TAGGED AS: Marvel, Superheroes
This week’s Ketchup covers a number of new roles for rising stars and veteran actors, as well as some big studio news involving Steven Spielberg, a bit of Star Wars speculation, and the tragic loss of a Hollywood legend.
Much like the corporate maneuvering this week involving former studio neighbors DreamWorks, change is afoot at Marvel. Although it might read a little bit as inside baseball, in potentially significant news, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feig has successfully separated the company’s organization from the “micromanaging” of Marvel Entertainment CEO Isaac Perlmutter. Under the new structure, Kevin Feig will report directly to Disney CEO Alan Horn. This move also does away with Marvel’s “creative committee,” which included Marvel Comics’ Joe Quesada and Brian Michael Bendis. There has been much speculation that it was the input of that committee that led to such things as Edgar Wright leaving Ant-Man, and certain changes to Avengers: Age of Ultron from its original storyline. This news was followed by a couple of statements from Marvel stars that might reflect the move in Feige’s favor. For example, there’s Captain America: Civil War star Chris Evans, around whom there had previously been rumors of his departure. Now, Evans is saying about his future with Marvel, “If they want me, they got me.” That suggests not just more Captain America after Avengers: Infinity War Part II (5/3/19), but also the possibility that he might someday get a fourth solo Captain America film. One actor we will see less of is Mark Ruffalo, who disclosed this week that his character of The Hulk was going to be in Civil War (5/6/16), but is being held back for a future movie because “the reveal is too great to be revealed in this movie.” This statement didn’t do much to dissuade fans who are convinced we will someday see the Planet Hulk storyline in a feature film.
Cate Blanchett won an Academy Award for her depiction of actress Katherine Hepburn in Martin Scorsese’s The Aviator, and now she’s lined up for another potential “awards season” biopic. Blanchett (who is blonde, despite some redhead roles) will star in a movie about classic television comedienne and producer Lucille Ball. The film’s arc will span the 20 years of Ball’s marriage to Desi Arnaz, her costar on I Love Lucy and partner on producing such TV shows as Star Trek. The Lucille Ball biopic will be written by Aaron Sorkin, who is coming off writing two Silicon Valley biopics, The Social Network and this year’s Steve Jobs (10/9/15).
(Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris / Staff / Getty Images)
Steven Spielberg obviously makes the news all the time, but he was particularly in overdrive this week as the center of three unrelated stories, all of which made ripples in social media. The story that will have the longest and most ongoing impact is the announcement that DreamWorks will not be renewing its distribution deal with Disney, and may instead be heading to Universal Pictures. DreamWorks first came to Disney in 2009, before the studio had acquired either Marvel or Lucasfilm, which arguably left less room for DreamWorks films on Disney’s schedule. The last two Disney-released DreamWorks films will both be Spielberg-directed films, Bridge of Spies (10/16/15), and The BFG (7/1/16). Although no deal is done yet, Universal is partly considered a likely home because of the studio’s long history with Spielberg, including Jaws, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Schindler’s List, and Jurassic Park. Steven Spielberg also made the news this week for predicting that eventually, “there will be a time when the superhero movie goes the way of the Western.” Of course, one could argue that any trend eventually ends, and considering Westerns were a popular genre for about 50 years, that comparison isn’t especially ominous for the future of superhero movies. Finally, Steven Spielberg’s next big film as director, Ready Player One, made the news this week as we found out which actresses are in consideration for the novel adaptation’s female lead, the gamer Art3mis. That shortlist reportedly includes Elle Fanning (Super 8), Lola Kirke (Mistress America), and Olivia Cooke (Me and Earl and the Dying Girl).
With Mad Max: Fury Road one of the biggest sensations of the year, and X-Men: Apocalypse coming next year, Nicholas Hoult is now focused on a movie unlikely to ever be a blockbuster. Hoult has landed the role of the young author J.D. Salinger in Rebel in the Rye. The film will focus on Salinger’s youth and experiences during World War II, depicting the events that inspired him to write his literary masterpiece, Catcher in the Rye. Rebel in the Rye will mark the directorial debut of screenwriter Danny Strong (Lee Daniels’ The Butler, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part I).
