(L to R) Samara Weaving and Jason Segel in Jorma Taccone’s ‘Over Your Dead Body’. Courtesy of Independent Film Company. An Independent Film Company Release.
(L to R) Jason Segel and Samara Weaving in Jorma Taccone’s ‘Over Your Dead Body’. Courtesy of Independent Film Company. An Independent Film Company Release.
Marriages where the passion has long cooled have been a fertile source for bloody comedies in the past, including ‘The War of the Roses’ (remade recently as ‘The Roses’) into that genre steps ‘Over Your Dead Body’, which boasts the comic stylings of Jason Segel and the comedy/action chops of Samara Weaving. But does it deliver?
Script and Direction
‘Over Your Dead Body’ director Jorma Taccone.
Adapted from the Norwegian film ‘The Trip’ (which was co-written and directed by Tommy Wirkola), the new movie features a script from Nick Kocher (‘Pizza Movie’) and Brian McElhaney (‘Plus One’) that sets up the bad romance between Segel and Weaving’s characters before throwing all manner of comically violent twists in. It doesn’t always work, but when it hits, it hits hard.
Jorma Taccone, the Lonely Island co-founder, shows a knack for staging violent set pieces here, and keeps the movie feeling fun.
Cast and Performances
(L to R) Juliette Lewis, Samara Weaving, and Timothy Olyphant in Jorma Taccone’s ‘Over Your Dead Body’. Courtesy of Independent Film Company. An Independent Film Company Release.
Segel and Weaving are excellent as the central pair, but kudos also to Timothy Olyphant, Juliette Lewis and Keith Jardine, who all give committed, loopy performances.
Final Thoughts
Timothy Olyphant in Jorma Taccone’s ‘Over Your Dead Body’. Courtesy of Independent Film Company. An Independent Film Company Release.
If you watch one action comedy this year where Samara Weaving regrets her choices and fights for her life, make it ‘Ready or Not 2: Here I Come’. But if you’ve room for two, then ‘Over Your Dead Body’ has plenty to offer.
‘Over Your Dead Body’ receives 69 out of 100.
(L to R) Jason Segel and Samara Weaving in Jorma Taccone’s ‘Over Your Dead Body’. Courtesy of Independent Film Company. An Independent Film Company Release.
What is the plot of ‘Over Your Dead Body’?
A couple (Jason Segel and Samara Weaving) tries to reconnect while on vacation, only to find out they have plans to kill each other.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with director Jorma Taccone about his work on ‘Over Your Dead Body’, remaking ‘The Trip’, shooting the action sequences, the music, and putting together the exceptional cast.
You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews.
(L to R) Jason Segel and Samara Weaving in Jorma Taccone’s ‘Over Your Dead Body’. Courtesy of Independent Film Company. An Independent Film Company Release.
Moviefone: To begin with, can you talk about your first reaction to the screenplay and the challenges of remaking ‘The Trip’?
Jorma Taccone: Well, this is based on a Norwegian movie called ‘The Trip’, originally called ‘In Bad Days’ by Tommy Wirkola, and it’s a very funny movie. Tommy did movies like ‘Violent Night’. I was really a big fan of all his stuff. He’s more of an action-comedy guy. I’m more of a comedy-action guy. So, there’s a Venn diagram there. The original movie is very dark. It’s angry but it’s very funny too. I was very interested in, one, what a different cast would bring to it. There are some pretty big changes that have happened with our bad guys. When I read the original script, I was really impressed that Nick (Kocher) and Brian (McElhaney), who are very funny writers, had captured the tone that I really wanted to present, which is the characters being a bit more redeemable and really trying to earn the ending of the movie. It’s a series of tricks that this movie is doing of threading all these different needles. It’s like three movies in one. It’s this suspense/thriller, into almost a home invasion, into an action movie and it just ramps. So, it was pushing the comedy, which is obviously my heart, not wanting to break anything and having the reality of the world. But really doing all those tones, having all these twists and turns, and having the comedy stitch it all together in this way that felt like such an awesome challenge. Showing different shades of things that maybe people don’t expect from me.
(L to R) Timothy Olyphant, Juliette Lewis, and Keith Jardine in Jorma Taccone’s ‘Over Your Dead Body’. Courtesy of Independent Film Company. An Independent Film Company Release.
MF: Can you talk about your approach to filming the action sequences?
JT: I mean, there’s a lot of cool set pieces in this movie. With the days that you have and the time that you have, it’s always challenging to get. A half a page of action lines can take a full day to shoot. So, it’s always like that. There’s a whole action set piece that goes all around the front yard and there’s brutal stuff that happens. There are maybe ten different gags that happen that are just really over the top violent and it’s so fun. It’s also funny and disturbing. So, that was a fun one to block and choreograph with 87North Productions, who are known for ‘Bullet Train’, ‘Atomic Blonde’, ‘John Wick’. So, I had the best stunt team on the planet. Then I’m also weaving all my dumb comedy into it as well. So, it was those moments that you’re just like, “This is so fun to have so many different things going on in one scene.”
Samara Weaving in Jorma Taccone’s ‘Over Your Dead Body’. Courtesy of Independent Film Company. An Independent Film Company Release.
MF: Can you talk about the music you used in the film?
JT: I’m obsessed with audio. There’s all these EDM songs that are in the movie that I got Karen Gillan to do. So, she did this song, and Samara Weaving does a song. But if there is chaos, there’s even more chaos with audio and there’s this crazy song happening. So, it was fun to build all that stuff up.
(L to R) Samara Weaving and Jason Segel in Jorma Taccone’s ‘Over Your Dead Body’. Courtesy of Independent Film Company. An Independent Film Company Release.
MF: Finally, what was it like putting this cast together and working with them on set?
JT: Well, one of the things I’ve been saying, which I think holds very true, is that my wife (director Marielle Heller) was saying that there’s a head of every department and there’s always a head of the acting department. Jason Siegel was absolutely that for me. He was the hub of the wheel that we first got. Then to get Samara who works so well with him, and she’s so funny in this movie. She’s playing an Australian too, which was great for her improv to just be able to go toe to toe with Jason. There’s so much fun between them. But then Timothy Olyphant, who was difficult to convince, but I did it. Then him and Juliette are so funny. Then, Keith Jardine, who is mostly known for MMA fighting, but he’s been in a ton of stuff. He’s the sweetest man on the planet and he’s so funny in this. Then, Paul Guilfoyle, who’s unbelievable as this dad character. So, I got incredibly lucky. But Jason was the start of that, of the ball rolling towards this incredible cast.
Editorial Note: Tessa Smith conducted the interview and contributed to this article.
Timothy Olyphant in Jorma Taccone’s ‘Over Your Dead Body’. Courtesy of Independent Film Company. An Independent Film Company Release.
What is the plot of ‘Over Your Dead Body’?
A couple (Jason Segel and Samara Weaving) tries to reconnect while on vacation, only to find out they have plans to kill each other.
Beyond Fest is launching a Beyond Chicago spin-off.
Movies including ‘Obsession’ and the new ‘Faces of Death’ will screen.
It’ll run between April 2-5 at the Music Box Theatre.
While we more commonly associate Beyond Fest with its annual fall screening in Los Angeles, the team is looking to take the show on the road.
A new regional spin-off, Beyond Chicago, is planned to happen in the Music Box Theatre venue next month, promising the likes of new Bob Odenkirk-starrer ‘Normal’ and a special 35mm screening of the Shaw Brothers classic, ‘The Kid with the Golden Arm.’
Bob Odenkirk in ‘Normal’. Photo: Magnolia Pictures.
Tied to ‘Normal,’ Odenkirk will be introducing a print of 1974’s original ‘The Taking of Pelham One Two Three’, while the action madness continues via stunt icon k bringing his instantly infamous epic-fight-fest, ‘The Furious’ to Chicago.
In addition to brand new movies, there will also be screenings of restorations, including a 4K version of ‘Speed Racer’ introduced by co-director Lilly Wachowski in person, while a late night screening of 1973’s ‘Flesh for Frankenstein’ in 3D is planned as a tribute to the late Udo Kier.
How can I get tickets for Beyond Chicago?
Emile Hirsch in 2008’s ‘Speed Racer.’
The event runs between April 2-5 at the Music Box.
Tickets are on sale to members on March 5 and general public on March 6. Free tickets for Screen 2 will be available to Music Box members on Wednesday 1 April and general public on Thursday 2 April.
The Paramount+ ‘Knuckles’ series has a new trailer.
The ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ spin-off features Idris Elba as the voice of the title character.
