‘The Defenders’ Unite on EW Cover; First Look at Sigourney Weaver

Summer 2017 is already going to be one of the biggest summer movie seasons in history with epic blockbusters featuring superheroes, aliens, monsters, super intelligent apes, and even a war film to boot but the movie theater won’t be the only place to catch some ass-kicking entertainment. This week’s Entertainment Weekly cover story features the first behind the scenes look at Marvel’s The Defenders filming the first scene that features them all coming together and while the article doesn’t give us much information regarding the plot, it does confirm the series will debut on Netflix sometime during the summer.

The only bit of information we get from the article is that for at least the first half of the season the series will follow Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, and Luke Cage separately. Marco Ramirez, showrunner for The Defenders told EW:

“Every one of them is following their own trail of bread crumbs, trying to unpack a mystery in New York. We wanted them all caught off guard. Once they’re in that room together, it’s kind of like, ‘Oh, s—, who are you?’”

It’s an interesting and fresh way to form the unlikely superhero team. These characters like to operate independently in the shadows of New York City and it will take a serious threat to unite the heroes (not for hire). While we still don’t know exactly what the threat is, EW teases the scene being filmed takes place at the offices at Midland Circle. The same location where Daredevil and Elektra discovered the giant hole in the ground in season two.

How the storyline for The Defenders will be connected to The Hand remains a mystery, however, we do know the main villain played by Sigourney Weaver will figure into that somehow. While her role is still a mystery, EW also has the exclusive first look at her character. Ramirez wouldn’t reveal anything concrete but offered some teases calling her an “utter badass,” and that:

“Sigourney is the kind of person you can buy as the smartest person in the room, who you can also buy as a person holding a flamethrower. Her character is a very powerful force in New York City. She’s everything Sigourney is: sophisticated, intellectual, dangerous.” 

The series will see the return of many cast members from the Netflix corner of the MCU including Elodie Yung (Elektra), Carrie-Anne Moss (Jeri Hogarth), Elden Henson (Foggy Nelson), Eka Darville (Malcolm Ducasse), Scott Glenn (Stick), Rachael Taylor (Trish Walker) and Jessica Henwick (Colleen Wing) who will be introduced in the upcoming Iron Fist series this March.

The Defenders stars Charlie Cox as Daredevil, Krysten Ritter as Jessica Jones, Mike Colter as Luke Cage, and Finn Jones as Iron Fist.

The Defenders hits Netflix sometime in the summer of 2017.

SOURCE: EW

New 24: Legacy Trailer Features The Return of Tony Almeida

In just a few weeks, the pulse-pounding real-time format series 24 returns to Fox in the form of a reboot titled 24: Legacy starring Corey Hawkins (Straight Outta Compton).

The latest trailer for the series features the return of the return of the former head of CTU turned terrorist Tony Almeida (Carlos Bernard). Executive Producer Manny Coto stressed in a recent interview with EW that new viewers won’t need to have seen the previous series, however, Tony’s troubled past will come into play:

“This is just a character who has a certain past we need to explicate. And Tony’s dark past comes back to haunt Rebecca in some way.”

Tony was last seen in prison on the special features for 24: Live Another Day in a short film pleading for his release from prison so that he could make up for his sins. The short film closed ominously as Tony looked through a pair of spyglasses (slipped to him by the DOJ), mapping his escape route out of prison but it seems he never made his way out.

The clock resets Sunday, February 5^th after the Superbowl.

SOURCE: FOX

Duffer Brothers Score DGA Nomination For ‘Stranger Things’

The Directors Guild of America nominees for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in TV, Commercials and Documentary Films for its 69th annual DGA Awards have been unveiled. The list includes Matt and Ross Duffer A.K.A. The Duffer Brothers for the extraordinary work on the Netflix smash hit Stranger Things. The Duffer Brothers resurrected the visual storytelling styles of cinema from the 70’s and 80’s with their homage to the magical films from Steven Spielberg and novels by Stephen King.

The DGA nominees for Dramatic Series include:

THE DUFFER BROTHERS
Stranger Things, “Chapter One: The Vanishing of Will Byers” (Netflix)

RYAN MURPHY
The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, “From the Ashes of Tragedy” (FX)

JONATHAN NOLAN
Westworld, “The Original” (HBO)

MIGUEL SAPOCHNIK
Game of Thrones, “The Battle of the Bastards” (HBO)

JOHN SINGLETON
The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, “The Race Card” (FX)

While I would love to see the Duffers win and I think they deserve all the awards for their work, I think Miguel Sapochnik will just barely edge them out as “The Battle of the Bastards” featured the greatest medieval battle sequence in the history of film and television.

