Moviefone Editorial

Tag: brian-grazer

  • Eddie Murphy Starring in ‘Candy Cane Lane’

    Eddie Murphy SNL
    Eddie Murphy at the Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary Special.

    It might be July, but Eddie Murphy is feeling festive.

    He’s now aboard to star in and produce a new Christmas movie called ‘Candy Cane Lane’.

    We don’t yet know what Murphy will be doing in the movie, as none of the plot details have been revealed. According to Deadline, however, the story is based on writer Kelly Younger’s experiences with the holiday in his youth.

    Younger has written for the Muppets: he co-created ‘Muppets Now’ and contributed to the script for ‘Muppets Haunted Mansion’. He also has experience with Disney Feature Animation, serving on the Story Trust for the studio, and crafting the story for ‘Ralph Breaks the Internet’.

    He scripted ‘Candy Cane Lane’ as a spec, and Amazon picked it up as a potential project for Murphy.

    The actor and producer has a three-picture deal with Amazon following the success of ‘Coming 2 America’ on Prime Video, which was plucked from limbo at Paramount during the pandemic.

    And ‘Candy Cane Lane’ represents more than just the latest Murphy/Amazon collaboration – it’s also a reunion for the star and director Reginald Hudlin, who last worked with him on 1992 comedy ‘Boomerang’.

    Also back from that movie is producer Brian Grazer, who has an even longer working relationship with Murphy that includes movies such as ‘Life’, ‘Tower Heist’, ‘The Nutty Professor’ and ‘Bowfinger’.

    Arsenio Hall and Eddie Murphy in Prime Video's 'Coming 2 America.'
    (L to R) Arsenio Hall and Eddie Murphy in Prime Video’s ‘Coming 2 America.’

    Murphy has seen a real boost to his career of late between the likes of Netflix’s ‘Dolemite Is My Name’ and ‘Coming 2 America’. He’ll next be back on screens for Netflix comedy ‘You People’, which also stars Jonah Hill and Julia Louis Dreyfus.

    Then there’s Pixar’s latest movie, ‘Elemental’, where his voice will be heard alongside the likes of Amy Adams, Selena Gomez, Zach Braff, Nick Nolte, Josh Gad and Ray Romano.

    Still in development is the long gestating ‘Beverly Hills Cop 4’, which Murphy plans to star in and produce.

    “The holiday season is my favorite time of year — just ask my family about my nine-hour Christmas playlist,” Hudlin tells Deadline. I‘m excited to be working again with Eddie Murphy, Brian Grazer, and Amazon.”

    Adds Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke: “As we know firsthand with our hit ‘Coming 2 America’, Eddie is someone who brings global audiences together, and we can’t wait to make it happen again. We look forward to seeing the multi-talented Reggie Hudlin take the helm in bringing this future holiday classic to life!”

    With Murphy aboard, we can likely expect more than just a saccharine family movie about the importance of family or some other familiar film, but he does have a few of those in his past too.

    ‘Candy Cane Lane’ hasn’t yet locked down a release date, but the cameras will start rolling this coming winter in Los Angeles.

    Eddie Murphy
    Eddie Murphy in Netflix’s ‘Dolemite Is My Name.’

  • Best of Late Night TV: Kristin Chenoweth Manscapes Conan, Sick Seth MacFarlane Draws Audience Members

    If you’re like us and value your sleep, you probably nodded off into your Ambien dreamland before the party started on post-prime time TV. Don’t worry; we’ve got you covered. Here’s the best of what happened last night on late night.

    “Conan” and, it turns out, she likes to manscape her male friends — but only above the neck. Kristin said Conan O’Brien had “some brow issues,” pointing out what she’d change. So Conan broke out a tweezer and let her do it. His eyes teared up and Andy Richter said he was crying because he’s never been this pretty. Conan’s reasoning was “ONE DIRECTION’S BREAKING UP!”
    Speaking of 1D, the talk shows have been having fun with this “break,” and Conan had a video suggesting replacement boy bands. Skip the centipede, go for the ferns!

