TAGGED AS: Film, films, movie, movies, news
This Week’s Ketchup brings you another ten headlines from the world of film development news (those stories about what movies Hollywood is working on for you next), covering such titles as Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3, Wonka, and Spider-Man: No Way Home.
(Photo by Eli Winston/Everett Collection)
One of the key facets that builds Marvel Cinematic Universe hype is the their use of post-credits teases about future movies, which dates all the way back to the first Iron Man, which introduced the idea of Marvel’s The Avengers, four years before that movie came out. The teaser after 2013’s Thor: The Dark World was ostensibly about Guardians of the Galaxy a year later, but comics-savvy fans also noticed that the Collector had the egg that contained cosmic hero Adam Warlock. At the time, Warlock seemed to be teased because of his direct connections to Infinity War (he’s arguably the lead hero in the original comic story), but then Avengers: Infinity War came and went with no Warlock. Adam Warlock was teased again at the end of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, and now we know that Warlock will finally be introduced fully in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3, ten years after that first tease in Thor: The Dark World. Warlock will be played by Will Poulter in his highest profile role to date after parts in movies like Midsommar, The Revenant, and We’re the Millers. Filming of Vol 3 is scheduled to start in November.
(Photo by Jason Mendez/Everett Collection)
Timothée Chalamet is now in London filming Wonka, the prequel to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and all within one week, we got three different revelations about the film. The first reveal came from Chalamet himself, who posted an image of his Wonka costume on his Instagram account, which seems more inspired by Gene Wilder’s costume than the more bonkers outfits wore by Johnny Depp. Chalamet also revealed in an interview this week that he is recording new songs for Wonka at London’s famous Abbey Road studio. What Chalamet may not known would happen is that some inquisitive fans somehow got video footage of a Wonka musical number being filmed and posted it on Twitter for everyone to get a (very) early listen.
(Photo by Marvel/courtesy Everett Collection)
In an interview with EW, Tom Holland revealed that Spider-Man: No Way Home was treated like “the end of a franchise,” and the end of a trilogy (that started with Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man: Far from Home). Holland said, “I think if we were lucky enough to dive into these characters again, you’d be seeing a very different version.” With Marvel apparently delving into alternate realities with Loki, What If…? and next year’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, plus what we see in the Spider-Man: No Way Home trailer, Tom Holland seems to be saying his Spider-Man might end up… who knows where.
(Photo by Jason Smith/Everett Collection)
Hollywood directors have long frequently kept their new movies “untitled” during production, sometimes to keep the premise secret, and sometimes because they legitimately hadn’t decided on a title yet. This week, two very different directors had the titles of their next “untitled” projects revealed, though in one case, it might not have been intended (by them). Let’s start with the very official title announcement by M. Night Shyamalan, whose next film will be Knock at the Cabin. As is often with the case with Shyamalan’s films, we don’t actually know what Knock at the Cabin will be about, though the title suggests it might be his version of The Cabin in the Woods. The possibly slightly less director-approved title reveal came from Bill Murray, who said that the title of director Wes Anderson’s next will be Asteroid City. Murray made light of the hubbub, saying, “That’s what we do in show business. We just say the name and people will clap. It has no meaning whatsoever.” Murray’s costars in Asteroid City will include Bryan Cranston, Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johansson, Margot Robbie, Tilda Swinton, and Jeffrey Wright.
(Photo by Gregorio T. Binuya/Everett Collection)
Of all the remake projects that are currently in development, probably about 80% are remakes of popular films with some sort of stamp in the popular conscience. So, it’s refreshing when someone announces they’re remaking a film which is legitimately obscure. Rachel Weisz is now attached to star in a remake of the 1964 British thriller Seance on a Wet Afternoon, which earned Kim Stanley an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress (she lost to Julie Andrews for Mary Poppins). Weisz will star as a medium who convinces her husband to kidnap the daughter of a wealthy couple so that she can “solve” the mystery. BAFTA and Tony-winning playwright Jack Thorne adapted the screenplay from the 1961 novel by Mark McShane for director Tomas Alfredson.
(Photo by Netflix/courtesy Everett Collection)
A trend of the last decade or so, as both TV and streaming have taken off, is that directors who got their start with independent film have spent much of that time working on TV and streaming instead of film. That includes actor-turned-director Steve Buscemi, who hasn’t directed a film since 2007’s Interview but has stayed busy directing episodes of shows like Nurse Jackie, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and Portlandia. It was revealed this week that Buscemi has actually wrapped filming of a film called The Listener that was filmed in August and September without even being announced. The Listener will feature only one actor on screen, as Tessa Thompson will play a helpline volunteer who over the course of the film takes calls from various people “feeling lonely, broken, hopeless, and worried.”
(Photo by Kristin Callahan/Everett Collection)
One of the breakout stars of A Quiet Place and its sequel A Quiet Place Part II was teen actress Millicent Simmonds, who, like the character she played in those films, is deaf and communicates using American Sign Language. She will portray the young woman who became arguably the most famous disability rights advocate, Helen Keller. Simmonds will play the young deaf and blind Keller, and Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) will play her teacher Anne Sullivan in the historical drama Helen & Teacher. Instead of telling Keller’s story as a young child when she first met Sullivan, Helen & Teacher will instead focus on her story as “a young adult when she developed a radical, world-changing political voice.”
(Photo by Paramount Network / Courtesy: Everett Collection)
One of the highest profile frequently announced biopics was Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, about atomic bomb co-creator J. Robert Oppenheimer, to be portrayed by Cillian Murphy. After World War II, Oppenheimer became a peace activist, which led to him being a target of the Red Scare of the 1950s. Coincidentally (or not), that leads us directly to this week’s new biopic, as Senator Joseph McCarthy, who became synonymous with the Red Scare to the point that “McCarthyism” is the phrase we use for that tactic. Michael Shannon will star in the biopic McCarthy, alongside Emilia Clarke as McCarthy’s wife, Dane DeHaan as Roy Cohn, and Scoot McNairy. Václav Marhoul will direct McCarthy from a screenplay by Tom O’Connor (The Hitman’s Bodyguard, The Courier) when filming starts up in Prague in late 2022.
(Photo by Andres Otero/Everett Collection)
Jennifer Lawrence’s upcoming end-of-the-world satire Don’t Look Up is going to be on Netflix, so that means as we roll into 2022, it will have been at least three years since Jennifer Lawrence was last in a theatrical film, Dark Phoenix. Sony Pictures made a deal this week that looks to return Jennifer Lawrence to theaters with the R-rated comedy No Hard Feelings. Gene Stupnitsky, who got his start writing several episodes of The Office, will have his sophomore directing assignment with Feelings, which is described as a Risky Business-style R-rated comedy set on Long Island. Sony Pictures landed No Hard Feelings by committing to an exclusive theatrical release, beating out Universal Pictures, which handled Stupnitsky’s Good Boys.
(Photo by Derek Storm/Everett Collection)
Catherine Hardwicke’s next film will be an action comedy called Mafia Mamma. Toni Collette will star as the title character, “a suburban American woman who inherits her grandfather’s Mafia empire.” Monica Bellucci (The Matrix Reloaded) and Rob Huebel (The Descendants) will also costar in Mafia Mamma when filming starts on location in Italy in the late spring of 2022. Toni Collette says, “It is pure, fish out of water fun with a firm feminist backbone. I think we could all handle an uplifting, laugh out loud story like this right about now. Bring it on Italy!”
