Just when the residents of Hawkins, Indiana (population: dwindling fast) thought that they’d finally put supernatural threats behind them following the traumatic events of the Battle of Starcourt, the new trailer for ‘Stranger Things’ fourth season suggests that their troubles are far from over. War is coming… and no-one is safe.
And that includes those such as Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) and his family, who moved away to Southern California at the end of the last season. While Eleven is having trouble fitting into a new school, she’s soon informed by Sam Owens (Paul Reiser) that her particular set of mysterious skills are needed back in Hawkins.
There’s just one small problem with that plan: she doesn’t have them anymore.
Yet back in Hawkins, things continue to be, well, strange. Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) and Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) are facing their own challenges, moving on up to Hawkins high school and all the potential bullying, hormonal issues and fashion challenges that presents.
But possibly having an even harder time is Sadie Sink’s Max Mayfield, who is still grieving the death of brother Billy (Dacre Montgomery), who sacrificed himself in the big battle. Not only is Max struggling with loss, but she also appears to have develop some interesting new abilities of her own, if the shot of her floating above the others is anything to go by.
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Whether it’s her or someone else achieving that, they’ll need the help, as something even more terrifying is on the way and a giant conflict is bubbling away, with some of it tied to the creepy new location of the Creel House.
Then there’s poor old Jim Hopper (David Harbour), locked away in a prison in Kamchatka, Russia, where life seems to be just as rough – what we must wonder now is how he gets free? We’ll get that answer, plus some flashbacks to fill in other story gaps in a season that promises to wrap the plot up.
For those who might not have seen the announcement a couple of months ago, the new season is so epic and huge that the creators (and Netflix) have opted to split it in two.
“With nine scripts, over eight-hundred pages, almost two years of filming, thousands of visual effects shots, and a runtime nearly twice the length of any previous season, ‘Stranger Things 4’ was the most challenging season yet, but also the most rewarding one,” wrote the Duffer brothers. “Everyone involved is incredibly proud of the results, and we can’t wait to share it with you. Given the unprecedented length, and to get it to you as soon as possible, Season 4 will be released in two volumes.”
Expect the first batch of episodes on May 27th, with the second haul following on July 1st. Bad news for those who were looking forward to their latest ‘Things’ binge, but good news in that the season will be able to contain more of the sprawling story.
Josh Lucas in ‘Long Slow Exhale.” Photo: Nathan Bolster/BET/Spectrum.
Premiering on Spectrum and available On-Demand, free and without ads beginning April 4th is the new original series ‘Long Slow Exhale,’ from showrunner and creator Pam Veasey (‘L.A.’s Finest’).
The new drama series follows J.C. Abernathy (Rose Rollins), a successful Head Coach of a competitive women’s college basketball team who finds herself in the middle of a potentially career shattering sexual abuse scandal. As she tries to find the truth among the many secrets she uncovers, she has to make hard decisions that will affect her, her family and the team of female athletes who all rely on her.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Josh Lucas about his work on ‘Long Slow Exhale.’
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You can read our full interview with Josh Lucas below, or watch a video of our interviews with Lucas, Rose Rollins, Ian Harding, creator Pam Veasey, director Anton Cropper, and executive producer Casey Haver by clicking on the player above.
Moviefone: To begin with, what was your first reaction to the script for the pilot when you read it?
Josh Lucas: Well, you know, I did a movie years ago called ‘Glory Road,’ which is a basketball movie that I really love. It’s actually one of my favorite movies I ever made. But it does tell a little bit of the inside college athletics story. It’s a very different story than this, but I started to have a real deep understanding and appreciation for college coaching and the process of what the players are going through.
Then when I spoke to the creator of the show, Pam Veasey, she was really telling me about where this story came from and her personal passionate reason why she wanted to tell it. Her boys were trying to be professional athletes at that point in her life. She looked at the Duke lacrosse scandal and she was so struck by it.
So, wondering about all the lives that were being destroyed and everything that was swirling around that tornado of a news story. She created this concept and she talked to me about this character, Hillman Ford, who’s at the center of it. He’s basically the guy that you don’t realize is pulling the strings and the real puppet master of the whole thing. That he himself doesn’t even realize the situation that he’s found himself in with this storm.
