Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with director and executive producer Roland Emmerich about his work on ‘Those About to Die’, what interested him in making a series about the Roman Empire, navigating the multiple storylines, and creating the chariot racing sequences.
You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews with Emmerich, Iwan Rheon, Jojo Macari, Tom Hughes, Dimitri Leonidas, Gabriella Pession, Sara Martins-Court, Moe Hashim, and Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson.
Anthony Hopkins as Vespasian in ‘Those About to Die’. Photo: Reiner Bajo/Peacock.
Moviefone: To begin with, can you talk about your attraction to the source material and why you wanted to set the series at this specific point of the Roman Empire?
Roland Emmerich: Well, it was about the first time a normal, regular general who had only success in war, became emperor, and there were four emperors, and they came and went, and at the end, Vespasian stayed. He was also the smartest, and he was smart because of what he did. Just to show the Roman people that he’s a man of the people, he said, “I’m not building a golden house. I will build an amphitheater for you so everybody can watch much closer what’s going on.” That was for me, the starting point. Then I said, “Okay, so who could be in this show?” Then naturally you need somebody who is the inside of betting, which is Iwan Rheon. Then all these people come to Rome, from where do they come? All these gladiators came from far, far away. Also, there’s these three brothers who are just so enamored by the Circus Maximus and Scorpus, so they kind of lie to their younger brother. So, all these kinds of people come to Rome and it’s this wild mix of characters and ethnicities. That’s always cool for a director to co-create.
Iwan Rheon as Tenax in ‘Those About to Die’. Photo: Reiner Bajo/Peacock.
MF: Can you talk about the challenges of navigating all the different characters and storylines in the series?
RE: Well, I always had this idea to make a movie or a TV show, about the whole Roman Empire but concentrated on Rome. For that, you need different characters because also a lot of them die. So, for me, it was just interesting to kind of see how that develops.
Dimitri Leonidas as Scorpus in ‘Those About to Die’. Photo: Reiner Bajo/Peacock.
MF: Finally, can you talk about shooting the chariot racing sequences? What were the challenges as a director shooting those scenes?
RE: That was the thing that I said, “Okay, so how do I do that?” We had luckily a volume stage. Now, a volume stage you can do endlessly what you want but there was always this one moment when we said, “How can we show a character or two characters, because there’s a lot about pushing them to the wall, how can we shoot that?” Then actually after discussion with my DP we tried to film out an unreal engine, a background, and that was the only kind of thing what we had. Everything of these kinds of people, these charioteers, is done with that, with one shot.
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What is the plot of ‘Those About to Die’?
‘Those About to Die’ is an epic drama set in the corrupt world of the spectacle-driven gladiatorial competition, exploring a side of ancient Rome never told — the dirty business of entertaining the masses, giving the mob what they want most … blood and sport. The series introduces an ensemble of characters from all corners of the Roman Empire who collide at the explosive intersection of sports, politics, and dynasties.
Who is in the cast of ‘Those About to Die’?
Anthony Hopkins as Vespasian
Iwan Rheon as Tenax
Jojo Macari as Domitian Flavianus
Tom Hughes as Titus Flavianus
Dimitri Leonidas as Scorpus
Gabriella Pession as Antonia
Sara Martins-Court as Cala
Moe Hashim as Kwame
Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson as Viggo
Anthony Hopkins as Vespasian in ‘Those About to Die’. Photo: Reiner Bajo/Peacock.
Other Movies and TV Shows Similar to ‘Those About to Die’:
It’s the new show from the creator of the USA series.
The pilot will shoot in Vancouver from next month.
Stephen Amell might still be best known for wearing a superhero suit in ‘Arrow’, but he’s since also starred in the short-lived wrestling series ‘Heels’. He’s going to need both suit style and grappling skills (metaphorically, at least) for a new job, as Amell has landed the lead in the pilot for new ‘Suits’ spin-off ‘Suits L.A.’.
The new show comes from Aaron Korsh, who created and ran the original ‘Suits’ series, which ran from 2011 until 2019 on the USA network.
Now, thanks to an explosion of interest in the series thanks to it streaming on Netflix, the new show has been ordered to pilot at NBC.
Assuming it gets picked up, ‘Suits L.A.’ will focus on Ted Black (Amell), a former federal prosecutor from New York, who has reinvented himself representing the most powerful clients in Los Angeles.
His firm is at a crisis point, and in order to survive he must embrace a role he held in contempt his entire career. Ted is surrounded by a group of characters who test their loyalties to both Ted and each other while they can’t help but mix their personal and professional lives.
All of this is going on while events from years ago slowly unravel that led Ted to leave behind everything and everyone he loved.
This new show is not intended to reboot ‘Suits’; instead, much as with CBS’ ‘NCIS’ franchise, it’ll be set in the same world –– which means that the likes of Patrick J. Adams‘ Mike Ross and Gabriel Macht’s Harvey Specter could show up (though we wouldn’t expect Meghan Markle, who also starred on the original series to make an appearance, she’s a little bit busy doing other things).
While ‘Suits’ was certainly popular on USA during its run, the show was discovered by viewers when it began showing on Peacock and Netflix last year and ended up breaking streaming records, including spending weeks atop the latter service’s Top 10 chart.
When will ‘Suits L.A.’ be on TV?
That’s more of a question –– it’ll depend on whether the pilot passes muster. Shooting is scheduled to start next month in Vancouver (which will be standing in for Los Angeles as Toronto was used for New York in the original).
Korsch has had mixed success continuing the world of ‘Suits’ before –– direct spin-off ‘Pearson’, starring Gina Torres, only lasted a year in 2019.
‘Arrow’ Star Stephen Amell Will Return as Oliver Queen in the Final Season of ‘The Flash.’ Photo by Steve Schofield / Contour by Getty Images.
