WHAT TO EXPECT FROM THE FOURTH AND FINAL SEASON OF 'THE DURRELLS' WITH KEELEY HAWES, JOSH O'CONNOR? 'SISTERS BROTHERS' WESTERN TRAILER WITH JAKE GYLLENHAAL, JOAQUIN PHOENIX, RIZ AHMED

   'THE DURRELLS'

WHAT WILL HAPPEN IN SEASON 4?

Earlier this week I informed you that ITV's ultra popular period set family drama THE DURRELLS, which sees Keeley Hawes playing a mother who gets fed up with everything and moves herself and children to the island of Corfu, will end after next year's fourth season, and now we have the first info on what is gonna happen in it!

HEARTBREAK AND ANIMALS
Following the events of the last series, the future is looking bright for the Durrells, with all of the family channelling their heartbreak in different ways. Choosing to keep herself busy, Louisa has opened the doors of the family villa

The final season starts shooting this month!

as a guest house, but with Basil as their only paying guest, the business is still to find its feet and customers. Meanwhile, Larry (Josh O’Connor), struggling to get his risqué Black Book published, is enjoying the love of two ballet dancers, whilst heartbroken Leslie (Callum Woodhouse) has thrown

The Durrells are based on a real life story and family

himself back into his job and shooting. True to form, Gerry (Milo Parker) continues to collect animals, ambitiously planning to open a zoo with a new owl and some lemurs joining the menagerie, and Margo (Daisy Waterstone) seeks a new challenge, starting her own beauty salon.

   'THE SISTERS BROTHERS'

 MAKE A KILLING, MAKE A LIVING

The movie is out this Autumn

While they're enjoying wild East, over at wild West the first trailer and poster are on the horizon for THE SISTERS BROTHERS which is out this Autumn in cinema starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Joaquin Phoenix, Riz Ahmed, John C. Reilly, Rutger Hauer!

THE SISTERS BROTHERS, based on Patrick DeWitt's novel, revolves around the colourfully named gold prospector Hermann Kermit Warm, who's being pursued across 1000 miles of 1850s Oregon desert to San Francisco by the notorious assassins Eli and Charlie Sisters. Except Eli is having a personal crisis and beginning to doubt the

longevity of his chosen career. And Hermann might have a better offer. Check out the first trailer below.

RUSSIAN WEEKEND: NEW RUSSIAN EPIC TV SAGA'S 'MATA HARI' WITH RUTGER HAUER, GERARD DEPARDIEU, CHRISTOPHER LAMBERT, JOHN CORBETT, 'ROAD TO CALVARY' SET IN THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION

  'MATA HARI' TV SERIES

AN EPIC TRUE STORY

The series was produced by Russian, Ukrane, Portugal

This one has already aired in motherland Russian earlier this year, and is currently airing over in Ukraine, but I'm guessing it has been airing around the world as well since I remember it was a huge hit among the buyers at last year's Mipcom. MATA HARI is a 12 episode period set drama with an international cast that includes Vahina Giocante, Oisin Stack, Rutger Hauer, Gerard Depardieu, John Corbett, Rade Serbedzija, Christopher Lambert, Pasha Sol, Alexey Guskov and Svetlana Hodchenkova!

Vahina Giocante plays the lead role of Mata Hari

LOVE AND SURVIVAL  
Margaret McLeod is penniless and out on the streets after her husband leaves her and gains custody of her only daughter. With no other means of making a living, she decides to become an exotic dancer. Under the stage

The series features Mata Hari's steamy choreographies!

name of MATA HARI, Margaret soon wins fame and notoriety, becoming extremely popular with the European elite. She becomes a regular guest of luxury villas and magnificent mansions, her every performance creating a real

The name Matahari means 'eye of the day' in Indonesian and Malay

sensation. But the year is 1913 and the world is on the verge of a war that will change the entire course of history. MATA HARI cannot even imagine what fateful role she is to play in these coming events.

  'ROAD TO CALVARY'

SERIES CELEBRATING 100 YEARS FROM RUSSIAN REVOLUTION

The series is an epic adaptation of Alexey Tolstoy novel

Another of the Russian television series has, meanwhile, been a hit at this year's Mipcom, which was held last year in Cannes. ROAD TO CALVARY is an epic TV series adaptation of Alexey Tolstoy's novel to be broadcast on the 100 year anniversary of the Russian Revolution of 1917.

