The hunt for the escaped drug lord Pablo Escobar (Wagner Moura) plays out in season two of Netflix’s Narcos, based on true events. “This wasn’t just a manhunt, this was a war. But the problem is, Pablo is never more dangerous than when you almost have him,” says DEA Agent Steve Murphy (played by Boyd Holbrook) in the season two trailer. Season one is currently streaming on Netflix for those who need to catch up on the riveting, critically acclaimed dramatic series prior to the premiere of season two. Netflix is set to launch all 10 hour-long episodes of season two on Friday, September 2, 2016 at 12:01am PT.
Narcos is executive produced by José Padilha (Elite Squad, RoboCop) and Eric Newman (Children of Men). The cast also includes Pedro Pascal, Joanna Christie, and Paulina Gaitin.
Poster for ‘Narcos’ season 2 (Courtesy of Netflix)
The Plot:Narcos chronicles the gripping real-life stories of the infamous drug kingpins of the late 1980s and the corroborative efforts of law enforcement to meet them head on in brutal, bloody conflict. Its gritty storytelling details the many, often-conflicting forces – legal, political, police, military and civilian – that clash in the effort to control cocaine, one of the world’s most valuable commodities.
Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) and Mia (Emma Stone) in ‘La La Land’ (Photo Credit: Dale Robinette)
Crazy Stupid Love co-stars Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling reunite for the musical La La Land which has just released a new trailer. The tribute to classic movie musicals was written and directed by Oscar nominee Damien Chazelle (Whiplash) and also features J.K. Simmons (who won an Oscar for Chazelle’s Whiplash), Finn Wittrock (Unbroken), Sandra Rosko, and John Legend. La La Land is opening in theaters on December 16, 2016.
The Plot:La La Land is a modern take on the classic Hollywood romance, which is heightened by spectacular song-and-dance numbers, as two dreamers struggle to make ends meet while they pursue their passions in a city known for destroying hopes and breaking hearts. Mia (Emma Stone), an aspiring actress, serves lattes to movie stars in between auditions, and Sebastian (Ryan Gosling), a dedicated jazz musician, scrapes by playing cocktail piano gigs in dingy bars, but as success mounts they are faced with decisions that begin to fray the fragile fabric of their love affair, and the dreams they worked so hard to maintain in each other threaten to rip them apart.
Grimm fans have practically been begging for Rosalee (played by Bree Turner) and Monroe (played by Silas Weir Mitchell) to have a baby since the two Wesen became romantically involved. And, finally, at the end of season five of NBC’s Grimm it was revealed the couple will soon welcome a bouncing baby Fuchsbau or Blutbad or a mixture thereof. During the 2016 San Diego Comic Con press roundtables, Bree Turner talked about what Grimmsters can expect out of season six and about that much-anticipated new addition to Rosalee and Monroe’s family.
Bree Turner Interview:
So next season’s going to be different for you because there will be a little someone extra thrown in to the mix.
Bree Turner: “A little extra fuzzy little thing. So far we pick up right where we left off, so the news has just been delivered that I’m pregnant in the caverns. They like to do that to us – really break news in dire times. So, we’ll see. I can’t imagine the show will end without a little Fuchsbau baby on screen. It’s too juicy of a question to not have answered in the show, so we’ll see. I don’t know. We only have three scripts so far and it’s all pretty much happening real time, the first three scripts. There isn’t a time jump at all. We’re all just immediately dealing with the aftermath of HW being obliterated and Black Claw overtaking everything, and Renard going to the dark side. And Nick should be dead but he’s not and the stick, and is Eve Juliet? Awwww! So, we’re just kind of dealing with a lot. There’s a lot in Portland right now.”
The show has managed to reinvent itself each season. Will we see that this next season, too?
Bree Turner: “You know, I think we’re on the same trajectory that we ended the season with which I thought was really cool. The momentum just like picked up in the last several episodes of season five. Everything got very urgent; stakes were super high. There wasn’t any storyline being teased. We were just like delivering, delivering, delivering. And I think that so far we’re keeping with that. We have a shorter episode order this season so that’s fewer episodes to cram the same amount of information. So I think the urgency will be kicked up a notch.”
