ComingSoon caught up with actor Chad Michael Murray about starring in Walmart’s new Deals of Desire series, which can be seen on its YouTube channel. Murray discussed his history with Black Friday shopping, his role in Deals of Desire, and much more. Walmart’s Black Friday deals are now live through December 1, and Walmart+ members can get even more benefits.

“Get ready for the hottest new drama (and Deals!) of the season. Deals of Desire is a shocking, supernatural, action-packed, historical, western drama like you’ve never seen before. There will be laughs. And there will be Deals,” says Walmart’s description.

Tyler Treese: Chad, congrats on this new Walmart promotion, Deals of Desire. I watched the trailer. It’s so over the top and fun. They describe it, and I wanted to get the quote because it’s just something else, as “a shocking, supernatural, action-packed, historical, western drama.” What kind of drew you to this? There are a lot of great stars in this.

Chad Michael Murray: We checked all the boxes, didn’t we? Man, it was so much fun. Truly, like, when I saw the outline and the proposal for this, it was a no-brainer. It’s like, yes, obviously the Deals of Desire campaign is so ingenious. We created something that I would’ve never thought of in a million years. To go out there and to take these kind of beautiful, nostalgic moments and beats and tell a story with you say stars, I say props.

The stars of this entire campaign are the deals that are going on for Walmart on Black Friday, for Cyber Monday. It’s pretty clear, like when we were there, that’s how it felt, right? It was so much fun doing it. Because you have to be a hundred percent committed, otherwise it doesn’t work. So, just to have the opportunity to work with everybody over there, to meet everybody in the branding department, to work with these great group of actors and artists, directors, the whole team, it was A+ from the top-down, genuinely.

Your character is a football coach. What can we expect from your storyline in it?

When I saw that, I said, well, there’s life imitating art. I actually coached my son’s team here in Nova Scotia. So, I felt like, okay, I went from practice, boom, right into the screen. Look, he’s a coach. He wants to be the guy, right? He wants to be the guy in this kind of Walmart-verse that we’ve created. He wants to be the head coach. He’s had a lot of success as a younger player back in the day at the same school, and here he is, and he’s kind of being held back a little bit. We’re gonna find out how he’s either gonna rise to the top or fall behind throughout this series. I think, in total, it’s 10 episodes of all the series combined. So, get ready for a little drama, a little action, and all those things. Like we said, a little western and for hella good deals, as they would say.

Nothing beats Black Friday deals. Did you ever used to go through those wild Black Friday crowds, or are you more of like a Cyber Monday guy now?

I still go out now. I don’t get up at three in the morning and sit out there and go postal by any means. I’m more of the type that I really like to be in the environment. There’s something about it that feels like good comfort food, right? I like going out and seeing the people and seeing the deals that are on display. I like having the opportunity to get a good deal. Because why wouldn’t you? For instance, we just bought a house recently, and I need a TV. Well, I could get it now, or I could wait till then, and I know where I’m going. You know what I mean?

I like that aspect of it, and I like that aspect of being able to shop for friends and family. I like the aspect of going out there and just having these moments with friends and family, grabbing a coffee, and walking through busy shopping centers. It feels good, right? There’s something that I really truly enjoy about it. I remember my first memory of Black Friday: I was 15 and we really wanted an N64. I had to get it, come on. I really wanted an Nintendo 64. So my brother and I got up, drove out at like two in the morning, and him and I just sat in the parking, my older brother and I, and we waited. We ended up being like third in line, boom. Got our hands on it, the Nintendo 64.

Now I have to ask, what were the early N64 games you were playing? Like Super Mario 64? What really drew you in?

Super Mario 64 and Goldeneye, baby. Is there anything else, really?

November’s a big month for you. You also have The Merry Gentleman out, which is a stripper Christmas movie. That’s such a hilarious combination. What sold you on that project? I know you’ve done a lot of Christmas movies in the past, but this is such a unique film.

Someone said, “Stripper Christmas movie.” I said, “Yes.” Come on. Like, what says Christmas more than male strippers? Now that’s sarcasm. That sarcasm. You know… what it was, the idea of it scared the crap out of me. I’d never danced professionally by any means. I’d never done choreographed dancing. So I thought, man, what an opportunity to do something that I’d never done as an actor, an artist. I wanna do it. I wanna go for it. I knew all the work that would go into just trying to get myself physically, mentally, and spiritually prepared to go in there and be shirtless for half a movie.

I just put the work in, and it really was a testament to hard work from everybody and calling in so many people to get me where I needed to be, from choreographers to consulting with different people for just body. As you get older, it ain’t as easy as it used to be to get in shape and to do it in a short timeframe. So, it was a lot of work, man. But it was a lot of fun. I think we really thread the needle to find a movie that actually fits the mold for a Christmas male revue.

You’ve always been a very fit guy, but I saw the trailer for this film and you’re in incredible shape for this. How daunting was that task to just really get extra swole for that? That’s crazy.

Thank you, dude. You’re making me blush, bro. It was a lot of work. I’m not gonna lie. I’m that guy that every holiday season, without fail, I’m gonna gain five to 10 pounds. I hang it up. I don’t go to the gym. I eat a lot of pumpkin pie with extra, extra, extra cool whip, and I just enjoy it, right? I spent all the time with my kids, and I just turn off. Then it was somewhere like late January when I heard the first inkling of this, and it was like, uh-oh, I gotta go to work. So in order to get yourself in shape, you have to build up and then lose because doing both at the same time, you’re just gonna end up like a very, very skinny version of yourself if you’re just trying to cut weight.

So you have to build the muscle and then burn the fat. So, it was a lot of work, man. It was like three-four months of just kind of hitting it. In a perfect world, you’d always have more time to get everything and all your dreams and expectations met. But I was really happy with the results because the film itself, it’s great, man. It’s a great movie, and I think people are really gonna enjoy it. It’s really a head turn because you’re going, “How do you blend Christmas and male dancing?” We did it. Get ready.

This is such an exciting moment for your career. You have Freakier Friday also coming out, and Freaky Friday was one of your first movies, so how was that kind of full circle moment of reuniting with such great actors, and that film has still been so beloved this entire time?

Good. I can only say I just feel blessed. You know, I feel blessed that I had the opportunity to work with Jamie Lee [Curtis] and Lindsay [Lohan] 22 years ago, and then here we are going on set. It felt like it’s bizarre because it felt like no time had passed, but yet, at the same time, we had had entire lifetimes in between finish to start, you know what I mean?

So, I’ll tell you that the new additions to the cast are incredible. Jamie was just such a champion leader in every way, from preparation to making everybody comfortable and ready to go and to bringing and elevating the script on a daily basis. It was a great team, everyone from Kristen Burr and our director, Nisha [Ganatra], and Jamie and Lindsay, just everybody all out together just wanted to make a great movie and make sure if we’re gonna do it, we were gonna do it right. So it felt really blessed to have the opportunity to come back, live in Jake’s clothes, and decide what Jake had been doing the past 22 years with his life. Conveniently, my hair just happened to be long again. I hadn’t had it long forever, and all of a sudden I’m like, “Oh yeah, ’tis the season.”

The stars aligned for sure. You mentioned something that I was really curious about, that lifetimes have happened since that first film. You mentioned that that chemistry was still there, but how is it when you’re reuniting after that many years? Because you’ve all evolved as actors in that interim. Do you have to kind of navigate that or was it just instant chemistry again?

I think it was better for me. I think it’s even better chemistry, to be honest with you, because I was a baby then, you know? It was one of my first gigs, so you’re a little more green behind the ears. So I think you’ve aged, right? You’ve really worked on your instrument a little bit more. So you’re more willing to take chances and try new things. I don’t think the nerves are as heavy as they were back 22 years ago.

I think that it’s exciting when you got babies coming to set. I got three kids now. Lindsay’s got her little baby, and it’s like we’re all in these different places in our lives from where we were so long ago. It’s just a really cool moment. It’s really incredibly fulfilling and a nostalgic burst for us as well, making it as I hope it is, and I believe it’s going to be for everyone watching it on August 8.

You’ve had so many great roles over the years. I really thought you were excellent in Agent Carter, as well, which is like this really underrated part of Marvel over the past decade. I’ve seen a lot of people go back to it recently just because it’s on streaming and really fall in love with it. How do you kind of look back at that show’s two seasons?

It’s great. I learned a lot. Just the opportunity to work with those core people. Louis [D’Esposito] would come to set and you got this whole Marvel universe right around you. I remember they were cutting — was it The Avengers? They were cutting one of the major franchises. The Russo Brothers were coming in and they were directing an episode. Then they’re out and they’re directing The Avengers. You’re just seeing how the whole universe was working and how hard everyone was working. You’re doing this really cool period piece and you want to be as authentic [as you can], but, yet, kind of bigger and grander than you can be because you’re doing something that’s [a superhero project].

I love Jack Thompson. I think there’s a universe where Jack Thompson had a much bigger world, you know what I mean? There’s something really cool about Jack Thompson. We never really peeled the layers, we never really pulled back and saw what was beneath the surface. I always like to say Jack would’ve been back.

If you remember the cliffhanger in Season 2… Well, I don’t want to ruin it for anyone, I don’t want to be a spoiler. But if you’re watching, something happens to Jack. Jack would’ve been back. I can picture it now, and we would’ve learned a lot more about Jack. But there was something so likably unlikable about him, you know what I mean?

One Tree Hill was obviously a huge part of your early career, and they announced a sequel series recently. Is that something you’d like to pop up in the future?

Golly, man, I don’t know. I have no idea. It is funny ’cause you hear all these things, right? We’ve heard about a bunch of different iterations, and I know that, supposedly, the word is out there. I can say that truthfully, I want that to be real for the fan base that brought it to the show, right? That show has always been the fan’s show. It was since we started 20-something years ago. The fans are what kept it on the air. They were the ones who were cheering at the river court. Every time we’d film out there, we’d have 400, 500, 600 people just sitting there watching this film all day and walk over. We take pictures and sign autographs with people at the end of the day.

I’ll never forget it. I’ll never forget that bond that’s been grown and has genuinely stuck with us this entire time. They’re still there. So for them, I do hope that some version, and I don’t know what that version will be if the show comes, for them to tell modern stories and have a contemporary take on it, but not kind of get too far off the dotted line of what really made that show work.