(Photo by Christopher Polk / Staff / Getty Images)
This week, we found out more about the comedic gist behind next year’s Neighbors 2 (5/20/16). Selena Gomez has been cast to join Chloe Grace Moretz as two members of a sorority, who come into conflict with Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne. This scenario is of course very similar to the premise of the original Neighbors, about Rogen and Byrne as a couple whose neighbors are a noisy fraternity led by Zac Efron (who will also be returning for the sequel).
(Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez / Staff / Getty Images)
Hot off her recent box office success with Jurassic World, Bryce Dallas Howard has finally selected her first new film. Howard has landed the female lead in the treasure hunt drama Gold, to be directed by Stephen Gaghan (Syriana). Howard will play the romantic interest of Matthew McConaughey, who stars as a “down-on-his-luck hustler” who teams up with a geologist (Edgar Ramirez) to find gold deep in the jungles of Indonesia. Toby Kebbell, Stacy Keach, and Bruce Greenwood also costar. Bryce Dallas Howard also has two different movies involving very large reptiles on the way: the remake of Pete’s Dragon (8/12/16), and the Jurassic World sequel (6/22/18).
With Star Wars: The Force Awakens releasing in just three months (12/18/15), and filming now underway on Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (12/16/16), Lucasfilm is now turning its attention toward Star Wars Episode VIII (5/26/17). We’ve already heard that Benicio Del Toro is in talks to play the film’s villain, and this week, casting news for the film’s female lead began. Director Rian Johnson (Looper) is reportedly considering a shortlist of young actresses, all of whom are known from recent TV shows. Gina Rodriguez won a Golden Globe for her show Jane the Virgin, Tatiana Maslany was Golden Globe nominated for Orphan Black, and Olivia Cooke costars on Bates Motel (as well as recently starring in Me and Earl and the Dying Girl). Maslany had also been in the running for the Rogue One role which ultimately went to Felicity Jones, and, as mentioned above, Olivia Cooke is also being considered for the female lead in Ready Player One.
ROTTEN IDEAs OF THE WEEK
(Photo by Slaven Vlasic / Stringer / Getty Images)
Arguably riding a wave of nostalgia this year for Back to the Future, Michael J. Fox has signed on to provide the voice of a robot dog in a family movie called A.R.C.H.I.E. Fox has worked as a voice actor before, most famously as the title character in the two Stuart Little movies in 1999 and 2002. Michael J. Fox will star as A.R.C.H.I.E., a robot dog who can “talk and run at blinding speed, has super strength and x-ray vision” who is created to help people, but when the program responsible for his creation is shut down, A.R.C.H.I.E. goes off on an adventure and befriends a human family. A.R.C.H.I.E. will mark the feature film directorial debut of actor Robin Dunne, who has starred in direct-to-video sequels like Cruel Intentions 2, Species III, and American Psycho II: All American Girl.
Jason Momoa has signed on to star in an action thriller called Braven that the future Aquaman star will also produce. Momoa will play “a humble logger residing along the U.S./Canada border who is confronted by a group of deadly drug runners in his secluded cabin in the mountains, and he must do everything in his power to protect his family.” The themes of a small town man (with ridiculous muscles) brings to mind the 2005 remake of Walking Tall, starring Dwayne Johnson taking on drug dealers with a 2×4 piece of lumber. We’re calling this one of the week’s Rotten Ideas based on Jason Momoa’s current five-for-five Rotten movie streak, and for the 46% Rotten score for director Lin Oeding’s only other movie, Bullet to the Head.
(Photo by Donald Bowers / Stringer / Getty Images)
It was with surprise, shock, and sadness that the film world learned this week of Wes Craven’s death at the age of 76 from brain cancer. Starting off as an English professor, Craven took to directing horror and thriller films in the 1970s. Craven is best known for creating two of the most successful horror franchises ever with both A Nightmare on Elm Street and Scream, but his filmography is quite prolific. He directed everything from a comic book adaptation (Swamp Thing) to suspense thrillers like Red Eye to even a Meryl Streep-starring movie about a teacher (Music of the Heart). Outside of his actual movies, Wes Craven was respected as a gentleman and a scholar, and as a producer who helped guide a new generation of filmmakers. His presence will be missed.
