Hollywood Hotline - Week of August 22, 2024
HOLLYWOOD HOTLINE Archives
Howdy Hotliners!
You only get one chance to make a first impression. And director Francis Ford Coppola’s genius marketing team learned that the hard way when they decided to lean into the bad buzz surrounding his latest film, MEGALOPOLIS, by posting a trailer with fake AI-generated pull-quotes. . . that were not real/authentic/historically accurate. Weak sauce! The trailer should’ve been Granddaddy Godfather Coppola lounging in a hospital bed begging cinema lovers to go see his personal art film when the camera zooms out to reveal he’s just floating in a massive pool wearing a hospital gown, sipping a piña colada and goes, “Or don’t. What do I care? I’m set for life.” Puts on sunglasses. Rests his hands behind his head. Cue: Yello’s 1985 hit “Oh Yeah!”
Without further ado, let’s check the hotline:
Who Says Peak Prestige TV is Dead???
Chick-Fil-A is getting into the streaming wars. I thought they were anti-LGBTQ? They definitely support the GQP. How ironic/hypocritical that “Liberal Hollywood” is lining up salivating at the mouth to take their chicken sandos, er, I mean ca$h in handos.
Oscar Winning Director of ETERNALS (2021) Making HAMNET
Chloé Zhao (who won Best Director and Picture for NOMADLAND 2020) is adapting/directing, “The New York Times bestselling historical fiction novel, [HAMNET] imagines the story of Agnes –the wife of the world’s most famous writer, William Shakespeare –as she struggles to come to terms with the loss of her only son, Hamnet. The novel charts the emotional, familial and artistic consequences of that loss, bringing to life a human and heart-stopping story as the backdrop to the creation of The Bard’s Hamlet.”
Sounds like the perfect movie to bring your mom to!
Living Legend Tim Curry is Back, Baby!
I’m assuming Mr. Curry is doing this just so he can qualify for his SAG Health/Pension benefits a la Richard Pryor (1940-2005) in David Lynch’s LOST HIGHWAY (1997).
I miss this guy. Ever since he had a stroke in 2012 he’s been out of the limelight if working from the periphery. He is such a monstrous talent. Such a shame we were robbed of roles that he could’ve done in that time.
My Anaconda Don’t Want None Unless It’s Got Two Sets of Men’s Buns, Hon!
Jack Black and Paul Rudd are going to be starring in a “reimagining” of the 1997 Jon Voight classic ANACONDA (1997). You know, the one where Voight gets swallowed whole like Jonah only to be regurgitated back out where he winks at us ;)!
Sounds like the producers got the tone right with the casting of this one. Chasing that COCAINE BEAR (2023) money I presume.
Johnny Depp Has Finally Followed Up His Directorial Debut THE BRAVE (1997)
By directing his second feature, MODI. “The film, which stars Riccardo Scamarcio as famed Italian painter Amedeo Modigliani, is “a tale of art, love and rejection” that “follows a 72-hour whirlwind of chaotic events through the streets and bars of a Paris torn apart during World War I.”
Sounds arty farty pretentious AF. Count me out.
Michaela Cole May Destroy You Again
“British novelist Henri (Michaela Coel) is stuck. Work has dried up, her relationship is going nowhere. So when she’s offered a job on a film in Ghana, West Africa – her parents’ homeland, where her estranged father lives – she can’t resist the chance to reconnect with him and the country of her heritage. But when she arrives neither the job nor her father turn out the way she expected, and soon Henri has to deal with danger and hypocrisy, form new friendships, lose her illusions, and create a new sense of identity – one that might leave her stronger, but could also break her.”
SUCCESSION (2018-2023) showrunner Jesse Armstrong will Co-EP, which is awesome. I still need to see I MAY DESTROY YOU (2020). Have heard great things. Very excited to see this.
Theeeeeeeeeeeey’re Back! POLTERGEIST (1982) TV Series Moving Into Your Neighborhood
Love the original film trilogy (even though III sucks) so let’s wait and see what these showrunners got. Not moving to the model subdivision village quite yet.
FRIDAY THE 13TH TV Series Won’t Stay Dead
After Bryan Fuller dropped out as showrunner over creative differences A24 has bounced back with showrunner Brad Caleb Kane who just did the IT: WELCOME TO DERRY (2024) series. I like this writer a lot. He wrote a spec a million years ago, THESE CITY WALLS, which was a gritty early 1980s period NYC drama about a Mr. Man pimp whose young white protégé falls in love with one of the girls fresh off the bus that the pimp traffics, climaxing in a TAXI DRIVER (1976) style bloodbath. The script was 147 pages, LOL. Antonie Fuqua was going to direct with Forrest Whitaker and Shia LaBeouf starring, respectively, (before it fell apart). Sign me back up for Summer Camp this Fall.
The Picture of Dorian Gray Brothers TV Show
Damn, it’s like everyone saw SUCCESSION and was like, “Yeah, I can do that!” The original 1890-1891 Oscar Wilde book is getting the “reimagining.”
“Written by Katie Rose Rogers, THE GRAYS is a contemporary take on the Oscar Wilde classic about our fascination with eternal youth set against the backdrop of the modern beauty industry. In a twist on the gothic novel, the series revolves around siblings Basil and Doran Gray.”
So ‘Kendall and Roman Roy,’ basically? But instead of money it’s youthful looks? Got it. I was a huge fan of the 1945 original as it’s like a Dracula film without the fangs or blood!
Anya Taylor-Joy Will Teach Us How to Kill Your Family
By starring in an eight episode Netflix series of author Bella Mackie’s 2021 book, which sounds strangely familiar.
From Goodreads: “When Grace Bernard discovers her absentee millionaire father has rejected her dying mother’s pleas for help, she vows revenge, and sets about to kill every member of his family. Readers have a front row seat as Grace picks off the family one by one – and the result is as and gruesome as it is entertaining in this wickedly dark romp about class, family, love…and murder.”
This reminds of the 1949 film KIND HEARTS AND CORNETS or that unproduced Blacklist script, ROTHCHILD (2019). I guess you can’t copyright an idea. I like Miss Taylor-Joy and will watch her anything.
From Boderlands to Seagullands
Actress Cate Blanchett, fresh off the flop of BODERLANDS (2024), will next star in playwright Anton Checkov’s 1896 play, THE SEAGULL.
“In the play, Blanchett’s character, Arkadina, is a celebrated actress. The story unfolds over a weekend at her family’s country estate, where conflicts arise as her son struggles to escape her shadow. [Actor Tom] Burke’s character, Trigorin, is Arkadina’s lover and a famous writer who becomes the romantic target of an aspiring young actress.”
Play runs for six weeks in London starting in February 2025. Get your tickets now!
COMING SOON:
THE PIANO LESSON - One of Denzel Washington’s sons, Malcolm, making his feature directorial debut on an August Wilson play co-starring his brother John David.
MR. K - Crispin Glover is back, baby! In some Kafkaesque hotel nightmare question mark?
THE DELIVERANCE - See if you can spot Academy Award Winner Glenn Close in this spot
Y2K - MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE (1986) meets THIS IS THE END (2013) with a little bit of SUPERBAD (2007) and BOOKSMART (2019) thrown in. Looks cheesy but fun! Make sure you take your movie insurance with you ;)
FRANKIE FREAKO - What kind of cinema sorcery is this?
AZRAEL - Israel? —No, no, Azrael. Azzrail? —No, Azrael. Asrayhell? —No. It’s a girl running through the woods
GOODRICH - Sooooo MR. (GRAND)MOM? Look, I love me some Michael Keaton but not like this. I couldn’t finish this one
Until next week, Hotliners! Thanks for calling in.
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