OHMYGOSSIP — Judd Apatow has lamented the lack of “quieter, subtler” and more “human” stories in modern movies.
The 56-year-old filmmaker is concerned that Hollywood is currently driven by a desire for “really intense” stories because studio and streaming bosses are too driven to complete audience viewership and they’re too worried that an intricate tale will lose attention too quickly.
Appearing on Dana Carvey and David Spade’s ‘Superfly’ podcast, he said: “I have a new theory, which is, everything is like in the newspaper business: ‘If it bleeds, it leads.’
“Everything is doomscrolling because they don’t want you to shut anything off, so they’re obsessed with it being really intense. That’s why almost everything on the streamers is either about the biggest star in the world or a serial killer. Everything is a thriller, everything is intense…
“It’s all completion rate. ‘We must have them complete it. We cannot put on a film if anyone shuts it off!’
“There’s an intensity to everything, whether it’s sexy or exciting or terrifying. And I think it changes it so you don’t have quieter, subtler, whatever funny, human things because I think they’re afraid people are gonna shut it off or not go [to theatres]. You lose a lot of good stuff when everything is so wired.”
The ‘Wayne’s World’ actor agreed, and added many film and TV shows these days are also “hypersexual”, citing Nicole Kidman’s recent work.
He added: “I love her shows ’cause they’re just sexy thrillers. She’s in a lot, good for her.”
David noted the pattern can also be seen on TikTok, and expressed a worry that clickbait-type stories which stall for time in order to garner views have increased in popularity because creators are only paid after viewership exceeds a minute.

Source: IconInsider.com

OHMYGOSSIP — Pedro Pascal got “hurt” filming ‘Gladiator II’.
The 49-year-old actor portrays Marcus Acacius in the long-awaited sequel and though he insisted he wasn’t ordered to get in shape for the film, he wanted to be in good physical condition to avoid injury.
And while Pedro got “stronger than [he’s] ever been” as a result, he admitted his plan “didn’t work”.
Told how co-star Paul Mescal, 28, had said training for the movie was fun, Pedro responded to ‘Entertainment Tonight’: “Yeah, I bet it was. I bet it was fun for him. Maybe it would’ve been fun for me too, if I was 20 years younger.
“I was in no single directive from the movie to get in any kind of shape, but I did. Mainly so that I wouldn’t get hurt, and it didn’t work. I got hurt anyway.
“I got stronger than I’ve ever been just so that I can play the character, really.”
The former ‘Game of Thrones’ actor admitted his natural fitness levels have changed as he’s gotten older so he wanted to make sure he could push himself.
He added: “I’m definitely getting to the point where I can’t just wake up and do stuff like that, so I got ready for that.
“I used to be able to wake up and do that stuff, but things have changed and so I knew I wanted to be able to do those things.
“I trained, and rehearsed obviously, a lot, to be able to do it.”
Paul recently explained he wanted to look “big and strong” in the movie.
He told ‘Entertainment Tonight’: “I just wanted to be big and strong and look like somebody who can cause a bit of damage when s*** hits the fan.
“I think also, sometimes, one could, in striving for that perfect look, end up looking more like an underwear model than a warrior.
“Muscles start to grow, and that can be deemed aesthetic in certain capacities, but there is something about feeling strong in your body that elicits just a different feeling.
“You carry yourself differently. It has an impact on you psychologically in a way that is useful for the film.”

Source: IconInsider.com

OHMYGOSSIP — Steve McQueen flooded an entire tube station for his new movie ‘Blitz’.
The 55-year-old director is at the helm of the historical drama film that stars Saoirse Ronan as the mother of an adventurous young boy during the height of World War II and, in what he called a “real engineering feat” managed to bring an underground disaster to the screen.
He told Collider: “When I was writing it I thought, ‘Well, how are we gonna film the flooding on the underground?’
” And then I couldn’t wait to do the dance sequences because they were so joyous! But, you know what was interesting? Both were joyous. Both were fantastic because you can’t believe that you’ve done certain things and you’re there. When you’re there, new ideas come about, new circumstances come about. So, at first, maybe there’s some trepidation because you think, “Okay, well, how are we gonna do that?” But when you’re on the set, it’s like, “Oh, this is fantastic.”
“My mother always said to take one day at a time. I used to get really frustrated with that, but it is like one of those situations. When you’re actually there, it’s actually not as bad as you may feel. Or it’s better than you think most of the time, hopefully.
“So Adam Starkey, the art director, built the tube station, and it was amazing because, again, how do you flood a station? It was a real engineering feat — the water and how we replenished the water and so forth.”
The Academy Award-winning movie maker noted that there was a lot of potential “chaos” that could have occurred on set but thanks to several months of preparation, everything came out “right” in the end.
He said: “And the extras, you can imagine the chaos that could have happened, but it was really well organized. People walked into the set and couldn’t believe it. It was one of those things where it was obviously a really important set piece in the film, and we had to get it right. It was a lot of months and months of planning, and I’m very excited for people to see it.
‘Blitz’ streams on Apple+ from November 22.