Thanks to Chad Michael Murray for taking the time to talk about Walmart‘s Deals of Desire and more.

The post Chad Michael Murray Talks Walmart’s Deals of Desire, New Netflix Movie, & More appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More.

ComingSoon caught up with actor and musician Anthony Ramos about starring in Walmart’s new Deals of Desire series, which has been premiering on its YouTube channel. Ramos discussed his history with Black Friday shopping, his role in Deals of Desire, and much more. Walmart’s Black Friday deals are now live through December 1, and Walmart+ members can get even more benefits.

“Get ready for the hottest new drama (and Deals!) of the season. Deals of Desire is a shocking, supernatural, action-packed, historical, western drama like you’ve never seen before. There will be laughs. And there will be Deals,” says Walmart’s description.

Tyler Treese: You’re a part of the Walmart Deals of Desire campaign. I saw the trailer. It’s really over the top and fun. It’s described as a “shocking, supernatural, action-packed, historical, western drama.” That’s a lot. What kind of drew you to this? It seems like something you could work on with some talented people and have a lot of fun with.

Anthony Ramos: Honestly, man, it was just that. Like, it sounds crazy, but it sounds like it’d be a lot of fun. I was just surprised at how they wanted to shoot these little mini-movies for this. But it was like funny, like comedy, it just felt like something that would be a lot of fun to do, you know what I’m saying? I always like to show a different side, man. I like to be able to tap into the comedy and just have those moments when I can do stuff like that, which is light and fun. It was crazy, bro. We shot in this wild mansion in the valley out here in California. It was horses and all types of animals. It just felt like it could be something that could be fun.

What can we expect from your character?

I’m playing this stable boy who basically gets a glow-up and inherits this deal — he’s a Walmart+ member. It’s passed down from a relative who was lost at sea. So he inherited this membership, and all of a sudden, the princess is like, “Wait, what? You’re like a Walmart+ member? You have to come with me to the ball. You gotta be my date.” He’s like, “Wait, like me? For real? I’m just this lowly stable boy guy,” and she’s like, “Yes, you’re my man. We are going to the ball.”

It is just a lot of fun, bro. Just this guy who gets a glow-up ’cause he’s a Walmart+ member, and he is about to get early access to the deals. That’s the secret. You gotta have early access, my brother. If you don’t got early access, what are we talking about? We skipping the line.

This is leading up to the big Black Friday deals. Did you ever go into the wild crowds or are you more of a Cyber Monday guy?

Nah, bro, I’ve definitely gone crazy on Black Friday, for sure. Because the deals on Black Friday are legit, bro. You’re getting TVs at 50% off, and it’s just wild, you know what I’m saying? I haven’t been in the crowds on Black Friday in a minute. I’ve also even missed Cyber Mondays, but I would say probably a few years ago I was pretty consistent with Black Friday. I would get out there, you know what I’m saying? I’ll be in the mix. I try to get there early too in the morning so I can get all the good shit.

This is an exciting time for you. I listened to your new single, “Vicariously,” which is a beautiful track. I saw your songwriting credit as well. What do you hope people get out of that? This is a very relatable song.

Thanks, man. It’s the first song off of a bigger project that we’re gonna put out next year, man. We’re gonna start rolling out these singles for the next album. I’ve been through a lot during the last three or four years, and I think that I finally have the songs to tell the story. Then the music feels like it’s another level, and I hope people just really feel where I’m at right now in life and what I’ve been through. They could really start to kind of get a better picture of what it’s been like in the last few years, bro.

It’s just been fun, bro. Like, really flexing, you know? It’s been probably three years now, it’ll be four since I put out my second album. So, this one feels almost like a rebirth, you know what I’m saying? I’m just excited, bro. I’m using sounds I never used. I’m using vocal chains, like distortions on my voice, that I’ve never done before in my music. Like really just getting experimental with production and, and I’m always about the lyrics, and I think we take that, and really get most dope producers and get with people who are just making like really, really dope shit. This dude, Sam Homaee, produced this track, and as soon as we got in the studio that day, it was me, Sam Homaee, and Sabrina Claudio. We had that session. It was like instant, bro. The song was just writing itself.

I love the production of it. There’s a section before the last chorus where the instrumental cuts out and it’s just your voice with some distortion, and it was just such a great build there.

That’s sick. That’s what’s up. That’s what’s up. I love it. There’s all of that, bro. We’re doing all of that on this next project, bro. We are getting crazy with it.

You’re joining the MCU soon with Ironheart. When you’re doing a role like that, do you dive into like a ton of the comics? That’s such a crazy rabbit hole. There’s so much history there.

No, I didn’t really dive into the comics. I just really focused on my character, and you just follow the script. But it was also like, yo, how do I make him singular? How do I make him different? Parker Robinson in the comics is from New York. Our guy is from Chicago, our show is set there. So I just wanted to make him super dynamic. Like every character, I just see how I relate to him, and I try to put as much of myself into the character. I think that was how I looked at it. But for sure, I referenced the comics. He has a certain look, but Parker Robinson in the comics looks different than me, you know? So, it was cool being able to almost recreate this guy.

He is a real badass villain, and you’re so naturally likable. So, how is it really embracing that other side and showing your range here? I haven’t seen you as a villain too much.

Yeah, man. It is cool. I’m starting to get these bad guy roles. Even in Twisters, I wasn’t necessarily the good guy in the movie, you know what I’m saying? I think we all have that side to us, you know? I appreciate that. It’s very nice of you to say that I’m a likable guy. I appreciate that, my brother. That’s what makes it even better to play these kind of roles. Because even some of our favorite villains are still likable, right? You think about the Joker, right? There are villains in movies that you’re just like, “Dang, I really, really like this dude, but he is the worst.”

Every villain has their reasons, bro. They’ve got their reasons, whether it makes sense to you or not, and whether you agree with what they do. They’re like, “Well, I do this because of that…” My favorite part about playing a bad guy is that you really get to tap into the mind of a person who is essentially doing wrong, but they have justified why they do it. To them, their reason is legit, and it’s a good reason. So, that’s been fun exploring that with not only the Hood, but these different characters that I’m playing.

You mentioned Twisters, and that was such a sensation this summer and such a fun time in the movies. There’s some debate from people, though. They were arguing if Javi had romantic feelings for Kate. What was your read on that?

Oh, sure, for sure, a hundred percent. Yeah. He has that line. He is like, “There was a time where I’d do anything for you, Kate,” and I look at her with them eyes like, “Yo, you know I would’ve done anything for you, but you never picked me.” That kind of thing. Yeah, he is salty a little bit, but then he gets over it.

People were also divided by the lack of a kiss. I assume Javi was on Team No Kiss then?

Well, you know what? On the contrary, at the end of the movie, I’m like, “Bro, go get it.” Like, “What are you doing?” I think it would’ve been better if he would’ve kissed since it would’ve put Javi out of his misery. Now that they didn’t kiss, it’s open-ended. Now he might still have hope and think that he could probably get her. I hope we get a sequel, and then I hope someone else comes along, and then it’s like, “Oh, nevermind Kate,” you know?

What’s also crazy is you’re gonna be voicing Bob The Builder. Have you been practicing your “Can we fix it?” delivery?

Nah, bro. Not yet. We’re developing, we’re working on the script. We are really developing the story now in a bigger way. We’re already doing it, but now we got the team together, we got our studio,and now we’re getting into it in a bigger way, bro. I’m just so excited, man. I’m just grateful that I’m able to be a producer on this movie and work on the music for the film and really just like, be a part of this movie in such a big way, bro. It really is a blessing.

It’s been fun already. The team is incredible, man. Mattel Jennifer [Lopez]’s team have been great, and it’s just been dope, man. ShadowMachine is incredible, man. My manager, Jill, has just been killing this, so everybody’s just been super dope. We got a great writer named Felipe Vargas. He’s amazing, bro. He’s so phenomenal. I just can’t wait for y’all to see it. I mean, it’s gonna take a while till we make this, till we put it out because animation takes a minute, but I feel like it’s gonna be worth the wait, man.

You mentioned being a producer. How much more fulfilling is that really getting to help form these projects when you’re producing as well?

It’s really dope. Like even being an executive producer now on the Ryan Murphy show I’m doing. Like Ryan, when we first spoke, he was like, “Yo, whatever you want this character to be, we can make him. Think about whatever kind of role you’ve always wanted to play, and whatever that is, let’s try to work together to put that into this guy.” It’s just really cool being able to come into projects as more than just an actor, as a collaborator on the backend. I’m starting to produce short films, obviously bigger films like Bob The Builder, and this is what I’ve always wanted, man.

This is what I’ve always dreamt of. Even with my music, assembling the whole creative team internally. That’s the dream, man. It is being able to get to a place where you build relationships with people, and you’re able to just make calls, and people are like, “Yeah, I’m gonna pull up. Yeah, I’ll be the grip. Yeah, I’ll be the director, I’ll be the DP, I’ll work crafts, I work this, I work that, I’ll produce that. I’ll be the line producer.” All those things, man. Those are all blessings, man. Gifts, bro, that have come over time.

Thanks to Anthony Ramos for taking the time to talk about Walmart’s Deals of Desire and more.

The post Interview: Anthony Ramos on Starring in Walmart’s Deals of Desire, Black Friday Shopping, & More appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More.

The Farrelly brothers are back with a new Christmas movie. The comedy legends behind hits like Dumb & Dumber and There’s Something About Mary teamed up for Dear Santa, which stars Jack Black as Satan posing to be Santa. The film, directed by Bobby Farrelly (Peter Farrelly wrote the script with Ricky Blitt), is now streaming on Paramount+ and is available to own on digital.

“When a young boy mails his Christmas wish list to Santa with one crucial spelling error, a devilish Jack Black arrives to wreak havoc on the holidays. From the hilarious minds behind Dumb & Dumber, Christmas is about to go up in flames,” says the synopsis.

Tyler Treese: Bobby, Jack Black is just so naturally likable. He could be doing the worst things, and the audience is still gonna get a kick out of it. So, how was it finding the right tone for his version of Satan here?

