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Sony Offers Refunds For Recent Purchases Of PS Plus Game Maneater

Sony made a very generous move this week for PlayStation Plus subscribers regarding Tripwire Interactive's Maneater. A Reddit user who recently purchased the survival game logged on to find that Sony had refunded them for Maneater since the ShaRkPG is being added to PS Plus for free in January. The automatic refund was a pleasant surprise for PS Plus subscribers, since users typically have to ask customer service for refunds in these scenarios.

Maneater was released back in May for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, with later ports on Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5. A Nintendo Switch version is slated to arrive in the first half of 2021. The game sees players take control of a female bull shark who must evolve and survive in the ocean by attacking people, with an ultimate goal of taking down the fisherman who disfigured the shark and killed her mother. The single-player adventure was initially meant to be an expansion for the 2014 multiplayer shark game Depth, but grew to become a standalone product. Maneater even includes collectibles from the classic Jaws series and was said to draw inspiration from Jaws Unleashed.

Reddit user BraeWhyit revealed that when they booted up their PS5, they noticed that Sony offered them a refund for Maneater, which they had purchased last month. According to the message, Sony will refund the purchase price of the game to users' PlayStation Store wallets because of Maneater's addition to PS Plus, where subscribers receive monthly free games and access to online multiplayer. "This will not affect your ability to play the game as we have not removed the game from your library," the message added.

After receiving a few questions about how the license works with PS Plus, BraeWhyit clarified that they do get to keep the license and will not lose the game if they end their PS Plus subscription. In other words, unlike typical PS Plus titles downloaded during their free period, users will get to hold onto Maneater forever and for free if they purchased it before January, even if they drop their subscription.

The open world RPG's addition to PS Plus comes just months after players received free next-gen Maneater upgrades alongside the arrival of the PS5 and Series X|S. The upgrades brought ray-traced graphics to the game, as well as 4K and 60 FPS gameplay and haptic feedback on the PS5 DualSense controller. PC players can also expect an upgrade for the hit title in 2021.

These automatic refunds for Maneater are certainly an unexpected yet pleasant gesture from Sony, considering the money they'd be losing from the offer. As fans may know, it is possible to receive refunds on newly-free games that PS Plus subscribers recently purchased, but only if negotiated with Sony customer service. Sony has really been pushing PS Plus alongside the PS5, so this Maneater gesture could be another effort to draw fans to the service. Perhaps other games will receive the same treatment in the future.

Braun & Tatum to Produce Lady Macbeth Musical at Amazon

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Braun & Tatum to Produce Lady Macbeth Musical at Amazon

Amazon Studios is partnering up with Scooter Braun (Dave) and Channing Tatum (Kingsman: The Golden Circle) to produce a YA musical adaptation of William Shakespeare’s iconic character Lady Macbeth, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Details surrounding the plot of the film, which is set to be penned by S.J. Inwards, are being kept close to the chest by those involved, but sources report the story will focus on a teenage girl as she struggles to get a grip on her own mortality while also contending with the consequences of her ambition. It will take cues from Shakespeare’s tragic character, who was well-known for being a calculating woman and prodding her titular husband towards murder and war.

The project will be directed by John McPhail, who broke out to international audiences with the acclaimed 2017 Christmas musical zombie comedy Anna and the Apocalypse. Braun is attached to produce alongside Scott Manson and James Shin for SB Projects while Tatum will produce with partners Reid Carolin, Peter Kiernan and Michael Parets via their banner, Free Association, with Parets overseeing for Free Association and Shin for SB Projects.

SB Projects currently has a first-look TV deal with the streaming platform while also helping produce FX’s hit comedy Dave and the CBS crime procedural Scorpion and are currently attached to HBO Max’s Anna K, an untitled K-Pop film for Fox and the Black Panther drama A Taste of Power.

Inwards is considered an on-the-rise scribe and is currently attached to the sci-fi project Her Better Self for Amblin with Circle of Confusion attached to produce as well as helping adapt Cursed Pirate Girl for Netflix and Boom! Studios.

(Photo Credits: Steve Granitz/WireImage and Rich Fury/Getty Images)

The post Braun & Tatum to Produce Lady Macbeth Musical at Amazon appeared first on ComingSoon.net.

