We don’t know what role Arnett will be playing in the film, though apparently the amount to be reshot is minimal and the movie is still expected to wrap its production in the coming weeks.
While both Pascal and Gilroy –– thanks to their work in the ‘Star Wars’ galaxy –– are used to secrecy, this one is wrapped in even further layers of mystery. But a few details have emerged.
Gilroy has said in the past that it’ll focus on a cellist who moves back to Los Angeles and decides to make music for movies. The film explores why he came back and why he went away, delivered in a nonlinear, music-driven structure.
The whole movie is told through music cues, which trigger flashbacks spanning the last 20 years.
Oscar Isaac had been attached to the main role, but his busy schedule meant that he recently had to drop out. Ironically, Pascal, who might be one of the other busiest actors on the planet, had free time.
Arnett has been drawing some awards buzz for his role in Bradley Cooper’s ‘Is This Thing On?’ though has so far not scored any trophies.
He has a small recurring role on ‘The Morning Show’ and variety of projects in development, including TV series ‘Fish Out of Water’ and ‘Temporary Humans.’
When will ‘Behemoth!’ be in theaters?
Searchlight hasn’t yet said when ‘Behemoth!’ will arrive on its release schedule; the switch between actors is not expected to impact the timing since what needed to be re-shot was relatively small.
(L to R) Mia Goth, Guillermo del Toro, Oscar Isaac and Jacob Elordi attend the Headline Gala screening of Netflix’s ‘Frankenstein’ during the 69th BFI London Film Festival at The Royal Festival Hall on October 13th, 2025 in London, England. Photo by StillMoving.Net for Netflix.
‘Frankenstein’ has been on the bucket list of master horror and fantasy filmmaker Guillermo del Toro for as long as he has been making movies. Mary Shelley’s classic 1818 novel of an arrogant scientist who creates a living being out of dead tissue – only to reject him and turn him against humankind – has been filmed many times, but Del Toro’s new masterpiece (coming to Netflix this Friday after a limited theatrical run) may be the definitive version of the story for the 21st century.
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Oscar Isaac stars as Victor Frankenstein, Mia Goth plays the ethereal Elizabeth, and Jacob Elordi gives a stunning, moving, and unrecognizable performance as the Creature in Del Toro’s lavish, macabre retelling. All three plus the director and crew members were on hand for a press conference to discuss the film, with Moviefone there as well to get their thoughts on bringing Frankenstein and his creation back to life once again in this epic, tragic film.
1) ‘Frankenstein’ Has Been Part of Guillermo del Toro’s Life Since He Was a Child.
Back row (L to R): Alexandre Desplat (composer), Tamara Deverill (production designer), and Mike Hill (prosthetic makeup artist). Front Row (L to R) Oscar Isaac, Guillermo del Toro, and Jacob Elordi, at the ‘Frankenstein’ press conference. Photo: Don Kaye.
Guillermo del Toro has wanted to film his version of ‘Frankenstein’ for decades, but his relationship with the story – both on the page and the screen – goes back even further.
Guillermo del Toro: The book was age 11. I discovered the film, or had been exposed to Boris Karloff and James Whale‘s [1931] masterpiece when I was seven. It had a profound religious effect on me. I was raised Catholic, but there I found my true religion. I understood in Karloff what a martyr and a messiah meant. I said, “That’s me.” And then I read the book at 11. I realized the movie was not the book at all, and that there was a lot to tackle in the book: The humanity of the creature. The inhumanity of the world. I mean, the Romantics believed the enemy was life, really. And I think the sentiment echoed in me. And I thought, back then, I’ll make this movie about my dad and I, and then as I became a father, I said my dad and I, and me and my kid. Eventually, it was about forgiveness and acceptance.
2) Jacob Elordi Developed His Movement as the Creature From a Surprising Source
As he began to imagine how to move and walk like the Creature – which is essentially a toddler that develops into a superhuman being – Jacob Elordi was inspired by a form of dancing.
