Well, here it is another week of celluloid silliness in the form of informational fodder. Eat up!
In this week’s “Bad Mom’s Mom’s” story, the sequel ot Bad Mom’s from last year is developing nicely. It’s called Bad Mom’s Christmas, and has added Susan Sarandon, Christine Baranski, Cheryl Hines, and Peter Gallagher to it’s cast. The three actresses will play the moms to the original Bad Moms.
Bad Moms writer-directors Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, producer Suzanne Todd and executive producers Bill Block and Mark Kamine all are rejoined on this one. Also starring are returning cast members Jay Hernandez, David Walton and Wanda Sykes along with the previously reported Justin Hartley.
Here’s the logline: “A Bad Moms Christmas follows the under-appreciated and over-burdened young moms as they rebel against the challenges and expectations of the Super Bowl for moms: Christmas. And if creating a more perfect holidays for their families wasn’t hard enough, they have to do all of that while hosting and entertaining their own mothers. By the end of the journey, our moms will redefine how to make the holidays special for all and discover a closer relationship with their mothers.” *gag*
Well, they are some talented ladies for sure. Bad Mom’s Christmas is scheduled for a November 3 realease.
In this week’s “Close call” story, the WGA strike was narrowly averted! Thankfully, though, they were able to make a three year deal with the studios. They’ll all keep making movies! Yay!
In this week’s “Denmark’s most eligble” actress Daisy Ridley will be portraying Shakespeare’s Ophelia in director Claire McCarthy’s film of the same name. Also now joining Ridley are Clive Owen, Tom Felton, George MacKay, and Devon Terrell.
Ophelia is based on the novel by Lisa Klein and adapted for the screen by Semi Chellas (Mad Men, The Eleventh Hour). Covert Media is financing the feature and producing with Daniel Bobker and Ehren Kruger (The Brothers Grimm) and Sarah Curtis (Hysteria). Executive producers include Covert’s Elissa Friedman and Media Content Capital’s Sasha Shapiro and Anton Lessine (Fading Gigolo).
The movie is set in the 14th Century but spoken in a contemporary voice as a re-imagining of William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.” Ridley portrays the title character as the most trusted lady-in-waiting to the Queen, played by Naomi Watts. She soon captures the attention of Prince Hamlet and a forbidden love blossoms. As war brews, lust and betrayal are tearing Elsinore Castle apart from within.
Hmmmm, period setting and wardrobe, but contemporary dialogue? I don’t know. Sometimes these things don’t work out the way you want them to.
In this week’s “Classic kidnapping” story, Ridley Scott is going to direct a film based on the kidnapping of J. Paul Getty’s grandson, called All the Money in the World. Michelle Williams, Mark Wahlberg, and Kevin Spacey are currently on board to star in the drama, with Scott directing. Sony Pictures will distribute.
Young actor Charlie Plummer has landed the role of the oil tycoon’s grandson, J. Paul Getty, III.
The Black List screenplay, written by David Scarpa, centers on the 1973 kidnapping in Italy of J. Paul Getty III — the rebellious teenage grandson of oil billionaire J. Paul Getty, who was reluctant to pay the $17 million ransom demanded by the kidnappers. Spacey will play the billionaire, Williams will portray Getty III’s mother, and Wahlberg will be a confidant to the oil tycoon.
In this week’s “double O- what?!” story, producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson are rumored to be considering Paul McGuigan to direct the next James Bond film. This is interesting because, though McGuigan has directed things like episodes of BBC’s Sherlock, and the film Lucky Number Slevin, he also is responsible for the film Wicker Park, and the reputedly terrible Victor Frankenstein.
However, Broccoli and Wilson are said to be happy with McGuigan’s upcoming film, Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool, so I guess they feel he may be worth the risk. Seems odd, though, seeing as this the 25th Bond film, and the last one, Spectre, didn’t exactly get rave reviews, so a lot is riding on the next one.
I, for one, would like to see wither someone with a great track record to direct a solid Bond movie we expect, or someone trusted that will shake things up in a good way. I’m not sure this is the director for the job.
In this week’s “Not related” story, actress Katheryn Winnick, who stars in Vikings, has joined John Travolta, Mire Sorvino, and Jordi Molla, in the speedboat racing saga, Speed Kills. And no, this film is not related to the
Speed films starrign Keannu Reeves. It just happens to have a really unfortunate title.
John Luessenhop is directing from a script he co-wrote with David Aaron Cohen. Production is launching in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Miami Beach, Florida, on May 30.
Speed Kills is inspired by the life of speedboat racing champion Donald Aronow, who also created boat brands including Donzi Marine, Blue Thunder, and Cigarette. Winnick is set to play the role of Lillian Aronow, a former Wilhelmina model and the second wife of Aronow.
