Motion Picture: Kelly Marie Tran and Carlos López Estrada Start Production Company; 'The Book of Clarence' Cast Announced
Action/Fantasy/Sci-Fi Everything Everywhere All At Once’s Michelle Yeoh has been cast as Madame Morrible in Universal Pictures’ Wicked. Yeoh’s Madame Morrible will be the head of the school that the main characters Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) and Glinda (Ariana Grande) attend. Yeoh joins a previously announced cast that includes Jeff Goldblum (the Wizard), Jonathan Bailey (Fiyero), and Ethan Slater (Boq). Jon M Chu, who has previously worked with Yeoh on Crazy Rich Asians will direct. The first installment of this two-part franchise will hit theatres on December 25th, 2024, with the second part being released a year later.
Rapper Sticky Fingaz, Peter Jae, and Emerson Min round out the cast of Darkness of Man, an action-thriller featuring Jean-Claude Van Damme as an operative who strives to protect his deceased informant’s son (Min) from L.A. gang violence and an “all-out turf war.” Sticky Fingaz, Jae, and Min will join Van Damme, Kristanna Loken, and Spencer Breslin in the feature directed by James Cullen Bressack. Min will play Jayden, the adopted son of Van Damme’s Russell Hatch. It is unclear what roles Sticky Fingaz and Jae will play. Production will begin in L.A. in early 2023.
Barbarians’s Catalina Sandino Moreno has joined the cast of Ballerina, an action film set in the John Wick universe that A Hot Set has previously reported on. Moreno joins Ana de Armas, who will play the revenge-seeking protagonist of the feature, Lance Reddick, who will reprise his role as concierge Charon, Ian McShane, and Anjelica Huston. It is unclear what role Moreno will play in the film directed by Len Wiseman. Production is currently underway for Ballerina, although a release date has not yet been announced.
An animated Batman reboot taking place in the 1920s, Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham, has found its voice cast. Uncharted’s Tati Gabrielle will voice Kai Li Cain opposite David Giuntoli as Batman, Christopher Gorham (Oliver Queen), Dohn DiMaggio (James Gordon), Patrick Fabian (Harvey Dent), Brian George (Alfred), and Jason Marsden (Dick Grayson and young Bruce Wayne). Co-directing and producing is Sam Liu, who is well-versed in the DC and Batman universes. Christopher Berkeley will split directing duties. Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham takes place outside of the DC universe and will follow Bruce Wayne as he unintentionally unleashes an ancient evil and must return to Gotham after leaving for twenty years. The film is expected to be released in the spring of 2023.
Director Bong Joon Ho, following his success with Parasite, has announced a release date and shared a teaser trailer for his new film Mickey 17. The film, based on Edward Ashton’s Mickey 7, follows a man (Robert Pattinson) sent by his superiors to colonize a planet. However, the man is deemed “expendable” as he is tasked with the most dangerous and life-risking responsibilities. Miraculously, the man, the seventh to be sent on the mission, survives and finds that he has already been cloned when he returns to his home planet. Mickey 17 will be produced by Plan B Entertainment and will be globally released by Warner Bros. on March 29th, 2024.
Comedy The cast of the upcoming Mean Girls movie musical by Paramount has been announced. The reboot based on the Broadway musical of the same name will feature Moana’s Auli’i Cravalho and Jaquel Spivey, who will make his feature debut after spending time on Broadway. Cravalho and Spivey will play the best-friend duo, Janice and Damien, respectively, and will star alongside Angourie Rice, who will play Cady, and Reneé Rapp, who will play Regina. Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr. will direct, with Tina Fey and Lorne Michaels producing. It is unclear when the film will make its debut on Paramount+.
The first trailer for Kenya Barris’ directorial debut You People, starring Eddie Murphy and Jonah Hill, has been released by Netflix. The trailer depicts an awkward and “culture clashing” conversation between Ezra Cohen (Hill) and his fiancé’s parents, Murphy and Nia Long, as he tells them he would like to marry their daughter. Black-ish’s Barris will co-write and produce with 21 Jump Street’s Hill. The rest of the cast includes Lauren London, Hill’s love interest and daughter of Murphy and Long’s characters, as well as Sam Jay, Travis Bennett, Elliot Gould, Molly Gordon, Rhea Perlman, Deon Cole, Andrea Savage, Mike Epps, Emily Arlook, Alani La La Anthony, and Bryan Greenberg. You People will be available to stream on Netflix on January 27th, 2023.
Jeymes Samuel - Axelle/Bauer-Griffin
Drama Singer-songwriter turned actress Fefe Dobson has joined the cast of an indie-drama with the working title Danzig. The film tells the story of two people whose lives forever intertwine when they are caught up in a gang shooting on Scarborough’s Danzig Street. The content of the film will be inspired by the actual 2012 Toronto shooting that left two dead and twenty-four injured. Director Ron Dias and screenwriter Joanne Jansen will work to tell the story of victim Joshua Yasay, played by Monarch’s Iñigo Pascual, and his fictional love interest portrayed by Dobson. Other characters include brothers Nipsey and Breeze, gang members involved in a turf war, although it is unclear who will play them. Dias and Jansen want to “[tell] the story with the community by [their sides]” and have collaborated with the families of the victims. The film’s release date has not yet been set.
An expansive cast for Jeymes Samuel’s The Book of Clarence has been announced. Emergency’s RJ Cyler, Clemency’s Alfre Woodard, Selma’s David Oyelowo, Us’s Anna Diop, Dr. Strange’s Benedict Cumberbatch, and Split’s James McAvoy have all signed on. The film, inspired by Biblically-set Hollywood features, will follow LaKeith Stanfield’s Clarence, a “down-on-his-luck denizen of Jerusalem” as he attempts to profit from the growing popularity and infamy of Jesus Christ. The previously announced cast includes Caleb McLaughlin, Eric Kofi Abrefa, Tom Glynn-Carney, and Babs Olusanmokun. The Book of Clarence, projected to be released in theatres, will be one of the first projects under Legendary’s collaboration with Sony Pictures. The film began production in Italy in early December. Its release date is currently unknown.
Documentary A bipartisan House select committee will produce a documentary about economic inequality in the United States that will feature the stories of three Americans with different backgrounds and views of the American Dream: Jeremy Cook, a small-business owner who cares for his adult, non-verbal sons with autism, Alicia Villaneuva, a Mexican immigrant and creator of a tamale production company, and Joseph Graham Jr., a single father that unconventionally earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at an older age. Titled Grit & Grace: The Fight for the American Dream, the film is spearheaded by Representative Jim Himes, chair of the Select Committee on Economic Disparity and Fairness in Growth, and drives inspiration from the artistic storytelling of photographers appointed by Franklin D. Roosevelt to depict the effects of the Great Depression. Oscar Guerra, whose experience includes producing for PBS Frontline, will direct. The documentary has a run time of approximately thirty minutes and will premiere at the National Archives on December 13th, 2023.
Carlos López Estrada and Kelly Marie Tran - ANGELA WEISS
Industry Updates Raya and the Last Dragon’s Kelly Marie Tran and Carlos López Estrada have announced their collaboration in creating the production company Antigravity Academy (AGA). The company aims to produce content that features “underrepresented stories” and supports creators from “historically excluded communities.” Windsor Yuan will head AGA’s film and television sectors, while Doug Klinger will run the short-form division. Abiram Brizuela will function as an incubator to scout and support first and second-time filmmakers. On this new project, Tran and Lòpez Estrada jointly comment that “we are looking forward to partnering up with the most inspiring independent voices coming from communities that have been historically overlooked and helping them usher their stories into the world.”
