Moviefone Editorial

Tag: idris-elba

  • Daniel Craig Turned Down $99M to Return as Bond? Not So Fast!

    'Spectre' German Premiere In BerlinTwitter is currently shaken, not stirred trending “Daniel Craig” for the rumor that he turned down about $99 million to return as James Bond for two more films.

    That news came via anonymous sources to The Daily Mail but, shortly afterward, separate “authoritative Bond sources” told BBC News that Daniel Craig hasn’t made any decisions about his future as 007, and “no decision is likely to be made for a while” since the next film wouldn’t be expected in theaters until late 2018 at the earliest.

    But Daniel Craig has not made it a big secret that he doesn’t want to return to the role of 007, and fans have spent the past year naming potential successors. Frankly, more people seem to want to believe the news that DCraig is quitting.

    One “L.A. film source” told the Daily Mail, “Daniel is done – pure and simple – he told top brass at MGM after ‘Spectre.’ They threw huge amounts of money at him, but it just wasn’t what he wanted. He had told people after shooting that this would be his final outing, but the film company still felt he could come around after ‘Spectre’ if he was offered a money deal.”

    That money deal was reportedly £68 million (the equivalent of over $99 million U.S. dollars) to return for two more Bond films, and would include endorsements, profit shares, and a role for him as co-producer. But one of their sources said execs finally agreed to let Craig go from his contract after tiring of his criticism of the franchise. (If he criticized “Spectre,” he may have had a point…)


    The BBC News report basically said “not so fast” on all of that, possibly because Craig is still under contract. Still, fans are now pushing hard for their faves as replacements — with Tom Hiddleston appearing to be a lead horse in the race, along with Idris Elba, plus Hugh Jackman, Tom Hardy, Michael Fassbender, etc.


    If they really don’t expect a movie in theaters until late 2018 at the earliest, then this Bond race could last longer than the 2016 presidential election.

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  • Why Disney’s Live-Action ‘Jungle Book’ Has Deep Roots in ‘Bambi,’ ‘Lion King’

    Premiere Of Disney's "The Jungle Book" - ArrivalsIn anticipation of Disney‘s live-action adaptation of “The Jungle Book,” Moviefone had the opportunity to chat with director Jon Favreau about what inspired him to re-imagine the beloved animated classic.

    Opening this Friday, Favreau’s movie takes us back into the jungle with Mowgli and friends using cutting-edge technology that renders an incredible, photo-realistic world in 3D. When you see it, you’ll be shocked by the knowledge that “The Jungle Book” was shot entirely in Downtown Los Angeles using practical sets and Dolby vision laser projection. In other words, if you thought movies like “Avatar” and “Life of Pi” looked amazing, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

    We also get some of what we love from the original musical Walt Disney production but fit to reflect the time and outfitted with a stellar voice cast. Newcomer Neel Sethi plays Mowgli and is joined by Sir Ben Kingsley (Bagheera), Lupita Nyong’o (Raksha), Bill Murray (Baloo), Scarlett Johansson (Kaa), Idris Elba (Shere Khan), Giancarlo Esposito (Akilah) and Christopher Walken (King Louie).

    With all of this in mind, we couldn’t wait to talk to Favreau about raising the bar on visual storytelling using a tried and proven method: the Walt Disney way.

    Moviefone: What I took away the most from your take on “The Jungle Book” was just how steeped in Walt Disney’s philosophy for storytelling it was. You did what he did with fairy tales and the classic Kipling story to create a new take on a beloved movie. How did you go about mining the core of the original film’s narrative to build your own vision?

    Jon Favreau: You just can’t make the movie exactly like the old one. It wouldn’t work live-action, so we had to make some changes to it. Hopefully, we honored the legacy of the original one enough that you feel satisfied if you’re expecting that, but yet you’re seeing something that goes further in some ways.

    Enough people who love Disney have seen it that I feel comfortable that we didn’t at least put them off — that we didn’t do our homework and embrace the original. That was an important film for me.THE JUNGLE BOOK (Pictured) MOWGLI and BALOO. ©2016 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.When tackling this project, what helped you focus on the story you wanted to tell as you researched the original?

