Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: Exclusive Interviews

  • EXCLUSIVE: Rhys Ifans Comments on ‘No Way Home’ Return

    EXCLUSIVE: Rhys Ifans Comments on ‘No Way Home’ Return

    Spider-Man: No Way Home finally swings into theaters this week and fans are eagerly anticipating not only the ending of the first MCU Spidey trilogy, but putting to rest all the crazy rumors that have swirled around this film for over a year. Promotional material for the film put a rest to any doubts that the film would feature villains from Sam Raimi and Marc Webb’s Spider-franchises as they heavily featured Doc Ock, Green Goblin, Electro, Sandman and Lizard. One doubt that has remained front and center for fans, however, is if Thomas Haden Church and Rhys Ifans returned to play Flint Marko and Curtis Conners, respectively.

    Ifans’ Conners proved a key character in The Amazing Spider-Man, not only as the villain but as link between Peter and his father. While the Lizard was an outright villain, Conners was a bit of tortured genius and Ifans played the role well. Ifans is playing another tortured genius, Rasputin, in the upcoming film The King’s Man. Our own Hunter Radesi interviewed Ifans today and asked the actor if he was in fact the man behind the Lizard again for Spider-Man: No Way Home. With a big grin on his face, Ifans responded:

    Well you know, like most Christmas presents, the good thing is not knowing what’s in them until it’s time to open them.

    While Jaime Foxx and Alfred Molina seemed all too happy to talk about their time in the film, Ifans was definitely a little less forthcoming. With the aforementioned actors returning for their roles, it’s hard to imagine that Sony and Marvel Studios didn’t do everything in their power to bring Ifans and Church back as well. With just 4 days until the film’s debut in theaters, we won’t have to be left wondering much longer.

  • EXCLUSIVE: ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’ Author Details How the Disney + Adaptation Differs From the Book

    EXCLUSIVE: ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’ Author Details How the Disney + Adaptation Differs From the Book

    The animated film Diary of a Wimpy Kid debuted on Disney Plus last week and fans of the book have noticed it wasn’t exactly a beat-for-beat adaptation of the original novel, nor an animated remake of the 2007 film. According to author Jeff Kinney, who also wrote and served as an executive producer on the new, animated film, that was intentional. Kinney used the animated retelling as way to beef up the emotional impact of the story, as he explained to our Arlyn Murphy.

    We’re really trying to tell an emotional story. Like my first book is just a bunch of jokes, really, with a thin story and this is a more meaty story where you really come to care for Greg and Rowley.

    Creators are famously never satisfied with their works and often tweak and revise things endlessly. In Kinney’s case, this new film gave him a chance to slide a little bit of empathy into the film, something Murphy noted in her review. As Kinney told us, he hopes to adapt all of his Wimpy Kid series’ books into animated films for the streaming service (in fact, Rodrick Rules is already in the works and headed to D+ next year), so it’ll be fun to follow how he continues to tweak the stories of each of his works moving forward.

  • EXCLUSIVE: Jeff Kinney Updates the Progress on Wimpy Kid Sequel ‘Rodrick Rules’

    EXCLUSIVE: Jeff Kinney Updates the Progress on Wimpy Kid Sequel ‘Rodrick Rules’

    An animated adaptation of the 2007 classic children’s book, The Diary of a Wimpy Kid, hit Disney Plus last weekend and seemed to land with the target audience. Author Jeff Kinney served as writer and executive producer for the film and chatted with our own Arlyn Murphy last week.

    Disney and Kinney must have been fairly confident in the public’s reception of the first film as the two have already teamed up on adapting the sequel into the same 3-D animated format. That film, Rodrick Rules, is slated for a release on Disney Plus sometime next year. During the interview, Murphy inquired into how efforts on the sequel were proceeding:

    (Things) are going very well. You know, we’ve got a really great script, we’ve got great performances, great actors and it’s a really different kind of story. The scope is a little bit bigger than the first Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie; the canvas is a little bit bigger and the themes are a little bit heavier. I feel really good about it. I can’t wait to introduce it to the world.

