(Left) Adria Arjona stars in ‘Hit Man’. Photo: Netflix. (Right) Michael B. Jordan announces ‘Creed’ spin-off ‘Delphi’ at the Amazon Upfront on May 13th, 2025. Photo: Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images for Amazon
Preview:
Adria Arjona is the latest addition to Michael B. Jordan’s Take on ‘The Thomas Crown Affair’.
She replaces Taylor Russell, who departed over creative differences.
Amazon MGM Studios will release the movie worldwide.
Taylor Russell has left the movie, citing creative differences, leaving a key part available.
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Now we know that, after a quick search and plenty of interest from actors, the vacancy has been filled, as Variety brings word that Adria Arjona, most recently seen doing sterling work in Lucasfilm Disney+‘Star Wars’ series ‘Andor’ is joining the movie to star opposite Jordan.
(L to R) Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway in 1969’s ‘The Thomas Crown Affair’. Photo: United Artists.
The 1968 original, directed by Norman Jewison, saw Steve McQueen as the titular bored millionaire, who concocts and executes a brilliant scheme to rob a bank without having to do any of the work himself.
When Vicki Anderson (Faye Dunaway), an investigator for the bank’s insurance company, takes an interest in Crown, the two begin a complicated cat-and-mouse game with a romantic undertone.
In an attempt to decipher Anderson’s agenda, Crown devises another robbery like his first, wondering if he can get away with the same crime twice.
Few details have emerged about Jordan’s take on the material, though we presume it’ll be a similar blend of high stakes heist action and unexpected romance.
What we do know is the script comes from ‘The Fall Guy’s Drew Pearce, with a previous draft by Wes Tooke and Justin Britt-Gibson, based on the original film.
Patrick McCormick and Toberoff Productions’ Marc Toberoff will also serve as producers, with Alan Trustman–– who wrote the 1968 original ––– serving as executive producer.
The trade site also offers word that producer Charles Roven (who recently shepherded the likes of ‘The Killer’ and ‘Oppenheimer’ to screens) will be overseeing things behind the scenes, while The Wrap has the news that Jordan’s ‘Black Panther’ co-star Danai Gurira is also aboard.
(L to R) Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway in 1969’s ‘The Thomas Crown Affair’. Photo: United Artists.
The 1968 original, directed by Norman Jewison, saw Steve McQueen as the titular bored millionaire, who concocts and executes a brilliant scheme to rob a bank without having to do any of the work himself.
When Vicki Anderson (Faye Dunaway), an investigator for the bank’s insurance company, takes an interest in Crown, the two begin a complicated cat-and-mouse game with a romantic undertone.
In an attempt to decipher Anderson’s agenda, Crown devises another robbery like his first, wondering if he can get away with the same crime twice.
Few details have emerged about Jordan’s take on the material, though we presume it’ll be a similar blend of high stakes heist action and unexpected romance.
What we do know is the script comes from ‘The Fall Guy’s Drew Pearce, with a previous draft by Wes Tooke and Justin Britt-Gibson, based on the original film.
Patrick McCormick and Toberoff Productions’ Marc Toberoff will also serve as producers, with Alan Trustman–– who wrote the 1968 original ––– serving as executive producer.
As for who Branagh, Gladstone and Gurira will be playing? Still unknown right now.
Where else can we see Kenneth Branagh, Lily Gladstone and Danai Gurira?
Lily Gladstone stars in ‘Fancy Dance,’ now streaming on Apple TV+.
Finally, he was recently announced as part of the ensemble for comedy drama sequel ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’.
As for Gladstone, the actor was most recently seen in romantic comedy ‘The Wedding Banquet’ and has thriller ‘Lone Wolf’ and comedy ‘In Memoriam’ on the way.
She’s most recently been working on ‘The Fighting Shirley Chisholm’ playing Chisholm, who became the first African American woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1968.
And she will next be seen in ‘Matchbox’, adapted from the popular toy line, starring alongside John Cena.
In addition to this new directorial job, Jordan has been keeping himself typically busy.
He has several projects in development, including a ‘Rainbow Six’ film that will see him return as special forces operative John Clark. He’s also working up a fourth ‘Creed’ movie, which he’s expressed a desire to direct following his success with the third (which made $276 million at the global box office).
Jordan told Variety last year that he felt like he had plenty of work still to do:
“I still feel like an underdog. I feel like I just got here, like I’ve just arrived, and I have the tools and the things around me to really be on the offensive a little bit.”
When will the new ‘Thomas Crown Affair’ steal its way into theaters?
The movie has a March 5th, 2027 date set by backers Amazon MGM Studios. And with the cameras already rolling, Jordan is on track to deliver.
Pierce Brosnan in 1999’s ‘The Thomas Crown Affair’. Photo: MGM.
Other Movies in ‘ The Thomas Crown Affair’ Franchise:
(L to R) Elliott Heffernan and Saoirse Ronan in ‘Blitz,’ now in theaters and premiering globally on Apple TV+ on November 22.
Opening in theaters on November 1st ahead of a November 22nd arrival on Apple TV+, ‘Blitz’ is British Steve McQueen telling a much more basic story than we’re used to, but one that still finds time for dealing with race relations and class structure in World War II Britain.
