Moviefone Editorial

Tag: thomas-lennon

  • ‘Night at the Museum’ Reboot in the Works

    Ben Stiller in 'Night at the Museum'. Photo: 20th Century Fox.
    Ben Stiller in ‘Night at the Museum’. Photo: 20th Century Fox.

    Preview:

    • Tripper Clancy is writing a re-imagining of the ‘Night at the Museum’ movies.
    • Original director Shawn Levy is aboard to produce.
    • There is no cast attached yet.

    We’ve gotten used to reboots, remakes and re-imaginings of older movies. But apparently “older” now also means 2006. Pardon us while we crumble to dust.

    Yet it’s true: 20th Century Studios, the Disney arm that represents all the titles inherited when the Mouse House merged with/swallowed up 20th Century Fox, is now putting a ‘Night at the Museum’ update into development, hiring writer Tripper Clancy to start work on a script.

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    Per Deadline, Shawn Levy, who directed and produced the three original ‘Museum’ movies (more on them below) is attached to produce this new one via his 21 Laps company, but we have a feeling he’ll hand the directing duties over to someone else now, since he’s currently busy putting a ‘Star Wars’ movie together in addition to the many other projects he has bubbling away in development.

    Related Article: ‘Barbie’s Ryan Gosling in Negotiations to Star in ‘Deadpool’ Director Shawn Levy’s ‘Star Wars’ Movie

    What was the story of ‘Night at the Museum’?

    Ben Stiller in 'Night at the Museum'. Photo: 20th Century Fox.
    Ben Stiller in ‘Night at the Museum’. Photo: 20th Century Fox.

    The original franchise had writers Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon adapting the 1993 children’s book by Milan Trenc, where a night watchman at a natural history museum sees his job descend into chaos when exhibits come to life after dark.

    Levy directed and Ben Stiller starred in three films, each of which was a hit at the global box office: 2006’s ‘Night at the Museum’ earned more than $574 million, 2009’s ‘Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian’ took in $413 million, and 2014’s ‘Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb’ made $363 million.

    Supporting cast over the course of the trilogy included Robin Williams, Owen Wilson, Steve Coogan, Amy Adams, Hank Azaria, Dan Stevens, and Rebel Wilson.

    Following Disney’s acquisition of Fox in 2019, the studio moved to expand the franchise with ‘Night at the Museum: Kahmunrah Rises Again’, an animated movie produced by Levy for Disney+, which premiered in 2022.

    What will the new ‘Night at the Museum’ be about?

    (L to R) Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller in 'Night at the Museum'. Photo: 20th Century Fox.
    (L to R) Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller in ‘Night at the Museum’. Photo: 20th Century Fox.

    There are zero details about what the new movie will feature, beyond Deadline reporting that it’ll be set at a museum with all-new characters. So unless he cameos, Stiller seems unlikely to be on the cast roster.

    Clancy has worked with 21 Laps and Netflix as co-executive producer of the series ‘I Am Not Okay With This’, as well as in developing ‘Bolivar’, a TV series based on the beloved children’s book alongside Kumail Nanjiani and Emily Gordon.

    He’s also been behind Roku series ‘Die Hart’, which stars Kevin Hart.

    When will the new ‘Night at the Museum’ be in theaters?

    With the project in its developmental infancy, no one is saying anything about a release date yet.

    You have to imagine the studio and Levy want to get this one right before pushing ahead with scheduling.

    'Star Wars: Starfighter's director Shawn Levy at Star Wars Celebration 2025. Photo: Lucasfilm.
    ‘Star Wars: Starfighter’s director Shawn Levy at Star Wars Celebration 2025. Photo: Lucasfilm.

    Movies in the ‘Night at the Museum’ Franchise:

    Buy ‘Night at the Museum’ Movies on Amazon

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  • ‘Reno 911! Defunded’ Exclusive Interviews

    'Reno 911! Defunded' Poster
    (L to R) Wendi McLendon-Covey, Joe Lo Truglio, Kerri Kenney-Silver, Thomas Lennon, Niecy Nash, Cedric Yarbrough, and Robert Ben Garant in the Roku Channel’s ‘Reno 911! Defunded.’

