(Left) ‘Nightbitch’ director Marielle Heller. (Right) 1992’s ‘FernGully: The Last Rainforest’. Photo: 20th Century Fox.
Preview:
Director Marielle Heller is developing a live-action ‘FernGully’.
It’ll be a remake of the 1992 animated movie.
Amazon MGM Studios is backing the project.
1992’s Environmental-themed ‘FernGully’ wasn’t exactly a big hit upon its original release –– it made $32 million worldwide against a $24 million budget. But in the decades since, it has earned a place in at least some cinemagoers’ hearts.
That’s surely what Amazon MGM Studios will be hoping for as it sets ‘Nightbitch’ filmmaker Marielle Heller to write and direct a live-action update.
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And let’s not forget that the studio will also be aiming to replicate the success seen by the likes of Disney and DreamWorks Animation, which have seen several re-imaginings of their cartoon output do good business at the box office in the last few years.
1992’s ‘FernGully: The Last Rainforest’. Photo: 20th Century Fox.
The original film followed the magical inhabitants of an Australian rainforest as they fight to save their home, which is threatened by logging and a polluting force of destruction called Hexxus.
We don’t yet know what elements Heller –– who has written and will direct the new film –– is retaining.
When will the new ‘FernGully’ be in theaters?
Amazon MGM Studios has yet to say anything about the movie’s potential release date (and we notice it wasn’t mentioned as part of the company’s CinemaCon presentation), so we’ll have to wait and see on that front.
1992’s ‘FernGully: The Last Rainforest’. Photo: 20th Century Fox.
Rose Byrne in ‘If I Had Legs I’d Kick You’. Photo: A24.
‘If I Had Legs I’d Kick You’ is not one of those movies that you can say you ‘enjoyed’ or that it ‘entertained’ you. Sort of a cross between the Safdie brothers, David Cronenberg, a bit of Jennifer Kent, and a seasoning of Marielle Heller, ‘If I Had Legs’ is a punishing two hours that will leave you drained and not sure of what you saw – but absolutely stunned by the titanic performance at its center from Rose Byrne.
Byrne is nothing less that fantastic as Linda, a mother and therapist whose life is collapsing around her, and for whom nothing offers any respite, not even her own therapist. Darkly funny, sometimes terrifying, and always stress-inducing, ‘If I Had Legs’ doesn’t always navigate its tonal shifts and can be unrelenting. It puts Byrne through the ringer and she never flinches once, giving a harrowing, raw, and all too human look at a woman and mother on the edge of an emotional abyss.
Story and Direction
(L to R) ASAP Rocky and Rose Byrne in ‘If I Had Legs I’d Kick You’. Photo: A24.
Linda (Rose Byrne) is on the edge of an abyss when we meet her. Her daughter – who remains unseen throughout the movie, only glimpsed peripherally while her whiny, panicked, high-pitched voice grates on both Linda and the viewer – has a rare disorder that prevents her from taking in food normally. She has a feeding tube that goes directly into her stomach, attached to a bag which Linda must refill constantly. Linda’s husband is endlessly away for work – he’s only present through phone calls in which he berates his wife for not getting her act together.
When the ceiling of her bedroom collapses, flooding their apartment, Linda and her daughter are forced to move into a seedy motel where she is also berated by the attitude-challenged front desk clerk (Ivy Wolk) and suspicious of the motives of her neighbor, James (A$AP Rocky). Linda, a therapist, is also dealing with a patient (Danielle Macdonald) who seemingly abandons her toddler in Linda’s office, while the missing patient’s husband makes increasingly belligerent phone calls. And Linda’s own therapist (Conan O’Brien) is hostile toward her, as is her daughter’s doctor, who hints that social services may need to step in if her daughter remains underweight.
This is the gauntlet that Linda must run throughout the course of writer/director Mary Bronstein’s film, which is taken wholly from Linda’s point of view and puts the viewer through the same ringer as her. And it’s brutal, almost to a fault: there’s barely a moment of respite for Linda even as events begin to take on a surreal quality – like the massive hole in her ceiling, which goes unfixed, starting to look like a fleshy, organic wound leading to a strange nether region that pulls Linda toward it.
Rose Byrne in ‘If I Had Legs I’d Kick You’. Photo: A24.
