News

Lance Reddick detailed his “John Wick” character Charon’s backstory in one of his final interviews. The late “Wire” alum died March 17 of unknown causes. In a new Screen Rant interview published one day before his death, Reddick revealed how the fourth “John Wick” film deepened concierge Charon’s connection to Continental hotel manager Winston, played by Ian McShane. “We talked about [it] independently, and came to have a backstory that was very similar since we’ve talked about it,” Reddick said of devising a backstory alongside McShane. “But I think we’ve known each other for decades; probably met when he was in Africa, doing some MI6 work, and I was teenager not too well off. And one of us saved each other’s lives. And then he took...

Updated, March 17: The dislike counter is not publicly accessible and was removed by the platform in 2021. The alleged numbers are inaccurate. Published, March 16: Josh Gad doesn’t want to be part of a world that allows racism. Gad took to Twitter to slam the “pathetic” trolls who disliked the new live-action “Little Mermaid” trailer starring Halle Bailey as Ariel. “Imagine being so broken and pathetic in life that your chief concern is the skin color of…a make-believe singing mermaid,” Gad captioned a retweet of Democratic organization Call to Activism’s post citing that “The Little Mermaid” has been mass-disliked on YouTube. Per Call to Activism, the teaser received 3 million down votes and the new trailer currently has at more...

Denzel Washington is heading to ancient Rome. The Oscar winner is in final negotiations to join Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator” sequel, an individual with knowledge of the project told IndieWire. He will appear alongside lead star Paul Mescal and rumored co-star Barry Keoghan. Deadline first reported the casting news. This will be Washington’s next role following Antoine Fuqua’s “The Equalizer 3,” a new franchise installment. “Gladiator 2” will mark Washington’s second collaboration with director-producer Scott 16 years after “American Gangster.” Scott revealed that the sequel to the Oscar-winning 2000 film will take place 20 years later, with Mescal’s role as part of the next generation of the ruling Roman family. The estimated era for...

Even when he’s not trying to be funny, laughter can be the first response that greets William Shatner. Some may think of him as a caricature. What Alexandre O. Philippe’s thoughtful, searching new documentary “You Can Call Me Bill” reveals, without ever being so blunt as to say as much, is that that laughter reveals more about us than about Shatner. About our inability to comprehend someone quite as complex, as defiantly irreducible, as the man who once was Captain Kirk. Shatner may be pop culture’s greatest master of pontification, and there is no topic on which he doesn’t have thoughts. He’s expressed them before in the 2001 Peter Jaysen documentary “Mind/Meld”; in the 2011 documentary that he himself directed looking back at the...

The success of “Scream VI” proved that the semi-reboot approach that the franchise employed with last year’s “Scream” has been embraced by fans — and that the series’ young new cast is here to stay. The film has thrust rising star Melissa Barrera, who plays Sam Carpenter, into the spotlight. But it’s hardly her first major film role. The actress landed a coveted opportunity in 2021 when she was cast as Vanessa in John M. Chu’s film adaptation of “In the Heights.” The film was generally praised as a faithful adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical, but only grossed $45 million worldwide against a $55 million budget. The film’s June 2021 release — when the world was technically starting to reopen after the rollout of the COVID-19...

“The Five Devils” and “For My Country” won the Emerging Filmmaker and Audience Awards at this year’s Rendez-Vous with French Cinema, Unifrance and Film at Lincoln Center announced Thursday. Hosted at Lincoln Center every year, the annual Rendez-Vous with French Cinema festival screens a variety of films from contemporary French filmmakers. This year’s edition, which ran from March 2-12, hosted screenings for 21 features, including opening film “Revoir Paris” from Alice Winocour, Arnaud Desplechin’s “Brother and Sister,” Louis Garrel’s “The Innocent,” and Quentin Dupieux’s “Smoking Causes Coughing.” “The Five Devils,” the sophomore film from “Ava” filmmaker Léa Mysius, stars Sally Dramé as Vicky, a young girl with a supernatural talent...

Ben Affleck is done directing for DC. Seven years after it was announced in 2016 that Affleck would be writing, directing, and starring in a “Batman” film, Affleck confirmed he has no interest in helming a superhero feature, especially under new DC Studios CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran. “I would not direct something for the [James] Gunn DC. Absolutely not,” Affleck said in a The Hollywood Reporter cover story. “I have nothing against James Gunn. Nice guy, sure he’s going to do a great job. I just wouldn’t want to go in and direct in the way they’re doing that. I’m not interested in that.” Prior to Matt Reeves’ “The Batman,” Affleck’s scrapped Caped Crusader script focused on Arkham Asylum and would have shown the the darker side...

Hugh Grant has picked the hill he wants to die on: A “Notting Hill” Easter egg, to be exact. The deadpan actor revealed during a Wired video alongside “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” co-stars Chris Pine and Michelle Rodriguez that he found the ending of 1999 rom-com “Notting Hill” to be “nauseating” due to a small detail director Roger Michell included. “Notting Hill,” which has been considered by many a rom-com classic over the years, stars Julia Roberts as Anna Scott, a famous actress who falls for local British bookstore owner William Thacker (Grant) while filming on location. The final scene shows Anna cuddling with William on a park bench as he reads a novel, one that had a special meaning to late director Michell. “In...

No, no, it’s not a movie like the titular video game, it’s a movie about the titular video game. Tetris? The ’80s-game Tetris? That gets a whole film about its creation? Wouldn’t blocks falling from above be more dramatic? Well, actually… the creation, discovery, and licensing of Tetris is kind of wild (first hint: it was made by a Soviet software engineer long before the Soviet Union collapsed). But, spoiler alert: It’s not wild enough to engender an often weirdly straightforward historical dramedy dedicated to its legend. But dammit if director Jon S. Baird and star Taron Egerton don’t do their damndest to fit these disparate pieces together (sorry) into a cohesive story. If nothing else, you’ll walk away from “Tetris” knowing a heck...

It appears “Willow’s” magic has already run out again. The Disney+ fantasy series, a sequel to the 1988 Ron Howard film of the same name, will not return for a second season, IndieWire has confirmed. The news comes two months after the show, which premiered on November 30, concluded its eight-episode run on Disney+ in January. Like the film, “Willow” was produced by Lucasfilm, which has been one of the main drivers of content for Disney’s core streaming service through shows based on the “Star Wars” franchise; others include “The Mandalorian,” “The Book of Boba Fett,” “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” “Andor,” and the upcoming “Ahsoka,” “Skeleton Crew,” and “The Acolyte.” Disney+ ended 2022 with 102.9 subscribers; another 61.3 million are in the...

Outfest Fusion, LA nonprofit Outfest‘s film festival dedicated to queer BIPOC storytelling, has unveiled the full lineup of films for its 20th anniversary festival. 10 features, 93 short films, and four TV presentations will screen during the March festival in Los Angeles, including Sundance documentaries “Little Richard: I Am Everything” and “The Stroll.” Documentary “Kenyatta: Do Not Wait Your Turn,” produced by Lee Daniels and Al Roker, will make its North American premiere during the festival; in total, 23 films will make world premieres, five will make their U.S. premiere, four their international premieres, and three their North American premieres. Over half of all films were directed by women, non-binary, two spirit, or...

This year’s South by Southwest Film & TV Festival has officially unveiled the 2023 winners list. With buzzy titles such as “Bottoms,” “Beef,” “Swarm,” and “Air” debuting at the festival, the 2023 conference in Austin, Texas proved to be a memorable time. “What an extraordinary week of film and TV premieres here at SXSW, and there is more to come through Saturday,” Claudette Godfrey, VP, Flm & TV, said. “Our theaters have been brimming with enthusiastic audiences celebrating the exceptional and diverse work in our lineup, and we’re so excited to celebrate this year’s jury and special award winners!” The Narrative Feature Competition, presented by Panavision, bestowed the top honor to “Raging Grace,” written and directed by Paris...

A nun teams up with an enemy AI to find the Holy Grail. That synopsis sound like it was written — well, by an AI, but actually comes from Damon Lindelof and Tara Hernandez, who premiered their eclectic drama at South by Southwest on Tuesday. At the premiere, star Betty Gilpin described the show as “No country for old Looney Tunes” and laughed afterward, saying they had just shared “the two normal episodes.” Costar Jake McDornan described the scripts as “mad libs that snowballed out of control.” “The missive here is ‘Keep Austin weird,'” Lindelof said ahead of the March 14 premiere. “‘Mrs. Davis’ is hopefully going to do just that.” The first two episodes had the crowd laughing at scripted jokes, visual gags, and general absurdity...