What do you get when five assassins, a silver briefcase, a distraught father, a mobster’s son, and a poisonous snake are all on the fastest train in Japan? You get the R-rated action-comedy Bullet Train starring Brad Pitt.
The film focuses on Ladybug (Pitt), an unlucky assassin who’s recently left therapy to go back to work for his handler (Sandra Bullock) on what she promises is a simple assignment: to snatch and grab a silver briefcase that’s on the Bullet Train.
Ladybug’s mission becomes much more complicated, however, due to the other assassins onboard. Among the motley collection of professional killers are Lemon (Brian Tyree Henry) and Tangerine (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), two quirky British assassins who are known as “The Twins” and who are babysitting the son of a ruthless mobster known as “The White Death.” Then there’s The Prince (Joey King), a young woman who uses her youthful appearance and school-girl clothes to disarm her targets into thinking she’s just a sweet, scared kid.
Also on board the world’s fastest train are The Hornet (Zazie Beetz), a killer who always uses poison on her victims, and The Wolf (Bad Bunny), a former enforcer who has boarded the train looking to avenge his murdered wife. Oh, and last but not least, a poisonous snake that was stolen from the zoo.
As Ladybug repeatedly attempts to exit the train with the briefcase, he keeps getting into deadly altercations with the other assassins. He and his handler begin to realize that something else is going on and that all the assassins seem to be after the silver case. To make matters evenly deadlier, The White Death is waiting at the final stop in Kyoto with a small army of hitmen to finish off anyone still alive on the train.
Brad Pitt and Bad Bunny star in ‘Bullet Train’ (Photo By: Scott Garfield)
Directed by David Leitch (Deadpool 2, Atomic Blonde) and based on the Japanese novel Maria Beetle by Kôtarô Isaka, Bullet Train is a tongue-in-cheek, dark action-comedy with an impressive cast and plenty of mindless, chaotic action that goes on way too long for its own good. It’s a live-action Looney Toons with Brad Pitt in place of Bugs Bunny.
Brad Pitt is hilarious and perfectly cast as Ladybug, the in-over-his-head former assassin who’s trying to stay in his Zen zone as he continuously gets into deadly altercations with professional killers. It’s Pitt’s performance that makes the film worthwhile to sit through. And Brian Tyree Henry and Aaron Taylor-Johnson have great chemistry as Lemon and Tangerine, two killers who always work together as partners but who bicker and argue more than they actually kill.
The biggest problem with the film, besides its overly long running time that could easily have been trimmed down by 20 minutes, is the over-the-top, violent, blood-splattering fight scenes that’ll force some audience members to wince and look away from the screen for nearly half of the film. In other words, go into it knowing you’re in for a lot of bloody fight scenes.
Although it’s too long and too bloody, a terrific performance by Brad Pitt and the strong supporting cast make Bullet Train a fun, action-packed, comical, and entertaining ride. Hop on board, if you don’t mind plenty of violence.
GRADE: B-
MPAA Rating: R for pervasive language, brief sexuality, and strong and bloody violence
The Umbrella Academy‘s Tom Hopper and The Vampire Diaries‘ Kat Graham star in the Netflix romantic comedy Love in the Villa. The official trailer gives away pretty much the entire plot but given it’s a romantic comedy about two strangers who are forced to share the same villa, any romcom fan could have figured out the story on their own even without watching the trailer.
The cast includes Raymond Ablack, Laura Hopper, Sean Amsing, and Emilio Solfrizzi. Mark Steven Johnson (Love Guaranteed, When in Rome) wrote, directed, and produced the film, with Stephanie Slack and Margret H. Huddleston also involved as producers.
Love in the Villa will be released on September 1, 2022.
The Plot: Julie Hutton (Graham) has always been certain that if she waited long enough, she would be destined for a life of romance. She’s about to go on her lifelong dream trip to Verona, Italy, and her boyfriend, Brandon, might even finally propose. So no one is more blindsided than Julie when Brandon suddenly breaks it off with her, leaving her to embark to the City of Love on her own. After all, she has been planning this trip to Verona for years.