I was just struck by it. I was really intrigued by the world of it and I don’t know, I felt like it makes for just great television. You want to really know; how did this happen? What’s going on here? How did this whole thing just keep turning and turning and becoming messier and more complicated? In our own lives, it’s a horrible experience to go through. But as a television audience, it’s really fun to watch.
MF: Finally, can you talk about the importance of tackling a subject like sexual misconduct in the workplace on a series like ‘Long Slow Exhale?’
JL: Well, I think there’s part of it that, sure there’s the Me-Too movement of it all. There’s the sexual accusation element of this show, but really if you go to it, it’s bigger than that. It’s about false accusations and fake news, and what’s real, and who’s telling the truth.
It’s about all the things that make us as human beings such messy little creatures, and that our own little worlds that we find ourselves in suddenly can blow up and become national news, which is what happens in this case.
Then when we are on the outside we have to look at it and say, what’s really going on here? You know, it’s a big political scandal or a big sports scandal in a way. I mean, think about it, Tom Brady un-retiring is worldwide news, you know?
So, look, I think that’s part of it. We are so intrigued by these figures in our lives. That’s why, thankfully, women’s sports have become as big as men’s sports in so many ways finally. Yet, they have the same problems. We all have the same problems.
(L to R) Josh Lucas and Rose Rollins in ‘Long Slow Exhale.’ Photo: Boris Martin/Spectrum/BET.
Someone apparently decided that today was TV casting news day!
Still, there is a lot of TV casting to report, so let’s kick off with Loki’s return to the small screen. Well, actually, it’s Tom Hiddleston, who is now attached to his second Apple TV+ series following upcoming drama ‘The Essex Serpent’.
‘The White Darkness’ comes from another Apple veteran, ‘Pachinko’ creator Soo Hugh, who will run the show alongside ‘Strange Angel’s Mark Heyman.
The series is inspired by the true-life account of Henry Worsley, played by Hiddleston, a devoted husband and father, a former soldier, a man of deep honor and sacrifice, but also a man deeply obsessed with adventure, manifesting in an epic journey crossing Antarctica on foot.
Deadline’s report offers no details on when the show will start shooting, but there’s a fair chance that it’ll have to wait until after the next season of ‘Loki’ is filmed.
(L to R) Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in 2005’s ‘Mr. & Mrs. Smith.’
Next up, there’s a development on the TV version of movie spy thriller ‘Mr. & Mrs. Smith’, which had been moving ahead with Donald Glover and Phoebe Waller-Bridge, at least until the latter left over creative differences.
Now, though the actress and writer has been replaced by someone who similarly broke big by writing and starring in a show: ‘Pen15’s Maya Erskine will star opposite Glover in the story of married agents whose marriage is strained because they’re both so busy. That gets even more complicated when they discover that they’ve been contracted to eliminate each other.
Continuing with streaming services owned by Amazon, Neil Gaiman’s adaptation of his 2005 novel ‘Anansi Boys’ is adding a wealth of cast led by Whoopi Goldberg.
The Oscar winner, who has recently been seen reprising one of her iconic small screen characters, Guinan, on ‘Star Trek: Picard’, has signed on to play the villainous Bird Woman in the fantasy series.
‘Anansi Boys’ is the story of Charlie Nancy (Malachi Kirby) — sometimes known as Fat Charlie (it was his father’s nickname for him; he’s not fat) — a young man who is used to being embarrassed by his estranged father (Delroy Lindo). But when his father dies, Charlie discovers that he was Anansi: Trickster God of stories. And he learns that he has a brother. Now that brother, Spider (also played by Kirby), is entering Charlie’s life, determined to make it more interesting — but making it a lot more dangerous instead.
Goldberg’s Bird Woman is, as her name might suggest, the God of Birds. Bird Woman is the God of Birds and a key antagonist in the series. Anyone who’s had a close encounter with a seagull knows that some birds are more dangerous than others, and Bird Woman is the most dangerous of them all. Long ago Anansi did her wrong. Now may be her chance to turn the tables.
“I have been a fan of this book for a very long time and when Neil Gaiman told me it was being brought to the screen, I did everything I could to be part of it to help make people aware of Anansi and all his magic,” Goldberg says in a statement.