Bobby Farrelly: Well, you’re absolutely right. Jack Black was the perfect guy for us. Because we wanted that. Obviously, the young kid writes a letter to Santa, but he misspells it, and it goes to Satan. So Satan, played by Jack Black, shows up at Christmastime, and comedy ensues. But we wanted to make sure that it didn’t get too dark. It didn’t become a horror movie or anything like that. We wanted to tell a nice Christmas story. So Jack Black is the perfect guy to play this because he does have that little bit of a devilish look to him and all that, but always in a way that you love him and go with him. He’s funny, and you trust him.

Peter, the core idea of this film, the dyslexic kid writing Satan instead of Santa. It’s so funny. When did you realize there was enough meat to really expand this out into a full film rather than just a funny premise?

Peter Farrelly: Not soon enough, because when Pete Jones and Kevin Barnett came in and pitched it to us 12 years ago, they said, “How about this for an idea? A kid’s writing a letter to Santa, but instead, he misspells, and it goes to Satan.” I was like, “We’ll do that movie. I love it.” I thought it was the easiest pitch ever. It was like Snakes on a Plane easy. But it wasn’t that easy because you really do have to balance it. There’s so much there.

First of all, like Bobby said, you have Satan at Christmas. We wanted to do a family movie, but we wanted it to be PG-13. We didn’t want it to be PG because this isn’t for little kids. Just to be clear, it’s not for 4, 5, 6, or 7-year-olds. It’s 11-year-olds and up. But we also want it to be for adults. So, honestly, it took us 10 years to get it right. Not that we were working on it the whole time, we went off and did other things, but it was just in the last year or two that we figured it out.

Bobby: Yeah, sometimes you have to step away. We tried some versions and it didn’t work. It was the wrong tone or something. But finally, Pete and Ricky Blitt, I think they got the script right. Once we got Jack on board, it just all felt really good.

Bobby, there are a couple of really funny scenes with Post Malone, and you don’t get much bigger than him as an artist right now. How is it working with him? He seems so down-to-earth and fun.

Bobby: Well, you’re right. We couldn’t have done better than Post Malone. He’s just red hot. He was red hot then, he keeps getting bigger and better this year. He went into country music, and the guy’s just really super talented. We were really lucky to get him, for him to give us three or four days of his time and come and perform and play himself and play beer pong with us and all those fun things. But we did it.

And what a nice guy. Like an unbelievably decent, friendly, super polite guy. It was just really awesome. It was the highlight of the movie, I think, just those three or four days with him.

Peter: It actually made [Bobby] want to be a nicer guy. Seriously.

Bobby: Yeah, and that’s never happened to me

That’s the power of doing a Christmas movie.

Peter, you two have obviously stayed collaborators, as this movie shows, but are we gonna see you two fully direct something together again as the Farrelly brothers, or is it just too easy to get more done solo?

Peter: No, I could definitely see us doing something again, but it is easier solo because… Like our TV show, Loudermilk, I would write the episodes and direct a couple, but then Bobby would come in and direct all the other episodes, and I’d be editing them as he’s directing them. It is sort of seamless. Literally when I’m editing, I can’t remember if I directed it or he directed it because I’m looking at it so much. I’m like, “Was I there that day? I can’t remember.” So it’s a good system, but I would love to. I hope we do direct [together again]. It’ll be fun.

Bobby: It is fun. Yeah. But we get a lot more done if we split up a little. Divide and conquer. But at the right project, we’ll come back to work together again [as the Farrelly brothers].

Thanks to the Farrelly brothers for taking the time to talk about Dear Santa.

The post Dear Santa Interview: Farrelly Brothers on Working With Jack Black & Post Malone appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More.

A Man on the Inside stars Mary Elizabeth Ellis and Lilah Richcreek Estrada talked about working with Ted Danson in the Netflix comedy show. The duo also talked about family relationships and becoming rivals with someone whose personality is too much like your own. Inspired by the documentary The Mole Agent, the series is now streaming on Netflix.

“Retired professor Charles (Ted Danson) feels life has nothing new in store for him. A year after his wife’s passing, he’s become stuck in his routine and grown distant from his daughter Emily (Mary Elizabeth Ellis). But when he spies a classified ad from private investigator Julie (Lilah Richcreek Estrada), he’s inspired to roll the dice on a new adventure. Charles’ mission: to go undercover inside the Pacific View Retirement Home in San Francisco and solve the mystery of a stolen family heirloom,” says the synopsis.

“Everyone, residents and staff alike, is a potential suspect, and it’s up to Charles to solve the case without landing on the radar of Didi (Stephanie Beatriz), the all-seeing, all-knowing director of Pacific View. But keeping a low profile proves difficult as the affable Charles quickly endears himself to his fellow residents. Being a ‘man on the inside’ sends Charles on an exciting journey that makes him realize there’s a lot more life left to be had — and allows him to reconnect with Emily in the process.”

Tyler Treese: Mary Elizabeth, I wanted to ask you about working with Ted Danson, who plays your dad, because later on, the show really gets surprisingly emotional. You both just really knocked it out of the park. How is it bringing that connection there? Because you can tell that they haven’t been the closest father and daughter, but there’s just a genuine love there.

Mary Elizabeth Ellis: What a delight as an actor to be paired with Ted Danson and to be told like, “Great, go build a relationship where he…” I mean, don’t we all just want Ted Danson to be our dad? Yeah. He’s so wonderful, sweet, gregarious, and self-deprecating with his humor. He’s just an absolute delight to be around.

So I feel like the luckiest lady in the world that I got to do that. And yeah, you’re right. The show is a comedy, and it’s held in this optimism and joy, but there are real things that we’re talking about. It’s hard and scary to get older, but it’s also the best-case scenario, right?

Lilah, I love the early montage of you teaching Ted how to be a spy. These are just such funny scenes. How was it filming those sequences?

Lilah Richcreek Estrada: Oh my God, so much fun. One of the scenes we shot day one, that was the first scene of the series that was shot. So it was really fun because we got to shoot it in order too. So when we were shooting that stuff, I didn’t know Ted very well, which just helped play into the thoughts of just like, “What are you doing? Like, are you serious?” So much fun. I mean, it’s so goofy and silly and light and easy to watch, you know? I really enjoyed that sequence in particular, but just all of it.

Yeah, there are some good early laughs that really get the viewers hooked on A Man on the Inside.

Mary Elizabeth, the three actors that play your young sons in this show are just so hilarious. They’re little scene-stealers. How is it working with that group? They just nailed it.

Ellis: Aren’t they? Absolutely incredible, and they immediately felt like brothers. They were ribbing each other, giving each other grief and punching each other and stuff. They’re so perfectly teenage boys. Like calling your mom “dude” and not being able to find the peanut butter and jelly that’s immediately in front of your face, such a teenage kid thing to do. They were amazing. Eugene Cordero, who plays their dad, is just a comic genius. So great. So easy, so fun.

Lilah, you have some really great scenes later on with Stephanie Beatriz. It’s just this, this clash. You’re both these fiery characters, so it’s really fun to see these intense moments. What stood out about her as a scene partner?

Estrada: Oh, Steph is so good and so, so locked in. Her character is so much like Julie that I love when they go head to head because I think that’s what drives the other one crazy about each other. We’re very alike, very smart, in tune, and intuitive, and it’s now messing with what we’re doing. But also, you’ll see at the end that there is an acknowledgment of like, “Yes, it drives me crazy, but I see you.”

Ellis: And also never come back.

Estrada: And also never come back. Yeah. But Steph is just so good as Didi. She’s great. She brings so much warmth, and she really walks this beautiful line of also being fierce and warm. She’s great.

Thanks to Mary Elizabeth Ellis and Lilah Richcreek Estrada for taking the time to talk about A Man on the Inside.

The post Mary Elizabeth Ellis & Lilah Richcreek Estrada Talk A Man on the Inside appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More.

ComingSoon is excited to hold an MST3K mystery box giveaway ahead of its annual Turkey Day marathon. This year’s event is titled Turkey Day Potluck of the Stars Marathon and features many celebrity guest stars, including Matthew Lillard, Mike Flanagan, and more. It will begin on November 28 at 5 a.m. ET and continue the whole day on both Shout! TV and the MST3K channel.

“Hosted by Jonah Ray, this year’s marathon features a heaping helping of MST3K stalwarts including Joel Hodgson, Felicia Day, Emily Marsh, and Mary Jo Pehl, as well as celebrity MSTies David Dastmalchian, Mike Flanagan, Bryan Fuller, Mark Hamill, Matthew Lillard and Kumail Nanjiani, all of whom will share a favorite MST3K episode with their fellow fans. Plus, the long-awaited return of the fan-favorite episode Final Sacrifice to the world of streaming will give us even more reason to be thankful this Turkey Day,” says the official description.

See the full November 28 programming schedule below (Times are in ET/PT):

• 5:00 AM/ 2:00 AM: The Killer Shrews [Emily Marsh]
• 7:00 AM/ 4:00 AM: Overdrawn at the Memory Bank [Kumail Nanjiani]
• 9:00 AM / 6:00 AM: Werewolf [Bryan Fuller]
• 11:00 AM / 8:00 AM: The Castle of Fu-Manchu [Matthew Lillard]
• 1:00 PM / 10:00 AM: Space Mutiny [Mary Jo Pehl]
• 3:00 PM / 12:00 PM: Hobgoblins [Mike Flanagan]
• 5:00 PM / 2:00 PM: Samson vs The Vampire Women [David Dastmalchian]
• 7:00 PM / 4:00 PM: Gamera vs Jiger [Mark Hamill]
• 9:00 PM / 6:00 PM: The Final Sacrifice [Joel Hodgson]
• 11:00 PM / 8:00 PM: Manos: The Hands of Fate [Felicia Day]
• 1:00 AM / 10:00 PM: The Mask [Jonah Ray]

Check out the MST3K mystery box giveaway below:

How to enter the MST3K mystery box giveaway:

To enter our MST3K mystery box giveaway, you can either retweet the Twitter post below or comment on our corresponding Facebook post. Each mystery box is unique and will include an assortment of items such as MST3K Blu-ray/DVD sets, t-shirts, comics, mugs, and more. The winner has to be in the U.S. The giveaway lasts until November 29. Good luck to all who enter!

The marathon will be available to watch on a wide variety of platforms. For a complete list, please visit MST3KTurkeyDay.com. Following the initial presentation of the marathon, the marathon will be rerun on The Mystery Science Theater 3000 channel and Shout! TV over the rest of the holiday weekend.

The post MST3K Mystery Box Giveaway for Star-Studded Turkey Day Marathon appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More.