SOURCE: VARIETY

Gus Fring Returns in New ‘Better Call Saul’ Promo

Since the Breaking Bad prequel series Better Call Saul made its debut back in February of 2015, fans have been eagerly anticipating the introduction of drug lord Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito) into the series. A new promo for the series in the form of a viral video telegraphs the return of Fring this season in the form of a commercial for Los Pollos Hermanos.

An official airdate for the season 3 premiere has yet to be set, however, the series will return this spring.

SOURCE: WGTC

‘Stranger Things’ Was Originally R-Rated

Part of what made the Netflix original series Stranger Things such a smash hit when it debuted last summer was it’s appeal to audiences of all ages. It spoke to older generations who came up during the 70’s and 80’s, people who grew up during the 90’s raised on 80’s cinema, and even the youngest of today’s millennials. But when the series was originally conceived as what was then called “Montauk”, The Duffer Brothers had plans to make the show much less kid-friendly telling Vulture:

Ross:

“The Eleven character, the kind of powers she has and to have a young protagonist that’s violent — it’s not E.T. It’s not a happy situation. She’s killing people, and brutally murdering them. The original pilot was much more violent. It was originally like an R-rated thing.”

Matt:

“Winona’s character was like, ‘Eff this, eff that!’ It felt a little bit unnecessary. I don’t feel like we sacrificed anything by toning it down a little bit.”

The original pilot also featured the death of Barb but as we saw, the creators made the choice to push that back a bit and flesh her character out a little more before buying the farm. It’s a good thing they did because if they hadn’t, Barb (Shannon Purser) may have not become the beloved character she is today.

The final episode also included a longer, grosser version of when Chief Hopper (David Harbour) pulled the tentacle out of Will’s mouth but Netflix had the Duffers cut it shorter. The decision to scale back the violence and profanity was smart, however. I would have liked to see Winona Ryder drop a few f-bombs. It’s a nitpick, but one of my only complaints in the series (which I absolutely love) was when Joyce said “Screw you” to Dr. Brenner in the opening scene of the final episode. It didn’t feel genuine and interrupts me from suspending my disbelief in that moment, reminding me I’m watching a television show in the middle of having a magical experience like watching E.T. or Jurassic Park for the first time again. Here is this sick, twisted man who performs experiments on children asking her for help after her son has been taken by an interdimensional monster thanks to his research. Joyce should have lunged across the table and bit out his jugular.

SOURCE: VULTURE

‘Stranger Things’ Cast and Directors Tease Season Two

The cast and the creative team behind the Netflix smash hit Stranger Things were in attendance at the BAFTA Tea Party as well as the Golden Globes this weekend. While everyone was careful not to reveal anything about the upcoming sequel season which will drop on Netflix later this year, we did get a few interesting tidbits regarding the follow-up.

Executive Producer and Director Shawn Levy reiterated what we’ve already heard while promising Stranger Things 2 will continue to deliver the same magical Spielberg-like storytelling established in the first season telling Vanity Fair:

“Season 2 is bigger and potentially darker in its stakes. The threat, which in Season 1 was to Will Byers, has grown. That’s all I’m going to say! But, I will say Season 2 has a bigger cast and is definitely loyal to the kind of magical storytelling that we established in the first season. It’s character-based and still about our core group of characters.”

Finn Wolfhard, the brilliant 14-year old actor behind Mike Wheeler, talked about the advantage the actors now have knowing who their characters are and how growing up a little bit since the first season is going to help them evolve in season two:

“Now that we’ve done a season, we know exactly about our characters. We are very conscious of them and can take them to the next level. I think we’ve grown up a little bit, and our characters have too. They have been through a lot and have used those experiences to help them grow and to be stronger in Season 2.”

Possibly the most interesting bit of information came from The Duffer Brothers themselves. While speaking to The Hollywood Reporter on the red carpet at the Golden Globes, Matt Duffer revealed that one of the clues dropped in the announcement trailer for season two has changed:

“This is very cryptic but one of the clues in the teaser has changed because casting.”