    It’s interesting because it’s not like going back to the original movie unlocked all those puzzles. The trick that I had done on “Iron Man” that had worked pretty well was: the first thing I do is try to remember and brainstorm for the images and the things I remember most clearly because if it sits clearly in your memory it’s probably been prioritized and is most important. And so “Bare Necessities” was a big one, and “I Wanna Be Like You,” King Louie and the crumbling temple, and Kaa with his hypnotic eyes, and the boy being woozy, and me being scared. And then floating down the river and singing, and Shere Khan and the torch, and the elephants and the baby elephant.

    I make a big list of all that stuff, and then I look at the materials because, when you watch it fresh, you’ll connect with different things. I wanted to make sure to include all those images that I had connected to. And then I actually took a lot of cues from the way the plot unfolds the story because that was actually well done. Walt’s a great story man, and that was very different from the book. We looked at the books, too, to get inspiration. Certain things the books were better at. I like the treatment of the elephants in the books. I like the treatment of Ikki, the porcupine, I liked Raksha, the mother. So I kinda pick and choose between the two. I think me being such a fan of the material and connecting with it gave me confidence that my instincts were going to be the instincts of others like me.

    With that wealth of information, how did you tread through it and not let it overwhelm your vision for “The Jungle Book”?

    They say a book is like designing a boat, and a screenplay is like designing an airplane. It has to lift. Once you hit the end of that runway, the thing has to take off. And if it doesn’t fly under its own engineering, it falls apart. So there are certain rules you have to stick by. You have to keep the pace at a certain rhythm, you have to have the right mixture of emotion and tone, and once you lock into that you could get clues from other movies. Honestly, as much as we looked at “Jungle Book,” we looked at “Bambi,” we looked at “Pinocchio,” we looked at “The Lion King.” For the PG version, we made, there were more clues in those films than there were in “The Jungle Book” for how to present it, because we always found ourselves tonally: a little too young, a little too humorous. So whenever we brought in a musical element or a humorous element from the original, we found ourselves really having to be careful that we didn’t trip up the whole film.THE JUNGLE BOOK (Pictured) BAGHEERA and MOWGLI. ©2016 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.On a recent trip to the old Ink and Paint building over at Walt Disney Studios, I saw a multi-plane shadowbox for the opening scene of “Bambi,” which I immediately thought of during the opening of your film in its composition.

    We looked at that shot. We looked at the opening of “Bambi” because back, when he was doing Bambi, Walt was still flushed with success and revenue from “Snow White,” which was a huge hit and, unfortunately, over Walt’s career, they were operating to diminishing returns from that point on. But Walt was so passionate that he would convince Roy, his brother, to give him the resources and the people that he needed. “Bambi” was really the one where he wanted to raise the bar like they were able to do in “Snow White” and that was his labor of love for many, many years.

    I don’t know if he was ever fully satisfied with the version that came out judging from the notes that I had read, because the studio was coming into a lot of other challenges. I think the war was coming on or the strike. I think it was the strike for that film, and there was definitely a version of the film he was going for and what was nice is that he got stenographers keeping notes of all their story sessions. On the Blu-ray of “Bambi,” you hear them talking about how they were gonna make the animals look photo-real, and the tone of the performance vs. how cartooney they were in “Snow White,” how realistic they were presenting them, and the way there were gonna show the photo-real backgrounds, and how they would stylize things. And the way they would treat the hunter, and the way they would treat the weather. Hearing it in his read-back transcript, it was almost like having him available to us. And he really was wrestling with a lot of things people wrestle with today. Certainly, we did.

    So we drew inspiration looking at the shots. The beauty of the shots in “Bambi” were unsurpassed by the time we got to the ’67 “Jungle Book” film. Although character animation was still hitting a high watermark because you had the Nine Old Men around. I think most if not all of them were still around for the animated emotional moments. You didn’t have the same lushness of the multi-plane, nearly the amount of artists designing a project like this. And, although it was a big success for them financially, it wasn’t embraced in the same way the films like “Snow White” were in its day. So I think by trying to channel the entire Disney legacy and then also “The Lion King,” which came afterwards (that was affected very much by “The Jungle Book” if you hear the animators of that one speak). I think that one was essential in having fun musical moments but also having scary moments, where characters are in serious danger.