Spellbound star John Lithgow talked about his wonderful role as Bolinar in the Skydance Animation musical and singing a song by Alan Menken. Plus, his thoughts on Conclave and 3rd Rock from the Sun. Directed by Vicky Jenson, the animated musical movie will be released on Netflix on November 22.

“Spellbound follows the adventures of Ellian, the tenacious young daughter of the rulers of Lumbria, who must go on a daring quest to save her family and kingdom after a mysterious spell transforms her parents into monsters. Spellbound is directed by Vicky Jenson (Shrek) with an original score from EGOT-winning composer Alan Menken (Beauty and the Beast) and lyrics by Glenn Slater (Tangled). A Netflix Film from Skydance Animation, Spellbound boasts an all-star voice cast led by Rachel Zegler, John Lithgow, Jenifer Lewis, Nathan Lane, Tituss Burgess, with Javier Bardem and Nicole Kidman. Spellbound is written by Lauren Hynek & Elizabeth Martin, and Julia Miranda and produced by John Lasseter, David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, and Bruce Anderson for Skydance Animation,” says the official synopsis.

Tyler Treese: John, you play this minister at first, and then you get transformed into this animal sidekick. It’s so fun. The director said that that transformation wasn’t initially in the script. So, did you get to see that role kind of morph over time? Because it’s a much more active role than it seemed like it was initially planned to be.

John Lithgow: Well, I can tell you a story about that. There was no such plot twist in the first script I saw of the entire film [of Spellbound]. I just did my best hand-wringing counselor to the princess. Bolinar, I sort of developed that character in front of a microphone, had a lot of fun with it, and I saw a lot of mock-up animation. Vicky Jensen, our director, whom I knew from Shrek, she gave me a wonderful sense of the entire film. A film that really moved me tremendously because although it’s a delightful and comic film, it’s about some very serious things, but clearly Bolinaris comic relief. So I gave it all I could and just hoped for the best. When you record a voice, you sort of show up once every six months or so to add a new verse to a song or do a rewritten scene.

Well, a lot of time went by, like 10 months, and I heard nothing. I thought, “Well, I guess they’ve replaced me. They found a better Bolinar.” It’s happened to me before. That’s animated films. They shuffle around voices. But no, I got a call and was brought in. It turned out that in the meantime, they had tested a very rough mock-up of the film, I think in Tucson or something, and Bolinar had been a huge hit. They decided to give him this extraordinary plot twist where he switches bodies with Flink. Suddenly, instead of my voice coming out of the Bolinar animated figure, my voice came out of Flink. They even created this amazing song just for me. Alan Menken and Glenn Slater. They went to work, and they wrote, “I Could Get Used to This” when Flink for the first time, well, Bolinar for the first time, tastes the food that Flink is accustomed to eating, that is, little maggots, larvae, and worms. It turns out he absolutely hates the notion, but then he tastes it and realizes it’s not bad at all because it suits his new metabolism. Well, this all was given to me, including an entire recording of the song with a fabulous Broadway actor singing my song. Instead of thinking I’d been replaced, I learned that my part had been doubled, and I got to solo in an animated film to Alan Menken’s music. I mean, it was a fabulous day.

That song is a real standout in the film, too. As you mentioned, Menken is just a genius. You’re part of a few other songs, but you are the solo vocalist for this. How crazy was that experience that you got to solo this song?

It was a dream come true. I have to say I was quite intimidated by because… Well, for one thing, to my shame, I have forgotten the name of this wonderful Broadway actor who did the temp voice. Boy, I wish I had it. He was so good that I was afraid. Oh my God, I’m never gonna do it as well as he, but I really applied myself. The thing I absolutely dreaded was hitting that last long note. But we recorded the whole song. I think there were two sessions because by the time I came back to it, they’d rewritten some of the lyrics. I worked very hard with a great vocal coach too, who helps all the Hollywood actors sing songs.

I came in, and I finally recorded everything, and we saved that last long-held note till the very end. I braced myself. I took a huge lung full of air, and I just [does an extended note]. I could see everybody behind the glass, holding their breath. Is he going to make it? Is he gonna make it? And they were completely elated because I knocked it out of the park after struggling through all these recording sessions. It only took one take. I only did it once. They didn’t dare try it again.

That work really paid off. What’s so great about that song is that you’re carrying the tune, but you’re also really leading with the character first. What’s so special about these types of musicals is that it’s less about having the greatest singers sing it. It’s more about leading with the character and moving the story forward. Since you are such an experienced actor and you’re so great at crafting characters, does that make it a little less intimidating since you can focus on that?

I’ve done a lot of singing on stage, starting when I was in college days. I was actually in eight different Gilbert and Sullivan operettas and John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera. I ultimately have done two big Broadway musicals. One of them ran for a year and a half, the musical of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. I won a Tony Award for Sweet Smell of Success on Broadway back in 2002 for Best Actor in a Musical. Something that I’m usually embarrassed to even admit out loud because I ain’t no singer, but just as you say, I’m a character actor-singer. Everybody always invokes Robert Preston and Rex Harrison — if you can just put the song over, people don’t quite notice that it isn’t the most beautiful singing in the world. And I hit all the notes, at least if they give me enough chances.

You’re wonderful in this role, and I also loved you in Conclave. What I love about that movie is that deep down, even though it has this air of prestige because they’re determining the Pope, it’s all these very gossipy, scandal-driven men. It’s a little bit trashy in the most fun of ways deep down, and it really just humanizes everything. What did you find most interesting about that role?

Just exactly what you have described. The fascinating duality between a sacred calling and very down-to-earth worldly ambitions, emotions like envy and jealousy, and greed and ambition. It’s just marvelous, the tension in every single one of the characters on the great wide spectrum between faith and ambition. You know, all of us fall somewhere along that spectrum, and a lot of us characters keep those feelings deeply hidden or disguised. So, every single character has his own story to tell, and the story, just everything fits together into this wonderful kind of suspense thriller plot, which has this astonishing surprise ending.

The ending to my story happens away about three-quarters of the way through the film. But to me, what’s fascinating for my character is, well, spoiler alert, he endures a great traumatic downfall, but he has to stick around because it’s a conclave. It’s sequestration. It’s like he has to stay in prison. He can’t just walk away in humiliation. He has to sit there among the College of Cardinals in humiliation. I thought that was an amazing story to tell in one character’s journey. One out of several. The terrible fall from great confidence, self-assurance, if not arrogance, and dreadful humiliation. That was my story. But there are about eight or nine concurrent stories that get told, all of them performed by these wonderful international actors.

I used to watch 3rd Rock from the Sun so much with my grandfather, and we had so many great memories just laughing at that show. It still holds up and is very fun to revisit. How do you view that show’s legacy? It’s such a comfort watch for me.

Oh, it’s so nice of you to bring that up. I loved the experience of 3rd Rock. It was six years of nonstop, helpless laughter. You never saw us breaking up in the completed episodes, but we broke up constantly while we were rehearsing it. We just knew how funny we were, and we could hear it in the response of our studio audiences. It remains a show that just infallibly makes you laugh out loud, just a tremendous creation. I think 3rd Rock, you don’t see that kind of comedy these days. Comedy seems to have transmuted into something much more complex and intellectual. This is just completely daffy. This wonderful swing between smart and stupid. We sort of had our own trademark kind of comedy, and it just made us all so happy.

Thanks to John Lithgow for taking the time to talk about Spellbound.

The post Spellbound Interview: John Lithgow Talks Animated Musical, Singing in Character appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More.

A Man on the Inside star Ted Danson and creator Michael Schur discussed the new Netflix series’ approach to humor and serious topics. Inspired by the documentary The Mole Agent, the series sees Danson’s Charles becoming an unexpected spy in a retirement home. It is now streaming on Netflix.

“Retired professor Charles (Ted Danson) feels life has nothing new in store for him. A year after his wife’s passing, he’s become stuck in his routine and grown distant from his daughter Emily (Mary Elizabeth Ellis). But when he spies a classified ad from private investigator Julie (Lilah Richcreek Estrada), he’s inspired to roll the dice on a new adventure. Charles’ mission: to go undercover inside the Pacific View Retirement Home in San Francisco and solve the mystery of a stolen family heirloom,” says the synopsis.

“Everyone, residents and staff alike, is a potential suspect, and it’s up to Charles to solve the case without landing on the radar of Didi (Stephanie Beatriz), the all-seeing, all-knowing director of Pacific View. But keeping a low profile proves difficult as the affable Charles quickly endears himself to his fellow residents. Being a ‘man on the inside’ sends Charles on an exciting journey that makes him realize there’s a lot more life left to be had — and allows him to reconnect with Emily in the process.”

Tyler Treese: Ted, I loved your performance, and what I really enjoyed seeing was Charles really just feeling so alive from being a spy. There’s a pure giddiness to your performance, and when he is learning the basics, he always feels like a kid again. How was it imbuing your performance with that aspect?

Ted Danson: I love doing it. I mean, there’s part of me that, well, I don’t think will ever not want to be silly. Mary once said that “silly men everywhere love me because I am silly forever.” I love how earned it was in the story. Here’s a man who is shutting down his life out of the loss of his wife. He just said, “All right, that’s it for me in life,” and he shuts down. Then his daughter tries to get him out into the world and whimsically, he picks an ad in a paper that ends up putting him into a retirement home as the assistant to a private eye. He becomes a spy [to figure out] what’s going on there.

He’s so bad at it and yet so delighted to be doing it. I totally get that. It’s like, “Wow, I get to be a spy.” You know? That’s how I would be. I’d be a total loser as a spy, but I would be delighted at the idea of it.

I think you’d win people over, too, just like Charles does in the show.

Michael, what really impressed me about this show was that it is so funny, but you really captured the heart of The Mole Agent, the documentary that inspired this. You’re really tugging on my heart as the show goes along. How is it really earning that emotional payoff that you get to later in the show?

Michael Schur: Well, I’m glad you think that because that was the goal. The documentary was very special, I think. Because it’s broadly comic idea, and then as it goes along, it starts to really get serious and in-depth about a lot of really serious things about aging, memory loss, death, and a lot of the practical realities of being in your seventies, eighties, and nineties.

