You have good villains and bad ones. In the category of most vile villains, the ones you don’t actually love to hate but just hate, it’s hard to top Louise Fletcher’s icky, nasty, and… hateful Nurse Ratched from the 1975 Academy Award-winning movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. If you’re the type of person that can’t get terrifying imagery out of your head, you’re going to want to skip the trailer for the new prequel series Ratched. From the people behind American Horror Story, the series Ratched is the next spin-off of a classic horror film character–think Vera Farmiga’s Norma Bates in A&E’s Bates Motel–the spin-off prequel of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho.
The phrase “famous firsts” usually conjures images of inventors and inventions. It also conjures early explorers, those who crossed an ocean to find a new home to settle in, those who climbed the tallest peaks, those who made it the farthest to the North and the farthest to the South. And of course it all conjures famous scientific feats, famous explorations upward. A real-life famous first explorer is the subject of one of today’s trailers, two are science fiction visions of firsts of the future, and we added one other trailer just to bookend the set–the latest post-apocalyptic sci-fi movie.
It’s probably the right time for a big-budget movie to showcase Neil Armstrong’s first moonshot with Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins. Then again, it’s a bit early, as the Apollo 11 50th anniversary doesn’t arrive until next summer. Beginning with Clint Eastwood at the helm, a movie adaptation of Professor James R. Hansen’s 2005 biography of Armstrong, First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong, was passed around with development issues for several years. The result, First Man, is finally arriving in theaters in October (we previewed the first trailer back in June here at borg.com). One of Hollywood’s current go-to guys, Ryan Gosling was cast as Armstrong, with Claire Foy as his wife Janet. A more interesting supporting slate may get some attention, hopefully filling out the story as a worthy follow-on to The Right Stuff and Apollo 13, although the trailer looks like a family drama focused on Neil and Janet. Ciarán Hinds plays NASA director Robert Gilruth, Kyle Chandler(Early Edition, Super 8) plays astronaut Deke Slayton, Jason Clarke(Terminator: Genisys, Winchester), plays astronaut Ed White, Ethan Embry(That Thing You Do, Hawaii Five-O) plays astronaut Pete Conrad, Xena: Warrior Princess’sWilliam Gregory Lee plays astronaut Gordo Cooper, and in the big seats Corey Stoll(Marvel’s Ant-Man) and Lukas Haas(The Revenant, Solarbabies) play the other guys in the capsule, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins.
Another big first will no doubt be humanity’s first trip to Mars–if we get that far–and a new Hulu series will take on chronicling what that project may be like in the series called simply First. It stars Sean Penn.
Emmy nominee and Golden Globe winner in 2017 and a Golden Globe nominee again this year for best actress in a television series, all for The Crown, Claire Foy is quickly becoming an actor to keep an eye out for. Her career continues on an upward trajectory this Fall when she stars in two big screen movie releases. Both of these films saw their first trailers arrive this weekend. One is a historical biopic and the other a crime story, both adaptations of bestselling books.
Coming first is director Damien Chazelle’s First Man from Universal Pictures, a film about astronaut Neil Armstrong starring Ryan Gosling (Blade Runner 2049, The Nice Guys), with Foy co-starring as Armstrong’s wife Janet, based on a book by James R. Hansen. The film also stars Corey Stoll (Ant-Man) as Buzz Aldrin, Lukas Haas (Witness, The Revenant) as Mike Collins, Jason Clarke (Terminator Genisys, Winchester) as Ed White, Ethan Embry (That Thing You Do!, Batman Beyond) as Pete Conrad, Kyle Chandler (Super 8, Argo) as Deke Slayton, and Ciaran Hinds (The Sum of All Fears, Munich, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2) in an undisclosed role.
Next will be director Fede Alvarez’s The Girl in the Spider’s Web from Sony Pictures. This is a sequel to the film adaptations of Stieg Larsson’s novel The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Foy takes on the role of Millennium series star Lisbeth Salander, formerly played in the Swedish film by Noomi Rapace and later the American production by Rooney Mara. This is the first story in the dark and violent series not written by Larsson–David Lagercrantz was tapped to pen the novel this film is based upon. The film co-stars Sylvia Hoeks (Blade Runner 2049).
Here is Claire Foy in new trailers for First Man and The Girl in the Spider’s Web:
Just last week we discussed here at borg.com the 2015 return of mob stories to the big and small screen, previewing the British movie Legend starring Tom Hardy and the new TNT series Public Morals with an all-star cast of supporting roles. Now Johnny Depp is returning to the mob/gangster genre after his superb showing in 1997’s Donnie Brasco opposite Al Pacino and Bruno Kirby, and his 2009 role as John Dillinger in Michael Mann’s Public Enemies.
This time Depp will again play a real-life mob boss, James “Whitey” Bulger, the Boston crime lord who became an FBI informant to take down a mob family trying to invade his territory. Black Mass also features notable actors Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock, The Hobbit, Star Trek Into Darkness) as Whitey’s state senator brother Bill Bulger, Joel Edgerton (the Star Wars prequels), Kevin Bacon (Apollo 13, R.I.P.D., X-Men: First Class, A Few Good Men), Peter Sarsgaard (Green Lantern, Orphan, The Skeleton Key), Dakota Johnson (21 Jump Street, Fifty Shades of Grey), and Corey Stoll (Ant-Man, Law and Order: LA).
