Jaafar Jackson as Michael Jackson in ‘Michael’. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Lionsgate.
Preview:
‘Michael’ has set records for biopic movies on its first weekend.
It topped the domestic box office with $97 million.
Elsewhere, new releases struggled.
It may have arrived laden with controversies about re-shoots and didn’t exactly strike a chord with critics, but audiences have certainly embraced ‘Michael’, the biopic of troubled music superstar Michael Jackson.The film, directed by Antoine Fuqua, has kicked off its run at the box office as an instant success, earning $97 million for first place.
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The movie’s ticket sales rank as the best start of all time for a biopic, smashing the record set by 2015’s ‘Straight Outta Compton’ ($60 million). And they tower above 2018’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, which opened to $51 million. Can it match the latter’s huge run, though? That’s a bigger question. Still, with $217 million globally in one weekend, it’s a solid start.
What else happened at the box office this weekend?
(L to R) Luigi (Charlie Day), Mario (Chris Pratt), Yoshi (Donald Glover) and Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) in Nintendo and Illumination’s ‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’, directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic.
Previous champion ‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ was pushed down to second place after three weekends in the No. 1 spot. Universal’s animated sequel added $21.2 million, boosting revenues to $384 million domestically and more than $800 million globally.
‘Project Hail Mary’, meanwhile, was third with $13.2 million, a remarkable tally for a film in its sixth weekend of release. So far, the space epic has generated a mighty $305 million in North America and $613 million worldwide.
What about other new releases?
(L to R) Michaela Coel and Anne Hathaway in ‘Mother Mary’. Photo: A24.
Besides ‘Michael,’ other new releases fared less well. A24’s thriller ‘Mother Mary’, starring Anne Hathaway as a pop star on the eve of a comeback, earned $1.3 million.
And ‘Lorne’, a documentary about ‘Saturday Night Live’ boss Lorne Michaels, struggled to break out with $70,000 from 248 theaters. The film has collected $426,000 while playing in limited release.
Jaafar Jackson as Michael Jackson in ‘Michael’. Photo Credit: Bruce Talamon.
Anne Hathaway on the set of ‘Mother Mary’. Photo: A24.
David Lowery is nothing if not unpredictable. From Disney product like ‘Pete’s Dragon’ and ‘Peter Pan & Wendy’ to weird experimental dramas like ‘A Ghost Story’ and ‘The Green Knight,’ the director’s career has taken one wild swing after another. With ‘Mother Mary,’ he pivots back in the direction of arthouse fare, with the story itself (according to Lowery) inspired by his own bifurcated career choices.
The result is an original, compelling — if not always coherent – hybrid of love story, psychological horror, and pop musical in which Anne Hathaway is outstanding as the title character, a mega pop singer about to make a comeback but unsure of who she is and aching with grief over a fractured relationship. Joining her is Michaela Coel (‘I May Destroy You’), the other half of that relationship, with both women yearning to repair their broken hearts and going to extreme lengths to do so.
Story and Direction
(L to R) Director David Lowery and Anne Hathaway on the set of ‘Mother Mary’. Photo: A24.
Mother Mary (we never know her real name) is a massive pop star – modeled after female musical icons ranging from Madonna to Taylor Swift – who’s about to attempt a career comeback after being derailed by a breakdown. On the eve of her first performance in years, she flees from rehearsals in L.A. to the English home and workshop of Sam Anselm (Coel), the fashion designer who created all her stage outfits for a while and with whom she shared a deeply symbiotic friendship (and perhaps more), until Mary’s fame fractured their relationship and put Mary’s costumes in the hands of top designers.
Estranged for a decade, with Mary asking Sam to make her a new dress for her show, the two circle each other like wary combatants: Mary, so confident, charismatic and larger than life onstage, is a meek, shattered shell of herself, not sure of her music or even her identity anymore, while Sam, having established her own career, is nevertheless barely able to repress her fury at Mary after all these years.
The two go through a long night of the soul in Sam’s atelier, a centuries-old converted barn full of shadows and mysteries, with ever-present rain and thunder rumbling in the background like restless spirits. As the two explore their past together and separately, a spirit literally comes into play as well – a red entity that, real or not, symbolizes both the creative spirit and sense of loss that both women feel, and that is equally comfort and torment to them both.
