(L to R) Julia Roberts and Rupert Everett in ‘My Best Friend’s Wedding’. Photo: TriStar Pictures.
Preview:
Celine Song is writing a ‘My Best Friend’s Wedding’ sequel.
Sony is backing the new movie.
There is no word yet if original cast members Julia Roberts or Rupert Everett will return.
Though the company hasn’t exactly had the best luck dusting off its back catalogue for sequel treatment –– neither ‘Karate Kid: Legends’ nor especially ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’ have set the box office aflame or won over legions of new fans –– that, apparently isn’t stopping Sony.
(L to R) Cameron Diaz, Dermot Mulroney and Julia Roberts in ‘My Best Friend’s Wedding’. Photo: TriStar Pictures.
The original starred Roberts as food critic Julianne Potter, who discovers that her longtime friend, Michael (Mulroney), is planning to get married to Kimmy Wallace (Diaz). The two, who had a relationship in college, had vowed to get hitched with each other if they each remained unmarried by the ripe old age of 28.
Realizing she is in love, Jules plans to sabotage the event…
‘My Best Friend’s Wedding’ has been remade several times in other countries, including Mexico and China.
Song certainly seems like a solid choice to write this –– she’s proved she can channel romantic longing and adult relationships, and would have a good take on where the characters are now.
What has the cast said about progress on a sequel?
(L to R) Dermot Mulroney, Julia Roberts in ‘My Best Friend’s Wedding’. Photo: TriStar Pictures.
Mulroney, while making the promotional rounds for one of his latest projects, Netflix series ‘The Hunting Wives’ teased what he’s heard in an interview with the New York Post:
“I know nothing about it. Last I heard, quote, lawyers were talking, unquote.”
So… yes, hardly the biggest update, but Song’s hiring surely points to the studio looking to propose something.
When will the ‘My Best Friend’s Wedding’ sequel be in theaters?
That’s tough to answer at this point –– with Song only just starting work on a script, no director attached and deals yet to be locked in with cast old or new, a release date is unlikely for now.
And Sony may also look to see how other legacy sequels such as ‘Practical Magic 2’ perform before truly committing to this one.
(L to R) Julia Roberts, Cameron Diaz in ‘My Best Friend’s Wedding’. Photo: TriStar Pictures.
List of Movies and TV Shows Featuring Dermot Mulroney:
Joaquin Phoenix in ‘Napoleon,’ premiering in theaters around the world on November 22, 2023.
With most of his last decade’s worth of films – including ‘Exodus: Gods and Kings,’ ‘The Last Duel,’ ‘House of Gucci,’ and the upcoming ‘Gladiator 2‘ – director Ridley Scott seems intent on creating a series of historical epics both contemporary and classic. His new film, however, ‘Napoleon,’ may have exceeded Scott’s always admirable ambitions. The two-and-a-half-hour drama, does have a sense of grandeur and sweep, in addition to some intense battle scenes. But it suffers from an unwieldy script and a turgid central performance from Joaquin Phoenix as the French military leader and ruler, two elements which make this as dull as your junior year history class.
(L to R) Director Ridley Scott and Joaquin Phoenix behind-the-scenes of ‘Napoleon,’ premiering in theaters around the world on November 22, 2023.
‘Napoleon’ opens with the French Revolution and the beheading of Marie Antoinette, as David Scarpa’s script throws us right into the chaos that was France at the time (the late 1780s). Napoleon is first seen supporting the Revolution, then earning his initial success as a military strategist in the Siege of Toulon, in which he recaptured a small French town and port from the British.
We learn almost nothing about his early life, and right from the start, Joaquin Phoenix gives a reductive, stiff performance that borders on lethargy. He only comes faintly to life when he meets Josephine (Vanessa Kirby), a captain’s widow with children whom Napoleon courts and marries. Their relationship is meant to be the spine of the film, as Napoleon first professes his insatiable love for Josephine, only for her to cheat on him while he’s away on his military adventures and writing her letters every day. Although Kirby generates some heat, the chemistry between her Josephine and Phoenix’s Napoleon is nearly non-existent.
When the two leads are not sitting and staring at each other, ‘Napoleon’ wanders at an extremely leisurely pace through a checklist of the French ruler’s life: his continued success on the battlefield during the Revolutionary Wars, the end of the Reign of Terror and the overthrow of the French government, Napoleon’s rise to power and eventual crowning as Emperor, and his ongoing battles with England, Russia, Austria, and Prussia that eventually took a heavy toll on the French people and armies and led to his humiliating defeat against the English at Waterloo.