According to Gaiman, it was a fortuitous meeting that led to Goldberg’s casting. “When I first conceived ‘Anansi Boys,’ decades ago, I imagined Whoopi Goldberg as Bird Woman,” Gaiman said. “I wasn’t able to meet her until 2018, when she interviewed me with some of the ‘Good Omens’ team at New York Comic Con. At which point she mentioned that she had just finished listening to Sir Lenny Henry’s reading of ‘Anansi Boys,’ and that it was one of her favorite books. Sometimes things feel planned and inevitable, and we are incredibly lucky. She’s going to be scary.”
And she’s not the only mythic creature the Nancy family will have to worry about. Alongside Goldberg, the cast now includes Hakeem Kae-Kazim as Tiger, Emmanuel Ighodaro as Lion, Cecilia Noble playing Elephant, Ayanna Witter-Johnson as Snake and Don Gilet playing Monkey.
The various animal deities all have their own reasons for disliking Anansi – they mostly hate him for his trickster behavior, though Monkey is terrified of him.
Gaiman and co-showrunner Douglas MacKinnon (who worked alongside him on ‘Good Omens’ and its sequel series) are busy making the show in Scotland now.
Angela Bassett as Erika Sloane in ‘Mission: Impossible – Fallout,’ from Paramount Pictures and Skydance.
On to Netflix next, where the casting is movie related, but we’re keeping it here since it’ll debut on the streaming service. And it’s another fantasy title, this time with Angela Bassettjoining ‘Damsel’.
The movie will star Netflix stalwart Millie Bobby Brown, who plays a princess is shocked to discover that she’ll be sacrificed to the kingdom’s sacred cave dragon, after being married to her prince charming. She must survive long enough until someone comes to save her – only no one is coming.
Bassett will play Lady Bayford, the stepmother to Brown’s Elodie, while Juan Carlos Fresnadillo is directing from a script by Dan Mazeau.
Newton ended up in Cuba and his story was told in a Playboy article by Joshuah Bearman. Now ‘Claws’ showrunner Janine Sherman Barrois is working on a six-part limited series adaptation called ‘The Big Cigar’, which has Don Cheadle amongst its producers (and serving as director for the first two episodes).
In this case, Britain’s Talisa Garcia has been cast in ‘Willow’ as a queen, the mother to Tony Revolori’s character.
The ‘Willow’ series, which is set in the same universe as the 1988 fantasy movie, follows a princess who assembles a party to join her on a quest to rescue her twin brother. Warwick Davis is reprising his role as the title character.
And before you think this is Disney looking to generate some positive press in the wake of the “Don’t Say Gay” controversy over Florida politics, Garcia’s casting happened months ago, and the show is now in post-production for a planned launch this year.
Episode 2 of Disney+’s Marvel series ‘Moon Knight’ delivers more Marc Spector, Steven Grant, Arthur Harrow, and finally introduces us to our new show-exclusive character, Layla. In this episode, we learn how the Moon Knight power works, and get more connections to the source material.
The episode begins with Steven waking up and instantly going to the museum in hopes of catching Arthur after the frantic fight he had the night before with one of his jackals. But when he shows up at the museum, the camera show nothing but Marc Spector walking out. And Steven knows that isn’t him in control of his own body.
We finally see Layla in the flesh, and she informs Steven (whom she still believes to be Marc) that they are married, that she misses their time together and that they are supposed to get a divorce. Steven and Layla share a nice little connection between poetry and myth, only for the police, who are members of Harrow’s cult, to show up at Steven’s door and kidnap him.
The audience is given a tense scene between Steven and Arthur, all with Khonshu breathing down Steven’s neck commanding him to brutally murder Arthur. Harrow seemingly knows more about the god than Steven does, and reveals he too worked for him at one point. While this is not proven to be true as of yet, it shows that the god is not afraid to change his vessel as often as he wishes.
Arthur is still looking for that scarab, and Steven is following Marc’s wishes and telling Harrow that he doesn’t have it. Up until Layla appears, claiming she has it and freeing Steven. The two escape, with Steven having another terrifying jackal on his heels. With Marc pounding in his brain and Steven terrified, he attempts to summon the suit … well, a suit.
We finally have the reveal of Mr. Knight, hilariously coined by Marc as “a psychotic Colonel Sanders.” Steven himself has some sort of control over the power! Though it’s clear to see that Khonshu only gave the powers to Marc, not any other of his alters.