When she arrives at La Villa Romantica, Julie is surprised that her rental is already occupied by Charlie (Hopper), a handsome, yet unfriendly, British man who is in town for business — and no pleasure at all. For Charlie, his annual stay at the villa is purely pragmatic: the villa is conveniently located near the wine exhibition he attends working for the largest wine importer in London. Neither has signed up for a roommate for the week, but Julie and Charlie are forced to reluctantly share the villa because of a mix-up. Ever the optimist, Julie eventually tries to make the most of the situation and sees that, perhaps, destiny still has a plan for her.
The huge ensemble cast of Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power took to the stage at the 2022 San Diego Comic-Con – held in-person and under strict Covid-19 protocols – to promote the epic fantasy series. The cast also made their way down a lengthy red carpet for brief interviews about the much-anticipated series which premieres on September 2, 2022.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is set in the Second Age of Middle-earth, thousands of years prior to J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Among the new characters set to be introduced in season one is Halbrand (played by Charlie Vickers, Medici), a human whose encounter with Galadriel changes the course of his life. Owain Arthur (A Confession) stars as Prince Durin IV, a character Tolkien fans will recognize as a king of the dwarves who bore one of the Rings of Power.
Vickers and Arthur were among the among the cast members who participated in interviews at Comic-Con, and Arthur even treated us to a duet with Trystan Gravelle who plays Pharazon.
Owain Arthur as Prince Durin IV in ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ (Photo Courtesy of Prime Video)
Owain Arthur Interview – “Prince Durin IV”
So, you’re a dwarf in the show.
Owain Arthur: “I am a dwarf in the show. I am Prince Durin the IV in the show.”
How long did the makeup take?
Owain Arthur: “Three hours. It took three hours of sitting in a chair, getting to know people very intimately because we spend hours together. You know what I mean? By the time that I reached set, I felt like I’d already done a morning’s work…well, I did…but it was great.
It was one of those things that when I got cast as Durin and I got to play a dwarf, it was like, ‘Yes! I get to wear prosthetics. I get to wear a wig and carry a beard and put all these glorious costumes on.’ And the majority of the time I have to say I’ve been quite negative of it. I loved it, I’ve absolutely loved it, and it was an honor really to be able to put it on – as painful and tiring as it was.”
Did they give you a big book with your backstory or did you kind of suss it out as you’re going along?
Owain Arthur: “Do you know what? I’m trying to think now because we now know so much about Middle-earth and Khazad-dûm, I’m trying to think was it spoon-fed to me or if it happened through osmosis or was it… I don’t know.”
It’s hard to think back. It’s been a while.
Owain Arthur: “Yeah, I mean we did some digging. As a dwarf you kind of dig a lot, right? Stick with me. (Laughing) But yeah there was a lot, a lot of hard work, a lot of – as I said – digging into finding out who these people are.”
Are viewers going to love the dwarves?
Owain Arthur: “I mean, who doesn’t love a dwarf?”
That is a really good question.
Owain Arthur: “How can you not like a dwarf? They’re lovely, funny, heartfelt creatures.”
Were you a huge Lord of the Rings fan to begin with?
Owain Arthur: “Yes, the films. I was a huge fan of the films and then digging into Middle-earth you go, ‘Wow, this really is never ending what you can discover.’ I’m still learning about it and even watching the show for the fifth time you’re discovering more stuff about it. So I suppose that’s great for JD [Payne] and Patrick [McKay] who created the show because you discover more when you read Tolkien and you kind of see more when you watch the show as well. So, keep watching and watch it again and again and again.”
And knowledge of The Lord of the Rings isn’t necessary to understand and get into the series?
