Hollywould: ‘The Suicide Squad,’ ‘New Mutants,’ and ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’
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The film and television business moves at a mile a minute, so keeping up with the latest news can be a little daunting. Not to worry—we have your back. In Hollywould, we’ll round up the industry developments you need to know. Here’s what you may have missed:
Suicide Squad
The cast of James Gunn’s Suicide Squad do-over is just getting wilder. Deadline reports that Peter Capaldi has joined for an unknown role, and Pete Davidson is “in talks for a small cameo.” Additionally, Taika Waititi may also join the film.
The New Mutants
It’s rumor time: FandomWire claims the most recent cut of The New Mutants has removed any and all references to Bryan Singer’s X-Men series, including references to mutants entirely (despite, you know, the title). FandomWire says the move was made “in case Kevin Feige decides later he wants to bring The New Mutants into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.”
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
Speaking with ET Canada, JJ Abrams said that The Last Jedi didn’t affect his plans for the latest installment of the series:
“The story that we’re telling, the story that we started to conceive when we did The Force Awakens, was allowed to continue. Episode VIII didn’t really derail anything that we were thinking about.”
Meanwhile, Oscar Isaac told the outlet to expect revelations about Poe Dameron’s past:
“Particularly with Poe, I think people will be surprised to see that he has a bit more of an ambiguous past. He’s not just kind of that squeaky-clean flyboy.”
Aladdin 2
In an interview with Screen Rant, producer Dan Lin mentioned that Disney is “studying” Aladdin and the King of Thieves, the original’s second direct-to-video sequel.
“We never designed the movie to tell the Return of Jafar story, frankly. We were focused on telling the best movie possible. Now, we’re studying Jafar and the Thieves movie that came out, as well. We’re looking at that, but it’s still early days. We’re talking about different storylines. What we’re talking about is not going to be a direct remake … the same way that our movie was not a direct remake of the first movie. We studied the original movie and saw what worked and what things we wanted to update, and if we’re lucky enough to make another movie, we will do that as well. But it’s not going to be a remake of any specific DVD sequel. It’ll be a new story.”
The Invisible Man
Bloody-Disgusting has a synopsis for Universal’s latest attempt at The Invisible Man:
“What you can’t see can hurt you.”
“Emmy winner Elisabeth Moss (Us, Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale) stars in a terrifying modern tale of obsession inspired by Universal’s classic monster character.”
“Trapped in a violent, controlling relationship with a wealthy and brilliant scientist, Cecilia Kass (Moss) escapes in the dead of night and disappears into hiding, aided by her sister (Harriet Dyer), their childhood friend (Aldis Hodge) and his teenage daughter (Storm Reid).”
“But when Cecilia’s abusive ex (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) commits suicide and leaves her a generous portion of his vast fortune, Cecilia suspects his death was a hoax. As a series of eerie coincidences turns lethal, threatening the lives of those she loves, Cecilia’s sanity begins to unravel as she desperately tries to prove that she is being hunted by someone nobody can see.”
Joker
Todd Phillips talked with Los Angeles Times about the film’s rating being R:
“It was a year-long process from when we finished the script just to get the new people on board with this vision, because I pitched it to an entirely different team than made it. There were emails about: ‘You realize we sell Joker pajamas at Target.’ There were a zillion hurdles, and you just sort of had to navigate those one at a time…. At the time I would curse them in my head every day. But then I have to put it in perspective and go, ‘They’re pretty bold that they did this.’”
Thor: Love and Thunder
Back to Taika Waititi—the director discussed getting Natalie Portman to reprise her role as Jane Foster with Variety:
“I just said to her, “Are you interested in coming back to this thing, but doing something really different?” Because no one wants to keep repeating themselves, no one wants to play the same characters all the time — and I think for her, just coming back — reprising that character, but in a whole new, fresh way, is really what would interest anyone. So…especially if you’re not a superhero in these films, do you really want to keep doing that?”
#Thor director Taika Waititi explains how he got Natalie Portman to return to the MCU #D23 #ThorLoveAndThunder https://t.co/x7MfH5gbUM pic.twitter.com/Sl8GZWeTS0
— Variety (@Variety) August 24, 2019
The Haunting of Bly Manor
Kate Siegel will return for Mike Flanagan’s next chapter of The Haunting.
THE HAUNTING wouldn't be THE HAUNTING without fan favorite KATE SIEGEL… and I'm elated to confirm that she'll be joining us at BLY MANOR. @k8siegel @haunting
— Mike Flanagan (@flanaganfilm) August 29, 2019
Trailer Roundup
Truly, Will Smith and Martin Lawrence are indeed Bad Boys for Life:
Gretel & Hansel promised a twist on the classic fairy tale:
Michael B. Jordan is ready to fight in Just Mercy:
Hustlers knows the score:
The world’s worst/best interview show, Between Two Ferns, returns to Netflix—in movie form:
Jojo Rabbit skewers fascism with aplomb:
Kate Kane steps up in the latest look at Batwoman:
Finally, Elfo lives (sort of) in the second installment of Disenchantment:
—Jackson Sutliff