Russo Brothers: ‘There Were Early Conversations’ About Joining Kevin Feige’s ‘Star Wars’ Movie

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Michael Keaton isn’t the only blast from DC’s past in Warner Bros.’ upcoming superhero tentpole “The Flash.” During an interview with Esquire Middle East, “The Flash” director Andy Muschietti revealed that none other than Nicolas Cage is making a cameo in the movie as Superman. It’s a shocking and full circle moment for comic book movie fans and Cage, who was cast in Tim Burton’s failed “Superman Lives” 25 years ago. “Nic was absolutely wonderful,” Muschietti said. “Although the role was a cameo, he dove into it…I dreamt all my life to work with him. I hope I can work with him again soon.” “He is a massive Superman fan. A comic book fanatic,” Muschetti added.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Wes Anderson brought cowboys, aliens and movie stars to the Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday, earning a six-minute standing ovation at its world premiere. Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Jason Schwartzman, Matt Dillon, Maya Hawke, Steve Carell, Jeffrey Wright, Ed Norton, Margot Robbie and Jeff Gollum are among the starry ensemble cast — many of whom were in attendance at the Grand Palais with their notoriously stylish and exacting director. The project tells of a desert tourist trap that was one the site of an asteroid landing, which also doubles as the location of an annual camp for “star gazers and space cadets.” The conceit is a story-within-a-story, as the the cast plays a troupe of actors and stage crew for a play.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Florence Pugh revealed to Time magazine that a lot of people in the independent film community were “pissed off” at her when she decided to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Pugh made a name for herself with acclaimed roles in indies such as “Lady Macbeth” and “Midsommar” before earning an Oscar nomination for Greta Gerwig’s “Little Women.” She joined the MCU as Yelena Belova in “Black Widow” and reprised the role in the Disney+ series “Hawkeye.” Yelena will be back in Marvel’s upcoming tentpole film “Thunderbolts.” “So many people in the indie film world were really pissed off at me,” Pugh said. “They were like, ‘Great, now she’s gone forever.’ And I’m like, no, I’m working as hard as I used to work. I’ve always done back-to-back movies. It’s just people are watching them now. You just have to be a bit more organized with your schedule.”

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Natalie Portman told GQ magazine that she’s open to returning to the “Star Wars” franchise, 18 years after “Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith” served as her exit from the long-running space saga. Portman starred in all three of George Lucas’ prequel films as Padmé Amidala, who wins the heart of Anakin Skywalker. “I have no information on this,” Portman said when a fan floated the idea of her coming back to the franchise. “No one’s ever asked me to return, but I’m open to it.” Portman’s Padmé died in labor after giving birth to Luke and Leia in “Revenge of the Sith,” but the “Star Wars” franchise has a history of bringing back long-presumed dead characters (see “Phantom Menace” villain Darth Maul popping back up in “Solo.”).

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Halle Bailey recently praised her “The Little Mermaid” co-star Melissa McCarthy for teaching her how to speak up and say what works for her on set, but there was a time when McCarthy herself wasn’t always so vocal. In a recent interview with The Observer, McCarthy revealed she once became sick due to working on a toxic set that left many of the cast and crew “weeping.” The experience led McCarthy to realize she can’t remain quiet amid inappropriate working conditions. “I did work for someone once who ran such a volatile, hostile set that it made me physically ill,” McCarthy said. “My eyes were swelling up, I was absorbing all of this nuttiness.”

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Miley Cyrus is renowned for her live performances (particularly her amazing covers), but don’t expect to see the pop star on an arena tour ever again. In a recent British Vogue interview, Cyrus said performing in such large venues makes her uncomfortable and she would much rather perform in smaller, more intimate spaces for friends and family. “It’s been a minute,” Cyrus said about touring. “After the last [headline arena] show I did [in 2014], I kind of looked at it as more of a question. And I can’t. Not only can’t, because can’t is your capability, but my desire. Do I want to live my life for anyone else’s pleasure or fulfillment other than my own?”

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Julia Louis-Dreyfus became a comedy icon for playing Elaine Benes on nine seasons of NBC’s “Seinfeld,” but the role wasn’t completely fulfilling for her when the show first got off the ground. Speaking to The Daily Beast, Louis-Dreyfus revealed she regularly urged series creators Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld to give her character more to do on the show. “Well, I never really approached it from the perspective of my gender, per se. I wanted to just play ball with everybody,” Louis-Dreyfus said about the role. “I’m not going to lie, in the beginning, I didn’t always have a lot to do in certain episodes. And I would go to Larry and Jerry multiple times and say, ‘Hey, you guys, write me more, I need to be in this show more.’ That’s what I just kept doing. And they did.”

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Jane Fonda revealed on a recent episode of “Watch What Happens Live” that French director René Clément asked to sleep with her during the making of their 1964 thriller “Joy House.” Fonda starred in the film opposite Alain Delon and Lola Albright. “Watch What Happens Live” host Andy Cohen asked Fonda to name “one man in Hollywood that tried to pick you up once that you turned down.” The Oscar-winning actor replied: “The French director René Clément.” Fonda elaborated, “Well, he wanted to go to bed with me because he said the character had to have an orgasm in the movie and he needed to see what my orgasms were like. He said it in French and I pretended I didn’t understand.”