Owain Arthur: “Absolutely not. Absolutely not because like I said it’s a journey that you go on and you empathize, and you sympathize and love and root for people in the show. That’s perfect for a newbie to kind of… [Trystan Gravelle who plays Pharazon begins singing.] There’s some Welsh singing going on there. Sorry, I was just watching my fellow… It’s kind of like a call.”
(To Trystan) “You called, sorry. I just heard some Welsh music.”
Trystan Gravelle: “Are we going to belt one out?”
(Watch the video for the spontaneous duet.)
That was fantastic. Did singing break out on set all the time?
Owain Arthur: “You know what? I did sing a lot on set. There’s another song called ‘Yma o Hyd’ I would use to kind of activate Durin inside me, funnily enough.”
Because dwarves are singers?
Owain Arthur: “We do sing. We do, I believe. You always find workers who kind of go down in the mines and they often sing to kind of get them through the day. […] And when they drink as well. It’s a very drinking thing to do, right? To be singing. I haven’t been drinking, by the way.”
Are you sure?
Owain Arthur: (Laughing) “Uh no!”
Charlie Vickers Interview – “Halbrand”
Tell me about your character. Do we learn his backstory or do we jump right into it?
Charlie Vickers: “We sort of jump right in with Hal. His backstory sort of unfolds as the show unfolds, which is really nice. I think it’s a nice way to learn about a character where you sort of get little tidbits as it progresses.”
Did you get tidbits or a bible to read about him?
Charlie Vickers: “I got, yeah, not quite a bible but a lot of information. There was a lot to wade through, as with all of Tolkien’s works. I mean it’s so dense and so vast – the legendarium – so there was a lot of reading to be done.”
Was there one thing that you read where you were like, “Yeah, that’s him. That’s how I’ve got to capture him?”
Charlie Vickers: “I think there’s lots of specific things, but I think rather than a specificity it was more like the overall, the vastness of the world. I found some really useful things in Tolkien’s letters actually that really helped me with the character.”
Do you think viewers will need to read anything in particular to understand the stories?
Charlie Vickers: “I don’t think they need anything in particular. I think it’s more something that can stand alone by itself, the show. But, of course, if you have knowledge of the world and the legendarium, it will only help with understanding the story as a whole, and it will feed and inform what you’re watching. But I think the beauty of the show and the way that they developed it is that you can watch it as a standalone thing.”
If you were to describe the series in one word what would it be?
Charlie Vickers: “Magical is the first word that comes to mind, yeah. That is…I haven’t thought that through in a huge amount but that is the first word so there’s something there.”
Morfydd Clark (Galadriel) and Charlie Vickers (Halbrand) in ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ (Photo Credit: Ben Rothstein / Amazon Studios)
Prime Video’s released the following description of season one:
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power brings to screens for the very first time the heroic legends of the fabled Second Age of Middle-earth’s history. This epic drama is set thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings books, and will take viewers back to an era in which great powers were forged, kingdoms rose to glory and fell to ruin, unlikely heroes were tested, hope hung by the finest of threads, and one of the greatest villains that ever flowed from Tolkien’s pen threatened to cover all the world in darkness.
Beginning in a time of relative peace, the series follows an ensemble cast of characters, both familiar and new, as they confront the long-feared reemergence of evil to Middle-earth. From the darkest depths of the Misty Mountains, to the majestic forests of the elf capital of Lindon, to the breathtaking island kingdom of Númenor, to the farthest reaches of the map, these kingdoms and characters will carve out legacies that live on long after they are gone.
Disney+ has shifted She-Hulk: Attorney at Law starring Orphan Black‘s Tatiana Maslany from August 17th to August 18, 2022 and announced a batch of new fall 2022 premiere dates, including the first season of Epic Adventures with Bertie Gregory. Epic Adventures also dropped a trailer and confirmed a season two is already in the works for the adventure series debuting on September 8, 2022.
