Friday, September 30, 2016

'War for the Planet of the Apes' Synopsis Promises 'Epic Battle'

When your film has "War" right in the title, you know you have to deliver, and it sounds like "War for the Planet of the Apes" is going all-in with a "deadly conflict" ahead.

"War" is coming in July 2017, as a sequel to 2014's "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" and the third film in 20th Century Fox's "Planet of the Apes" reboot series that started with 2011's "Rise of the Planet of the Apes."

Collider just shared some updates on the 2017 film, including the official synopsis and news that the first footage will be shared by director Matt Reeves (who also directed "Dawn") and star Andy Serkis (Caeser) on Thursday, October 6 at New York Comic-Con.

Here's the synopsis:

"In 'War for the Planet of the Apes,' the third chapter of the critically acclaimed blockbuster franchise, Caesar and his apes are forced into a deadly conflict with an army of humans led by a ruthless Colonel. After the apes suffer unimaginable losses, Caesar wrestles with his darker instincts and begins this own mythic quest to avenge his kind. As the journey finally brings them face to face, Caesar and the Colonel are pitted against each other in an epic battle that will determine the fate of both their species and the future of the planet."

The Hollywood Reporter previously revealed that Woody Harrelson will play the Colonel.

"War for the Planet of the Apes" is scheduled for release in theaters July 14th, 2017.

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'Jurassic World 2' Will Be 'More Suspenseful,' 'Scary,' & Surprising

"Jurassic World" is upping the dino drama in the 2018 sequel, making it more and more difficult to hold onto your butts. Colin Trevorrow directed the 2015 film, and he's involved in "Jurassic Park 2" but -- since he's busy with a little indie film called "Star Wars: Episode IX" -- he passed the directing torch to "A Monster Calls" director J.A. Bayona.

Trevorrow and (briefly) Bayona recently had a great interview with the Jurassic Outpost podcast, teasing what's ahead in the sequel. Here are some highlights from the full chat, which you can listen to below.

• "Jurassic World 2" does have a title, the directors revealed, but they wouldn't share it or reveal when it would be made public.

• Spanish director Bayona is known for his horror films, and Trevorrow hinted to that influence in the "Jurassic World" sequel: "It will be more suspenseful and scary. It's just the way it's designed; it's the way the story plays out. I knew I wanted Bayona to direct it long before anyone ever heard that was a possibility, so the whole thing was just built around his skill set."

• Trevorrow noted that the kids who saw "Jurassic World" will be three years older by the time the sequel comes out. This is about making the story grow up for them, which is part of why he brought in a horror director. He said the structure of "Jurassic World" was about getting bigger and bigger as the story progressed. This sequel is inspired by the structure of the original "Jurassic Park."

• Bayona said of the sequel "I was very surprised by the story. ... There are things you really don't expect and it is very exciting."

• A real-world theme of the movie is "a mistake made a long time ago just can't be undone. ... You can't put it back in the box."

• Trevorrow said the movie is about our relationship with animals, and how we share the planet with other living things. Jurassic Outpost noted there's mention of militarization in the sequel, but there's also mention of open source and humans living along dinosaurs, with Trevorrow favoring the latter for the sequel's story.

• Trevorrow said "Jurassic World 2" is "built upon the concepts and stories" created by author Michael Crichton's novels. Trevorrow: "'Jurassic World' had to restart the engine. This movie has to prove it has a reason to exist." He added that it doesn't need to be "bigger," and it's not about "bigger better dinosaurs" or "bigger action sequences."

• Asked how much he had planned for the trilogy when making "Jurassic World," Trevorrow said, "I knew the end. I knew where I wanted it to go."

According to Collider, pre-production on "Jurassic World 2" is continuing in London, while Trevorrow works on early development for Episode IX and Bayona does press for "A Monster Calls."

"Jurassic World 2," which will eventually be called something else, is scheduled to open in theaters June 22, 2018.

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'Big Brother OTT' Spoilers: Monte Wins Cool First HoH, Jason May Be Target

"Big Brother: Over the Top" just started and it's already like "The Walking Dead" -- Week 1 is following an epidemic of "infected" and we're curious to see who survives.

After the 13 HGs got a chance to get to know each other, the first Head of Household comp began. But it wasn't a traditional competition, it was an intriguing social experiment -- a bottle with blue liquid was placed on the living room table, next to a card that said "Only One May Drink" and the BB motto "expect the unexpected."


Shane Chapman, he of the sexy man bun and instant bromance with Monte Massongill, decided to drink it. It was revealed that the first HoH comp was called BB Bug, and Shane was "infected" and could not win HoH. He then had to pick someone else to "infect" and that person was eliminated from the comp and couldn't be HoH. That person that had to choose someone else, and so on until one HG remained and that person was the first HoH.

It was actually kind of awesome, and a clever twist that forced each HG to make a decision. Since it's so early in the game, many players volunteered to be "infected," and asked if others wanted to do the same, keeping blood off their own hands and staying under the radar. (Plus, they got to wear cool infected T-shirts.) However, some HGs wanted to be HoH -- sole returnee Jason Roy being one of them since he knew he'd be an instant target.


Jason got pretty far down the line but, in the end, it came down to Kentucky drawler Whitney Hogg infecting secret sister Alex Willett (an early winner pick), leaving Monte as the first HoH.

Monte told Whitney and Shane they can keep their bags unpacked, he is keeping them safe for sure. However, Whitney and Alex have said they trust Monte more than Shane, and Shane has become quite close to Danielle Lickey, who has also gotten close to Justin Duncan, which has already made some HGs nervous. (Shelby Stockton and other secret sister Morgan Willett know that a Danielle/Shane showmance is coming, it's just a matter of time. They also know that Shane and Monte are close, which worries them.) Alex and Whitney, who are working together, want Jason out, but they're worried that Shane is getting in Monte's ear to keep Jason.

So Jason's name has come up as a possible target, but it's not definite that he will be on the block. There's also the twist, fitting for a voter-based season, that we the fans get to choose a third person for the block.

Here are some of the ways we get to be involved, via Big Brother Network:

America's Nominee Vote – The HOH will nominate two Houseguests for eviction and, for the first time ever, fans will have the opportunity to choose a third houseguest to join them on the block.

America's Eviction Vote – In addition to the house's eviction votes, for the first time, fans will have a say in who they would like to see go home. The nominee who receives the most eviction votes from America will receive one extra vote during the eviction ceremony.

America's Care Package Vote – Fans can vote to send their favorite Houseguest a special advantage in the game.

America's Have Nots Vote – America will be able to vote and choose three unlucky "have nots" each week.

It's hard to tell who viewers might nominate as the third person, but possibly Cornbread or Shane since they are part of the bro alliance. Or fans might get annoyed with Whitney for handing power to Monte. We'll see.

Watch what happens on the live feeds here at CBS All Access.

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These 'Walking Dead' Season 7 Spoilers Are for Richonne Fans

Warning: Spoilers ahead from the set of "The Walking Dead" Season 7.

Ahhh, finally. Some good news about "The Walking Dead" Season 7. The start of the season has been declared a graphic "downer" and the first half synopsis is about as pleasant as the prison flu. But at least Richonne shippers have something to look forward to, thanks to some new set reports from The Spoiling Dead Fans.

Season 7 premieres October 23, but the AMC show has been filming since May. At this point, they are deep into the second half. TSDF regularly shares sightings from the set, and on September 28 they reported about Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and Michonne (Danai Gurira) filming at an abandoned school, where it looked like maybe a school carnival was happening when the apocalypse hit.

As TSDF wrote:

"Filming was back at the abandoned school on Monday and Tuesday. Rick and Michonne were filming again. We hear that they have a close call with walkers on the carnival set. There's also whispers that Rick and Michonne might share some *ahem* 'intimate' moments at the school... *Cue 80's porn music*"

Well! Never mind a "dang romance novel," TWD is now starting to sound like a dang high school prom. But we're not mad. The more Richonne the better. Apparently we're not alone in that thought:

So the good news is that Rick and Michonne are alive and -- if this is true -- pretty darn well in the second half of Season 7. Meanwhile, back when Episode 10 of 16 was filming, TSDF had a report about Daryl and Carol filming together. Not saying they were romantic, but that also qualifies as good news -- showing they are/were both alive, and reunited, in the second half.