What it lacks in real revelation about the time is made up for by excellent performances from Saoirse Ronan and particularly Elliott Heffernan.
(L to R) Erin Kellyman and Haley Squires in ‘Blitz,’ now in theaters and premiering globally on Apple TV+ on November 22.
Steve McQueen –– or Sir Steve McQueen, to give him the honorific he acquired in 2002 –– is a director we’ve come to expect a lot from. He pushes boundaries. He challenges conventions. He shines a light on subjects that don’t often get a lot of attention in mainstream filmmaking.
It’s somewhat surprising to report that ‘Blitz,’ his latest effort is so blandly conventional as to make you wonder whether he actually directed the thing himself. This World War II-set story still features some elements that channel McQueen’s driving interests –– marginalized people, issues of class and race –– but it’s so straight down the line in its treatment of its topics and characters that it feels like a throwback to much more mundane Oscar bait. And that’s a shame because you hunger for more.
Script and Direction
(L to R) Saoirse Ronan and Steve McQueen on the set of ‘Blitz,’ now in theaters and premiering globally on Apple TV+ on November 22.
With McQueen writing and directing, he takes both sole credit and solo blame for the results. ‘Blitz’s screenplay honestly feels like a hundred other World War II stories we’ve seen in the past –– there are the communities coming together in “blitz spirit” to support each other (aside from the usual pockets of racism and sexism that were –– and are –– still prevalent), the Air Raid Wardens trying to keep the populace safe and people crowding into underground stations to avoid the bombardment.
And for all McQueen has said publicly about highlighting lesser-known stories, we do have to wonder if he hasn’t seen many World War II movies or shows, many of which who have featured the women of the country left to work in factories or doing other jobs when the men go to war.
(L to R) Elliott Heffernan and Steve McQueen on the set of ‘Blitz,’ now in theaters and premiering globally on Apple TV+ on November 22.
Whole sequences, such as dance hall that becomes a bombed-out ruin where thieves ply their trade, feel like they were included to pad the running time instead of having a real impact, and could easily have gone to the cutting room floor without affecting the movie much at all.
It also suffers from a serious case of anticlimax after the long journey that George takes to get home –– minus one final gut punch, it’s as though the movie simply stops as opposed to coming to a satisfying end.
In his defense, he is able to bring some stark, memorable images to screen and his relatively routine script is brought to life by the cast.
Performances
(L to R) Saoirse Ronan, Elliott Heffernan and Paul Weller in ‘Blitz,’ now in theaters and premiering globally on Apple TV+ on November 22.
As with the rest of the movie, the performances are a case of some great, and some… barely there.
Saoirse Ronan as Rita
Saoirse Ronan in ‘Blitz,’ now in theaters and premiering globally on Apple TV+ on November 22.
Ronan’s Rita is the heart and soul of the movie alongside her son. She’s a young mother whose great love was deported, leaving her to raise her son with just her grandfather to help. But Rita has a backbone that could carry the country, even if her character is mostly reduced to worrying about her child or spending time with her friends at work and beyond. Still, Ronan does a lot with a little.
Elliott Heffernan as George
Elliott Heffernan in ‘Blitz,’ now in theaters and premiering globally on Apple TV+ on November 22.
The real focus of the movie is George, the nine-year-old who, resentful that he’s been packed off for his own safety with the latest wave of evacuees from London, leaps from the train and looks to make his way home.
Heffernan, making his debut here, is a superb find, playing perfectly off of Ronan in the scenes they share, but truly coming into his own when he’s, well, on his own. The young actor has a stare that could cut through concrete, and he deploys it tactically. He truly makes you feel for the capable, charming George
An Air Raid Warden that George meets on his quest to go home, Ife is only in the movie for a brief time, but Clémentine absolutely stands out, making the role his own. He’s incredibly charismatic and works well with Heffernan.
Supporting Cast
(L to R) Stephen Graham and Elliott Heffernan in ‘Blitz,’ now in theaters and premiering globally on Apple TV+ on November 22.
Almost everyone else in the film is reduced to cliché or caricature, which is a shame since the cast is uniformly excellent. Stephen Graham (ably backed by veteran British comedic actor Kathy Burke) is a Fagin-alike criminal who kidnaps kids to infiltrate bombed-out buildings in search of treasures, and is fine, while rising star Harrison Dickinson is entirely wasted in a role that might as well be played by a background artist.
And spare a thought for poor Paul Weller, who might as well be a living piano for all the opportunities he gets to actually act –– one scene where he advises his grandson about how to deal with bullies does not a real character make.
Final Thoughts
Saoirse Ronan in ‘Blitz,’ now in theaters and premiering globally on Apple TV+ on November 22.
This is a real disappointment from a filmmaker who has done sterling work in the past. It’s not a bad movie per se, it’s just so shot-through with cliches and expected moments. Sure, it’s beautiful to look at (actually heartbreaking might be a better word given the devastation wrought upon London and its people), but it feels as hollow as a destroyed East End terraced house.
