It’s been a busy few days in film as summer ends and fall begins. This is the season of more than changing weather. It’s the season of festivals, awards, and major announcements from studios. Disney has new info on their projects, the Emmy winners for the best in television were announced, and plenty of festival favorites are getting rave reviews.
The Whale Makes Splash at Venice film Festival
Brendan Fraser has been having a major comeback lately. He was previously known for such adventurous pictures as “George of the Jungle” and “The Mummy” but issues with his physical health and betrayals led to a downfall for the actor. Recently, he’s been taking on bigger roles in the TV series Doom Patrol, as well as movies like “No Sudden Move” and the sadly, canceled Batgirl movie.
The time has now come for Fraser’s ultimate return with the festival picture, Darren Aronofsky’s “The Whale”. The film finds Fraser playing an overweight man trying to reconnect with his daughter. It debuted at the 79th Venice International Film Festival and is receiving a lot of positive feedback, with Fraser’s acting being a highlight. The film would the festival awards for Premio CinemaSarà, the 10th INTERFILM Award for Promoting Interreligious Dialogue, and Leoncino d’Oro Award.
The film will expand for a wider release in December with A24 distributing.
The Steven Spielberg Pseudo-Biopic
Over at the Toronto International Film Festival, the Steven Spielberg semi-biographical, “The Fabelmans”, made its debut. Directed by Steven Spielberg himself, the film depicts the legendary director’s rise to fame through the character Sammy Fabelman. The film stars Gabriel LaBelle, Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, Seth Rogen, and Judd Hirsch. Directed with emotional nostalgia, it received mostly strong reviews from critics.
Paul Dano spoke about how exciting and intimidating the experience was in an interview with IndieWire:
“It was overwhelming and it was sort of a heavy cloak to bear because we were with someone who was having a big experience everyday, revisiting and reworking through a part of their life … For somebody like Steven to share that much of himself with us — with the audience too — it was really a profound experience.”
Universal Pictures will be giving the film a limited and wide release in November.
The 2022 Emmy Winners
The 2022 Emmy winners were announced this week. Most of the popular and acclaimed series took home the big awards, as Succession continues to win for Best Drama Series and Ted Lasso continues onward for winning Best Comedy Series. Even though Squid Game wouldn’t win most awards, the South Korean international hit would still have Lee Jung-jae win for Best Actor in a Drama Series and Hwang Dong-hyuk win for Best Direction.
Check out the full list of winners which includes newcomers Abbott Elementary, The White Lotus, and The Dropout.
Drama Series
WINNER: Succession
Better Call Saul
Euphoria
Ozark
Severance
Squid Game
Stranger Things
Yellowjackets
Comedy Series
WINNER: Ted Lasso
Abbott Elementary
Barry
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Hacks
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Only Murders in the Building
What We Do in the Shadows
Limited or Anthology Series
WINNER: The White Lotus
Dopesick
The Dropout
Inventing Anna
Pam & Tommy
Lead Actor in a Drama Series
WINNER: Lee Jung-jae, Squid Game
Jason Bateman, Ozark
Brian Cox, Succession