Good movies often ride on the backs of their earlier incarnations. The Incredible Shrinking Man. The Greatest American Hero. Beetlejuice. Innerspace. Memoirs of the Invisible Man. Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. The classic original Tron. Sources you might not first think of like Wallace & Gromit’s The Wrong Trousers. Even Thoreau’s Walden (who hasn’t marveled at the coordinated work of ants, or fantasized about being very small?). Marvel’s new hit Ant-Man borrows bits and pieces from all of these and more. Yet it also adds something new to those, such as improved special effects, including make-up, CGI, and many action sequences. It mirrors our place in the big world. Throw in a hero battling a giant spider with a nail for a sword and I’m sold.
Ant-Man is a rollercoaster ride. All fun and not too serious like the steadfast captain America arguing with the cocky Tony Stark over the roll of the disinterested Bruce Banner that we all have now seen too many times on screen. Paul Rudd’s heroic Scott Lang has one motivation, yet he lacks the typical superhero ingeniousness to accomplish his goal. That element endears the character to everyone and is the gateway to an ensemble cast effort that pushes the story forward. You just know Lang is like Rudd, that same guy we cheer along with at Kansas City Royals games.
Equal to Rudd’s role is a surprisingly strong performance by Michael Douglas. Looking like the twin of his father Kirk these days, as Dr. Hank Pym he anchors the film with gravitas. His role in the story is substantial and should require sharing top billing as co-lead. His work here rivals all his prior best work in The Game, The Ghost and the Darkness, The American President, Falling Down, Wall Street, Romancing the Stone, The China Syndrome, and Coma. An Academy Award nod is warranted for both Douglas as well as the CGI team that provided the single best use of facial modification to replicate his younger self (done in part by firm Lola VFX who made skinny Steve Rogers in Captain America: The First Avenger). Tron: Legacy made a good attempt at what Ant-Man has perfected in its opening scene–we’re now ready for an entire film using this approach, an entire film starring a 40-year-old Wall Street era Douglas, for example, relying on the acting prowess of the veteran actor today.
Evangeline Lilly’s role as Pym’s daughter is secondary, yet her role supports enough of the backstory that it makes us anxious for Ant-Man 2, previewed in two of the film’s end-credit codas. Michael Peña portrays what could be an over-used stock Latino criminal by bringing some humanity and humor to the role. Even the villain, played by Law & Order: LA’s Corey Stoll, is interesting although more loathsome than needed for the part.
Marvel Studios must have felt like Santa Claus yesterday.
Yesterday Marvel previewed four costumes for characters being pulled from the comic book page to the TV and film: from the superhero side Fantastic Four’s Thing and Netflix’s Daredevil, and from the villainy camp Ant-Man’s Yellowjacket and The Avengers: Age of Ultron’s Vision.
Today Netflix releases its entire first season of Daredevil for convenient binge-watching. Lawyer Matt Murdoch (played by Charlie Cox) has a new red suit.
Marvel revealed both the new Thing from Fantastic Four played by Jamie Bell and Paul Bettany’s Vision (above, top). Of all the reveals we’re thinking the cybernetic Vision is pretty striking.
Corey Stoll will play Ant-Man’s nemesis Yellowjacket in Marvel’s Ant-Man opposite Paul Rudd.
More big news emerged from San Diego Comic-Con this weekend. A new comic book series for Haven and Galaxy Quest… a sneak peek at Arrow Season 3, a Star Trek crossover with Planet of the Apes… details and art from Marvel’s new line of Star Wars comic books… new actors to star in Marvel’s Ant-man… more content from Avengers 2… and new giant monster movies are coming soon from Legendary Pictures.
But the biggest news that almost “broke the Internet” was from DC Entertainment: the first look at Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman and her new costume from the 2016 release Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. It’s a nice Cliff Chiang-inspired pose for the Amazon warrior. So we now have three images of the DC Comics trinity:
We’ve got a pretty dark superhero movie in our future.
The next big news came from a Marvel Comics panel–the creative line-up for Star Wars comic books under Disney:
Marvel Comics announced that January 2015 will see the first of Marvel taking over the Star Wars comic book line from Dark Horse with three initial series. Kansas City’s Jason Aaron will write and John Cassaday will serve as artist on a series taking place just after A New Hope, where the original 1978 Marvel Comics line began and the current main Dark Horse title takes place. Above is the cover art by Cassaday for Issue #1.
A series beginning in February 2015 will follow Darth Vader after his TIE Fighter is knocked away by Han Solo at the end of A New Hope, to be created by Kieron Gillen and Salvador Larroca.
And March 2015 will see a series following Princess Leia after the destruction of the Death Star, from writer Mark Waid, artist Terry Dodson, and colorist Rachel Dodson.
Here are four pages of early stage art for the main Star Wars series:
