(Left) Anna Kendrick stars in ‘Alice, Darling.’ (Right) Seth Rogen at CinemaCon 2023. Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures.
Preview:
Anna Kendrick and Seth Rogen are to lead new comedy ‘Babies’.
Lauren Miller Rogen wrote and will direct the movie.
Filming will start in November.
Given all his producing work and particularly the attention paid to Apple TV+ series ‘The Studio’, it can sometimes be easy to forget that Seth Rogen also appears in movies.
Yet he’s back on the big screen in the likes of ‘Good Fortune’ this year, and has lined up another new role, agreeing to star opposite Anna Kendrick in ‘Babies’.
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The movie represents the latest work from Rogen’s other half, Lauren Miller Rogen, who has been writing and directing movies for a while now and will pull the same double duty for this one.
Anna Kendrick stars as Stephanie Smothers in ‘Another Simple Favor’. Photo: Amazon MGM Studios.
Miller Rogen’s latest script focuses on couple Annie (Kendrick) and her husband Aaron (Rogen). They’re struggling with the decision of whether or not to bring a child into the world, and become instant co-parents when their newly-divorced friend moves into their home with her 3-year-old.
Sounds like the title will also have more than one meaning, since the central couple will need to learn what it takes to grow up and deal with one of the biggest challenges of adulthood. The cameras should be rolling this coming November in Los Angeles.
Where else can we see Anna Kendrick and Seth Rogen?
(L to R) Keanu Reeves as Gabriel, Seth Rogen as Jeff, and Aziz Ansari as Ari in ‘Good Fortune’. Photo Credit: Eddy Chen.
Rogen, as mentioned, has seen ‘The Studio’ snag several Emmy nominations and plenty of positive press. ‘Good Fortune’, directed by Aziz Ansari, co-stars Keanu Reeves and will be out on October 17th.
He’s also one of the voices in the new adaptation of ‘Animal Farm’, due for release on January 30th.
As for Miller Rogen, her credits include writing, directing and producing the Netflix original film ‘Like Father’, starring Kristen Bell and Kelsey Grammer, and writing, starring in and producing the indie comedy ‘For a Good Time, Call’…, which was released by Focus Features. She also is attached to direct the horror comedy ‘Be Mine’.
When will ‘Babies’ be on screens?
The movie has yet to lock down a studio home or other distributor, so a release date is a ways off for now. Still, given the names attached, we doubt it’ll have too much trouble finding a company willing to adopt it.
Anna Kendrick stars as Stephanie Smothers in ‘Another Simple Favor’. Photo: Amazon MGM Studios.
‘Another Simple Favor’ receives 7 out of 10 stars.
Arriving globally on Prime Video on May 1st, ‘Another Simple Favor’ throws us back into the knotty dynamic of mommy vlogger-turned-crime sleuth Stephanie Smothers (Anna Kendrick) and mysterious, murderous fashion plate Emily Nelson (Blake Lively).
This sequel to the 2018 murder mystery brought to screens by director Paul Feig, looks to amp up the mystery even further, throwing in new family members and some luxurious Italian island locations.
On television, there’s a common trick of sitcoms and other shows usually anchored to one place to goose things up by taking the characters on holiday. ‘The Brady Bunch’ went to Hawaii. ‘Friends’ brought us “The One in Barbados” and the usually hospital-bound ‘Scrubs’ splashed out for a destination wedding in the Bahamas.
‘Another Simple Favor’ tries a similar trick, albeit in movie form (though it is premiering on Prime Video), moving its murder mystery machinations to the picturesque isle of Capri in Italy. But is it enough to elevate everything? That’s a more complicated question, one whose answer is both yes and no.
Script and Direction
Paul Feig attends the Amazon MGM Studios ‘Another Simple Favor’ New York Special Screening on Sunday, April 27, 2025 at Jazz at Lincoln Center, New York City. Photo: Prime Video.
Together, they have concocted something that feels as though it has a similar energy to the original movie, while looking to heighten things to an even more absurd degree. Which is saying something, given that the 2018 effort had more turns than a corkscrew.
‘A Simple Favor’ effectively blended its mystery and comedy tones together, and while the follow-up attempts the same trick with some new complications, it mostly manages it, while sometimes tipping too far into ridiculousness.
Still, there are the requisite laughs to be found here, and enough twists to keep you guessing. Once the new main mystery is revealed, it does rather start to deflate, and there is some egregious sequel baiting towards the end.
Feig, returning as director, proves he can adeptly hop between genres, and being let loose in the beautiful island of Capri certainly allows him to up the visual interest of the movie. He also capably manages the new cast recruits while keeping the focus squarely where it should be: the winning, sometimes overly catty dynamic between Kendrick’s Stephanie and Lively’s Emily.
Lively might be the superstar here, but it’s Anna Kendrick who really keeps the movie grounded and funny. As Stephanie, who is awkwardly trying to enjoy her newfound fame following the events of the original film (and capitalize on them by writing a book about the case), Kendrick remains the comic powerhouse of the film, whether she’s effectively narrating the movie through her video channel or trading barbs with Lively’s Emily (or, er, Hope, as she should really be called.)
As for Lively, she’s back in full-on comic-inflected femme fatale mode, as she struts around in outrageous clothing and gets passive-aggressive with Kendrick’s character. She once more makes an impact, whether she’s plotting her next move or proving more of a friend to Stephanie than she might have suspected.
There’s also a healthy vein of vulnerability in both the leads, which makes the characters as relatable in the past, even as the screwball murder mystery is dialed up into ever more frenzied levels of complexity.
Around them, a collection of returning and new performers add extra layers to the story.
Henry Golding is able to let loose more as Sean, Emily’s ex-husband (who had a dalliance with Stephanie in the original), and here is a drunken, sarcastic mess, throwing endless shade at his ex.
Of the newcomers, the highlights are Alex Newell, who steals moments and scenes as Stephanie’s enthusiastic assistant/book tour manager Vicky and Elena Sofia Ricci as Portia Versano, the powerful, calculating mother of Emily’s new fiancé Dante (Michele Morrone), neither of whom show up on google searches, but are clearly very rich and powerful –– it won’t take you long to guess why.
Less present, but still entertaining are Detective Summervile (Bashir Salahuddin, returning from the original) and FBI agent Irene Walker (Taylor Ortega), who help drive the plot while not forgetting to bring the laughs.
The really nutritious additions to the cast are Allison Janney and Elizabeth Perkins, who consume whole sections of scenery playing Emily’s grasping aunt and drunken mother.
‘A Simple Favor’ sometimes coasted on the power of its stars and some fun plot turns, and ‘Another Simple Favor’ falls into a similar trap.
Still, the idyllic countryside helps it feel different enough, and though it can’t quite keep the momentum up towards the end, watching it is not too much of an ask.
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What’s the plot of ‘Another Simple Favor’?
Stephanie Smothers (Anna Kendrick) and Emily Nelson (Blake Lively) reunite on the beautiful island of Capri, Italy, for Emily’s extravagant wedding to a rich Italian businessman.
Along with the glamorous guests, expect murder and betrayal to RSVP for a wedding with more twists and turns than the road from the Marina Grande to the Capri town square.
The first images of ‘The Accountant 2’ are online.
Ben Affleck, Jon Bernthal and J.K. Simmons are among the stars.
Gavin O’Connor returned to direct this one.
Back in 2016, Ben Affleck starred in action crime drama ‘The Accountant,’ which saw him as Christian Wolff, a math savant with more affinity for numbers than people.
Behind the cover of a small-town CPA office, he worked as a freelance accountant for some of the world’s most dangerous criminal organizations.
But when the Treasury Department’s Crime Enforcement Division, run by Ray King (J.K. Simmons), starts to close in, Christian takes on a legitimate client: a state-of-the-art robotics company where an accounting clerk (Anna Kendrick) has discovered a discrepancy involving millions of dollars. But as Christian uncooks the books and gets closer to the truth, it is the body count that starts to rise…
Directed by Gavin O’Connor from a script by Bill Dubuque, it was a hit, generating more than $155 million from a $44 million budget.
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It’s perhaps a little surprising then, that it has taken this long for ‘The Accountant 2‘ to arrive, though there are numerous factors at play, including the decline in such mid-budget (at least for Hollywood) movies over the years, the star and director’s busy schedules and the fact that Warner Bros. isn’t as involved this time (though the studio is still listed as a production company and is distributing the film outside the States).
Here’s what O’Connor had to say to Vanity Fair about his eight years trying to get the sequel made:
“It was brutal. It just felt like this flower that was ready to bloom, and then it would stop again and start again. It was so frustrating. It was very important to me to make an exuberant, entertaining movie. I wanted to make an emotional film and also not just an action movie, which I would find wildly boring and uninteresting. An action movie that dealt with human connection and love was something that I really wanted to explore.”
Yet arrive it has –– or will in a couple of months following a world premiere debut at this year’s SXSW Film Festival –– and to prove it, the first images of Affleck and the rest of the cast are now online.
When an old acquaintance is murdered, leaving behind a cryptic message to “find the accountant,” Wolff is compelled to solve the case.
Realizing more extreme measures are necessary, Wolff recruits his estranged and highly lethal brother, Brax (Jon Bernthal), to help. In partnership with U.S. Treasury Deputy Director Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson), they uncover a deadly conspiracy, becoming targets of a ruthless network of killers who will stop at nothing to keep their secrets buried…
Here’s Affleck on the enduring appeal of the original film:
“It was a movie that I found that I would hear about from people. It was a movie that stuck around, that people would talk about and say, ‘Oh, hey, I like ‘The Accountant.’ And there seemed to be a lot of goodwill towards it.”
