Bond Plays Villain
Bond Plays Villain
Daniel Craig’s passion project, Michaela Coel may destroy you, Paramount’s new suitor, Bruce Dern goes north, and Sunshine Cleaner’s surgery.
Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
Daniel Craig’s passion project, Michaela Coel may destroy you, Paramount’s new suitor, Bruce Dern goes north, and Sunshine Cleaner’s surgery.
Let’s go!
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Daniel Craig is playing the villain.
In his ever-expanding universe of post-Bond roles, Craig is taking on Shakespeare’s Othello–again.
He is rumored to star as the canonically jealous, seethingly spiteful Iago, a role he portrayed on stage in 2016 (above), which the NY Times review laid bare:
“Though he retains a hearty bluffness, [Craig] is also unusually chameleonic, subtly altering his speech and affect to be what other people expect him (and think they need him) to be… lend[ing] Iago a disarming, virile charm, through which only we can glimpse the contempt and the calculation.”
And that’s at the heart of the play, his jealousy for the titular Othello, who wins a military promotion over him, setting a rip tide of manipulation and carnage.
For an actor whose on-screen persona has been categorically branded as a hero–although his portrayal of Bond is riddled with scars–it will be wild to see him play an archetypical villain.
But what is wonderful about his portrayal of Iago in the play is the authority by which he brings us into his corrupt world.
We root for him.
And I can’t wait to see him live long enough to become the villain.
The new film, which just formed a production company, is set during the 21st-century American invasion of Iraq (as was the play).
The film will be produced by Eon’s Barbara Broccoli (e.g., the producer behind the Bond dynasty).
For More:
Daniel Craig’s Bond villains:
Javier Barden in Skyfall (rat scene)
Mads Mikkelsen in Casino Royale (what a bluff)
Christoph Waltz in Spectre (don’t play the video)
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
Michaela Coel may destroy you. The creator/showrunner/writer/director/lead behind HBO’s psychologically lacerating series I May Destroy You (2020) is back with a new project: First Day on Earth.
Here’s the line-up:
Production Companies: BBC, HBO, A24
EP: Jesse Armstrong (Succession)
Writer/Actor/EP: Coel
Here’s the synopsis:
A British novelist named Henri (Coel) travels to Ghana, her parents' homeland, to reconnect with her estranged father and her heritage. However, things don't go as planned, and she faces challenges that force her to redefine her identity.
The redefinition of identity is what is so magnetizing about I May Destroy You. The portrayal of the main character’s trauma starts as benign, then sinister (trailer).
Filming for First Day on Earth will kick off next year.
Poltergeist continues to haunt Amazon: In development since early 2023, the series adaptation of the 1982 film has now announced its two showrunners:
Star Trek: Discovery (2020 - 2021)
Consulting Producer/Writer
Fear the Walking Dead (2018)
Co-EP/Writer
Supernatural (2011- 2016)
Writer/Co-EP
The series, produced by Steven Spielberg's Amblin Television, will be inspired by the original movie, though specific plot details remain undisclosed.
It is the first of many upcoming releases from Amazon’s vast vault of MGM IP they amassed during their $8.5B acquisition of the company.
Other MGM classics poised for a TV reincarnation include:
The Magnificent Seven (1960)
The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)
Legally Blonde (2001)
The Pink Panther (2006)
No word on any other developments, but here is the trailer for the OG Poltergeist (1982), written by Steven Spielberg.
Possible Pacific Rim Prequel Proposed: Eric Heisserer, the writer of Arrival, has entered a first-look deal with Legendary Entertainment. The first possible series under this deal is a prequel series to the Guillermo Del Toro-created Pacific Rim (2013, Clip).
The original was an incredible love letter to the time-honored anime genre of giant robots beating the crap out of monsters. The second Pacific Rim (2018): Uprising was messy but still fun; Del Toro was not part of the production, stating:
“I didn't see the final movie because that's like watching home movies from your ex-wife. It is terrible if they're good and worse if they're bad, or the opposite. You don't wanna know.”
There is a deep layered sci-fi world that Del Toro created that is rife for digging into. Clearly, there are decades of success from animated Mecha shows to back up a fanbase, and Heisserer’s mastery of sci-fi, both the quiet parts and the grandiose, could be a recipe for some prime interdimensional monster fighting mayhem.
Tidbits:
The Acolyte won't be getting a season 2: With a record $22 M spent per episode and a total $180 M budget. Disney's Star Wars offshoot hit middling reviews and a hostile fan base.
Disney+ decided not to continue the series helmed by Leslye Headland. Though there were a lot of strange decisions in this sci-fi version of The Prince and the Pauper, it did bring back lethal lightsaber choreography. Up next for Disney+ Star Wars is Skeleton Crew. Will it be "our new hope"?
Sony Pictures signs two deals:
Andrew Form (Producer: The Purge, A Quiet Place: Day One)
Deal: Sony Pictures’ Screen Gems
Terms: First Look, continuing to work within the horror/thriller genres
Adamma and Adanne Ebo
Deal: Sony Pictures Television
Terms: Overall deal, develop dramas, comedies, and animated series for the platform
The nearly identical twin filmmakers got their first big break after selling their feature mockumentary comedy film Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul (2022, trailer) with Regina Hall (Girls Trip) and Sterling K. Brown (American Fiction) to Focus Feature and Monkeypaw following its premiere at Sundance.
The sisters have previously written for Prime Video’s Mr. & Mrs. Smith.
Mini Tidbits:
A new $4.3bn offer for Paramount has just been submitted by Edgar Bronfman Jr. (Chairperson Fubo, former CEO of Warner Music Group), which is being pitched as a better deal for the Paramount shareholders and includes funding to cover Paramount’s $400M break up fee if they exit the Skydance deal. Of course, Bronfman is competing against the deep pockets of David Ellison’s (Skydance, CEO) father, Larry Ellison, founder of Oracle and the 7th richest person on earth.
Oliver Stone (Dir: Natural Born Killers, JFK, Wall Street) has signed with Atlas Entertainment, which will help him realize a new narrative feature film, his first since Snowden (2016).
Millie Bobby Brown (Star: Stranger Things, Damsel) is developing Nineteen Steps for Netflix, based on her bestselling book, a World War 2 love story based on her grandma’s experience during the war.
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
