(L to R) Director Rian Johnson and Carrie Fisher on the set of ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi.’
While ‘Star Wars’ remains in the middle of a fallow period in terms of its movie output, the televisual galaxy on Disney+ seems to be ever expanding. According to Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy, plans are moving forward on both fronts.
Speaking to Vanity Fair as part of a long article about the various big and small screen ‘Star Wars’ projects, Kennedy offered an update on the movie front.
“We have a road map,” Kennedy says, before admitting that Rian Johnson’s planned new movie – announced five long years ago after he made ‘The Last Jedi’ – are essentially in limbo because of other commitments. “Rian has been unbelievably busy with ‘Knives Out’ and the deal that he made at Netflix for multiple movies,” she says, before clarifying that a ‘Wars’ movie from Taika Waititi and ‘Last Night in Soho’ co-writer Krysty Wilson-Cairns is most likely to be first out of the gate in the new era.
‘Rogue Squadron’, which ‘Wonder Woman’ director Patty Jenkins has been developing, is further off, amidst chatter about script issues and Jenkins’ own schedule (she’s also still planning a third outing for Gal Gadot’s DC heroine).
The biggest idea to come out of the Kennedy interview is that Lucasfilm is not looking to continue the breakneck pace that saw the sequel trilogy, plus other titles including ‘Rogue One’ and ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ rattle out within a year (or less) of each other. The latter’s less successful box office was also factor, leading to concerns about a glut of ‘Wars’ stories causing fandom fatigue.
Yet the company is keeping the pipeline flowing on the Disney+ front, with studios in California, London and Vancouver cranking out shows including more ‘Mandalorian’, and various spins on catalogue characters including ‘Andor’ and ‘Ahsoka’.
(L to R) Diego Luna, Felicity Jones and the voice of Alan Tudyk as K-2SO in ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.’
There’s ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ due on May 27th, with ‘Andor’ – following the earlier days of Diego Luna’s Resistance fighter from ‘Rogue One’ – late in the summer.
Season 3 of ‘The Mandalorian’ will follow that in late 2022 or early 2023 with all the Baby Yoda you might want, and ‘Ahsoka’, starring Rosario Dawson as the titular Jedi, next year.
Further away is the intriguing likes of ‘The Acolyte’, which is being led by filmmaker Leslye Headland. Set 100 years before the events of ‘The Phantom Menace’, it chronicles the time of the High Republic.
“We’re taking a look at the political and personal and spiritual things that came up in a time period that we don’t know much about. My question when watching ‘The Phantom Menace was always like, ‘Well, how did things get to this point?’” says Headland. “How did we get to a point where a Sith lord can infiltrate the Senate and none of the Jedi pick up on it? Like, what went wrong? What are the scenarios that led us to this moment?”
Describing her series as a mystery thriller set in a prosperous and seemingly peaceful era, when the galaxy is still sleek and glistening, she explains that the Jedi will be different from how we’ve usually seen them. “The Jedi uniforms are gold and white, and it’s almost like they would never get dirty. They would never be out and about,” Headland says. “The idea is that they could have these types of uniforms because that’s how little they’re getting into skirmishes.”
Headland has Amandla Stenberg starring in her show so far, but even further out from a production point of view is a series from Jon Watts, who has been behind the last three ‘Spider-Man’ movies.
His show is described as a galactic version of classic Amblin coming-of-age adventure films of the ’80s. Casting notices are out for a group of kids, while Watts has been developing the scripts alongside ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ writer Chris Ford. So far, it’s still known by its codename: ‘Grammar Rodeo’, which references a ‘Simpsons‘ episode in which Bart and his schoolmates steal a car and run away for a week, using a phony educational event as an alibi.
Wherever you want to watch ‘Star Wars’, it sounds like you’ll have plenty to keep you busy in the future of that galaxy far, far away.
