Jai Courtney talks the shifting dynamics of The Suicide Squad. Rob Paulsen teases what and what not to expect from The Animaniacs’ return. Filming has begun on Star Trek: Discovery’s fourth season. Plus, a gory clip from Raised By Wolves, and more looks at Helstrom. Spoilers now!
Spider-Man 3
In a recent interview with Collider, J.K. Simmons teased he’s “very optimistic” he’ll be playing J. Jonah Jameson again in the not-too-distant future.
There is a distinct chance, there have been discussions, and I’m not going to say anything definitive [laughter] because I don’t know if I’m allowed to. But yes, I’m very optimistic that I’ll have some more J.J.J. in my future.
The only thing we didn’t a hundred percent see eye to eye on, I think, was how much is this character going to be the character from, I think, the comic books and from the Sam Raimi original trilogy, and how much do we want to evolve it and to have it be more contemporary or more… you know.
Which I think honestly, that decision might’ve just been them going, ‘We don’t have time to make a wig. We got to shoot him tomorrow in the office.” So, J. Jonah Jameson either lost his hair in the last few years, or he was wearing a hairpiece the whole time. I don’t know, you pick.
The Suicide Squad
Jai Courtney discussed The Suicide Squad’s shifting team dynamic in a recent interview with Screen Rant.
Probably because there was so much that had been established already and I think James knew that coming in, even though he’s doing his own thing with the film. I don’t feel like anyone felt the need to abandon what we had kind of already established, but he’s definitely the same guy, he’s not a dramatically different Boomerang. It’s just that the backdrop is a little different and there’s a whole bunch more people, so it’s going to have its own feeling and flavor about it, but people are going to have just as much fun with it and we had a great time making it.
It would have changed if it was the same group of people, same filmmaker or same outfits carrying on. I’ve made movies like this before where you go back and do a sequel, for instance when we did Divergent, the rule book is different, the narrative changes, everyone’s in a different part of their lives and all of that influences your experience in production. I don’t think anyone was disappointed or more excited, they kind of know that the dynamic was going to be a bit different with the crew no matter the case, but I got to meet some amazing talent that I hadn’t worked before and there are so many people in this that just kill it and do an absolutely fantastic job and have a lot of fun. It’s cool, I’m pumped for it and I hope it’s a huge success.
Nobody Sleeps in the Woods Tonight
Bloody-Disgusting has our first look at Netflix’s Nobody Sleeps in the Woods Tonight, a new horror movie premiering October 28 described as “the first Polish slasher.” Click through for more photos.
Mortal
An American backpacker in Norway has fire-starting superpowers in the trailer for André Øvredal’s latest, Mortal.
Big Octopus
The capture of an especially cute octopus invokes the ire of its colossal mother in Big Octopus, another new action/monster movie from China.
The Expecting
Bloody-Disgusting has a poster for Mary Harron’s new Quibi series, The Expecting, premiering October 5. Starring AnnaSophia Robb, Rory Culkin, Mira Sorvino, Hannah Murray, and Michael Gaston, the story concerns “a down-on-her-luck waitress” who “suffers disturbing effects from her pregnancy” and embarks “on a dark journey to uncover the potential conspiracy surrounding it.”
Animaniacs
In conversation with Den of Geek, Rob Paulsen discussed how The Animaniacs reboot’s theme song addresses the current zeitgeist.
Right. And it’s so cool because it starts out with what everybody knows. You will watch it. As soon as you hear the first downbeat, you’ll go, “Oh my God. I’m 11. I’m 15,” whatever you were. And then it morphs into this appropriate acknowledgement of the zeitgeist, that is to say, the lyrics already tell you right off the bat that we’re in a different time. The lyrics… and it will take people a few times to listen to because we blow through them pretty quick. I’m not going to give it away because I want you to be surprised, but the lyrics in the opening title scene, they let you know that they’re self-aware. They get that the time we’re in is now, and the Animaniacs understand that.
So right away, it, in my view, dispels any fears of them not being hip or getting it. Right away. It’s just, “Okay. Here’s where we are. We know this was a while ago, but here’s… this is the time it is now, and off we go.” And so you already know, and the episodes do not deviate from that. They are appropriately lampooning with currently sacred cows. And it’s a freaking hoot. I was telling folks yesterday that I’m a little bit concerned when things go so well. It’s crazy how humans react. We’re always… And I understand why, because of the nature of what we’re going through. But that show, when we did it, from a clean sheet of paper, turned out to be what you and I are talking about 25 years later and there are, I don’t even know, tens of millions of fans of Animaniacs and Pinky and the Brain. I know how important this is to Spielberg, which alone makes it a big deal.
Later in the interview, Paulson confirmed several supporting characters from the original series will not be returning.
I can tell you this, that so far, there don’t appear to be as many of the secondary characters as there were in the original show. The original show is a variety/magazine type show, which is where Pinky and the Brain obviously got their foothold and turned out to be their own franchise. So right now, we don’t have Rita and Runt, Mindy and Buttons, Katie Ka-Boom, all those other secondary characters. But there are new ones and other ones.
Star Trek: Discovery
Filming has commenced on the fourth season, judging by signage spotted in Toronto.
Swamp Thing
KSiteTV has re-released photos from the CW’s presentation of the Swamp Thing pilot...which are just photos of an episode you might have watched already? Anyway, more at the link.
Raised By Wolves
Marcus mutilates his face, Poltergeist-style, in a NSFW clip from tonight’s episode of Raised By Wolves.
Helstrom
Finally, Daimon and Ana Helstrom reunite to battle the worst evils the Marvel Universe has to offer in the trailer for Hulu’s new series.
Banner art by Jim Cooke.