The Weekly Report

All news contained herein corresponds to the world of film. The Weekly Report will seek to cover general film news that has emerged over the last seven days.

• Olivia Wilde “too old” to play DiCaprio’s wife
  • Speaking to US DJ Howard Stern on March 15, Olivia Wilde was asked whether she had ever suffered for roles on account of her looks, because if there’s one thing Hollywood loves it’s actresses that don’t look photogenic. Her response: “The funniest thing I heard recently was I had heard for a part that I was too sophisticated. And I was like, ‘Oh, that sounds nice.’… And then I found out later that they actually said ‘old.’” The film was Wolf of Wall Street and the role was Naomi Lapaglia (played by Margot Robbie) the wife of Jordan Belfort (played by Leonardo DiCaprio). At the time of the film’s release, DiCaprio was 37, Wilde was 28, and those with final say over casting were grasping at straws. 

• BFI names Carol best LGBT Film of All Time
  • For the 30th Anniversary of BFI Flare: London LGBT Film  Festival, the BFI recently commissioned over 100 film critics, writers and programmers to vote for their top 30 LGBT films of all time. With all votes tallied, the winner was announced as Todd Haynes’s 2015 picture, Carol. Notably snubbed during much of the recent awards season, Carol swept up 28 votes in the BFI ballots, two ahead of the second placed film, Andrew Haigh’s Weekend while third place went to Hong Kong rom-dram Happy Together. Other notable inclusions were Brokeback Mountain (4th), My Beautiful Laundrette (7th), Mulholland Drive (22nd=) and Dog Day Afternoon (27th=); you can see the full list, as well who voted, here. The 2016 instalment of BFI Flare started Wednesday and runs until March 27; One Room With a View will be bringing you coverage and reviews throughout. But hey, if you want to read more about Carol, you can see why it made our top 5 films of 2015 by clicking here.

Courtesy of: StudioCanal

• Fandango VOD
  • Coming four weeks after acquiring somewhat popular film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, Deadline reports that US Ticketing service Fandango will launch its Video on Demand service, FandangoNOW, on March 30 in the US. Available across Web, iOS and Android devices, as well as Smart TVs and Roku boxes, FandangoNOW promises major studio releases and next-day TV Shows for purchase or rental. The Comcast-owned corporation (they of Universal Pictures) has been aggressively expanding in 2016, with this announcement following on from the recent acquisitions of RT, social movie site Flixster, and the M-GO VOD service (presumably incorporated into the FandangoNOW project). Ultimately, Fandango is moving closer to being a one-stop shop for tickets, ratings and actual showings across the US.

– SON

What’s Hot

Dealing with those projects in production, this is where to come to find out what has been greenlit, what major casting decisions have been announced, what century we can expect Avatar 2 in, and any other related film news.

• Indiana Jones 5
  • Yes. You’ve heard correctly. The man in the hat is back (via Deadline). All together now: dur dur dur durrr dur dur durrrr, and so on and so forth (if you can’t spot that as Indy’s theme then there really is no helping you). Since Disney is currently invested in rebooting every aspect of our collective childhoods – click here, all you Black Cauldron fan – this announcement should come as no surprise. Spielberg and Ford are both back on board for a fifth round as everyone’s favourite archaeologist so let’s cross everything and hope that, come 2019, we’ll be offered a film that’s more Raiders of the Ark than Kingdom of the Crystal *beep* Skull. 

Courtesy of: 20th Century Fox

• Han Solo Solo Movie
  • Of course, Harrison Ford’s involvement with Indiana Jones and the Something of the Something Something (title pending) was made easier by his apparent departure from Disney’s other, arguably even bigger nostalgia-fest (if that’s a spoiler for you then you really need to get to a cinema more often, or at least not read Star Wars related news). Disney have now narrowed their search for a young Han Solo to front the upcoming origins story, When Han Met Chewie (again, title pending). According to The Hollywood Reporter, the list is getting shorter. Among those who have completed screen tests are Hail, Caesar!‘s scene-stealing star Alden Ehrenreich and Jack Reynor, who is sadly most famous for Transformers: Age of Extinction but has also played Malcolm in Justin Kurzel’s searing take on Macbeth, not to mention the titular role in Lenny Abrahamson’s What Richard Did. Taron Egerton has also been secretly testing for the role; the actor made it big in Matthew Vaughn’s silly but fun spy-flick Kingsman: The Secret Service and will appear in opposite Wolverine in Eddie the Eagle. You can see who we favoured in our Casting Call: Han Solo

