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 has a lot going for it, and that includes a bonafide horror star in Bill Skarsgård. The actor, who reached international fame for his portrayal of Pennywise the Clown in the most recent It adaptations, has been a major selling point of the film’s marketing. Working alongside him is Georgina Campbell, who achieved recognition with roles in projects like Black Mirror and His Dark Materials. During a recent press conference in support of Barbarian, the actress was asked what it was like to act with Skarsgård – with whom she shares plenty of scenes. Her response was nothing but positive:
Well, honestly, it was just really exciting. I was very excited when I got the job. And then when I heard that Bill Skarsgård was going to be in it, and Justin Long, I was like, “Oh my God.” Jesus Christ, I’ve got to bring my A-game. So, I was just so excited when I met him. I’m a really huge fan of all of his work, and he’s just a dream to work with. He’s a really charismatic, charming guy. So, it’s very easy in those early scenes to kind of slowly be charmed by him. And also, we had just met each other, and then we went into a scenario where two people had just met each other. So, it’s quite easy in that situation to just let it naturally flow, and also naturally, as we are filming it, we are getting to know each other personally, as well as in work. So, it just kind of all worked really well, which, yeah, I’m glad I love those scenes at the beginning of the film
Georgina Campbell
Director Zach Cregger also commented on the pair’s natural chemistry, mentioning a scene in the film where both characters have to interact for a long period of time. According to the filmmaker, much of the scene was improvised, and the good vibes lasted even after the cameras stopped rolling. Hopefully, audiences are able to pick up on the duo’s success when Barbarian hits theaters on September 9th.
Pixar’s Carsfranchise is making its grand return with the upcoming Cars on the Road Disney+ series. It sees the return of franchise veterans Owen Wilson and Larry the Cable guy to voice Lightning McQueen and Mater once again, as they make their way on a crazy road trip like no other. They aren’t the only veterans returning, as the series has a directing trio behind it that has all worked on the franchise since the first one was released back in 2006.
Steve Purcell, Brian Fee, and Bobby Podesta have a long history with their work on the series, and when discussing how they approached the project during the Disney+ series’ official press conference, Fee got a chance to reflect on how their history with t. He also highlighted how knowing these characters and working for so long, they could still bring in their unique perspectives.
We all three go back to Cars One. So, it’s in our DNA. It’s in our blood. We were all in story on Cars One. Bobby was also in animation. So, we’re all just so heavily rooted into these characters. It’s like these characters are part of our family and we all understand them, you know, on that level. So, I think it almost took care of itself as far as how do we make sure they’re in line enough. So, how are we representing, you know, what people expect from this franchise? And then I think the beauty, for me anyways, the joy of working, directing with these guys is we all have slightly different personalities.
Brian Fee
It definitely sounds like the series will be a Cars entry through and through, even with the new format. It also helps to have the original voices for its leads back, as they embark on a different kind of story. Who knows if this potentially opens up many other spinoff series from the Cars universe, especially as each of the directing trio might potentially add their own voices to explore new corners of the franchise.
House of the Dragon is back for it’s third week with one hummdinger of an episode, and Murphy’s Multiverse is back to tackle the best and worst moments it had to offer. Second of His Name continues to play with the series’ standing theme of succession and the royal bloodline, pitting Milly Alcock‘s Princess Rhaenyra against her infant half-brother Aegon and causing Paddy Considine‘s King Viserys to question every decision he’s ever made. Meanwhile, Matt Smith‘s ever-enigmatic Prince Daemon wages war against the vile Crabfeeder and his army in an ownership conflict over the Stepstones. Both plotlines get rather intense surprisingly fast, and together make for a memorable few days in the history of Westeros. Let’s get to dissecting.
Best – The Decline of King Viserys & Daemon’s Last Stand
Second of His Name was perhaps the most action-packed installment of House of the Dragon yet, and somehow, none of the violence managed to rank as the definitive best part of the episode. That honor belongs instead to King Viserys and his slow descent into madness, or at the very least, severe depression. Between all the steamy love scenes and insane bloodshed, viewers tend to forget that the true heart of George R.R. Martin‘s universe is mental gymnastics. Whether it be political rivalries or personal vendettas, House of the Dragon and its kin are typically at their most entertaining when the show is focused on big decision making. Second of His Name is no different, and shines the brightest when it opens the curtain on Viserys’ inner-mind.