  St. Petersburg, 1914. The capital city lives as if in anxious expectation of some fatal day. Russia strives for changes. The central characters in the story are the Bulavin sisters. The young Dasha (Anna Chipovskaya) is stern and

The series is set in the six years that have changed the course of Russian history

idealistic, while the married Katya (Yulia Snigir) is careless and unhappy in her marriage. Both girls fall in love with a Decadent poet Alexey Bessonov, the

Road to Calvary follows the lives of two different sisters

master of minds, who is hopelessly disappointed in life. The love drama turns into a tragedy as World War I begins. The whole country is bestirred, a flow of fateful events carries the sisters away, separates them, destroys their families

Road to Calvary features battle scenes depicting tragedy of war

and puts them on the different sides of the barricades. The characters’ paths often cross and diverge again. But out there, at the end of this continuous walk of pain, the light of hope and of a new and never-before-seen world is shining.

EPIC THURSDAY: 1ST POSTER FOR 'SAMSON' EPIC ADVENTURE WITH TAYLOR JAMES, BILLY ZANE, RUTGER HAUER! PARAMOUNT TO TURN 'THE BLACK VIKING' NOVEL INTO TV SERIES

  'SAMSON' MOVIE POSTER

WITH TAYLOR JAMES, BILLY ZANE

Samson will get a haircut for next Valentines!

Here's a project that has been out of our radar but it is supposed to hit the big screens next February! The latest movie version of famous legend on SAMSON in which the hero is played by Taylor James with Jackson Rathbone, Rutger Hauer, Billy Zane also in the cast alongside Caitlin Leahy who plays Delilah! After his youthful ambition leads to a tragic marriage, Samson's acts of revenge thrust him into direct conflict with the Philistine army. As his brother mounts a tribal rebellion, only Samson's relationship with a Philistine temptress and his final surrender - both to the Philistines and to God - turns imprisonment and blindness into final victory.

  'THE BLACK VIKING'

  TO BECOME EPIC TV SERIES

The book is currently being sold at Frankfurt Book Fair

Speaking of the news from the epic front, 'Deadline' reports today that Paramount TV and Anonymous Content have bought  the rights to 2013 novel THE BLACK VIKING by Icelandic author Bergsveinn Birgisson which they want to turn into television series directed and produced by Morten Tyldum (The Imitation Game, Passengers)! The author himself has led a search for traces of his forefather Geirmund Heljarskinn, one of the most powerful Viking kings in history whose saga has mysteriously disappeared. If I got it right, he got the name BLACK VIKING because he was black when he was born and was such an ugly baby that his mother, a 9th century queen, gave him away to be raised far from her.

PLAYFULLY DELIGHTFUL TRAILER FOR EPIC ADVENTURE 'JOURNEY TO CHINA: MYSTERY OF DRAGON SEAL' WITH ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER AND JACKIE CHAN

FIRST 'JOURNEY TO CHINA'

TRAILER WITH JACKIE CHAN AND ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER

The movie should be out this winter

Earlier this spring I showed you the first photos from epic action fantasy adventure movie with two big action film legends Jackie Chan and Arnold Schwarzenegger JOURNEY TO CHINA: THE MYSTERY OF DRAGON SEAL which will also star Charles Dance, Rutger Hauer and Jason Flemyng in a co production between China, Russia and USA set to be released sometime this year, in Russia next winter, and now we also have the first, playfully delightful and very fun trailer! The movie is a sort of a follow up to Russian fantasy epic horror VIY from 2014!

Jason Flemyng is explorer Jonathan Green

FROM RUSSIA TO CHINA  
English traveller Jonathan Green (Jason Flemyng) receives an order from Tzar Peter the Great to map the Russian Far East. Once again he

The original franchise is based on Nikolai Gogol's fantasy stories

sets out for a long journey full of incredible adventures that will eventually lead him to China. The cartographer will unexpectedly face

Schwarzenegger and Chan star together for the first time

a lot of breathtaking discoveries, encounter bizarre creatures, meet with Chinese princesses, and confront deadly martial arts masters and

Rutger Hauer plays the Ambassador in the movie

even the king of all dragons - the Dragon King. What could be more dangerous than meeting eye to eye with Viy, except doing it again?

The budget of the movie was close to $50 million

What would be stronger this time - a staunch scepticism of the scientist or the old black magic that has seized power of Eastern lands?

