(Left) Writer/Director Edgar Wright on the set of their film ‘Last Night in Soho’ (Right) Jane Fonda in 1968’s ‘Barbarella.’ Photo: Paramount Pictures.
Preview:
Edgar Wright has entered talks to make a new ‘Barbarella’.
Jean-Claude Forest created the character of Barbarella for serialization in the French ‘V Magazine’ in spring 1962, and in 1964 Éric Losfeld published these strips as a stand-alone book titled ‘Barbarella’. The book caused a scandal and became known as the first “adult” comic for its stories of an emancipated, independent woman who embraced her sexuality.
Roger Vadim directed a 1968 movie adaptation that follows an astronaut from the 41st century (played by Jane Fonda in full sex siren mode) who sets out to find and stop the evil scientist Durand Durand, whose Positronic Ray threatens to bring evil back into the galaxy.
There are sex machines. There are vibrant colors. It’s quite a trip. It didn’t however, set passions aflame at the box office.
Wright, a veteran of movies such as ‘Shaun of the Dead’, ‘Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World’ and ‘Last Night in Soho’ has looked to develop a new take on the ‘Barbarella’ story for a while now and is finally committing to work with Sony and Sweeney on it.
It won’t happen for a while, though, as Sweeney is an actor in demand and Wright is deep into pre-production on ‘The Running Man’ himself.
Talking of…
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What’s happening with ‘The Running Man’?
Arnold Schwarzenegger as Captain Benjamin “Ben” Richards in ‘The Running Man.’
As we mentioned, Wright has been developing an updated take on the scathing, violent sci-fi story originally penned by Stephen King (in his days using the Richard Bachman pseudonym) that was first brought to screens in 1987 starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.
It’s the story of a dystopian society where criminals –– and those the state wishes to punish/kill –– are forced to participate in a deadly game show where they go up against “champions” who earn money for the most creative kills. A police officer falsely accused of a crime is the latest “runner” sent to try his luck in the game.
The Schwarzenegger film, though, didn’t really faithfully adapt the book, so Wright is going to skew more towards it.
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When will ‘Barbarella’ be in theaters?
We’ll certainly have to wait for this one, since Sweeney has already lined up a biopic of boxer Christy Martin and a thriller called ‘The Caretaker’.
Jane Fonda in 1968’s ‘Barbarella.’ Photo: Paramount Pictures.
Zendaya in ‘Euphoria.’ Photograph by Eddy Chen/HBO.
Preview:
‘Euphoria’s third season shoot is delayed.
Creator/show-runner Sam Levinson needs more time to work on the scripts.
The series will now depict its characters after high school.
If you were eagerly anticipating the return of hit high school-set drama ‘Euphoria’ as advertised by HBO for 2025… You might want to be more patient than you expected to be.
Because though the show had initially intended to kick off filming its third season in May, that plan is reportedly out of the window. The reason? When it returns, it may not be set in high school at all.
Sydney Sweeney in ‘Euphoria.’ Photograph by Eddy Chen/HBO.
According to The Wrap, which has spoken to multiple sources, 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.
Here’s what one inside told the trade site:
“No one has lost faith in Sam as a creator. He is the driving force creatively on this show, he is still working with the same creative executives that he always has been, but since the show is changing, that process is taking longer.”
What else has been happening?
Jacob Elordi on HBO’s ‘Euphoria.’
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.
Barbie Ferreira, who plays the character of Kat, has announced she won’t return for the new season, and Angus Cloud, whose character Fez 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.
What has HBO said about the news?
Colman Domingo in ‘Euphoria.’ Photograph by Eddy Chen/HBO.
The cable channel has so far put out just one official statement:
“HBO and Sam Levinson remain committed to making an exceptional third season. In the interim, we are allowing our in-demand cast to pursue other opportunities.”
Which means that the stars of the show, including Zendaya and Sydney Sweeney, who have become big film names since the series began, will be back in theaters screens likely sooner than though. Quick: someone convince Denis Villeneuve to shoot ‘Dune: Messiah’ while he has the chance!
When will ‘Euphoria’ be back on our screens?
HBO reportedly is still aiming at that 2025 return, though likely late in the year now.