Jacob Elordi: I had a lot of ideas about what it means to be constructed of parts when I first read the script. What it means to have a calf from somebody else, a part of your brain from here, a part of your face from someone else, and how the communication would work from your brain to the muscles. But something that was really instrumental was that Guillermo had a great idea to study butoh, which is this Japanese dance of death that’s sort of about the reanimation of a corpse. It wasn’t so specific, but it was a helpful way to get inside my body. Then I just spent an agonizing amount of time in front of the mirror, which was just, like, my regular day [laughs]. I [also] read a baby development book, and I watched the children around me in my life, which was also bizarre – standing outside at a primary school [laugh]. I watched my dog a lot as well. My dog has this kind of great innocence in the way that she moves and the way she looks at things.
3) Oscar Isaac Didn’t See Victor Frankenstein as a Villain
(L to R) Oscar Isaac and Guillermo del Toro at the ‘Frankenstein’ press conference. Photo: Don Kaye.
Although people think of the ‘Monster’ when they think of ‘Frankenstein,’ the real villain of the novel – and many adaptations – is actually his creator. But Oscar Isaac says he had a different view of Victor, especially after Del Toro let him read the first 30 and last 30 pages of the script.
Oscar Isaac: I never judged him. I don’t think the movie judges him either. It’s just the blindness of what he’s reacting to. I think when we sat in that hotel room in New York and [Guillermo] showed me those 60 pages, the first 30 and the last 30, when I read those last 30, there were tears streaming down my face — his recognition of him as his son and releasing him from this curse that was just destined to keep going and going and going, I found incredibly, incredibly moving. Plus the fact that there was grace in it, even for someone that had been so cruel to him. He had his reasons. He gave his reasons. But the truth is that the cruelty that he showed to his creation, his son, was unmatched, and he just didn’t see it at all. And the fact that this [creature], who you could also see as his own inner child that he brought back to life, has to chase him down and break down the doors to say, “I forgive you,” was just so moving.
4) Mia Goth and Guillermo del Toro Both Saw Themselves in Elizabeth
In the novel (and many previous screen versions), Elizabeth is Victor’s dutiful, loyal love interest. In this version, she is not only not engaged to him, but she sees what is wrong in what he’s doing and she is also the only one who recognizes that the Creature has a soul. Mia Goth says she connected not just with Elizabeth, but all the characters.
Mia Goth: Guillermo sent me the script maybe a couple of months after our initial meeting. I read it, and I was incredibly moved by it. I did recognize myself in Elizabeth, and maybe for the first time, I actually saw a little bit of myself in all of the characters. I had never had that kind of connection to a script prior to reading ‘Frankenstein.’ I think this sense of feeling like an outsider and this longing to connect and this searching for a home is what really resonated with me. Because the writing was so beautiful and so much of the work was already done, it makes the job of acting easier. You try and find the character within you, and you hope that it’ll resonate with people.
Guillermo del Toro added how Mia Goth inspired his take on Elizabeth and who the character was.
Guillermo del Toro: Elizabeth became an amalgam of me and Mary Shelley. The first time Mia and I met, I had written a long treatment just defining [Elizabeth’s] actions, but not her role. Mia had just had her baby, and she was talking about the baby with great love and passion and dedication, and I thought, ‘That’s freaking Elizabeth. That is really, I think, the most intelligent character in the movie. She understands more than anybody else.’ Some people may know more about this or more about that, but they don’t understand it. And it is a very strong energy she brings in, understanding the ‘other.’ Which is what the movie really is about — the ‘other’ is you. The ‘other’ is you. Every time you debase the ‘other,’ you debase you.
Guillermo del Toro says that he, makeup effects creator Mike Hill, and Jacob Elordi all worked together on the film’s vision of what the Creature looked like.
