Jeff Bridges, Allison Janney and Jesse Eisenberg will voice characters in ‘Minions & Monsters’.
It’s the latest ‘Despicable Me’ spin-off featuring the chattering creatures.
The movie will arrive on July 1.
There’s no keeping those Minions down. The chattering characters from the ‘Despicable Me’ franchise who have had a few of their own spin-off movies are back later this year for another new entry, ‘Minions & Monsters’.
A prequel to 2010’s ‘Despicable Me’ and sequel to 2022’s ‘Minions: The Rise of Gru,’ the newest adventure is set in the world of 1920s Hollywood as the yellow underlings work to find the lead of their monster movie.
Described as “rambunctious, ridiculous and totally true,” the story follows how the Minions conquered the entertainment industry and became movie stars… only to lose everything and unleash monsters onto the world before they banded together to save the planet from their mayhem.
When will ‘Monsters & Minions’ be in theaters?
Universal has confirmed a July 1 release date for the new animated outing.
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Zoey Deutch stars in ‘The Threesome’.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Zoey Deutch, Jonah Hauer-King and Ruby Cruz about their work on ‘The Threesome’, Deutch’s first reaction to the screenplay and why she wanted to work with director Chad Hartigan, Hauer-King’s take on his character’s unusual situation, and what Cruz learned about threesomes from her research.
You can read our full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews with Deutch, Hauer-King and Cruz, as well as Jaboukie Young-White and director Chad Hartigan.
(L to R) Jonah Hauer-King, Zoey Deutch, and Ruby Cruz in ‘The Threesome’. Photo: Vertical.
Moviefone: To begin with, Zoey, can you talk about your first reaction to the screenplay and what were some of the aspects of your character that you were excited to explore on screen?
Zoey Deutch: First impression was that it was a very strong script with a very strong director behind it, and I thought that he was an interesting and different choice to be the captain of that ship. I was really excited about that pairing, and I had been wanting to work with Chad the director for a long time. So, immediately after reading it, I reached out to him and asked him if he would be interested in meeting with me. I have this thing when I’m reading scripts that it’s like my body knows before my mind. There’s a lot going on here and my body, it doesn’t lie. Whenever I’m reading and I start to just speak out loud the lines, that’s always an indicator for me that I need to do this and I really want to do this, and that’s what happened. The second I started reading it, the words were just like flowing out of me as I was reading it. I loved the cadence and heard the way that she spoke, the dialogue, the relationships, and how nuanced it was.
Jonah Hauer-King stars in ‘The Threesome’.
MF: Jonah, can you talk about the unusual situation Connor finds himself in and how he navigates through that?
Jonah Hauer-King; I think it’s something that he’s not expecting. I think ultimately, he finds himself in a position where he must grow up very quickly and take responsibility for his actions. However intentional or not, he needs to take responsibility and try and be a good person and do the right thing in that quite complex delicate situation. He gets it wrong on several occasions, but he tries to right the ship and I think a lot of the story for him is about learning from those mistakes and trying to be a better person to both Olivia and Jenny. So, I really like that about him. He doesn’t feel sorry for himself too much at the time and any time there is a little bit of self-pity, he kind of drags himself out of it and realizes that there’s more important things that play and this isn’t about him. It’s very much about two other women and potentially bring new life into the world as well. So, I think he bit by bit starts to become a bigger man.
Ruby Cruz stars in ‘The Threesome’.
MF: Ruby, it seems like Jenny is caught in the middle of Olivia and Connor’s relationship. Can you talk about that and your approach to playing the character?
Ruby Cruz: I think when I was doing my research on threesomes, I learned about the term called “The Second Fiddle”. The Second Fiddle is the person in a threesome who doesn’t get as much attention, and that’s what Jenny is. Jenny is the third in this story. I think it was just relating to how she feels like the third in her life as well. She feels like they’re characters in her own life. After the first read of the script, I realized that, and I thought that was a very interesting way to feel. I was excited to dive into that.
‘The Threesome’ director Chad Hartigan.
MF: Zoey, you mentioned that you had wanted to work with director Chad Hartigan for a long time. Now that you have, what was that experience like for you?
ZD: So disappointing. I’m kidding. He was the best. I love him, I think he is such a wonderful human being, and one of my favorite things about him is how much he truly appreciates every single person involved and walks the walk and talks to talk about collaboration. There is no hierarchy with him. He wants everyone to feel invested, involved, and like their opinion matters. I saw that from the second I started working with him all the way to now, and I loved working with him. He’s just a wonderful filmmaker and a film lover. So totally, very grateful that I got that opportunity.
(L to R) Zoey Deutch, Ruby Cruz and Jonah Hauer-King, in ‘The Threesome’. Photo: Vertical.
MF: Finally, Jonah, what was your experience like working with director Chad Hartigan and did he give you room to improvise on set?
JHK: Yes, and I think that was partly down to the fact that when you have characters that are as well drawn as these ones, it is very subtle and it’s quite nuanced to how the story develops, how that all relates to one another, and the energy of a particular scene can be made very different with different types of performance. It was always about calibrating in this moment, like how emotional is Connor being or how difficult is he being? That was true for all the characters. Then that was a fun job for Chad in the edit to work out the emotional beats of the story and he had more to work with. Because it wasn’t like this is the exact point that the character is going through, or these are the exact beats that we’re going to hit through the story. He had more wiggle room to play around with it. That came very naturally to both Zoey and Ruby. I think that’s probably what they would do on any film anyway, they would provide different takes and different things. So, I think that came very naturally to them, and then I just had to keep up.
(L to R) Ruby Cruz, Zoey Deutch, and Jonah Hauer-King in ‘The Threesome’. Photo: Vertical.
What is the plot of ‘The Threesome’?
Connor (Jonah Hauer-King) wants to start a real relationship with Olivia (Zoey Deutch). While out on a date, the two meet Jenny (Ruby Cruz), one thing leads to another, and they have a threesome. In a strange twist of fate, both Jenny and Olivia end up pregnant.
If ‘Juror #2,’ the 40th film directed by Clint Eastwood, is indeed the 94-year-old screen legend’s final offering, it doesn’t play like the work of someone with one foot out the soundstage door. While it doesn’t make an airtight case for itself, ‘Juror #2’ is an absorbing courtroom thriller and moral melodrama, in which two men with everything to lose in a homicide case feel the screws tightening around them – but only one knows the truth.
While Eastwood has had his ups and downs with his last few films – ‘Cry Macho’ was thin at best, while ‘Richard Jewell’ was terrific and ‘The Mule’ was somewhere in between – ‘Juror #2’ is in many ways the filmmaker at his best, with sturdy, no-nonsense direction, rich cinematography (from Yves Bélanger), and a nuanced story brought to life by a stacked cast. But the script by Jonathan Abrams admittedly has some pretty large holes in it as well, and labors to gloss them over with varying degrees of success. That it still manages to be a gripping, old-fashioned courtroom potboiler is a testament to a crafty filmmaker who still knows how to tell a story efficiently.
“We’re only as sick as our secrets,” says a sponsor at the AA meeting attended by Justin Kemp (Nicholas Hoult), a journalist, recovering alcoholic and soon-to-be-dad who’s hoping to get out of jury duty in his mid-sized Georgia town so that he can be ready to help his wife Allison (Zoey Deutch) when their baby arrives. But Justin ends up being selected for what seems to be a cut-and-dried case: reformed drug dealer James Michael Sythe (Gabriel Basso) is accused of murdering his girlfriend Kendall (Francesca Eastwood) in a rage after she storms out of a bar on a rainy night after they have a fight.
Except that it turns out Justin himself has a whopper of a secret; without giving away too much, he realizes not long into the trial that he is connected to the case in a deeply troubling manner. How he ascertains this – and how his connection comes about in the first place – is the first spot where Jonathan Abrams’ screenplay strains credibility, especially as other key figures like prosecutor Faith Killebrew (Toni Collette) and public defender Eric Resnick (Chris Messina) seem to miss what is staring them right in the face.
But even with the script’s implausibilities (others of which come to the fore later as well), many more aspects of the film keep the viewer hooked and the drama moving forward. Drawing on elements of ‘Rashomon’ and, of course, ’12 Angry Men,’ Justin takes on the role of lone holdout, gradually chipping away at some of the other jurors’ initial impulse to immediately convict. One of those other jurors is Harold (J.K. Simmons), who has a secret of his own but also a burgeoning sense that not all is right with the case. He decides to look deeper on his own – although that leads to another of those pesky plot holes.