My best guess is that the final episode of season two titled “The Lost Brother” is now “The Lost Sister” with the casting of Danish actress Linnea Berthelsen, who plays Roman: an emotionally damaged, magnetic young woman who suffered a great loss as a child. Although she does not live in Hawkins, she is mysteriously connected to the supernatural events at the lab. I’m probably wrong but my theory is that Roman was originally conceived of as a male character. Matt Duffer said the change came due to casting and other than “Mad Max”, “The Boy Who Came Back to Life”, and “The Pollywog”, there aren’t any other titles besides “The Lost Brother” that refer to a character. “The Pollywog” remains a mystery but it’s safe to say nothing has changed regarding the first two episode titles.

Stranger Things 2 picks up a year later in the fall of 1984 and will explore the consequences of Will Byers’ week spent in the upside down as well as the interdimensional portal which is still open at the Department of Energy. The characters are said to be struggling with the desire to return to a sense of normalcy and maybe the impossibility of it.

The series has added Sean Astin (The Goonies, Lord of the Rings), Paul Reiser (Aliens, Mad About You), Linnea Berthelsen, Dacre Montgomery (Power Rangers), broadway star Sadie Sink, and Brett Gelman (Jobs). You can check out descriptions of their characters here. The new characters are said to be compelling but first and foremost in service to the core group of characters introduced in season one.

Stranger Things 2 stars Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb Mclaughlin, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Joe Keery, and Noah Schnapp.

Stranger Things 2 hits Netflix sometime in 2017.

#GoldenGlobes: @Stranger_Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer ✨ pic.twitter.com/4m9dBlBTmu

— Hollywood Reporter (@THR) January 8, 2017

SOURCES: THR, VANITY FAIR

Golden Globes 2017 Winners List

From some pretty bad flubs (you’ll be seeing the hashtag #HiddenFences float around for a minute) to touching tributes to Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds as well as a powerful Trump slamming acceptance speech from Meryl Streep, tonight’s 74^th Annual Golden Globes hosted by Jimmy Fallon has been quite an entertaining awards ceremony. While the Globes nor the HFPA doesn’t get the same respect as the Oscars considering the awards are voted on by a small batch of international journalists, the nominations and the winners have been on the money this year… for the most part.

Here is a full list of tonight’s winners:

Best Motion Picture – Drama:
“Hacksaw Ridge”
“Hell or High Water”
“Lion”
“Manchester by the Sea”
“Moonlight” — WINNER

Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy:
“20th Century Women”
“Deadpool”
“La La Land” — WINNER
“Florence Foster Jenkins”
“Sing Street”

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama:
Casey Affleck – “Manchester by the Sea” — WINNER
Joel Edgerton – “Loving”
Andrew Garfield – “Hacksaw Ridge”
Viggo Mortensen –  “Captain Fantastic”
Denzel Washington – “Fences”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama:
Amy Adams – “Arrival”
Jessica Chastain – “Miss Sloane”
Isabelle Huppert – “Elle” — WINNER
Ruth Negga – “Loving”
Natalie Portman – “Jackie”

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy:
Colin Farrell – “The Lobster”
Ryan Gosling – “La La Land” — WINNER
Hugh Grant – “Florence Foster Jenkins”
Jonah Hill – “War Dogs”
Ryan Reynolds – “Deadpool”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy:
Annette Bening – “20th Century Women”
Lily Collins – “Rules Don’t Apply”
Hailee Steinfeld – “The Edge of Seventeen”
Emma Stone – “La La Land” — WINNER
Meryl Streep – “Florence Foster Jenkins”

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture:
Mahershala Ali – “Moonlight”
Jeff Bridges – “Hell or High Water”
Simon Helberg – “Florence Foster Jenkins”
Dev Patel – “Lion”
Aaron Taylor-Johnson – “Nocturnal Animals” — WINNER

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture:
Viola Davis – “Fences” — WINNER
Naomie Harris – “Moonlight”
Nicole Kidman – “Lion”
Octavia Spencer – “Hidden Figures”
Michelle Williams – “Manchester by the Sea”

Best Director – Motion Picture:
Damien Chazelle – “La La Land” — WINNER
Tom Ford – “Nocturnal Animals”
Mel Gibson – “Hacksaw Ridge”
Barry Jenkins – “Moonlight”
Kenneth Lonergan – “Manchester by the Sea”

Best Screenplay:
“La La Land” — WINNER
“Nocturnal Animals”
“Moonlight”
“Manchester by the Sea”
“Hell or High Water”

