Tom Hardy stars in ‘Legend’ (Photo Credit: Universal Pictures)
Tom Hardy tackles dual roles in the thriller Legend directed by Oscar-winning writer Brian Helgeland (L.A. Confidential) and based on a true story. Universal’s just released a new trailer and poster for the dramatic thriller starring Hardy as twin brothers Reggie and Ron Kray. The film focuses on the history of the Kray brothers (notorious London gangsters) and “the extraordinary events that secured the infamy of the Kray twins” in the 1960s.
The cast also includes Emily Browning, David Thewlis, Christopher Eccleston, Chazz Palminteri, Tara Fitzgerald, and Taron Egerton. Legend will open in theaters on October 2, 2015.
Dolly Wells and Emily Mortimer star in ‘Doll & Em’ (Photo: Mischa Richter / HBO)
The comedy special Ferrell Takes the Field will debut on HBO on September 12, 2015 at 10pm ET/PT as just announced by HBO. Will Ferrell stars in the one-hour special which was filmed back in March and finds the actor attempting to play every single position on the field at five different baseball spring training ballparks in Arizona. Per HBO, the special is “dedicated to helping the charity Cancer for College.”
HBO also announced the premiere date for the return of Project Greenlight from executive producers Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. The series aired season one in 2001 and season two in 2003, and is finally returning for a third season on September 13, 2015 at 10pm ET/PT. The half-hour show will have an eight episode run.
As described by HBO, Project Greenlight chronicles the search for a first-time director and exploring the filmmaking process. “Spanning the entire filmmaking process, it takes a revealing, uncensored look at the challenges facing a novice director. The show begins with a digital competition, following the winner from pre-production and casting through principal photography and post-production.”
Doll & Em has also landed a return date and will air immediately after Project Greenlight on September 13th at 10:30pm ET/PT. Season two of Doll & Em will consist of six episodes and is written by BFFs Emily Mortimer and Dolly Wells who also star in the comedy series. The plot: “This show is a bittersweet, intimate portrait of female friendship. In the new season, Doll and Em write an off-Broadway play together in an effort to do something creative on equal footing.”
Doll & Em‘s second season will feature guest stars Ewan McGregor, Olivia Wilde, Evan Rachel Wood, and Mikhail Baryshnikov.
J.K. Rowling tweeted out the news that Harry Potter And the Cursed Child, a play focusing on Harry’s backstory, will open in London’s West End next summer. Harry Potter And The Cursed Child is a new story that’s a collaboration between Jack Thorne (Let The Right One In), director John Tiffany, and Rowling. Rowling went on to tweet that she doesn’t want to say too much because she doesn’t want to spoil the surprise, but promised it will be “a real treat for fans.”
Rowling also confirmed it’s not a prequel and said that she chose not to do Harry Potter And the Cursed Child as a novel believing a play is the right medium for this particular tale.
Tiffany is directing with movement by Steven Hoggett. Imogen Heap is working on the music and Christine Jones (American Idiot) is handling the set designs. Katrina Lindsay is in charge of costumes, the lighting is by Neil Austin, and Gareth Fry is doing the sound. The special effects will be by Jeremy Chernick.
The play will open in the summer of 2016 at the Palace Theatre. Sonia Friedman Productions, Colin Callender’s Playground Entertainment and Harry Potter Theatrical Productions are producing. Tickets will go on sale this autumn. For more info, visit the play’s official website.
I'm also very excited to confirm today that a new play called Harry Potter and the #CursedChild will be opening in London next year.
The critically acclaimed series Transparent has been given a third season order by Amazon and will arrive on Amazon Prime sometime next year. Season two will be available this fall, with filming set to start next week in Los Angeles.
Created by Jill Soloway, Transparent stars Jeffrey Tambor, Judith Light, Gaby Hoffman, Amy Landecker, and Jay Duplass. Soloway will be back as writer/showrunner/executive producer, and all the key cast members are expected to return for the third season.