Bob Odenkirk, Better Call Saul
Adam Scott, Severance
Jeremy Strong, Succession
Writing for a Drama Series
WINNER: Jesse Armstrong, Succession (“All the Bells Say”)
Dan Erickson, Severance (“The We We Are”)
Hwang Dong-hyuk, Squid Game (“One Lucky Day”)
Jonathan Lisco, Ashley Lyle, and Bart Nickerson, Yellowjackets (“F Sharp”)
Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson, Yellowjackets (“Pilot”)
Chris Mundy, Ozark (“A Hard Way to Go”)
Thomas Schnauz, Better Call Saul (“Plan and Execution”)
Directing for a Comedy Series
WINNER: MJ Delaney, Ted Lasso (“No Weddings and a Funeral”)
Lucia Aniello, Hacks (“There Will Be Blood”)
Jamie Babbit, Only Murders in the Building (“True Crime”)
Cherien Dabis, Only Murders in the Building (“The Boy From 6B”)
Mary Lou Belli, The Ms. Pat Show (“Baby Daddy Groundhog Day”)
Bill Hader, Barry (“710N”)
Hiro Murai, Atlanta (“New Jazz”)
Lead Actress in a Comedy Series
WINNER: Jean Smart, Hacks
Rachel Brosnahan, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Quinta Brunson, Abbott Elementary
Kaley Cuoco, The Flight Attendant
Elle Fanning, The Great
Issa Rae, Insecure
Lead Actress in a Drama Series
WINNER: Zendaya, Euphoria
Jodie Comer, Killing Eve
Laura Linney, Ozark
Melanie Lynskey, Yellowjackets
Sandra Oh, Killing Eve
Reese Witherspoon, The Morning Show
Directing for a Drama Series
WINNER: Hwang Dong-hyuk, Squid Game (“Red Light, Green Light”)
Jason Bateman, Ozark (“A Hard Way to Go”)
Karyn Kusama, Yellowjackets (“Pilot”)
Mark Mylod, Succession (“All the Bells Say”)
Lorene Scafaria, Succession (“Too Much Birthday”)
Ben Stiller, Severance (“The We We Are”)
Cathy Yan, Succession (“The Disruption”)
Writing for a Comedy Series
WINNER: Quinta Brunson, Abbott Elementary (“Pilot”)
Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs, and Jen Statsky, Hacks (“The One, the Only”)
Duffy Boudreau, Barry (“710N”)
Bill Hader and Alec Berg, Barry (“Starting Now”)
Steve Martin and John Hoffman, Only Murders in the Building (“True Crime”)
Jane Becker, Ted Lasso (“No Weddings and a Funeral”)
Sarah Naftalis, What We Do in the Shadows (“The Casino”)
Stefani Robinson, What We Do in the Shadows (“The Wellness Center”)
Lead Actor in a Comedy Series
WINNER: Jason Sudeikis, Ted Lasso
Donald Glover, Atlanta
Bill Hader, Barry
Nicholas Hoult, The Great
Steve Martin, Only Murders in the Building
Martin Short, Only Murders in the Building
Writing for a Variety Special
WINNER: Jerrod Carmichael, Rothaniel
Ali Wong, Don Wong
Nicole Byer, BBW (Big Beautiful Weirdo)
Norm Macdonald, Nothing Special
The Daily Show With Trevor Noah Presents: Jordan Klepper Fingers the Globe—Hungary for Democracy
Writing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie
WINNER: Mike White, The White Lotus
Elizabeth Meriwether, The Dropout (“I’m in a Hurry”)
Patrick Somerville, Station Eleven (“Unbroken Circle”)
Danny Strong, Dopesick (“The People vs. Purdue Pharma”)
Sarah Burgess, Impeachment: American Crime Story (“Man Handled”)
Molly Smith Metzler, Maid (“Snaps”)
Directing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie
WINNER: Mike White, The White Lotus
Francesca Gregorini, The Dropout (“Iron Sisters”)
Hiro Murai, Station Eleven (“Wheel of Fire”)
Michael Showalter, The Dropout (“Green Juice”)
Danny Strong, Dopesick (“The People vs. Purdue Pharma”)
John Wells, Maid (“Sky Blue”)
Competition Program
WINNER: Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls
The Amazing Race
Nailed It!