Alexander Payne’s ‘The Holdover’ is a holiday dramedy set in the 1970s starring Paul Giamatti (‘Jungle Cruise’), Da’Vine Joy Randolph (‘Rustin’), and Dominic Sessa. Taking place at the elite Barton Academy, a history teacher, a school kitchen manager, and a student are stuck in the school and are forced to spend the holidays together. They form an interesting and unlikely bond as they learn more about each other.
This film reunited Academy Award winning director Alexander Payne with Paul Giamatti since their collaboration on ‘Sideways’, which was released almost 20 years ago in 2004.
The movie held its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival on August 31, 2023. Following the positive reaction from Telluride attendees, the film was also screened at TIFF on September 10, 2023. It was released domestically on October 27, 2023. ‘The Holdovers’ is set to have its release in the UK on January 15, 2024.
With the film being in theaters for over 60 days, showings have become quite limited. However, you still have plenty of opportunities to view the movie from the comfort of your home. The film became available for streaming on Peacock on December 29, 2023.
The movie’s three leads find themselves in a different time in their lives. Mary Lamb (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) is mourning the loss of her son, Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti) is a grumpy history teacher disliked by students and fellow faculty, and Angus Tully, a student at Barton who is having a hard time coming to terms with the loss of his father, and his mother’s new relationship.
This unlikely trio is forced to spend the holidays at the Academy, and through this experience, though unpleasant at first, their eventual bond and appreciation for each other slowly help them come to terms with their hardship.
After its successful showings at Telluride and TIFF, buzz began to build around the movie, and as we head into award season, you can expect to see ‘The Holdovers’ be a part of the conversation.
At the 2024 Golden Globe Award, ‘The Holdovers’ was nominated for four awards: Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role in any Motion Picture, Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy.
Paul Giamatti took home the award for Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, making it his third Golden Globe win. Da’Vine Joy Randolph wins for Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role in any Motion Picture, making it her first Golden Globe win.
Aside from the Golden Globe nomination and wins, ‘The Holdovers’ is touted to be a top contender during the upcoming Award season. For the 2024 Critics Choice Awards, it received eight nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Young Actor/Actress, Best Acting Ensemble, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Comedy.
We’ll be keeping an eye on ‘The Holdovers’ as the 94th Academy Awards approach.
When Will ‘The Holdovers’ Be Available On Blu-Ray?
The movie is currently available on VOD, but if you prefer physical media, you’re in luck. It was announced that ‘The Holdovers’ became available on DVD and Blu-ray on January 2, 2024. You can purchase it from retailers such as Amazon and Walmart.
The DVD and Blu-ray will include bonus features such as deleted scenes and featurettes such as “Working with Alexander” and “The Cast of The Holdovers.”
Watch the official trailers for ‘The Holdovers’ below:
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The official synopsis for ‘The Holdovers’ is below:
“’The Holdovers’ follows a curmudgeonly instructor at a New England prep school who is forced to remain on campus during Christmas break to babysit the handful of students with nowhere to go. Eventually, he forms an unlikely bond with one of them — a damaged, brainy troublemaker — and with the school’s head cook, who has just lost a son in Vietnam. Together, the three work to rediscover and redefine the meaning of “family.”
To watch our exclusive interviews with the cast of ‘The Holdovers,’ please click on the video player below.
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To watch our exclusive interviews with director Alexander Payne, writer David Hemingson, and editor Kevin Tent about ‘The Holdovers,’ please click on the video player below.
(from left) Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn) and Victor Fielding (Leslie Odom, Jr.) in ‘The Exorcist: Believer,’ directed by David Gordon Green.
The cult horror classic makes its return with a brand new chapter in ‘The Exorcist: Believer.’ Helmed by director David Gordon Green (‘Halloween Kills’), the film follows two families connected by their daughters’ mysterious disappearance in the woods.
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Where Can I Watch ‘The Exorcist: Believer’?
(L to R) Tony (Norbert Leo Butz), Katherine (Olivia O’Neill) and Miranda (Jennifer Nettles) in ‘The Exorcist: Believer,’ directed by David Gordon Green.
The film premiered in the United States on October 6, 2023, kicking off the horror season. Originally, ‘The Exorcist: Believer’ was set to be released on October 13, but shifted its date to avoid competing with ‘Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour,’ which became a mega box office hit, grossing over $92 million during the opening weekend.
Producer and Blumhouse founder Jason Blum acknowledged this on his X (formerly Twitter) account by quoting a Taylor Swift song, “Look what you made me do. The Exorcist: Believer moves to 10/6/23.”
Look what you made me do.
The Exorcist: Believer moves to 10/6/23#TaylorWins
‘The Exorcist: Believer’ became available on PVOD on October 24, 2023, only 18 days after its theatrical release. The reason may be due to the film’s poor reception with both critics and audiences alike, with 22% critics score and 59% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
For those who missed the movie on the big screen or just prefer to watch horror flicks at home, ‘The Exorcist: Believer’ is available digitally on services such as Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, Apple TV, and Vudu. You can rent the film for $19.99 or purchase it for $29.99.
‘The Exorcist: Believer’ has a total runtime of 1 hour and 51 minutes.
When Will ‘The Exorcist: Believer’ Be Available To Stream?
Director David Gordon Green on the set of ‘The Exorcist: Believer.’
The movie was released by Universal Pictures, and the film will be streaming on its streaming platform Peacock on December 1, 2023. For other films in ‘The Exorcist’ franchise, you can find it streaming on platforms such as Peacock, Prime Video, Max, or Hulu.
(L to R) Victor Fielding (Leslie Odom, Jr.) and Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn) in ‘The Exorcist: Believer,’ directed by David Gordon Green.
‘The Exorcist: Believer’ is technically a reboot, as it introduces brand new characters and stories. However, the movie very much exists within ‘The Exorcist’ world as director David Gordon Green brings Ellen Burstyn into the film to reprise her role as Chris MacNeil – Regan’s mother in the 1970 original.
Fans were delighted to learn about Burstyn’s return, as the trailer shows her speaking with a possessed Katherine, “We’ve met before. But I’m not talking to you now”. Katherine’s demonic voice responds with, “Are you looking for Regan?” alluding to her daughter’s brush with demonic possession and exorcism.
