HUGO WEAVING, DANIEL HENSHALL AND BRANTON THWAITES
Foxtel's streamer Binge from Australia has announced work on their first original movie titled HOW TO MAKE GRAVY and they have set up quite a nice cast which will include Hugo Weaving, Daniel Henshall, Brenton Thwaites, Damon Herriman, Kate Mulvany from The Twelve
Brenton Thwaites, Hugo Weaving and Daniel Henshall will lead the cast
and Agate Russell. Also including cameos from Australian music stars, the movie is based on Paul Kelly’s iconic Australian song that tells the story of an inmate writing a letter home as his family prepares to celebrate their first Christmas without him.
Eight episode musical mini TV series based on Beauty and the Beast's character GASTON has just added Fra Free over at Disney Plus. Set in the iconic kingdom years before the Beast and Belle’s romance, the series will follow Gaston (Luke Evans) and LeFou (Josh Gad) as they set off with LeFou’s step-sister, Tilly (Brianna Middleton), after a surprising revelation
Luke Evans and Fra Free will lead the cast of Gaston
from her past comes to light, sending the unlikely trio off on an unexpected journey filled with romance, comedy, and adventure. While the mysteries of the past are uncovered and the dangers of the present grow, old friends and new enemies reveal that this familiar kingdom harbors many secrets. Fra Fee will play Prince Benoit Berlioz, a childhood friend of Tilly’s who has grown into a handsome, charismatic, confident prince.
EXPIRED SF TRAILER SENDS
RYAN KWANTEN, HUGO WEAVING TO A FUTURISTIC MEGACITY
Expired arrives next Month!
Previously known as Loveland, Australian sf movie EXPIRED is arriving February 10th with Ryan Kwanten and Hugo Weaving. In a futuristic Hong Kong, assassin Jack (Ryan Kwanten), crosses paths with a nightclub singer, April (Jillian Nguyen). As Jack becomes increasingly drawn to April his body mysteriously deteriorates. Jack tracks down reclusive life extension scientist Doctor Bergman (Hugo Weaving), in a search for answers. Doctor Bergman unearths Jack's long buried secret and is forced to confront his own murky past. As the net that connects them tightens, Jack and April struggle for love as they face their past in a loveless world that is on the cusp of immortality and extinction.
SANDITON SEASON 2
FIRST TEASER IS HERE!
Well, PBS has surprised us today with the first teaser for SANDITON season two which arrives March 20th! The six new episodes of ITV and Masterpiece
Season two arrives next March!
PBS
drama pick up nine months after the events of Season 1, as Charlotte
returns to the beautiful seaside resort and soon attracts the attention
of not one, but two new men. Tom Weston Jones will be Colonel
Francis Lennox, the leader of the military regiment taking up residence
in Sanditon, who soon shows that first impressions aren’t everything,
and next to him are Captain Declan Fraser (Frank Blake) and Captain William Carter (Maxim Ays), who both strike up an acquaintance with Charlotte’s younger sister Alison. Ben Lloyd Hughes will play Alexander Colbourne, a man of wealth who is thoughtful, cerebral, and antisocial to the
Tom Weston Jones will be the new hunkster in town!
point of reclusiveness! Meanwhile, Alexander Vlahos will play enigmatic and worldly Charles Lockhart, a Byronic artist, lover, critic, and explorer in equal measures!
According to latest news, Keanu Reeves might take the lead role in Martin Scorsese's expensive TV series adaptation of Erik Larson's book DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY over at Hulu. The period set thriller would tell the true story of two men, an architect and a serial killer, whose fates were forever linked by The Chicago World’s Fair of 1893. It follows Daniel H.
Keanu Reeves is in negotiations to take the lead role
Burnham, a brilliant and fastidious architect racing to make his mark on the world and Henry H. Holmes, a handsome and cunning doctor who fashioned his own pharmaceutical “Murder Castle” on fair grounds – a palace built to seduce, torture and kill young women. The story takes the viewer on a tour of murder, romance and mystery in the gilded age.
