Nicole Kidman Plans To Tell Big Little Lies

Reese Witherspoon also set for the limited series

Limited series – or, as we tend to call them in the UK, miniseries – have become something of a hot trend across the pond, spurred, no doubt by the success of Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson in True Detective’s first season. So the chance to dip into a short run on TV is clearly appealing to the likes of Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon, who are attached to star in and produce Big Little Lies.

David E. Kelley, a man with no little TV experience (he’s the creator of The Practice, Boston Legal, Ally McBeal and Picket Fences among others) has signed on to adapt Liane Moriarty’s bestselling dark comedy tome.

Big Little Lies follows three very different suburban mothers whose lives are at a crossroads. Madeline is the alpha-mom dealing with her ex-husband and his new wife moving into her beachside community. Then there’s her beautiful friend Celeste, who appears to be queen of the school crowd but finds that it comes with a price. New to the area is Jane, a young single mother who befriends the other two but may be more than she seems…

Kidman and Witherspoon partnered up with their production companies to option the book in August as a potential film, but now appear to be shopping the project around to cable networks and the newer players in the telly world, the streaming services. Given the names involved, someone will likely snap it up soon.

from Empire News

Guillermo Del Toro Talks Pacific Rim Sequel

'It’s a few years after the first one...'

We’ve known for a while that at least one Pacific Rim sequel is in active development, with another still bubbling away in director Guillermo del Toro’s mind. But what of the next film, headed our way in 2017? Del Toro, doing the press rounds for the Blu-ray release of The Strain, seems ready to share a few details about what we can expect.

So when does the story for the second Pacific Rim film fit into the timeline? “It’s a few years after the first one,” says del Toro. “It’s not an immediate follow-up. It is the world having been freed of Kaiju, what happens to the world after – what happens to the Jaeger technology once the Kaiju are not a threat. It’s quite a jump.”

Don’t worry, it won’t be entirely giant beastie free: we’re not going to be spending the film with Jaeger crews forming a rounders league or using their machines as a giant Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots set. But the focus will be on that post-Kaiju world initially, and del Toro has figured out that Charlie Day’s Newton Geiszler and Burn Gorman’s Gottleib, the two squabbling scientists from the original, will definitely return.

“I think that two of our main characters like in the first one are Burn and Charlie. They are really, really – I mean, honestly, they are probably the guys I have the most fun writing along with Hannibal Chau so just from a purely selfish drive, I like writing them,” the director admits. “You’re gonna get a lot of that, but the Kaijus are very different and you’re gonna see a very different type of the robots I think. It’s gonna be quite a different adventure.” As for the likes of Charlie Hunnam’s Raleigh Becket and Rinko Kikuchi’s Mako Mori? We’ll have to wait and see. Perhaps they’ll be the focus of the third film, assuming that comes to pass…

Pacific Rim 2 is scheduled to stomp all over our cinemas on April 7, 2017.

from Empire News

Chris Pratt And Bryce Dallas Howard In First Jurassic World Trailer Lands

‘You made a new dinosaur? Probably not a good idea...’

The first trailer for Jurassic World has arrived. It’s an adventure a whole stack of years in the making, so without any to-do here’s the YouTube for you to view in full.

It's more CG-heavy than perhaps we're used to, but all the key beats are present and correct, including the big gate, that John Williams’ piano motif and a herd of Gallimimus galloping past our heroes, as well as a “we-want-to-see-this-NOW” moment when an aquatic dinosaur leaps from the water, Shamu-style, and gobbles an entire Great White. In one. Without cutlery.

According to our in-depth research*, that dinosaur is a Plesiosaurus, a colossal waterborne carnivore, but if you’re a palentologist (or 65 million years old) please correct us on that count. The key dino in this story, though, remains unrevealed: a genetically modified critter with a super-brain and a big appetite. As Chris Pratt’s dino-wrangler points out, messing with the DNA of these creatures is not a policy likely to reap major benefits. Sure enough, the Jurassic World management are soon hitting the giant button with "Run away!" on it.



Jurassic World is set years after Steven Spielberg’s original film, at a time when Jurassic Park is a functioning attraction on Isla Nublar. In fact, it does its job so well that dinosaurs are almost commonplace. The corporate types who run the Park have been pushing for bigger, better and more imposing creatures, and we can’t help but figure that’s when things start to get scare-shaped again.

Pratt plays a scientist doing behavioural research on the 'raptors when the park has a few lethal issues. Howard, meanwhile, will be one of the team involved in the place. Ty Simpkins, Nick Robinson, Omar Sy, Vincent D'Onofrio, Irrfan Khan, Jake Johnson, Judy Greer, B.D. Wong, Katie McGrath and Lauren Lapkus also show up in Jurassic World, which arrives in cinemas on June 12, provided you say the magic word.



* Wikipedisaurus

from Empire News

Chris Pratt And Jessica Chastain In First Jurassic World Trailer Lands

‘You made a new dinosaur? Probably not a good idea...’

The first trailer for Jurassic World has arrived. It’s an adventure a whole stack of years in the making, so without any to-do here’s the YouTube for you to view in full.

It's more CG-heavy than perhaps we're used to, but all the key beats are present and correct, including the big gate, that John Williams’ piano motif and a herd of Gallimimus galloping past our heroes, as well as a “we-want-to-see-this-NOW” moment when an aquatic dinosaur leaps from the water, Shamu-style, and gobbles an entire Great White. In one. Without cutlery.