Much like horror icon Jamie Lee Curtis’ return to the latest ‘Halloween’ franchise (also helmed by David Gordon Green), fans may be expecting Burstyn’s appearance in the film to have the same effect. However, her role is not as significant as the trailer makes it out to be. Instead, the story focuses on the two families – Victor (Leslie Odom Jr.) and his daughter Angela (Lidya Jewett) and Katherine’s (Olivia Marcum) parents.
The film also explores other cultures’ ideas of exorcism, taking it beyond the Catholic church.
Watch the official trailers for ‘The Exorcist: Believer’ below:
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The official synopsis for ‘The Exorcist: Believer’:
“Since the death of his pregnant wife in a Haitian earthquake 12 years ago, Victor Fielding (Tony winner and Oscar nominee Leslie Odom, Jr.; ‘One Night in Miami,’ ‘Hamilton‘) has raised their daughter, Angela (Lidya Jewett, ‘Hidden Figures‘) on his own. But when Angela and her friend Katherine (newcomer Olivia Marcum) disappear in the woods, only to return three days later with no memory of what happened to them, it unleashes a chain of events that will force Victor to confront the nadir of evil and, in his terror and desperation, seek out the only person alive who has witnessed anything like it before: Chris MacNeil.”
Who Is In The Cast of ‘The Exorcist: Believer’?
The movie stars Lesie Odom Jr as Victor Fielding, Lidya Jewett as Angela Fielding, Olivia Marcum as Katherine, Jennifer Nettles as Miranda, Norbert Leo Butz as Tony, Ann Dowd as Ann, and Ellen Burstyn reprises her role as Chris MacNeil.
Katherine (Olivia O’Neill) in ‘The Exorcist: Believer,’ directed by David Gordon Green.
‘Jurassic Park’ Lego Special Coming to Peacock. Photo courtesy of Peacock.
It is 30 years since ‘Jurassic Park’ sent dinosaurs stomping all over cinema screens, and if you’re someone who saw the original movie in theaters upon release, allow us to commiserate on feeling a little closer to extinction right now.
Naturally, Universal has been celebrating that fact this year, with merchandise and re-releases of the movie into theaters.
And its streaming service Peacock is getting in on the fun, with a planned Lego special that is called ‘Lego Jurassic Park: The Unofficial Retelling’.
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What’s the story of ‘Jurassic Park’?
Jeff Goldblum as Dr. Ian Malcolm in director Steven Spielberg’s ‘Jurassic Park.’
We’re assuming there will be the typical Lego riffs on certain points and characters (as with the ‘Star Wars’ specials), but the phrase “re-telling” leads us to believe that it’ll roughly track the story of Steven Spielberg’s original blockbuster.
In case you’ve been stuck in the cretaceous period and are somehow unaware, ‘Jurassic Park’ is the story of a giant attraction envisioned by billionaire John Hammond (Richard Attenborough), who funds scientific research that invents DNA technology to bring long-extinct dinosaurs back to life. The dinos are intended to be kept safe on an island theme park for the public’s enjoyment.
To assuage the concerns of investors and his legal team, Hammond invites paleontologist Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and paleobiologist Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) to tour the facility alongside chaotician Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum). And to assess the reaction of his main target audience, Hammond has his grandchildren Tim (Joseph Mazzello) and Lex (Ariana Richards) along for the visit.
Thanks to a combination of corporate espionage and hurricane weather, things do not go exactly as planned… It starts with “ooh and aah”, but later there is running and screaming.
It seems unlikely that the original cast will return to voice the special, but you never know –– the poster features Goldblum’s Ian Malcolm (albeit looking more like he does in later movies), but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s lending his unique vocal talents.
‘Jurassic Park’ was a giant hit, and spawned two direct sequels, an entire follow-up trilogy (the ‘Jurassic World’ series of movies) and a T-Rex-sized batch of merchandise, theme park attractions and other spin-offs, including Netflix’s ‘Camp Cretaceous’ animated series.
We suppose a Lego special was really just the next logical step, given how many sets of the toys have been themed to the movie’s dino-tastic story.
Universal and Lego
(L to R) Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill), Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard), Owen Grady (Chris Pratt), Maisie Lockwood (Isabella Sermon) and Kayla Watts (DeWanda Wise) in ‘Jurassic World Dominion,’ co-written and directed by Colin Trevorrow.
It’s also been made possible because Universal scored the rights to make movies and TV shows with Lego projects back in February of this year and has a new ‘Lego Movie’ in development (the original few examples were released by Warner Bros.).
It all means that the characters and cameos won’t cross over into the new movie, though given that Chris Pratt also starred in the ‘Jurassic World’ movies, there’s a chance his character Owen Grady could show up in the film, even if he can’t play Emmett from the previous main ‘Lego’ titles.
We don’t yet know when the special will be on Peacock –– the service’s marketing simply says “Coming soon” right now. But since it’s part of the 30th anniversary celebrations, expect it before the end of the year.
‘Jurassic Park’ Lego Special Coming to Peacock. Photo courtesy of Peacock.
Other Movies Similar to ‘Jurassic Park’ Lego Special:
When Kevin Hart and Dwayne Johnson get together you can usually expect two things –– plenty of friendly insults between the two and some candid moments.
Such was the case when Johnson guested on Hart’s Peacock show ‘Hart to Heart’, in which he has invited various people on to talk about their careers, their ambitions and more.
And in between the various funny jabs at each other, there was a chance for Johnson to open up about his disappointment around the character of Black Adam at DC.
The character, who was created for DC Comics as an antagonist for Shazam, has evolved since then on the page to become something of an antihero in his own right.
Cinematically, the plan had been for Adam to serve as a nemesis for Shazam (played on screen by Zachary Levi in twomovies so far), but when Johnson became involved in 2014, he urged producers to take it in a different direction.
A movie based solely around Black Adam went into development but took years to come to fruition. And when it did, it arrived in a vortex of post-Covid box office issues and changing regimes at DC.