Guillermo del Toro: [Mike and I] became friends and collaborators on ‘The Shape of Water.’ He created the creature. He designed it. 99 percent of makeup effects guys can make a monster. Only one percent can make a character. And when you meet somebody with that talent, then it’s a triangulation. It’s Jacob and myself and him. And what you do with it is try to avoid the usual appearance — like an accident victim, or an ICU character that came out all patched. We designed the body almost in the way you would design an industrial or beautiful sculpture. Like an alabaster sculpture of a saint flayed out of the skin. The idea was, this is not a repaired creature. This is a minted new soul. When you see it, it’s almost like a giant pale baby…I wanted that journey from a newly minted soul to a thinking human at the end to be a journey without saying, ‘Oh, it’s a bunch of parts put together.’
Back row (L to R): Alexandre Desplat (composer), Tamara Deverill (production designer), Mike Hill (prosthetic makeup artist), Kate Hawley (costume designer). Front Row (L to R) Jenelle Riley (moderator), Oscar Isaac, Guillermo del Toro, Jacob Elordi, and Mia Goth at the ‘Frankenstein’ press conference. Photo: Don Kaye.
What is the plot of ‘Frankenstein’?
A brilliant but egotistical scientist (Oscar Isaac) brings a creature (Jacob Elordi) to life in a monstrous experiment that ultimately leads to the undoing of both the creator and his tragic creation.
While both Pascal and Gilroy –– thanks to their work on ‘Star Wars’ –– are used to secrecy, this one is wrapped in even further layers of mystery. But a few details have emerged.
Gilroy has said in the past that it’ll focus on a cellist who moves back to Los Angeles and decides to make music for movies. The film explores why he came back and why he went away, delivered in a nonlinear, music-driven structure.
The whole movie is told through music cues, which trigger flashbacks spanning the last 20 years.
Oscar Isaac had been attached to the main role, but his busy schedule meant that he recently had to drop out. Ironically, Pascal, who might be one of the other busiest actors on the planet, apparently has free time, and the cameras are rolling now.
And beyond ‘Behemoth!’, she’s also attached to new thriller ‘Monkey Hill.’
When will ‘Behemoth!’ be in theaters?
Searchlight hasn’t made an actual announcement about the release date for this one. Given that it has only just started shooting, that’s not surprising. But with that cast and director, we wouldn’t be shocked if this ended up positioned as an awards contender for later in 2026.
Guillermo del Toro has been waiting to adapt ‘Frankenstein’ to the screen his entire life. Themes, ideas, and imagery from Mary Shelley’s classic tale of Gothic horror – one of the genre’s seminal texts – run through many of Del Toro’s previous 12 films, and while ‘Frankenstein’ has been on his bucket list of movies to make, he’s never had the opportunity until now.
And once offered it, Del Toro seized the chance with both hands to make an extraordinary, gorgeous, deeply moving version of the tale that may end up being the definitive screen version in a long line of previous adaptations. His ‘Frankenstein’ is not slavishly faithful to the book – and in fact Del Toro brings a very personal stamp to the narrative that changes its meaning in deeply profound ways – but it’s loyal to the spirit and tone of the story, bringing out its many layers through an incredible cast and a sumptuous production that immerses the viewer fully in the world of Victor Frankenstein and his doomed creation.
The story follows the outline of Shelley’s novel, beginning with a prelude in which the crew of a ship trapped in Arctic ice comes upon a badly injured, dying man who identifies himself as Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac). The ship is soon besieged by a towering, humanoid, seemingly indestructible figure who is after Frankenstein. From there, both parties tell their side of the tale to the ship’s captain (Lars Mikkelsen).
It’s a tale told many times, with which we’re all broadly familiar: Frankenstein, devastated as a boy by the death of his mother and emotionally wounded by his cold, distant father (Charles Dance), sets out to find a way to bring back life to the dead. Ostracized by the medical community, he finds backing from a wealthy arms dealer named Heinrich Harlander (Christoph Waltz) and his own younger brother William (Felix Kammerer), who now controls the family estate in the wake of their father’s passing. But less enthused is William’s alluring, enigmatic fiancée — and Harlander’s niece — Elizabeth (Mia Goth), who suspects that Victor is tampering with aspects of nature that he dares not try to control.
But Victor presses forward, and eventually succeeds at creating a nameless being (Jacob Elordi) out of the parts of many different dead men. This is where Del Toro not so much diverges from the novel but brings one of its many underlying themes to the forefront: the nature of the relationship between a parent and a child. The creature is seemingly unable to learn words, only plaintively repeating his creator’s name over and over. Like his father before him, Victor becomes impatient and actively abusive toward what he fails to see as his own son. Only Elizabeth sees the true nature of the creature, and her compassion at least gives it a glimpse of a better humanity.
Victor ultimately cannot abide what he sees as a failure and attempts to destroy his creation, which escapes into the countryside and – thanks to the kindness of a blind man who cannot see his new friend’s hideous visage – learns to read, speak, think, and finally try to figure out its place in what is largely a cold, uncaring world. When he seeks out his creator again, only for Victor to rebuff the creature’s request for a mate to allay his intense loneliness, the creature is consumed with rage, setting out on a rampage to destroy everything in his maker’s life while making Victor watch.
Other versions of the story have touched on the idea that the creature is a misunderstood and misguided child, but Del Toro makes this the focus of his adaptation, turning it into the most emotional ‘Frankenstein’ to ever hit the screen. Despite his monstrous appearance and often insensate rage – a fury which also makes this the goriest ‘Frankenstein’ we’ve ever watched – the creature is a sympathetic figure throughout. Unloved by his father and rejected by those who see only his appearance, Frankenstein’s creation is a walking metaphor for so many lonely, abused, outcast people in the world today.
The movie, which runs nearly two and a half hours, begins somewhat slowly; at times one may wonder if Del Toro is overcomplicating some of the table-setting of the first act (it took us a while to figure out whether or not, for example, Harlander actually had a purpose in the story). But it picks up momentum and achieves an operatic grandeur as we get to the creation sequence and everything after that. Once the creature – played to perfection by an unrecognizable Elordi in mostly prosthetic makeup – arrives, the dominant conflict of the film takes it to soaring new heights of melodrama. This isn’t a horror movie, per se, despite the Gothic settings, intense production design, and rivers of blood and viscera that run through it; this is a tragedy, and it’s almost impossible to remain unmoved by the creature, his plight, and the endgame between what both creator and creation finally recognize as father and son.
Del Toro couldn’t have cast his three leads better, but we have to begin with Elordi as the creature. Strongly inspired by Shelley’s own description, the creature looks like a walking anatomy drawing gone haywire, with stitching and mismatched slabs of flesh crisscrossing his tall, lean, meat-colored body. He’s not human, but he has the spark of humanity in him. Elordi is nothing less than riveting every time he’s onscreen, conveying the creature’s pain, loneliness, anger, and emotional need with great power even through the makeup. It’s a brilliant performance that deserves to become as iconic as that of Boris Karloff.
Oscar Isaac brings his customary fire and passion to the role of Victor, a man so tormented by the lack of loving parents in his life that he realizes far too late that he’s become one himself and must adjust accordingly. A bundle of ego, raw energy, and intellectual superiority, you can’t quite hate Isaac’s Victor even as you recognize his fatal flaws.
Elizabeth, meanwhile, has been expanded from the book, no longer Victor’s devoted fiancée but a progressive woman who can see the beauty in nature – even when it’s not immediately apparent – and has an almost ethereal sense of the boundaries between life and death. Mia Goth, after her earthier turns in the ‘X’ trilogy and ‘Infinity Pool,’ looks like she stepped out of a 19th century painting and provides a sole, empathetic voice of wisdom (Goth also briefly plays Victor’s mother in a neat dual performance).
On every level, this is a superb film. Costumes, production design, and score are all top-notch. The visual effects, particularly those involving the creature, are nearly as impressive – only two scenes involving clearly CG wolves mar the film in that respect. The world of the movie is immersive, with Del Toro using his customary painterly colors to give this period epic a mix of the grotesque and the glorious.
