Death, Desire, Despair and More Cast In Netflix’s THE SANDMAN

Kirby Howell-Baptiste announced as Death in Netflix The Sandman

A new slate of casting decisions has just been announced for Netflix’s sprawling adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s DC/Vertigo comic book fantasy series, The Sandman. The first batch of actors was confirmed back in January, with Tom Sturridge as Dream, Gwendolyn Christie as Lucifer, Sanjeev Bhaskar as Amid Chaudry as Cain and Abel, Charles Dance as Roderick Burgess, Vivienne Acheampong as Lucienne, and Boyd Holbrook as The Corinthian.

We now know that – and here’s a good time to take a deep breath – twelve additional cast members have been revealed: Kirby Howell-Baptiste has been cast as fan-favourite Death, Dream’s sister; Mason Alexander Park as Desire and Donna Preston as Despair; Jenna Coleman is Johanna Constantine, a haunted exorcist and occult adventurer; Niamh Walsh and Joely Richardson as Ethel Cripps at different ages; David Thewlis will be John Dee, Ethel’s son who has gone mad.

Warner Brothers TV announces twelve new cast members for Netflix series The Sandman

Also announced to be joining the ensemble cast are Kyo Ra as Rose Walker with Stephen Fry as Gilbert, Rose Walker’s protector, and Razane Jammal as her close friend Lyta Hall; Sandra James Young is Unity Kincaid, an Heiress who spent a century asleep. This batch of roles indicates that Netflix have started on The Doll’s House, the second big Sandman storyline and second trade paperback of the series. And lastly (though he was apparently the very first to be cast), Patton Oswalt will voice Matthew, Dream’s raven emissary.

Though The Sandman series was created in 1989, Gaiman previously confirmed that the Netflix series would take place in 2021. The Netflix show is being described as a blend of modern myth and dark fantasy in which contemporary fiction, historical drama, and legends weave a rich tapestry. The story will follow Sturridge’s Morpheus, also known as the Dream King, as he heals the cosmic mistakes he made in his past.

Gaiman serves as both writer and executive producer on the upcoming series, and revealed in this most recent announcement that, “of course, there are more delights and nightmares cast… we have a few more secrets up our sleeves. I can’t wait until you can start watching.” Us too, Neil. Us too.

THE RETIREMENT PLAN Action Flick Casts Nicolas Cage, Ron Perlman & Ashley Greene

Nicolas Cage, Ron Perlman and Ashley Greene cast in action flick The Retirement Plan

Action movie The Retirement Plan boasts a star-studded cast that includes genre favourite Nicolas Cage, Hellboy’s Ron Perlman, the Twilight franchise’s Ashley Greene, Oscar nominee and 2009’s Watchmen actor Jackie Earle Haley, Joel David Moore, Ghostbusters’ Ernie Hudson, and Grace Byers.

Written and directed by Tim J. Brown – whose credits include the upcoming Buckley’s Chance starring Bill Nighy and the horror-thriller The Cradle starring Lukas Haas – The Retirement Plan sees Ashley (Greene) and her daughter Sarah (11-year-old newcomer Thalia Campbell) get caught up in a criminal enterprise that puts their lives on the line. Desperate for help, Ashley turns to her estranged father Matt (Cage), who currently lives as a retired beach bum in the Cayman Islands.

Predictably, things go askew (wouldn’t be much of an action flick if they didn’t) when they are tracked to the island by crime boss Donnie (Haley) and his right-hand man Bobo (Perlman). As the situation worsens, Ashley quickly learns that her father has a secret past she knows nothing about, but that may save their lives.

Producer William G. Santor, who is also the CEO of Productivity Media, joked that he was “proud to say that we have managed to have a Ghost Rider, a Hellboy, and a Rorschach in the same film together, with a Ghostbuster to keep the Ghost Rider in check!”

Now that would make for one hell of a multiverse film.

LAST NIGHT IN SOHO Is A Neon-Soaked Horror From Edgar Wright

Anya Taylor-Joy in Edgar Wright directed horror Last Night in Soho

Edgar Wright’s horror-psychological thriller Last Night in Soho has just released its first teaser trailer, ahead of the film’s UK theatre release October 29th.

Wright directed Last Night In Soho from a script he co-wrote with Penny Dreadful writer Krysty Wilson-Cairns, and will star Anya Taylor-Joy (The Witch, Glass, The New Mutants), Thomasin McKenzie (Jojo Rabbit), and Matt Smith (Doctor Who).

