Motion Picture: Daveed Diggs Cast In 'In The Blink Of An Eye,' and Gil Birmingham To Return To The 'Wind River' Universe

Daveed Diggs - Tim Mosenfelder

Action/Fantasy/Sci-Fi: The Queen’s Gambit’s Moses Ingram and Michael Shannon have been cast alongside Tilda Swinton and George MacKay in The End, Joshua Oppenheimer’s upcoming musical for Neon. Additional cast includes Bronagh Gallagher, Tim McInnerny, and Lennie James. The film, described as a “golden-age musical” will follow the last family on earth. It has begun filming in Ireland, with plans to continue production in Italy and Germany in the following months. Oppenheimer, in a statement regarding the film, comments:

“I am thrilled to be making The End in collaboration with this miraculous ensemble of artists. I am in awe of each of them. It has been a journey of six years to reach this point, and I could not be more humbled.” 

The End’s release date is currently unknown. 

Andrew Stanton’s In the Blink of an Eye has added Daveed Diggs to the cast. In the Blink of an Eye, a live-action film from Searchlight Pictures, is an anthology of three stories spanning thousands of years, exploring the themes of faith, hope, community, and the cyclicality of life. Hamilton’s Diggs will join Kate McKinnon and Rashida Jones. In the Blink of an Eye’s release date has not yet been announced.

The sequel to Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021) has expanded its cast. The Big Sick’s Kumail Nanjiani, along with Patton Oswalt, James Acaster, and Emily Alyn Lind has been cast in the Gil Kenan sequel. Paul Rudd and Carrie Coon will also reprise their roles. Although not much is known about the plot, the Ghostbusters: Afterlife sequel will likely return to the firehouse in New York City where the previous films took place. Ghostbusters: Afterlife director Jason Reitman has signed on as a co-producer for the sequel, where he will work alongside Kenan and Jason Blumenfeld. The unnamed Ghostbusters: Afterlife sequel is scheduled for a December 2023 release. 

Christina Milian - Matt Winkelmeyer

Comedy: A24 has announced the cast for their upcoming disaster-comedy Y2K directed by Kyle Mooney. The cast includes West Side Story’s Rachel Zegler, Deadpool 2’s Julian Dennison, Scream VI’s Mason Gooding, as well as The Kid LAROI, Alicia Silverstone, and Tim Heidecker. The film takes place on New Year’s Eve in 1999 and follows two high school loners (Jaeden Martell and Dennison) who crash the city’s biggest party. Things begin to get weird as the clock strikes midnight, ringing in the new millennium. Producers include Evan Winter, Matt Dines, Ali Goodwin, Jonah Hill, and Christopher Storer. Y2K’s release date is currently unknown. 

Love Don’t Cost a Thing’s Christina Milian will executive produce and star in Netflix’s upcoming holiday rom-com Meet Me Next Christmas. This will be Milian’s third rom-com collaboration with Netflix, coming after her 2021 film Resort to Love and the 2019 film Falling Inn Love. Milian will play Layla, a woman who is both searching tirelessly for love and the sold-out Pentatonix Christmas Eve concert. Additional cast includes Devale Ellis, Kofi Siriboe, Kalen Allen, and the acapella group itself. Meet Me Next Christmas will begin production this spring, although a release date has not been announced. 

Adam McKay’s next project, a serial killer comedy titled Average Height, Average Build has cast Forest Whitaker, Danielle Deadwyler, Robert Downey Jr., Amy Adams, and Robert Pattinson. The film has not yet been picked up by a studio or streamer, but production is anticipated to begin in late summer or early fall 2023. Average Height, Average Build will follow Pattinson, a serial killer, who asks a lobbyist, Adams, to alter laws to allow him to continue killing without consequences. Downey will play a retired police officer who is determined to catch the killer. It is unclear what roles Whitaker and Deadwyler will play. The film will be produced by Hyperobject Industries’ McKay and Kevin Messick. 

Benedict Wong - Noam Galai / Stringer

Drama: Benedict Wong, Jabari Banks, and Callina Liang have been cast in the English remake of Bad Genius, a Thai “high-stakes, high-octane thriller about a diverse group of young people who team up to fight the system of injustice and inequity and take down the rigged academic institutions around them.” The script will be written by JC Lee and Julius Onah, while Lee will direct the film for Picturestart and Picture Perfect Federation. The original film of the same name (Chalard Games Goeng) was released in 2017 and was the highest-grossing Thai film of the year. Bad Genius’s release date is still unknown. 

Gil Birmingham will return to the Wind River universe for the sequel Wind River: The Next Chapter. Birmingham will be joined by Alan Ruck, Kali Reis, Tatanka Means, Martin Sensmeier, Jason Clarke, Scott Eastwood, and Chaske Spencer. The film will follow the investigation of a series of terrifying ritualistic murders on the reservation as the FBI gets involved. It is unclear when Wind River: The Next Chapter will be released. 

Industry Updates: Stars including Ramy Youssef, Lauren Ridloff, Paul Feig, and Marlee Matlin have signed the Inevitable Foundation’s open letter which calls for the industry “to shift away from relying on disability consultants and instead hire creatives with disabilities on film and TV projects.” This comes after 35 deaf, disabled, and allied figures in Hollywood signed the letter from the Inevitable Foundation’s co-founders Marisa Tortelli-Pedevska and Richie Siegal. The letter reads, 

“Disabled writers, directors, and actors are rarely hired to work on projects that feature disabled characters because studios and production companies have prioritized hiring disability consultants. At the same time, the industry often sees disabled creatives as only worth considering for projects that have disabled characters, and they’re rarely considered for projects that leverage their unique perspectives and life experience beyond their disability. This perpetual employment limbo leaves disabled creatives without agency over their own stories or careers.”

Ajoomma writer and director He Shuming has signed with Sugar23, a “multimedia and management company founded by Oscar-winning producer, manager, and entrepreneur Michael Sugar.” This comes after Ajoomma was submitted by Singapore for the Academy Award for Best International Feature. Shuming was born and raised in Singapore. He studied directing and graduated from the American Film Institute Conservatory. In 2019, he was awarded the Young Artist Prize by the National Arts Council. Shuming’s other credits include Spotlight, Maniac, 13 Reasons Why, The Knick, The OA, and Dickinson, among others.