Welcome to The Rundown with Nerd Union (as gathered by Taryn Belle) for the weekend of August 20th, 2021.
MOVIES
Anthony Mackie has reportedly closed a deal with Marvel Studios to star in Captain America 4 – the title is currently a placeholder for the film – according to a Deadline exclusive article. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier head writer/creator Malcolm Spellman had previously been announced as attached to the script with one of his series’ staff writers, Dalan Musson. After playing support as Falcon in six Marvel films, Mackie definitely deserves his Captain America getting a feature film!
Black Widow released as a digital purchase last week and 9 deleted scenes, making up roughly 15 minutes of footage, are included in the bonus material. Most of the deleted scenes revolve around fleshing out Natasha’s relationship with her family, fleshing out of the Taskmaster, and 1 scene called “Come After Me” focuses on Natasha leaving a message behind that is discovered by Mason and Secretary Ross. For a full list of deleted scene titles and descriptions, plus other bonus footage, check the link from TheDirect in our show notes.
Since Director Cuts are all the rage these days, Thor: The Dark World’s director, Alan Taylor, recently revealed some of his original intentions for the MCU film panned for it’s dour tone. Taylor noted to TheHollywoodReporter: “The version I had started off with had more childlike wonder; there was this imagery of children, which started the whole thing. There was a slightly more magical quality. There was weird stuff going on back on Earth because of the convergence that allowed for some of these magical realism things. And there were major plot differences that were inverted in the cutting room and with additional photography — people [such as Loki] who had died were not dead, people who had broken up were back together again. I think I would like my version.” Sounds like we would have seen a definitive death for Loki and an onscreen break up between Thor and Jane.
SHOWS & SERIES
Disney+’s Ms. Marvel star Iman Vellani recently talked with Variety and commented directly on playing the first Muslim hero in the MCU: “The fact that the show is being made and they’re including this character in the MCU is [what’s important]. I don’t really have to go out of my way and talk about being a Muslim and being Pakistani — it all comes out in the show. People seeing a person like me involved in a project as big as this is, I think, inspiring enough.” I definitely hope the MCU continues this shift into accurate cultural representation.
Netflix’s Instagram page revealed the casting for the Addams family’s matriarch and patriarch in the upcoming show Wednesday, which is directed by Tim Burton. The announcement notes: “Catherine Zeta-Jones will step into the iconic silhouette of Morticia Addams while Luis Guzmán will bring to life the debonair Gomez Addams.” I personally love the Latinx representation among the core cast, with Jenna Ortega previously locking in the lead role of Wednesday Addams.
Netflix also announced more cast for The Witcher prequel series Blood Origin that explores the creation of the very first Witcher. Gizmodo notes that this series is completely original, unlike the other Witcher series that pull from Andrzeh Sapkowsi’s novels, so all the character names and their role in this fantasy world are a mystery to us as viewers. For the full casting list, check the show notes!
EW brings a look at executive producer Issa Rae’s upcoming unscripted show Sweet Life: Los Angeles, which comes out on HBO Max this week. The show provides “a whole new look at L.A. through the eyes of seven young, ambitious Black men and women at a point in their lives where they are finally seeing the fruits of their labor.” Issa Rae was born in LA and definitely seems to have a fondness for showcasing young Black creatives navigating the city, since her comedy series Insecure also is based in LA.
ACTORS
Post actress Mj Rodriguez is showing us her power moves this week. First, the star released her first official music video for her new single Something to Say, under her name Michaela Jaé. In an interview with People, she explained the use of Michaela Jaé: “Mj Rodriguez, in the very beginning when I was starting out in my acting career, I was like,’This is the person that is the prestigious, classy, well put together actress.’ Versus Michaela Jaé, she is the diva, she is the shark, the songstress. That’s the true me; that’s the person that’s inside of Mj, is Michaela Jaé, so I wanted people to really get a glimpse of who I am aside from the actress that they see on the television screen.” Meanwhile, TheHollywoodReporter announced the actress signed with UTA to rep her in all aspects of her career, beyond TV and film, to theater, music, and other creative media. I can’t wait to see what this amazing triple-threat has in store!
GAMING
ScreenRant noted that the Black Panther – War for Wakanda expansion of Marvel’s Avengers game will include an emote that allows Black Panther to do the “Wakanda Forever” salute. This expansion was released August 17th and makes King T’Challa a playable character within the nation of Wakanda. But just because this Black Panther is sporting the salute made famous by Chadwick Boseman’s live action portrayal, the version in this expansion is a unique version: “T’Challa is more arrogant and aloof than Boseman’s live-action version, and … will apparently explore the hero’s scientific mind in greater detail.” That is a pretty far cry from the T’Challa we got this week in What If…?
THEME PARKS
Remember how I had hoped that FastPass not being used since the US Disney Parks reopened during the pandemic could mean they were never coming back? Welp, Disney doubled-down by changing the system into a per-visit ticket add-on cost, called “Genie Plus” where Guests who purchase it can utilize a “Lightning Lane” to skip stand-by queues. It’s like the darkest timeline of corporate greed.
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