Welcome to The Rundown report (as gathered by Taryn Belle) with Nerd Union for the weekend of July 23rd, 2021.
MOVIES
Variety exclusively announced that Black Panther: Wakanda Forever seems to have added Michaela Coel to the cast. Other websites picked up on the news from there, but Marvel Studios has declined to release a statement. This is a rumor I most definitely hope to be true for Coel, most famously known for being the writer, director, producer, and lead star of I May Destroy You.
In official casting confirmation, Winston Duke spoke on returning to his scene-stealing role of M’Baku during a recent interview with Collider: “It was very emotional to read the script. It was emotional to pack to go back to set. But we’re all a bit of a family now and we grieve together, and we’re making something really special.” Overall, I believe that Ryan Coogler has committed to showcasing Black excellence and honoring Chadwick Boseman’s legacy in the steps he is taking for the sequel.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge was spotted on set for Indiana Jones 5 wearing clothes from the late 1960s. OnTwitter, candid images were shared both by user jubileu as well as on the fanclub handle Indiana Jones 5 News who pulled the stills straight from the Glasgow Times.
WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar spoke at AT&T’s second quarter earnings call this week and declared, “motion pictures matter and will continue to matter” according to Variety. This was in tandem with his announcement that Warner Bros. has committed to produce at least 10 movies as exclusive releases for HBO MAX for 2022. The CEO also noted that “he doesn’t see the industry ‘going back to the way the world was in 2015, 2016 or 2017’ with a long 75- to 90-day window for a title’s theatrical run before its first home video release. Warner Bros. has already said it will shift to a 45-day window for key tentpole movie titles.”
One upcoming HBO MAX original film has cast its lead actress, as announced by AV Club. Batgirl has chosen Leslie Grace, of In the Heights, as Barbara Gordon and is slated to be the first DC Film to launch first on the streaming platform instead of in the theaters.
Deadline has exclusively revealed the cast of Billy Porter’s directorial debut film What If? with Orion Pictures – a production company who’s goal is to feature underrepresented voices, both behind the camera and in starring roles, through authentic storytelling. Eva Reign, Abubakr Ali, Renee Elise Goldsberry, Courtnee Carter, Kelly Lamor Wilson, and Grant Reynolds are set to star in this movie that follows the coming-of-age of Kelsa (played by Reign) as a trans high school senior in the modern day. The plot picks up: “After Khal (played by Ali) posts online about his school crush, the internet encourages him to go for it. What If? tells the story of Kelsa and Khal navigating a senior-year relationship that neither could have expected.” Deadline also notes, “What If? marks Reign’s debut in a starring role … Reign’s storytelling – as an actor, writer and filmmaker – revolves around her identity as a Black trans woman. ”
Anna Kendrick has locked in the lead role for the film Alice, Darling alongside Wunmi Mosaku (of Lovecraft Country and Loki), Kaniehtiio Horn (from Possessor) and Charlie Carrick (from The Power). According to DigitalSpy, “Alice, Darling follows the life of Alice (Kendrick) and sees her behaving in a strange way as she keeps details about her boyfriend (Carrick) hidden from her two best friends (Mosaku and Horn). Things intensify for the friendship group when they take a girl’s trip out of town and a local girl goes missing. Alice’s secrets will come to the surface when her boyfriend shows up on the getaway unannounced.” The film has already started production in Canada.
Jordan Peele broke the internet by casually dropping the poster for his new film on his Twitter exactly 1 year before it releases in theaters July 22, 2022. The title is simply NOPE and Peele’s only caption was a cloud emoji. The headlining cast is noted as Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, and Steven Yeun. This film sounds like a big YEP to me!
Dune dropped official posters for each of the main cast and they are definitely Legendary. As Collider points out, “this series of posters focus on individual actors and characters from Dune, including Timothée Chalamet (Paul), Rebecca Ferguson (Lady Jessica), Oscar Isaac (Duke Leto), Jason Momoa (Duncan Idaho), James Brolin (Gurney), Zendaya (Chani), Javier Bardem (Stilgar), and Stellan Skarsgård (The Baron) … the poster[s] points out the film will be released both in theaters and on HBO Max on October 22.”
SHOWS & SERIES
Meanwhile, Dune’s prequel tv series, Dune: The Sisterhood on HBO Max, has found its new writer, showrunner, and executive producer in Diane Ademu-John. Variety reported exclusively on this update, after the series original showrunner Jon Spaihts had to step down in November 2019 to dedicate his time to writing the second installment in the Dune films.
While American Gods may have been cancelled over on Starz, Amazon has ordered a stand alone series from Neil Gaiman’s other fantasy novel Anansi Boys, which focused on the sons of Mr. Nancy. However, sources for Orlando Jones, who played Mr. Nancy over on Starz (before being rudely fired when Charles “Chic” Eglee took over as showrunner), have noted that Jones is not going to take on the role for this new, separate series, according to The Hollywood Reporter. I kinda hope that is just the prank of the trickster god Anansi, since I absolutely adored Orlando Jones owning the role of Mr. Nancy.
For Disney+, Marvel’s executive VP of film production, Victoria Alonso, announced that more animation is coming during a conversation with Variety’s Mark Malkin at NALIP Media Summit. Alonso revealed, “We’re going to have our animation branch and mini studio, and there will be more to come from that as well … We’re super excited about animation, which is my first love.” We here at Nerd Union love animation and are super stoked about this development!
The newest Marvel Studios: Assembled episode for Loki showcased some early concept art that originally had the TVA queuing line full of familiar looking Variants while Loki waits his turn to be processed. As noted by The Direct, “The line features what appear to be many of the Ravagers from both Guardians of the Galaxy movies, all donning TVA outfits similar to Loki’s in Episode 1, while Miss Minutes gives the rundown in hologram form.The bottom middle of the image even shows Bradley Cooper’s Rocket Raccoon, although there was no sign of him or any of the other Ravagers in the final cut of Loki.” I would have loved to see Rocket pull one of his infamous escape plans from the Time Keepers!
Screenrant revealed that production on American Horror Story: Double Feature has had to temporarily shut down due to a positive COVID-19 case, noting: “The tenth season has been delayed for a year during the rise of the Covid-19 pandemic and was scheduled to premiere in the Fall of last year. The news of the shutdown comes as coronavirus cases begin to spike in LA County because of the spread of the Delta variant, with the governor once again issuing a mask mandate for indoors, regardless of vaccination status. American Horror Story is now the second major series to halt production with season 2 of Bridgerton also shutting down filming for the second time due to its second positive case.” Stay safe out there, friends!
ACTORS
LeVar Burton’s hosting gig on Jeopardy! is finally here and the actor retweeted an image photoshopped by a fan who changed the word “Jeopardy!” below Burton to say “Jeordy!” as a shout out to his famously beloved Star Trek character Geordi La Forge . Burton’s retweet included the caption “Allow it!” in regards to the unconventional, but clever, spelling.
PLATFORMS
TechCrunch reported on the app Clubhouse finally being available to everyone, after a year of beta testing. This means the waitlist and invite system has gone away and anyone can download the app and create an account. The company also unveiled a new logo, featuring the waving hand emoji welcoming all the new users to the social app.
TechCrunch also revealed Venmo is doing away with it’s global feed that shows users’ transactions and comments, specifically in the company’s focus on improving the privacy controls for the app. “In the newly updated app, Venmo will still highlight this friend-list privacy setting so users can choose whether or not they want to have their profile appear on other people’s friends’ lists. Users will also still be able to remove or add contacts from their friend list at any time, block people and set their transaction privacy either as they post or retroactively to public, private or friends-only.” For more details on Venmo’s redesign, see the show notes.
Over on The Verge, Snapchat has had a busy week rolling out a feature that will let users pose their Bitmoji avatars in 3D animation. The 3D Bitmoji options are preset, with over 1,200 combinations of expressions, poses, gestures, and backdrops.
Snapchat’s parent company also made a big move in buying the small company Vertebrae to expand the option on AR shopping. Augmented Reality shopping lets people try on items before buying, which seems to increase the odds of people purchasing an item they can now picture themselves wearing and showing off.
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Shelby Johnson