In this week’s “Woody plays LBJ?” story, Woody Harrelson is set to play Lyndon B. Johnson in the Rob Reiner directed LBJ. The film is slated to come out in 2017, and will also star Jennifer Jason Leigh, Richard Jenkins, BIll Pullman, Jeffrey Donovan, and Michael Stahl-David.
The story follows Johnson through his work as Senate Majority Leader, his loss of the 1960 Democratic presidential nomination to Senator John F. Kennedy (Jeffrey Donovan), and his agreement to be his young rival’s running mate. But once they win the election, despite his extensive legislative experience and shrewd political instincts, Johnson finds himself sidelined in the role of vice president. That all changes on Nov. 22, 1963, when Kennedy is assassinated.
Johnson must contend with longtime adversary Attorney General Bobby Kennedy (Michael Stahl-David) and one-time mentor Georgia Senator Richard Russell (Richard Jenkins) as he seeks to honor JFK’s legacy by championing the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Dean Devlin’s Electric Entertainment has acquired all North American rights. And Woody is playing LBJ. Woody, from Cheers. I am now old enough to see that happen. Wow.
In this week’s “Sorry about Snape” story, super rich author, J.K. Rowling, apologized on Twitter for killing off Severus Snape from the Harry Potter series.
She tweeted: “OK, here it is. Please don’t start flame wars over it, but this year I’d like to apologise for killing (whispers)… Snape. *runs for cover*”
Of course fans were all sort of mixed on the responses. Some accepted her apology, some thought his death was justified. Some poeple were really broken up about it. I’d just like to point out that he was a fictional character.
But I still miss actor Alan Rickman. 🙁
In this week’s “One of the most important sequels” story, Blade Runner 2049 is coming, and the posters have arrived. There are two of them. One has Harrison Ford on it, one has Ryan Gosling. And if you’re looking for a synopsis, like me, here it is:
“Thirty years after the events of the first film, a new blade runner, LAPD Officer K (Ryan Gosling), unearths a long-buried secret that has the potential to plunge what’s left of society into chaos. K’s discovery leads him on a quest to find Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), a former LAPD blade runner who has been missing for 30 years.”
Blade Runner 2049 arrives in theaters October 6, 2017. SQUEE!
In this week’s “Getting ahead of themselves” story, Matthew Vaughn, director of The Kingsman sequel, is already talking about a third film.
Speaking at a Fox footage event in London on Friday, Vaughn nipped out of the edit suite for Kingsman: The Golden Circle (which was just around the corner), to treat attendees to the entire first act of the upcoming actioner. After unveiling about half an hour of footage, he sat down for a brief Q&A where he said that while he and co-writer Jane Goldman were writing the script they were thinking of a third instalment for the franchise as well.
“Weirdly while we were writing Kingsman 2, we were thinking of Kingsman 3 as well, which is odd,” said Vaughn. “We’ve got a big idea for that. This is sort of the bridge and if we can pull this off, we’ll make another one.”
Well, if this sequel makes money, I’m sure it’ll happen.
In this week’s “Old Knives, new tricks” story, Chris Pine and Michele Willimas are in negotiations to star in the spy thriller, All The Old Knives. Theory of Everything helmer James Marsh is also in negotiations to direct, the sources add.
The Mark Gordon Company and eOne will finance. Olen Steinhauer (author of “The Tourist”) adapted the screenplay from his novel of the same name.
The story is set in the idyllic town of Carmel-by-the-Sea, where ex-lovers Henry and Celia — one a CIA spy and one an ex-CIA spy — meet for dinner and to reminisce. They relive their memories of the disastrous hijacking of Royal Jordanian Flight 127, which ended in the death of all on board, a failure that haunts the CIA’s Vienna station to this day. The question is whether Henry has come to dinner to rekindle the romance or to get to the bottom of a conspiracy. It also becomes clear that one of the ex-lovers may not survive the meal.
Ooo, very thriller-y.
In this week’s “Other Chris Pine news” story, Pine is also set to play Robert the Bruce, in Netflix’s period drama, Outlaw King. Ben Foster is in talks to costar.
In this version, Bruce will take center stage and include not only his fight against the British, but also the Catholic Church over the idea of a free country.
So, this story will basically be the stuff that happened after most of the events we saw in Braveheart.
In this week’s “We’ve moved!” story, Adam McKay’s Dick Cheney film starring Christian Bale appears to have anew home. Annapurna Pictures has reportedly picked up the film after Paramount let it go.
Insiders believe McKay’s follow-up to “The Big Short” is better suited for Annapurna’s upcoming slate. Sources add that the parting was amicable, and that McKay looks forward to future projects under the new leadership.
The film will be the first film under Plan B’s new three-year deal with Annapurna, which was announced on Thursday.
In this week’s “T2 3D” story, it seems, for the moment, that the future of the Terminator franchise is ka-put, but not for the previous films. Terminator 2: Judgement Day is getting a new coat of paint in the form of a 3D version.
This 3D conversion of T2 will be overseen by James Cameron himself. Let’s face it, he’s become not just a fan of the 3D technology, he virtually reinvented it. So he won’t likely be doing some cheap conversion. I’m sure he’ll make it cool.
“James Cameron’s masterpiece starring Arnold Schwarzenegger in his most iconic role, has been converted in immersive 3D by Cameron himself. First hitting screens in 1991 with groundbreaking special effects, the 4K and 3D version will take the seminal blockbuster to the next level of effects and into the 21st century for the next generation of fans.”
I’ll give it a chance.
In this week’s “No surprise” story, Ellen DeGeneres explained to Matt Lauer why she wouldn’t have Trump as a guest on her show. Not that we don’t know the explanation for this, as it seems pretty obvious, but here it is:
“Um, no,” DeGeneres said. “Because I’m not going to change his mind. He’s against everything that I stand for. We need to look at someone else who looks different than us and believes in something that we don’t believe in and still accept them and let them have their rights.”
See? We knew that.
In this week’s “Odd pairing” story, Paramount has acquired an untitled pitch for a comedy that will star Will Farrell and Jason Mamoa. Yes, you read that right.
Andy Mogel & Jarrad Paul will write it and Nick Stoller and Gary Sanchez will produce. They are keeping the logline under wraps but when it was being pitched, sources described it as Galaxy Quest meets Ocean’s Eleven, with Ferrell a washed up TV star reuniting with his now grown TV show son (Momoa) who has become a huge star.
I’d like more information, please.
In this week’s “Seeing Stars” story, Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell got their stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame this week. Frankly, it’s about time.
In this week’s “Another liver bites the dust” story, Brad Pitt opened up about his divorce from Angelina Jolie. Apparently he’d been doing a lot of boozing and weed. But mostly booze. Now he’s doing therapy.
“I can’t remember a day since I got out of college when I wasn’t boozing or had a spliff, or something …
“I’m really, really happy to be done with all of that. I mean, I stopped everything except boozing when I started my family. But even this last year, you know – things I wasn’t dealing with. I was boozing too much,” he said.
Pitt said he loved wine, adding: “Truthfully, I could drink a Russian under the table with his own vodka. I was a professional. I was good.”
Ok, I think we get it, Brad. Geez. So now he drinks cranberry juice and fizzy water.
As for the movie business, “I don’t really think of myself much as an actor anymore. It takes up so little of my year and my focus. Film feels like a cheap pass for me, as a way to get at those hard feelings. It doesn’t work anymore, especially being a dad.”
No other elaboration on that, though. He seems to imply that he’s done with acting, but who knows. Probably not. He’s gonna need the money, now.
And in this week’s “You can’t take it with you” story, it seems that Johnny Depp’s previous business managers suggest that he is “suffering from a compulsive spending disorder”.
This hardly seems like news, but a lawsuit has been filed, and the new papers, filed by Joel and Robert Mandel of The Mandel Company, state that the pair “did everything possible to protect Depp from his own irresponsible and profligate spending.”
“In retrospect, it appears that Depp may suffer from a compulsive spending disorder, which will be proven in this action through a mental examination of Depp pursuant to California Code of Civil Procedure § 2032.020, and expert testimony,” the Mandels’ amended cross-complaint, filed Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court, reads. “On information and belief, Depp’s flagrant bragging about his senseless and extreme spending to The Wall Street Journal is further evidence of his psychological issues.”
Wow. So, Depp filed a suit against The Management Group in January, accusing his former managers of “self-dealing and gross misconduct.” Among the misdeeds that Depp, who is seeking $25 million, alleges: Taking a 5 percent commission of the actor’s income, “in some cases regardless of whether Mr. Depp actually received any income himself or not” — a commission that was “exorbitant, excessive, and far outstripped the actual value of services TMG would be performing for Mr. Depp.”
The actor’s former managers fired off a cross-complaint shortly thereafter, accusing Depp of “living an ultra-extravagant lifestyle that knowingly cost Depp in excess of $2 million per month to maintain, which he simply could not afford.”
Among those extravagances, the Mandel Group says Depp spent $30,000 a month on fancy wines he had shipped to him from around the world. And Depp also spent over $3 million to have a special cannon built which was used to blast the ashes of Hunter S. Thompson over Aspen, Colorado.
That’s not crazy at all.
Other absurd spending habits include over $ 75 million on residences around the world, like a 45-acre Chateau in the south of France, and a chain of islands in the Bahamas. A CHAIN of islands. I thought it was just one. Also, he supposedly bought and maintained a 150 foot yacht for $18 million.
Apparently Depp also likes to collect art by the likes of Warhol and Gustav Klimt, as well as dozens of collectible guitars. His memorabilia alone fill “approximately 12 storage facilities and cost over a million dollars to archive.
But hey, at least he’s generous. He has apparently spent over $ 10 million on “friends, family, and certain employees” over the years.
What a pal.
~ Neil T Weakley, your average movie-goer, looking forward to next week’s kooky stories in film news!