Peter Bogdanovich makes his return to feature film directing with the Lionsgate comedy She’s Funny That Way coming to theaters and VOD on August 14, 2015. The new trailer featuring Owen Wilson, Jennifer Aniston, Imogen Poots, Kathryn Hahn, Rhys Ifans, and Will Forte spotlights the characters’ dysfunctional relationships as well as the film’s screwball comedy tone.
The Plot:
From renowned director Peter Bogdanovich, She’s Funny That Way features the interconnected personal lives of the cast and crew of a Broadway production. When established director Arnold Albertson (Wilson) casts his call girl-turned-actress Isabella “Izzy” Patterson (Poots) in a new play to star alongside his wife Delta (Hahn) and her ex-lover Seth Gilbert (Ifans), a zany love tangle forms with hilarious twists. Jennifer Aniston plays Izzy’s therapist, Jane, who is consumed with her own failing relationship with Arnold’s playwright, Joshua Fleet (Forte), who is also developing a crush on Izzy.
FX’s Fargo returns for a second season that’s a prequel to the award-winning, critically acclaimed season one, with the network just releasing an official short-but-entertaining trailer. Debuting this September, Fargo season two takes place in Sioux Falls in the 1970s and features Patrick Wilson as a younger Lou Solverson (Keith Carradine played the older version in the first season).
The cast also includes Kirsten Dunst, Ted Danson, Jesse Plemons, Jean Smart, Jeffrey Donovan, Kieran Culkin, Angus Sampson, Nick Offerman, and Bokeem Woodbine.
The Plot:
The all-new “true crime” case of Fargo’s new chapter travels back to 1979 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and Luverne, Minnesota, where a young State Police Officer “Lou Solverson” (Wilson), recently back from Vietnam, investigates a case involving a local crime gang and a major Mob syndicate. Helping him piece things together is his father-in-law, “Sheriff Hank Larsson” (Danson).
The investigation will lead them to a colorful cast of characters that includes “Karl Weathers” (Offerman), the town lawyer of Luverne, Minnesota. A Korean War vet, Karl is a flowery drunk blessed with the gift of gab and the eloquence of a true con artist. Three-time Emmy winner Brad Garrett will play “Joe Bulo,” the frontman for the northern expansion of a Kansas City crime syndicate.
The new face of corporate crime, Joe’s bringing a Walmart mentality to small-town America. His number two is “Mike Milligan” (Bokeem Woodbine). Part enforcer, part detective, Mike is always smiling – but the joke is usually on you. Bulo and his crew have their sights set on the Gerhardt crime family in Fargo, currently led by matriarch “Floyd Gerhardt” (Smart). With her husband at death’s door, Floyd takes over the family business, frustrating her eldest son, “Dodd Gerhardt” (Donovan).
An impatient hothead with a cruel streak to match his ambitions, Dodd can’t wait for both his parents to die so he can take over and expand their business from kingdom to empire. “Bear Gerhardt” (Sampson) is the middle son, an intimidatingly large man who, although inarticulate, is the most decent of his clan. “Rye Gerhardt” (Kieran Culkin), the youngest of the Gerhardt clan, views himself as a big shot, but in reality he’s just a small dog who barks big.
Caitriona Balfe and Sam Heughan in ‘Outlander’ season 2 (Photo Credit: Starz)
When Outlander‘s Sam Heughan sat down for our roundtable interview at the 2015 San Diego Comic Con, the first thing we chatted about was whether he’d seen any Comic Con attendees walking around dressed as Jamie. He hadn’t, but he confessed the opportunity had not come up to actually look around much as he’d been kept very busy.
Heughan, his Outlander co-star Caitriona Balfe, series creator Ronald D. Moore, and author Diana Gabaldon were among the most sought-after celebrities at the sold-out event, which reflects on just how popular and well-received season one of the Starz series has been.
