This year’s Oscars will mark the first time in three decades that the ceremony has gone without a host. But the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is making sure that the event will still feature plenty of stars on stage.
Earlier this week, Oscars producer Donna Gigliotti and co-producer and director Glenn Weiss revealed the first round of presenters who will be announcing categories and handing out statuettes at the Academy Awards later this month. That group is:
Awkwafina, Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Tina Fey, Whoopi Goldberg, Brie Larson, Jennifer Lopez, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Amandla Stenberg, Charlize Theron, Tessa Thompson, and Constance Wu.
We have to hand it to producers: That’s a pretty solid list of people. We’re especially excited to see what kind of witty banter Fey, Poehler, and Rudolph deliver. (Perhaps a preview of their upcoming Netflix film, “Wine Country”?)
According to the producers, the show’s aim is to put the focus squarely on the honored films, and the diversity that they represent in the industry at large.
“The Oscar nominees have generated tremendous worldwide attention through their captivating stories, achievements and performances,” Gigliotti and Weiss said in a joint statement. “We want to give the public an opportunity to once again experience the moments that have moved us all. It is a celebration of our universal love of movies.”
The 91st annual Oscars will air on Sunday, February 24 on ABC.
Larson and producer Lynette Howell Taylor reached a two-picture deal with the streamer, Deadline reports. First up is “Unicorn Store,” a film Larson stars in and directed, a first for her. The second movie is “Lady Business,” which will again star the actress and likely be directed by her, too.
The story of how Larson came to make her directorial debut with “Unicorn Store” is an interesting one. She originally auditioned for a role and didn’t get the part. At one point, Rebel Wilson was attached to star and Miguel Arteta was to direct. However, the timing didn’t work out, per The Hollywood Reporter in 2016, and Larson was given the chance to both headline and helm the film.
Meanwhile, “Lady Business” centers on two real-life women entrepreneurs, Penelope Gazin and Kate Dwyer, who were struggling to be taken seriously. To get business “street cred,” so to speak, they came up with an imaginary male that they pretended was the third founder of their company.
The films join Larson’s ever-growing list of films. Not only does she star in the upcoming “Captain Marvel,” she has appeared in the likes of “The Glass Castle,” “Kong: Skull Island,” “Room,” and more.
“Unicorn Store” already has a release date of April 5 on Netflix, and the premiere of “Lady Business” has yet to be announced.
Cats rule! Ten new characters posters from “Captain Marvel” are here, and one of them is feline fierce.
The posters feature the lead, Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel (Brie Larson), and her fellow elite Starforce team members. We also get a young Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson, de-aged) all suited up.
But the real star of this show is Goose the cat. In the comics, Carol’s sidekick goes by Chewie (a “Star Wars” reference), but the movie makes a call-out to “Top Gun.” Goose not really a cat, but a Flerken, an alien who happens to look like Earth’s felines.
The 10 new posters are below. “Captain Marvel” also stars Jude Law, Ben Mendelsohn, Djimon Hounsou, Lee Pace, Lashana Lynch, Gemma Chan, and Annette Bening. The movie opens in theaters March 8.
Last year, we were lucky enough to be able to check out the “Captain Marvel“ set in Los Angeles, and we got to chat with the actors. You already read our Brie Larson interview (and if you haven’t, you can check it out here), but today we’re giving you a look at what some of the other actors had to say, including Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn and Jude Law. Stay tuned, because there will be more to come before the release of “Captain Marvel” on March 8.
Ben Mendelsohn had a lot to say about his character, and he was in full costume and makeup when he did it. Yes, Mendelsohn plays a Skull, and one of the antagonists in the film. He explained, “I’m Talos. I’m the battle commander of the Skrulls. I take it most of you know who Skrulls are? We kind of rule the sh*t. Most of the rest of the Marvel comic universe are punks basically. And I guess to quote Snoop Dogg, we are the shiznit. We stand above. I mean, look, we can be anyone, and we’re stronger than the rest of them. Basically that’s it. Yeah, we’re maligned, we’re misunderstood. But, you know, we’re Skrulls. We’re Skrullin. Any other questions?”
