A Legend Honoured, Plus Updates on ‘The Batman’, New David Fincher Movie, New Robert Eggers Film, More
The Godfather and Apocalypse Now director Francis Ford Coppola was a special guest at the Lumière Festival on Friday night in Lyon, France to receive the festival’s coveted lifetime achievement award, the Lumière Award. Among those presenting the award were 2019 Cannes Palme d’Or winning director Bong Joon-Ho (Parasite) and actress Nathalie Baye.
Variety – 18th Oct 2019
Netflix are set to roll out their new Noah Baumbach Original Film Marriage Story in select North American theatres from 6th Nov, one month ahead of the film’s worldwide release via their streaming service. Among the locations set to feature the film is New York’s Paris Theatre, a one-screen theatre that was recently closed ahead of an expected sale and transition into a retail outlet. The release of Marriage Story will re-open the theatre, which is expected to be leased by Netflix and act as a showcase theatre for their awards season contenders soon thereafter.
IndieWire – 18th Oct 2019
Jonah Hill is no longer connected to Matt Reeves’ upcoming DC adaptation The Batman, with reports suggesting the actor asked for a $10million up-front payment to take an unnamed role.
THR – 16th Oct 2019
‘Big Little Lies’ actress Zoe Kravitz has been cast as Catwoman in The Batman.
Variety – 14th Oct 2019
There Will Be Blood actor and Wildlife director Paul Dano is in advanced talks to star in The Batman as The Riddler. If a deal is made, he will star opposite Robert Pattinson, likely as the film’s central protagonist.
Variety – 17th Oct 2019
Michael Giacchino, the Oscar-winning composer of such iconic scores as Star Trek (2009), Jurassic World (2015) and Coco (2017), will provide the score for Matt Reeves’ upcoming DC adaptation The Batman, which is set to star Robert Pattinson.
Chris Hewitt (Empire Magazine) – 18th Oct 2019
MGM’s upcoming Aretha Franklin biopic Respect has added Forest Whitaker, Marlon Wayans, Audra McDonald, Mary J. Blige, Marc Maron, Tituss Burgess, Saycon Sengbloh, Hailey Kilgore and Tate Donovan to its cast. Multi-award winning musician and actress Jennifer Hudson is set to star.
Deadline – 18th Oct 2019
‘A Series of Unfortunate Events’ and ‘How I Met Your Mother’ star Neil Patrick Harris, and ‘Iron Fist’ star Jessica Henwick are set to join the cast of The Matrix 4. The pair will join the returning Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss on the set of the film set to be directed by Lana Wachowski.
Variety/Variety – 15/16th Oct 2019
Michael Caine, Lena Headey and Rita Ora will star in a modern-day adaptation of “Oliver Twist” from Sky titled Twist. The film, which will release same day-and-date in cinemas and on Sky’s pay-TV service, will see Ora take on the role of Dodge, Caine play Fagan and Headey play Sikes. Jude Law’s son Raff Law will play Oliver.
Variety – 16th Oct 2019
Legendary horror director Sam Raimi is set to return to the genre with for a new project with old Spider-Man (2002) studio Columbia Pictures. The yet-to-be-titled project is said to be “Castaway meets Misery“, with the bulk of the horror taking place on a deserted island.
THR – 18th Oct 2019
A sequel to the recently released MGM animated adaptation The Addams Family is already in the works, with a release date slated for 2021.
Variety – 15th Oct 2019
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has confirmed that his long-awaited starring role as DC comic book character Black Adam will begin filming in 2020. The actor, who is Forbes’ highest paid male actor in 2019, was announced for the role in January 2017. The movie, also titled Black Adam, does not yet have a release date, but does take place in the same universe as popular DC release Shazam! (2019).
Deadline – 19th Oct 2019
David Fincher’s newest project Mank, a Netflix Original movie about Citizen Kane screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz, has made Amanda Seyfried to its all-star cast. The actress joins lead Gary Oldman, Lily Collins, Charles Dance, Tuppence Middleton, Arliss Howard, Ferdinand Kingsley, Jamie McShane, Joseph Cross, Sam Troughton, Toby Leonard Moore, Tom Burke and Tom Pelphrey on the film in a yet-to-be-confirmed role.
Variety – 15th Oct 2019
The upcoming Jurassic World 3 has added She’s Gotta Have It breakout star DeWanda Wise to its cast. The actress joins returning names Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Laura Dern, Sam Neil and Jeff Goldblum in the Amblin & Universal Pictures project.
Variety – 18th Oct 2019
Star Wars star John Boyega has been cast as the lead in upcoming Netflix sci-fi movie They Cloned Tyrone, which is set to be directed by Creed 2 screenwriter Juel Taylor.
THR – 18th Oct 2019
Ben Affleck will star in an upcoming film adaptation of popular novel “Falling To Earth”, which is set to be adapted for the screen by Insomnia (2002) and Eagle Eye (2008) screenwriter Hillary Seitz.
THR – 17th Oct 2019
The Lighthouse and The Witch director Robert Eggers has cast his two leads for his upcoming 10th century Viking revenge story set in Iceland titled The Northman, making Alexander Skarsgård and Nicole Kidman the centrepieces for his newest project.
Variety – 16th Oct 2019
The Lighthouse actor Willem Dafoe has joined Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara in Guillermo Del Toro’s next movie, Nightmare Alley.
Variety – 15th Oct 2019
Ryan Reynolds and John Krasinski are in talks to star in Paramount Studios’ upcoming fantasy comedy Imaginary Friends, with Krasinski set to write, direct and star if the deal goes through, with Reynolds set for a producer and actor role.
Variety – 15th Oct 2019
Widows and Get Out star Daniel Kaluuya is teaming with Mattel Films to bring Barney the Dinosaur to the big screen in a live-action feature via his 59% production banner.
Variety – 18th Oct 2019
Back to the Future, Forrest Gump and Castaway director Robert Zemeckis is reportedly in early talks to direct a live-action remake of Pinocchio for Disney. Paddington director Paul King had originally been signed to direct the film but had to leave the role earlier this year for an unknown reason.
Variety – 18th Oct 2019
Naomie Harris, who was nominated for an Oscar for her performance in Moonlight (2016), is in talks to star as sonic-powered villain Shriek in Sony’s upcoming Venom sequel, Venom 2. The actress, who has also starred in recent 007 movies, will join Woody Harrelson and the returning Tom Hardy in the film set for a 2nd Oct 2020 release.
Deadline – 18th Oct 2019
Recent Quentin Tarantino release Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood has been pulled from distribution in China just a week ahead of an expected 25th Oct release. Though no reason was given to distributors Sony Pictures Entertainment, The Hollywood Reporter have been informed that Tarantino is unwilling to cut the film if the Chinese censors demand it, the screenwriter-director reportedly taking a “take it or leave it” approach.
THR – 18th Oct 2019
Oscar-winning actor Jared Leto, who played The Joker in 2016 David Ayer movie Suicide Squad, was reportedly very upset when he heard of Warner Bros plans to release an alternative Joker story from Todd Phillips starring Joaquin Phoenix, reportedly asking his manager to stop the film from going ahead and describing the situation as leaving him feeling “alienated and upset”.
THR – 19th Oct 2019
The Head of Annapurna Pictures Ivana Lombardi is leaving her role to take the position of Director of Independents at Netflix after a year at Annapurna.
Variety – 14th Oct 2019
Sony Pictures film executive Hannah Minghella has departed Sony for J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot, where she will take the role of Head of Film.
THR – 17th Oct 2019
Plans to build a major film studio in East London, UK have suffered a setback as the chosen developers Pacifica Ventures have backed out of their arrangement to build the 20-acre studios in Dagenham.
Variety – 16th Oct 2019
And finally…
Studio Ghibli’s catalogue of animated films are being made available on streaming for the first time. All 21 of the studio’s releases will be available to North American audiences via streaming provider HBO Max.
THR – 17th Oct 2019