The episode closes with Arthur getting the scarab (revealed to be a sort of tracking device to Amitt’s tomb), Khonshu threatening Marc that if he doesn’t stop Arthur, he’ll take Layla as his next vessel, and Marc himself awakening in Egypt, facing the great pyramids of Giza.
The biggest revelation of this episode is the fact we now know Steven is an alter-ego of Marc. While the show’s first episode played this off as a mystery, with Steven being revealed first, episode 2 confirms the comic connection. Though we still don’t have a confirmation on Marc’s other personality, that of Jake Lockley. Which would indeed be weird if Marvel chose not to include it.
While it’s clear the show is taking more liberties from its source material, the biggest change in this episode is Layla, most likely based off Marc’s girlfriend in the comics, Marlene Alraune (more on her in a bit.) Which is surprising for a show that has so far stuck to the source material rather well. Especially for something so out of left field for Marvel and Disney.
Like the last episode before it, episode 2 is filled with some cleverly hidden Easter eggs. One of them being another comic book hidden in a QR code. While this could be a fantastic way for people to get into the comics, it’s fascinating the Marvel team is hiding them instead of putting them in the open. Though, if they continue to do it for future episodes, it could be a great way to get more people into the story.
The other Easter egg (if it could be called that) in the episode is Layla herself. As mentioned before, she’s more than likely based off of the character of Marlene Alraune, Marc Specter’s on and off again girlfriend in the comics. While it’s interesting for Marvel to just transfer her character over, she also wasn’t exactly the most interesting character in the comics. So, their choice to make someone completely brand new with close to the same backstory totally works.
One thing that should be mentioned is where ‘Moon Knight’ fits in the Marvel Cinematic timeline. It was revealed just recently on Disney’s official timeline; ‘Moon Knight’ takes place directly after ‘Hawkeye’ and ‘Eternals’. How this will affect the show is yet to be seen, but we shouldn’t be surprised if both the Blip is mentioned, or the giant Celestial that is still currently in the sea.
Episode 2 of ‘Moon Knight’ was another fun ride, with some cool fights and great moments. It’s refreshing to see a show so dark and unafraid to hide from the weirder side of the Marvel universe, even more so than something like the ‘Eternals’.
Hopefully the next few episodes hold up that weirdness and give us more brutal fights.
In what constitutes a good news/bad news situation for fans of Paramount+ series ‘Star Trek: Picard’, the streaming service has announced that more of Patrick Stewart’s former ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ castmates will appear in the third season of the sci-fi series. The bad news aspect? That will also serve to wrap up the show.
‘Star Trek: Picard’, which features Stewart as the venerable former Captain (now Admiral) Picard as he deals with new adventures and threats past, present and future, has not been shy in keeping connective tissue with the 1980s and 1990s series, even as it charts its own course.
Former ‘TNG’ stars Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis guest-starred in Season 1 as Will Riker and Deanna Troi, while Brent Spiner’s Data (and other characters brought to life by the actor) formed a key part of the storyline for that season.
Now, though, Paramount+ has used “First Contact Day” (aka April 5, the day in 2063 in which humans encountered the Vulcans, as seen in 1996 movie that featured the ‘Next Generation’ characters battling a threat from the Borg), to announce that more of that show’s cast will be back to see their old commander.
Frakes, Sirtis and Spiner will all return, joined this time by LeVar Burton’s Geordi LaForge (former Chief Engineer of Picard’s Enterprise), Gates McFadden’s Dr. Beverly Crusher (who had an established connection to Picard before serving on the ship) and Michael Dorn’s Worf (a Klingon raised by humans who was Chief of Security on board for years).
How exactly they will fit into the plot for Season 3 is unknown at this point, but there are subtle clues about legacy in the teaser video put out by the streaming service to mark the announcement. And it looks like Riker in particular will be back in action in a big way.
“I remember watching the premiere of ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ almost 34 years ago with my father like it was yesterday. It was the spark that ignited my love for science fiction,” says Terry Matalas, Season 3 showrunner and executive producer. “So, it’s most fitting that the story of Jean-Luc Picard ends honoring the beginning, with his dearest and most loyal friends from the U.S.S. Enterprise. It would be an understatement to say that giving these characters a proper send-off is an honor. The entire ‘Picard’ team and I can’t wait for fans to experience this final, high-stakes, starship-bound adventure in Season 3!”