The London-set, time-bending horror will follow young, wannabe fashion designer Eloise (McKenzie) as she mysteriously travels back in time and meets Sandy (Taylor-Joy), a glamorous singer and wannabe star living in 1966.

Also amongst the cast are Diana Rigg, Terence Stamp, Rita Tushingham, Michael Ajao, and Jessie Mei Li, who recently rose to global recognition for their lead role in Netflix’s Shadow and Bone. Both Rigg and Margaret Nolan sadly passed shortly after production ended, making this their last film appearance.

Wright’s previous directing credits include such cult classics as Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, and Baby Driver. The writer-director explained in an interview with Empire Magazine that “Last Night starts in a more psychological realm and then starts to get increasingly intense as it goes along. And I always like to gravitate towards making a film in genres I miss, and there’s a certain type of psychological horror film that you got more in the ‘60s and ‘70s, that have something of an operatic nature. I’m using that kind of visual grammar.”

You can watch the trailer below.

 

RED QUEEN Gets Series Adaptation Directed By Elizabeth Banks

Red Queen novel from author Victoria Aveyard gets television adaptation helmed by Elizabeth Banks

NBCUniversal’s streaming service Peacock has landed for development Red Queen, a series based on the best-selling YA fantasy novel of the same name by Victoria Aveyard. Elizabeth Banks has been tapped to direct and play a major supporting role in the potential series, to be co-written by former Arrow showrunner Beth Schwartz and Aveyard.

First published in 2015, Red Queen is set in a near-future, alternate America where democracy has been dismantled to give way to a monarchy.  Those in power have silver blood and supernatural abilities, while red-blooded humans have no such abilities and are thus treated as second class citizens.

The series centres around Mare Barrow, a young Red woman born in poverty and without powers… or so she thought. The shocking discovery that she has electrokinetic powers leads her on a path to becoming the face of a revolution for the oppressed, while trying to uncover how she became so powerful in the first place. It’s very Katniss Everdeen meets X-Men.

The fantasy novel proved so successful that it was closely followed by three sequels: ‘Glass Sword’, ‘King’s Cage’, and ‘War Storm’, as well as a series of spinoffs. Banks had previously been attached to direct a film adaptation of Red Queen, but there has been no update on the project since it was announced six years ago. Likely that if the series goes ahead, the film will be shelved permanently.

Banks has been busy with a number of television gigs lately, hosting the Press Your Luck revival on ABC since 2019, co-starring in the limited Hulu series Mrs. America, and will soon voice Pebbles in an animated Flintstones sequel currently in the works at Fox. Aveyard’s latest book, Realm Breaker, released just this month and is the first of her works not to be set in the Red Queen universe.

NAOMI Is The Newest Superhero To Join The CW’s Ranks

First look image at The CW show Naomi, created by Ava DuVernay and starring Kaci Walfall

Naomi has received an official series order from The CW, after production began last month. The series, which is being written and exec produced by Ava DuVernay (Selma, A Wrinkle in Time) and Arrow writer Jill Blankenship, will follow the titular Naomi’s (Kaci Walfall in her first lead role) journey from her small northwestern hometown to “the heights of the Multiverse”. The show synopsis also states that when a supernatural event shakes her world to the core, Naomi becomes determined to uncover its origins. What she discovers will challenge everything we believe about our heroes.

In the comics, Naomi is a superhero from an alternate Earth, who discovers that she was sent to the Prime Universe to keep her out of harm’s way from Zumbado (Cranston Johnson), the destructive conqueror of her home planet who seeks to kill her.

Based on the comic book series of the same name that debuted in 2019, Naomi will also star a diverse set of young actors, including Alexander Wraith, Mary-Charles Jones, Claire Lanay, Barry Watson, Mouzam Makkar, Daniel Puig, Camila Moreno, Will Meyers, and Aidan Gemme.

Warner Bros. TV Group Chairman, Channing Dungey, stated that Naomi was “a totally new take on DC superhero genre for the CW,” whose current DC slate includes Batwoman, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, Superman & Lois, and Stargirl. Meanwhile, DuVernay excitedly revealed the news of the series’ pick up: “The origin story of a new hero… Many hands/hearts went into bringing this saga to the screen.”

Naomi is slated to premiere in May 2022.

Timothée Chalamet Is Willy Wonka In Prequel Movie

Timothee Chalamet cast as Willy Wonka

It’s confirmed: Timothée Chalamet will be playing a young Willy Wonka in Warner Bros and the Roald Dahl Story Co.’s Wonka, an origin story and prequel to the well-known 1964 children’s novel,  Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

This is just the latest in a mounting pile of evidence  detailing how entertainment corporations choose their projects. Reports allege that board meetings generally involve a carnival wheel, Trending on Twitter chart, and a pair of dice. Come up and spin the wheel on which property to reboot, check socials to see which actor’s hot right now, and let the dice decide whether it’s a sequel, prequel, remake, or ‘reimagining’. Then sit back and let the money roll in. Bonus points if the title is a mononym – Cruella, Joker, Maleficent, now Wonka.

We think perhaps the studio execs are the ones needing a trip to a world of pure imagination… or at the very least, give us Willy Wonka in his space elevator, Gravity style.

Based on the character created by British author Roald Dahl, Wonka will focus on a young Willy Wonka and his adventures before his slave-owning chocolate maker and professional kid-killer days. Sources told Deadline, who were the first to break the casting news, that Wonka will include several musical numbers and will mark the first time that Timothée Chalamet (whose first blockbuster project Dune lands in cinemas this autumn) gets to show off his singing and dancing skills – which, one assumes, do exist.

This is now the third time that Warner Bros. have adapted the Dahl property, first in 1971 with Gene Wilder, then again in 2005 with Johnny Depp. Paddington director Paul King will be at the helm, based on a sceenplay from comedian and Paddington 2 co-writer Simon Farnaby. Guess that chocolate death traps had more appeal than marmalade sandwiches.

ETERNALS Trailer Shows First Look At Marvel’s New A-Team

First Eternals trailer for MCU Phase Four shows Angelina Jolie superhero costume

Marvel Studios has finally released the first Eternals trailer from Best Director Oscar winner Chloé Zhao’s entry into the Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which is set to release in cinemas November 5th after a series of delays.

In the 2-minute teaser, we learn that the ancient alien team of Celestials have long held back from interfering with human affairs – which explains why they were nowhere to be seen when the Avengers were struggling to put out fires left and right. However, something has happened to make these Eternals change their mind. The specifics of what that could be are still unknown, though it’s a safe bet it will have something to do with the Deviants, aka the Eternals’ evil counterparts.

Whatever the situation, one would assume the stakes are staggeringly high – more serious even than Thanos wiping out half the planet (himself an Eternal-Deviant hybrid) and leaving the Celestials’ host planet in chaos. Given that Zhao has herself said that she aimed for Eternals to go “further and bigger” than even Avengers: Endgame, it sounds like audiences are in for one hell of a ride.

This is the proper look fans have had at Eternals, after a couple of snapshots were revealed as part of Marvel’s ‘Return to Cinema’ featurette released earlier this month. The trailer gives little more away about the overarching plot, but it does showcase its star-studded ensemble cast to great effect, including a full look at their costumes, a glimpse at Kit Harington’s Black Knight, and even a reference to the current state of the Avengers post-Tony Stark and Steve Rogers’ deaths.

Eternals will star the likes of Angelina Jolie, Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjiani, Lauren Ridloff, Brian Tyree Henry, Salma Hayek, Lia McHugh, Don Lee, and Gemma Chan, with Kevin Feige revealing that if he had to designate one of the characters as the film’s lead, it would be Chan’s Sersi.

Watch the first ETERNALS trailer below: 

Move Over BLACK ADAM, Krypto the Superdog Is Here

Dwayne Johnson voices Krypto the Superdog in DC League of Super-Pets

Before there was Black Adam, there was the best boy: Krypto the Superdog. Rejoice, for it’s just been announced that Dwayne Johnson will be the voice – and possibly the bark – of (Super)man’s best friend in  Warner Bros’ upcoming animated feature, DC League of Super-Pets from writer-director Jared Stern.

Co-directed by Sam Levine, this will be the first feature ever to star the superpowered dog since he first appeared in 1955’s Adventure Comics. Krypto would eventually team up with other animals tied to DC’s heroes and form the Legion of Super-Pets, which included fan-favourite Ace the Bat-Hound (three guesses on whose pal he is) and Supergirl’s Streaky the Supercat, proving once and for all that cats and dogs can be friends.

In the comics, Krypto was the toddler Kal-El’s dog while still living on Krypton. Jor-El (Superman Sr.) used Krypto as a test subject for the rocket prototypes that would eventually send Kal-El to Earth, though the rocket was knocked off-course and caused poor Krypto to drift aimlessly through space for years before landing on Earth. Once there, he reunites with a now-teenaged superhero, Superboy and, because he’s also from Krypton, Krypto has the same powers and abilities as any Kryptonian, only proportionate to his smaller dog frame.

DC League of Super-Pets is due to release May 20th 2022, thereby beating Dwayne Johnson’s other superhero project Black Adam to theatres by just a couple of months. Black Adam will also star Noah Centineo, Aldis Hodge, Djimon Hounsou, Marwan Kenzari, Sarah Shahi, and Pierce Brosnan, and has tapped Jaume Collet-Serra (Orphan, The Shallows) as director.

Johnson is the first to be confirmed for the Super-Pets comedy, though a larger voice-over cast will undoubtedly be announced in coming months, as well as further details about which of Krypto’s furry friends might be joining him in his crime-fighting mission.

Mark Ruffalo Joins Emma Stone in Frankenstein Reimagining

Marvel star Bruce Banner confirmed for Poor Things

Mark Ruffalo has recently been confirmed to star opposite Emma Stone in the upcoming Frankenstein re-imagining Poor Things, the latest project from The Killing of a Sacred Deer and The Lobster director Yorgos Lanthimos.

Based on the 1992 novel by Scottish author Alasdair Gray, the synopsis is enough to intrigue even the most casual fans of Gothic literature:

Ostensibly the memoirs of late-19th-century Glasgow physician Archibald McCandless, the narrative follows the bizarre life of oversexed, volatile Bella Baxter, an emancipated woman, and a female Frankenstein.

Bella is not her real name; as Victorian Blessington, she drowned herself to escape her abusive husband, but a surgeon removed the brain from the foetus she was carrying and placed it in her skull, resuscitating her.

The revived Bella has the mental age of a child. Engaged to marry McCandless, she chloroforms him and runs off with a shady lawyer who takes her on a whirlwind adventure, hopping from Alexandria to Odessa to a Parisian brothel. As her brain matures, Bella develops a social conscience, but her rescheduled nuptials to Archie are cut short when she is recognized as Victoria by her lawful husband, Gen. Sir Aubrey Blessington.

Emma Stone will of course be playing Bella Baxter and, though unconfirmed, we think it’s safe to assume that Ruffalo will be taking on the role of Archibald McCandless, aka the Doctor Frankenstein of this particular story – though we don’t remember Victor having the hots for his lab experiment.

The news comes after Mark Ruffalo secured his first Golden Globe win last February for his lead turn in HBO’s limited series, I Know This Much Is True. Right now, he is reportedly in production for Marvel’s She-Hulk series, in which he will reprise his role as Bruce Banner/the Hulk – production for Poor Things is scheduled to begin this autumn, with rumours that Willem Dafoe and Ramy Youssef may also join the cast. Nothing is certain yet though, so stay tuned for further casting announcements.

 

BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH BEGINS D&D DROW FEST

LEGEND OF DRIZZT Michael Witwer

Wizards of the Coast have announced that this summer will be filled with things inspired by one of their beloved characters, namely the heroic drow Drizzt Do’Urden.

For those unfamiliar with the character,  Wizard’s have produced a short animated piece called “Sleep Sound”, which explains the fascinating origins of the white-haired elf, written by the character’s creator R.A. Salvatore and narrated by none other than Benedict Cumberbatch, who is apparently a fan of Salvatore’s long running fantasy series.

This short video is just the beginning however.   Drizzt and companions will appear in a new book coming out in August 2021 called Starlight Enclave.  The author describes it as ‘a place he wants to go to have some adventures. It will be the first part of the Way of The Drow series and will introduce the Starlight Elves, a culture of Drow that readers will not have encountered before.

Drizzt will also be a character in the forthcoming third-person action role-playing gameDungeons and Dragons Dark Alliance.  Heavily inspired by 2001’s Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance video game, this new game is set to come out late June.  Based loosely on the the first Drizzt book, The Crystal Shard, the game appears to be a heavy button smashing experience with fabulous graphics and iconic monsters to fight.

Fans of Drizzt themed art are also likely to excited by next release for world beating card game, Magic The Gathering. The forthcoming Adventures in the Forgotten Realms expansion for Magic The Gathering comes out in late July 21 and will feature a host of iconic Drizzt inspired heroes and monsters. So a huge bonus for fans of spider-queens and the like.

This release has kicked off a series of rumours about a new animated series or possible guest appearances of the character in the  either the D&D TV or forthcoming movie. This is very unlikely, but we are sure this is not the last we have seen of  Drizzt Do’Urden.