The King is being forced to choose between duty and family, which wouldn’t normally be so hard if it wasn’t for the fact that this time his duty is his family. After everything, he has finally welcomed a son into his life, a development that directly harms his relationship with his beloved daughter. On top of that, the mother of his son is his daughter’s former best friend, and the child of his own Hand, further complicating things in both his home and his court. Now, everyone wants to know who his true successor will be, and everyone thinks the lineage should somehow involve their own offspring. All Viserys wants to do is drink wine and go on a hunt, and the sudden pressures of his job all coming down upon him at once cause the mental break that’s seemed inevitable since the beginning.
Considine‘s acting is superb as he portrays a ruler with so many emotions, he can’t decipher which is anger and which is sadness. His fireside soliloquy to Emily Carey‘s Alicent Hightower is a highlight of the season thus far, and the moment he begins to lose it in the tent – with everything fading to black around him – is peak television storytelling. Even his cathartic, disturbing kill on the hunt was able to speak a thousand words without Viserys even opening his mouth. This is exactly the kind of thing fans cling to this world for, and it was great to see it back at the forefront of the franchise.
That being said, it would be remiss not to mention all the very cool action that does take place during this episode. Desperate to win his war on his own, without the help of the Crown, Daemon plays dirty and uses a white flag as a ploy to gain the upper hand on his opponent – the Crabfeeder. His last stand, which is pretty much mostly just Daemon cleaning house all by his lonesome, is exhilarating to watch, and the visuals as the battle comes to an end are stunning. It’s also a great example of using action as a device to comment on the nature of a character. Daemon will not be outdone, and he will not be tricked, but he is fine pulling some tricks of his own.
Worst – Otto Hightower
Rhys Ifans is doing a wonderful job as Otto Hightower, the Hand of the King, and maybe that’s why he’s so convincingly unlikable week in and week out. As per usual, the worst part of Second of His Name comes in the form of Hightower manipulating both his boss and his family into giving him more power. The schemer is already glib about his daughter’s betrothal to the King, yet still finds a way to suggest the horrific idea that his grandson – also the King’s son – be wed to Rheanyra. That’s right, he would like a sister to marry her much-younger brother so that his blood is tied even closer to the Crown. Very Game of Thrones, but also pretty disgusting.
It’s a crazy Labor Day weekend at the box office, as two long-running films have taken the top two spots. Strategically released, Sony gave Spider-Man: No Way Home a return to theaters hoping to crack the $2 billion mark with some more footage added in and the “More Fun Edition” tagged on. It went up against Memorial Day weekend surprise hit Top Gun Maverick which has been showing some incredibly impressive legs all summer.
As of now, it seems that No Way Home re-release will take the weekend with $6M but Top Gun: Maverick‘s $5.5M is nothing to laugh at, especially as it has now passed the $700M mark. It’ll likely pass Black Panther in just a day or two and it’s unclear just how big its wings might continue to propel it. With 50% fewer theatrical releases, it may have been the one surprise hit to boost the total market alongside other big releases like Thor: Love and Thunder, Minions: Rise of Gru, and the few to make a splash this summer.
Still, the weekend had a special offer for many as ticket costs were down quite a bit as a way for cinemas to test out the market. Quite a few films got a select boost as a result. Jurassic World: Dominion is inching its way to a potential billion, as it now stands at $994M. Mostly depends on how it performs overseas with Japan being the big decider here. Nope is still showing a stronghold and has pulled in $120M domestically, which is lower than expected but still a decent pull.
Thor: Love and Thunder also saw a minimal drop of 8% and pulled in another $2.4M and has now pulled in over $750M worldwide with $340M domestically. While some still pretend the film was a failure of some kind, it has outgrossed its predecessor and still is among the higher-tier earners. Making more than the previous entry with its fourth entry isn’t a common occurrence in a franchise that’s been running for as long as it has. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever‘s release is definitely going to be one to keep an eye on though.
John Williams has been busy working on the music for Indiana Jones 5, which may be among the final scores he ever produces. It’s fitting given just how involved he was with the original and was just as much an integral part of making the franchise a cult classic. James Mangold is taking over directing duties for the upcoming fifth, and potentially last entry in the franchise. While news building up to D23 is still scarce, Williams has provided a sneak peek of his upcoming score during a concert.
As shared by Twitter user @Naquicious, it seems that Williams decided to reveal the theme for Phoebe Waller-Bridge‘s character during his latest concert. Not only that, he shares that it was seemingly also coordinated with Mangold. As such, it reveals that the character’s name is Helena and luckily non participants get a chance to listen in.
