Murphy's Multiverse

Category: News

  • Justin Long Calls ‘Barbarian’ the “Best Written Horror Script” He’s Ever Read

    Justin Long Calls ‘Barbarian’ the “Best Written Horror Script” He’s Ever Read

    The early praise for Barbarian has been immense, and that positive feedback isn’t limited to film critics. Both the cast and crew of the movie have been publicly vocal about their love of the project, but actor Justin Long may have given the film its greatest note during a recent press conference promoting its release. When asked why he signed up to co-star with Bill Skarsgård and Georgina Campbell in Zach Cregger‘s horror debut, the former New Girl guest didn’t hold back:

    It was the best written horror script I’d ever read. There was something very classic, completely unexpected. I had no idea what was happening. I was so intrigued by it. It was just unlike anything I’d read. Starts off as a well written romantic comedy, which is really hard to do. The dialogue was so fluid and natural. Then there were
    things happened in it that broke so many rules. I was just so grateful; it was one of those things you read, and you are just so grateful that whoever wrote it wanted me to do it.

    Justin Long

    These are big words from Long, who has appeared in his fair share of popular spooky movies. Although he’s known for his work in comedy, Long has also shown up in Sam Raimi‘s Drag Me to Hell and the Jeepers Creepers franchise. If anybody is qualified to comment on a horror script, it may be him. Unfortunately for fans of the actor, they’ll have to wait until September 9th to see him take on whatever threat may be present in Barbarian.

  • Jodie Turner-Smith Joins ‘The Acolyte’

    Jodie Turner-Smith Joins ‘The Acolyte’

    Announced during Disney’s 2020 Investor Day, The Acolyte was one of many Star Wars projects that went dark for a while with virtually no updates on the series. That was until it had been announced that Amanda Stenberg was set to lead the cast of the Sith-based prequel series for Disney+ and it looks like the project has secured yet another cast member.

    Deadline is reporting that actress Jodie Turner-Smith, best known for her work in projects like After Yang, Queen and Slim, and Anne Boleyn, has joined the cast of the Disney+ series. The trade report didn’t have any details on who Smith will be playing in the series as details on the project still remain under wraps.

    The series, developed by Netflix’s Russian Doll creator Leslye Headland, is said to take viewers into the last days of the High Republic as the Dark Side grows in power and will follow a young Sith apprentice, known as an Acolyte. The project is reportedly set to begin filming sometime this Fall.

    Fans can most likely expect to hear more on the project at the upcoming D23 expo set for September 9th and 10th where anything and everything under the Disney umbrella will have time to shine during two major Studio Showcase panels.

    Smith can be seen in multiple upcoming projects such as White Noise alongside Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig, directed by Noah Baumbach and Netflix’s Murder Mystery 2.

    SOURCE: Deadline

  • EXCLUSIVE: ‘Cars on the Road’s Larry the Cable Guy Shares How He Voiced Mater Throughout the Years

    EXCLUSIVE: ‘Cars on the Road’s Larry the Cable Guy Shares How He Voiced Mater Throughout the Years

    Mater has become a staple of the Cars franchise and even many children’s toy boxes. Even with the many different toys, video games, shorts, and anything Disney could get out of the character, Larry the Cable Guy continued providing his voice for the many iterations of the character.

    Now, he’s venturing out into the first TV series based on Cars with Cars on the Road, and in an exclusive interview, Larry the Cable Guy shared how he recorded most of his projects in the past and compares his latest experience to working on the various Mater-centric shorts throughout the years.

    I have a studio at my house and that’s where I did all the toys, and games, and that kind of stuff. The movies, I’d go out to Emeryville. […] For the shorts, I think I’ve done it so long that the producers and directors trust me enough to know what I’m doing. We all get along and they write such great stuff, they trust me, I am very happy about that.

    Larry the Cable Guy

    He highlights how many different venues they have nowadays to release the series and he could’ve imagined Cars on the Road as shared just how much fun they had recording for this project.

    We laughed so hard, each one of these episodes we’d get to laughing so hard. I’d throw something out, they’d throw something out. We would go: “Let’s take a few seconds!” because we were laughing. I mean there is really funny stuff in there.

    Larry the Cable Guy

    It definitely sounds like they had a lot of fun and he teased in the interview that he also had the chance to improvise; giving the scenes their own dynamic as well. He’s voiced the character for so many years and through many different mediums, but he still shares his joy of voicing this character to this day.

  • Dan Lin No Longer in Talks to Become DC’s Kevin Feige

    Dan Lin No Longer in Talks to Become DC’s Kevin Feige

    While many were excited when the news first hit that long-time producer Dan Lin might be the one to lead Warner Bros. Discovery’s new future for its DC Comics adaptations. Yet, it turns out that he’s no longer in talks due to various factors. One of the big aspects is his continued commitment to his production banner Rideback. The search still continues as Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav is committed to finding the right person for the job to lead their DC adaptations similar to how Kevin Feige handles Marvel Studios.