‘Blitz’ receives 6.5 out of 10 stars.
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What’s the plot of ‘Blitz’?
‘Blitz’s is the epic journey of George (Elliott Heffernan), a 9-year-old boy in World War II London whose mother Rita (Saoirse Ronan) sends him to safety in the English countryside.
George, defiant and determined to return home to his mom and his grandfather Gerald (Paul Weller) in East London, embarks on an adventure, only to find himself in immense peril, while a distraught Rita searches for her missing son.
(Left) Michael B. Jordan as John Kelly in Prime Video’s ‘Without Remorse.’ (Right) Steve McQueen in 1969’s ‘The Thomas Crown Affair’. Photo: United Artists.
Preview:
Michael B. Jordan is directing and starring in ‘The Thomas Crown Affair.’
It’ll mark his second time directing following ‘Creed III.’
Amazon MGM Studios will release the movie worldwide.
Cast your mind back to 2016, and word arrived that Michael B. Jordan was looking to take the lead in a third interpretation of the heist caper movie ‘The Thomas Crown Affair.’
It appears he’s clearly happy with the script, which originated with Wes Tooke and has since been re-written by ‘The Fall Guy’s Drew Pearce, as Jordan is now stepping up to also direct the movie, as he did with ‘Creed III’ in 2023.
Amazon MGM Studios has the rights to this one and plans to release it worldwide.
While the storyline for the new film is being kept under wraps, we have to figure it’ll follow roughly the same plot as the previous entries. Talking of…
(L to R) Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway in 1969’s ‘The Thomas Crown Affair’. Photo: United Artists.
The 1968 original, directed by Norman Jewison, saw Steve McQueen as the titular bored millionaire, who concocts and executes a brilliant scheme to rob a bank without having to do any of the work himself.
When Vicki Anderson (Faye Dunaway), an investigator for the bank’s insurance company, takes an interest in Crown, the two begin a complicated cat-and-mouse game with a romantic undertone.
In an attempt to decipher Anderson’s agenda, Crown devises another robbery like his first, wondering if he can get away with the same crime twice.
In addition to this new directorial job, Jordan has been keeping himself typically busy.
He has several projects in development, including a ‘Rainbow Six’ film that will see him return as special forces operative John Clark. He’s also working up a fourth ‘Creed’ movie, which he’s expressed a desire to direct following his success with the third (which made $276 million at the global box office).
Before any of that even sees a camera let alone the screen, however, there is Jordan’s reunion with longtime collaborator, filmmaker Ryan Coogler, with the pair shooting an untitled genre film in Louisiana earlier this year that has a March 7th, 2025, release date already set (so we should be seeing a teaser or trailer for that before too long.)
Jordan told Variety last year that he felt like he had plenty of work still to do:
“I still feel like an underdog. I feel like I just got here, like I’ve just arrived, and I have the tools and the things around me to really be on the offensive a little bit.”
Pierce Brosnan in 1999’s ‘The Thomas Crown Affair’. Photo: MGM.
Other Movies in ‘ The Thomas Crown Affair’ Franchise:
‘Loren & Rose’ revolves around Rose (Jacqueline Bisset), a legendary actress trying to revive her career. Loren (Kelly Blatz) is a promising filmmaker. Over the course of their many encounters, a deep friendship evolves as their love of art, understanding of grief, and faith in life’s potential guide them through personal and creative transformations.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with legendary actress Jacqueline Bisset about her work on ‘Loren & Rose,’ her first reaction to the screenplay, relating to her character, acting opposite Kelly Blatz, their characters unusual friendship, and working with filmmaker Russel Brown, as well as her memories of making ‘Bullitt’ with Steve McQueen and director Peter Yates, and the legacy of the film.
Jacqueline Bisset in director Russell Brown’s ‘Loren & Rose.’
You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews with Bisset and Kelly Blatz.
Moviefone: To begin with, why did you feel that ‘Loren & Rose’ was an important movie for you to make?
Jacqueline Bisset: It was a special film for me, a very important one. Well, because it’s incredibly well-written, and it gave me an incredible opportunity to play this woman, and I really enjoyed it. It just reminds me, when I do these smaller, independent films with really caring filmmakers, how much I enjoy that aspect of the whole business, much more than I do the grandiosity sometimes around projects, which often doesn’t really touch me or make me feel welcome. I’m not particularly easy with it. I’ve done quite a few large films with big stars, and I enjoyed them, too. I’m not saying I didn’t. I’ve enjoyed almost everything I’ve done. But my personal choice and the reason I wanted to become an actor was to do individual auteur kind of material. It’s not part of a series, not that doing a series would necessarily be a bad thing, but I just tend to see things in a one-and-a-half or two-hour package. That’s sort of how I see things.
MF: What was your first reaction to the screenplay and what spoke to you personally about this story?