It’s definitely a John Williams score and highlights the gravitas we can expect from his upcoming work. He’s always been on his a-game, as he recently worked with Lucasfilm to give Obi-Wan Kenobi a long overdue theme. The fact he will soon retire is a shame but he’s given some amazing work to the industry and many themes wouldn’t be the same without him. We’ll have to see if we get an updated version of the iconic Indiana Jones theme as well ahead of its release, but with D23 on the horizon, anything is possible.
Netflix has a certified, Award-winning hit on its hands. Arcane, titled onscreen as Arcane: League of Legends, debuted on the streaming service last year to high praise from both fans and critics. The series is set in the world of Riot Games’ popular League of Legends online multiplayer, and follows the sisters Vi and Jinx, voiced by Hailee Steinfeld and Ella Purnell, respectively, as they navigate the escalating unrest between the cities of Piltover and Zaun. At last night’s Creative Arts ceremony, Arcane won the Emmy for Best Animated Program, becoming the first streaming show to do so in the history of the event. Past contenders for the honor have also mostly been from Netflix’s crop of content, including nominations for hit comedy Big Mouth and cult favorite drama Bojack Horseman.
Arcane was one of many series duking it out for the Emmy this year, coming up huge against several heavy-hitters. Longstanding programs like Fox’s Bob’s Burgers and The Simpsons, as well as Adult Swim’s Rick & Morty, fell short. Marvel Studios’ What If…?, its first animated project, was also nominated. Although it didn’t win Best Animated Program, star Chadwick Boseman did pick up the award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance in a separate category. Arcane co-creator Christian Linke accepted the Emmy on the series’ behalf, giving the following statement:
Thank you for this. It’s a big deal for us as we come from video games. It’s been amazing to see the world embrace our characters and our stories so thanks to Netflix who believed in us from the beginning, thanks to Riot Games, who worked on the whole IP… and to all the people that have been with our game and League of Legends for the last 12 years or so who helped make it as big as it is now.
Christian Linke
A second season of Arcane is currently in development, though no release date has been announced.
Chadwick Boseman has been gone for two years, but his legacy continues to shine. Best known for his iconic portrayal of King T’Challa – the Black Panther – in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the late actor picked up his first and only Emmy win at last night’s Creative Arts ceremony for his work voicing a multiversal Star-Lord in Marvel’s animated What If…?. One of many MCU stars who returned to do voice work for the series, Boseman was a noticeable stand-out when he appeared in the episode “What If…T’Challa Became a Star-Lord?” and quickly grew in popularity as he recurred throughout the rest of the season. His efforts, recorded before he died but released almost a full year after, earned him the award for Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance.
Boseman beat out an extremely competitive group at this year’s event, rising above the likes of Bridgerton‘s Julie Andrews, Moon Knight‘s F. Murray Abraham, Big Mouth‘s Maya Rudolph, Central Park‘s Stanley Tucci, fellow What If…? alum Jeffrey Wright, and Archer‘s Jessica Walter, who passed away in 2021. The win puts an end to Rudolph‘s victory streak, after the comedian won the award for the past two years in a row. Boseman‘s wife, Taylor Simone Ledward, accepted the Emmy on his behalf, giving the following statement to Deadline:
When I learned Chad was nominated, I started thinking of everything that was going on in the world and our world and being so in awe of his commitment and dedication and what a beautiful moment that one of the last things he would work on was something so important to him and to the world but also something new. You can’t understand your purpose unless you ask what if? What if the universe is conspiring in my favor? What if it’s me? Chad would be so honored and I am honored on his behalf.
Taylor Simone Ledward
What If…? will return for both a second and third season on Disney+, though the release dates are currently unknown.
Superman & Lois has found its next big bad. The hit CW series, which stars Tyler Hoechlin and Bitsie Tulloch in the title roles, closed out its second season with a major tease for the future. Longtime Arrowverse contributor David Ramsey appeared as a multiversal version of his character John Diggle to namedrop and set up Bruno Mannheim, the leader of organized crime syndicate Intergang, as the third season’s potential main villain. Now, only a few months later, Ramsey has spilled the beans on who might be playing Mannheim when the series returns.
Speaking at the “Arrow Guests: Saving Star City” panel at DragonCon, Ramsey revealed that actor Chad L. Coleman would be playing the primary antagonist in Superman & Lois Season 3. While Ramsey did not confirm who exactly Coleman would portray, the previous hints at Mannheim’s role in the next season make it likely that the former Left 4 Dead 2 star will be the one bringing him to life. For fans unfamiliar with the performer, Coleman rose to fame playing Dennis “Cutty” Wise on HBO’s The Wire. He then had a successful turn as fan-favorite character Tyreese Williams on AMC’s The Walking Dead, and has also appeared in a recurring capacity on shows like Hulu’s The Orville, Amazon’s The Expanse, and FX’s It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
This will be the second time Coleman appears in an Arrowverse project, after having played Tobias Church in four episodes of Arrow back in 2016. If he is truly playing Bruno Mannheim in Superman & Lois, then viewers can expect to see him wielding some fairly cool weaponry on the small screen. Mannheim’s Intergang is known for it’s use of highly advanced technology, bestowed upon them by Darkseid himself in the hopes they could find the Anti-Life Equation. It sounds like the Man of Steel will have his hands full when the show is once again airing on the CW.
One of the best things about the new TV trend of returning to places we’ve visited is finding connections to the older projects. It worked really well in Bel-Air and Saved By The Bell, and now, two episodes into The Rings of Power, we can safely say that it feels like it will work even if we do not know for sure yet.
The first two episodes have taken us back to places that feel familiar, but what is even cooler to see are characters who we meet here who will play a pivotal role thousands of years down the road in the fight against Sauron. In some cases, we are seeing what led to them being who they were when we first met them in either The Hobbit or the Lord of The Rings trilogies. And then there are brand new characters who, unless you have read Tolkien’s other Middle-earth pieces, are surprisingly connected to the more famous heroes of Middle-earth in different ways, including a LOTR veteran who we later see refuse a ring of power.
Galadriel and Elrond
Given the role both of these characters play down the road, it makes sense to lump them together. It’s even cooler that the older version of these characters, two of the greatest heroes in Middle-earth, are played by Hela and Red Skull respectively, two of the greatest villains in Marveldom. Galadriel was very much resigned to her fate when we saw her in The Lord of the Rings, but The Rings of Power finds her seeking vengeance for the death of her brother at the hands of Sauron, who she believes is not gone. In the source material, she actually is not allowed to return home because she rebels with her own army of elves with plans to rule over Middle-earth, and there doesn’t seem to be any mention of that here. Elrond, meanwhile, is a friend to the Dwarves and their King in a way that he does not appear to be in the films. In fact, utter indifference is probably the best way to describe his attitude towards Gimli and the dwarves who come to Rivendell. He’s definitely learning how to scheme here, whereas the Elrond we meet later on is very much content with letting the world end: at least until his daughter shares that she’s given up her immortality. Elrond is afforded a sort of reverence in The Rings of Power that can be directly attributed to the source material in which his parents played a key role in defeating Morgoth.
Gil-galad
The High King of the Elves is actually only seen briefly in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, fighting next to Elrond and Isildur in the war against Sauron, but we are getting a lot of him here. In the source material, it should be noted that Sauron kills Gil-galad with his bare hands, so folks should not get too attached to a character that is highly respected and who has the most authority of any of the elves we meet.
Prince Durin IV
Prince Durin didn’t physically appear in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, so we are seeing him for the first time in The Rings of Power. However, it is his father, King Durin, who rules over what would later become the Mines of Moria. Yes, we know what you’re thinking: who rules over the mines? Well, dwarves did when the mines were actually the Kingdom of Khazad-dûm and that’s where the Balrog resides. Prince Durin is also present when the secret box is shown, and while we don’t see what is actually in it our bet is that it is mithril: mithril is what Frodo’s chainmail was made from, and what ultimately saves his life.
Celebrimbor
A name only whispered as a cautionary tale in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but one who plays a pivotal role in how we even get to the end of Peter Jackson’s labor of love. Celebrimbor, who can also be seen in the critically-acclaimed video game Shadow of War, ends up being tricked by Sauron into creating the titular rings of power, a plot point for which the wheels have already started turning. He is, also, the one who created the three elven rings in secret, so his role (while small right now) will expand as the show progresses.
Elendil
The sword of Elendil was reforged by Elrond and bestowed upon Aragorn so he could go into the mountains and return with a ghost army that had sworn an oath to the King of Men. Here, we meet the owner of THAT sword and the second to last King of Men. Elendil plays a pivotal role in Sauron’s defeat as well, as it is he who forges the last alliance between Elves and Men. He is not that person in The Rings of Power yet, but his ties to Aragorn and Numenor will most likely be explored further.
Isildur
The last King of Men, who both defeated Sauron AND allowed him to return by not destroying the ring. We last saw Isildur in The Fellowship of the Ring face down in a river with arrows in his back. He succumbed to the temptation of the One Ring and didn’t destroy it when he had the chance, but he is also who helps discover Gondor (a place that plays a pivotal role in the original trilogy).
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