Do you think a happy ending is possible for Rosalee and Monroe?
Bree Turner: “I think so. It might not be in Portland. That has been talked about a lot in the script with the characters. There’s a lot of dialogue in the first three episodes of how Portland is really bad news right now. We might want to leave Portland – we’re not safe there. I think Rosalee wants to escape. I think the pressure of bringing a child into this unknown, scary space where they’re now totally exposed as a couple where they kind of want to live a quiet life, go under the radar – kind of just not be the face of any movement and now they’re Enemy Number One to Black Claw – I think that’s really scary to Rosalee and Monroe. So, we’ll see. Maybe they’ll ride off into the sunset to Tacoma or somewhere and start a new life.”
Are there any baby names being batted around by the cast members?
Bree Turner: (Laughing) “No, that’s a good question. No, no. But I would imagine with the couple it would be something old-fashioned and sweet.”
Have they discussed what kind of powers your baby will have?
Bree Turner: “That’s the big question. Is it going to be a hybrid? Is one species going to dominate? I don’t know. But it’s super fun. That’s why being a genre fantasy show like this it’s limitless what you can do. As an actor it’s always super fun. It’s like I can have a second head all of a sudden! It’s like, ‘Oh yeah, I grow a second head and that makes sense.’ So it keeps it really fun.”
How would you feel if the two cancel each other out and you end up with a human baby?
Bree Turner: “I know, right! I don’t know. It’s a good question because again it’s like interspecies mixing has kind of been verboden in a lot of generations and we’re sort of saying, ‘We’re a modern couple. That’s ridiculous.'”
Kicking off our roundtable interview at the 2016 San Diego Comic Con I asked The 100 star Lindsey Morgan if Raven will be allowed to have an easier time of it in season four. The character’s gone through so much trauma over the course of seasons one, two, and three that it seems like series creator Jason Rothenberg could, for once, cut her a little slack in the upcoming fourth season. Laughing, Morgan said she wouldn’t mind that but she’s actually had a great time playing Raven’s many assorted hardships throughout the first three seasons. Morgan also talked about the lasting effects of A.L.I.E. on Raven during our chat at this year’s Comic Con.
Lindsey Morgan Interview:
Do you think she’ll be in a better place this season because she couldn’t be in much worse of one, right?
Lindsey Morgan: “Good point! Tell Jason that! I do, actually. I do. I think after season three and after we really kind of touched on it in the finale and everything, but we’re really going to see what happens next and how the A.L.I.E. possession and basically the A.L.I.E. upgrade unfolds for Raven. When she fought off A.L.I.E. and forced her out, A.L.I.E. wasn’t willing to go so she left a little of A.L.I.E. behind. That made her smarter than ever and just her mind is in 5th gear now. She can code and she can understand this new technology and Becca’s work that no one else can. So, she’s smarter than ever and I think everything she also went through physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually…you know she went to hell and back and she made it. I think just the human spirit, when it’s truly tested and even broken but it comes back from that, it comes back stronger. It feels like the human bones. When they mend, they are stronger than ever. That’s where I feel Raven’s at now. She’s been through so much. She’s just…I don’t know. It’s just like she’s evolved, you know? A whole other place now. She’s ready. She’s ready for it.”
She can take on anything at this point.
Lindsey Morgan: “Yeah. She’s done it all. She’s like, ‘I’ve been to hell and back and frankly it was kind of boring. What else do you got?'”
How was it playing Raven controlled by A.L.I.E.?
Lindsey Morgan: “I’m always like, ‘What are they gonna do now? We’ve done it all!’ Then when I saw that I was like, ‘What? I have to do what?’ And Jason’s like, ‘Yeah, yeah. It’s cool, it’s cool. It shoots tomorrow.’ I’m like, ‘Oh my god!’