Honest Thief Trailer: Liam Neeson is Fighting For a Second Chance

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Honest Thief trailer: Liam Neeson is fighting for a second chance

Briarcliff Entertainment and Open Road Films has debuted the first trailer for the upcoming action thriller Honest Thief seeing Liam Neeson (Cold Pursuit) as a former thief fighting for a second chance at a better life. The trailer can be viewed in the player below!

Written by Steve Allrich (The Canyon) and directed by Mark Williams, the co-creator of the hit Netflix crime thriller Ozark, Honest Thief will follow a bank robber (Neeson) who after attempting to turn himself in after falling in love with an employee from where his loot is stashed must deal with the complications that arise when his case is taken on by a corrupt FBI agent, to be played by Robert Patrick.

In addition to Neeson in the lead role, the cast for the film features Jai Courtney (The Suicide Squad), Kate Walsh (The Umbrella Academy), Robert Patrick (Terminator 2: Judgement Day), Jeffrey Donovan (Lucy in the Sky), Anthony Ramos (In The Heights) and Jasmine Cephas Jones (Hamilton).

Williams produced Honest Thief alongside Tai Duncan, Stephen Emery and Myles Nestel of Solution Entertainment Group, which sold the international rights to the film to Briarcliff and Open Road in June.

Neeson has found large success in recent years in the action genre, starring in the fan-favorite Taken trilogy and starring in this year’s box-office hit The Commuter, the fourth collaboration between him and director Jaume Collet-Serra. The 66-year-old actor will next be seen in the upcoming comedy Made in Italy, the directorial debut of James D’Arcy (Avengers: Endgame), which is scheduled for an August 7 release.

Honest Thief is set to hit theaters on October 9.

The post Honest Thief Trailer: Liam Neeson is Fighting For a Second Chance appeared first on ComingSoon.net.

Amazon Acquires Regina King’s Directorial Debut One Night in Miami

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Amazon acquires Regina King’s directorial debut One Night in Miami

Amazon Studios has acquired the worldwide rights to Oscar-winning actress Regina King’s feature directorial debut, One Night in Miami, written by Olivier-nominated Kemp Powers, based off his 2013 stage play, which is set to screen at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival.

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Set on the night of February 25, 1964, the story follows a young Cassius Clay (before he became Muhammad Ali) as he emerges from the Miami Beach Convention Center the new World Heavyweight Boxing Champion. Against all odds, he defeated Sonny Liston and shocked the sports world. While crowds of people swarm Miami Beach to celebrate the match, Clay – unable to stay on the island because of Jim Crow-era segregation laws – instead spends the night at the Hampton House Motel in one of Miami’s historically black neighborhoods celebrating with three of his closest friends: activist Malcolm X, singer Sam Cooke and football star Jim Brown. The next morning, the four men emerge determined to define a new world for themselves and their people.

“Amazon’s enthusiasm for One Night in Miami is both humbling and exciting,” King said in a statement. “I am honored to have them as partners on my feature film directorial debut.”

The cast for the film includes Kingsley Ben-Adir (High Fidelity) as Malcolm X, Eli Goree (Riverdale) as Cassius Clay, Aldis Hodge (The Invisible Man) as Jim Brown, Leslie Odom Jr. (Hamilton) as Sam Cooke, Lance Reddick (Bosch) as Brother Kareem, Jasmine Cephas Jones (The Photograph) as Barbara Cooke, Michael Imperioli (The Sopranos) as Angelo Dundee and Beau Bridges (Goliath) as Mr. Carlton.

The film has Jess Wu Calder and Keith Calder (Blindspotting, Anomalisa) attached as producers via their Snoot Entertainment banner as well as Jody Klein (The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus) via ABKCO, King and Power.

“One Night in Miamibeautifully captures a significant moment in history when these great minds gathered and ultimately helped shape the conversation of what we know today as the civil rights movement,” Head of Amazon Studios’ Jennifer Salke said in a statement. “Regina King is a force of nature – mastering her craft in front of the camera as we’ve seen in her extensive body of work, and now taking her talent behind the camera. We’re so proud to welcome Regina and Kemp to the Amazon family.”

