Moviefone Editorial

Tag: ed-skrein

  • ‘Maleficent 2’: Michelle Pfeiffer in Talks to Play Queen, With Ed Skrein as Villain

    It’s all coming together, Beasties…

    Angelina Jolie and Elle Fanning are already on board for Disney’s “Maleficent” sequel. Variety recently added two more names to the cast: Michelle Pfeiffer as (who else?) the queen, and Ed Skrein as a villain.

    Variety said Pfeiffer is “in advanced talks” for the film, which has Joachim Ronning of “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales” as director.

    Murder On The Orient Express World Premiere - LondonPfeiffer has made a welcome return to Hollywood in the past couple of years, from “Wizard of Lies” and “Murder on the Orient Express” to “mother!” and the upcoming Marvel movie “Ant-Man and the Wasp.”

    Skrein already played a bad guy in “Deadpool,” and he’s also known for “The Transporter Refueled” and as the original Daario Naharis on “Game of Thrones.” He also earned respect for stepping away from the character of Ben Daimio in “Hellboy” to make room for an Asian actor.

    Deadpool Screening - London“Maleficent” came out in 2014, and made $758.5 million worldwide. That success led to Disney’s current live-action streak — from “Cinderella” and “Beauty and the Beast” to “The Jungle Book,” and the upcoming movies “The Lion King,” “Dumbo,” and more.

    Last we heard, back in October 2017, production on “Maleficent 2” was aiming to start in early 2018. Now that we’re less than a week away from May 2018, Variety just says production will start in 2018, with no further details or premiere date.

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  • Daniel Dae Kim Bonds With New ‘Friend’ Ed Skrein After ‘Hellboy’ Recasting

    The “Hellboy” casting controversy has a few silver linings, including introducing two new friends — and revealing the correct pronunciation of Ed Skrein‘s last name.

    So that’s something.

    As you probably know, Ed Skrein was initially cast as military man Ben Daimio, a Japanese-American character in the “Hellboy” comics. After whitewashing backlash, Skrein stepped down, posting that he was unaware when accepting the role that the Daimio was of mixed Asian heritage. He respected that “representing this character in a culturally accurate way holds significance for people” and he wanted to make room for the role to be “cast appropriately.”

    Not too long after that, “Hellboy” cast Daniel Dae Kim, a recent alum of “Hawaii Five-0.” Kim is Korean-American — which is not the same as Japanese-American, as many fans jumped in to point out. But after the re-casting, Kim praised Skrein “for championing the notion that Asian characters should be played by Asian or Asian American actors. He could not have addressed the issue more elegantly and I remain indebted to him for his strength of character.”

    And now it looks like the two dudes have bonded over their shared “Hellboy” experience, with DDK posting this photo with his new friend:

    Ed Skrein-Rhymes-With-Wine is no stranger to recastings, losing the role of Daario Naaharis on “Game of Thrones” to Michiel Huisman for what he later said were “political” reasons.

    “Hellboy” stars David Harbour in the title role — check out the first look of him here — and it’ll show up in theaters at some point in 2018.

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  • ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D’ Star Defends Changing Her Last Name: ‘Hollywood Is Racist’

    Disney ABC Television Group Hosts TCA Summer Press TourIt all started with “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” actress was called out for changing her own last name, in what was seen as a hypocritical move. So Bennet — born Chloe Wang — responded by arguing that she did what she felt she had to do to move forward in a racist white-centric industry, and she hopes she’s the last to feel the need to go that route.

    First, here’s her post thanking Ed Skrein for standing up against “Hollywood’s continuous insensitivity and flippant behavior towards the Asian American community”:

    And here’s her reply when challenged about changing her own last name:

    Bennet, 25, was born in Chicago to a Caucasian mother and a Chinese father. (Her father’s name is Bennet Wang, which is how she ended up taking Bennet as her last name.)

    Bennet told the Toronto Star back in 2014 that within days of adopting her new last name, she landed her first big acting gig on “Nashville.”

    “I was having trouble booking things with my last name. I think it was hard for people to cast me as an ethnic, as an Asian-American woman. But I still wanted to keep my dad’s name, and I wanted to respect him, so I used his first name.”

    She praised “S.H.I.E.L.D.” for having a diverse cast, and allowing her to share screen time with another Asian-American actress, Ming-Na Wen:

    “It’s been great to be a part of a show which is groundbreaking in terms of being an American woman and being Asian on television because there’s people who don’t see a lot of that and I’m really proud of it.”

    People change their names for all kinds of reasons in Hollywood (and sometimes in other industries, like authors with pen names) and she certainly doesn’t seem ashamed of her Asian heritage. If casting directors really did hesitate just based on the last name Wang, then the problem is with them, not her.

    Bennet will return as Daisy Johnson/Quake in “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” Season 5, which will premiere in late 2017.

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  • Ed Skrein Exits ‘Hellboy’ Reboot After Whitewashing Controversy: ‘I Must Do What Is Right’

    Into Film Awards 2017 - VIP Reception & Inside CeremonyFollowing yet another Hollywood whitewashing controversy, actor Ed Skrein is stepping down from the upcoming “Hellboy” reboot.