“Jill is truly a creative force and I’m thrilled that we will be collaborating with her additional projects in the future and on a third season of Transparent,” stated Roy Price, Vice President, Amazon Studios. “The second season is currently starting production, and I know our customers will be delighted to continue the journey with Maura and the Pfefferman family.”
“I am so thrilled that I get to share more of the Pfeffermans’ story with the world,” added Soloway. “We are all so in love with watching them change and grow. I am blown away by the creative freedom Amazon gives me and I can’t wait to reveal where this journey is going to take us.”
The Plot:
Transparent is a half hour novelistic series that explores family, identity, sex, and love. The series stars Tambor as Maura, who has spent her life as Mort—the Pfefferman family patriarch. When she reintroduces herself to her family, everyone else’s secrets finally start to come out. This includes her ex-wife Shelly (played by Light), and their children—meandering Ali (played by Hoffmann), record producer Josh (played by Duplass), and sexually conflicted Sarah (played by Landecker). Each family member spins in a different direction as they figure out who they won’t become.
Everyday athletes take on sports superstars in Fox’s one hour special Beat the Champions airing on June 30, 2015 at 9pm ET/PT. Four-time Olympic Gold swimmer Missy Franklin, New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski, and six-time NBA champion Scottie Pippen will be competing against amateur athletes in a series of challenges with big prize money at stake. SNL‘s Finesse Mitchell will be hosting the special.
The Details:
To level the playing field, the champs will be faced with increasingly absurd and hilarious handicaps, while the amateurs will be given increasing levels of assistance to beat their elite competition – whether in the water, on the line of scrimmage or on the hardwood. The greater the assist needed by the contestant, however, the less prize money awarded. Over the course of three rounds, competitors will have a chance to win more than $100,000.
MTV’s new Scream series is based on the Scream films and the eight-minute clip the network’s just released from episode one is an homage to the first scene in the original Scream movie. That scene featured Drew Barrymore at home by herself, popping popcorn and getting ready to watch a movie. In MTV’s Scream, it’s Bella Thorne who’s at home when the Ghostface killer reveals he/she is stalking her via a series of text messages.
The cast also includes Willa Fitzgerald as “Emma,” Bex Taylor-Klaus as “Audrey,” Carlson Young as “Brooke,” Amadeus Serafini as “Kieran,” John Karna as “Noah,” Connor Weil as “Will,” Tracy Middendorf as “Maggie,” and Jason Wiles as “Sheriff Hudson.”
MTV is set to premiere Scream on June 30, 2015 at 10pm ET/PT.
The Plot: After a cyber-bullying incident results in a brutal murder, the shocking violence stirs up memories of a killing spree from the past that has haunted some, intrigued others and maybe just inspired a new killer. A group of teens – with two old friends struggling to reconnect at its heart – become lovers, enemies, suspects, targets, and victims of a killer who’s out for blood.
Zachary Levi as Luke Collins in ‘Heroes Reborn’ (Photo by: Christos Kalohoridis / NBC)
NBC has released a new trailer for the event series Heroes Reborn starring Jack Coleman, Zachary Levi, Judith Shekoni, and Henry Zebrowski. The cast of the new Heroes series also includes Robbie Kay, Danika Yarosh, Gatlin Green, Kiki Sukezane, Ryan Guzman, Rya Kihlstedt, Masi Oka, Greg Grunberg, Sendhil Ramamurthy, and Jimmy Jean-Louis, with Heroes‘ creator/executive producer back in the same capacity.
Heroes Reborn will premiere on September 24, 2015 at 8pm ET/PT. The event series consists of 13 episodes and, as with the original Heroes, follows regular people who find out they have extraordinary abilities.
NBC also unveiled the official synopsis of the series:
A year ago, a terrorist attack in Odessa, Texas, left the city decimated. Blamed for the tragic event, those with extraordinary abilities are in hiding or on the run from those with nefarious motives.
Two such vigilantes include Luke (Levi) and Joanne (Shekoni), who are seeking to avenge a tragic loss.