I thought that was really, really fun because when you’re on a show, especially a long term show, you’re so used to a certain character. And so getting a chance to, literally, be another character was just really fun. I mean, it was tough but it was also exciting, like as an acting challenge. It was such a cool thing to do with going in and out and having that be captured or conveyed, that different mind sleeping and swapping. So, I just thought it was super cool and super fun. It made me feel a little psycho, like schizo, but I was like, ‘Cool! Let’s do it!'”
When we first met Raven she was a completely different person than how we left her at the end of season three. What’s that trajectory been like for you?
Lindsey Morgan: “It’s interesting. When Raven came out in the beginning I was just like in love with her because she was just such a badass and so strong. Knifing Bellamy and like, ‘Shut-up!’ which I love. I was like, ‘Yes! Kick ass, girl!’ I love it. But then when she started getting beat down after beat down after beat down and she’s trying and trying and trying, it gets heavy and it gets hard. Last season was the darkest for her and also just me as a person it was probably one of my darkest moments for personal reasons. So, it sucked. I mean, it weighs heavy on your heart. There’s so many traumas Raven goes through. I’m kind of method in a sense where I trick my body into trauma because your body doesn’t know it’s not in trauma. You start breathing hard and your body will react. You’ll get hot, you know? So my body was like, ‘What’s happening? Stop it!’ So, it was tough for Lindsey. But after coming out of it and seeing it all, I feel very proud of my work and I feel very proud of Raven and proud to be challenged. I feel a little evolved. ‘Wow, I went through some sh*t and I didn’t die,’ like Raven. I get her on a whole new level now. I’m grateful versus stressed out, because I was a little stressed out but now I’m grateful.”
Halle Berry stars in ‘Kidnap’ (Photo Credit: Relativity Studios)
The first official trailer’s arrived for Kidnap, a long-delayed thriller starring Halle Berry. Kidnap was shot way back in 2014, however Relativity Studios’ financial problems caused the film to be pushed back from a 2015 theatrical release. First it was bumped from an October 2015 release date to early 2016, then May, and now it’s been set to arrive in theaters this winter.
The action thriller was directed by Luis Prieto and follows Berry as a mom who goes full-on race car driver (even throwing it in reverse on a busy freeway) as she attempts to keep up with the kidnappers of her young son. The cast also includes Sage Correa, Chris McGinn, and Lew Temple.
The Plot: The film is a heart-stopping action thriller following a mother (Berry) who will stop at nothing to rescue her kidnapped son.
When Arrow star Willa Holland sat down for our roundtable interview at the 2016 San Diego Comic Con, she kicked off the interview by asking what questions she could answer about The CW show’s upcoming fifth season. Cast members who’d taken the hot seat before her had given very cryptic answers so as not to reveal any spoilers, and Holland laughed and said, “I can basically give you the vaguest answers…”
Season five of the popular comic book inspired series will premiere on October 5, 2016, and Holland says this new season will find Thea helping out Oliver as he takes on the role of Mayor.
Willa Holland Interview:
Can we talk about Thea’s relationship with Malcolm and what it may move toward in season 5?
Willa Holland: “We actually have not touched upon it necessarily yet in the scripts. We haven’t seen any word about it or seen any scripts released necessarily about it, but John (Barrowman) and I have had very extensive conversations with the producers regarding that toward the end of the season four or in the beginning of this one. Basically, because in the last two years, obviously, we now know he’s my dad, obviously we now know he’s not a good guy even though he tries to be and he goes through all of these levels.
But to Thea he has drugged her, he has made her do some pretty screwed up things. He has lied to her, he continues to drug her even two years later. […]He says, ‘You’ll never kill me,’ with a knife up to her throat. There’s all these levels to it that we keep going through and at some point John and I were just like, ‘At what point is the audience going to be like this is enough?’ They’ve had enough.
So, obviously, they’re going to be in each other’s lives. Obviously, their dynamic is never going to be peachy keen. But at this point, I think they just expect the worst-case scenario with each other so now every time they walk into a room with each other being in there, instead of a (surprised or violent reaction), it’s going to be like an (exasperated one). You know? They expect it, it’s there, and there’s nothing we can do about it anyway. Let’s not keep pointing the whole, ‘I hate you, daddy. I hate you. You’re so unrespectable, so evil,’ dynamic. We’ve done it for enough time.”