    And taking cues from Walt there makes so much sense, it immerses you in Mowgli’s world, with its practical and CGI surroundings.

    He used to do that with his “Alice” and old “Laugh-O-Gram” stuff by having a live-action girl in an illustrated world. It was something he was first drawn to. So yeah, we really tried to honor the legacy but tried to do something new and exciting that just stands on its own two feet.

    We’ve got to talk casting; this is an incredible ensemble. What inspired you to approach the talent attached to the film?

    That’s a big part of my job. You know Walt Disney in “The Jungle Book” was the only time he did celebrity casting because those people were famous back then before the film, so I think it gave me permission to go after higher people like Christopher Walken or Idris Elba.

    Loved the cowbell reference by the way. So meta!THE JUNGLE BOOK - (Pictured) MOWGLI and KING LOUIE ©2015 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.Did you catch it? I’m so glad it’s in there. That was an on-set discovery. That was a prop in the background that I pulled and I said, “Oh my god, this is what Mowgli has to use. I knew he had to touch something that would get the attention of King Louie and I saw the cowbell off to the side and I pulled that in and swapped it out for the prop that we had designed for it.

    Awesome. Sorry, back to casting…

    With Christopher Walken and Bill Murray, I let them really be themselves and be recognizable through the characters. I think that was part of what made the original special as well.

    Disney’s “The Jungle Book” opens Friday, April 15th.

  • 5 Things You Need to Know Before Seeing Disney’s ‘The Jungle Book’

    Disney’s latest live-action update of one of its classic animated features is “The Jungle Book.” But don’t expect just a shiny CG update of the 1967 cartoon that turned Rudyard Kipling’s fierce beasts into mostly adorable, toy-ready critters. For one thing, if you’ve seen the trailers, you know this new version features some impressive-looking animals, speaking with the voices of some impressive stars. For another thing, its director is Jon Favreau, who helped launch the Marvel Cinematic Universe with “Iron Man.”

    Favreau and Disney clearly wanted to make something more than just a retread of the studio’s 1967 cartoon — or Disney’s 1994 live-action version. Judging by the 100% approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, they’ve pulled it off. Here are five things you need to know before entering the “Jungle.”

    1. Think ‘Avatar,’ Only Earthbound
    The James Cameron epic is a movie Favreau has name-checked often in describing the exotic, immersive, 3D forest world he’s tried to create here. From its setting to its jungle animals, Favreau’s film is almost completely CGI — except, of course, for Neel Sethi, the 12-year-old New York native who plays wild boy Mowgli.

    Favreau and his effects team shot the whole film on stages in downtown Los Angeles, digitally added lush vegetation, and populated it with creatures based on the appearances and movements of real animals — but given an artistic flourish by digital animators. Imagine the CGI tiger in “Life of Pi,” except that he’s moving his lips as Idris Elba’s (above) menacing voice emerges from his mouth.

    2. This Is No Cartoon
    The generally-lighthearted 1967 cartoon wasn’t especially faithful to the source material. Favreau has said his film delves deeper into the Kipling stories, which means the animals are more savage and the danger to Mowgli is greater. Elba’s tiger Shere Khan is reportedly one of the scariest screen villains since — well, Elba’s warlord in “Beasts of No Nation.” No wonder some critics are calling the film a kiddie “Revenant.”

    3. It’s Not Just a Guy Thing
    Favreau decided that the cartoon, populated almost exclusively by male characters, needed more feminine presences. So Kaa the Python got a sex change; she’s voiced by Scarlett Johansson (pictured). Interestingly, in “Jungle Book: Origins,” Andy Serkis‘ upcoming 2017 take on the same public-domain Kipling stories, which will also mix live-action actors and motion-capture animals, Kaa will be female as well, voiced by Cate Blanchett.

    Favreau also beefed up the role of Raksha, the wolf mother who adopts Mowgli. She doesn’t even speak in the cartoon, but here, she’s voiced by no less a luminary than Lupita Nyong’o.

    4. The Animals Are Zoologically Correct
    Well, except for the whole talking thing. But at least Baloo (Bill Murray) is now more obviously a sloth bear, a mammal native to India, than the generic bear of the cartoon. Alas, there are no orangutans in India, so King Louie (Christopher Walken) is now a Gigantopithecus (pictured), an orangutan-like ape that is now extinct but which did once live in India.