‘Knuckles’ starts streaming on April 26th.
With the success of 2020’s ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ and 2022 sequel ‘Sonic the Hedgehog 2’ (a combined box office haul of $725.2 million so far) Paramount is naturally looking to keep the speedy cash train running.
A third ‘Sonic’ movie outing is due in theaters on December 20th (and recently confirmed the return of Jim Carrey as the scheming Dr. Robotnik), but for young fans of the franchise who don’t want to wait that long, there is another ‘Sonic’-based story on its way.
‘Knuckles’, a series for Paramount+ that focuses on the warrior echidna voiced by Idris Elba, has been in the works for a while and has a new trailer online, with a Super Bowl spot to follow at the weekend.
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What’s the story of ‘Knuckles’?
Knuckles (voiced by Idris Elba) in ‘Knuckles,’ streaming on Paramount+, 2024. Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures/Sega/Paramount+.
The new live-action event series follows Knuckles (Elba) on a hilarious and action-packed journey of self-discovery as he agrees to train Wade (Adam Pally) as his protégé and teach him the ways of the Echidna warrior.
We can also see that Knuckles will come under threat from a new set of baddies, who seem bent on stealing his powers.
‘Knuckles’ will take place between the events of the second and third ‘Sonic’ movies.
(L to R) Scott Mescudi as Agent Mason and Ellie Taylor as Agent Willoughby in ‘Knuckles,’ streaming on Paramount+, 2024. Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures/Sega/Paramount+.
And returning from the movie cast are Ben Schwartz, who reprises his role as Sonic, as well as special guest star Tika Sumpter, as Maddie. Colleen O’Shaughnessey will also return as a special guest star in her role as Tails.
Who is making ‘Knuckles’?
Knuckles (voiced by Idris Elba) in ‘Knuckles,’ streaming on Paramount+, 2024. Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures/Sega/Paramount+.
The series’ creative team includes the movies’ director Jeff Fowler, who handled the pilot episode and helped transition the film’s signature cinematic animation style to television. Additional directors for the series include Ged Wright, Brandon Trost, Jorma Taccone and Carol Banker.
The series was created for television by John Whittington and showrunner Toby Ascher. Whittington wrote the second movie, serves as head writer and wrote the pilot for the series. Additional writers include Brian Schacter and James Madejski.
When will ‘Knuckles’ be on screens?
All six episodes of ‘Knuckles’ will land on Paramount+ on April 26th.
A still from ‘Knuckles,’ streaming on Paramount+, 2024. Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures/Sega/Paramount+.Knuckles (voiced by Idris Elba) in ‘Knuckles,’ streaming on Paramount+, 2024. Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures/Sega/Paramount+.Knuckles (voiced by Idris Elba) in ‘Knuckles’ streaming on Paramount+, 2024. Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures/Sega/Paramount+.Mac (voiced by Christopher Lloyd) in ‘Knuckles’ streaming on Paramount+, 2024. Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures/Sega/Paramount+.Knuckles (voiced by Idris Elba) in ‘Knuckles’ streaming on Paramount+, 2024. Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures/Sega/Paramount+.(L to R) Adam Pally as Wade Whipple and Knuckles (voiced by Idris Elba) in ‘Knuckles’ streaming on Paramount+, 2024. Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures/Sega/Paramount+.(L to R) Stockard Channing as Wendy Whipple, ‘Knuckles’ (voiced by Idris Elba) and Edi Patterson as Wanda Whipple in Knuckles streaming on Paramount+, 2024. Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures/Sega/Paramount+.(L to R) Tika Sumpter as Maddie, Tails (voiced by Colleen O’Shaughnessey) and Sonic (voiced by Ben Schwartz) in ‘Knuckles,’ streaming on Paramount+, 2024. Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures/Sega/Paramount+.(L to R) Knuckles (voiced by Idris Elba) and Daniel Singh as Cattleprod Bounty Hunter in ‘Knuckles,’ streaming on Paramount+, 2024. Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures/Sega/Paramount+.(L to R) Knuckles (voiced by Idris Elba) and Rory McCann as The Buyer in ‘Knuckles,’ streaming on Paramount+, 2024. Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures/Sega/Paramount+.(L to R) Scott Mescudi as Agent Mason and Ellie Taylor as Agent Willoughby in ‘Knuckles,’ streaming on Paramount+, 2024. Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures/Sega/Paramount+.Julian Barratt as Jack Sinclair in ‘Knuckles,’ streaming on Paramount+, 2024. Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures/Sega/Paramount+.Adam Pally as Wade Whipple in ‘Knuckles,’ streaming on Paramount+, 2024. Photo Credit: Luke Varley/Paramount Pictures/Sega/Paramount+.(L to R) Adam Pally as Wade Whipple, Alice Tregonning as Susie, Cary Elwes as Pistol Pete Whipple and Owen Warren as Pete’s Bowling Partner in ‘Knuckles’, streaming on Paramount+, 2024. Photo Credit: Luke Varley/Paramount Pictures/Sega/Paramount+.Adam Pally as Wade Whipple in ‘Knuckles,’ streaming on Paramount+, 2024. Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures/Sega/Paramount+.
Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) takes on The Spot (Jason Schwartzman) in Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation’s ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.’
The annual Annecy International Animation Film Festival is happening now in France and one of the main attractions is a presentation about much-anticipated sequel ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’.
Following on from 2018’s Oscar-winning ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’, the new film is one of two sequels that will continue the adventures of Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) and Spider-Gwen (Hailee Steinfeld) as they combat threats from across the Spider-Verse.
Alongside the returning heroes, we’ll see more from Spider-Man 2099 (AKA Miguel O’Hara, voiced by Oscar Isaac) and meet the likes of Jessica Drew/Spider-Woman), played by Issa Rae. And the clip from the festival also featured George Stacey, Gwen’s policeman father, played by Shea Whigham.
“For those who are not hardcore canon nerds, The Spot is one of the deepest cuts in Spider-Man’s rogue gallery,” says co-director Kemp Powers in a statement. “But he has a super-power that really excited our entire team: His entire body is covered in little interdimensional portals that can send him anywhere he wants to go.
“We thought it would be really cool if the portals felt like living ink that had spilled or splattered on the comic artist’s drawing,” Powers told the Annecy crowd before screening test animation footage. “His very simple power provided endless exciting challenges and permutations for our team.”
Meet The Spot, Miles Morales's most formidable foe yet. 🕳 Voiced by Jason Schwartzman, see him in action in Spider-Man: Across the #SpiderVerse, exclusively in movie theaters June 2, 2023. pic.twitter.com/1aAmMjMcpX
— Spider-Man: Beyond The Spider-Verse (@SpiderVerse) June 13, 2022
Voiced by Jason Schwartzman, the villain will feature a character design meant to call to mind an unfinished sketch, featuring blue construction lines that evoke a comic book artist’s rough drawing before the work goes to an inker. Seen in the official tweet about the character in an early form, the design itself will evolve over the course of the film as the character changes and grows, taking on a more fearsome shape as he learns to better apply his own powers.
He’s not the only problem our heroes will have to deal with – the movie also features a version of The Vulture, the longstanding Spidey villain most recently brought to screens by Michael Keaton in ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ (and seen in a brief moment in ‘Morbius’). In ‘Spider-Verse’, he’ll be voiced by Jorma Taccone, the Lonely Island team member who has cropped up in all the trio’s movies including ‘Hot Rod’ and ‘Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping’, plus a variety of other movies. Most recently, he lent his voice to ‘Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers’.
We’ll have to wait for ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ as it won’t be in theaters until June 2nd next year. And ‘Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse‘ is even further away, arriving on March 29th, 2024.
Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) in Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation’s ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.’
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Last week brought the exciting news that a “MacGruber” television series is in the works. Now, star Will Forte has offered a sneak peek of what fans might expect from it.
MacGruber started out as a “Saturday Night Live” character who then headlined 2010 action comedy movie. The film’s co-writer and director, Jorma Taccone, recently revealed that he is “aggressively” pitching a series to various platforms and that Forte, Kristen Wiig, and Ryan Phillippe were all on board to reprise their movie roles.
Then, last night on “The Tonight Show,” Forte and host Jimmy Fallon (standing in for Wiig as Vicki Gloria St. Elmo) performed a scene to demonstrate the “high-minded and complex direction that we’re taking the MacGruber character.”
In the bit, MacGruber wants some “R and R” time with Vicki — but he has a very different definition of that phrase.