ASIAN THURSDAY: 1ST 'JOURNEY TO CHINA: MYSTERY OF IRON MASK' EPIC ADVENTURE PHOTOS WITH JACKIE CHAN, ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER! 'WUKONG' EPIC FANTASY TRAILER WITH EDDIE PENG AND NI NI

FIRST 'JOURNEY TO CHINA'

PHOTOS WITH JACKIE CHAN AND ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER

We're all Asian today starting with the first photos and delightful trailer from epic action adventure with Jackie Chan and Arnold Schwarze- negger JOURNEY TO CHINA: THE MYSTERY OF IRON MASK which will also star Charles Dance, Rutger Hauer and Jason Flemyng in a production between China, Russia and USA set to be released sometime this year. It is a sort of follow up to Russian fantasy epic horror VIY from 2014!

FROM RUSSIA TO CHINA  
The English traveler Jonathan Green (Jason Flemyng) receives an order from Tzar Peter the Great to map the Russian Far East. Once again he sets out for a long journey full of incredible adventures that will eventually lead him to China. The cartographer will unexpectedly face a lot of breathtaking discoveries, encounter bizarre creatures, meet with Chinese princesses, and confront deadly martial arts masters and even the king of all dragons - the Dragon King. What could be more dangerous than meeting eye to eye with Viy, except doing it again? What would be stronger this time - a staunch skepticism of the scientist or the old black magic that has seized power of Eastern lands?

1ST 'WUKONG' TRAILER

 ACTION PACKED ADVENTURE

You can also check out the first poster and trailer for July 2017 action fantasy WUKONG which, starring Eddie Peng, Ni Ni and  Shawn Yue, tells the story of Wukong, born in Huaguo Mountain, who has a heart of stone. Ji Hua, a powerful general from the heaven was going to terminate him. But Wukong was rescued by Bodhi and became his pupil. Jian Yang, was given an opportunity to become a strong god, but he needs to kill Zixia, the daughter of the Heaven Emperor's rival, who he is in love with. Tianpeng, Ji Hua's bodyguard, was given the secret order to investigate Wukong. All three of them entered the Heaven school together, and their lives are about to change.

1ST 'EMPEROR' CHARLES V EPIC MOVIE PHOTOS WITH ADRIEN BRODY, RUTGER HAUER, TOMAS KRETSCHMANN, OLIVER PLATT, PAZ VEGA! 'POLDARK' GETS 3RD SEASON WITH AIDAN TURNER

1ST 'EMPEROR' EPIC PHOTOS

ADRIEN BRODY IS CHARLES V!

Since your trusted spy is one of web's leading places for epic and historical projects, here's one, with a fresh poster, that I have to announce and it is currently in production: Lee Tamahori's 16th century epic movie EMPEROR, set for a next year release, will see Adrien Brody playing legendary Emperor Charles V, with Paz Vega as Queen Mary of Hungary, Oliver Platt as Pope Clement VII, Bill Skarsgard as Philip II of Spain, Eddie Marsan as Martin Luther, and with German superstar Thomas Kretschmann and movie legend Rutger Hauer also in the stellar cast!

LEE TAMAHORI'S EMPEROR 
 is an action epic about a young girl who seeks revenge on the holy Roman Emperor Charles V for the death of her father by infiltrating his royal court. It happens in a world of wealth, debauchery, violent retaliations, sex, manipulation and treason in which Charles V is trying to hold together a fragmented empire... it's the 16th century revisited!

DEZZY'S HISTORY LESSON

Charles V was a Duke of Burgundy and Holy Roman Emperor who ruled a massive Empire in which the sun never set including the Spanish Empire, Holy Roman Empire, Habsburg Netherlands and extensive territories in western, central, and southern Europe, and the Spanish colonies in the Americas and Asia where he sanctioned the conquest by Castillian conquistadors of the Aztec and Inca empires. Although the four decades of his rule were marked by many wars (mostly against France, German princes and the Ottoman Sultan) in the end he abdicated in order to live and then die in a monastery instead on a battle field. 

BBC'S 'POLDARK' GETS 

 3RD SEASON WITH AIDAN TURNER

Meanwhile, while we're waiting for BBC to air, beginning of September in UK and end of it in USA, the 2nd season of popular period set series POLDARK, it has been announced that the 3rd has been ordered too! The 2nd season, starring Aidan Turner will be set in year 1794: Ross Poldark must traverse new family, new loves and new battles, as the French revolution casts a shadow over life in Cornwall. Eleanor Tomlinson returns as his wife Demelza!