Murphy's Multiverse

Author: Hunter Radesi

  • Neil Gaiman Details Rejected ‘Doctor Strange’ Movie Pitch

    Neil Gaiman Details Rejected ‘Doctor Strange’ Movie Pitch

    Netflix’s adaptation of The Sandman has put acclaimed writer Neil Gaiman back in the spotlight, and he’s using the opportunity to discuss some failed projects from his past. In a recent appearance on Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast, Gaiman spoke in detail about a rejected pitch he made to Marvel boss Kevin Feige over a decade ago. The creative revealed that, in 2007, he drew up an idea for a Doctor Strange film that would have been directed by auteur Guillermo del Toro. Unfortunately, at the time, Marvel was more focused on their big-name characters, and turned down Gaiman’s pitch so they could make a push toward The Avengers instead.

    Gaiman elaborated:

    Kevin and I have spoken a few times over the years on things. The only one that I wish, although, odds are probably, I think the way they did it commercially was better than…but I remember back in 2007, having minimalistic conversations with Kevin Feige about ‘What about Doctor Strange?’ Then talking to Guillermo Del Toro, and Guillermo and I having these ideas about Doctor Strange and starting the beginning, me starting the beginning of the conversation with Kevin about ‘I could do Doctor Strange with Guillermo.’ And basically, they said, ‘We just want to concentrate on the core characters right now. Doctor Strange is way up the line. We don’t want to go there.’

    Neil Gaiman

    Marvel’s plan eventually worked, transforming them into one of history’s most successful film studios. Scott Derrickson would go on to helm the first Doctor Strange as an origin story in 2016, with a trippier sequel from cult favorite Sam Raimi, titled Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,dropping earlier this year. Gaiman‘s take on the character apparently would have been much darker, with a focus on his flaws and a lot of visual inspiration from co-creator Steve Ditko:

    There were some cool things in it. My favorite Doctor Strange thing was the idea of…the one thing that we really wanted to do was have his adventures, have him become an alcoholic and a disbarred physician, all that sort of stuff, happen in the 1920s. So the idea is that he went through all of that and the training to become the world’s greatest magician maybe in the early ’30s, late ’20s, and he’s been living in Greenwich Village for 90 years looking the same in his place, and nobody really notices. We just sort of liked that idea, and he would have been sort of out of time. But other than that, it would have just been very sort of Steve Ditko because, you know, that’s the best.

    Neil Gaiman

    Both released Doctor Strange films are now streaming on Disney+, while Gaiman’s The Sandman is available on Netflix.

    Source: The Direct

  • Jack Quaid Says He Isn’t In ‘The Boys’ Spin-Off ‘Gen V’, Teases ‘The Boys’ Future 

    Jack Quaid Says He Isn’t In ‘The Boys’ Spin-Off ‘Gen V’, Teases ‘The Boys’ Future 

    The Boys, Amazon’s massively popular antihero series, is about to begin filming it’s fourth season. Returning for another round of violence and chaos is star Jack Quaid, who has grown to prominence on the show playing the timid-turned-tenacious vengeance seeker Hughie Campbell. The end of the third season left Quaid’s character in a unique place, with Hughie now recovering from the effects of using an experimental temporary “V” – a drug that grants people superpowers – and working to make amends with his romantic partner – Erin Moriarty’s Starlight. With so much to do in The Boys’ next season, it doesn’t seem like Campbell would have much time to appear anywhere else in the franchise, and according to Quaid, he really won’t be.

    Speaking exclusively with Variety, the former Hunger Games actor was asked if fans should expect to see Hughie cameo in The Boys’ upcoming spin-off, Gen V. Set concurrently with the flagship series, Gen V follows a group of young college-age “Supes” as they attend the Godolkin University School of Crimefighting and are tested in deadly challenges. Last month, series creator Eric Kripke teased that the two shows would feature crossovers, but Quaid says he hasn’t yet been involved in Gen V in any capacity. However, he did spend an afternoon with the spin-off project’s cast in a pretty endearing way. Answering the question, he explained:

    Not at this point. I haven’t really talked about that with anyone, but I’d love to be. I actually can talk about this now, because it was happening when I was shooting “Strange New Worlds” in Toronto, and that was just as the cast of “Gen V” was starting production. So I took them all out to brunch one day. I got to know a bunch of them. They’re awesome. They’re so talented. They’re so cool. I can’t wait for that show to come out. I wish them all the best. They’re gonna knock it out of the park.

    Jack Quaid

    Before he left, Quaid fielded one final question. While his character successfully avoided a lethal dosage of the “Temp V”, his partner-in-crime Billy Butcher, played by Karl Urban, wasn’t so lucky. In the third season finale, Butcher learns he only has a year left to live, something he hides from his companions. When asked how Hughie will respond when he finds out, Quaid said:

    Man, I mean, we’re gonna have to find out, but it’s not gonna be good. Butcher is like his best friend and an older brother. So that’s pretty devastating news, when Hughie finds out but we’re just going to have to wait and see how that plays out. I haven’t read all the scripts for Season 4 yet. I don’t really know, actually. This is my time to be a fan and just kind of let things come to me and react to them genuinely as I’m reading them. But I was really happy with the way the writers teed everything up for this next season.

    Jack Quaid

    Neither The Boys’ fourth season nor Gen V, previously titled The Boys Presents: Varsity, have a current release date. The former has just begun production in Toronto, while the latter has been filming for most of the past year.

    Source: Variety

  • Matt Shakman Exits ‘Star Trek 4’ For ‘Fantastic 4’

    Matt Shakman Exits ‘Star Trek 4’ For ‘Fantastic 4’

    Matt Shakman is suddenly a director in high demand, but it seems he won’t be able to juggle every job that’s come his way. Shortly after news broke that the former WandaVision maestro had landed Marvel’s coveted Fantastic Four gig, The Hollywood Reporter revealed that he would no longer be helming Star Trek 4 for Paramount. Shakman had been announced as the man guiding Chris Pine’s Trek franchise towards its long-awaited fourth entry in the summer of 2021. THR reports the search for his replacement will begin immediately, and it’s not clear whether the creative change will impact the film’s planned release date of Dec. 22nd, 2023.

    Paramount Pictures released the following statement regarding Shakman’s exit:

    Matt Shakman is an incredibly talented filmmaker, and we regret the timing didn’t align for him to direct our upcoming Star Trek film. We are grateful for his many contributions, are excited about the creative vision of this next chapter and look forward to bringing it to audiences all around world.

    Paramount Pictures

    Zachary Quinto, Simon Pegg, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana and John Cho are still expected to reprise their roles alongside Pine as the crew of the famous Enterprise. They were last seen together in 2016’s Star Trek Beyond, which was directed by Justin Lin. Josh Friedman and Cameron Squires, working from a Lindsey Beer and Geneva Robertson-Dworet draft, wrote the most recent version of the fourth film’s script.

    Source: THR

  • ‘House of the Dragon’ Lands Early Season 2 Renewal

    ‘House of the Dragon’ Lands Early Season 2 Renewal

    It would seem the dragons will reign over Westeros for a little while longer. House of the Dragon, HBO’s first spinoff in the Game of Thrones franchise, has officially been renewed for a second season. The series debuted earlier this week to staggering viewership, drawing in nearly 10 million viewers across all platforms. It quickly became the biggest premiere in HBO’s entire history, with numbers already nearing the impressive 19.3 million viewers who tuned in for Game of Thrones’ series finale in 2019.

    House of the Dragon is a prequel series based on George R.R. Martin’s novel Fire & Blood. Set over a century before the events of its predecessor, the show chronicles the lives of the Targaryan family as they rule over Westeros with a fiery fist. It stars Paddy Considine, Matt Smith, Emma D’Arcy, Olivia Cooke, Rhys Ifans, Steve Toussaint, and Eve Best among many others in an ensemble cast.

    The fact it gets renewed after just one episode already showcases just how much they believe in this project. Fantasy has reached a whole new level with viewers, but there is something special about the Game of Thrones franchise. Not only did it become the first true “blockbuster” television show when it premiered but its build-up was quite a bit something special. Though the last few seasons had people scratching their heads and may have also brought in a whole new audience curious about where House of the Dragon would land. Going by its critical and fan reception, it’s definitely a show to keep an eye on.

    Source: Twitter

  • ‘Halloween Ends’ Set For Day-and-Date Release in Theaters and Peacock

    ‘Halloween Ends’ Set For Day-and-Date Release in Theaters and Peacock

    Halloween is coming to an end, and audiences will be able to witness the thrilling conclusion from either a theater seat or their couch at home. Halloween Ends, the final film in David Gordon Green‘s Halloween trilogy, is officially set for a day-and-date simultaneous October 14th release on both the big screen and NBC’s streaming service Peacock.

    The news comes from a video posted to the project’s social media accounts, which features original Halloween star Jamie Lee Curtis delivering the information to fans. Of important note, the film will only be available on Peacock to paid subscribers who use Peacock Premium or Premium Plus. The free version of the service, which is supported by advertisements, will not stream the movie. This release plan follows the same strategy that made Kills such a massive success, and prompted audiences to question the future of the theatrical experience.

    Curtis returns to the franchise for what is likely the last time, completing a story arc established in 2018’s Halloween reboot and continued in 2021’s Halloween Kills. This third chapter will pick up four whole years after the end of Kills, which was an immediate continuation of its predecessor. Trailers have teased a dramatic climactic showdown between Curtis‘ Laurie Strode and the monstrous Michael Myers, who has been terrorizing the town of Haddonfield since 1978.

    Andi Matichak, Will Patton, Kyle Richards, Omar Dorsey, Nick Castle, and James Jude Courtney will also appear in the film, which is being produced by Jason Blum and his renowned horror company Blumhouse.

    Source: The Hollywood Reporter

  • ‘Batgirl’ Directors Claim Warner Bros. Discovery Deleted All Their Footage

    ‘Batgirl’ Directors Claim Warner Bros. Discovery Deleted All Their Footage

    Probably the single-most talked about film in recent weeks has been Bilall Fallah and Adil El Arbi‘s Batgirl, and unfortunately, it hasn’t been because of anything good. The project was shelved unexpectedly late in its development process by Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, who felt the production was not worth release. Reports have indicated the decision was made final because the film’s cancellation would result in corporate tax write-offs for the company, though Warner Bros. Discovery themselves have claimed the move was instead meant to protect the DC Films brand. Either way, Batgirl has immediately become one of history’s greatest lost films, and according to the directors, it may now be impossible for fans to ever catch a glimpse of what was.

    In a recent Tik Tok interview, translated by The Direct, Fallah candidly revealed that all the footage from Batgirl was destroyed following its cancellation. Fallah revealed he personally attempted to salvage some of his work via cell phone recordings, but he was too late. After being asked if he had any evidence of his time on the film, he explained:

    No, we have nothing. Adil called and told me, ‘Go ahead! Shoot everything on your phone!’ I went on the server… Everything was gone. We were [like]… ‘F**ing shit!’… We did not [even] keep [the scenes] with Batman in it.

    Bilall Fallah

    The film was set to star Leslie Grace as the title character, with Michael Keaton returning to his iconic role as Batman. J.K. Simmons, Brendan Fraser, Jacob Scipio, and Ivory Aquino were also cast in major supporting roles. Fallah went on to state Warner Bros. Discovery had informed himself and El Arbi that none of the talent involved were the reason behind the cancellation:

    The guys from Warner Bros. told us it was not a talent problem on our part or the actress [Leslie Grace], or even the quality of the movie. We were right in the middle of editing. There was a lot of work to get done, so it was not like the movie was finished! Warner Bros. told us the cancellation was a strategic change, a shifting in management so they could save some bucks.

    Bilall Fallah

    The duo did end their interview on a more positive note, however, with El Arbi vocalizing their love for the fans and their hope that Batgirl might still somehow see a release someday. He said in response to the outpouring of fan support online and in person:

    It was very heartwarming… After all, we make movies. And we make it for the audience. Not us. We just hope that one day, the movie can be released.

    Adil El Arbi

    Source: The Direct

  • Dan Harmon Says ‘Community’ Movie is Happening

    Dan Harmon Says ‘Community’ Movie is Happening

    “Six seasons and a movie.” This statement, frequently spoken by Danny Pudi‘s Abed, had become something of a forgotten promise for fans of the hit NBC show Community. Starring an ensemble cast, the series revolved around an unlikely group of adult friends attending a community college in Colorado and often found joy in making its stories as zany as possible. Meta commentary and inside jokes became the name of Community‘s game, which is where the aforementioned phrase – which started as a jest – transformed into a full-blown rallying cry about the show’s potential future. With the help of a move to Yahoo! Screen, the series managed to hit its six-season mark. Now, according to creator Dan Harmon, that movie may be happening as well.

    One of the series’ stars, Alison Brie, recently told The Wrap that “legitimate conversations” were occurring behind the scenes in regards to pushing a Community film forward. During a follow-up interview with Harmon, who is currently promoting the sixth season of his animated series Rick & Morty, the creative confirmed this to be true. He also revealed there is already a story outline in place, though he’s unsure if it will be the one used should a movie actually come to life:

    I’ll confirm what Alison said which is that legitimacy is here, conversations and agreements are happening. There’s a story – who knows if we’ll end up sticking to it, but it was something we had to compile in order to take it out and court various venues. And now negotiations happen.

    Dan Harmon

    Harmon went on to explain that, while there is movement on the film, that doesn’t mean fans will be seeing it in theaters anytime soon. Sometimes, film production can take a lot longer than one would hope. Harmon cites the multi-year process the project has undergone since Community ended in 2015:

    Now, I say that with such caution, because sometimes the audience is like, ‘So that means what a year, two years?’ I could have said what I just said three years ago and it would have been almost as accurate, and can you imagine if I had said that three years ago? That’s me setting people up for three years of abusive neglect and making them feel forgotten, and it’s hard enough to just say nothing.

    Dan Harmon

    Ending on a rather positive note, however, Harmon concedes the film will happen one day, as long as the world doesn’t end first:

    When you put the percentage chances together it’s like you have to account for maybe the world blowing up or another virus happening. But as far as the industry is concerned, this is a matter of when and not if, for sure.

    Dan Harmon

    It remains to be seen which cast members would return for a reunion film, though several major players have publicly expressed interest in coming back to their roles. Joel McHale, Ken Jeong, Gillian Jacobs, and Brie have all stated they’d reprise their characters should the opportunity arise, and it feels like that may be enough to get names like Pudi, Yvette Nicole Brown, and Jim Rash on board as well. Donald Glover remains the biggest question mark, having left the show midway through its fifth season to pursue other interests and found great success. Hopefully, this process doesn’t take too long and fans learn more sooner than later.

    Source: The Wrap

  • ‘House of the Dragon’ – Best & Worst of ‘The Heirs of the Dragon’

    ‘House of the Dragon’ – Best & Worst of ‘The Heirs of the Dragon’

    Westeros is finally back on television, and there’s a whole lot to be excited about. HBO’s House of the Dragon, the first spin-off and prequel to the smash hit series Game of Thrones, premiered last night after much anticipation. The show had quite the legacy to live up to, and by all accounts, it checked off almost every box it needed to be considered a worthy successor. Coming on the heels of a controversial final season of Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon found its rhythm early and picked up where the absolute peak of Thrones left off. However, despite a rather strong start, nothing can be truly perfect. In a new weekly article series, Murphy’s Multiverse will break down both the best and the worst each episode of Dragon has to offer.

    The Best – Jousting & the Politics of the Throne

    There was quite a bit of good in this wildly eventful pilot episode, aptly titled The Heirs of the Dragon. With King Viserys I Targaryen, played by Paddy Considine, and his family suffering from some hushed health issues, the topic of the next royal heir is more relevant than ever in King’s Landing. This leads to several heated moments between Viserys’ advisors because as in any good court drama, nobody seems to be able to agree on who should gain true political power. The scenes focused on this are perhaps the episode’s most exhilarating, bringing fans back to a time when double-crossing and backhanded planning were the franchise’s main focus.

    Specifically, the tension between Matt Smith‘s Prince Daemon Targaryan – a nasty fellow – and Rhys Ifans‘ Ser Otto Hightower – a calculated King’s Hand – proves to be among the very best the premiere puts forward. The two high-ranking officials at first appear to be on opposite ends of the political spectrum, but small moments throughout the episode hint that they may be more alike than their demeanors suggest. The major difference between them is their execution. Where Daemon is outward with his intentions and desires, often far too aggressively, Otto hides behind a façade of respectability. Both seem to want more power, but where Daemon will say this to his brother’s face, Otto instead sends his daughter to woo a grief-stricken friend. It seems House of the Dragon is setting up an ongoing conflict between its own versions of Aiden Gillen’s Littlefinger and Iwan Rheon’s Ramsay Bolton, which should be enough to bring any viewer back from week to week.

    What the Westeros franchise does best, however, is bring together multiple smaller conflicts onto one larger stage. In Heir of the Dragon, this occurs at a joust. The King happily announces to his subjects that the Queen is in labor, something the audience knows to be a dangerous scenario, and allows the festivities to commence. During the “celebration”, nearly every plotline collides, intensified by the tragedy the viewers know is about to play out in the background. Daemon causes a stir, Otto confronts his anxieties, the Princess Rhaenyra questions her future, and men are murdered violently. Everything anyone could want from the show, wrapped up nicely in a single elongated sequence.

    The Worst – The Death of Queen Aemma & Alicent’s, *Ahem*, Awkward Situation

    It’s odd to call these things the “worst” of the episode when they were both also referenced as part of the “best”, but maybe that just speaks to the complexity of storytelling. Ever since the pilot of Game of Thrones hit the small screen in 2010, uncomfortable situations have been a key part of the viewing experience. The writers and directors on the series would tend to use the raw emotion of disturbing visuals and implications to their advantage, using the planned reactions from audiences to prop up the severity of important moments, and it’s now apparent the creatives behind House of the Dragon will do the same. Either way, the death of Queen Aemma Arryn, portrayed by Sian Brooke, is hard to watch, especially when it’s so obviously unnecessary and unfruitful for the man who ordered it. Yes, the scene works exactly as planned by the writers, but it also felt partly gratuitous to show so many of the gory details.

    In a similar vein, watching Otto Hightower “suggest” to his young daughter that she “comfort” the King in his time of need was – to be honest – not great. Again, this is something that comes with the territory of Westeros, and it effectively tells fans everything they need to know about both Otto and Alicent at this point in time, but that doesn’t make it entertaining to witness. Prior Thrones storylines give viewers a pretty good idea of where this is likely headed, and it probably won’t be the fan favorite subplot going forward. Although, who knows? Maybe this is just the beginning of a Sansa Stark-type turnaround in future seasons. Viewers will just have to keep watching to find out.

  • ‘She-Hulk’ Writer Reveals Rejected Pitch For ‘Black Widow’ Movie

    ‘She-Hulk’ Writer Reveals Rejected Pitch For ‘Black Widow’ Movie

    Jessica Gao has officially joined the Marvel fold as the head writer on She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, but it seems it’s not the first time she’s tried getting in the door. During a recent interview with The Wrap, the former Rick & Morty creative revealed her first pitch to Marvel Studios was actually for the Black Widow movie. Of course, Gao didn’t end up getting the job, but if she had, it seems the film would have played out dramatically different than what audiences actually saw. According to Gao, her pitch revolves around Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff having to attend a high-stakes high school reunion with people who knew her as someone else. She elaborated:

    It was basically a ‘Grosse Pointe Blank’ story for Black Widow… basically you find out that in high school, as a teenage spy/Russian agent, she was planted at an American high school, because she had to assassinate someone’s dad and then 20 years later, she goes back to the high school reunion and has to deal with the fallout of this fake identity where she betrayed all these people in high school.

    Jessica Gao

    The pitch feels more like a She-Hulk story than it does a Black Widow one, and Gao believes that’s exactly why she eventually got the gig she did. The writer says she also pitched concepts for Shang-Chi and Captain Marvel, and while none of those worked out, they did allow her to spend some quality time with Marvel big wigs like Kevin Feige. She explained:

    I’m a big believer that every opportunity you miss is actually setting you up for something else… I truly believe that I didn’t get any of those three Marvel movie jobs because it was building to this point. Because what it really did for me is every single time that I pitched to Kevin [Feige], and Lou [D’Esposito] and Victoria [Alonso], and Brad [Winterbaum], I get to spend an hour with him, and I get to shoot the shit and hang out and chat…

    Jessica Gao

    Hanging out with important people can sometimes have good side effects, as Gao continued:

    Each time, they got to know me more, I got to know them more. By the time I came into pitch ‘She-Hulk,’ I think they had a very good sense of what my sense of humor was. They had a good sense of what type of writer I was, what kind of story I built. They just had a very good indication of what I’m about. I think that that really helped sell it, because they weren’t coming into me cold. They already talked to me so many times, they understood the quirks and nuances and the little things that I really infuse into everything.

    Jessica Gao

    While that Black Widow film would never be, it’s good to see that Marvel kept giving a talent like Gao the opportunity to pitch and collaborate. She-Hulk: Attorney at Law is now streaming on Disney+, and while it has yet to feature a high school reunion, it does have a lot of Gao’s signature sense of humor.

    Source: The Direct

  • Idris Elba Teases Mystery Project With Marvel

    Idris Elba Teases Mystery Project With Marvel

    Idris Elba might still have a future with Marvel. The actor, who has played Asgardian warrior Heimdall in the Marvel Cinematic Universe since 2011’s Thor, was thought to have exited the franchise when his character died valiantly in 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War. However, a surprise post-credits cameo in Thor: Love and Thunder revealed Heimdall still exists in the halls of Valhalla and has renewed interest from fans in seeing Elba take on the role again.

    Speaking with SyFy in support of his new movie Beast, the multifaceted performer was asked about the potential of a return to Marvel after Phase 4. While Elba has leaned more towards the DC side of the aisle in recent years, he wasn’t quick to deny a future with Heimdall. Instead, the actor hinted that there may be a new project in the works that would see him wear the golden helmet once more:

    Heimdall is a beloved character, I love playing him. There may be something cooking.

    Idris Elba

    When asked to elaborate on what he meant, Elba shied away. However, he still left a lot of room for interpretation with his response:

    I don’t know, I would tell you if I did. Well, probably not…

    Idris Elba

    The last time audiences saw Heimdall, he was welcoming Jane Foster to the afterlife. There is a recent comic book run by writer Jason Aaron that features those two characters adventuring from beyond the grave, so perhaps Kevin Feige and the folks at Marvel Studios will find space in their busy schedule to make an adaptation happen.

    Beast is now in theaters.

    Source: SyFy