RuPaul’s Drag Race
Top Chef
The Voice
Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie
WINNER: Amanda Seyfried, The Dropout
Toni Collette, The Staircase
Julia Garner, Inventing Anna
Lily James, Pam & Tommy
Sarah Paulson, Impeachment: American Crime Story
Margaret Qualley, Maid
Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie
WINNER: Jennifer Coolidge, The White Lotus
Connie Britton, The White Lotus
Alexandra Daddario, The White Lotus
Kaitlyn Dever, Dopesick
Natasha Rothwell, The White Lotus
Sydney Sweeney, The White Lotus
Mare Winningham, Dopesick
Variety Talk Series
WINNER: Last Week Tonight With John Oliver
The Daily Show With Trevor Noah
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Late Night With Seth Meyers
The Late Show With Stephen Colbert
Variety Sketch Series
WINNER: Saturday Night Live
A Black Lady Sketch Show
Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
WINNER: Brett Goldstein, Ted Lasso
Anthony Carrigan, Barry
Toheeb Jimoh, Ted Lasso
Nick Mohammed, Ted Lasso
Tony Shalhoub, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Tyler James Williams, Abbott Elementary
Henry Winkler, Barry
Bowen Yang, Saturday Night Live
Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
WINNER: Sheryl Lee Ralph, Abbott Elementary
Alex Borstein, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Hannah Einbinder, Hacks
Janelle James, Abbott Elementary
Kate McKinnon, Saturday Night Live
Sarah Niles, Ted Lasso
Juno Temple, Ted Lasso
Hannah Waddingham, Ted Lasso
Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
WINNER: Julia Garner, Ozark
Patricia Arquette, Severance
Hoyeon, Squid Game
Christina Ricci, Yellowjackets
Rhea Seehorn, Better Call Saul
J. Smith-Cameron, Succession
Sarah Snook, Succession
Sydney Sweeney, Euphoria
Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
WINNER: Matthew Macfadyen, Succession
Nicholas Braun, Succession
Billy Crudup, The Morning Show
Kieran Culkin, Succession
Park Hae-soo, Squid Game
Christopher Walken, Severance
John Turturro, Severance
Oh Yeong-su, Squid Game
Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie
WINNER: Murray Bartlett, The White Lotus
Jake Lacy, The White Lotus
Will Poulter, Dopesick
Seth Rogen, Pam & Tommy
Peter Sarsgaard, Dopesick
Michael Stuhlbarg, Dopesick
Steve Zahn, The White Lotus
Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie
WINNER: Michael Keaton, Dopesick
Colin Firth, The Staircase
Andrew Garfield, Under the Banner of Heaven
Oscar Isaac, Scenes From a Marriage
Himesh Patel, Station Eleven
Sebastian Stan, Pam & Tommy
D23 Reveals New Disney Projects
Disney recently held their annual D23 conferences where they made announcements and released new footage from upcoming projects. This includes projects from Marvel Studios, Star Wars, Pixar, and more. Here’s a rundown of what was revealed.
- Trailer for Marvel’s Secret Invasion, a Disney+ series that will follow former SHIELD agent Nick Fury investigating a Skrull invasion of Earth. Samuel L. Jackson will return to the role of Fury, having last been seen in 2019’s “Spider-Man: Far From Home”.
- Principal artwork was revealed for Marvel’s Thunderbolts. The lineup will include previous Marvel side characters Yelena aka Yelena Belova, Bucky “Winter Soldier” Barnes, US Agent, Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, Red Guardian, Taskmaster, and Ghost. From the looks of the artwork, it appears that the previous actors will be reprising their roles.
- Trailers revealed more about movies exclusively debuting on Disney+, including legacy sequels to Hocus Pocus (Hocus Pocus 2) and Enchanted (Disenchanted).
- Teasers have revealed a bit more of Disney’s upcoming remake projects that includes Peter Pan & Wendy, Haunted Mansion, Mufasa: The Lion King, Snow White, and The Little Mermaid.
- Pixar revealed two more info on two upcoming projects. Elemental will be a feature film that centers around the comedic lives of elements like water and fire, which will be hitting theaters on June 16, 2023. Win or Lose will be a Pixar series about an underdog youth baseball team, set to debut on Disney+ sometime in 2023. Elio will be a galactic adventure, hitting theaters in 2024. Also in the early stages of development is Inside Out 2, a sequel to their 2015 introspective comedy about emotions, which should be premiering in 2024.
- More trailers and teasers showed off Disney’s upcoming Star Wars projects for Disney+. This includes the upcoming Andor series as well as the anthology series Tales of the Jedi, the Mandalorian spin-off series Ashoka, another spin-off series entitled The Skeleton Crew, a new season of The Bad Batch, and the new season of The Mandalorian.
- There was footage was showcased of Indiana Jones 5 where Harrison Ford gave an introduction and became emotional about the experience of filming this sequel.
- Muppets fans will be pleased to learn that Disney is doing more with the Muppets as they revealed a bit more about the new series The Muppets Mayhem, which will follow the band Electric Mayhem led by Doctor Teeth.
