This adaptation has been in plan over in Hollywood for two decades now, but now it will be Ridley Scott who will direct the movie version of famous Robert Louis Stevenson classic TREASURE ISLAND with Hugh Jackman attached to portray pirate Long John Silver. According to Deadline, the package will be offered to the studios this week. The story follows a young boy who uncovers the map to a legendary buried treasure, and he embarks on a perilous sea voyage to claim a hidden fortune, only to find himself locked in a deadly battle of wits with the charismatic and treacherous pirate Long John Silver.
Ridley Scott has released a trailer for riveting, epic thriller THE DOG STARS set in a world where survival is instinct, but humanity is a choice. Jacob Elordi leads the story of Hig, a young pilot who, together with a military survivalist, Bangley, played by Josh Brolin, has carved out an efficient but isolated homestead in a brutal post apocalyptic world until a mysterious radio transmission spurs Hig to venture into the unknown in search of the hope and humanity he still believes exists. Based on Peter Heller’s captivating bestseller it also stars Margaret Qualley and Allison Janney and will be out August 28th. Check out the trailer below and tell us what you think, will you be watching this summer?
It was supposed to unite Paul Mescal with Ridley Scott after their massive cinematic flop Gladiator II, but now it seems that post apocalyptic movie THE DOG STARS might get Jacob Elordi as the lead as
Jacob Elordi will take the lead role
Deadline reports. Based on Peter Heller novel it is set in a near future where an unnamed pandemic has decimated American society. Jacob Elordi will be playing Hig, a civilian pilot living a lonely life on an abandoned Colorado airbase with his dog and a tough ex-marine. The two men couldn’t be more mismatched but depend on each other to fend off roaming invaders. When a random transmission beams through the radio of his 1956 Cessna, the voice ignites a hope deep inside the pilot that a better life exists outside their tightly controlled perimeter. Risking everything, he flies past his point of no return and follows its static-broken trail.
Vanity Fair showed us the first images last week and today we have the first trailer for GLADIATOR II which stars Paul Mescal in the lead role of Lucius Verus alongside Pedro Pascal as Marcus Acacius,
Gladiator II will arrive this November to cinemas
and Connie Nielsen who returns to the story that will continue November 22nd when the film hits cinemas ahead of the festive season.Two relatively young brothers rule the vast empire, with Fred Hechinger as Emperor Caracalla and Joseph Quinn as Emperor Geta.
GLADIATOR II continues
decades after the first movie in which Russell Crowe played his father,
now Lucius has come of age and has gotten far away from his mother, as
Variety reveals. While he was still a child, Lucilla sent him to the
northern coast of Africa, to a region called Numidia that was (at that
point) just outside the reach of the Roman Empire. He never fully
understood why, and as he grew stronger, so did his resentment even if
his mother’s reasons had been pure. As Gladiator II begins, Mescal’s
Lucius, according to Variety, has a wife and child, and lives a
relatively peaceful life with them until conquerors from his homeland
begin to encroach. He’s taken root in a seacoast town in Numidia. He’s a
blue-eyed, fair-skinned man with red hair, and he couldn’t be more
different from the inhabitants, director Ridley Scott reveals. It’s one
of the last surviving civilizations, as the Romans begin to descend in
North Africa and take it all over. Leading that charge is Pedro Pascal’s
Marcus Acacius, a Roman general said to have trained as a junior
officer under Crowe’s character, although he wasn’t seen in the first
movie. Lucius, once the grandson of the emperor of Rome, finds himself a
prisoner of it. But when he gets to Rome as a prisoner and has a first
round in the arena, he sees his mother—to his shock. He doesn’t know
whether she’s alive or not. And she’s now with the general who he came
face-to-face with on the wall in Numidia. Lucilla doesn’t recognize the
battered creature in the Colosseum as her son, and has no idea about the
bloody history between him and the man she loves.
Vanity Fair has decided to spoil us this Monday and launch the beginning of the new week with first highly anticipated images from GLADIATOR IIwhich give us the exclusive first look at Paul Mescal in the lead role of Lucius Verus alongside Pedro Pascal as Marcus Acacius, with new pictures also giving us a glimpse at Connie Nielsen who returns to the story that will continue November 22nd when the film hits cinemas ahead of the festive
Paul Mescal got some muscles for the role of Lucius
season.Two relatively young brothers rule the vast empire, with Fred Hechinger as Emperor Caracalla and Joseph Quinn as Emperor Geta.
THE STORY OF GLADIATOR II continues
decades after the first movie in which Russell Crowe played his father,
now Lucius has come of age and has gotten far away from his mother, as
Variety reveals. While he was still a child, Lucilla sent him to the
northern coast of Africa, to a region called Numidia that was (at that
point) just outside the reach of the Roman Empire. He never fully
understood why, and as he grew stronger, so did his resentment even if
his mother’s reasons had been pure. As Gladiator II begins, Mescal’s
Lucius, according to Variety, has a wife and child, and lives a
relatively peaceful life with them until conquerors from his homeland
begin to encroach. He’s taken root in a seacoast town in Numidia. He’s a
blue-eyed, fair-skinned man with red hair, and he couldn’t be more
different from the inhabitants, director Ridley Scott reveals. It’s one
of the last surviving civilizations, as the Romans begin to descend in
North Africa and take it all over. Leading that charge is Pedro Pascal’s
Marcus Acacius, a Roman general said to have trained as a junior
officer under Crowe’s character, although he wasn’t seen in the first
movie. Lucius, once the grandson of the emperor of Rome, finds himself a
prisoner of it. But when he gets to Rome as a prisoner and has a first
round in the arena, he sees his mother—to his shock. He doesn’t know
whether she’s alive or not. And she’s now with the general who he came
face-to-face with on the wall in Numidia. Lucilla doesn’t recognize the
battered creature in the Colosseum as her son, and has no idea about the
bloody history between him and the man she loves.
Last few days the word circling around Hollywood was that Ridley Scott is ready with the script for GLADIATOR sequel which would not star Russell Crowe but some younger actor and today it has been revealed that Paul Mescal is to take the lead role! 23 years after the original movie, the sequel will see Mescal playing an adult Lucius – son of Connie Nielsen's Lucilla – who appeared as a young boy in the first film when Maximus saved him and his mother from his evil imperial uncle Commodus! Lucius will now enter the arena himself becoming a gladiator too and fighting his own battles. Costume designer Janty Yates and production designer Arthur Max also return from the original crew. David Scarpa wrote the script.
We're launching a sf weekend today with a full trailer for the second season of Ridley Scott's sf series RAISED BY WOLVES which returns to HBO Max with new episodes February 3rd and don't forget to tune back
Season two arrives February 3rd
tomorrow as I will bring you a spotlight on sf shows to expect this year. The series centers on two androids ( Amanda Collin, Abubakar Salim) tasked with raising human children on a mysterious virgin planet. As the burgeoning colony of humans threatens to be torn apart by religious differences, the androids learn that controlling the beliefs of humans is a treacherous and difficult task.
In season two, Android partners Mother and Father, along with their
brood of six human children, join a newly formed atheistic colony in
Kepler 22 b’s mysterious tropical zone. But navigating this strange new
society is only the start of their troubles as Mother’s “natural child”
threatens to drive what little remains of the human race to extinction!
Travis Fimmel is also returning in season two which, judging by the trailer below, might be even more disturbing than the first one. Will you watch it, or was season one too weird and bizarre for you?
UNITES RIDLEY SCOTT & STEVEN KNIGHT IN A MASSIVE ENDEVOUR
Two epic series for you today, first up, a collaboration between Ridley Scott and Steven Knight on a massive ten episode WW2 saga ROADS TO FREEDOM based on the war books by Anthony Beevor, translated in more
Russia, France, Crete are just some of the countries in the books
than 30 languages. While most Hollywood war projects focus on the American and British effort, this global project will portray the brutal realities from multiple viewpoints, with characters also from Russia, Germany, France and other countries across the globe. That includes women, and children struggling to survive. The emphasis is on humanity, the characters bound together by one dramatic story. Some of the story lines will be discomforting, but heroic, and the race between East and West to capture Berlin will shed light on what became the foundations of the Cold War.
SHAKA: KING OF ZULU NATION
SERIES ORDERED BY SHOWTIME
If you're as old as your spy, you probably remember a Shaka Zulu series from the 80s, and now we're getting a new one: as Deadline reports, Antoine
Antoine Fuqua will direct the epic series
Fuqua has joined Showtime in the creation of SHAKA: KING OF THE ZULU NATION series about the Zulu Empire chief Shaka and his unlikely rise to power, uniting multiple tribes across vast stretches of Africa in the early 19th century to transform his power into legend, on par with history’s most seminal figures. In ferocious battles that test the body and soul, in alliances that test the bonds of love and friendship, a complex sociological system plays out that renders the human cost front and center, for the victors as well as the vanquished, all in an effort to carve out a semblance of identity, fulfillment and ultimately, survival.
I'm definitely not sure what to think of it, it looks both cheap and expensive at the same time: HBO Max has released the first trailer for their
The series will stream from September 3rd
science fiction series RAISED BY WOLVES which will stream from September 3rd produced by Ridley Scott who has also directed first two episodes of the ten part mini series.
The story revolves around two androids — Father and Mother — tasked
with raising human children on a mysterious new planet after the Earth
was destroyed by a great war. As the burgeoning colony of humans
threatens to be torn apart by religious differences the androids learn
that controlling the beliefs of humans is a treacherous and difficult
task. This rather terrifying and disturbing series stars Travis
Amanda Collin and Abubakar Salim play the android mother and father
Fimmel,
Abubakar Salim and Amanda Collin.The series, which was originally meant
for TNT, is HBO's original show of the highest profile so far.
Science fiction all the way today! After starring in Vikings, Australian star Travis Fimmel is to lead another epic show: he will topline TNT's sf saga RAISED BY WOLVES which is supposed to be helmed by Ridley Scott with the story revolving around two androids — Father and Mother — tasked with raising human children on a mysterious virgin planet. As the burgeoning colony of humans threatens to be torn apart by religious differences, the androids learn that controlling the beliefs of humans is a treacherous and difficult task. Ridley Scott will also produce THE LONG DARK, also a sf series which is being described as religious apocalypse!
'IO' SF TRAILER
IN WHICH ANTHONY MACKIE IS TRYING TO SAVE THE EARTH
While Aquaman is still ruling the theatres and Disney is announcing the sequel to currently popular Mary Poppins, Netflix has sent us a trailer for
You can stream IO from next week!
their new post apocalyptic action movie IO which will be ready for streaming from January 18th following Sam (Margaret Qualley), one of the last survivors on a post cataclysmic Earth, a young scientist dedicated to finding a way for humans to adapt and survive, rather than abandon their world. But with the final shuttle scheduled to leave the planet for a distant colony, her determination to stay is rocked by the arrival of another survivor, Micah (Anthony Mackie). She must decide whether to journey with him to join the rest of humanity and begin life anew, or stay to fight for Earth's survival. Danny Huston also stars.
Fox Television studios will develop Jim Butcher's fantasy novels THE DRESDEN FILES into TV series about private investigator and wizard
There already was a Dresden series in 2007
Harry Dresden, who investigates supernatural disturbances in modern day Chicago where magic is real, along with vampires, demons, spirits, faeries, werewolves, outsiders, and other monsters.
RIDLEY SCOTT'S 'RAISED BY WOLVES' Over at TNT, Ridley Scott is set to make sf series RAISED BY WOLVES
with him directing on TV for the first time. It follows two androids
tasked with raising human children on a mysterious virgin planet. As the
burgeoning colony of humans threatens to be torn apart by religious
differences the androids learn that controlling the beliefs of humans is
a treacherous and difficult task.