Of course, we know at least one character dies right away in the Season 7 premiere, courtesy of Negan's bat Lucille, and word on Zombie Street has it that another member of our group dies right after that.

"The Walking Dead" Season 7 starts Sunday, October 23 at 9 p.m. on AMC.

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John Legend Guest Starring on 'Underground' as Frederick Douglass

88th Annual Academy Awards - ArrivalsJohn Legend, potential EGOT winner? Yes, it's even more possible now, since the singer will be guest starring on the upcoming season of "Underground" as abolitionist Frederick Douglass.

The Grammy and Oscar winner is already an executive producer on the WGN America drama about the Underground Railroad. Now, he'll play one of the most iconic figures in the abolitionist movement in season 2, which is currently filming in Savannah, Georgia and set to premiere in early 2017.

"Underground" has been adding more prominent historical characters for season 2. Aisha Hinds was cast in a recurring role as Harriet Tubman, perhaps the most famous conductor on the Underground Railroad.

Legend, an acclaimed musician (10 Grammys, a Golden Globe, and an Academy Award), is stepping further into the world of film and television. In addition to "Underground," he executive produced and stars in Oscar frontrunner "La La Land" and also executive produced the Barack and Michelle Obama romance "Southside With You."

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Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds Welcome Second Baby

"Deadpool" Fan EventAnother baby on board for Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds!

The couple welcomed their second child in New York City, People reports. The baby's sex and name were not revealed. The new addition joins their first child, 20-month-old James. According to Us Weekly, Lively's sister Robyn and pal Taylor Swift visited mama in the hospital this week.

Reynolds and Lively met on the set of 2011's "Green Lantern." After filming concluded and Reynolds divorced Scarlett Johansson, the couple began dating and married in September 2012.

Lively's pregnancy was first spotted in the spring, when she was filming extra scenes for the movie "The Shallows."

The two actors have been open about wanting a big family. "I'm one of five kids. My husband is one of four, so we're officially breeders," Lively said on "Today" in June. "You can go on our website and we will give you some of our children."

Congrats to their family!

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How Jonathan Nolan & Lisa Joy Built a Bleaker, Badder 'Westworld'

Premiere Of HBO's "Westworld" - ArrivalsIs Westworld an amusement park, or an abusement park?

That's the question at the center of HBO's sumptuous new sci-fi series, based on the increasingly prophetic 1973 movie written and directed by novelist Michael Crichton, in which he first explored the topic of a cutting-edge public playground where the amusements -- this time in the form of cowboys rather than "Jurassic Park's" dinosaurs -- wreck havoc.

In the new "Westworld," however, the human guests may pose far more danger to the AI hosts, acting out on some of their cruelest, most debasing impulses against the mechanized inhabitants of a realistically recreated Old West environment. But what happens if the artificial entertainments suddenly become knowingly and painfully aware of their treatment, both good and horrible?

Screenwriters Jonathan Nolan ("The Dark Knight," "Interstellar," "Person of Interest") and Lisa Joy ("Pushing Diasies," "Burn Notice"), who also happen to be husband and wife, have teamed with executive producer J.J. Abrams and an all-star cast -- one that includes Anthony Hopkins, Evan Rachel Wood, Ed Harris, Thandie Newton, and James Marsden -- on the project, bringing a disquieting and increasingly existential twist to the original setup, as they revealed to Moviefone. "The original film is about humans trapped in a theme park with robots running amok," says Nolan. "Our show is about robots trapped in a theme park with humans running amok."

Moviefone: When you both sat down with this project in mind and looked at Crichton's work, tell me what started popping in your brain as to the things you wanted to figure out what to do with and the way you wanted to go in different directions.

Lisa Joy: When I first agreed to do the project, to be totally honest, I hadn't seen the movie yet. And I didn't know if I should see it at that point, because we'd already started talking to J.J., and just the concept of, it's a theme park with robots where you can go and do whatever you want -- I thought, "My God, that's genius!"

And it is genius. Crichton is genius. The possibilities of new types of characters that I hadn't seen before in Western or sci-fi started fumbling around in my head and in our conversations. I was just really excited to explore that. Now, Jonah had seen the movie.

Jonathan Nolan: I'd seen the film as a kid, yeah. It scared the crap out of me. I still have issues with Yul Brynner. The original film is so cool. Crichton directed it -- wrote and directed it when he was 30 years old -- it was his directorial debut, and it's so packed with ideas. Even watching them again, it's so hard to understand how much he was thinking about the future.

One good example is, at one point, there was a passing reference in there, when the chief scientist of the park is trying to figure out what's going wrong with the robots. There's glancing reference to, it's spreading between them like a virus. You can kind of roll your eyes, and you're like, "Right, a computer virus." I went back and looked into it: he wrote it in '72/'73, and the first computer virus didn't appear until '74. So here's a guy who's anticipating -- and that's a pretty big idea, the idea of a virus might be applicable to digital creation.

So the original film is packed full of ideas. It's breathless. And that was Crichton all over: so brilliant and so many ideas, and he barely had a chance to explore them. I've worked in film and TV. Film is good for some projects. What was so attractive for us about this as an episodic piece of storytelling was the ability to really dig deep into that question of consciousness, of artificial consciousness.

That key insight about starting with the host's perspective and kind of coming into it with the guests, I think, really unlocked the experience for us. I love stories and storytelling that involves some limitation on the protagonist's understanding of the world, and this is a really fun one. They're not allowed to remember the things that happen to them. They're not allowed to see the cracks in their world. The joke is on them. And watching them not only come to consciousness, but also come to the realization of where they really are and what they're really designed to do, is a really cool journey.

The idea that our technological offspring might pose some problems for us has been around in different forms, from "Frankenstein" to "Blade Runner." In this day and age, what were the issues that really caught your attention that you wanted to explore, to express in a literal or allegorical way?

Joy: We often talk about the show as an examination of human nature. I think one facet of that is these AI are creatures of our creation. We are their mothers and fathers. That's a way of looking at it. So you start thinking about what their characterizations mean as merit to us. If they do bad, if they do good, if they are innocent, that's part of what we fed them. That's part of what we put into them. So in that way, it's a mirror into our own psyches.

I think now, as we're developing these actual technologies, the thing is, just like with an actual child, you hopefully -- I think, if you're a good parent -- want your children to be better than you, in every way. More moral, more happy, more kind, more giving. At least that's how I believe. But they don't get that if you don't code that. And you won't code that if you yourself don't feel that. So it's about inputs and responsibility of what inputs we feed these synthetic children.

Is there an aspect of that equation for you, Jonah, that also kind of kept itching at the back of your brain?

Nolan: Yeah, very much. For me, we've seen an awful lot of film and television that considers this question from the sort of pejorative or dystopian perspective. The AI is going to kill us or enslave us. I, for a long time, have been more interested in looking at it from the other perspective of, "What will they think of us? What will they make of us?" In the same way that when you have a child, you begin to wonder what they think of you.

You begin to think about what you do, and the work that you do, and how you behave, and how you hold yourself, how you comport yourself from your child's perspective. You find yourself getting upset or using bad language. You change. So I'm fascinated by this proposition of what they will learn from us, take from us, and whether they will want to be human.

And everyone involved in this project and everyone watching this project has the same limitation, which we are all human beings. And [Anthony Hopkin's] character, Ford, talks about this in a later episode: we only have human consciousness, it's the only yardstick we know for consciousness. But it is clearly very flawed. Look at the world around you. We're far from perfect. So these creatures looking at us and wondering, do we have to be like them? They made us like them, do we have to remain that way? It's one of the questions we wanted to ask.

With a project like this, with hopefully a long future ahead of it, a lot of the heavy lifting has to be done creating the mythology. Tell me about the fun of that, the challenge of that, and maybe where your friend J.J. Abrams, who knows his way around that came in and sprinkled his little spices along the way.

Nolan: You know, we joke about the obvious analogy to "Game of Thrones" -- very different shows, but we looked at "Game of Thrones" as a model for, how do you do a big-scope television show -- in a lot of ways, in terms of the scope and ambition of the storytelling, but also the production value?

Obviously, we have the original film, which has so many brilliant ideas in it, but we don't have the novels. We don't have George R. R. Martin and the books. So our joke has been that part of the season in writing this thing was, "First we write the novels, then we adapt them internally." That's been daunting, but a lot of fun. A great deal of fun. There are so many places this story can go.

Joy: There's so many. I remember when we were first breaking it, Jonah and I, we just had our first child. Actually, we started breaking it even before when I was still pregnant. We would work in my office at home, and we had all these pages and pages that we would write on and scribble on, and then stick to the wall. And by the time it was done, all four walls were just totally covered in pages with like arrows to here and interconnecting different things and different characters we were exploring, and backstories.

We wanted to really have an understanding of which characters -- it was at that point that all the characters were coming alive for us, and we were exploring all that. We got through some of that in the first season, but we actually thought far beyond that into the next few seasons. With the kind of middle point and even an end point to it. So we did a lot of initial thinking about the mythology, and it helped us, I think, even if we haven't gotten to some of that yet. It helped informed how we write what we're writing now.

There's something analogous to your jobs as writers as to what some of your characters are doing in this show. You sometimes have to torture a character for drama. Sometimes you fall in love with characters you write and you don't want to do these things to them. Can you talk a little bit about that element of transference from your life to this fantasy world?

Nolan: Yeah, there was a great moment when a couple of our actors were rehearsing a scene. They said, "We finally figured out what this is like." They were like, "This is us. This is what we do. This is you. You're the writers, and you tell us what to do."

I'm not typically drawn to workplace dramas, and I don't think what we do is terribly interesting, which is why we tend to write about things that are in genre, in terms of the writing and producing and the directing. But there is a little bit of a crossover here, and more than a little bit of an analogy between the creative work that's going on down below, and the narratives that are being lived out up above.

I hasten to point out that Simon Quarterman's character, Lee Sizemore, the writer, bears absolutely no resemblance to any writers that we may know or worked with over the years, whatsoever!

"Westworld" premieres Sunday, October 3rd, on HBO.

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Vin Diesel Confirms 'Fast 8' Trailer Debut Date

"The Last Witch Hunter" - UK Premiere - Red Carpet ArrivalsMark your calendars for December 11, "Fast and Furious" fans!

That's when the first trailer for "Fast 8" will debut, a bit of news Vin Diesel first teased earlier this week and then confirmed again with a photo posted to his Facebook.
In his first post on Tuesday, Diesel wrote, "The trailer for F8 is going to blow your mind... New York City December 11th. You will see why there was tension, you will understand the intensity."

Diesel seems to be referring to the alleged feud between himself and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, which began when the latter called some of his male co-stars "candy asses." Then again, the purported "feud" could just be a publicity stunt tied to the WWE, so who knows.

The "Fast 8" trailer will debut on a Sunday, and likely be attached to a movie later that week or month. Likely candidates are "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" (Dec. 16) or "Assassin's Creed" (Dec. 21).

"Fast 8" opens in theaters April 14, 2017.

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Why Emma's & Olive's Peculiarities Were Swapped in 'Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children'

Emma Bloom and Olive Abroholos Elephanta from "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children"One of the biggest questions from Ransom Riggs fans was why the characters of Emma Bloom and Olive Abroholos Elephanta were swapped for the film adaptation of "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children." Olive (Lauren McCrostie) is supposed to have an air peculiarity, but on screen she has fire. "I'm really glad you asked that because it's something I do enjoy addressing," actress Ella Purnell, who plays Emma, said during an interview.

"Obviously, the decision did not come from me, it came from [screenwriter] Jane Goldman and [director] Tim [Burton] and the producers, and when I first read it I was kind of bummed because I wanted to be the fiery, badass character, like every girl does," she recalled. "Every girl relates to her because you want to be Laura Croft. But when I sat down and thought about it, I was actually really glad that they gave me the opportunity to create a whole new character because if you try to exactly replicate a book as well-loved as this book, you will never please everyone. So you might as well make an adaptation of the book."

Emma and Olive aren't the only differences from page to screen: Purnell noted how the ending is completely different, while Samuel L. Jackson plays an amalgamation of characters from the book in the form of Mr. Barron.

"There are several reasons why I'm happy that they [made the change]," Purnell continued. "First of all, I got the opportunity to create a new [character]. Second of all, I didn't try to go near fiery Emma. I created a whole new character. I didn't even read the books before I felt like I actually had an idea of who movie Emma was. Third of all, I think it's much more common to see girls playing with fire, boys playing with fire. You see it quite a lot on the big screen, but how often do you see a girl being dragged along by a rope? That's so rare, and that's so Tim Burton. Fire isn't that Tim Burton, but a girl with these big gothic, lead shoes? That's very Tim."

She concluded, "Fourth of all, I think, from an actor's standpoint, emotionally it gives me somewhere to go. If she's already really, really strong at the start -- I mean, I suppose that's a whole other emotional storyline that I haven't thought about. But for me, it made much more sense to start a little bit damaged, a little bit hurt. She's been betrayed, she's lost her trust, and she's been dealing with these feelings of hurt and betrayal and sadness for 60 years, and she goes on this whole journey where she steps into herself. She becomes slightly more confident, she becomes slightly more protective of her younger siblings, and she grows into herself a little bit. She may be thousands of years old, but, at the end of the day, she's a 16-year-old girl. She wants a boyfriend. No, I'm joking."

"Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" is in theaters everywhere.



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'The Purge' Is Set to Become a TV Series

"The Purge" has become a successful horror franchise on the big screen, and now, it has its sights set on the small screen, too, with a television show based on the films in the works.

James DeMonaco, the writer-director behind every flick in the franchise, recently spoke with CinemaBlend about the possibility of turning the films into a series, and it turns out that plans are already in place to do just that. According to DeMonaco, the idea is to make an anthology-style series made up of six or seven interwoven storylines that would explore the motivations behind why characters decide to participate in the titular nights of mayhem, and what drives their specific choices and behaviors.

Here's how the director explained his vision for the show to CinemaBlend:

" ... [T]he one thing you really can't do on the films is, just because of mere real estate and time, is you can't get into the nuance and complexity that would drive someone to commit a terrible act on this night. ... [W]hat might be interesting in a TV show is with a flashback narrative, if you start on Purge Night but you go back to show how people have gotten to where they are. ... I think there's something cool that we can do with the real estate of TV -- 10 hours, potentially."


According to DeMonaco, the project is moving full steam ahead, and could hit TV screens as soon as next year, though he declined to say with whom he's collaborating or what network or streaming platform could potentially pick up the series. Still, it's an exciting prospect for horror fans. Stay tuned.

[via: CinemaBlend]

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Why Evan Rachel Wood's 'Westworld' Role Is Her 'Favorite Character' Ever

LA Premiere of "Westworld" - ArrivalsWhen we first met actress Evan Rachel Wood in a prominent regular television role, she was 12 years old, playing a precocious, sensitive daughter of divorce on the cult-beloved drama "Once and Again."

Times change: Today, Wood's a 29-year-old single mother herself, with a knockout resume of prestigious TV and film projects to her credit, including "Across the Universe," "The Wrestler," "True Blood," and "Mildred Pierce," and her return to series television is as high-profile as it gets, playing a consciousness-gaining android "host" used and frequently abused in the artificial Old West setting of "Westworld," HBO's ambitious, lavishly produced reimagining of novelist and filmmaker Michael Crichton's increasingly prescient 1973 sci-fi film.

