Tag Archives: Kevin Feige

Entertainment

Quantumania Teases Bill Murray’s Role

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Image: Marvel Studios

Evil Dead Rise’s Lee Cronin talks about moving the series to a city setting. Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckman talks about a big change to The Last of Us’ virus for the TV show. Plus, new images from the set of The Flash movie, and what’s next on Mayfair Witches. Spoilers now!

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

A new synopsis for Quantumania (via ComicBook) reveals Bill Murray plays Lord Krylar, a character who appeared in one issue of The Incredible Hulk in 1972, while David Dastmalchian plays an all-new inhabitant of the Quantum Realm named Veb.

Super-Hero partners Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) and Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) return tocontinue their adventures as Ant-Man and the Wasp. Together, with Hope’s parents Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) and Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), and Scott’s daughter Cassie Lang (Kathryn Newton), the family finds themselves exploring the Quantum Realm, interacting with strange new creatures and embarking on an adventure that will push them beyond the limits of what they thought possible. Directed by Peyton Reed and produced by Kevin Feige and Stephen Broussard, “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” also stars Jonathan Majors as Kang, David Dastmalchian as Veb, Katy O’Brian as Jentorra, William Jackson Harper as Quaz and Bill Murray as Lord Krylar.

Renfield

During a recent interview with Collider, Nicolas Cage confirmed his Dracula doesn’t “have a lot of screen time” in Renfield.

The movie’s really not about me, Dracula rather, I don’t have a lot of screen time. It’s really Nick Hoult’s movie, and it’s about Renfield. I didn’t have the time, like the two-hour narrative to really dig deep into Dracula’s pathos per se. It’s not that. But I did have enough screen time to be able to try to develop a pop-art style to the character that hopefully will be a nice contribution to the other performers that have done it, that have had their take on this legendary character in both literature and cinema.

Evil Dead Rise

In conversation with Empire Magazine, director Lee Cronin stated he didn’t “need” to set Evil Dead Rise in a city, he simply “wanted” to.

To me it felt very natural to make that move. It wasn’t forced in some way of like, ‘We need Evil Dead in the city!’ It was, ‘I want a family, and I want it to be urban’. I still treated it very much the same way. I view the apartment as the cabin, and the hallways and the other aspects of the building as the forest.

The Flash

The Flash director Andy Muschietti shared a new photo of the Central City set on Instagram.

Disquiet

Jonathan Rhys Meyers is trapped inside a spooky hospital crawling with supernatural, faceless orderlies and sexy, gauze-wrapped women in the trailer for Disquiet, co-starring Rachelle Goulding, Elyse Levesque, Lochlyn Munro, Garry Chalk, Trezzo Mahoro, Anita Brown, and Bradley Stryker.

DISQUIET | Official Trailer | Paramount Movies

Sorry About the Demon

Meanwhile, bloodthirsty ghouls infiltrate an otherwise unassuming rom-com in the trailer for Sorry About the Demon, available to stream on Shudder this January 19.

Sorry About The Demon | Official Trailer | Horror Brains

The Last of Us

Entertainment Weekly reports Rutina Wesley has been cast as Maria, “the leader of a settlement of survivors in Jackson, Wyoming” in The Last of Us series at HBO.

Relatedly, co-showrunner Neil Druckman revealed that because the series didn’t want its actors wearing face masks, the show’s cordyceps fungus propagates itself through underground “tendrils” instead of airborne spores.

Eventually, those conversations [about not using gas masks] led us to these tendrils. And then, just thinking about how there’s a passage that happens from one infected to another, and like fungus does, it could become a network that is interconnected. It became very scary to think that they’re all working against us in this unified way, which was a concept that I really liked, that got developed in the show.

[Collider]

Inside Job

According to TV Line, Netflix has canceled Inside Job after one season.

Velma

Elsewhere, Mindy Kaling’s adult-oriented Scooby-Doo spinoff has a new poster.

School Spirits

Peyton List must solve her own murder in the trailer for School Spirits, premiering March 9 on Paramount+.

School Spirits | Official Teaser | Paramount+

Mayfair Witches

Finally, Rowan continues to give bad men brain embolisms in the trailer for next week’s episode of The Mayfair Witches.

Next Time: The Dark Place | Mayfair Witches | AMC+

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

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Entertainment

Warner Bros. Discovery proposes “10 year plan” for DC

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WB Studio Tour
Photo: Matt Winkelmeyer (Getty Images)

Can DC ever chart a course to navigate out of Marvel’s shadow? That’s been the question for the last 10 years (since the conclusion of Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy). Newly crowned Warner Bros. Discovery chief David Zaslav thinks he has the answer, which is… the same thing the guys before him tried to do, basically.

“You look at Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman—these are brands that are known everywhere in the world,” Zaslav said on the infamous WB earnings call (per The Hollywood Reporter). “We have done a reset. We’ve restructured the business where we are going to focus, where there is going to be a team with a ten year plan focusing just on DC. We believe we can build a much more sustainable business.”

Oh, gee, a 10 year plan? Why didn’t anyone think of that before? It’s a strange bit of corporate gaslighting to pretend we weren’t all around for the attempted Zack Snyder-verse. Further, it’s not much of a “reset” when only one film (Batgirl) was canceled and the rest–which are all still tangled up in the Snyderverse to some degree–are going forward (even the dreaded Flash film).

“It’s very similar to the structure Alan Horn, [former Disney CEO] Bob Iger and Kevin Feige put together very effectively at Disney,” said Zaslav, as if copy-pasting from the MCU handbook worked for any of his predecessors. He may want to consider that Feige is someone that directors actually want to work for; the Marvel boss’ compassionate response to Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah after Batgirl was canned only makes Zaslav and DC look even worse in comparison.

But Zaslav is determined to “focus on quality” and not “release any film before it’s ready,” which sounds more like the baseline for the film industry than an innovative new strategy. “The objective is to grow the DC brand. To grow the DC characters,” he said. “But also, our job is to protect the DC brand, and that’s what we’re going to do.” DC fans will surely sleep better knowing this is the guy protecting their beloved heroes.

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Entertainment

Taron Egerton Hopes He’ll Get to Play Wolverine in the MCU

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Image: 20th Century Studios

Ever since Fox got themselves snatched up Disney and Kevin Feige made it clear that the mutants would be making their way to the MCU eventually, there’s been no shortage of speculation about who’ll be playing the new batch of X-Men. Moreso than Professor X or Magneto, Wolverine is the one that everyone’s got some opinion on. These days, we now know there’s nothing stopping Hugh Jackman from coming back to the role (and the frankly absurd diet needed to maintain it) that launched him into cinematic stardom. But there’s been no shortage of folks who want someone new to take the reigns, and one actor is now specifically making their desires clear rather than simply dancing around the subject and hoping to be John Krasinski’d into an eventual film.

Specifically, it’s Taron Egerton of Kingsman and Rocketman fame (or more importantly, Moomintroll) who wants to get in on the comic book action. He said as such to the New York Times; while promoting his upcoming Apple TV+ show Black Bird, Egerton admitted that he has spoken with Marvel Studios employees, including Kevin Feige, about getting involved in the superhero game. While it’s something he’s hoping to take a shot at, he also knows that there’s some big shoes to fill, regardless of whoever eventually plays the character. “I’d be excited, but I’d be apprehensive as well,” he said. “Hugh is so associated with the role that I’d wonder if it’d be very difficult for someone else to do it.” Back in 2019, the actor talked about being aware of fans wanting him in the role, and was flattered that they were rooting for him.

Talking with Feige raises the chances of Egerton getting a shot to play Wolverine just slightly, but it’s equally possible that Feige and crew have someone else in mind for him to play. Since Marvel has just so much stuff in various stages of production, we won’t really know what Egerton’s future is until we know. Maybe he’ll wind up being Wolverine, mayhaps he’ll get locked in for Human Torch or Nova. (Maybe he’d be a good Cyclops?) Either way, it’s doubtful that he won’t wind up playing a superhero eventually, since basically everyone does…it’s just a matter of whom it’ll be.

[via The Hollywood Reporter]

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel and Star Wars releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about House of the Dragon and Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.

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Entertainment

Thor Love and Thunder Trailer Taika Waititi, Hemsworth, Portman

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Say hello to the Mighty Thor.
Gif: Marvel Studios

After Thor: Ragnarok, fans obviously expected Thor: Love and Thunder to be wild. Just off-the-walls bonkers nonsense from the man who does that better than anyone: writer-director Taika Waititi. Now, the first trailer is here, and it delivers on that promise and more. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is, indeed, bringing the thunder. And we love it.

Thor: Love and Thunder opens July 8 in theaters only. It brings back Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie, and Natalie Portman as Jane Foster, as well as all of the Guardians of the Galaxy, Oscar winners Christian Bale and Russell Crowe, and a whole lot more. Many of which you see right here in this incredible trailer.

When last we saw the God of Thunder, he’d left New Asgard in the capable hands of Valkyrie, and set off back into the cosmos with the Guardians of the Galaxy at the end of Avengers: Endgame. As you can see this movie picks up from there and goes into places we’d never expect. Well, except for that whole Jane Foster becoming the Mighty Thor thing—that was revealed waaaay back at San Diego Comic-Con 2019 when Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige laid out the plan for Phase 4. At that time, Thor: Love and Thunder was one of the last entries. Now it’s finally coming and it will, from what we can tell, certainly be setting things up for the future.

Oh, and isn’t it wild that Thor: Love and Thunder is the first fourth Marvel Studios character movie? The Avengers got four movies but Iron Man and Captain America only got three. Does that make Thor the current crown jewel of the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Or is it just that Marvel couldn’t say no to another Waititi movie when he basically has his choice of projects, including Star Wars? Probably a bit of both. In the meantime, check out a new poster for the movie too.

Image: Marvel Studios

Tell us what you think of the trailer below. Love and Thunder opens July 8.

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Entertainment

Kevin Feige on Shang-Chi controversy, Scarlett Johansson lawsuit

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Kevin Feige
Photo: Rich Fury (Getty Images)

Marvel has had an uncharacteristically tricky summer. After leaving the world with Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home, it was safe to assume that their place at the top of the blockbuster entertainment heap was secure. But roughly a month after the release of their first big-screen release since Spider-Man nearly two years ago, the multi-verse is spiraling out of control. First, Scarlett Johansson sued the powerhouse for simultaneously releasing her first solo outing Black Widow in theaters and on Disney+. Then, weeks later, Disney CEO Bob Chapek referred to the upcoming Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings as an “interesting experiment.” Although Chapek was talking about giving Shang-Chi a 45-day exclusive theatrical release, many, including the film’s star Simu Liu, interpreted his comments as a derogatory remark about the film’s predominantly Asian cast.

Since the news of the lawsuit and Chapek’s comments broke, we’ve heard very little from Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige, the ringleader of the MCU. However, at the premiere of Shang-Chi, Feige attempted to put out the fires.

“He is not a shy man,” Feige said about Liu’s tweet. “I think in that particular tweet you can see, and I think everyone does, a misunderstanding. It was not the intention. The proof is in the movie and we swing for the fences as we always do. With the amount of creative energy we put in and the budget, there’s no expense spared to bring this origin story to the screen.”

Over the weekend, Liu tweeted in response to Chapek, “We are not an experiment. We are the underdog; the underestimated. We are the ceiling-breakers. We are the celebration of culture and joy that will persevere after an embattled year. We are the surprise. I’m fired the f**k up to make history on September 3rd; JOIN US.”

At this point, Feige is doing damage control, understandably trying to keep attention off of this controversy and on the film he’s releasing. Anyway, Feige’s two-stepping around controversy continued as he said he’s “all for amicable solutions” when it came to the ScarJo suit. Giving a milquetoast soundbite is Feige’s superpower.

[via The Hollywood Reporter]

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Entertainment

Margot Robbie really did that The Suicide Squad foot escape

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The Suicide Squad
Photo: Warner Bros.

[The following contains spoilers for The Suicide Squad]

There’s a point in James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad where Harley Quinn (played by Margot Robbie, reprising her role from the first Suicide Squad and from Birds Of Prey) is captured and tortured by bad guy soldiers. She kills the torturer pretty quickly, because she’s Harley Quinn and murdering people should be no problem for her at this point, but then she does something even more impressive: In one fluid motion, Harley grabs a handcuff key from the goon’s corpse with her feet, then twists backward to put the key in the lock and free herself. It’s the kind of acrobatic trick that you’d expect an evil clown to pull off, but in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Gunn revealed that it’s apparently also the kind of trick that non-evil Australian woman Margot Robbie can pull off, because she actually did that move. (Gunn points out that her face is covered, so you might not believe it, but he insists that it’s really her doing that painful-looking twist.)

That’s probably the most surprising revelation from Gunn in the THR interview, but it’s not the only one. For starters, Gunn said that Harley’s little sidequest was originally a bigger part of the movie, so he started to cut it down while editing because he didn’t want to end up “pushing audiences away” by diverting attention from the action. Also, while editing, Gunn said he was “a little surprised” by how violent the movie ended up being—which makes us wonder how closely he was paying attention while filming that scene of Peacemaker and Bloodsport clearing the camp, because that one’s pretty damn violent. Elsewhere in the chat, Gunn mentions that his boss over at Marvel Studios, Kevin Feige (who is, of course, a producer on Gunn’s Guardians Of The Galaxy movies), visited the set of The Suicide Squad during production and happened to be there when they first showed off surprise villain Starro The Conqueror. That means it’ll be Gunn’s fault if Marvel ends up ripping him off by throwing a mind-controlling starfish into Shang-Chi or the next The Eternals.

Really, though, Gunn’s favorite thing to talk about seems to be Margot Robbie. He said she’s “probably my favorite actor I’ve ever worked with,” because she’s able to do so much with Harley Quinn and her and John Cena are two people who “don’t have a chip on their shoulder.” Gunn also said that he was able to sort of “become Harley” while writing for the character, and he referred to it as a “terrible, wonderful place to be.” THR suggested that he should just make a Harley Quinn solo movie, but he dodged that question while also hinting that he wouldn’t necessarily hate to keep making comic book movies—even if they’re “kind of comic book movies” that aren’t just “from comic books.”

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Black Widow/Falcon and Winter Soldier Link: One Covid Change

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Natasha Romanoff, on the hunt for Mephisto. Maybe.
Image: Marvel Studios

Marvel gets a lot of credit—perhaps too much credit—for the idea that its cinematic universe is meticulously laid out years in advance, a grand plan that we and it alike are pulled along with as if by inevitability more so than the planning power of a studio worth billions of dollars. But given the last 18 months and counting that the world has had, surely some of that planning has been put askew? Only a tiny bit, apparently, according to Kevin Feige.

Speaking to On The Red Carpet for the premiere of Black Widow—a film that was originally meant to kick off Marvel’s “Phase 4” plans before the pandemic saw it delayed multiple times—Feige discussed Marvel Studio’s general reaction to the impact covid-19 has had on its rollout. Beyond Black Widow, films like The Eternals and Shang-Chi have been pushed back along with the rest of Disney’s calendar for the next year or two, but the company has managed to leverage the arrival of its Disney+ shows—WandaVision, Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and the currently ongoing Loki, all of which Widow was meant to release ahead of—to fill the gap between its movie releases.

But that’s relatively minor shuffling, all things considered. It’s only really Widow’s delayed release that’s largely changed what we knew to expect out of Marvel’s post-Endgame catalogue so far, and according to Feige, all that’s largely impacted is the early reveal of one connection between the movie and the Disney+ shows. “There’s also an Easter egg that originally was going to appear first in Black Widow, and then show up in Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and because of the pandemic—it’s the only thing within our Phase 4 that was twisted a little bit,” Feige explained. “So for fans that watched Falcon and the Winter Soldier, there’s something waiting for them as an Easter egg in this film.”

That Easter egg had already been reported by Vanity Fair to have been the arrival of Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. She’s a character from the comics with links to a whole Rolodex’s worth of the publisher’s spy-fi secret organizations—from SHIELD to Hydra (she was, for a time, the owner of the Madame Hydra mantle), to perhaps most likely connected to Black Widow itself, the former Soviet spy cell Leviathan (which previously appeared in Agent Carter). Given that de Fontaine’s plans are still relatively nebulous to us as an audience, outside of the fact that we know she’s teamed up with Wyatt Russell’s John Walker, aka the U.S. Agent, in the present, meeting her in Falcon before Widow likely doesn’t have all that much of an impact. Perhaps the fact that Feige claims it’s the only major reshuffle in the studio’s plans for Phase 4 makes it all the more impressive.

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