Donnie Yen and Cecilia Wang at the ‘Star Wars’ premiere (Photo by Hu Chengwei/Getty Images for Walt Disney Studios)
Donnie Yen has signed on to the cast of the action film xXx: The Return of Xander Cage with Vin Diesel. The martial arts star will apparently be going up against Diesel, playing an “alpha-warrior” named Xiang. The cast also includes The Vampire Diaries‘ Nina Dobrev, Tony Jaa, Deepika Padukone, Ruby Rose, Conor McGregor, Kris Wu, Hermione Corfield, Toni Collette, and Samuel L. Jackson.
Filming is taking place on the Revolution Studios, Roth Kirschenbaum Films, One Race Films and Paramount Pictures action thriller in Toronto and the Dominican Republic this month. F. Scott Frazier did the current script revisions and D.J. Caruso is directing.
“There are only a handful of martial-arts stars who have crossed over to worldwide fame and Donnie Yen is the top of that elite cohort,” said Revolution CEO/executive producer Vince Totino.
“Donnie’s fighting skill and on-screen charisma make him a perfect foil for Vin,” said producer Joe Roth. “We are all excited to see these two great action stars go toe to toe.”
Yen’s been keeping busy with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. He’s also working with his Bullet Group Ltd and Bullet Films Productions to develop a series of films.
The popular The Breaks original movie has turned into a series on VH1. The network’s given the go-ahead to a series based on the 2016 film, with The Breaks series expected to air later this year. According to VH1, The Breaks film pulled in 2.6 million viewers on the evening of its premiere and helped the network increase its ratings for the month of January by 42%.
The Breaks was inspired by Dan Charnas’ book The Big Payback about the hip-hop industry. The film was written, directed and executive produced by Seith Mann (The Walking Dead, Homeland). The series will be executive produced by Mann, Charnas, Maggie Malina, and Bill Flanagan.
“The Breaks is VH1 at its best, intersecting 90s nostalgia with hip hop for the masses,” said Chris McCarthy, General Manager of VH1. “Both the viewers and critics have spoken, and we couldn’t be happier to continue telling the story that has already connected with millions of pop culture fans.”
The Breaks Film Plot:
Nikki Jones (Afton Williamson) is a brilliant recent grad who abandoned a scholarship to law school to pursue her dream of becoming a record exec. Her boyfriend, David Aaron (David Call), is the scrappy son of a legendary music producer who is unwilling to rest on his father’s laurels and notorious reputation. DeeVee (Mack Wilds) is an aspiring producer on the hunt to find the next big rapper on the come-up. Nikki fast talks her way into an internship at the premier hip-hop company, Fouray Entertainment and catches the eye of the label’s infamous founder, Barry Fouray (Wood Harris) while David struggles at the city’s top R&B radio station whose celebrity DJ refuses to program real hip-hop. Meanwhile, DeeVee returns to his roots in the Fort Greene projects to scout for talent and runs into Ahm (Antoine Harris), a drug dealer with a lyrical gift whose talent could bring them all to the next level. But they will soon discover lives can be broken as fast as legends can be born.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences turned to a new company to create this year’s Oscar statuettes. From 1982 to 2015 the statuettes were made by the Chicago company R.S. Owens & Company. This year that honor goes to New York’s Polich Tallix Fine Art Foundry which will, according to the official announcement, return the Oscars to their “fine art roots.”
Each 2016 statuette has been hand-cast in bronze and is finished in 24 karat gold. “With the help of some 21st century technology, we’re able to honor the Oscar’s proud beginnings,” stated Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs. “The new statuette exemplifies impeccable craftsmanship and the enduring nature of art.”
“With this project, we’ve been entrusted with continuing a great tradition,” said Dick Polich, Polich Tallix founder and CEO. “It’s a privilege to be able to bring our art experience and technical expertise to the Oscar.”
Chris Rock is hosting the 88th Oscars set for February 28th in Hollywood. The ceremony will air live on ABC beginning with the pre-show at 7pm ET/4pm PT.
Here’s the details on the 2016 Oscar statuettes, courtesy of the Academy:
Using a cast bronze Oscar from 1929, Polich Tallix artisans have restored subtle features of George Stanley’s original sculpture, which was based on sketches by MGM art director Cedric Gibbons. The overall size of the statuette remains the same.
