This Week’s Ketchup includes lots of big news for various Marvel superhero movies (like Black Panther, Captain Marvel, Doctor Strange, and two new Avengers movies), as well as news about Steven Spielberg’s The BFG, and new roles for Ricky Gervais, Keanu Reeves, Seth Rogen, and Renee Zellweger.
Two weeks ago, Warner Bros and DC Comicsmade a big announcement of their movie plans stretching out to 2020, and this week, it was Marvel Studios’ turn. Given the nearly weekly deluge of news stories about their various projects, it was sort of a given that not all discussed at the Marvel event would be news, but at least half of it legitimately was. The new non-sequels announced were Black Panther (11/3/17), Captain Marvel (7/6/18), and Inhumans (11/2/18), and the new sequels announced were Thor: Ragnarok (7/18/17), Avengers: Infinity War Part I (5/4/18), and Avengers: Infinity War Part II (5/3/19). Among movies we already knew about, the title of Captain America: Civil War was confirmed (after some joking that it would be called Captain America: The Serpent Society). The release date of Guardians of the Galaxy 2 was bumped up two months to 5/5/17 (from 7/28/17), along with a video message from director James Gunn expressing that he and his friends wanted to spend the whole summer with us. A more “inside baseball” detail that slipped in was that Marvel’s Phase 2 would be ending with Ant-Man, and not Avengers: Age of Ultron, as previously expected (based on Phase I ending with Marvel’s The Avengers). Many of these films have been anticipated for years now, and some of them are directly set up by other Marvel films. We see something (and someone) in the Avengers: Age of Ultron trailer which seems to set up Black Panther, the Kree Empire of Guardians of the Galaxy has direct connections to both Captain Marvel (who is definitely Carol Danvers) and Inhumans (who are the result of ancient Kree genetic experiments on Earth). As for Thor: Ragnarok, the title has a double meaning as Thor: Ragnarok was the title of an event immediately before the Civil War event (in which Thor and the Norse Gods seemed to be destroyed), and “Ragnarok” was the name of a Thor clone used during Civil War. In other Marvel news, which was overlooked by most in the hubbub, this Marvel Experience announcement revealed that Marvel Studios is currently trying to lock up a movie deal for… She-Hulk.
Some superhero movies go through months and months of casting “stories” for their stars (see below), but the process for Marvel’s Black Panther was relatively free of all of that. Oh, sure, back in August, there was a rumor that Chadwick Boseman (of the Jackie Robinson and James Brown biopics) had landed the role, but there hadn’t been much more than that. So, this week, it was somewhat refreshing when Kevin Feige started talking about Black Panther (11/3/17), and he was joined onstage by… Chadwick Boseman, the star of 42 and Get On Up. This news came along with the first official glimpse at concept art for the Black Panther movie costume, which combines the character’s traditional look with some new features like tribal-style stripes throughout, an embedded fang necklace, and what looks like zippers around the toes (which are probably deadly foot blades or something). Kevin Feige also confirmed of Black Panther that “We will meet him for the first time in [Captain America:] Civil War, in costume.” In the meantime, we still don’t know anything else about Black Panther, such as who is writing or directing the film, but there’s still over three years before release, too.
In the movie development news coverage business, you get very used to the cycles of casting for certain high profile projects and roles, with some taking months or even years, with several actors at various points claimed to be in talks or in the running. One of the longest running such cycles this year was for Doctor Strange (11/4/16). The Doctor Strange casting stories have included Joaquin Phoenix (who seemed to be closest), Ethan Hawke, Tom Hardy, Jared Leto, Justin Theroux, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Ewan McGregor. Well, this week one of those actors was announced as actually being in talks to star as Doctor Strange, and it was Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock, Star Trek Into Darkness). Or at least, we think so. The Benedict Cumberbatch news was reported by Variety on Monday night before the Tuesday press conference, at which Marvel’s Kevin Feige said, “If it were confirmed, we would introduce him today.” By the Vishanti and the Hoary Hosts of Hoggoth, can this madness just end? (So we can spend two years speculating about who will star as Captain Marvel and the Inhumans?). If Benedict Cumberbatch did/does indeed sign on to star in Doctor Strange, he will be working with director Scott Derrickson (Sinister, The Exorcism of Emily Rose).
Now that Christian Bale is signed to star in the next biopic about Apple founder Steve Jobs, it appears we’re going to be hearing more details about the film start coming out fairly regularly, leading up to the start of filming. Seth Rogen has signed with Sony Pictures to star as Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. The film, which may be also called Jobs (even though that was also the title of the Ashton Kutcher movie), will be directed by Danny Boyle (28 Days Later, Slumdog Millionaire) from a script by Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network, The West Wing). Jessica Chastain is also being “eyed for an unspecified role.” Seth Rogen also made the news late on Friday as one of the stars of Zeroville, an independent ensemble piece to be directed by Rogen’s friend James Franco. Rogen and Franco will be joined by Will Ferrell, Megan Fox, Dave Franco, Joey King, Danny McBride, Craig Robinson, Horatio Sanz, and Jacki Weaver. Zeroville will be an adaptation of a 2007 novel by Steve Erickson. James Franco will play a film fan who has Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift tattooed on his head who’s confused with a member of the Manson Family when he arrives in Hollywood in the 1960s; the comedy spans decades into the 1980s, through the decline of the studios and the rise of “independent renegade directors.”
