Murphy's Multiverse

Category: News

  • ‘Andor’ Showrunner Praises Impressive Set by Former ‘Chernobyl’ Production Designer

    ‘Andor’ Showrunner Praises Impressive Set by Former ‘Chernobyl’ Production Designer

    Andor will be the first Disney+ series to take a step away from the Volume, which has become quite popular by many productions during the pandemic. Of course, it made sense considering that it helped work around the restrictions set by COVID and some countries closing their borders. Still, The latest Star Wars series ist focusing a bit more on using real sets to highlight the grounded aspect of what the project has to offer.

    In the official press event for the Disney+ series, Tony Gilroy got a chance to talks about the sets that were built for this series. They had production designer Luke Hull attached, who also gave us the chilling Chernobyl, and teased the “eight-and-a-half-acre city” they built for this production.

    You know, we talked before about the set and the thing that they were talking about, our production designer Luke Hull, who did Chernobyl, I mean, he really is in the brain trust that puts the show together with Sanne and Luke and Leo, my brother John Gilroy, Cathy, the core group of people that put this together. I mean, Luke is just, I mean, he’s Mozart, and he’s a young production designer, and he’s just soaring. And they built an eight-and-a-half-acre city for us that we will use for all 12 episodes.

    Tony Gilroy

    He also goes on to highlight how it helped them build an entire community around the set that brought this world to life. So, it’s not just establishing a practical set for them to film in but also ensuring that they have a chance to create a living community that changes across the timeline they hope to tell in this story.

    And as they said, it’s a 360 set. And the community that we were allowed to build within it and the social structures and the rituals of it, because there are some really intense rituals about it, it really feels like a place, like what is it? You get to play God. We built a place, we built a whole culture, we built a whole life, we built a whole tradition, we had people care about it and anyways. It’s a fantastic maximal expression of imagination to be able to do this. It just fantastic to be able to do it. It’s thrilling.

    Tony Gilroy

    Tony Gilroy certainly knows how to sell his series, and it’s exciting to see how they make use of this set. It’ll also be interesting to see how they showcase the change of this community throughout time. We’ll have to see as the three-season premiere releases on Disney+ on September 21st.

  • James Cameron on the Decision to Re-Release ‘Avatar’

    James Cameron on the Decision to Re-Release ‘Avatar’

    After numerous setbacks, Avatar‘s long-awaited sequel, The Way of the Water, is finally set to hit theaters this December. However, before The Way of the Water finally hits the big screen, Avatar is set to return for a limited run in 3D. While this won’t be the first time Avatar has been re-released into theaters, there’s a good reason behind this re-release. During a virtual press conference to promote the re-release, writer and director James Cameron explained why they’ve decided to release the film again.

    Well, look, I mean, it’s been, you know, 12 years since the release, and so basically if you’re kind of under 22 or 23 years of age, it’s very, very unlikely that you’ve seen the film in a movie theater.  Which in a way kinda means you haven’t seen the film.  I mean, we authored the film for the big screen, for the giant screen, in 3D.  And now we’ve remastered it in 4K, in high-dynamic range and some 48-frame-per-second sections in the film.

    James Cameron

    Released in 2009, Avatar has gone on to become one of the most successful films of all time. The film focused on a paraplegic Marine who is sent to the moon Pandora on a mission but soon finds himself feeling torn between his orders and protecting the place he believes to be his true home. Avatar managed to amass an astounding haul of $2.743 billion at the worldwide box office. $749.7 million of that came from the states, while the other $1.993 million came from international markets. The film remains the highest-grossing movie of all time.

    Avatar will be temporarily removed from Disney+ ahead of its re-release in theaters. The re-release will be for two weeks only beginning on Sept. 23rd and will see the film available in stunning 4K High Dynamic Range. Written and directed by Cameron, Avatar stars Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez and Sigourney Weaver. The film was produced by Cameron and Jon Landau. The long-awaited sequel, Avatar: The Way of the Water, will finally be released in theaters this December, just in time for the holidays.

  • Tony Gilroy Explains the Inspiration Behind ‘Andor’

    Tony Gilroy Explains the Inspiration Behind ‘Andor’

    When Rogue One: A Star Wars Story debuted in theaters in 2016, no one expected to see the series continue years down the line. Especially not leading man Diego Luna. However, Tony Gilroy, who co-wrote Rogue One, had an idea on how to expand upon Cassian Andor’s story. During the virtual press conference for Andor, Gilroy was asked about his inspiration behind the Disney+ series, and the showrunner explained he wanted to be able to showcase the complexities of the character before the events of Rogue One.

