FOR HBO REMAKE WITH MICHAEL B. JORDAN & MICHAEL SHANNON
Science fiction and fantasy for you today, spylings! HBO has released a trailer and photos for their adaptation of Ray Bradbury's classic dystopian novel
New Fahrenheit 451 will air on HBO this May
FAHRENHEIT 451 with Michael B. Jordan and Michael Shannon which will air in May! The television movie is set in a world in which media is
Michael B. Jordan as fireman Guy Montag
an opiate, history is outlawed and firemen are the people who burn books! Michael B. Jordan is Guy Montag, a fireman who questions his actions after
Michael Shannon as Guy's evil boss Beatty
meeting a young girl... and begins to rebel against society. which gets him into a battle with his mentor Beatty (Shannon). Sofia Boutella, Martin Donovan are also in the cast.
'INTO THE BADLANDS'
SEASON 3 STARTS THIS APRIL!
And it is about time that I remind you that the third season of equally dystopian series INTO THE BADLANDS starts on AMC April 22nd! This highly unique and extremely attractive mix of fantasy, mediaeval weapons,
Amazing Daniel Wu returns as everybody's favourite clipper Sunny
feudal setting, Asian martial arts, breathtaking costumes and sets and steampunk magic will see its lead hero Sunny (Daniel Wu) living off the grid,
Lorraine Toussaint will play Prophetess Cressida, a mentor to Pilgrim
doing his best to provide for his infant son, Henry, in the wake of Veil’s death. It is only when Henry contracts a mysterious illness that Sunny must rejoin forces with Bajie (Nick Frost) and journey back INTO THE BADLANDS,
Sunny will try to find a cure for Henry's mysterious illness!
where The Widow (Emily Beecham) and Baron Chau (Eleanor Matsuura) are entrenched in a drawn-out war that has destabilized the entire region. No longer supported by Tilda (Ally Ioannides) or Waldo (Stephen Lang), The
Emily Beecham is still trying to end feudal system as The Widow
Widow must find new allies in Lydia (Orla Brady) and in Nathaniel Moon (Sherman Augustus) - the former regent who lost his hand to Sunny and Bajie in season two. But when a mysterious nomadic leader called Pilgrim
Ungrateful brat Tilda is still not listening to her mummy The Widow
(Babou Ceesay) arrives in the Badlands on a mission to restore Azra and usher in a new era of “peace," old enemies must band together to defend the Badlands.
What better way to cheer up your beginning of the week than with some animated delights? To be released sometime this year ARCTIC JUSTICE follows
Swifty the Arctic fox (Jeremy Renner) who works in the mail room
Aaron Woodley directs Arctic Justice
of the Arctic Blast Delivery Service but dreams of one day becoming a Top Dog (the Arctic's star husky couriers). To prove himself worthy of the Top Dog role, Swifty secretly commandeers one of the sleds and delivers a package to a mysterious location. He stumbles upon a secret fortress where he comes face to face with Otto Von Walrus (John Cleese), a blubbery evil genius who walks around on mechanical legs and commands a loyal army of oddly polite puffin henchmen. Swifty soon discovers Von Walrus' plan to melt the polar ice caps and flood the world in order to reign supreme. Now, Swifty has to enlist the help of his friends: PB (Alec Baldwin), a concerned polar bear, Lemmy
Hump is a German/Belgian coproduction
(James Franco), a scatterbrained albatross, Bertha and Leopold (Heidi Klum and Omar Sy), two conspiracy theorist otters and Jade, a worldly fox. This ragtag group of Arctic misfits has to band together to stop Von Walrus' sinister plans and save the day. Michael Madsen, Anjelica Huston are also in the voice cast!
'HUMP'
A BUMP IN THE ROAD Set in a bit warmer regions than Arctic Justice is delightful
adventure HUMP directed by Rob Gibbs (who worked as a member of animation and story
Rob Gibbs is directing camel adventure Hump
writing crews on popular animated mega hits such asPocahontas, Brave,
Wall-E, ToyStory). The story of this delightful animated movie follows the misadventures of Rami, a timid, yet
kind hearted camel who sets out on a daring journey across the Arabian
Desert with a pair of unlikely companions, an ill tempered goat and an
overconfident desert fox, determined to reunite him with his owner and
best friend, Omar, a 10 year-old Bedouin boy.
GEMMA ARTERTON AND JAMES PUREFOY ARE MARILYN & WILDER
The episode will be a half hour comedy
Tons of comedy updates today: Gemma Arterton will play the lead role in one-off TV comedy MARILYN MONROE AND BILLY WILDER which will, as Deadline writes, cover hard drinking Monroe’s inability to land the famous ‘it’s me, sugar’ line in Some Like it Hot, although some suggest it was actually a deliberate ploy by Monroe to get Wilder to rewrite the movie. James Purefoy will play Billy Wilder and this is to be a part of Sky Art's Urban Myths comedy series which will also include When Bowie Met Bolan with Jack Whitehall as Bolan and Luke Treadaway as Bowie, The Dali and The Cooper with David Suchet!
DAMON WAYANS JR AT CBS
Damon Wayan's new sitcom is still untitled!
While we're waiting for the 2nd season of Marlon with his older brother, Damon Wayans Jr will topline an untitled multicam sitcom at CBS about Peter and Claire, a thirty something couple who are tired of their mundane life and start to reconnect with their younger, cooler selves when an emerging pop star, who is his client and is drawn to their super-normal suburban life, comes to live with them. The pop star will be played by young
Felix Mallard will play the cheerful and naive pop star.
Australian actor Felix Mallard! His pop star is a very positive guy who sees the good in everyone and everything, as well as being effortlessly cool and youthfully naïve.
SEAN KLEIER IN 'SO CLOSE'
Over at NBC Sean Kleier and Sasheer Zamata will lead SO CLOSE multicam sitcom from Will & Grace's Greg Malins about hopeless romantics Riley and Kyle. At crossroads in their separate lives, they are close to settling
Sean Kleier and Sabrina Carpenter will be roommates in So Close
for the wrong partner, unaware that they live only blocks apart and may be each other’s soul mates. Girl Meets World's Sabrina Carpenter will play Kyle's crazy roommate, while Punam Patel will also star.
Faith Ford returns as Corky Sherwood
MURPHY BROWN CAST RETURNS CBS has, meanwhile, managed to get all of the stars of the original MURPHY BROWN to come back in the 13 episode return of the classic sitcom! Joining Candice Bergen, who will again play the famous journalist and news anchor Murphy Brown, are lovely Faith Ford as perky anchor Corky Sherwood, Joe Regalbuto as investigative reporter Frank Fontana and Grant Shaud as their executive producer Miles Silverberg! Deadline reports that Charles Kimbrough, who played anchorman Jim Dial, will guest star as he is now over 80.
'I MOM SO HARD' GETS DADS!
I've already reported that Kristin Hensley and Jen Smedley will lead CBS’ multicam comedy pilot I MOM SO HARD and now they got Undateable's David Fynn and Freddie Prinze Jr as their male leads. The story follows
David Fynn and Freddie Prinze Jr are the dads in I Mom So Hard
two moms who show how their friendship gets them through being wives and mothers! Fynn will be Kristin's affable school teacher husband and Prinze Jr Jen's athlete husband with a dry sense of humour.
'LIVING BIBLICALLY' SITCOM
STARTS TOMORROW AT CBS! I also want to remind you to tune in tomorrow night at CBS where
they're launching new sitcom LIVING BIBLICALLY about a modern day man
(Jay R. Ferguson) at a crossroads in his life who decides to live
strictly in accordance with the Bible!
'DANGEROUS BOOK FOR BOYS'
NEW SITCOM AT AMAZON!
Enchanting new sitcom starts next month!
After she was kicked out of Kevin Can Wait in such a vile way, lovely Erinn Hayes is returning to comedy in THE DANGEROUS BOOK FOR BOYSwhich starts at Amazon March 30th! It follows the McKenna family as they cope with the untimely passing of Patrick (Chris Diamantopoulos), their patriarch and a whimsical inventor who touched the lives of everyone who knew him. His death has left the family reeling, but hope appears in the form of a book called THE DANGEROUS BOOK FOR BOYS that Patrick created as a handbook to help his three sons.
The book is a how-to guide for childhood that inspires fantasies for his youngest son, Wyatt (Gabriel Bateman). While in his fantasy world, Wyatt reconnects
Erinn Hayes returns to sitcom world as the mom of the family
with his father and learns life skills that help him navigate the real world. Swoosie Kurtz plays the grandmother, with Diamantopoulos also in the role of Patrick’s twin brother.
First photo has been revealed for Chiwetel Ejiofor drama THE BOY WHO HARNESSED THE WIND which he not only directs and writes, but
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind does not yet have a release date
also stars in! Based on the book by William Kamkwamba, it followsa boy in Malawi who helps his village by building a wind turbine after reading about them in a library book.