I thought, “Wow, the real trick here would be to make a series that gives you all of the same feelings.” That was always our North Star; that’s how we navigated in the writer’s room. We want people to feel the same way when they watch the show that they felt when they watched the documentary. So that meant not shying away from that stuff. We’re gonna run right at it. We’re gonna do stories about memory loss and even death and tricky relationships and what it means to get older. I think it wouldn’t have been a faithful adaptation of the documentary if we hadn’t run right at all of those really serious subjects, even while trying to be funny.

Ted, I wanted to ask you about Stephen McKinley Henderson because you share some really powerful scenes together later on. What stood out about him as a scene partner? You guys are brilliant together.

Danson: He is. Thank you. I agree. From the moment we met and locked Eees, it was… He’s one of those actors who doesn’t have an untruthful bone in his body, and as an actor, you just fall into him. It’s so easy to work together, and I just couldn’t [fail]. We knew our lines, and then it was just, “Where are you gonna take me, buddy?”

I have no idea where we’re gonna go, but I so trusted him to be real and human, and he’s one of those actors, like when you play tennis with somebody who’s way better than you, your game ups. He was that way. You just get better working with Stephen.

Thanks to Ted Danson and Michael Schur for talking about A Man in the Inside.

The post Interview: Ted Danson & Michael Schur on Adding Heart to A Man on the Inside appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More.

ComingSoon is excited to hold an Alien: Romulus giveaway that features an Alien Cookbook, an Alien luggage tag, and a digital code. The hit sci-fi horror movie is now available to own on digital and arrives on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+ on November 21. A physical release on 4K, Blu-ray, and DVD follows on December 3.

“This truly terrifying sci-fi horror-thriller takes the phenomenally successful Alien franchise back to its iconic roots,” reads the synopsis. “While scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station, a group of young colonizers come face-to-face with the most relentless and deadly life form in the universe.”

The film was directed and executive produced by Fede Álvarez from a screenplay he co-wrote with Rodo Sayagues. The film stars Cailee Spaeny, Isabela Merced (Sicario: Day of the Soldado), David Jonsson (Industry, Rye Lane), Archie Renaux (Shadow and Bone), Spike Fearn (Tell Me Everything), and Aileen Wu. Franchise creator Ridley Scott also served as a producer along with Michael Pruss and Walter Hill.

Check out the Alien: Romulus giveaway package below:

How to enter the Alien: Romulus giveaway:

To enter our Alien: Romulus giveaway featuring an Alien Cookbook, an Alien luggage tag, and a digital code, you can either retweet the Twitter post below or comment on our corresponding Facebook post. We have one package to give out, and the winner has to be in the U.S. The giveaway lasts until November 27. Good luck to all who enter!

Alien: Romulus is now available to own on Digital. It is streaming on Hulu on November 21 and arrives on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD on December 3.

The post Alien: Romulus Giveaway: Digital Code, Cookbook, & More appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More.

Smile director Parker Finn came back with an even larger and more twisted sequel. Now available on digital, Smile 2 stars Naomi Scott in the lead role and features some incredible moments. Finn discussed filming some of the horror movie’s key scenes with ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese.

“About to embark on a new world tour, global pop sensation Skye Riley (Naomi Scott) begins experiencing increasingly terrifying and inexplicable events. Overwhelmed by the escalating horrors and the pressures of fame, Skye is forced to face her dark past to regain control of her life before it spirals out of control,” says the synopsis for Parker Finn’s sequel.

Tyler Treese: I wanted to ask you about the opening with Kyle Gallner. It’s great connective tissue, obviously, but it almost feels like a totally different genre. It’s this very tense action thriller. You really get to show some range there. What did you like most about just setting the tone with this very dramatic, very intense opening?

Parker Finn: Well, thank you, first of all. I knew that this second film was such a big swing that it was gonna have its own sort of identity and feel. The world of Skye Riley was gonna feel so sort of disparate from the first one. So I wanted to have that connective tissue, both for narrative means and also to just connect the two worlds, but at the same time, I wanna make sure that we were sort of coming outta the gate with a bang, with something that felt totally different than anything we’d seen in the first film.

I love Kyle Gallner. We became really good friends working on the first one, and I was very excited to get to bring him back. From the point when I was writing it, I knew that I wanted that opening sequence to sort of unfold in a single unbroken take. Because I knew it really would add to the claustrophobia, the stress that the character is feeling, and how it just keeps getting worse and worse, and things keep going wrong. It felt like a really exciting idea. We went into it thinking, “Hey, this is something that can almost stand-alone, like its own short film that feels sort of like action thriller-y, but also is like announcing, ‘Hey, Smile is back, and it’s meaner than ever.'”

I wanted to also ask you about the hallway scene. It became instantly iconic in the trailers, and it really delivers in the full film. I was curious about the logistics of filming something like that. Is it more almost like choreography or like a fight scene?

Thank you very much. That was a very exciting scene to take on. It also freaked me out because it was, again, something that, when I was writing it, I knew if we executed it correctly, it could almost transcend the genre and become its own unique thing. But it was gonna walk that line. Because if we didn’t nail it, it was just gonna fall on its face. So, we set up Skye’s choreography throughout the film, always knowing that it’s gonna lead us towards this scene.

So, yes, this scene was fully choreographed. I worked with my choreographer, Celia Rowlson-Hall, and several of the troupe in there are from her backup dancers as well. So there’s that continuity. We always talked about it almost feeling like… I was curious to see if I could do something that felt just as much Hideo Nakata as it does Bob Fosse, you know? So we talked about like All That Jazz and that sort of thing.

But the trick of it was creating this red light, green light game that instantly the Smiler starts cheating at. So you can’t quite wrap your hands around the rules of it. The trick was that Naomi was at the center of this choreography, but for her, it needed to feel like she was just reacting and not performing the steps of what really is almost like a dance. I’m really excited about how it came together and how it starts playful and creepy but then takes this turn and becomes incredibly violating, violent, awful, and nightmarish. It was a really exciting scene to shoot. You could sort of tell everybody was gathered around the monitor on set, like, “Holy s—. This is something different.”

You mentioned the Smiler breaking the rules, and I wanted to ask you about just the usage of rules within the film because people can get really bogged down on the specifics of what the demon can do and what the rules are to this universe. How do you balance that with just wanting to surprise the audience and have it work thematically?

Well, I take that as such a compliment when people obsess over those details. So, there’s a couple things I’ll say. First is that in the film, there are sound internal rules and logic at work, but just because we’ve seen the first film doesn’t mean we know everything about the Smiler. So, in talking with my producers and stuff, we sort of have all this information that we know about the Smiler that then informs what happens in the film, but we don’t give the audience everything, or at least we don’t spoonfeed it. But especially upon rewatch, there’s stuff, there are clues along the way, and it was important to me that each character that interacts with it sort of has a different relationship with it.

At the same time for me, I’m always interested in the character’s story. This is an intensely psychological film that really places you inside the head of a character. So what I really am chasing is emotional truth. That’s the thing that matters the most to me. That’s the thing that I think we take away from the movie more than anything is Skye’s journey through the film. So it’s about balancing the rules and the lore and making sure that that doesn’t become a trap that we get bogged down in, but something that is sort of this machine that Skye has been put inside, but that our focus is really about Skye’s emotional state and her emotional journey.

I wanted to ask about the audition process for you because the smile is such a particular thing. Have you ever had anybody who was really good for a role but just could not get the smile down?

For me, when I do cast, I’m always casting for a performance, knowing that the smile is something I can coach down the road. I think that the smile is actually less difficult than people think it is. But it’s just about doing things really specifically. The way it works is to have people do a slightly too wide smile, but something that you would still consider friendly, right? Imagine you’re posing for a photo with friends. It’s that sort of smile, but it’s about disconnecting the eyes from it.

The eyes are really the trick about the smile, and it’s kind of this very dead-eyed, unblinking stare. We do a little bit of head positioning, sort of hearkening back to the Kubrick stare. We were almost looking up from underneath your brow a little bit. It’s really about that. Then, mixed with the framing, the color palette, the sound design, and all that stuff coming together, can create a really unsettling moment.

Some actors come in really prepared, and I can tell they’ve been practicing. Other ones come in terrified of the smile. It’s the thing that scares them the most. Then it’s usually just about us going into a mirror and sort of doing it together and really getting them to understand it.

Thanks to Parker Finn for taking the time to talk about Smile 2.

The post Smile 2 Director Parker Finn Breaks Down Iconic Scenes From Horror Sequel appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More.

ComingSoon is offering Disney fans an opportunity to enter our Moana 2 contest and win tickets to a free IMAX screening of the highly anticipated movie.

ComingSoon is giving away 40 tickets to a Los Angeles-area IMAX screening of Moana 2 that is being held in the western part of the city at 7 p.m. PT on November 25, 2024.

Click right here to visit the Google Form to enter the Moana 2 contest.

What is Moana 2 about?

“The film reunites Moana and Maui three years later for an expansive new voyage alongside a crew of unlikely seafarers,” reads the official synopsis. “After receiving an unexpected call from her wayfinding ancestors, Moana must journey to the far seas of Oceania and into dangerous, long-lost waters for an adventure unlike anything she’s ever faced.”

You can watch the Moana 2 below (watch more trailers and clips):

The sequel is directed by David Derrick Jr., Jason Hand, and Dana Ledoux from a script by Jared Bush and Miller. Moana 2 will feature the voices of Auliʻi Cravalho as Moana, Dwayne Johnson as Maui, Temuera Morrison as Tui, Nicole Scherzinger as Sina, Rose Matafeo as Loto, David Fane as Kele, Rachel House as Tala, Alan Tudyk as Heihei and more.

Moana 2 releases in United States theaters on November 27, 2024, from Disney. The original Moana is currently streaming on Disney+.

The post Win Free Tickets to Early Moana 2 IMAX Screening in Los Angeles appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More.

Gerard Butler discussed playing Santa in the new animated musical The Night Before Christmas in Wonderland, which is out now on Hulu and Prime Video. The actor told ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese about finding his Santa voice, singing in character, and the challenge of musicals.

“St Nick (Gerard Butler) receives a delayed letter on Christmas Eve from the Princess of Hearts. He and his dedicated team of reindeer set off to Wonderland where they’re greeted by the mean and miserable Queen of Hearts (Emilia Clarke) who hates all things Christmas… especially presents! Can St Nick, aided by Alice (Simone Ashley), the Mad Hatter and March Hare, show the Queen the true meaning of Christmas and save the day before it’s too late? The animated film features original music and songs written by long-time Robbie Williams collaborator Guy Chambers and Grammy Award winning songwriter Amy Wadge,” says the synopsis for the Gerard Butler movie.