Though no release date is currently set for the film, Amazon is looking to debut it later this year in time for awards season.

The post Amazon Acquires Regina King’s Directorial Debut One Night in Miami appeared first on ComingSoon.net.

CBS All Access Adds Programming From BET, MTV, Nickelodeon & More

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CBS All Access Adds Programming From BET, MTV, Nickelodeon & More

ViacomCBS today announced a significant expansion of CBS All Access, ViacomCBS’ subscription video on demand and live-streaming service, in a major step toward transforming CBS All Access into a diversified super service for the company. More than 3,500 episodes across ViacomCBS’ leading portfolio of entertainment brands will now be available on CBS All Access, including popular series from BET, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Smithsonian Channel and more, further diversifying the range of content on the service and expanding its appeal to a broader range of audiences.

In addition, CBS All Access announced plans for Kamp Koral, a new original children’s series premiering in 2021, and the first spinoff from one of ViacomCBS’ biggest global franchises ever, Nickelodeon’s Spongebob Squarepants. As previously announced, CBS All Access will also be the exclusive home to The Spongebob Movie: Sponge on the Run in early 2021.

The service also began rolling out a new user interface across all major device platforms today with enhanced personalization and discovery features, including advanced recommendations, curated homepages, new content categories and central hubs for ViacomCBS’ brands to seamlessly find and explore content by brand.

“Today marks the beginning of an exciting evolution of CBS All Access into the subscription streaming home for ViacomCBS and a preview of what’s to come,” said Marc DeBevoise, Chief Digital Officer, ViacomCBS and President & Chief Executive Officer, ViacomCBS Digital. “As the first Network to market with a branded direct-to-consumer service more than five years ago, we have the advantage and experience of building it from the ground up, establishing distribution points across all major platforms, creating a service with high user engagement and low churn, and crafting a robust slate of exclusive originals from which we continue to build. By bringing the valuable IP and creative capabilities from across ViacomCBS together in one product, we will deliver to consumers a compelling and differentiated service with something for everyone across news, live sports and on-demand entertainment in every genre.”

In the months to come, CBS All Access will continue to grow its content offering to include more than 30,000 episodes and movies from ViacomCBS’ vast library of hit series and iconic movies, as well as develop new exclusive originals from ViacomCBS’ entertainment brands, Paramount Pictures and Paramount Television Studios. The additional programming will join a robust catalog that spans every demographic and content category, from animation to sci-fi, comedy, drama, procedurals, reality and children’s programming. In addition to its vast library and original content, the new service will have unrivaled live offerings, spanning national and local news, tentpole events and a critical mass of live sports – from golf to football to basketball, plus exclusive streaming rights for major sports properties, including some of the world’s biggest and most popular soccer leagues.

ViacomCBS will debut the full and rebranded service in early 2021.

Popular ViacomCBS content added to CBS All Access includes:

BET: All seasons of “Real Husbands of Hollywood,” “Hit the Floor,” plus all prior seasons of “Single Ladies” and more

Comedy Central: All seasons of “Chappelle’s Show,” “Strangers with Candy,” six prior seasons of “Reno 911!” and more

MTV: All seasons of “Laguna Beach” and “Snooki & Jwoww,” prior seasons of TEEN MOM 2, seasons of JERSEY SHORE: FAMILY VACATION and MTV FLORIBAMA SHORE, as well as a selection from THE CHALLENGE, “Beavis and Butt-Head: The Mike Judge Collection” and more

Nickelodeon: All seasons of “Avatar: Last Airbender,” “Rugrats,” plus all prior seasons of SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS and more, in addition to seasons of “Danny Phantom,” “The Legend of Korra” and “Sam & Cat” that were previously available

Smithsonian Channel: More than 60 episodes of “Aerial America,” seasons of “Air Disasters,” documentaries such as “The Day We Walked on the Moon,” “The Green Book: Guide to Freedom,” “MLK: The Assassination Tapes,” “Pocahontas: Beyond the Myth” and more

TV Land and VH1: Programming like “Hot in Cleveland,” as well as prior seasons of RUPAUL’S DRAG RACE and LOVE & HIP HOP and more

Paramount Pictures: More films have been added to the service since May, including “The Firm,” “Charlotte’s Web” and “Scary Movie,” with more than 150 movies in total now available

New content, including original series, launching on CBS All Access next week and through the end of the year include:

STAR TREK: LOWER DECKS: Premiering Thursday, August 6.

BIG BROTHER LIVE FEEDS: Offering an in-depth, exclusive pass to watch all the action inside the BIG BROTHER house all the time.

STAR TREK: DISCOVERY: Season three, premiering Oct. 15.

The Untitled Richard Linklater Project: premiering this fall.

THE STAND: Limited event series, premiering late 2020.

Fans can also binge other CBS All Access original series including the critically acclaimed hit THE GOOD FIGHT, THE TWILIGHT ZONE, STAR TREK: PICARD, TOONING OUT THE NEWS, NO ACTIVITY, WHY WOMEN KILL, THE THOMAS JOHN EXPERIENCE and more.

Other exclusive original series coming to the service in 2021 and beyond include THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH, THE HARPER HOUSE and GUILTY PARTY.

Growing originals slate to also include:

KAMP KORAL, premiering in early 2021: From Nickelodeon and United Plankton Pictures, KAMP KORAL will follow 10-year-old SpongeBob SquarePants and his pals during summer sleepaway camp where they spend their time building underwater campfires, catching wild jellyfish and swimming in Lake Yuckymuck at the craziest camp in the kelp forest, Kamp Koral.

As previously announced, CBS All Access will also be the exclusive home to THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SPONGE ON THE RUN, the upcoming feature film which follows SpongeBob SquarePants, his best friend Patrick Star and the rest of the gang from Bikini Bottom in the first-ever all CGI SpongeBob motion picture event.

Additional originals spanning the ViacomCBS portfolio of brands will be announced in the coming months.

CBS All Access’ expanded sports programming kicks off next week with the conclusion of the 2019-2020 UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. In addition to being the exclusive streaming home to UEFA club competitions in the U.S., CBS All Access also streams live coverage of the following major sports and live events:

NFL on CBS, including Super Bowl LV

College Basketball, including the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship

GOLF on CBS, including the PGA TOUR, the Masters and the PGA Championship

College Football, including SEC on CBS

National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL)

Hockey East

Major live entertainment events, including: THE GRAMMY AWARDS, THE ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS, THE TONY AWARDS and more

CBS programming on the service continues to include more than 17,000 episodes of current and classic hits, the largest single catalog of America’s most watched Network spanning:

All current primetime, late night and daytime CBS shows.

All upcoming current CBS primetime series such as NCIS, FBI, THE AMAZING RACE, SEAL TEAM, ALL RISE, YOUNG SHELDON, BOB HEARTS ABISHOLA, B POSITIVE, EVIL, THE UNICORN, THE EQUALIZER, CLARICE and more.

Every prior season of 14 hit CBS series including SURVIVOR, NCIS and HAWAII FIVE-0.

Classics like all of the “Star Trek” television series, and acclaimed hits like “Cheers,” “Medium” and more.

The live stream of subscribers’ local CBS stations nationwide, as well as the ability to livestream CBS’ other digital channels, CBSN, CBS News’ 24/7 digital streaming news service featuring live, anchored coverage, CBS Sports HQ, offering 24/7 streaming sports network that offers news, highlights and analysis, and ET Live, dedicated to all things entertainment.

CBS All Access is currently available online at CBS.com, on mobile devices via the CBS app for iOS and Android, and on Roku Players, Apple TV, Chromecast, Android TV, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Fire TV, Samsung Smart TVs, Comcast Flex, Facebook Portal, Vizio Smartcast TVs, LG Smart TVs, Amazon Prime Video Channels and Apple TV channels. The new design and product features will begin rolling out across platforms today. For more details on CBS All Access, please visit https://www.cbs.com/all-access.

The post CBS All Access Adds Programming From BET, MTV, Nickelodeon & More appeared first on ComingSoon.net.