1ST 'BIRTHMARKED' TRAILER
FOR A COMEDY STARRING TONI COLLETTE AND MATTHEW GOODE
The movie is out March in USA, May in Canada
There is also the first poster and a trailer for hilarious comedy BIRTHMARKED set in 1977, when two respected scientists, Ben Morin (Matthew Goode) and his wife Catherine (Toni Collette) quit their jobs at the university to conduct an experiment they think will revolutionize our understanding of human identity. The project aims to raise three children contrarily to their genetic predispositions to prove the ultimate power of nurture over nature. They want to prove that everyone has the same potential to become anything. Maya, a newborn girl adopted from two feeble minded parents, is raised to be smart, while Maurice, a newborn boy adopted from two
Matthew Goode and Toni Collette lead the cast in the Canadian comedy
anger-prone parents, is raised to be a pacifist. Finally, their own biological son Luke, who comes from a long lineage of scientific brains, is raised to become a revered artist. The experiment will reveal little scientific truth, but rather lead Ben and Catherine to discover the true value of family.
The film comes from Judi Dench's Red Joan producers
Period set Friday today as well, starting with the first poster for Gemma Arterton's new drama SUMMERLAND set in WW2! In this love story, Gemma plays fiercely independent writer Alice who secludes herself in her study: occupied by her work but also profoundly lonely, haunted by a love affair from her past.
When spirited young Frank, an evacuee from the London Blitz, is dumped into her irritable care, his innocence and wonder awaken Alice’s deeply buried emotions.
Bravely embracing life’s miraculous unpredictability, Alice learns that wounds may be healed, hope and second chances do exist, and any woman must defiantly be two things: who and what she wants.
'THE ASPERN PAPERS'
WITH JONATHAN RHYS MEYERS AND JOELY RICHARDSON
There is also the first poster and a photo from a movie I've been announcing for years now: THE ASPERN PAPERS in which Jonathan Rhys Meyers
Call Me By My Name's James Ivory is producing
plays an ambitious editor who tries to obtain romance letters a romantic poet sent to his mistress. Jon Kortajarena joins Joely Richardson and her mother Vanessa Redgrave in the big screen adaptation of Henry James novel!
The 19th century movie follows Morton Vint (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), a
young writer and publisher fascinated by iconic romantic poet Jeffrey
Aspern, who strives to get his hands on the letters Aspern wrote to his
beautiful mistress Juliana Bordereau. Now, decades later, Juliana
(Vanessa
The movie has been offered for international sales this month in Berlin
Redgrave) lives in a Venetian palazzo with her niece (Joely
Richardson), whom she dominates and whom Morton tries to seduce.
BIOPIC CASTS ANEURIN BARNARD, SAM RILEY, ANYA TAYLOR JOY
Aneurin Barnard will be scientist Langevin
Earlier this winter I informed you that Rosamund Pike will play Marie Curie in the biopic titled RADIOACTIVE and now 'Deadline' reports that Sam Riley, Aneurin Barnard,Miniaturist star Anya Taylor Joy and Simon Russell Beale have joined the cast too!
RADIO ACTIVE will follow the Nobel Prize winner Curie when she meets fellow
scientist Pierre Curie (Sam Riley) in 1893. The pair go on to marry,
raise two daughters and change the face of science forever by jointly
winning the Nobel for the discovery of radium in 1903. After the death
of her husband, Curie continues her research and invites scandal when
she has an affair with another prominent scientist, Paul Langevin
(Aneurin Barnard). However, it
Anya Taylor Joy will play Marie Curie's daughter in the movie
is Marie’s commitment to science which
prevails, and the responsibility that comes with discoveries that change
the world.
Anya Taylor Joy will be Curie’s daughter, Irene, while Simon Russell
Beale is Professor Lippmann of the Université de Paris who collides with
Marie.
'ON CHESIL BEACH' TRAILER
STARRING SAOIRSE RONAN, BILLY HOWLE AND EMILY WATSON
The movie should hit cinemas in US this May
You can also see tons of familiar faces in the first trailer for delicate new drama ON CHESIL BEACH which is out in cinemas this June!
Adapted by Ian McEwan from his best selling novel, the drama centres on a young couple (Saoirse Ronan and Billy Howle) of drastically different backgrounds in the summer of 1962. Following the pair through their idyllic courtship, the film explores sex and the societal pressure that can accompany physical intimacy, leading to an awkward and fateful wedding night. The film stars also Anne-Marie Duff, Adrian Scarborough, Emily Watson, and Samuel West.
