ReelBlend #68: Our Interview With John Wick: Chapter 3 Director Chad Stahelski

ReelBlend #68: Our Interview With John Wick: Chapter 3 Director Chad Stahelski

Very few directors currently are doing action as well as Chad Stahelski. He learned from the best. The kickboxer turned stunt performer turned coordinator turned director has been reinventing the stunt/fight wheel with the John Wick franchise, which is continuing this week with John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum.

Before the movie opens in theaters, Stahelski was kind enough to join the ReelBlend podcast for a candid discussion on his extensive approach to action-set constructions, the insane amount of time it takes to do action scenes with trained dogs, the way they broke story for the John Wick saga, and the influence that The Matrix continues to have on action movies to this day.

(In case you were unaware, Chad Stahelski first met Keanu Reeves when we worked as the actor’s stunt double on all three Matrix movies. Theirs is a legendary partnership that stretches back decades.)

It was an honor to have Chad Stahelski on our show, and we know the Blenders are going to love his incredible stories about the John Wick films, and moviemaking in general.

Before we got into our conversation with Chad Stahelski, we discussed the news that Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss will be the ones to get their Star Wars movie in theaters in 2022. There hasn’t been confirmation that their trilogy will continue in 2024 and 2026 (or if Rian Johnson will get one of those slots to begin HIS trilogy), but those guys are slated into the 2022 slot, and we discuss how that impacts Star Wars going forward.

Speaking of Game of Thrones, Kevin, Sean and Jake weigh in with their opinions of the next-to-last episode of Game of Thrones. Their largely split on how things played out, but they talk about how the season is concluding, and how they think the finale will play out.

Finally, this week’s #Blend Game focused on the films of Sofia Coppola. How many of the guys chose Lost in Translation?

ReelBlend is a weekly podcast that we do on CinemaBlend. You can download the latest episode (and all of our past episodes) for FREE on our iTunes page! Visit. Subscribe. Like and comment. Review! Apple loves when you have star ratings and reviews, so if you listened, and you liked it (or even if you didn't), let us know. We also are on Spotify. And Google Play. And basically everywhere that you download podcasts. So download us.

Meanwhile, follow the guys on Social Media! We have an official Twitter feed for the show, so follow @ReelBlend. In addition, follow the guys at @Sean_OConnell, @JakesTakesand @KevinMcCarthyTV.

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Watch Aladdin’s Will Smith Rap ‘Friend Like Me’ Live

Watch Aladdin’s Will Smith Rap ‘Friend Like Me’ Live

Disney's next live-action remake is Aladdin and without a doubt, the hardest job in the new movie is the one done by Will Smith. He has to try to fill the shoes of the great Robin Williams, whose most iconic role ever might just be the animated blue Genie. For many there is simply no way to fill the shoes of Robin Williams, but Smith is going to do his best to make the role his own, and on a recent episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, we got a taste of how.

Will Smith tells Jimmy Fallon that he himself wasn't interested in taking on the role of the Genie at first, but as he thought about it, he found a way to put his own spin on the part through one of Aladdin's classic songs, the showstopping "Friend Like Me." Smith even performed a bit of it on the show. Check it out.

The audience clearly seems to get into the impromptu performance, as does Jimmy Fallon, though pretty much everything seems to get Fallon excited.

It's about as far from Robin Williams' version of "Friend Like Me" as you can get, which is, of course, the point. Inviting comparison to Williams is only going to end badly for Will Smith and the movie in general. The best move is to lean into Will Smith's strengths, including his musical ability, and give this version of the Genie an energy that is uniquely Will Smith.

We've gotten some brief glimpses of both the visuals and the music in the new Aladdin, but clearly the big stuff is being held for the film itself. Will Smith tells Jimmy Fallon that the "Prince Ali" number is going to be especially impressive. That's one part of the film that we really haven't seen.

The initial reaction to the new Aladdin was less than stellar following the reveal of Will Smith's Genie. People felt the CGI look was just wrong. The more recent trailers have seemingly calmed most nerves. Fans who are looking for a new version of the story they love are clearly going to get that, and Smith's version of the Genie appears to spend a large part of the movie looking human, so if the CGI is rough, we may not have to deal with it for long.

If you'd like to compare Will Smith's performance of "Friend Like Me" to the original, you can check out Robin Williams version in the video below.

Remakes are always a bit of a tightrope. On the one hand, seeing a different interpretation of a favorite movie can be a lot of fun, and multiple versions can be embraced for different reasons. At the same time, people want to see the parts of the original story that they loved the first time around. It's a bit of a balancing act.