Tyler Treese: I wanted to hear about you finding your Santa voice because I feel like we all have our general Santa voice, but you get a good warmth and jolliness in there. How is it finding that balance? Was it easy?

Gerard Butler: Yeah, I feel like I stepped right into that from the second I started reading the script. I found myself reading it out loud and kind of like, okay, this feels right. I think that the trickiness wasn’t finding that voice but then finding the colors around that voice. You can have your general Santa voice, but it can get easy to get stuck in a certain way. So, within that voice, how high can you take it? How low can you take it? Where can you kind of break the rules with it?

That was fun ’cause I went in the room with [director] Peter [Baynton] and we just played. It was like playing in the sandbox. It was fun and it was a space for complete creativity and silliness, so you felt that you could try anything. I would do stuff that I’m like, “This is probably ridiculous and stupid, but let me just try it.” Or they would throw out ideas, and when you’re in that space, you can’t beat it ’cause you find magic that might not have been there. I was a little bit scared, actually, how quickly I found my old Santa voice. It was just kind of there.

I’m always just blown away by actors when they’re playing a character and then singing as that character. Is that tough for you, or can you kind of not focus on being like a picture-perfect singer because you are Santa and Santa’s not really known for his singing voice. How is that?

Yeah, that’s a very good question, actually, because it is the temptation maybe to sing the hell out of it and give your best singing voice, but then you’re breaking character. We did go through all of that. There was a couple that I that I actually really liked how I sang it, and they were like, “Sounds amazing.” But I thought, “Yeah, but is it Santa? Are we trying too hard to sound good, and we’re losing the character?” So it was finding that balance with perhaps what was just too Santa and losing the musicality and some of the beauty of it, and not getting too caught up in a kind of a great singing voice, you know? But keeping those, I’ve been able to break the rules and let it falter or screech a bit and stay like this guy who’s kind of bombastic and definitely not a rock singer, that’s for sure.

The film has a really cool conceit mixing Alice in Wonderland and this Christmas story, and Santa fits right in line with his magical elements. What did you like about that mesh of these two different fables together?

I think it’s such a cool idea. You know, I think we all still have the child inside ourselves. Whether we believe in Santa or not, we still have the memory of these things that formed part of our culture growing up and having our imaginations in Alice and Wonderland in the world of Santa and the reindeer. So then to see it be recreated in a way that’s actually quite believable in the way you would’ve imagined, but then you put them together that just lets your imagination run, right? Where could you go with that? That Santa not just goes in there, but the fact that the reindeer already have heard about Alice in Wonderland. So they’re like, “Wait, but you don’t go over there. They’re crazy there. They chop your heads off,” and then suddenly you’re there.

Santa’s actually having a moment with Alice, and they’re hanging out with a Mad Hatter. The whole idea of that is fantastic and there’s a lot of curiosity around that. It really lives up to its expectations in the film. When they’re drinking strange concoctions at tables and suddenly Santa and they’re all off on some kind of trip, which is really kind of fun to have this going on in a Christmas movie, hence why it works for adults, teens, and younger kids too. It just depends on whatever level you want to go with it. But I love the mish-mashing and the convergence of these two stories. I think there’s the scope for more Santa trips elsewhere.

It’s so interesting how you reprised your role for How to Train Your Dragon in live-action, which is such a unique thing, but would you ever want to play Santa in a live-action role?

I don’t know. I don’t say no to anything, really. ‘Cause you know, I wouldn’t have thought that I would’ve played an animated Santa, but I didn’t expect to come across the likes of Peter Baynton in this crazy script, being a musical. So maybe if they came to me and it was a different take on Santa, then yeah, maybe I would. It’s true.

I mean, I didn’t think when I was doing the voice of Stoick for How to Train Your Dragon that I would actually be having a dress up and play Stoick both physically with the voice and pick up a sword and a shield and fight dragons. Yeah, I’m actually thinking about that. That is a little nuts.

You starred in Phantom of the Opera, but you don’t have that traditional singing background. What do you like most about the challenge of doing these musical roles?

The fact is, I haven’t had a hell of a lot of training in singing, but I love to sing. I think that if you can bring music into a film or stage, it gives it a whole other character, a whole other dimension that you can take it to. If it works. If it doesn’t work, it’s terrible, but if it works, that’s there. For me, as a performer being able to sing in a film, they often happen at great moments, like when I sang in How to Train Your Dragon, when my wife shows up and we sing that old [song], you know, the Irish. Oh my God, that’s such a powerful moment of the singing, and in the Phantom, all of that emotional resonant. It’s great to be able to sing that and feel that.

Thanks to Gerard Butler for taking the time to talk about The Night Before Christmas in Wonderland.

The post Interview: Gerard Butler on Doing Musicals & The Night Before Christmas in Wonderland appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More.

ComingSoon is excited to team up with Outright Games for a custom Barbie Project Friendship Nintendo Switch Lite giveaway, plus five Switch codes for the game. The custom handheld console features gorgeous artwork and a pink color scheme that is perfect for Barbie fans. Set in the world of the hit television shows Barbie: It Takes Two and Barbie Dreamhouse Adventures, Barbie Project Friendship is out now on consoles and PC.

Check out another image of the custom Barbie Project Friendship Nintendo Switch Lite below:

“Barbie Project Friendship is set to be the cozy game of the season. Set in the world of popular TV shows like Barbie: It Takes Two and Barbie Dreamhouse Adventures, players will team up with Barbie and friends to save the Malibu Waves Community Center. With its colorful 3D world, fun mini-games, local co-op play, and a heartwarming story about friendship and community, it’s the perfect feel-good adventure for Barbie fans of all ages. With this giveaway, we’re aiming to spread the joy and excitement of Barbie’s latest adventure to your readers across all regions,” says the official description.

How to enter our Barbie Project Friendship Nintendo Switch Lite giveaway

To enter our Barbie Project Friendship Nintendo Switch Lite giveaway, you can either retweet the Twitter post below and follow @Outright_Games or comment on our corresponding Facebook post or Instagram post and follow Outright Games on those respective platforms. We have one console to give out, and the winner has to be in the U.S. We also have five Nintendo Switch codes for the game to give out. The giveaway lasts until November 21. Good luck to all who enter!

Barbie Project Friendship is now available to buy on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

The post Giveaway: Barbie Project Friendship Nintendo Switch Lite & Codes appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More.

ComingSoon is excited to debut the Gladiators trailer for The Asylum’s latest mockbuster. Vernon Wells stars in the film, which shouldn’t be confused with Gladiator II, and is now available to rent and buy on digital storefronts, including Apple TV.

“When a once great gladiator’s betrothed is murdered, he vows to hunt down the killer and wreak vengeance. But when he discovers the murderer is no stranger, the gladiator must do the unthinkable—enter the colosseum once more to avenge his bride,” says the synopsis for Gladiators.

Check out the exclusive Gladiators trailer below (watch more trailers):

Who is in the Gladiators trailer?

Gladiators stars Wells (Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior, Weird Science), Myrom Kingery (The Fate of the Furious, Thor: God of Thunder), and Emma Reinagel (Cinderella in the Caribbean, The Exorcists). It is directed by Christopher William Johnson and is based on a script by Monroe Robertson. Johnson previously wrote the screenplay for Top Gunner: America vs. Russia, which starred Eric Roberts and was directed by Christopher Ray. Meanwhile, Robertson previously wrote and directed Planetquake and also put out 24 Hours to D-Day.

The Asylum has long made “mockbusters,” which are themed around and released near blockbuster movies. Earlier this year saw the release of The Twisters, for example. Other examples of mockbusters include Atlantic Rim, The Da Vinci Treasure, Snakes on a Train, and The Day the Earth Stopped. The studio is also known for its breakout hit series of Sharknado movies, and films like Mega Shark Versus Giant Octopus and Ape vs. Monster.

The action-adventure film has an official runtime of 1 hour and 35 minutes.

The post Exclusive Gladiators Trailer for The Asylum’s Latest Mockbuster appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More.

ComingSoon is excited to debut an exclusive Scare Tactics clip from Jordan Peele and Monkeypaw Productions’ reboot of the comedy series.

Previewing the seventh episode of the season called “Selling Sasquatch,” the Scare Tactics clip focuses on a fake telekinesis test. A man is surprised to learn he has the ability to move objects with his mind — with the help of a device — and is able to both move a cup and turn on a faucet. The episode premieres on Friday, November 15, at 10 p.m. ET on USA Network.

“A legendary land owner terrorizes possible buyers and a powerful mind lays waste to a military lab,” reads the episode’s description.

Check out the exclusive Scare Tactics clip below:

What is Scare Tactics about?

Scare Tactics comes from Jordan Peele and Monkeypaw Productions, and much like the television series of the same name from 2003, it is a comedy horror hidden camera television series.

The show “will turn unsuspecting individuals into the main characters of their very own horror movies,” according to the series’ official synopsis. “This heart-pounding show offers a cinematic approach to the hidden camera concept. Set up by their friends and family, these unwitting participants are put in hilariously twisted scenarios with fully immersive stories that blur the lines of reality, horror, and comedy. As they navigate one unreal decision after another, audiences will laugh, jump, and be left breathless for more.”

Scare Tactics originally premiered way back in 2003 on Syfy, and was co-created by Hallock and Kevin Healey. The series was a relatively big success, running for five seasons and 114 episodes over 10 years.

The post Telekinesis Test Reveals Man’s ‘Supernatural Power’ in Scare Tactics Clip appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More.

ComingSoon spoke to Hollywood power couple Eric and Eliza Roberts about their latest movie, which is the dark comedy Hippo directed by Mark H. Rapaport. The duo discussed working together, their roles in the film, and more. Hippo is now playing in select theaters.

“The film examines the coming-of-age of two step-siblings: Hippo, a video game-addicted teenager, and Buttercup, a Hungarian Catholic immigrant with a love of classical music and Jesus,” reads the synopsis for the movie starring Eliza Roberts. “Like the Ancient Greek Aphrodite, Buttercup’s love is unrequited by a brother who prefers to indulge in the art of war and chaos. The result is a hormone-fueled, tragicomic waking nightmare that must be seen to be believed.”

Tyler Treese: Eliza, I wanted to ask you about your character of Ethel. Eric, who voices the narrator, calls her a “peculiar woman.” What did you like most about this role?

Eliza Roberts: I liked playing a mom of grown-ish kids. Because I am a mom of grown kids, and I loved the humor. I loved this group. Remember, we worked with Mark before and with Kimball. So I loved the whole cast. Then, the freedom to just kind of go there and the little moments and the fact that everybody kind of got the joke. Then later, I love that Rough House Pictures picked it up and all the things that have happened in the whole journey. People like you who kind of get it. It’s all been really exciting and really thrilling.

Eric, you play the narrator, and you have a really good voice. So, it’s a great fit. How is that experience of being in the booth? Because you’re really important here because you’re adding a lot of flavor to this movie and context to everything.

Eric Roberts: Well, when you’re in the booth, there’s no pressure. You can do things like, “Can I do that again?” and you don’t have a whole crew going, “Oh, here he goes again.” You just take me and one guy in the booth going, “Sure, Eric.” He rewinds it, and you do it again. It’s no pressure, it’s fun, and you can be very specific. It was just fun because the texture of the piece is so what it is, so when you add the narration, it makes it palatable. You can then go, “Oh,” as opposed to just, “Oh my God.” I love Mark’s work in that aspect of movie-making. It was smart.

Eliza, you mentioned working with Mark before. What really stood out about him as a director?

Eliza: He’s such an unlikely suspect. He looks like a guy who is gonna work at the hardware store or whatever, and then he turns out to be kind of this imaginative genius. So unbelievably consistently kind and open and energetic. The way that our first working situation came about is so unique. Eric was auditioning for Andronicus [with a] self-tape. I read with him because when we do self-tapes, we read with each other. I read with him playing his son, and when Mark called our agent to cast Eric as the dad, he said, “Oh, by the way, who was reading with him? Because she was really great. I mean, she was playing the son, but she was great.” Peter says, “Probably his wife, Eliza,” and then Mark cast me as his wife in Andronicus, which if you see Andronicus is a huge role. It wasn’t like an incidental little thing.

Eric: I know it’s a big deal.

Eliza: Thus began this little repertory company that we have going on here. That led to Hippo. I felt like in the role as Ethel, I was sending a message about behind closed doors, you never know what’s going on, but we have to care about each other. If mental illness is really an illness, then it’s a pandemic because everybody’s got some form of it. I’d rather just say we all are who we are, and there are various conditions, and everybody could use each other’s support. So, I don’t think of these people as being particularly crazy. I think of them as being more typically crazy.

Eric, you’re saying some wild stuff in this narration. First off, as a video game fan it is wild hearing you say Body Harvest for the N64 so many times, but you’re talking about weird stuff, like this kid masturbating with a stuffed hippo. How was it reading some of that stuff? It gets pretty weird.

Eric: Well, it gave me a part of my vocabulary I didn’t have until then.

Eliza: I think what I love about it, and I’m glad you brought that up about Eric doing that, was that he was completely nonjudgmental. He just told the story and never got in the way of the story. There was no, “Can you believe it?” or “Isn’t that weird?” I don’t even know how you did that. It was just one of those moments where something overtakes you, and you just know where to go.

Eric: It’s just so extreme of story and so extreme of narration.

Eliza: You play against it.

Eric: You can’t hit it on the head. You have to play it like it’s talking about the weather. You can’t play it like it’s talking about what it’s talking about, or you’ll never get through it.

Eliza, I wanted to ask you about working with Kimball Farley because he’s fantastic in this lead role here as the titular character. He’s just this really angsty teenager. What stood out about working with him?

Eliza: Well, he is so much more than what we wish angsty teenagers were because angsty teenagers can be really a danger to themselves and others. Kimball couldn’t be less like that. That’s what cracks me up. I know his parents, so it’s not an act. When we did Andronicus, he was willing to be one of the earmarks of a really great actor, which is being willing to be disliked. There was almost nothing likable about his character in Andronicus, and there was really almost nothing likable about his character in Hippo. He completely embraced it and went for it. He did an incredible thing that we actually instruct some of our actors when we’re coaching to do, which is stating the absurd as if it’s very reasonable.

He got so much comedy out of that and so much believability out of that. That’s part of what’s delicious about this movie and very different about this movie. It was very easy for him to just be smiley, happy Kimball and then suddenly Hippo. So we all had an amazing time. Even now, with working on this press tour we’re doing for the movie. He’s right in there arranging things and helping him. He’s a true collaborator, also. He’s a find. This kid has star quality. He should play Mick Jagger, for sure. Somebody’s gotta just pull that hair back and look at that face. He is Jagger.

I love that point you made about just delivering it straight because that kind of plays into Eric’s narration, too, because he does the same thing in it to a really great effect.

Eliza: Yep, absolutely. I just think Kimball is a major talent and can do anything. I think he will do anything. He’s also not screwed up in a way where he is gonna shoot himself in the foot or sabotage a career. He is just a pleasure.

Eric: Yeah. Special kid.

Eric, you’ve gotten to do quite a few projects lately with Eliza also in them. How special is it when you get to work together as a couple?

Eric: My wife is my favorite human. She’s one of my three favorite actors I ever knew about, and she’s cute. I mean, I like her, and I have a good life with her, and it’s just fun. We work together. Also, she’s my coach. I go to her for everything. I go to her like, “What do I do with it? Blah, blah, blah.” She says, “Try this.” “Oh, okay. Thank you. How about this?” “Try this, Eric, but don’t go here where you like to do that because you always screw that up.” “Okay, fine.”

We have these heart-to-hearts that are real. She keeps me lined up and I love it. Because when you’re recognizable, everybody tells you what you want to hear. They don’t tell you what you need to hear. My wife’s always been a need to hear. So, we have a great thing.

I love that answer. I can tell it comes from the heart. It’s not you sucking up, you’re being very genuine. It’s very sweet to see.

Eliza, you were in one of my favorite movies ever, Animal House, and what a fabulous cast that had. Could you guys tell at the time that you were making something special, or did it take you all by surprise that it’s still so beloved 40-plus years later?

Eliza: What a great question. No, we could not tell. I had done Schlock for John Landis when I was like 17 years old, and I knew John had an energy and a determination. Schlock was his first movie. Well, he did a lot of Gumby movies with Pokey and Gumby, but yeah…

Eric: They were shorts.

Eliza: Yeah, well, less than shorts. But anyway, he kept saying, “The studio loves the dailies. They love the rushes.” You always hear that on set. We thought we were making a giant inside joke, a giant, very low-budget inside joke, and that nobody was really gonna get it. You could see that Tim Matheson was incredible, John Vernon and everybody, but we didn’t have any idea.

I was pregnant with Keaton [Simons], whom John refers to as the youngest member of the cast, having been a fetus in the movie. I had morning sickness all day long. So when I see the movie, I get a little nauseous, to be honest with you, because it’s all a flashback.

We didn’t know, and we were stunned. Then, in terms of the longevity, I mean, Keaton and I just went up to do an anniversary showing of it up in Cottage Grove, Oregon, where the Dexter Lake Club has not changed at all. Now Keaton plays with Otis Day, they tour, and they play together, and they played there together. Then everything is Animal House, merch and memorabilia. It’s completely overwhelming. I mean, they did a toga party, they did a parade.

Eric: That was for the 40th anniversary.

Eliza: Yeah, yeah. Look at you, you’re a kid, and you love this movie. It was completely and totally unexpected. What a treat that is.

Eric, you released your memoir recently, Runaway Train, and the response has been so great. How rewarding has it been really, you know, opening up and seeing all this positive feedback of people really being touched by your story and really recommending your book?

Eric: I’m gonna be very honest with you. It’s the biggest ego trip I’ve ever had. I wrote a book, and people are buying it. It blows my mind. It was very hard to write. It took me four years. I’m not a writer. I did have a guide, and I had her [Eliza], my in-house editor, who would say things to me like, “You’re embellishing.” I said, “What do you mean?” “That’s not Eric. You talk too much about it, like a blah, blah, blah.” She straightened me out so I’d go fix it. I’m an actor. I like to embellish. It’s just automatic. It’s not like I’m purposefully lying. It’s just what I do when I talk sometimes.

Eliza: You do tend to want to tell the stories as if you wish they were, but you kind of have to force yourself to just tell ’em as they were.

Eric: Well, that’s what I did. I’m actually proud of the book because I avoided things. Because I read every biography on everybody famous, every autobiography, every biography, I read ’em all. But they all have the same kind of formula. They all have a hard childhood. Then you graduate from a hard schooling, then you don’t become a star for a long time, and then you do. Then everything is a happy ending. I didn’t want to do that even though my story has those tendencies. So, being honest is much harder than the word implies.

Eliza: And you have to listen to the audiobook because it has Keaton’s songs in it. Each one for each chapter fits lyrically and also emotionally, and tonally with what the chapter’s gonna be about. It’s pretty cool. The music is one of our favorite things about the book.

Thanks to Eric and Eliza Roberts for talking about Hippo.

The post Eric & Eliza Roberts Talk New Movie Hippo, Working Together While Married appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More.

Some of the most gorgeous games released in the past decade have been in Square Enix‘s HD-2D line of Japanese role-playing games. While these have mostly been original titles, such as Octopath Traveler and Triangle Strategy, we’ve now seen classic games get remade in the art style. First was Live A Live, and now Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake wows with a wonderful remake that stays faithful to the original’s beloved story while adding new quality-of-life features and extra content.

At its core, Dragon Quest III is very much the same as the original. You pick a male or female hero, and you’re then sent on a quest to rid the world of the evil archfiend as soon as you turn 16. It was always relatively bare-bones in terms of plot, instead putting the gameplay at the forefront, but thankfully, some fascinating extra scenes focusing on the hero’s father, Ortega, have been added to flesh out the final game of the Erdrick trilogy (wonderfully, it’s the first chronologically so it being remade before the first two Dragon Quest games actually makes sense).