According to our in-depth research*, that dinosaur is a Plesiosaurus, a colossal waterborne carnivore, but if you’re a palentologist (or 65 million years old) please correct us on that count. The key dino in this story, though, remains unrevealed: a genetically modified critter with a super-brain and a big appetite. As Chris Pratt’s dino-wrangler points out, messing with the DNA of these creatures is not a policy likely to reap major benefits. Sure enough, the Jurassic World management are soon hitting the giant button with "Run away!" on it.



Jurassic World is set years after Steven Spielberg’s original film, at a time when Jurassic Park is a functioning attraction on Isla Nublar. In fact, it does its job so well that dinosaurs are almost commonplace. The corporate types who run the Park have been pushing for bigger, better and more imposing creatures, and we can’t help but figure that’s when things start to get scare-shaped again.

Pratt plays a scientist doing behavioural research on the 'raptors when the park has a few lethal issues. Howard, meanwhile, will be one of the team involved in the place. Ty Simpkins, Nick Robinson, Omar Sy, Vincent D'Onofrio, Irrfan Khan, Jake Johnson, Judy Greer, B.D. Wong, Katie McGrath and Lauren Lapkus also show up in Jurassic World, which arrives in cinemas on June 12, provided you say the magic word.



* Wikipedisaurus

from Empire News

John C. Reilly Rounds Up Les Cowboys

He's set for Thomas Bidegain's directorial debut

After writing the likes of Rust And Bone and A Prophet, script man Thomas Bidegain is taking the chance to make his film-directing debut with a drama called Les Cowboys. He’s just landed John C. Reilly to join the cast.

Les Cowboys, which Bidegain wrote with regular collaborator Noe Debre, follows a father (Francois Damiens) who discovers that his daughter has disappeared after she started dating a young Muslim fundamentalist. He teams up with his son (Finnegan Oldfield) to find her, travelling around the globe from Lyon to Pakistan and ends up having to recruit help from an American headhunter (Reilly). As you might have guessed from his previous credits, this is not Bidegain turning to knockabout farce for his first turn in the director's chair.

“Les Cowboys touches on serious issues which have social, political and religious implications but our primary endeavour with this film is to depict how the disappearance of this daughter breaks apart the family and the tragedy that stems from it,” producer Alain Attal told Variety.

Reilly was most recent seen in Guardians Of The Galaxy and has several films on the way including Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Lobster, indie comedy drama Entertainment and historical fantasy The Tale Of Tales.

from Empire News

New UK Trailer For The Interview

James Franco and Seth Rogen are going to North Korea

It may not have the Red Band madness of the previous promo, but this new UK trailer for The Interview, starring James Franco and Seth Rogen, does at least feature a puppy and Rogen being menaced by a tiger. So, there’s that.

Franco is Dave Skylark, the none-too-bright but very popular host of celebrity tabloid TV show Skylark Tonight. When he and producer/best pal Aaron Rapoport learn that North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un is a huge fan of their work, they manage to land an interview with the tyrant, seeing it as their chance to establish themselves as legitimate journalists.

But with their travel to Pyongyang booked, the CIA decides that Dave and Aaron are the best shot they have at assassinating Kim, and set about finding a way for the two least qualified men imaginable to off a world leader. Naturally, things do not go quite to plan…

With Lizzy Caplan, Randall Park, Timothy Simons and Diana Bang in the cast, The Interview will hit UK screens on February 6 next year.

from Empire News

First Jurassic World Trailer Lands

‘You made a new dinosaur? Probably not a good idea...’

The first trailer for Jurassic World has arrived. It’s an adventure a whole stack of years in the making, so without any to-do here’s the YouTube for you to view in full.

It's more CG-heavy than perhaps we're used to but all the key beats are present and correct, including the gate, that John Williams’ piano motif and a herd of Gallimimus galloping past our heroes, as well as a “we-want-to-see-this-NOW” moment when an aquatic dinosaur leaps from the water, Shamu-style, and gobbles an entire Great White. In one. Without cutlery.

According to our in-depth research, that dinosaur is a Plesiosaurus, a colossal waterborne carnivore, but if you’re a palentologist (or 65 million years old) please correct us on that count. The key dino in this story, though, remains unrevealed: a genetically modified critter with a super-brain and a big appetite. As Chris Pratt’s dino-wrangler points out, messing with the DNA of these creatures is not a policy likely to reap major benefits. Sure enough, the Jurassic World management are soon hitting the giant button with "Run away!" on it.



Jurassic World is set years after Steven Spielberg’s original film, at a time when Jurassic Park is a functioning attraction on Isla Nublar. In fact, it does its job so well that dinosaurs are almost commonplace. The corporate types who run the Park have been pushing for bigger, better and more imposing creatures, and we can’t help but figure that’s when things start to get scare-shaped again.

Pratt plays a scientist doing behavioural research on the 'raptors when the park has a few lethal issues. Howard, meanwhile, will be one of the team involved in the place. Ty Simpkins, Nick Robinson, Omar Sy, Vincent D'Onofrio, Irrfan Khan, Jake Johnson, Judy Greer, B.D. Wong, Katie McGrath and Lauren Lapkus also show up in Jurassic World, which arrives in cinemas on June 12, provided you say the magic word.

from Empire News