LOVE ME TV SERIES
COMING FROM FOXTEL
Last year we had a couple of really nice shows coming from Australia, from award winning and utterly brilliant Newsreader with Sam Reid to Fires with
The show streamed on Binge December 26th
a super stellar cast, and then during summer I announced LOVE ME six part series, the first one produced by Foxtel's streaming service Binge. Well, that one aired day after Christmas and the reactions of the audience were lovely with everyone hoping for a second season. Today you can check out the trailer and poster for the series that explores modern love as
experienced by different family members at different stages of life and is directed by woman who brought us two biggest of recent Australian dramas Stateless and above mentioned Newsreader, celebrated Australian director Emma Freeman!
As
she nears 40, Clare's own fears of pursuing a successful career at the
detriment of nurturing her own family come to the fore. While Glen
navigates newfound romance in his older age facing his own anguish along
the way.
Then there's Aaron stumbling through life's challenges while he comes to
terms with his own identity.
The cast includes Hugo Weaving and Serbian actress Bojana Novakovic as his daughter, William Lodder as his son, as well as Bob Morley, Heather Mitchell, Sarah Peirse, Celia Pacquola, Shalom Brune Franklin and Mitzi Ruhlmann!
We're Down Under today where a new romantic drama series is already shooting: six episode series LOVE ME explores modern love as
Hugh Weaving will lead the new series
experienced by different family members at different stages of life and is directed by woman who brought us two biggest of recent Australian dramas Stateless and Newsreader, celebrated Australian director Emma Freeman! Starring Hugo Weaving and Serbian actress Bojana Novakovic, as well as Bob Morley, HeatherMitchell, Sarah Peirse, Celia Pacquola, William Lodder, Shalom Brune Franklin and Mitzi Ruhlmann, the series is being done for Fotxtel's streamer Binge which was launched last year but already has almost one million subscribers.
NEWSREADER TV SERIES
WITH OUTSTANDING SAM REID
The series mentioned above has already started airing down in Australia. Six episode series NEWSREADER aired its first episode last Sunday
The Newsreader started last Sunday
on their national broadcaster ABC created by Michael Lucas. Staring our dearest Australian boo Sam Reid (whom you will watch next year at ACM as vampire Lestat in the new adaptation of Interview with a Vampire) and Anna Torv, the series depicts an unconventional relationship in a world on the cusp of change; a star news reader and an ambitious reporter join forces in a ruthless 1986 newsroom, as events unfold that will change their lives. The series sees them covering some of the greatest events that have changed the world back in the 80s and we see them report on them while they were happening: Halley's Comet, AIDS outbreak, explosion of Challenger etc. Amongst it all, newsreader Helen Norville (Anna
The Newsreader has six hourlong episodes!
Torv) is determined to build her credibility, while her colleague Dale Jennings (Sam Reid) is desperate to become a newsreader. From messy beginnings, they will form an unlikely bond that will transform the very fabric
Anna Torv and Sam Reid lead the cast of The Newsreader
of the nightly news bulletin. The series also stars Robert Taylor, William McInnes, Michelle Lim Davidson, Stephen Peacocke, Chai Hansen, Chum Ehelepola and Marg Downey.
In a coproduction between BBC One, Australian streamer Stan, German ZDF and American HBO Max, titled THE TOURIST, Jamie Dornan will return to
Jamie Dornan will lead the new TV series
the small screens for a six part thriller series. He will play a British man who finds himself in the glowing red heart of the Australian outback, being pursued by a vast tank truck trying to drive him off the road. An epic cat and mouse chase unfolds and the man later wakes in hospital, hurt, but somehow alive. Except he has no idea who he is. With merciless figures from his past pursuing him, The Man’s search for answers propels him through the vast and unforgiving outback.
Danielle Macdonald will play Helen Chambers, a fledgling probationary constable, Shalom Brune Franklin will play Luci, a waitress who’s swept into The Man’s journey for answers, while Hugo Weaving is agent Lachlan Rogers, one of the most highly regarded detective inspectors in Australia, leading Major Crime for the state police.
