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08/04/14 @ 8:44 pm EST
An idea that I’m surprise if no one has ever done before. The great detective Sherlock Holmes meets the escape artist Harry Houdini. The new series from Dynamite is being written by Kill Shakespeare writers Anthony Del Col and Conor McCreery, and Byron Brewer sat down to talk to the pair of creators about the project.  BYRON BREWER: First, Anthony, what did it feel like to have your work, Kill Shakespeare, nominated for a Harvey Award? Pretty cool.ANTHONY DEL COL: Pretty cool? Actually, pretty freakin’ cool! It was completely unexpected as this was the first series that Conor and I had ever done. The Harveys are voted on by fellow members of the industry so it made us feel that we had been accepted by the community. CONOR MCCREERY: Weirdly enough at that Harvey Awards dinner we sat beside Nick Barrucci. I remember thinking he was a very sarcastically funny guy and that he seemed to have a great head on his shoulders for the business and that it would be great to work with him one day.And they say dreams don’t come true. BB: Can you describe the process of how you and co-writer Conor McCreery work as a team?C: It’s a fluid thing – like for H&H Anthony took it on himself to bring all these amazing ideas to our first story meeting. I didn’t even open my notebook to mention any of the thoughts I had – his were that amazing! After that we worked together on “breaking” the story and figuring out what the five issues will be. Writing-wise what we usually do is one guy is “lead” writer on an issue and the other guy story-edits and does a pass at the end. A: And then if we have any disagreements we resort to Rock-Paper-Scissors to determine whose idea sees the light of day. We both competed in the first-annual World Rock-Paper-Scissors Championships a number of years ago so we’re both good. Okay, alright, we both throw the same moves so it ends up as a stalemate… C: Anthony’s being modest – he actually was a quarterfinalist and lost to the eventual World Champion. So, given THAT skill set I have an excellent incentive to compromise when I’m being stubborn – GRIN.  BB: Have you ever written an adventure of the legendary detective Sherlock Holmes before?A: I’ve always thought that Holmes was an amazing character but never had the nerve or gumption to tackle writing an adventure with him before. I’m so glad that Dynamite has given us the opportunity – he’s a blast to write for! I feel like I’m getting smarter just by trying to get in his mind. C: See, and writing Holmes just makes me feel dumb… wait… that was all the “research” I did for Holmes’ character flaw. BB: How does our master sleuth become involved with the great performer Houdini?C: Well I’d like to say that Holmes is naturally drawn to other people who display excellence and that he seeks out Houdini as a way to test out another exceptional talent. I’d LIKE to say that, but the truth is, well, Holmes is in a bit of trouble when he first meets Harry. I can’t say anything more though. I don’t want to spoil the fun. A: Writing their first interaction was incredibly delicious. Here we have two accomplished, smart and arrogant men in the same room, trying to test the other person. It really felt like scripting a boxing match but instead of punches they’re throwing verbal jabs and witticisms. And everyone else in the room just stands back and watches these two titans go at it.  BB: Can you tell us at what point in Houdini’s career this piece takes place? He was a very different man at different points during his career.A: Our story is set in 1900, which is when Houdini is starting to blow up internationally as the master of escape. It’s his first tour of London (the centre of Europe) and he’s hoping to really draw in huge crowds and become an international superstar. It’s interesting that most people think of him as American (and he pretty much believed it to be true) but he was actually born in Europe. C: We’ve also drawn heavily on a couple of other elements of Houdini’s life and sort of planted the seeds in this story. One is his love of film, and the other was his later-life obsession in “outing” spiritualists – who he felt were at best irresponsible, and at worst out and out crooks, for suggesting that there are powers beyond our understanding at work in the world.It’s that viewpoint that’s going to get HARRY in trouble in our story… BB: And the big-bad is … ?C: Oh you can’t expect we’ll tell you that! For shame, well-oiled Dynamite marketing machine! For shame! A: Conor’s right – trying to get us to reveal the big bad this early would be even harder than escaping from one of Houdini’s tricks. We really wanted to come up with a character that was smart as well as physically imposing, and we think we’ve come up with just the right fit… BB: Are you a student of magical history or a fan of the late performer?A: For myself, it’s only lately that I’ve started to become really intrigued by magic. I had the fortune to meet magician Jon Armstrong (who actually created a comic series, Smoke & Mirrors, with IDW) and see a couple of his shows and left each one shaking my head at how he did it. What’s interesting is that when we went last month I could already guess at some of their techniques because of research for Holmes vs. Houdini. C: Do we count liking Gob from Arrested Development as being a “student of magical history?” Then yes. Yes, I am. BB: What would you say about the art of Carlos Furuzono?A: Well, I was disappointed at first that my original pitch of doing the entire series in my poorly-drawn stick figures wasn’t approved… But seriously, Joe, Nick and the team at Dynamite did a great job finding and recruiting Carlos to work on this series. The early pages that I’ve seen are amazing and I think he’s a real talent ready to make it to the next level. C: I was also disappointed about the stick figures… 03/16/25 @ 12:30 pm EST