The movie opened to $67 million, the biggest launch for a Johnson solo movie (we’re not counting the ‘Fast & Furious’ movies he has appeared in) but couldn’t weather the current moviegoing climate and ended up topping out at $393.2 million worldwide –– a disappointment for a film that cost at least around $200 million to make, more to market and had been viewed as a franchise starter.
Johnson had intended to see the character build to a confrontation with Henry Cavill’s Superman, going to far as to have him cameo in a post-credits sting. But given the new broom approach taken by incoming DC Studios bosses James Gunn and Peter Safran, that isn’t in the cards right now.
Johnson posted about his disappointment on Twitter in December:
Dwayne Johnson stars as Black Adam in New Line Cinema’s action adventure ‘Black Adam.’
Talking with Hart, Johnson mentioned the shift in studio leadership that had torpedoed ‘Adam’s’ future:
“‘Black Adam’ got caught in a vortex of new leadership. It was so many changes in leadership. Anytime you have a company, a publicly traded company, and you have all those changes in leadership, you have people coming in who, creatively and fiscally, are going to make decisions that you may not agree with. It was like new ownership coming in and buying an NFL team and going, ‘Not my coach, not my quarterback.’ It doesn’t matter how many times you won the Super Bowl or how many rings you got; you’re going with somebody else.”
And despite its seeming failure at the box office, the star defended the movie:
“That will always be one of the biggest mysteries. You have the biggest opening of your career. Sure, no China, which could’ve been maybe 100 or 200 million more dollars. You have a superhero, and you want to grow out the franchise. You bring back Superman and Henry Cavill, which the world went crazy. And we created a diverse superhero portfolio, where we have just men and women of color in ‘Black Adam.’”
You can see the whole segment of ‘Hart to Heart’ about ‘Black Adam’ below.
Natasha Lyonne as Charlie Cale in ‘Poker Face.’ Photo by: Evans Vestal Ward/Peacock.
Premiering with its first four episodes on Peacock on January 26th, ‘Poker Face’ marks Rian Johnson’s latest successful stab at the mystery genre.
The filmmaker, who made his name with Sundance sensation ‘Brick’, has often tackled mysteries in his work, most notably with the two ‘Knives Out’ movies, in which Daniel Craig’s smart sleuth Benoit Blanc uncovers dastardly deeds among spoiled rich folk (in the 2019 original) and weird influencers (in last year’s follow up).
Along with an abiding affection for Agatha Christie and other mystery writers, Johnson has often professed his love for TV series such as ‘Columbo’, where Peter Falk’s scruffy, genius detective first befriends and then unmasks killers.
Adrien Brody as Sterling Frost Jr. in ‘Poker Face.’ Photo by: Phillip Caruso/Peacock.
‘Poker Face’ channels the latter, featuring Natasha Lyonne as Charlie Cale, a casino worker with a special gift—she can tell when people are lying. She can’t always figure out exactly why they’re lying, but she knows a falsehood, which has made her an enemy of the gambling boss, represented by casino boss Sterling Frost Jr, played perfectly by Adrien Brody in the premiere.
Despite his casino magnate father wanting Charlie away from the tables, Frost convinces Charlie that they can scam one of the “whales” (a big gambler who is now running private poker games from his suite) at the establishment with a rigged game. It all falls apart when Charlie’s friend Natalie (Dascha Polanco), a member of the housekeeping team, catches the whale with something illegal and goes to her boss, who has his enforcer Cliff Legrand (Benjamin Bratt) to kill the whistleblower and her deadbeat husband.
An impressive pilot sets out the show’s stall, introducing us to Charlie’s world––she lives in a trailer near the casino and tries to stay out of trouble––and then shattering it in the wake of her figuring out what really happened to Natalie. The resulting, potentially lethal blowback sends Charlie on the run, trying to stay one step ahead of Cliff, who is sent to find and silence her.
Benjamin Bratt as Cliff Legrand in ‘Poker Face.’ Photo by: Karolina Wojtasik/Peacock.
Thus the basic premise of the show, which finds Charlie traveling from place to place and stumbling upon liars, cheats and murderers wherever she goes.
As with ‘Columbo’s basic format, ‘Poker Face’ shows the audience exactly how the murder of the week went down before spinning the clock back a couple of days to reveal how Charlie came to be involved. And then it gets down to the meat of the series, to show Charlie investigating and then solving the murder.
In a neat twist, her own fugitive status means that the stories never get wrapped up in a neat bow with Charlie able to call the police. Doing as much as she can to stay off the radar (even getting money from an ATM is fraught with the risk that Cliff will be able to track her down), she accepts odd jobs, which leads to her being drawn into the mystery.
Rian Johnson, Creator and Executive Producer of ‘Poker Face’ at the Hollywood Legion Theater on January 23, 2023. Photo by: Jesse Grant/Peacock.
Because of that trick of showing how the murder plays out, ‘Poker Face’ falls into the category that’s less whodunnit and more “howcatchem”––Charlie rocking up and figuring out what’s really going on. Though the crimes are frequently ridiculous, there are still stakes to be found. And no one is coming to this show for gritty, overinflated “realism” as peddled by so many case-of-the-week shows cluttering up network television. It also looks great––no doubt helped by some of Johnson’s cinematic team crossing over. The mix of classic style and modern sheen works.
Charlie moving on each week like David Banner on TV’s ‘The Incredible Hulk’ means that Johnson and co. (he wrote and directed the pilot but worked on the series with showrunners Nora and Lilla Zuckerman) can rely on a rich field of guest stars.
Across the first six episodes provided for review, the stories include one set amongst a punk rock band (anchored by Chloe Sevigny as the bitter lead singer who is trying to tour again after working for years at a home improvement store), another at a care home for the elderly whose resident roster boasts the likes of former revolutionaries with a score to settle played by Judith Light and S. Epatha Merkerson. A highlight is an episode featuring Tim Meadows and Ellen Barkin as actors looking to revisit their glory days whose shared resentment just might turn deadly.