    Seth MacFarlane was sick and sounded “like Rachael Ray” but he still went on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” to promote “Blunt Talk.” Since Seth does so many voices on different shows, Jimmy noted that it’s like 125 different people getting sick at once. Seth doesn’t draw for his shows anymore, but he was trained as an animator and got into writing that way. Since Seth likes to draw, and he had voice issues, Jimmy decided to have them draw two audience members who had met on a dating site. Jimmy kept a running commentary going while they drew. It took a long time. And Seth kinda cheated.

    Producer Brian Grazer was on “Jimmy Kimmel Live to promote his book. He talked about people pitching movies to him at all times in all places. There’s a long story about heading to the Amazon, and when he was peeing in a bush, a guy came over and pitched him a movie. He also said he used a torture expert to help Jim Carrey continue to shoot “How The Grinch Stole Christmas” even after Jim was so uncomfortable going through the makeup process he wanted to quit. Interesting story.
    Jimmy broke out the #FingerOfShame, sharing fan tweets with that hashtag to point out bad behavior. All those poor businesses named ISIS. It was such a harmless name not too long ago.

    Sadly, Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, and James Corden are still on repeats this week, and Stephen Colbert doesn’t start his gig until September 8. Pretty soon, late night will be jam-packed!

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  • ‘Inferno’ Movie: See Tom Hanks, Dan Brown and Cast in Amazing Set Photos

    Tom Hanks is returning to his role of Robert Langdon in the latest Dan Brown novel adaptation. “Inferno” is being directed by Ron Howard and produced by Brian Grazer (among others) for a fall 2016 release. And since it’s just about finished filming as of early July 2015, does that mean Ron and Brian can now focus on “Arrested Development” Season 5? Please?

    In reality, they still have a lot of work to do on “Inferno,” even if the actors seem to be wrapping up their roles on set. “Inferno” co-stars Felicity Jones, Omar Sy, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Ben Foster, and Irrfan Khan. Filming started in April, and a good chunk of it was shot in Budapest, Hungary, but they also filmed in Italy. Ron Howard and stars shared a few photos along the way, so here are some impressive recent and not-so-recent shots from the movie set, mostly from the director himself:


    Looks great so far! We’re intrigued. Are you? “Inferno” is currently set for release on October 14, 2016, pushed back from its original 2015 date.

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  • Season 5 of ‘Arrested Development’ Is Coming in 2016

    Arrested Development,” and this time, the producer said that not only were new episodes in the works, but they could hit Netflix as soon as next summer.

    Much like he did with the first bit of “Arrested” season five intel, which he dropped back in April, Grazer made the announcement on a podcast. While speaking with The Adam Corolla Show, Grazer revealed that production on the 17 new episodes was tentatively scheduled to start in January or February of 2016, with the season debuting sometime during the summer, approximately four months after filming.

    That’s some oddly specific info for a series that hasn’t been mentioned by Netflix itself in ages, but if anyone involved with “Arrested” would know its status, it’s Grazer, who co-produces the show with Ron Howard (who also narrates). Here’s what Grazer told Corolla:

    I had a conversation with Fox today – this morning – and Netflix is determined to do more episodes, so we’re gonna do more episodes. The turn of the year – January, February – we’re gonna start it. It’s a lot of juggling of all these stars’ lives…I made the call to Mitch [Hurwitz, show creator] to say everybody’s into it.

    Excuse us while we go do a happy chicken dance in celebration. (And keep our fingers crossed for fewer green-screen scenes.)

    [via: The Adam Corolla Show, h/t CinemaBlend]

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  • ‘A Beautiful Mind’ Stars React to Taxi Crash Deaths of John and Alicia Nash

    Nobel Prize-winning mathematician John Nash, 86, and his wife Alicia Nash, 82 — both subjects of the Oscar-winning movie “A Beautiful Mind” — died Saturday, May 23 in a car crash in New Jersey. According to State Police, the taxi they were in lost control when trying to pass another car; it crashed into the guard rail and the Nashes were ejected from the taxi and pronounced dead at the scene.

    Alicia was credited with saving John during his battle with schizophrenia, which was chronicled in Sylvia Nasar’s biography “A Beautiful Mind” and adapted in the movie. The 2001 film was accused of revising history, but won Academy Awards for Best Picture; Best Director; Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Jennifer Connelly; and Best Adapted Screenplay. Russell Crowe was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role for playing John Nash.

    Crowe reacted to the news of the Nashes’ deaths in two tweets:

    Jennifer Connelly shared a statement with JustJared.com: “This is a great loss. John and Alicia Nash were an inspiration and I have deep admiration for all that they accomplished in their lives. My thoughts are with their family.”

    Director Ron Howard and producer Brian Grazer also reacted to the tragedy:

    Grazer added to Variety, “Their lives ended together in the same way that they lived. Theirs was a such a brilliant collaboration. Alicia was so powerful in enabling him to have his moments of triumph. His life was really hard. The beauty came from the power of their love to create those triumphs.”

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  • Stephen King’s ‘The Dark Tower’ Film Franchise, TV Series in Works

    Every so often, “The Dark Tower” series rises as a potential TV or movie project, then falls again. But this time it might actually work. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Sony and MRC are teaming up to produce and co-finance an adaptation of Stephen King’s epic series in what’s hoped to be a franchise that combines both a movie series and a complementary TV series. Boom!

    Akiva Goldsman, Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, and Erica Huggins are producing, and a new script, written by Goldsman and Jeff Pinkler, adapts the first book, “The Gunslinger.”

    There are eight novels in “The Dark Tower” series, which follows the story of Roland Deschain, “Mid-World’s last gunslinger, who is traveling southeast across Mid-World’s post-apocalyptic landscape, searching for the powerful but elusive magical edifice known as The Dark Tower.” As King’s own site describes it, “Inspired in equal parts by Robert Browning’s poem, ‘Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came,’ J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, and Sergio Leone’s spaghetti Western classics, The Dark Tower series is an epic of Arthurian proportions. It is Stephen King’s magnum opus, and is the center of his amazing creative universe.”

    Sony Chairman Tom Rothman said he’s a giant fan of King’s series, noting that Sony and King love the direction the new script has taken. He added, “This is a great opportunity for a director to put his or her stamp on a cool global franchise.”

    So at this point, they need a director to kick things off. Any suggestions?
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  • 17 More Episodes of ‘Arrested Development’ Are in the Works (VIDEO)

    Arrested Development
    It’s been almost two years since Netflix revived canceled-too-soon series “Arrested Development” for the show’s first new episodes since 2006. Now, executive producer Brian Grazer has announced that even more installments of the cult comedy are indeed in the works.

    In an interview on Empire,” which he co-produces with 24″ (yet another Fox hit), and Grazer mentioned that despite its low ratings, he always thought of “Arrested Development” as a cultural touchstone, especially with young fans.

    “I love ‘Arrested Development,’ but it was never a huge (money-maker),” Grazer told Simmons. “But people are loyal to it, and we’re going to do another 17 episodes. So stay tuned for ‘Arrested Development.’”

    The conversation about the show ended there, but what little was shared is important enough, especially coming from a source as high on the “AD” food chain as Grazer. It’s long been hinted at that Netflix wants to make more episodes, but no specific details about a possible season five have materialized until now. Here’s hoping Grazer’s promise comes to fruition soon.

    Check out Simmons’s interview with Grazer below. (The “Arrested” talk happens around the 24:20 mark.)

    [via: Grantland, h/t Uproxx]

    Photo credit: F. Scott Schafer for Netflix

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