    5. Don’t Worry, Your Favorite Songs Are Still Here
    Darker tone aside, Favreau made sure to keep some of the cartoon’s comic-relief moments, as is apparent by the casting of Murray and Walken. (The late Garry Shandling is here, too, as a nervous porcupine.)

    Baloo does get to sing “Bare Necessities” and Louie still sings “I Wan’na Be Like You.” Richard M. Sherman, who wrote that song’s lyrics 50 years ago, has updated the words for the new film. And Kaa still delivers the hypnotic “Trust in Me” — though, instead of Sterling Holloway’s Winnie-the-Pooh bluster, the snake now purrs the words in Johansson’s seductive, unsettling rasp.

    “Jungle Book” hits theaters Friday.

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  • Idris Elba: How to Talk Like a Cape Buffalo

    Idris Elba: How to Talk Like a Cape Buffalo

    Idris Elba was able to tap into his goofy side for the voice for Chief Pogo, a Cape buffalo in Disney’s wildly successful “Zootopia.”

    “I play a big, big physical character, and I try to give him some presence,” Elba said at the U.K. premiere on March 7. “But, also, what’s fun about it, is trying to do something different with the voice as much as you can because he’s such a big buffalo. I wanted him to be funny, a little bit complex, and I think I got there in the end.”

    The mammal metropolis comedy, which also stars Jason Bateman and Ginnifer Goodwin, became Disney’s biggest animated feature opener when it debuted with $73.7 million, topping even such huge hits as “Frozen.”

    “Unexpected,” admits Elba, adding, “but it’s really good that audiences are warming to it. It’s quite topical, this film. There are quite relatable subject matters that are discussed [in the film] so that’s good.”

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  • Idris Elba Facts: 9 Things You (Probably) Don’t Know About the ‘Zootopia’ Star

    %Slideshow-370303% Luther,” “The Wire.” Now, he’s getting animated with Disney’s new movie, “Zootopia.”

    From his near-death experience to struggling in New York, here are nine things you probably never knew about Idris Elba. Glastonbury Festival 2015 - Day 2
    [Sources: IMDB, EW, WhatCulture, US Magazine, GQ]

  • Idris Elba, Matthew McConaughey Confirmed to Star in Stephen King’s ‘Dark Tower’

    EE British Academy Film Awards - Red Carpet ArrivalsIdris Elba and Matthew McConaughey are ready to face off in Stephen King’s epic “Dark Tower.”

    The two actors will star in a film adaptation of King’s eight-novel series (though it will exclude the first book, “The Gunslinger”). Elba will play Roland Deschain, the last gunslinger left in the Wild West-like land Mid-World. He’s pursuing McConaughey’s man in black, who is attempting to get to the tower that is a nexus point between time and space. If he succeeds, he would gain terrible power, so Elba’s gunslinger must stop him.

    The author himself confirmed the casting on Twitter:

    While King and director Nikolaj Arcel said the first book would be left out of the adaptation, it’s unclear which of the others (plus short stories and comics) would be the focus of the movie. This adaptation has traveled a very long road — Ron Howard tried developing a trilogy of movies, plus a cable TV series in 2010. But now, King told Entertainment Weekly that all the pieces are in place.

    “Other people have tried fantasy spectacle. Sometimes it works, sometimes it works really well when it’s based on a series of books, like ‘The Hunger Games‘ or ‘Harry Potter,’ and sometimes it doesn’t,” King says. “What I have to go back to is this: We have Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey, two great actors. You’ve got a great production team and Akiva Goldsman as the primary script writer. The team is in place, so we’ll hope for the best.”

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  • Disney’s Live-Action ‘The Jungle Book’: What You Need to Know

    mowgli and baloo in disney's THE JUNGLE BOOKThe first in-depth look at Disney‘s “The Jungle Book” was unveiled in Los Angeles last month, at a special presentation hosted by Walt Disney Studios and director Jon Favreau. We were able to exclusively experience the advanced 3D tech the film was being shot with and get a sense of how the adaptation of the beloved Disney classic aims to stand apart from the original.