We are having ourselves a lovely Australian Monday, spylings, and I am sure you wont complain as movies coming from Down Under are always the best! Right? First up, Australian youngster Brenton Thwaites (who got famous after starring in Gods of Egypt, Pirates of the Caribbean and Titans) will lead new Oz romantic movie I MET A GIRL together with Lily Sullivan. He will play an impulsive musician struggling with schizophrenia who falls for a mysterious woman (Sullivan) who may be all in his head. When she suddenly vanishes, he takes off on a cross country journey across Australia to find her, forcing his long suffering brother (Joel Jackson) to try to rescue him. Zahra Newman and Peter Rowsthorn also star.
'LOVELAND' SF MOVIE
HUGO WEAVING AND RYAN KWANTEN TO HEADLINE THE CAST
Meanwhile, Australian superstars Hugo Weaving and Ryan Kwanten will star in science fiction adventure LOVELAND together with young Jillian Nguyen. Set in the neon twilight of a futuristic Chinese influenced
Australian superhunk Ryan Kwanten will play one of the lead roles
mega-city, it follows two lonely souls; Jack, a hardened assassin, and April, a nightclub singer. Together, they search for what it once was to be human, until it confronts them, revealing the true mystery of their existence.
'IN LIKE FLYNN' TRAILER
SENDS ERROL INTO JUNGLE!
New trailer has been released for Australian action adventure IN LIKE FLYNN, an unusual biopic on famous actor Errol Flynn which played in Oz
In Like Flynn played last Autumn in Oz
cinemas last October and is now out in USA.
Starring gorgeous Thomas Cocquerel in the lead role, IN LIKE FLYNN is set in
1930, before Errol Flynn became a legendary matinee idol of Hollywood’s
Golden Age.
Whilst serving as a guide for a Hollywood producer in the jungles of
Papua New Guinea, young Flynn discovers a trail that will lead to a
fortune in gold. Back in Depression era Sydney, he recruits a motley
group of fellow opportunists with whom he sets sail in a yacht stolen
from Chinese
opium smugglers. What follows is a mythical and satirical
coming-of-age story about four men on a journey to find hope, adventure
and fortune at a time
when the world was spiralling into despair.
Callan Mulvey, William Moseley, Isabel Lucas,David Wenham, Dan Fogler and Clive Standen
also star.
Are you excited, spylings? The cities on wheels from MORTAL ENGINES are tumbling into your cinemas beginning of December finally bringing
Mortal Engines arrive this December
Philip Reeve's famous YA saga onto the big screens. Christian Rivers, who worked as storyboard artist on LOTR, Hobbit and all other Peter Jackson's movies, is directing the film produced by Jackson himself. The $100 million movie, set in a post apocalyptic world ravaged by the surviving cities which now roam around on giant wheels eating each other for fuel, covers the first book of Reeve's saga which has four novels (translated by your spy for the readers in his country).
IN MORTAL ENGINES
Peter Jackson has a cameo in the movie!
Tom is a twenty something Londoner who has only ever lived inside his
travelling hometown, and his feet have never touched grass, mud or
land. His first taste of the outside comes quite abruptly: Tom gets in
the way of the masked Hester's attempt to kill Thaddeus Valentine, a
powerful man she blames for her mother’s murder, and both Hester and Tom
end up thrown out of the moving "traction" city, to fend for
themselves. Trying to stop the predator city who wants to devour
everything in front of itself, Hester joins forces with Tom Natsworthy
and Anna Fang, a dangerous outlaw aviator with a bounty on her head.
THE HEROES AND THE AVIATORS
The steampunk world has a rather rich gallery of characters lead by Robert Sheehan as Tom Natsworthy, a low-class apprentice historian of London
Robert Sheehan is lowly historian apprentice Tom Natsworthy!
thrown out of the city and forced to ally himself with Hester and the resistance. Hera Hilmar is Hester Shaw, a disfigured, fugitive assassin with a personal vendetta against Thaddeus played by
Hugo Weaving. He is the
Hera Hilmar's Hester Shaw is a lot less disfigured in the movie than in the books
Head of the Guild of Historians and the father of Katherine Valentine (Leila George) who is a girl from London's elite circles.