Polich Tallix started its Oscar-making process by creating digital scans of the 1929 statuette and a modern-era pedestal base. The digital Oscar was then 3D-printed and molded so the form could be cast in wax.
Each wax statuette is coated in a ceramic shell that is cured and fired at 1,600°F, melting the wax away and leaving an empty Oscar-shaped form. The statuettes are then cast in liquid bronze at more than 1,800°F, cooled, and sanded to a mirror polish finish.
The figure portion of each Oscar is electroplated with a permanent layer of reflective 24-karat gold by Epner Technology, a renowned high-tech specification electroplating company in Brooklyn. The statuette’s bronze base receives a smooth black patina, which is hand-buffed to a satin finish.
The time required to produce 50 statuettes in this manner is about three months.
At a height of 13.5 inches and weight of 8.5 pounds, the new Oscar retains the basic physical characteristics of its immediate predecessor, which had been made by Chicago-based R.S. Owens & Company since 1982. The Academy will continue its long relationship with R.S. Owens to service existing statuettes and create other awards for the Academy, including plaques for its annual Scientific and Technical Awards.
Gerard Butler stars in the action film ‘ London Has Fallen’
Gerard Butler’s been named Grand Marshal of the 58th Annual Daytona 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race to be held on February 21, 2016. The event will take place at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida and will air on Fox. Butler has London Has Fallen, the sequel to the critically acclaimed action thriller Olympus Has Fallen, heading to theaters on March 4, 2016.
As the Grand Marshal, Butler will have the honor of announcing, “Drivers, start your engines,” the command that gets the race underway. He’ll also be taking to the track in one of the Grand Marshal cars during the pace lap and Butler will be able to sit in on the drivers meeting before the race. For more info or to purchase tickets to the race, visit daytonainternationalspeedway.com.
“We’re honored to have Gerard Butler serve as Grand Marshal for the DAYTONA 500,” stated Daytona International Speedway President Joie Chitwood III. “Gerard is a talented actor and we look forward to hearing his starting command to kick off the first DAYTONA 500 held in the new motorsports stadium.”
More on London Has Fallen: The visceral intensity springs from a timely premise: after the British Prime Minister passes away, his funeral becomes a target of a terrorist organization to destroy some of the world’s most powerful leaders, devastate the British capital, and unleash a terrifying vision of the future. The only hope of stopping it rests on the shoulders of the President of the United States (Aaron Eckhart) and his formidable Secret Service head (Gerard Butler), and an English MI-6 agent (Charlotte Riley) who rightly trusts no one. Morgan Freeman also stars as the Vice President of the United States.
Jimmy Fallon, Will Ferrell, and Christina Aguilera on ‘The Tonight Show’ (Photo by: Andrew Lipovsky/NBC)
The Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon revived his Tight Pants sketch with the help of Christina Aguilera and Will Ferrell. Ferrell and Aguilera play a married couple extremely proud of their tight pants, so proud that they declare themselves the only couple who can wear them. In pops Fallon who attempts to reclaim the tight pants-wearing title.
But, the claws come out when Fallon insinuates he’s actually the father of Christina’s baby. Aguilera breaks out in a little “Circle of Life” from The Lion King, and Fallon has a difficult time holding it together when Ferrell insults him.
Christina Aguilera is returning to the judging chair for the new season of The Voice along with Blake Shelton, Adam Levine, and Pharrell Williams. Will Ferrell recently reprised his role as Mugatu in the Zoolander sequel, Zoolander 2.
Joe Manganiello and Pee-wee Herman star in ‘Pee-wee’s Big Holiday’ (Photo Credit: Netflix)
Netflix just released the official trailer for the comedy Pee-wee’s Big Holiday starring Paul Reubens as Pee-wee. The new trailer features Joe Manganiello as a customer at Pee-wee’s soda shop who convinces Pee-wee he should finally leave town to see the world. The cast also includes Jessica Pohly, Alia Shawkat, and Stephanie Beatriz. John Lee directed and Reubens and Paul Rust wrote the script. Reubens also produced the film along with Judd Apatow.