    Premiering on the Roku Channel beginning February 25th is the ‘Reno 911!’ revival series, ‘Reno 911! Defunded.’ The series will serve as the eighth season of the show, which originally ran on Comedy Central from 2003-2009, and then on Quibi in 2020.

    The series will once again feature the original cast reprising their roles including Thomas Lennon as Lieutenant Jim Dangle, Robert Ben Garant as Deputy Travis Junior, Kerri Kenney-Silver as Deputy Trudy Wiegel, Wendi McLendon-Covey as Deputy Clementine Johnson, Niecy Nash as Deputy Raineesha Williams, Cedric Yarbrough as Deputy Sven Jones, and Joe Lo Truglio as Deputy Frank Salvatore Rizzo.

    Moviefone recently had a chance to speak with Thomas Lennon, Robert Ben Garant, and Kerri Kenney about their work on ‘Reno 911! Defunded.’

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    You can read the full transcript of our interview below or watch the video in the player above.

    Moviefone: To begin with, there were 11 years between season 6 and season 7, when the show moved from Comedy Central to Quibi. What was it like to return to these characters after such a long break between seasons?

    Kerri Kenney-Silver: I think we were afraid at first. Like, is this going to work? This has been a big break. But then we quickly realized, oh, that’s right, this genius cast has only gone out in the world and gotten bigger, and stronger, and better. We came back, put on the same outfits and within five seconds, we were back. We started the show 20 years ago in the year 2000. So, we had been doing this. This was in our DNA. It was quick, and it was such a joy.

    Robert Ben Garant: It’s crazy. It’s been a long time and it’s all improv. So, it’s a lot to rely on your cast to do. We have some jokes for them, but mostly everybody is creating their own dialogue in every situation. So, if people had been rusty or if the chemistry wasn’t there, we wouldn’t have anything at all. That very first day after coming back, it had been more than 10 years and Wendy and Kerri were just in it. The biggest problem is people laughing and that’s a great. So, it was great. It was very scary until it happened. As soon as we took off, it was a total blast.

    MF: The series is completely improvised, so when other actors come on the show, how do you explain to them exactly what you need them to do to make the scenes work?

    RBG: It would depend. Because sometimes, like Michael Ian Black, we tell him he’s trying to sell us body parts, illegal organs. Then we don’t really know what he’s going to say or the character he’s going to play. We didn’t really know the look he was going to do until we saw him on set.

    Then at the other end of the spectrum, Jamie Lee Curtis reached out to us and said she wanted to be in short shorts like Tom and with an eye patch. That’s all we knew. She came in and started bossing us around. So, it really is improv. Like we have a structure sometimes, but with Jamie Lee Curtis, we didn’t have anything. She came in and just started yelling at us and making Kerri go under the table.

    KKS: Generally, with guest stars we’ll ask them like, what do you want to wear? Who are you? Who do you want to have in the scene with you? Do you need an explosion? Is there any, and then it’s improv.

    Lieutenant Jim Dangle with short pants and a funny hat.
    (L to R) Wendi McLendon-Covey, Kerri Kenney-Silver, and Thomas Lennon in the Roku Channel’s ‘Reno 911! Defunded.’

    MF: Thomas, is there any subject that is off limits?

    Thomas Lennon: As far as I can tell, it doesn’t seem like there is. Like on paper, there’s an astonishing number of inappropriate things that no TV show could or should talk about that we sort of do very casually.

    RBG: We made the decision, because it was a big decision, no COVID. We talked about it, like are the background people wearing masks? Are we going to do any of that? And we just said, “No, this is a universe where that’s not existent.” We also made the decision, no Trump. So, we had Weird Al Yankovic play Ted Nugent. So, any of our political energy went to that.

    KKS: We weren’t doing those things because they were taboo. We didn’t want to date a season. We wanted you to be able to watch years from now. But also, we wanted people to have a break from that. It felt like everything was about COVID. Like, who wants to look at masks anymore? Who wants to hear about Trump right now? So, that was really the reason. It wasn’t because like, oh, that’s too hot a button.

    MF: What can fans of the original series expect from ‘Reno 911! Defunded?’