But it’s the story, its themes, the actors, and the rising tide of emotional power that make this ‘Frankenstein’ unlike any that has come before. Del Toro has said that he’s wanted to make his version of Mary Shelley’s literary landmark for 30 years. He’s not only done the book justice and then some, but he’s created his own masterwork that – like a loving parent – he should be proud to send out into the world.
A brilliant but egotistical scientist (Oscar Isaac) brings a creature (Jacob Elordi) to life in a monstrous experiment that ultimately leads to the undoing of both the creator and his tragic creation.
Guillermo del Toro wants to reunite with ‘Frankenstein’s Oscar Isaac.
The filmmaker is developing a new project called ‘Fury’.
It’s described as a violent thriller.
He might have one movie already headed to screens with his take on ‘Frankenstein’, but Guillermo del Toro is not a filmmaker to sit back and relax. He’s got multiple projects in development and, at the Toronto International Film Festival, announced another in development.
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Del Toro is working on a new thriller that would star ‘Frankenstein’s Oscar Isaac that is currently titled ‘Fury’ (whether it changes names down the line because of the 2014 David Ayer tank drama remains to be seen).
Guillermo del Toro poses backstage with the Oscar® for Animated Feature Film during the live ABC telecast of the 95th Oscars® at Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 12, 2023.
Here’s what del Toro had to say at a TIFF Q&A about this potential new movie:
“I’m writing a project to do with Oscar. I’m writing it right now, and it’s called ‘Fury’, and essentially it’s going back to [the] sort of thriller aspects of ‘Nightmare Alley’ — very cruel, very violent. Like ‘My Dinner with Andre’ but [with] killing people after each course.”
And here’s why del Toro said he was drawn to the project:
“Because I’m very interested in the violence we do to each other, and we do it with our minds, we do it with our souls and we do it physically. And I think it’s new questions [I’m having]; I’m 60 now, so I’ve gone from asking where I’m going and [being a] father and son to [experiencing] regret. I’m in the regret decade, so expect a lot of regret.”
What else is Guillermo del Toro working on?
(L to R) Oscar Isaac, Guillermo del Toro, and Mia Goth speak onstage Netflix TUDUM 2025: The Live Event at The Kia Forum on May 31, 2025 in Inglewood, California. Photo: Amy Sussman/Getty Images for Netflix.
In addition to this new movie, GDT is still busy with a stop-motion adaptation of ‘The Buried Giant’, which had already been announced.
Del Toro offered an update on that one:
“I am, right now, preparing a stop-motion adaptation of ‘The Buried Giant’, the Kazuo Ishiguro novel. And it is going to be an epic stop-motion that is not going to be for kids. It’s truly exploring the capacity to act, of a stop-motion project, and fuse a world the way you would do it if it was a live-action.”
When will ‘Fury’ be on screens?
With that project at such an embryonic stage, there’s no word on who would distribute it (though we would imagine Netflix will be interested following its collaboration with the director on his stop-motion ‘Pinocchio’ and the live-action ‘Frankenstein’).
Talking of the latter, it will debut in select theaters October 17th and on Netflix’s servers November 7th.
Channing Tatum, Oscar Isaac and Zazie Beetz are aboard ‘Kockroach’.
Matt Ross is in the director’s chair.
It’ll adapt the 2007 novel.
It’s not every day that a quirky indie movie based on a novel that itself is a spin on a classic of the paranoia genre attracts A-list names, but ‘Kockroach’, which has Matt Ross calling the shots, has nabbed Channing Tatum, Oscar Isaac and Zazie Beetz for its leads.
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With ‘American Sniper’ producer Andrew Lazar backing the movie and Black Bear selling international rights to the movie at this year’s Toronto Film Festival, Ross aims to have the cameras rolling this coming January in Australia.
Channing Tatum at the Los Angeles premiere of ‘Blink Twice’. Photo Credit: JC Olivera.
‘Bored to Death’ creator Jonathan Ames adapted the source novel, written by William Lashner under the pen name “Tyler Knox”, and it’s a darkly comic spin on Franz Kafka’s ‘The Metamorphosis’.
It begins with a cockroach waking up in a hotel room in New York City in the mid-1950s, and finding that he has been transformed into a human. Since cockroaches are “awesome coping machines”, Jerry Blatta (as he becomes known) quickly learns to walk on two legs instead of six, to recognize himself in a mirror, to dress and feed himself, to ward off predators by constantly showing his teeth, to play chess, and to fake his way through conversations.
From there, he becomes a mob enforcer, then a mob boss, before venturing into politics.
Where else can we see Channing Tatum, Oscar Isaac and Zazie Beetz?
Oscar Isaacs in ‘Frankenstein’. Photo: Netflix.
Tatum’s next film to see screens is the buzzy, funny true-crime tale ‘Roofman’, directed by Derek Cianfrance. The movie will be released on October 10th.
He’s also been at work reprising the role of mutant character Gambit for ‘Avengers: Doomsday’, and that giant Marvel production will be in theaters on December 18th next year.
Other upcoming movies include crime drama ‘Josephine’ and a variety of other projects in development.
Oscar Isaac has Guillermo del Toro’s latest, an ambitious adaptation of ‘Frankenstein’ headed our way on October 17th, before Netflix releases the movie globally via its streaming service on November 7th.
Beyond that, he has ‘In the Hand of Dante’ and will be one of the leads in the second season of Netflix dark comedy drama ‘Beef’, though there is no official date for the new episodes to launch yet.
As for Beetz, she was last heard in the voice cast of ‘The Bad Guys 2’ and has a range of projects in the works, including Gore Verbinski’s latest, ‘Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die’, horror comedy ‘They Will Kill You’ and new Apple TV+ series ‘Lazarus’.
When will ‘Kockroach’ be on screens?
Given that it has yet to shoot and the rights are still for sale, we have no idea yet when this one might scuttle into theaters.
It’s the new movie by ‘Michael Clayton’ writer/director Tony Gilroy.
Searchlight is producing the film.
While it might not have gotten the Emmy love it deserved, the Tony Gilroy-steered Lucasfilm/Disney+ series ‘Andor’ was a magnificent achievement and stuck the landing this year.
But with his small-screen work complete for a while, Gilroy has been focused on gearing up his next movie.
Deadline brings word that Gilroy is developing a new movie currently titled ‘Behemoth!’ (yes, apparently including the exclamation mark).
And he has his eye on someone whose career has been in hyperdrive of late: Pedro Pascal.
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Oscar Isaac had been attached to the main role, but his busy schedule meant that he recently had to drop out. Ironically, Pascal, who might be one of the other busiest actors on the planet, apparently has free time.
While both Pascal and Gilroy –– thanks to their work in the ‘Star Wars’ galaxy –– are used to secrecy, this one is wrapped in even further layers of mystery. But a few details have emerged.
Gilroy has said in the past that it’ll focus on a cellist who moves back to Los Angeles and decides to make music for movies. The film explores why he came back and why he went away, delivered in a nonlinear, music-driven structure.
The whole movie is told through music cues, which trigger flashbacks spanning the last 20 years.
Gilroy looks to kick off shooting this one in October.
He’s reprising the role of Reed “Mr. Fantastic” Richards for ‘Avengers: Doomsday’, which will be in theaters on December 18th, 2026, followed by ‘Avengers: Secret Wars’ in 2027. While he hasn’t been confirmed for ‘Secret Wars’, there’s every chance he’ll be in that movie, too.
Before that, he will be seen –– assuming he takes the helmet off –– in new ‘Star Wars’ movie ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’, which flies into cinemas on May 22nd next year.
When will ‘Behemoth!’ be in theaters?
