Rege-Jean Page, the breakout actor from Netflix’s Shondaland series “Bridgerton” (in which he starred as a very handsome Duke of Hastings), has been cast in and set to executive produce Paramount’s reboot of “The Saint,” says The Hollywood Reporter. At the same time, playwright and actor Kwame Kwei-Armah (who also co-wrote “892.” an indie drama starring John Boyega).

Continue reading ‘Bridgerton’’s Rege-Jean Page To Star In ‘The Saint’ Reboot at The Playlist.

Much in keeping with the tradition of hiring a safecracker to do security for a bank, Lucasfilm’s Industrial Light and Magic have hired a YouTube creator who came to internet attention for their work “fixing” a digitally de-aged Mark Hamill that appeared towards the end of the most recent season of “The Mandalorian,” making an already spooky bit of CGI just that little bit spookier and detached from reality.

Continue reading Lucasfilm Hires Deepfake Artist Who “Fixed” Luke Skywalker On ‘The Mandalorian’ at The Playlist.

Garrett Bradley, the Oscar-nominated director of the astounding, intensely vivid and personal activism documentary “Time” will direct an adaptation of acclaimed science fiction author Octavia E. Butler’s “Parable of the Sower.” The first in a two-book series, the story is set in a near-future Los Angeles devastated by societal collapse; a teenager with a unique gift must lead humanity in a battle against extinction.

Continue reading ‘Time’ Director Garrett Bradley To Helm ‘Parable Of The Sower’ For A24 at The Playlist.

“Small Axe: Lover’s Rock” and “Top Boy” breakout Micheal Ward is set to star alongside Olivia Colman in the new Sam Mendes-directed feature “Empire of Light,” Deadline reports. Produced by Searchlight, the film will mark Mendes’ first film since the one-take World War One drama “1917” and also marks his first solo script as a writer.

Continue reading ‘Small Axe’ Star Micheal Ward To Feature Alongside Olivia Colman In Sam Mendes’ ‘Empire of Light’ at The Playlist.

Netflix has turned its eye to the untold stories in the sporting world with the upcoming docuseries (the rather straightforwardly titled) “Untold.” The new trailer provides a look at the five feature-length episodes, two of which are directed by “Wild Wild Country”’ filmmakers Chapman and Maclein Way (who also executive produce), and another by director of “Skate Kitchen” and HBO’s “Betty,” Crystal Moselle. 

Continue reading ‘Untold’ Trailer: ‘Wild, Wild Country’ Creators Tackle The Sporting World For Netflix at The Playlist.

With the release of “The Suicide Squad” on the horizon, James Gunn looks to be batting successfully for both of comic books’ ‘Big Two,’ having made two “Guardians of the Galaxy” films (with an upcoming third) for Marvel Studios, and now a sequel to Warner Bros and DC Comics’ “Suicide Squad,” which seemed to take cues from Gunn’s sci-fi megahit.

Continue reading James Gunn Says He’s Talked To Marvel & DC About A Harley Quinn/Groot Spin-Off Movie at The Playlist.

Shortly after being announced as part of the lineup at the 78th Venice Film Festival, the latest feature from Paul Schrader (“First Reformed”), “The Card Counter,” finally has its first trailer, and it looks like audiences don’t even have to wait until the festival is done to see it. Starring Oscar Isaac, Tiffany Haddish, Tye Sheridan and Willem Dafoe, the film is about, well, a card counter who gives guidance to a young man who is out for revenge against a mutual enemy. 

Continue reading ‘The Card Counter’ Trailer: Oscar Isaac Seeks Redemption In Paul Schrader’s Latest Drama at The Playlist.

To clear things up right away, no, it’s not that “Gotti.” But the news is bizarre nonetheless, though perhaps welcome for fans of HBO‘s critically acclaimed 1996 mob movie “Gotti,” as a sequel has been announced with the mealy-mouthed title of “Gotti II: The Final Chapter, Facts Undisputed.” The Oscar-winning writer of, uh, “Green Book,” Nick Vallelonga, will be writing it.

Continue reading ‘Green Book’ Screenwriter Nick Vallelonga To Pen A Sequel To HBO’s 1996 ‘Gotti’ at The Playlist.

Looks like we’ll have to wait a little bit longer to find out more about Guillermo Del Toro’s next flick, “Nightmare Alley,” as the film appears to be skipping the 78th edition of the Venice Film Festival. Based on Lindsay Gresham’s 1946 novel and its film adaptation by Edmund Goulding the following year, the film stars Bradley Cooper and co-stars Cate Blanchett, Willem Dafoe, Toni Collette, Richard Jenkins, and Rooney Mara.

Continue reading Guillermo Del Toro’s ‘Nightmare Alley‘ Was Intended For Venice But Won’t Be Finished In Time at The Playlist.

After blowing us away with “Leave No Trace,” one of the best and most underrated films of 2018, writer/director Debra Granik turns her eye towards more urban living with “Like No Other,” her upcoming adaptation of the young adult novel of the same name. Published in 2015, ‘Like No Other’ is said to be a sort of contemporary take on “West Side Story,” following the forbidden romance between a Hasidic girl and a secular boy who meet on Eastern Parkway.