Bronstein doesn’t always find the right balance of humor and horror in her film, which at times plays more like the latter despite the dark streak of satire throughout. The message of the movie is front and center, and even that is presented with almost no shading – for example, just about every single man in the film, seen and unseen, with the possible exception of A$AP Rocky’s James, ranges from condescending to outright vicious in his approach to Linda (the women are not much better, to be fair). And Linda comes to some self-realizations late in the film that make some stark truths about parenthood hit home.
But even though it can feel like an onslaught with no light at the end of the tunnel, ‘If I Had Legs I’d Kick You’ does have its moments of grace, and it does deliver a visceral, painful portrait of what happens when life just seems too overwhelming, a scenario that’s increasingly common every day.
Cast and Performances
(L to R) Conan O’Brien and Rose Byrne in ‘If I Had Legs I’d Kick You’. Photo: A24.
‘If I Had Legs’ is the third film we’ve seen recently that’s built around a momentous performance, following ‘Anemone’ (Daniel Day-Lewis) and ‘The Smashing Machine’ (Dwayne Johnson). And while this film has its issues like those two, Rose Byrne’s work here is nothing less than extraordinary. The entire film is from her point of view, and Byrne and Bronstein burrow into Linda’s psyche with incredible depth and precision, so that you feel every single moment along with her.
Also noteworthy is Conan O’Brien, dispensing with his affable public persona to make himself almost unrecognizable, at least temperament-wise. His unnamed therapist is condescending, seething, and reptilian, and makes the most impact with his limited screentime. The rest of the cast is also quite strong, especially A$AP Rocky and Danielle Macdonald, but their roles are smaller in a film that’s largely dominated by one character.
Like the two films we mentioned above that are anchored by powerful individual performances, ‘If I Had Legs’ is getting released right in the thick of awards season – and Rose Byrne absolutely deserves to be in that conversation, if not leading it. Known largely as a comedic actor, she channels something far darker here. And so does the movie: ‘If I Had Legs’ plays like a horror film for large stretches of its running time, although how much unspools solely in Linda’s head remains ambiguous.
While the acting, design (particularly the sound), and imagery are compelling and expertly realized, ‘If I Had Legs’ may be too relentlessly one-note to be a great movie. But the richness of most of the material, and Byrne’s interpretation of it, still comes through enough to make this a worthwhile experience, if a feverish and unforgiving one.
‘If I Had Legs I’d Kick You’ receives a score of 80 out of 100.
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What is the plot of ‘If I Had Legs I’d Kick You’?
With her life crashing down around her, Linda (Rose Byrne) attempts to navigate her child’s mysterious illness, her absent husband, a missing person, and an increasingly hostile relationship with her therapist.
Who is in the cast of ‘If I Had Legs I’d Kick You’?
Actors sometimes have trouble crossing over to take up a position behind the camera, but Zoë Kravitz seems to be making the transition effectively. ‘Blink Twice’ is a confident directorial showcase for the ‘Big Little Lies’ and ‘The Batman’ star: she may hit a few narrative and tonal bumps, but she stays focused on the story she wants to tell and gets the most out of a terrific cast while doing so.
‘Blink Twice’ starts off as a satire, not to mention a riff on the kind of setup we’ve seen before in movies like ‘The Menu’ and ‘Get Out,’ where the protagonist finds themselves in a remote, seemingly friendly (and luxurious) location before things start go off the rails. ‘Blink Twice’ tests the viewer’s forbearance for a chunk of its 100 minutes, but if you’re patient enough the ending should be rewarding in many ways.
Frida (Naomi Ackie) sits in her cramped apartment obsessing over tech-bro gazillionaire Slater King (Channing Tatum), who’s re-entering public life with an apology tour following an unnamed indiscretion (or series of them) that got him canceled. Frida and her roommate/bestie Jess (Alia Shawkat) are waitresses who manage to get work at a reception thrown for King, where they finagle their way into the VIP area and Frida gets a chance to meet-cute with the man himself.
The charming Slater and Frida hit it off right away, flirting furiously with each other until he invites her and Jess to travel with him and his entourage that night to his private island. Neither woman has packed a bag, but that’s no matter: once they get to Slater’s luxurious, decadent private resort, they are provided bathing suits and white linen robes to wear, even perfume to dab on, plus drinks and drugs aplenty along with fabulously curated meals prepared by star chef Cody (Simon Rex), all using locally farmed produce.