(L to R) Michaela Coel and director David Lowery on the set of ‘Mother Mary’. Photo: A24.
Lowery stages all this as a mix of horror movie, character study, and pop spectacle, with scenes from Mary’s past stadium gigs filling the screen with light, sound, dancers, and hordes of people, alternating with the moody, dark sequences in Sam’s atelier and brooding home. The scenes between Mary and Sam come across almost as a stage play sometimes, while the narrative involving the spirit (known as the Red Woman, and initially conjured up by a medium played by FKA Twigs) heads into more phantasmagoric, almost Ken Russell territory visually. It’s a bracing, ever-changing cinematic style that certainly makes this Lowery’s most ambitious film yet.
Yet the hallucinatory, expository nature of the story makes it self-consciously arty – much like ‘The Green Knight’ – which often keeps it at an emotional arm’s length. The result is a movie that is visually stunning, not easy to categorize, but also difficult to fully invest in.
Cast and Performances
(L to R) Michaela Coel and Anne Hathaway in ‘Mother Mary’. Photo: A24.
Anne Hathaway (who has four other movies coming out this year) has been veering between mainstream titles like ‘The Hustle’ and more daring material like ‘Eileen’ in recent years, but ‘Mother Mary’ may be the most immersive performance she’s given in some time.
As Mary, she must sing onstage (all original songs, penned by Jack Antonoff, Charli XCX and FKA Twigs) and project the veneer and physicality of a major pop star, complete with elaborate choreography which she replicates on her own for Sam in one riveting sequence. But she also exposes the wounded woman inside who is longing to find her creative spark again and grieving for the one true relationship she lost.
Michaela Coel’s Sam is grieving as well, but turns it into a weapon of scorn, sarcasm, and rage that she coolly wields against Mary like a knife. But Sam herself is lonely and unmoored, and her interrogation of Mary slowly brings back her energy and inner light. Both women are fantastic in the film, giving such dominant performances that there’s little room for anyone else to shine – except for FKA Twigs, who shows off some eerie physical work in her one major scene, in which she opens the way for the Red Woman.
Final Thoughts
Anne Hathaway in ‘Mother Mary’. Photo: A24.
‘Mother Mary’ is a deliberately experimental narrative, flashing back and forth in time and space, and despite what may seem like a conventional premise it delves into the mystical, spiritual, and existential in often bold ways, bolstered by its two fearless leading ladies.
While a feast for the eyes and ears, the film is perhaps not as moving as it could be, thanks to its dislocating narrative shifts. Yet the bond between Sam and Mary, strained and torn as it is, is still made powerful by the work of the two actors. ‘Mother Mary’ is ultimately about healing one’s soul and rediscovering one’s muse, a potent message from a filmmaker who seems to have done just that.
‘Mother Mary’ receives a score of 80 out of 100.
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What is the plot of ‘Mother Mary’?
Long-buried wounds rise to the surface when iconic pop star Mother Mary (Anne Hathaway) reunites with her estranged best friend and former costume designer Sam Anselm (Michaela Coel) on the eve of her comeback performance.
(Left) Michaela Coel in ‘I May Destroy You’ season 1. Photo: Natalie Seery/HBO. Copyright: HBO. (Right) Jean-Claude Van Damme in 1988’s ‘Bloodsport’. Photo: Cannon Films.
Preview:
Michaela Coel is to write and direct a new take on ‘Bloodsport’.
The original was a 1988 Jean-Claude Van Damme action pic.
A24 will produce the fresh version.
Here’s a story we’re not sure we could ever have predicted, and indeed, almost had us checking the calendar to make sure it’s not already April 1.
“I have long been in awe of fighters, and astounded by the discipline, intensity and isolation the sport demands of them. I am excited to explore this world, especially so with A24 as my collaborators. LET’S F*****G GO.”
(Right) Jean-Claude Van Damme in 1988’s ‘Bloodsport’. Photo: Cannon Films.
Directed by Newt Arnold, the 1988 ‘Bloodsport’ focused on a U.S. army captain and ninjutsu practitioner (played by Van Damme) who competes in an underground full-contact martial arts tournament in Hong Kong known as the Kumite.
It remains a cult favorite from the actor’s back catalogue, even despite the supposedly true story fueling it coming into question years afterwards.
As for Coel’s take, we don’t yet know which elements it may retain or change.
When will the new ‘Bloodsport’ be in theaters?
A24 has yet to confirm when this might score a release date, as is customary for a project at such an early stage.
Coel will be back on screens in next month’s art forgery comedy drama ‘The Christophers’, which sees her starring alongside Ian McKellen.
Michaela Coel in ‘I May Destroy You’ season 1. Photo: Natalie Seery/HBO. Copyright: HBO.
Selected Movies and TV Shows Featuring Michaela Coel:
Prime Video’s ‘Mr. & Mrs. Smith’ has launched its first trailer.
The show stars Donald Glover and Maya Erskine.
The series launches on February 2nd.
Once upon a time, ‘Mr. & Mrs. Smith‘ were Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, playing married assassins whose relationship had begun to feel stale. But when they discover their shared, hidden sides, things spice back up –– even if neither might survive it.
In taking that idea, ‘Atlanta’ creator and co-star Donald Glover has given it a slight twist (see below), recruiting Maya Erskine to play Mrs. Smith to his Mr.
From the looks of the first teaser, the show certainly manages to bring both the funny and the action levels, so this is one we’re anticipating.
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What’s the story of ‘Mr. & Mrs. Smith’?
(L to R) Donald Glover and Maya Erskine in ‘Mr. and Mrs. Smith.’ Credit: David Lee/Prime Video. Copyright: Amazon Studios.
While it has a similar basic concept to the 2005 Doug Liman movie (famously the project where Pitt met and ended up married to co-star Jolie), the new series puts a fresh spin on the story.
Here, Glover and Erskine play two lonely strangers who land jobs working for a mysterious spy agency that offers them a glorious life of espionage, wealth, world travel, and a dream brownstone in Manhattan.
The catch? New identities in an arranged marriage as Mr. and Mrs. John and Jane Smith. Now hitched, John and Jane navigate a high-risk mission every week while also facing a new relationship milestone. Their complex cover story becomes even more complicated when they catch real feelings for each other. What’s riskier: espionage or marriage?
Who also appears in ‘Mr. & Mrs. Smith’?
Maya Erskine in ‘Mr. and Mrs. Smith.’ Credit: David Lee/Prime Video. Copyright: Amazon Studios.
Donald Glover in ‘Mr. and Mrs. Smith.’ Credit: David Lee/Prime Video. Copyright: Amazon Studios.
Glover co-created the series with Francesca Sloane, one of his ‘Atlanta’ colleagues. Christian Sprenger, a fallow ‘Atlanta’ veteran, is the main director.
Originally, ‘Fleabag’s Phoebe Waller-Bridge was aboard to co-write and co-star, but because of creative differences, she left the show in 2021.
“I worked on that show for six months fully in heart and mind and really cared about it — still care about it. And I know it’s gonna be brilliant. But sometimes it’s about knowing when to leave the party. You don’t want to get in the way of a vision. Creative collaboration is like a marriage, and some marriages don’t work out.”
When will ‘Mr. & Mrs. Smith’ be on our screens?
All eight episodes of the show will debut on Prime Video on February 2nd.
(L to R) Maya Erskine and Donald Glover in ‘Mr. and Mrs. Smith.’ Credit: David Lee/Prime Video. Copyright: Amazon Studios.(L to R) Maya Erskine and Donald Glover in ‘Mr. and Mrs. Smith.’ Credit: David Lee/Prime Video. Copyright: Amazon Studios.(L to R) Donald Glover and Maya Erskine in ‘Mr. and Mrs. Smith.’ Credit: David Lee/Prime Video. Copyright: Amazon Studios.
The new sequel follows the leaders of the kingdom of Wakanda as they fight to protect their nation from invading forces in the wake of King T’Challa’s (Chadwick Boseman) death, as a new threat emerges from the hidden undersea nation of Talokan ruled by Namor (Tenoch Huerta).
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with director Ryan Coogler and actress Danai Gurira about their work on ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,’ what audiences can expect, the challenges of making the sequel, the death of Chadwick Boseman, how Okoye is dealing with the loss of T’Challa, and what it meant to Gurira to be part of this beloved franchise.
Danai Gurira stars in Marvel Studios’ ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.’
You can read our full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews with Coogler, Gurira, Mabel Cadena, and Alex Livinalli.
MF: Danai, Okoye has been through so much since the first movie. She survived the Blip, battled Thanos, and now has lost her King again. Can you talk about where Okoye is mentally and emotionally when this movie begins?
Danai Gurira: She’s definitely in a very difficult place, but I think also she hasn’t allowed herself to fully live in the grief or to process it because she has to take care of the kingdom. She has to take care of the remaining royal family. She has to make sure that things remain stable and that the job is done.
They’re dealing with new threats, folks coming in, trying to steal things. So, there’s a lot that she has to stay very focused on, and I don’t think she’s taking the time. But I don’t think her or most of the people in the film have taken the time to process their grief.
MF: The movie is a very loving tribute to Chadwick Boseman, can you talk about how the emotions the characters are experiencing in the movie parallel how you all felt about the real-life loss of your friend?
DG: I mean, everything was dedicated to his honor. As Ryan said when he first told us we were doing it again, and that we were doing the second one without Chadwick, that clarity that “This is what he would’ve wanted” was very clear to him, and then it became very clear to us.
So, that was really the journey in there for us and the way that we were anchored was knowing that. So, Ryan was very amazing helping us navigate the story with that knowledge in the forefront. What he put together in terms of what the story had allowed us to feel a grounding, to feel grounded despite the fact that it was a very difficult time in terms of our own grief process.
MF: What has it meant to you to be a part of this franchise, that is so beloved by so many people, and get to play this character over the course of these films?
DG: It’s meant a great deal. I grew up definitely not seeing this sort of narrative told, and wondering why? I always was that kid who was like, “It didn’t make sense to me.” You know what I mean? There’re some folks who are like, “Oh, that’s just the way it is.” I was like, “No, no, no. It makes no sense.”
There’s no reason that people of different ethnicities or of African descent are not seen on epic scales on screen, like white people are. There’s just no reason. That was something that always annoyed me, and I did not accept it as just the way things were. I’m just excited. I was just excited it came to existence. The fact that I got to be a part of it on top of that just feels like a crazy blessing.
MF: What was it like working with Ryan Coogler again on this movie and watching him execute his vision for this specific sequel?
DG: It was pretty incredible. There was no easy task. There was nothing easy about making this film. There was absolutely nothing easy about it, and he had to hold on very tightly to a vision and to the clarity therein, and we had to really be anchored by him. He was an anchoring force in that regard and guided the process in a way that and was very helpful to us.
There are times I didn’t understand. In the very beginning, I didn’t understand what was going on with me. He’s like, “You’re going through grief. That’s grief.” I was like, “Oh crap. That is what this is.” There are times you can’t even isolate what you’re dealing with until someone helps you see it and helps you understand the journey you need to take. I think in some ways that was paralleling my character.
‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ director Ryan Coogler.
Moviefone: Ryan, what would you say to fans who have been looking forward to this sequel as they get ready to sit down and watch it?
Ryan Coogler: Honestly, I would say thank you for showing up, and then I would let the film speak for itself.
MF: Can you talk about the challenges as a director of making this sequel, and how the tragic death of Chadwick Boseman changed your plans for the movie?
RC: I would go backwards, and first talk about the challenges not specific to our personal and professional loss and the tragedy that was his passing. The movie’s big. It has a lot of locations and a lot of things that I had never done before. There’re seven languages spoken in the film, oftentimes by actors who aren’t fluent in the language that they’re speaking. I’m a monolingual person myself, you know what I’m saying?
So, it was a complicated process to direct those languages that I don’t speak. We wanted to do things sonically in the film that hadn’t really been done before, specifically around vocal work and music. We had to do set building and costume design, and lighting design that worked for sets that were amphibious, sets that worked dry, sets that worked wet, sets that could go from dry to wet on camera.
We had a whole regimen of free diving and water stunts that all of our main actors and all our main supporting actors had to do. Everybody had to get in the water at least 10 feet down most times. Some of our actors had never swam before, and that was something that we had to overcome together. As a director, I was not comfortable in the water like that before this movie. I had to get comfortable, so I could direct it.
So, it was a lot of challenges overall, not to mention the challenges that Joe (Robert Cole) and I had to deal with in terms of writing this thing. But the challenge of losing our lead actor, friend and leader was unique, and at times felt insurmountable. But quickly, once we wrapped our heads around it, we were motivated to make something that could continue on his personal legacy.
MF: Finally, can you talk about the choice to introduce Namor and Ironheart to the MCU with this movie, and the casting process for those roles?
RC: I feel blessed to be able to do it as a filmmaker. What’s great about Ironheart is, I got to work with an actor who’s style I was very familiar with in Dominique Thorne. She auditioned earlier on for Shuri, so I met her through that audition process and she was very young, but incredibly talented. I knew she was going places even though it didn’t work out for that role.
I got to work with her again in a producer capacity, where the production company that I founded was able to produce for Shaka King, ‘Judas and the Black Messiah.’ Shaka cast Dominique in that, so we got to work together in that capacity. I got to see her do some incredible work as Judy Harmon in that film, and she got cast in another friend and colleague of mine, Barry Jenkins’ film (‘If Beale Street Could Talk’). She had some great scene work in that.
So, when the opportunity came for us to cast Ironheart, I kind of had Dominique in mind already, knowing what she could do, and knowing how she had grown as an actress and as a young woman. So, I was happy to make that happen. We are also wrapping up production on our Disney+ series (‘Ironheart’) that my company Proximity Media is helping Marvel Studios produce, so I’m super excited about that. I feel honored to bring a character with that incredible history in publishing to life cinematically.
With Namor, what a gift to a filmmaker to have the opportunity to bring Namor to the big screen after nearly a century of history and publishing, and just no representation of him either in film or television. So, it was with great pleasure and tenacity that I wanted to make sure we represented Namor in the right way, but in a way that could exist inside of a ‘Black Panther’ film.
Paul Dano at London Special Screening of ‘The Batman.’
There is new intelligence to be found about ‘Mr. and Mrs. Smith’, the TV adaptation of Doug Liman’s spy caper thriller that has Donald Glover co-starring and co-creating.
Originally released in 2005 and written by Simon Kinberg, the movie of ‘Mr. and Mrs. Smith’ starred Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie as John and Jane Smith, a married couple whose relationship has succumbed to ennui. They’re a little surprised, then, to learn that they’re both assassins and that they’ve just been hired by competing agencies to take each other out – and not in a date night sense of the word.
Exact story details of the TV version – which will show up on Prime Video – are still being kept largely confidential, though it sounds like the series will follow the characters from a younger age to their movie counterparts, tracking as they’re hired by a spy agency and figuring out both married life and espionage.
Maya Erskine, one of the creators and stars of Hulu’s ‘Pen15’ is co-starring as Jane Smith, but the character assignments for the new recruits have yet to be revealed.
John Turturro at New York premiere of ‘The Batman.’ Photo Credit: Dave Allocca/Starpix.
Turturro needs little introduction, having carved a successful career as a character for years, appearing in a wide swathe of movies and directing some. Though he’s primarily been known for his big screen work, he’s recently been receiving praise for his performance on the Apple TV+ series ‘Severance’.
Dano, meanwhile, was most recently seen playing the Riddler in ‘The Batman’, facing off against Robert Pattinson’s Caped Crusader (the film also featured Turturro, though they didn’t share a scene). He’ll next show up in Steven Spielberg’s much-anticipated, semi-autobiographical drama ‘The Fabelmans’, playing a character loosely based on the director’s father.
Coel, who is a rising star, might be best known for creating and starring in the limited series ‘I May Destroy You’. She pulled double duty on TV series ‘Chewing Gum’. Movie-wise, she has a role in Marvel’s upcoming ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’, in theaters on November 11th.
Though it originally intended to reunite Glover with his ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ co-star Phoebe Waller-Bridge, and she jumped aboard to co-write with him, creative differences led to an amicable split and Waller-Bridge departing the series.
Francesca Sloane is aboard to run the show, having worked on the scripts with Glover, but there’s no word on who might be directing it just yet. And given that ‘Mr. and Mrs. Smith’ is still in pre-production, Amazon is yet to assign it a premiere date.
(L to R) Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in 2005’s ‘Mr. & Mrs. Smith.’
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