    TL: We got sort of lucky in that the police were in the headlines every day, all day. So, if you’re in the business of writing a comedy show about cops, they just kept giving us three by five cards to put up on the wall of` more crazy stuff. But I mean, it didn’t really change the kind of stuff we do, but some stuff got a little specific.

    There’s way more material we started doing about Karens and the idea of Karens, that became a big thing. Then also, one of our running jokes was to see who would say what our lowest salary was. If you watch episodes of ‘Reno 911!,’ the cops are always like, “Well, I made almost $9,000 last year.” We never had a lot of money, but I think we took it really far with this season.

    RBG: I was playing to our strengths. I mean, we have always talked about how we don’t have enough money. We’ve always talked about how everybody hates this. We’ve always talked about how we are under trained. I think the one thing that you’ll notice is that it was actually really lucky because it was COVID, so we couldn’t have guest stars. But this last season is more about cops than it is about perps.

    I think that’s twofold, one because there was COVID and we couldn’t really have that many guest stars, but also there was so much subject material just about police trying to get through their day without toilet paper. There’re all these new rules, and you got to take away our tank. It was a lot of us playing to our strengths with material that was fresh in everybody’s mind. We didn’t have to pretend we were good at something, which was a relief. I don’t know what we would’ve done.

    KKS: We had never done before the concept of a riot. That was so big in the news at that very second. So, that was sort of tailor made for us being locked together in a space, like what happens when there’s a riot outside the station?

    TL: Well speaking of, that was another thing that is one of the trailers for ‘Reno 911! Defunded’ is Kerri and I just improvised a PSA about please be nice to us. That sort of became part of the trailer. Us just crying in our riot gear saying, “Please, please be nice to police officers, please.”

    ‘Reno 911! Defunded’ premieres on the Roku Channel on February 25th.

    'Reno 911! Defunded' Roku Channel Poster
    (L to R) Wendi McLendon-Covey, Joe Lo Truglio, Kerri Kenney-Silver, Thomas Lennon, Niecy Nash, Cedric Yarbrough, and Robert Ben Garant in the Roku Channel’s ‘Reno 911! Defunded.’

  • Best of Late Night TV: David Duchovny’s Big ‘X-Files’ Cast News, Cute Puppies Predict NCAA Champions (VIDEO)

    If you’re like us and value your sleep, you probably nodded off into your Ambien dreamland before the party started on post-prime time TV. Don’t worry; we’ve got you covered. Here’s the best of what happened last night on late night.

    On Tuesday night, Jimmy Fallon welcomed back his panel of adorable puppies to predict the NCAA Championship from among the Final Four. Who will be the national champs – Kentucky, Wisconsin, Michigan State or Duke? Cute puppies crawling over each other in their cutesness = win. Spoiler alert: They must’ve put something nasty in the Duke bowl ’cause no one went for it. No one. Ethan Hawke and Jimmy Fallon broke out their guitars for “Bob Dylan Lullabies.” Willie and Korie Robertson of Duck Dynasty shared some “Tales From the Set,” focusing on Willie’s injuries: David Duchovny was on “Late Show with David Letterman” Tuesday night and talked about the return of “The X-Files” to TV. David said he and Gillian Anderson (Scully) will be back, as well as Mitch Pileggi (Skinner) and the Cigarette Smoking Man. (Yes!) Did David ever know they’d bring this show back? “When they developed Spanx I knew I had a shot.” Still deadpan after all these years. And he looks good. Mulder aged well. He said it’s a strange phenomenon that people still want to see these characters, but he’s grateful. David also talked about parenting and his new album (he has a song out on iTunes – love Letterman’s reaction). He has become the set-up guy for his kids’ jokes. Ludacris was on “Conan” and discussed his new album, his crazy in-air marriage proposal and his beloved ’93 Acura Legend. You’d think a “Furious 7” star would drive something flashier but he still drives it after 283,000 miles. He has replaced everything on it but it’s dear to him. Keith Urban was also on “Conan” and talked about a disastrous attempt to play piano in the dark at a concert. It’s actually really funny, he tells the story well. They also shared an exclusive video premiere for “Raise ‘Em Up.” Kurt Russell was on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” and talked about working with Quentin Tarantino for a second time. He said working with T is like working on a pirate ship. He got a credit at the end of “Kill Bill” and he explains why. Kurt also talked about working on “Furious 7” and his crazy mustache. The stache is for the Tarantino Western. Jeff Ross was on JKL and recorded a comedy special at a jail. Jimmy also had a game called “Don’t Talk Into This Mic and Win $10” “Undateable” actor/comedian Chris D’Elia was on “Late Night with Seth Meyers” talking about Justin Bieber’s roast. He had a lot of Selena Gomez fans reach out to him on Twitter ahead of time, demanding he leave Selena out of it. So he wrote Selena jokes.

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  • The 17 Best and Worst TV Roommates of All Time

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    It’s been 50 years since Neil Simon wrote his play “The Odd Couple,” the story of two divorced, middle-aged New York men driving each other nuts as roommates. It’s an indestructible premise that’s been through many incarnations on stage, in movies, and on TV — the latest is the new “Odd Couple” series starring Matthew Perry and Thomas Lennon as messy Oscar and fussy Felix, debuting Feb. 19 on CBS — because, as anyone who’s ever had a roommate knows, being forced to live in tight quarters with someone whose idiosyncrasies irritate you can be a juicy source of comedy. Though you may not have the perspective to laugh until one of you moves out.

    The influence of “The Odd Couple” is extensive, resulting in numerous shows over the years about mismatched tenants who have nothing in common except an electric bill but who nonetheless have to act like a couple or a family. With perspective, we viewers can laugh at characters that we’d barely be able to stand sharing a refrigerator with in real life. Here, then, ranked from worst to best, are 17 of the funniest groups of roommates in TV history.

  • Best of Late Night TV: Benedict Cumberbatch’s Honeymoon, Edward Norton’s SNL Complaint (VIDEO)

    If you’re like us and value your sleep, you probably nodded off into your Ambien dreamland before the party started on post-prime time TV. Don’t worry; we’ve got you covered. Here’s the best of what happened last night on late night.

    Jimmy Kimmel had a busy Monday night, in part because he was honeymooning with Benedict Cumberbatch. Benedict got married in England on Saturday, then showed up for “Jimmy Kimmel Live” on Monday night. Jimmy said his own wife didn’t want to spend their honeymoon with him, so he was flattered. Jimmy brought out some pina coladas so they could have a more festive honeymoon feel, then shared some wedding gifts. “Then later,” Jimmy added, “we’ll make love.” Benedict and his wife are expecting their first child and Jimmy suggested a baby name. Benedict also discussed “Sherlock” and “The Imitation Game” and where he was when he learned he was nominated for an Oscar. Stana Katic (flawless!) was on JKL, talking about her non-profit initiative, ATP, and how her “Castle” co-star Nathan Fillion helped her cut her shirt for the show’s test pilot. Bachelor Chris Soules was also on JKL in some funny sketches. Chris confronted Jimmy about their connection. Why did Jimmy send him home and start seeing other guests? Jimmy also recapped last night’s Bachelor and Chris came out to explain his bad joke. Jimmy wanted Chris to spoil the show and reveal which woman will have to live in that town that looks like the one from “The Walking Dead.” Edward Norton played Stefon in an SNL cameo during “Saturday Night Live’s” 40th anniversary special. He had an issue, though, with how he was presented on Weekend Update, feeling like they used the “Hobbit cam” on him to make him look much shorter than Bill Hader. He’s 6-feet-tall, but he looked tiny next to Hader. He thought maybe it was the way comedians get back at dramatic actors. Jimmy Fallon recapped SNL’s 40th Anniversary, sharing some behind-the-scenes stories. Major name dropping, but interesting! Matthew Perry was on “Late Show with David Letterman” talking about “Odd Couple” and his favorite joke. He did his Walter Mathau impression, then a little Dustin Hoffman impression. Matthew also talked about his workout routine. Angie Harmon was on “Late Night with Seth Meyers” and she shared an embarrassing Lorne Michaels run-in, from around her first year at “Law & Order.” Thomas Lennon is guest hosting “Late Late Show” and he talked to “Weird Al” Yankovic about Weird Al’s experience as guest editor for Mad Magazine.

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