Noah Bennet, aka H.R.G. (Coleman), has gone off the grid, but conspiracy theorist Quentin Frady (Zebrowski) finds him and opens his eyes to the truth behind the Odessa tragedy.
While in hiding, some are discovering their newfound skills. Awkward teen Tommy (Kay) just wants to be normal and win the girl of his dreams, Emily (Green), but normalcy is virtually impossible after learning of a new ability that terrifies him. Coming from a very sheltered upbringing, a bold and ethereal teenager, Malina (Yarosh), has been told she is destined for greatness. In Tokyo, a quiet and unique young woman, Miko (Sukezane), is trying to track down her missing father while hiding an extraordinary secret that will make her a force to be reckoned with. Elsewhere, a different type of hero is emerging through former soldier Carlos (Guzman).
Meanwhile, Erica (Kihlstedt), the head of the highly successful tech conglomerate Renautas, has an agenda of her own.
For better or for worse, some are fated to cross paths with assorted heroes of the past, including Hiro Nakamura (Oka), Matt Parkman (Grunberg), Mohinder Suresh (Ramamurthy) and the Haitian (Jean-Louis), among others. Yet, together, their ultimate destiny is nothing less than saving the world and mankind.
After raking in cash one furry fist over the other, Seth MacFarlane’s pot smoking, foul-mouthed teddy bear returns to the big screen in Ted 2 (catchy title). This time around, Ted must fight for his civil rights to be considered a person and not property. Think To Kill a Mockingbird meets Family Guy. Wait … don’t think that. That’s just weird.
Fans may be wondering why Mila Kunis didn’t return for Ted 2 when so many of the original cast did. Some light internet research revealed the standard response to such a question is because of how the story developed. I have no reason to doubt it, and considering the addition of Amanda Seyfried as the novice attorney who champions Ted’s case with the court, that actually makes sense.
Talking about plot is boring, even more so when it comes to comedies, so I’ll spare you the exposition. Suffice it to say there are ups and downs, courtrooms, hijinks, and plenty of cameos. Although Kunis was absent, the Family Guy cast was well represented again, of course, with MacFarlane once again voicing Ted, and the Patricks (Warburton and Stewart) reprising their roles from the first film (a narrator is a role technically).
Giovanni Ribisi returns with another skeevy plot to earn himself his very own talking teddy bear at the expense of Ted, and Jessica Barth continues to love the cute and cuddly titular character with all of the foul-mouthed language one would expect from a good Boston girl. There are other cameos well worth mentioning (i.e. Sam Jones), but listing names is something you can get by visiting IMDb, so we’ll just move on, shall we?
New to the proceedings in supporting roles are Michael Dorn, John Carroll Lynch, and Morgan Freeman. Each brings their own particular skill set to the proceedings, but those out there who know Dorn and Warburton’s previous works, will find themselves especially pleased by their involvement in scenes set at New York Comic-Con. Seriously, it may be easy pickings but it’s kind of genius.
Kudos also go to Mark Wahlberg and Seyfried. Each allows for a few jokes that are less than flattering, and it shows they have the ability to check their egos at the door. While the big Wahlberg gross-out scene is a bit reminiscent of something Jay Chandrasekhar cooked up in The Babymakers, it does make sense to go there considering the situation that was at play. And Seyfried is obviously a beautiful woman, and allowing comparisons to a certain well-known fantasy character to be made showed a good deal of humility.
Anywho, audiences who liked the first installment should find a lot to like here in the sequel. While other sequels (*cough* Jurassic World) may have defecated all over the metaphorical bed, MacFarlane has delivered on the laughs and it’s possible that this is better than the first movie. With comedies it’s so hard to actually determine that on the first go-around, as part of what makes them seem better is that you hadn’t heard the jokes before. Subsequent viewings will need to “bear” out my impulsive assessment (I had to have at least one pun, right?).
Of course, few things are perfect. There certainly are some elements that could have been edited out as the running time of nearly two hours is a bit too long for what this movie offers. First and foremost is the subplot with Giovanni Ribisi. It’s basically the same thing we saw in the initial movie and although the payoff leads to a catalyzing moment, that same moment could have been derived from almost any other situation.