Describing his second Comic Con experience as insane but wonderful, Heughan opened up about filming those incredible Wentworth Prison scenes (which garnered Emmy buzz in response to his performance) and the journey Jamie and Claire will be on in season two.
Sam Heughan Outlander Interview:
How did you mentally prepare and get into that specific mindset for the Wentworth Prison scenes? How were you able to take yourself there?
Sam Heughan: “We knew it was coming up. I was excited by it, nervous, but we knew it was going to be challenging. We wanted it to be a challenge for the actors but for the audience as well. We approached it like any other theater piece; myself and Tobias [Menzies] started from a theatre background. We sat with the director and the writer for about a week worth of rehearsals. Discussed the scenes, sort of cut it down a bit. We worked on what we wanted the audience to feel, what we wanted them to see. Pretty much set the guidelines, set the boundaries of filming the scene. And then we filmed it over a space of 10 days, two weeks.
It was pretty intense stuff, primarily because of the content, but also there was a lot of prosthetic work. I’d be in at 4am and not finish until 10 at night or something, so they were long days. But in a way that was perfect because it got me into that mindset of I had to work three or four hours in the morning to prep, to stand there as someone painted something on your body. Then in the evening taking it off was a good way to lose the day’s filming, but it was heavy stuff. We knew that we were doing something quite bold, so I was excited to see the end product.”
How do you play a damaged character without playing him as a victim?
Sam Heughan: “Jamie did get some resolution at the end of season one. I mean he was not cured in any way, but he’s looking forward. I spoke for hours with some doctor about the medical conditions and what happens with the psychology as well. But, ultimately, everyone is different. Everyone deals with torment in different ways. Jamie is very particular in the way he deals with things.
Before we’ve seen when he got whipped or other scenarios in season one, he lets it fall of his back. But this has certainly affected him. But he’s not a victim; he’s moving forward. He’s got this mission. He’s there for a purpose, and it’s not weighing him down or incapacitating him. But he has things that he’s got to deal with, and we’ve just finished filming for the moment. He maybe finds some resolution and that’s kind of nice to see. I’ve discussed that and we see that in a lot of cases where people had some sort of trauma it would be something really random that would trigger that moment of healing or moving forward. I’m very lucky to be able to play that part of the character.”
Jamie begins season two in a completely different place than season one. What did you feel were the specific challenges of this season?
Sam Heughan: “In a way I suppose it’s more of a challenge actually because the first season Jamie’s got no responsibility. He’s out looking after himself. He’s reacting to every moment. And, yeah, in season two it’s completely different, you know? He’s got the trauma of season one and also the responsibility of having a wife, being a father, of becoming a parent. So he’s had to grow up, and in season one he certainly did.
In season two he’s trying to come to terms with that, but also he’s gone to Paris which is not alien to him but it certainly is a world that he’s not particularly comfortable with. He’s having to assume a new identity there as well. It feels that he’s a different person.”
You and Caitriona Balfe are obviously the two main actors we follow throughout the series, and lots of supporting characters come in and out of the story. How does that feel as an actor to constantly have different actors and characters to act with?
Sam Heughan: “I think it’s wonderful. We are in the French Court at the moment. Murtagh is the other character who is with us, Duncan Lacroix who’s terrific. But it’s just a few of us and we’ve got this cast of French actors who are amazing and brilliant, totally different energy to a different world. And that’s what the joy of our show is, constantly changing our locations and the storyline. But also it’s a little sad. We’re all kind of missing the old Scotland boys, but we know we’re going back there.
The second half of the season is very much going to be the antithesis to the first half. The first half is very ostentatious and luxurious, the costumes are amazing. The second half is going to be more blood and battles. It’s like being in a different world. I know that this series does constantly travel and that’s going to be the journey that Jamie and Claire and the characters are going to develop.”
What are Jamie and Claire trying to accomplish in this first half of the season?
Sam Heughan: “They’re here to change history, basically. The Battle of Culloden…it was very popular. [Laughing] The Battle of Culloden was basically this big battle between the British and the Highlanders. Bonny Prince Charlie believed he was the rightful King…and he probably was. He came to Scotland to try to rally the clans to put himself back on the throne and overthrow the king. It failed basically, this battle they got wiped out. The repercussions were that the British army bans the whole Highland culture, the wearing of kilts, the speaking of Gaelic, the bagpipes. So we’re there to change history. That’s pretty much what we’re there for.”
Can you talk about how Jamie and Claire’s relationship changes as a couple?
Sam Heughan: “In season one they were newlyweds; they were young, new lovers and they were finding out about each other, and obviously they’re still finding out about each other. Before the trauma at the end of the first season has affected their relationship a lot. Also the fact that she’s a parent, she’s a mother and he’s obviously got responsibility regardless. They’re working it out together, but there’s a lot of issues they haven’t dealt with yet and we do play that out in the season. But ultimately the mission is the most important thing to change history and make sure that everyone survives. But, yeah, their relationship will definitely change.”
Who are some of their new allies and foes?
Sam Heughan: “Well we have a lot of terrific actors that have come in, Dominique Piñon, Marc Duret. There’s countless of them. Frances de la Tour. So there’s really powerful and amazing actors coming in and bringing in a different dimension to the show.
It becomes almost a different kind of battle with the politics that are played out. Our St. Germain is the extraordinary good-looking actor, Stanley Weber. He’s French and I think he’s going to do very well. It’s a different kind of enemy that they’re facing. They’re also have this surrogate son almost that they get, this adopted son named Fergus who brings another dynamic to their relationship. It’s all moving their relationship forward.”
Is being an unexpected father going to change Jamie’s behavior?
Sam Heughan: “Yeah. I think before he met Claire he was more than happy to put his body on the line but now he has to think twice about that. And that’s one of the lessons he’s learned in season one. In season two he’s still the same guy and still can be hotheaded at times or stubborn, but he certainly has grown up a bit and knows that he’s got a responsibility. At times he does forget that.”
What does being on such a Scotland-celebrating show do for your country’s identity?
Sam Heughan: “I think I’m very proud of Scotland. I’ve gone back and rediscovered my country, and I’ve fallen in love with it again. I’m very proud of the production. It really shows off Scotland. The craftsmanship, the locations, the studio, we’ve got now has four sound stages, you’ve got whole workshops, you’ve got one workshop where they’re just building French furniture. We’ve got another workshop where they’re doing props. It’s creating a lot of industry within Scotland. It’s attracting more production, a lot of TV shows and films as well. I’m delighted that we’ve been given it that opportunity.”
Suicide Squad cast photo (Photo Courtesy of David Ayer / WB)
After a leaked copy of the Suicide Squad footage shown at the 2015 San Diego Comic Con found its way online, director David Ayer (who was rightfully upset with whoever illegally posted the footage) decided to fight fire with fire by officially releasing the screened footage. The video opens with the line: “It’s taken some work but I finally have them – the worst of the worst.”
Commenting on the pirated copy of the Suicide Squad footage, Warner Bros President Worldwide Marketing and International Distribution Sue Kroll stated, “Warner Bros. Pictures and our anti-piracy team have worked tirelessly over the last 48 hours to contain the Suicide Squad footage that was pirated from Hall H on Saturday. We have been unable to achieve that goal. Today we will release the same footage that has been illegally circulating on the web, in the form it was created and high quality with which it was intended to be enjoyed. We regret this decision as it was our intention to keep the footage as a unique experience for the Comic Con crowd, but we cannot continue to allow the film to be represented by the poor quality of the pirated footage stolen from our presentation.”
The Suicide Squad cast including Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Jai Courtney and Joel Kinnaman (but no Jared Leto) made a surprise appearance on stage in Hall H at the San Diego Convention Center and earned thunderous applause for just showing up. Warner Bros is releasing Suicide Squad in theaters on August 5, 2016.
Rachel McAdams in ‘True Detective’ season two episode four (Photo by Lacey Terrell / HBO)
“I just don’t know how to be out in the world again,” says Officer Paul Woodrugh (Taylor Kitsch). “Hey, look out that window, look at me…nobody does,” replies Detective Ray Velcoro (Colin Farrell) as he gives the young CHP officer – who he’s been working with on the special Vinci City Manager murder investigation – a ride back to base after a particularly bad night in HBO’s True Detective season two episode four.
Officer Woodrugh wakes up in another man’s bed, who it turns out is one of his buddies from his military service, after spending part of the night checking on the prostitute angle of the case. Horrified by what he’s done, Woodrugh quickly gathers his clothes and leaves. He takes a taxi back to where he had parked his motorcycle only to discover it’s been stolen. After cursing out loud for several minutes, Woodrugh takes the cab to the hotel he’s been staying at but can’t get in because of the paparazzi waiting for him. They’re trying to get a response to the accusation made by a Hollywood actress who accused him of offering not to arrest her in exchange for a sexual favor. Out of options, he reaches out and calls Velcoro to come and get him.
Meanwhile, Ray and Detective Ani Bezzerides (Rachel McAdams) follow the mayor of Vinci’s daughter to a club and ask her some questions. Ray has already warned Ani that even though he understands and respects the little raid she did on the mayor’s house, it might come back to hurt her. While interrogating the girl, the two detectives learn of a new name, Irving Pitler, a psychiatrist who had the mayor’s first wife put away saying she was suffering from schizophrenia. The shrink, it appears, also knows Ani’s New Age cult-leading father.
While the detectives are doing some solid police work, Frank Semyon (Vince Vaughn) spends most of this episode going back to old business associates and forcing them to accept his protection and partnership. He’s occupied with trying to rebuild the fortune he lost when Caspere went missing and was later found dead. Semyon also begins to suspect one of his own crew might be trying to overthrow him…but it’s only a suspicion.
Using the information in Caspere’s GPS, Ray and Ani are able to track Caspere’s movements and discover that he had been visiting lands that had been contaminated by bad water and other poisons. When Ani reports back to her superior in Ventura what she and Ray have discovered, she’s informed that a complaint of sexual misconduct has been filed against her. She also finds out that her partner let the investigators know he had a one-night stand with her as well. Indignant, Ani insists she has nothing to apologize for. Her supervisor tells her she’s not to enter the building again until the investigation is finished and that for now, she’s still working on the special investigation into the City Manager’s murder.
Woodrugh follows up on one of the few leads he found out about a pimp and one of his hookers who it seems went to a pawn shop and pawned a piece of Caspere’s jewelry – his watch, to be specific. Later that night Paul meets up with his ex-girlfriend in a diner to find out she’s pregnant with his child. Becoming emotional, he tells her he’s glad and that they should get married. She tells him she doesn’t want him to marry her out of guilt or obligation, but he interrupts her telling her that not until this moment did he realize how much he loves her.
The next day, Paul informs the Vinci investigators about the pimp named Ledo Amarilla, his hooker, and the pawn shop. It seems they also have traced him to a building that could be his main hideout. Ani leads Paul, Ray, and a small squad of detectives on a mission to arrest Amarilla for the murder of the Vinci City Manager.
The next scene is a massive gun battle between Ledo Amarilla and his crew versus Ani, Ray, Woodrugh, and their small band of cops. It turns into a terrible blood bath, leaving Amarilla and his three associates dead, many innocent civilians wounded and dead, and only Ray, Ani, and Paul still standing alive and unmarked while most of their brothers in blues are dead or badly wounded. Horrified by what has just happened, Ray kneels down saying, “Oh Christ!” and Ani looks in shock at the massacre while police cars pull up with their red and blue lights flashing.
