News Shotgun 11/30/24
Here’s all the movie and TV news you need to know from the past week, it’s the News Shotgun
Dolph Lundgren cancer-free: One of our favorites, Dolph Lundgren, has been battling cancer for the past nine years and was at one time diagnosed to have 2-3 years to live. Dolph revealed on Instagram this week that he has been diagnosed by UCLA to be cancer-free after the removal of one final dead tumor. He was diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2015 but had surgery and was cancer-free for five years before it was found to have returned in 2020.
Barry Keoghan cast as Ringo in Beatles films: Barry Keoghan is the first member of the Fab Four to be cast in director Sam Mendes’s impressively ambitious plan to direct four films based on The Beatles, with each film focusing on one of the members. Keoghan has been cast as Ringo Starr, at least according to Ringo himself. There is no official word from the studio and no casting yet for John, Paul, and George.
Tom Hardy, Pierce Brosnan, and Helen Mirren join the new Guy Ritchie series: Guy Ritchie has a new series coming to Paramount+, currently untitled but now with Tom Hardy, Pierce Brosnan, and Helen Mirren starring. The show was initially developed as a spin-off to Ray Donovan but has been turned into a series with no ties to the Liev Schreiber show. The show follows “two warring families based in London whose enterprises stretch all corners of the globe and the fiercely loyal ‘fixer’ charged with protecting one of them at all costs.” Hardy plays Harry Da Souza, the “fixer” for an Irish crime family led by Conrad Harrigan (Brosnan) and his wife Maeve (Mirren).
RIP Jim Abrahams: A member of comedy powerhouse ZAZ, Jim Abrahams passed away this week at age 80. Abrahams, along with his brother David and Jerry Zucker, wrote, produced, and directed movies like Airplane!, The Naked Gun, Top Secret!, Hot Shots!, and other spoof films throughout the 1980s and early 90s.
John Krasinski and Matthew Rhys starring Prime thriller series: John Krasinski and Matthew Rhys will co-star in a new Prime thriller series, Silent River. The show is set in a small town whose residents discover that a serial killer is living among them. Krasinski and Rhys will executive produce the series, and Krasinski will direct the pilot. Two of Krasinski’s Jack Ryan producers, Aaron Rabin and Andrew Bernstein, are executive producers on the series.
Zeus recast for Percy Jackson: One of the many roles left in the wake of the great Lance Reddick’s death last year was Zeus on Disney+’s Percy Jackson series. Courtney B. Vance is stepping into the role and will appear in the upcoming second season of the series, which is based on the second book in the series, The Sea of Monsters. The second season should debut sometime next year, as production began in August this year.
RIP Michael Villella: Character actor Michael Villella, best known for playing Russ Thorn, aka The Driller Killer, in The Slumber Party Massacre, died this week at age 82 due to multiple organ failure. Villella also appeared in the films Love Letters, Gotham, Wild Orchid, and on TV shows like Amazing Stories and Getting Away With Murder.
Sterling K. Brown joins Voltron movie: The upcoming live-action reboot of the iconic Voltron series has added Sterling K. Brown to co-star. Henry Cavill, Daniel Quinn-Toye, Rita Ora, Alba Baptista, Samson Kayo, Tharanya Tharan, and John Kim were previously cast. Laura Gordon and Tim Griffiths were also cast in the movie this week. Rawson Thurber Marshall, who previously directed The Rock in movies like Red Notice and Skyscraper, is directing the film.
