“It will be very interesting to see how this film performs because how [the audience] receives it will either open doors or close doors for other Black, female directors,” she said. “The way it is, one woman will get a shot, and if she doesn’t succeed, it shuts things down for years to come. I really, really want it to perform well. There is so much talent out there, so many talented directors....
Further details on “Gladiator 2” have remained under wraps since those updates, but now Ridley Scott told Empire magazine ahead of the release of “The Last Duel” that the next “Gladiator” movie is on his docket for right after the Napoleon epic “Kitbag.” That project, which will star Joaquin Phoenix as the French emperor, was first announced in October 2020. “I’m already having [the next] ‘Gladiator’ written now,” Scott said....
The animation allows Rasmussen’s friend to maintain his anonymity even as he shares the intimate story for the first time. While that decision underscores the remarkable creative ambition of the project, it also means that the subject of “Flee” has not been making the promotional rounds over the past year. Early on, when Neon bought the movie out of Sundance and eyed its awards season prospects, it was clear that Rasmussen would need additional help to raise awareness for the project....
“It’s funny because Chris is so secretive about everything to do with his movies,” Pattinson, who was cast in “The Batman” at the end of May in 2019 when “Tenet” began filming, told The Irish Times. “And then I had to be really secretive about ‘Batman’ stuff. So I had to lie to Chris about having to go for a screen test — I said I had a family emergency....
Hutchins died on the set of the Western film “Rust” in October 2021. Her widower, Matt Hutchins, supports the new documentary, helmed by Emmy-nominated director Rachel Mason (“Circus of Books”). Julee Metz is producing for Story Syndicate. The yet-untitled documentary will feature Hutchins’ never-before-seen personal archives to capture her childhood on a remote Soviet naval base to her adolescence in Kyiv, Ukraine. The celebration of and tribute to Hutchins’ craft will also examine circumstances on the set of “Rust,” the Alec Baldwin-led indie film on which Hutchins was fatally injured, and the emotional journey of those involved in the completion of the film....
As the film goes on, that title also feels more appropriate in another way. Over two hours, “Safety” looks to present the McElrathbeys’ experience in the least demanding way possible, carefully treading around its central subject matter. Nick Santora’s script begins with Ray already at school, settling into his opening week away from his home in Atlanta. When Ray and Fahmarr’s mother enters a substance abuse counseling program, Ray becomes the only family member left who can provide a stable living situation....
Where to Watch ‘Saturday Morning All Star Hits!’: Netflix Even a minute longer, and “Saturday Morning All Star Hits!” probably wouldn’t work. With a handful of weekend cartoon parodies, fake commercials/trailers, and a wacky brother hijinks framing device, taking on any more than a half-hour at a time would be a recipe for this Netflix show to overstay its welcome. Improbably, though, it doesn’t. Never spending more than a few minutes in any of these worlds, “Saturday Morning All Star Hits!...
Mulaney’s “SNL” joke centered around the concept of leap years, as the host noted leap years were started under Julius Caesar. Mulaney added, “Another thing that happened under Julius Caesar, he was such a powerful maniac that all the senators grabbed knives, and they stabbed him to death. That would be an interesting thing if we brought that back now.” Per the AP: “Two days after Mulaney’s ‘SNL’ monologue, law enforcement officials contacted Thomas McCarthy, the global chief security officer and senior vice president at NBC Universal, to express the agency’s desire to discuss the joke with the comedian’s attorneys....
Producer Eugene Lee said in a statement to Variety that “Baby, Box, Broker” is “a Korean movie with Korean actors, Korean staff, being shot in the Korean language. It will shoot in Korea also.” “Parasite” production company CJ Entertainment is investing in the project and will distribute the movie in South Korea. Kore-eda is still finishing up the screenplay for the movie, which is eyeing a 2021 production start....
Written and directed by Kentucker Audley and Albert Birney, the film “is set in the not-too-distant future, in a world where dreams are recorded and taxed by the government. Audley stars as an unassuming dream auditor who gets swept up in a cosmic journey through the life and dreams of an older eccentric (Penny Fuller).” Out of Sundance, IndieWire’s own Eric Kohn wrote that the film is a “visually entrancing and innovative fantasy” that was “shot on video and transferred to 16mm, [and] looks like some kind of lost ‘80s vision buried in the dustbin of the rental store....