Cary Elwes and Brooke Shields in ‘A Castle for Christmas’ directed by Mary Lambert
Born in Helena, Arkansa, director Mary Lambert graduated with a B.F.A. from the Rhode Island School of Design before starting a career directing music videos. Her most well known work in the 80s includes Chris Isaak’s first music video ‘Dancin,’ Janet Jackson’s ‘Nasty’, and many of Madonna’s early videos including “Like a Virgin”, “Material Girl”, and “Like a Prayer”. Lambert also worked with music artists like Annie Lennox, Mick Jagger, The Go-Go’s, Whitney Houston, Mötley Crüe, Sting, and Debbie Harry. Her feature film debut ‘Siesta’ starring Ellen Barkin, Gabriel Byrne and Jodie Foster was nominated for Best First Feature at the Independent Spirit Awards. Her second feature film was the iconic adaptation of Stephen King’s ‘Pet Sematary.’ Lambert also directed its much darker sequel, ‘Pet Sematary Two.’ In her decades-long career, Lambert has directed dozens of feature and television films, documentaries, music videos and episodes of television.
‘A Castle For Christmas’ stars Brooke Shields as Sophie Brown, a wildly successful romance novelist who travels to Scotland after a disastrous appearance on a talk show. Reeling from a divorce, Brown killed off a fan favorite character and her readers – and publisher – are not happy. While in Scotland, she’s tasked with writing her next book, but instead visits the castle where her father lived as a child and slowly finds herself falling for its irascible owner, The Duke of Dunbar (Cary Elwes). A charming addition to the Christmas movie canon, fans of cozy holiday romances should get a cup of hot cocoa ready because they’re sure to fall head over heels themselves.
‘A Castle For Christmas’ is now streaming on Netflix.
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Mary Lambert spoke to Moviefone about her latest film.
Moviefone: How did you first get involved with making this Christmas movie?
Mary Lambert: I’ve got the opportunity to direct this because of my friendship and professional, you know, acquaintance with Brad Krevoy, who had brought me the script. I just really fell in love with it. I was super excited about the idea of working with Brooke Shields; she was already attached to it.
MF: I saw that the film is dedicated to your mother.
Lambert: My mother was very ill, and we knew she didn’t have very long to live. You never know exactly what that means. Christmas was just a really important holiday for her. I realized when I read the script, and even more strongly when I was making the movie, that what an incredible gift my mother had given me with her joy. The joy of Christmas, my mother just had a lot of joy, and it really expressed itself. It really blossomed. It really overflowed sometimes more than anybody could even handle at Christmastime. She loved Christmas so much. It was a real expression of the joy that she had all year long. When I was making the movie, every day I realized what a gift that she had given me with the memories I had from Christmas. Mostly really simple memories of Christmas trees and Christmas cookies, and Christmas sweaters and family parties. I had lots of cousins, lots of cousins and had a really big, immediate family. She died in April, just as we were finishing the post-production. So she never got to see the movie. But Netflix, Christina Rogers, and Brad honored my request to dedicate it to her. Brad even suggested it, because he knew that I was going through the grief grieving process with my mother. He said, why don’t we dedicate the movie to her. It was just such a perfect suggestion because as I said before, so many times during production I would be overwhelmed by my love for my mother and my family.
MF: Did you have any traditions growing up that you drew on for the film?
Lambert: Absolutely. My mother’s mother, my grandmother, used to have a huge Christmas Eve party with all of her grandchildren. She had like 13 grandchildren, so there were a lot of us. And the big double door, she had a really old house, it wasn’t particularly fancy, but it was big, and it was old. And she would shut the doors to the hall where you came in the front door. And we would all be in the living room and in the kitchen and in the dining room. We would have a big dinner. We had to wait till after dinner, and then she would open the doors to the entrance hall where the big giant Christmas tree was. All the presents for all of her grandchildren would be spread out like a Christmas fairy tale. Most of them were handmade. Everybody always got a sweater, or some hat or something that she had knitted for us. So the knitters were in the script already, but we definitely enhanced that. I threw myself into the knitters. I realized that the idea of knitting, making something for somebody else, but particularly knitting it, like every little stitch, you know, is a part of yourself. So I definitely drew on those memories from my grandmother and my great aunts.
MF: Could talk a little about working with Brooke Shields and Cary Elwes? They had such wonderful chemistry in this film.
Lambert: They’re both incredible people and incredible actors. And they both really dedicated themselves to making these characters real, not just like, jokey or were you making a Christmas movie it doesn’t matter. Every detail of the characters were important. Some actors don’t particularly like to rehearse, but both Brooke and Cary really threw themselves into finding as much of the heart of these characters as we possibly could in the script. Plus, somewhere in Cary’s past, there was a Duke in Scotland. He has Scottish ancestry. His mother’s British, but he spent a lot of time in Scotland as a young man. He kind of is the Duke of Dunbar. He really brought this knowledge of what it would be like to be a contemporary man living with this heritage. Living with the weight, the glory and the wonder of it, but also the weight of this heritage. He really brought that depth to the role that I don’t think another actor could have done, really. Brooke is just such a joy bug. She’s like, as a person, she’s always in the moment. When you’re with Brooke, there’s like a shining light on you, because it’s just coming from her. She’s not always thinking about something else. She’s there in the moment. She brought that aspect of her own personality to the part. She also has this incredible ability to just throw something back at you. She’s an athlete, you know, and if you say something to her, she just catches it, and then she throws it right back to you. She brought that sort of spontaneity and freedom to the role. Cary was the more introverted, the Duke who isn’t able to be spontaneous. And it just worked. Because they both just embrace your characters, and they were always just lobbing that ball back and forth.
MF: What was the location shooting in Scotland like?
Lambert: One of the things we had to do, because of the Covid protocols, was to choose one location and stay there. I had so much fun location scouting. We went to every castle within 100 miles of Edinburgh. They were like aren’t you tired of location scouting? And like, no, I can’t believe I’m being paid to do this. I would come over here and do this for two weeks as a tourist, this is incredible. But initially, I wanted to find the best staircase, the best dining room, the best ballroom, and then put them all together, and you know, move from one to the other, as if it were one castle. But we couldn’t do that. So we had to narrow it down to one property. We ended up on the Dalmeny Estate near Edinburgh, which is still inhabited by the people who’ve lived there for like 300 years, 400 years. People really do live in these castles that have been in the family for 300 or 400 years. Maybe it changed hands 350 years ago, but you know, it’s 600 years old, but we’ve only been here for 300 years, it’s kind of like that. We had these people that lived in the castle as our sort of role models for the duke. So we chose the Dalmeny Estate because it was a very old castle. Barnbougle Castle is right there on the shore. I think it is 600 years old, it goes back to the 1400s. At a certain point, they decided they wanted to modernize, so they built a much bigger estate further inland. It’s a much bigger house. More of a manor house than a castle, actually. So we used them both. We put them together. We used some of the beautiful old rooms in Barnbougle to look really very castle-y. Then we used the exterior of Dalmeny house as our exterior because it was so big. Some of the older castles are really not that big. They were built as keeps. So the walls are eight feet thick, but they want to defend the smallest possible space.
MF: Could you recommend another film directed by a woman readers should seek out?
Lambert: I mean, the films of Jane Campion are amazing. Her first film, ‘Sweetie.’ I don’t know that it’s ever gotten as much love as it should. And Patty Jenkins. She’s my dear friend. If you haven’t seen the ‘Wonder Woman’ movies, you should see them. But her first film, ‘Monster’ is a terrifying movie. Don’t see it if you’re easily frightened. It garnered an Academy Award for Charlize Theron. It kind of made Charlize Theron. I would say, ‘Sweetie’ and ‘Monster’ if we’re looking for movies that maybe you haven’t seen or haven’t gotten a lot of press. My sisters! We’ve been making movies. People didn’t always go see them.
Sweetie – written and directed by Jane Campion
Karen Colston in ‘Sweetie,’ directed by Jane Campion
Trailblazer New Zealand filmmaker Jane Campion was nominated for Best Director at the Academy Awards for her 1993 film ‘The Piano,’ for which she became the first woman to receive the Palme d’Or award at the Cannes Film Festival. Her first feature film ‘Sweetie’ played at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival and was later released by the Criterion Collection along with three of her early shorts ‘An Exercise in Discipline: Peel’, ‘Passionless Moments’, and ‘A Girl’s Own Story’. Known for her frank depictions of sex and gender dynamics, ‘Sweetie’ stars Karen Colston as Kay, a young woman in her twenties coming into her sexuality while also dealing with her chaotic sister Sweetie (Geneviève Lemon), and the contention relationships they both have with everyone around them.
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Monster – written and directed by Patty Jenkins
Charlize Theron in ‘Monster,’ directed by Patty Jenkins
Born in Victorville, California, Patty Jenkins moved around a lot during her childhood due to her father’s military career. She received her undergraduate degree from The Cooper Union and a master’s degree in directing from the American Film Institute. Her first short film was a superhero film inspired by the style of Pedro Almodóvar. Her feature film debut ‘Monster’, which was inspired by the real-life story of serial killer Aileen Wuornos, premiered at the 54th Berlin International Film Festival, where Charlize Theron won the Silver Bear for Best Actress. ‘Monster’ was a commercial and critical success, making $64.2 million on an $8 million budget. For her complex portrayal of Wuornos, Theron received many awards and nominations, eventually winning the Oscar for Best Actress.
There have been a slew of big-time casting announcements over the last week, from ‘Wicked’ to ‘Snow White,’ and Leonardo DiCaprio taking on one of the world’s most notorious murderers.
We’ve also seen production updates for highly awaited films like ‘Black Adam,’ ‘John Wick 4,’ and ‘Guardians of the Galaxy 3.’ As well as a delay for the Star Wars spinoff ‘Rogue Squadron,’ and the release of the final ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’ trailer.
If you missed anything this week, Moviefone has you covered!
CASTING NEWS:
WICKED
The Hollywood production of the fan-favorite Broadway musical ‘Wicked‘ kicked things into high gear this week when director Jon M. Chu (Crazy Rich Asians) announced on Twitter that he had found his Elphaba and Glinda in Oscar-nominee Cynthia Erivo and Grammy-winning musician Ariana Grande.
Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel originated the roles of Elphaba and Glinda, respectively, on Broadway, and the big screencasting has drawn some critique from fans, especially for Grande’s casting. However, Chenoweth answered Grande’s critics on Instagram by saying, “You were destined for this role. The best Glinda you will be.”
Disney released the original animated version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1938, which was based on the fairytale by the Brothers Grimm. Gadot will next be seen in Netflix’s ‘Red Notice,’ which also stars Dwayne Johnson and Ryan Reynolds, before appearing next year in the Kenneth Branagh-directed sequel, ‘Death on the Nile.’
JIM JONES
Yesterday, Deadline reported that MGM has made a seven-figure deal with Leonardo DiCaprio to produce and star in ‘Jim Jones,’ which is about the notorious murderer and what led to 1978’s tragic Jonestown Massacre. DiCaprio will produce through his company, Appian Way Productions, with a script written by Scott Rosenberg (Jumanji: The Next Level).
In November 1978, under Jim Jones’ leadership, 900 members of the People’s Temple in Guyana, including children, were killed in a mass suicide or gunned down by Jones himself. The events were chronicled in the 2018 CNN documentary, ‘Escaping Jonestown.’ DiCaprio’s casting follows a string of Oscar-nominated performances including ‘The Wolf of Wall Street,’ ‘The Revenant,’ for which he won, and ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.’ The actor will next be seen in Adam McKay’s ‘Don’t Look Up,’ which opens in theaters on December 10th.
PRODUCTION NEWS:
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3
Production on Marvel’s ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3‘ began this week, with director James Gunn announcing it on Twitter. Posting a photo of the cast assembling on set, the director said, “It’s been a strange and long and at times challenging journey to get here, but the obstacles along the way have only made this moment more blissful. Back on set with my Guardians family for the first day of shooting.”
Gunn also took the moment to reveal that he has cast ‘Peacemaker’ actor Chukwudi Iwuji in Guardians 3. “Chuk has indeed joined the cast,” the director confirmed. “After working with him on ‘Peacemaker’ I wasn’t about to let go of one of the best actors I’ve ever worked with. So, I gave him the role most every big-name actor in Hollywood wanted.”
BLACK ADAM
While promoting the upcoming ‘Red Notice’ last week, Comicbook.com had a chance to speak with President of Production at Seven Bucks Productions Hiram Garcia about the upcoming DC film, ‘Black Adam.’ The producer talked about the recent ‘Black Adam’ presentation at DC Fandome, and why it was so important to him and Dwayne Johnson to have an opportunity to show the fans what they plan to do with the upcoming film.
“It was really important for us to set the table and make sure that all the fans knew that we weren’t messing around, and that we weren’t making a soft ‘Black Adam.’ It was important for us to show that the first guy who approaches him is no longer on the planet. I think that sets the tone that this isn’t a broad movie, this isn’t Shazam!, or anything like that. We take it very serious. The edge that Black Adam has, if you are a threat, there’s probably not a chance you’re going to get to breathe another breath around this guy. And I think that, that was really important for us to just make a statement and make sure everyone understood. Look, we know what you guys want. We know what this character is supposed to be. We’re going to do our best to make sure that we honor that and turn him into a monster.”
JOHN WICK 4
Production recently wrapped on ‘John Wick 4,’ and thanks to a photo Tweeted by actor Shamier Anderson (Stowaway), we may finally know the full title of the upcoming film in the Keanu Reeves franchise. While the actor posted several photos from the shoot, one of the pictures is of a drawstring bag, probably a wrap gift, with the title ‘John Wick 4: Hagakure’ printed on it.
The new Star Wars spinoff, ‘Rogue Squadron,’ from Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins has been delayed. The Hollywood Reporter announced earlier this week that the film, which was scheduled to begin production early next year for a December 22, 2023 release date, will be taken off of Disney’s production schedule.
The reason given had to do with scheduling conflicts for Jenkins, who is attached to direct a Cleopatra movie for Paramount starring Gal Gadot, as well as the recently announced ‘Wonder Woman 3.’ ‘Rogue Squadron’ was scheduled to be the Star Wars franchise’s return to the big screen after 2019’s divisive ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.’
The new movie focuses on the grandchildren of the late Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis), who discover paranormal activity in their small Oklahoma town. The trailer features many references to the original series, including the Terror Dogs, Slimer, and voice-overs from both Aykroyd and Murray.
Queenpins – directed by Gita Pullapilly & Aron Gaudet
Kristen Bell & Kirby Howell-Baptiste in ‘Queenpins’
Born in South Bend, Indiana, Gita Pullapilly studied finance at University of Notre Dame and later journalism at the Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University. She met her future husband and creative collaborator Aron Gaudet while producing his documentary ‘The Way We Get By’. The two have collaborated on multiple projects and were jointly appointed Guggenheim Fellows in 2015. ‘Queenpins’ is their second narrative feature film together, following their 2013 festival hit ‘Beneath the Harvest Sky.’
Inspired by a true story, ‘Queenpins’ follows two desperate women, Connie (Kristen Bell) and JoJo (Kirby Howell-Baptiste) who go from extreme couponing to running the largest coupon scam in United States history. When their illicit business grows, a grocery store chain loss prevention officer (Paul Walter Hauser) joins forces with a postal inspector (Vince Vaughn) to take the two women down.
‘Queenpins’ is now playing in select Cinemark Theaters nationwide, and will be available streaming on Paramount+ on September 30.
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Pullapilly and Gaudet talked to Moviefone about their new movie.
Moviefone: Can you talk about your collaboration process?
Gita Pullapilly: We’re married, so…
Aron Gaudet: …we wake up in bed together, and everything we do is basically together.
Pullapilly: Yeah.
Gaudet: When we write, it’s not like we send the script back and forth together. We’re right next to each other. Every word is gone over and agreed upon, going into the script.
Pullapilly: Very much, our work is like marriage therapy. We do a lot to try to heal ourselves from our childhood issues, to be able to get down to a spot where we can write together and direct together and really challenge each other in productive ways, so we can get the best version of that movie out there.
Gaudet: When you talk about collaboration, our entire lives together is a collaboration. Whether it’s our marriage, writing together, directing together, going on a walk together. But, then we love the collaboration with our cast and crew. To open that open and be as collaborative as possible and make everybody feel like they have a stake in it. I feel like that comes from being in such a collaborative person relationship as co-directors, co-writers, spouses.
Pullapilly: I think one thing, when we are writing on our laptop, we have to be open to each other’s ideas. Because that is the first time on a story that Aron and I have to have our perspectives melded together. We have to be open to that, and we have to understand whose idea is the journey we want to go down for whatever that scene is or whatever we’re trying to craft. That’s the first step for us: being open to each other’s ideas. Then, once we are on set, we really own that concept because any idea that is going to make that film the best version of the film is going to be an opportunity for us to make that best version of the movie. Whether it’s from a gaffer or anybody else, we are super excited to hear it because it only means that they are that much more invested in the movie, but also that makes for the better movie.
MF: You came across this story on a coupon blog. How did you fall down that rabbit hole?
Pullapilly: So many stories that are told are optioned very quickly in Hollywood, and we aren’t ever in the position where we can option those, or we just weren’t in on the game earlier enough to have access to them. Much of what Aron and I do is taking deep dives on the internet trying to find stories out there that haven’t been told, need to be told, and are so unique and interesting that they resonate with us in some way. I don’t know how I got on the coupon blog, but I saw three sentences that talked about this “counterfeit coupon caper” and “$40 million” and it happened to have the name of the detective from Arizona in the article. I shared it with Aron, and we thought there was something unique and special here, so we reached out to the detective, and he was fascinating, and we drove to Phoenix to spend more time with him and hear more of the story.
MF: How did Kristen Bell come on board?
Gaudet: Early on, once we had a finished script, she was on a very short list of people that we thought would be right for the role of Connie. We knew that Connie in the movie is a definite go-getter. She’s a former Olympian, and she has a lot of ambition and drive, but also she ends up doing bad things. Kristen when we sat down with her, one of the first things she said was that for some reason even if she’s doing things like committing crimes, audiences still love her doing those things. That was exactly what we needed in Connie. Somebody who had this go-getter mentality, who was extremely likeable even if they were committing crimes and breaking laws.
MF: In the real story was she a racewalker?
Gaudet: No. We really don’t know much about the real women. We took the framework of the coupon scam – what happened, how they did it, and what they did when they made all this money – and then we just completely created characters. That’s why it’s more inspired by the story. The characters are complete creations.
Pullapilly: We wanted the two women to represent so much of what we as women are going through in society today, feeling boxed in and trapped and not being able to find the loopholes to break out and succeed. We felt like to do that, we wanted to create our own characters.
MF: Did you also develop the YouTube aspect of JoJo?
Gaudet: Yeah, as we did a deep dive into the world of coupons and the world of extreme couponing, we would watch just tons of YouTube videos of these extreme couponers. We latched onto a couple that we were really interested in. We would just watch their videos over and over. They would talk you through their stockpile room, or how they clip their coupons and organize them. We started basing JoJo off of some of them. We knew she had to have her YouTube channel and her whole brand going.
Pullapilly: The couponing videos are really fantastic. You can go down a big rabbit hole of watching so many of them because they are so interesting and unique, and then you see all the deals they’re getting, and you’re like wow this is incredible.
MF: I read that 96% of Americans use coupons. Do you know what percentage of that are competitive couponers?
Gaudet: It’s probably a small percentage that do extreme couponing, but as far as using coupons in their lives, yeah it’s a lot. What we realized is it’s really the foundation of the U.S. economy, coupons.
Pullapilly: What we realized is there is the question, is it a need or a want? And that really determines if someone is going to buy something or not. But a coupon eradicates that question.
Gaudet: It tips it to a need.
Pullapilly: It tips it to a need, even though it’s most likely a want.
Gaudet: It puts a ticking clock on it. There’s a whole psychology behind coupons and coupon use, and we were fascinated by all of that. There were stories that we would read like the CEO of JCPenney got rid of coupons and just wanted to do everyday low pricing and almost bankrupted the company. They lost $4 billion dollars because he got rid of coupons. There is that feeling that not everyone is an extreme couponer, but they like the idea that they can get a deal.
MF: Can you talk about the various shooting locations given the COVID protocols?
Gaudet: It was very constricted because twenty-two of our thirty shoot days ended up being on this one campus that is an abandoned health facility. A lot of those locations were really just finding areas on this campus where we could create another location. There are a lot of locations, but it was a lot of movie magic to make it the world during the pandemic. We knew we had to keep people safe and create a bubble to work in, while not sacrificing story. We never wanted it to feel like a movie that was made during the pandemic, but it was a challenge every day to pull that off.
MF: Was the location of their coupon warehouse also on that campus?
Gaudet: Yeah, that’s on that campus as well.
Pullapilly: We had Mexico on that campus. We had Montenegro on that campus. We had the coupon facilities on that campus.
Gaudet: We found every small nook and took advantage of it. We were able to do a couple of days at a grocery store and a day at the airplane hangar. But the heart of the movie was all shot on this one campus.
Pullapilly: I don’t think anyone realized how many different looks we pulled off. Our production designer Jennifer Klide did an incredible job of trying to be as creative with such a limited budget to work with to find ways to make everything look different.
MF: Was Vince Vaughn’s postal inspector character part of the real story?
Gaudet: The true story did involve postal inspectors. This detective in Phoenix had teamed up with postal inspectors. It involved a postal inspector S.W.A.T. team. All of those aspects are true to the story. Then it was us taking a deep dive into postal inspectors, talking with a postal inspector. We were going off of this theme where these two women felt very undervalued and discounted like a coupon, but so do both of the male characters that Paul and Vince play. We realized that they felt undervalued. Within law enforcement, postal inspectors are not held in as high regard, or they’re just not known like the FBI or the CIA. But the reality is, the postal inspectors were the very first law enforcement agency in the history of our country.
Pullapilly: And they’re baddasses. You should see some of the videos online of postal inspectors. They’re incredible.
Gaudet: They took down the Unabomber. They are involved in a lot of big cases because so many crimes involve the mail. It was us realizing that these guys are badass, but they’re not viewed that way, and there is comedy to be had there. Vince’s character comes in justice is very much his core value, but everyone else around him is like, wait, what’s a postal inspector?
MF: Can you recommend another film directed or co-directed by a woman for viewers to seek out?
Pullapilly: I think Kimberly Peirce who directed ‘Boys Don’t Cry,’ is an amazing filmmaker. I think what she did with that movie is spectacular because it opened my eyes to a world I didn’t know before. It was so raw and real that it moved me profoundly and inspired me to want to push the limits of storytelling, to be able to make an impact on the lives of other people. I admire her greatly.
Gaudet: I think what is excited to us is to see somebody like Patty Jenkins who goes from smaller films like we’ve started at, to something like ‘Wonder Woman’ but on her own terms. We’re always looking for directors to admire who do that – go from a smaller budget to a bigger budget, but do it on their own terms and still bring their own vision to it. That’s always inspiring.
Boys Don’t Cry – directed by Kimberly Peirce
Hilary Swank & Chloë Sevigny in ‘Boys Don’t Cry’
Inspired by the brutal murder of Brandon Teena, a trans man living in rural Nebraska, Peirce’s breaktrhough drama received critical acclaim and Hilary Swank won the Oscar win for Best Actress. Although its approach and cisgender casting is dated now, the film was a watershed moment for trans representation in cinema upon its release.
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Monster – directed by Patty Jenkins
Charlize Theron in ‘Monster’
Before breaking records with her pair of Wonder Woman films for DC, Jenkins wrote and directed this powerful drama inspired by the real-life story of serial killer Aileen Wuornos. The film was released to wide-spread critical acclaim, and Charlize Theron won the Oscar for Best Actress for her complex portrayal of Wuornos.
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The first teaser poster for “Wonder Woman 1984” is really leaning into that decade’s look.
Director Patty Jenkins shared the image on Twitter, to throw fans a bone following the news that Warner Bros. won’t be holding a Hall H panel at Comic-Con this year.
The poster shows Gal Gadot in what appears to be a new costume for Diana Prince — red and gold with some serious armored shoulder pads. The background features psychedelic, neon-like W’s.
By now you’ve heard: WB isn’t going to Hall H this year. We’re so sad to miss you there! And waiting until Dec. to start our official #WW84 campaign in full– But the truth is… we can just… barely… wait… pic.twitter.com/QllFzhYRA6
Fans will have to wait even longer for the upcoming “Wonder Woman” sequel: Star Gal Gadot announced that the flick is getting pushed back seven months.
The actress, who plays the titular DC heroine, revealed the news on Twitter on Monday. “Wonder Woman 1984,” originally set for release on November 1, 2019, is now scheduled to open on June 5, 2020.
Super excited to announce that, thanks to the changing landscape, we are able to put Wonder Woman back to its rightful home. June 5, 2020. Be there or be square!!!
Lest you think that this significant delay is bad news for the film, Gadot herself tweeted that the move would “put Wonder Woman back to its rightful home.” The original 2017 flick opened in June of that year, and according to studio Warner Bros., the blockbuster season is fitting for the heroine.
“We had tremendous success releasing the first Wonder Woman film during the summer so when we saw an opportunity to take advantage of the changing competitive landscape, we did,” Warner Bros. said in a statement. “This move lands the film exactly where it belongs.”
