Links: Wicked delays, Jennifer's campaign, Disney streaming
Wednesday, October 21, 2020 at 4:30PM • Deadline Stephen Daldry is leaving Wicked. Universal wanted to work faster than Daldry was willing but losing a director will slow them down anyway so why not meet his schedule?
• Variety The Avengers acting heroes want you to Vote Blue this election
• EW Jennifer Hudson fires up her second Oscar campaign (for Aretha Franklin biopic Respect) with an EW Cover and profile
Jeff Bridges cancer reveal, Disney news, Noah Jupe confession, Dirty Dancing tribute, Sigourney's Avatar training, and more after the jump...
• Guardian Jeff Bridges being treated for lymphoma but thankfully the prognosis is good!
• EW Michelle Pfeiffer loved getting "weird" for French Exit
• Coming Soon Disney's Raya and the Last Dragon gets a poster but it won't be out until March 2021
• Out lesbian romcom Happiest Season is going straight to Hulu
• AV Club getting very sassy about Disney+ rebooting 80s fantasy Willow
• Towleroad Tyler Posey continues to be throw caution to the wind about his own privacy and tells his fans everything including sexual practices
• /Film Netflix's Hilary Swank astronaut drama cancelled after one season
• Coming Soon supposedly Avatar 2 and Avatar 3 are almost through post production so Sigourney Weaver, who is now in her 70s, is discussing her underwater training
• IndieWire Netflix claims they've had a blockbuster year (but they count 2 minutes as a movie view so who knows how many viewers their films actually have?)
• Deadline Denis Villeneuve and Jake Gyllenhaal both seem to have a lot of projects brewing. Somehow they'll squeeze in a reteam for an HBO Miniseries called The Son
• Guardian fun interview with François Ozon on Summer of '85
Quote of the Day
So as we found out on Variety not only is teen star Noah Jupe (Honey Boy, Wonder) a great little actor but he has taste too. In a new interview he makes it clear that he has no desire to be in Star Wars or Marvel movies. Just wants to ACT
Neither. Neither. I want, like, “Fargo.” I want “Magnolia.” I want “The Deer Hunter.” I want that s—. I love Marvel. I love “Star Wars.” Great movies, but not for me as an actor. I always say if I’m going to be in a movie like that, I have to be a villain and I have to die. I’ll be in a Marvel movie if that’s the case.
and links we meant to share over the last week or two but we hadn't done a link roundup and they might still be new to you!
• Cartoon Brew you've surely heard by now that Disney is putting Pixar's Soul straight to Disney+. (They've totally given up on the theatrical model which is a bit odd considering that Mulan flopped on a PPV model and they still have the Star Wars and Marvel Cinematic Universe which make billions every time out of the gate.
• Guardian RIP Rhonda Fleming, a redheaded beauty of classic Hollywood who has passed away at age 97
• LAT RIP actress Conchata Ferrell (Two and a Half Men, Mystic Pizza, Erin Brockovich) who has died at age 77
• Women and Hollywood the number of women directors keeps rising, especially at film festivals
• Slant the 75 best horror movies of the 21st Century
• AV Club's romcom series revisits the beloved Dirty Dancing
• NYT Justine Machado profiled with both Dancing with the Stars and One Day at a Time (which we loooove) on broadcast TV
• NYT 20 Essential films for the Latino American experience
• Vox Why Saturday Night Live's satire is too toothless for the T***p era.
Reader Comments (16)
Nat: Honestly, I'm THRILLED Daldry is off Wicked. He's such a BORING filmmaker. Even Rob Marshall is better. I'd really HOPE they shoot for the moon and try to court Baz now (he should absolutely have at least one adapted musical on his filmography and...doesn't, to date), but at least SOMEONE better.
Don’t Look Up directed by Adam McKay headed to Netflix with DiCaprio, Lawrence, Streep, Blanchett and more....!!!
Jamie: Eh, that's almost certainly a pure commercial play until further notice. It might be more respectably written than Armageddon, but it's still popcorn leaning. It's not worth the two exclamation points. Call me back on those when someone announces a Gravity's Rainbow, Mason & Dixon or Against the Day Maxi-series (22 episode single season show, baby! THAT'S a Maxi-Series!) adaptation.
In case anyone missed it, Netflix is supposedly campaigning Chadwick Boseman as lead actor.
https://variety.com/2020/film/awards/chadwick-boseman-oscars-lead-ma-raineys-black-bottom-1234812211/
I wish Sigourney wasn't wasting her talents on the Avatar stuff,Where is The Good House with Kevin Kline and My Salenger Year.
Is it me or does Jennifer Hudson seem wrong for Aretha and aren't these biopics becoming to cookie cutter,if you wanna watch Freddie or Aretha go see YouTube,the genuine article is the real deal.
I am not getting the Aretha vibe at all from Jennifer Hudson. She can sing the songs. but visually it’s just her. Could she match The Blues Brothers/Think? To me-no.
jennifer best get her attention now before cynthia erivo shows her how it's done
@par, I suspect that when Hudson worked with Erivo on Broadway and saw both her and her co-star (Danielle Brookes) up for Tony nominations, she understood!
re: the number of women directors keeps rising, especially at film festivals
Honestly, I was curious a little bit ago about how many years it would take for national film awards (like the Cesar, Goyas, etc) to match AMPAS' record of five women directors nominated for best director. The answer did not flatter the AMPAS. Glad to see festivals following suit.
Stephen Daldry=Oscar bait's version of Michael Bay.
Fuck you cancer. It took my dad last year and more recently EVH. I knew someone who had lymphona and died more than a decade ago. I inherited 3 of his cats who all passed away in 2010, 2012, and 2016, the last one of which died one year and a day after my beloved dog Prissy died.
Something tells me that the Aretha bio-pic is going to be very by-the-numbers and I hate that. God forbid they do a by-the-numbers bio-pic on David Bowie because that shit isn't going to work as long as Iman and Duncan Jones have their say. They may have allowed the film Stardust to be made but w/o Bowie's music.
That AV Club tribute to "Dirty Dancing" is SO GOOD...as I told Nathaniel, I was thinking of writing about the movie for our 1987-palooza, but Caroline Siede basically said everything I would or could have said, and then some, about why the movie's one for the ages.
Caroline Siede's series for AV Club is fantastic, and her piece on Dirty Dancing is just one example.
Jamie, Jennifer Lawrence's participation in a film is enough for me to believe that the director and producers do not give a damn about the quality and are just interested in cashing in on her name recognition. She is a terrible actress with an obnoxious personality, and hearing that she voted for McCain-Palin does not help matters.
I was just merely mentioning that I felt that the announcement for a new Adam McKay movie could have been also added to the link section. I will hold out on my opinions of the work until I see it.
Chadwick is the lead in Ma Rainey, the play is just as if not more so his story than it is hers. It’s not meant to be a showcase for the leading lady. If it were the Viola Davis show, they’d be doing a bad job. Not sure where the confusion is coming from unless people don’t know the play.
Respect to Volgavia @ thevoid99, but Stephen Daldry is brilliant & Universal was lucky to have him in the first place.
Which is why we’re here to help you with all aspects of your assignments. Our professional writers can help you with any or all of the following