Slow, gritty, and shocking, True Detective season two episode four titled “Down Will Come” ends the episode with the most intense, fast-paced fire-fight between cops and criminals ever to hit the small screen. It’s reminiscent of the frantic shoot-out during the bank heist gone wrong in the film Heat with Al Pacino and Robert De Niro.
The performances are top-notch with Rachel McAdams stealing this episode with three stand-out scenes. The first memorable scene has her defending herself to her boss from the sexual misconduct accusations which they both know are basically true. Her surprise and indignation are spot on perfect. The second extraordinary scene is during the shoot-out when Ani runs out of ammunition and one of Amarilla’s killers is closing in on her while all she has to fight back with is her knife which she draws. The fear she shows in her eyes is striking and authentic. Third, the last scene where Ani’s standing and looking at all the dead bodies around her and is truly horrified by all the bloodshed rings incredibly true.
The next best performance is once again by Colin Farrell who has a great scene with Kitsch as Ray drives Woodrugh back to base in L.A.’s famous stop-and-go traffic. He tries to befriend and even mentor the young officer a little, seeming to feel for the kid who obviously just had one of the worst nights of his life. It’s a quiet yet effective scene showing once again how much Ray actually has to offer as a detective once he stops drinking and tries to be a good cop.
It will be very interesting to see what happens to detectives Velcoro and Bezzerides and officer Woodrugh following the aftermath of the bust that went so horribly wrong.
AMC once again used the San Diego Comic Con as the launching pad for a new season of The Walking Dead. The network brought the cast, including Andrew Lincoln, Norman Reedus, and Danai Gurira, to San Diego to reveal the first lengthy trailer for season six. They also announced the sixth season will premiere on October 11, 2015 at 9pm ET/PT, with the first episode extended to 90 minutes.
In other The Walking Dead news, the cast has expanded by two. Merritt Wever (Nurse Jackie) and Ethan Embry are joining the zombie apocalypse series, and Wever will apparently play a character who’s featured in the comics.
Neal McDonough has landed the role of Damien Darhk in the upcoming fourth season of The CW’s Arrow. McDonough will be a regular in season four and for those who aren’t up on their DC Comics characters, his character is described as “a mysterious and sophisticated villain, and an adversary of the late Ra’s Al Ghul. Now the leader of his own clandestine group, this cunning foe will prove to be one of the Arrow’s greatest challenges.”
Stephen Amell stars in the title role, with Katie Cassidy, David Ramsey, Willa Holland, Emily Bett Rickards, John Barrowman, and Paul Blackthorne also returning for more superhero action. Season four of Arrow will arrive on October 7, 2015 at 8pm ET/PT.
McDonough’s lengthy list of credits include Suits, Mob City, Justified, and Desperate Housewives.
Rob Corddry and Dwayne Johnson in ‘Ballers’ (Photo: Jeff Daly / HBO)
Just a few episodes into its first season HBO announced they’re giving Ballers a second season order. HBO Programming President Michael Lombardo announced the renewal of the football comedy, saying, “The charismatic and hugely talented Dwayne Johnson, along with the rest of the Ballers cast, has truly struck a chord with the HBO audience. We are thrilled with the overwhelming response the series has received and look forward to another exciting season.”
Dwayne Johnson leads the cast which includes Rob Corddry, John David Washington, Omar Miller, Donovan W. Carter, Troy Garity, and London Brown Jazmyn Simon. Assorted sports stars also put in brief appearances in season one along with director/actor Peter Berg. Berg, Stephen Levinson, Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson, Dany Garcia, Evan Reilly, Rob Weiss, Julian Farino, and Denis Biggs are the show’s executive producers.
The first season, which consists of 10 episodes, premiered on June 21st and drew in 8.9 million viewers.
The Plot:
Created by Stephen Levinson (HBO’s Entourage and Boardwalk Empire), Ballers looks at the lives of former and current football players, following former superstar Spencer Strasmore (Johnson), who is trying to reinvent himself as a financial manager for current players in sunsoaked Miami.
Among the interesting bits of Arrow news to come out of the San Diego Comic-Con was the release of the first official photo of Stephen Amell in the new suit. Arrow fans will see Amell don the suit in the first episode of the fourth season of the series set for Wednesday, October 7, 2015 at 8pm ET/PT on The CW.
And in addition to revealing the photo, the network also released details on its design:
“Created by Arrow’s resident costume designer Maya Mani, who has also designed many of the show’s singular super suits — including those of Arsenal (Colton Haynes), Black Canary (Katie Cassidy), Speedy (Willa Holland) and Ray Palmer’s A.T.O.M. (Brandon Routh) — Oliver Queen’s latest Arrow incarnation is a dramatic renewal of his trademark leather, hooded vigilante gear.”
Returning cast members for the fourth season include Amell, Katie Cassidy, David Ramsey, Willa Holland, Emily Bett Rickards, John Barrowman and Paul Blackthorne. Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim, Andrew Kreisberg, Wendy Mericle and Sarah Schechter executive produce the series.
The CW also played a highlight reel from the third season at Comic Con followed by its online release:
“Minions have been on this planet far longer than we have. They all have the same goal: to serve the most despicable master around. Finding a master was easy, keeping a master…that’s where things got tricky,” says the Narrator (Geoffrey Rush) as the minions accidentally cause the demise of their master, a T-Rex during the dinosaur era at the beginning of the animated adventure Minions.
Yes, the loyal, cute, and lovable yellow minions get their own movie and their own shot at telling the story of how many masters they went through before finally finding Gru (Steve Carell) in Despicable Me. When the minions keep inadvertently causing the deaths of their masters, they fall into a deep depression in the arctic wasteland where they tried to create their own civilization. One minion named Kevin decides to venture out to find a new evil boss who his entire clan can serve.
Knowing it’s going to be a long and hard journey, Kevin looks for volunteers and finds only two willing to join him: Stuart, the guitar-playing, banana-eating rebel; and little innocent Bob. Together the three travel a long distance until they reach New York City in 1968 and attend the Villain-Con, a giant gathering of evil villains and wanna-be villains. There they meet Scarlet Overkill (Sandra Bullock), the world’s first–ever female super-villain who’s looking for a few good henchmen to help her steal the royal crown of Queen Victoria.
Colorful, cute, and funny, Minions is a zany yet uneven adventure that’s sure to entertain both kids and adults looking for a mindless, silly movie. It’s a prequel to the film Despicable Me telling the story of the minions before they team up with Gru.
The best part of Minions is easily the first half of the film when we’re treated to the tales of how the well-meaning minions kept accidentally killing their evil masters, starting in prehistoric times and traveling through history, with the goofy yellow guys hilariously ending the lives of a caveman, some Egyptians, a vampire, and a French General. This is by far the most entertaining part of the entire film. It’s also all in the very first trailer Universal released back in November promoting the film which means that once again the best part of the film can and has been seen in the trailer.
The second half changes the pacing drastically and not for the better by introducing the character of Scarlet Overkill voiced by Sandra Bullock as the major villain who Kevin, Stuart and Bob hope to work for. The biggest problem with Scarlet is she’s just not that interesting or clever, and she’s not funny. In fact, she’s hands-down the most boring super-villain to come along in a while.
The other element missing in the movie Minions is emotion. There’s no heart or warmth involved in any of the characters and no growth. In Despicable Me Gru came to care for and eventually love the three little girls he adopted to help him steal the moon. Here it’s just one goofy scene after another of the minions looking for a master and dealing with Scarlet. Still, as long as families enter the theater only looking for a silly, fun adventure with these cute little yellow guys, there should be enough good humor and slapstick to make it worth a matinee price ticket.