Natasha Lyonne as Charlie Cale in Peacock’s ‘Poker Face.’ Photo by: Karolina Wojtasik/Peacock.
Lyonne has found a fertile creative ground in TV, between the likes of ‘Orange is the New Black’ and, more recently, the time-twisting ‘Russian Doll’. ‘Poker Face’ represents her latest captivating turn, playing Charlie with charm and intuition. Despite the constant specter of death (and the threat to her own life), she keeps it fun and light, proving to be a more than disarming anchor for the stories.
Though we’ve all gotten used to serialized shows being held up as the gold standard in the age of “prestige TV”, Johnson and his team definitely find something new in a seemingly old format. Procedural it may be, but ‘Poker Face’ is anything but a bluff. It’s more like a winning hand.
Natasha Lyonne as Charlie Cale in ‘Poker Face.’ Photo by: Karolina Wojtasik/Peacock.
The series, which started in 1978 with director John Carpenter‘s ‘Halloween,’ has spawned a dozen of movies that range from sequels to remakes, and even reboots.
With the Halloween holiday taking place this week, and with ‘Halloween Kills’ currently in theaters, Moviefone has ranked every ‘Halloween’ movie ever made!
When Busta Rhymes being a principle cast member is one of the least horrible things about your movie, well, you know you’re in deep doo-doo. After the success of “Halloween H20,” Dimension moved forward on a direct follow-up that undoes much of the charm of the previous film. It turns out that Laurie Strode accidentally killed a paramedic at the end of “H20” instead of Michael Myers! Whoops!
The mentally unstable Strode is now institutionalized and Michael attacks her in the asylum, eventually killing her and throwing her off the roof of the building. Please keep in mind that all of this happens in the first ten minutes of “Resurrection” and the rest of it is a dumb-as-heck riff on reality television where a group of goofballs are holed up in the old Myers house (now festooned with close circuit TV cameras). All of the action is clumsily choreographed by Rick Rosenthal, who you might remember as the guy that they fired from “Halloween II.” Yuck.
Following ‘Halloween Kills,’ the story moves on four years, as Haddonfield has enjoyed a time of relative calm after the disappearance of Michael Myers. Though the vibrating hum of tension is always present as an undercurrent, Laurie has done her best to move on with life. She’s living without a complicated security system, writing about her experiences and the nature of evil and trying to guide granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak), who is still suffering the psychological scars of her parents’ loss and trying to move on by working as a nurse at the local hospital.
But even as everyone looks to cope and heal, the town is set back on edge when Corey Cunningham (Rohan Campbell) accidentally kills the boy he’s babysitting. Though it’s a tragic mistake, the repercussions are devastating, turning Corey into an unwitting bogeyman and the target of bullies. Jamie Lee Curtis is thankfully handed more to do as Laurie this time, and of course she’s still fantastic as the haunted heroine we’ve come to know and worry about. Switching up her attitude once more works for the character, as she tries to put the past behind her and concentrate instead on a future for her and her family.
If the latter canonical “Halloween” sequels (pre-“H20”) leaned a little too heavily into the mystical side of Michael Myers, then Rob Zombie‘s highly touted reboot goes too far in the opposite direction, as he strived to provide a psychologically grounded explanation for Myers’ madness. And the results were … iffy.
Failing to understand just how much of the character’s power lies in his unknowable mystique, Zombie’s “Halloween” focuses mostly on Michael Myers’ childhood, as he tortures animals, faces bullies at school, and is abused at home. And then, suddenly, in the last act, it shifts into a straight-up remake of the original film. It feels both incredibly risky and very safe and, in the end, quite boring, sadly.
The previous installment in the franchise clearly ended on a cliffhanger and an obvious attempt at building out the world, but the sixth film, “Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers,” wouldn’t happen for another six years. This installment doubles down on the mystical woo-woo that the previous films introduced, folding in elements of 1981’s “Halloween II” (there’s an extended hospital sequence) and a subplot about a mystical cult and the pagan “Curse of Thorn.”
Perhaps notable for its introduction of a young, squirrely Paul Rudd (who plays Tommy Doyle, one of the kids Laurie babysat for in the original film), for years a superior “producer’s cut” was talked about and shared at horror conventions. Spoiler alert: it’s pretty different but it’s not that much better. (It’s still awash in unnecessary backstory that would ultimately sink Rob Zombie’s remakes.)
You could tell that the franchise was hopelessly out-of-date, and that was before considering that it opened the same weekend as David Fincher‘s groundbreaking “Seven.” Barry kicks ass, though.
“Halloween 5” doubles down on a lot of things established in “Halloween 4” (the centralized role of Michael’s niece Jamie Lloyd, here traumatized from the events of the previous movie, the idea of multiple people dressed as Myers, Loomis’ unhinged pursuit) while adding even more to an increasingly cumbersome mythological stew (Jamie and Michael’s connection is more openly supernatural, a shadowy cult is introduced).
If these elements had been woven into the already established framework more elegantly, or if they were in service of a storyline that needed such embroidery, it would be one thing, but “Halloween 5” is pretty dopey (and we haven’t even mentioned the keystone cops-type music that plays when local law enforcement shows up). Smash this pumpkin.
This was supposed to be the new template for the franchise – that every year a new entry would focus on a different aspect of Halloween. Michael Myers would be retired and we’d get a big, splashy, cinematic equivalent to “The Twilight Zone.” Except that didn’t happen. Instead, “Halloween III: Season of the Witch” was indifferently received and, well, you know the rest.
It’s an inventive, gonzo, occasionally quite shocking little occult thriller with an ingenious script by British legend Nigel Kneale and director Tommy Lee Wallace (a Carpenter confederate who had served as art director and production designer for the first film) and one of the best scores of the series (by Carpenter and Alan Howarth).