Jihae is Anna Fang, a pilot and leader of the Anti-Traction League, a resistance group banding against the
Hugo Weaving is conniving head historian Thaddeus Valentine
moving cities devouring Earth's resources.
Ronan Raftery is Bevis Pod, an apprentice engineer whom Katherine befriends. Patrick Malahide is Magnus Crome, the very evil Mayor of London.
Stephen Lang is Shrike, the
Jihae is rebel aviator Anna Fang who has her own flying ship!
last of an undead battalion of soldiers known as Stalkers, who were war casualties reanimated with machine parts. He raised Hester and now works for Crome.
REVENGE STORY STARRING JIM BROADBENT AND HUGO WEAVING
Black 47 should hit cinemas in UK this September
A bunch of new trailers and posters today, first up historical revenge thriller BLACK 47 which has a rather thespian cast including Hugo Weaving, Jim Broadbent, Stephen Rea, Moe Dunford with James Frecheville playing an Irish Ranger during the Great Famine of 1847, who has been fighting for the British Army abroad, but abandons his post to reunite with his family. Despite experiencing the horrors of war, he is shocked by the famine's destruction of his homeland and the brutalization of his people and his family. He swears vengeance. His old British Army
comrade Hannah
The movie was directed and written by Lance Daly
(played by Hugo Weaving) is then dispatched to put an end to Feeney's uprising! The movie based on a story by P.J. Dillon hits British cinemas September 28th and Irish ones a few weeks before.
'AN ACTOR PREPARES' TRAILER
AND POSTER WITH JEREMY IRONS
An Actor Prepares to come out next month!
New poster has also been released for another stellar movie AN ACTOR PREPARES starring Jeremy Irons, Matthew Modine and Jack Huston! After suffering a heart attack, a famous, hard drinking actor, Atticus Smith (Jeremy Irons) is forced to drive across country to make it in time for his daughter's wedding. Atticus’ only hope of making the wedding lies with his estranged son, Adam (Jack Huston), who wants nothing to do with him. As they set out on their trip, they become closer realizing they're more alike than they thought. This one hits Northern American cinemas August 31st directed by Steve Clark!
'THE HAPPY PRINCE' POSTER
WITH RUPERT EVERETT & COLIN MORGAN & COLIN FIRTH
The Happy Prince finally arrives to US cinemas in October
A new trailer and a poster have also been released for Rupert Everett's (he stars, directs and writes) THE HAPPY PRINCE period set drama on famous Oscar Wilde, ahead of its Northern American release in October! The movie also features delightful Colin Morgan as his lover, famous poet Alfred Bosie and gorgeous Edwin Thomas as Robbie Ross. Emily Watson, Tom Wilkinson and Colin Firth also star in the untold story of the last days in the tragic times of Oscar Wilde, a person who observes his own failure with ironic distance and regards the difficulties that beset his life with detachment and humour.
It is definitely this year's most anticipated movie! Earlier last winter I showed you the teaser for Peter Jackson's MORTAL ENGINES and now we finally
The Engines will roll this December!
have the exciting trailer and poster for the fantasy extravaganza which will tumble into cinemas around the world December 14th ahead of Christmas Holidays! As you know the movie is the big screen adaptation of Philip Reeve's super popular novel saga which is finally getting its film version.
MORTAL ENGINES has the story set thousands of years after
civilization was destroyed by a cataclysmic event, and humankind has
adapted and a new way of living. Gigantic moving cities now roam the
Earth, ruthlessly preying upon smaller traction towns on which they feed
upon as they need the supplies and metal to keep on moving. Tom
Natsworthy (Robert Sheehan), who hails from a Lower Tier of the
great traction city of
Tom and Hester begin their adventure in the track holes left behind London
London, finds himself fighting for his own
survival after he encounters the dangerous fugitive Hester Shaw (Hera Hilmar).
Two opposites, whose paths should never have crossed, forge an unlikely
alliance that is destined to change the course of the future.
WHO IS IN THE CAST?
The main villain is Hugo Weaving who plays Thaddeus Valentine, London's chief historian and explorer who actually hides a dark secret: he is looking for a deadly weapon that would give London power upon all other cities.