Will Smith alone might be enough to keep Aladdin from following too close to the original material, in the way Beauty and the Beast did. We'll find out when the new Aladdin hits theaters May 24.

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Keri Russell's Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker Character Finally Revealed In New Image

Keri Russell's Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker Character Finally Revealed In New Image

While we’re still pretty much in the dark when it comes to details on Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’s plot, there’s plenty of other information that’s slowly being put out into the universe. Today brings one of the most beautiful traditions linked to the modern era of Star Wars film’s: the Vanity Fair spread.

Among the new character reveals that took place in this latest version of that time-honored happening is our first look at Keri Russell’s new Star Wars character, Zorri Bliss. As you’ll see in the photo below, she was absolutely right to say that she had the coolest costume in the film:

This first look at Zorri and her costume has us thinking that Keri Russell is playing a bounty hunter character, or at least someone who swims in the same dark circles as Boba Fett. Then again, if anyone shows up in the Star Wars universe with weapons and a helmet obscuring their face, it’s not a hard stretch to think that this person would be looking to apprehend any person, object, or information for the right price.

With a gold helmet that looks like The Rocketeer joined Daft Punk, and a crimson/purple jumpsuit that complements further gold and bronze accents, Zorri is definitely ready for action. The inclusion of her dual pistols only makes us want to hang out with her more, knowing that at any given moment, a fight could break out and Zorri Bliss would end it just as quickly.

Not only was the first look at Zorri’s costume shared by Vanity Fair, but some details about Zorri’s character were also given. Sure enough, we’re not the only people that see a smooth criminal in the Star Wars galaxy, as their write up mentions that the fresh war raging throughout the new trilogy has continued to allow the criminal underworld to flourish. Which certainly explains the fancy threads on Zorri Bliss.

As Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is set up to conclude the Skywalker Saga, the two trilogies of stand-alone films that won’t deal with that particular corner of the storied universe are on the horizon, and will need new characters to play around with. Which means that between Rian Johnson’s new films, and those being undertaken by Game of Thrones’ masterminds David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, there’s a chance that Zorri Bliss could appear again down the line.

That's speculation, of course, but should Keri Russell’s new character make a big enough impression, this just might be the future we’re looking at. We’ll have to wait until Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker arrives in our galaxy on December 20th to find out. In the meantime, you can take a look at what all we know about the upcoming flick so far.

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Why Annabelle Comes Home Is Very Much A Homecoming For The Conjuring Universe

Why Annabelle Comes Home Is Very Much A Homecoming For The Conjuring Universe

In the last six years, The Conjuring Universe has become one of the most successful active franchises in Hollywood. It all started when James Wan’s The Conjuring turned out to be a massively huge hit in the summer of 2013, and since then the brand has expanded to include multiple spin-off series, which have actually mostly performed as well or better than the core titles.

As the franchise has continued, it’s expanded in interesting ways and gone to some exciting new places – and it’s in recognition of this that Gary Dauberman’s upcoming Annabelle Comes Home holds a special place the brand’s direction. It turns out the title has a semi-double meaning, as in addition to the movie featuring a plot that sees the titular doll come to live in the Warren house, it’s also seen by the filmmakers as a homecoming of sorts for the entire Conjuring Universe.

This was a sentiment shared by producer Peter Safran during an interview late last year when I had the chance to visit the set of what was then only called Annabelle 3:

The idea bringing it back to the Warren family was something that we've been toying with for a while. We had the Perrons, we had the Hodgsons, we took it all away to Romania – a totally different vibe and feel for The Nun. And we just liked the idea of bringing it closer to home, back to ordinary people and extraordinary circumstances, which was kind of the touchstone for it. And it just really made sense.

To fill in the gaps for the uninitiated, The Conjuring started the franchise with a story that actually spent a fair amount of time in the Warren home, in addition to following an investigation of the relatively-local Perron household. But the movies have slowly moved away from that ever since. Annabelle was really only a slight crawl away as a prequel story with a direct link-up featured at the end, but then The Conjuring 2 took Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga’s Ed and Lorraine Warren to England for the infamous Enfield Poltergeist case with the Hodgson clan. Annabelle: Creation then took audiences back nearly 20 years before the events of The Conjuring; and then The Nun doubled down on both elements of setting by not only going further back in time (by three years), but also by featuring events primarily set in the Vatican and Romania.

It’s been six years since audiences have seen any legitimately spooky action inside of the Warren’s house, but Annabelle Comes Home will break that streak when it’s released this summer. Set over the course of one night, the story centers on Ed and Lorraine’s daughter, Judy (McKenna Grace), as she spends the night with a babysitter (Madison Iseman) the night Annabelle is brought into household’s notorious artifact museum. Unfortunately for them, it’s evil winds up having a very strong influence over the other objects in the room, unleashing all kinds of terrors.

Further discussing the approach of bringing the action back to the Warrens’, Peter Safran explained that there has long been a creative curiosity when it comes to the aforementioned artifact museum, and Annabelle Comes Home will finally be the movie that sees the potential there explored. Plus, he added, it’s an opportunity to directly follow-up on the very first case that audiences were introduced to in the first Conjuring. Said the producer,

We always loved the idea of the artifact room being the potential source of more stories. The idea of actually setting a film around that was something, again, that we had in our mind for a while, and Gary [Dauberman] and James [Wan], and myself just thought this was the opportunity – that the third Annabelle movie is the opportunity to really raise the stakes. And that was it. Also the opening scene of The Conjuring is so iconic when it opens up on the half face of Annabelle, we just always liked the idea of, what happened after they left there? We see them taking the doll, what happens? It was actually something other people had asked us in the past as well. We just thought we will explore that story.

There will still be plenty more opportunities for The Conjuring Universe to explore new cities, countries, and time periods, as there are multiple projects actively in development, but Annabelle Comes Home is specifically being made as the film that brings us full circle.

The directorial debut of Gary Dauberman – who previously wrote the scripts for Annabelle, Annabelle: Creation, and The Nun – Annabelle Comes Home is scheduled to freak out audiences this summer with its June 28th release. And be sure to stay tuned here on CinemaBlend, as I have plenty more stories coming your way in the coming days from my time visiting the set.

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James Gunn Had A Really Good Time Writing The Suicide Squad

James Gunn Had A Really Good Time Writing The Suicide Squad

Within the span of eight months, James Gunn was fired from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and then rehired onto the threeequel. During that span of time, he was selected by Warner Bros to write and direct The Suicide Squad, and even now that he’s back on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Gun will still be overseeing Task Force X’s next cinematic adventure.

While we’re still a ways from seeing James Gunn’s take on the Suicide Squad in the DC Extended Universe, apparently he didn’t suffer from writer’s block when penning the story, calling it one of his best writing experiences in a while. In Gunn’s words:

The Suicide Squad, it just instantly started flowing. I don’t think I’ve had as much fun writing a script since maybe Dawn of the Dead. That’s what this whole movie has been like.

Just so we’re all on the same page, the Dawn of the Dead remake came out in 2004, and James Gunn wrote the script the year prior. So The Suicide Squad marks the most fun he’s had writing a script in over a decade and a half! That ideally bodes well for The Suicide Squad’s quality, though understandably, Gunn did not provide any specifics on what to expect from the movie while speaking with Deadline.

While 2016’s Suicide Squad, which was written and directed by Fury’s David Ayer, was unquestionably a commercial success, making nearly $747 million worldwide, it didn’t fare well on the critical side of the spectrum. With Ayer initially stepping away from directing Suicide Squad 2 to helm Gotham City Sirens (he’s since kept busy with Bright, its upcoming sequel and The Tax Collector), that opened the door for a new creative mind to put their own stamp on the Suicide Squad mythology, a doorway which James Gunn stepped through once his time at Marvel Studios looked like it was done for good.

Although it was initially described as a g The Suicide Squad will have ties to its predecessor, as evidenced by the return of Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang and Viola Davis as Amanda Waller. That said, rather than being a traditional sequel, The Suicide Squad is being framed as more of a ‘relaunch,’ which undoubtedly allowed James Gunn more creative freedom.

One of the ways The Suicide Squad will distinguish itself is by featuring a lot of new faces. Idris Elba will play someone who’s not Deadshot, David Dastamalchian will play Polka-Dot Man and Daniela Melchior will play Ratcatcher, while John Cena is in talks to play Peacemaker. King Shark will also reportedly be a member of this new Suicide Squad, although Michael Rooker has denied that he will voice the character.

The Suicide Squad charges into theaters on August 5, 2021, and production is slated to begin this fall. Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for updates on its progression, and don’t forget to look through our DC movies guide to learn what else the DCEU has coming up.

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Mark Ruffalo's Marvel Behind-The-Scenes Tribute Video Will Make You Feel All The Feels

Mark Ruffalo's Marvel Behind-The-Scenes Tribute Video Will Make You Feel All The Feels

Ending a run of films as big as the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Infinity Saga is bound to be emotional for both fans and cast members alike. This is especially true when it comes to fans making tribute videos in honor of films like Avengers: Endgame that are so touching, people like Mark Ruffalo just have to share. That’s exactly what the big guy has done with the video below, complete with a beautifully emotional message, take a look:

Comprised of outtakes from what looks like almost every film from Marvel Studio’s first cinematic arc, there’s plenty of goofing around from cast members included in this tribute reel, set to ELO’s “Mr. Blue Sky.” Among some of the highlights are the many funny faces that Chris Evans has been known to make, even in costume as Captain America. You'll also see a lot of smiles from cast members ranging from Chadwick Boseman and Scarlet Johansson, to of course, a lot of Robert Downey Jr. smiling mischievously and making faces that might not make it into a Disney-produced picture!

