Scorsese vs the MCU, Jordan Peele Signs Universal Deal, Studiocanal Link With Hammer Films, More
The Film Magazine’s round-up of all the major film news from the week of Mon 30th Sept – Sun 6th Oct 2019.
Jordan Peele, the Oscar-winning screenwriter-director behind Us (2019) and Get Out (2017), has struck a five-year first-look deal with Universal that will see the studio distribute movies from his MonkeyPaw Productions banner, including 2 projects written and directed by Peele himself.
THR – 1st Oct 2019
Joker director Todd Phillips took another stab at opposition to his film in a recent interview with Vanity Fair: “Go try to be funny nowadays with this woke culture. There were articles written about why comedies don’t work anymore — I’ll tell you why, because all the fucking funny guys are like, ‘Fuck this shit, because I don’t want to offend you.’”
(via) CBR – 1st Oct 2019
Recommended for you: Joker (2019) Review
In an interview with Empire Magazine, legendary director Martin Scorsese whose latest film The Irishman (2019) is making its UK debut at London Film Festival, compared superhero movies to theme parks. He said, “I don’t see them. I tried, you know? But that’s not cinema. Honestly, the closest I can think of them, as well made as they are, with actors doing the best they can under the circumstances, is theme parks. It isn’t the cinema of human beings trying to convey emotional, psychological experiences to another human being.”
(via) Variety – 4th Oct 2019
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark director Andre Ovredal is in negotiations to direct horror-thriller Last Voyage of the Demeter for Amblin. The story tells the tale of the last voyage by the ship that was used to take Dracula to London.
THR – 1st Oct 2019
StudioCanal have reached a global licensing deal with Hammer Films to distribute the iconic horror house’s 200 film library in the UK, France, Germany and New Zealand as well as handle the production company’s international sales and marketing.
THR – 30th Sept 2019
Disney are rebooting the famous 1980s cartoon ‘Inspector Gadget’ for the big screen. Aladdin (2019) producers Dan Lin and Jonathan Eirich will oversee the project with Mikey Day and Streeter Seidell set to write the script.
THR – 4th Oct 2019
Le Mans ’66 star Matt Damon has revealed in an interview with British GQ that he turned down the lead role in James Cameron’s Avatar (2009). He told the magazine that he would have received 10% of the film’s profits had he accepted; a sum that would have totalled close to $200million.
British GQ – 30th Sept 2019
Kenneth Branagh’s upcoming sequel to the Agatha Christie story he directed and starred in (Murder on the Orient Express), Death on the Nile, has made its first major cast additions, with Annette Bening, Russell Brand, Ali Fazal, Dawn French, Gal Gadot, Armie Hammer, Rose Leslie, Emma Mackey, Sophie Okonedo, Jennifer Saunders and Letitia Wright all boarding the project.
Indiewire – 1st Oct 2019
Paramount’s latest Tom Clancy adaptation Without Remorse has cast four names to join its lead Michael B. Jordan (Creed; Black Panther). Jacob Scipio, Cam Gigandet, Jack Kesy and Todd Lasance have each joined the cast of the film set to be directed by Sicario 2: Soldado director Stefano Sollima.
Deadline – 4th Oct 2019
Disney Animation have revealed that they’ve hired Blindspotting director Carlos Lopez Estrada, Unlovable director Suzi Yoonessi, Ralph Breaks the Internet story artist Josie Trinidad and Zootopia story artist Marc Smith to direct four upcoming animated projects set for feature release.
THR – 1st Oct 2019
Upcoming Disney Animation release Frozen 2 will feature 7 original songs, with Panic! At the Disco, Kacey Musgraves and Weezer already signed on to deliver their own versions of some of them in the film’s credits.
THR – 30th Sept 2019
X-Men: First Class, Kick-Ass and Kingsman director Matthew Vaughn admitted in an interview at New York Comic Con this week that he’d like to direct a Marvel Studios Fantastic Four reboot. “I’ve always loved the idea of doing Fantastic Four as it was originally written. I mean it’s one of my favorite comics and I actually think that Fantastic Four, as a nice piece of IP, is in theory as big as Spider-Man. I think those, the values of Fantastic Four and Spider-Man, I think those are the reason, if you’re a kid, you can imagine being a part of the Fantastic Four family and you can imagine being Peter Parker. So yeah, I think Fan-Four would be the one that would excite me the most.”
Movieweb – 4th Oct 2019
WorkSafeBC, investigators into the on-set death of Deadpool 2 stunt performer Joi Harris, have concluded that the Fox funded production “failed to conduct a risk assessment addressing safety controls, speed of the motorcycle, and equipment limitations”, adding that “the employer failed to complete important health and safety documentation, including a stunt safety inspection checklist and a production activity notification checklist, as required by its own health and safety program.” It has been concluded that the results of the investigation “may result in an administrative penalty due to violations of the Workers’ Compensation Act or the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation”, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
THR – 2nd Oct 2019
Philip Gips, famed poster designer for Alien, Rosemary’s Baby and Kramer vs Kramer, has passed away aged 88.
THR – 4th Oct 2019
And finally…
The British Film Institute’s London Film Festival opened on Wednesday with the worldwide premiere of Armando Iannucci’s latest film The Personal History of David Copperfield starring Dev Patel. The festival, which began on Wednesday 2nd October, will run until Sunday the 13th October when new Martin Scorsese film The Irishman receives its UK premiere. The Film Magazine will be providing coverage of the festival from Monday 7th October on Twitter and Instagram, with reviews to be published on site throughout the week.
[DISPLAY_ULTIMATE_SOCIAL_ICONS]