It’s the middle stretch of ‘Blink Twice’ that’s ostensibly the most troublesome for Kravitz and her screenwriting partner, E.T. Feigenbaum: the second act becomes a repetitive series of hedonistic montages punctuated like clockwork every now and then by a strange occurrence, as Frida and another guest, reality show veteran Sarah (Adria Arjona), compete for Slater’s attention and the rest – including Slater’s right-hand man Vic (Christian Slater), scuzzy hanger-on Tom (Haley Joel Osment), a couple of other party-hardy girls, and Slater’s perpetually flaky personal assistant Stacy (Geena Davis) – indulge in night after night of booze, drugs, and poolside languor until even the days seem to dissolve into each other.
We know this is not going to end well, but Kravitz makes us wait a bit longer than necessary. Perhaps the way in which she extends that wait makes the movie’s pivot that much more shocking even when you know it’s coming eventually. When things do turn, it’s quick: Frida discovers that Jess has gone missing, and not only does no one seem to remember that she was there in the first place, but Frida herself begins to realize that her memories of the past few days are murky at best and barely there at worst. With the help of a reluctant but increasingly trusting Sarah, Frida learns the horrible, toxic truth.
We’ll let you discover that truth for yourself, but it’s here that ‘Blink Twice’ makes its full turn from satire to horror to revenge thriller, with a final act that is both crazy in its sheer energy and bracing in its aggressive sense of purpose. It’s a tribute to Kravitz and her cast that the shift, while jarring at first, leads to a violently satisfying climax that makes the more morally ambiguous coda easier to swallow.
Whatever issues Kravitz may have with putting her twisty narrative through its paces, she doesn’t seem to have any with the technical aspects of directing. Under her command, the sound design is excellent, the soundtrack is popping (no surprise there, really), and the cinematography by Adam Newport-Berra captures the saturated excess of Slater King’s lifestyle, the foggy wooziness of what at first seems to be endless nights and days of partying, and the dark, bloody reality underneath. It’ll be fascinating to see what Kravitz does next.
We’ve only seen Naomi Ackie being largely underused in ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,’ but she did garner praise for 2022’s Whitney Houston biopic, ‘I Wanna Dance with Somebody.’ This is our first time watching her in a lead role and Ackie nails it easily. Her work as Frida is initially vulnerable and open-hearted, even if her obsession with Slater seems questionable. But she never fully trades in her self-respect, which makes her transformation from victim to avenging warrior all the more believable.
She also makes a great pairing with Arjona, who starts out as competitive and distrusting – especially with Frida – before recalling and embracing the time-honored (and perpetually true) maxim that women only have each other to look out for them in the end. Her arc here is better developed than Arjona’s last major role, as a femme fatale in ‘Hit Man,’ and she runs with it for all its worth, delivering an excellent performance that may mark her a star in the making.
Channing Tatum initially turns on the charm and faux vulnerability as Slater, a man who may be doing his best to appear humbled but never quite makes it seem genuine – underneath, he’s angry that he has to take responsibility for his actions. He says all the right things about therapy and rehab and spirituality, but Tatum’s essential blandness works for him in this instance, hinting at the emptiness that lurks inside Slater. Even his seeming interest in Frida curdles after a while, long before things really go south, and his air of entitlement during the film’s third act is as horrifying as anything else.
‘Blink Twice’ initially begins, somewhat eccentrically, as one of those poke-fun-at-the-super-rich send-ups that can easily become boring because the fruit is so low-hanging. But there’s just enough of a feeling from the beginning that something is out of sorts – even with Kravitz dropping clues throughout – to allow a sense of dread to creep into the proceedings. That still doesn’t prepare you for what the director has in store, and it’s refreshing that she’s not interested in returning to any satirical comfort zone once the mayhem begins.
There are no doubt some who will label ‘Blink Twice’ as “divisive,” but they’d be really missing the point about the systemic failure that keeps letting someone at a certain level of wealth and fame get away with the unspeakable just because he says he’s all better now. ‘Blink Twice’ is also a cautionary tale about what happens when too much power and opportunity is left in the hands of truly stunted personalities, and a rallying cry for people – especially women – to look after each other.
Kravitz certainly comes from wealth and fame herself, but she has almost certainly come up against those toxic types as well despite her privilege. ‘Blink Twice’ is a scream of rage on behalf of those who don’t have the resources to defend themselves, and while it gets messy and scattershot at times, it manifests a primal power that we’d like see Kravitz keep channeling.
