It’s Friday, and as usual, we have a ton of industry news from the past week…
We begin with a rather disconcerting story from Variety about Cruella’s two-time Oscar-winning Costume Designer Jenny Beavan. It’s impossible for anyone who has seen Cruella to not notice, comment, praise or outright gush about Ms. Beavan’s amazing work in the film with so many beautiful dresses worn by Emma Stone and Emma Thompson in the movie. The world of fashion has also paid notice, as one company called Rag & Bone announced a Cruella-inspired fashion line based on the movie without Beavan’s knowledge or consent.
Apparently, there was talk about Disney working on some co-branding with companies like Target and Singer, as well as discussions about a possible fashion collection. When COVID hit, Beavan had other concerns, since no one knew when production would resume. “Because I’m 70, I didn’t think I’d get insurance,” she told Variety. “And a lot of producers were saying, ‘You know, we may never be able to make films again.’”
The subject was forgotten as Beavan wasn’t kept in the loop until last month when a friend shared an Instagram post from Rag & Bone about their “officially licensed Cruella-inspired collection,” which was the first time Beavan learned about it.
Beavan is an CDG Award-winning member of the Costume Designers Guild (CDG), who spoke up about the incident, saying that Disney profiting from Beavan’s designs without sharing profits or even asking for her involvement or consent is “unfair.”
Apparently, this practice is nothing new as doll lines based on last year’s Birds of Prey and other previous movies have gone ahead without the consultation or compensation for the film’s costume designers, so this might be something we see negotiated into future contracts now that it’s been brought to light.
“I just was sort of horrified,” Beavan says in the Variety piece. “The thing about ‘Cruella’ is that you’ve got a film about fashion, about two fashion designers. The whole story is them almost having a war using fashion. So, that’s so disrespectful to then bring out fashion lines.”
Beavan is currently in pre-production on Furiosa, the Mad Max: Fury Road prequel starring Anya Taylor-Joy.
This next story is a little hard to believe, because it’s a throwback to some of the stories we were reporting back in 2020. Mission: Impossible 7 is once again pausing production after a member of the UK production tested positive for COVID.
Due to the COVID safety protocols in place, the shoot will be halted for 14 days, as announced via a statement from the production company, “We have temporarily halted production on Mission: Impossible 7 until June 14th, due to positive coronavirus test results during routine testing. We are following all safety protocols and will continue to monitor the situation.”
The news comes as a bit of a shock only because the Christopher McQuarrie-directed Tom Cruise action sequel was one of the first films back in production last summer after being shut down in February 2020 when Italy went into lockdown. This led to an infamous on-set temper tantrum when Cruise felt the need to yell at crew members who weren’t being cautious with mask-wearing and social distancing, saying that they would be fired if they defy the protocols that the action star had helped develop to keep everyone safe.
At this time, only 39% of the UK is fully-vaccinated vs. the 51% for L.A. and 60% plus fully-vaccinated in New York state.
It’s hard to believe that another Indiana Jones movie is actually happening, but the James Mangold-directed Indiana Jones 5 (currently untitled) will be starting production in the UK next week after many years of development and some impressive recent casting announcements. Besides Harrison Ford returning as the beloved title hero, the movie also stars Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Mads Mikkelsen, Boyd Holbrook, Thomas Kretschmann, and Shaunette Renée Wilson. Hopefully, they’ll have better luck filming the UK than Cruise’s latest.
On the other side of things, a relatively smaller movie just wrapped filming, the next film from Spanish auteur Pedro Almodóvar, Madres Paralelas (translation: Parallel Mothers), which one again reunites him with Penélope Cruz. In a fairly rare move, the filmmaker’s production company, El Deseo, shared a few first look stills from the set AND a short video that goes behind-the-scenes look at the making of the film.
In February, the master filmmaker announced the casting of the film with the statement, “With ‘Madres paralelas’ I return to the female universe, to motherhood, to the family. I speak of the importance of ancestors and descendants. The inevitable presence of memory. There are many mothers in my filmography, the ones that are part of this story are very different. As a storyteller, imperfect mothers inspire me most at this time. Penélope Cruz, Aitana Sánchez Gijón and the young Milena Smit will play the three mothers in the film, accompanied by Israel Elejalde as the main male character. It is also a collaboration with my beloved Julieta Serrano and Rossy de Palma. ‘Parallel Mothers’ will be an intense drama. Or so I hope.”
You can see the images and watch the video below:
The Blumhouse adaptation of Stephen King‘s Firestarter has found its “Charlie” in Ryan Kiera Armstrong (American Horror Story), and they’ve released a picture of Ms. Armstrong on set. Drew Barrymore played the character in the original 1984 movie.
La La Land director Damien Chazelle‘s next movie, Babylon, the Oscar winner’s ode to classic Hollywood, added a pretty extensive cast this past week, beginning with Katherine Waterston. The rest of the cast was then released, adding Max Minghella, rocker Flea, Samara Weaving, Lukas Haas, Rory Scovel, Eric Roberts, P.J. Byrne and Damon Gupton, with any info about the people they’re playing kept under wraps. The Paramount Pictures period movie stars Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie, who previously appeared in Quentin Tarantino‘s old to classic Hollywood with Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood. The R-Rated drama set in the late ’20s that’s been dubbed as “The Great Gatsby on steroids,” already has a release date of Christmas Day 2022 with a nationwide expansion on January 6, 2021.
In fact, the last few days has seen a HUGE influx of new casting news, probably a combination of people in the business ready to get back to work and trying to make up for lost time after taking Monday off.
Because of that, we’re going to do this week’s casting news “Lightning Round” style…
Actor Jonathan Majors, who starred on HBO’s Lovecraft Country and who appears in the indie Gully out this week, is in talks to face off in the ring against Michael B. Jordan in Creed 3, which Jordan is also directing. Tessa Thompson and Phylicia Rashad also are returning.
Hong Kong superstar actor and martial artist Donnie Yen is joining Keanu Reeves in Liongate’s action-thriller sequel, John Wick 4, playing an old friend of the title character. The film, once again directed by Chad Stahelski, will begin filming this summer in France, Germany, and Japan.
Recent Oscar-nominee Glenn Close is joining Josh Brolin and Peter Dinklage in Legendary’s Brothers with not much else known about the movie, what it’s about or who Close might play.
Tiffany Haddish will produce and star in a game 1 biopic about three-dimensional Olympic gold winner, Florence Griffith-Joyner AKA ¨Flo-Jo,” and they’re also partnering on a documentary and podcast about the late track and field star. game1 co-CEO’s Basil Iwanyk and Greg Economou are also producing along with Fl0-Jo’s widower, Al Joyner, who already has Haddish training for the role.
The HBO Watergate limited series, The White House Plumbers, is being joined by the always great Judy Greer, while Elijah Wood is rumored to be playing the main villain in The Toxic Avenger, playing Peter Dinklage’s boss.
Jodie Turner-Smith, who recently starred in Amazon’s Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse and will soon be seen playing the title character in Channel 5’s Anne Boleyn, is also in talks to join the cast of Noah Baumbach‘s adaptation of White Noise, which currently stars Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig, both returning collaborators from past Baumbach movies.
Lastly, Mason Gooding, Emily Rudd, and Lukas Gage will be joining Cole Sprouse in New Line Cinema‘s Moonshot movie for HBO Max.
As far as television, Apple renewed its relatively new drama, The Mosquito Coast, for a second season, but over at Netflix, the Millarworld series, Jupiter’s Legacy, wasn’t so lucky — it’s been cancelled after just a single season.
Showtime has renewed City on a Hill, starring Kevin Bacon and Aldis Hodge, for a third season.
The true-crime series, The Resort, from Andy Siara (Palm Springs), Mr. Robot creator Sam Esmail and UCP, has been ordered for 8 episodes by Comcast streamer Peacock.
After starring on 11 seasons of Shameless, Shanola Hampton will star and produce the NBC pilot, Dangerous Mom, under her talent deal with NBCU Television & Streaming and Universal TV, according to Deadline.
Remember that you can keep track of the wheres and when and hows of all the projects mentioned above by subscribing to Production Listings.
More trailers this week, beginning with Warner Bros. Pictures‘ sci-fi action thriller, Reminiscence, written, directed and produced by Lisa Joy (HBO‘s Westworld). Starring Hugh Jackman, Rebecca Ferguson, and Thandiwe Newton, it looks like something in the vein of Philip K. Dick adaptations, Blade Runner or Minority Report, the movie will hit theaters and stream on HBO Max starting August 20.
IFC Films released the first teaser trailer for Demonic, the new horror-thriller from Neil Blomkamp, director of the Oscar-nominated District 9. The movie, which stars Carly Pope, will also be released in theaters and on VOD August 20.
Our next trailer is for the latest documentary from Oscar-winning filmmaker Morgan Neville (20 Feet from Stardom), whose latest subject is the late Anthony Bourdain. Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain will premiere as part of next week’s Tribeca Film Festival before it’s released by Focus Features on July 16.
We’ll wrap things up with a couple trailers for upcoming animated family films, including the trailer for DreamWorks Animation‘s upcoming sequel, The Boss Baby: Family Business, which will play in theaters and stream for free on Peacock, starting July 2. Lastly, staying in the family domain, we have the first trailer for Paramount Pictures’ Paw Patrol: The Movie, based on the popular television animated series.