JB: Well, I liked that she was a flawed character. I was a little anxious that I would not have enough of the flawed part to be able to run her through because that’s given to another actress, a younger actress, to play me when I’m young, when most of this troublesome stuff that was in her reputation came from. I wanted to have some of that, I didn’t want my part to be too clean. So that was a worry, but I liked the fact that the character was flawed and untidy in a way, and a bit off the wall. She was always human, and had a relationship with the daughter that was not great, and I could understand why when I saw her singing in the restaurant. I just thought that, to have a mother like that must be quite tough. Imperfection is always good and it’s just a wonderful role that goes around corners, goes up walls, down the back, round the back stairs, up and then around, and it just had wonderful journeys to take within a character. But ultimately her focus was on him and her, what her personal certainties are, and that she saw that he was an artist. She wants him to stand up and be in that light, and for the right reasons and to believe in himself. She gives him a lot. He gives her a lot, too, mutual mentoring.
Jacqueline Bisset in director Russell Brown’s ‘Loren & Rose.’
MF: Did you relate to the character and what was your approach to playing her?
JB: I relate to all of it. Well, basically learning the lines is the most important thing. Getting that under my belt and then hoping that Kelly would be as good a listener as he was, an unbelievable listener, and he really helped me to loosen my character up because he didn’t make me feel rushed. He really listened and that’s such a rare thing. It’s rare in life and with actors, too. Sometimes people are sort of waiting for their line. You can sense them waiting for their line and I understand that it can happen. I’ve done films in different languages and I did a movie (‘The Sunday Woman’) with Marcello Mastroianni once in Italy, and I didn’t speak Italian. The director had asked me to do it in French, which looked more like Italian because it was all going to be looped afterwards. But I remember I would wait for Mastroianni to come to the end of a sentence, and I would start my line. So sometimes, he’d say in Italian, “I haven’t finished.” Oh my God, it was so embarrassing. Anyway, we got through it, so how you get there, it can change. You just have to get there.
MF: Can you talk about Rose and Loren’s unusual friendship, what she’s trying to teach him, and what she learns from him?
JB: Well, it is two different questions. She learns from him that she needs to give him, and she gives him her life, her confidence that she’s built, the imperfections of her life, and the disagreeable aspects of her life. She warns him about life. She warns him about the pitfall of just going for the money for the wrong reasons, just to be getting involved with projects just because of the status or not for the real things that really matters. He doesn’t believe her, really. He wants that attention. She says, “You’ve done one project that was well accepted and now you are addicted to that thing that you wanted. You’ll end up doing rubbish if you don’t pay attention. Get out of that rubbish. Be an artist. You aspire to that. Go through with it. Get rid of the fear. Stand tall. Be an individual.” I think she says, “Own your existence.” That just gives me such a thrill to say those words.
Jacqueline Bisset in director Russell Brown’s ‘Loren & Rose.’
MF: The movie is really a two-hander, mostly focusing on just Loren and Rose, and their relationship. What was it like for you acting opposite Kelly Blatz?
JB: For the most part, yeah. That’s what it is. So we defined the rhythm of it, and just to see him so focused at times. Sometimes it’s me who’s focused, sometimes it’s him, but his presence was enormous, and he gave me a great deal of help. Well, just the act of listening, it’s a very fertile ground when you feel free to explore and be in your body and somebody’s actually absorbing it, listening and reacting. He doesn’t necessarily agree with me about some things. There’s quite a degree of conflict, backwards and forwards, but just his presence, to be present in life. When we see somebody who has great presence, it’s about them being present. It’s what it is. It’s being in the moment and being there, and you feel it as an energy, I think.
MF: Is it challenging making a movie where you are really on screen for most of the film?
JB: Well, it is. It’s not something I sought out to be. In fact, I’ve actually rather avoided big roles. I did a film many years ago in the beginning called ‘The Grasshopper,’ in which I played a showgirl. I got very good reviews from it, but it wasn’t well distributed. It was with Jim Brown, and I thought, “Okay, this was all great, but did I enjoy it?” It was too much. I was in everything too much, running down corridors, changing to get to the next line, seeing the pressure of it. I thought, “This is not me. This is not what I want.” I want to be part of a several characters in a film and not be in everything. I didn’t want to be in everything, and I haven’t done that many enormous roles. So I need to think about things, I need to feel them. I was under such pressure, and I didn’t know how to preserve my energy. I was young, and I didn’t know how to handle it. I found it very exhausting. I was fine in the film, and I thought it was an okay movie for the time. The character was a good character. But is that what I want? No, I’d rather be more elusive in more interesting characters.
Jacqueline Bisset in director Russell Brown’s ‘Loren & Rose.’
MF: What was it like collaborating with writer and director Russell Brown on set?
JB: Well, he’d already given me everything by writing the role and being there, so I wanted to get a take on what he wanted. Occasionally he gave me a line reading. He gave me a line reading on the bit when I’m talking about there being a moon. He got up, and he did this sort of intricate strange little moment. I thought, “Oh Christ, am I going to have to do that?” I thought, “Oh, I’m not sure about that. How do I find that? I’ve got to find it.” I said, “Okay, just go do it.” That was a moment when he had given me a rather precise direction, but generally he let me pretty much wander around in my own thing. He didn’t give us particular directions. He had to move the camera a lot. He tried to create a certain energy by moving the camera, and by the size of the shots. There were mirrors behind that he felt were important because he could get angles on us that we couldn’t see, that were behind us. I paid no attention to the mirrors at all, but he was watching the mirrors, apparently. He wore very funny outfits because he was cold. I couldn’t believe how he turned up some sometimes in outfits. I said, “What are you doing dressed like that?” He said, “I’m just cold.” I said, “Okay, fine.” It just cracked me up. I have an image of directors. Usually they got the sort of jacket with the pockets, a jungle jacket type thing, with pockets to put things in, and he had absolutely nothing like that. He was hilarious. I found him very funny, but very cool, pleasant, and he couldn’t control himself. All those details are fun.
MF: Finally, ‘Bullitt’ is my absolute favorite movie of all time. What are your memories of making that film with Steve McQueen and director Peter Yates?
JB: Well, I worked with Peter Yates twice. I did that film, and also he directed ‘The Deep,’ so that was a good experience too. Both experiences were good. I was still fairly green in terms of the business. Steve was a little bit hyper. He was involved with his first production. It was his own company, Solar Productions, so he would rush up to me and say a few words, and it was all new American jargon. I mean, I didn’t know what “soul chicks’ or “dudes” were. I was like, “Yes, Steve. Yes, Steve, yes.” I couldn’t say, “What is this? What is a soul chick? What is it really to be a soul chick?” This was the ’60s, the end of the ’60s in America. He was patient with me. He was nice. He was cool, very cool. He rushed around on his bike. He came to the set. He left the set, leaning forward, like a sort of cat animal on the bike. He’d be gone, and he obviously did not want to get caught by the public. He was a very big star at that time. He would never show himself. He was very discreet. We’d all go to restaurants together. It was like a group of us, the director, the producer, Steve, myself, and one or two other people occasionally, but usually we’re like four or five. He would always go in a corner, turn his back, and need private room. He never wanted to be seen anywhere, and I thought it was curious. He wasn’t like, “I’m a star” at all. Very much kind of private and quiet, and didn’t make a lot of noise, and didn’t show off. He was cool. He was very cool.
Steve McQueen in 1968’s ‘Bullitt.’
MF: ‘Bullitt’ seems more popular and relevant today than it was when it was originally released. Are you surprised by the legacy of the movie?
JB: I’m stunned by it. I get asked to go to car things, and they’re still talking about ‘Bullitt’. I say, “What is this thing with men, and a car?” I just don’t get it. I have to admit. I didn’t particularly enjoy the working of it because I felt like I didn’t know what I was doing, and I was always a bit self-conscious., but I was very happy to work with Peter Yates, who later used me in ‘The Deep.’ I got to like him very much. He was a very civilized man. He treated me very well, he was very patient with me in the early days of my career, but I have good memories of all that. It’s all good memories.
Jacqueline Bisset in director Russell Brown’s ‘Loren & Rose.’
Bradley Cooper at the premiere of ‘American Sniper.’
Fittingly, given how speedy the character tends to be in his first movie, things are moving quickly for Steven Spielberg’s movie based around Frank Bullitt, as ironically brought to screens by Steve McQueen in 1968.
We brought you the news in February that Spielberg was developing a new movie that would take the hard-nosed policeman and bring him to a new story for Warner Bros.
Deadline has now heard that Bradley Cooper is closing a deal to play the man, putting his own impressive charisma up against McQueen’s. Quite the challenge…
In Peter Yates’ original movie, the story finds ambitious Senator Walter Chalmers (Robert Vaughn) aiming to take down mob boss Pete Ross (Vic Tayback) with the help of testimony from the criminal’s hothead brother Johnny (Pat Renella). The witness is in protective custody in San Francisco under the watch of police lieutenant Frank Bullitt (McQueen). When a pair of mob hitmen enter the scene, Bullitt follows their trail through a maze of complications and double-crosses.
The result is widely regarded as one of the most iconic car chases in movie history, barreling through the streets of San Francisco and jumping its many hills, all scored with Lalo Schifrin’s memorable music.
Steve McQueen in 1968’s ‘Bullitt.’
No details have been released about what the new film will find Bullitt doing, but chances are it’ll involve fast cars, hard knocks and plenty of action. Josh Springer, who wrote ‘The Post’ for Spielberg, is developing the script with the director.
This marks Spielberg and Cooper finding a way to work directly together at last after a couple of false starts. Spielberg was originally aboard ‘American Sniper’ (which starred Cooper) before leaving ahead of shooting, to be replaced by Clint Eastwood. Then there’s the more recent ‘Maestro’, about legendary composer Leonard Bernstein.
As with ‘Sniper’, Spielberg was considering directing, but began to reconsider. And after seeing how Cooper handled calling the shots (and starring) in the Oscar-winning ‘A Star is Born’, he was confident in handing the reins over to the actor, who pulled double duty on the biopic. It’ll be out via Netflix next year.
And this potential ‘Bullitt’ collaboration has been rumbling for a while like the engine of a 1968 Ford Mustang. Spielberg and Cooper apparently spent time spit-balling what might make for a good outing during the pandemic (presumably over zoom like everyone else) and figuring out whether it’s something they wanted to work on.
Looks like they worked it all out, though the movie is still just in development for now.
As for Spielberg, his semi-autobiographical drama ‘The Fabelmans’ is on limited release now, ahead of a wider platform schedule next week.
(L to R) Gabriel LaBelle and co-writer/producer/director Steven Spielberg on the set of ‘The Fabelmans.’
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Steven Spielberg dipped into the past to Oscar-nominated effect last year with ‘West Side Story’, and he’s looking to it again for a potential future film. The blockbuster filmmaker is developing a new, original story based around Frank Bullitt, the character famously brought to screens by Steve McQueen in the 1968 thriller, ‘Bullitt.’
In Peter Yates’ 1968 movie, the story finds ambitious Senator Walter Chalmers (Robert Vaughn) aiming to take down mob boss Pete Ross (Vic Tayback) with the help of testimony from the criminal’s hothead brother Johnny (Pat Renella). The witness is in protective custody in San Francisco under the watch of police lieutenant Frank Bullitt (McQueen). When a pair of mob hitmen enter the scene, Bullitt follows their trail through a maze of complications and double-crosses.
The result is widely regarded as one of the most iconic car chases in movie history, barreling through the streets of San Francisco and jumping its many hills, all scored with Lalo Schifrin’s memorable music.
To be clear, this won’t be a remake of ‘Bullitt’ itself, but instead a new movie featuring the character. But what will it be exactly? No one can say yet, since it’s at a very early stage.
All we know for now is that Spielberg has been considering the idea of making movie featuring the character for a while now and came close last year to locking it down to follow ‘West Side Story’, but rights negotiations with McQueen’s estate to use the character weren’t finalized in time, so he switched tracks to shoot drama ‘The Fabelmans’, which is loosely based on his life.
Steven Spielberg on the set of ‘The Post.’
With the McQueen family on board (son Chad and granddaughter Molly McQueen are executive producers on the potential new movie), Spielberg has the greenlight to make a deal with Warner Bros. and move ahead with developing the movie with an eye to directing it.
He’s hired ‘Spotlight’ writer Josh Singer, with whom he worked on ‘The Post’ to write the script, but without a finished screenplay, it’s unlikely that Spielberg would make this movie next.
An even bigger challenge might be finding someone to fill Steve McQueen’s black turtleneck and Ford Mustang – can anyone replicate the actor’s cool style?
Spielberg’s certainly having a good year so far with plenty of awards success for ‘West Side Story’, even if the movie has struggled at the box office, earning just $70 million worldwide so far.
Still, he has the aforementioned ‘Fabelmans’ headed to theaters for Thanksgiving. That film, inspired by his own upbringing in Arizona, features Paul Dano as a version of his father, Michelle Williams as his mother, and Seth Rogen as the character of his favorite uncle.
Steve McQueen, who directed “12 Years a Slave” to a Best Picture Oscar, is prepping work on the limited TV series “Small Axe.”
It will be set in London’s West Indian community during the 1960s and will tell five separate stories. The first will be two hours and then the remaining episodes will focus on different characters in the same setting.
It sounds very close to the filmmaker’s own experience growing up in Hanwell, West London amidst institutionalized racism, as he told The Guardian in a 2014 interview.
Casting hasn’t been announced, but the series already has distribution in North America and the UK thanks to a partnership between the BBC and Amazon.
McQueen made news last year by complaining about “Peak TV,” after his experience trying to bring a show to HBO called “Codes of Conduct.”
“TV had its moment. It’s fodder now, isn’t it? It’s fodder. […] There was a moment in the ’90s or early 2000s when it was amazing. And now it’s just, ‘Get stuff done. We need stuff.’ I don’t know what’s happening now, but obviously the quality has gone down a little bit. There’s more of it, but less quality,” he said.
However, he was persuaded to work on “Small Axe,” perhaps because it’s more like a series of short films. Or one long movie, if you’re in the “Twin Peaks: The Return” camp.
In terms of the winter movie cycle, Thanksgiving is a great time to get caught up.
You have a couple of days off, are probably stuffed with, er, stuffing, and want to be prepared for the Christmas movie onslaught that is just around the corner, when both Mary PoppinsandSpider-Man will be vying for your attention (amongst many, many others). So we’ve prepared a handy viewing guide for the Thanksgiving break, for when you want to escape to the theater with your loved ones, or leave them behind while they digest their turkey and watch whatever football game is on. And don’t worry, if you want to watch Netflix instead, we’ve got that covered, too.
‘Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald‘
Warner Bros/Wizarding World
Remember “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” 2016’s ambitious but somewhat confusing fantasy romp that was supposed to serve as an extension of the lucrative Warner Bros. franchise but instead was kind of just huh? Well, they made another one! And this one is much better.
With Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne, again) dispatched to Paris to track down the powerful Credence (Ezra Miller) and foil the plot of villainous wizard Gellert Grindelwald (Johnny Depp), the movie adds some international intrigue, a more admissibly knotty plot and, thanks to an appearance by sexy young Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law), some concrete connections between the various strands of this franchise. Just be warned — before you pile the family into the station wagon, it might be a good idea to re-watch the first movie. Consider that your magic spell for understanding “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.”
‘Widows‘
Fox
Given the pedigree, it’s very clear that “Widows” isn’t your run-of-the-mill thriller. Based on a British prime time series from 1983, it concerns a group of women (among them: Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez, Elizabeth Debicki and Cynthia Erivo) who are forced into a sticky situation when their criminal husbands are killed in a heist-gone-wrong.
Directed by Academy Award-winner Steve McQueen and co-written by Gillian Flynn (who wrote “Gone Girl” and “Sharp Objects”), this is a movie that thrills on both an intellectual and visceral level. “Ocean’s 8” it is not.
‘The Favourite‘
Fox
This is the time of year when the studios unleash their stuffy period movies and, yes, there are even a few of those this year. But “The Favourite” is not one of them.
Rambunctious, sexy, and unpredictable, it’s the antithesis of every boring costume drama that they throw Oscars at with willful abandon. This is electrically alive in a way few films, period or otherwise, ever are, anchored by a trio of brilliant female performers (Olivia Colman, Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz) and some of the finest direction this year (courtesy of Greek genius Yorgos Lanthimos). Set during the reign of Queen Anne (Colman) in the early part of the 18th century, it features palace intrigue, love triangles, and people getting pushed into muddy ditches. What more do you want?
‘Ralph Breaks the Internet‘
Disney
In the sequel to the hit 2012 animated film, Ralph (John C. Reilly) and Vanellope (Sarah Silverman) head to the Internet, where they fall in with online auctions, meme-creation, and a particularly violent “Grand Theft Auto”-style game called “Slaughter Race” that is lorded over by a bad-ass, leather-clad ringleader named Shank (Gal Gadot). Also, the Disney Princesses show up. As you can imagine, it’s a lot of fun.
“Ralph Breaks the Internet” is one of those rare family sequels that won’t leave you with a toothache from it being so sweet, there’s actual pathos and emotionality but nothing feels syrupy or forced and it’s honestly one of the most visually ravishing animated features you’re ever likely to see.
‘Green Book‘
Universal
Up until this point, Peter Farrelly has directed as one-half of the Farrelly Brothers — serving as the tag-team provocateurs behind gross-out extravaganzas like “Dumb and Dumber,” “There’s Something About Mary,” and the underrated classic “Kingpin.” So it’s interesting to see Farrelly emerge as something of an Oscar frontrunner for his work directing “Green Book,” a based-on-a-true-story racial drama starring Mahershala Ali and Viggo Mortensen.
In the film. Ali plays Don Shirley, a classical pianist, who hires New York tough guy Tony Vallelonga (Mortensen) to escort him on a tour of the South. This could be the feel-good movie of the fall, which makes it a perfect after-Thanksgiving family outing.
‘Creed II‘
MGM
Finally. The follow-up to 2015’s brilliant “Rocky” refresh “Creed” is now upon us. Let us give thanks.
In “Creed II,” Michael B. Jordan returns as Adonis Creed, the son of Apollo Creed, who this time turns to going toe-to-doe with Viktor Drago (Florian Munteanu), the son of Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren), who famously killed Apollo in the ring (in 1985’s Cold War classic “Rocky IV“). Oh, and Rocky (Sylvester Stallone) is still around! So there’s that. Hopefully the sequel builds on the intensity and excitement of the first film, while supplying some new wrinkles as well. We can already feel ourselves getting inspired.
‘Roma‘
Netflix
Yes, “Roma” is a Netflix movie. But in a rare move, the streaming service is debuting the movie in theaters first, before it hits the platform in mid-December. And, really, you should do everything in your power to see it on the big screen. In fact, try and see it on the biggest screen possible. Because this movie is absolutely jaw dropping.
An epic on a miniature scale, the highly autobiographical film from “Gravity” filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron follows a middle-class family in Mexico City in the early 1970s dealing with heartache, political upheaval, and the day-to-day domestic drama that every family deals with. What makes this story even more captivating is that it’s told through the eyes of the family’s housekeeper Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio, giving one of the year’s best performances even though she’s not a professional actor). You have to see this with an audience in a theater. It just won’t be the same on your iPad.
‘Overlord‘
Paramount
If your family is really annoying you over Thanksgiving, it might be time to watch a little more muscular movie at the multiplex. Perhaps something like “Overlord,” a high-concept World War II romp that features thrills, chills, and the cathartic experience of watching sweaty hunks brutally murder Nazis.
Conceived by mystery box magnate J.J. Abrams, “Overlord” is a hard-core horror movie mixed with an equally hardcore war movie, wherein a group of Allied soldiers (among them Jovan Adepo and Wyatt Russell) parachute into France to take down a radio tower on the eve of D-Day and wind up finding a gnarly zombie conspiracy. You know, that old story. But there are some definite grindhouse pleasures to be had as Nazis get shot, blown-up, and lit on fire and then come back from the dead to do it all again.
Heist movies are often compelling because of their mechanics — the thrill (and spectacle) of watching crooks dismantle a system, outsmart the law and escape with their lives, and bounty, intact. Steve McQueen’s “Widows” offers a lot of superficial window dressing to make his heist unique — the fact that the would-be perpetrators are the wives of “real” thieves — but what’s compelling, even riveting, about his film is not how they are pulling it off, but why.
Bolstered by an impressive ensemble including Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez, Elizabeth Debicki, Cynthia Erivo, Colin Farrell, Daniel Kaluuya, and Liam Neeson, “Widows” brings to irresistible life the determination, and desperation, of four women struggling to control their own fate within a system built upon, and preoccupied by, its own greed, corruption, and indifference.
Davis (“Fences”) plays Veronica Rawlins, a Chicago teacher’s union delegate whose life is thrown into disarray after her husband, Harry (Neeson), dies during a botched robbery — one he staged with his colleagues Carlos (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), Florek (Jon Bernthal), and Coburn (Jimmy Goss). Before she can begin to grieve, local crime boss Jamal Manning (Brian Tyree Henry) contacts her, demanding the money that Harry took, which he hopes will cushion his campaign for South Side alderman against incumbent Jack Mulligan (Farrell). But after retrieving Harry’s notebook, which contains the plans for his failed robbery, Veronica reaches out to the wives of his former partners — Linda (Rodriguez), Alice (Debicki), and Amanda (Carrie Coon) — enlisting them to complete the job and pay off Jamal.
Twentieth Century Fox.
Though initially reluctant to participate, Linda and Alice quickly discover an aptitude for the kind of reconnaissance and deception needed to mount a robbery, while Veronica canvasses Mulligan, a friend of Harry’s, for help. But even as everything finally seems to come together— hiring Belle, a resourceful babysitter, as driver after Veronica’s trusted chauffeur, Bash (Garret Dillahunt), suffers an attack at the hands of Jamal’s cold-blooded brother Jatemme (Kaluuya) — the details of the heist, and the motives of the players involved, force them to confront new and uncomfortable elements of their individual pasts. They do so even as time rapidly approaches to launch a desperate plan intended to protect their collective futures.
Adapted with Gillian Flynn (“Gone Girl”) from a British miniseries of the same name, McQueen condenses what was originally six hours of BBC television into a very dense 129 minutes, though you’re unlikely to feel that there’s anything missing. They not only conjure extraordinarily vivid portraits of all of the characters involved — women and men, bad and good — but provide a rich and detailed world that gave birth to or shaped their identities. Set in Chicago against the backdrop of one of its poverty-stricken boroughs, there’s automatically a divide between the haves and have-nots, but McQueen turns that dialectic into a pathology, and a commentary on the dynamic that continues to metastasize in contemporary American society.
Veronica lives comfortably in an apartment provided by Harry’s extracurricular exploits. But, after his death, she is left with nothing; none of it is in her name, and she is immediately reminded of her powerlessness by Jamal, who dreams of finding a legitimate role in his community but backslides into the criminality that made it financially possible for him to aspire to something greater. The always beautiful and obedient Linda was raised in an atmosphere of domestic violence, but soon discovers that there’s power in people underestimating her. And Belle, literally running from one job to the next, stumbles across the moneymaking opportunity of a lifetime — the one for which she’s inadvertently been preparing her whole adult life.
Davis brings polished, flinty resolve to Veronica’s plight, concealing her grief behind immaculate presentation of her clothes and lifestyle to the world, not to mention a fluffy little dog that accompanies her everywhere. McQueen lets her be sexy, vulnerable, tough and unlikeable, often simultaneously, and you can feel Davis’ already-sophisticated faculties as an actress flexing with a freedom she hasn’t experienced before.
20th Century Fox
Debicki seems to deliver one “star-making” performance after another, but here she transforms in a really profound way that isn’t merely a byproduct of playing a women who chooses not to be a victim. She literally towers over her co-stars (she’s 6’3”), but she carries a feverish, improvisational energy and commands the screen with utter believability. Erivo is another standout as Belle, tougher and more fearless than any of the women to whom she’s meant to prove herself.
But Kaluuya creates a singular sort of menace felt even when he’s not on screen as Jatemme, a person indoctrinated to not feel and not care about anything except his own needs and goals — and his brother’s. He is willing to stop at nothing, and do anything, to accomplish them.
McQueen’s movies have long since explored the deeper roots of what makes us work — and not work — as a society, which may be why the film’s central robbery feels like sleight of hand. By the time it goes down, we care more about the characters at the center of this story and how they will survive than whether the machinery of their plans comes easily together. Working with longtime cinematographer Sean Bobbitt, McQueen delivers the visceral thrills of criminality, but always injects them with the greater cultural and emotional dimensions of people in a world where it feels necessary, or justified.
Ultimately, McQueen’s latest certainly joins the ranks of films like “Heat” and “The Usual Suspects” in terms of its intelligence, intensity and complexity, but its goals are different than most heist movies, as is its success. As the best entries in the subgenre tend to build to some sort of climactic showdown and a quick getaway, “Widows” lingers in the messy, relatable humanity of the perpetrators, it cares why they are committing their crimes, and it examines what it means — not just financially, but emotionally — if they succeed.