Coming to rescue Tom and Hester after they fall out of London is Jihae as Anna Fang (above) who will take them with her flying ship to Airhaven, a city floating above clouds. Leifur Sigurdarson (above) plays another flying captain Nils Lindstrom who also helps them.
The cast also includes one of our fave Irish boys Ronan Raftery as another London apprentice Bevis Pod, Leila George as his love Katherine Valentine, Thaddeus' daughter! Patrick Malahide is the ruler of London evil Magnus Crome while Stephen Lang plays robotic soldier Shrike.
A number of period set movies will hit upcoming movie festivals and we have first photos today! DAMSEL will air both at Sundance and Berlin Film Festival. It sees Robert Pattinson playing Samuel, a wealthy and
Robert Pattinson and Mia Wasikowska play the happy couple
influential pioneer who traveled across west American Frontiers to marry love of his life Penelope (Mia Wasikowska). Along the journey, he was aided by a
Damsel hits both Berlin and Sundance next month!
drunkard and a miniature horse named Butterscotch. As Samuel continued on his quest, he encountered many obstacles and soon the lines between heroes, damsels and villains are blurred.
'BLACK 47'
SET DURING GREAT FAMINE
Berlin will also see the premiere of Irish revenge story BLACK 47, set during the Great Famine, in which James Frecheville plays Feeney, an Irish
Hugo Weaving leads the cast of the revenge story movie
Ranger who has been fighting for the British Army abroad, but he abandons his post to reunite with his family. Despite experiencing the horrors of war, he
Jim Broadbent and Stephen Rea also star in the movie
is shocked by the famine's destruction of his homeland and the brutalization of his people and his family. He swears vengeance. His old British Army
The movie was based on a story by P.J. Dillon
comrade Hannah (played by Hugo Weaving) is then dispatched to put an end to Feeney's uprising.
'THE LITTLE STRANGER'
A HAUNTED IRISH MANSION
There's also the first photo from 1947 set Irish drama THE LITTLE STRANGER in which Domnhall Gleeson plays a doctor who, during a hot
The Little Stranger is based on a novel by Sarah Waters
summer in 1947, is called to treat a patient at a haunted country mansion which has been owned by the same family for two centuries. Ruth Wilson, Will Poulter and Charlotte Rampling also star!
There will be all kinds of underwater royals in DC's much anticipated AQUAMAN since Dolph Lundgren has just been cast as evil king Nereus of the underwater kingdom of Xebel who wants to thrown down Jason Momoa's AQUAMAN, the king of Atlantis, and take his wife queen Mera (Amber Heard) too! He also has the power of manipulating with water in all possible ways. The plot of the December 2017 movie is kept under wraps, but we know that Nicole Kidman will be AQUAMAN's mother queen Atlanna, Willem Dafoe is Aquaman's scientific advisor Nuidis Vulko, Patrick Wilson will be his half brother Ocean Master Orm, while Yahya Abdul Mateen II has been cast as villain Black Manta!
HUGO WEAVING
JOINS 'MORTAL ENGINES' Meanwhile, another epic project, Peter Jackson's big screen
adaptation of MORTAL ENGINES has cast Hugo Weaving reuniting them again
after LOTR and Hobbit! I've reported previously that Robbie Sheehan,
Rohan Raftery, Hera Hilmar and Stephen Lang have already been cast in
the leading roles. He might play historian Valentine who collects and
preserves artefacts in a post apocalyptic world in which, many years
after the "Sixty Minute War," cities survive a now desolate Earth by
moving around on giant wheels attacking and devouring smaller towns to
replenish their resources. Valentine is a historian in London which has four major guilds:
the Historians, the Navigators who steer the course, the Merchants, who
run the economy, and the Engineers, who keep the machines working in
order for the city to survive.The movie will come exactly one year after
Aquaman!
'BEATRIZ AT DINNER'TRAILER
SALMA HAYEK & JOHN LITHGOW
Today, you can enjoy a rather fun trailer for new comedy movie BEATRIZ AT DINNER which is out this June starring Salma Hayek, Chloe Sevigny and Jay
Duplass alongside John Lithgow andConnie Britton! The story of the
movie follows a holistic medicine practitioner who finds herself a fish
out of water when her car breaks down at a wealthy client’s house and
she joins a celebratory dinner party.
First photos from some of the movies we're anxiously awaiting, first, photos of Oscar winners Rachel Weisz and Colin Firth from THE MERCY a true life drama movie scheduled to premiere sometime later this year from The Theory of Everything director James Marsh!
ALONE AT THE SEA Colin plays yachtsman Donald Crowhurst whose disastrous attempt to
win the 1968 Golden Globe Race ends up with him creating an outrageous
account of travelling the world alone by sea. The adventure ended in disgrace and tragedy, after he duped family and race organisers (since neither him nor his boat were ready for the ocean crossing, he started sending false reports on his locations over the radio struggling to keep up the pretence), finally taking his life.
Rachel Weisz who plays his
wife is also joined in the cast by David Thewlis and Sam Hoare!
FIRST 'BLACK 47' PHOTO
A HUGO WEAVING, JIM BROADBENT, STEPHEN REA MOVIE
There's also the first photo from historical drama BLACK 47 with a thespian cast including Hugo Weaving, Jim Broadbent, Stephen Rea, Moe Dunford with James Frecheville playing an Irish Ranger during the Great Famine of 1847, who has been fighting for the British Army abroad, but abandons his post to reunite with his family. Despite experiencing the horrors of war, he is shocked by the famine's destruction of his homeland and the brutalization of his people and his family.
Ladies rejoice: the latest Brit to join the thespian cast of Thomas Edison movie THE CURRENT WAR is Matthew MacFadyen!
In the film that, set in the late 1880's explains the legendary
rivalry between two famous scientists Thomas Edison and George
Westinghouse and the race to create a marketable and sustainable
electricity system, Benedict Cumberbatch will appear as Thomas Edison
alongside Michael Shannon’s George Westinghouse. To start shooting next
week, the movie will also see Nicholas Hoult playing legendary Serbian
genius Nikola Tesla from whom Edison stole a lot of ideas, with Tom
Holland, Typence Middleton and Sienna Miller also in the cast!
'JASPER JONES' TRAILER
TONI COLLETTE & HUGO WEAVING
Here's a moving trailer for real life story movie starring Australian thespians Toni Collette and Hugo WeavingJASPER JONES a coming of age story about Charlie Bucktin (Levi Miller), a bookish boy of 14. On the night that Jasper Jones, the town's mixed race outcast shows him the dead body of young Laura Wishart, Charlie's life is changed forever. Entrusted with this secret and believing Jasper to be innocent, Charlie embarks on a dangerous journey to find the true killer. Set over the scorching summer holidays of 1965, Charlie defeats the local racists, faces the breakup of his parents and falls head over heels in love as he discovers what it means to be truly courageous.
RETURNING TO THE BIG SCREENS After WARCRAFT, which is arriving into theatres next summer, it seems
another hugely popular fantasy world game will be turned into a movie.
Hasbro and Warner Bros. will turn DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS into a huge epic
movie. With the script already written by RED RIDING HOOD and WRATH OF
THE TITANS' David Leslie Johnson (can't believe he is still working after those two writing atrocities), the movie is slated for 2019 release!
Some fifteen years ago New Line made an unsuccessful movie out of it
which spawned tons of DVD sequels. That one was set in the empire of
Izmer populated by mages, magic users, empresses, dragons, dwarves and
elves.
NEW 'DRESSMAKER' TRAILER
WITH KATE WINSLET, LIAM HEMSWORTH, HUGO WEAVING
Second, delightful international trailer has been released for lovely Australian movie THE DRESSMAKER with Kate Winslet, Judi Davis, Liam Hemsworth and Hugo Weaving. Based on Rosalie Ham bestselling novel of the same name, the movie will see Kate Winslet playing the 1950s Australian fashion designer Tilly Dunnage who goes back to her rural hometown to care for her sick mother, but rumours of her involvement in the death of a young boy threaten to ruin her return. With her sewing machine and haute couture style, she transforms the women and exacts sweet revenge on those who did her wrong. The movie is first out in Australian cinemas this October!