Mendelsohn told us that he started at the beginning of the Skrulls’ comic book runs and read them through. “I started at the start because I wanted to see us when we were scummy little amphibious tadpoles scum, and see how we rose and became reimagined until this point where I could stand at the zenith of Skrull creation. We have a peek at this, and we have a peek at that, but I can’t tell you that without showing you my petticoat, and I don’t want to show you the petticoat I’m still shy.”
He also gave us some info on his character. “He’s quite active, so he has to switch in and out of some various stuff. So, you know, I’m going to assume we’re going to see Talos do his thing. And look, the thing about Skrulls and changing shapes, and I can say this with some authority. Physiologically any Skrull can change shape. It takes practice, and, dare I say it, talent to do it well. He’s a battle commander because he does it well.” He continued, “See, the thing about him is, we know basically who you are for the last x amount of time, right? So you want to think it’s a pretty good carbon copy of what’s going on with ‘Haha human, I got you’ behind this. You might think of it like a chameleon, trapdoor spider, or just one of those spiders that just hangs there looking useless, but it doesn’t look like spider, you know what I mean? But it knows you’re coming; you’re coming closer. I’m very gentle, and very meek. That kind of vibe.”
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Samuel L. Jackson spoke about what’s going on with Nick Fury in the film. He said, “I mean, his job right now, his place in the world is to find out where the next enemy’s coming from. And like most sane human beings with a job like that, you figure the next enemy is some other country or somewhere else. And all of a sudden he discovers something that we speculate about and now we know it’s, well he knows it’s true that there other beings in the universe, not just us. The next problem will be convincing everybody else that’s true.”
He also spoke about Fury’s relationship with Carol Danvers. He said, “Like most people you meet somebody, you theoretically surmise that they’re from outer space and I guess like most of us the first thing you think about is the difference and she looks like us, yes, but she also showed up with these things that can shape-shift. So is she what she appears to be? Is she a safe individual? Is she a dangerous individual? All those things come to mind. Spending time with her, he discovers things about her that lead him to believe that she is something other than what she has presented herself to be or even knows herself to be. So during the course of interacting with her, they do become compatriots. They have a shared sense of humor. He’s open to the difference in what she may be and what she may not be. And he’s definitely willing to help her explore what she needs to find out to find out who she is and what and how she came to be.”
He spoke about the importance of being part of a female-led superhero film. “I have a daughter and I have a wife who feels undervalued. Because she is a Black woman, she is in this business and she’s been in this business longer than I have. She was a professional actor when she was a kid and doing all this stuff. And she’s a specific body type and a specific… skin tone. Which is not the preferred skin tone of this business basically. I mean, Viola Davis is the biggest dark skinned star. And… being able to uplift women in a very specific way, I grew up in a house full of women. Who always made me feel special. And made me tow a specific line. I understand a lot about who they are and what they felt just because I heard it. And I had to experience it every day. How hard the world is for women specifically. And I guess as I got older because my world was specifically black and white when I grew up, ’cause I grew up in segregation. So I didn’t talk to white women, ’cause I didn’t know any. So I only talked to black women, so I know what their worldview was and what it meant. And it wasn’t until I got older that I realized that white women might be as beat down as we were in a specific way.
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And to work with Brie who has a very political aware sense of self, who not afraid to use her platform to push female agendas has been a real joy. This is my third movie with her. I did ‘Kong‘ with her, so we went all over the world. And then I did her movie, ‘Unicorn Store.’ And to be a part of this specific story where she has such an enormous responsibility, especially in the success of the Marvel Universe and what it means every time there’s a Marvel film. And to look at what happened last year with ‘Wonder Woman,’ DC almost figured it out with that movie. To know what’s going to happen when this movie does actually hit theaters for women and little girls is going to be amazing. Just because of who she is and what her understanding of her responsibility to not the male audience, but the female audience that’s coming to this film. To be able to be alongside her, support her and to give her what she needs to be this strong character questing for self identity, number one. And once she realizes what her power is and how she wills it has been a real honor for me. ‘Cause I want Brie to succeed in a very real, very strong way. And… to have the opportunity to come into this particular place where they actually know how to do this. They figured it out. There’s a Marvel playbook that works. I mean, as out of the box that people think ‘Black Panther‘ was, it’s part of the Marvel playbook. It just happened to have black people in it. And this is a Marvel movie being made through the Marvel playbook and it just happens to be a strong female character in it. And it will hopefully incite people the way Black Panther incited us racially when we saw it. So I’m really proud to be part of it.”
Jude Law spoke about who Mar-Vell is. He said, “He heads Starforce which is an elite special forces-esqe group of Kree warriors, he’s also mentor to Carol, Brie’s character.” About the relationship between Mar-Vell and Carol Danvers, he couldn’t say too much because of spoilers, but stated that, “Their bond as mentor and mentee, pupil and sensei, and how they met and what they offer to each other is very much at the heart of the film and the journey that Brie’s character goes on.” He later explained, “Because of the age it’s not like a sort of wise old master. I’d say that as leader of the group I lead by example, so he’s very much hands on combat. The relationship really is about containment there’s a sort of control to my character, a sense of focus and clarity and discipline, and really that’s one of the things of the piece is trying to contain: what is being in control and what isn’t.”
Mar-Vell is a Kree, and Law told us about his character’s feelings on the Skrulls. “The Kree and the Skrulls are constantly in conflict, so both communities are living really at high alert and both obviously live with a huge wariness of each other. And obviously as a part of the military, not only that but as a commander of the military, and as a poster boy of the military obviously of the Krees, my character is somewhat judgmental and full of hatred towards the Skrulls. The Skrulls to the Krees really represent despicable maneuvering and manipulation. The Skrulls have this way of simulating other people and turning into other things, so it’s this idea of subterfuge where you’re not who you really are, whereas the Kree have a kind of purity and honesty to them as I see it.”
When he was asked about Mar-Vell’s relationship to Earth, he laughed, “That’s a really good question. I think it’s a curiosity. It’s actually described as a sh*thole by someone, as is often the case in these we’re always pitied, like why would you want to possibly stop there, they’re so backwards. It’s not much difference, I think on the grand scale of things we’re viewed as unthreatening, rather idiotic, and somewhat backwards. Which is not far wrong really.”
He also spoke about the Skrulls and their ability to shape-shift, and how that poses a problem for Starforce, the group he and Carol are part of. “That’s what they feed their insecurity and their paranoia on. There are posters that you’ll see around Hala which say ‘Know your enemy it could be you.’ There’s a great line in one of the scenes where a warrior is asked if he’s ever been simmed and he says yes and that he had to kill himself. So it can be psychologically very scarring.” Yikes!
Are you guys excited for Captain Marvel when it hits theaters on March 8? Let us know in the comments. Tickets for the film are on sale right now.
“I’ve never seen anything like her,” Nick Fury confesses in a new TV spot for “Captain Marvel” that aired during Monday night’s College Football Playoff National Championship game.
No, we haven’t! The new special look contains footage we’ve already seen in previous trailers, but also some new bits. The spot opens with some delightful banter between Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) and Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), where she explains the Kree vs. Skrull war and the coming invasion.
We also see a Skrull transforming, Carol training with Jude Law’s mentor (and maybe future adversary), and a young Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg).
The trailer also teases the rise of the Avengers down the road, as Fury tells Coulson, “She’s just the beginning.”
Directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, the movie also stars Ben Mendelsohn, Lee Pace, Djimon Hounsou, Lashana Lynch,and Gemma Chan.
Captain Marvel and Capt. Robert Daly are teaming up.
Brie Larson (whose “Captain Marvel” debuts in March) and Jesse Plemons (who received an Emmy nomination for his Captain Kirk-esque character in the “Black Mirror” episode “USS Callister”) will costar in a Charlie Kaufman film for Netflix.
“I’m Thinking of Ending Things” is based on the novel by Iain Reid, in which a woman (Larson) goes on an unusual road trip with her boyfriend Jake (Plemons) to meet his parents.
There are only four characters in the novel: Jake, his girlfriend (who narrates the action but whose name is never mentioned), and Jake’s parents.
The plot centers on Jake, who is on a road trip to meet his parents on their secluded farm with his girlfriend (Larson), who is thinking of ending things. When Jake makes an unexpected detour leaving her stranded, a twisted mix of palpable tension, psychological frailty and sheer terror ensues.
The always offbeat Kaufman wrote the screenplays for “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” and “Adaptation,” which was very loosely based on the novel “The Orchid Thief.” He also wrote and directed “Synecdoche, New York,” and “Anomalisa.”
“Charlie is a singular talent with a formidable artistic vision,” said Scott Stuber, head of Netflix’s film group. “He has the rare ability to tell unique stories in a universal way. ‘I’m Thinking of Ending Things’ is a chilling thriller and we can’t wait to share Charlie’s adaptation with audiences everywhere.”
Marvel’s first female-led movie is (thankfully) almost upon us.
“Captain Marvel“ arrives on the big screen March 2019, and recently, Moviefone was invited to set of the film — and, once again, it looks like Marvel Studios has another hit on their hands. Now, we saw a lot of cool stuff, and we can’t spoil it here — but trust us, you’re gonna like what you eventually see come March. And you can check out the brand new (and freaking awesome) trailer below:
We chatted with star Brie Larson, the Oscar-winning actor who plays the titular character, aka Carol Danvers. Being the first female superhero to star in her own live-action Marvel film is an honor not lost on the actor. She told us all about her training for the role, which included a video (shown to us by co-star and Nick Fury himself, Samuel L. Jackson) of her pushing a Jeep up a hill. She also revealed what this historic moment means to her, Carol’s relationship with Lashanna Lynch’s character, and more. Check out what Larson had to say below.
Moviefone: Sam showed us these crazy videos of you pushing a Jeep up a hill.
Brie Larson:Oh my gosh. He showed those to you, too?
It’s his favorite thing.
I can’t believe it. I feel like I’m close to 100 people that have come up to me and been like, “I saw this video that you sent Sam.” It’s so embarrassing. I sent that to him in private. He actually showed the person that was next to him on a plane, too. Which I found out later. “Oh, I sat next to Sam — who you sent that video and he showed it to me.” I was like, “Why?” I know, I know. He knows it was … I came from humble beginnings … It was a joke. It was a joke with the trainer, with my trainer, Jason Walsh, that I wanted to be able to, we were joking about it, that like, “Well, if I’m gonna go for it,” because I spent nine months training with him ahead of time, and I was getting super strong. And I was like, “Well, she can move planets, the least I could do is move a car.”
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And so I thought it was gonna be, I’m trying to remember how long we had trained together for. Maybe five or six months at that point? And I just showed up in the gym one day and he was like, “All right, let’s do it.” And I pushed the car, yeah. And it wasn’t as hard as I thought, which was kind of crazy. There was someone in the front seat in case for some reason — the car is in neutral — but it’s going uphill. And I pushed it for a minute. Someone was in the car in case I like, crapped out, so it wouldn’t run me over. There was someone waiting there to put their foot on the brake. It’s safe, [so] don’t try it at home. Really don’t. It’s really probably not a safe thing to do, but it felt super satisfying, and I felt really crazy afterwards. Because when you do stuff like that, you get these crazy highs, and then you’re just kind of collapse onto the floor.
Is there a particular sequence or something that required such training? Or is it just a personal goal of yours?
No, it really all came out of ignorance, to be honest. I didn’t realize that most people don’t do their own stunts in these movies. I thought you did, and I’ve never been a particularly elegant or athletic person. I’m just an introvert with asthma, and felt like I needed to be able to do that. I just thought, “I don’t wanna be on set, and they ask me to do things, and I don’t know how to do it.”
So I started training as soon as I could, which was right after I wrapped, so it basically started right as I wrapped picture, I locked picture on the film that I directed. I then went into that, which then turned into nine months of training. And nine months of just “training-training,” and three months of stunt training with the stunt team. We spent two hours every day, five days a week.
Everyone just went along with it, and was like, “Cool.” It wasn’t until we started shooting — and I started doing all my own wire work stunts, and flips and stuff — that people were like, “You know — now we’ll tell you — nobody actually does this. We just didn’t want you to stop. But now that you’ve kind of accomplished this thing, we don’t normally do this.” And I was like, huh?
But I love it. I mean it definitely makes things more complicated in certain ways, because I could be taking a lot more naps than I am. But instead it’s really become a huge part of how I learned more about her, and became her, and embodied her was through that. It was through discovering my own strength. Pretty amazing thing.
Can you tell us a little bit about Carol’s personality? Especially in [the scene we watched filming], because she was being a little sassy, maybe she has a little bit of an ego to her. Is that how you look at it?
I mean, I think she has an ego, but in a healthy way. She doesn’t have an unrealistic expectation of herself, she just owns that she’s really good and really skilled. Which feels good to play. She also has an incredible sense of humor, makes fun of herself, makes fun of other people. Has no issue if someone makes fun of her.
So I will say that this character is probably the most dynamic character that I’ve ever played, there’s the most range. As of now, and we’ll see what the movie is, but as of now — it’s been the most range I’ve ever played in a character. I’ve had to go through every emotion possible with her. And a lot of this movie, although it has great comedy in it, there’s also real depth to it and emotion. So I think that the film will have a lot. Which, for me, that’s what I want. I wanna see complicated female characters. I wanna see myself, which is not a simple person. I surprise myself constantly by what’s happening and what’s coming up. So, hopefully, that’s what comes out on screen.
How has the part challenged you as an actress? Are there things where you found yourself going, “Oh, this is really testing my limits.”?
Well, the general answer is just getting through a movie like this is a real challenge of everything. Of mind, body, and spirit. Because it’s a long one. And because I added in the physical side to it, it’s like doing a triathlon or something. There are some days where I’m doing a fight sequence — I do a fight sequence for three days, and then at the end of the third day, after I’ve been punching and kicking, then it’s like, “Okay, now we’re gonna do this one piece where you’re crying, and it’s emotional,” and you’re like, “whoa.” And it moves so fast, and there’s so much that at a certain point you have to sort of trust your instincts…
How does it feel to be the lead character in the first female-led Marvel movie?
I don’t know how it’s any different. To be honest, I don’t want it to feel different. I’m kind of over the, “First female blah blah blah,” and “Wow, maybe women can actually do the same things that dudes can do.” What a crazy concept. I feel like the more we talk about it, the more we perpetuate the myth that it’s an impossible task. No, if it wasn’t like that before, it’s because it was wrong. That was just wrong. Now, we’re just doing what’s natural.
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What do you want the female audience to come away with? Rather than have that, is there anything in particular you were excited to see?
No. It doesn’t matter what I make, I feel firmly that art is made to be enjoyed and interpreted, and you get what you need out of it. My favorite books — I’ve read them multiple times in my life, and they mean something totally different to me every time I read them. Art isn’t made to be processed and labeled and organized in the way that we do it now. I even have a hard time with the idea of genre, and that we place value based off, “Well, it’s really good for a this kind of movie.” What’s that even mean?
I think there’s gonna be a lot there for people to digest and feel. And hopefully, it’ll be the movie that you wanna revisit again and again.
We heard that Kelly Sue DeConnick is consulting on the movie, which is really exciting.
Yeah.
And I’m assuming you’ve talked to her. Could you share maybe some advice, or stories, or just how she’s helped you get into Carol a little better?
I have to admit that talking with her was so surreal. I feel like I just blacked out. I felt really nervous, because it’s this thing that, this woman that she created, that I feel very certain she knows way better than I do.
I just was so honored to receive her blessing, and to see how excited she was. And that felt like a relief to me. Because she pushed this forward, you know? We wouldn’t be here without her, really. And I’m so grateful for that character that she created, and now we’re just kind of following the breadcrumb trail that she made, you know?
Can you talk to us about the relationship between Carol and Maria, and how Monica might view Carol?
I think the Maria dynamic is really important in this movie. She is the representation of love in this film. And it is something that I’m very proud of, that the love relationship, and it is a deep love relationship, is not by the same lustful definition that we usually attribute to movies of this size. That it’s more complex, and also I think more meaningful than most love relationships that I see in films like this.
And Maria, as a character, is an incredible badass in her own way. And they are equals, and I think seeing two women that have a playful competitiveness while also mutual respect and care — that have gone through so much together — there’s a lot of history. This is something that I’m excited to see. Because uncomplicated sort of female friendships are sort of rare to see. I have a lot of them in my life, so to be able to bring that on screen with someone who’s just so crazy talented, and smart, and beautiful, and wonderful — and is doing her own part to make sure that there are revelations in a movie that are her own — is just awesome.
This year, we had “Black Panther,” which was huge. And we all knew that is was going to perform well — and then we saw how well it really did. So are you excited or ready for the box office reaction that “Captain Marvel” is gonna get?
I’m not ready. [Laughs] I hope I’m not ready. Because I wanna be, if it is something, then I wanna be surprised, and I don’t wanna have expectation, because I’m not in it for that. I didn’t make this movie for any of those things, so that I could attach a numerical value to it.
But just the inspiration that comes with it.
Even that is not up to me, you know? You don’t get to decide if you’re an inspiration to people or not. I’m just gonna do what feels true to me, and if people wanna tag along, they can, and if they don’t, they can bounce, and that’s cool. I’m not gonna go out of my way to do things in order to be something to people.
All of my heroes were just unapologetically themselves. And they were flawed at times, and that’s okay. For me, it’s a part of who Carol is, too. She’s flawed. She’s not perfect. So in order for me — in order for me to feel comfortable stepping into this position, I have to accept my humanness, and remind everybody that I’m a human, and I’m an artist. And I just wanna make art, and that’s really it.
“Captain Marvel” hits theaters March 8, 2019. Are you excited for the film? Let us know in the comments.
Hot on the heels of the brand new poster, Marvel Studios has unleashed the first full trailer for “Captain Marvel,” and it is a wild ride that includes intergalactic landscapes, marauding alien invaders, and copious amounts of 90s nostalgia. But most of all you get Brie Larson, embodying Carol Danvers and Captain Marvel with all the strength, energy and hopefulness you’d expect from both the classic comics character and a project that has been obsessively anticipated since the foundation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Well, it looks like it was worth the wait.
“Captain Marvel” is coming, and the superhero isn’t messing around.
The latest poster dropped Sunday, Dec. 2, ahead of a new trailer coming during ESPN’s “Monday Night Football on Dec. 3. It shows off star Brie Larson as her very mighty character. The titular superhero, also known as Carol Danvers, positively radiates her power. Just look at her bold stance, clenched fists, and the way she seems to loom over viewers.
Danvers has the powers to back up her tough image. She’ll show off those superhuman abilities in the upcoming film, which centers on the superhero in the 1990s. She gets caught up in a galactic war between alien races when it starts to impact Earth.
Toys aren’t just for play; they can also uncover major secrets!
Funko released images of its upcoming Pop! figures for “Captain Marvel” and they seemingly reveal two important pieces of information.
First, we have confirmation that Captain Marvel aka Carol Danvers (Brie Larsen) will have a feline companion. In the comic books, her sidekick is Chewie the Cat, who is really a Flerken, aliens that resembles cats of earth. Chewie was named after the “Star Wars” character.
The Funko toy shows that Chewie is now named Goose, in what is likely a reference to “Top Gun” (since Carol is an Air Force pilot).
The other insight is about Jude Law’s character, whose identity has been kept secret. The official Funko toy image is labeled “Star Commander.” However, a different leaked photo posted on Reddit names him as Yon-Rogg.
Fans had previously speculated Law might play the heroic Mar-Vell, the person first to hold the title Captain Marvel. But if he is indeed playing Yon-Rogg, then he could end up being the main villain of the movie or future movies.
The movie’s filmmakers have taken care not to reveal the name of Law’s character and have only described as an “enigmatic commander” who leads the elite Kree military teamed Starforce, which Carol is part of.
In the comics, Yon-Rogg is a Kree military commander who schemes with Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace in the movie) to take control of the Kree. He ultimately becomes one of Carol’s biggest foes.
And with Ben Mendelsohn playing the leader of the evil Skrulls, it seems that Captain Marvel is surrounded by enemies on all sides.