And as someone who’s enjoyed MacFarlane’s work outside of Family Guy, singing old standards and having a bent for big, classic Hollywood musical numbers, I wasn’t surprised to see some of that on display here. However, while there’s some amusing irony in an opening sequence that sort of takes the one from Family Guy and turns into a big, real-life, musical extravaganza, it doesn’t really jibe with everything else.
The same essentially applies to a song MacFarlane wrote for Seyfried to sing, which harkens back to those aforementioned old standards. It wasn’t poorly done, and thankfully this is a pre-recorded and produced Seyfried (not that horrific high-pitched warbling from Les Miserables). Still, it just felt like these touches were put in because MacFarlane likes it, without really stopping to consider if it matched up to the rest of the movie.
Still, I found myself laughing constantly throughout the film and will happily be adding this to my home collection down the line. Ted 2 won’t convert anyone who didn’t like the first movie or doesn’t enjoy Family Guy, as the humor is quite similar. But if you’re a fan, getting out to the theaters to check this out is a no-brainer … though if you’re cash-conscious I can totally see waiting for the home market to save a few bucks. And should this make another toy chest full of greenbacks, you can bet a Ted 3 will be on the way as MacFarlane has already stated that possibility is up to audience demand. Your move, World.
GRADE: B
MPAA rating: R for crude and sexual content, pervasive language, and some drug use.
Grey Damon as Brian Shafe and David Duchovny as Sam Hodiak in ‘Aquarius’ (Photo by: Vivian Zink / NBC)
NBC’s renewing Aquarius for a second season as just announced by NBC Entertainment President Jennifer Salke. The ’60s-set drama stars David Duchovny, Gethin Anthony, Claire Holt, Grey Damon, and Emma Dumont, and is written and executive produced by John McNamara (In Plain Sight). Duchovny, Melanie Greene, and Marty Adelstein also serve as executive producers.
“With its riveting drama and innovative release strategy, Aquarius has excited the critics, hooked millions of viewers and energized our summer. It’s no secret that the way people watch television is evolving, so we took a unique approach to how we delivered Aquarius and it’s driven some record numbers for NBC Digital and helped us reach viewers who might have otherwise overlooked a great summer drama,” said Salke.
According to NBC, Aquarius has been averaging 5.8 million viewers.
“Beyond generating some truly impressive view totals, the network’s unique release strategy with Aquarius has helped us gain new insights into viewership patterns, binging behavior, and social engagement, significantly expanding our knowledge of how people are watching our shows online,” said Robert Hayes, Executive Vice President of NBC Entertainment Digital.
Gethin Anthony as Charles Manson in ‘Aquarius’ (Photo by: Vivian Zink / NBC)
The Aquarius Plot:
Sam Hodiak (Duchovny), a decorated World War II vet and homicide detective, barely recognizes the city he’s now policing. Long hair, cheap drugs, rising crime, protests, free love, police brutality, Black Power and the Vietnam War are radically remaking the world he and the Greatest Generation saved from fascism 20 years ago.
So when Emma Karn (Dumont), the 16-year-old daughter of an old girlfriend, goes missing in a sea of hippies and Hodiak agrees to find her, he faces only hostility, distrust and silence. He enlists the help of Brian Shafe (Damon) — a young, idealistic undercover vice cop who’s been allowed to grow his hair out — to infiltrate this new counterculture and find her.
The generational conflict between the two is immediate and heated, yet they’re both dedicated officers and soon realize the need to bring Emma home is more urgent than they foresaw. The immediacy arises because she has joined a small, but growing, band of drifters under the sway of a career criminal who now dreams of being a rock star: Charles Manson (Anthony).
Ringing with the unparalleled music of the era, Aquarius is a sprawling work of historical fiction that begins two years before the 1969 Tate-LaBianca murders. It’s a shocking thriller, a nuanced character drama and, in the end, the story of how we became who we are today.