    Held at Hollywood’s El Capitan theater, the event’s emcee was none other than the director himself. Favreau introduced a selection of preview clips and delivered insight into what made now the right time to remake “The Jungle Book.” As it turns out, producer Alan Horn grew up on the Mowgli books by Rudyard Kipling, and Favreau grew up a fan of Walt Disney‘s animated classic. Together, they wanted to collaborate on a project to push technology forward and agreed that “The Jungle Book” had the characters, emotion, and music to make it the best option.

    “Alan said, ‘Look at the technology, look at “Life of Pi.” Why not use the technology to make a whole world that transports you? Why be limited by going off and shooting plates?’ Let’s really embrace this technology and see what we could do if we push it to its limit.” – Jon Favreau

    THE JUNGLE BOOK - Director Jon Favreau presents a sneak peek from Disney's THE JUNGLE BOOK to select press on January 13, 2016 at The El Capitan Theater in Hollywood, CA. Photo by Alberto Rodriguez/Getty Images. ©2016 Disney. All Rights Reserved.Dolby Extended Dynamic Range Laser Projection is the state-of-the-art technology that Disney and Favreau are using to bring “The Jungle Book” to audiences. It boasts photo-real imaging to recreate textures and environmental detail. Favreau’s adaptation seeks to bring a tangible cinematic world as far as our eyes can perceive. In the test footage we got to see, the CG (computer generated) elements, like water, lighting, and even wind, were astounding. It was hard to tell a rendered scene apart from real-life images. The process is advancing with animals as well, as now fur and skin can be recreated with near photo-realistic perfection.

    Immersing an audience — and an actor — in a believable CG world has it’s challenges, but Disney uses an effective technique that is part practical and part optical illusion. The way the shots are set up goes something like this: Neel Sethi (Mowgli) performs in an active foreground on a practical set (i.e. real life), then the CG animators work to make the background and animal characters fully realized through the technology, seamlessly blending the real with the imaginary.

    “If there was a giant we were standing on the shoulders of it was ‘Avatar.’ The first time I saw ‘Avatar,’ I got it, what this whole big screen 3D format thing was about. I got why I had to go to the movies to see that. I don’t know if anyone’s ever outdone the way the 3D was done there. So we shot native 3D using the PACE system, the system that Jim (Cameron) had been a part of developing and we used simulcap and all this technology that people haven’t really been using.” -Jon Favreau

    THE JUNGLE BOOK - Director Jon Favreau presents a sneak peek from Disney's THE JUNGLE BOOK to select press on January 13, 2016 at The El Capitan Theater in Hollywood, CA. Photo by Alberto Rodriguez/Getty Images. ©2016 Disney. All Rights Reserved.The sights and sounds of the jungle previewed showed off how far the tech has really come since James Cameron‘s “Avatar.” In a scene in which Shere Khan (Idris Elba) begins to sniff out Mowgli’s presence, Sethi’s presence among the CG characters and environment is hard to discern. The way that Favreau places physical set pieces around the actor creates a sense of real space. Meaning, if he hides behind a rock, the rock is actually there.

    “So if the kid’s walking 12 feet in the cut of the movie that we have, we built 12 feet of jungle. Each set was built for a shot. The art department or production designer would wheel in one set. We’d film that and across the street in Downtown LA we’d have the other set being prepped. We’d go back and forth and back and forth. It was a very cool efficient process” – Jon Favreau

    In a scene in which Shere Khan chases Mowgli through a ravine, the mud the young actor runs through is real. So the trick to blurring the lines between a real and a CG space is in having the actor be affected by the environment, like the mud caked on his feet as he hops on a CG animal and escapes.THE JUNGLE BOOK (Pictured) SHERE KHAN ©2016 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.The ability to really sell these scenes to an audience is a testament to young Sethi’s acting skills. He completely embodies Mowgli with charisma and real, child-like wonder. There’s a reason he was the kid — out of 2,000 who auditioned — to get the part.

    “You need the personality and the humor and the charm and the emotion of the characters. That’s really what ‘Jungle Book’ represents. People don’t think about action, it’s fun to have it but really what you think about is the characters and the relationships. Neel really seems to capture for me what I remember of Mowgli in the film. He wasn’t just a cookie-cutter kid. He had spunk and a little swagger. He’s just a great kid and I loved working with him.” -Jon Favreau

    Sethi’s acting further elevates the CG techniques Disney and Favreau are pushing to advance. Keep moving forward is a Disney mantra Favreau lives by, and he believes that, if Walt were alive today, he, too, would be experimenting with new, cutting-edge tech.