'REPLICAS' TRAILER & POSTER
KEANU REEVES CLONING HIS WIFE
You can also check out a trailer and brand new, or rather first, poster for Keanu Reeves' new science fiction thriller REPLICAS in which he plays a
The film does not have a USA release date yet
daring synthetic biologist, who, after a car accident kills his family, will stop at nothing to bring them back, even if it means pitting himself against a government controlled laboratory, a police task force and the physical laws of science. In short - Keanu tries to clone his dead wife played by Alice Eve! The movie should slowly start hitting cinemas in certain countries around the world this Autumn and Winter. Jeffrey Nachmanoff, who wrote The Day After Tomorrow, is directing this international production.
Interesting casting news today as well, people! One of our favourites among the new boys, Jack Reynor will topline new period set series STRANGE
Reynor already wore a period costume in Macbeth
ANGEL for CBS! In the new series he will be Jack Parsons, a brilliant and ambitious blue collar worker from 1930s Los Angeles who started as a janitor at a chemical factory but had fantastical dreams that led him to birth the unknown discipline of American rocketry. Along the way, he fell into a mysterious world that included sex magic rituals at night, and he became a disciple of occultist Aleister Crowley. Parsons used Crowley’s teachings of self actualization to support his unimaginable and unprecedented endeavour to the stars. The series is based on a book by George Pendle!
'THE MERLIN SAGA'
RIDLEY SCOTT TO DIRECT?
The Merlin saga has 12 books so far!
Meanwhile, 'Variety' reports that Ridley Scott is in talks to direct Disney's THE MERLIN SAGA which is eyed as a possible franchise based on 12 books from T.A. Barron which he started publishing back in 1996! He would also produce it with Lord of the Rings' and Hobbit's Philippa Boyens writing the script! Similar to the popular BBC series from a decade ago, THE MERLIN SAGA depicts the origin story of a young wizzard Merlin who would go on to become the mentor of the classic literary character of King Arthur. It is even more interesting that Disney is preparing another movie from this universe - a live action version of SWORD IN THE STONE which Ridley could also produce.
In movie news, Ridley Scott has a plan of adapting S. Craig Zahler's Western novel WRAITHS OF THE BROKEN LAND into a feature movie! Together with the team with which he did THE MARTIAN, he will helm the movie set near the Mexican border at the turn of the previous century. A group of men assemble and storm across the badlands to find their captive sisters, doing anything they deem necessary to achieve their goal. Lives, ethics and sanity are imperilled during the wild, brutal struggle that ensues and nobody is safe.
'WHITE PRINCESS'
MICHELLE FAIRLEY JOINS THE CAST OF THE EPIC TV SERIES Earlier this spring I informed you that English actress Jodie Comer
will play the lead role in WHITE PRINCESS epic TV series, a sequel of
the BBC and Starz series WHITE QUEEN, now done only by Starz, and now
GAME OF THRONES Michelle Fairley has been added to the cast! The 8 part
series tells the story of England’s War of the Roses from the
perspective of the women. Michelle Fairley will play Margaret Beaufort,
Henry Tudor’s mother and mastermind behind his ascent to the Throne of
England. Jodie Comer's Princess Elizabeth of York comes in conflict with
her after being forced into marriage with the new king Henry VII in
order to unite the Houses of York and Tudor!
'A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM'
NEW BBC MOVIE PHOTOS
Meanwhile, while we wait for the BBC to show us a first trailer, here are some new photos from their TV movie adaptation of William Shakespeare's A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM in which Maxine Peake appears as Queen Titania! Matt Lucas will appear as Bottom, John Hannah as Theseus,
Eleanor Matsuura as Hippolyta and newcomer Hiran
Abeysekera as Puck. Nonso Anozie is Oberon. The CGI rich project is set in the tyrannical court
of Athens and the magical forest around the city filled with fairies and other mystical creatures! The movie should air some time this summer!
Only some period set series for you today, people, starting with the report coming from 'Deadline' that AMC has ordered THE TERROR into ten episode series! Based on the bestselling novel by Dan Simmons it will air sometime in 2017! Ridley Scott will produce the series set in 1847, when a Royal Naval expedition crew searching for the Northwest Passage is attacked by a mysterious predator that stalks the ships and their crews in a suspenseful and desperate game of survival. It is a fictionalized account of Captain Sir John Franklin’s lost expedition of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror.
