Matt Damon and the Beauty of Bitterness
Matt Damon and the Beauty of Bitterness
Jenna Ortega and Glen Powell's supernatural romance, Jeff Daniels plays Reagan, Zendaya and Pattinson’s Dream Scenario and goons.
Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
Jenna Ortega and Glen Powell’s supernatural romance, Jeff Daniels plays Reagan, Zendaya and Pattinson’s Dream Scenario and goons.
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There was nothing but bad blood surrounding the $140 M lawsuit that bankrupted Gawker (celebrity news blog).
But it produced the most unlikely of friendships.
That story is now the subject of an upcoming Matt Damon and Ben Affleck film, Killing Gawker, directed by Gus Van Sant (Good Will Hunting).
Here’s the official synopsis:
An in-depth look at the legal battle between pro-wrestler Hulk Hogan and Gawker Media founder Nick Denton, which was spurred on by Silicon Valley tycoon Peter Thiel.
Ben Affleck will play the boisterous, blasphemous, pompous Hulk Hogan, and Damon will play the cerebral, introverted tech billionaire Peter Thiel (co-founder of Paypal).
There’s something deliciously perfect about this casting.
Damon has always had a flair for playing closed-off, hyper-intelligent individuals:
Good Will Hunting (1997)
The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
Bourne Identity series (2002 - 2016)
But there’s another core quality in each of these characters: bitterness.
Bitterness against the world in Good Will Hunting, bitterness against himself in The Talented Mr. Ripley, and bitterness against the government in Bourne Identity.
And that’s what's so perfect about this next role because the architect of the lawsuit against Gawker was not Hulk Hogan, who had his sex tape splashed over their front pages, but Peter Thiel.
Thiel had been outed by Gawker–against his wishes–seven years before the Hogan lawsuit started.
So, the patient, calculating Thiel, had no trouble putting in $10M to support Hogan’s lawsuit.
Thiel stated:
“It’s less about revenge and more about specific deterrence…. I saw Gawker pioneer a unique and incredibly damaging way of getting attention by bullying people even when there was no connection with the public interest.”
While it’s unclear if Thiel and Hogan ever met, you would have to imagine it would make one of the more oddball on-screen pairings in recent memory.
At the heart of Killing Gawker is our immeasurable desire to see Matt Damon and Ben Affleck as on-screen friends, however mismatched, à la Good Will Hunting.
Killing Gawker is being developed by Damon and Affleck’s Artists Equity.
For More:
Peter Thiel's weirdly uncomfortable interview on the Byzantine empire…imagine Damon.
Hulk Hogan gets testy in court… imagine Affleck delivering those apples.
“If you don’t stop Gawking at me, I’m going to kick your ass” - Ben Affleck in Mallrats (1995) clip.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
Wednesday actress Jenna Ortega is in talks to join Hollywood’s newest leading man Glen Powell in director J.J. Abram’s next film for Warner Bros.
Very few details of the untitled project, including the actress’ involvement, have been confirmed. The plot is said to revolve around “a young married couple struggling to survive against a supernatural entity.”
Abrams has been out of the film directing game for over four years, primarily focusing on producing, and was last in the director’s chair for the controversial Star Wars films The Force Awakens (2015, trailer) and The Rise of Skywalker (2019, trailer).
Powell, on the other hand, has been everywhere. The Top Gun: Maverick actor, after starring in the hit romcom Anyone But You (2023, trailer), starred in Richard Linklater’s acclaimed Netflix action film Hit Man and was the lead in the summer blockbuster Twisters.
In keeping with the summer movie momentum, Ortega can be seen next in the highly anticipated Tim Burton sequel Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice (trailer) set to make its world premiere at Venice.
Beyond his upcoming untitled project, Abrams is said to be making a Hot Wheels-centered movie with Mattel following last year's explosive Barbie success.
John Wick Lives On: Sorry if that's a spoiler. But Lionsgate is now dealing with the aftermath and power vacuum created by its titular protagonist's absence.
John Wick: Under The High Table (IMDBPro link), a new action series, will be produced by Chad Stahelski, who signed with Lionsgate to be head creative for the entirety of the Wick Franchise.
Also joining as an EP is the man himself, Keanu Reeves. While no plans at the moment for acting, Reeves will be very involved and hands-on with this new series. The series aims to blend new and old elements, similar to Lionsgate's previous prequel series, The Continental: From the World of John Wick (trailer). Additionally, a spinoff film about Donnie Yen's character Caine is in the works along with the upcoming Ballerina (starring Ana de Armas) film, whose production has been troubled and is undergoing extensive reshoots, alongside a potential fifth John Wick movie.
Eric Heisserer (writer/EP: Arrival) signs a first-look deal with Sony to create elevated genre experiences for theatrical.
Heisserer also wrote and EP’d Bird Box (2018) and serves as the showrunner, EP, and writer of Netflix’s Shadow and Bone. But what’s most impressive is Denis Villenveue telling him to “write a line that would save the world,” for the climax of Arrival.
Heisserer’s line:
"In war there are no winners, only widows.”
Villenveue axed the line in the edit, but its brilliance and the subsequent cutting are a testament to Heisserer’s talents as a writer and his flexibility as a producer.
Tidbit:
CBS continues to prioritize scripted comedies, with a new series DMV in development from the team behind the short-lived sitcom 9JKL, including co-creator/showrunner Dana Klein (prod: Friends).
A second new comedy, like DMV, will be shot with a single camera. Eternally Yours (working title), about a family of vampires, is also in the works from the creators of CBS’ Ghosts, Joe Port and Joe Wiseman.
Despite the financial challenges of producing single-cam comedies for broadcast vs. the more budget-friendly multi-cams, CBS has remained committed to the comedic genre.
Bridgerton writer Leila Cohan is sticking with Netflix signing on as co-writer and showrunner alongside singer Jennifer Lopez to produce the platform’s next series adaptation, Happy Place, a bestseller by Emily Henry. The book follows a perfect couple that breaks up but doesn’t have the heart to tell their friends, creating complications when they find themselves rooming together at an annual retreat with their crew.
This news comes just after the announcement that Netflix will also be adapting for film Henry’s viral 2021 novel, People We Meet on Vacation, with Tom Blyth and Emily Bader.
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
Stephanie Hsu (Everything Everywhere All at Once) is teaming with Quinta Brunson (creator/co-writer/co-star: Abott Elementary) in an untitled comedy, Par For the Course.
The team is very strong:
Par For the Course
Story/Co-Writer: Brunson
Star: Hsu
Director/Co-Writer Justin Tan (Writer: Abott Elementary)
Production Company: Point Grey (Seth Rogen’s company)
Studio: Universal
Hsu is wildly watchable:
Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)
As the wonderfully psychopathic, heartfelt destroyer of worlds at the center of the bagel clip
Joyride (2023)
Point Grey Production
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)
Gloriously cynical clip
Brunson and Hsu previously worked at Buzzfeed, where they architected the scripted comedy division.
Moses Ingram in the White House. Ingram (The Lady in the Lake) is set to join Kathryn Bigelow's (dir: The Hurt Locker) new movie.
Here’s the synopsis:
The White House’s real-time response efforts to an incoming ballistic missile attack on American soil.
Ingram is masterful in the Apple TV+ series Lady in the Lake as the Baltimore mother who tries to win favor with politicians and gangsters. Her high confidence, which she plays with flair, has a flip side: a manic drunkenness that was on display in a deeply powerful third episode.
Idris Elba, Rebecca Ferguson, Greta Lee (Past Lives, Gemini), and now Tracy Letts (Lady Bird) have been cast.
Tidbit:
Balls Up New Casting: Daniela Melchior and Eric André have joined the cast of Amazon MGM Studios’ upcoming film Balls Up, directed by Peter Farrelly and featuring stars Mark Wahlberg and Paul Walter Hauser. The action comedy, scripted by Paul Wernick & Rhett Reese, follows two American marketing executives whose misadventures in a foreign country lead them to be hunted nationwide.
Jeff Daniels plays Reagan. No, this isn’t an alternative universe Reagan biopic (starring Dennis Quaid). This is Michael Russell Gunn (dir: Thai Cave Rescue)’s Reykjavik, a historical drama starring Daniels, Jared Harris (Chernobyl), and J.K. Simmons. The film centers on the tense 1986 Reykjavik Summit during the Cold War, where Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev (Harris) negotiated peace.
Production begins in October in Reykjavik.
FESTIVALS
Viet and Nam (Cannes Un Certain Regard Offical Selection) gets distribution in North America through Strand Releasing.
Here’s the official synopsis:
In the underground coal mines, Nam and Viet, young miners, face danger and darkness. One prepares to leave for a new life, but they must find Nam's father's remains, a soldier lost in a faraway forest, retracing the past through memories.
Marcus Hu, co-president of Strand Releasing, stated:
“Viet and Nam was one of the most mesmerizing films I’ve seen in awhile, romantic, tragic and tender directed with a unique style that embodies the auteurs we cultivate.”
One scene in the film, of the two men walking on the beach, is a sophisticated piece of filmmaking; it is utterly simple, but the craft is dialed in.
Consider the dolly: effortlessly following without so much as a trace.
Consider the color palette: the men almost blend into the sea.
Consider the evocative dialogue:
“The crumbs are the corpses of shells.”
Here’s that clip.
Directed by Truong Minh Quý.
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT
One of the iconic living filmmakers, David Lynch (dir: Mulholland Drive, 1984) says “he will never retire” after revealing his emphysema diagnosis is having a major impact on his ability to direct.
While the 78-year-old Twin Peaks director has focused on smaller projects in recent years, he first became mainstream in the late 1980s and ‘90s with films like:
The unforgettable biographical film The Elephant Man (1980, trailer)
The scandalous Kyle MacLachlan and Laura Dern crime story Blue Velvet (1986, trailer)
The hugely impactful thriller Naomi Watts led Mulholland Drive (2001, trailer)
Since his last feature film nearly twenty years ago, the experimental and widely debated psychological thriller Inland Empire (2006), Lynch has been cautious of his health, saying it has become a significant factor in his decision-making regarding taking on new major projects.
Read his charming self-diagnosis (Tweet).
Zendaya. Robert Pattinson. Kristoffer Borgli. That’s the dream (scenario) team. Those actors are in discussions to star in The Drama, a romance that takes a hard left turn before the wedding.
Borgli is the writer and director whose most recent A24 film, Dream Scenario, was wonderfully imaginative (trailer).
A24 is set to produce and finance.
Tidbit:
Gerard McMurray (Dir: First Purge, Prod: Fruitvale Station) is directing Goons, a New Orleans-set horror film. Confluential Films (Lily Gladstone’s Fancy Dance) is fully financing the project.
YESTERDAY’S POLL
ON THIS DAY
1932. 1st Venice Film Festival opens the world's oldest film festival.
See you tomorrow!
Written by Gabriel Miller, Spencer Carter, and Madelyn Menapace.
Editor: Gabriel Miller.