So much has been happening in film during March. A quirky sci-fi film swept the Academy Awards. A noted Marvel director is taking on Superman. A horror director is taking a new whack at Frankenstein. And some details have risen about Quentin Tarantino’s final film. Read on to hear all about this movie news round-up.
Quentin Tarantino’s Final Film To Be About Movie Critics
Quentin Tarantino has stated that his tenth film directed will be his last. With that tenth film coming up, there’s been much speculation on what type of film he’d craft. Given how much his last film, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”, was a love letter to the cinema, it shouldn’t be surprising that his next film will be about movie criticism.
The tenth Tarantino film will be called The Movie Critic, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Not much info is available, but it’s speculated that this will be an original film that plays as revisionist history, similar to Tarantino’s other films like “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” and “Django Unchained”. There have been rumors that the critic may be styled after noted writer Pauline Kael, a famous movie critic, and essayist in the mid-to-late 20th century. Since it seems like Tarantino might be setting this film in the 1970s, when Kael was writing at Paramount, there’s a likelihood that Tarantino may be drawing some inspiration from Kael.
Although Tarantino may contribute to other projects in the future, he’s very clear about this picture being his last to be written and directed by himself. No release date or casting is available yet for The Movie Critic.
An Oscar Sweep For Everything Everywhere All At Once
With the recent Academy Awards ceremony, all eyes were on “Everything Everywhere All At Once”. The bizarre adventure of multiverses and martial arts has been sweeping many awards ceremonies and looking like the clear winner for the more significant categories of the Oscars. It may surprise, however, just how many awards it won.
“Everything Everywhere All At Once” won the Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Editing. That’s seven wins out of the ten nominations, the other nominations being for Best Original Score, Best Original Song, and Best Costume Design. This led to many great speeches on the stage.
The highlight was, by far, Ke Huy Quan. Quan had stepped out of acting since being a child actor and made a return with “Everything Everywhere All At Once”. It paid off greatly as he became an awards-worthy actor who swept most awards ceremonies. When he got up on stage, he delivered a tearful speech about being a refugee and the support of his mother. As he discussed the American dream, he held up his Oscar and triumphantly stated, “Mom, I won an Oscar!”
It was surprising to see the film win Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress. There was some tough competition in the Best Actress category as it looked like the top actress to beat for this was Cate Blanchett for “Tar”. But Michelle Yeoh would win the award, marking a fantastic win for the accomplished martial arts actress. Best Supporting Actress had two nominations from “Everything Everywhere All At Once” with Jamie Lee Curtis and Stephanie Hsu. Although Hsu was more of a surprise, Curtis ended up winning and gave an emotionally enthusiastic speech about winning the award.
“Everything Everywhere All At Once” also marked the first Academy Award win for directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert. It was truly a trailblazing moment for this $25 million film, released in the Spring of 2022, that bubbled up with critical praise throughout the year.
James Gunn is Directing Superman Reboot
James Gunn went from being the director of DC Comics projects like “The Suicide Squad” and “Peacemaker” to being the franchise leader. He assumed the role of taking complete control of the DC Comics projects in 2022 and recently announced a new slate of movies. Among the many films he set up for this new DC universe, one was a new take on Superman to be entitled “Superman: Legacy”.
The theatrical release date for this new Superman movie was set for July 11, 2025. It will start a new Superman as Henry Cavill recently confirmed that he will not return to the superhero role. Very little is known about the film now, but we know that Gunn has announced he’ll be directing the picture.
The press release by Warner Bros has described the film like this:
“‘Superman Legacy‘ tells the story of Superman‘s journey to reconcile his Kryptonian heritage with his human upbringing as Clark Kent of Smallville, Kansas. He is the embodiment of truth, justice, and the American way, guided by human kindness in a world that sees kindness as old-fashioned.“
Gunn’s producing partner Peter Safran had been pulling for Gunn to direct this film. Gunn ultimately accepted when his brother Matt brought up an important note about the theatrical release date: It’s the birthday of James’s late father.
James Gunn opened up a bit more about the emotional decision to helm this project:
“I lost my Dad almost three years ago. He was my best friend. He didn’t understand me as a kid, but he supported my love of comics and my love of film and I wouldn’t be making this movie now without him.”
Little else is known about “Superman: Legacy” as of this writing.
Frankenstein is Guillermo Del Toro’s Next Project
Guillermo Del Toro has had some stellar hits on Netflix. In the fall of 2022, he hosted a horror anthology entitled “The Cabinet of Curiosity”. Of course, his more considerable contribution to the streaming service that year was the debut of his stop-motion animated film, “Pinocchio”, which recently won the Academy Award for Best Animated Film. His next horror-centric project will now involve the classic tale of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.
Frankenstein has been a passion project of Del Toro for years as he’d been obsessed with the classic monster. He’s been very open about his love and special-effects actor Doug Jones also commented on how much Del Toro loved Bernie Wrightson’s illustrated version of the story:
“Guillermo is a big fan of Bernie Wrightson, and … all of the images of Frankenstein‘s monster in that, that’s what he was going to pattern my look after. Which was more emaciated, little skinnier, little more drawn, little more pathetic looking. And yet, had an unnatural physical prowess, an unnatural athleticism to him. He was sewn together with spare parts of a couple different bodies. Very bony face, long, stringy, drawn hair.”
The news of Del Toro pursuing this project is very early, as reported by Deadline. Though there’s no official word on the project, sources say that the movie will be live-action and star the talents of Andrew Garfield, Oscar Isaac, and Mia Goth. While nothing is set in stone at the moment, it’s clear that Guillermo Del Toro will pursue such a project, given how long he’d been fighting for his stop-motion Pinocchio movie. And since that film won an Academy Award, Netflix will likely take a chance on the director’s next passion project.
Lance Reddick Dies At 60
In a sad and sudden bit of news this week, actor Lance Reddick died at the age of 60. The actor was known for such hard-hitting roles as Cedric Daniels on The Wire, Johnny Basil on Oz, and Phillip Broyles on Fringe. He would also play up comedic performances with guest spots on Funny or Die and The Eric Andre Show.
Reddick has been in several films, but his most notable role might be Charon in the John Wick series of films. He’ll also appear in the recent entry, “John Wick: Chapter 4”.
Reddick has completed a few projects that will be released after his death. This includes movie roles in “White Men Can’t Jump” and “Ballerina” and a TV role in Percy Jackson and the Olympians. You’ll also hear him as Hellboy in the upcoming video game Hellboy: Web of Wyrd.
Cover credit: Variety