'DOCTOR THORNE' PERIOD SET
DRAMA STARTS THIS SUNDAY!
If you can't hardly wait for the second season of POLDARK to start at BBC this spring, here's something you can pass your time with: ITV will launch their new Julian Fellowes three part historical series DOCTOR THORNE this Sunday evening based on Anthony Throllope novel!
IAN MCSHANE, TOM HOLLA- NDER LEAD THE CAST
Tom Hollander (Rev, A Poet In New York, Pirates of the
Caribbean) takes the role of Dr Thomas Thorne, who lives in the village
of Greshamsbury in Barsetshire with his young niece, Mary (Stefanie Martini),
a girl blessed with every gift except money. Mary Thorne has grown up
alongside the Gresham family, whose house, Greshamsbury Park, and status
dominate the county. With Francis Gresham Senior (Richard McCabe) having frittered away the family fortune, however, his wife, Lady Arabella Gresham, played by Rebecca Front (War and Peace, Humans, Lewis, The Thick of It), their daughters Augusta (Gwyneth Keyworth) and Beatrice (Nell Barlow), and their handsome brother Frank (Harry Richardson) face losing their home. Ian McShane also stars.
Probably the main television news of the day is that young star Finn Jones, whom you mostly remember by that delight- fully gay role of his in GAME OF THRONES as Ser Loras the Knight of Flowers, will take the lead role in Netflix series adaptation of Marvel's IRON FIST! The expert of ancient martial arts, who, as 'EW' reports, at age of 9 travels with his family from New York to a lost mystical city called K’un-L’un. After some tragic twists of fate, he is adopted by the city’s ruler and taught advanced martial arts and the mystical power of the Iron Fist that gives him enhanced healing, telepathy, along with super strength and reflexes. As an adult, Rand returns to his native New York and begins a career as a superhero. DEXTER's Scott Buck will be the show runner. After Daredevil, Jessica Jones and Luke Cage, it will be fourth Marvel series at Netflix.
'ALIEN: COVENANT' CASTS
JUSSIE SMOLLETT AND OTHERS
In movie news, the cast is being rounded up for Ridley Scott's science fiction prequel sequel ALIEN: COVENANT, the second movie in his ALIEN prequel trilogy started two years ago by PROMETHEUS! The first batch of young actors to join Michael Fassbender, who reprises his original role of android David, includes EMPIRE's superstar Jussie Smollett along with Amy Seimetz, Carmen Ejogo (Selma) and Callie Hernandez! The movie which will take place ten years after the previous one will also have Katherine Waterston, Danny McBride and Demián Bichir in the cast together with Australian star Alex England whom you are watching this weekend in GODS OF EGYPT! Billy Crudup is also in talks.
THE STORY To open in cinemas October next year, ALIEN: COVENANT will follow the
crew of the colony ship Covenant, travelling to a remote planet on the
far side of the galaxy. They discover what they think is an uncharted
paradise, but it actually turns out to be a dark, dangerous world. And
the sole inhabitant is the "synthetic" David (Michael Fassbender),
survivor of the doomed Prometheus expedition.
'MAN WHO KNEW INFINITY'
WITH DEV PATEL, JEREMY IRONS
Your trailer for today is an inspiring one for ensemble drama movie THE MAN WHO KNEW INFINITY starring Dev Patel, Jeremy Irons, Stephen Fry and Toby Jones! Growing up poor in Madras, India, Srinivasa Ramanujan Iyengar earns admittance to Cambridge University during WWI, where he becomes a pioneer in mathematical theories with the guidance of his professor, G.H. Hardy.
the package will be offered to the studios this week. The story follows a young boy who uncovers the map to a legendary buried treasure, and he embarks on a perilous sea voyage to claim a hidden fortune, only to find himself locked in a deadly battle of wits with the charismatic and treacherous pirate Long John Silver.
the package will be offered to the studios this week. The story follows a young boy who uncovers the map to a legendary buried treasure, and he embarks on a perilous sea voyage to claim a hidden fortune, only to find himself locked in a deadly battle of wits with the charismatic and treacherous pirate Long John Silver.