Another “big” role that we might have expected to attract much speculation was cast this week with pretty much nothing of the sort preceding it. DreamWorks Studios has announced that director Steven Spielberg (Jurassic Park, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial) has cast three-time Tony Award winner stage actor Mark Rylance as the title and lead role in The BFG, an adaptation of the children’s book by Roald Dahl. Although Mark Rylance has spent most of his career on the stage, movie fans may recognize him from such movies as Anonymous, The Other Boleyn Girl, and Prospero’s Books. Mark Rylance will play a benevolent giant who teams up with a young girl and the Queen of England to stop the invasion plans of evil, man-eating giants. About Mark Rylance, Steven Spielberg said, “I am excited and thrilled that Mark will be making this journey with us to Giant Country. Everything about his career so far is about making the courageous choice and I’m honored he has chosen The BFG as his next big screen performance.”
After making his directorial debut earlier this year with the darkly biting comedy Bad Words, comic actor Jason Bateman has lined up his next such project, after his second film, The Family Fang, starring Nicole Kidman. The third time around, Bateman’s film IPO Man will be based upon a true story as told in a 2013 Wired article called “Meet the Man Who Sold His Fate to Investors at $1 a Share.” The comedy will tell the story of a software customer service representative who split himself up into 100,000 shares priced at $1 each, of which 928 were actually purchased, mostly by friends, family, and his girlfriend. Which was great and all, until his “stock holders” started wanting to take control of how the man made decisions about his finances.
There are dozens of actresses currently in their 40s, but only one of them was pretty much the hot button topic on social media last week. Presuming the old adage about even bad publicity being good publicity is at least half right, Renee Zellweger’s agent was able to land her a new movie this week. Renee Zellweger, Greg Kinnear, Djimon Hounsou, and Jon Voight (all of whom are either Oscar nominees or winners) will all star in Same Kind of Different As Me, based on a non-fiction book by Ron Hall and Denver Moore, with Lynn Vincent (who also wrote Heaven is for Real, which was a recent hit film for Greg Kinnear). The story depicts how four people’s lives intersect around the ministry founded by a woman with cancer. Same Kind of Different as Me will be the feature film debut of director Michael Carney, who previously directed a 2012 short film called Jew. This is one of the week’s Rotten Ideas based on the 42% Rotten score earned by Heaven is for Real.
Eric Bana and Ricky Gervais are signed to star in an English-language remake of the 2009 French comedy Special Correspondents (in French, Envoyés Très Spéciaux). Frequently compared to Wag the Dog, the original film involved France negotiating for the release of two kidnapped journalists in Iraq, except that they were really “kidnapped,” in that the whole thing was fake. Ricky Gervais wrote the adaptation, and will direct (unfortunately, the RT Tomatometer scores for Gervais’ films as writer and director have been mostly Rotten). In Gervais’ version, Eric Bana will play “an arrogant, struggling New York-based radio journalist who fakes frontline war reports from a Spanish restaurant in Manhattan as a desperate ploy to save his job.” Ricky Gervais is also scheduled to write, direct, and star in Life on the Road, a mockumentary feature that will act as a sequel to Gervais’ original British version of The Office, starring his character of David Brent.
Keanu Reeves had success last week with John Wick, and like any savvy Hollywood veteran star (or that star’s savvy agent), Keanu Reeves used that momentum this week to set up a new deal. The deal in question involves a new science fiction thriller called Replicas, which is based upon an idea by Keanu Reeves and producer Stephen Hammel (who is also working with Reeves on the sci-fi drama Passengers). The premise of Replicas sees Keanu Reeves playing a “neuroscientist whose family is killed in a traffic accident so he uses his knowledge to try to bring them back, going up against the government, the police and the laws of science.” We’re calling this one a Rotten Idea based not just on the incredulity of Keanu Reeves playing a neuroscientist capable of this sort of science fiction stunt, but also based on the dominance of the green splotches on Keanu Reeves’ RT Tomatometer.
One of the political hot button issues since 2012 has been the incident at Benghazi, Libya, which left U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and another American dead. Going into the details about what people think or know or say happened at Benghazi would take far, far, far more space than we have in this little section of the Weekly Ketchup. You can start at Wikipedia, or go to the political news site or blog of your choice, for your own version of the events that day (which happened to be on September 11, 2012). What really matters here isn’t Benghazi itself, but who is now associated with Benghazi because of this week’s news. Bombastic blockbuster enthusiast extraordinaire and director Michael Bay has started negotiations to direct 13 Hours, an adaptation of a book by Mitchell Zuckoff about the attack on the American compound in Benghazi, Libya. Although Michael Bay is best known for directing such films as Armageddon, Pearl Harbor, Bad Boys II, and the Transformers franchise, it’s expected that 13 Hours will have a budget more in line with his recent relatively-low-budget action movie Pain and Gain. So, there you go… Michael Bay is probably going to direct a movie about Benghazi. Here’s Michael Bay’s Tomatometer Page. We’re done here.
For more Weekly Ketchup columns by Greg Dean Schmitz, check out the WK archive, and you can contact GDS via Facebook.
