko. It centers on a princess whose castle and the royal wardrobe it houses are destroyed by a dragon on the eve of her wedding. Her fiancee is also captured. Wearing nothing more than a paper bag, the princess gives chase. The book has a strong feminist strain, upending the old damsel in distress cliches. Since its publication in 1980, The Paper Bag Princess has been reprinted 90 times and sold more than 10 million copies.
In this week’s “Fast & Furious Tyrese” story, the ongoing feud between Tyrese Gibson and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson has reached yet another level of weird.
Gibson has posted on Instagram some pretty harsh – and sort of disjointed – words.
“Hello world………. hello loyal fans and loved ones from OUR fast universe…….. I’m sorry to announce that if Dewayne is in Fast9 there will no more Roman Peirce – You mess with family and my daughters survival I mess with yours……… close your eyes dude you’re a “Clown”…… #CandyAssBitchMade All my real one…. Men on integrity… my real ones out here stand UP…… folks that GP to the gym and get big naturally #NoJuice #NoOJ spin off huh? Spin off these nuts selfish champ…… pause notice who’s got his arms around my shoulder and who’s standing alone – #OurChildrenMatter ”
Ok, if you can get the gist of that, it appears that if Johnson is in the next Fast & Furious film, Tyrese Gibson will walk. Now, on one hand, it seems like Tyrese Gibson is perhaps over-inflating his celebrity status here. I mean, not to dis Gibson or anything, but let’s face it, Dwayne Johnson is clearly making the bigger money these days and likely has more clout and power in the industry. I mean, who do you think the studio is going to keep in the next FF movie, Dwayne or Tyrese. Yeah, it’s Dwayne.
But as a way of maybe explaining Gibson’s behavior, he does have some serious issues right now surrounding his ex-wife suing him for permanent custody of their 10 year old daughter. So, you know, THAT could be stressful.
Either way, its all kinds of drama.
In this week’s “Eternal torture” story, Paramount Pictures and Hasbro have conspired to continue to make our lives miserable by signing a 5 year contract to produce and distribute more live-action and animated films and television shows.
As previously announced, there are more Autobots vs. Decepticons flicks already in the works, and an individual with knowledge of the studio’s film development has told TheWrap in the past that we’ll be seeing more of “The Real American Heroes” in years to come, too.
“Hasbro has an enormous array of exceptional brands, so this expansion of our relationship is incredibly exciting,” added Paramount Pictures chairman and CEO Jim Gianopulos. “We look forward to working with Brian Goldner and Stephen Davis and the Hasbro and Allspark teams to create extraordinary film properties for all audiences.”
Oh sweet lord, this equates to more G.I. Joe and Transformer films. I am made sad.
In this week’s “After Game of Thrones: Cersei and Mr. Toad, story, Lena Heady is lining up a new project for when Game of Thrones finishes up. She is in talks to star in a film called Banking on Mr. Toad, which will blend live-action and CGI to tell the story of Kenneth Grahame, the author of the successful children’s novel Wind in the Willows.
Variety tells us that this movie has been in the works for years, and that Toby Kebbell (Kong: Skull Island, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) is attached to play Grahame while Headey will play his wife Elsie – as long as the deal goes through. Brian Blessed will play Frederick James Furnivall, a friend and confidante of Grahame’s. Here’s more:
“Banking on Mr. Toad follows Grahame, Elsie, and their young son Alastair, who struggled with health problems, many of which could not be properly treated at the time. The family’s troubles are eased by the Wind in the Willows and its success. The “banking” part of the titles alludes to the fact that Grahame was secretary of the Bank of England in 1908 when he penned his famous novel.”
Sounds very British.
In this week’s “Hey ociffer, how do I get home?” story, actor Lou Diamond Phillips was arrested for drunk driving early Friday morning, after pulling up to police and asking for directions, Portland, Texas, police chief Mark Cory told TheWrap on Friday.
According to Cory, at approximately 1:35 a.m. on Friday, an officer was on an unrelated traffic stop when Phillips’ vehicle pulled up to the patrol car to ask for directions, and appeared to be “highly intoxicated.”
Longmoire star, Phillips, whose demeanor was “polite and cordial” according to Cory, was arrested, and testing determined that the actor had a blood-alcohol content of .20 — more than twice the legal limit of .08.
The actor has since been released on bond.
Oh, Lou. That’s not cool, man. Don’t they Lyft or something there? You couldn’t take a cab?
In this week’s “On the rock” story, Laurence Fishburne filed for divorce from Gina Torres.
The couple split a year ago but took no action to pull the plug on the marriage until Thursday.
When they announced the split in September, Gina said, “With heavy hearts, Laurence and I quietly separated and began the dissolution of our marriage in the early fall of last year,” adding, “There are no bad guys here. Only a love story with a different ending than either one of us had expected.”
Oh well, another one bites the dust.
In another divorce related story, Camille Grammer, Kelsey Grammer’s ex-wife, was awarded 50 percent of her ex-husband’s 401K account from the time of their marriage in 1997 to their separation in 2010.
A judge signed off on the order in October. The reality star filed for divorce from the Frasier actor in July 2010. Their divorce was finalized in February 2011, and the 62-year-old actor married Kayte Walsh two weeks later.
Camille and Kelsey share two children together: daughter Mason Olivia, 16, and son Jude Gordon, 13. The actor has five other children from previous relationships.
PEOPLE confirmed this week that Camille is engaged to lawyer David C. Meyer. The pair have dated for more than a year and met in Malibu, where Meyer lives.
“They’re just in love,” a source close to the couple tells PEOPLE. “There’s a casualness and easiness to their relationship. They’re a really happy, kind couple. He really loves her for her.”
Yeah, well, the MASSIVE amount of money she’ll get from Kelsey’s 401K will probably make it a little easier to love her. Ok, ok, he may be a perfectly sincere person. I’m sorry, am I being too cynical?
And in this week’s “Good doc about a bad movie” story, The Room star/writer/director/producer/marketer Tommy Wiseau was granted a temporary injunction delaying the release of an unflattering making-of documentary, Room Full of Spoons. That initial halting document has now been ripped to shreds by a Canadian judge.
Judge Markus Koehnen took about three weeks writing up his findings and decision, and they were worth the wait. Basically, the Ontario court is allowing the third-party documentary to be released because there’s no way it could possibly mock Wiseau more than the original source material and its fanbase do.
“Although Mr. Wiseau complained in his affidavit that the documentary mocks, derides and disparages him and The Room, he did not disclose that The Room’s fame rests on its apparently abysmal quality as a movie,” Koehnen wrote. “People flock to see The Room because it is so bad. People see the movie for the very purpose of mocking it; a phenomenon that has won the movie its cult status.”
The judge then went on to republish some terrible reviews of the movie, like Entertainment Weekly’s, which famously dubbed the 2003 flick, “The ‘Citizen Kane’ of bad movies.”
It is indeed that. Yet, I love it so. In the same way one loves Plan 9 From Outer Space, you have to love The Room.
See ya next week!