Drama
Sydney Sweeney, Julia Garner Auditioned to Star in Madonna Biopic: Report
Madonna’s latest endeavor includes directing a biopic about her own music career. But before the Queen of Pop gets her story to the silver screen, she has to find its star. Among the actresses who have auditioned for the role? Euphoria breakouts Sydney Sweeney and Barbie Ferreira — as well as Ozark’s Julia Garner. Jeff Sneider of The Ankler reports that Madonna’s biopic is one of the most coveted roles for young actresses in recent memory. Madge herself reportedly had her sights set on Florence Pugh, but considering how many other actresses have been through the auditioning process since then, we’re inclined to believe the Midsommar star might be “hung up” on other projects. Of course, to play a pop star as subversive as Madonna in her early career requires a bit of an edge....
James Mangold to Direct Buster Keaton Biopic
Despite the delays to Indiana Jones 5, James Mangold isn’t wasting any time getting his next film lined up. Deadline reports that he’s teaming up with 20th Century Studios to direct a project about the life of filmmaker and comedian Joseph Frank “Buster” Keaton. The biopic will be adapted from Buster Keaton: Cut to the Chase, Marion Meade’s 1995 biography about the iconic actor, comedian, and filmmaker. According to Deadline, studio executives have fast-tracked the film and made it a top priority to find writers for the project. Keaton, who died in 1966, starred in a number of silent 1920s classics like The General, Sherlock Jr., and Seven Changes. He was known for his slapstick physical comedy, paired with a consistently deadpan facial expression that earned him the nickname “Th...
Bill Murray to Star in Aziz Ansari’s Debut Feature Film
Aziz Ansari is jumping from TV to the silver screen. The actor and Master of None co-creator is making his directorial debut with an as-yet untitled Searchlight Pictures, and he’s tapped Bill Murray to star in the lead role. Ansari will have lots on his plate for this project: In addition to directing, he’s writing the script, co-producing alongside Youree Henley, and acting in it. The project is based on American surgeon and New Yorker contributor Atul Gawande’s Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End, a 2014 nonfiction book about aging, end-of-life care, and striving for wellbeing over survival. Though not much is known right now about the film’s plot, Searchlight is banking on both Ansari and Murray’s background in comedy to help sell this examination of mortality. ...
Dog Review: Channing Tatum and His Canine Co-Star Anchor a Surprisingly Emotional Road Trip Tale
The Pitch: Let’s begin this review with what the dog lovers want to know first. Spoiler alert: Nothing bad happens to the dog. There’s some minor peril, and the climax of the film is tough to watch. But no Marley and Me-esque tragedy lurks in the final act. At the end of the film, the dog is fine. With that out of the way, let’s talk about Dog, the often-charming road trip dramedy that marks Channing Tatum‘s (co)-directing debut, starring Tatum alongside a trio of Belgian Malinoises for a darker and more emotionally affecting film than you might expect from its marketing. What the Trailers Don’t Mention: All the advertising for Dog sells a pretty authentic version of the film as a whole: Former Army Ranger Jackson Briggs (Tatum) gets tasked with a new mission: Bring a former Army Ranger do...
Amanda Seyfried Practices Her Fake Baritone in Trailer for Hulu’s The Dropout: Watch
Over the past few years, Stanford dropout Elizabeth Holmes went from being the country’s youngest self-made female billionaire to one of the most infamous scammers to come up in Silicon Valley. Today, Hulu has unveiled the official trailer for their forthcoming limited drama series The Dropout, which stars Amanda Seyfried as the disgraced Theranos founder and CEO. Premiering March 3rd, The Dropout documents Holmes’ career trajectory from an ambitious chemical engineering student to the defendant in a highly-publicized criminal trial. The trailer nods to plenty of Holmes’ trademarks, from her black turtlenecks, bright red lipstick, and messy buns, to that phony baritone speaking voice. Seyfried doesn’t quite nail Holmes’ low timbre, but we’ll let it slide because it’s important to...
Netflix Unveils Official Trailer for New Series Vikings: Valhalla: Watch
Netflix is going way, way back in time for their next original series. Today, the streamer has shared the official trailer for Vikings: Valhalla, an action-drama series that tells the tale of some of history’s most heroic explorers. Set over a thousand years ago in the early 11th century, and over a hundred years after the events of Michael Hirst’s History Channel series Vikings, Vikings: Valhalla stars Sam Corlett (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) as Leif Eriksson, Frida Gustavsson as his sister Freydis Eriksdotter, and Leo Suter as Nordic prince Harald Sigurdsson. The series sees the trio travel from Kattegat to England and beyond, clashing with English royalty over their conflicting Christian and pagan beliefs. Above all, the Vikings must fight for their own survival and glory on these t...
Joshua Jackson to Star in Fatal Attraction TV Remake
Back in November, Paramount+ announced a remake of Fatal Attraction that’ll build the 1987 psychosexual thriller into an episodic series. Today, the studio announced that they’ve found their Dan Gallagher in Joshua Jackson. Jackson will star opposite Lizzy Caplan as Alex, a woman who becomes obsessed with Dan, a successful and married lawyer, after the two have a brief affair. With the added airtime that a limited series allows, the Fatal Attraction remake has been described as “a deep-dive reimagining of the classic psychosexual thriller and ’80s cultural touchstone [that] will explore fatal attraction and the timeless themes of marriage and infidelity, through the lens of modern attitudes towards strong women, personality disorders, and coercive control.” Alexandra Cunning...
Death on the Nile Keeps Armie Hammer on Board Despite Sexual Assault Allegations
Kenneth Branagh’s mystery drama Death on the Nile still has plans to set sail on February 11th. Today, Disney and 20th Century Studios have unveiled the latest trailer for the film, which has kept Armie Hammer on board despite allegations of sexual assault and abuse. In the adaptation of Agatha Christie’s novel of the same name, Hammer plays a man named Simon Doyle whose idyllic river steamer honeymoon goes awry when it’s discovered that a murderer is on the ship. Hammer appears to have a fairly prominent role in the film, meaning Disney evidently isn’t doing much to keep him out of public view amid the controversy. As a refresher, Hammer first began raising eyebrows back in January, when an anonymous Instagram account posted explicit messages that appeared to show the actor fantasizing ab...
The Succession Season 3 Finale Confirmed Why the HBO Series Is One of TV’s Most Fascinating Dramas
[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers through the Season 3 finale of Succession, “All the Bells Say.”] One of the elements which stood out the most about Season 3 of Succession was location: specifically, a shift to the sun-dappled splendor that is rural Tuscany, site of both Lady Caroline Collingwood’s (Harriet Walter) wedding and her betrayal of her children. While the HBO series has always been aesthetically lush, with an emphasis on the elegant homes and offices in which the Roys seem born to dwell in, having some of the series’ most ugly behavior to date take place in such a beautiful place seems like the ultimate distillation of the show as a whole. The finale once again featured the Roy children coming after control of the company, this time in an effort to prevent tech mo...
Sorry, But the Story Part of West Side Story Sucks
The Pitch: On a very literal level, Steven Spielberg‘s West Side Story is a technically perfect film. Every detail on screen, from the period-accurate production design to the costumes to the choreography and sound design, is flawlessly rendered by some of today’s best artisans, and regular Spielberg collaborator Janusz Kamiński’s cinematography is unmatched, using the full frame at all times, playing with depth of field and brilliant lighting choices in ways that only enhance the cast’s brilliant performances. There is so much to admire about this new take on West Side Story, especially how it makes up for the 1961 original by casting actual Latinos in key roles, and takes a bilingual approach to the dialogue that adds to the authenticity. The problem, unfortunately, is that all of this i...
Florence Pugh, Rami Malek, and Benny Safdie Join Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer
More details are unfurling about Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan’s forthcoming World War II drama about the making of the atomic bomb. This week, Florence Pugh, Rami Malek, and Benny Safdie have officially joined the cast of the biopic, which is set to hit theaters July 21st, 2023 through Universal Pictures. Oppenheimer tells the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the theoretical physicist who helped develop the atomic bomb during World War II. Pugh will play Jean Tatlock, a member of the Communist Party of the United States with whom Oppenheimer has an off-and-on affair. Safdie will play “father of the hydrogen bomb” Edward Teller, who was part of a research initiative called the Manhattan Project, which developed the first atomic bomb. Malek will play an as-yet-unnamed scientist. Pugh, Malek...
And Just Like That… Review: HBO Max Reminds Us Why We Should Never Look Back
[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for And Just Like That…, Episode 2, “Little Black Dress.”] The Pitch: The blunt truth of being alive is that there’s no such thing as a happy ending. Everyone has happy and sad moments over the course of their time on this earth, and when the inevitable comes all you can hope for is that it’s not too soon, and that the good outweighed the bad as much as possible. This is an annoying and awful truth, which is just one reason why we’re a culture obsessed with stories, and why the Sex and the City continuation And Just Like That… is both a very welcome trip home to visit old friends, and also an existential crisis in the works. Advertisement A Big Twist: HBO Max deliberately withheld screeners from critics until the moment of the show’s premiere...