    This first film certainly seemed like a bit of an experiment for the streaming service and the results seem to have been mostly positive. The shorter runtime was a nice way to introduce the characters and the Wimpy Kid world through a lot of humor aimed at kids. The film did, however, touch on some other themes, themes that Kinney seems keen to explore in Rodrick Rules. As you can read here, Kinney hopes to keep the Wimpy Kid train rolling and adapt all the books into animated films and Rodrick Rules in the next step in that plan.

    The Diary of a Wimpy Kid is streaming now on Disney Plus.

  • EXCLUSIVE: Brady Noon Recalls His Favorite Day Working on ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’ and How COVID Impacted Production

    EXCLUSIVE: Brady Noon Recalls His Favorite Day Working on ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’ and How COVID Impacted Production

    Diary of a Wimpy Kid was Brady Noon’s first voice acting role and he did a great job. Throughout the movie his character had to deal with all of the emotions from happy to sad to angry to embarrassed I spoke to him earlier this week and asked him what his favorite scene was to record.

    Probably when we (Greg and Rowley) were walking through the woods and we have our candy and all, like the high school kids, like pulled up on us and tried to take our candy and we were just running and yelling and screaming. So pretty much, that whole day, I was just yelling the whole day-laughs-that was pretty funny. That was a funny day.

    I followed up by asking him if he was able to meet any of the other voice actors, to which Noon replied:

    Unfortunately not, due to COVID-19 and we did our own individual session for recording, so I haven’t spoken to anyone else but I’m super proud of everyone’s work and I’m super happy how it turned out.

    Despite having to work alone, Noon said he had enjoyed the process and is looking forward to doing it again. With author Jeff Kinney hoping to adapt all of the books into Disney+ films, Noon should be able to continue filming memorable scenes for years to come.

    Diary of a Wimpy Kid is now streaming on Disney+!

  • EXCLUSIVE: ‘Wimpy Kid’ Star Brady Noon Reflects on His First Voice Acting Experience

    EXCLUSIVE: ‘Wimpy Kid’ Star Brady Noon Reflects on His First Voice Acting Experience

    The COVID-19 pandemic forced companies and schools to change the way their day-to-day operations worked. Hollywood was no different. After briefly pausing all productions, the film industry stayed true to the old saying, “the show must go on”, and quickly shifted gears. Part of that shift saw productions being worked on from home. For Diary of a Wimply Kid star Brady Noon, that meant work on his first voice acting role as Greg Heffley, took place from a home studio.

    Arlyn Murphy interviewed the star earlier this week and the two teens talked about talked about Noon’s first voice-acting role and shared a laugh when Murphy compared Noon’s description of working from home to virtual schooling during the pandemic.

    Noon: It was great! Coming from live-action into the studio was something that I’d never done before and something that I was extremely looking forward to and I liked the concept that I could wear sweatpants and a sweatshirt to work. That was a nice little change. Overall, I’m super happy with how it turned out and it’s something that I would like to continue doing in my career.

    Murphy: Sounds like virtual school. That’s fun.

    Noon: Yeah! (Laughter)

    The comparison to online pandemic learning is a fair one as students across the globe experienced a massive paradigm shift in education. While students were ostensibly “doing school” from the comfort and safety of their homes and were in communication with their teachers, the feedback loop that is such a big part of the educational process took a different form. Something similar is probably true about actors working on voice roles from home without a director there in person. It’s encouraging to hear that Noon enjoyed working on the film that way as it seems he’ll be a big part of the plans writer and executive producer Jeff Kinney has for further adaptations of the series.

    Diary of a Wimpy Kid is now streaming on Disney Plus.

  • EXCLUSIVE: ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’ Author Hopes to Adapt the Entire Series into Disney + Films

    EXCLUSIVE: ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’ Author Hopes to Adapt the Entire Series into Disney + Films

    The all-new animated film Diary of a Wimpy Kid is now streaming on Disney Plus (you can read our review of the film right here!). The film is an adaptation of the first book in the popular children’s series by author Jeff Kinney. Kinney, who wrote the screenplay for the new movie and also served as an executive producer, talked with Murphy’s Multiverse’s own Arlyn Murphy this week about the new film.

    Diary of a Wimpy Kid is served in an easy-to-digest 56-minute runtime full of heart and humor and some great characters. An adaptation of the second book in the series, Rodrick Rules, is already in development as a sequel that is planned for a 2022 release, but we could just be seeing the tip of the iceberg in terms of the books being adapted for Disney Plus. Murphy asked Kinney if he had plans to continue to adapt the series (the 16th entry to the series, Big Shot, was just released at the end of October), and Kinney was optimistic about the prospects:

    I hope so. And I hope we can make them longer, too. The Rodrick Rules one is a little longer than the first one. I really hope we get to do lots of these stories because we’re really trying to do a good job and we’re not just spitting them out. We’re sort of really taking our time in crafting them and I love that so I hope we can tell lots of stories.

    As Murphy noted in her review of the film, the new adaptation makes some emotional additions to the book. With Kinney overseeing the projects, we know the stories of Greg Heffley and his family and friends are in good hands.

  • EXCLUSIVE: ‘Diary of a Wimpy’ Kid Author Has No Plans to End the Beloved Series

    EXCLUSIVE: ‘Diary of a Wimpy’ Kid Author Has No Plans to End the Beloved Series

    It took author Jeff Kinney nearly 8 years to get his first book, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, published in 2007. Since then, the author has continued to kick out sequels at a prolific rate with at least one Wimpy Kid book being released each year since. The first book was adapted into a live-action film in 2010 and now Kinney worked with Disney to bring the familiar animation style to Disney Plus in the all-new short film Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

    Arlyn Murphy sat down with Kinney to talk about the new movie and the future of book series. Murphy and Kinney talked about the inspiration behind the book series and the process in getting the first one to print. When asked if he had any end in mind for Greg’s story, Kinney’s reply indicated that we should plan on many more stories about the adventures of Greg Heffley and friends.

    Yeah, I was joking on Twitter…somebody said “When will the series end?” and I said, “It will end when I end.” And I got like 100,000 likes to that and I was like, “Oh man, I shouldn’t have said that!” But that is how I feel. A good cartoonist, I think, sticks with their property. I think we all feel sad when a cartoon character goes away, you know, so I’m gonna do this for a while if I can.

    Kinney’s love for the characters he has created comes through not only in the novels but in the new film. His message of perseverance in the face of challenges is a great one and his success shows the power of betting on yourself. The most recent entry in the Wimpy Kid series, Big Shot, is available now at Amazon and wherever books are sold.

    You can read Murphy’s review of the new animated film here and check back at Murphy’s Multiverse for more coverage of the movie and interviews with Kinney and the film’s lead, Brady Noon.

  • EXCLUSIVE: Seth Green On a Possible Howard The Duck Solo Project

    EXCLUSIVE: Seth Green On a Possible Howard The Duck Solo Project

    Since 2014’s Guardians of The Galaxy, Howard the Duck has popped up here and there as an Easter egg for the die-hard fans. Voiced by Seth Green, Howard made his return this year, not in live-action, but in Marvel Studios’ first, animated project, What If…? The character played a supporting role in the T’challa Star-lord episode, but what many fans want to know is if there’s a potential solo project for the character in the future.

    While there hasn’t been much about a potential Howard the Duck project, Lea Thompson, star of the original movie, has expressed interest in directing a reboot for the character over the past couple of years. But it seems like a solo project for the duck isn’t something Green would find all too interesting. 