In regard to his character, Christian Wolff, Affleck had this to say:
“This is a guy who wants to have a relationship. He wants to have friends. He’s good at some things and good at others. And I thought that the kind of vulnerability and honesty of that was kind of an interesting risk to take.”
And this is what Bernthal thinks of his character, Brax:
“Underneath it all, I think especially with Braxton, is just this unbelievable yearning to have his brother in his life and this unbelievable loneliness that he’s been trying to fill with all these very empty ways.”
Finally, here’s Addai-Robinson on her return as Marybeth:
“I was always hopeful that I would get to revisit this story and see how Marybeth was doing these days. I was very excited to finally get the call that we were getting the band back together.”
While all involved certainly want to reunite, we’ll likely have to wait and see how this one performs first.
Here’s O’Connor:
“I have a lot of thoughts about what to do with the third. I’ve been thinking about it for a lot of years.”
While Affleck strikes a more cautionary note:
“I’m keenly aware of the fact that you kind of have to earn another movie. The worst pitfall is to store a bunch of your good ideas for the next installment. If you don’t create an interest demand the first time out there, you’re just going to be playing that to an empty house.”
When will ‘The Accountant 2’ be in theaters?
The ‘Accountant’ sequel is currently targeting an April 25th release in cinemas, something of a rarity for Amazon MGM studios projects.
Premiering on Netflix November 17th, anime series ‘Scott Pilgrim Takes Off’ is the latest adaptation of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s cult graphic novel series, published between August 2004 and July 2010 by Oni Press.
It was first brought to big screens by director Edgar Wright, whose ‘Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World’ was released in 2010. It didn’t do well at the box office, but became a cult favorite, and is still seen as a successful translation of the source material to screens.
Which means that ‘Scott Pilgrim Takes Off’ has even more to prove, following both the original books and the movie. Yet, as it turns out, this animated TV version is more than up to the challenge.
Does Scott Pilgrim successfully cross over into anime?
If you’re a fan of the ‘Scott Pilgrim’ graphic novels, you’ll probably have been anticipating this one, not least because it boasts the movie’s cast on voice duties.
It is a relief, then, to report that ‘Scott Pilgrim Takes Off’ is a roaring success, which is both faithful to the original story but finds fascinating new paths to take –– about which we wish we could say more, but to do so would spoil the fun.
Suffice to say, the initial episode of the show follows almost entirely faithfully along the story of the first book, introducing us once more to Scott’s frosty Toronto existence. He’s a nervy slacker who plays in a bad rock band and is (sort of) dating a highschooler.
And yet Scott is also, apparently, one of the best fighters in the area, since the ‘Pilgrim’ world is one where spontaneous, video game-style battles break out when people are fighting for reasons including winning over someone they have a crush on.
That’s Scott’s challenge when he meets the beautiful, mysterious Ramona Flowers, an American transplant still smarting from a bad breakup with some serious baggage. He becomes somewhat obsessed with her, partly because she rollerblades through his dreams (turns out his subconscious mind is a hyperspace portal that knocks miles off Ramona’s route as a DVD delivery worker… yes, you really do need to key into the story’s specific oddness).
So, when one of Ramona’s ex-boyfriends show up to challenge him to a fight, Scott is only to ready to leap into action.
It’s there that O’Malley and TV co-writer BenDavid Grabinski (‘Happily’) really get to show off the imaginative drive of the show, as they find truly interesting new ways to tell the story.
The writers, who clearly knew that another completely faithful adaptation would be viewed as unnecessary, make some real leaps here, getting a lot of mileage out of experimenting with the basic story engine. It allows for characters who in the book and movie are mostly side players to get their moments to shine –– and truly expands upon the story.
This could well be considered a multiverse variant of ‘Scott Pilgrim’, one that enriches the experience without forgetting what makes it work. The characters feel authentic, and the emotions are still real, even with all the craziness going on around them.
And while Wright was able to pull off some impressive action in his movie version (employing some nifty effects and a creative stunt team), the anime nature of the show means it can go far further in its depiction of the different battles.
Director Abel Gongora brings audacious visual panache to the whole series, whether it is two characters fighting in a plane as it crashes, or paparazzi photographers portrayed as a pack of ninjas.
The anime style fits with the book’s illustration, then brings them to life in vivid and various ways. And the music, meanwhile, is a perfect blend of entirely new material and songs that cropped up in the film. This is the perfect mix of the source and its original adaptation.
‘Scott Pilgrim Takes Off’: Performances
The voice cast of ‘Scott Pilgrim’ Anime Series.
Gathering the movie’s cast back (albeit in isolated recording booths, since the actors have gone on to much bigger, busier careers in the years since release) proves to be another winning aspect of the new production.