‘Picard’ Season 3 wrapped filming last month, having kicked off production shortly after Season 2 shot its final scenes. That season is still midway through airing, and brings back another ‘Next Generation’ favorite, as John De Lancie’s troublesome alien Q is part of the storyline.
Seeing the crew of the Enterprise-D properly back together will certainly help us deal with the disappointment of learning that ‘Picard’ is coming to an end. The announcement made no mention of when the season might start, but for now you can find ‘Star Trek: Picard’ releasing new episodes every Thursday on Paramount+, with the season finale due May 5th.
Gary Oldman and Jack Lowden in “Slow Horses,” now streaming on Apple TV+.
Premiering on Apple TV+ beginning April 1st is the new spy series ‘Slow Horses,’ which is based on author Mick Herron’s novel of the same name.
The series follows British MI5 agent River Cartwright (Jack Lowden), who after a botched mission is exiled to Slough House, which is an administrative purgatory for service agents. Cartwright and his fellow former agents now perform boring administrative tasks and work for the miserable Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman), who expects everyone to quit out of frustration.
But soon the former agents of Slough House, or Slow Horses as they’ve been nicknamed, become entangled in a dangerous mission at London’s Regent’s Park. In addition to Lowden and Oldman, the cast also includes Olivia Cooke, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Jonathan Pryce.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Gary Oldman and Jack Lowden about their work on ‘Slow Horses.
You can read our full interview with Gary Oldman and Jack Lowden below, or watch a video of our interviews with Oldman, Lowden, Olivia Cooke, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Jonathan Pryce in the player above.
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Moviefone: To begin with, Gary can you talk about your approach to taking this character from the page to the screen?
Gary Oldman: Well, I was very lucky because Jackson Lamb is really created, he’s from the imagination of Mick Herron, who is the writer of the books that the series is based on. He created this world and this incredible character, and it was all there. It was all pretty much on the page. All I had to do was just follow all the signposts.
I knew immediately when I read the book and read the scripts, I just thought I could have a lot of fun playing Jackson. I don’t particularly like him, but I do like playing him and his interaction with the characters in the piece. But a lot of the work, I must say, was done for me in the writing, because it’s very, very good writing.
MF: Finally, Jack can you talk about your character’s journey and how he feels about being sent to Slough House?
Jack Lowden: He goes there because he is pushed into making a mistake, given the wrong information, which only adds to his constant frustration. The fact is that he’s just in this one big, bad mood for all six episodes. So, it’s definitely not his fault. I think we were talking earlier about the fact that Jackson, his boss, knows that because he knows everything and chooses to sort of beat him with it.
I think his career, when we meet him is probably going brilliantly well. I think it’s probably going very well. I think where he then ends up is just not something that he could foresee at all. Then it all just comes crumbling down through no fault of his own.
Gary Oldman and Jack Lowden in “Slow Horses,” now streaming on Apple TV+.
‘Moon Knight’ is Marvel’s newest Disney+ show, and the first time the titular character has found himself on the live-action screen. Staring Oscar Isaac and Ethan Hawke, the show follows Isaacs in the role(s) of Steven Grant and his many personalities—as the man suffers from DID, dissociative identity disorder, and his journey as the new anti-hero Moon Knight.
The first episode dropped this week, so let’s discuss what we saw, what it could mean going forward, and how does this first episode hold up with the rest of the MCU streaming shows!
Steven Grant is, well, awkward. And, well, strange. He falls sleep with a chain around his ankle, has tape on his door and doesn’t even remember setting up a dinner date with a co-worker. Steven suffers from DID, and it appears his alter-egos are doing things without his knowledge. Throughout this first episode we see Steven slowly start to lose his grip with everything he thought he knew, all leading up to the rather long finale of the episode.
Quick flashes of an English countryside that is totally hosting a cult, Steven hearing someone’s voice in his head and being attacked by what is possibly the creepiest MCU monster we’ve ever seen. It all leads up to him (well, the Marc Spector alter), clad in the Moon Knight costume and standing over an insanely brutalized monster.
‘Moon Knight’ starts rather slowly compared to the other MCU shows, but honestly that’s not much of an issue. Compared to other characters we’ve seen get shows on Disney+, ‘Moon Knight’ is the one character that people would know the least about. Compared to, say, Scarlet Witch or Loki, this is the first time we have seen Moon Knight in, well, anything. But does the episode hold up as a good introduction?
Honestly, it does its job. We’re shown Steven Grant, and get glimpses of his DID in the form of flashes in the last half of the episode, and seen his life outside of whatever the hell craziness that his alter-ego gets into.
Khonshu is given a small role in the episode, seen more as a slasher movie villain as he spookily watches from the sidelines in the last half. His voice is different, at least from what I expected, but it does a great job of portraying an ancient god that is tired of whatever Steven Grant is doing, which is stopping Marc Spector from doing his job.
There isn’t much to discuss when it comes to Ethan Hawke and his portrayal of the villain Arthur, only that he indeed succeeds at portraying a very creepy and threatening cult leader. We’re shown in the episode his abilities; he can weigh the hearts of others just as the ancient Egyptian myths of the afterlife have explained.
For those who are not aware, in Egyptian myth, your heart is weighed against a feather when you die. If your heart is lighter, you’re allowed passage to the afterlife. If not, your heart is unceremoniously eaten by an alligator. We see this in action when Arthur weighs the hearts of two people in the town square scene, one getting told they were worthy and the other just keeling over.
There’s been talks in Hollywood how recent films have handled the culture and country of Egypt in film and TV, and I personally believe it’s too early to tell with ‘Moon Knight.’ The handling of the myths, at least to my knowledge, are on point and match up with history (obviously not counting the Marvel universes’ changes) so we have yet to see how the rest is going to work. Khonshu himself is not a real Egyptian god, but how the show has depicted him so far is more horror movie villain than mythical being.
Now, a main part of this show is indeed the inclusion of Steve’s DID. There is always a constant debate on how mental health is portrayed in film and whether it’s used as a stereotypical gimmick or something to villainize a character.
While Oscar Isaac himself is not diagnosed with DID, it’s obvious he has done his research and is doing his best to respect the diagnoses and those who have it. Though, I will admit it is kind of jarring seeing him go from shy and timid Steven Grant to serious and intense Marc Spector. I honestly can’t tell if the accent is a good thing or if it plays Grant off to be a bit of a nerd-like character.
I personally think the first episode does a good job at portraying a character like Moon Knight in way that’s both accessible and so much different from what came before it. Compared to the other Marvel shows on Disney+, it isn’t the most intense or the craziest action wise. It’s the start of a story that not everyone is familiar with, and we obviously need more time to see how marvel is going to handle introducing such a wild character.
Of all the properties in its vast expanded catalogue since buying 20th Century Fox, we’re not sure we were expecting Disney+ to create a TV series based on 1997 hit ‘The Full Monty’.
Yet as the movie approaches the 25th anniversary of its release this year, Disney is doing just that, commissioning a follow-up series that reunites most of the original cast and writer Simon Beaufoy.
Behind the camera, Beaufoy will be creator, writer, and executive producer, with Alice Nutter a co-writer and the movie’s original producer Umberto Pasolini also back.
Director Peter Cattaneo isn’t returning, though: directing duties will be handled by Andrew Chaplin and Catherine Morshead.
Set in Sheffield, one of the industrial cities in England’s north, the movie follows friends Gaz (Carlyle) and Dave (Addy), both now unemployed and on benefits after the closure of most of the city’s steel mills, steal scrap metal from the closed mills to supplement their meager income, often with Gaz’s 12-year-old son, Nathan (Snape), on the days Gaz has custody.
1997’s ‘The Full Monty.’
Still, Gaz is behind in child support payments to his ex-wife, Mandy (Emily Woof). When Mandy threatens to sue for full custody in that Gaz can’t support Nathan in any way, Gaz, seeing the long line up of women clamoring to get in to see a touring Chippendales styled dance troupe, thinks he can solve his financial and thus custody problems by forming his own male exotic dance troupe with some of his fellow un- or underemployed ex-mill workers…
A huge box office success in the 1990s, ‘The Full Monty’ was the highest grossing movie of its time in the UK, at least until ‘Titanic’ docked.