AMAZON TO TURN IAIN BANKS' SF SAGA INTO A TV SERIES
Amazon is working on a number of sf series
Amazon is planning to turn sf classic saga Culture into a TV series starting with the first book CONSIDER PHLEBAS from Iain Banks set in an interstellar utopian society, the Culture, which has humanoids, aliens, and advanced artificial intelligences living in Socialist habitats spread across the Milky Way galaxy until a war starts with the Idirans, a deeply religious, warlike race intent on dominating the entire galaxy. The series will follow Horza, a rogue agent tasked by the Idirans with the impossible mission of recovering a missing Culture ‘Mind,’ an artificial intelligence many thousands of times smarter than any human, something that could hold the key to wiping out the Culture altogether.
'LOST IN SPACE' REMAKE
FIRST TEASER AND PHOTOS FOR NETFLIX NEW SF SERIES
Netflix has revealed the first teaser and April 13th as the launch date for new LOST IN SPACE sf series starring Toby Stephens! Set 30 years in the future, colonization in space is now a reality, and the Robinson family is
Tobey Stephens leads the cast as the head of the Robinson family
among those tested and selected to make a new life for themselves in a better world. But when the new colonists find themselves abruptly torn off course en
The first season starting this April will have ten episodes
route to their new home they must forge new alliances and work together to survive in a dangerous alien environment, light-years from their original destination. Stranded along with the Robinsons are two outsiders who find
Ignacio Serricchio is a charming contractor lost in space!
themselves thrown together by circumstance and a mutual knack for deception. The unsettlingly charismatic Dr. Smith (Parker Posey) is a master manipulator with an inscrutable end game. And the roguish, but
Molly Parker plays mother of the Robinson family!
inadvertently charming Don West (Ignacio Serricchio) is a highly-skilled, blue collar contractor, who had no intention of joining the colony, let alone crash landing on a lost planet.
WITH IMELDA STAUNTON, TIMOTHY SPALL AND CELIA IMRIE
You may find Finding Your Feet in UK cinemas this wekend
While Hollywood is sleeping or watching overhyped superhero flicks, I will be showing you a bunch of trailers and posters for smaller films in upcoming few days, starting with deeply entertaining and marvellously uplifting comedy movie FINDING YOUR FEET which is hitting European cinemas this weekend and then throughout March with Timothy Spall, Celia Imrie, Imelda Staunton, Joanna Lumley in the amazing thespian cast!
On the eve of retirement a middle class, judgemental snob (outstanding Imelda Staunton) discovers
her husband has been having an affair with her best
Everyone deserves a second chance with a push in the right direction
friend and is forced
into exile with her bohemian sister (brilliant Celia Imrie) who lives on an impoverished
inner-city council estate.
'I KILL GIANTS' TRAILER
ZOE SALDANA & IMOGEN POOTS
I Kill Giants is based on a comic book of the same name
Meanwhile, something less funny coming out this March in US cinemas and April in Europe, is I KILL GIANTS based on J.M. Ken Nimura and Joe Kelly's 2008 graphic novel in which little Madison Wolfe plays a girl named
Barbara Thorson who struggles through life by escaping into a fantasy life of magic and monsters. Check out the truly magnificent trailer below for the movie which also stars Imogen Poots, Zoe Saldana and Jennifer Ehle!
WITH JUDI DENCH AS KGB'S LONGEST SERVING BRITISH SPY
First pictures have been released of Judi Dench and Sophie Cookson in RED JOAN! They both play
English born Joan Stanley, a Soviet and communist party sympathizer, who becomes employed as a British
Judi Dench plays older Red Joan in the movie
government civil servant, and gets recruited by the KGB in the mid 1930s. She successfully transfers nuclear bomb secrets to the Soviet Union, which enables
Sophie Cookson plays younger Red Joan in the movie
them to keep up with the west in the development of atomic weapons, and remains undetected as a spy for over a half a century. Tom Hughes also stars in the movie which does not have a release date!
'7 DAYS IN ENTEBBE' TRAILER
INSPIRED BY TRUE EVENTS
The movie is out this March
In the trailer department, check out the first trailer and a new poster for 7 DAYS IN ENTEBBE, an action movie based on true events out this April in cinemas starring Rosamund Pike, Daniel Bruhl and Nonso Anozie as Idi Amin.