Michael Cera, of course, is still great as a low-key Scott, while Kieran Culkin still steals scenes as his unwitting roommate Wallace Wells, who has even more snark to deliver here. Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s Ramona gets to be more than a love interest, while the likes of Satya Bhabha’s Matthew Patel and Johnny Simmons’ Young Neil are expanded far beyond their minor roles in the story.
In a year where the comic book genre has taken something of a beating, this off-beat blend of video games, romance, rock and comedy is the ideal antidote. It’ll please fans of both the book and movie and looks unlike anything out there on TV at the moment.
‘Scott Pilgrim Takes Off’ ranks among the best of genre on small screens this year. As the o omnipresent video game announcer might declare, “Winner!”
‘Scott Pilgrim Takes Off’ receives 9 out of 10 stars.
Adapted by Bryan Lee O’Malley and BenDavid Grabinski, ‘Scott Pilgrim Takes Off’ follows the title character (voiced by Michael Cera) as he falls in love with New Yorker Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead).
But in order to date her, he must defeat all seven of her evil exes. Then things get even more complicated.
Who else is in ‘Scott Pilgrim Takes Off’?
Thanks to the intervention of Edgar Wright, the entire movie cast is back alongside Michael Cera and Mary Elizabeth Winstead.
(from left) John Dory (Eric André), Clay (Kid Cudi), Poppy (Anna Kendrick), Branch (Justin Timberlake), Viva (Camila Cabello), Floyd (Troye Sivan) and Spruce (Daveed Diggs) in ‘Trolls Band Together,’ directed by Walt Dohrn.
‘Trolls Band Together’, which arrives in theaters on Friday, is the third outing for the popular franchise, following in the footsteps –– or perhaps that should be dance steps in this case –– of 2016’s ‘Trolls’ and 2020’s more controversial ‘Trolls World Tour’.
That second film was problematic not because of any particular content, but because it was one of the earliest movies to be released concurrently in theaters and on Peacock, which angered major movie chain AMC enough that it swore not to release Universal movies going forward (that has since been reversed thanks to a new contract between the studio and the company).
‘Trolls Band Together’ has faced its own challenge –– the actors’ strike has meant its stars, including Justin Timberlake and Anna Kendrick –– were not permitted to promote it until this final week of release now the strike is over.
So, the new movie has to stand on its own merits, which honestly are becoming fewer and fewer as the franchise rumbles along.
The ‘Trolls’ franchise, despite its star vocal power and box office success, has never seemed to enjoy the same reputation as, say, the ‘Shrek’ movies or ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ in the DreamWorks Animation Canon. It’s noticeable that there isn’t a troll to be found in the fancy recent animated legacy logo for the studio.
And while the original ‘Trolls’ was full of energy and no little invention, and the second looked to raise the stakes, ‘Band Together’ sadly feels like it’s running low on both, forced to rely on hokey old chestnuts as previously unexplored relatives and fame-hungry divas.
Plus, if we’re honest, the movie largely feels like an excuse to have Justin Timberlake reunite boyband NSYNC for a closing song. It’s a marketing decision that inspired a movie, and that shows.
‘Trolls Band Together’: Script and Direction
Zooey Deschanel voices Bridget in ‘Trolls Band Together,’ directed by Walt Dohrn.
With DreamWorks veteran Walt Dohrn (who co-directed the original) and co-director Tim Heitz working from a script by Elizabeth Tippet (‘Trolls World Tour’) ‘Band Together’ flashes back to Branch’s (Timberlake) younger days when he was part of a boy band called BroZone with his brothers. Quite why he’s never thought to mention this fact to Poppy (Kendrick) is somewhat explained by the fact that the group –– and the family –– broke up after they failed to achieve a “perfect family harmony” during their big concert. And if you guessed that might factor into the plot down the road, have a gold star –– it’s always how these things work out.
But Poppy and Branch heading out on a mission to help save one of those mysterious brothers when he’s kidnapped by fame-hungry performers Veneer (Andrew Rannells) and Velvet (Amy Schumer), who literally have a way to siphon his talent for their own use is far from the most compelling concept. The storyline wends its way through the predictable beats that will keep the kids entertained enough but will likely feel punishing to most adults who have to take them.
It is certainly bright and frenetic in keeping with the other movies, but that’s all in service of a very bland story. And the jukebox musical format mostly makes you think that more effort was put into finding ways to squeeze in pop and oldies hits into the plot.
As usual, Kendrick is the standout here, her infectious enthusiasm as Poppy helping to paper over some of the cracks. Timberlake rarely gets above serviceable as Branch, though he seems to pick up some energy whenever he’s given a chance to sing.
There are a few of the veteran ‘Trolls’ performers here, especially Zooey Deschanel as Bridget and Christopher Mintz-Plasse as King Gristle, the former Troll-hunting Bergens who are now good friends of our heroes, while Kenan Thompson adds in his typical side gags as Tiny Diamond.