‘Blink Twice’ receives 7 out of 10 stars.
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What is the plot of ‘Blink Twice’?
A starstruck waitress and her friend are invited to the private island of a billionaire tech mogul, where endless days and nights of debauchery and partying soon give way to the realization that something is very wrong.
(L to R) Christian Slater and Joy Bryant talk ‘The Spiderwick Chronicles’.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Christian Slater and Joy Bryant about their work on ‘The Spiderwick Chronicles,’ Slater’s first reaction to the screenplay and his approach to playing his character, why Bryant’s character moves her family to this town, discovering family secrets, and working with the cast of young actors.
You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews with Slater, Bryant, Lyon Daniels, Noah Cottrell, Mychala Lee, Jack Dylan Grazer and Alyvia Alyn Lind.
Christian Slater in ‘The Spiderwick Chronicles’. Photo: The Roku Channel.
MF: To begin with, Christian, can you talk about your first reaction to the screenplay and your specific approach to playing this character?
Christian Slater: My reaction was, “This is going to be a lot of fun.” I was really excited about it. I kind of couldn’t wait. It was the type of character that I enjoy playing. There were no limitations. Once I saw what the special effects team was doing and they sent me some videos of the actual Mulgarath character, just knowing that gave me something in my brain that gave me the freedom to be as nuts, dangerous and as scary as I possibly could be.
Joy Bryant in ‘The Spiderwick Chronicles’. Photo: The Roku Channel.
MF: Joy, can you talk about why your character moves her family to this new town and the family secrets they discover?
Joy Bryant: I mean, she’s kind of having a rough go. She’s divorced and she wants to get a fresh start with her family. Also, help her child deal with some things that he’s going through, and getting him the proper care that he needs. So, it’s a lot on her shoulders. Then inheriting the ancestral home, and for them to find this hidden world of magic and mythological creatures and all this, it’s a lot. This poor mama is dealing with a lot and then she gets involved with a monster. But like most mamas do, she’s going to make sure that her family is taken care of to the best of her abilities and they’re going to fight this good fight together. I think in the process of all of that, all of them just really learn the importance of family, trust, love and sticking together.
(L to R) Joy Bryant, Mychala Lee, Lyon Daniels and Noah Cottrell in ‘The Spiderwick Chronicles’. Photo: The Roku Channel.
MF: Finally, Joy, what was it like working with the young actors that play your children? Did you all bond on set like a real family?
JB: I mean, I’m so lucky to have such great TV kids. I’ve played so many moms in my career and we just all hit it off right away instantly as soon as we met. Whether they’re kids or adults, whatever, I mean chemistry is that thing that you can’t fake, you can’t front on that. I’m so lucky that these kids are awesome. We just hit it off as soon as we all met. So, all of that was very natural and as we spent more time together on set, it grew from there.
The cast of ‘The Spiderwick Chronicles’ at WonderCon 2024.
What is the plot of ‘The Spiderwick Chronicles’?
Helen (Joy Bryant) and her children, 15-year-old fraternal twins Jared (Lyon Daniels) and Simon (Noah Cottrell) and their sister Mallory (Mychala Lee) move to their ancestral home, Spiderwick. Jared discovers a boggart and realizes that magical creatures are real! The only one to believe him is his great-aunt Lucinda who implores Jared to find the pages of her father’s field guide to magical creatures and protect them from the murderous Ogre, Mulgarath (Christian Slater).
Who is in the cast of ‘The Spiderwick Chronicles’?
(L to R) Claire Danes and Jesse Eisenberg star in FX on Hulu’s ‘Fleishman Is in Trouble.’
Premiering on FX on Hulu beginning November 17th is the new series ‘Fleishman Is in Trouble,’ which is based on the novel of the same name as Taffy Brodesser-Akner.
The series stars Jessie Eisenberg (‘Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice‘) as Toby Fleishman, a recently divorced doctor who is new to the world of dating apps. But when his ex-wife Rachel (Claire Danes) disappears, leaving him alone with his kids, he realizes that he will never find out what happened to her if he doesn’t first examine what happened to their marriage.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Jessie Eisenberg and Claire Danes about their work on ‘Fleishman Is in Trouble,’ the story, their characters, and taking their work home with them.
