Emma Thompson is in talks to star opposite Emma Stone in Disney’s live-action “Cruella,” an origin story based on their animated classic “101 Dalmations,” according to Variety.
The new project comes from “I, Tonya” director Craig Gillespie. Stone is playing the menacing, fur-coveting villain. It’s unknown what role Thompson would play. But since it’s an origin story, perhaps she could be Cruella’s mother or a mentor in the fashion world (think “Devil Wears Prada,” but much more evil).
Stone is coming off an Oscar-nominated turn in “The Favourite.” Thompson, meanwhile, has a busy summer ahead, starring in both “Late Night” and “Men in Black: International.”
Emma Stone and Ralph Fiennes have signed on to star in the next Alexander Payne film, “The Menu.” Expect more big names to follow soon.
It’s a dark satirical comedy about an unusual culinary event held on an exclusive island. Fiennes will play the world-class chef who sets up the hot-ticket event. (If it’s anything like his concierge in “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” we’re all in.)
Stone will play one of the A-list attendees: Her partner (and the rest of the haute cuisine lovers) has yet to be cast.
The movie was previously described as “a comedic horror-thriller,” which sounds like it’s going to lean in a “Hannibal”-esque direction.
The script is by Will Tracy (an Emmy winner for “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver”) and Seth Reiss (“Late Night with Seth Meyers”).
Payne’s previous films include “Nebraska”, “Sideways” and “The Descendants.”
You know nothing about hosting “Saturday Night Live,” Jon Snow — but you’ll soon learn.
“SNL” has booked “Game of Thrones” star Kit Harington to host the April 6 episode. The musical guest will be Broadway’s “Waitress” creator Sara Bareilles. Both are making their “SNL” debuts.
Harington’s gig at Studio 8H will come just a week before the eighth and final season of “Game of Thrones” premieres on HBO. The actor also voices a character in “How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World.”
The following week, on April 13, Oscar winner Emma Stone — coming off her nominated performance in “The Favourite” — is set to host for the fourth time. Stone is currently filming the sequel “Zombieland: Double Tap,” which opens in theaters in October.
The musical guest will be the popular K-pop group BTS, who will debut their latest album “Map of the Soul: Persona” a few days prior.
The previously announced host for March 30 is “Killing Eve” star and Golden Globe winner Sandra Oh, with musical guest Tame Impala.
During the opening monologue at the 2019 Golden Globes, co-host Sandra Oh made a joke about “Crazy Rich Asians” — which led Stone (nominated for supporting actress in “The Favourite”) to make her vocal apology.
Oh said, “It is the first studio film with an Asian-American lead since ‘Ghost in the Shell’ and ‘Aloha.’”
Cameron Crowe’s 2015 film “Aloha” starred Stone as Allison Ng, a character of Asian descent. Her casting caused an uproar and Stone herself said of the experience, “I’ve learned on a macro level about the insane history of whitewashing in Hollywood and how prevalent the problem truly is. It’s ignited a conversation that’s very important.”
Clearly, the lesson stuck because after Oh delivered her zinger, Stone is heard shouting “I’m sorry!” Unfortunately, the moment wasn’t caught on screen.
According to Deadline, Alex Timbers, the acclaimed Broadway director-writer and co-creator of Amazon’s “Mozart in the Jungle,” was going to direct, but Disney wants to move up the production date.
With Timber tied up bringing “Beetlejuice” to Broadway, that means he has no time for the “101 Dalmatians” villainess.
Gillespie has been working on a remake of the Norwegian thriller “Thelma,” but would reportedly be available for this.
And he’s very much in demand after directing Allison Janney to a Best Supporting Actress Oscar in “I, Tonya,” which also netted a Best Actress nomination for Margot Robbie as infamous skater Tonya Harding.
Actually, now that we’re thinking about it, Janney would make a better Cruella than Emma Stone. But, of course Stone’s still a bigger box-office draw.
Glenn Close played the over-the-top villainess in two live-action ’90s Disney films. The original animated character was voiced by Betty Lou Gerson, who was also the narrator of Disney’s “Cinderella” (1950).