Continue reading Debra Granik To Direct Feature Adaptation Of ‘Like No Other’ at The Playlist.

Written and directed by Willard Huyck, writer of “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” and close collaborator with George Lucas on several other projects, “Howard the Duck” is an infamous flop, a failure to translate the social satires of Marvel Comics’ anthropomorphic funny animal. A black spot in producer Lucas’s career, the film has had something of an afterlife as a cult film, a fact that The Hollywood Reporter has explored with a new 35th-anniversary oral history. 

READ MORE: Brian De Palma Says George Lucas’ Advice Completely Changed The ‘Mission: Impossible’ Opening Scene

Chief among the new things revealed about the making of the to-this-day utterly bizarre project is that Robin Williams – very understandably – quit the project within the first week of voice recordings for what was, at first, his part as Howard.

Continue reading ‘Howard The Duck’s’ Animatronic Beak Led Robin Williams To Quit Production Within A Week at The Playlist.

At one time, the “next Malick,” then a director of stoner comedies, now the go-to guy for reviving dormant horror franchises, David Gordon Green’s directorial career continues to be a peculiar one. The director has been tapped to write and direct not just one but a whole new trilogy of “The Exorcist” films for NBC Universal in a deal upwards of $400 million, the New York Times reports.

Continue reading New ‘Exorcist’ Trilogy: David Gordon Green Directs, Ellen Burstyn Is Back & Leslie Odom Jr. Co-Stars at The Playlist.

Writers getting themselves in over their heads in spooky small towns is Stephan King’s bread and butter, and the upcoming EPIX series “Chapelwaite” looks to be well within that tradition, if not exactly reinventing it with its dark blue and grey, expensive prestige television look.

READ MORE: Adrien Brody Will Reunite With Wes Anderson On His Next Spain-Set Movie

Set in the 1850s, “Chapelwaite” is based on King’s short story ‘Jerusalem’s Lot’ – a sort-of prequel to “Salem’s Lot,” King’s second published novel – following Captain Charles Boone (Adrien Brody), who relocates his family of three children to his ancestral home, the infamous Chapelwaite manor, in the small, seemingly sleepy town of Preacher’s Corners, Maine after his wife dies at sea.  

Continue reading ‘Chapelwaite’ Red Band Trailer: Stephen King Prequel Confronts A Sordid Secret History at The Playlist.

Much like the character themselves in the events of “Avengers: Endgame,” “Black Widow” is dropping surprisingly early. Marvel Studios’ latest feature film is launching on all major digital platforms come August 10 and then on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD on September 14. While that may see seem disastrously early — the early release can’t help but feel like Disney simply throwing in the towel on “Black Widow’s” theatrical release, following major second and third-week drops after a pandemic record-setting opening weekend — to be fair, the timing of the quick home release does have precedent, however, with recent, would-be Disney blockbusters – with “Mulan” and “Raya And The Last Dragon” both hitting video-on-demand to own after just one month.

Continue reading ‘Black Widow’ Sets Early Release On Digital Platforms In August, DVD In September at The Playlist.

With the working title of “The United States of America vs. Vince McMahon,” WWE and Jason Blum’s Blumhouse Television are developing a scripted series about Vince McMahon and his federal steroids trial. The series is set to be the first scripted portrayal of McMahon, the Chairman and CEO of WWE, as well as many legendary figures of the WWE (if you have jabs about the nature of wrestling itself, save it).

Continue reading Blumhouse Television Developing Series About Vince McMahon’s WWE Steroid Trial at The Playlist.

After its restricted but still strong 77th edition, the Venice Film Festival is back with a vengeance, with what might be its most exciting line-up in years – a far cry from the bizarre announcements of this year’s TIFF (which boasts… “Clifford the Big Red Dog,” of all things). This morning in Rome, the line-up of the forthcoming 78th edition was announced in full, ahead of its planned opening on 1 September. 

READ MORE: Pedro Almodóvar’s ‘Parallel Mothers’ Will Open The 2021 Venice Film Festival

South Korean director Bong Joon-ho will be the President of the Jury, marking the first time a South Korean director has been picked to lead the Lido’s top jury, which includes last year’s Golden Lion winner Chloé Zhao, Canadian actress Sarah Gadon, British actress and singer Cynthia Erivo, Belgian actress Virginie Efira, Italian director and screenwriter Saverio Costanzo, and Romanian-German documentary director Alexander Nanau.

Continue reading Venice Film Festival Unveils New Films By Edgar Wright, Paul Schrader, Jane Campion, ‘Scenes From A Marriage’ & More [Full 2021 Lineup] at The Playlist.

The second season of Loren Bouchard’s “Central Park” is back with a vengeance, as well as promises of evil condo owners, high notes, hot dogs, and macaroni. The new trailer gives more or less what you’d expect from the creator of “Bob’s Burgers,” focused on a weirdo family dynamic and the other strange and loveable people in their orbit, with an eclectic voice cast to match.

Continue reading ‘Central Park’ Season 2 Trailer: Song And Dance And Looming Gentrification at The Playlist.