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Timothée Chalamet is playing the world’s most famous chocolatier in Warner Bros.’ upcoming musical “Wonka,” but it wasn’t necessarily the Roald Dahl source material that sparked his interest in joining the project. The Oscar nominee told Vogue magazine that he was drawn to playing Willy Wonka for the simple reason of making a movie for a younger, more optimistic demographic of moviegoers. “To work on something that will have an uncynical young audience, that was just a big joy,” Chalamet said. “That’s why I was drawn to it. In a time and climate of intense political rhetoric, when there’s so much bad news all the time, this is hopefully going to be a piece of chocolate.”

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Elle Fanning has some experience starring in a major studio franchise thanks to her role as Aurora in Disney’s two “Maleficent” movies, but the 25-year-old star has yet to join franchise behemoths like “Star Wars” and Marvel. During a recent interview on the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast, Fanning was asked if there is pressure on her career to join big studio franchises in order to stay “relevant” as an actor. “I don’t feel that [pressure]. I don’t,” Fanning said, while also acknowledging that joining the likes of Marvel, “Star Wars” or DC “does something” for other actors’ careers. “But you also don’t know if they’re going to work sometimes, which is scary,” she added.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Dolph Lundgren revealed on “In Depth With Graham Bensinger” that he nearly punched Sylvester Stallone during the making of their 2010 ensemble action movie “The Expendables.” Stallone helmed the film himself, marking the second time he directed Lundgren in a movie after 1985’s “Rocky IV.” “We had some good times and bad times, kinda like family to some degree,” Lundgren said about his long-standing working relationship with Stallone. “He was very harsh on me in a scene in ‘The Expendables’ where he kinda yelled at me in front of the whole crew and had me do about 20 takes on a scene. It was like, ‘My grandmother could do it better than that. What the fuck, what are you doing?’ You know, basically in front of everybody. And there was press there that day too, international press.”

Recently, Joe Russo (the filmmaker behind “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Avengers: Endgame”) made headlines for comments he made about the future of artificial intelligence (AI) usage in media. He predicted that within two years, there will be a person who generates a full feature film using only AI.

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor Joe Russo is sounding the alarm about artificial intelligence. Six days before the Writers Guild of America (WGA) called for a strike, I spoke to Joe Russo at the Los Angeles premiere of “Citadel” about his concerns regarding AI. The use of AI has become a major point of contention between the guild and Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTA). “I think everyone should be scared of AI,” Russo said. “I don’t know if you’ve heard any of the Drake ‘songs’ that have been dropping on social media, but it’s here. It’s not going anywhere.” The “Avengers” director said in order for AI to work, it must be a “tool servicing us rather than us servicing the tool.”

When you look at the state of the “Star Wars” franchise, there are two different stories to be told. On the one hand, you have the TV side of things over on Disney+, which seems to be thriving.

Marvel Studios is pushing back production on its upcoming Blade starring Mahershala Ali after pre-production was temporally shut down due to the writers strike sources close to the production confirmed to Deadline. Marvel just hired Nic Pizzolatto to pen the script and given that he was just hired and can’t do any work on it during the strike, the studio thought it best to push production on filming till script was ready

Zack Sharf Digital News Director As James Gunn’s final Marvel movie opens in theaters and his DC Studios future begins, he’s shutting down any notion about the two superhero studios hating each other. Gunn has had a foot in both studios for quite some time. His Marvel run lasted 11 years and three “Guardians of the Galaxy” movies, while he made his DC debut with 2021’s “The Suicide Squad” and is now the co-head of DC Studios, where he’s writing and directing a new Superman movie. “It’s not odd. It isn’t odd at all, not to me,” Gunn stressed to Yahoo Entertainment when asked what it’s been like juggling “Guardians Vol. 3” press with his new DC Studios duties. “I understand how it appears, but I’m just busy cause I’m working two jobs at one time. But it’s not odd.”

May the Fourth be with you, “Star Wars” fans. And with three upcoming films announced at last months Star Wars Celebration, the “Star Wars” universe has plenty to be excited about on the holiday this year.

Do you folks remember, not that long ago, during Star Wars Celebration, when Kathleen Kennedy told the press that Kevin Feige was never really attached to a “Star Wars” film and it was just the fandom that made it all up? She actually said, “We never discussed an idea,” and basically, gaslit everyone into thinking it was all a rumor. Of course, we know that’s not true because Feige talked about it, Michael Waldron talked about being hired to write a script, and now, we have the Russo Brothers, who not only confirm that Feige was working on a “Star Wars” film with Lucasfilm but that they were discussing possibly signing on to direct.

Marvel bosses regretted the sacking of Guardians Of The Galaxy director James Gunn.Gunn was dropped by Disney after the first two Guardians films in 2018 when a series of controversial tweets allegedly written in the past by him, surfaced online.Cast members of the franchise rallied behind Gunn and he was eventually rehired in March 2019 to direct the the third film.Now Feige has said that Marvel bosses never interviewed anyone to replace Gunn during his absence.“We didn’t even put a preliminary list together just because we couldn’t do it,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “We couldn’t stomach it.”Gunn also said Disney film chairman Alan Horn regretted the decision to sack him and he was having trouble sleeping over it.“It’s a 100 percent because Alan Horn felt sick.

Damon Lindelof is revealing the circumstances behind his departure from the latest “Star Wars” production.