Everyone at The Beat is currently preparing frantically (or calmly, in a few cases) for next week’s San Diego International Comic-Con. Others are trying to catch up after the long 4th of July holiday weekend, and the latter includes studio agents and film producers who want to get their latest projects filled up before productions begin…and maybe to have a few more stars to roll out at SDCC ’19?
Millie Bobby Brown joins The Eternals… maybe? But who will she play?
For a while yesterday, it seemed to be up in the air whether Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown had booked her next major movie gig, in Marvel Studios’ The Eternals no less. Much of the speculation came from a Variety article about Marvel Studios’ SDCC ’19 Hall H panel. The article was mostly speculation (a little like what I wrote weeks ago), though it had quotes from prominent figures in the entertainment biz including an executive who chose to remain anonymous.
What jumped out was this paragraph: “Chief among them is ‘The Eternals,’ a series about godlike alien beings to be adapted by indie director Chloé Zhao (‘The Rider’), which has widely been reported to star Angelina Jolie, Kumail Nanjiani and Richard Madden, as well as ‘Stranger Things’ lead Millie Bobby Brown. “
What’s strange about Brown’s inclusion is that it would be a pretty big piece of casting that hadn’t been confirmed anytime before she was included in the SDCC piece… and there has been no confirmation since. Also not mentioned were either Donnie Yen or Korean actor Ma Dong-Seok, so like most movie casting, this particular ensemble could still be a work-in-progress. The Rider‘s Indie spirit-nominated director Chloe Zhao is helming the movie based on the Jack Kirby creations with no word when they night start filming.
Of course, if Brown is indeed among the cast who might she play? Well, I have a strong feeling that they might have the 15-year-old star of Godzilla: King of the Monsters play a new take on Sprite. Beyond that, we’ll have to wait until next week’s Marvel Studios panel…
UPDATE: Brown herself has denied any knowledge of being part of the Marvel Studios movie, saying in an Instragram fan QnA: “Everybody thinks I’m going to be in a Marvel movie. Not that I know of. My family and I have no idea. So I just want to let everyone know…that I’m not as of right now.”
Apparently, Nanjiani has also tried to shut down any confirmation of his own involvement with The Eternals while doing press for his new action-comedy Stuber.
Storm Reid in talks to play Idris (“Not Deadshot”) Elba’s Daughter in The Suicide Squad
A big part of Will Smith‘s portrayal of Floyd Lawton aka Deadshot in the 2016 Suicide Squad was the fact that Floyd had a young daughter, who he was always trying to do right by even though he was making his money as a murderous assassin.
Now comes word that filmmaker James Gunn is following suit by giving Idris Elba‘s character a daughter, too, and that A Wrinkle in Time‘s breakout star Storm Reid is in talks to play said role. Mind you, Elba was brought on after Smith walked away from starring in the sequel to the DC Entertainment/Warner Bros. supervillain team-up movie that grossed nearly $750 million worldwide. At this time, the sequel is being called THE Suicide Squad to avoid any confusion.
Also to avoid confusion (apparently), Elba isn’t just taking over the role of Deadshot from Smith but actually playing a new character with speculation running high on which DC super-villain that might be. Clearly, one who has a daughter… just like Deadshot.
George R.R. Martin gives a few hints about HBO’s untitled Game of Thrones prequel
It has been less than two months since HBO’s Game of Thrones concluded its eighth and final season, but it has kind of felt like years, hasn’t it? Those mourning the end of their favorite characters — some in more gruesome ways than others — probably forgot that HBO had already been developing a prequel series that’s already in production in Northern Ireland.
Entertainment Weekly didn’t forget, as when the venerable non-weekly mag had a chance to talk to author George R.R. Martin, they got five facts about the prequel series, written by showrunner Jane Goldman. Most important is the fact that the show will take place 5,000 years before the events of Game of Thrones. That means that none of the characters we know and love will be alive, but it also might before many of the characters and wars that have been mentioned. In other words, it’s a whole new part of that universe. That, to me, is super-exciting.
Even so, Martin tells EW that there will be the distant relatives of the Starks as well as a few creatures we recognize, although this was a period with no dragons. Still, the White Walkers are still a big part of the story, as he says. “Obviously the White Walkers are here — or as they’re called in my books, The Others — and that will be an aspect of it. There are things like direwolves and mammoths.”
Martin also suggested that the show might be called The Longest Night, which ties into the Season 8 episode called “The Long Night,” although that’s the kind of thing that can change right up until the show’s first marketing…. which could actually be at next week’s SDCC Game of Thrones panel? (Yeah, there’s a LOT riding on next week’s Hall H panels, that’s for sure.)
Rocketman director Dexter Fletcher takes on Sherlock Holmes 3
Although the Elton John musical biopic Rocketman hasn’t really done the business many expected i.e. not as much as last year’s Bohemian Rhapsody, the movie’s director Dexter Fletcher (who also finished up the latter after Bryan Singer was fired) is clearly in demand right now. He will be in even GREATER demand if Rocketman gets a Best Picture nomination come January ala Bohemian Rhapsody.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Fletcher has been attached to direct Sherlock Holmes 3, the long-delayed third installment in the action franchise based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Victorian detective, starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law. Guy Ritchie (Aladdin) directed the first two installments, and there’s actually a connection between Ritchie and Fletcher, as Fletcher appeared in Ritchie’s very first film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. That movie was produced by Matthew Vaughn, who also produced Rocketman and regularly works with Game of Thrones prequel showrunner Jane Goldman. (See how all these things come together?)
It’s not too surprising that Warner Bros. is moving forward with this three-quel even after an eight-year gap, since those first two movies grossed a billion worldwide ($500 million each) and Downey is a bigger star than ever. Downey is also completely done with his Marvel Studios responsibilities post-Avengers: Endgame, and clearly, he must have a contract for a third movie, so Warner Bros. won’t have to pay the $50 to 100 million Downey normally gets for those Marvel movies. (I’ll be shocked if Downey isn’t getting $20 to 30 million to reprise the Sherlock Holmes role.)
Law is also returning as Dr. John Watson, and hopefully, people will remember how much they liked the two actors as those characters and completely forget about last year’s Holmes and Watson, starring Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly, which likely had Doyle turning in his grave.
That’s it for this week’s Studio Coffee Run. Let us know what you think in the comments, and we’ll have more Hollywood news next week.
Slade Wilson in the comics has several children, the youngest being his daughter Rose. There’s no particular reason why they could not be African-american in this iteration.
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