Will Aaron Taylor-Johnson play the next James Bond? The Kraven the Hunter actor is purportedly days away from accepting the offer to become the next 007. Daniel Craig, who played Bond in five movies, wrapped up his tenure as the British spy in 2021's No Time To Die.
According to The Sun, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, 33, was formally offered the James Bond role and is expected to sign the papers this week. A source reportedly told The Sun, “Bond is Aaron’s job, should he wish to accept it. The formal offer is on the table and they are waiting to hear back. Aaron is going to sign his contract in the coming days and they can start preparing for the big announcement.”
In an interview with Esquire last year, Aaron Taylor-Johnson did not sound as committed to the James Bond casting rumor. “It’s my own path, what feels intuitive to me,” said Aaron Taylor-Johnson. “I’ve never made a decision based on other people’s perspectives, or their judgments, or their expectations of me.”
Aaron Taylor-Johnson is best known for his roles in Avengers: Age of Ultron, Kick-A** and its sequel, Savages, Nocturnal Animals, Godzilla, Tenet, The King's Man, and Bullet Train. Look for Aaron Taylor-Johnson next in The Fall Guy opposite Ryan Gosling and as the titular Marvel superhero in Kraven the Hunter.
Christopher Nolan Sings the Praises of ‘Godzilla Minus One’ During Interview With the Movie’s Director
Christopher Nolan sang the praises of Godzilla Minus One during an interview with the film's director, Takashi Yamazaki. At the Academy Awards, Nolan won Best Director and Best Picture for Oppenheimer, while Godzilla Minus One took home the Oscar for Best Visual Effects.
“I watched Godzilla Minus One and I thought it was a tremendous film,” Nolan said to Yamazaki in this video. “I thought it was so exciting. I mean obviously it’s beautifully made, and the mechanics of it are so involving. It’s so exciting, but also I felt like it had a lot of the spirit of your earlier film, The Eternal Zero. It had a depth around the issues surrounding the main story, even though the main story is Godzilla, and is an entertaining and exciting one. There was also wonderful depths of the characters, and a wonderful sense of history that I really appreciated.”
In an interview with IndieWire, Yamazaki said, “I’m a huge fan of the very first 1954 Godzilla. And to me, that film was a response to nuclear warheads and where the world was heading at that point in time. So Godzilla being this metaphor for nuclear warheads, I think, was very important to return to and not forget. During the production, it was both surprising and disturbing to see the state of the world unfold and reading the headlines because we were making a film about Godzilla and the subject matter it represents. And in some weird way, I feel, the timing of different Godzilla films, especially with the the context of Japan, it almost feels like this divine ritual or offering to the gods of some sort.”
Godzilla Minus One still awaits a home video release date.
More Than 450 Jewish Hollywood Professionals Send Open Letter Denouncing Jonathan Glazer’s ‘The Zone of Interest’ Oscar Speech
More than 450 Jewish Hollywood professionals signed an open letter denouncing The Zone of Interest writer-director Jonathan Glazer's Oscar acceptance speech for Best International Feature.
According to Variety, the group's statement reads, “We refute our Jewishness being hijacked for the purpose of drawing a moral equivalence between a [fascist German] regime that sought to exterminate a race of people, and an Israeli nation that seeks to avert its own extermination. The use of words like ‘occupation’ to describe an indigenous Jewish people defending a homeland that dates back thousands of years, and has been recognized as a state by the United Nations, distorts history. It gives credence to the modern blood libel that fuels a growing anti-Jewish hatred around the world, in the United States, and in Hollywood.”
Some of the people who signed the statement include Jennifer Jason Leigh, Debra Messing, Tovah Feldshuh, Eli Roth, Amy Pascal, and Sherry Lansing, to name just a few.
At the Academy Awards, Glazer said, “All our choices were made to reflect and confront us in the present, not to say look what they did then, but rather look what we do now. Our film shows where dehumanization leads at its worst. It’s shaped all of our past and present. Right now, we stand here as men who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation which has led to conflict for so many innocent people. Whether the victims of October — whether the victims of October the 7th in Israel or the ongoing attack on Gaza, all the victims of this dehumanization, how do we resist?”
Modern Family producer Ilana Wernick said, “Sadly, Jew hatred won the day. That’s why so many of us in the industry reached out to each other. It was a very sad, very scary night. Writing the letter wasn’t just cathartic for us. It’s something we had to do.”
