David Leith thinks Deadpool will be in good hands as he gets a change of ownership. Keanu Reeves has a wild new look in the latest Bill & Ted 3 set picture. Could a birthday cake hold an intriguing secret of The Suicide Squad’s King Shark? Plus Guillermo Del Toro teases Scary Stories’ desaturated take on monsters, and Preacher goes to war with god. Spoilers get!
John Henry
Terry Crews will play a modern-day incarnation of John Henry Irons in a “dramatic thriller” for Saban Films entirely unrelated to the previously announced Dwayne Johnson/Jake Kasdan project, John Henry and the Statesmen. Directed by Will Forbes and co-starring Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, John Henry follows the mythic character “after he abandons a crime-riddled life for a peaceful one in Los Angeles. But when he crosses paths with two immigrant kids who are running from the leader of his former gang, he’s forced to confront the violence of his past life in hopes of saving them.”
[Deadline]
Deadpool 3
Speaking with Yahoo! Movies, director David Leitch stated he believes he’ll find “happy ground” with Disney as Deadpool joins the MCU.
It’s rated R so that’s not necessarily the [MCU] brand but he doesn’t necessarily need to be R and [Disney] don’t necessarily need to only make PG-13 movies. I think we’ll find a happy ground.
Bill & Ted Face the Music
Keanu Reeves does Ragnar Lothbrok in this photo from the set of Bill & Ted Face the Music.
Ghostbusters 2020
Meanwhile, new photos from the set of Ghostbusters 2020 tease a rusty Ecto-1 and the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man.
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
Guillermo del Toro spoke to Fandango about desaturating the film’s monsters to a “nicotine yellow and white” in order to properly adapt Stephen Gammell’s illustrations to the screen.
.@RealGDT walks us through how they got the look of the #ScaryStoriesMovie monsters to so closely resemble the iconic drawings. pic.twitter.com/QsbzrYbOlQ
— Fandango (@Fandango) August 5, 2019
Pinocchio
Del Toro also described his upcoming take on Pinocchio to Variety as “a brutalist fable” about the sin of disobedience.
To me, Pinocchio, very much like Frankenstein, is a blank canvas in which learning the curve of what the world is and what being human is are very attractive to do as a story. I’m very attracted to it because, thematically — and I don’t want to spoil what the movie’s about — it’s about something that is in all of my movies, which is choice. That’s a theme that is very dear to my heart.
I think [earlier versions of] the story, and Collodi’s in particular, are very repressive. It’s essentially a very brutalist fable about what a sin disobedience is. And I think disobedience is the beginning of the will, and the beginning of choice. …I think there’s something that’s very attractive about seeing disobedience as a virtue, or as the beginning of a virtue.
The Suicide Squad
Luckiest boy in the world James Gunn recently celebrated his birthday with two separate King Shark cakes from the Suicide Squad production team, notably depicting the hammerhead incarnation from DC Comics’ the New 52. Make of it what you will when it comes to the film’s potential interpretation.
Ready or Not
Bloody-Disgusting has several new photos from the hide-and-seek horror movie, Ready or Not. Click through to see the rest.
Satanic Panic
Bloody-Disgusting also has images from Chelsea Stardust’s Satanic Panic, which pits a hapless pizza delivery girl against a satanic cult. Likewise, there’s more at the link.
Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus
Dib gets his groove back in the latest trailer for Netflix’s Invader Zim movie, Enter the Florpus.
Jacob’s Ladder
Even Michael Ealy doesn’t believe there’s a remake of Jacob’s Ladder in this new clip.
Holiday Hell
Jeffrey Combs runs one of those cursed antique stores in the trailer for Holiday Hell, a new anthology film hitting VOD this November.
Beneath the Black Veil
Desperate for revenge against God, a couple sets out to break all ten commandments in the first trailer for Jason Koch’s Beneath the Black Veil.
Supernatural
Speaking with TV Guide at the Television Critics Association, Misha Collins quipped the cast and crew hope to make the final season of Supernatural “good for a change.”
Every day is painful because every day is a new last. We’re really trying to make the final season good for a change and we’re also just struggling with a long goodbye.
Arrow
Also speaking with TV Guide, Stephen Amell revealed Oliver has a hard time wearing his wedding ring in the premiere episode of Arrow’s final season.
She is ever-present in Oliver’s mind. We found Oliver can’t wear his wedding ring in the premiere for a very specific reason, but he can wear it in the second episode. And it wasn’t built into the script, but I spoke to our director, Antonio Negret, and we built a moment of Oliver putting his ring back on and thinking about it. So Emily’s gone, off the show, but Felicity and William and Mia are ever-present in Oliver’s mind.
Preacher
Jesse, Tulip, and Cassidy launch “one final assault” against God in the synopsis for “Overture,” the penultimate episode of Preacher.
Masada is abuzz as the Messiah has arrived and the Apocalypse Revue is ready to take the stage. Our heroes mount one final assault in a desperate attempt to thwart the end of the world, but God uses every trick in His omniscient arsenal to divide them. Back in Australia, Eugene gets out of prison.
Banner art by Jim Cooke.