Nevertheless, the movie is never less than compelling, as Eastwood’s unobtrusive filmmaking and mostly uncluttered way with narrative keep the suspense and tension high. The film also touches on a number of issues, including the nature of truth, the requirements and morality of law enforcement, and the very concept of justice itself (“sometimes the truth isn’t justice,” intones someone near the end), although it never quite gives them their full day in court. This is a melodrama after all. And although the jury’s out on whether the ending works – it plays out in stages, almost a montage, instead of a cathartic climactic scene — the final open-ended image is a haunting one.
Nicholas Hoult – who’s set for major roles in ‘Nosferatu’ later this year and ‘Superman’ next summer – has been building an impressive body of work since we first saw him in ‘About a Boy.’ As a leading man here, he’s nothing short of terrific, believably portraying a young man, haunted by his own demons, who’s been putting his life in order and is now ready to do anything to protect what he’s built. He and Zoey Deutch have a nice, natural rhythm together as a married couple, and Deutch’s turn from chipper mom-to-be to a woman slowly realizing that the ground could abruptly slide out from under her is organically handled.
It’s a credit to wonderful actors like J.K. Simmons, Toni Collette, and Chris Messina that they can take some thinly-drawn characters and make them breathe. Simmons fares the best, as a man with a true moral compass, but he also sort of vanishes from the story long before it ends. Collette and Messina both draw sympathetic portraits of friends who are also opponents and understand each other’s motivations, although their lives seem confined to the courthouse and the local bar (a subplot about Collette running for district attorney seems tacked on as well). As for the rest of the jurors, only Cedric Yarbrough makes a lasting impression as Marcus. And Kiefer Sutherland is wasted as a lawyer whose only purpose is to provide two scenes’ worth of exposition for Hoult.
The greatest crime about ‘Juror #2’ is the way it’s coming out: Warner Bros. Pictures plans to open the film on no more than 50 screens, after initially earmarking it for a streaming debut on Max. It seems like an ignominious way to play off Clint Eastwood, whose career and accomplishments with the studio – both in terms of awards and box office – stretch back for decades. But it’s a different world now.
What makes it just as inexplicable is that ‘Juror #2,’ despite its flaws, is a fine film. Unlike some other veteran filmmakers like Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese, who have recently attempted grand statements with very uneven success, Eastwood’s unfussy, straightforward movies mostly tend to hit their mark and deliver the kind of high-end, well-made adult drama that once would have packed auditoriums. It’s a shame that studio marketing departments seem no longer capable of presenting these sturdy, entertaining films to a public that might still enjoy them. If ‘Juror #2’ does end up being Clint Eastwood’s sign-off, then he’s guilty as hell of retiring in style.
‘Juror #2’ receives 7.5 out of 10 stars.
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What is the plot of ‘Juror #2’?
A husband and father-to-be (Nicholas Hoult) is selected to be on the jury for a high-profile homicide trial, only to realize that he has a tremendous – and potentially dangerous – conflict of interest. Now he must decide on the right course of action before it’s too late and justice is not served.
(Left) J.K. Simmons in Prime Video’s ‘Big Sky.’ Photo: Chuck Hodes. Copyright: Amazon Studios. (Right) Clint Eastwood in ‘The Mule.’ Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.
Preview:
J.K. Simmons is part of the cast of Clint Eastwood’s latest film.
He’ll be a juror in the legal thriller.
The film has yet to lock down a release date.
Given how fast he works –– even at the age of 93 –– Clint Eastwood is already finished shooting his new movie, ‘Juror #2’. The movie had to shut down production when the actors’ strike hit but geared back up again in early November and is now in the editing stage.
(L to R) Director Clint Eastwood and Andy Garcia on the set of ‘The Mule.’ Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.
Written by Jonathan Abrams, ‘Juror #2’ will follow a member of the jury of a murder trial who suspects he may have had some part in the victim’s death –– in fact, possibly killed them himself in a vehicular accident –– and is caught in a moral conundrum of whether to use his secret to sway the jury away and protect himself or turn himself in to the justice system he is participating in.
Nicholas Hoult is playing the lead role of the juror, Justin Kemp, with Toni Collette as the district attorney on the case.
Eastwood had reportedly been weighing several scripts and in recent months zeroed in on this film as his likely final project.
(L to R) J.K. Simmons as Walter Boggs and Frank Grillo as Pauly Russo in the action/thriller, ‘One Day as a Lion,’ a Lionsgate release. Photo courtesy of Lionsgate.
The actor, who won an Oscar for ‘Whiplash’, might be most recognizable to genre fans as J. Jonah Jameson, the grumpy Daily Bugle editor he played across Sam Raimi’s ‘Spider-Man’ trilogy (and who has popped up since in Jon Watts’ take on the story as an alt-universe variant of Jameson who fronts a web news series).
In addition to those projects, he’s playing a swole Santa in the Dwayne Johnson/Chris Evans holiday film ‘Red One’, though that won’t be released until next year’s Christmas season.
When will ‘Juror #2’ be in theaters?
As of right now, ‘Juror #2’ is still awaiting a release date. There is a chance that Warner Bros. will look to release the movie close to awards season next year, touting it as Eastwood’s final film.
Clint Eastwood in Wolfgang Peterson’s ‘In the Line of Fire.’
The movie stars Kendrick Sampson (‘Miss Juneteenth’) as Ethan Greene, a single father shopping for an engagement ring to give his girlfriend for Christmas. He soon has a chance encounter with Gary Wilson (Ray Nicholson), who just bought a pair of earrings for his longtime girlfriend, bakery owner Rachel Meyer (Zoey Deutch).
But it’s not till Christmas day that the two men discover they accidentally exchanged gifts. Now, Gary and Rachel are suddenly engaged, and Ethan sets out to find the couple to recover the ring, but when Ethan and Rachel unexpectedly connect, it will change the course of all their relationships forever.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Zoey Deutch and Kendrick Sampson about their work on ‘Something from Tiffany’s,’ their character’s strange predicament, connecting with someone when you are already in a relationship, and what the film taught her about baking.
(L to R) Kendrick Sampson and Zoey Deutch star in ‘Something From Tiffany’s.’
You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews with Deutch, Sampson, and Ray Nicholson.
Moviefone: To begin with, Zoey, the film deals with the concept of connecting with someone when you’re already in a relationship with somebody else. Can you talk about the connection that Rachel and Ethan make in this movie?
Zoey Deutch: Look, I think love, like life, and life, like love is full of unexpected surprises and gifts, and falling in love is always a surprise. It’s always an unexpected gift. I love that that was the theme of this movie. They weren’t looking for it. They didn’t see it coming, and they didn’t know how much they needed it. It transforms their lives, and it makes them better people. It makes them who they want to be, which is the hope of love.
MF: Kendrick, how would you describe, in your own words, the connection that Ethan makes with Rachel?
Kendrick Sampson: I think that he sees her drive. The connection is accidental, number one. But I think immediately you can even see that connection and that he sees something in her. He doesn’t necessarily know what it is. Throughout getting to know her, through many accidental yet intentional meetups, I think he sees that she is driven by passion and has this business, a thriving business. She’s organized her passion into something very practical that she does every day.
I think he’s inspired by that and sees how he can incorporate that in his own life. He can take some of those lessons and be inspired by her. Zoey always brings up that she believes in him. I can’t tell you enough, especially as a child that moved to a different city, Los Angeles when I was 18, having people believe in you and validate your essence, and really see you is invaluable.
MF: Finally, Zoey, did you learn a lot about baking bread for this movie, and how has your baking bread skills improved after playing this role?
ZD: Look, I can bake. I don’t like to bake. I did learn a bit more about it. I love to cook, but it’s a labor of love. It is interesting because the type of person who’s a good baker is a very patient person, especially bread. Bread requires an immense amount of patience. I have no patience at all. It’s one of my many bad qualities. So, baking is not my favorite, but Rachel, she loves it, and she’s great at it.
Even though “Set It Up” was a big hit for Netflix, fans shouldn’t hold their breath for a sequel. The rom-com’s stars and filmmakers have other plans right now.