In a Twitter post last night, Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator, and writer of the Broadway musical “In The Heights,”  on which the Jon M. Chu-directed film of the same name is based, posted an apology in response to discussions of the film’s colorism from audiences and critics. 

READ MORE: ‘In The Heights’ Is A Joyous Celebration Of The Latinx Diaspora [Review]

“I started writing In The Heights because I didn’t feel seen.

Continue reading Lin-Manuel Miranda Apologizes For ‘In The Heights’ Lack Of Representation at The Playlist.

In compounding proof that there is truly no series that Disney won’t exploit for more content, today Disney+ announced the greenlight of  “Beauty and the Beast” (working title), a limited musical series set before the 2017 live-action film. The eight-episode prequel will star Luke Evans (“The Alienist”) and House of Mouse favorite Josh Gad (“Frozen 2”), reprising their roles as Gaston and LeFou (Louie), and introduce Briana Middleton (“The Tender Bar”) as Louie’s stepsister, Tilly. 

READ MORE: After ‘Cruella,’ Emma Stone Thinks ‘The Little Mermaid’s’ Ursula Is The Next Disney Villain Worthy Of An Origin Story

The series will follow Gaston and LeFou as they set off with Tilly after a revelation from her past comes to light, sending the trio off on a journey across the kingdom to untangle mysteries of the past and dangers of the present.  The series’ creative team also includes Tony Award-nominated director Liesl Tommy (“Eclipsed,” “Respect”), who will executive produce and direct the first episode.  Gad, Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz (known for their work together on “Lost” and  “Once Upon a Time”) are co-showrunners and writers for the limited series.

Continue reading ‘Beauty And The Beast’ Prequel Greenlit At Disney+ at The Playlist.

Co-stars of Yorgos Lanthimos’ morbid and borderline misanthropic “The Lobster”  Rachel Weisz and Colin Farrell are set to reunite, rather appropriately, in the latest film from Todd Solondz: “Love Child,” recently announced for the upcoming Cannes virtual market. According to a press release on behalf of Cinetic Media and MadRiver International, the film is touted as a “dark and hilarious twist” on the classic Oedipus story, as a precocious child plans to rid himself of his brutish father so he can have his mother all to himself.

Continue reading ‘Love Child’: ‘Lobster’ Pair Rachel Weisz & Colin Farrell Reunite for Todd Solondz’s New Dark Comedy at The Playlist.

Another day, another Ryan Murphy show. Deadline reports that Naomi Watts and Bobby Cannavale are set as the leads in “The Watcher,” an upcoming Netflix limited series from Ryan Murphy and frequent collaborator Ian Brennan. Executive producing with Murphy and Brennan are Eric Newman (“Narcos“) and Henry Joost, and Ariel Schulman (“Catfish”), with filming due to start in the fall.

Continue reading ‘The Watcher’: Naomi Watts & Bobby Cannavale Will Lead Ryan Murphy’s New Netflix Limited Series at The Playlist.

Following several canceled features across 2019 and 2020, Deadline reports that Alexander Payne has set Paul Giamatti to star in “The Holdovers,” a David Hemingson-scripted film produced by Mark Johnson. Production on the film will begin early next year in New England. At the same time, FilmNation will rep international rights, and CAA Media Finance will handle domestic as the film is shopped next week in the Cannes Virtual Market. 

Continue reading ‘The Holdovers’: Alexander Payne Recruits ‘Sideways’ Star Paul Giamatti For New Comedy at The Playlist.

The latest from T.J.Martin and Daniel Lindsay, directors of “Undefeated” and “LA 92,” “TINA” looks like another documentary that came off of a factory line, complete with the usual panning shots of contact sheets, dramatic zooms into rolling tapes, cross-cutting between audio interviews and their published print versions, melodramatic score cues doing their best to emulate Philip Glass.

Continue reading Despite Clichéd Aesthetics, ‘Tina’ Is An Emotionally Potent Documentary [Berlin Review] at The Playlist.

Using grainy archive footage that seems to project the very aura of cigarette smoke, the upcoming “You Never Had It: An Evening With Charles Bukowski” features producer and Italian journalist Silvia Bizio during an intimate evening interviewing irreverent writer and poet Charles Bukowski in January 1981 at his home in San Pedro, California, during the peak of his literary success. The vintage footage looks like it’ll be an extraordinary time capsule comprised of Bizio’s old dusty tapes, was long thought lost – rediscovered in her garage 20 years after Bukowski’s passing.

Continue reading ‘You Never Had It: An Evening With Bukowski’ Trailer: Rediscovered, Rare 1981 Footage of Prolific Writer at The Playlist.

Former WWE wrestler and now bona fide action star Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson already has plenty of work on his plate, including the upcoming Jaume Collett-Serra take on Disney’s “Jungle Cruise,” but as it turns out, there could have been much more. In an Instagram post talking about how his children love the 1971 film “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory,” Johnson has revealed he was once considered for the part in Tim Burton‘s remake, back in the days when he was still better known simply as ‘The Rock’.

Continue reading Dwayne Johnson Says He Was Considered For The Role Of Willy Wonka In Tim Burton’s ‘Charlie And The Chocolate Factory’ Remake at The Playlist.