‘This Is Us’ Pays Tribute To Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting Victims Tonight

As America still reels from the massacre in Pittsburgh this past weekend This Is Us paid an homage to the city where much of the Dan Fogelman created series takes place. At the end of Tuesday’s “Kamsahamnida” episode on NBC, a titled card went up addressing the murder of 11 people in the Tree of Life synagogue on October 27. Now facing the death penalty, suspect  Robert Bowers’ vile action was  the worst concentrated case of anti-semitism in American history. Executive…

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UCLA Buys Crest Theater, Will Become The Nimoy Theater Honoring Leonard Nimoy

The UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture and its performing arts program, the Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA, has acquired the Crest Theater on Westwood Boulevard. The landmark venue will be transformed into a new off-campus performing arts space that will serve as an important addition to UCLA's cultural venues and resources across the city. UCLA's purchase of the long-dormant theater was made possible by major gifts from actor, writer and director Susan…

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Michael Lewis’ Latest Book ‘The Fifth Risk’ Acquired By The Obamas Under Their Netflix Production Deal

Deadline has learned that Michael Lewis’ latest book The Fifth Risk has been acquired by Barack and Michelle Obama under their Netflix production deal for a possible series that will help people understand the inner workings of the government better. We understand that the Obamas are exploring projects but nothing has been specifically greenlit at this time. Lewis is revealing the news about the Obamas optioning The Fifth Risk on Katie Couric’s Thursday podcast. The Fifth…

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‘Cobra Kai’ Online Series Episode 1 Passes 50 Million Views On YouTube

The publicity drums are beating for the second season of Cobra Kai, the YouTube Premium web series that takes the Karate Kid film series 30 years into the future, following the aftermath of the 1984 All Valley Karate Tournament that was the original film’s focus. A Tweet featuring the main characters, including original film star Ralph Macchio, has already generated a huge buzz online. The tweet touts the success of the online series, which just had its first episode…

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How Cathy Yan Landed The ‘Birds Of Prey’ Directing Gig: U.S.-China Entertainment Summit

This evening at the U.S.-China Entertainment Summit at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, attendees for the first time, had the opportunity to hear Cathy Yan talk a bit about her upcoming big studio directorial, Warner Bros./DC’s Birds of Prey.  Upon landing the gig, Yan became the first female Asian director to ever direct a superhero film, and the third female filmmaker to join the DC club after Wonder Woman's Patty Jenkins and Ava DuVernay for the upcoming The…

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Marvel Duo Falcon & Winter Soldier Teaming For Disney Streaming Series

Disney’s upcoming streaming service is ramping up its content creation, with Empire writer/executive producer Malcolm Spellman hired to pen a potential limited series that would team two of Marvel’s costumed characters: Winter Soldier and The Falcon. It is one of several potential series on the service, which is aiming for a late 2019 launch. Marvel Studios’ involvement was first tipped in September, that to magical characters from the Avengers franchise — Tom…

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Nancy Pelosi Translates Donald Trump’s Latest Midterm Distraction To Stephen Colbert

“Every election, people talk about an ‘October Surprise’,” Stephen Colbert noted on Late Show. He asked guest Nancy Pelosi if that was the best way to describe President Donald Trump’s announcement he will unilaterally end birthright citizenship, as outlined in the Constitution. In an Axios interview released earlier in the day, the President said to his base, as translated by Colbert, “Listen, you’ve go to stick with me. I’m the only one who is going to protect you from…

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‘False Profits’ Not Going Forward At ABC, Shopped To Other Buyers

ABC has opted not to proceed with comedic drama pilot False Profits. I hear the project starring Bellamy Young and Vanessa Williams is being shopped by ABC Studios to other outlets. False Profits was among ABC’s buzzy hourlong pilots last season. It narrowly missed the cut for a series order but remained in priority development for midseason consideration. The network in May authorized the opening of a writers room to generate three additional scripts, and ABC Studios…

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“Rehire James Gunn” Billboard Pops Up Near Disneyland

The chapter on James Gunn being fired as director of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 isn’t closed yet. In addition to the cast — mainly Dave Bautista — supporting the filmmaker, a group of fans have launched a GoFundMe campaign to have billboards that say “Rehire James Gunn” outside of Orlando and Anaheim Disney parks. The campaign was started by a group who started a RehireJamesGunn.com after old tweets from the director joking about rape and pedophilia resurfaced. The…

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Jonathan Rhys Meyers Floated For ‘Altitude’ Thriller; Amcomri Film Partners Launches Fund – AFM Briefs