Zendaya on HBO’s ‘Euphoria.’ Photograph by Eddy Chen/HBO.
While the sight of Sydney Sweeney costumed in a nun’s habit might be jarring enough for viewers of her more provocative work in series and movies like ‘Anyone But You,’ ‘Euphoria’ or ‘The Voyeurs,’ there’s a lot more that will rattle you in director Michael Mohan’s creepy and entertainingly lurid ‘Immaculate.’
A religious horror thriller with a seasoning of nunsploitation, a generous topping of gore, and a go-for-broke attitude right out of the 1970s, ‘Immaculate’ might be in need of a few less jump scares and plot holes, but will hold your attention with its grisly twists and a ferocious performance by its star.
Director Michael Mohan on the set of ‘Immaculate.’ Photo: Neon.
Right up front, ‘Immaculate’ (written by Andrew Loebl) lets us know that not everything is divine at My Lady of Sorrows, a remote Italian convent where younger nuns care for their older, dying colleagues. Following an intro in which a panicked nun named Mary (Simona Tabasco, ‘The White Lotus’) meets a horrifying fate while trying to leave, we are then introduced to Sister Cecilia (Sydney Sweeney), who has pledged to devote her life to Christ ever since she nearly drowned in an accident and was miraculously returned to life after seven minutes.
Cecilia has been invited to the convent by Father Sal Tedeschi (Álvaro Morte) and is given a kind if stern welcome by the Mother Superior (Dora Romano), while immediately bonding with another young nun, Gwen (Benedetta Porcaroli). Although there are fleeting glimpses of something perhaps darker going on under the convent’s relatively placid surface, Cecilia finds herself settling in – until she wakes from a deeply disturbing nightmare to find that her life is about to irrevocably change.
Cecilia, you see, is suddenly getting morning sickness (including one macabre moment where she vomits out a tooth). The convent’s doctor examines her and the truth is revealed: Cecilia is pregnant, despite the fact that she is a virgin and has never had any kind of sexual contact with a man. That kind of announcement can only mean one thing in a Catholic convent, of course, but is a certain someone really growing inside her? And why did He pick her in the first place?
(L to R) Sydney Sweeney and director Michael Mohan on the set of ‘Immaculate.’ Photo: Neon.
‘Immaculate’ pays tribute to a number of classic horror films of the late ‘60s and ‘70s – you’ll find nods to ‘Rosemary’s Baby,’ ‘The Omen,’ and even the brutal ‘Mark of the Devil’ (which was “rated V for violence” in its day) scattered throughout its tight 89-minute runtime – but the narrative doesn’t exactly go in the direction you might imagine. Loebl’s script takes some interesting thematic turns, even if director Michael Mohan (‘The Voyeurs’) is almost less interested in those than he is in the next jump scare or gore effect he can conjure up.
While he overdoes it on the jump scares – veering close to the edge of irritation – he’s quite liberal (small “l”) with the blood and other liquids, as the prim and proper Cecilia eventually finds herself wallowing in gallons of blood, amniotic fluid, and ethanol (don’t ask). We won’t divulge details of how she gets there, but the third act of this movie goes truly off the rails in a good way, leading to an ending that may make even the non-faithful cross themselves with its implications.
Mohan may rely on those aforementioned jump scares too much in the film’s first two acts to create terror where there isn’t much; the movie is better when the director lets it soak in the setting and its dread-laced atmosphere. The narrative itself is rickety in spots, with a number of plot turns not quite adding up if one stops to think about them. But the film barrels along despite this, thanks to Sweeney’s believable journey from devout servant of God to unstoppable angel of vengeance.
The Sweeney Factor
Sydney Sweeney in ‘Immaculate.’ Photo: Neon.
Sydney Sweeney apparently auditioned for this role a decade ago, when the movie was first in development, and since then she has assumed a role as producer on the film as well as star. But kudos to her: she bravely goes anywhere the story takes her, including some very dark places, and there is one long take at the end of the film that is somewhat jaw-dropping in the level of her intensity.
It’s clear also that her talents and range benefit from being in sync with her director. Not to kick ‘Madame Web’ when it’s already as down as it can be, but Sweeney visibly did not bring her A-game in that film (more like her B-game). Yet in work like ‘Reality’ and now this, she’s genuinely much more invested in the material and it shows. The rest of the more anonymous cast in ‘Immaculate’ are fine – some of the performances are a bit overripe, which is perfectly suited to a film like this – but this is Sweeney’s show all the way.
A Heritage of Horror
Sydney Sweeney in ‘Immaculate.’ Photo: Neon.
As noted earlier, ‘Immaculate’ features a ton of horror influences, most of them stemming from the 1960s and 1970s. In addition to the films mentioned above, director Michael Mohan tapes into the tradition of Hammer horror, while also drawing from a lot of other Eurohorror and religious horror of the period, as well as the works of Italian masters of the macabre like Mario Bava and Dario Argento.
Then there’s the weird little subgenre of “nunsploitation,” which peaked around the same time and generally revolved around repressed nuns experiencing religious persecution, supernatural terror, and/or sexual shenanigans (sometimes all at the same time), usually in foreboding convents like the one in ‘Immaculate.’ While this film doesn’t quite hit the same depths of depravity as movies like ‘The Nun and the Devil’ (1973), ‘Satanico Pandemonium’ (1975), or ‘Alucarda’ (1976), the influence is surely there.
Final Thoughts
Sydney Sweeney in ‘Immaculate.’ Photo: Neon.
‘Immaculate’ doesn’t reinvent the wheel in any way, shape, or form, but that’s not the point: the movie proudly wears its many horror influences on its sleeve and also unashamedly delivers a lurid, often wickedly entertaining good time for genre fans. The director does overuse the jump scares and the script has more than a few spots where narrative logic is noticeably lacking, but have faith: the film’s overall intensity, gory action, and a compelling central performance from its star will get you through the rough spots to a truly insane ending.
‘Immaculate’ receives 7 out of 10 stars.
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What is the plot of ‘Immaculate’?
A devout young nun named Cecilia (Sydney Sweeney) travels to a remote convent in Italy, where she intends to devote her life entirely to her faith. But after initially fitting into the daily lives and routines of the nuns, a shocking personal revelation and a series of sinister events send Cecilia on a journey into horror from which even God might not be able to save her.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of sitting down in-person with actress and producer Sydney Sweeney to talk about her work on ‘Immaculate,’ her first reaction to the screenplay, why she wanted to make the movie, her character, working with director Michael Mohan and why she loves horror films.
You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interview.
Sydney Sweeney in ‘Immaculate.’ Photo: Neon.
Moviefone: To begin with, what was your first reaction to the screenplay, and as a producer and actress why did you want to make this movie?
Sydney Sweeney: My first reaction, I was quite young, I was 16, and I was so enthralled with the character’s journey. She was such an unexpected “final girl” almost, where you don’t know what’s going to happen. It’s an unexpected turn, she’s scared, she’s quiet, and then she finds this inner strength that she completely loses it. It’s so fun as an actor. So, seeing a character in a horror genre be able to have such a cool arc, I was really intrigued by it. Then, I also love horror films, I grew up watching them with my dad. So, I felt like this one was just unique and cool. I love that a lot of the elements also were fear of reality, which I thought was interesting.
Sydney Sweeney in ‘Immaculate.’ Photo: Neon.
MF: Cecilia had a traumatic experience before the movie starts. Can you talk about that, why she moves to the convent and what she’s hoping to get out of that experience?
SS: So, when she was young, she had a near-death experience and she always questioned why she was saved. She felt like God really touched her in a way and saved her life, and she felt like she owed it to someone greater than who she was. She never really found her place where she grew up, within her family. She never really felt like she belonged. She felt like an outcast. So, she started going to church and felt a community that she’s never felt before. It grew into something greater than herself. So, she wanted to serve God in a more impactful, meaningful way. She got ahold of different priests that moved her around and then, she wound up in Italy.
Sydney Sweeney in ‘Immaculate.’ Photo: Neon.
MF: You are running, screaming, and crying throughout the movie. Was this an emotionally and physically demanding role for you to play?