With “Last Man on Earth” canceled by Fox last season, Forte now has time to play MacGruber again. Come on, Netflix/Amazon/Hulu/whoever, let’s get this “R and R” going.
A “MacGruber” series might be coming to a streaming service near you soon. With the entire cast returning.
Lonely Island member and former “SNL” writer Jorma Taccone told The Daily Beast that he’s been “aggressively” pitching a television series to streaming networks.
“We just spent the last two days pitching it as a series,” said Taccone. “Eight-to-ten episodes. I’m really hoping that when you print this there’s an announcement that it’s actually happening, because I know nothing right now. This is the first time I’ve mentioned it, so this may be a tragic interview.” (So far no, confirmation of a pick-up.)
The 2010 comedy (which began as an “SNL” sketch) was a send-up of ’80s series “MacGyver,” with wigs straight out of the Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage” video. It was a flop when it was released, but it’s since become a cult classic. Taccone hopes the time is right to bring it back.
Hell, everything is coming back. Hollywood is like one big pet sematary right now. Why not?
Taccone says that the entire cast — Will Forte, Kristen Wiig, Val Kilmer, Ryan Phillippe, and Maya Rudolph — are set to return. “It’s everyone. Val was blown up pretty badly, he’ll have half a head,” jokes Taccone.
(Of course, there’s no bringing back Powers Boothe: The “Deadwood” actor, who played Colonel Faith in the movie, passed away in 2017.)
“What’s nice is that, when you make something that had the heartbreak of not doing so well financially… I would feel terrible if the people involved were embarrassed about it, but Ryan loves that s**t, Kristen loves that s**t, all the people involved are so psyched.”
“We’ve had so many ideas over the years, from the moment we stopped filming. I just love this character so much,” said Taccone.
The 2016 MTV Movie Awards aired on Sunday, featuring a tribute to Will Smith, who took home the prestigious (for MTV, anyway) Generation Award. Before Smith collected his golden popcorn statuette from presenters Halle Berry and Queen Latifah, The Lonely Island serenaded the star with a medley featuring some of his greatest hits.
In true Lonely Island fashion, the stunt was both goofy and infectious, paying tribute to Smith while also having fun with his ever-evolving musical styles (and fashion sense — shout-out to the one-strap overalls) from the late ’80s through the late ’90s. The trio — Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone, and Akiva Schaffer — sang and danced their way through tunes including “Parents Just Don’t Understand” and “Summertime” (Smith’s breakout songs — when he was known as The Fresh Prince — with DJ Jazzy Jeff), the theme song from “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” the “Men in Black” title track (accompanied by some well-timed handclaps), and “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It.”
It’s a testament to Smith’s infectious earworms and enduring musical legacy that each song elicited a huge response from the crowd (especially the latter two tunes), despite none of them being released this century. Check out the clip above, and just try to prevent yourself from gettin’ jiggy in front of your computer screen. (Spoiler alert: It’s impossible.)
Fox is moving back into the sketch comedy genre with a new series conceived by comedy troupe The Lonely Island and actor Paul Scheer.
The show, “Party Over Here,” will air on Saturday nights at 11 p.m., and be produced by the Lonely Island trio — Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, and Jorma Taccone — and Scheer. The four comedians won’t star on the program, but Scheer (who currently stars on ABC sitcom “Fresh Off the Boat”) will direct.
Instead, “Party Over Here” is led by an all-female cast, including Nicole Byer (“Girl Code”), Jessica McKenna (an alum of comedy troupes the Groundlings and Upright Citizens Brigade), and Alison Rich (a former “Saturday Night Live” writer). It’s Fox’s first foray into late-night sketch comedy since “MadTV” went off the air in 2009, after a 14-season run.
“When we first conceived this idea, we thought of it as a spinoff of ‘Empire,’” said Samberg, Schaffer, and Taccone in a statement. “We failed miserably … now it’s much more of a sketch comedy show.”
“In an age where most millennials don’t even know what a TV is, we are really excited to be getting into the TV business,” Scheer said in another statement.
Though “Party Over Here” is airing on Saturday nights, it’s not expected to compete directly with that other famous weekend sketch show, “Saturday Night Live.” Fox’s series is a 30-minute affair, which will wrap by the time “SNL” starts at 11:30.
The 2016 MTV Movie Awards aired on Sunday, featuring a tribute to 
Fox is moving back into the sketch comedy genre with