04
Mar
It was more than three and a half years ago when cameras began rolling on Chaos Walking, the sci-fi adventure movie starring Tom Holland (Spider-Man: No Way Home) and Daisy Ridley (Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker). It’s finally seeing the light of day this week. Although production wrapped in late 2017, this film ended up destined to run the same gauntlet that most movies helmed by director Doug Liman do: reshoots, re-edits and rethinking, all in service of cobbling together something that its studio, Lionsgate this time, could call “releasable.” In the end, however, the behind-the-scenes story of the…
08
Feb
Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (1982) would’ve gone down in history as a mediocre cult classic had one movie theater not made the best mistake in 1992. “Upon its initial theatrical release in 1982, director Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner met with only middling success. The movie—the story of Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), who is dispatched to eliminate androids dubbed replicants that have gone rogue in the year 2019—was reportedly caught between the wishes of Scott and executives at Warner Bros., who wanted less of the filmmaker’s ambiguous narrative and more clear exposition.” Read more at Mental Floss. Want to work while…
14
Oct
Ridley Scott and Joaquin Phoenix appear determined to meet their Waterloo… or at least film it with the pair mounting a new historical war epic about French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. The news was broken by Deadline, which filed the story on the last day of filming of production for Scott’s current historical epic, The Last Duel. The name of Scott’s Napoleon movie is Kitbag, apparently taken from the saying, “There is a general’s staff hidden in every soldier’s kitbag.” And the movie is coming together quickly for Scott, who’s already working with screenwriter David Scarpa, the writer of Scott’s previous…
01
Sep
HBO Max’s new science fiction series Raised by Wolves is the kind of genre collaboration where it’s fascinating to trace its disparate elements back to their various sources. Showrunner Aaron Guzikowski broke into Hollywood with the 2013 film Prisoners, about the lengths to which a father will go to rescue his kidnapped daughter—themes that are just as relatable whether it’s a pair of androids or space Crusaders on that same parental journey. Then there’s Sir Ridley Scott, who describes his process as “shifting from visual image to visual image in my head.” The iconic director brought everything from childhood remembrances…
15
Aug
DC Comics publisher Jim Lee has revealed that 12 Years a Slave scribe John Ridley is writing a new Batman mini-series that “will have a huge impact on the rest of the line.” The new project was announced by Lee while talking to THR about the state of DC Comics in the wake of mass layoffs at the comic book publisher. Lee didn’t go into any further detail about the mini-series or how it’ll play into what James Tynion IV is doing on the main Batman book, Tom King and Clay Mann are planning in their Batman/Catwoman maxi-series, and Geoff…
12
Aug
Decades ago (pandemic time), DC Comics announced that John Ridley, Oscar-winning writer of 12 Years a Slave and creator of the award-winning American Crime, would be writing a series about major events in DC history from the perspective of heroes from traditionally marginalized groups. And now, in the wake of All This *waves at the world*, that series finally has a release date. The Other History of the DC Universe is coming from DC Comics in November of this year. The book is written by Ridley, with art from Giuseppi Camuncoli (Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith), Andrea Cucchi,…
17
Jun
While speaking with Douglas Wick about Gladiator during its 20th anniversary, the producer said the first answer to any question should be having Ridley Scott in the meeting. Apparently that holds true for the long-gestating Gladiator 2 as well, which Wick confirmed is still very much alive. “Yes, we’re working on it, and we’ve just all vowed that we’ll only proceed if we get something great on paper,” Wick tells me about the possible sequel. “We’re too respectful of the first movie to ever do anything cynical.” The idea of a Gladiator 2 has been floating around since almost the…
27
Apr
Daisy Ridley is moving on from her star-making role as Rey in the recent Star Wars films, having permanently put away her lightsaber with this past December’s Sequel Trilogy closer, The Rise of Skywalker. Consequently, Ridley’s would-be first role after that wild franchise ride could show her in different form, as a psychological profiler in a dark crime drama. Talks have commenced with studio STX for Ridley to star in The Ice Beneath Her, an adaptation of Swedish author Camilla Grebe’s 2016 crime novel of the same name, reports Deadline. Should the deal be finalized, then Ridley would be working…
13
Apr
It’s strange times when a movie can cross $1 billion worldwide but many folks, including the talent that starred in it, are forced to speak of it in tones of disappointment or frustration. But here we are less than four full months out from Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’s debut and its star is fielding questions about fan division and a muted critical reception. As the ninth and allegedly final film in “the Skywalker Saga”—which includes nine of the 11 Star Wars movies—J.J. Abrams’ The Rise of Skywalker arrived with heavy expectations, particularly after Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi…