SS: It was, but I was so excited. I was on such an adrenaline rush of just being a part of this project in such a big way that I didn’t want the day to end. I hated when we called wrap. I wanted to be there just helping and doing anything that I possibly could.
Sydney Sweeney in ‘Immaculate.’ Photo: Neon.
MF: You mentioned that you love horror films. I’m curious, is it fun making a horror movie, and what do you love about the genre?
SS: It is fun. It’s always funny because whenever people ask like, “Is it dark and hard? Is it hard to jump out of it?” I always find that sometimes the most heartbreaking or darkest scenes, everybody’s just having a really great time. When I’m drenched in blood, we’re all laughing and running around. But I love the horror genre. I love that you can just push the boundaries, like there’s no rules to the world. I think that that’s just fun to play with cinematically, character-wise, storytelling-wise, and I think it’s a lot of fun.
(L to R) Sydney Sweeney and director Michael Mohan on the set of ‘Immaculate.’ Photo: Neon.
MF: Finally, what was it like collaborating with director Michael Mohan on set?
SS: I love Michael. I’ve worked with him since I was 19. This is our third project together. He is such an incredible collaborative person because he truly listens and he cares about everybody else, and he is super thoughtful. But then also, he has such a vision, and he sticks to that vision, but then also listens and puts me at the table as well.
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What is the Plot of ‘Immaculate’?
A devoutly religious woman named Cecilia (Sydney Sweeney) is offered a role at an illustrious convent in the Italian countryside. Her seemingly picture-perfect new home is soon revealed to hold horrifying secrets.
Just when you thought the “Sony Spider-Man Universe” (as the Sony Pictures cinematic pool of movies starring Spider-Man villains and minor characters has come to be known) couldn’t get any sillier and more generic than ‘Morbius,’ now ‘Madame Web’ comes along to say “hold my beer.” Despite a promising cast and director, ‘Madame Web’ – based on a little-known yet powerful psychic in the Marvel canon – ends up deadly dull.
(L to R) Dakota Johnson and Director S.J. Clarkson at a Photo Call for Columbia Pictures’ ‘Madame Web’ at the Fasano Rio De Janiero. Photo: Renan Olivetti.
There’s the kernel of an interesting – if hardly original – idea at the center of ‘Madame Web’: if you could see your future and knew who was going to kill you, would you kill them first? That is what fuels Ezekiel Sims (Tahar Rahim of ‘A Prophet’ fame), who we first meet in the Peruvian Amazon, circa 1973, alongside a woman named Constance Webb (Kerry Bishé). Sims is ostensibly providing security for the very pregnant Webb, who’s on a mission – via some exceedingly clumsy expository dialogue — to find a rare spider whose DNA can provide incredible strength, healing and regenerative powers.
In the first of many thuddingly obvious and overly telegraphed plot points, Constance is betrayed by Sims once she finds the spider. After he takes off with the arachnid and leaves her for dead, Constance is rescued by an Amazonian tribe, once thought mythical, who apparently derive their powers from the spider – the “Spider-People.” Their English-speaking leader cannot save Constance, but does manage to save her baby.
Thirty years later, that baby has grown up to be Cassandra Webb (Dakota Johnson), a paramedic who prefers being alone despite the affection of her partner, Ben Parker (Adam Scott), and his efforts to get her to be part of the world. Cassie’s life, however, takes a turn for the bizarre when she nearly drowns while rescuing an accident victim on a bridge – an incident that somehow triggers in her an ability to see glimpses of the future.
At the same time, Ezekiel Sims – who is apparently now incredibly wealthy, although it’s never exactly explained how – has the same power, as well as super-strength and sticky hands and feet, no doubt thanks to giving himself some spider-cells. He keeps seeing visions of being sent to his death by three young costumed women – in a sort of teaser for films yet to come – and sets out to stop them by any means necessary. This puts him on a collision course with Cassie, who is inexplicably drawn to the three teenage girls as well: Julia Cornwall (Sydney Sweeney), Anya Corazon (Isabela Merced), and Mattie Franklin (Celeste O’Connor).
What follows is a tediously exposition-heavy story (much of the dialogue, particularly Sims’, seems re-recorded in post-production) that strains to explain unsuccessfully how and why Cassie’s powers work, why this connects her to a larger history of so-called “Spider-people,” and how her life will interconnect with those of the other three women. The explanations fail to provide any real spark for the story, while other questions — like why Sims wears a Spider-Man outfit 15 years before Spider-Man did, or why Cassie drives around the entire second half of the movie in a stolen cab and manages to fly to Peru despite being wanted for kidnapping three teen girls – remain unanswered.
‘Madame Web’ is all plot: one story beat just gets hooked to the next, and there’s no interest on the part of the four credited screenwriters (plus one who gets “story by” credit) in trying to make any truly credible or emotional connections between any of the characters. Any way in which they connect is happenstance: after Cassie, a total stranger, saves their lives on a subway train, the three girls just completely put their fates in her hands because the story requires them to.
Even when she abandons them in the woods at one point, or abruptly leaves them with Ben and his very pregnant sister-in-law Mary (Emma Roberts) while she zooms off to Peru — apparently a journey one can make in a matter of hours — no one seems to question any of this except in the most casual way. That’s because none of these characters even remotely seem like people – they’re just pawns being pushed around so Sony can make another Spider-Man-adjacent movie (and yes, Easter eggs abound here, including the egregious inversion of perhaps the most famous line in Marvel lore).
‘Madame Web’ comes across as a desperate attempt to make something, anything, out of whatever scraps of Marvel canon the filmmakers can pull together. The movie assumes that fans will nod knowingly at the names of the girls, but it doesn’t give us any reason to care or wonder why they’re drawn together in the first place. Making her feature debut, director S.J. Clarkson (who has helmed episodes of ‘Jessica Jones’ and ‘The Defenders’) is competent enough, but she can’t enliven these connect-the-dots proceedings with any genuine life (the final action scene – a mix of Cassie’s precognition and what actually happens – is sadly nearly incomprehensible).
Of course, ‘Madame Web’ is all mostly set-up by the end, and one can almost hear the producers high-fiving each other over the multiple Spider-sequels that they set up. But the creative exhaustion that seeps from the screen tells another story.
As with a lot of recent movies, the cast for this looks good on paper, but are limited in what they can do with the material. Dakota Johnson works hard to elevate the character and script – she is an intelligent and witty actor, as well as a graceful beauty – but she seems lost at times and unsure just what kind of tone she’s supposed to be playing.
Her co-stars aren’t given nearly enough character development, and while the idea of an all-female super-team is long overdue on the screen (we’re still waiting for the MCU’s ‘A-Force’ movie), this is not the launchpad it needs. Sydney Sweeney proves again that while talented and occasionally inspired, she needs solid direction. Isabela Merced doesn’t much improve on her work in ‘Transformers: The Last Knight.’ Celeste O’Connor manages to show some spunk as Mattie, making her shine the brightest.
As for Tahar Rahim, he’s working with a strange accent and a lot of looped dialogue, his usual air of quiet menace only occasionally peeking through. And while we always have time for Adam Scott, we wish he wasn’t saddled with a character whose eventual fate is pre-ordained and well-known.
The Sony Spider-Verse Problem
Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Sergei Kravinoff / Kraven the Hunter in ‘Kraven the Hunter.’
‘Madame Web’ is the ultimate distillation of everything that’s wrong with the “Sony Spider-Man Universe,” which as we mentioned above, essentially features lesser-known Spider-Man characters (usually villains, but sometimes not) in stories that do not feature Spider-Man except in the most tangential, offscreen way.
Madame Web is such a relatively minor character, so little-known outside diehard Marvel fans – in the comics, she’s a blind, elderly mutant with tremendous precognitive powers — that her story is just not that dynamic. She doesn’t have the weight of other top-shelf Spider-Man characters. She is often there mainly as support, and has never been featured all that prominently.
As a result – and thanks to the producers’ insatiable need to somehow connect these movies to a Spider-Man who never appears in them – we get a story that’s contrived even by the standards of comic books. In this case, the limits of the Spider-Man mythology are pushed to create an entire ancient history where none existed. The beauty of Spider-Man is that he’s just a kid who randomly stumbles into having great powers; make him part of a longer, bigger history and what makes him unique is diluted.
And frankly, as Marvel fans, we worry that movies like ‘Morbius,’ ‘Madame Web,’ and the upcoming ‘Kraven the Hunter’ simply dilute both the Spider-Man and Marvel brands more and more. At a time when superhero movies are facing genuine headwinds for the first time in a decade, low-quality, low-rent spinoffs are not what’s needed. Our advice to Sony? Keep making Spider-Man movies with Marvel Studios, continue with the animated ‘Spider-Verse’ films, and lose all the rest.
Final Thoughts
Dakota Johnson attends the ‘Madame Web’ photocall at Claridge’s Hotel on January 31, 2024 in London, England. Photo by Jeff Spicer/Getty Images for Sony Pictures.
We’ve ranted on a bit about this Sony/Marvel cinematic universe being a dead-end, so we won’t say much more. But ‘Madame Web’ plays unfortunately like a movie that could have been spit out by AI, with performances and direction not much above that. There are a few bright spots, and Marvel completists will feel obligated to check it out, but ‘Madame Web’ is ill-conceived and trapped in a web of pointlessness.
‘Madame Web’ receives 4 out of 10 stars.
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What is the plot of ‘Madame Web’?
Cassandra Webb (Dakota Johnson) is a paramedic working in New York City who discovers she has the power to see the future – and also to change it. Finding her destiny intertwined with that of three young women also possessing extraordinary powers, she must find a way to protect all of them from a mysterious enemy.
Sydney Sweeney as Cassie Howard in HBO’s ‘Euphoria.’ Photo: Eddy Chen/HBO.
Off the back of roles on shows such as ‘Euphoria’ and ‘The White Lotus’, Sydney Sweeney is keeping her big screen career bubbling in a big way. And she’s become a firm favorite at Sony, with whom she is developing several projects.
Roger Vadim’s 1968 campy cult classic follows an astronaut from the 41st century (Jane Fonda) who sets out to find and stop the evil scientist Durand Durand (Milo O’Shea), whose Positronic Ray threatens to bring evil back into the galaxy. It was sexy, it was over the top and while it didn’t exactly set the box office alight, it has outlived the critical reaction and remains one of Fonda’s most iconic roles.
The film was based on the controversial comic books character created by Jean-Claude Forest for serialization in the French ‘V Magazine’ in spring 1962. In 1964, Éric Losfeld published the strips as a stand-alone book titled ‘Barbarella’. The book caused a scandal and became known as the first “adult” comic book, with the title character frequently depicted having sex.
Several different attempts at a remake have floated around in the last couple of decades.
Drew Barrymore was briefly attached to a new take on the tale shortly before the arrival of 2000’s ‘Charlie’s Angels’. That one would have seen her playing a woman who discovers a secret about her planet and leading a revolution.
Scrub forward to 2007 and you have news that Robert Rodriguez had been developing his own version for a few years, planned to star then-girlfriend Rose McGowan. But though he got an offer from a German company to stump up the budget, he didn’t take because it meant shooting overseas, away from his family. And an attempt to set it up with Universal stalled for other financial reasons.
Jane Fonda in 1968’s ‘Barbarella.’ Photo courtesy of Paramount Movie’s YouTube channel.
“Universal had initially signed on for $60 million,” Rodriguez told The New York Observer, “but then when we were done with the script it wound up at closer to $82 million, and they had just financed a Will Ferrell movie (‘Land of the Lost’) that was a $130 million and they even cut that down to $100 million.”
Around the same time, veteran James Bond writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade were hired by Gaumont International Television to script a TV adaptation, one that eventually ended up in the hands of ‘Drive’ director Nicolas Winding Refn. Yet even that ultimately went nowhere, drifting off into the endless wastes of the development galaxy.
According to Deadline, Sweeney will produce the new movie for Sony, which will now look to lock in a writer and director to move it forward.
It’s just the latest move for the actor, who already has a role in ‘Madame Web’, due in theaters on February 16, 2024.
She’s also filmed a role in crime drama ‘National Anthem’, is developing novel adaptation ‘The Registration’ and has mystery TV series ‘The Players Table’ in the works.
