Movie News After Dark
The day’s top headlines in bite-size portions.
Shortly after we reported on the hospitalization of Oscar-winning actress Debbie Reynolds yesterday, Ms. Reynolds passed away. She was, of course, the mother of Carrie Fisher, who died only the day before.
Reynolds was one of the last remaining stars of Hollywood’s Golden Age and is considered an icon of stage and screen. She began her career as an actress, singer, and dancer while in her teens. Her rise to prominence came when she was cast in the 1952 musical Singin’ in the Rain alongside stars Gene Kelly and Donald O’Connor. In 1964 she was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar for her titular turn in The Unsinkable Molly Brown.
Beyond the silver screen, Reynolds was also a near-constant television presence with roles on shows like The Golden Girls, Wings, Roseanne, Rugrats, Family Guy and an Emmy-nominated performance as Debra Messing’s mother on Will & Grace.
Like her daughter Fisher, Reynolds was an outspoken advocate of mental health issues, and just this year received the prestigious Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences.
She is survived by her son, Todd Fisher, and her granddaughter the actress Billie Lourd. Reynolds was 84.
After the undisputed success of their first film together, La La Land, actor Ryan Gosling and writer-director Damien Chazelle have decided to re-team for the biopic First Man about astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon. We’ve known about the project for a while, but now thanks to Variety there are some definitive details.
Universal Pictures confirmed that shooting on the film will begin early next year with an eye for a 2018 release. Josh Singer (Spotlight) is adapting the script from the book First Man: A Life of Neil A. Armstrong and the plot will focus on the period between 1961 to 1969, covering Armstrong’s journey from novice starman to galaxy-wide legend. So then this is more in the vein of films like Apollo 13 and The Right Stuff in that it will focus on the man, certainly, but the bigger story is the historical events of which Armstrong was integral.
No other information, including additional casting, was available. La La Land is in theaters now.
Fandango today released the results of their Most-Anticipated 2017 list, and in the top spot, surprising absolutely no one, is Star Wars Episode VIII, which is due out next December. The votes were tabulated before the untimely death of Carrie Fisher, which means that wherever the levels were, they’re way above that now, as the film will be Fisher’s last (living) performance as Leia.
Rounding out the top three were another pair of Disney properties, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2 and the live-action adaptation of Beauty and the Beast starring Emma Watson. Watson came in at number one of the list of Most Anticipated Actresses, which seems a clumsy designation at best, and over on the male list, Chris Pratt claimed the top spot. Check out the winners in all categories below.
Most Anticipated Movie:
1. Star Wars: Episode VIII
2. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
3. Disney’s Beauty and the Beast
4. Wonder Woman
5. Spider-Man: Homecoming
6. Justice League
7. The Fate of the Furious
8. Fifty Shades Darker
9. Logan
10. Despicable Me 3
Most Anticipated Actress:
1. Emma Watson (Beauty and the Beast, The Circle)
2. Daisy Ridley (Star Wars: Episode VIII, Murder on the Orient Express)
3. Jennifer Lawrence (Red Sparrow, Untitled Darren Aronofsky Project)
4. Halle Berry (Kingsman: The Golden Circle, Kidnap)
5. Charlize Theron (The Fate of the Furious, The Coldest City, Tully)
Most Anticipated Actor:
1. Chris Pratt (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2)
2. Dwayne Johnson (Jumanji, The Fate of the Furious, Baywatch)
3. Hugh Jackman (Logan, The Greatest Showman)
4. Idris Elba (Stephen King’s The Dark Tower, Thor: Ragnarok, Molly’s Game)
5. Chris Hemsworth (Thor: Ragnarok)
Related Topics: Kingsman