Fox’s 2015-2016 will kick off their fall 2015-2016 schedule with the 67th Primetime Emmy Awards on September 20, 2015 with Andy Samberg of Brooklyn Nine-Nine as host. The upcoming primetime season on Fox will see the return of Empire, Gotham, Bones, Sleepy Hollow, The Last Man on Earth, Masterchef Junior, World’s Funniest, Bob’s Burgers, The Simpsons, and Family Guy. Brand new shows joining the lineup include Minority Report, Scream Queens, Grandfathered, The Grinder, and Rosewood.
In addition to announcing the schedule, Fox released details on the upcoming seasons of the new and returning shows.
Sunday, Sept. 20
8:00-11:00 PM LIVE ET/ 67TH PRIMETIME EMMY® AWARDS
5:00-8:00 PM LIVE PT
Gotham: The stakes are higher than ever as Gotham explores the origin stories of some of the most ambitious and depraved Super Villains, including The Riddler, The Joker and Mr. Freeze, and Bruce Wayne (David Mazouz) uncovers more secrets from his father’s past.
Minority Report: Based on Steven Spielberg’s international blockbuster film and the first of his films to be adapted for television, Minority Report follows the partnership between a man (Stark Sands) haunted by the future and a cop (Meagan Good) haunted by her past, as they race to stop the worst crimes before they happen.
Scream Queens: All hell is about to break loose on the Wallace University campus when, exactly 20 years after a mysterious tragedy, a devil-clad killer begins to target the sisters of Kappa House. The super-charged anthology series is a modern take on the classic whodunit with a killer cast, including Emma Roberts, Jamie Lee Curtis, Lea Michele, Abigail Breslin, Oliver Hudson, Keke Palmer, Nick Jonas and pop superstar and actress Ariana Grande, among others. With at least one casualty each week until the mystery is solved, anyone could be the next victim – or the murderer.
Grandfathered:Grandfathered is a coming-of-middle-age story starring John Stamos as the ultimate bachelor whose life is turned upside down when he discovers he’s not only a father, but a grandfather. The series also stars Josh Peck.
The Grinder:The Grinder, starring Emmy Award nominee Rob Lowe and Emmy Award and Golden Globe nominee Fred Savage, follows a famous TV lawyer (Lowe) who is going from show business…to the family business. After his hit series, “The Grinder,” is canceled, he moves back home and joins his brother (Savage) at their family’s real-life law firm – despite having no law degree, no license to practice and no experience in an actual courtroom.
Rosewood:Rosewood is set against the vibrant backdrop of one of the world’s hottest cities – Miami. The series stars Morris Chestnut as Dr. Beaumont Rosewood, Jr., the city’s top private pathologist. Brilliant, cool with tons of charisma, Rosewood teams up with the tough-as-nails Detective Annalise Villa (Jaina Lee Ortiz), to uncover clues no one else sees and help the Miami PD solve the city’s most challenging cases.
Empire: The series will pick up three months after the shocking arrest and incarceration of Empire Entertainment head Lucious Lyon (Terrence Howard). Knowing Lucious won’t be held much longer in prison, Cookie (Taraji P. Henson) and her allies within the Lyon family make a desperate attempt to seize control of the company. But as the Lyons continue to battle each other, a bigger external threat emerges that could force them to unite.
Bones: Picking up six months after the Season 10 finale, Brennan (Emily Deschanel) and Booth (David Boreanaz) have moved on to a new town and new jobs, having given up their old life and settled into a blissful death-free existence. But a murder unlike any other draws them back to investigate with their former colleagues at the Jeffersonian and FBI.
Sleepy Hollow:Sleepy Hollow returns after a disquieting break in the demonic action, as our heroes – Ichabod Crane (Tom Mison) and Abbie Mills (Nicole Beharie) – adjust to a world seemingly without Moloch, witchy wives, evil sons and headless ex-best friends. However, nothing is ever quite as it seems, and the eerie calm will quickly give way to the next tribulation, driven by a surprising supernatural presence that will challenge Crane and Mills in ways they never imagined.
The critically acclaimed series 
