Welcome to Development Hell, the fiery pit into which we fling recent developments in casting, distribution, and everything else that’s new and mildly interesting in the Boschian phantasmagoria of the entertainment industry.
While we’re waiting for that fan remake of The Last Jedi to collect the tens of millions of dollars that have been “pledged” so far, let’s check in with some projects that have descended just a little further into the bowels of Hollywood:
- Chloë Grace Moretz is here to dash Matthew Vaughn’s hopes of a Kick-Ass 3—or, at least, a sequel with a grown-up Hit-Girl in it. At a recent appearance at the Provincetown Film Festival, Moretz said she’s not interested in appearing in another film in the franchise. As she tactfully put it, “I wish the second one had been handled in a little bit of a different way. Because I think we were all kind of looking forward to something a little different than what happened with it all.” [IndieWire]
- George Clooney is in talks for his next directorial project, the sci-fi thriller Echo. Produced by the same company that made Arrival, the script is about “a drone specialist who has a psychological crisis after suspecting that his lover is not who she appears to be and wondering whether she has been replaced.” [Variety]
- Bright and Suicide Squad’s David Ayer is also working on a new project, the Los Angeles-set, presumably face tattoo-friendly crime thriller Tax Collector. Whether fairy lives matter in this one is still TBD. [Deadline]
- Meanwhile, the premise of Mary J. Blige’s new horror-thriller Body Cam, about LAPD officers haunted by a malevolent spirit after murdering a black teenager, is kind of awesome. [Deadline]
- Quebecois auteur Xavier Dolan is on his way to meet Pennywise. Dolan has been cast in IT: Chapter Two as Adrian Mellon, a gay man who’s the victim of a hate crime at the beginning of Stephen King’s novel. Will Beinbrink has also been cast in the horror sequel as Tom Rogan, the abusive ex-husband of an adult Beverly Marsh (Jessica Chastain). [Deadline]
- Famously fanatic “motivational cycling” brand SoulCycle has launched a new media division, devoted to “creating programming and experiences using a variety of mediums, including music, video, audio and experiential events,” all of which will presumably scream at you to pedal faster. [The Hollywood Reporter]