The role of Delores offers Wood an unparalleled acting opportunity, playing first the Old West reality -- and realities -- that the character experiences, then her experiences as an artificial being tended to in the futuristic behind-the-scenes environs, and at least the provocative middle ground, as Delores develops the beginnings of an awareness of who and what she really is. And the actress has enthusiastically embarked on the journey, with all of its promising and potentially frightening philosophical and existential implications, as she revealed to Moviefone in a candid conversation.

Moviefone: As an actress, when you get a role who is a synthetic creation but is also starting to feel real emotion, where do you start to try to get into the head of that type of really unique character, something that you don't encounter in everyday life?

Evan Rachel Wood: Actually, I'm really into Ray Kurzweil and read "The Singularity Is Near," and that really just explores the inner workings of AI. I put a lot of that into play with how I approach Dolores, and watched every TED Talk and spoke to some futurists. Because it's just a completely new way of approaching a character. Especially because she's very much like almost three different characters at once, because she has many different modes.

So, in character, she's this very innocent prairie girl, this princess / damsel in distress, but underneath that, she's actually a very advanced, intelligent being, with kind of unlimited power. The question is: What would happen if she realized she had that power? I think that's something we're going to be kind of exploring as the show goes.

It was interesting not knowing what my character arc was going to be, and where the show was going, and finding out, episode by episode. It's a good thing that my role, for at least the first half, is very much in a state of confusion, because that's how I felt most of the time. She's my favorite character I've ever played thus far, for sure.

What was the first element of this project that initially got its hooks in you?

I met with Lisa [Joy] and Jonathan [Nolan] [the co-creators of the re-imagining], and they explained to me how the park worked, and the possibilities, and I realized that it was so much more than just a theme park gone awry and robots malfunctioning. They were taking it so much deeper than the original film, and it was a real exploration on humanity and how these technologies are actually real, and are being worked on right now. When film was originally made, it was a little more science fiction, and now it's unsettling because it can all very well happen.

So that intrigued me, and just the idea of having an immersive experience in a world where there were no rules and no consequences. With the incredible cast -- and I just knew that everyone working on it was at the top of their fields. Going into it, there's just this energy of, "This is going to be the one. This is going to be the one that everyone wants to be remembered for."

So I'm just grateful every day that I go to work that I'm a part of something that seems less like a TV show, and more like a revolution. So really everything about it. I knew when I signed on, I signed on to a really cool show, and that it was going to be good, but it wasn't until about Episode 4 that I started having a panic attack. I was overwhelmed by the quality and the writing, and realizing more and more the character they've entrusted me with was just kind of mind-blowing. So I'm just excited for people to really see what it's about.Evan Rachel Wood and Ed Harris in HBO's WESTWORLDAs the actor who puts on the wardrobe and gets to work in the show's different contexts, do you prefer the frontier element of it, or do you prefer the sci-fi world of it?

It's funny, I actually prefer the frontier! I was raised in the South, and I've been horseback riding my whole life, so it's a scene that I'm very comfortable in. So I like it. I'm a desert child.

With all the research you did, what are you excited about or intrigued about as far as the future of AI and what's right around the corner?

I was really terrified of it at first, and there were some theories of how, eventually, we will be obsolete and AI will surpass us. I thought, "What does that mean for the future of art and love and emotions? Will things be real anymore? Will they be sterile and cold?" There are some theories that they'll be so much better than we are. Better problem solvers, all the petty problems we get snagged on will be nothing to them, and the art that they'll create is so beyond our comprehension, and the empathy that they will feel will be so much bigger, and the capacity for love will be so much larger.

So that made me feel a little better, I was like, "Oh, okay -- actually the world is going to be a better place," but it also made me terrified as a human being, because that means we will eventually be apes to AI, and they're going to decide our fate. I feel like that's kind of where the show is picking up. It's a terrifying thought. I think that's why the show sticks with you a lot.

There's a common commentary about the generation who've grown up immersed in technology are in some way disconnected from people because of that technology. You've made the point that you're actually more connected to people, which I agree with: there are people in my life that 20 years ago I would have had to go to great effort to stay connected to. So tell me about what you see as the positives of the connectivity that the technology has provided us.

Yeah, there's so many possibilities. We have more power in the palm of our hand than the president of the United States had, maybe, 20 years ago. So the information and the knowledge out there at our fingertips is so vast and amazing, but yeah, with that comes also the dark side. Your kids are vulnerable, and also vulnerable to propaganda, and to just negativity, and all that's there. So the world that we're leaving for them is really interesting. It's hard to keep things from children and to protect them.

But at the same time, I do feel like it can be used for good, and it's kind of our job to steer them in the right direction. I don't think at this point we could keep it from them. I think we have to learn how to work with it and angle it the right way. But, as a mom, I think about that, because I think I stopped at around Nintendo 64, and that's as far as I got, and iPods and anything else was just too much. My three-year-old can already work my iPhone better than me. So I'm curious to see what they're going to do with that kind of power.

What do you like about the allegorical quality of science-fiction storytelling in this particular instance? The bigger things that you guys are saying about life and humanity and AI.

It's holding up such a mirror to who we are as a species and what we find entertaining, and why we are so broken and why we are so disconnected from each other. I think using this platform to explore that and to create beings that see humanity in an objective way, hopefully will make us look at ourselves in the same vein, and hopefully think about a few things.

Assuming there's not actual technological breakdown issues, would you want to visit a "Westworld" -style place? Not necessarily to like have carte blanche in your behavior, but to be in that immersive experience.

You know, it's part of the human blessing and curse, that curiosity. I went to that place, Sleep No More, which is an immersive choose-your-adventure theater experience, and I was obsessed. I went seven times. I ended up in the play, and I fell in love with the characters and the narratives, and something about it just took over and there was something so satisfying about being so immersed in a different world, and getting to leave yourself at the door.

So I think I would be drawn to it, but I think it would definitely terrify me. Especially after doing this show. It's that old Michael Crichton/Jeff Goldblum saying, "Life finds a way." There would be human error, and there's always cracks in codes. With some things as intelligent as these hosts, I just feel like you would always be kind of at risk.

Did you find any kind of parallel between the role of the hosts in this story and being an actor, being somebody who's in service of material?

What's so funny is, we were filming one day doing another scene where the hosts are being put through these horrific things, and people are being entertained by our pain and our emotions. Someone went, "How messed up is it that these people are getting pleasure out of watching you cry?" And I thought, "That's what I do. That's my job." Like, I know what it's like to be sort of like a doll and dressed up and told to do things. For entertainment, I put myself through these horrific experiences. So I certainly relate to it on a deep level, yes.

Having been in this business since you were a kid, and having been connected to so many high quality productions, what are you looking for now? What are the things that get you excited, professionally, as you sort through and try to figure out what the next project is going to be?

I want to say, I feel so spoiled after doing this show, because nothing is ever going to feel as good. I'm just looking for revolutionary, groundbreaking roles, and better roles for women. I've started writing. It's just kind of slim pickings out there. I just feel like you have to make your own things at this point and not wait for them to just come to fruition. So I'm hopefully going to start directing and making my own things. That's hopefully where this is headed.

Looking for projects that offer good roles for women -- I mean, I know that there's more now than there were --

Yes.

-- but it's still a struggle, and even this show is a commentary on that. You see the place of a woman in the historical context that "Westworld" is trying to recreate, but also the way that people treat the female hosts in that context. So where are you hoping to take material in what you generate for yourself?

Well, what's cool about the show is that it's a reimagining of the 1800s, so there is that element, but the men hosts are getting just as abused as the women, and women can also come to Westworld and change their story, and they can be Dirty Harry if they want. They can be in the saloon with the girls and at the poker table, you know. There's no rules. So there's something really interesting about that to me.

I feel like Westworld is one of the few places that it truly feels like an even playing field, and everything's very fluid, and there's gender equality. No one is safe, really. So all of that's there, but it is also very much there for the men. So I feel like we're already taking it a step in sort of changing that template. It doesn't feel like it's beating you over the head with it on the show either. It just is. It's just how the world is set up.