Jesse Eisenberg as Toby Fleishman in FX on Hulu’s ‘Fleishman Is in Trouble.’ Photo courtesy of Hulu.
Moviefone: To begin with, Jessie, can you talk about how Toby is dealing with his divorce? It’s not going the way he expected, is it?
Jessie Eisenberg: Yeah, exactly. Nor did the marriage. It’s kind of like when you’re married, and your hope is that you’ll be a single unit, that not only it never disintegrates, but that you’ll kind of flourish as one. But for Toby, he was so rigid in what he wanted her to be, that he could be nothing except disappointed. Toby is first attracted to Rachel because she is self-possessed, ambitious in an interesting way, and she stands up for herself and he sees in her an amazing, stable life partner.
But then what he sees happen is all of those great qualities become exaggerated in her, that she becomes ambitious to a fault, that she neglects the family, that she becomes so self-determined and so self-reliant that she doesn’t need us and kind of severs an emotional connection. So, it’s all of these things that seemed at the onset as wonderful assets turn into something that he considers toxic and unsustainable. What’s amazing about the show is that it also switches perspectives and you see the show from her angle. Then you see that actually his assessment of her is completely coming from his own rigid sense of a narrow worldview and narrow set of ethics.
MF: Claire, do you think Rachel is misunderstood? How would you describe your character?
Claire Danes: Sure, I mean, she’s misunderstood to herself too. Toby doesn’t have X-ray vision. Even if you were an actual analyst doctor, it’s very hard to see your partner clearly. But I think she doesn’t know how much trauma she’s carrying and neither does he. So, neither of them knows that this ambition is also a coping mechanism, and is as largely to do with her not fleeing from a lot of pain and she wasn’t sufficiently loved. She’s found ways of managing that, which seem very impressive, but are actually kind of feeble.
Claire Danes as Rachel in FX on Hulu’s ‘Fleishman Is in Trouble.’ Photo courtesy of Hulu.
So yes, they both can’t outrun it indefinitely. She can’t. This is the outcome, and it’s gory and it’s graphic, and it’s very unpleasant. But hopefully they are able to see themselves more clearly, and sadly they can only do that outside of the relationship.
MF: Finally, as actors, do you ever have the experience where you go home and realize you are still acting like your character? Do you ever accidentally take your work home with you?
CD: Definitely. I think because we were arguing, we were bickering incessantly on set and there’s something kind of infectious and addictive about that. It’s almost like cursing, you can’t turn it off. So, occasionally I’d come home and be in a combative mode just because I had been doing those drills all day long. I’d been sort of conditioned to be in that mode. The characters are definitely mired in that pattern.
Claire Danes as Rachel in FX on Hulu’s ‘Fleishman Is in Trouble.’ Photo courtesy of Hulu.
The new series picks up over 30-years later and stars Ruby Cruz and Dempsey Bryk as Kit and Airk, respectively, the children of Queen Sorcha (Joanne Whalley), and Madmartigan (Val Kilmer), who is currently missing.
When a member of the royal family is abducted by evil forces, the Queen dispatches an unlikely group of heroes to save them and defeat the evil including Kit, her best friend and knight-in-training Jade (Erin Kellyman), young scholar Graydon (Tony Revolori), a thief named Boorman (Amar Chadha-Patel), a kitchen maid named Dove (Ellie Bamber), and Willow Ufgood (Warwick Davis), the sorcerer that helped Sorsha and her husband many years ago.
The series will also include returning actors Kevin Pollak and Rick Overton as Rool and Franjean, respectively, while Christian Slater joins the franchise as Allagash.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with writer and producer Jonathan Kasdan about his work on ‘Willow,’ his love for the original, why now was the right time to bring it back, working with Warwick Davis, the new characters, adding to the mythology, and the show’s unusual use of rock music.
Producer and writer Jonathan Kasdan talks Disney+’s ‘WIllow.’
You can read our full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews with Kasdan, Ruby Cruz, Dempsey Bryk, Tony Revolori, Ellie Bamber, Joanne Whalley, Christian Slater, and Warwick Davis about ‘Willow.’
Moviefone: To begin with, it seems like ‘Willow’ has been the forgotten child of Lucasfilm for some time. Can you talk about your passion for this franchise and why now was the right time to bring it back with this series?
Jonathan Kasdan: Well, you said the magic word. I mean, it is the forgotten child. It was an idea that actually really appealed to me, which is like, I’m a great lover of ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark.’ I love that final scene when the crates are being rolled in. You think, “Well, there’s potential for story in every one of these.”
‘Willow’ occupies this funny place in history of having been this very special thing to a lot of people. Then having been crated away and put in the warehouse. We literally wanted to embrace that idea and have the show open with an old dusty volume being pulled down off of a shelf. We get to read the part of the book that we didn’t get before. That was what really attracted me to doing it.
The reason that it’s now is because, simply, Disney+ exists. It’s the way that we were able to make this story, continue it, and actually take it in a direction that was exciting and surprising to all of us. Which was really to build into character and expand.
MF: What was Warwick Davis’ reaction to the revival series and what was it like for you to work with him on set?
JK: Warwick’s reaction was, “Bring it on. I’ve been waiting for 31 years,” I believe it was at that point he said, “And I’ve been ready all that time.”
He kept his wand close at hand. He was as enthusiastic and passionate about returning to this role that so many people loved from him, as anyone could hope their leading man could be. It was incredible.
MF: Can you talk about expanding the ‘Willow’ universe and the new characters on the series?
JK: I mean, that’s a big part of it for me, I’m a fan of sequels more than I am of prequels. I love stories that move it further. I want to know what happens next. One of the things that requires is a bigger, darker force somewhere out in the world. We thought there was a way, and it would be fun to integrate the legacy of the evil Queen Bavmorda (Jean Marsh) into a mythology that’s much larger and much scarier.
That was always a big part of the appeal to me, was like there’s a next stage to how things might go and where they could progress to that it would require Elora Danan (Kate and Ruth Greenfield and Rebecca Bearman) to come into her own as a sorceress.
MF: For fans of the movie, the series is filled with Easter eggs. Which one was your favorite to include?
JK: I mean, there’s so many, and they’re so specific. I think my favorite one is that in the role playing game of ‘Willow,’ there’s a casual reference to a book of evil magic called The Malatrium. On the show ‘Willow,’ we were able to make that book a reality. It is a hard copy thing that exists, and that they work with in the show to conjure some dark magic and to try to save their friend.
So, I’m the biggest nerd for that kind of thing in the world, and I was looking for any opportunity and anyone that I could bring back and repopulate the universe with.
MF: Finally, can you talk about the creative choice to end each episode with a contemporary rock song?
JK: Well, it’s a funny one, because it’s something that we sort of all held hands together on very early. It feels like there’s a world of people and of diehard fans to which that’s sacrilegious.
Then there’s a world of people whom are looking for these things to move forward and to have fun with themselves and be adventurous. For us, ‘Willow’ was the perfect experiment in that, because the show has so much youthful energy to it. It’s rebellious, it’s rock and roll, as I think the first ‘Star Wars’ was.
So, it felt like a really natural fit to give it a little of that punk quality in the most literal, possible way. We love doing it, and it gave us all a lot of joy when each episode came to an end and promised more and more feelings.
The first trailer for the fourth (and final) season of “Mr. Robot” makes it clear that happy endings are not likely for this dark drama.
Against a Christmas backdrop (and a brooding version of “Silent Night”), Elliot (Rami Malek) says, “We need to go back to work,” even though he’s warned, “You go down this path, it’ll never end.”
(We Shazamed the music from the trailer for you: It’s “Silent Night, Dark Piano Version” by Myuu.)
There’s drugs, a bloody smashed phone, at least one body bag and Mr. Robot (Christian Slater) and Elliot standing in front of might may very well be a funeral pyre.
“Dr. Death” tells the disturbing true story of Dr. Christopher Duntsch (Dornan), who was a charismatic rising star in the Dallas medical community. He was building a flourishing neurosurgery practice when patients started ending up maimed or dead.
It’s a medical murder mystery as two fellow surgeons set out to stop him.
Baldwin plays Robert Henderson, a methodical neurosurgeon who believes in the system. Slater is vascular surgeon Randall Kirby, who, is brash, impulsive and willing to burn the system to the ground in the name of justice.
Hernan Lopez and Marshall Lewy’s Dr. Death podcast has been heard by more than 50 million people. They will serve as executive producers along with “Happy!” producer Patrick Macmanus.
