Celebrity Status: Knives Out, Stallone, Allison Janney, & Tom Hardy
KNIVES OUT SEQUEL GETS RELEASE DATE _ Daniel Craig is ready to revive his southern accent. Glass Onion, the sequel to 2019’s whodunnit smash Knives Out, will debut on Netflix December 23, as well as be released in select theaters on a to-be-announced date.
… The film will premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September.
… Plot details are still unknown but Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery will star Craig as Benoit Blanc, the brilliant Southern private detective. The new film is set to follow Blanc as he investigates a completely separate mystery from the original film, this one set in Greece. The cast includes Edward Norton, Janelle Monáe, Leslie Odom Jr., Kathryn Hahn, Jessica Henwick, Madelyn Cline, Kate Hudson, Dave Bautista and Ethan Hawke.
HOUSE OF THE DRAGON PREMIERE DRAWS NEARLY 10 MILLION VIEWERS _ Westeros came back to HBO Sunday night with the series premiere of House of the Dragon — and brought the masses along with it. House of the Dragon drew in 9.99 million viewers across HBO and HBO Max after premiering with one episode on Sunday.
… HBO says House of the Dragon drew the largest audience in the pay TV channel’s history, including content that debuted before the streaming era.
——
SAMARITAN CLIP GIVES US A LITTLE MORE OF SYLVESTER STALLONE’S GRIZZLED SUPERHERO _ Amazon Prime Video has unveiled a new clip from the upcoming superhero flick Samaritan, which stars Sylvester Stallone as a grizzled superhero who has been MIA for several years.
… Side note: This is an original idea and not based on a comic book, which is pretty interesting.
… The film will arrive on Prime Video this Friday.
——
COMMUNITY MOVIE IS STILL COMING _ The creator of the hit TV show Community says the long-promised movie is still in the works. Dan Harmon said: “There’s a story — who knows if we’ll end up sticking to it, but it was something we had to compile in order to take it out and court various venues. And now negotiations happen.”
… So the movie’s a go? Harmon said: “this is a matter of when and not if, for sure.”
——
GEORGE MILLER CASTS BULLIED CHILD IN MAD MAX PREQUEL _ A boy who was once relentlessly bullied will soon be part of the cast for the Mad Max: Fury Road prequel, Furiosa, thanks to director George Miller. Back in 2020, the young Quaden Bayles’ story went viral after his mother filmed a video of him breaking into tears and begging for help after being bullied at his school in Australia. Numerous celebrities, including fellow Aussie and Logan star Hugh Jackman, Walking Dead actor Jon Bernthal, and Watchman actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan, all voiced support for the then-9-year-old Bayles, who was born with achondroplasia, the most common version of dwarfism.
… One of the famous people who vowed support to Bayles was Miller, who extended an invitation to the boy to appear in his newest film, Three Thousand Years of Longing. Bayles only appears as an extra in Three Thousand Years, which stars Idris Elba and Tilda Swinton. However, Miller revealed he was so impressed by Bayles that he decided to put him in his next movie, too.
… One of the things that Miller said really “fired” him up to include Bayles in his films was a stomach-churning accusation by News Corp columnist Miranda Devine that the boy’s mother simply made up the bullying claims to scam people.
——
ALLISON JANNEY BECOMES AN ACTION HERO IN LOU _ A trailer for Lou was released Monday. Allison Janney stars as Lou, an mysterious loner who finds herself thrust into a harrowing journey when her neighbor’s daughter is kidnapped by the girl’s father. As the two team up to rescue the young girl, jaw-dropping secrets about their pasts come to light.
… Lou will release to Netflix on September 23.
——
JULIANNA MARGULIES TO RETURN TO THE MORNING SHOW _ The Good Wife and Billions alum Julianna Margulies is returning as news anchor Laura Peterson for Season 3 of the Apple TV+ series The Morning Show. The cast will include new addition Jon Hamm, as well as original leads Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon. Billy Crudup and Marcia Gay Harden round out the ensemble of the show about the anchors, staffers and executives of a daytime news program.
——
TOM HARDY WINS GOLD AT JIU-JITSU TOURNAMENT _ Tom Hardy showcased his fighting skills in real life over the weekend, taking home gold in a charity Jiu-Jitsu championship in Wolverhampton, England. Hardy began learning Jiu-Jitsu to prepare for his starring role in the 2011 film Warrior, in which he played an MMA fighter.
… Videos of Hardy were posted to TikTok by user Jiu-Jitsu Geoff and YouTube, showing the actor taking down his competitors on the mat with expert-like precision.
——
J.J. ABRAMS SERIES CANCELED AT APPLE _ The limited series My Glory Was I Had Such Friends is no longer going forward at Apple TV+. According to Deadline, this comes after Alias alum Jennifer Garner, who was set to star in the series, had to drop out of the project due to scheduling reasons, prompting the streamer to move on from the project altogether. Garner is currently filming a different Apple TV+ limited series, The Last Thing He Told Me, an adaptation of Laura Dave’s novel.
… J.J. Abrams was producing the series.