But it's also okay to acknowledge that it is a bit more of an epidemic when it comes to women, and I think that is another theme that we're showing on the show, and why that is, and why that's entertaining.

I'll close out with noting it's been a long time since you've been a regular on a TV show.

Yeah!

What did you love about it then, and what did you rediscover you loved about it now?

I love being able to get so involved with a character. When you're with a role like that for so long, you just know it inside and out. So I feel like I'm the best actor on TV because you have a chance to really sit with the material and dissect it, year by year, and tell -- you have the time to tell epic stories. So I love it. I really love it. And I love HBO. They've just been so good to me. They feel like family at this point. So it's great -- it's really great.

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Daniel Craig Is Still James Bond Producers' First Choice to Play 007

'Spectre' German Premiere In BerlinWith all the different candidates being considered for the coveted part of James Bond in the next 007 flick, you could be excused for thinking that current Bond Daniel Craig is 100 percent out of the running to return to the role. But that's not entirely true, and according to one Bond producer, Craig is still filmmakers' top candidate for the gig whenever the 25th entry in the franchise gets off the ground.

That word comes straight from Callum McDougall, an executive producer on the last four Bond flicks who has worked on nine films in the series total. In an interview with the BBC's Radio 4 Today (via Deadline), McDougall said Craig was "absolutely the first choice" to portray on the dashing spy once again.

"I wish I knew," McDougall added when asked if Craig would indeed return. "We love Daniel. We would love Daniel to return as Bond. Without any question he is absolutely [longtime Bond producers] Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli's first choice. I know they're hoping for him to come back."

The million dollar question is whether or not Craig even wants to come back. The actor infamously insinuated during the "Spectre" press tour that he would rather cut his wrists than play 007 again, though he later walked back those harsh remarks a bit.

In the meantime, rumors have swirled that actors including Tom Hiddleston, Jamie Bell, Tom Hardy, Idris Elba, and Damian Lewis are all vying for the part, with some getting further in the process than others. (Hiddleston doesn't think he has a very good shot, Bell reportedly met with -- and impressed -- producers, and Elba says he hasn't been in talks at all.)

There is still no firm start date for Bond 25, and a script and director have yet to be finalized, so the official announcement about who's playing 007 this time around is still probably a long way's off. Stay tuned.

[via: BBC Radio 4 via Deadline]

Photo credit: Getty Images for Sony Pictures

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HBO Wants to Make a 'Game of Thrones' Spinoff

HBO is having a hard time dealing with the impending end of hit fantasy series "Game of Thrones," which is set to wrap its critically-acclaimed run after two more shortened seasons. But is there hope that a sequel, prequel, or spinoff series could happen sometime in the future?

The answer is a resounding yes, though new HBO president of programming, Casey Bloys, cautions that there's nothing official in the works just yet. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Bloys noted that he was optimistic about the future of the "Thrones" brand, but was finding it hard to say goodbye to the current show, which is his main focus right now.

"There are things that sound interesting, but at this point, we have no writers assigned or anything like that," the exec told THR. "In a perfect world, 'Game of Thrones' would keep going, and we wouldn't have to deal with any of this!"

But it's not a perfect world, and "Thrones" is due to end after season eight airs in 2018. And even though series creators and showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss told THR that they would be done with George R.R. Martin's world once the show wraps, they were confident that "there will be other series set in Westeros." That's what HBO hopes, too.

"There are so many properties and areas to go to," Bloys told THR. "For us, it's about finding the right take with the right writer."

We'll keep our fingers crossed.

[via: The Hollywood Reporter]

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Rami Malek Was Overwhelmed by the Fast Talking on 'Gilmore Girls'

Rami Malek is now a newly-minted Emmy winner, thanks to his starring role on USA drama series "Mr. Robot," but before all that, he was a struggling young actor who took a bit part on a WB show back in 2004 to get his start. That series, his first credited TV role, just happened to be "Gilmore Girls," but as the actor tells it, it was an overwhelming experience for a very specific (and totally unsurprising) reason.

In an interview with Vulture, Malek reflected on his appearance on "Gilmore," where for one scene in season four he played Andy, a classmate of Lane's (Keiko Agena) at her Seventh-Day Adventist college who kept insisting that they interview the school's Assistant Pastor Eric for a class project. Though Malek seemed a bit embarrassed to be discussing his television debut, he did say that there was one aspect of his "Gilmore" experience that stood out.

"All I remember is, that was the fastest-talking show," the actor told Vulture. "But for me, I don't necessarily have the most pace when I speak, I definitely take my time, so that was the most jarring part of it. ... I was like, 'Who talks this fast?'"

"Gilmore Girls" is notorious for its motor-mouthed dialogue, so it makes sense that a guest star stepping in for only one scene would have trouble picking it up. And considering Malek also took his time giving Vulture that answer, it's safe to say that he wasn't super comfortable in that environment. Based on the Emmy win, we think he finally found his happy place on "Mr. Robot."

[via: Vulture]

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Why Eva Green Ditched the Femme Fatale to Play 'a Weird Mary Poppins' for Tim Burton

"Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" Saks Event

"This is just like speed dating," Eva Green laughs as she slides into my booth.

Along with the other main cast of "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children," she's been cycling through journalists all day with new face popping by her table every few minutes for a quick chat.

When she gets to me, we have 10 minutes to discuss the Tim Burton film in the Gallow Green restaurant of the McKittrick Hotel in New York City, which is a dim-lit, fantastical eatery with an antique subway decorated with potted plants serving as our lunch spot. When our time is up, she'll move on and repeat the process with another member of the press. So, yeah, it is like speed dating.

What do we use for ice breakers? The usual: the Lynchian menagerie that is this restaurant, the bird cage decorating her hotel room, and changing things up from her femme fatales roles by playing someone who would die for her children.

Moviefone: So, how is your day so far? Have you had a chance to explore this area?

Eva Green: No, no. I just stayed in my room. It was red and there was a bird cage in the back. It's cool. It's surreal. It's like a [David] Lynch movie, like in "Twin Peaks." I mean, my room was like that. It was all in red.

Yeah, I just got off the elevator and they were like, "Okay, you're going into this room." And I was like, "Is this a hotel?"

It is a hotel?

Yeah.

What? Like, for when you have an affair or something? It's weird.

Alright, well, let's jump right into this ...

[Laughs] What's your favorite color?

Right? I'm really curious how the character of Miss Peregrine was first pitched to you. Had you heard of the books at all, or were you going off of descriptions of her?

No. I remember Tim just said to me, it's kind of a weird Mary Poppins, and I was like, "Oh, I always wanted to play kind of Mary Poppins." And, yeah, he sent me the book -- and, actually, I don't know if you've read the book or saw pictures of the original Miss Peregrine, but she's kind of austere. It's something, you know, like long skirt and glasses, and Tim also set it in the '40s and he wanted her to be a bit more rock 'n' roll, and a bit more wacko.

Did you notice any changes in the script after you got the role, if it had been catered to you as an actress?

You mean, compared to the book?

Or, when you were first discussing the role, did you have a script?

No. There was no script. He sent me the book and I thought -- very often, you're kind of disappointed. You read the book and then the script is not as faithful and whatever, and I think here it's such a perfect novel for Tim. You look at the pictures -- it's quite spooky, it's quite poetic. Tim is like a perfect marriage -- [book author] Ransom Riggs, Tim Burton -- and Tim added lots of new elements to it and he made it resonate for himself.

How did you make the character resonate for yourself?

What is the trick in that kind of role? I mean, of course, she's a supernatural being: she can manipulate time, transform into a bird. It's to keep the humanity and to -- you know she's tough, she has those rules, but she'll do anything for her children, she'd die for them, that's what drew me to this.

I really liked some of the special effects in this. I was remembering back to a scene with Asa [Butterfield] in the attic, and it looked like it was stop-motion animation for two of the puppets. I was wondering if there was any practical effects that surprised you.

It's weird because, I mean, I've done movies with green screen, but this one, we had a real house in Belgium, it was a real garden, we had real topiaries, like animal-shaped topiaries or whatever. And it was a luxury to have real surroundings. The only thing I had to do was the transformation of a bird. Of course, I did have of it on wires and then the visual effects people, who are amazing, did their magic.