If you’re watching Daredevil: Born Again, it’s fairly obvious they’re setting up a return of the Punisher aka Frank Castle as played by actor Jon Bernthal. This was also revealed in the trailer for the series so it’s not a big secret. The character has been part of the series even before the creative change that brought back Deborah Ann Woll and Elden Hensen. Add in the fact that Dario Scardapane was the new showrunner, who had worked with Bernthal on the Netflix Punisher series, and everything seems to be coming up Frank. Scardapane spoke about the actor and bringing the character back. “Jon is near and dear to my heart. It was amazing to come back and get to work with him again. I feel that whenever Frank comes into the story, hijinks ensue and in this story, that is very, very true. He comes in for a very, very particular reason, he is brought in by a very, very particular person, and I think that it will be immensely satisfying — and a bit like, ‘Oh, my God,' Whenever you put Frank and Daredevil together, all bets are off. It’s a tornado. I mean… we broke some stuff!”  03/16/25 @ 12:12 pm EST
One of the favorite actors among fan casts is Wednesday’s Jenna Ortega. And while the rising star would seem like a natural to be added to the MCU or the new DCU, many forget that she was already in a film for Marvel Studios… but she hasn’t. “I did it once. It was one of the first jobs I ever did. They took all my lines out. I’m in ‘Iron Man 3’ for a quick second. I take up the frame, I have one leg and I’m the vice president’s daughter. They even took my name away. I count that, then I move on.” That doesn’t sound like someone who is eager to return to the superhero genre.  03/16/25 @ 11:54 am EST
While we have a few new films out this week, the audiences are not rushing in to see them. The Jack Quaid led Novocaine debuts at the top of the charts but taking in only $8.7 million, which is more than a million better than the Michael Fassbender/ Cate Blanchett spy-thriller Black Bag which debuted with $7.5 million and tying Robert Pattinson’s Mickey 17 which dropped 60% in its second week. Captain America: Brave New World grabbed the fourth slot with $5.47 million taking its domestic total up to $185 million over four weeks. And the last two new films, Looney Tunes: The Day the Earth Blew Up at $3.17 million and The Last Supper at $2.82 million, took the fifth and sixth spots. Theater owners are holding the collective breaths and hoping that Snow White will be a big draw next weekend.  03/15/25 @ 1:46 pm EST
Sony has a new adaptation of Starship Troopers in the works, and it’s being written and directed by District 9’s Neill Blomkamp. According to Deadline, the project will go back to the 1959 novel by Robert A. Heinlein and have nothing to do with the 1997 film by Paul Verhoeven which had spawned multiple spinoffs. The original film only made $121.2 million worldwide and had a budge of $100 million… but the space military vs alien bug franchise has become a cult classic and launched the careers of Denise Richards, Casper Van Dien and Jake Busey.  03/15/25 @ 1:31 pm EST
Season two of the Disney+ series Percy Jackson and the Olympians just wrapped filming and is slated to debuted in December, but the studio isn’t wasting any time and has already green lit season three, which will focus on book three in the Rick Riordan’s series titled The Titan’s Curse. This takes the streaming adaptation past the point where the previous movie franchise had reached, something Riordan pointed out in a statement about the renewal, “We’re so grateful to be continuing the story of Percy Jackson on Disney+. This third season will be new territory for the screen, bringing fan favorites like the Hunters of Artemis and Nico di Angelo to life for the first time. It’s a huge sign of commitment from Disney, and speaks volumes about the enthusiasm with which the fandom has embraced the TV show. Thank you, demigods worldwide!” The quick renewal likely has to do with the desire to adapt each of the seven books in the series as a separate season, meaning the ages of stars Walker Scobell, Leah Sava Jeffries, and Aryan Simhadri become a factor. The upcoming second season will adapt book two, The Sea of Monsters.  03/15/25 @ 1:12 pm EST
Fans of the AppleTV series, and likely those who run AppleTV, are rejoicing as Jason Sudeikis has confirmed that he is returning for a fourth season of the hit series Ted Lasso. The series will focus on the fish-out-of-water coach taking on a new challenge, a female football/soccer team which was hinted at in the season three finale. Already locked into returning are Hannah Waddingham who played club owner Rebecca, Brett Goldstein who played former-player-turned-coach Roy Kent and Jeremy Swift as club manager Leslie Higgins. Juno Temple, who played Keeley, is in negotiations to return as well. In a statement about the new season, Sudeikis said: “As we all continue to live in a world where so many factors have conditioned us to ‘look before we leap, in season four, the folks at AFC Richmond learn to LEAP BEFORE THEY LOOK, discovering that wherever they land, it’s exactly where they’re meant to be.”  03/14/25 @ 3:29 pm EST