Best Motion Picture – Foreign Language:
“Divines” – France
“Elle” – France — WINNER
“Neruda” – Chile
“The Salesman” – Iran/France
“Toni Erdmann” – Germany

Best Motion Picture – Animated:
“Kubo and the Two Strings”
“Moana”
“My Life as a Zucchini”
“Sing”
“Zootopia” — WINNER

Best Original Song – Motion Picture:
“Can’t Stop the Feeling” – “Trolls”
“City of Stars” – “La La Land” — WINNER
“Faith” – “Sing”
“Gold” – “Gold”
“How Far I’ll Go” – “Moana”

Best Original Score – Motion Picture:
Nicholas Britell– “Moonlight”
Justin Hurwitz – “La La Land” — WINNER
Johann Johannsson – “Arrival”
Dustin O’Halloran, Hauschka – “Lion”
Hans Zimmer, Pharrell Williams, Benjamin Wallfisch – “Hidden Figures”

Best Television Series – Drama:
“The Crown” — WINNER
“Game of Thrones”
“Stranger Things”
“This Is Us”
“Westworld”

Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy:
“Atlanta” — WINNER
“Black-ish”
“Mozart in the Jungle”
“Transparent”
“Veep”

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama:
Rami Malek – “Mr. Robot”
Bob Odenkirk – “Better Call Saul”
Matthew Rhys – “The Americans”
Liev Schreiber – “Ray Donovan”
Billy Bob Thornton – “Goliath” — WINNER

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Drama:
Caitriona Balfe – “Outlander”
Claire Foy – “The Crown” — WINNER
Keri Russell – “The Americans”
Winona Ryder – “Stranger Things”
Evan Rachel Wood – “Westworld”

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy:
Anthony Anderson – “Black-ish”
Gael García Bernal – “Mozart in the Jungle”
Donald Glover – “Atlanta” — WINNER
Nick Nolte – “Graves”
Jeffrey Tambor – “Transparent”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy:
Rachel Bloom – “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend”
Julia Louis-Dreyfus – “Veep”
Sarah Jessica Parker – “Divorce”
Issa Rae – “Insecure”
Gina Rodriguez – “Jane the Virgin”
Tracee Ellis Ross – “Black-ish” — WINNER

Best Television Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television:
“American Crime”
“The Dresser”
“The Night Manager”
“The Night Of”
“The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story” — WINNER

Best Performance by an Actor in a Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television:
Riz Ahmed – “The Night Of”
Bryan Cranston – “All The Way”
Tom Hiddleston – “The Night Manager” — WINNER
John Turturro – “The Night Of”
Courtney B. Vance – “The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television:
Felicity Huffman – “American Crime”
Riley Keough – “The Girlfriend Experience”
Sarah Paulson – “The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story” — WINNER
Charlotte Rampling – “London Spy”
Thandie Newton – “Westworld”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television:
Olivia Colman – “The Night Manager” — WINNER
Lena Headey – “Game Of Thrones”
Chrissy Metz – “This Is Us”
Mandy Moore – “This Is Us”
Kerry Washington – “Confirmation”

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television:
Sterling K. Brown – “The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story”
Hugh Laurie – “The Night Manager” — WINNER
John Lithgow – “The Crown”
Christian Slater – “Mr. Robot”
John Travolta – “The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story”

’24: Legacy’ EP’s Dish on the New Series and the Return of Tony Almeida

In just under a month, the real-time format series 24 returns to Fox in the form of a reboot titled 24: Legacy starring Corey Hawkins (Straight Outta Compton).

The new series follows military hero Eric Carter after he has returned home from a successful mission to terminate a major terrorist to find himself and his family are now being targeted. Carter turns to the only person he can trust, Counter Terrorist Unit Director Rebecca Ingram (Homeland’s Miranda Otto) who helped coordinate his mission overseas.

Executive Producers Evan Katz and Manny Coto, who both served as producers on the original series, recently dished on what was originally a brand new concept that later evolved into the reboot for 24. 

“No one was actually asking us to bring 24,” Coto told EW. Originally the show’s concept had been developed as a thriller based on the team of Navy SEALs who killed Osama bin Laden. Coto and Katz wanted to explore what would happen if one of those soldiers was forced into witness protection after he’s returned home to find himself now the target. “The more we talked about it, the more we realize this would be really energetic and alive if it were in real time,” Coto added.

The trailer for the series has managed to capture the same pulse-pounding feel and flavor as the original series, however. The series will flip the script in more ways that one. Instead of having the series follow an experienced field agent at home, Legacy will focus on the ex-army ranger Carter and his sort of crash course thrust into the day of a CTU Agent. Rather than having the Federal Agent/President dynamic like past seasons of 24, Legacy will instead be co-led by Carter and Ingram, the military hero and director of CTU. Coto offered up an explanation as to why the creative decision was made to switch up the dynamic:

“We have nine seasons of 24, so the challenge was not to do something completely new, but to do variations on what we’ve done and not go down the same road, because we’ve done everything. That’s why we don’t have a president this year. We have someone who is running for office and who is dealing with the challenges of that and it’s a different dynamic.”

But those aren’t the only changes to the series. In the wake of 9/11, Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) became an answer to many American’s fears and gave them hope that someone was out there sacrificing it all to protect them. The series began with a relatively small threat of an assassination but later evolved into plots involving weapons of mass destruction and biological weapons. Legacy will attempt to scale things back a bit while at the same time upping the fear factor as it will tackle a much more relevant topic to today: homegrown terrorism. Katz explained homegrown terrorism  “is very much what’s on people’s minds”.

Even though Legacy will attempt to stand out and on its own from the original series, it will still connect back to the original in a pretty major way as later in the season it will feature the return of the former head of CTU turned terrorist Tony Almeida (Carlos Bernard). Coto stressed that new viewers won’t need to have seen the previous series, however, Tony’s troubled past will come into play:

“This is just a character who has a certain past we need to explicate. And Tony’s dark past comes back to haunt Rebecca in some way.”

The return of Almeida is very exciting for long-time fans of the original 24, especially considering the fate of his character was left hanging in the balance. Tony was last seen in prison on the special features for 24: Live Another Day in a short film pleading for his release from prison so that he could make up for his sins. The short film closed ominously as Tony looked through a pair of spyglasses (slipped to him by the DOJ), mapping his escape route out of prison. Chances are he’s out and involved one way or another with the threat in the new season. But Almeida isn’t the only character from the original series who’s fate is left in question. The last we saw Jack Bauer, the main character of all 9 seasons, he was being lifted off in a helicopter to go rot in a Russian prison. Not exactly the most satisfying finish for such an incredible character.

Sutherland has always been an advocate for the series continuing beyond the character of Jack Bauer. In fact, he was the first person to ever say that the real-time format was the real star of the show. While I completely agree with him, the one major problem with for 24: Legacy is that you can’t ask returning fans of 24 to invest in the new characters if you aren’t going to resolve the storylines of past characters, namely Jack Bauer. But so far the series does look promising. The return of Tony gives hope the series will eventually feature the return of Jack. Currently, Sutherland is tied up starring on ABC’s Designated Survivor so it won’t be happening during Legacy’s first 12-episode run. But that’s a good thing. If anything, Legacy should follow the same formula as The Force Awakens. First get your audience invested in the new characters and then start bringing back the original characters which will also hopefully include Chloe O’Brien played by Mary-Lynn Rajskub.

Long-time fans of the original series are in luck, however, as Carlos Bernard won’t be the only returning star from the original series. Jon Cassar, the director who polished the style and tone set in the first season and directed some of the series biggest and best episodes is currently listed at the helm of four episodes for Legacy.

The clock resets Sunday, February 5^th after the Superbowl.

SOURCE: EW

‘Frontier’ Trailer Puts Jason Momoa in the Fur Trade

Before Khal Drogo becomes the King of Atlantis, Jason Momoa is going to have to breach the violent European run fur-trade industry as a part-Irish, part native American in the new Netflix Original series Frontier.

Co-created and directed by Brad Peyton (San Andreas),  the six-episode series hits Netflix on January 20^th.

The official synopsis reads:

The series is an action-packed adventure drama following the chaotic and violent struggle to control wealth and power in the North American fur trade in the late 18th century. Told from multiple perspectives, the series takes place in a world where business negotiations might be resolved with close-quarter hatchet fights, and where delicate relations between Native tribes and Europeans can spark bloody conflicts.

SOURCE: NETFLIX

Watch The ‘Stranger Things’ Live Stream Q&A

It’s happening! The creators of Stranger Things, The Duffer Brothers and Executive Producer Shawn Levy as well as the cast including Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McClaughlin, and Noah Schnapp  are now live on Instagram and Facebook answering questions as part of a Q&A from today’s SAG screening.