What’s Thea’s relationship going to be like with the others after she left them at the end of season four?
Willa Holland: “She did leave. She put a pause, as everyone does in this show. No one actually leaves for good. No one is really dead. None of that stuff is really a possibility in our show. Towards the end of the season, Oliver (Stephen Amell) was running for mayor and she was actually helping to spearhead his campaign.
So, I think one of the natural things for her to do in this situation where she’s trying to remove herself from the team but also still wants to be helpful and useful, I think she’s very naturally being put into his right-hand woman role – or however you want to say it – inside the mayoral office now. Because as much as we all would love to think Oliver is a mayor now moonlighting as a vigilante, it’s the exact opposite. He’s only ever showing up as the mayor a smidgen of his time that he’s supposed to, so somebody’s got to be there cleaning up the fact. And that’s now going to be Thea’s job now for a little while. But, in a very good way. I think she’s really growing into it.”
Watch the full Willa Holland interview:
(Interview by Fred Topel. Article by Rebecca Murray.)
Cobie Smulders (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Avengers: Age of Ultron) and Keegan-Michael Key (Key & Peele, Keanu) are confirmed to star in Netflix’s new comedy series Friends From College. The comedy comes from writer/director Nicholas Stoller (Neighbors, Get Him to the Greek) and Francesca Delbanco who are writing and executive producing. Stoller is also set to direct the eight episode first season.
The cast of the new comedy series also includes Annie Parisse (Vinyl), Nat Faxon (Married), Fred Savage (The Grinder), and Jae Suh Park (The Mindy Project).
“Nick is a comedic mastermind. With Friends from College, he and Francesca have created a world that is both moving and very, very funny. We are thrilled to be working with them and this incredible cast, and look forward to audiences around the world laughing with and at these relatable characters,” stated Cindy Holland, Netflix Vice President of Original Content.
The Plot: The show centers on a group of friends who went to Harvard together and are now facing down their forties and experiencing a range of success, or lack thereof, both professionally and domestically. With interwoven and oftentimes complicated relationships with one another, the series is a comedic exploration of old friendships, former romantic entanglements and balancing adult life with nostalgia for the past.
During the 2016 San Diego Comic Con, Gotham‘s Sean Pertwee provided a little insight into what’s happening between Alfred and his charge, young Bruce Wayne (played by David Mazouz), in the show’s third season. Fox has set a September 19, 2016 premiere date for season three of the popular dramatic series and Sean Pertwee says that when we catch up with Alfred and Bruce, their relationship has evolved and Bruce is now actually listening to Alfred’s advice and concentrating on developing new skills.
Sean Pertwee Interview:
Where do pick up with Alfred at the beginning of season three?
Sean Pertwee: “Right from the front page, Alfred and Bruce are getting on. He’s listening to me which is a new experience for Alfred – and for Bruce, I think. I think it took a bit of reverse psychology, really, towards the end of last season. He actually said, ‘Do what you’ve got to do, just tell me what you’re doing. I don’t care. Do it. I can’t stop you,’ because he made three pledges young Master Bruce did to Alfred last season which he promptly broke. I think Alfred’s quite savvy that he realizes you can’t tell a teenager not to do something because they’re straight away going to go do it – like in real life. But, you’ll see them start to come together and you’ll start to see the rich tapestry of the man that becomes Batman. You’ll start to see us in the kitchen. You’ll start to see us in real life environments which really works on deepening the personal skills that young Bruce would need, from being able to dance to sewing to cooking. Making him a gentleman, and so much of that comes from Alfred.
You’ll see a lot of sparring as well and I have to say David has got a good right hook now. He clipped me yesterday. (Laughing) I’ve taught him well.”
Speaking of boxing, have you been training?