John Wick’s Derek Kolstad Developing Splinter Cell Anime at Netflix

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John Wick’s Derek Kolstad developing Splinter Cell anime at Netflix

After attaching himself to a film adaptation of Square Enix’s Just Cause franchise and TV adaptation of IO Interactive’s Hitman, Derek Kolstad is continuing his dive into the video game world with an anime adaptation of Splinter Cell at Netflix, according to Variety.

Though no details are currently known on the plot of the series, sources report that the project has received a two-season, 16-episode order from the mammoth streaming platform and will see the John Wick creator serve as writer and executive producer for the series.

Featuring the official endorsement of bestselling military and espionage author Tom Clancy and inspired by Hideo Kojima’s hit Metal Gear series, the Splinter Cell franchise was spawned in 2002 with the game of the same name and received rave reviews from critics and gamers alike and was a major commercial success for Ubisoft. The stealth franchise, comprised of seven mainline titles and seven tie-in novels, centers on former U.S. Navy SEAL Sam Fisher as he is recruited by the NSA to work for the secretive sub-division Third Echelon and the various operations.

A film adaptation of the flagship franchise has been in development for 15 years now, with Tom Hardy (Venom) signing on for the central role in 2012 and having been attached the project since, with various writers and directors attached including Eric Warren Singer (Top Gun: Maverick), Doug Liman (Edge of Tomorrow), Joseph Kahn (Detention) and Frank John Hughes (Justified), though sources report that project is considered to be inactive after three years of no movement.

In addition to the John Wick franchise, Kolstad most recently co-wrote the Quibi action-comedy Die Hart starring Kevin Hart and John Travolta, as well as contributing to the Disney+ Marvel series Falcon and the Winter Soldier and was signed by Square Enix to pen the long-in-development film adaptation of Just Cause, which recently acquired Stuber helmer Michael Dowse to direct.

(Photo Credit: Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images)

The post John Wick’s Derek Kolstad Developing Splinter Cell Anime at Netflix appeared first on ComingSoon.net.

Russo Bros. Pizza Film School Episode 9 Details Revealed!

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Russo Bros. Pizza Film School episode 9 details revealed!

Shortly after the announcement of a special new box set for the iconic sci-fi comedy trilogy, Avengers directors Joe and Anthony Russo are traveling to the past to look at the original Back to the Future on this week’s episode of Russo Bros. Pizza Film School with special guests. The teaser for the episode can be viewed in the player below!

In this 1980s sci-fi classic, small-town California teen Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) is thrown back into the ’50s when an experiment by his eccentric scientist friend Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) goes awry. Traveling through time in a modified DeLorean car, Marty encounters young versions of his parents (Crispin Glover, Lea Thompson), and must make sure that they fall in love or he’ll cease to exist. Even more dauntingly, Marty has to return to his own time and save the life of Doc Brown.

Click here to purchase the original film!

The weekly show created and hosted by Joe and Anthony Russo (The Russo Brothers) aims to educate and spread some love to favorite classic films, as well as local pizzerias while movie lovers are stuck at home during the pandemic. The Bros will assign a movie for the class every week, and tune in with guests to talk about how different flicks have transformed their relationship to cinema, while enjoying pizza from a local pizzeria.

Previous movies discussed on the show include La Haine, Ronin, The Evil Dead, The Empire Strikes Back featuring Luke Skywalker himself, Mark Hamill, No Country for Old Men with Josh Brolin, and most recently Flash Gordon with Taika Waititi. Previous episodes available on the AGBO YouTube Channel, with the next episode featuring Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely (Avengers: Endgame) and BTF co-writer, co-creator and co-producer Bob Gale set to air on Friday at noon PST on Instagram TV and the YouTube channel!

The post Russo Bros. Pizza Film School Episode 9 Details Revealed! appeared first on ComingSoon.net.

CS Interview: Director Eric Appel on Quibi’s Die Hart

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CS Interview: Director Eric Appel on Quibi’s Die Hart

ComingSoon.net got the opportunity to chat with director Eric Appel (Brooklyn Nine-Nine) to discuss Quibi’s action-packed comedy Die Hart starring Kevin Hart (Jumanji: The Next Level) and John Travolta (Gotti), which is now available to stream in its entirety on the fresh platform!