The new show will follow the original cast as they navigate the post-industrial city of Sheffield and society’s crumbling healthcare, education and employment sectors and explore how communal effort can still triumph over adversity.
“We’re chuffed to bits to get all the ‘Monty’ Men back together again — now with a chaotic entourage of children, grandchildren, pets and assorted hangers-on — to see what life in Sheffield is like 25 years on,” says Beaufoy.
“Twenty-five years ago, Simon introduced us to a group of funny, fearless and resilient unemployed working-class men from Sheffield and the world fell in love with them,” says Lee Mason, director of scripted content for the streaming service. “We’re delighted to reunite the original cast for this brand-new series on Disney Plus to catch up with these iconic characters and what they’ve been up to since we last saw them on stage in all their glory, and we can’t wait to introduce a host of exciting new faces and characters.”
The cameras are rolling now in Sheffield and Manchester and the show may well debut on Disney+ later this year.
Premiering on Disney+ beginning March 30th is the new Marvel Studios series ‘Moon Knight,’ which is based on the popular comic book character of the same name. Oscar Isaac (‘Dune’) stars as Marc Spector, a mercenary with dissociative identity disorder who is granted the powers of an Egyptian moon god, making him a superhero. The result is a series that feels more like a movie and is one of the best origin story projects Marvel Studios has ever produced.
The series begins by introducing us to Steven Grant (Oscar Isaac), a meek gift shop clerk who happens to work at a museum in the Egyptian history wing. Grant has strange visions of an Egyptian god, loses track of large amounts of time, and wakes up unaware of why he is chained to his own bed. Grant soon discovers that he actually shares a body with mercenary Marc Spector (also Isaacs), who has dissociative identity disorder and was chosen by the Egyptian god Khonshu (voiced by F. Murray Abraham) to be the hero Moon Knight.
Grant also meets Spector’s wife, Layla El-Faouly (May Calamawy) and discovers that a cult led by Arthur Harrow (Ethan Hawke) are pursuing them to retrieve a valuable artifact that they have in their possession. With the artifact, Harrow will have ultimate power and now Marc and Steven must work together as Moon Knight (or Steven’s alter ego – Mr. Knight) if they want to stop the cult leader from taking over the world.
As much as I love Marvel, one of the issues I’ve had with the Disney+ shows are that even at six to eight episodes, they always feel like they are one or two episodes too long. But as I have screened four out of six of the ‘Moon Knight’ episodes, I can tell you that the series is tight, and at least in the first four episodes, there is no filler. Moon Knight’s story is complicated, and the series benefits from the fact that it has six hours to tell his origin, without feeling rushed or truncated. But it also doesn’t waste its time and everything that happens seems necessary and important to telling the character’s story.
In some ways this is the least Marvel project Marvel Studios has produced, certainly on Disney+, but also still feels very much like it takes place in the MCU. The prior Marvel shows were all heavily dipped in MCU folklore with references to S.H.I.E.L.D. or The Blip, for example, and appearances from characters that belong to other Marvel franchises. But while ‘Moon Knight’ doesn’t have any direct MCU references or cameos (at least not in the first four episodes), it still feels very much like a Marvel movie and very much exists in the same universe as ‘Doctor Strange‘ and ‘Shang-Chi.’
It’s hard enough to introduce one new character to an audience, but with superhero projects you essentially have two characters to introduce, the hero and their alter-ego. With this series, they have the difficulty of introducing not just Marc Spector and Moon Knight, but also Steven Grant and Mr. Knight, with all four characters portrayed by the same actor, Oscar Isaac.
In the comics, Spector is the main character and the focus is usually on him, when it’s not on Moon Knight. But the series made the wise choice to focus the series, at least initially, on Steven Grant. Like the audience (at least those not familiar with the source material), Steven has no idea what is going on in his life, and as the audience we get to learn about Marc, Layla, Arthur Harrow, and Khonshu, at the same time Steven does. It was a risky choice, but ultimately works and serves the series well.
The supporting cast is very good, especially Oscar winner F. Murray Abraham who voices Khonshu. May Calamawy creates a strong and really fun character in Marc’s wife, Layla. She has great chemistry with Isaac (no matter which character he is playing), and the character takes some odd twists and turns in the later episodes.