Many of these events come and go in assembly line fashion, and it’s not always easy to grasp their context or the dizzying array of wars, advisers, generals, and rivals that clock in and out of the story. While Napoleon’s machinations to make himself Emperor and the other political upheavals of the time could make for an interesting comment on our own turmoil today – Scott uses handheld cameras to capture several political riots, almost certainly an allusion to the attempted coup on our own government on Jan. 6, 2021 – that avenue is left largely unexplored as Scott meanders to the next thing.
Ridley Scott is an old-school director in ways that can be mostly positive when he’s on his game, in that he has a natural eye for the cinematic and always has a grasp on the geography of both his story and his set pieces. Indeed, the battle scenes in ‘Napoleon’ are massive, visceral, and dramatic, but the script is murky about the meaning and placement of each one.
By the time we get to the closing scenes, in which Napoleon tries to return to power in France after being forced to abdicate the throne – only to lose crushingly at Waterloo – even that legendary battle lacks resonance despite being the movie’s most gripping such sequence.
Napoleon and Josephine
(L to R) Vanessa Kirby and Joaquin Phoenix in ‘Napoleon,’ premiering in theaters around the world on November 22, 2023.
“I am not built like other men,” Napoleon tells Josephine at one point in the film. “I am not subject to petty insecurities.” That line got a few chuckles at our screening because Napoleon is packed with such insecurities about his height, his sexual ability, his ability to keep his wife happy (although in the end he divorces her for not being able to produce an heir to the French Empire), and his leadership of France. The only place he seems to feel the most calm and confident is on the battlefield, where history tells us that the real man was one of the greatest military strategists of all time.
We do get to see a bit of that during the battle scenes in ‘Napoleon,’ but even that part of Bonaparte’s personality is subsumed behind Joaquin Phoenix’s thousand-yard stare of doom. Phoenix seems to be in a trap of his own making: it’s almost as if he’s continuing his performances as Arthur Fleck from ‘Joker’ and the title character from ‘Beau is Afraid,’ making Napoleon as repressed and withdrawn as those damaged men.
In other words, it’s another tepid performance from the actor who has been so great in films past, but who seems to be bringing his talent down to a low flame. He’s all over the place tonally as well, shouting random lines about a lamb chop or somebody’s boats as if he just woke up mad about the topic, and getting laugh lines in the oddest spots.
It’s almost a wonder that Vanessa Kirby can bring some much-needed vitality to the proceedings, but she does just that as Josephine. Initially flirtatious and seductive, yet always with an eye on the pragmatic (her marriage to Napoleon seems to be at least partially one of convenience), she creates real pathos during the divorce sequence, clearly hurt by her husband’s actions. She’s always understated, but never flat.
Editing, Production Design and Music
‘Napoleon’ premiering in theaters around the world on November 22, 2023.
‘Napoleon’ is edited by Claire Simpson and Sam Restivo, who don’t necessarily subscribe to the rapid-fire, slam-bang style of many modern editors and give scenes room to build and breathe. Yet as hard as they try (and sometimes succeed, as in some of the battle passages), they have a tough time mustering up energy out of the footage in ‘Napoleon.’
The production design by Arthur Max is simply superb, down to small details on Napoleon’s complex uniforms. But cinematographer Dariusz Wolski – who has been working with Scott since 2012’s ‘Prometheus’ – and his director have chosen to drape most of ‘Napoleon’ in dreary grays, blues, and browns, making much of it seem unnaturally dark. Martin Phipps’ music is fine and often striking, finding a balance between period music of the time, large orchestral pieces and eerie choral moments.
Final Thoughts
(L to R) Vanessa Kirby and Joaquin Phoenix in ‘Napoleon,’ premiering in theaters around the world on November 22, 2023.
It’s difficult to say whether audiences will respond to a movie like ‘Napoleon’; Ridley Scott’s previous, far superior historical drama, ‘The Last Duel,’ was quickly and ruthlessly cut down in theaters. But anyone willing to give ‘Napoleon’ a try is going to certainly find the film a challenge. It’s long, slow, fairly tedious for great stretches, and while its subject is one of the most compelling and controversial in European history, Joaquin Phoenix does little to help us understand him. The battle scenes and Vanessa Kirby’s work are often exciting, but not enough to make us think that ‘Napoleon’ – a film that even Stanley Kubrick could never get off the ground – will wear the box office crown.
‘Napoleon’ receives 4 out of 10 stars.
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What is the plot of ‘Napoleon’?
As the French Revolution comes to a close but France itself finds itself besieged by endless wars with its European neighbors and political turmoil within, a master military strategist named Napoleon Bonaparte (Joaquin Phoenix) ascends to the highest echelons of power and makes himself Emperor – driven by his love for France and for his Empress, the enigmatic Josephine (Vanessa Kirby).