    I think the main idea is we have a character in Rogue One.  And we know where he ends up.  And we know how accomplished and complicated he is.  And the idea that we can do a story that takes him literally from his childhood origins and walk him through a five-year history of an odyssey that takes him to that place, during a revolution, during a moment in history in a place where huge events are happening and real people are being crushed by it, the fact that we could follow somebody as an example of a revolution all the way through to the end, that was the walk-in for me. 

    Being able to showcase Andor and his life leading up to the revolution was ultimately the selling point for Gilroy. While the series has a ton of characters, including some we’ve already met previously, the series ultimately focuses on Andor and the difficult times and decisions that are made leading up the events of Rogue One – just on a “big canvas.”

    And Gilroy isn’t the only one excited to be expanding upon the character of Andor. Luna was quick to note how much he enjoys working with Gilroy, who he calls someone he admires, and how exciting the prospect of Andor is because it’s not just about a specific event.

    First of all, just the chance to be back working with this family, getting to do more stuff with Tony, which is someone I admire, and I love his company and, and collaborating with him is amazing.  So just being back felt great.  But I think Rogue One is a film about an event, you know?  You don’t get to know those characters.  You don’t get to understand exactly where they come from, what needed to happen. 

    Luna

    Star Wars: Andor will debut with three episodes on September 21st. The remaining nine episodes will then drop weekly on Disney+.

  • Netflix Still Hasn’t Renewed ‘The Sandman’ But Work Has Already Started

    Netflix Still Hasn’t Renewed ‘The Sandman’ But Work Has Already Started

    The Sandman has become one of Netflix’s biggest hits as it dominated the top spot for quite some time on the streaming service. Yet, we still haven’t gotten any word on an official confirmation for a second season. While the wait still continues, it does seem like the team behind the production are confident they’ll get to continue work on the series. In an interview with ScreenRant, VFX supervisor Ian Markiewicz has hinted that they’ve already prepped the scripts and are even looking into how to tackle the VFX as they wait for a confirmation.

    We have a really wonderful framework for what we think season 2 looks like. Allan is still touching up scripts and reworking things, but we have an arc. Up until pretty recently, I think maybe even two weeks or so, Gary, our production designer, myself and Allan meet over lunch, and we will do a script over that meeting. It’s like, “Okay, let’s look at 201,” and we’ll do our breakdowns together, where we do page turns on 201, and we say, “Okay, what do we think? Where can we film this? Can we film this in a real space? If not, what do we need to build, if we need to build it?

    Ian Markiewicz

    He also reveals that they’ve been trying to adapt their approach for the second season, as they decide what can be tackled through VFX and what would make use of a practical set. The work on the first season definitely helped them shape their approach.

    Are we building this as a physical set, or can it be a building as a virtual set or a combination thereof? Is it physical to a certain extent, and then digital beyond that?” Just trying to break each one down to be like, “What’s the most value for this, what’s the most sensible way that covers the need for what we need it to be?” That process is happening now, which is great, and it’s really fun and exciting to be able to sort of have season 1 and behind us to know what we feel worked there, things that we wanted to sort of finesse further, and how that impacts our approach for season 2.

    Ian Markiewicz

    The team certainly sounds confident even as Neil Gaiman has been hesitant regarding the missing confirmation by Netflix itself. Here’s hoping that the wait isn’t much longer and we’ll finally get a confirmation in the coming weeks.

    Source: ScreenRant

  • Brie Larson Offers Glimpse Into Her ‘Fast X’ Role

    Brie Larson Offers Glimpse Into Her ‘Fast X’ Role

    Just recently, Brie Larson has been on a high promoting her upcoming Marvel film The Marvels, which will see her once again return to the role of Captain Marvel alongside some new co-stars. That isn’t the only big production she’s currently involved with, as she also has a big role in the latest Fast and Furious entry, Fast X.

    Little is still known about her character and it seems that the actress wanted to offer a little glimpse behind-the-scenes with the reveal of her character’s name. It seems she’ll be playing someone named Tess and that is sadly all she’s willing to let us know in regards to her role in Fast X.

    Brie Larson has gone through quite a bit since her jump to stardom as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and it’ll be interesting to see how the reactions will be when she joins another major project like this. She’s definitely powered through it, as showcased in some recent postings poking fun at the reactions from the D23 panel.

    There’s a lot of drama already surrounding the project. Fast X‘s production has been quite chaotic early on as Justin Lin, it’s initial director, left the film shortly after they got the cameras rolling. There was teases that there were a lot of conflicts between Lin and the franchise’s main star Vin Diesel. They were able to add Louis Leterrier as its new director, but it definitely must’ve left some sour taste during the production of the tenth entry.

    Source: Twitter

  • ‘The Woman King’ Dominates the Weekend Box Office as ‘Barbarian’ Shows Strong Hold

    ‘The Woman King’ Dominates the Weekend Box Office as ‘Barbarian’ Shows Strong Hold

    Here’s some great news as The Woman King has taken the weekend. Not only did it pull in $19M with strong word-of-mouth but also nabbed the rare A+ CinemaScore from General Audiences. It’s quite the boost after taking in $1.7M in previews. In a market dominated by high-octane action flicks like Marvel and this year’s stand-out Top Gun: Maverick, it offered something quite unique.

    Production wasn’t easy on the film, so it’s exhilarating for everyone involved to see its current success. The movie could still end the weekend with more than $19M as Sony hopes to see an additional boost in churchgoing audiences that’ll head to cinemas, which is currently predicted to end with around $5M. Given the film’s little, women were also the majority viewers with 60% and an older demographic; a good sign for non-four quadrant productions moving forward.

    Taking second place is Barbarian, which is holding quite well with a 40% drop and pulling in $6.3M. Disney was smart to bring this film to theaters even if it could’ve done the same with a few other productions throughout the year. A24’s Pearl has also opened and gotten a TIFF boost, as it pulled in $3.124M which is slightly below Ti West‘s previous entry with X, but still mighty impressive considering its low budget.

    Source: Twitter, Deadline

  • ‘Grand Theft Auto 6’ Leak Confirmed, Among Gaming’s Biggest

    ‘Grand Theft Auto 6’ Leak Confirmed, Among Gaming’s Biggest

    It’s been a heavy day for Rockstar Games, as one of their biggest upcoming releases has seemingly leaked, Grand Theft Auto 6. We don’t know what exactly led to it but it seemed unreal that so much footage would find its way online, as it seemingly is from the actual developers. It offered some first looks into the long-rumored game that’s been seemingly in development for quite some time.

    To some degree, it just seemed surreal and many were uncertain if it was actual footage of an earlier version of the game. As it turns out, Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier has seemingly confirmed that this is indeed from an earlier build of Grand Theft Auto 6, which may be one of the biggest leaks in gaming history.

    https://twitter.com/jasonschreier/status/1571489679534608384?t=6QKITlGbncl1u_c8BHpaJA&s=19

    While some are excited about the first footage of the game, this isn’t something to really be excited about. Small hints or teases have become part of the overall way for the Internet to build up momentum but never to such a degree. It’s heavy for the first look to be an unlikely very early version of the game that is purely meant for the developers. Other devs like Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann have reached out to support Rockstar through these hard times.

    https://twitter.com/Neil_Druckmann/status/1571525058946035713

    It definitely should not be something to drag down the talented staff at Rockstar Games and discourage anyone from bringing their projects to life. Those that have spoken out about the quality and it being “unfinished” should also keep in mind that this is indeed the case. We have very little insight into the complexities of game development, and this is definitely not in any way the finished product as that would only be the case once Rockstar Games decided to actually reveal it to us on their own terms.

    Source: Twitter

  • RUMOR: First ‘Grand Theft Auto 6’ Footage Potentially Leaks, Further Hints at Return to Vice City

    RUMOR: First ‘Grand Theft Auto 6’ Footage Potentially Leaks, Further Hints at Return to Vice City

    The Internet has always been unpredictable, especially in the day and age of leaks and scoopers rising in popularity. Still, gaming mainly was safe outside of small elements finding their way online such as skin leaks from Marvel’s Avengers. This time around, one of the biggest leaks may have happened as the first footage has found its way online from the long-rumored Grand Theft Auto 6. We still have to take it with a grain of salt but it’s certainly looking to be quite real given just how much has been revealed.

    The game is seemingly going for a Bonnie and Clyde storyline, as the game features male and female protagonists, Jason and Lucia. It also is seemingly taking place in Vice City with some familiar locations teased like Malibu Club. Twitter user @Okami13_ has shared some of the details that were noticed in the footage provided online. There’s also a full video of a diner takeover that was seemingly leaked where the player takes control of Lucia.

    This footage seems to be from a dev build and it’s unclear just how someone was able to get their hands on it. That isn’t the only footage, as @Who2Pitts has also shared what seems like a conversation between NPCs highlighting that this is indeed the dev version with a debug menu included.

    If this turns out to be real, it’s definitely one of the biggest leaks we’ve seen in a while for a game this deep into development. Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier has seemingly also added fuel to the fire by pointing out that a lot that has leaked also connects with what he’s heard about the game, which includes two protagonists and Vice City as the main location. For now, we’ll have to see if Rockstar will make a statement in regards to these leaks eventually or if they might still keep a potential reveal a secret until it’s ready.

    Source: YouTube, Twitter, Twitter

  • REPORT: ‘Ms. Marvel’ Renewed For Second Season 

    REPORT: ‘Ms. Marvel’ Renewed For Second Season 

    It looks like Iman Vellani is here to stay. According to a new report from Daniel RPK, Marvel Studios may have just given the green light to another season of Ms. Marvel, one of the latest Marvel Cinematic Universe series to drop on Disney+ and a hit with fans earlier this year. The show, centered around Vellani’s teenage hero Kamala Khan as she grows up in Jersey City, was initially believed to just be an origin story for the character. However, if true, this news would indicate Marvel has changed course and will alter the live-action title from “limited” to “ongoing.”

    Vellani can next be seen in 2023’s The Marvels, a sequel to 2019’s Captain Marvel that features Khan teaming up with Brie Larson’s Carol Danvers and Teyonah Parris’ Monica Rambeau after the trio’s powers begin to malfunction. It’s likely a second season of Ms. Marvel would pick up after the events of the film, with Khan resuming her personal life in New Jersey and continuing to grow into her new role as a superhero. There are plenty of loose threads left hanging from the first season that another batch of episodes could help resolve, taking the pressure off of future team-up films to do the heavy lifting when it comes to Kamala’s character arc within the MCU.

    Aside from Vellani, the cast of Ms. Marvel includes Matt Lintz and Yasmeen Fletcher as friends Bruno and Nakia, as well as Zenobia Shroff, Mohan Kapoor, and Saagar Shaikh as members of the Khan family. Laurel Marsden, Rish Shah, and Aramis Knight also have supporting roles. Former Batgirl directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah directed most of the first season with Meera Menon and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. Bisha K. Ali served as head writer.

    Source: Daniel RPK

  • ‘Constantine’ and ‘Madame X’ Dead at HBO Max, Will Be Shopped Elsewhere

    ‘Constantine’ and ‘Madame X’ Dead at HBO Max, Will Be Shopped Elsewhere

    Back in 2020, JJ Abrams signed a massive deal with HBO Max for his production company, Bad Robot. The deal would give him exclusive access to developing projects from the supernatural side of the DC Universe, specifically Justice League Dark. While numerous projects were announced throughout the years, and one seemed to have secured a leading actor, nothing ever became of the deal. Unfortunately, now it looks as though two projects being developed under the deal are no longer moving forward — at least, not at HBO Max.

    Upon today’s news that, after seventeen years, a sequel to the Keanu Reeves film, Constantine, is in the works, Variety confirmed that JJ Abrams and Bad Robot’s upcoming Constantine and Madame Xanadu series will halt development at HBO Max. The plan is for the shows to be shopped elsewhere. It is of note that the decision was reportedly not due to creative issues.

    This, of course, shouldn’t be entirely surprising. News of the Constantine sequel noted that Abrams would be involved, which could hint that he may have possibly dumped previous plans with the series and could build his Justice League Dark universe from there.

    There is still the matter of the Zatanna film, though, which is currently set to be penned by Emerald Fennel who is best known for her award-winning work on Promising Young Woman. It’s unknown if Abrams is involved in that project at all, but his overall deal with WB would suggest that he is indeed involved.

    Abrams will work with the original film’s director, Francis Lawrence, and Akiva Goldsman on the Constantine sequel which will see Keanu Reeves return to the titular role. There is currently no word on where the other series will be shopped to or if anyone at all shows interest in the projects.

    SOURCE: Variety