Even more recently, she’s now teaming up with Universal to adapt Marcus Kliewer’s short story ‘The Caretaker’, which tells the story of a young woman who accepts a caretaking job from Craigslist and quickly discovers her responsibilities have stakes far greater (and more dangerous) than she could have ever imagined.
That one will be produced by Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes company.
Sydney Sweeney as Cassie Howard in HBO’s ‘Euphoria.’ Photo: Eddy Chen/HBO.
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Adam Scott in “Severance,” now streaming on Apple TV+.
There’s a new piece of casting for Sony’s ‘Spider-Man’ spin-off ‘Madame Web’, with ‘Severance’ star Adam Scott joining the cast.
Naturally, this being a big superhero movie, Scott’s role is a mystery for now, but we could see him playing a loyal friend or some tech bro villain. He’s been solid in both types of roles in the past. The possibilities, though, are endless.
SJ Clarkson, who has worked on shows including ‘Jessica Jones’ and ‘Succession’, is making her film directing debut here, with Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless writing from the script and replacing an earlier draft by Kerem Sanga.
Originally created by writer Denny O’Neil and artist John Romita Jr., Madame Web first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #210, which was published in November 1980.
Photo courtesy of Marvel Entertainment.
Known as Cassandra Webb, she is usually depicted as an elderly blind woman suffering from a chronic neuromuscular disease that makes it difficult to move and breathe, and as such, she’s connected to a life support system that looks like a spider web. The clairvoyant character has telepathic, precognitive, and astral projection abilities and once helped Spider-Man find a kidnap victim.
It doesn’t exactly sound like the basis for a thrilling superhero outing, but Madame Web’s history has crossed path with various heroes. Plus, as you might expect from a comic book character, there has been more than one holder of the title.
In Amazing Spider-Man #636, Madame Web transfers her powers into a younger woman, Julia Carpenter, who takes over the role and oversees storylines such as Spider-Island, which finds all of Manhattan’s population developing Spider powers. We don’t expect Peter Parker – played by Tom Holland or anyone else – to show up, despite the comic-book connection.
Scott, who was previously more known for his comedy work in movies such as ‘Step Brothers’, ‘The Secret Life of Walter Mitty’ and ‘Knocked Up’ alongside TV series including ‘Parks & Recreation’ and ‘The Good Place’ has also kept his hand in with drama on screens both big and small on movies including ‘Black Mass’ and ‘August’.
With ‘Severance’, he’s enjoyed his biggest success to date, earning an Emmy nomination this week for his critically lauded role in the Ben Stiller-directed series. While ‘Madame Web’ would mark his first superhero genre movie, he’s no stranger to horror or sci-fi, having appeared in ‘Piranha 3D’, ‘Hellraiser: Bloodline’ and in a small role in ‘Star Trek: First Contact’.
‘Madame Web’ is in production now and will swing into theaters on July 7th next year.
Emma Roberts attends the 89th Annual Academy Awards at Hollywood & Highland Center on February 26, 2017 in Hollywood, California. Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images.
As with much of Sony’s non-animated, non MCU-connected Spider-Man universe output, we’re still not sure what to expect from ‘Madame Web’. Aside from digging into the comic books to ferret out potential plot nuggets, and divine possible character choices, it’s a mystery. Especially since the studio has staunchly refused to release so much as a logline at this early stage.
What we’ve had to go on so far is the casting, and the latest word has now made it into the world: Emma Roberts is joining the ensemble, according to Deadline.
She joins a cast that already includes Dakota Johnson (who has the lead role, and presumably plays a version of the title character – more on that below), Sydney Sweeney, Celeste O’Connor, Isabela Merced and Tahar Rahim. There are zero details on who anyone is playing just yet.
SJ Clarkson, who has worked on shows including ‘Jessica Jones’ and ‘Succession’, is making her film directing debut here, with Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless writing from the script and replacing an earlier draft by Kerem Sanga.
Originally created by writer Denny O’Neil and artist John Romita Jr., Madame Web first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #210, which was published in November 1980.
Known as Cassandra Webb, she is usually depicted as an elderly blind woman suffering from a chronic neuromuscular disease that makes it difficult to move and breathe, and as such, she’s connected to a life support system that looks like a spider web. The clairvoyant character has telepathic, precognitive, and astral projection abilities and once helped Spider-Man find a kidnap victim.
It doesn’t exactly sound like the basis for a thrilling superhero outing, but Madame Web’s history has crossed path with various heroes. Plus, as you might expect from a comic book character, there has been more than one holder of the title.
mo Photo courtesy of Marvel Entertainment.
In Amazing Spider-Man #636, Madame Web transfers her powers into a younger woman, Julia Carpenter, who takes over the role and oversees storylines such as Spider-Island, which finds all of Manhattan’s population developing Spider powers.
The younger character sounds like who Johnson will be playing, though of course at this stage it’s anyone’s guess what the movie team will pick and choose to use in the final story. What if, for example, that younger cast points to a variety of potential Madame Webs… or is it Madames Web? Probably not.
This, of course, is the latest evolution on Sony’s plan to keep its live-action Spider-spin-offs growing. They’ve been a hit and miss affair so far: the ‘Venom’ movies overcame negative critical reactions to generate big box office (a third is in the early stages)meanwhile ‘Morbius’ has… not so much.
Next up is ‘Kraven the Hunter’, starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, a ‘Silk’ TV series, and likely much further down the line, a potential ‘Sinister Six’ team up of Spider-villains.
For now, then, ‘Kraven’, ‘Madame Web’ and the next ‘Venom’ are carrying the hopes of Sony’s Spidey time.
Sony is moving forward with its Spider-Man-associated movie universe and has added a new cast member to one of the more intriguing titles it has bubbling away. Sydney Sweeney, one of the stars of ‘Euphoria’, is joining ‘Madame Web’.
Johnson, who has been seen recently in the Oscar nominated ‘The Lost Daughter’ and indie movies ‘Am I OK?’ and ‘Cha Cha Real Smooth’, is playing the title character, or at least a version of her.
Originally created by writer Denny O’Neil and artist John Romita Jr., Madame Web first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #210, which was published in November 1980.
Known as Cassandra Webb, she is usually depicted as an elderly blind woman suffering from a chronic neuromuscular disease that makes it difficult to move and breathe, and as such, she’s connected to a life support system that looks like a spider web. The clairvoyant character has telepathic, precognitive, and astral projection abilities and once helped Spider-Man find a kidnap victim.
It doesn’t exactly sound like the basis for a thrilling superhero outing, but Madame Web’s history has crossed path with various heroes. Plus, as you might expect from a comic book character, there has been more than one holder of the title.
Photo courtesy of Marvel Entertainment.
In Amazing Spider-Man #636, Madame Web transfers her powers into a younger woman, Julia Carpenter, who takes over the role and oversees storylines such as Spider-Island, which finds all of Manhattan’s population developing Spider powers.
With Johnson’s casting, we’d imagine she’ll play someone closer to the Carpenter character, though there’s plenty of scope for a very different sort of comic book adaptation. And Madame Web has always been tied to multiverse stories, so given the current cinematic fascination with that subject, it’s not far-fetched to think that that could factor in.
Whatever it turns out to be, handling the job of making the movie is ‘Jessica Jones’ and ‘Succession’ director S.J. Clarkson, who would make her film directing debut here.
The script comes from Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless, who worked from an earlier draft by Kerem Sanga.
Sweeney has been having quite the career moment right now – she has been a standout on ‘Euphoria’ a series that is not short of memorable performances and scenes, and her role on Mike White’s ‘The White Lotus’ also saw her win acclaim.
She’s appeared in lead roles in ‘The Voyeurs’ and vampire tale ‘Night Teeth’ and is currently shooting crime drama ‘National Anthem’. Though Sweeney has been acting for more than a decade, ‘Euphoria’ has opened a lot of doors for her, and she was considering several offers alongside the ‘Madame Web’ role.
‘Madame Web’ has yet to confirm a release date, but the next Sony Marvel movie to arrive in theaters will be vampire adventure ‘Morbius’, starring Jared Leto sinking its fangs into screens on April 1st.