First set in 1950s Brighton, a gay policeman, Tom Burgess (Harry Styles), marries schoolteacher Marion Taylor (Emma Corrin) while being in a relationship with Patrick Hazlewood (David Dawson), a museum curator.
The secret they share threatens to ruin them all and continues for decades, with a flash-forward to the late 1990s depicting an older Marion (Gina McKee) now caring for the ailing Patrick (Rupert Everett), against Tom’s (Linus Roache) wishes.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with director Michael Grandage and actress Gina McKee about their work on ‘My Policeman,’ why Grandage wanted to make the movie, setting the movie in two separate timelines, the pain and regret that Marion feels, why she chooses to help Patrick, and how McKee worked with actress Emma Corrin to create the character.
You can read the full interviews below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews with director Michael Grandage and Gina McKee about ‘My Policeman.’
Moviefone: To begin with, as a director, what excited you about this project and what were some of the themes that you wanted to explore with this movie?
Michael Grandage: Well, it’s always great when you think you can bring something of a personal voice to something. I was born in the England that this movie is set in, and the law didn’t change until I was quite young. When it did, there were years of prejudice left after it.
I kind of thought it would be lovely to be able to make something quite apart from all of the cinematic reasons I wanted to make it, quite apart from all the thematic reasons, it would also be wonderful to make a movie that might be part of a slightly bigger debate. Because in spite of all of the wonderful advances that have been made, that I’m very proud of over the last 40 years by the LGBTQ+ community, I think for the moment it’s feeling a little fragile.
I think right now it would be great to have a film in the consciousness of young people that helps them understand a little bit about what it’s like if you live in a society where you can’t be free to be yourself. So, for me, and I haven’t even touched on the answer to your question about all of the aesthetic and creative reasons, but that’s one big reason why I’d love to make a movie that is part of something that I think is important right now.
MF: Can you talk about the challenges of setting the movie in two separate timelines?
MG: Yeah, I mean for me, I actually see it almost as three because you can’t help but take the timeline you are in and watch it through the prism of 2022. You watch a film that takes place 23 years ago in 1999, and then beyond that. In a way, you go on some brief moment of time travel right up to the present to see what has changed from a societal point of view. I think that’s also helpful as part of the bigger picture.
But the biggest reason I wanted to do it was because of the fact that I believe that missing 40 years in the film, I think we change hugely in our personalities in a period like that. I was wanting to explore the whole notion of time and memory and what it does and how, sometimes, it only seems like yesterday. The reason we have that phrase is sometimes it does, and other days it absolutely doesn’t.
So, there’s a little moment when Rupert Everett’s character in the film is getting his pills from Gina McKee, and he looks up at Gina and just in a tiny flash he sees the younger Marion looking down at him. Because that’s what memory sometimes does, that’s how memory works, that’s how time works. But it’s a brief fleeting moment, and I think you can only do that if you’re playing with the two time periods.
I knew I wanted to use it very fleetingly, the whole way you bring the one time period into another time period. I barely use it at all, but it’s there as a kind of unspoken thing, if you like.
MF: Gina, could talk about the pain and the regret that Marion has lived with through all these years?
Gina McKee: I think that’s a really good starting point because as you may have established already, we meet three people in the 1950s, who are brought together by love and divided by prejudice. The things that they experience with each other and the things that they do for and against one another indelibly marks them. So, there’s a lot. All three characters have regret and certainly a huge amount of pain. In Marion’s case, a massive learning curve.
She also has a huge sense of duty and love. The bond of love brings her together with Tom, and they find solace in that love. But I think ultimately, the courage to face the past is something that completely drew me to the film. What happens when somebody like that doesn’t continue to seek refuge, who says, “No, we’ve got to check this out. We’ve got to look at this.” I think that’s a wonderful dynamic and ultimately for me, a very hopeful thing.
MF: Why does Marion decide to help Patrick, all these years later, even against Tom’s own wishes?
GM: Because she has to, there’s no way forward. They’re in a holding pattern and that can’t continue. You’ve got a woman who is now in retirement and it’s now or never. So, I think that there is lots of forms of love and I think Marion’s duty to Tom is absolute. Sometimes, the way she interprets duty is completely screwed up as you see in the movie.
But that is really the heart of her motivation. Then, what continues for decades is duty. It is a strong bond that they have, but it’s a bond which is about solace as opposed to moving forward. Those elements are really potent.
MF: Finally, since you are playing the older version of Marion, did you work at all with Emma Corrin, who plays the younger version, to establish a connection between the two performance?