One of the biggest additions to the Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake is a new class called Monster Wrangler. This is quite a flexible role as it is able to support your party with healing while also launching dangerous monster-like abilities that can hit multiple enemies. Also new in the game are areas called monster arenas, where you can assemble a team of rescued monsters (you’ll find them throughout the game, and the Monster Wrangler class gains boosts from them) and compete in battles to unlock rewards. It’s a really fun feature to do on the side and adds a lot of fresh value to the remake.

Beyond looking gorgeous with its blend of pixel art and 3D environments, the Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake also features a ton of new quality-of-life features. These range from three difficulty levels that can be changed at any time to being able to save lines of dialogue in order to quickly recall them if you need to remember something. There are also optional objective markers and the ability to use autosaves and faster battle speeds, which make it a much more modern and satisfying RPG.

While I do have nostalgia for the classic Dragon Quest games, I was very pleasantly surprised by how much fun Dragon Quest III still is. Sure, having a new class to try out and the monster arena to spend time in was a lot of fun and a wholly fresh experience, but the core battle system has really stood the test of time. It’s not quite groundbreaking like it was in ’88, but it’s just a good time and a reminder of why gamers fell in love with JRPGs in the first place. Taking down an epic monster designed by Akira Toriyama after a hard-fought battle? It simply doesn’t get more fulfilling than that.

Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake Review: Final Verdict

Dragon Quest III HD-2D has the advantage of being based on one of the greatest Japanese role-playing games ever made. While a simple remaster would’ve been more than worthwhile, Square Enix and Artdink have gone above and beyond to make sure this has been modernized and enhanced so that first-time players will have just as magical an experience as those who played the original in 1988. That’s the sign of passion and exactly what a remake should be.

SCORE: 9.5/10

As ComingSoon’s review policy explains, a score of 9.5 equates to “Excellent.” Entertainment that reaches this level is at the top of its type. The gold standard that every creator aims to reach.

Disclosure: The publisher provided a PlayStation 5 copy for our Dragon Quest III HD-2D review. Reviewed on version 1.000.000.

The post Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake Review: A Visually Stunning JRPG Classic appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More.

Jersey Shore star Jenni Farley, also known as “JWoww,” is now a writer and director with Devon. Her first horror movie is out today on Screambox, and she spoke with ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese about the spooky filming that took place in an actual asylum.

“Devon’s parents never stopped searching for answers after her disappearance from a notorious asylum. Years after the incident, a mysterious website draws five adventurers to the abandoned asylum where she was last seen. Armed with cameras, they plunge into the darkness, unaware they’re filming their own descent into horror—never meant to return,” says the synopsis.

Tyler Treese: I love that Devon was shot on location at Pennhurst Asylum. It gives such a great feel to the whole film. How was it filming there? I would be on edge the entire time. Did anything creepy happen?

Jenni Farley: The whole freaking time [during Devon]! Listen, so if I could take a minute back in 2011 or ’12, I shot Snooki & JWoww there, and I didn’t have any paranormal experiences, so I kind of was like brushing it off and being like, “This would be the best place to shoot a horror film” because I didn’t believe in it at the time, but the canvas [is perfect], right? The area is so incredible.

Cut to 2020, when we’re trying to film this movie, and so many things happened. We developed at one point a buddy system because the moment somebody would go away, and I’m talking people that I’ve known for 15 years, I would hear screaming, and then they would start crying, and then they would swear that they saw a little boy running in the woods and we need to call 9-1-1. I had my actress Tara [Rule] hysterically crying saying that there was a little boy that ran across, we need to go get help.

We would be shooting, and we would have all our cameras lined up; We’d reboot them, everything’s good to go, and you would just see one by one, just like boom, boom, boom, boom. They would all die like a gust of wind would hit them, and I would just be sitting there. At one point, I was yelling at them like I’m their mom. Like, “We need to get it together. If you want me out of your building, you need to stop.” Because I think they were kids just truly messing with us. They weren’t vicious, they weren’t malicious, they weren’t mean. I really think that these [spirits], based on the manager and the people that work there, there’s children there and they were trying to play with us and mess with us.

At one point, we actually have it in one of the shots, like a ball that just got caught on my security camera, just moving. We played that footage back, and I’m like, “Did anyone move that?” And they’re like,”No. Nobody was even there.”

That wasn’t planned?

No. Then you had Tara, who plays Kat, where someone walks behind her, and she says we have to submit the real footage because nobody was there. I have three angles of that same take; nobody walked behind her, and yet something gusted right by. So there are things, true elements that we have, but that’s the best part of being on set, and your set becomes the horror movie.

The movie’s concept changed a little bit, and the cuts changed a little bit because I wanted that natural element, and I never gave the actors the full script. I would just give them what they needed, very Blair Witch perspective because not only could something change based on that ball or just something organically happening, but if they’re in a real state of fear, which a lot of them were because I freaking locked the door behind them and said, “Adios.” They’re set in there on their own. Those natural elements alone could play a part, and it really did for this film. I think that’s what made it successful if you liked it. I believe that it was just the natural setting that made it likable.

I would not last a single day on your set, but the energy it just brought to the film clearly shows. So you’re a full-on believer after this filming experience?

I am. I had to take a step back and be like, “Is my life gonna change?” Being such a believer and I’m a super fan of Pennhurst. I wanna go there. I wanna sleep there now. I wanna see my kids that I left there. I’m like, “What have you been doing the last four years?” I’m a super believer.

Do you have the bug now? Do you feel like you’re gonna keep directing, writing, and being creative?

I said the worst part of this was how much I fell in love with it because I’m gonna be unstoppable in this genre, in this element. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing because I’m going from a super fan to all I wanna do is make horror films, and I’m gonna harass and bother and berate anyone I need to [in order] to make another one as fast as I can because it’s such a beautiful industry and genre to be in.

Thanks to Jenni Farley for taking the time to talk about Devon.

The post Jenni ‘JWoww’ Farley Captured Real Paranormal Activity Filming Horror Movie Devon appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More.

ComingSoon is excited to hold a Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2 Blu-ray giveaway featuring gear in conjunction with Paramount Home Entertainment and CBS Home Entertainment. The second season of the Star Trek animated show is available now on Blu-ray and DVD with all-new featurettes, including exclusive cast and crew interviews.

“In Season 2, the Protostar crew are assigned a new mission aboard the USS Voyager-A to rescue Captain Chakotay and bring peace to Gwyn’s home world. But when their plan goes astray, it creates a time paradox that jeopardizes both their future and past. This release features all 20 episodes of Season 2 plus two all-new featurettes with exclusive cast & crew interviews!” says the synopsis for the Blu-ray.

Check out what’s included in the image below:

How to enter the Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2 Blu-ray giveaway

To enter our Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2 Blu-ray giveaway featuring gear, you can either retweet the Twitter post below or comment on our corresponding Facebook post. We have three Blu-ray copies to give out, and the winners have to be in the U.S. One grand prize winner will get the Blu-ray, plus the gear, which includes a Star Trek-branded mouse, headphones, and mousepad. The giveaway lasts until November 19. Good luck to all who enter!

Star Trek: Prodigy – Season 2 is out now on Blu-ray from Paramount Home Entertainment and CBS Home Entertainment for the suggested retail price of $25.99.

The post Giveaway: Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2 Blu-ray & Gear appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More.

ComingSoon is excited to debut an exclusive Hippo clip from the extremely weird and very funny dark comedy coming-of-age movie from Mark H. Rapaport.

The Hippo clip shows the main character, Kimball Farley’s Hippo, eating birthday cake in an extremely messy manner while talking about how noble warriors ate the hearts of their first kill. He then takes issue with his mother, played by Eliza Roberts, not showing him respect as he’s 19 years old and it’s “in the constitution” that he has to be legally respected. The dark comedy is out in select theaters from Kinematics.

“The film examines the coming-of-age of two step-siblings: Hippo, a video game-addicted teenager, and Buttercup, a Hungarian Catholic immigrant with a love of classical music and Jesus,” reads the synopsis. “Like the Ancient Greek Aphrodite, Buttercup’s love is unrequited by a brother who prefers to indulge in the art of war and chaos. The result is a hormone-fueled, tragicomic waking nightmare that must be seen to be believed.”

Check out the exclusive Hippo clip below (watch more clips and trailers):

Who stars in Hippo?

Hippo stars Kimball Farley (Ghost Hunt) as Hippo, Lilla Kizlinger (Explanation for Everuir) as Buttercup, Eliza Roberts (National Lampoon’s Animal House) as Ethel, Jesse Pimentel (In the Moment) as Darwin, and Vann Barrett as Dr. Lombardi, with Eric Roberts (The Dark Knight) as the narrator.

The film is directed by Mark H. Rapaport, who co-wrote the script with Farley. Executive producers are David Gordon Green, Danny McBride, Jody Hill, Brandon James, Charmaine Kowalski, and Julian Lawitschka, with Rapaport, Anthony Argento, and Siyu Lin serving as producers.

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ComingSoon is excited to debut an exclusive The Art of Futurama preview showing some early concept art of Fry and Leela, plus creator Matt Groening’s preface.

Published by Abrams ComicArts, the 176-page art book features commentary on the hit animated sci-fi show from Groening, showrunner David X. Cohen, and producer Claudia Katz, as well as from the show’s writers, animators, and voice actors. It will be available in bookstores on Tuesday, November 12, 2024, and in comic book shops on November 13, 2024. It costs $35 in the US and features full-color illustrations throughout.

“This first and only Futurama art book examines the first seven seasons of the series, which first aired on Fox beginning in 1999. Readers of The Art of Futurama can dive into the development and visual history of all 150 episodes, including brand-new content, never-before-seen concept art, sketches, developmental work, and a complete episode guide,” says the book’s description.

Check out the exclusive The Art of Futurama preview below:

“When the show premiered on March 28, 1999, it was heralded as one of the best-looking shows on television. This book is a tribute to all the talented artists who helped mold, build, and shape the beautiful, stunning, epic, and (twenty-five years later) ever-expanding Futurama Universe,” writes Claudia Katz in her forward.

“Abrams has a long history with Matt Groening and books on The Simpsons,” said Abrams ComicArts Editor-in-Chief Charles Kochman. “We are honored to expand our publishing to include The Art of Futurama, working closely with Matt and his team on this comprehensive and definitive visual history, one that is a must-have for any animation, television, or sci-fi fan.” 

The Art of Futurama is now available in bookstores.

The post Exclusive The Art of Futurama Preview Shows Early Fry & Leela Concept Art appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More.