So yeah, it’s a video that’ll make Avengers: Endgame fans totally emotional, as it acts as kind of a family scrapbook of moments that led to the huge finale that fans had been waiting for across the span of 11 years and 22 movies. With the finale also marking the end of Joe and Anthony Russo’s current tenure at Marvel Studios, the reaction seems to indicate that emotional isn’t even the word for how folks may be feeling at the moment.

With Avengers: Endgame poised to surpass Avatar at any moment in the near future, this Twitter post is a good reminder of just how and why the Marvel Cinematic Universe has hit with the folks that helped make it possible. Even Mark Ruffalo knows that as he shares this video, honoring both his co-stars and the moviegoers who made their collective job an honor and a privilege.

The future of the MCU, and just what its next saga will entail, is still up in the air to a certain point. We’ll probably receive a lot of clues with Spider-Man: Far From Home acting as the official end of Phase Three, and the first step into a post-Infinity Saga world. Even then, the announcement of whatever Phase Four and beyond hold will be the ultimate clue as to where fans will be headed next.

So long as Marvel Studios and the cast of those upcoming movies continue to uphold the believe that fan and actor alike are what make this enterprise truly special, the success is likely to follow in both the undertaking and release of such projects.

Avengers: Endgame is in theaters now; with the final flick in the phase, Spider-Man: Far From Home, webbing up the box office on July 2nd. However, if you’re ready to look for another movie to entertain yourself with, you can take a look at the 2019 release schedule to see what other options are open.

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Captain Marvel's Stan Lee Tribute Is Perfect

Captain Marvel's Stan Lee Tribute Is Perfect

The following contains minor spoilers for Captain Marvel**.**

When we lost Stan Lee at the end of last year, Marvel fans were in shock. when it wasn't necessarily an unexpected turn of events, the man who helped bring so many of our favorite heroes to life was loved by many who never met him that everybody felt it. Since then, we've seen tributes to Lee included in Once Upon a Deadpool and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, but the one included in this week's Captain Marvel may be the best of them all. It doesn't wait until the credits roll where some might not see it. It drops it right into the opening seconds of the movie, by making Stan Lee the focal point of the Marvel Studios logo.

If you've seen any Marvel movie you're familiar with the Marvel Studios logo that plays either at the very beginning of every film, or after a short cold open. The current version of the logo is a collage of brief clips of various MCU films showing off all our favorite heroes in action. We see Captain America and Iron Man and Black Widow and the Hulk all looking awesome while the camera pulls back to reveal the Marvel Studios logo.

The one in front of Captain Marvel, however, is slightly different. It functions exactly the same way, only instead of seeing our favorite Marvel heroes, we get clips of Stan Lee in all of his various MCU cameos that he's made over the years. We don't see any other characters. No Iron Man. No Thor. It's just Stan. All Stan. As the logo fades away a text briefly flashes on the screen to say thank you to Stan Lee, then our movie gets underway.

It's an incredibly lovely way to say goodbye, one that touched the entire audience at my screening. The audience erupted in cheers and applause as soon as everybody realized what we were seeing. It was glorious. There may have been tears. From other people, I mean.

Of course, that wasn't the only time we saw Stan Lee in Captain Marvel's run time. Lee filmed his requisite cameo for the film before he died. It comes fairly early in the film. Vers (Brie Larson) has chased a Skrull onto a city bus and she's trying to figure out which of the humans on the bus is now the hiding Skrull. One of the people on the bus is Stan Lee.

Interestingly, unlike most of Stan's cameos, where he's playing a random nameless character, in this cameo he's actually playing Stan Lee. We see Stan on the bus reading a movie script and trying to learn his lines. Specifically, he's reading the script to Kevin Smith's 1995 comedy Mallrats. Yes, Stan Lee's cameo makes reference to another Stan Lee cameo.

We understand that Stan Lee filmed his cameo for Avengers: Endgame as well, so we'll likely see him again at least one more time. As it's only a couple months from now, maybe Stan Lee will be in the Marvel logo again then. It will be fitting to be sure Stan Lee gets a proper thank you during the film the entire MCU has being building towards. I certainly wouldn't mind seeing that again.

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