In July 1976, an Air France flight from Tel-Aviv to Paris via Athens
was hijacked and forced to land in Entebbe, Uganda. The Jewish
passengers were separated and held hostage in demand to release many
terrorists held in Israeli prisons. After much debate, the Israeli
government sent an elite commando unit to raid the airfield and release
the hostages.
Two years after the spectacular Magnificent Century epic series ended with its KosemSultanaspin-off, we are finally getting another lavish historical saga from Turkey! First teaser and first photos were released last week for MEHMED: CONQUEROR OF THE WORLD (Mehmed bir cihan fatihi) which will see Turkish superstar Kenan İmirzalıoğlu playing the famous Ottoman sultan who invaded Constantinople and brought Turks onto European ground back in the 15th century!
Mehmed was a ruthless warrior
DEZZY'S HISTORY LESSON Known for his bloody conquest of Constantinople (today's Istanbul)
when he was only 21 back in 1453, Sultan Mehmed is both the most famous and the
most infamous of all Turkish rulers who ended Eastern Roman Empire with
his invasion. He was known for extreme cruelty and even his stepmother
Serbian princess Mara, known also as Despina Mara, who not only raised
him after his mother died at the court of his father Sultan Murad, but
also secured his way to the throne and then became his official Valida
Sultana (Mother Sultana), could not handle his impulsive nature and
outbursts of cruelty. He did not stop at Istanbul, and during 30 years
of rule he spread the territory of Ottoman Empire all over Anadoliaand
also in Europe as far as Bosnia and Serbia. He also strengthened Ottoman
navy which he used to end up the two month long siege of Constantinople
by transporting 80 of his war ships overland in order to surround the
city both by sea and land. After he took over Constantinople he also
conquered Despotate of Morea, the Empire of Trebizond and Serbia which
he thought he had a claim on through his stepmother Despina Mara. He
also conquered most of the Black Sea coast and Wallachia (although Vlad
Dracula gave him tons of trouble there LOL). He also led war against Venice.
According to most historical evidence he was bisexual and very
aggressive and cruel to his lovers, both male and female ones. He even
allegedly raped the little 14 year old son of the Constantinople general
in front of him before beheading the whole family. One of the
Wallachian princes was his lover too.
THE REST OF THE CAST
The series, which is expected to start airing sometime this year (I've heard possibly this March) on Turkish Kanal D will also have a cast consisting of Selin Demiratar as his consort Sultana Hatice although I hear she's been replaced in the meantime by Büşra Develi Mehmed so I guess we shall have to wait and see, Seda Bakan as another of his wives Sultana Chichek, Ertan Saban as Byzantine emperor Constantine and others.
A bunch of casting news today, beginning with Josh O'Connor whom we adored in The Durrells and God's Own Country, and who has now joined Bill
Josh O'Connor will play the son of the family
Nighy and Annette Bening in HOPE GAP from Gladiator writer William Nicholson who now also directs.
As 'Screen Daily' reports, Josh will play Jamie, the son of married
couple Grace (Annette Bening) and Edward (Bill Nighy). When Jamie comes
to visit for the weekend at their seaside home, Edward informs him that
he plans to leave Grace. HOPE GAPS tracks the unravelling of three
lives, through stages of shock, disbelief, anger and resolution.Beside
the third season of Durrells, which should start soon at ITV, we shall
also watch Josh O'Connor in BBC's Les Miserables mini series as Marius
Pontmercy!
WW2 'WAITING FOR ANYA'
MOVIE CASTS ANJELICA HUSTON AND THOMAS KRETSCHMANN
Thomas Kretschmann will also star
Meanwhile, Goldfinch Studious is set to produce World War 2 drama WAITING FOR ANYA which will star Anjelica Huston, Thomas Kretschmann and little Noah Schnapp. In the big screen adaptation of a book written in 1990 by Michael Morpurgo, who is also famous for War Horse, Stranger Things star Noah Schnapp will play a young shepherd, Jo, from Lescun in Southern France, who took part in smuggling Jewish children across the border into Spain during the war. As 'Deadline' writes, Anjelica Huston will play a widow named Horcada in the film.
TONI COLLETTE
TO GET A 'SEA FEVER'
Toni has another horror Hereditary out this summer
If you're more in the mood for action and thrillers, Australian star Toni Collette will lead Neasa Hardiman directed SEA FEVER in which the story is set on a fishing trawler off the Irish West Coast. Toni Collette will portray the captain of the ship who fights to keep her crew alive when the vessel is infested with a deadly parasite. Hermione Corfied is also in the cast and she will play a marine biology student on board.