After Laurie, Karen and Allyson leave the masked monster Michael Myers caged and burning in Laurie’s basement, Laurie is rushed to the hospital with fatal injuries, believing she has finally killed her algorithm. But when Michael manages to free himself from Laurie’s trap, his bloodbath ritual begins again. As she fights her pain and prepares to defend against it, she inspires everyone in Haddonfield to rise up against The Shape.
Zombie said that he felt liberated by the fact that he wasn’t beholden to the “Carpenter-ness” of remaking the first film. And you can tell. Gone are any pretext of the floating, widescreen, Steadicam-assisted beauty of Carpenter’s film (or Zombie’s remake); instead, it’s replaced with shaky, handheld 16mm. Gone, too, is much of what made Zombie’s first film such a drag.
Michael isn’t intellectualized, but rather given a simple, effective mommy complex that’s accompanied by suitably dreamlike imagery. Of course, the filmmaker isn’t above cribbing from “Halloween II,” including the hospital setting and familial twist. But that seems like a secondary concern to Zombie, who makes this film his own in ways that he felt too intimidated by the first time around. It’s not for everybody, but that’s part of its charm.
Conceptually, “Halloween H20” is a lot more fun than it actually wound up being. Discounting the events of the fourth, fifth, and sixth films, it would serve as a direct sequel to the second film, with Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis, back for more) living in hiding and teaching at a prestigious boarding school. (Okay.) Clearly intended to cash in on the revived slasher craze (started by “Scream,” which directly referenced “Halloween” and whose screenwriter, Kevin Williamson, was involved heavily with “H20”), the film is largely unimaginative and a waste of Curtis’ considerable talents.
Slack direction from Steve Miner gives a talented young cast (including Michelle Williams and Joseph Gordon-Levitt) very little to do. Also, the filmmakers had an infamously hard time getting the iconic mask right, resulting in several variations that were swapped out during production, including the utilization of an unsightly CGI version.
After producers rejected a pitch from Carpenter that would have followed two of the young kids from the first movie (now babysitter-aged themselves), with a bloody climax at a drive-in movie theater, they settled on something more conventional. “Halloween 4” sees Michael Myers return for the first time since the second film; this time, he’s hunting Jamie Lloyd (Danielle Harris), Laurie Strode’s young daughter.
There are some nice flourishes to the film, including Jamie’s decision to wear a clown costume eerily similar to the one when Michael killed his older sister all those Halloweens ago, but these are largely undermined by WTF-worthy character motivation and Dwight H. Little‘s basic-cable action movie direction (that man is not much of a stylist). Still, pretty good twist ending.
In a weird way, “Halloween II” is just as influential as the original. Its hospital setting has not only inspired other entries in the franchise (the sixth installment and Zombie’s “Halloween II” owe a debt) but it’s also inspired the genre as a whole, with the sequel-set-in-a-hospital idea utilized by everything from “Scream Queens” (on TV) to the underrated horror comedy “Final Girls.” Other than that, there’s not much to love about the half-baked sequel.
Sure, original screenwriters Carpenter and Debra Hill returned but were mostly out of ideas. In fact, the idea of Laurie Strode (a returning Jamie Lee Curtis) being Michael’s sister was thrown in at the last minute and not something planned by either filmmaker. (Oddly, it basically formed the basis for the rest of the franchise, including the remakes; the 2018 film wisely omits this plot point.) At some point during production, original director Rick Rosenthal was removed, leaving Carpenter to shoot key sequences. Scary.
40 years after Laurie Strode first faced down Michael Myers, Jamie Lee Curtis returns to the franchise for a “Halloween” that feels fresh, funny, irreverent, surprising, and totally topical. Her Strode has calcified into a wary survivalist, waiting for the day that her psychotic stalker returned. In this film, he does, and the results are spectacular.
Largely ignoring the increasingly convoluted mythology of the sequels (including “Halloween II,” so say bye-bye the Laurie-is-Michael’s-sister nonsense), co-writer/director David Gordon Green instead crafted a keenly aware and deeply entertaining back-to-basics follow-up that thoughtfully grapples with the way that violence and trauma can ripple through whole generations. This is the rare sequel that can stand proudly alongside the original, four decades later.
It cannot be overstated what a monumental event the release of John Carpenter’s “Halloween” really was. Originally envisioned as a low budget cheapie, this classic is elevated by Carpenter’s commitment to craft and his dedication to getting fully realized performances out of his mostly young cast (led by Jamie Lee Curtis). For a while, “Halloween” was the most successful independent feature of all time. It not only inspired a 40-year-old franchise but also countless imitators (some of them good, most of them bad), reinvigorating the slasher franchise for generations to come.
Wonderfully entertaining and craftily made, “Halloween” remains as thrilling and artful today as it was in 1978. Much of this has to do with its simplicity. In following a group of teenagers as they are terrorized by a local murderer (who killed his older sister on Halloween night when he was just a child), Carpenter made a template simple enough to follow but roomy enough to allow for social, political, and cultural subtext.
If “Halloween” was anything less than a masterpiece, we wouldn’t still be talking about it today.
Rian Johnson clearly enjoys being a man of mystery. Not in an ‘Austin Powers’ way – he’s a master at coming up with mystery stories.
These days, he’s very focused on the ‘Knives Out’ franchise, having secured a huge two-movie deal with Netflix off the back of the box office success of the 2019 original.
‘Glass Onion’, the latest outing, which sees Daniel Craig back as drawling detective Benoit Blanc, will be in on limited release in theaters from November 23rd, ahead of its launch on Netflix’s servers on December 23rd.
And mystery helped him secure his big break with Sundance success story ‘Brick’ back in 2005. The drama saw a teenage loner pushing his way into the underworld of a high school crime ring to investigate the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend.
It’s perhaps no mystery, then – pun intended – that Johnson would whip up a mystery for his first stab at a TV show, conjured with Natasha Lyonne in the lead role of Charlie, who has an extraordinary ability to determine when someone is lying. She hits the road in her Plymouth Barracuda and with every stop encounters a new cast of characters and strange crimes she can’t help but solve.
Natasha Lyonne as Charlie Cale in Peacock’s ‘Poker Face.’ Photo by: Karolina Wojtasik/Peacock.
“Never underestimate the power of a good dinner conversation between friends. What started as a discussion over steak frites about detective shows and what made them such a reliable pleasure — the exploration of little worlds within each new setting, the guest stars playing killers and victims, and most importantly, a scrappy protagonist you were always ready to kick back with and see win — ultimately resulted in the creation of Charlie, the driving force behind ‘Poker Face’,” say Johnson and Lyonne in a statement.
“We invite you to follow Charlie on a cross-country road trip as she meets a rogue’s gallery of characters and avenges a new injustice each episode, armed with little more than her uncanny ability to detect lies and a genuine appreciation for her fellow humans (and the occasional dog). Now please leave the overthinking to Rian, who has masterfully crafted ten self-contained puzzles for Charlie to solve. Just jump in the back of her ‘69 Plymouth Barracuda and enjoy the ride,” they add.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt! However did he score that guy? Oh, right… they’ve worked together multiple times, including on ‘Brick’.
‘Poker Face’ will launch on Peacock with its first four episodes on January 26th. The remaining six episodes will land weekly on Thursdays.
Natasha Lyonne as Charlie Cale in Peacock’s ‘Poker Face.’ Photo by: Karolina Wojtasik/Peacock.Natasha Lyonne as Charlie Cale in Peacock’s ‘Poker Face.’ Photo by: Karolina Wojtasik/Peacock.
Releasing September 21st on Peacock is the new time-traveling romantic-comedy ‘Meet Cute,’ from ‘Paddleton’ director Alex Lehmann.
The movie follows Sheila (Kaley Cuoco) and Gary (Pete Davidson) on their first date, only to learn that Shelia is a time-traveler who after discovering a time machine in a nail salon, is continually returning to that one particular night to make it “perfect.”
Moviefone recently has the pleasure of speaking with director Alex Lehmann about his work on ‘Meet Cute,’ the time-traveling screenplay, the outrageous characters, working with Kaley Cuoco and Pete Davidson, where he would go if he had a time machine, and just who is Smitson?
(L to R) Kaley Cuoco as Sheila and Pete Davidson as Gary in Peacock’s ‘Meet Cute.’ Photo: MKI Distribution Services. Copyright: MKI Distribution Services.
You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch a video from the interview.
Moviefone: To begin with, what was your first reaction to this time-traveling/romantic-comedy screenplay and how did you envision shooting it in your mind?
Alex Lehmann: First, I’ll give you the honest story that I actually haven’t given anybody yet, which was I had just finished this other movie, ‘Paddleton,’ that was at Sundance. I was getting a lot of scripts and maybe I was moving through the scripts a little too quickly. So, I was given the script. I read 15 pages, and I was like, “It’s just a rom-com. Why would they want me to do a rom-com?”
I passed on it, and then somebody called me up, outside of the producers, and they’re like, “You should really read a script called ‘Meet Cute.’” So, I called the producers back, and I begged them. I was like, “Before I pass, just let me read the rest of the script.” I owned my mistake. Once I realized what was going on underneath the funny but really cutesy dialogue, I was hooked. The idea that we could make a more honest rom-com but present it as like a Richard Curtis film or something, that was really cool.
MF: What do you mean by “a more honest rom-com?”
AL: I think that rom-coms not always, but often depict people battling to get the idealized relationship, that honeymoon phase. They’re not fighting for anything other than what is going to be the first three months of being an awesome relationship before they find out that that person farts in bed or doesn’t floss or whatever it is.
But our movie is about fighting for a relationship, not just the beginnings of a relationship. That, to me, is really romantic because I’ve been married for 10 years, and I know the difference between trying to get my wife to go on a first date with me versus facing life together.
(L to R) Pete Davidson as Gary and Kaley Cuoco as Sheila in Peacock’s ‘Meet Cute.’ Photo: MKI Distribution Services. Copyright: MKI Distribution Services.
MF: Can you talk about the choice to begin the film on the seventh time Sheila went on the first date with Gary, rather than their actual first date before she discovers the time machine?
AL: It’s cool that we get to first take the audience on this lovable first date, and then we tell the audience, “You actually don’t know what’s really going on here.” But we don’t do it in this “We’re smarter than you the audience” kind of way. We do this in a way where we let the audience in, and we acknowledge that the audience is smart, and they’ve been piecing it together.
I think that ultimately gives us the freedom to do some of the cool things we do later on in the film, like when “New Gary” is presented. But I don’t want to say anything more about “New Gary.” Basically, I think later in the film when some stuff is happening, and the audience is not sure what’s happening, they also trust us that we’ll all piece it together and there’s a good payoff coming.
MF: Did that also give you a certain amount of freedom as a filmmaker, because at that point you could take the story in several different directions?
AL: Yeah. I think it gave us a certain freedom. There are a lot of time-travel movies, and I don’t want to say they have tropes, but there are tropes. It was important for us to tell a more unique story. So, it gave us freedom. But let me put it this way. The audience knows time-travel movies so well at this point that there’s a lot of shortcuts, and there’s a lot of things we’re like, “We don’t have to explain alternate timelines and all these things because everybody’s seen these movies.” So, we were able to step away from the science of it all, and we got to tell more of an emotional time-travel movie because we’ve all got that lexicon of what time travel is in a regular film.
(L to R) Kaley Cuoco as Sheila and Pete Davidson as Gary in Peacock’s ‘Meet Cute.’ Photo: MKI Distribution Services. Copyright: MKI Distribution Services.
MF: Can you talk about where Sheila is emotionally when the film starts, how she becomes obsessed with this one night, why she does what she does, and how it begins to drive her mad?
AL: So, the first shot of Sheila in the film is this really long slow-mo shot. We shot it at high speed, and it’s basically Kaley running down the street. It’s a five-second shot, and yet you see all these emotions come over her, and she’s going through all these things. It’s just a little hint to what is going on with Sheila, because she’s this brilliant but really troubled person whose kind of creating her own problems. She’s such a control freak.
I think it’s hard for audiences to realize that the slow-mo shot is only maybe 10 seconds. Really, it’s Kaley for three seconds and her direction was, “I need you to be scared, now happy, now excited, now angry, and now vengeful, and act all of emotions in three seconds, and we’re going to film it in slow motion.” She did it, and it was amazing.
Sheila wants to control her destiny, her happiness and all the joy that’s around her, but the more she squeezes the reins, the more she’s actually suffocating herself, Gary and the whole world. So, showing her in that conundrum, where the more scared she gets, the tighter she even squeezes then, she’s her own enemy in this film. That’s why you root for her, right? Because you get to see her face herself.
MF: With Gary, at a certain point, does he begin to remember all of the “first dates” he’s gone on with Sheila and is aware that she has been trying to change him?
AL: I think this is a unique element that you maybe haven’t seen in any time-travel films that, for lack of better words, it’s the “some stuff sticks” rule. I like that you get that feeling with people in real life. You might not have experienced that much with them, but you’re starting to. Your heart and your gut are telling you things about this person. Whether that is a past life you’ve shared with them, or they just remind you of someone, or whatever it is, it informs you beyond whatever the situation is.
I think it’s really fun to explore the fact that Gary is being harmed. It’s not just free play. Sheila doesn’t just get to do this forever with no consequence. If she did, that would be really messed up. Well, it is messed up that she’s doing it anyways, but it’d be a short film, right? We’d only need to show you the first date and the last date if there were no consequences. But instead, you’re getting to see the depiction of a relationship. It’s like everything we do has an impact on each other in friendships and relationships. I think that’s the time-travel version of it.
We’re constantly creating scars or we’re leaving some sort of residual impact on people. If I can be hokey for a second, I think the message behind that, if there is a message, is to be really thoughtful of how we treat each other because we’re oftentimes caught up in our own head space, in our own wants and stuff, and we forget that even the way we talk to a waiter or somebody at the cash register, it’s affecting them, and there should be an accountability there.
(L to R) Pete Davidson as Gary and Kaley Cuoco as Sheila in Peacock’s ‘Meet Cute.’ Photo: MKI Distribution Services. Copyright: MKI Distribution Services.
MF: Can you talk about working with Kaley Cuoco and Pete Davidson and their chemistry together on and off set?
AL: I mean, the three of us laughed so hard that whole month of filming. It was like I was crying, laughing every single day. I think we were all in a place in our lives where we needed it too. Before filming, we got together, and we hung out a few times. On all my films, I have that day where we lean in with what’s going on in our lives, our vulnerabilities, and all that kind of stuff. I usually try to go first, just so that they’re not thinking I’m going to take advantage of them and rat them out.
I think that we try to really bring the material a little closer to where we are as individuals in life in that moment. So, we kind of find where the material meets the people. Then shooting the film itself ends up weirdly being therapeutic, where we’re laughing our way through whatever human things we connected with in the script, both positive and scary things that we struggle with. We get to laugh about by playing these characters and exploring it all in the script. It’s like play therapy.
MF: Sheila discovers the time machine in a nail salon, which is owned by June, played by Deborah Craig. But it’s never explained why June has a time machine or even how it really works. Can you talk about creating this character and Craig’s performance?
AL: I mean, a tanning-bed time-machine thing is obviously silly, right? But there’s two versions of the tanning-bed time machine. Either it is what it is in the movie, or else you have to have all these wires and I would’ve had to spend two weeks talking to a quantum physicist, and we would have to figure all this stuff out to make it as realistic as possible.
Or you just cast someone like Deborah Craig, who’s so funny and knows how to make it genuine and so funny at the same time that you just accept it, and you move on because you’re more interested in the characters and where the story goes than to ask time-travel questions. There’s a reason we didn’t cover the production offices with red yarn and do whiteboard timeline stuff.
Then, as far as that June character, in most films, that character is a trope and just kind of serves a purpose for the main characters and falling in love. Both the way (screenwriter) Noga (Pnueli) wrote June, who was a real person and had that really cool reveal later on in the film, and the way that Deborah played her even more so, it makes June interesting. In 2022, it would be a shame to not give a little more depth to the June character, especially because she’s a little cynical.
She wants to help these kids because they’re trying so hard to fall in love, and there’s something beautiful and romantic about that. But at the same time, there’s part of her that’s like, “I’m trying to run this business in Brooklyn. Do you know how hard it is to make ends meet? And what are your problems? Excuse me. Go get a smoothie. Go next door. I don’t want to hear your problems.” She just plays it all so perfectly. I want the world to find out about Deborah Craig. I hope that this movie helps, because she’s fantastic.
(L to R) Deborah S. Craig as June and Kaley Cuoco as Sheila in Peacock’s ‘Meet Cute.’ Photo: MKI Distribution Services. Copyright: MKI Distribution Services.
MF: In the movie, there is a funny running gag about how Sheila erased the evil Smitson from existence to better the world. In your mind, who was Smitson?
AL: Yes, Smitson. It’s my favorite joke of the film. I think pitching the Smitson joke is what got me the movie, to be honest. Honestly, we’re never going to know who Smitson is because we’re not on the Smitson timeline.
But in this story, Hitler was the better version of Smitson. If we had to pick Smitson or Hitler, at least we didn’t get Smitson. That’s the joke. The fact that we don’t know who Smithson is, is a good thing!
MF: Finally, if you could travel back in time to any point for only 24 hours, like in the movie, where would you go and what would you change?
AL: A lot of bad haircuts. I’ve made a lot of dumb jokes, and I’ve gotten a lot of bad haircuts. But I guess if I only had one chance, I’d probably feed the world or cure some disease. I would try to do something, I guess. But if somehow, I get to save the world but also stop myself from getting another bad haircut, that’d be great!
‘Meet Cute’ premieres September 21st on Peacock.
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