First teased last December, Jonathan Hickman’s sweeping new cosmic epic, IMPERIAL, arrives this June. Known for his influential work on Fantastic Four, Avengers, and X-Men as well as the creation of Marvel’s hit new Ultimate line, the visionary writer will now team up with superstar artists Federico Vicentini and Iban Coello to revolutionize Marvel’s galactic canon in this four-part event series. IMPERIAL finds the galaxies of the Marvel Universe on the brink of major upheaval, following the elimination of several of its most prominent leaders. Nature abhors a vacuum, and empires fall, rulers are overthrown and power is seized in a saga of intrigue, mysteries and war, all taking place against the backdrop of the formation of new galactic order in the Marvel Universe. With groundbreaking developments for HULKS, BLACK PANTHERS, NOVAS, GUARDIANS and COSMIC KINGS and QUEENS, IMPERIAL lays the foundation for an entire new landscape of interconnected space-set stories, making it the must-read comic book of the summer! “I’m very excited about this project as I’m obviously a huge fan of all things Marvel Cosmic,” Hickman said. “The goal here is to kind of do what we did with the recent Ultimate line for all of our space titles, except having the setup book (IMPERIAL) be more of an event than a world building exercise (like Ultimate Invasion). The art team is killing it and we’re all just very excited for what’s happening in this special corner of the Marvel Universe.” Two of Marvel’s Stormbreakers, a group of Marvel’s most elite talent, Vicentini (Miles Morales: Spider-Man, Wolverine) and Coello (Venom War, Fantastic Four) have brought their innovative style and creativity to nearly ever corner of the Marvel Universe. Now, these two celebrated artists embark on their boldest venture yet. In addition to their interior artwork, Vicentini and Coello are delivering spectacular new designs for characters, locales and more as they bring a whole new era of storytelling to life within the pages of IMPERIAL and beyond! “Working with Hickman is a great challenge,” Vicentini shared. “I love his scripts. He writes really brilliant dialogue and puts incredible attention to details when it comes to the story’s setting. I had only knew Hickman as a reader, so it was incredible to be approached to work with him and Iban, who is a phenomenal artist! I'm working hard to produce my best work, and I'm certainly having a lot of fun!” "Being involved in this project is incredible,” Coello added. “Creating all these new characters and costumes is really fun. Working with Hickman is something I never expected to be able to do, and it's both cool and intimidating at the same time because of the magnitude of what he's doing in the scripts. I look forward to being able to rise to the challenge and do a great job!" Check out the main cover by Ultimate Spider-Man superstar Marco Checchetto and stay tuned for more IMPERIAL news in the months ahead. 
... 03/14/25 @ 3:12 pm EST
Dead bingers are at the center of David Cronenberg‘s new thriller “The Shrouds,” now prepping to launch in North America after debuting at the Cannes Film Festival last summer. Janus Films has released the first full trailer for the film, which stars Vincent Cassel, Diane Kruger, Sandrine Holt and recent Oscar-nominee Guy Pearce. The filmmaker has imagined another typically probing premise for his 23rd feature, which he conceived after his wife, Carolyn Cronenberg, died from cancer in 2017 at the age of 66. The story follows a tech innovator who is marketing a software that allows clients to watch a feed of their deceased loved ones decomposing in real time. A vandalism attack on his graves, including that of his late wife, unthreads a peculiar, potentially geopolitical conspiracy that draws in his spouse’s sister (Kruger), her ex-husband (Pearce) and his international business affairs. “The Shrouds” opens in Los Angeles and New York on April 18, with a nationwide expansion to follow on April 25. (via Variety) Trailer: https://youtu.be/vwh1Fob4VKs 03/14/25 @ 3:02 pm EST
The trailer for Nisha Ganatra’s “Freakier Friday,” starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan, has been unveiled. The film is a sequel to the 2003 comedy “Freaky Friday,” starring Curtis and Lohan as mother-daughter duo Tess and Anna Coleman. According to a press release from The Walt Disney Company, the sequel features a “multigenerational twist,” with the film picking up many years after Tess and Anna originally swapped bodies. Anna has a daughter of her own, plus a soon-to-be stepdaughter. Tess and Anna navigate the challenges that come with merging two families and “discover that lightning might indeed strike twice.” The trailer reveals that this time it’s a four-way body swap as Anna, Tess and Anna’s daughter and step-daughter all wake up in different bodies. Joining Curtis and Lohan are returning stars Chad Michael Murray, Mark Harmon, Christina Vidal Mitchell, Haley Hudson, Lucille Soong, Stephen Tobolowsky and Rosalind Chao. “The Acolyte” star Manny Jacinto, “Never Have I Ever” breakout Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Sophia Hammons and Julia Butters have joined the sequel. The film is set to release in 2025. (via Variety) Trailer: https://youtu.be/n7YJj6iO2QY 03/14/25 @ 3:15 pm EST
Jason Ritter is set for a key recurring role in Lanterns, HBO’s drama series based on the Green Lantern DC comic. He joins leads Kyle Chandler and Aaron Pierre and series regular Kelly MacDonald. The series, from Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof and Tom King, follows new recruit John Stewart (Pierre) and Lantern legend Hal Jordan (Chandler), two intergalactic cops drawn into a dark, Earth-based mystery as they investigate a murder in the American heartland. Ritter will play Billy Macon, a good-looking charmer who does his father’s (Garret Dillahunt) bidding. Capitalizing on his family’s reputation, he clings to his small-town ego and has everything to lose. (via Deadline) |