September 8th is also the premiere date for Growing Up from Brie Larson (Captain Marvel). James Cameron’s Super/Natural – narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch who, hopefully, will not have to pronounce the word “penguins” – will debut on September 21st. The second season of the family-friendly hockey series The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers skates in on September 28th.
Season 31 of Dancing with the Stars debuts on Disney+ on September 19th. After 30 seasons of airing on ABC, Dancing with the Stars announced its move to the streaming service in April 2022.
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law – August 18
In Marvel Studios’ She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, Jennifer Walters (Tatiana Maslany) — an attorney specializing in superhuman-oriented legal cases — must navigate the complicated life of a single, 30-something who also happens to be a green 6-foot-7-inch superpowered hulk. The nine-episode comedy series welcomes a host of MCU vets, including Mark Ruffalo as Smart Hulk, Tim Roth as Emil Blonsky/the Abomination, and Benedict Wong as Wong, as well as Ginger Gonzaga, Josh Segarra, Jameela Jamil, Jon Bass, and Renée Elise Goldsberry.
Growing Up – September 8
Created by Brie Larson and Culture.House, Growing Up is an innovative hybrid docu-series that explores the challenges, triumphs, and complexities of adolescence through ten compelling coming of age stories. The series uses narrative, experimental, and documentary filmmaking to follow one casted individual, ages 18-22, as they tell their story. They represent a wide range of lived experiences, giving audiences emotionally powerful narratives that offer an engaging look at teenage-hood and the diverse social, familial, and internal obstacles young people face on their path to self-discovery and acceptance.
Each 30-minute episode features one young person, or “hero,” and their experience growing up. Each episode is anchored by a deeply personal interview that allows our heroes to walk us through their childhood and teenage years. Alongside these interviews, creative cinematic reenactments help bring their major inflection points to life.
Epic Adventures with Bertie Gregory – September 8
The face of a new generation of aspirational adventurers and natural history filmmakers, 29-year-old National Geographic Explorer Bertie Gregory takes viewers on epic and nail-biting journeys that push into the most spectacular and secretive corners of our wild world. Armed with leading-edge film technology, the Disney+ original series Epic Adventures with Bertie Gregory, from National Geographic, breaks the mold of the traditional natural history program by telling extraordinary, real-life animal stories and taking viewers with him for every beat of the action. For weeks at a time, the charismatic BAFTA Award-winning cinematographer immerses himself into the animals’ lives to capture the untold stories of iconic creatures living in some of the harshest environments on our planet.
This season, we will see Bertie braving the icy worlds of Antarctica in search of the biggest gathering of whales ever filmed and coming face-to-face with specialist buffalo-hunting lions in Zambia. In this multipart adventure series, he will take audiences on an ambitious odyssey across the globe, showcasing the natural world at a time when it faces its greatest challenges.
Dancing with the Stars Season 31 – September 19 Dancing with the Stars is the hit series hosted by supermodel and businesswoman Tyra Banks and actor and television personality Alfonso Ribeiro in which celebrities are paired with trained ballroom dancers to compete in themed choreographed dance routines that are judged by a panel of renowned ballroom experts, including Len Goodman, Carrie Ann Inaba, Bruno Tonioli and Derek Hough.
Super/Natural – September 21
Executive-produced by James Cameron and narrated by Academy Award-nominated and BAFTA Award-winning actor Benedict Cumberbatch, this new series will utilize the latest scientific innovations and leading-edge filmmaking technology to reveal the secret powers and super-senses of the world’s most extraordinary animals, inviting viewers to see and hear beyond normal human perception to experience the natural world as a specific species does — from seeing flowers in bee-vision to eavesdropping on a conversation between elephant seals to soaring the length of a football field with glow-in-the-dark squirrels.