    For those wondering, the current DC Films President Walter Hamada is expected to leave the company. That was cemented with the recent drama surrounding Batgirl and the way it was communicated. Lin seemed like a big candidate, especially with his history with Warner Bros. and the successful LEGO Movie franchise. It seems the company was also interested in taking a majority take on the company.

    A lot is riding on this search, especially as shares have been down by 50%. Their “cost-cutting measures” have ended up backfiring in many ways, as industry veterans are nervous about working with the company and a lot of bridges getting burnt along the way. We’ll have to see if they do end up finding the right person for the job, or rather who is willing to do so.

    Source: The Hollywood Reporter, CNBC

  • Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans’ ‘Red One’ Adds ‘Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Star

    Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans’ ‘Red One’ Adds ‘Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Star

    It looks like Chilling Adventures of Sabrina star, Kiernan Shipka, has found her next major project as she’s set to join Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans in the upcoming Amazon Prime Video holiday event titled Red One. It’ll be directed by Jumanji director Jake Kasdan but no further details on her role or even the plot of this Holiday event are being shared. It’s being marketed as an action-adventure comedy for all four quadrants that’ll open up a potential new “universe” in “the holiday genre.”

    Amazon Studios is developing and it’ll be an original story from Hiram Garcia after they landed the bidding war for the project back in 2021. Seven Bucks Production collaborator Chris Morgan wrote the screenplay for the adaptation, who has quite an extensive history with the Fast & Furious franchise. So, we might be able to expect a lot of action cut from the same cloth.

    It’s interesting to see this cast come together and theorize what direction they are going with this story. She’s joining two big-named actors in what could be a brand new franchise that opens up many new opportunities. It’s interesting how the word “universe” is used and it may be Amazon’s attempt at creating their own big recurring holiday franchise. So, we’ll see what they have in store for us.

    Source: Deadline

  • EXCLUSIVE: Larry the Cable Guy on Reuniting with Owen Wilson for ‘Cars on the Road’

    EXCLUSIVE: Larry the Cable Guy on Reuniting with Owen Wilson for ‘Cars on the Road’

    There are many iconic duos in the world of cinema but many might have a fond childhood memory of the unlikely duo of race car Lightning McQueen and Radiator Spring’s sweetheart Mater. While we last saw the two together in the third Cars film back in 2017. Luckily, the duo return with their original voice actors once again reuniting, McQueen’s Owen Wilson and Mater’s Larry the Cable Guy.

    Having had the chance to interview Larry the Cable Guy during the press for the upcoming Disney+ series, Cars on the Road, the actor shared some insight into what it was like working with Owen Wilson again even with the pandemic keeping them apart. It sounds like their work dating back to 2006 has made it easy for them to know how the other voices their character even without being in the same room.

    The cool thing about Owen and I: we’ve done it for so long, we’ve done so many projects. I know which direction he’s going, and he knows which direction I’m going. So, if Owen’s in the studio and he throws out a new line and they put that in the script when I go up to do mine; obviously if they are reading Owen’s line to me, I already know which inflection Owen already used, I know what he sounds like in my head before I do mine. So, when I do my line I know it’s going to match to what he said, because we know each other’s inflection and we know what each other person is thinking because we’ve done it for so long.

    Larry the Cable Guy

    It sounds like the pandemic couldn’t keep the duo from bringing their iconic characters to life. There’s something about realizing just how long Wilson and Larry the Cable Guy have been working together. It also shows what kind of bond they have developed over the years.

  • Funko Pop! Reveals New Look at ‘Secret Invasion’ Character

    Funko Pop! Reveals New Look at ‘Secret Invasion’ Character

    Marvel Studios is adapting one of Marvel Comics craziest event series in Secret Invasion. Expected to stream early in 2023, Marvel Studios Secret Invasion has been billed as a paranoia-filled spy thriller. And in the MCU, if spy games are involved, THE spy will be there. Samuel L. Jackson has been attached to the project since its earliest days (in fact, the series was initially described as a Nick Fury project) and while there hasn’t been much in the way of promotion, the actor has been front and center for what has been shown. Now, as part of a series of reveals of Funko Pops! that will be available at NYCC, a new look at Jackson’s Fury has been unleashed!

    As of the events of Spider-Man: Far From Home, Fury was known to be in space working with a group of friendly Skrulls while Talos was simming him on Earth. Secret Invasion will see Fury back on Earth, but becoming aware that not all Skrulls’ interests are aligned with those of Talos. Crew merch that surfaced earlier this year seemed to indicate that at least part of the comic event’s plot, which centered around a Skrull god and a prophecy that the Skrulls were destined to rule Earth, should make its way into the streaming series, perhaps hinting at the identity of some of the rivals Skrulls. It’s also recently been revealed that some of the events and characters look to be inspired by a recent comic miniseries titled Meet the Skrulls. So while the full plot hasn’t been revealed (fans are hopeful a trailer for Secret Invasion will come out of the upcoming D23 Expo), it seems that Nick Fury will have a a pretty full plate.

  • Initial ‘Cars on the Road’ Pitch Included “Twice as Many Stops”

    Initial ‘Cars on the Road’ Pitch Included “Twice as Many Stops”

    Productions change a lot from when they are initially pitched. While some pitches tend to focus on the overarching storyline and feeling the series is going for, others tend to have a stricter outline. In the case of Cars on the Road, it seems that they had quite a few episodes already mapped out as revealed by writer Steve Purcell, who pitched the series initially.

    In the official press conference for the series, he reveals that the biggest change was the number of episodes that made it into the final release. Purcell initially pitched twice as many stops before they started cutting down on what fits the story best. He doesn’t give away what they would’ve consisted of but it seems that they wanted to focus on finding a nice balance when bringing the series to life.

    Yeah. When I first pitched the idea, we had twice as many stops. And so we’ve sort of arrived at an order that we felt was working. And sometimes we would pull one out and put another one in, a different idea. Looking for just the right selection and the kind of, you know, alternating between day scenes and night scenes and kind of, you know, out in the desert opposed to in a forest or something like that. So it was really trying to structure it so it felt like a nice variety of places and it felt like you were going from one place to another along the way.

    Steve Purcell

    He does highlight that perhaps there’s more to come and teases that he has “10 more ideas sitting out there” that could be a part of another road trip for Mater and Lightning McQueen.

    But there’s still, you know, 10 more ideas sitting out there that we hadn’t used.

    Steve Purcell

    Given the Cars franchise’s success, it seems unlikely to expect this to be the last we see of them. So, we’ll have to see if the series’ upcoming Disney+ Day release will signal a second season renewal. Who knows if they might even have it planned and are just trying to build up the momentum once the series hits Disney+?

  • The Morning After Huddle: September 6, 2022

    The Morning After Huddle: September 6, 2022

    Welcome to Week One of the 2022 NFL Season and to the Tuesday edition of The Morning After Huddle! There was secrecy. There was intrigue. At long last, the Steelers have a starting quarteback.

    Here’s what you need to know:

    • First, the Pittsburgh Steelers will roll with veteran Mitch Trubisky as the starting quarterback for Week One. Trubisky is also a captain along with T.J. Watt, Najee Harris, Cameron Heyward and Miles Killebrew. Perhaps even more intriguing is that rookie quarterback and first round draft pick Kenny Pickett is third on the depth chart, behind Mason Rudolph. According to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, despite the fact that Pickett was coming on in camp, nothing changes with Trubisky being the starter.
    • Moving along, Ryan Kerrigan is returning to the Washington Commanders after ten seasons with the team. Kerrigan is joining the staff as an Assistant Defensive Line Coach. Commanders writer Pete Haileys says Kerrigan will prioritize the lack of pass rush on Washington’s Defensive line.
    • Finally, below is your Key Signings and Trades Roundup from the last few days:

    Enjoy the week because football is back and that means we’ll be here with even more NFL news you want to know!

  • Zach Cregger Explains the Origin of ‘Barbarian’

    Zach Cregger Explains the Origin of ‘Barbarian’

    Barbarian is one of the year’s great mysteries. Aside from a few vague hints in the film’s marketing, nobody really seems to know what’s going to happen before the credits roll. The only definite is this – a woman is forced to confront a rather uncomfortable situation when the AirBnB she booked turns out to be inhabited by a complete stranger. Once she goes inside, all metaphorical Hell breaks loose, in a story crafted by the mind of director Zach Cregger.

    During a recent press conference promoting the movie, Cregger detailed how the basic premise came to be. He explained it was a specific chapter in a book that lead him to his original idea:

    I had read a book called the Gift of Fear by the security consultant, Gavin de Becker. There was a chapter in the book that was really primarily directed towards women and he was encouraging women to pay attention to these little minor red flags that men can give off in day-to-day situations. They can be very innocuous things that you might not notice. Things like complimenting you when it’s not necessarily appropriate or doing you a favor that you didn’t ask for or touching in a nonsexual way that’s not initiated by you. All these little things that seemingly don’t matter, but he was basically saying the gift of fear, it’s important to pay attention to these little red flags because you’re equipped with that to identify potential threats.

    Zach Cregger

    He continued, elaborating on how the selection grew to become an epiphany:

    As I was reading it, I just kind of had this epiphany that I don’t ever have to think about that kind of a thing, because I’m a man and because I have this level of privilege where I just don’t have to consider that half the population might be somebody that means to do me harm for no reason. I just realized I occupy a completely different psychic landscape than most women do. It was kind of a big moment for me.

    Zach Cregger

    It was at this point that Cregger formulated his film, taking the concept of red flags and stretching it into a feature-length script. From there, Cregger claims, the story began writing itself. The creative couldn’t give much more information without entering spoiler territory, but it’s still interesting to hear how a seemingly innocuous book excerpt could spiral into one of the year’s most unexpected movies.

    Barbarian hits theaters on September 9th.