It’s not entirely clear what the studio means by “changing landscape,” but we have a feeling that it has something to do with other superhero flicks swapping their release dates, too, opening up a slot for “Wonder Woman 1984” to swoop in (or perhaps pouncing on the heroine’s original release date, leading the film to look for a new home). Disney recently delayed its upcoming “Jungle Cruise,” so maybe that schedule shuffling influenced Warner Bros. to make similar changes?
Whatever the reasoning behind the switcheroo, it does affect another Warner Bros. release: Mark Wahlberg’s remake, “The Six Billion Dollar Man,” which originally held the June 5, 2020 slot. That flick has been removed from the release schedule entirely for now.
And now we can match DC’s “Wonder Woman 2” stars to their respective “Breakfast Club” characters. We have achieved Peak Geek!
“Wonder Woman 2” once again stars Gal Gadot as Diana Prince/Wonder Woman. Joining her this time are Kristen Wiig as villain Barbara Ann Minerva / Cheetah, Pedro Pascal as Not Sure Yet (possibly Maxwell Lord), and — somehow — Chris Pine returning as Steve Trevor.
Director Patty Jenkins posed with them for a “Breakfast Club” tribute that was reportedly posted by Pedro Pascal before he deleted it. But the Internet saves everything, so here it is:
Just who he is or how he factors into the plot of “Wonder Woman 1984” is currently unknown, but he’s played by Pedro Pascal, the scene-stealing star of TV shows like “Game of Thrones” and “Narcos,” and films including “Kingsman: The Golden Circle” and “The Equalizer II.” And according to director Patty Jenkins, who shared the snap on Twitter, Pascal is similarly intoxicating in this key role — whatever that may be.
“Can’t…Stop… Watching… @PedroPascal1 !!!” Jenkins captioned the photo of the actor (presumably captured on a playback monitor during production, based on the TV screen outline in the frame). Pascal is nearly unrecognizable, sporting a very ’80s three-piece suit and matching tie and pocket square; some seriously shellacked hair finishes the look.
Pascal himself joked about that goofy combo, sharing the same photo on Instagram with the comment, “Power suit. Power hair.” Power hair indeed.
We can’t wait to see what Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), who has some similarly luxurious locks, has to say about this look. We’re going to give Diana Prince the edge here when it comes to comparing their fashion choices.
In addition to Pascal, Kristen Wiig is also joining the ensemble, playing Barbara Minerva, a.k.a. the villain Cheetah. They round out the pack that includes Gadot and fellow returnee Chris Pine (whose presence we’re very eager to have explained).
All will hopefully be revealed when “Wonder Woman 1984” hits theaters on November 1, 2019.
“Wonder Woman” fans are still trying to sort out the meaning behind that ’80s-tastic photo of Chris Pine on the sequel’s set, but now, they have a different, real-life mystery to keep them guessing: “I Am the Night,” the intriguing new limited series from TNT that also features a reunion between the DCEU flick’s director, Patty Jenkins, and Pine.
“I Am the Night” is based on the true story of Fauna Hodel (India Eisley), a young woman who was given away at birth and begins searching for answers about her origins. That quest brings her to the mysterious Hollywood gynecologist Dr. George Hodel (Jefferson Mays) and Jay Singletary (Pine), a former Marine turned disgraced tabloid writer who sees a link between the two Hodels — and potentially a clue into the long-unsolved 1947 murder of aspiring actress Elizabeth Short, a.k.a. The Black Dahlia.
“Some stories don’t want to be told,” a character ominously tells Singletary.
It sounds totally convoluted, and yet absolutely fascinating. We can’t wait to see how Jenkins — who’s directing all six episodes, as well as producing alongside Pine — brings this twisted tale to life.
“I Am the Night” will debut on TNT sometime in January of 2019.
“Wonder Woman” is partying like it’s 1984 and it’s doing it with Kristen Wiig.
Director Patty Jenkins shared a first look at Wiig’s villain character in “Wonder Woman 1984,” the sequel to her blockbuster hit starring Gal Gadot as the titular superhero.
Wiig plays Barbara Minerva aka Cheetah. In the comics, she is a British anthropologist and heiress who gains cheetah powers after an expedition to an African jungle. She becomes obsessed with treasures held by Diana Prince, like her lasso.
“Wonder Woman” is partying like it’s 1984 and it’s doing it with