The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers Season 2 – September 28
After winning back the Mighty Ducks team name last year, our squad-with-heart and their coach Alex Morrow (Lauren Graham) take to the road to attend an intense summer hockey institute in California run by charming yet hardcore former NHL player Colin Cole (Josh Duhamel). It’s a place for kids to get excellent at hockey — without school to get in the way. As our Ducks try to survive in this super-competitive environment, they’re faced with the question: Can you win summer?
Jack Osbourne turns his lifelong fascination with aliens into a two-hour special on discovery+. Jack Osbourne’s Night of Terror: UFOs will find the paranormal enthusiast turning his attention to the skies and visiting the UFO hotspot, Uinta Basin.
Jack Osbourne will be joined by his buddies Jason Mewes (Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back) and Jamie Kennedy (Scream) for the UFO special airing on Saturday, September 3, 2022 on discovery+.
“I’ve been obsessed with the concept of whether or not we’re alone since I was a kid staring up at the stars,” said Osbourne. “The Uinta Basin has fascinated me for years – it’s a mecca for alien and supernatural activity. People are drawn here for specific things but when you come here looking for it, you often find something you’re not looking for. I’ve never been to any place like this. It’s its own realm.”
Jack Osbourne, Jason Mewes, and Jamie Kennedy in discovery+’s ‘Jack Osbourne’s Night Of Terror: UFOs)
Discovery+ released the following description of Jack Osbourne’s Night of Terror: UFOs:
“Home to the infamous paranormal hotspot Skinwalker Ranch, the Uinta Basin is a highly active supernatural site. Reports of UFO sightings and alien abductions have long defined this area. In recent years, strange creatures and shapeshifters have appeared to residents, unexplainable lights fly across the skies, and rumors of government tests and installations are widely circulated. Gathering intel from witnesses and experts, including UFO expert Ben Hansen, Osbourne, Mewes, and Kennedy embark on an unflinching investigation to figure out if these phenomena are connected and why the strange activity is so concentrated in this area.
Armed with state-of-the-art technology and specialty equipment, the trio venture on a multi-part investigation throughout the rugged and isolated landscape. Witnessing unexplained aerial phenomena in the skies, mysterious lights and perplexing shadow figures, they’re convinced the area is a supernatural melting pot. But when Osbourne captures a particularly unusual creature on camera, it leaves them with more confounding questions deepening the mystery of a realm beyond.”
NCIS and NCIS: Hawai’i join forces for a crossover event (Photo Credit: CBS)
NCIS season 20 and NCIS: Hawai’i season two will begin their 2022-2023 primetime runs with a special crossover event. CBS just announced the two dramas will debut on Monday, September 19, 2022 with a two-hour event that features the casts of both series teaming up on a special investigation.
The network released the following descriptions of the crossover premiere episodes:
NCIS: “A Family Matter” – Following the cliffhanger season 19 finale, with Special Agent Alden Parker (Gary Cole) still on the run with his ex-wife Vivian (Terri Polo), the team investigates who from his past might have a personal vendetta against him in hopes of clearing Parker’s name. Enlisting the help of NCIS: Hawai’i’s Special Agent Jane Tennant (Vanessa Lachey) and computer specialist Ernie Malick (Jason Antoon), who are in town meeting with director Leon Vance (Rocky Carroll) in preparation for a global military exercise, the group tracks down their prime suspect, The Raven, on the CBS Original Series NCIS, Monday, Sept. 19 (9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT).
NCIS: HAWAI’I: “Prisoners’ Dilemma” – Tennant’s team, along with NCIS agents Nick Torres (Wilmer Valderrama) and Jessica Knight (Katrina Law), track The Raven’s whereabouts to the island of Oahu and learn about his plans to attack RIMPAC (The Rim of the Pacific Exercises), the world’s largest international maritime warfare exercise, on the exciting conclusion to the special crossover event and the season two premiere of the CBS Original series NCIS: HAWAI’I, Monday, Sept. 19 (10:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT). NCIS stars Gary Cole, Brian Dietzen and Diona Reasonover also guest star in the episode.