Netflix Orders Dutch Crime Series ‘Amsterdam Empire’ Starring Famke Janssen
Netflix has ordered the Dutch crime series Amsterdam Empire starring and executive produced by Famke Janssen. The Dutch actress is best known for playing Jean Grey/Phoenix in the X-Men films.
According to Variety, Amsterdam Empire, directed by Jonas Govaerts, “follows Jack van Doorn, the rich and notorious founder of the coffee shop empire Jackal, who has to fight criminals, competitors, and absurd Dutch laws to thrive. When his affair with a well-known journalist comes to light, it turns out that his most dangerous enemy has been living under his roof all this time: his betrayed wife.”
Larry Tanz, Netflix‘s VP of EMEA Content, revealed the news about Amsterdam Empire and an untitled French thriller series starring Isabelle Adjani to the Series Mania Festival audience. Tanz said that Netflix “was continuing to invest in content,” especially through acquisitions. Tanz added that Netflix has more than 40 European productions currently filming and is working with more than 400 producers.
Low-Budget ‘Poohniverse’ Horror Film Assembles Twisted Versions of Pooh, Tinkerbell, Bambi, Peter Pan, Pinocchio, and Other Childhood Favorites
The Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey filmmakers have upped the ante with a new film titled Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble that will include twisted versions of other childhood characters, including Bambi, Tinkerbell, Pinocchio, Peter Pan, Tigger, Piglet, Mad Hatter, and Sleeping Beauty.
According to Variety, Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey cost under $50,000 to make yet pulled in $5.2 million at the box office. The much-maligned horror flick “won” five Razzies, including Worst Picture.
“As horror fans, we would love an Avengers that is all villains,” said actor-producer Scott Chambers, the head of Jagged Edge Productions. “It’d have Freddy Krueger, Jason, Halloween, Scream, all of those. Obviously that will never happen, but we can make it happen in our own little way, and that’s where [Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble] has been born.”
Jagged Edge Productions will first release Bambi: The Reckoning, Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare, Pinocchio Unstrung and Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2 as part of its Twisted Childhood Universe prior to Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble. Chambers says the latter will feature “carnage within the group” and “epic sequences of monster vs. monster.”
Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2 premieres March 26 in theaters. Click here to watch the Trailer.
‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga' Director George Miller Breaks Down the Latest Trailer
The latest explosive trailer for George Miller's Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga has dropped. The postapocalyptic prequel to Mad Max: Fury Road stars Anya Taylor-Joy as a younger version of the Furiosa character played by Charlize Theron in Fury Road.
The official description of Furiosa reads: “As the world fell, young Furiosa is snatched from the Green Place of Many Mothers and falls into the hands of a great biker horde led by the warlord Dementus. Sweeping through the Wasteland, they come across the Citadel presided over by the Immortan Joe. While the two tyrants war for dominance, Furiosa must survive many trials as she puts together the means to find her way home.”
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Miller said, “We basically tell the story [in Furiosa] from her being a child, 10 years old, all the way through until this story butts up directly into Fury Road, and obviously we see that transition in the climactic scenes of this movie.”
Miller continued, “This is an odyssey without question of someone who's taken from her home and spends the rest of her life trying to get home. I don't want to give away too much, but the one thing is Furiosa, in order to survive as a child in a world that's in extremis, she has to have a lot of innate resources.
“What's remarkable is we see some people endure [those extremes] and still emerge with a degree of human magnificence. Others are crushed by it and lost on the way. So you can see from the behavior of the mother the sort of things that the daughter inherits in the story. I think we are a product of our parents and those that came before to some extent. And we take all that material as human beings and negotiate the world. I think that's all of our stories, one way or another. And that's the same in this story.”
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga accelerates into theaters May 24. Click here to watch the second trailer.
‘Star Wars: The Acolyte' Trailer: A Jedi Slayer Is on the Loose on the Disney+ Series
Disney has dropped the first trailer for the upcoming Star Wars: The Acolyte series. Starring Amandla Stenberg, Lee Jung-jae, Manny Jacinto, Dafne Keen, Charlie Barnett, Jodie Turner-
Smith, Rebecca Henderson, Dean-Charles Chapman, Joonas Suotamo, and Carrie-Anne Moss, The Acolyte is set approximately 100 years before the events of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.