Searchlight hasn’t made an actual announcement about the release date for this one. Given the planned production schedule and people involved, we wouldn’t be shocked if this ended up positioned as an awards contender for later in 2026.
Pedro Pascal in ‘The Last of Us’ Season 2. Photograph by Liane Hentscher/HBO.
Landing on Disney+ daily across eight days from December 22nd, the second season of Marvel’s Disney+ animated series ‘What If…?’ wraps up the show’s run –– at least for now –– with another set of episodes where several build to a grand, multiverse-hopping finale.
Disney’s Marvel arm has seen something of a renewal this year, between the success of ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ (even if that film poked plenty of fun at how tired the idea of the multiverse seems these days) and ‘Agatha All Along.’ And now here comes the welcome return of ‘What If…?’ which again blends more stand-alone stories with some clever easter eggs (and in one case, an actual egg) that knit together to spin a bigger tale around Jeffrey Wright’s powerful The Watcher. Who, it turns out, will have to answer for meddling in the affairs of different universes.
Does ‘What If…?’ Season 3 still provide multiversal fun?
In keeping with the previous two seasons, the new run of ‘What If…?’ offers a blend of intriguing possibilities and an overarching spine that only starts to reveal itself towards the end of this final eight episodes. Those who have seen the previous seasons won’t be surprised at what it is building to, though it’s mostly satisfying.
But the pleasure in this show is usually more in the individual episodes, which here run the gamut between the hilarious (one focused on Howard the Duck and his unlikely, but somehow perfect relationship) and the heartbreaking (an epic, dystopian story of what happens with a ‘Black Panther’-associated character following the near destruction of Earth by Tiamut the celestial). Indeed, there is better use of several elements of the ‘Eternals’ than in the movie itself.
Another welcome element, near prescient, given the runaway success of her solo show, is the presence of Kathryn Hahn’s Agatha Harkness.
And that’s probably about all we can say on that front, given the extensive embargoes in place on this!
The regular writing team of Matthew Chauncey, Ryan Little and A.C. Bradley are back for the season, and the scripts run the usual gamut of superb to solid. While there isn’t perhaps the knockout winner of, say, last year’s festive episode, there remains a good balance of character interaction and fascinating peeks into unusual corners of the MCU while also blending in some more comics-faithful moments for fans of the printed pages.
Bryan Andrews and Stephan Franck return to direct the episodes and the look of the show continues to evolve in subtle ways. Most of the characters will be instantly recognizable, while others, such as Obadiah Stane (voiced here by Kiff VandenHeuvel rather than Jeff Bridges) might take a moment.
There are the occasionally jarring replacements, but on the whole, it’s a satisfying set of voices. Seth Green is great as usual as Howard the Duck, playing perfectly off the energy of Kat Dennings as Darcy. And kudos to Wright who, when given more to do as the Watcher than simply observe and narrate.
Oh, and you won’t tire of hearing Jackson emote the phrase “Mr. and Mrs.… The Duck.”
It’s also fun to hear the likes of Jason Isaacs –– something of a genre titan thanks to ‘Harry Potter,’ ‘Star Trek,’ ‘Star Wars’ and the DC animated appearances he’s put in –– as a powerful cosmic entity whose voice fairly drips with withering sarcasm.
Though it may not quite hit the highs of last year’s festive season run, Season 3 of ‘What If…?’ certainly has enough pleasures to keep fans happy. And though the big finale feels a little predictable at times, it is definitely enough to leave you wishing the company would commission future seasons, especially given how effective the creative team has been in making compelling narratives fit in sub-30-minute episodes.
‘What If…?’ Season 3 receives 8 out of 10 stars.
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What’s the plot of ‘What If…?’ Season 3?
“What If…?” returns in Season 3 for its culminating adventure through the multiverse.
Watch as classic characters make unexpected choices that will mutate their worlds into spectacular alternate versions of the MCU. The Watcher (Jeffrey Wright) will guide viewers as the series traverses new genres, bigger spectacles, and incredible new characters.
Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan are in talks for ‘Beef’ Season 2
Charles Melton and Cailee Spaeny are still attached to the show.
Creator Lee Sung Jin and his team have written the scripts.
Though it was a little surprising, given that Netflix’s ‘Beef’ was entered for –– and won a slew of awards in –– the limited series category, we’ve known for a while that creator Lee Sung Jin has found an idea that works for him, and he and his writers had been busy on a new batch of scripts.
And they’re going the anthology route, focusing on a fresh group of characters.
The first batch of ‘Beef’ episodes charted the aftermath of a road rage incident between two strangers.
Danny Cho (Steven Yeun), a failing contractor with a chip on his shoulder, goes head-to-head with Amy Lau (Ali Wong), a self-made entrepreneur with a picturesque life. The increasing stakes of their feud unravel their lives and relationships.
Netflix has yet to confirm anything about the new season –– beyond the potential existence of a new season. All that we’ve heard so far is that it’ll be focused on feuding couple.
Which means that, assuming they sign on, Isaac and Mulligan would play one side of the argument, with Melton and Spaeny on the other.
Mulligan nabbed an Oscar nomination for her role in Bradley Cooper’s ‘Maestro’ and was seen opposite Adam Sandler in sci-fi movie ‘Spaceman’. She’s lent her voice to new Laika animated movie ‘Wildwood’ and will show up in British comedy ‘The Ballad of Wallis Island’.
Melton, who was best known for ‘Riverdale’, broke out big last year in movie terms with ‘May December’, for which he was nominated for a slew of awards.
Netflix has yet to give this one a formal greenlight, but production company A24 will no doubt hoping it can now get moving.
(L to R) Lee Sung Jin, Ali Wong and Steven Yeun attend Netflix’s Los Angeles premiere of ‘BEEF’ at Netflix Tudum Theater on March 30, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Netflix.
The movie, set in the 1980s, sees Isaac and Stewart as married couple Raoul and Alex, who descend each evening from their luxury LA skyscraper condo and head into an electric nighttime realm. When they cross paths with the mysterious and enigmatic ‘Nameless’ and her hard-partying cabal, Raoul and Alex are seduced into a glamorous, surrealistic world of hedonism, thrills, and violence.
Who is making ‘Flesh of the Gods’?
Nicolas Cage in Panos Cosmatos’ ‘Mandy’. Photo: RLJE Films.
He’ll work from a script by Andrew Kevin Walker, probably still best known for his work with director David Fincher, including ‘Se7en’ and last year’s quirky assassin thriller ‘The Killer’. Walker and Cosmatos worked up the story together.
And finally, we have ‘The Big Short’ and ‘Vice’ filmmaker Adam McKay, who will produce the new movie via his Hyperobject Industries company.
Agencies CAA and WME are dealing with selling the film to domestic distributors, while XYZ Films will look to lock down international sales at the upcoming Marché du Film at Cannes.
McKay and the director are clearly both anticipating working on this new movie, which appears to be in the same vein as ‘Mandy’.
Here’s what McKay told Deadline about the thriller:
“This director, this writer, these incredible actors, vampires, choice 80’s punk, style and attitude for miles… That’s the film we’re bringing you today. We think it’s wildly commercial and wildly artful. Our ambitions are to make a movie that ripples through popular culture, fashion, music, and film. Can you tell how excited I am?”
And here’s what Cosmatos had to say:
“Like Los Angeles itself, ‘Flesh of the Gods’ inhabits the liminal realm between fantasy and nightmare. Both propulsive and hypnotic, ‘Flesh’ will take you on a hot rod joy ride deep into the glittering heart of hell.”
When will ‘Flesh of the Gods’ be in theaters?
Though Cosmatos aims to have his cameras rolling later this year, with no distributor attached yet, we don’t expect this one before later in 2025. Though given the talent involved in front of and behind the camera, it should be snapped up quickly.