When it came to wanting to be a part of the series, Appel cited the obvious as wanting to work with its iconic star, calling him “hilarious,” but found the biggest draw was when he got his hands on the script from John Wick creator Derek Kolstad and Stuber scribe Tripper Clancy.

“When I read the script, the script came to me and the first time I gave it a read, it was just so weird and fun and meta and like, poked fun at Hollywood and actors,” Appel described. “It had great action. It had great comedy. I mean, yeah, as soon as I read it, I wanted to come on board.”

With Quibi as the project’s home, it meant the whole story would be chopped up into 10-minute segments but rather than see this as a major challenge or trying to shoot it as such, Appel noted he and the team “always talked about it like it was a feature film and we shot it like a feature,” something which he hadn’t done before as his background in television sees him take on “an episode of someone else’s series.”

“The biggest difference is the length and telling a complete story, and really, the biggest challenge with like, shooting a feature that is going to break up into 10 chapters and that each of the chapters is going to be engaging and you’re going to use those 10 minutes to build toward the next chapter and end on a cliffhanger and keep people wanting to come back for more,” Appel explained. “It’s something that once they’re all out on Quibi, it’s a great thing to binge. And you can cast it to your TV and watch them all straight through like a feature. But for those who are tuning in every day, I think the biggest challenge was to like, shoot a movie in a way where every 10 minutes you’re going to get this jolt that’s going to like, make you want to stick around for the next 10 minutes. But the way that we structured the whole “season” was like a feature film. So that’s sort of how the action was approached. I’ve done a lot of TV comedies and trying to like, budget out your time like, ‘Oh, we have five days to shoot this episode. We have this action sequence. How much time can you give it?'”

Appel credits a lot of the success in pulling off the action in production to the project’s stunt coordinator Walter Garcia, who has worked as various positions on major blockbuster action pics including Ant-Man, Captain Marvel and The New Mutants, citing his work as “amazing” and saying it was “an absolute blast getting to work with him and his team and do these action sequences.” Some of the challenge in bringing the story and the action to life also came in the form of Quibi’s vertical presentation on mobile platforms, though Appel notes he “always thought of the horizontal 16×9 aspect ratio” as his priority.

“That was always the first shot that I wanted to make sure worked, but I also had to go in and figure out how to make each of those shots work for vertical,” Appel stated. “So I have like a little tool that like the grips built me that was a little window that I could hold up to the monitor to make sure with each shot that I could align this vertical view, like that I could cut a workable vertical shot out of it. If for whatever reason that didn’t work, I would have to like, throw up a second camera that was specifically getting a shot that worked for the vertical at the same time that I was getting the horizontal shot. My approach was I never had to compromise the horizontal shots for anything. But sometimes, I would have to just do a little extra work to make sure that the vertical was as good for people that are going to watch it that way. And it’s definitely a different experience. You know, since they’ve come out, obviously I’ve watched it a million times when we edited it. I was mostly looking at this horizontal version. But since it’s premiered on Quibi, I’ve been, myself, watching the episodes in horizontal view, and it’s definitely a different experience. I can’t say if it’s better or worse, but you focus on the actor’s faces a little bit more in the vertical view, because you’re not seeing so much of the background. It’s definitely an interesting experience.”

While having Hart as the leading man was already an major draw for helming the project, Appel found it “extremely exciting” when the rest of the stars’ names began rolling in, namely co-stars Travolta and Jean Reno (Da 5 Bloods).

“You know, Pulp Fiction came out when I was a teenager. It’s one of my favorite movies of all time, it was like, so exciting,” Appel warmly opined. “I think he was the first name to sign on. I’m a huge Game of Thrones fan, so excited that Nathalie came on board. And then, like Josh Hartnett, I’ve always loved Josh Hartnett. I love him in The Virgin Suicides and The Faculty. And Jean Reno. Like I was a huge fan of The Professional, too, when I was a teenager. That was one of the action movies that came out in my formative years of watching movies. So yeah, it was so exciting to get to work with all these people that I mean, every single one of them, I was a fan of prior to getting to work with them. And they brought it. Some of these people you don’t really think of for comedy movies. But in the discussions that I had with all of them like prior to coming in and filming, I could tell that everyone was like, down with doing improv and down with just like, having a good time.”

With Hart as the lead, it was no surprise that there was a lot of improvisation on the set of the project, with Appel noting he himself has an improv background with years of performing at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater and it was this element that helped him connect with his Emmy-nominated star.

“He does a lot of improv in everything that he films, I’m totally down with doing improv, let’s make sure all of the actors are,” Appel explained. “That was very important to us. I mean, I would say the script by Tripper Clancy was so strong. It was so funny, it’s what drew me to it in the first place. But in every single scene, I mean, I can’t think of a day where we weren’t doing improv and adding things and exploring these scenes and coming up with new beats. And I love leaving things open for discovery and I’m also totally open if the actors have any ideas, and anything new they want to bring to a scene. I’ll always say like, let’s try it out. Of course. And a lot of that did end up in the final product. In the scene when they’re going to do gun training and Travolta’s handing the gun to Kevin backwards and he’s slapping his hand and he’s like, ‘No, you have to take the gun from the other way around,’ like that was a completely improvised moment, which was hilarious for all of us, when Travolta just started slapping Kevin’s hand. I mean, there’s little things. It’s not like there’s a scene or something improvised. There are little lines here and there.”

Hartnett, well-known for being a leading action star in the late ’90s and early ’00s, was on a list of stars who the creative team were considering when it came to landing a cameo from an alum of Ron Wilcox’s Action School and was chosen for his lack of appearances in the comedic genre.

“Hartnett did like, around like the early 2000s, Hartnett just had this string of like, major action movies from like Pearl Harbor, Lucky Number Slevin, Hollywood Homicide, like all these movies came out and we thought it would be hilarious to think that Josh Hartnett had been trained by Ron Wilcox,” Appel expressed. “You know, there’s people that you could expect, I think he was just an unexpected choice. It’s just funny to see Josh Hartnett randomly show up in this comedy movie.”

Inspired by the opening sequence from Hart’s 2016 concert film, Die Hart will follow Hart (Jumanji: The Next Level) as a meta version of himself who’s tired of always getting cast as a comedic sidekick. He gets his wish when a famous director offers him his dream – to be a leading man action star – but there’s a catch: Kevin must first train at the world’s greatest action star school, run by a lunatic (John Travolta). Pushed to his limits by this action school coach and a tough-minded rival student, Kevin must survive a series of hilarious, over-the-top action sequences and face his fears if he wants to achieve his dream and land the role of a lifetime.

Alongside Hart, the cast for the action comedy includes John Travolta (In a Valley of Violence), Nathalie Emmanuel (Game of Thrones), Jean Reno (Da 5 Bloods) and Josh Hartnett (Inherit the Viper).

The series is directed by Eric Appel (Brooklyn Nine-Nine) from a script written by Tripper Clancy (Stuber) and Derek Kolstad (John Wick franchise). It is be executive produced by Hart through his Laugh Out Loud Network banner with Candice Wilson, Bryan Smiley and Jeff Clanagan serving as producers.

Die Hart is available to stream in its entirety on Quibi!

The post CS Interview: Director Eric Appel on Quibi’s Die Hart appeared first on ComingSoon.net.

Toronto International Film Festival Sets 2020 Hybrid Lineup

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Toronto International Film Festival Sets 2020 Hybrid Lineup

Shortly after fellow prestige cinema convention Venice announced its lineup for the 2020 edition, Toronto Film Festival has revealed its full roster of projects set to premiere at its hybrid event, including Chloe Zhao’s upcoming adaptation of Nomadland starring Frances McDormand (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri).

With the global pandemic still going on in the states and some parts of the world, the festival will be slimmed down in comparison to past outings and will focus mostly on Oscar fare rather than also including major blockbuster productions. In trying to follow in the footsteps of Venice Film Festival, the North American showcase of films at TIFF will feature 46 percent of films directed or co-directed by women in an effort for better gender parity compared to last year’s 36 percent.

TIFF will screen its films over the first five days with physical, socially-distanced exhibitions provided there are no spikes in the region, with indoor gathering sizes being allotted up to 50 people, but for members of the public and press who feel uncomfortable with going in-person, screenings and market business will still be taking place online.