I remember you had an interview and you said along the lines of you didn't want to be typecast as a "weirdo" character.

[Laughs]

Do you feel like you are typecast?

I think people say I always play dark characters or femme fatales, and I wanted to tell them, but I said, "Uh, femme fatales?" "Sin City," the woman's a femme fatale. "300," she's kind of, but I'm always -- yeah, I mean, I don't know if people haven't seen all my movies, but I'm drawn to characters who are quite complicated, maybe, or dense. So, maybe they're dark, but I think dark means complicated. Maybe I should do a romantic-comedy in L.A. or something. [Laughs]

Is that always going on in the back of your mind, to differentiate between roles?

I don't want to be in a box. I want to play different things. That's why I like playing the mother figure in this movie. I'm not a love interest, I just live for my children.

I was gonna ask you about the fantasy genre. You've more than gotten your feet wet in this. Now there's sort of this trend, like, with "A Monster Calls" and "Miss Peregrine," of this idea of children using fantasy worlds to escape to cope with some sort of tragedy or trauma or something like that. From your perspective, having been in the business for so long, what is your favorite part about working within the fantasy genre?

Oh wow. I don't know. I love watching that kind of thing. It's escape, it's entertaining, but at the end of the day, I think that's why you would like specific fantasy adventures. You can identify, understand the heart of the characters, still find something real and relate to them in a human way.

I'm curious, too, because you did "Dark Shadows" with Tim Burton. Has he changed his directing philosophy or his relationship with the actors since then?

Oh, I don't know. There's always a freedom, actually, and he wants the actor to really feel comfortable. So he's open to suggestions, even to the kids. Like he would go, "How do you feel?" It's so wonderful. There's no ego 'cause, you know -- "I'm the director, you do what I want." You know? There is a lot of respect and, I don't know ... He has total faith in you and you feel trusted and loved and ready to give everything.

Now, we're in this incredible moment, I feel, where fans are demanding more diversity and more equality in terms of Hollywood and landing roles, and there've been such strides in gender equality. And I was wondering, from your perspective as a woman in Hollywood, what is your temperature check of the situation. Do you see change happening dramatically?

For me, the most drastic thing is it sounds like television is really the future. I don't know, it's kind of a bit scary. I love television, but there is, you know, so quick, that change. So I just hope people will still go to the cinema. I don't know. It's a strange.

Yeah, I mean, even Netflix, too. They've changed the game almost.

Yeah.

And now I can watch all of "Penny Dreadful" on Netflix, pretty much. Has that been playing in your mind? Have you been actively thinking about trying something like a Netflix series or something that's exclusively streaming?

It is the future. But I think, as an actor, I know like, for example, I heard Ewan McGregor is doing Season 3 of "Fargo," and if you do one season, that I'd be ready. It's just giving many years on something, I think it's healthy to explore different characters. If I can choose, I'd love to do that, but yeah, it is the future.

Our speed date is over.

Yeah. What do you think? [Laughs]

"Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" is in theaters everywhere.



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Lady Gaga Confirms Super Bowl LI Halftime Show Performance

Lady Gaga Sings The National Anthem At Super Bowl 50Adele may not be performing at the Super Bowl Halftime Show in February, but another international superstar will be taking the stage instead: Lady Gaga just revealed that she'll be headlining the performance.

Gaga, who many had speculated would be performing on the NFL's biggest night, made the announcement on Twitter on Thursday night, confirming to her Little Monsters that "The rumors are true."
"This year the SUPER BOWL goes GAGA!," the singer wrote. She was joined in her excitement by the NFL itself, which used its own Twitter account to tout Gaga's performance.
"Can't wait. Let's do this!" the NFL wrote in reply to the singer's Tweet. It later posted a video mashing up excited players' touchdown dances and sideline cheers with Gaga's "Perfect Illusion" video.

Gaga previously performed at the Super Bowl just this year, where she sang the National Anthem before the big game. Music isn't the only way the singer has been taking over our televisions, thanks to her Golden Globe-winning performance on "American Horror Story," which she starred on during last year's "Hotel" season. She's also appearing on the current "Roanoke" season, too.

The Super Bowl will take place in Houston on Sunday, February 5, 2017. See you there, Little Monsters.

[via: Lady Gaga]

Photo credit: Getty Images

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'Ash vs. Evil Dead' Season 2: Plenty of Surprises & Easter Eggs, Say Stars

ash williams (bruce campbell) ruby cross (lucy lawless) in "ash vs. evil dead" season 2There's something to be said about comfort zones -- even on a horror series as seemingly dedicated to discomfort as "Ash vs. Evil Dead."

Behind the scenes of the fright fest -- a critical and ratings smash out of the gate last year for Starz, which launches its second season on Oct. 2 -- the show's star, Bruce Campbell, has been appearing on screen as lead character Ash Williams since 1981's acclaimed indie horror/comedy "The Evil Dead," originally made on a shoestring budget with his high school pal, director Sam Raimi, and produced by Raimi's college roommate, Rob Tapert.

Later in the 1990s, Tapert and Raimi produced the syndicated TV sensation "Xena: Warrior Princess," which starred actress Lucy Lawless in the lead role -- and she'd soon become Tapert's leading lady off-screen as well: the couple married in 1998. Campbell was no stranger to the "Xena" set either, frequently recurring as the scoundrel Autolycus and directing several episodes as well.

Professionally, the trio reunited once again to revive the cult-beloved "Evil Dead" franchise in television form, with Campbell playing an older but only incrementally wiser incarnation of Ash, Lawless entering Ash's universe as Ruby, the mysterious vengeance-minded occultist and/or Necronomicon-authoring Dark One on Ash's trail, and Tapert once again overseeing the supernatural mayhem. Their special blend of creative spellcraft combined to score yet another hit, prompting a return for a second season of Deadite destroying.

With so much shared history, any two of the group can easily anticipate, finish or trump the third's sentences, which made for a lively discussion when they joined Moviefone for a look ahead at the upcoming action, and a look back at all their behind-the-scenes adventuring together.

Moviefone: Obviously, you guys know well how to make this kind of stuff, you've got a great comfort level together after all these years. What were the fun discoveries of Season 1 -- the things you didn't see coming that were a real treat for you?

Rob Tapert: I think for Bruce and I originally, the fun discovery was we were actually going to get this made. So there was a --

Bruce Campbell: That was more of a shocking discovery!

Tapert: Yeah, a shocking discovery. There were a lot of hurdles to getting the show up and running.

Lucy Lawless: Just seeing them pull it off in the first few episodes I went, "Oh my God, this really does uphold the fans' fantasy recreation." It's a tall order!

Campbell: You never know if you're going to be able to do it. Or will they like your version of it? Are they good with a middle-aged Ash? Do they like the fact that he wears a man girdle and has dentures? Are they okay with that?

Lawless: Yes, they are!

Campbell: You've got to make sure that they're okay with that. They seem to be fine with that. So they'll get more of that.

What were the lessons from Season 1 that you wanted to apply to Season 2 -- and the way you wanted to throw curveballs at the audience, now that they think they know the show?

Tapert: That's a good question. The takeaways from Season 1 were that the audience was pretty forgiving of certain aspects of the storytelling, and they just wanted to be entertained, and they wanted to invest in the relationships a little more, so we've grown those going into the second season. They loved watching Ash on screen, so we put Bruce in every single frame --

Lawless: Surprise!

Campbell: And you surround me with young people, and that's what you do. So they can look at all the pretty young people, and Ash can be their titular leader.

Bruce and Lucy, so much of the first season kept the two of you apart. Is the twist we're going to see this time that you're going to be more in each other's faces?

Lawless: We're going to get married.

Campbell: Well, I think you've got to team up for the greater good sometimes. So there will be some of that aspect. Not necessarily being fishing buddies, but understanding that there's a greater need that's greater than her little petty problem.

Lawless: I feel a little sexual tension there, but more with his father. It's highly competitive.

Campbell: Ruby -- she'd let me in her pants if she had any respect for my character.

Lawless: Sadly.

Campbell: Currently -- awkward -- we're working on that. We'll see what happens.

Lawless: I get to avenge a personal slight, a personal problem I had with the original series. I don't know -- Rob probably knows. When I was 16, my first boyfriend's friends said, "Come over and watch on VHS -- we've got this cool 'Evil Dead' movie. It's classic, it's amazing!"

I was so disgusted by the first five minutes with the tree rape that I stomped off and said, "The people who made this movie are sick and they ought to be in jail!" Twelve years later I was married to one of them. But this season, me and that tree have got a date.

Are there other things from the original run that are going to be woven into the season?

Campbell: Interesting, surprise elements, yes. How could you not? Big ones.

You had to figure out what kind of measure in which to dole them out, I'm sure, over the course of the series.

Tapert: Yes. This season, actually, was screaming for a couple of those things. And as much as Ash returns to his home town, we got to meet his father, the relationships that came with that family -- going back to visit his father, his father had suffered a loss of their sister because of Ash, so there was a lot that allowed us to touch back into the original source material.

Campbell: Now you realize why Ash is such a jerk, because his father is a bigger jerk.

And in that, you scored the casting coup of the fall season with Lee Majors.

Campbell: I agree. No question about it.

Tell me about bringing him in, finding the right rapport with him.

Campbell: Well, you never know if you're going to have the rapport. We met on set. So it could have not happened. Plenty of actors have failed the chemistry test. But, in this case, I think we would have had a lot of respect for Lee because of what he did. And I think that showed. I think we try to take good care of him and not waste his time, and be appreciative. He got on board, I think he got the spirit of it, even when he was just covered in blood. He's not one of these guys who complains.

Lawless: Consummate professional. He's top-notch.

Campbell: Yeah, he's just done this for so long. Nothing phases him. And he's a pretty hearty son of a bitch. I mean, he's Lee Majors. He's a good presence to have. I just think audience members would go, "Of course that's his dad."

Tapert: It was interesting because we needed somebody in that role who was larger than life, but wasn't going to steal this show and turn it into a farce in any way, shape or form.

Lawless: Yeah, he falls into the world.

Campbell: Lee's persona is: he's the man, he's a manly man. He's a ladies man. He has hair on his chest. I mean, this guy's been in the tabloids. He's been through it. And that's perfect, because when you see him, you go, yeah! You know his history. You know all that. He's perfect for Ash's father. But, you never really know if they can pull it off either, on top of it. And Lee is very entertaining in that part, because I think he accepted it, and he's like, "Okay -- let's go for it."

Lawless: He can compete. He's a competitor.

Campbell: He's awesome. Yeah.

Lucy, your character, Ruby, got folded into the franchise very, very well, and very smoothly in the first season.

Lawless: Oh-so-subtly.

And she's still a mystery. So are we going to learn her quirks and her backstory?

Lawless: You're going to learn more than you ever wanted to.

Campbell: Much more. Ruby's part of the gang now. Just by screen time alone, you're going to learn more.

Lawless: Unfortunately, she's her own worst enemy, and we'll see how it all works out.

Campbell: It's an unlikely alliance of sorts that's hanging by a bit of a thread.

Lawless: It's a hanging chad of a relationship.

Campbell: A dimpled chad.

Tapert: Yeah. Yeah, we have fun with Ruby this season.

Tell me about bringing your old pal Ted Raimi into the mix.

Tapert: Ted was someone Bruce and I really wanted to get into the series at some point in time. And the writers had put this friend of Ash's called Chet in one of the scripts. But it really wasn't going anywhere. But I talked to Bruce and said, "Bruce, let's try and get him in this, and then we'll just force the writers to write for him." Bruce agreed.

So I called Ted and said, 'Hey Ted, there's like three lines in this one script, but we will push, and if you're in there, we will make sure that we get your character serviced. Whatever screen time you get, we will do everything to make the most out of it." So he agreed to come down playing multiple roles also, as he always does. And yeah, he filled the screen every time he was given the chance.

Campbell: And I needed someone to wash my car on Saturdays, and Ted has been very good about that.

Tapert: Lucy, you've probably worked with Ted more than anybody.

Lawless: Yeah, I have. he's a dream -- yeah, we all wanted him down. Like, "Please, get the band back together."

It's so rare, it seems, in Hollywood, to have the kind of history that you all share. You've gone on this journey, and not by ending up in a project that everybody's kind of tied to a franchise but because you want to work together, because you're friends -- and family, to varying degrees. Looking back at all of that history, what does it mean to you to have had that journey together?

Campbell: It is rare, but you don't think about it until people point it out. I've been looking at Rob's mug for coming up on 40 years now. I forget how easy it makes it, because we've always walked on other people's sets, and he doesn't know anybody. Lucy guest-stars on shows, I guest-star on shows, and you walk up and you don't really know anybody, and those producers could be a**holes, the director could be an idiot.

Lawless: It makes it a lot easier to sign on the dotted line [together].

Campbell: Yeah, because you kind of know what you're going to get. I know how Rob produces. I've got a sense of it. We're well taken care of. The thing is, do these people have your back based on what you do? You know, Lucy and I can make sure that the set's going to get shot. You get the two of us on set, it'll get shot. Rob doesn't have to worry about that, and then we don't have to worry about Rob providing the background personnel and all the people, the support people, to make it happen. It's a very complicated show.

Lawless: You know what the difference is? It's not always like this on other sets. But we're part of the crew. So getting the job done, we don't leave set, we hang around, we make sure that the day gets done. There's no running off to call my agent.

Campbell: You can predict that. And again, that's another thing that's very easy to take for granted. So thanks for reminding us every so often that it is special, it is different, it is unique. Because it's re-presented itself, I think both of us, Rob and I, realize we don't know how many more times this is going to go around. Let's give it a last hurrah. If this is the last of the "Evil Deads" that are ever going to be done, we both -- all of us here -- want to make sure it's memorable, and that it was worth it.

Lawless: And it was fun!

Campbell: It wound up being worth going through all that, to bring it all back again. Because sometimes you do it and the audience goes, "Eh." And then where are you? So we're thankful that we've come back and they have accepted us. So it makes it more of a relief. Going into this season, we knew we had the job already, you know what I mean? Now it's just keeping up expectations. Season 2: there are expectations.

Creatively, where do you start each season? Do you kind of look at each season like a massive movie?

Tapert: You know what, the last two seasons we've looked at as a season. So what is this season? How do we get through it? Now at the end of the second season, we're looking, "Okay, what could a bigger picture be? What could two or three seasons look like? Where do we want to get to eventually?"

Campbell: What if it all fits into a bigger puzzle?

Tapert: Yeah. There's a plus and minus to look for within, or "What does it all mean?" Because once you know where you're going, it's hard to do anything but go in that direction. You want to leave, creatively, the ability to explore different avenues, or kind of find your way in the darkness.

Campbell: And you still can, because if you have the big picture, you always know where you've got to get back to. If you take a little detour, that's fine. As long as you know where you're going. Because if the audience gets lost, you're doomed. They lose momentum.

For you, Bruce, it must be interesting to evolve this character -- in the tiniest of fractions of a percent.

Campbell: Ash has dialogue, finally! Look at the first three movies. He has, like, nine lines of dialogue.

Given that he's still immature, but now kind of mature, is it fun to figure out the balance?

Campbell: Now he's verbally immature! I don't know -- I like the fact that he can speak now. Full sentences. They're not great sentences, but they're full sentences.

Tapert: You know, one of the strengths of the franchise has always been Ash alone battling something unseen, or an unseen force. So Bruce has spent a great deal of time in the franchise, as a whole in the movie, fighting himself or fighting an unseen enemy.

At least in the series as it goes on, he's got a lot of people he can talk to. Which makes it easier acting, although every time we have him alone, nobody is better at their own fighting the unseen than Bruce. I just always marvel at how Bruce alone is a lot of fun.

So many Easter eggs referencing your home state of Michigan in Season 1. What elements of Michigan lore are you still waiting to introduce into this series?

Campbell: We've got Faygo Redpop going. That was important. We've introduced a new line of beer, Shemps Beer, which is important to me, because Ash would have his own beer that we can use.

Tapert: You know, a lot of '70s music and icons ... The music is retro when it works, and we look there first, going to Michigan bands. So things that we knew ...

Campbell: There's some good stuff. The B sides -- it's the B side of everything too. You've got B movies, here's the B side. It's a perfect match.

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Thursday, September 29, 2016

Ryan Gosling Is Inviting You to the 'Blade Runner 2' Set ... Sort of

2016 Toronto International Film Festival - "La La Land" PremiereIf you've ever pictured yourself riding around on a golf cart with Ryan Gosling, your lucky day may be coming.

With "Blade Runner 2" currently filming in Budapest, Hungary, Gosling and his co-star Harrison Ford have teamed up with Omaze to benefit the Enough Project. Gosling lays it out in a new video, explaining how the initiative supports peace and justice in Africa.

A donation gives you and a friend the chance to win a trip to Budapest. The two of you will be flown to Hungary, put up in a hotel, and then brought to set to watch the dystopian magic happen.

"You can have a nice lunch, show you around, watch us film a scene, maybe meet Harrison Ford," says Gosling in the video. "But I think the most exciting part is I might let you drive my golf cart."

Let him give you the rundown below as he cruises around set on perhaps the very same golf cart you could drive if you won.
According to Omaze's website, contributions also benefit Imerman Angels and the Hummingbirds Foundation. You can donate (and thereby enter the contest) at Omaze.com.

Directed by Denis Villeneuve and produced by Ridley Scott, the "Blade Runner" sequel hits theaters on Oct. 6, 2017.

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Sandra Oh Is Returning to ABC -- But Not 'Grey's Anatomy'

Korean American Story Fifth Annual Fundraising GalaSandra Oh is headed back to ABC, but this time, alas, it's not for "Grey's Anatomy." Instead, the John Ridley anthology series "American Crime" has snagged the actress, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

With the series' third season exploring labor issues and economic divides, Oh will play Abby Tanaka, a social worker who runs a shelter for victims of domestic abuse. However, "American Crime" fans shouldn't get too attached to her just yet; the role is recurring, so we won't see her as much as the regulars and perhaps not at all beyond Season 3.

Oh's return to ABC is still a nice homecoming of sorts. She played brilliant surgeon Christina Yang on the network's hit medical drama for 10 seasons before hanging up her scrubs in 2014. Since leaving, she has turned her attention to film and theater projects, including producing.

On "American Crime," Oh joins a cast that includes Regina King, Timothy Hutton, Felicity Huffman, Lili Taylor, Richard Cabral, and Connor Jessup. A premiere date has not yet been announced, but we can expect Season 3 to premiere sometime in 2017.

[via: The Hollywood Reporter]

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'Lip Sync Battle' Teases Season 3 with Lupita Nyong'o, 'Beat It,' and More

Lip Sync Battle: All Stars LiveSpike is bringing us more head-to-head matchups between celebrities who are just pretending to sing: The network released a new trailer for "Lip Sync Battle" today.

It looks like host LL Cool J and color commentator Chrissy Teigen will be joined onstage by the usual onslaught of big names when the show returns. The group of celebs lent their, well, not vocals, but enthusiasm to the preview. Each lip syncs a portion of Michael Jackson's "Beat It," while LL Cool J and Teigen reenact the music video.

While we don't know yet who will face whom, we can look forward to Season 3's star-studded lineup. The latest group of "Lip Sync" battle contestants includes Orange Is the New Black stars Uzo Aduba, Ruby Rose, Laverne Cox, and Samira Wiley; longtime late-night hosts Jay Leno and Craig Ferguson; Marvel stars Don Cheadle and Sir Ben Kingsley; action star Milla Jovovich; pro basketball player DeAndre Jordan; comedians Wanda Sykes, Jeff Dye, Regina Hall, Rob Riggle, and T.J. Miller; Lupita Nyong'o of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens"; John Cho of "Star Trek"; "Modern Family" star Sarah Hyland; and "Superstore" star America Ferrera.

Watch the trailer below.
"Lip Sync Battle" Season 3 premieres on Spike on Oct. 12. at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

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Ellen Pompeo Talks 'Grey's Anatomy' Season 13 and Beyond

ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" - Season ThirteenEllen Pompeo may have watched multiple co-stars leave "Grey Anatomy" behind, but fans can rest assured that she isn't ready to walk away -- and she doesn't see the hit medical drama going anywhere, either.

Pompeo, who has played Meredith Grey since the series premiered in 2005, recently opened up to The Hollywood Reporter about her role in Season 13, the evolution of the show, and its future. Fans will be relieved to hear that not only does Pompeo want to remain on "Grey's Anatomy," she doesn't see it ending anytime soon.

"There's no talk of going away with numbers like this," she told THR of the show, which is currently ABC's top drama.

Pompeo added that she's still having fun, so she doesn't see any reason to follow former co-stars out the door. "I don't want to walk away from the golden goose," she said. "I want to put a leash around it and take it everywhere with me."

Still, it hasn't been easy saying goodbye to exiting colleagues over the years. "It's strange because when we've lost people from the show, you feel sad and you feel like, 'Is it going to be the same? Is it going to be more fun?'" she told THR. "But in a funny way, the evolution really helps us continue. And we're finding our way. The writers are doing a great job."

Season 13 has brought the usual intriguing drama. Meredith's love triangle, for example, is something we'll continue to see now that she realizes that she hooked up with her sister's crush. She's also still coping with Derek's death, though, and will be "inching" back into dating.

Meanwhile, fellow original character Alex (Justin Chambers) got himself into even more trouble. On his arrest, Pompeo shared that "he's going to get demoted at work."

Yep, there's definitely enough excitement to keep carry the show forward.

[via: The Hollywood Reporter]

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Get Ready for the 'Saturday Night Live' Premiere by Watching Season 41's Seven Best Sketches


With the Season 42 premiere right around the corner, let's take a look back at our favorite SNL sketches from Season 41.

Our Top 7:
7. A Thanksgiving Miracle
6.
Hillary Clinton Bar Talk
5.
Undercover Boss: Starkiller Base
4.
Meet Your Second Wife
3. Bern Your Enthusiasm
2.
Farewell Mr. Bunting
1.
Close Encounter

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'Designated Survivor' and 'Speechless' Get Full-Season Orders from ABC

Two more shows have gotten full-season orders this fall TV season, with both series hailing from ABC.

Freshmen entries "Designated Survivor" and "Speechless" have both been tapped for nine new episodes apiece, bringing each show's total number of episodes up to 22. As Deadline reports, pickups have tended come later in the fall TV season in recent years, thanks to cautious networks wanting to wait to see how freshmen shows perform before ordering more. But both "Designated Survivor" and "Speechless" have been impressive after airing only two episodes apiece.

The series premiere of Kiefer Sutherland drama "Designated Survivor" pulled in ABC's biggest audience in its timeslot in five years, building off its lead-in, "black-ish," and beating its 10 p.m. competitors on CBS and NBC. And Minnie Driver family sitcom "Speechless" attracted a decent 7.3 million viewers overall with its series premiere, but impressed by losing only 10 percent of that audience in its second week, and scoring higher among the coveted 18-49 demo than its previous timeslot occupant, "The Real O'Neals."

"'Designated Survivor' and 'Speechless' are two of the most critically acclaimed new shows of the fall season," said ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey in a statement. "We're very proud of the creative excellence in front of and behind the camera, and are thrilled to be giving our audience more episodes."

The only other series to get a full-season pickup so far is NBC's "This Is Us." Deadline predicts that CBS will soon order more of freshman entries "Kevin Can Wait," "Bull," and "MacGyver." Stay tuned.

[via: Deadline]

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