    “I heard that she pitched it and I know that shes been directing a ton of stuff, I love the original but I gotta imagine that, and again this is just my imagination, I’ve always thought Howard works really well as part of an ensemble or in more of a co-star, the same way the Hulk does, you know? like the Hulk, making the whole Hulk movie is always more challenging, and I think Howards that kind of character. Hes good in a group.”

    While Green seems to be entirely interested in Howard taking the spotlight, he definitely doesn’t seem to be against playing the character in a much larger capacity. With the Marvel Cinematic Universe spreading like wildfire in the next couple years, who knows where he could pop up next.

    Crossing Swords returns for Season 2 on Hulu on Dec. 10.

  • EXCLUSIVE: ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’ Star Brady Noon Reveals His Favorite Book in the Series

    EXCLUSIVE: ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’ Star Brady Noon Reveals His Favorite Book in the Series

    Like many kids his age, 15-year old Brady Noon has grown up in a Wimpy Kid world. At least one Diary of a Wimpy Kid book has been published every year since 2007, including the latest entry in the series, Big Shot, which was released this October. Additionally, four of the books (Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Rodrick Rules, Dog Days and The Long Haul) were adapted into live-action films between 2010 and 2017.

    Now Disney Plus is working with author Jeff Kinney to adapt the books into a series of animated films beginning with Diary of a Wimpy Kid, which starts streaming tomorrow and Noon, who starred on the D+ series, The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers, is now a part of that world, voicing the lead character, Greg Heffley. Arlyn Murphy had a chance to speak with Noon ahead of the film’s release and asked him if he was a fan of the Wimpy Kid books growing up.

    I was! Third and Fourth grade were probably around the first time I picked up a Diary of a Wimpy Kid book and I started reading it and I grew up, my young childhood, on the movies and the books, so just to be part of such an amazing franchise is just such a dream come true.

    Murphy followed up by asking Noon if one book among the 16 in the series stood out to him as a favorite, to which Noon replied, “Yeah, definitely the first one. Can’t go wrong with the original one is kind of how I look at it.” Given the massive franchise the original 2007 book has spawned, Noon’s not wrong!

    Diary of a Wimpy Kid begins streaming on Disney Plus December 3rd.

  • Exclusive: Mighty Ducks Star Brady Noon Wants to Be the Next Wolverine

    Exclusive: Mighty Ducks Star Brady Noon Wants to Be the Next Wolverine

    Brady Noon is breaking out. Following his recurring role as Tommy Darmody in Boardwalk Empire, Noon co-starred in 2019’s Good Boys before landing the lead in the Disney Plus series The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers. Noon’s latest project is the Disney Plus original animated film, Diary of a Wimpy Kid where the 15-year old actor voiced Greg Heffley, the main character and the titular wimpy kid.

    Disney and Noon seem to have a good relationship. He’s set to return for Season 2 of The Mighty Ducks and is expected to reprise the role of Greg in the 2022 Diary of a Wimpy Kid sequel, Rodrick Rules. As we’ve seen before, when Disney likes an actor, the studio likes to continue to work with them across multiple of their platforms. With that in mind, our Arlyn Murphy had an interesting question for Noon when they spoke earlier this week. Given that Disney owns Marvel Studios, Murphy asked Noon what Marvel character he’d like to bring to life if given his choice. 

    If I were to have to play any Marvel character, I’d probably want to play Wolverine as a kid or, like, Wolverine as a teenager. Being a young Hugh Jackman! I feel like that’d be pretty cool.

    A younger Wolverine would certainly be one way for Marvel Studios to differentiate its version from the Fox version that Jackman played over two decades. We only briefly saw a young Logan in the Fox films, which rushed through the story told over six comic issues between 2001 and 2002 in Origin. A more direct adaptation of the comic might, in fact, make for a very good Disney Plus series, so Noon just might be onto something here. Could he be the first actor to go SNIKT in the MCU? With the direction his career is headed in now, it seems like anything is possible. 

    Diary of a Wimpy Kid hits Disney Plus on Dec. 3.