The Plot: The new film stars the beloved fun-loving hero of TV, stage and film, Pee-wee Herman. In Pee-wee’s Big Holiday, a fateful meeting with a mysterious stranger inspires Pee-wee Herman to take his first-ever holiday in this epic story of friendship and destiny.
In support of the 2016 Grammys, Jimmy Kimmel launched Mean Tweets Music Edition #3 featuring musicians reading horrible tweets. Among the collection of artists reading the mean tweets are One Direction, Ed Sheeran, Drake, Common, Rita Ora, Josh Groban, Meghan Trainor, Ricky Martin, and James Taylor. Twitter users also found mean things to say about Little Big Town, Mumford & Sons, Kelly Clarkson, Charlie Wilson, Blake Shelton, Lionel Richie, The Killers, Demi Lovato, and Wiz Khalifa.
The latest video subjecting musicians to the harsh, unforgiving world of mean tweets follows in a long line of mean tweet reading courtesy of Jimmy Kimmel. Kimmel’s up to edition #9 of ‘Celebrities Read Mean Tweets’ and there’s even a video of President Obama reading tweets. NBA and NFL stars have also read aloud uncomplimentary tweets as have Country music stars. And Kimmel’s Mean Tweets segment has spawned spin-offs, with wrestlers, porn stars, and politicians getting in on the act through other media outlets.
Richard Madden and Idris Elba star in ‘Bastille Day’ (Photo Copyright: Jessica Forde)
Idris Elba and Game of Thrones‘ Richard Madden star in Studiocanal’s Bastille Day, an action thriller showing off a new action-packed trailer. Directed by James Watkins, the cast also includes Charlotte Le Bon, Jose Garcia, and Kelly Reilly. The film doesn’t have a US release date but will be hitting theaters in the UK on April 22, 2016.
The Plot: Michael Mason (Madden) is an American pickpocket living in Paris who finds himself in the hands of the CIA when he steals a bag that contains more than just a wallet. Sean Briar (Elba), the field agent on the case, soon realizes that Michael is just a pawn in a much bigger game and is also his best asset to uncover a large-scale criminal conspiracy in the heart of the police force. Going against commands, Briar recruits Michael to help quickly track down the source of the corruption. As a 24hr chase ensues, the unlikely duo discover they are both targets and must rely upon each other in order to take down a common enemy.
Adam Cayton-Holland, T.J. Miller and Maria Thayer in ‘Those Who Can’t’ (Photo Courtesy of truTV)
On Thursday, February 11 you met Those Who Can’t, four educators failing comedically to inspire the youth they teach. Created by the Denver comedy troupe The Grawlix, the three comedians are joined by Maria Thayer as librarian Abbey Logan. Andrew Orvedahl is gym teacher Coach Fairbell. Ben Roy is short-fused teacher Billy Shoemaker and Adam Cayton-Holland is sensitive, thoughtful Loren Payton.
We spoke with Thayer and Cayton-Holland after their panel for the Television Critics Association. In upcoming weeks, you’ll see the teachers protest, band together to save their vending machines, and even do a horror episode. Those Who Can’t airs Thursdays at 10:30pm ET/PT on truTV.
Maria Thayer and Adam Cayton-Holland Interview:
When the three Grawlix were developing the show, did you all know which characters you wanted to play, or was it ever in flux?
Adam Cayton-Holland: “No, we knew because we did a web series and all those characters are the worst exaggerations of our actual personalities. I would be the kind of pretentious idiot. Ben would be the emotions on his sleeve screamer and Andrew would just be the dumbass.”
Maria Thayer: “That’s pretty accurate, getting to know them.”
Maria, is your character volatile in every episode?
Maria Thayer: [Laughs] “I don’t think so.”
I mean that in a good way.
Maria Thayer: “No, I don’t take it in a bad way. She has her moments but I think she can keep it together once in a while.”
Adam Cayton-Holland: “Yeah, every third or fourth episode she holds it together.”
How intense are those frantic crowd scenes?
Adam Cayton-Holland: “They’re intense. It’s hard dealing with extras. Everyone was great. Just when you do a crowd scene, it gets harder and harder because there’s a lot of pieces to maneuver. In terms of the classroom scenes, the kids are awesome. We had ones we were pulling out from nonspeaking role to speaking role because they were shining. So those are fun.”