Of the new recruits, Schumer and Rannells make the most impact as the posturing performer twins, who are styled like 1920s cartoons from rivals Disney (surely no coincidence), while Camila Cabello does her best to match Kendrick’s energy as Viva, Poppy’s heretofore unmentioned sister. Credit also to Zosia Mamet as Crimp, the twins’ overworked and underappreciated assistant.
‘Trolls Band Together’ Final Thoughts
Branch (Justin Timberlake, center) in ‘Trolls Band Together,’ directed by Walt Dohrn.
If you’re in the right age bracket for the ‘Trolls’ movies, then this essentially delivers what you’re after –– a lot of music, some bright, peppy animation that moves at a high gear and plenty of silly jokes. It’s chaotic and candy colored, and if you don’t love one sequence, another will be along shortly.
Plus, there has been some effort lavished on the musical sequences, which are the selling point here –– some experimental animated moments that evoke the likes of ‘Yellow Submarine’ or wilder and wackier comic books to stand apart from the usual blend of felt Trolls and the rest of the characters, who have a near stop-motion feel.
Those who are older might smile at the sheer number of boyband names and other references crammed into the dialogue. But in general, you’re likely to end up just feeling a little tired of it all. These Trolls could really use spending quiet time in their tree for a few years –– at least until they dream up some new material.
‘Trolls Band Together’ receives 5 out of 10 stars.
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What’s the story of ‘Trolls Band Together’?
Poppy (Anna Kendrick) discovers that Branch (Justin Timberlake) was once part of the boy band ‘BroZone’ with his brothers, Floyd (Troye Sivan), John Dory (Eric André), Spruce (Daveed Diggs) and Clay (Kid Cudi).
When Floyd is kidnapped, Branch and Poppy embark on a journey to reunite his two other brothers and rescue him.
The new series is a fresh, yet recognizable adaptation of O’Malley’s original books, which chronicle how slacker Scott (Cera) goes from dating the enthusiastic Knives Chau (Ellen Wong) to becoming obsessed with the cool courier Ramona Flowers (Winstead).
Trouble is, when Scott starts dating Ramona, he learns he’ll also have to battle her seven evil ex-boyfriends (and one ex-girlfriend) to unlock the power of love and truly win her heart. You know: that old boy-meets-girl-boy-fights-exes-learns-life-lessons story.
Set in “the magical land of Toronto”, the story also brings in garage bands (since Scott plays with a scruffy local outfit called ‘Sex Bob-Om’), crazy video game references and dueling musical acts. Part of Scott’s problem is that he also has an ex, Envy Adams (Larson), who has since gone on to become a huge rock star.
Evans will be Lucas Lee, one of the exes, while Routh plays Todd Ingram, Envy’s new boyfriend and bandmate. Plaza is aboard as Scott’s sweary nemesis Julie Powers, while Anna Kendrick is his sister, Stacey. Schwartzman, meanwhile, is calculating ultimate evil ex Gideon Graves.
Fellow Sex Bob-Om bandmates include Young Neil (Johnny Simmons), Stephen Stills (Mark Webber) and Kim Pine (Pill).
“One of the proudest and most enjoyable achievements of my career was assembling and working with the dynamite cast of ‘Scott Pilgrim’. Since the film’s release in 2010 we’ve done Q&A’s, remembrances and charity read throughs, but there was never the occasion to reunite the whole gang on an actual project. Until now… Original creator Bryan Lee O’Malley, along with writer BenDavid Grabinski have conjured up an anime series of ‘Scott Pilgrim’ that doesn’t just expand the universe, but also…well, just watch it. I’m more than happy to announce that I have helped coax the entire original cast back to voice their characters on this epic new adventure. You are in for a treat.”
As a movie, the story was fun, and stylish and from the looks of this first trailer, the series will be able to both replicate the style of O’Malley’s graphic novel work while also expanding on the craziness (dinosaurs!)
‘Scott Pilgrim Takes Off’ hits Netflix on November 17th.
Now, though, Wright is executive producing a new animated adaptation of O’Malley’s work, with O’Malley and Ben David Grabinski as executive producers, writers and showrunners, with Science SARU as the animation studio bringing it all to life.
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Michael Cera as Scott Pilgrim in director Edgar Wright’s ‘Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.’
What’s the story of ‘Scott Pilgrim’?
The new series looks to be a new adaptation of O’Malley’s original books, which chronicle how slacker Scott (Cera) goes from dating the enthusiastic Knives Chau (Ellen Wong) to becoming obsessed with the cool courier Ramona Flowers (Winstead).
Trouble is, when Scott starts dating Ramona, he learns he’ll also have to battle her seven evil ex-boyfriends to unlock the power of love and truly win her heart. You know: that old boy-meets-girl-boy-fights-exes-learns-life-lessons story.