You haven’t lived until you’ve seen Udo Kier in drag, outfitted in an electrically engineered faux-candelabra atop his head, lip-syncing to Robyn’s all-time anthem for the lonely “Dancing on My Own.” The German actor has played everyone from Count Dracula in Paul Morrissey’s “Blood of Dracula,” to Jack the Ripper and Dr. Jekyll for Walerian Borowczyk, to Adolf Hitler (at least three times), and has served as the muse for Lars von Trier many times over....
While a number of other film festivals have had to rejigger their plans in recent months (most notably, Sundance, which had to pivot to another virtual edition just days before it was set to roll out in Park City, UT in January), SXSW stands out: it’s one of the first major U.S. festivals to get back to a mostly in-person affair since the start of the pandemic. And this year’s programming won’t disappoint those who opt to travel to Texas for the event, with a slate packed with both proven quantities and actual discoveries....
For one thing, one of the films booked for last year’s canceled festival is in the 2021 selection, as TFF co-director Julie Huntsinger welcomed rookie filmmaker Max Lowe back with “Torn,” the true story of a family hit hard by the loss of his father, legendary mountaineer Alex Lowe, killed in a Tibet avalanche in 1999. Much like Bing Liu’s Oscar-winning “Minding the Gap,” “Torn” explores untapped emotions as Lowe seeks answers to complex and uncharted family dynamics, helped by his younger brothers, his mother, and her second husband, his father’s mountain partner, Conrad Anker, who returned from Tibet wracked with survivor guilt....
“He wanted to make sure that we were extremely focused on our main character,” Fraser told IndieWire in a recent interview. “Everything had to be driven by Bruce Wayne’s point of view, and that’s how we had approached ‘Let Me In,’ too. It was very much through the eyes of that particular child.” Reeves had wanted to work with Fraser again ever since they made “Let Me In” over 10 years ago, but their schedules never lined up until now....
David Ehrlich, Kate Erbland, and Kristen Lopez contributed to this report. “All In: The Fight for Democracy” A lot of movies about the political process tend to be reductive adventures in talking heads. “All In: The Fight for Democracy” doesn’t attempt to reinvent that formula; instead, it’s a paragon of the form. Liz Garbus and Lisa Cortés’ illuminating documentary tracks Stacey Abrams’ battle against voter suppression with such precision that it may as well have been made in the aftermath of the 2020 election to explain how things turned out the way they did....
The tiny organization is a familiar source of Hollywood derision; fewer than 100 members of uncertain provenance determine the results of an awards show that receives major media attention and millions in advertising dollars. Now, they face their greatest enemy: themselves. After a February exposé by the Los Angeles Times, followed by a series of increasingly urgent missteps followed by promises to do better, the HFPA and the Golden Globes now appear to be hurtling toward an inglorious, only-in-Hollywood end....
Movies like “Non-Stop” and “Run All Night” tried to hide that fact behind their titles — even “The Commuter” promised a greater degree of movement than it ultimately delivered — but Neeson’s more recent efforts have stopped trying to disguise that skewed ratio between intensity and exertion. In “Cold Pursuit,” he sparked a war that allowed him to watch much of the carnage from afar. In “The Marksman,” he spent most of the movie’s action sequences lying on his stomach....
Let’s not mince words: the Daniel Craig era of James Bond is over. The star of five Bond films of varying success and tone, Craig has long made it plain that “No Time to Die” was going to be his last outing as the super-suave 007. As the Cary Fukunaga-directed feature finally (finally!) makes it way into theaters around the globe, any lingering questions about the possibility of Craig returning to the role, well, let’s just say they can finally be put to bed....
Disney’s Marvel spin-off took the top spot at Apple TV and FandangoNow, while Russell Crowe’s stalker thriller is #1 at Google Play. Two items of note: “Mutants” shows its strength by taking the top spot at Fandango, which ranks by revenue, not transactions; that’s impressive for a standard-price title. Unlike “Mutants,” “Unhinged” had a PVOD release and now sees a revival at its lower price. These two titles were the only ones to place on three charts....
Lymphoma was one thing. When Jeff Bridges, 72, learned the cancer diagnosis, he had shot almost four and a half episodes out of a planned ten of “The Old Man” (FX). It was the “Crazy Heart” Oscar-winner’s first starring role in a TV series. He had jumped on board the show from uber-producer Warren Littlefield (“Fargo,” “The Handmaid’s Tale”) right off the pilot. And then the pandemic hit. “The world fell apart,” said showrunner Jonathan Steinberg (“See,” “Percy Jackson & the Olympians”) on Zoom, tracing the rollercoaster course of the series leading up to the July 21 cliffhanger Episode 7 finale....