Maria Thayer: “A lot of the same extras came back. It was exciting, after week eight you’d see a lot of the same faces. I always get nervous when there’s a lot of extras because I feel I need to be perfect. It’s like I have an audience for a play that I haven’t prepared for.”
Adam Cayton-Holland: “You’re classic theatre girl.”
So how was the protest scene in episode two?
Adam Cayton-Holland: “Took a long time. I lucked out because I wrote myself into tailgating that in the back of a truck. So me and Kyle Kinane were just hanging out in lawn chairs in a truck having fun, relaxing.”
Maria Thayer: “That’s right, and it was like 4,000 degrees that day in Van Nuys, which is always 4,000 degrees in the summer. So they were just hanging out drinking and we were marching around screaming. Ben and I were getting into a fake fight.”
Adam Cayton-Holland: “We’re just lounging in the shade in the back of a flatbed truck.”
Maria Thayer: “I was so jealous of you. I would like to be written into the scenes more like that if I can put in a formal request in season two.”
Adam Cayton-Holland: “When we were filming, I was like, ‘This is the smartest thing I’ve ever written. Me in a truck tailgating in the shade.’ More of these scenes.”
Did the show escalate really quickly from the pilot?
Adam Cayton-Holland: “Yeah, I think we were shooting for the moon pretty quickly, but we definitely gelled as a cast. I think we got our mojo going pretty quickly, so by the time episodes five, six and seven come out, it ratchets up pretty fast.”
Maria, how did you meet these guys?
Maria Thayer: “I met them in Portland, Oregon in the back of a van. We were at a comedy festival. It was a bunch of comedians and improvisers and I was there to promote something but it was sort of strange that I was there. I got in this van to go from the hotel to an event or the opposite and these guys were in it. We started talking and that was three years before they finally cast me.”
Adam Cayton-Holland: “We hazed her for a solid three years.”
Maria Thayer: “To see if I was tough enough.”
Adam Cayton-Holland: “She broke down several times, kept coming back.”
Maria Thayer: “Yeah, sure. You can break down but you just can’t quit.”
Adam Cayton-Holland: “And that’s an important Hollywood lesson.”
Where did master baking come from?
Adam Cayton-Holland: “Honestly, the director, Roger Kumble in that episode, did the movie Cruel Intentions. We knew I was going to be cooking rock candy meth and he was like, ‘I want to show you something.’ He showed me this Charlie Chaplin clip and it’s kind of racy for a silent film. He’s got his back turned and he’s shaking a martini and it looks like he’s masturbating. Then he turns around and it’s a martini and I was like, ‘That’s hilarious.’ He was like, ‘I want to do this with you but you’re stirring a bowl.’ Out of that jerk off joke, master baking somehow was born. I love that. I was like, ‘This is the smartest d*** joke. I’m referencing a Chaplin silent film.'”
What’s the horror episode?
Adam Cayton-Holland: “The horror episode rules. I won’t give away any spoilers. It was the first one we shot with Bobcat Goldthwait who’s amazing and we all loved him and he loved us. He directs two episodes this season. I won’t explain how it happens but essentially teachers are being killed and we’re locked in the school and it’s after hours and we’re running for our lives. It’s great. We shot it with mostly flashlights.”
Maria Thayer: “Like lighting each other sort of. All I want to do is a horror film.”
Adam Cayton-Holland: “They’re kind of easy because it’s just like, ‘Oh no! Run!’ and you just run.”
Maria Thayer: “I feel like you have to have one of those things where your cheek shakes.”
Adam Cayton-Holland: “A twitchy lip or something. It was fun. I love that episode and it came out really well, I think.”
What other funny stuff is coming up?
Adam Cayton-Holland: “There’s a lot of nudity. There’s car chases, literally.”
Maria Thayer: “Slapping, a lot of violence. I realized that I love slapping.”
Adam Cayton-Holland: “These characters hit each other a lot. I don’t think real teachers should hit each other this much.”
Maria Thayer: “No, real teachers shouldn’t.”
Did you really hit Andrew when you slapped him?