Jonathan Rhys Meyers is in talks to star in Altitude, a thriller set on on a runaway hot-air balloon in the works from writer-director Marc Fienberg. The pic is in preproduction and shooting is scheduled to start in January in South Africa. 13 Films is repping international rights to the project and is presenting it to buyers at the American Film Market, which kicks off Wednesday in Santa Monica. Meyers would play a man who has planned the perfect romantic proposal to his…

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‘World Of Dance’ Producers Alex Katz & Mandy Novak Launch No Other Way Productions

World of Dance producers Alex Katz and Mandy Novak have launched No Other Way Productions, a company that will focus on providing post-production and editorial services for networks, streaming services and cable channels. Housed in a 14,000-square-foot facility in the San Fernando Valley, No Other Way also will have a separate production arm focusing on development and production of original content for scripted, unscripted and digital projects. The facility is housing…

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Are Buyers Still Hungry For Sylvester Stallone’s Rambo? You Bet They Are…

EXCLUSIVE: “The kid is resilient,” Richard Crenna’s character Trautman marvels about Rambo in First Blood. Four films and $730 million in theatrical gross later (and 10 years since the latest installment), the Sylvester Stallone action franchise remains just that. Buyers have flocked to Rambo V, with Millennium selling out on the movie between Cannes and the American Film Market, which kicks off Wednesday in Santa Monica. At a time when presale sell-outs are harder to…

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Films I loved in October 2018

Ryan Gosling as Neil Armstrong in First Man

The Neil Armstrong biopic First Man is a film of contrasts where the vast emptiness of the moon is juxtaposed with Armstrong’s cramped conditions on Apollo 11, the methodical precision of the space missions sits alongside the emotional upheaval felt by the astronauts’ families, and Armstrong’s stoic outward appearance masks his inner grief. The attention to detail and factual information is balanced perfectly with the film’s more soulful moments, resulting in a glorious blend of drama and sensory spectacle.

Jeff Bridge as Father Daniel Flynn and Cynthia Erivo as Darlene Sweet in Bad Times at the El Royale

Bad Times at the El Royale contains one of my favourite scenarios where a group of strangers filled with secrets converge at a single location and things get increasingly out of control. This felt like a glorious throwback to the mid-1990s where clever, violent and funny genre films were a staple of the American indie scene. However, it doesn’t feel like a homage nor does the narrative dexterity slide into self-awareness or smugness. Instead, the terrific performances and smart filmmaking make it refreshing and fun.

Bradley Cooper as Jack and Lady Gaga as Ally in A Star Is Born

Similar to the versions that have come before it over the previous decades, the new adaptation of A Star Is Born explores the nature of show-business, fame, addiction and self-expression through a dramatic romance story. The power of this new version comes from both how electrifyingly the musical performances are filmed and the incredible dynamic between its two lead characters, one on the decline and one on the ascent. The result is a thoughtful and empathetic film that is enormously engaging and moving.

Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode in Halloween

The latest Halloween film operates as a direct sequel to the original 1978 film (bypassing all previous sequels and remakes) both in terms of picking up the story 40 years later and by brilliantly adopting the same style as John Carpenter’s hugely influential slasher classic. The focus is on establishing characters and then using lighting, framing and camera movements to beautifully build tension to gleefully unbearable levels in order to take the audience on a rollercoaster ride of suspense-based horror.

Mohammad Bakri as Abu and Saleh Bakri as Shadi in Wajib

Gently unfolding over one day, Wajib follows a Palestinian father and son (played by a real-life father and son) as they drive around Nazareth, Israel, handing out wedding invitations. Through their conversations while alone with each other and while visiting various family and friends, filmmaker Annemarie Jacir explores generational, class and cultural divides with humour, sensitivity and nuance making the film a very accessible insight into some of the complex political tensions in contemporary Israel.

Vivienne Westwood in Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist

Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist is an energetic documentary about fashion designer Vivien Westwood, celebrating her as trailblazer. There is some great analysis of the punk era and her role in defining the punk look, the focus on her hands-on approach to designing and making clothes brings the process to life, and her reluctance as an interviewee becomes part of the film’s charm. More a reflection of her life and beliefs than a comprehensive biopic, this is a triumphant film about an extraordinary person.

Thomas Caldwell, 2018

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/Filmcast Ep. 491 – Private Life and The Old Man & the Gun

David, Jeff, Devindra feast on Netflix content and cover the violence of Apostle, the fear of House on the Hill, and the awkwardness of Big Mouth.  Jeff gets a sneak peek at Steve McQueen’s new film Widows.

Be sure to check out Katie Hasty’s interview with David Lowery, Mike Ryan’s review of The Old Man & the Gun, and S. I. Rosenbaum’s interview with Tamara Jenkins on Private Life.

You can always e-mail us at slashfilmcast(AT)gmail(DOT)com, or call and leave a voicemail at 781-583-1993. Also, follow us on Twitter or like us on Facebook.

Listen and subscribe below:

Shownotes (all timestamps are approximate only)
What We’ve Been Watching(~ 10 mins)
David – Apostle
Devindra – The Haunting of Hill House, Big Mouth
Jeff – Widows

Featured Reviews
Private Life (~28 mins)
– Spoilers (~51 mins)

Old Man & the Gun (~ 1:07 mins)
– Spoilers (~ 1:20 mins)

Credits:

• Our sponsors this week are Truck Club and Hello Fresh.
• Our music sometimes comes from the work of Adam Warrock. You can download our theme song here. Our Slashfilmcourt music comes from Simonmharris.com. Our spoiler bumper comes from filmmaker Kyle Hillinger.
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Superhero Bits: ‘Venom’ May Be the Most Profitable ‘Spider-Man’ Movie, ‘Pennyworth’ Casts Villain & More

Falcon/Winter Soldier TV Series Planned for Disney Streaming Service, Scarlet Witch Show May Co-Star Vision

Just over a year ago, Disney announced they would be launching their own streaming service. Disney Play will include the company’s vast library of content as well as original feature films and TV series. Included in the original offerings are multiple Marvel and Star Wars TV shows. The plan is to create series based around Marvel Cinematic Universe characters who have yet to have their own standalone movies, which includes TV shows focused on Loki and Scarlet Witch starring Tom Hiddleston and Elizabeth Olsen. Each season will run six to eight episodes, and unlike most of the Marvel Netflix and ABC shows, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige is expected to have an active role in their development.

We have learned that Disney is also developing a third series that will give fans the Falcon/Winter Soldier team-up that they have been wanting since Captain America: Civil War. On top of that, I have also learned a few more details about the Scarlet Witch series. Here’s what we know.

Winter Soldier / Falcon TV Series

Disney is developing a Falcon/Winter Solider team-up television series that would reunite frenemies Sebastian Stan and Anthony Mackie on the small screen Disney streaming service. We learned this news independently, but a new story from Variety has revealed that Disney has tapped Malcolm Spellman as the writer for the new series, which is currently in development.

Sebastian Stan quickly became a fan favorite after making his debut as Sgt. Bucky Barnes in Joe Johnston’s Captain America: The First Avenger in 2011. The character transformed into The Winter Soldier in Anthony and Joe Russo’s 2014 film Captain America: The Winter Soldier, a movie that also saw the debut of Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson, AKA the Falcon. But it wasn’t until Captain America: Civil War, where Bucky and Sam developed a friendly rivalry on screen, that fans started demanding a spin-off movie.

Stan and Mackie have been playing this up in interviews, telling various outlets that they are ready and interested whenever the subject came up. Stan has even described his idea for a Falcon/Winter Soldier movie as a buddy comedy film: “To me, it’s like Martin Brest film classic, Midnight Run, you know. It’s really just sort of in my head, like, 48 Hours or a buddy comedy from the ’80s or the ’90s. That’s how I see it.” Who knows what Disney and Feige’s plan for the series actually is.

The last time we saw Bucky, he had some recovery time in Wakanda, where he became known as “White Wolf” by the Wakandan people. Alongside Falcon, he tried to help the Avengers stop Thanos from obtaining the Infinity stones in the Battle of Wakanda, but they were unsuccessful and both Falcon and Bucky were turned to dust. We obviously know that the events of Avengers 4 will restore both of these heroes, but it’s also expected that the MCU will be changed in other major ways. It’s expected that these Disney Play shows could address some of the world-changing effects, although it’s ultimately unknown what the story will be about.

One thing is for sure, Stan and Mackie have great chemistry together and I’m excited to see their adventures.

I’ve been working on this story for several weeks now and have since confirmed the details with two independent trusted sources. We reached out to Disney for comment but haven’t heard back. So much is unclear at this time. Disney is unwilling to comment about any of these reports, including the initial reports from the trades. Some people are suggesting this might be because Marvel doesn’t want to make any announcements regarding characters who might survive Avengers 4, but I’m guessing Disney just has their own grand reveal of the programming slate planned.

What About Paul Bettany’s Vision?

The other thing I’m hearing is that Paul Bettany‘s Vision will have a large part in the previously reported Scarlet Witch show. In fact, it may actually be a series more about the super-powered couple than just Wanda. This makes sense to me, as Wanda’s relationship with Vision is more compelling than Wanda on her own, and the two have a long and fascinating relationship in the pages of Marvel comics. I don’t think Scarlett Witch has received proper development outside of maybe Civil War, so a series that explores her further via her relationship with Vision makes sense.