    In a lengthy statement posted to his social media accounts, Skrein explained that when he accepted the role of Major Ben Daimio, he was “unaware” that the character was “of mixed Asian heritage.” In the “Hellboy” comics, Daimio is a Japanese-American former Marine who works alongside the titular hero at the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense.

    Following news of Skrein’s casting as the character, there was once again an outcry over whitewashing, which has been prevalent lately in big studio flicks like “Doctor Strange” and “Ghost in the Shell.” It was an accusation the actor said he took quite seriously.

    A post shared by Ed Skrein (@edskrein) on

    “There has been intense conversation and understandable upset since that [casting] announcement, and I must do what I feel is right,” Skrein’s statement said. “It is clear that representing this character in a culturally accurate way holds significance for people, and that to neglect this responsibility would continue a worrying tendency to obscure ethnic minority voices in the Arts. I feel it is important to honour and respect that. Therefore I have decided to step down so the role can be cast appropriately.”

    The actor also noted that he hoped his stepping down would “make a difference.” It looks like it already has: studio Lionsgate has released a statement in support of Skrein, and said it will recast the role with an Asian actor.

    Lionsgate’s full statement said:

    Ed came to us and felt very strongly about this. We fully support his unselfish decision. It was not our intent to be insensitive to issues of authenticity and ethnicity, and we will look to recast the part with an actor more consistent with the character in the source material.

    Mike Mignola, the creator of the “Hellboy” comics, also approved of Skrein’s decision, thanking the actor on Twitter and commenting, “very nicely done.”

    “Hellboy,” which features David Harbour (“Stranger Things”) as the title star, is currently slated for release sometime in 2018.

    [via: Ed Skrein/Instagram, The Hollywood Reporter]

  • How ‘War Room’ Defeated ‘Compton’ at the Box Office

    It’s pretty rare for a movie to rise from second place to first at the box office in its second week of release. It’s pretty rare for such a movie to defeat a summer smash that’s topped the chart for three weeks running. And it’s pretty rare for a low-budget, Christian-themed movie with a star-free cast to become the top-grossing film in North America.

    And yet, “War Room” did all three of those things this week. After last weekend’s impressive $11.4 million debut in the No. 2 slot, the film rose to the top spot this weekend with an estimated $9.4 million from Friday to Sunday (and a projected $12.3 million over the four-day holiday weekend). It dethroned previous three-time champ “Straight Outta Compton” (No. 2, with an estimated $8.9 million from Friday to Sunday and $11.2 million over the Labor Day holiday). It also defeated two new wide releases, one starring the iconic Robert Redford in the nature-travelogue milieu he’s best known for, and one installment of a venerable action franchise.

    How did “War Room” achieve this surprise victory? The answers have a lot to do with smart timing and marketing, but even more to do with underserved audiences that mainstream Hollywood either ignores or doesn’t know how to reach.

    It would be easy to dismiss “War Room”‘s success as just a matter of good timing. The Labor Day holiday is typically one of the slowest weekends of the year at the multiplex. Plus, “War Room” seemed fortunate in getting to compete against fairly weak rivals.

    “A Walk in the Woods,” a light comedy-drama starring Redford and Nick Nolte, has a septuagenarian cast and only middling reviews, which can do real damage to the sales for a film whose older target audience still cares what critics think. And “The Transporter Refueled,” the fourth “Transporter” thriller, is the first one in seven years and the first without Jason Statham. (Star Ed Skrein is, well, the opposite of a household name.)
    Even so, the competition may not have been as weak as it appeared. “Compton” was still strong — in fact, it was widely expected to four-peat, and it fell behind “War Room” by just $500,000. “Woods” did better than expected, finishing third with an estimated $8.4 million, well above the $5 to $6 million pundits predicted. “Transporter” finished fifth with an estimated $7.13 million, but that figure is just $20,000 below fourth-place finisher “Rogue Nation,” so it could rise to fourth by the time the final holiday figures are released on Tuesday.

    If “War Room” was fortunate (or shrewd) in its timing, it also benefited from strong marketing and distribution. The $3 million film was produced by the faith-based Affirm label and distributed by TriStar, both arms of major Hollywood studio Sony. The distributor had the savvy — and the muscle — to expand from 1,135 theaters last week to 1,526 this week, so it held the inevitable second-week drop in sales to just 18 percent. (“Compton” dropped 33 percent this weekend.)

    Meanwhile, “Woods” and “Transporter” were both being handled by indie distributors (Broad Green Pictures and EuropaCorp, respectively) that had never done a wide-release campaign before.

    Of course, the main reason “War Room” triumphed wasn’t just that it was smartly rolled out onto more than 1,500 screens, but that it was smartly targeted at the right viewers. By now, we should probably stop being surprised when Christian-themed movies become mainstream hits, but the feat is still striking. It helped that Affirm and TriStar knew how to reach a Christian audience through grass-roots marketing and outreach to individual churches.