    “I love film, love what Chris Nolan and ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Hateful Eight’ are doing. I don’t want to see film go away. But, at the same time, I think we have to push technology as far as we can because there are other things that digital art is better for. When it comes to such complicated visual effects and putting all these elements together, I want to continue to see digital continue to grow. I don’t want to see anything eliminated; I want to see everything perfected, including film.” – Jon Favreau

    THE JUNGLE BOOK - Director Jon Favreau presents a sneak peek from Disney's THE JUNGLE BOOK to select press on January 13, 2016 at The El Capitan Theater in Hollywood, CA. Photo by Alberto Rodriguez/Getty Images. ©2016 Disney. All Rights Reserved.We also got a small glimpse of Bill Murray‘s work as the voice of Baloo, singing his signature tune and nailing the lovable bear’s endearing slyness. As Favreau explained, the key to using music in “The Jungle Book” this time around is to only use it when it makes sense for the movie. Favreau consulted with composer Richard Sherman, but no songs beyond “Bare Necessities” were confirmed to be in the movie.

    “You’re trying to honor the memories of the people who grew up with this stuff but you’re also trying to make a movie that will appeal to the full audience. There is music but it’s not a musical.” -Jon Favreau

    But how can you not have Christopher Walken, who will be playing King Louie, sing? In the last clip presented, we got our first real look at Mowgli meeting the King of the Monkeys. The reveal of the gentle giant hilariously balances action with comedy. Of course, Walken is a riot.

    “Because this character lives in the ruins of man, there was a magical quality to him anyway. Who do you pick to play that character? It has to be Chris Walken.” -Jon Favreau

    A fun tidbit Favreau shared is their solution to Louie being an orangutan in the animated film, which is inaccurate since, well, orangutans don’t live in India. This time around, they made Louie a mythical creature believed to have inhabited India; he’s basically a Sasquatch with orangutan-like qualities. Animators took special liberties with Walken’s mo-cap performance to imbue the character with the actor’s expressions. It can be a bit eerie, but it works really well.Jon Favreau and Rob Legato at the el capitanNear the end of the presentation, Favreau was joined on-stage by visual effects supervisor Rob Legato, who had previously worked on “Avatar.”

    “In this particular project, which was really exciting, is that we’re creating a total photo-real world that we could recognize is real. We’ve all seen pictures of animals. We’ve all seen how they move, how they walk and how they talk. The really fun portion of this and why it was great to work with Jon is that we had the same sensibility. To actually create a real movie where the suspension of disbelief is easier to let go of because it looks like it could be conventionally filmed.” – Rob Legato, Visual Effects Supervisor

    From what we’ve seen so far, Disney’s “The Jungle Book” is shaping up to be a must-see. Let’s be clear: Walt Disney Studios’ adaptation won’t be a shot-for-shot remake of the original, but uses the animated classic as a foundation, expanding Mowgli’s story through Kipling’s original tales in a stunning new format.

    You can see for yourself when Disney’s “The Jungle Book” opens April 15th, 2016.
    Disney's The Jungle Book (2016) - Trailer No. 2


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  • Stephen King Confirms ‘Dark Tower’ Progress, Idris Elba Casting Rumors

    The 22nd Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards - Press RoomAs fans of Stephen King’s fantasy series “The Dark Tower” have come to realize over the years, any reports about the long-awaited big screen adaptation of the novels can’t really be believed. After all, this is the project that was dropped by not one, but two different studios, and has cycled through potential stars faster than you can say “Javier Bardem.” So the latest reports, that the flick is due in theaters early next year, and both Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey are in talks to star, are also bogus, right?

    Well, not so fast: According to King himself, there’s hope that this movie version of his beloved books may actually, truly, finally be happening — and yes, both Elba and McConaughey are interested.

    That’s the word straight from the author, who chatted with Rolling Stone in promotion of the new Hulu miniseries “11/22/63,” which is based on his besteller. Of course, King knows the history of the troubled “Dark Tower” film production better than anyone, and he’s not ready to say with certainty that this is actually happening — just that, as far as he can tell right now, it’s looking like a strong possibility.