Sean Pertwee: “I’ve been boxing, yeah. (I’ve been) training with a wonderful man called Julian. My father was an actor and they called him the action Doctor. I think I’m the action butler and the thing is I think the lovely showrunner loves to see me get my ass handed to me on a plate. It keeps happening and I’m not getting any younger! I love that element from an actor’s perspective of being allowed to give him physicality, so they keep writing it in. They keep writing it in and our stunt team have just been nominated for an Emmy so a big shout out to them. They let me do as much as I can so I’m delighted, really. I spend a lot of time unconscious though.”
Do we get to learn any more of Alfred’s backstory this season?
Sean Pertwee: “I hope so. I’m hoping so. Bruno (Heller), our wonderful showrunner, has this fantastic knack of – if this makes any sense at all – they tell history by going forwards. Like, we found out about Alfred’s SAS past. People were confused by my interpretation to begin with because it seemed brusque with Bruce. It’s only when you saw his past visit him who was a man who was terribly similar to Alfred, which was in the shape of Reggie – the guy who stabbed him. He says, ‘You don’t know who this man is,’ to Bruce when he gets drunk. ‘He was the biggest, coldest killer.’ You learn about his history by going forward, so I think that you might (learn more). What I’m hoping is you’ll start to also see the real relationship that did exist between Thomas and Alfred because that would give you more a sense of his geography, why he was there. He was there not just as a confidante or valet or butler but as a protector also.”
Adam Reed, Jon Benjamin, Jessica Walter, Chris Parnell, Amber Nash, Lucky Yates, Aisha Tyler, Judy Greer and actor Christian Slater at ‘Archer Live!’ during the San Diego Comic Con (Photo by Michael Kovac/Getty Images for FX)
It seems like very little time has passed since the insanely popular animated series Archer premiered on FX, but here it is, getting closer to its 8th season. The Adam Reed-created series has been a roaring success, becoming ingrained deep in the psyches of pop culture fans. Is it possible for this show to ever have a stinker season? That may be practically impossible for them to do.
A lot has happened to the not-so-secret agency in the past few seasons, to say the least. They’ve barely survived missions that had been botched by their own hands, gotten into some kinky stuff, and even dabbled in drug dealing for a short time. Needless to say, it’s a surprise that any of the main characters are still alive at this point. Season seven ended with the titular hero not in the best of states, placing the big question on everybody’s minds: is Archer truly dead? And if that really is his fate… will we see a cyborg version of him pop up in the next season? Cyborgs haven’t exactly been treated with kindness in the series thus far, so if that is what’s to happen to Sterling Archer, then it’s about to get incredibly interesting in the upcoming eighth season.
The incredibly lively voice cast of Archer sat down with the press during this year’s San Diego Comic-Con to speak about what’s going to happen in season eight and to mainly get a chuckle out of their co-stars sitting down next to them. Check out what Archer cast members H. Jon Benjamin, Jessica Walter, Aisha Tyler, Chris Parnell, Judy Greer, Amber Nash, and Lucky Yates, as well series creator Adam Reed, executive producer Matt Thompson, and Casey Willis had to say about the next season during roundtable interviews at Comic-Con:
Hollywood, please pay attention: ticket buyers are tired of remakes. Ben-Hur‘s just the latest in a long string of remakes/reimaginings/revamps and all of those other ‘re’ words to bomb at the box office. Ringing up just $11 million over its first three days of domestic release, the latest take on Lew Wallace’s classic novel didn’t have the star power of its predecessor nor did it arrive in theaters when swords and sandals epics are wanted or in demand. With a $100 million budget, Paramount’s PG-13 rated action/drama could leave theaters without earning its money back.
The weekend’s other two big studio theatrical releases – War Dogs and Kubo and the Two Strings – didn’t fare much better than Ben-Hur. Teaming Jonah Hill and Miles Teller for an action/comedy inspired by true events, Warner Bros’ War Dogs from The Hangover‘s Todd Phillips is currently sitting at just 59% fresh on RottenTomatoes. And, according to CinemaScore, audiences were also less than enthusiastic, with the R-rated film averaging a B grade (Ben-Hur earned an A-). The weekend’s family friendly offering, LAIKA’s latest stop-motion animated film Kubo and the Two Strings, opened to the lowest first weekend to date of any release from that production company.