    It also helped that the movie was made by director Alex Kendrick, who turned faith-based films “Facing the Giants,’” “Fireproof,” and “Courageous” into modest mainstream hits. So the team behind the film already had the trust of its target audience and experience reaching them through techniques that the mass-market studios are usually too big and lumbering to do well.
    But it also helped that “War Room” has a predominantly African-American cast. Tyler Perry has shown how receptive African-American audiences are to Christian-themed movies made within the black community, but Kendrick is a white filmmaker, working in a Christian-filmmaking mini-industry that’s no more racially diverse than Hollywood in general.

    It’s worth noting that this weekend also saw the successful American launch of “Un Gallo con Muchos Huevos” (“A Rooster with Many Eggs”), a CGI-animated feature from Mexico that debuted in the top 10 (at No. 8) with an estimated $3.4 million. That’s a very good number for a Spanish-language kids’ movie (it earned about the same amount when it opened in Mexico three weeks ago), but it’s also not unprecedented. Its distributor is Pantelion, the Spanish-language division of Lionsgate, which has had similar crossover successes at this late-summer/early-fall season in previous years, including last year’s biopic “Cantinflas” and 2013’s comedy smash “Instructions Not Included,” which earned $44.5 million to become the top-grossing Spanish-language film ever released in the United States and Canada.

    Like “War Room,” “Gallo” offers further proof that there are underserved audiences hungering for movies that respect their cultures, movies that are also universal enough to cross over beyond their target audiences. If the Hollywood studios don’t want to leave money on the table, they just have to figure out how to make such movies and how to sell them in campaigns that don’t require blanketing the continent with superhero toys and fast-food tie-ins.

  • Ed Skrein Got Lessons in Kicking Butt for ‘The Transporter: Refueled’

    Ed Skrein had to be a fierce opponent in combat and on the road for the title role in “The Transporter: Refueled.”

    Lucky for him, he had good teachers.

    “That was what was so amazing, working with these guys that are at the top of their game and specialists in their subjects,” he tells Made in Hollywood. “We all have our strengths, it’s important we know our strengths, but surround ourselves with complementary strengths, and we truly did that in this movie.”

    In the action-thriller he takes over for Jason Statham as Frank Martin—a driver-for-hire who transports valuable packages for criminals, but gets entangled in drama along the way.

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  • Ed Skrein Learns ‘Other Side of the Craft’ in ‘The Transporter: Refueled’

    Ed Skrein learned more about cars than he ever imagined in “The Transporter: Refueled.” As driver-for-hire Frank Martin, who transports valuable packages for criminals, he had to spend a lot of time behind the wheel.

    It was an an opportunity that allowed him to unleash his inner car geek.

    “That’s the really interesting part of this job—just to learn the other side of the craft,” Skrein tells Made in Hollywood.

    The British hunk says eight cars were used during filming. “Some were stunt specific cars that had different breaks,” he explains. Referring to the vehicle as his “beautiful co-star,” he adds that they were all the same models—2015 Audi S8.

    Along with his beloved Audi, there were other beauties whom he starred alongside, including French actresses Loan Chabanol and Noémie Lenoir, a former Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue stunner.

    Skerein takes over for Jason Statham in the franchise’s fourth installment, in theaters on Friday.

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  • Ed Skrein Gives Credit to Costars for Impressive Combat Stunts

    Though he performs his own stunts, if Ed Skrein makes a convincing hero in “The Transporter: Refueled,” he’s not taking credit for it.

    “Obviously you can see it’s my face all the time, but I’m nothing without the people surrounding me,” the 32-year-old tells Made in Hollywood. “A punch or a kick cannot look great without their reaction. A lot of it is in the reaction and sound effect.”

    The British star takes over for Jason Statham in the title role as tough courier Frank Martin in the action franchise’s fourth installment. “The Transporter: Refueled” hits theaters on Friday.

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  • ‘Deadpool’ Casting Continues With T.J. Miller and Ed Skrein


    Marvel’s movie about the weirdo anti-hero known as Deadpool has been doing the limbo for quite some time. Now that Ryan Reynolds is officially attached (finally!), things are coming together in a most promising way. They’ve even begun casting!

    T.J. Miller and Ed Skrein are in “early talks” for unknown roles in “Deadpool,” although it’s thought that Skrein is in line for a bad guy role and Miller for something on the lighter side. That makes sense given Miller’s previous roles on HBO’s “Silicon Valley,” and in movies like “Big Hero 6,” “How to Train Your Dragon” and its sequel, as well as “She’s Out of My League.” Skrein is probably most well known for his role as Daario Naharis on “Game of Thrones,” a role he left to star in an upcoming “Transporter” movie – a move that frankly boggles the mind, because tons of “GoT” actors manage to juggle movies, plays, and other projects when winter isn’t coming, but hey, maybe he’s allergic to dragons.

    “Deadpool,” which will be directed by Tim Miller, will hit theaters February 12, 2016.

    [Via The Wrap]

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