Netflix announced Tuesday that “Set It Up” stars Zoey Duetch and Glen Powell are reuniting for another rom-com from the film’s writer, Katie Silberman, as well as producers Juliet Berman and Justin Nappi of Treehouse Pictures. The project’s working title is “Most Dangerous Game,” and it will be “something completely different,” as Berman indicated (via THR).
“While it was clear that audiences were clamoring for a sequel, we are excited by the thought of creating a new, distinct film that explores different romantic comedy tropes while still being anchored in everything that we loved about the first movie,” Nappi said.
“Set It Up” debuted last June. The story follows two 20-something assistants, Harper (Deutch) and Charlie (Glen Powell), as they deal with their stressful jobs. To make the workload easier, they decide to set up their bosses, hoping that the pair will become less demanding if they have romance in their lives.
Plot details for “Most Dangerous Game” haven’t been revealed yet, but Berman called it “creatively exciting” and said they “jumped on it.” We look forward to seeing why.
“Zombieland 2” will be set in a world in which zombie slayers must face off new kinds of zombies that have evolved since the first movie, as well as some new human survivors, according to Variety.
“Zombieland” director Ruben Fleischer (who just directed monster hit “Venom“) is returning as well.
The sequel is set to go into production in January and will be released in October 2019.
With the success of Netflix’s “Set It Up” behind her, Zoey Deutch already has yet another project lined up.
The actress has signed on to star in and produce the upcoming independent film “Buffaloed,” Variety reports. She’ll play Peg Dahl, a woman who gets into debt collecting as a way to deal with her own money problems. However, she ends up with a new problem when she crosses paths with a character described as Buffalo, New York’s “‘kingpin’ of debt collecting.”
The film is slated to begin shooting this month, so Deutch should have her hands full with the project soon, if not already. She’s generally been keeping busy lately; her recent work includes the films “The Disaster Artist,” “Flower,” and “The Year of Spectacular Men,” among others, and she’ll appear in the upcoming “Richard Says Goodbye.”
“Buffaloed” comes from screenwriter Brian Sacca, and Tanya Wexler is directing. Deutch produces alongside Sacca as well as Mason Novick and John Finemore of Lost City, and Jeffrey Katz and Michael Bannor MacGregor of Bold Crayons. The film’s executive producers are James Hoppe, Elizabeth Grave, Brooke Davies, Phil Quartararo, Mary Anne Waterhouse, and Kirsten Ames.
Zoey Deutch on Reliving the Same Day in Before I Fall: I Was ‘Pyschotic’
In “Before I Fall,” Zoey Deutch lives the same day over and over — the last day of her life. It’s enough to make you crazy, even on the movie set, where she would film multiple versions of the same scene, keeping everything exactly the same except for her emotions, which would bounce all over the place.
“I was psychotic,” she tells Made in Hollywood reporter Kylie Erica Mar. ” I was like in a corner.”
Complicating matters was that the movie was shot out of the order, the schedule instead built around creating those same-day moments all at once, which would then be spread out throughout the film.
“We would film the same scene six different times on one setup,” she explains. “So we would do six different days on a close-up and then we would do six different days on a wide, then we turn around and do six different days on the other side.”
How Careful Planning Helped Zoey Deutch Shoot Before I Fall
The key to keeping on top of the things was painstaking planning and preparation with director Ry Russo-Young.
“We would have a few weeks to map out exactly what her and I needed to accomplish for each day, shorthands that we could have on set,” says Deutch. “We didn’t have time to delve into the intricacies of each day on set. There was just no time.”
But the challenge was worth it, she says, because of the complexity of her character, Samantha Kingston, the pretty popular girl with the great boyfriend who by reliving her final day discovers the true value of life.
“It’s a really great part. It’s like the gift that keeps on giving,” says Deutch. “There’s so much to work with. I’m just really appreciative that she’s this walking contradiction of herself, which everybody is. She’s this bully who’s bullied. And I love the journey of her going from follower and bystander, this unconscious person, to a leader in life.”
Zoey Deutch of Before I Fall on What Day She’d to Relive
So was there any day on set, like the movie, that she’d want to relive over and over?
“Sam didn’t get to choose her day so why do I?” she says.
“Right now?” suggests Mar. ” You would just relieve this interview?