In terms of the winter movie cycle, Thanksgiving is a great time to get caught up.
You have a couple of days off, are probably stuffed with, er, stuffing, and want to be prepared for the Christmas movie onslaught that is just around the corner, when both Mary PoppinsandSpider-Man will be vying for your attention (amongst many, many others). So we’ve prepared a handy viewing guide for the Thanksgiving break, for when you want to escape to the theater with your loved ones, or leave them behind while they digest their turkey and watch whatever football game is on. And don’t worry, if you want to watch Netflix instead, we’ve got that covered, too.
‘Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald‘
Warner Bros/Wizarding World
Remember “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” 2016’s ambitious but somewhat confusing fantasy romp that was supposed to serve as an extension of the lucrative Warner Bros. franchise but instead was kind of just huh? Well, they made another one! And this one is much better.
With Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne, again) dispatched to Paris to track down the powerful Credence (Ezra Miller) and foil the plot of villainous wizard Gellert Grindelwald (Johnny Depp), the movie adds some international intrigue, a more admissibly knotty plot and, thanks to an appearance by sexy young Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law), some concrete connections between the various strands of this franchise. Just be warned — before you pile the family into the station wagon, it might be a good idea to re-watch the first movie. Consider that your magic spell for understanding “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.”
‘Widows‘
Fox
Given the pedigree, it’s very clear that “Widows” isn’t your run-of-the-mill thriller. Based on a British prime time series from 1983, it concerns a group of women (among them: Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez, Elizabeth Debicki and Cynthia Erivo) who are forced into a sticky situation when their criminal husbands are killed in a heist-gone-wrong.
Directed by Academy Award-winner Steve McQueen and co-written by Gillian Flynn (who wrote “Gone Girl” and “Sharp Objects”), this is a movie that thrills on both an intellectual and visceral level. “Ocean’s 8” it is not.
‘The Favourite‘
Fox
This is the time of year when the studios unleash their stuffy period movies and, yes, there are even a few of those this year. But “The Favourite” is not one of them.
Rambunctious, sexy, and unpredictable, it’s the antithesis of every boring costume drama that they throw Oscars at with willful abandon. This is electrically alive in a way few films, period or otherwise, ever are, anchored by a trio of brilliant female performers (Olivia Colman, Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz) and some of the finest direction this year (courtesy of Greek genius Yorgos Lanthimos). Set during the reign of Queen Anne (Colman) in the early part of the 18th century, it features palace intrigue, love triangles, and people getting pushed into muddy ditches. What more do you want?
‘Ralph Breaks the Internet‘
Disney
In the sequel to the hit 2012 animated film, Ralph (John C. Reilly) and Vanellope (Sarah Silverman) head to the Internet, where they fall in with online auctions, meme-creation, and a particularly violent “Grand Theft Auto”-style game called “Slaughter Race” that is lorded over by a bad-ass, leather-clad ringleader named Shank (Gal Gadot). Also, the Disney Princesses show up. As you can imagine, it’s a lot of fun.
“Ralph Breaks the Internet” is one of those rare family sequels that won’t leave you with a toothache from it being so sweet, there’s actual pathos and emotionality but nothing feels syrupy or forced and it’s honestly one of the most visually ravishing animated features you’re ever likely to see.
‘Green Book‘
Universal
Up until this point, Peter Farrelly has directed as one-half of the Farrelly Brothers — serving as the tag-team provocateurs behind gross-out extravaganzas like “Dumb and Dumber,” “There’s Something About Mary,” and the underrated classic “Kingpin.” So it’s interesting to see Farrelly emerge as something of an Oscar frontrunner for his work directing “Green Book,” a based-on-a-true-story racial drama starring Mahershala Ali and Viggo Mortensen.
In the film. Ali plays Don Shirley, a classical pianist, who hires New York tough guy Tony Vallelonga (Mortensen) to escort him on a tour of the South. This could be the feel-good movie of the fall, which makes it a perfect after-Thanksgiving family outing.
‘Creed II‘
MGM
Finally. The follow-up to 2015’s brilliant “Rocky” refresh “Creed” is now upon us. Let us give thanks.
In “Creed II,” Michael B. Jordan returns as Adonis Creed, the son of Apollo Creed, who this time turns to going toe-to-doe with Viktor Drago (Florian Munteanu), the son of Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren), who famously killed Apollo in the ring (in 1985’s Cold War classic “Rocky IV“). Oh, and Rocky (Sylvester Stallone) is still around! So there’s that. Hopefully the sequel builds on the intensity and excitement of the first film, while supplying some new wrinkles as well. We can already feel ourselves getting inspired.
‘Roma‘
Netflix
Yes, “Roma” is a Netflix movie. But in a rare move, the streaming service is debuting the movie in theaters first, before it hits the platform in mid-December. And, really, you should do everything in your power to see it on the big screen. In fact, try and see it on the biggest screen possible. Because this movie is absolutely jaw dropping.
An epic on a miniature scale, the highly autobiographical film from “Gravity” filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron follows a middle-class family in Mexico City in the early 1970s dealing with heartache, political upheaval, and the day-to-day domestic drama that every family deals with. What makes this story even more captivating is that it’s told through the eyes of the family’s housekeeper Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio, giving one of the year’s best performances even though she’s not a professional actor). You have to see this with an audience in a theater. It just won’t be the same on your iPad.
‘Overlord‘
Paramount
If your family is really annoying you over Thanksgiving, it might be time to watch a little more muscular movie at the multiplex. Perhaps something like “Overlord,” a high-concept World War II romp that features thrills, chills, and the cathartic experience of watching sweaty hunks brutally murder Nazis.
Conceived by mystery box magnate J.J. Abrams, “Overlord” is a hard-core horror movie mixed with an equally hardcore war movie, wherein a group of Allied soldiers (among them Jovan Adepo and Wyatt Russell) parachute into France to take down a radio tower on the eve of D-Day and wind up finding a gnarly zombie conspiracy. You know, that old story. But there are some definite grindhouse pleasures to be had as Nazis get shot, blown-up, and lit on fire and then come back from the dead to do it all again.
Why did Emma Stone (whose parents named her “Emily Jean”) change her name?
As she revealed to Jimmy Fallon last night, it’s all thanks to Emma Bunton, aka Baby Spice of the Spice Girls.
“I wanted to be called Emma because of Baby Spice and guess what, now I am,” Stone said on “The Tonight Show.” “It’s pretty messed up.”
“This just changed your Wikipedia page right now,” Fallon joked.
The fateful name change happened when she was in second grade. “It wasn’t necessarily because of [Emma Bunton] but yes, in second grade, did I go up to the teacher and ask her on the first day to call me Emma? Yes, I did,” Stone admitted.
She was shocked — shocked — to find out that, according to a Buzzfeed quiz (which Fallon administered) she’s actually been Posh Spice this whole time.
But yes, she is going to see the Spice Girls for the umpteenth time on their upcoming reunion tour.
Stone, a natural blond who went red for her breakout film “Easy A,” is blond again (like Baby Spice!) in her Netflix series, “Maniac.”
She’s now out promoting her Oscar contender, “The Favourite.”
Someone needs to just cast both Emmas in a movie — Emma Watson on one side, Emma Stone on the other.
Maybe it’s a horror movie. Maybe it’s a superhero movie. Maybe it’s a romantic comedy and they fall in love in the end.
Either way, this feels like it’s leading somewhere.
Billy Eichner just returned with more “Billy on the Street” — ambushing random people on sidewalks with random questions, and then yelling at them as he runs away.
It doesn’t sound like it should work, but it’s awesome.
In his newest video, Billy acknowledged all the serious questions facing the country today … so he decided to ask New Yorkers if they agree that Emma Stone should join Instagram. The result was amazing on so many levels. Poor Emma Stone just seemed so sweet and awkward, and some of the fans on the street were classic.
When one guy was asked for his favorite Emma Stone movie, he said “Harry Potter.”
Billy: “That’s Emma WATSON.”
Emma: “That’s OK.”
Billy [angry whisper to Emma Stone]: “Why couldn’t you be Emma Watson?”