    “It looks to me like it’s more likely than not it’ll happen at this point,” the author told the magazine. “Let’s put it that way.”

    And he also confirmed all those juicy casting rumors, too — that Elba is being eyed to play protagonist Roland Deschain (a.k.a. The Gunslinger), and McConaughey is in negotiations for the villainous Randall Flagg (a.k.a. the Man in Black) — though, again, with a caveat.

    “I think that it’s more likely than not that Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey will be in it,” King told Rolling Stone. “But I can’t say with any certainty. I know that they’re trying to make deals with these actors [and] with Sony, and that’s the extent of my knowledge.”

    Despite all the hedging, King is without a doubt the best source for this intel, so it’s great that he’s able to share it on the record. Now we just have to wait for an official announcement from studio Sony, revealing the cast and confirming the release date.

    A this point, it’s unclear if the initial ambitious plan for the project — a handful of theatrical films, with a televised miniseries running between them — is still in play. Either way, we hope we see Elba and McConaughey facing off sometime soon.

    “The Dark Tower” is tentatively scheduled to hit theaters on January 13, 2017.

    [via: Rolling Stone]

    Photo credit: Getty Images for Turner

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  • Idris Elba Could Play the Gunslinger in ‘The Dark Tower’: Report

    BBC America's "Luther" Screening - Red CarpetHere’s some juicy casting news: According to a new report, the long-gestating (and long-troubled) big screen adaptation of Luther,” and the much buzzed-about rumor that he could be tapped as the next James Bond. And his acting chops in both action and drama certainly would lend themselves well to the meaty role of Roland. Would he be willing to spend so much time on one project, or is he better off seeking other opportunities in the years that it would no doubt take to bring “The Dark Tower” to life?

    According to TheWrap, Elba is currently in “early talks” for the part, and McConaughey’s rumored involvement seems to have played a large part in that. The trade notes that “the two actors are keen to work together,” and Elba reportedly passed on starring in Universal’s “The Mummy” reboot (which may or may not feature Tom Cruise) because he “was waiting for McConaughey’s talks to progress before entertaining the idea” of joining “The Dark Tower.”

    Of course, McConaughey’s involvement has yet to be confirmed by the actor himself, and “early talks” don’t always amount to much in Hollywood. It would be safe to wait until someone at Sony says something on the record before we get our hopes up about this collaboration, but still, we think Elba (and McConaughey) would be awesome in this role. Stay tuned.

    [via: Deadline, TheWrap]

    Photo credit: Getty Images

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  • ‘Luther’ Returning for Three-Hour TV Movie

    Luther“Luther” is ready to prowl the streets of London again this winter.

    BBC America announced that the British police drama starring Idris Elba is returning for a one-night, three-hour movie event on December 17.

    “Luther” has aired three seasons in both the U.K. and U.S. to much critical acclaim, and was renewed for a fourth series. Filming on that took place earlier this year, but it seems BBC America will package it as a three-hour movie, instead. Perhaps the network is trying to appeal to binge-watchers.

    Elba, of course, returns as the titular detective, with former “Game of Thrones” actress Rose Leslie joining the cast. Here’s the official synopsis:

    This time we find Luther on a leave of absence from the police force, laying low in a rundown cottage. A visit from colleagues, Detective Chief Inspector Theo Bloom (Darren Boyd, Veep, The World’s End) and Detective Sergeant Emma Lane (Rose Leslie, The Last Witch Hunter, Game of Thrones) brings a shocking piece of news that draws him back to London in search of the truth. At the same time, a gruesome cannibalistic serial killer has struck the city, eating body parts as he goes.

    With a trail of clues leading from one crime scene to the next, Detective Superintendent Unit Martin Schenk (Dermot Crowley, Babel, Bleak House) and his team must work out the twisted logic that connects each victim. But this murdering mastermind is more than a match for Schenk’s police, outsmarting them at every step. It’s not long before Luther makes his triumphant return to the Bullpen, determined to capture the killer before another mutilated body joins the mounting pile. But he’s dogged at every turn by ghosts from his past. Isolated and volatile, it will take every fiber of Luther’s being to keep it together.

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