• Out Scarlett Johansson leaves the upcoming trans drama Rub & Tug post-backlash • THR In unrelated news Scarlett is finally getting her Black Widow solo movie. Australian Cate Shortland (Lore) will direct, beating out finalists Amma Asante and Maggie Betts. • MovieMaker the 25 coolest film festivals in the world (the giant A list fests are not listed in favor of quirkier ones that use their location in interesting ways.) • Gizmodo only one Blockbuster video store is still open in the United States!
More after the jump including Die Hard, Danai Gurira, Tab Hunter, Joss Whedon, If Beale Street Could Talk, West Side Story revival, and more...
Many outlets are reporting the news that director Zack Snyder is stepping down from directing the upcoming Justice League in order to be with his family following the suicide of his daughter, Autumn, in March. This news has unfortunately prompted some insensitive reactions online. This brings to light an interesting separation between the artist and the art they create.
Snyder has his fair amount of detractors. I was impressed by his debut with Dawn of the Dead and got caught up in the zeitgeist that was 300. But, I have been less than thrilled with his contributions to the superhero genre in Watchmen, Man of Steel and Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice.
This has birthed a persona of the man – Zack Snyder, director. His personal life and character has been shielded by a believed persona of what we feel this man is like, just because of the films he makes. We assume that the CGI heavy and slow-motion leaning visual style says more about the man than anything else...
Mashable the 8 main excuses Hollywood uses for whitewashing, and why they're all bunk in this day and age Film Doctor 5 amusing notes on "Evil Disney Hegemony" and Emma Watson as Belle The Muse Rich Juzwiak on the recent LGBT scraps thrown in mainstream Hollywood movies. Frankly I've been insulted, rather than thankful, by both of them. I just saw Power Rangers and I cannot believe people are crediting this movie with being LGBT inclusive. The Yellow Ranger never even admits she's queer. She just stays literally silent (and you know what silence equals) when someone asks if she has a girlfriend.
David Poland distributors are considering shrinking the theatrical release window again. Is this just suicide? (I hate to be an alarmist but I totally agree with David Poland's thinking here Women in Hollywood interviews The Zookeeper's Wife author Diane Ackerman Time lists the 50 best podcasts right now. I almost never listen to podcasts. Probably because I have no commute. I should get on that. Pajiba on the costs of running independent film sites - ugh this hurts to read. It's so hard and we dont even do half as well as they do! IndieWire Paul Thomas Anderson's fashion drama gets a Christmas day release World of Reel the early reactions to the new Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales are actually positive Awards Daily talks to composer Trevor Morris (as much as I hated Iron Fist, I liked his work on it!) Broadway Blog Bette Midler's super gracious moment with an understudy on Hello Dolly!
Finally, Two Directing Offers of Note Joss Whedon might write & direct a Batgirl movie. The deal is supposedly close to happening but he had such a terrible experience with Warner Bros on his Wonder Woman screenplay (and such a difficult time with Marvel on Avengers: Age of Ultron) that this is quite a surprise. The money must be really good but we keep hoping he'll create an original television series again soon rather than reshaping other people's brands.
Jordan Peele is being considered to direct both Akira and The Flash at Warner Bros thanks to the huge success of his directorial debut Get Out. But both those projects seem so troubled. The first because every iteration Hollywood has dreamt up for Akira includes removing its very Asianness (goddamnit Hollywood, just stop. Asia is an enormous enormous market for movies. You make no sense!) and the second from DC's habitual superhero and filmmaker interference problems. Wouldn't it be better if Peele follows his own muse? That worked pretty damn well for him the first time.