Source: IconInsider.com

OHMYGOSSIP — Jude Law wrote a line that made it into the final cut of the ‘Fantastic Beasts’ franchise.
The 51-year-old actor played the younger version of Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore in ‘Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore’ and came up with something that he thought was very appropriate for the character.
In a video with Variety, Jude revealed the line was: “The fact that everything didn’t go precisely to plan, was precisely the plan.
Speaking about the line, Jude added: “Ah! I’ve got a good story about this line. That’s Dumbledore. I wrote this line! I just thought that it was very Dumbledore.”
The ‘Fire Brand’ actor – who has Rafferty, 28, Iris, 24, and Rudy, 22, with ex-wife Sadie Frost, daughter Sophia, 15, with former partner Samantha Burke; and nine-year-old Ada from his previous relationship with Catherine Harding – then explained that he had always felt a connection to Dumbledore after reading the ‘Harry Potter’ novels with his children.
He added: “He was absolutely the sort of heartbeat of those books. Or, rather, the spirit. Harry was the heartbeat.
“There was something in the heart of Dumbledore — there was something in the spirit of the man that I really liked. And, in fact, playing him put me in a very good place.”
Jude also went on to share some of the context that J.K. Rowling – who is the author of the series – provided him with about the character and how it shaped his performance when filming.
He added: “Jo Rowling always said to me that he saw himself as a monster because of the way he had behaved in the past and he was always trying to forgive himself, but I just always felt like he was a good, kind man.
“And it’s nice playing good, kind men.”

Source: IconInsider.com

OHMYGOSSIP — Connie Nielsen says working with Sir Ridley Scott was “super important” for her return in ‘Gladiator II”.
The 59-year-old actress reprises her role as Lucilla in the long-awaited sequel to the historical epic and explained that the opportunity to work closely with the ‘Blade Runner’ filmmaker was a key factor in her decision to sign up for the picture.
Connie told Screen Rant: “Well, first of all, obviously the opportunity to work with Ridley again was super important.
“And then there was this option of, oh my God, continuing telling the story of Lucilla, especially because they told me nothing about what would happen to her in the beginning.
“They just said, you will be happy, Connie, and they know me. So when I then finally did read the script, I was sort of like, yeah, yeah, I will be happy.
“And then we then started that amazing process that it is to work with Ridley and the incredible team of hundreds of people that he has brought with him, even from the first one.
“And just walking into the arena on that first day back was an absolute surreal experience.”
Connie is one of the few returning cast members for the sequel – which features new stars including Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal and Denzel Washington – and explained the excitement she felt at the plot that Ridley has come up with for her alter ego.
The Danish star said: “I was just so excited to tell the story of this woman who Ridley has set up to hold within herself a crumbling empire and a crumbling legacy of her father, the loss of a son, and in the whole of it, this heart that’s being loved by an amazing man called Pedro Pascal.
“And then this moment where she finds her son again. I mean, these are incredible experiences and situations that Ridley set up for me.
“How could I be anything but excited?”

Source: IconInsider.com

OHMYGOSSIP — Dan Stevens is reuniting with Adam Wingard for ‘Onslaught’.
The filmmaker, 41, and ‘Downton Abbey’ actor, 42, who worked together on the 2024 action sci-fi picture ‘Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire’, as well as the 2014 nail-biter ‘The Guest’, are reuniting for Adam’s new project that is described as a gonzo action horror thriller.
Plot details on the movie – which is also starring Adria Arjona – are being kept largely under wraps but shooting is set to start in New Mexico later this month.
Arjona plays a mother who relies on a particular set of skills to protect her loved ones after she is faced by a threat that has escaped a secret military base while Stevens features in a supporting role as a German scientist working on experiments that escape.
Aaron Ryder and Andrew Swett are to produce ‘Onslaught’ under their Ryder Picture Company banner alongside A24. Alexander Black is also producing for Lyrical Media.
The ‘Abigail’ star explained earlier this year how he was thrilled to be able to work with the filmmaker on a big-budget flick.
Speaking to Deadline at the premiere of ‘Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire’ in March, he said: “The highlight for me was getting to work with him on something of this scale was just incredible.
“And to see how much fun he’s having as a filmmaker still, given that we worked together [for the] first time almost 10 years ago on something a lot smaller than this, and he’s really preserved the spirit of indie filmmaking on a massive scale.”
“You’re in good hands with an Adam Wingard movie.”

Source: IconInsider.com

OHMYGOSSIP — Matthew Lillard admits that ‘Scream’ didn’t change much for his career.
The 54-year-old star portrayed Stu Macher in the original 1996 film in Wes Craven’s horror franchise and acknowledged that it didn’t have the same transformative effect for him compared to leading stars such as David Arquette and Neve Campbell.
Speaking to Collider, Matthew said: “It changed a lot of people’s trajectory. It did not change mine. It was not a moment in any way, shape or form where all of a sudden I got any different attention. Period.
“And that really sort of solidified for me, now looking back, I was like, ‘Oh, I was destined to be this blue-collar actor’, which is great, and I like my career. Don’t get me wrong. If you’d given me my career coming in, I’d be like, ‘You’ve gotta be kidding me. That’s incredible.’
“But, I really wanted to be the number one on the call sheet in every movie I’ve ever done. It just never went that way. And so this idea of a breakout role, this idea of changing trajectory, sure, it made me more relevant to some capacity, but in those early days of ‘Scream’, it didn’t open up opportunities.”
The ‘Scooby-Doo’ actor also revealed that he is still concerned about movie offers running dry despite being involved in the industry for more than 30 years.
Matthew said: “At 54, I still worry about never working again. I mean, Jimmy Stewart, they say, went to his deathbed thinking, ‘That’s it. They may never ask me back.’
“And so, look, that insecurity of having a finite career is a really brutal way to live a life, right? I spent the early part of my career really desperate for more work because I defined myself by what I was working on.”

Source: IconInsider.com

OHMYGOSSIP — Jared Leto, John Mulaney and Lupita Nyong’o are set to star in ‘Lunik Heist’.
The trio will join forces with director Kemp Powers for the Searchlight Pictures dramedy, which has been described as “a wild, roller-coaster ride, filled with subterfuge and unlikely heroes.”
President of Searchlight Pictures Matthew Greenfield said in a statement: “We’re so thrilled to bring together such an exceptional team. With the extraordinary talents of Jared, Lupita, and John, led by the visionary Kemp, ‘Lunik Heist’ is a wild, roller-coaster ride, filled with subterfuge and unlikely heroes.”
Powers has also written the script, which he adapted from an article by Jeff Maysh, published in MIT Technology Review.
The film will be based on the true story of the American government’s plot to steal a Soviet spacecraft during a 1959 expo in Mexico City.
The daring mission – which remained a secret until it was declassified in 2019 – featured the CIA stealing a Soviet space probe, study its secrets and return it, all without them finding out.
Jared will produce with Emma Ludbrook under their Paradox banner, along with Mark Johnson for Gran Via Productions.
Maysh will Executive Produce.
Director of Development Zahra Phillips is working on the project for Searchlight Pictures, reporting to Head of Production and Development DanTram Nguyen.
Production dates have yet to be announced.

Source: IconInsider.com

OHMYGOSSIP — Tom Cruise is in talks for a ‘Days of Thunder’ remake.
The 62-year-old actor has been speaking to executives at Paramount about a follow-up to his 1990 NASCAR racing film ‘Days of Thunder’, which he co-starred in with former wife Nicole Kidman.
A source told The Hollywood Reporter: “He’s talking [to Paramount] about ‘Top Gun’ and ‘Days of Thunder’. It’s going to be what comes together first in terms of a script. It depends on the idea and, ultimately, the script.”
According to THR, Cruise – who played USAC racer Cole Trickle with Kidman as his neurosurgeon love interest in the movie – has script approval on all of his projects.
The idea for the reboot comes amid a spate of racing car movies in recent years, including James Mangold’s ‘Ford v Ferrari’ in 2019, Michael Mann’s ‘Ferrari’ in 2023 and the upcoming ‘F1’ starring Brad Pitt, from ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ director Joseph Kosinski.
The insider added: “I don’t think a [‘Days of Thunder’ sequel] is a terrible idea. You might have said that revisiting ‘Top Gun’ was a terrible idea. I wouldn’t discount it.”
The original ‘Days of Thunder’ was a Paramount film produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer and directed by Tony Scott and although it failed to impress at the box office, filmmaker Quentin Tarantino is a huge fan.
Back in 2013, he told f1socialdiary.wordpress.com: “Hands down my favourite is ‘Days of Thunder’. Yeah, yeah, you laugh but seriously I’m a big fan. To me ‘Days of Thunder’ is the movie Grand Prix and Le Mans should have been. Sure, it had a big budget, big stars and a big director in Tony Scott, but it had the fun of those early AIP movies. I just don’t think it works if you take the whole thing too seriously.”

Source: IconInsider.com