Selena + Chef star Selena Gomez introduces the official trailer for season four by promising the upcoming season will feature new, mouthwatering recipes, masterful chefs, and a few funny mishaps along the way. The trailer also reveals the show’s new beach setting for season four.
The trailer release was accompanied by the news that season four will premiere on HBO Max on Thursday, August 18, 2022 with the release of the first three episodes. Episodes four through six air on August 25th, followed by the four remaining episodes on September 1st.
Season four featured chefs include Adrienne Cheatham, Devonn Francis, Gordon Ramsay, and Kristen Kish. Ludo Lefebvre, Matty Matheson, Nick DiGiovanni, Paola Velez, Priya Krishna, and Rachael Ray also help Selena Gomez hone her cooking skills in the upcoming season.
The series is executive produced by showrunner Leah Hariton, Melissa Stokes, July Moon Productions’ Selena Gomez, and The Intellectual Property Corporation’s Eli Holzman and Aaron Saidman.
HBO Max released the following description of the new season:
“Selena + Chef is back! This time Selena heads to the beach with her friends and family for some summer fun. Season four takes place in a beautiful Malibu beach house where Selena will continue to learn the joys of cooking with all-star chefs. As in the first three seasons, each chef will highlight a different charity.
To date, the series has raised $400,000 for 26 nonprofit organizations.”
Paramount+ has just dropped the official trailer for the sixth – and final – season of The Good Fight. The critically acclaimed, award-winning drama will premiere on September 8, 2022, with new episodes arriving on Thursdays.
According to Paramount+, the upcoming sixth season will find Diane feeling “like she’s going crazy, struggling with an uneasy sense of déjà vu, with the overturning of Roe v. Wade, to voting rights, to Cold War aggressions returning. Meanwhile, the lawyers of Reddick & Associates wonder if the violence that they see all around them points to an impending civil war.”
Christine Baranski returns to lead a cast that includes John Slattery, Sarah Steele, Michael Boatman, Nyambi Nyambi, Charmaine Bingwa, Audra McDonald, and Andre Braugher. Season six guest stars include Alan Cumming and Carrie Preston.
The final season will consist of 10 episodes.
“We’ve LOVED fighting The Good Fight these last six seasons. To be able to tell stories about an upside-down world in real-time has been a gift. And to have worked with these talented, brilliant, generous actors, writers and crew has been a blessing,” said Robert and Michelle King, series co-creators, showrunners, and executive producers. “Our hope-slash-scheme is to find ways to work with all of them again in the future.”
Ridley Scott, David W. Zucker, Liz Glotzer, William Finkelstein, Jonathan Tolins, Jacquelyn Reingold, and Christine Baranski also executive produce. The series is produced by CBS Studios in association with Scott Free Productions and King Size Productions.
FX has set a September 15, 2022 premiere date for the fourth – and, unfortunately, final – season of the critically acclaimed series Atlanta. The release date announcement was accompanied by the launch of the official trailer for the much-anticipated fourth season.
Atlanta will kick off season four with the release of the first two episodes. New episodes of the 10-episode final season will arrive on subsequent Thursdays at 10pm ET/PT.
The award-winning series was created by Donald Glover who, in addition to starring as Earn,” serves as writer and executive producer. The season four cast also includes Brian Tyree Henry as “Alfred ‘Paper Boi’ Miles,” LaKeith Stanfield as “Darius,” and Zazie Beetz as “Van.”
Stephen Glover, Hiro Murai, Stefani Robinson, Paul Simms, and Dianne McGunigle executive produce.
Atlanta premiered in September 2016, with season two following in March 2018. Season three was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic and premiered on March 24, 2022. Over its three seasons, Atlanta has earned Emmy, Critics Choice, AFI, Peabody, PGA, WGA, and NAACP awards.
LaKeith Stanfield, Zazie Beetz, Donald Glover, and Brian Tyree Henry star in ‘Atlanta’ (Photo Credit: Matthias Clamer/FX)
Atlanta‘s season 4 plot description:
“Season 4 finds Earn, Paper Boi, Darius, and Van back in their hometown. But the question is, has Atlanta changed, or have they?”
Being the co-creator of the critically acclaimed, incredibly popular Phineas and Ferb helped Dan Povenmire when it came to casting Hamster & Gretel. Disney Channel’s new music-filled animated series set to premiere on August 12, 2022 features actors and songwriters who’ve grown up with Phineas and Ferb or have kids who watched the series. But for the lead character of Gretel, all Dan had to do was turn to his daughter, Meli, who turned out to be perfect for the role.
The father-and-daughter team paired up for interviews at the 2022 San Diego Comic-Con where Disney Channel hosted the first-ever panel for Hansel & Gretel. Here’s what they had to say about the plot, superpowers, and whether we will ever see a Phineas and Ferb crossover episode.
You started out as a scratch temporary voice and your dad put you through the paces a little bit to get the role. What was it like when you finally got it?
Meli Povenmire: “I knew it was going to happen, honestly.”
Dan Povenmire: “Did you? You didn’t tell me you knew.”
Meli Povenmire: “You didn’t tell me a single time that like, ‘Oh, you might not get it.’ He was like, ‘I think you’re going to get it because I feel like you’re one of the best. You just tested really well.’
I was always pretty confident in my skills. (Laughing) I sound so full of myself. But I’ve done temp lines before – I’ve done auditions – but this was like the first time where it was just like a transition from doing the temps straight into doing the actual voice, and it was so exciting. It didn’t really hit me until a few months into recording that I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m actually this person. I actually have this job.’ But it was super exciting.”
Can you take us through the origin of the story?
Dan Povenmire: “Well, the origin is like everything – it’s sort of from a drawing I did of a super hamster. And then I love this guy, but I don’t know what to do with it. And then I sort of started basing it on my relationship with my youngest sister. There’s three of us – there was me and my younger sister and then 10 years and another sister. And by the time I was 16, I had this six-year-old sister who I became her chauffeur and was taking her around and stuff. Then it was like, ‘What can I do? What if we make that part of the dynamic?’
It became, okay, what if the little sister gets superpowers too? What if from the older brother’s point of view, he was supposed to get the superpowers because they were given to them by an alien who comes and says, ‘We will bestow upon you powers unimaginable,’ and then shoots him with this beam but she happened to have her pet hamster in the car and the powers go to her and her pet hamster. What would that do to their dynamic?
You know, the older brother is always protective of the little sister and now she can lift a bus over her head. What kind of protection does she need? So, that became sort of the basis of the whole show is that sort of dynamic. Like, ‘Oh, your little sister can now kick your butt and everybody else’s.’ Where do you find your place in that – and her pet? So that was sort of the jumping-off point.”
Superhero origin stories always involve the superhero finding their powers, learning them, and then making mistakes along the way. How much of that are we going to see this season?
Dan Povenmire: “Well, we do because Gretel is all kid. She’s all impulse and doesn’t think things through. […] She just wants to do the easiest, fastest thing that a kid would want to do and he’s trying to get her to be responsible.
But she doesn’t really end up learning much because she does things her way. It always eventually works out so that’s a little bit of a frustration for him. He’s trying to tell her the responsible way to do things and then she does it the wrong way and it usually works out. Sometimes he has to come in and help and solve problems for her, but it always ends up okay. So, she sort of comes out the same person all the time, which is fun.”
Can you talk about some of the evil villains we’ll see and some of the crazy superpowers?
Dan Povenmire: “Who’s your favorite?”
Meli Povenmire: “My favorite – there’s a cat-themed villain. What’s his name?”
Dan Povenmire: “Copycat.”
Meli Povenmire: “Copycat. And he has this gun that shoots hairballs but how he reloads it… I was watching a video of it when I was doing the ADR and he’s shooting but then it starts making this cat coughing sound. He was like, ‘Oh, it’s empty,’ and he opens it, pulls out a naked cat, puts it to the side, and puts in this hairy cat and starts shooting it again. That’s probably my favorite.”
Dan Povenmire: “I like all of them. We have a guy whose name is Big Baby and he’s just an infant and it turns out he was a politician who kept losing to younger, taller candidates so he decided to make himself young and tall. He made himself too young and too tall, and now he’s running amuck in the city. He’s like a 40 foot…imagine if King Kong was infant human in an enormous diaper.”
You’ve confirmed this is set in the same universe as Phineas and Ferb and Milo Murphy’s Law. What are your ultimate plans for crossovers?
Dan Povenmire: “Well, we don’t have concrete plans to do that other than we drop hints that they are in the same place. We don’t have that story figured out because we have a big sweeping story that goes through the second season – knock on wood. But we always sort of have that in the back of our minds, like, how are we going to put these guys together at some point? I think it would be really fun and I always love revisiting those worlds.
I would love to do one where Phineas and Ferb and Milo and the Hamster and Gretel crew are all together in some crazy adventure.”
Poster for ‘Hamster & Gretel’ (DISNEY)
Music has always been important to you in all your shows. What are some of the highlights musically in Hamster & Gretel?
Dan Povenmire: “They are releasing an album the same day as the first episode, so we had to go through and find songs that didn’t give away plot points and still sort worked on their own as songs. And we put it together and I just listened to it a couple of days ago all the way through and I was like, ‘Oh, I think I like these songs better than the Phineas songs.’ And I think we set the bar pretty high then.
I think it’s a function of a couple of things. I think I’ve gotten a little bit better as a songwriter but also, I started – because I didn’t have Swampy and I didn’t have Martin, who are like my constant collaborators on songs – reaching out to people that I knew from college or people that I’ve found on TikTok, like songwriters.”
Meli Povenmire: “That’s right – Sophia James.”
Dan Povenmire: “Sophia James has come in and written a couple of songs with me. She’s spectacular.”
Meli Povenmire: “She helped with my favorite song.”
Dan Povenmire: “There’s a song called ‘Strawberry Festival’ that’s about the strawberry festival that the boys in the family think it’s going to be this sweet little environment, but it’s actually this high-octane thing.”
Meli Povenmire: “About some stuntman whose last name is Strawberry.”
Dan Povenmire: “I found a bunch of people on TikTok that are great songwriters. And if I hear them do it over and over again, I know they’ve got the goods. It’s not a shock in the dark. I’ll reach out to them if we are mutuals and say, “Hey, would you want to write a song for a Disney show?’ They are usually like, ‘Yes, let’s do that.’
So, I did some of those on Zoom, and now that the pandemic’s sort of coming to a close, I’ve had some of them over to the house. Although I don’t know if Michael (Cimino) told you but when Michael came over to write that song, I had COVID and I didn’t know that at all. The next day I woke up really sick and I was like, ‘Oh no! I’m going to have to call Michael.’ I called him and he’s like, ‘Okay, I’ll check. I’ll make sure,’ and he did not get it. We were in the same little room writing a song for an hour and a half and he somehow did not get COVID from me.
When we were writing, we were talking about the fact that both of us had been exposed accidentally like four different times and not gotten it, which is true. My wife even had it and I didn’t get it from her, and I was sleeping in the same bed. So, I was sort of feeling, ‘Oh I won’t get it,’ so I went to a concert the weekend before and I had picked it up at that concert.”
How do you describe Gretel? Can you relate to her?
Meli Povenmire: “She is very high energy, and I am very high energy. I’m trying to tone it down while I’m doing all these interviews. When I was younger, I talked a lot faster than I do now because now if I talk too fast, I stumble a lot. She’s very hyper, just like me. She reminds me a lot of myself when I was younger.”