Plans for the Disney Streaming Service

The legacy content on Disney Play is expected to include approximately 7,000 episodes of television and 500 movies. As for original content, the initial goal is to have four to five original movies and five television shows a year. Here’s what is planned for the television series side of the Disney streaming service:

• Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season 7: The Clone Wars animation series has been resurrected so that it can get the conclusion that the epic story deserves.
• The Mandalorian: Executive produced by Jon Favreau, the first live-action Star Wars series is set after the fall of the Empire and before the emergence of the First Order. We follow the travails of a lone gunfighter in the outer reaches of the galaxy far from the authority of the New Republic. Dave Filoni, Deborah Chow, Rick Famuyiwa, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Taika Waititi are directing episodes. With a reported budget of $100 million.
• High Fidelity: A television series re-imagining of the 2000 John Cusack comedy now told from a female point of view. The series will star Zoe Kravitz, whose mother, Lisa Bonet, had a significant role in the original film.
• High School Musical: The Musical: A 10-episode docu-series based on the franchise starring  Joshua Bassett in the lead role of Ricky
• Monsters, Inc.: A yet to be titled animated series based on the popular Pixar franchise.
• Mighty Ducks: Original Mighty Ducks screenwriter Steven Brill and original producer Jordan Kerner are developing the 1990’s family sports franchise into a tv series.
• Ink & Paint: An eight-episode documentary series based on the 2017 book telling the untold story of the often-overlooked female employees who contributed to the magic of Walt Disney’s animation empire.

As for the original movie line-up, Disney in in post-production on Magic Camp and Noelle, in production on a live-action adaptation of Lady and the Tramp, Stargirl, Timmy Failure, and Togo, and in development on a new Three Men and a Baby, Don Quixote, Father of the Bride, Flora & Ulysses, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, The Paper Magician, The Parent Trap, Peter Pan, and The Sword in the Stone.

Disney Play’s price will cost less than Netflix’s lower subscription tiers, which land somewhere between $8 and $14. The Disney streaming service is expected to go live sometime in 2019,

The post Falcon/Winter Soldier TV Series Planned for Disney Streaming Service, Scarlet Witch Show May Co-Star Vision appeared first on /Film.

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Water Cooler: Halloween, Conjuring, Sabrina, Incredibles, Haunting of Hill House, Adam Sandler, Sorry To Bother You, Streets of Fire, The Mummy, Maniac, Red Dead Redemption 2

On the October 30, 2018 episode of /Film Daily, /Film editor-in-chief Peter Sciretta is joined by /Film managing editor Jacob Hall, weekend editor Brad Oman,  senior writer Ben Pearson, and writers Hoai-Tran Bui and Chris Evangelista to talk about what they’ve been up to at the Water Cooler.

You can subscribe to /Film Daily on iTunes, Google Play, Overcast, Spotify and all the popular podcast apps (here is the RSS URL if you need it).

At The Water Cooler:

• What we’ve been Doing:
  • Peter went to Los Angeles Comic Con, visited a bunch of house haunts, including Rotten Apple 907 and the Backwoods Maze, and has spent way too much time at the Magic Castle for Halloween week, which this year is Murder Mansion. Also, Peter is contemplating what to do with his Scott C Great Showdown wall in the wake of Aaron Brothers.
  • Brad is in Utah visiting his girlfriend, is too early for Sundance.
  • Jacob and his wife decided to be that house and bought full-size candy bars for trick ‘r treaters.
  • Ben dressed up as the bear from Annihilation and scared kids at a baby shower/Halloween party
  • Hoai-Tran went to New York, where she checked out her apartment and attended a friend’s Halloween-Housewarming as the 13th Doctor.

 

 

• What we’ve been Reading:
  • Jacob has been perusing the Super Mario Bros. Encyclopedia and Dungeons & Dragons: Art and Arcana.
• What we’ve been Watching:
  • Peter showed Kitra The Conjuring for the first time, watched the first episode of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina on Netflix and The Sinner season 1, and Eli Roth’s The History of Horror on AMC.
  • Chris finally saw Incredibles 2 and Sorry to Bother You.
  • Jacob finished The Haunting of Hill House and has strong opinions about season 7 of ER.
  • Brad watched Adam Sandler: 100% Fresh.
  • Ben watched Streets of Fire, The Mummy (1959), Maniac, and If Beale Street Could Talk
  • Hoai-Tran watched Suspiria.

 

 

 

• What we’ve been Eating:
  • Brad went to Waffle Love and Five 5eeds in Utah. Also tried Three Musketeers Birthday Cake flavor.
• What we’ve been Playing:
  • Jacob has just scratched the surface in Red Dead Redemption 2 and played Jackbox Party Pack 5.
  • Ben listened to Halloween Unmasked

 

Other articles mentioned:

 

All the other stuff you need to know:

• You can find more about all the stories we mentioned on today’s show at slashfilm.com, and linked inside the show notes.
• /Film Daily is published every weekday, bringing you the most exciting news from the world of movies and television as well as deeper dives into the great features from slashfilm.com.
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The post Water Cooler: Halloween, Conjuring, Sabrina, Incredibles, Haunting of Hill House, Adam Sandler, Sorry To Bother You, Streets of Fire, The Mummy, Maniac, Red Dead Redemption 2 appeared first on /Film.

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‘Creed II’: Ivan Drago Is A Damaged Man, According to Dolph Lundgren

Ivan Drago is back in Creed II, but he’s not the Russian superman we saw in Rocky IV. In fact, according to actor Dolph Lundgren, the former boxer is emotionally damaged. This is a far-cry from the Drago audiences are used to, and it’ll be interesting to see Lundgren’s new take on the character. Read more of Lundgren’s thoughts about returning to the role of Drago below.

In the upcoming issue of Empire, Dolph Lundgren talks about returning to one his most iconic roles: deadly boxer Ivan Drago. Drago was introduced in Rocky IV, where he killed boxer Apollo Creed in the ring. Now, in Creed II, Apollo’s son Adonis is ready to step into the ring with Drago’s son, Viktor Drago. If you’re expecting to see the old Ivan, though, you should temper your expectations.

“Basically, my character has been in a living hell since ’85 and lost everything,” Lundgren says. “The script reintroduces him as a pretty damaged character, emotionally, and somebody who’s suffered a lot physically from a hard life. I can identify with that quite easily. The physical part [and] the emotional part.”

Lundgren also added: “I didn’t see a way, up until now, that it would work. But obviously now when I’m old enough, suddenly I work as a parent. The father-son concept was quite good because I had a violent relationship with my dad […] many men do and end up in contact sports.”

This is incredibly promising. I’ll admit that as much as I loved the first Creed, I’ve had some doubts about Creed II. The story, with Adonis fighting the son of the man who killed his father, seemed too simple and too predictable to me. I worried it would turn the triumph of the first Creed into a simple revenge movie. But Lundgren’s words here indicate there’s a lot more to the Ivan Drago character in this film than you might expect. It sounds as if the script is going to great lengths to flesh the character out, and not have him be just some standard villain.

Drago almost returned in the Rocky universe once before. An early draft of the Rocky Balboa script had a scene where Rocky visits Drago as the latter lies dying in the hospital. The scene was never shot, and perhaps that was for the best, or else they wouldn’t have been able to create this particular storyline for Creed II. In addition to the interview with Lundgren, Empire also has a new image from the film, showing Drago and son in the ring.

Creed II opens on November 21, 2018.

In 1985, Russian boxer Ivan Drago killed former U.S. champion Apollo Creed in a tragic match that stunned the world. Against the wishes of trainer Rocky Balboa, Apollo’s son and current champ Adonis Creed accepts a challenge from Drago’s son — another dangerous fighter. Under guidance from Rocky, Adonis trains for the showdown of his life — a date with destiny that soon becomes his obsession. Now, Creed and Balboa must confront their shared legacy as the past comes back to haunt each man.

The post ‘Creed II’: Ivan Drago Is A Damaged Man, According to Dolph Lundgren appeared first on /Film.

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Never-Before-Seen ‘Nightmare on My Street’ Music Video Images Surface

In 1988, DJ Jazzy Jeff (AKA Jeff Townes) and The Fresh Prince (aka Will Smith) released the single “A Nightmare on My Street” – a song clearly meant to exist within the world of the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. There was only one problem: the song wasn’t officially licensed by New Line Cinema, who own the Elm Street rights. As a result, a music video for the song had to be destroyed before being released. The general public has never seen a single frame from this long lost video…until now.

Never-before-seen images from the Nightmare on My Street video have surfaced, featuring Will Smith dressed up to look like Frankenstein’s monster for some reason.

Nightmare On My Street

No one has ever seen the Nightmare on My Street video, and no one likely ever will – it was destroyed because it was too scary! Just kidding – it was actually destroyed due to a legal dispute with New Line Cinema. But thanks to newly surfaced set photos from music video director Gregory W. Harrison (via Movie Web), we can now take a peek at what the video could have been.

The images aren’t the best quality, but they’re bathed in enough red and blue neon light to make film nerds go wild. There’s also an image of Will Smith decked out as some sort of creature that looks like Frankenstein’s monster. You might assume that the video would try to incorporate Freddy Krueger in some way, but everyone was thinking outside the box here. No Freddy in sight. There’s also a shot of a storyboard featuring a very Dali-like melting clock.

In “A Nightmare on Elm Street”, the Fresh Prince recalls an encounter with Freddy Krueger, or “Fred” as the song calls him. “Now I have a story that I’d like to tell,” the Fresh Prince begins. “About this guy you all know him, he had me scared as hell! He comes to me at night after I crawl into bed, He’s burnt up like a weenie and his name is Fred! He wears the same hat and sweater every single day, And even if it’s hot, outside he wears it anyway! He’s gone when I’m awake but he shows up when I’m asleep, I can’t believe that there’s a nightmare – on my street!” That’s right – he’s “burnt up like a weenie.”

The song goes on from there, and concludes with Freddy talking to the Fresh Prince on the phone. “I’m your D.J. now, Princey!” Freddy cackles. Terrifying!

The plan was to include the song on the soundtrack for A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, back in the good old days when every horror movie had to end with a hip hop song about the film for some reason. Unfortunately, New Line decided against including “A Nightmare on Elm Street” after all. This isn’t uncommon – Bond films often nix opening credits songs. However, when movie songs are rejected, they usually remain unreleased, or at least sit on the shelf for a few years. That didn’t happen this time. Jive/RCA released the song on the album He’s the DJ, I’m the Rapper. This is what resulted in the lawsuit from New Line that killed the music video. The song remained, however, with a new disclaimer sticker on the album stating that the song “is not part of the soundtrack…and is not authorized, licensed, or affiliated with the Nightmare on Elm Street films.” The rest is history.

The post Never-Before-Seen ‘Nightmare on My Street’ Music Video Images Surface appeared first on /Film.

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Ava Duvernay to Make a Prince Documentary for Netflix

After the critical and awards circuit success of her searing documentary 13th, Ava Duvernay is re-teaming with Netflix to produce a documentary about the legendary, recently passed musician, Prince.

Duvernay continues to prove herself a jack-of-all-trades, returning to the documentary field to develop a Prince documentary, Variety reports. The multiple-part documentary will cover the late artist’s entire life, up to his death in 2016.

The project will be in collaboration with Netflix and Prince’s estate, the latter of which is providing Duvernay with interviews, archival footage, photos, and archive access. In a statement to Deadline, which broke the news on Monday night, Duvernay said:

“Prince was a genius and a joy and a jolt to the senses. He was like no other. He shattered every preconceived notion, smashed every boundary, shared everything in his heart through his music. The only way I know how to make this film is with love. And with great care. I’m honored to do so and grateful for the opportunity entrusted to me by the estate.”

The Oscar-nominated filmmaker has been working on the project for several months, according to Variety. There’s no information on when the untitled documentary will be released on Netflix, though it will likely follow Duvernay’s current Netflix film, Central Park Five, a four-part drama about the five Harlem teens who were incorrectly convicted for the 1989 rape of a jogger in the NYC park, set to premiere on Netflix in 2019. Duvernay has found a happy partnership with the streaming service, having earned an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary Feature for 2016’s mass incarceration exposé, 13th.

A Prince documentary could possibly be one of the more light-hearted projects for the filmmaker, who rose to prominence with Selma. That is, apart from the divisive family film, A Wrinkle in Time, which was sadly a messy disappointment to many fans of the book and Duvernay, myself included. However, her producing and behind-the-scenes work at least continues to be stellar. There’s no word yet on whether Duvernay will direct the Prince documentary for Netflix.

The post Ava Duvernay to Make a Prince Documentary for Netflix appeared first on /Film.

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‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’ Cast Adds Eddie Redmayne

After years of false-starts, The Trial of the Chicago 7 is finally picking up speed. Recently, word broke that Aaron Sorkin would helm the movie, with Sacha Baron Cohen likely to join the cast. Now, another Trial of the Chicago 7 cast member has been announced: Fantastic Beasts actor Eddie Redmayne. Redmayne will play one of the political activists on trial.

Variety has the news regarding Redmayne joining the Chicago 7 cast. Per their story, the actor will play “Tom Hayden, the co-founder of the Students for a Democratic Society, who was best known for his role as an anti-war, civil rights, and radical intellectual activist in the 1960s, authoring the Port Huron Statement and eventually standing trial in the Chicago Seven case.”

The film is based on the true story of the headline-grabbing 1969 trial in which seven defendants – Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, David Dellinger, Tom Hayden, Rennie Davis, John Froines, and Lee Weiner — were charged with conspiracy and other charges related to anti-Vietnam War protests that took place during the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Sacha Baron Cohen is in talks to play Abbie Hoffman.

The Chicago 7 movie has been in the works for a decade now. Originally, Sorkin wrote a script for Steven Spielberg to direct. But Spielberg never got around to helming the movie. After that, Bourne director Paul Greengrass became attached, but eventually left the project over budget disputes. Now, things have come full circle, with originally screenwriter Sorkin set to take a seat in the director’s chair. This will be Sorkin’s sophomore effort, having made his feature directorial debut last year with Molly’s Game. Before that, Sorkin was primarily known for his writing in TV and film. He wrote Moneyball, A Few Good Men, The Social Network, and more, and created The West Wing, Sports Night and The Newsroom.

Spielberg will still produce the film through Amblin. The plan from the beginning was to attract A-list talent to the film. Names Spielberg had in mind for his version of the film included Will Smith, Taye Diggs, Adam Arkin, and Kevin Spacey; Sacha Baron Cohen, and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Cohen has carried over to Sorkin’s script, but Hoffman has since died, and it’s very unlikely Spacey will be a part of the new cast. Still, adding Redmayne alongside Cohen indicates that Sorkin is likely following in Spielberg’s footsteps and trying to attract well-known names to the project.

Redmayne is one of those actors I don’t have much of an opinion on. The most I can say about him is that his work is fine. He’s never delivered a performance that has truly stood out to me, but he’s also never done something I outwardly hated. I am Redmayne neutral, in other words.

No release date has been set for The Trial of the Chicago 7 yet.

The post ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’ Cast Adds Eddie Redmayne appeared first on /Film.

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BBC Polls Critics, Releases 100 Greatest Foreign Films List

Over the past few years, the BBC has conducted polls to discover the 100 greatest American films, 100 greatest comedies, and 100 greatest films of the 21st century. Now they’re at it again, but this time they’ve kicked Hollywood to the curb and instead focused on films that are made in a language other than English.

Where will classics like 8 1/2, Rashomon, Breathless, and Le Jour et la Nuit fall on the list? Read on to find out.

If you read that previous sentence closely and couldn’t quite put your finger on that final title, that’s because Le Jour et la Nuit is not a classic at all. I just slipped it in there to see if you were paying attention! That film not only isn’t on this list, but it’s considered by some to be one of the worst foreign language movies ever made. Okay, with my silly little ruse concluded, let’s get to the actual list.

BBC Culture polled over 200 critics from 43 different countries who speak a total of 41 languages to arrive at these entries, which feature 27 movies French, followed by 12 in Mandarin, and 11 each in Italian and Japanese. There were a handful of other languages mixed in as well, including Wolof, which I’d never heard of and had to look up (for the curious among you, it’s the native language of the Wolof people living in Senegal and Gambia).

BBC’s 100 Greatest Foreign Films

100. Landscape in the Mist (Theo Angelopoulos, 1988)
99. Ashes and Diamonds (Andrzej Wajda, 1958)
98. In the Heat of the Sun (Jiang Wen, 1994)
97. Taste of Cherry (Abbas Kiarostami, 1997)
96. Shoah (Claude Lanzmann, 1985)
95. Floating Clouds (Mikio Naruse, 1955)
94. Where Is the Friend’s Home? (Abbas Kiarostami, 1987)
93. Raise the Red Lantern (Zhang Yimou, 1991)
92. Scenes from a Marriage (Ingmar Bergman, 1973)
91. Rififi (Jules Dassin, 1955)
90. Hiroshima Mon Amour (Alain Resnais, 1959)
89. Wild Strawberries (Ingmar Bergman, 1957)
88. The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1939)
87. The Nights of Cabiria (Federico Fellini, 1957)
86. La Jetée (Chris Marker, 1962)
85. Umberto D (Vittorio de Sica, 1952)
84. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (Luis Buñuel, 1972)
83. La Strada (Federico Fellini, 1954)
82. Amélie (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 2001)
81. Celine and Julie go Boating (Jacques Rivette, 1974)
80. The Young and the Damned (Luis Buñuel, 1950)
79. Ran (Akira Kurosawa, 1985)
78. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Ang Lee, 2000)
77. The Conformist (Bernardo Bertolucci, 1970)
76. Y Tu Mamá También (Alfonso Cuarón, 2001)
75. Belle de Jour (Luis Buñuel, 1967)
74. Pierrot Le Fou (Jean-Luc Godard, 1965)
73. Man with a Movie Camera (Dziga Vertov, 1929)
72. Ikiru (Akira Kurosawa, 1952)
71. Happy Together (Wong Kar-wai, 1997)
70. L’Eclisse (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1962)
69. Amour (Michael Haneke, 2012)
68. Ugetsu (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1953)
67. The Exterminating Angel (Luis Buñuel, 1962)
66. Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1973)
65. Ordet (Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1955)
64. Three Colours: Blue (Krzysztof Kie?lowski, 1993)
63. Spring in a Small Town (Fei Mu, 1948)
62. Touki Bouki (Djibril Diop Mambéty, 1973)
61. Sansho the Bailiff (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1954)
60. Contempt (Jean-Luc Godard, 1963)
59. Come and See (Elem Klimov, 1985)
58. The Earrings of Madame de… (Max Ophüls, 1953)
57. Solaris (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1972)
56. Chungking Express (Wong Kar-wai, 1994)
55. Jules and Jim (François Truffaut, 1962)
54. Eat Drink Man Woman (Ang Lee, 1994)
53. Late Spring (Yasujirô Ozu, 1949)
52. Au Hasard Balthazar (Robert Bresson, 1966)
51. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Jacques Demy, 1964)
50. L’Atalante (Jean Vigo, 1934)
49. Stalker (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1979)
48. Viridiana (Luis Buñuel, 1961)
47. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (Cristian Mungiu, 2007)
46. Children of Paradise (Marcel Carné, 1945)
45. L’Avventura (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1960)
44. Cleo from 5 to 7 (Agnès Varda, 1962)
43. Beau Travail (Claire Denis, 1999)
42. City of God (Fernando Meirelles, Kátia Lund, 2002)
41. To Live (Zhang Yimou, 1994)
40. Andrei Rublev (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1966)
39.  Close-Up (Abbas Kiarostami, 1990)
38. A Brighter Summer Day (Edward Yang, 1991)
37. Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki, 2001)
36. La Grande Illusion (Jean Renoir, 1937)
35. The Leopard (Luchino Visconti, 1963)
34. Wings of Desire (Wim Wenders, 1987)
33. Playtime (Jacques Tati, 1967)
32. All About My Mother (Pedro Almodóvar, 1999)
31. The Lives of Others (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, 2006)
30. The Seventh Seal (Ingmar Bergman, 1957)
29. Oldboy (Park Chan-wook, 2003)
28. Fanny and Alexander (Ingmar Bergman, 1982)
27. The Spirit of the Beehive (Victor Erice, 1973)
26. Cinema Paradiso (Giuseppe Tornatore, 1988)
25. Yi Yi (Edward Yang, 2000)
24. Battleship Potemkin (Sergei M Eisenstein, 1925)
23. The Passion of Joan of Arc (Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1928)
22. Pan’s Labyrinth (Guillermo del Toro, 2006)
21. A Separation (Asghar Farhadi, 2011)
20. The Mirror (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1974)
19. The Battle of Algiers (Gillo Pontecorvo, 1966)
18. A City of Sadness (Hou Hsiao-hsien, 1989)
17. Aguirre, the Wrath of God (Werner Herzog, 1972)
16. Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927)
15. Pather Panchali (Satyajit Ray, 1955)
14. Jeanne Dielman, 23 Commerce Quay, 1080 Brussels (Chantal Akerman, 1975)
13. M (Fritz Lang, 1931)
12. Farewell My Concubine (Chen Kaige, 1993)
11. Breathless (Jean-Luc Godard, 1960)
10. La Dolce Vita (Federico Fellini, 1960)
9. In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-wai, 2000)
8. The 400 Blows (François Truffaut, 1959)
7. 8 1/2 (Federico Fellini, 1963)
6. Persona (Ingmar Bergman, 1966)
5. The Rules of the Game (Jean Renoir, 1939)
4. Rashomon (Akira Kurosawa, 1950)
3. Tokyo Story (Yasujirô Ozu, 1953)
2. Bicycle Thieves (Vittorio de Sica, 1948)
1. Seven Samurai (Akira Kurosawa, 1954)

Poring over these titles, there’s a significant percentage that I haven’t seen – but rather than be disappointed or embarrassed, I’m excited to add these titles to my queue and check them out. (Hey, everyone has blind spots.)

The only unfortunate thing about a list like this coming out now is that it could have been the type of thing to spur people to subscribe to FilmStruck, the classic movie streaming service that just announced it’s no longer accepting new subscribers and will be shuttering next month. Still, there are plenty of other ways to get your hands on many of these titles, whether it’s through Turner Classic Movies, buying DVDs or Blu-rays, or old-fashioned disk rentals. (Yes, that’s still a thing!)

In 2018, when the state of the world looks pretty bleak and rhetoric about nationalism is popping up in multiple countries around the globe, it’s more important than ever to open ourselves up to different perspectives in our entertainment. This list is a great place to start.

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