• Star Trek Beyond Reshoots
  • There is a fair degree of uncertainty surrounding Justin Lin’s upcoming threequel, Star Trek Beyond. While the director has history in the action genre – he directed four of the Fast & Furious films – he isn’t known for subtlety, a point made worryingly apparent in Star Trek Beyond‘s first trailer. Not only that, Lin doesn’t yet have the pedigree of an Abrams, that fanboy wunderkind who has now rebooted two of sci-fi’s most beloved franchises. As a result, the future of Star Trek is looking a little shaky and, Gizmodo reports, reshoots have been arranged and an entirely new cast member has been beamed up – Shohreh Aghdashloo will be playing the High Command of the Federation. Of course, we’re happy to proved wrong, let’s see what July has in store for the Enterprise and its crew.

– EF

In Memory Of…

Hopefully this won’t be necessary each week, but on those sad occasions that the film world loses a treasured talent, you can stop here to read the final word on their legacy.

• Ken Adam
  • It’s a sad, sad fact that productions designers often don’t get the credit they deserve. Sadly, this week we lost one of the finest as Sir Ken Adam died at the age of 95 (via The Guardian). With a career that spanned several decades, Adam began doing uncredited work for William Wyler on two Oscar-winning 50s epics, Around the World in 80 Days and Ben-Hur. It wouldn’t be until the following decade that Adam was be celebrated for being the fantastic production designer he was; his work on James Bond films including Dr. No, Goldfinger, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, Diamonds are Forever, The Spy Who Loved Me, and Moonraker remains some of his most memorable. For evidence of his genius, just check out some of those sets from The Spy Who Loved Me. Adam was also noted for his work with Stanley Kubrick. Yes, this man is responsible for the iconic war room of Dr Strangelove Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb. Adam turned down the opportunity to work with Kubrick on his opus 2001: A Space Odyssey but reunited with the director for Barry Lyndon, for which he was awarded his first Oscar. Adam also did work on The Ipcress File, Funeral in Berlin, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (yes, he designed the infamous car), Goodbye Mr Chips, Sleuth, Salon Kitty, Addams Family Values, and The Madness of King George (which won him his second Oscar). He has left an indelible mark on film and will be sadly missed.    

Trailers of the Week

Want to know what you should be excited about this week? This is the place to come to check out the week’s best trailers and related items including clips, TV spots, and teasers.

Ok, so this week has seen a lot of trailers that it’s hard to raise much more than a shrug for: Now You See Me 2, Central Intelligence, Ben-Hur, Queen of the Desert, the list goes on. So, what is interesting? First up, the red band trailer for Everybody Wants Some!!, Richard Linklater’s spiritual sequel to Dazed And Confused. As if Linklater’s pedigree wasn’t enough to convince anyone of its potential, then how about them two – count ’em! – exclamation marks in the title? Alright, alright, alright.

Also surfacing this week: a trailer about a group of “mutants” holed up in an opulent mansion, well away from those who don’t respect their odd and powerful abilities. The children are watched over and protected by a wiser adult who has had to contend with their own powers for many years but a new danger stalks them. Nah, the new X-Men: Apocalypse trailer is over here, this is Tim Burton’s take on Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children, adapted by Jane Goldman from the 2011 best-seller by Ransom Riggs. Looks quirky. Tim Burton you say?

Finally (yup, lots of trailers this week), we have David Yates’s The Legend of Tarzan starring Alexander Skarsgård , Margot Robbie, and Christoph Waltz. The film appears to boast an impressive production design to match its cast and seems to offer an interesting take on the classic story. It certainly looks more exciting than The Jungle Book which seemed, well, a little odd.

– SON & EF

Thanks for reading. Be sure to come back next week for your weekly film news with One Room With a View.