UCP, who brought us the Emmy-nominated true medical horror story “The Act,” is shopping the project to networks and streaming platforms.
They previously handled two other series based on podcasts, Amazon’s “Homecoming,” and “Dirty John,” which landed at Bravo.
While it didn’t get much attention early on, “Heathers” has become a bona fide cult classic and is now regarded as one of the great high school movies of the 1980’s. Celebrate the 30th anniversary of this subversive, dark comedy by learning some interesting facts about “Heathers.”
1. Writer Daniel Waters wanted Stanley Kubrick to direct the film, believing Kubrick to be the only director with enough clout to get a three-hour cut greenlit.
2. While Kubrick obviously didn’t sign on, the film does feature an homage to his work. The opening cafeteria scene is heavily inspired by the barracks scene from “Full Metal Jacket“.
Warner Bros.
3. The name “Heather” is spoken exactly 90 times during the course of the film.
5. On the other hand, Brad Pitt tried out for the role of J.D. and was rejected because he was “too nice” to be convincing.
6. The name J.D. is an homage to “The Catcher in the Rye” author J.D. Salinger. Reportedly, Salinger refused to allow his book to be used in the film, hence why the students are seen reading the public domain work “Moby Dick” instead.
7.Shannon Doherty was reluctant to dye her hair for the role of Heather Duke, so she and the producers reached a compromise by dying her hair red instead.
New World Pictures
8. Australian pop-punk band The Veronicas chose their name specifically as a tribute to Ryder’s character.
9. “Heathers” was adapted into a stage musical in 2010 by Laurence O’Keefe and Kevin Murphy. The show had an off-Broadway run from March to August of 2014. (You might remember some of the songs from “Riverdale” a couple of weeks ago.)
Paramount Network
10. “Heathers” was also adapted into a TV series on the Paramount Network in 2018, though the first season was largely panned by critics who felt it failed to live up to the original film.
11. Waters has revealed his idea for a potential “Heathers 2,” envisioning a sequel where Veronica begins working as an assistant for a US senator named Heather. Ryder has voiced an interest in reprising her role. Could it happen?
15 years ago, Quentin Tarantino delivered what many consider to be one of the finest martial arts movies of all time in “Kill Bill: Vol. 1.” It is also considered one of Tarantino’s best.
It’s a movie that’s certainly held up over the years. From the movie’s unusual influences to a bit of Tarantino universe connectivity, here are some fun facts you might not know about “Kill Bill.”
1. The film’s original tagline was “In 2003, Uma Thurman Will Kill Bill,”: which technically became untrue after the film was split into two parts and the second half was pushed back to 2004.
2. The Bride’s distinctive yellow and black outfit was designed as an homage to Bruce Lee‘s iconic costume in 1979’s “Game of Death.”
3. While the shift to black and white footage during the final battle is a stylistic homage to classic martial arts films, it was also necessary in order for the film to achieve an R-rating in the US. The Japanese version of “Kill Bill” doesn’t include that color change.
Miramax
4. Originally, the Gogo Yubari character was written as twin assassins named Gogo and Yuki.
5. The sunglasses The Bride takes from Buck should be familiar to Tarantino fans. They were previously worn by Christian Slater in 1993’s “True Romance.”
Miramax
6. The tune whistled by Daryl Hannah‘s Elle is the theme music from 1968’s “Twisted Nerve.”
7. The sequence where The Bride slices a baseball in half was achieved naturally, with no visual effects or trickery. However, it was stuntwoman Zoe Bell, not Uma Thurman, who actually achieved the feat.
8. Apart from his hands, David Carradine‘s Bill is never actually shown on camera during the entire film. We only hear his voice and don’t see his face until “Vol. 2.”
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9. Tarantino (above, right) has a small cameo in the film as one of the Crazy 88 members killed by The Bride in the climax.
10. David Carradine revealed that it was Bill himself who killed O-Ren Ishii’s father in the animated flashback scene.
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11. Elle’s codename “California Mountain Kingsnake” is the only one not named after a venomous snake. That’s intentional, reflecting her failed attempt to poison The Bride in the hospital.
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12. Exactly four minutes and 59 seconds pass between O-Ren’s threat of “You won’t last five minutes,” and the end of her fight with The Bride.
13. Between “Kill Bill” and its sequel, over 450 gallons of fake blood were used during production.