Set in “the magical land of Toronto”, the story also brings in garage bands (since Scott plays with a scruffy local outfit called ‘Sex Bob-Om’, crazy video game references and dueling musical acts. Part of Scott’s problem is that he also has an ex, Envy Adams (Larson), who has since gone on to become a huge rockstar.
Evans will be Lucas Lee, one of the exes, while Routh plays Todd Ingram, Envy’s new boyfriend and bandmate. Plaza is aboard as Scott’s sweary nemesis Julie Powers, while Anna Kendrick is his sister, Stacey. Schwartzman, meanwhile, is calculating ultimate evil ex Gideon Graves.
Fellow Sex Bob-Om bandmates include Young Neil (Johnny Simmons), Stephen Stills (Mark Webber) and Kim Pine (Pill).
Here’s what Bryan Lee O’Malley and BenDavid Grabinski had to say about the new series:
“We’re getting the band back together! Cera and Winstead, Bhabha, Culkin, Evans, Kendrick, Larson, Pill, Plaza, Routh, Schwartzman, Simmons, Webber, Whitman and Wong. A stellar cast, perfectly assembled by Edgar Wright. We can’t wait for fans and newcomers alike to see what we and our partners at Science SARU have been cooking up. It’s going to be a wild ride.”
And Edgar Wright adds,
“One of the proudest and most enjoyable achievements of my career was assembling and working with the dynamite cast of ‘Scott Pilgrim’. Since the film’s release in 2010 we’ve done Q&A’s, remembrances and charity read throughs, but there was never the occasion to reunite the whole gang on an actual project. Until now… Original creator Bryan Lee O’Malley, along with writer BenDavid Grabinski have conjured up an anime series of ‘Scott Pilgrim’ that doesn’t just expand the universe, but also…well, just watch it. I’m more than happy to announce that I have helped coax the entire original cast back to voice their characters on this epic new adventure. You are in for a treat.”
The film was bursting with visual imagination and geeky puns, but the series promises to be even wilder given the advantages of animation. Netflix has yet to announce a release date for the show.
Chris Evans as Lucas Lee in director Edgar Wright’s ‘Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.’
Other Movies Similar to ‘Scott Pilgrim vs. the World:’
Anna Kendrick is one of the most popular and talented actress working today.
She first gained attention for her supporting role in the ‘Twilight’ franchise and was quickly nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her work opposite George Clooney in ‘Up in the Air,’ and has since appeared in such popular movies as ‘Scott Pilgrim vs. the World,’ ‘End of Watch,’ ‘Cake,’ ‘The Accountant,’ ‘Trolls’ and the ‘Pitch Perfect’ franchise. Her latest project, ‘Alice, Darling’ opens exclusively in AMC Theaters on January 20th.
In honor of the release of her new film, Moviefone is counting down the 20 best movies of Anna Kendrick’s career, including ‘Alice, Darling.’
Bella (Kristen Stewart) once again finds herself surrounded by danger as Seattle is ravaged by a string of mysterious killings and a malicious vampire continues her quest for revenge. In the midst of it all, she is forced to choose between her love for Edward (Robert Pattinson) and her friendship with Jacob (Taylor Lautner), knowing that her decision has the potential to ignite the ageless struggle between vampire and werewolf. With her graduation quickly approaching, Bella is confronted with the most important decision of her life.
Mike (Adam DeVine) and Dave (Zac Efron) are young, adventurous, fun-loving brothers who tend to get out of control at family gatherings. When their sister Jeanie (Sugar Lyn Beard) reveals her Hawaiian wedding plans, the rest of the Stangles insist that the brothers bring respectable dates. After placing an ad on Craigslist, the siblings decide to pick Tatiana (Aubrey Plaza) and Alice (Kendrick), two charming and seemingly normal women. Once they arrive on the island, however, Mike and Dave realize that their companions are ready to get wild and party.
Weekend trips, office parties, late night conversations, drinking on the job, marriage pressure, biological clocks, holding eye contact a second too long… you know what makes the line between “friends” and “more than friends” really blurry? Beer. Starring Kendrick, Olivia Wild, Jake Johnson, and Ron Livingston.
After the highs of winning the world championships, the Bellas find themselves split apart and discovering there aren’t job prospects for making music with your mouth. But when they get the chance to reunite for an overseas USO tour, this group of awesome nerds will come together to make some music, and some questionable decisions, one last time.
Inspired by a true story, a comedy centered on a 27-year-old guy (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who learns of his cancer diagnosis and his subsequent struggle to beat the disease.
The new found married bliss of Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) and vampire Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) is cut short when a series of betrayals and misfortunes threatens to destroy their world.
After having visions of a member of her support group who killed herself (Kendrick), a woman (Jennifer Aniston) who also suffers with chronic pain seeks out the widower of the suicide.
When Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) moves to a small town in the Pacific Northwest, she falls in love with Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson), a mysterious classmate who reveals himself to be a 108-year-old vampire. Despite Edward’s repeated cautions, Bella can’t stay away from him, a fatal move that endangers her own life.
The Bellas are back, and they are better than ever. After being humiliated in front of none other than the President of the United States of America, the Bellas are taken out of the Aca-Circuit. In order to clear their name, and regain their status, the Bellas take on a seemingly impossible task: winning an international competition no American team has ever won. In order to accomplish this monumental task, they need to strengthen the bonds of friendship and sisterhood and blow away the competition with their amazing aca-magic! With all new friends and old rivals tagging along for the trip, the Bellas can hopefully accomplish their dreams.
Stephanie (Kendrick), a dedicated mother and popular vlogger, befriends Emily (Blake Lively), a mysterious upper-class woman whose son Nicky attends the same school as Miles, Stephanie’s son. When Emily asks her to pick Nicky up from school and then disappears, Stephanie undertakes an investigation that will dive deep into Emily’s cloudy past.
Lovable and friendly, the trolls love to play around. But one day, a mysterious giant shows up to end the party. Poppy (Kendrick), the optimistic leader of the Trolls, and her polar opposite, Branch (Justin Timberlake), must embark on an adventure that takes them far beyond the only world they’ve ever known.
In a woods filled with magic and fairy tale characters, a baker (James Corden) and his wife (Emily Blunt) set out to end the curse put on them by their neighbor, a spiteful witch.
Anna Kendrick stars as Alice, a woman pushed to the breaking point by her psychologically abusive boyfriend, Simon (Charlie Carrick). While on vacation with two close girlfriends (Kaniehtiio Horn and Wunmi Mosaku), Alice rediscovers the essence of herself and gains some much-needed perspective. Slowly, she starts to fray the cords of codependency that bind her. But Simon’s vengeance is as inevitable as it is shattering – and, once unleashed, it tests Alice’s strength, her courage, and the bonds of her deep-rooted friendships.
A girl (Kendrick) falls for the “perfect” guy (Sam Rockwell), who happens to have a very fatal flaw: he’s a hitman on the run from the crime cartels who employ him.
Two young officers (Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña) are marked for death after confiscating a small cache of money and firearms from the members of a notorious cartel during a routine traffic stop.
As a math savant (Ben Affleck) uncooks the books for a new client, the Treasury Department closes in on his activities and the body count starts to rise.
Corporate downsizing expert Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) spends his life in planes, airports, and hotels, but just as he’s about to reach a milestone of ten million frequent flyer miles, he meets a woman (Vera Farmiga) who causes him to rethink his transient life.
As bass guitarist for a garage-rock band, Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) has never had trouble getting a girlfriend; usually, the problem is getting rid of them. But when Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) skates into his heart, he finds she has the most troublesome baggage of all: an army of ex-boyfriends (Chris Evans, Brandon Routh, and Jason Schwartzman) who will stop at nothing to eliminate him from her list of suitors.
College student Beca (Kendrick) knows she does not want to be part of a clique, but that’s exactly where she finds herself after arriving at her new school. Thrust in among mean gals, nice gals and just plain weird gals, Beca finds that the only thing they have in common is how well they sing together. She takes the women of the group out of their comfort zone of traditional arrangements and into a world of amazing harmonic combinations in a fight to the top of college music competitions.
Opening exclusively in AMC Theaters on January 20th is the new psychological thriller ‘Alice, Darling,’ which was directed by first time feature filmmaker Mary Nighy.
But after taking a vacation with friends, Tess (Kaniehtiio Horn) and Sophie (Wunmi Mosaku), she reassesses her relationship and attempts to break her codependency in spite of Simon’s vengeful attitude.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of sitting down in-person with Anna Kendrick to talk about her work on ‘Alice, Darling,’ her first reaction to the screenplay, the aspects of the character she was excited to explore, Alice’s abusive relationship with Simon and how that affects her both mentally and physically.
Anna Kendrick in ‘Alice, Darling.’
You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interview with Anna Kendrick about ‘Alice, Darling.’
Moviefone: To begin with, can you talk about your first reaction to reading the screenplay, and what were some of the aspects of the character you were excited to explore on screen?
Anna Kendrick: I think my immediate sense reading the screenplay was, I was really excited about this thing that Alana (Francis), the screenwriter had managed to pull off. Which is really rare when you’re reading a screenplay where she was very specifically not spelling things out. It wasn’t really prescriptive, and she was just doing so much with so little both in the dialogue and in the action lines. She was just really creating a world, a tone and an atmosphere, and it was almost kind of visual poetry. It really invited you into the character, her anxiety and that kind of restraint, that I think is really difficult for screenwriters to trust, I guess.
I totally understand why if you’re just putting it on paper and sending it out, wanting to be like, “This is what I mean by this.” She really created a piece of poetry, and so everybody showed up to the movie with the same sense of tone, if that makes sense. I’ve been on film sets before where you’re like, “Oh, I think a lot of us are in a different movie right now. We’re saying the lines and everything, but you’re in a different movie than I’m in.” Everybody really knew what this movie was, and that meant that we just had to show up and do our jobs, and that was exciting. I think with Alice’s journey, there’s a lot of high impact moments, but what I found exciting was some of the places, especially early in the film where Alice is kind of unlikeable.
She’s in a bad spot, and sometimes when you are not well and things are not good in your life, you’re not perfectly vulnerable and you’re not this kind of doe-eyed innocent lamb. Sometimes you might be cold to your friends, you might push people away, you might withdraw, and it doesn’t seem like there’s a lot of inner life going on. There’s not much to draw you in, which is kind of vulnerable for me as a performer because very explicitly, I try to draw people in. It was weird to trust that the audience would be willing to stick with Alice long enough to see what was really going on with her.
(L to R) Anna Kendrick as Alice and Charlie Carrick as Simon in ‘Alice, Darling.’ Photo Credit: Samantha Falco.
MF: Finally, Alice’s relationship with Simon is literally physically making her sick. Can you talk about that abusive relationship between the two of them and how it brings out these obsessive compulsive aspects of her personality?
AK: First of all, Charlie who plays Simon, was such an incredible scene partner and ally for me on set. We both had the same thoughts about making sure that the relationship really felt like the kind of thing where you could understand why Simon would be convinced that he was the victim, and Alice would be convinced that she was the perpetrator. We talked about that a lot and I felt so lucky to have him as my partner in this.
I think that I’ve talked to a lot of women, and I know for me personally, there is something about this kind of invisible internal, just soul crushing experience where there are manifestations physically. Whether it’s a rash or you have stomach problems, I feel like that’s something that comes up, these kind of physical, symptomatic things. I thought it was really smart of Alana, the screenwriter, to have that manifest in this kind of obsessive hair twirling and tugging. There’s just such an evocative image to sort of punish the self, and to punish a part of you that is supposed to be, especially as a women, beautiful, shiny and pleasing.
To be compelled to harm this part of yourself, this external part of yourself, because what’s going on inside simply must be expressed in some way. It was just such beautiful writing and it was really fun to try to capture that perfectly on camera. That was one of the first things that we did on the camera test day with Mary and our brilliant cinematographer, Mike McLaughlin, was really get in there with these macro lenses and try to find the perfect way to show the tension of the strand of hair around a finger, because strands of hair turns out to be very challenging to put on film, but it was really fun to do.
Anna Kendrick stars in ‘Alice, Darling.’
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‘A Simple Favor’, adapted from Darcey Bell’s novel, told the story of widowed single mother and crafting/parenting vlogger Stephanie Smothers (Kendrick), who strikes up an unexpected friendship with glamorous fellow mother Emily Nelson (Lively). The two share drinks and swap stories, though the power dynamic in the friendship always seems weighted towards the more confident, secretive Emily.
When Stephanie agrees to look after Emily’s son, Emily then goes missing, leading Stephanie and Emily’s husband Sean Townsend (Henry Golding) to investigate what happened – and to start up a relationship of their own.
We won’t spoil what happens next in case you haven’t read the book or seen the original movie, but while ‘Favor’ does feature a relatively wrapped-up ending, it also leaves some ideas for a potential follow-up, which is where Lionsgate (which originally plucked the first movie from the depths of 20th Century Fox development and brought it to screens), and Amazon Studios are headed. Especially since that movie made $97 million worldwide from a $20 million budget.
Blake Lively in Paul Feig’s ‘A Simple Favor.’
Bell hasn’t written a sequel book, so the movie will be an original story featuring the same characters. Quite what happens in the new movie is a mystery for now.
Feig has his latest directorial outing, ‘The School for Good and Evil’ headed to Netflix. The movie, which adapts Soman Chainani’s book, follows the adventures of best friends Sophie and Agatha at the titular school, where ordinary kids are trained to be fairy tale heroes and villains. Sophie (Sophia Ann Caruso) has princess aspirations and expects to be picked for the School for Good and Agatha (Sofia Wylie) seems a natural fit for the villains in the School for Evil. Yet soon the girls find their fortunes reversed, putting their friendship to a test…
Kendrick last appeared in another Netflix movie, the sci-fi thriller ‘Stowaway’ and has also been busy lending her voice to the ‘Trolls’ franchise. Her next movie to arrive is Mary Nighy’s ‘Alice, Darling’, in which Kendrick plays a woman trapped in an abusive relationship becomes the focus of an intervention staged by her best friends. Wunmi Mosaku and Kaniehtiio Horn are also in that one.
Anna Kendrick in Paul Feig’s ‘A Simple Favor.’
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