GM: Emma Corrin and I, because it was COVID protocols, we couldn’t physically meet. We were in separate bubbles. But we did talk on the phone. We also all had a collective Zoom conversation, which was quite extensive and that was really useful. We talked with Michael Grandage, our director, who became a brilliant conduit.
Also, I had the good fortune to look at about three or four of her scenes that Emma shot already, because they shot the 1950s stuff first. That was a brilliant resource. I also checked out as much as I could of Emma’s work and studied elements of the way she has a fantastic ability to watch and listen, and that comes across in her work enormously. So, those elements absorbed hopefully by osmosis. I found them really useful.
His name has been all over the headlines of late, mostly thanks to the behind-the-scenes and press conference drama around ‘Don’t Worry Darling’. But Harry Styles has more than one film looking to grab audiences – and potentially awards – this year.
And the new trailer for his other drama – forbidden love tale ‘My Policeman’ – has now arrived.
Spanning two time periods and following its three central characters at different ages, ‘My Policeman’ adapts Bethan Roberts’ novel. With Ron Nyswaner, the man behind such well-regarded movies as ‘Philadelphia’ and ‘The Painted Veil’ writing the script here, and direction from Michael Grandage, it’s certainly positioned as a premium, awards-season possibility.
The story is initially set in Britain in the 1950s. Police officer Tom (Styles), meets and falls for teacher Marion (Emma Corrin of ‘The Crown’). But while they’re very much in love, there’s a complication. Tom also starts a passionate relationship with museum curator Patrick (David Dawson).
Though it looks like he might be able to balance the two sides of his romantic life, the pressure it puts on them all threatens to tear their friendship apart.
And that’s never more evident then when the story moves to the 1990s (with Tom now played by Linus Roache, Marion by Gina McKee, and Patrick by Rupert Everett), where the three are still reeling with longing and regret, but now they have one last chance to repair the damage of the past.
Possibly even more than ‘Darling’ (where the acting workload is reportedly more on Florence Pugh than Styles), this will be the chance for Styles to prove that he’s got what it takes to carry a drama where he’s at the core of the story.
It’s hard to argue with the rest of the cast – Corrin has proved she’s got what it takes across screens big and small, while the likes of McKee, Everett and Roach are old hands at both drama and comedy.
Grandage, meanwhile, is more known for his stage directing, but he’s got some movie work on his resume (including 2016’s ‘Genius’) and from the looks of this, he’s crafted a layered, visually distinctive film. And, of course, he knows how to draw emotive, effective performances from actors.
With festival dates upcoming (see below), we’ll see how the movie goes over with initial audiences, though given its release being split between theaters and streaming, it’s likely not to have to worry so much about box office.
Following premieres at the Toronto International Film Festival and the London Film Festival, the movie will be on limited release in theaters from October 21st before arriving on Prime Video on November 4th.
“My Best Friend’s Wedding” came out in 1997, with Roberts as anti-heroine Julianne Potter — who tried her best/worst to sabotage the wedding of her best friend Michael (Dermot Mulroney) to sweet Kimmy (Cameron Diaz). She failed.
But through it all was her real BFF George (Rupert Everett), and maybe that’s the pair we could focus on in the sequel? Maybe George gets married and Julianne gets jealous again? Or maybe George gets jealous if Julianne plans a wedding? Or follow a wedding for one of Kimmy’s fun twin bridesmaids (played by Rachel Griffiths and Carrie Preston)?
TriStar Pictures
Anyway, someone should come up with something good now that Roberts has the door open.
Julia Roberts is on this week’s cover of Entertainment Weekly to promote her new Amazon show “Homecoming,” which also features Dermot Mulroney. EW asked which of her films she’d like to revisit for a sequel, if she could. Here’s her response:
“A lot of people want to follow up with Vivian [of ‘Pretty Woman’].”
But she said she’s like to see where the “Wedding” characters are today.
“I guess I think maybe it’s just because we’re talking about Dermot. But Rupert was so funny in ‘My Best Friend’s Wedding.’ I guess Kimmy and Michael are married and they probably have kids. And then there’s me and Rupert.”
Mulroney told EW he’d like to revisit the team too:
“I’ll tell you that movie has wormed its way further and further under my skin, and I see more and more layers of how it holds meaning and sustains as a piece, and obviously it’s always been irresistible. I think there’s only about four people on Earth that could make a movie like that, and they include Rupert, Cameron, Julia, and me. So, let’s have at it.”
Maybe a bit more than four since you’ll need a script and director, never mind the rest of the production crew.
Speaking of the script, did you know the movie had a different original ending? Apparently test audiences didn’t like it, so they went back months later to shoot the current ending.
What do you think of checking in on these characters more than 20 years later? Obviously we’ll need more songs, dances, and Kimmy’s adorably bad karaoke:
