Angela Bassett Joins the MCU
Marvel’s ongoing cinematic coup landed another impressive blow yesterday with the announcement that Academy Award nominee Angela Bassett has joined their ranks. Bassett has signed on to portray Chadwick Boseman’s mother, Ramonda, in Black Panther. At this point, it’s not as if Marvel needs the credibility—their ranks have already been filled with the likes of Robert Redford, Vincent D’Onofrio, James Spader, and Tilda Swinton—but Bassett brings some additional heavyweight acclaim to the MCU, and certainly adds to the buzz for Black Panther, which has been building steadily since the character’s introduction in Captain America: Civil War earlier this year. It’ll still be sometime before we see her in action, however. Black Panther isn’t set for release until February 16, 2018.
(Marvel)
Legendary Acquires Rights to ‘Dune’
If it’s true that he who controls the spice controls the universe, then we should all bow down to our new overlords at Legendary Pictures. The production company announced yesterday that they’d acquired the rights to producer Frank Herbert’s sci-fi classic Dune and would be adapted once again. This, of course, won’t be the first time the book has been made into a movie. David Lynch famously turned down The Empire Strikes Back to take on the book, and recently the book was made into a miniseries for SyFy. This could be a huge move for Legendary; the Dune series encompasses 6 novels written by Herbert, and 13 co-written by his son. It’s a tough nut to crack but if Legendary pulls it off, they might have a bona fide franchise on their hands.
Adam McKay to Helm Dick Cheney Biopic
If you had told me last year that the director of Step Brothers and Talladega Nights would one day be directing a serious biopic about former Vice President Dick Cheney I would’ve laughed in your face, and probably have died from choking on whatever it was I was eating at the time. That was before Adam McKay won an Oscar though, much deserved for his work on The Big Short, one of last year’s best and most incendiary films. Now, the news that the director of Step Brothers and Talladega Nights will be directing a serious biopic about former Vice President Dick Cheney makes, well, a lot of sense. McKay has proven himself a director (and writer) capable of great things, and of telling stories that cut through the bullshit to hit directly at their targets. His eye turned towards Cheney could be a transcendent experience, and after The Big Short, one hopes he continues to turn it towards matters of politics. Just goes to show you, you shouldn’t judge a director on their first films.
(Deadline)
‘Wedding Crashers’ Sequel in Development, for Some Reason
This trend of making sequels to mildly popular movies from over a decade ago doesn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon. Next up in line is a planned sequel to the Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson comedy, Wedding Crashers, which is reportedly in early development over at New Line. The original film was a success on its release in 2005, but can the magic, such as it was, be rekindled at this late date? Seems to me we got everything we needed to out of Wedding Crashers the first time around—it was a fun, if not entirely memorable base comedy—but who am I? No word yet on when it might be released. New Line has tapped writers Evan Susser and Van Robichaux to pen the script. Good luck to them.
Netflix Releases Trailer for President Obama Biopic ‘Barry’
With President Obama preparing to step out of the Oval Office and back into private citizenship for the first time in eight years, I suppose now’s as good a time as any to start with the biopics. Netflix unveiled the first trailer for Barry, which chronicles the president’s early years at college in New York City. Newcomer Devon Terrell stars as Obama as his politics and worldview begin to take shape. The film earned decent reviews after its premiere earlier this year at TIFF, and its acquisition by Netflix is another in a long line of wins the streaming service has had against traditional movie distribution.
(Netflix)