Comics Alliance Joss Whedon on which Avenger would make the best US President Vulture Tom Ford celebrates Jake Gyllenhaal's lack of manscaping THR Viola Davis to star in Steve McQueen's Widows, a female heist picture Acidemic offers tips for hunting for buried genre treasures (in this case vampire films) on Amazon Prime Bloody Disgusting the "Godfather of Gore" Gordon Lewis has passed away at 87. He's the cult filmmaker Juno and her new pal Jason Bateman obsessed over together Huffington Post Danielle Brooks and Gabby Sidibe love their plus size bodies for Lane Bryant. Cute commercial
Watch This an interview with John Butler who made Handsome Devil which will hopefully get a release soon. Fair warning: the type is ridiculously small. What is this, Tumblr? Coming Soon Dr Strange gets wobbly cosmic blurs motion posters US Weekly continuing the garbage fire theme of 2016 in which both people and Love keep dying, Naomi Watts & Liev Schrieber are breaking up EW Tom Holland in Spidey suit with mask off, a image from filming a scene or just goofing off? CASFFA 2016 our own Glenn Dunks was on the jury and Best Film went to Eva Nova which is Slovakia's entry in Foreign Film TFE... those foreign film charts if you missed them. Sooo many exciting prospects to seek out Playbill Tony Awards announce their eligibility dates for next summer. The awards show will be June 11th Playbill The Broadway adaptation of Disney's Frozen just had a creative team shakeup Kenneth in the (212)King Cobra opens next month. I forgot all about James Franco's latest gay baiting
Off Cinema Time Out lists the 25 best Broadway cast recordings of the new century. I definitely don't love the whole list (the high placement for The Full Monty is rather baffling) but there are many gems here. The two albums I've listened to the most from this list are Wild Party (love this write up) and The Light in the Piazza (utterly sublime -it would've been my #1) Slate the cast of Wil & Grace reunites for a special episode about the 2016 Election John Oliver breaks down the Trump scandals vs the Clinton scandals. The punchline is a work of prop department genius
Tweet of the Day Post-presidential debate movie jokes for the win
Last night's debate was like a nightmare version of 9 to 5 in which Dabney Coleman had the same amount of screen time as Dolly, Jane, & Lily
The Ringer Who is winning the Chris wars: Evans, Pine, or Hemsworth? /Film Stranger Things will get a sequel season, Netflix confirms. I'm a bit disappointed honestly because I thought an anthology approach would be more satisifying, with a whole new story. Season 1 was resolved satisfyingly. Who needs every story thread neatly tied up? Boo. The Metrograph has a Madonna week in August which will include a Q&A with Truth or Dare director Alek Keshishian - alas, the latter is already sold out. They also have a fun series in a week called "This is PG?!" featuring movies from the late 70s to the mid 80s when the MPAA was pressured into adding "PG-13" (I really have to get better at this Metrograph thing. They're big nights with Q&As seem to sell out instantly so I keep missing them.)
IGN interviews Joss Whedon at Comic Con. They talk Buffy comic book, secret projects, and whether a Black Widow movie would lure him back to Marvel EW on the pilot for Riverdale, the new CW series that will rethink the Archie comic books. Unfortunately it sounds like all TV high school dramas mixed with Twin Peaks (???) and not much like Archie apart from the character names. The New Yorker has a really interesting review of Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie The Hairpin on the 20th anniversary of Fiona Apple's awesome "Tidal". Fun read. Current Affairs isn't happy that our political leaders love Hamilton the musical
"New" Musicals and Plays Playbill This sounds interesting -there's a new stage musical in readings called Flying Over Sunset about Hollywood's LSD craze in the late 50s the main characters are Claire Booth Luce, Aldous Huxley, and Cary Grant. Good luck casting Cary Grant! Playbill another movie to stage adaptation - the animated feature The Prince of Egypt has been adapted into a full musical and gets a free concert next month in Sag Harbor, NY Variety wonders if the new Harry Potter play is the next Hamilton. It's sold out in London and expected on Broadway eventually
Trekkies Rejoice Coming Soon Bryan Fuller, who makes such good television (Hannibal, Pushing Daisies, Wonderfalls) has two new series coming up in 2017. The first Star Trek Discovery, due in January, now has a visual teaser. American Gods has no air date yet but is also expected in 2017. Forbes argues that Star Trek's movie franchise division would be smart to go smaller for bigger payoffs at the box office: Agreed. Space a Star Trek art exhibition called "Star Trek: 50 Artists. 50 Years" debuted at Comic Con and will now be touring conventions and museums, including NYC's Paley Center for Visual Media in September THR Gene Rodenberry's son is playing release rare unseen footage from the original Star Trek series
Today's Watch This reworking of the Cheers theme song by K Anderson & Rosered to celebrate LGBT history is really cool and poignant. [Hat Tip: Towleroad]
Friday, July 13, 2018 at 5:11PM 