But a hero is only as strong as the villain he has to battle, and Ethan Hawke creates a very strong villain in Arthur Harrow. In fact, calling him a villain is not even fair as the character would tell you he’s the hero of his own story, and Hawke walks that line well. Channeling inspiration from cult leader David Koresh, as well as psychiatrist Carl Jung and even the Dalai Lama, Hawke plays the role in a sympathetic yet commanding way.
But the series’ success really hinges on finding an actor that can realistically portray all the aspects of the lead character, and Oscar Isaac fills that role exceedingly well. Isaac really creates two separate characters with Steven and Marc, and he is so good that at times you really believe they are two different people and you forget that the same actor is playing both roles. The series handles the character’s DID quite well, and Isaac’s performance is extremely believable and sympathetic.
In the end, at least for the first four episodes, ‘Moon Knight’ is an extremely tight, dark, and very enjoyable superhero series that is just as good as any Marvel movie without getting bogged down by the MCU mythology.
‘Moon Knight’ (first four episodes) receives 4.5 out of 5 stars
‘Moon Knight’ premieres on Disney+ beginning March 30th.
Ethan Hawke plays Arthur Harrow in Marvel’s ‘Moon Knight’ on Disney+.
Premiering March 30th on Disney+ is the new six-part Marvel TV series ‘Moon Knight,’ which is based on the popular comic book character.
The series follows Oscar Isaac (‘Dune’) as Marc Spector, a mercenary with dissociative identity disorder. One of his multiple identities, Steven Grant is thrown into a mystery involving Egyptian gods and Arthur Harrow (Ethan Hawke), a religious zealot and cult leader.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with four-time Oscar nominee Ethan Hawke (‘Training Day’) about his work on ‘Moon Knight’ and joining the Marvel Universe.
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You can read our full interview with Ethan Hawke below, or watch a video of our interviews with Hawke, actress May Calamawy (Layla El-Faouly), executive producer Grant Curtis, and directors Justin Benson, Aaron Moorhead, and Mohamed Diab by clicking on the player above.
Moviefone: To begin with, can you talk about your experience joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe and watching how Kevin Feige and his team create these huge projects?
Ethan Hawke: Well, as a guy who basically grew up in independent cinema, I was a little blown away to see all the equipment. I mean, to see all the toys. When they want a crane shot, they got four cranes. You want a better crane shot? We got bigger. Do you want a helicopter shot? Let’s get the chopper. You want a pyramid? Let’s build one. You want a hospital? Let’s build one. You want Cairo? Let’s build it. In the independent cinema, it’s like, “No. No crane shots, no Cairo, no pyramids. We’re going to shoot it in the basement and talk about it.”
MF: I understand that you used some interesting real-life inspiration for playing your character, Arthur Harrow. Can you talk about your character and you approach to playing him?
EH: Yeah, because we’re in new terrain here, most people don’t know Moon Knight. There isn’t a definitive Moon Knight villain that I have to hit certain notes. It could be its own thing. As I got to know Oscar better and what he was doing, he was taking the mental illness aspect of the character so seriously and studying dissociative identity disorder. He was so interested in what that was, and he was talking a lot about the dream landscape and the power of symbols.
I started thinking about Carl Jung and all his dream teachings and how, in a lot of ways, that could work well with superheroes because there’s a dream aspect to them. They do seem to work in myths and icons. I started reading Carl Jung, and I started thinking, “Oh, if my character could be like a cross between a monk and Carl Jung, I could be the different aspect in it.” I mean, as this series continues, you really start to see that the Moon Knight himself doesn’t understand reality, and so he’s not sure if my character is really a supervillain.
MF: Finally, what was it like for you to work with Oscar Isaac and create the unique relationship between your two characters?
EH: Well, that’s the thing, heroes and villains. Right? You can’t have one without the other. There is no hero without a villain. So, I had to be a counterpoint. If he was going to really play somebody deeply unbalanced, well, the counterpoint would be to find somebody who is incredibly balanced and to try to always be moving left when he moves right. If he’s going to be the moon, inconstant and changing, I needed to be the sun, penetrating and even. That was my thought.
‘Moon Knight’ premieres on Disney+ beginning March 30th.