Maria Thayer: “Yeah. I think I really hit everybody that I hit.”
Adam Cayton-Holland: “Andrew got beat up. The Coach Fairbell character, he had to do the most stunts. We really beat him up, which was great. We had a stunt coordinator. We had the same stunt coordinator who did Zoolander 2, came from Zoolander 2 to do our show.”
Did you ever have any teachers like Those Who Can’t?
Maria Thayer: “I definitely had some subpar teachers. I had some sleepy teachers, some teachers who really didn’t care which I don’t think the Those Who Can’t teachers [don’t]. As Adam has said, they care.”
Adam Cayton-Holland: “Our teachers are definitely lackluster but they do care. They’re trying in their misguided ways. I had lots of bad teachers. I went to a public high school and I had teachers that were so bad they got fired for many bad, illegal things. Mostly, I had a teacher who was kind of pretentious and thought he was a writer. I definitely took that on a little bit.”
I had all those teachers you’re describing too.
Adam Cayton-Holland: “That’s the great thing about a high school show. It’s pretty universal. Everybody had some facsimile of high school they can relate to.”
Maria Thayer: “And it’s a time you don’t forget either. You really remember.”
Adam Cayton-Holland: “It’s so formative.”
Where is the school you’re shooting at located?
Adam Cayton-Holland: “The actual high school is Van Nuys High School. Where they shot Fast Times at Ridgemont High and where I learned Marilyn Monroe went for a while.”
Maria Thayer: “The kids there are very nonplussed. If there was a television crew where I went to high school in Apple Valley, MN, we would all be crying with excitement. They don’t care at all.”
Adam Cayton-Holland: “They rent this school out a ton so the kids are just like, ‘Great, Hollywood film shoot going on at school. I gotta get to class.’ So it’s funny how they just don’t even bat an eye.”
So they were in session?
Maria Thayer: “For some of it, yeah.”
Adam Cayton-Holland: “When we filmed the pilot, the entire time it was in session, which is fun. It adds a certain lifelike feel to it but it’s kind of sad how seasoned and just over it these kids already are.”
Maria Thayer: “The person who was most excited I met was the school librarian. She was like, ‘I’m the librarian. You’re playing me!’ She was very excited but the kids not so much.”
Adam Cayton-Holland: “If I went to that high school and I graduated, I’d be like, ‘Move me anywhere real. I’m leaving L.A. Move me to a real place where things actually happen and a wall doesn’t just get removed because it was a film set.'”
I saw Sarah Michelle Gellar’s episode. Any other guest stars?
Adam Cayton-Holland: “T.J. Miller, Susie Essman, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Peter Stormare, Michael Madsen, Mark Hoppus of Blink 182. Lots of good guest stars. We lucked out this season. Really, really cool.”
Walt Disney Studios released the new trailer for the dramatic fantasy film Alice Through the Looking Glass during the 2016 Grammys, quickly followed by its debut online. The studio also announced P!nk will be writing and recording an original song for the film and she’s already recorded a cover of Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit” that’s featured in the trailer. P!nk’s writing the song specifically for the film and it’ll be part of the soundtrack along with the score by Danny Elfman.
The cast of Alice Through the Looking Glass is led by Mia Wasikowska as Alice and includes Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Rhys Ifans, Helena Bonham Carter, and Sacha Baron Cohen. Voice cast members include Alan Rickman, Stephen Fry, Michael Sheen and Timothy Spall. Alice Through the Looking Glass will be released in theaters on May 27, 2016.
The Plot: Alice Kingsleigh (Wasikowska) has spent the past few years following in her father’s footsteps and sailing the high seas. Upon her return to London, she comes across a magical looking glass and returns to the fantastical realm of Underland and her friends the White Rabbit (Sheen), Absolem (Rickman), the Cheshire Cat (Fry) and the Mad Hatter (Depp), who is not himself. The Hatter has lost his Muchness, so Mirana (Hathaway) sends Alice on a quest to borrow the Chronosphere, a metallic globe inside the chamber of the Grand Clock which powers all time. Returning to the past, she comes across friends – and enemies – at different points in their lives, and embarks on a perilous race to save the Hatter before time runs out.
Watch the Alice Through the Looking Glass new trailer:
