News Shotgun 10/5/24
Here’s the movie and TV news you need to know from the past week; it’s the News Shotgun.
Kurt Sutter leaves his Netflix series: Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter abruptly left the set of his upcoming Netflix series The Abandons this week. There are three weeks left of production, and the rest of the shooting will be finished by executive producer/director Otto Bathurst and co-exec producer Rob Askins. It’s believed that Sutter clashed with Netflix as the show’s post-production was about to get kicked off, with the series’ first episode clocking in at 1 hour and 40 minutes. Netflix wanted it around an hour, which proved impossible to edit, so they wanted it split into two episodes with new cliffhanger scenes added to the end of the first episode and the start of the second. Those scenes were written but not yet shot. Sutter was previously fired from the FX series Mayans M.C. because of allegations of a hostile work environment, which doesn’t seem to be the reason for his departure from this series.
Sugar renewed for Season 2: The Colin Farrell-starring AppleTV+ series Sugar has been renewed for a second season. The genre-bending series follows Farrell as private investigator John Sugar, who specializes in finding missing people. Sam Catlin, the showrunner for Preacher, is taking over the show in Season 2, which will follow Sugar on another mystery in Los Angeles while continuing to try and solve his own case, his sister’s disappearance.
Live-action Rugrats movie in development: The Rugrats are coming back to theaters with a new live-action/animation hybrid movie from Paramount and Nickelodeon. Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, and Lil will be animated characters, but the sets, and potentially other characters like their parents, will be live-action. Jason Moore, who directed Sisters and Pitch Perfect, is directing while SNL’s Mikey Day and Street Seidell are writing the script.
Daniela Melchior joins new Anaconda: The latest reboot of Anaconda has added Suicide Squad and Road House star Daniela Melchior to the cast. Previously casting Paul Rudd and Jack Black, the new movie will have a similar premise to the original 1997 film but lean more toward comedy. The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent writer Tom Gormican co-wrote the script and is directing.
RIP John Amos: The great John Amos passed away this week at age 84 of natural causes. Amos starred in Good Times, the TV miniseries Roots, and film roles like Die Hard 2, The Beastmaster, Coming to America, Coming 2 America, and Lock Up. His final television appearance will be on the upcoming Suits spin-off, Suits LA.
RIP Kris Kristofferson: Country music legend and actor Kris Kristofferson passed away at age 88. Kristofferson was a pioneer of “Outlaw Country” and had several #1 hits in the 70s. In the 80s, he teamed with fellow country legends Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, and Waylon Jennings to form the Highwaymen, whose album Highwaymen went to #1. Kristofferson first appeared on screen in 1972 in Cisco Pike and starred in the 70s version of A Star is Born along with Convoy, Pat Garrett, Billy the Kid, and the infamous bomb Heaven’s Gate. He reached a new audience in the ’90s and early ’00s by appearing in the Blade trilogy as Blade’s mentor, Abraham Whistler.
RIP John Ashton: Character actor veteran John Ashton died at age 76. Best known for playing John Taggart in the Beverly Hills Cop series, including this summer’s Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, Ashton has over 90 credits over 50 years, starting in 1973 with An Eye for An Eye. He also appeared in Midnight Run, The Tommyknockers, Dirty Work, Gone Baby Gone, and more. His final appearances will be in a pair of Western films, Hot Bath, Stiff Drink, an a Close Shave and Hot Bath an a Stiff Drink 2.