The cryptic official description of The Acolyte reads: “An investigation into a shocking crime spree pits a respected Jedi Master (Lee Jungjae) against a dangerous warrior from his past (Amandla Stenberg). As more clues emerge, they travel down a dark path where sinister forces reveal all is not what it seems.”
The first trailer for the Disney+ series features Moss (pictured, right) as a Jedi in a cantina, Lee's Jedi master Sol character teaching a bunch of younglings (pictured, center), the Wookiee Kelnacca, and a climactic battle sequence with many lightsabers. We'll have to wait and see if a younger Yoda — who would have been alive 100 years before The Phantom Menace — makes an appearance to excite Star Wars geeks.
Star Wars: The Acolyte streams June 4 on Disney+. Click here to watch the first trailer.
‘Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock' Trailer: Apple TV+ Debuts New Footage From Second Season
The Jim Henson Company's Fraggles return for a second season of Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock on Apple TV+. The series stars Lilli Cooper as Doc, a woman with a portal to Fraggle Rock in her home.
The official description of Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock season two reads: “Jim Henson’s fun-loving and musical Fraggles — Gobo, Red, Boober, Mokey, Wembley and Uncle Travelling Matt, appearing alongside new Fraggles and Doozers voiced by special guest stars, including Academy Award winner Ariana DeBose, Emmy Award winner Brett Goldstein, Emmy Award winner Catherine O’Hara, Tony and Grammy Award winner and Emmy Award nominee Daveed Diggs, Grammy nominee Adam Lambert, and K-pop group aespa — are back with more epic, fun and zany adventures, this time with big changes affecting the Rock. The Fraggles, Doozers, and Gorgs will be forced to confront their past and celebrate their interdependence as they move through challenges together with hope, silliness and brand-new songs, all while dancing their cares away… down at Fraggle Rock.”
All 13 episodes of Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock season two will premiere March 29 on Apple TV+. Click here to watch the new trailer.
First Live-Action ‘Popeye' Movie Since 1980 Film Starring Robin Williams in the Works
Chernin Entertainment and King Pictures are developing a new live-action Popeye movie based on E.C. Segar's comics character who has a thing for spinach. The last live-action Popeye movie was Robert Altman's 1980 musical comedy Popeye (pictured) starring Robin Williams and Shelley Duvall.
According to Variety, Michael Caleo will write the new Popeye movie for Chernin Entertainment and King Pictures. Variety writes, “Popeye celebrated his 95th anniversary this year, after appearing in the 1929 comic Thimble Theater. The character spawned both animated features and series in his heyday, and could be one of the earliest templates for mass merchandising across multiple generations. Two years ago, Popeye was named a key inspiration for menswear collections from Moschino, Supreme, and A Bathing Ape. Popeye is still the face of McCall Farms spinach — in the cartoons, the vegetable offers the sailor superpowers to defeat his enemies — which carries the Popeye logo and face on canned goods.”
Although many find Altman's critically panned Popeye unwatchable with its mumbling characters and incoherent script, the oddball musical comedy somehow became a cult favorite and managed to gross $60 million worldwide against a $20 million budget.
AMC Releases Trailer for ‘Interview With the Vampire' Season Two
AMC's trailer for Interview With Vampire season two raises the stakes significantly. The horror-drama based on Anne Rice's novel of the same name stars Jacob Anderson (pictured, left), Eric Bogosian, Delainey Hayles (pictured, right), Sam Reid, and Assad Zaman.
The official AMC description of Interview With the Vampire season two reads: “In the year 2022, the vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac (Jacob Anderson) recounts his life story to journalist Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian). Picking up from the events in New Orleans in 1940 when Louis and teen fledgling Claudia (Delainey Hayles) conspired to kill the Vampire Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid), Louis tells of his adventures in Europe, a quest to discover Old World vampires and the Theatre Des Vampires in Paris, with Claudia. It is in Paris that Louis first meets the vampire Armand (Assad Zaman). Their courtship and love affair will prove to have devastating consequences both in the past and in the future, and Molloy will probe to get to the truths buried within the memories.”
Although it's not 100 percent clear from the trailer, the second season seems to deviate from the late Rice's novel somewhat by keeping Claudia part of the story longer. We'll find out for certain when the second season of Interview With the Vampire premieres May 12 on AMC.
