(L to R) Sydney Sweeney, Alexa Demie, Barbie Ferreira, Maude Apatow, Zendaya in ‘Euphoria’ season 2. Photo: Eddy Chen/HBO.
Preview:
After long delays, ‘Euphoria’ Season 3 will shoot in January.
Creator Sam Levinson has written the season.
Actors such as Zendaya, Sydney Sweeney and Jacob Elordi will return.
‘Euphoria’ fans have had to be remarkably patient, as the show has seen some severe delays in getting back to shooting.
Now, though, there is light at the end of the tunnel for those who have been watching the (mis)adventures of Rue (Zendaya) and the rest, as HBO has announced that creator Sam Levinson will kick off production on Season 3 in January next year.
Here’s the statement from Francesca Orsi, executive vice president of HBO programming and head of HBO drama series and films:
“I am thrilled that we are ready to begin production on ‘Euphoria’ in January. We could not be happier with our creative partnership with Sam and this incredible cast. We look forward to bringing this new season of ‘Euphoria’ to life for the fans.”
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What’s the story of ‘Euphoria’?
Zendaya in ‘Euphoria.’ Photograph by Eddy Chen/HBO.
For those who have somehow missed the cable channel sensation, ‘Euphoria’ follows a group of high school students as they navigate love and friendships in a world of drugs, sex, trauma and social media.
The series is an adaptation of an Israeli show of the same name, and all episodes are written by Levinson, who also directs a lot of the show.
Sydney Sweeney in ‘Euphoria.’ Photograph by Eddy Chen/HBO.
In March, a report from The Wrap brought word the delay is happening because ‘Euphoria’ creator/show-runner Sam Levinson has decided –– probably smartly, given the age of his cast –– that the new season should take the characters beyond high school.
While the second season didn’t end with graduation (instead a school play went badly wrong and a shootout left at least one character dead), the new season will follow the leads’ lives post-school.
And that change means new script work and extra time for development. Hence the delay.
Despite its star-making success, the show has not been without issues, including dealing with the pandemic while shooting its first season and strikes following its second. Indeed, Levinson had been writing the third season when the writers’ strike began last year. The actors’ strike also compounded the issue.
Barbie Ferreira, who plays the character of Kat, has announced she won’t return for the new season, and Angus Cloud, whose character Fezco was arrested at the end of Season 2, tragically died last year.
Levinson also co-wrote and produced ‘The Idol’ for HBO, which arrived last year to scathing reviews and has been cancelled after one season.
Who will return for ‘Euphoria’ Season 3?
Jacob Elordi on HBO’s ‘Euphoria.’ Photograph by Eddy Chen/HBO.
Opening in theaters on September 8th, ‘The Nun II’ attempts to wring more scares out of the demonic habit-wearer first glimpsed in 2016’s ‘The Conjuring 2’.
Unfortunately, despite some expressive performances from the likes of Taissa Farmiga, Storm Reid and Jonas Bloquet, it falls back on some very tired tropes and giant plot contrivances.
‘The Nun II’, as you might expect, picks up the story of 2018’s ‘The Nun’.
1956 – France. A priest is murdered. An evil is spreading. The film follows Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga) as she once again comes face-to-face with Valak, the demon nun (Bonnie Aarons).
Given that Valak was not defeated at the end of ‘The Nun’, it’s in no way surprising that the demonic entity is back to cause more chaos, especially since we learned that Maurice (Jonas Bloquet) was possessed by the creature, and also returns here, this time working as a handyman at a girls’ boarding school in France.
At this point, almost anything from the main ‘Conjuring’ franchise (which, in case you forgot, sees Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson playing real-life paranormal investigators Lorraine and Ed Warren, who come up against some scary situations) that is even slightly popular with audiences ends up getting its own franchise.
So far, we’ve seen doll Annabelle spin-off for three movies, and demonic Nun Valak is now on her (its?) second. The first ‘Nun’ movie was directed by Corin Hardy, but for the second, we have ‘Conjuring’ franchise veteran Michael Chaves, who has so far shot spin-off ‘The Curse of La Llorona’ and third main ‘Conjuring’ entry ‘The Devil Made Me Do It’.
Here’s what we liked about ‘The Nun II’: the performances, by the returning likes of Taissa Farmiga (sister of Vera, though their onscreen roles are seemingly not connected beyond appearing in the same movie universe) and Bloquet are certainly committed, and Storm Reid, playing a fellow nun, is also a welcome presence in the film. Even if later on, they mostly just have to look wide-eyed in terror.
Chaves and cinematographer Tristan Nyby also bathe their movie in an effective wash of dark, European colors and the environs (shot in France) are convincingly creepy. The boarding school setting works for a horror movie, and also provides a batch of suitably scream-happy youngsters to respond to Valak’s terrifying tricks.
And talking of her actions, one or two of the scares are effective, one moment in particular involving a hook working to get the blood pumping. Unfortunately, there the praise ends.
Between Chaves and writer Akela Cooper (who has delivered genre fun via movies such as ‘Malignant’ and ‘M3GAN’), you might think that the stage was set for some original horror action. But that’s not really the case.
It seems churlish to castigate a horror movie for keeping to the tropes of its genre, but ‘The Nun II’ rolls out a laundry list of basic cliches that stop being entertaining after a while and will have you start to check your watch.
There are only so many times that Valak can pop up, either as itself or in some other form without warning and you wonder why people keep on screaming when all they have to do is wait a few minutes for the habitual horror to return.
Other scenes are even less effective, particularly one depiction of what is supposed to be the Devil, but which falls foul of what could be dubbed “satanic convenience” –– the creature is seemingly the prince of Hell, but at one point is stopped by a bunch of schoolgirls locking a big door.
Likewise, early in the movie, Valak slays a priest by setting him on fire (it’s this act that partly sends Sister Irene on her latest mission to track the demon down), but later on when it tries the same trick with someone more important, the convenient creature starts much slower, so that they can survive.
It’s just one frustrating element that derails the power of the film; for most of it, you feel like you’ve seen all of these moments a hundred times before and pulled off to more successful effect.
How many times, for example, have we seen a character roll or kick a ball into a dark corner in a seemingly empty, only to get a fright when it is kicked back by something or someone unknown? ‘The Nun II’s version, played out during an early scene, feels like nothing new on that front.
Likewise, the entire plot grinds to a halt when Irene seeks out Father Ridley (Hudson), a friend at the Papal archives (well, the ones in France) that has been researching Valak and other Hellspawn. While getting such information across to the audience is an unfortunate necessity, this scene has Ridley serve as Father Exposition, dishing out the details in such a way that it feels as though it’s being dumped on you.
Outside of the terror elements, even the schoolchildren feel like their story is straight from the Big Book of Movie Stories, with mean girls, young outsider heroines and the dedicated teacher all present.
‘The Nun II’ will certainly appeal to dedicated fans of this giant horror franchise, but feels unlikely to convert newcomers with a basic, often tired series of horrid happenings. We’re having none of it.
Pedro Pascal in ‘The Last of Us.’ Photo: Warner Media.
You might not think that a show about a cataclysmic infection would be so warmly embraced by audiences still dealing the effects of a huge pandemic, but clearly viewers were ready for ‘The Last of Us’.
Adapted from the bestselling PlayStation game franchise developed by Neil Druckmann and the team at Naughty Dog, ‘The Last of Us’ landed on HBO Max a couple of weeks ago. After trending on twitter and scoring huge viewing figures, it has now been renewed for a second season.
‘The Last of Us’ takes place 20 years after modern civilization has been destroyed by a fungal infection that turns humans into vicious, disease-spreading creatures. Joel (Pedro Pascal), a hardened survivor, is hired to smuggle Ellie (Bella Ramsey), a 14-year-old girl, out of an oppressive quarantine zone. What starts as a small job soon becomes a brutal and heartbreaking journey as they both must traverse the U.S. and depend on each other for survival.
(L to R) Nico Parker and Pedro Pascal in ‘The Last of Us.’ Photo: Warner Media.
“I’m humbled, honored, and frankly overwhelmed that so many people have tuned in and connected with our retelling of Joel and Ellie’s journey. The collaboration with Craig Mazin, our incredible cast & crew, and HBO exceeded my already high expectations,” says Druckmann in a statement. “Now we have the absolute pleasure of being able to do it again with season two! On behalf of everyone at Naughty Dog & PlayStation, thank you!”
“I’m so grateful to Neil Druckmann and HBO for our partnership, and I’m even more grateful to the millions of people who have joined us on this journey,” adds Mazin. “The audience has given us the chance to continue, and as a fan of the characters and world Neil and Naughty Dog created, I couldn’t be more ready to dive back in.”
While Season 1 dealt with the first game (and some prequel material showing how the infection started and spread), Season 2 seems likely to tackle the follow-up while also exploring avenues of its own. And the series has made some changes to the story and characters that fans have appreciated rather than complaining about them.
Now we have Season 2 to look forward to, though there are no details yet on when it’ll hit screens.
New episodes of ‘The Last of Us’ arrive weekly on Sundays via HBO Max.
HBO Max’s ‘The Last of Us.’ Photo: Warner Media.
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After years – decades, almost – of a terrible reputation for dodgy quality and lack of faithfulness, video game adaptations are finally having their moment. Even if movies such as ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ don’t exactly set critics’ hearts on fire, they’re successful and spawn sequels the way characters in some titles spawn new lives.
And with an expansive, well-designed and much-loved game like ‘The Last of Us’, the small screen and healthy-budget streaming environs would seem to be the ideal venue for a solid adaptation. Hopes are high, then, for HBO Max’s series based on ‘The Last of Us’.
The prestige on the creative front is already high for this one: you have Craig Mazin, who went from writing movies including ‘The Hangover’ to creating ‘Chernobyl’, one of the most respected and polished HBO dramas of recent years, as one of the main executive producers, sharing show-running duties with Neil Druckmann, who ‘Last of Us’ fans will know as the writer and developer behind the game itself.
Launched in 2013 by company Naughty Dog, ‘The Last Of Us’ is set in a post-apocalyptic world 20 years after a strange fungal outbreak began mutating people into vicious creatures. The storyline focuses on smuggler Joel, and Ellie, who may just be the key to a cure for the pandemic that has wrecked the planet.
When Joel is hired to smuggle Ellie out of an oppressive quarantine zone, he thinks it’ll be a quick job and an easy payday. But it soon become a brutal journey across the US and a struggle for survival. The show, which is intending a longer run than the limited, self-contained ‘Chernobyl’, will cover the events of the first game, with the option to also tackle the sequel, which came out in June 2020.
Though it had been developed as a movie, the idea moved to streaming once big screen development stalled.
(L to R) Pedro Pascal as Joel and Bella Ramsey as Ellie in HBO’s ‘The Last of Us.’
“Neil Druckmann is without question the finest storyteller working in the video game medium, and ‘The Last of Us’ is his magnum opus,” says Mazin, who is a fan of the game, when he first came aboard the concept in 2020. “Getting a chance to adapt this breathtaking work of art has been a dream of mine for years, and I’m so honored to do it in partnership with Neil.”
“From the first time I sat down to talk with Craig I was equally blown away by his approach to narrative and his love and deep understanding of ‘The Last of Us,’” Druckmann enthused. “With ‘Chernobyl’, Craig and HBO created a tense, harrowing, emotional masterpiece. I couldn’t think of better partners to bring the story of ‘The Last of Us’ to life as a television show.”
Alongside them are Gabriel Luna as Tommy, Joel’s younger brother, Merle Dandridge as Marlene, leader of a resistance movement (and playing the same role she does in the game) and Anna Torv as Tess.
From all appearances, Mazin, Druckmann and their team have conjured up a gloriously devastated, emotional world with just a hint of Western flavor in amongst the ruined buildings and creeping terror.
Opening in theaters, on digital and on demand September 2nd is the new action thriller ‘One Way,’ directed by Andrew Baird (‘Zone 414’).
The film stars musician turned actor Colson Baker, also known as Machine Gun Kelly, as Freddy, a thief on the run from a gangster named Vic (Drea de Matteo) with a bag full of her money.
Badly shot, and betrayed by his father (Kevin Bacon), Freddy takes a bus to get out of town and meets a mysterious girl named Rachel (Storm Reid) and a creepy passenger named Will (Travis Fimmel).
But she is probably best known for her iconic role as Adriana La Cerva on the groundbreaking HBO series ‘The Sopranos.’
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Drea de Matteo about her work on ‘One Way,’ her strong character, her relationship with Freddy and his father, shooting the torture scenes, working with Colson Baker, and if she ever gets tired of talking about ‘The Sopranos.’
Drea de Matteo as Vic in ‘One Way.’
You can read the full interview below or click on the video played above to watch our interview with Drea de Matteo about One Way.’
Moviefone: To begin with, how did you get involved with this project?
Drea de Matteo: Super simple. They sent me the script. I didn’t even look at it. I saw the cast. I said, “Wow, Travis Fimmel.” he’s been in this show, ‘Raised by Wolves,’ that I’m obsessed with. I had never heard of him before. I was like, “I love this guy. This is my favorite show.” I said, “I’ll travel anywhere to stick a gun to his head. So, sign me up.”
My agent was like, “You probably should read the script first.” I was like, “I don’t need to, I’m good. I’m going to go stick a gun to this guy’s head.” So that was it. I said yes, because of that. Then the rest followed.
MF: Vic is such a strong character, what was your approach to playing her?
DDM: Well, I’m not used to playing strong characters, so it was hard to leave my baggage at the door. had to give her a backstory where she might have been broken down to her knees on several occasions, in order for her to become as tough as she was.
I’m used to playing a victim. So, this is definitely different. I feel like I’ve been playing this kind of character for the last couple of projects and it’s liberating for me to not have to be living in a swamp of tears all day.
Colson Baker (Machine Gun Kelly) as Freddy in ‘One Way.’
MF: The film doesn’t spend a lot of time explaining how Vic got to the position of power that she has, so what kind of backstory did you give the character to explain how she became the leader of this criminal organization?
DDM: Well, I’m going to go there then. I figured that I might have been molested when I was young. I’m here with this boy, played by Machine Gun Kelly, that I might have been having an affair with, when he was very young and I was older. Also, she was having an affair with Kevin Bacon’s character, his father. So, there’s a really crazy, dirty, tricky, little mess in there.
I had to give myself that I grew up in a very twisted environment. Where I had nothing, I came from nothing and I created something out of nothing. But I had to step on a lot of people to get there, and to survive. I think she’s in survival mode and instead of being this over the top, angry boss, she’s this slithering snake of a tiger, looking for her next meal without making any noise, because she’s quiet. She’s not a big presence vocally.
MF: Can you talk more about the love triangle that Vic finds herself in with Freddy and his father?
DDM: You don’t know if I’m protecting Machine Gun Kelly, and I think that people are not going to know what my role is in his life. You know I’m his boss. You know that I am holding all the cards, and that the story can go any which way, depending on what switch I pull. But as far as the relationships go, I was tied into both of them.
(L to R) Travis Fimmel as Will and Storm Reid as Rachel in ‘One Way.’
MF: The movie initially unfolds with all the different characters separated, but they eventually come together for one scene. When you were shooting that scene with the other actors was it like, “Oh, wow, you’re in this movie too?”
DDM: Kind of, in a funny way, because first of all, it’s an indie film. You only have a certain amount of days to shoot. There’s not a ton of money. There’re no trailers. I think we all did this because everybody was sick of being kept indoors. It was right at the end of the lockdown. It was raining. There were tornado watches for Georgia, it was a mess out there. I remember Megan Fox was heating up Machine Gun’s car. My assistant was heating up my car. So, our cars were our safe spaces. It was bizarre. I think Kevin Bacon came down in his own tour bus, because he’s Kevin Bacon!
But yeah, it was like camp. Whenever you do a project like that or any kind, especially when it’s not a big TV show production, it’s different. I have my set of standards when I walk onto the set and I always have to let that go. I know I’m sitting in a car right now. I’m going to curl my hair in the car and I don’t want hair and makeup. But yes, we all act like we know each other, but with Machine Gun Kelly, I wasn’t going to go near him.
By the time I got to that bus, he’d been on that bus now for weeks. Basically, in the movie, he’d been in that bus for hours, in that state he’s in which I’m not going to talk about, but he’s in a state. You don’t want to mess with that state as an actor, or as a character. So, I just let it be. I had to fill in all those spaces on my own, because you want to respect his process. It was a huge process to get to where he has to go. He’s fantastic in it.
MF: How challenging were the torture scenes for you to do? Were they scary to shoot, or was it fun?
DDM: Well, I got to work with my buddy Rhys Coiro, who we’ve done a lot of work together. He was just doing it because Travis and I were doing it, I think, because he normally would be in a much bigger part. So, we tried to flesh that out a little, so we had a little bit more to do. We improvised most of it, those were just phone calls mostly.
Andrew just sat there and said, “Go again, do it again. Do it this way. Do it that way.” I’m not good at improvising. I’m a TV actor. I’m very methodical. Even though I’m a primal animal lunatic when I have to do all my emotional stuff. But at the end of the day, I know how to stick to the words. So, when I don’t have to stick to the words, I’m like, “Where do I go?”
He wanted us to improvise. So, I did the best I could, but we had Luis Da Silva Jr. I don’t know if you know who he is? He’s the kid with the face tattoos, and he was in the Nike commercial years ago. He brought it and he brought it hard. I was told to be collected, so my direction was to just stay calm, while everybody else is freaking out. So, I’m just sitting there working off of his calm, and it is what it is. But we went for that scene for sure. It was fun.
Kevin Bacon as Fred Snr. in ‘One Way.’
MF: Can you talk about working with director Andrew Baird and watching him execute his vision for this project?
DDM: It just seemed effortless. I came in on one of the last days. Not the last day, but we had the wrap party when I got there. So, it was towards the end. He’d been burnt at this point, being on this bus for days on end. So, he knew what he wanted and it was interesting to see.
MF: Finally, I really enjoyed your ‘Sopranos’ re-watch podcast series, ‘Gangster Goddess Broad-Cast.’ Will you be doing more episodes, and do you ever get tired of talking about ‘The Sopranos?’
DDM: I never get tired of talking about ‘The Sopranos.’ However, we stopped the podcast. I stopped mid-season 2 of ‘The Sopranos.’ The world was opening up again and I just wasn’t interested in sitting there, and doing that. But we went for a deep dive on that show, a really deep dive. It was a lot of work and I love talking about ‘The Sopranos,’ but on that level I needed a break.
But because of the podcast, we’ve done a lot of stuff. We’ve had a wine that was based from the Gangster Goddess podcast. Now we have our perfume, which is the smell of the Gangster Goddess. You can check that out on my Instagram, but that’s as far as the podcast is going these days. So, if you want to smell like my armpits, come on down!
(L to R) Drea de Matteo and Steven Van Zandt in HBO’s ‘The Sopranos.’
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Gunn is the screenwriter for “The Suicide Squad,” and he previously talked to Deadline about how “it just instantly started flowing” when he sat down to write it. Unfortunately, he hasn’t revealed plot details. In fact, Gunn wouldn’t even confirm if it was a sequel or a reboot when speaking to Entertainment Tonight (via Screen Rant) in May.
It could be a while before we learn more about Reid’s character. Whatever it is, her acting resume shows she’s ready. While “A Wrinkle in Time” is Reid’s biggest film to date, she has more in the pipeline, including “Relive” and “Killing Winston Jones.” On top of that, she stars in the HBO teen drama series “Euphoria” and recently appeared in the Netflix miniseries “When They See Us.”
“The Suicide Squad” is expected to start shooting in September in Atlanta and hit theaters on Aug. 6, 2021.
The Sundance film “Don’t Let Go,” starring Storm Reid and David Oyelowo, is coming soon — very soon, as in August 30.
The supernatural thriller, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival with the title “Relive,” will be released theatrically by Blumhouse Tilt, Universal’s OTL Releasing and Tom Ortenberg’s Briarcliff Entertainment.
In “Don’t Let Go,” Detective Jack Radcliff (Oyelowo) receives a shocking phone call from his recently-murdered niece Ashley (Reid). Working together across time, they race to solve her murder before it can happen.
Brian Tyree Henry, Mykelti Williamson, and Alfred Molina also star.
The indie comes from writer/director Jacob Aaron Estes, who made his debut with 2004’s “Mean Creek.”
After its premiere at Sundance, iO9 called it “‘Memento’ meets ‘Frequency,’ and that’s a good thing.”
Blumhouse Productions launched the Tilt label in 2015 to focus on micro-budget indies, including “Upgrade” and “Unfriended: Dark Web.”
Niecy Nash of “Claws” and “Scream Queens” was also just announced for the dramatic series: It’s based on the true story of five teenagers — four black, one Latino — from Harlem who were wrongfully convicted of the brutal rape of a jogger in Central Park in 1989.
This headline-making miscarriage of justice was previously told in Ken Burns‘s 2012 documentary “The Central Park Five.”
