Leo Bird Johnson & Other Casting News

Aaron Tveit considering Grease: Live...Manuel here helping you catch up with plenty of recent casting news! 

Broadway hunk Aaron Tveit (Enjolras in Les Misérables, 2012) is our new Danny Zuko in that live musical version of "Grease" which will also star Julianne Hough as Sandy (sigh) and Vanessa Hudgens as Rizzo (double sigh). TFE Best Supporting Actor dream Emmy nominee Teddy Sears is joining CW's The Flash as the original Flash Jay Garrick. And Jonathan Rhys-Meyers will front a The Clash biopic called London Town.

But if you made it this far it is because you’re wondering about that amazing retooling of Melissa Leo’s “Consider” Ad we all love so much.

Yes, while we’ve been suffering through close to five years of post-Oscar Leo ubiquity. I’m glad she’s been getting steady work, but I can’t be the only one who wishes she’d say no sometimes to every woman-in-power-suit role that comes her way. I guess they can’t all be Prisoners-style performances, can they? Well, as HBO continues to ready Jay Roach’s adaptation of All the Way (ie. the play that won Bryan Cranston a Tony), they’ve cast Melissa Leo as Lady Bird Johnson and I can’t believe we haven’t discussed that at TFE. I mean, I don’t subscribe to the “actor needs to be a spitting image” of the real-life person they’re portraying but this is just much too perfect, no? To make the casting news even sweeter, they've cast Anthony Mackie as Martin Luther King Jr. which just makes me happy as it means we're not losing all of our Hurt Locker boys to solely Marvel-produced films.

"Consider..." Are you excited about the LEOgend’s chance at a second* Emmy?

She previously won for her guest work on Louie

SDCC Day 4: Will Deadpool finally make Ryan Reynolds a star?

Anne Marie here to wrap things up. With SDCC-regular Marvel Studios absent this year and Star Wars: The Force Awakens dominating like the geek culture behemoth it is, the race was on for who or what would take the #2 most buzzworthy spot in San Diego. Chastain showed up for Crimson Peak, Bruce Campbell was groovy in Ash vs the Evil Dead, but the most uncontested winner of second best was... Ryan Reynolds? 

Yes, everyone's favorite B+ lister, who we at TFE Posterized just recently, was the antihero fans went mad for in the Deadpool panel. The obscenity-laced trailer for 20th Century Fox's R-rated superhero flick is probably the most universally-lauded moment of the con, drawing thunderous applause and virtually no social media backlash.

Of course, 100,000 geeks are at best a niche market, and, as studios have learned in the past, a standing ovation in San Diego does not necessarily translate into worldwide box office. We'll have to wait a little longer to see the first trailer of the Merc with the Mouth, but until then, do you believe the hype?

What did you see this weekend?

As expected those talking yellow dildos (thanks Tim) won the weekend in a big way, though they didn't quite beat the top opening of all time for a toon -- which, I hate to remind you, is held by Shrek The Third. The others held fairly well, particularly Magic Mike XXL which keeps inspiring interesting conversation and dropped only 25% in its second weekend instead of the usual 40 or 50%. The least advertised hit was Baahuball, the Beginning, a spectacle from India on only 236 screens.

BOX OFFICE
July 10th-12th Weekend
01 Minions $115.2 NEW Tim on the Minions phenom
02 Jurassic World $18.1 (cum. $590.6) Jurassic Articles 
03 Inside Out $17.1 (cum. $283.6) Inside Out Articles 
04 Terminator Genisys $13.7 (cum. $68.7) Review 
05 The Gallows $10 NEW 
06 Magic Mike XXL NEW $9.6 (cum. $48.3) Review
07 Ted 2 $5.6 (cum. $71.6)
08 Self/Less $5.3 NEW How many Ryan Reynolds movies have you seen?
09 Baahuball: The Beginning $3.5 NEW
10 Max $3.4 (cum. $33.7)

Among notable films in limited release, the documentary Amy (reviewed) had a great second weekend taking in nearly $2 million, the energetic must-see trans comedy Tangerine (raved right here) made $64,000 on 4 screens (with hopefully more to come when word gets out on how raucously fun it is), and the doc Do I Sound Gay? earned $11,000 on 1 screen. Robin Williams bummed out final film Boulevard (reviewed here), didn't fare that well with only $7,000.

What did you see this weekend? 
I ended up hiding from the heat and binge-watching UnReal against my will -- but The Boyfriend does whatever Emily Nussbaum at the New Yorker tells him and she had raved about it. I had absolute zero interest in it based on the subject matter (behind the scenes drama at a show not unlike the women-as-chattle reality series The Bachelor) but it's a stunner -- so cynical, provocative, and superbly acted. Constance Zimmer and Shiri Appleby - wow! 

SDCC Day 3: Multitudes of Peggy & Hateful 8 News

Anne Marie here with more from SDCC. Most of Saturday's buzz surrounded Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (about which Nathaniel already posted a YNMS), but if capes and cowls aren't your thing, here are 5 other entertaining bits of news from San Diego Comic Con.

5) EW's Women Who Kick Ass Panel assembled a great lineup: Kathy Bates on American Horror Story, Hayley Atwell on Agent Carter, Gwendoline Christie on Game of Thrones, Jenna Coleman from Doctor Who, and Wonder Woman herself, Gal Godot. Someone make this an actual superhero team please. 

4) The Sherlock Special sneak peek. Little explanation given for the Victorian setting, but it's fun to see Bendandsnap Cabbagepatch don the deerstalker.

3) Suicide Squad teaser is all anyone can talk about, but Warner Bros hasn't yet released it online. Fan consensus: Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn > Jared Leto's Joker. I just want to see Viola Davis eat that steak.

2) Hateful 8 Panel, interviews, and new poster. Notice that very important cinephile bait bit in the right bottom corner. Good tagline, too. Tarantino revealed that if he can't shoot on actual film, he won't make them anymore and TV might be a possibility. Best news: he convinced the legendary Ennio Morricone to compose his first western score in decades. The Original Score Oscar prediction chart already updated as a result!

1) Hayley Atwell's Dubsmash Videos. The Agent Carter star alleviated her boredom (and ours) with a Dubsmash challenge to her Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. buddies. She also posed with a huge group of Comic Con attendees doing Peggy Carter cosplay

"Grandma" Poster

And look who got quoted!

It's my first movie poster quote somehow though tbh my dream has never been movie posters but getting quoted on FYC Oscar ads. This is close enough since Lily Tomlin is so super in that movie. When they call a movie a 'star vehicle' they don't usually mean it this literally but Lily could drive that old car straight to an Oscar nomination. We shall see. 

Grandma opens on August 21st from Sony Pictures Classics