“TIFF has a proud history of programming award-winning films, expanding the conversation to include a multitude of voices, and in creating boundary-pushing initiatives for the industry,” Joana Vicente, Executive Director and Co-Head, TIFF, said in a statement on the official festival website. “And this year we’ve added new innovations and ways to give back to the community. In doing so, we’re aiming to advance what a film festival is capable of delivering — for audiences and the film industry. We could never have anticipated the global seismic changes we would be facing in 2020. We tapped into the original spirit of the Festival from when it began in 1976 as our guiding light. The distilled edition of TIFF 2020 reflects a deep love of film, passion for our loyal audiences, commitment to the industry, and a whole lot of heart.”

Toronto Lineup 2020

180 Degree Rule Farnoosh Samadi | Iran

76 Days Hao Wu, Anonymous, Weixi Chen | USA

Ammonite Francis Lee | United Kingdom

Another Round (Druk) Thomas Vinterberg | Denmark

Bandar Band Manijeh Hekmat | Iran/Germany

Beans Tracey Deer | Canada

Beginning (Dasatskisi) Dea Kulumbegashvili | Georgia/France

The Best is Yet to Come (Bu Zhi Bu Xiu) Wang Jing | China

Bruised Halle Berry | USA

City Hall Frederick Wiseman | USA

Concrete Cowboy Ricky Staub | USA

Opening Night Film – David Byrne’s American Utopia Spike Lee | USA

The Disciple Chaitanya Tamhane | India

Enemies of the State Sonia Kennebeck | USA

Falling Viggo Mortensen | Canada/United Kingdom

The Father Florian Zeller | United Kingdom/France

Fauna Nicolás Pereda | Mexico/Canada

Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds Werner Herzog, Clive Oppenheimer | United Kingdom/USA

Gaza mon amour Tarzan Nasser, Arab Nasser | France/Germany/Portugal/Palestine/Qatar

Get the Hell Out (Tao Chu Li Fa Yuan) I-Fan Wang | Taiwan

Good Joe Bell Reinaldo Marcus Green | USA

I Care A Lot J Blakeson | United Kingdom

Inconvenient Indian Michelle Latimer | Canada

The Inheritance Ephraim Asili | USA

Lift Like a Girl (Ash Ya Captain) Mayye Zayed | Egypt/Germany/Denmark

Limbo Ben Sharrock | United Kingdom

Memory House (Casa de Antiguidades) João Paulo Miranda Maria | Brazil/France

MLK/FBI Sam Pollard | USA

The New Corporation: The Unfortunately Necessary Sequel Joel Bakan, Jennifer Abbott | Canada

New Order (Nuevo orden) Michel Franco | Mexico

Night of the Kings (La Nuit des Rois) Philippe Lacôte | Côte d’Ivoire/France/Canada/Senegal

Nomadland Chloé Zhao | USA

No Ordinary Man Aisling Chin-Yee, Chase Joynt | Canada

Notturno Gianfranco Rosi | Italy/France/Germany

One Night in Miami Regina King | USA

Penguin Bloom Glendyn Ivin | Australia

Pieces of a Woman Kornél Mundruczó | USA/Canada/Hungary

Preparations to Be Together For an Unknown Period of Time (Felkészülés meghatározatlan ideig tartó együttlétre) Lili Horvát | Hungary

Quo Vadis, Aïda? Jasmila Žbanić | Bosnia and Herzegovina/Norway/The Netherlands/Austria/Romania/France/Germany/Poland/Turkey

Shadow In The Cloud Roseanne Liang | USA/New Zealand

Shiva Baby Emma Seligman | USA/Canada

Spring Blossom Suzanne Lindon | France

Closing Night Presentation – A Suitable Boy Mira Nair | United Kingdom/India

Summer of 85 (Été 85) François Ozon | France

The Third Day Felix Barrett, Dennis Kelly | United Kingdom

Trickster Michelle Latimer | Canada

True Mothers (Asa Ga Kuru) Naomi Kawase | Japan

Under the Open Sky (Subarashiki Sekai) Miwa Nishikawa | Japan

Violation Madeleine Sims-Fewer, Dusty Mancinelli | Canada

Wildfire Cathy Brady | United Kingdom/Ireland

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