Hollywood was on temporary pause but productions are gearing back up, release dates continue to be tweaked in preparation for theaters reopening, and things are slowly starting to return to normal – or at least, our temporary new normal. Entertainment news has once again begun to drop with regularity. In case you missed it, here’s all the best news and tidbits from the last week.
Let’s hop to it.
Fletch Yeah: Jon Hamm To Star In Reboot Of Chevy Chase Classic ‘Fletch’
Good news for fans of Jon Hamm’s comedic side: The actor has been cast as the titular lead in a reboot of Fletch. The original 1985 movie, based on the series of books by Gregory McDonals, starred Chevy Chase, with a sequel in 1989. The reboot with Hamm will reportedly adapt the second book in the series, Confess Fletch. In it, newspaper reporter Irving M. “Fletch” Fletcher finds himself the main suspect in a murder investigation. To clear his name, he must find the priceless art collection belonging to his fiancée, who inherited the collection after her father’s mysterious recent disappearance. This should be fun. There are many mediocre reboot projects in the works, but occasionally a really great reboot idea comes along. Such is the case with Fletch.
Deleted Scene From ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ Shows Smart Hulk’s Original Appearance
Plenty of storylines were switched around and changes made during the course of the back-to-back shoots for Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame. One of those involved Smart Hulk, who was originally supposed to make his debut at the end of Infinity War rather than Endgame. An unfinished deleted scene of his first appearance in Infinity War popped up online and it shows the articulate, intelligent final form of Hulk and Bruce Banner merging. It makes sense why the Russos chose to move Smart Hulk’s storyline to Endgame. Still, it’s interesting to ponder the story that might have been had they stuck with their original plan for the character.
Matt Reeves’ ‘The Batman’ Is Already Getting A TV Spinoff
It hasn’t even finished shooting and already, we’ve gotten news that Matt Reeves’ The Batman will be getting a TV series spinoff on HBO Max. The series will be overseen by Reeves and Terrence Winter (Boardwalk Empire, The Sopranos), who will also be writing. The plan is to set it in the world of The Batman with the story centered on the Gotham City Police Department as “an examination of the anatomy of corruption in Gotham City.” Not sure we need another Gotham-based cop drama when Gotham already exists, and I’m definitely not sure we need another cop drama, in general. But Reeves and Winter are a powerhouse creative duo who make it intriguing enough to pay attention.
Scarlet Witch Stunt Double Shares Cool Behind-The-Scene Video From ‘Avengers: Infinity War’
Stuntperson CC Ice, who doubled Elizabeth Olsen in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, released a behind-the-scenes previz video of the Infinity War fight scene between Scarlet Witch and Proxima Midnight in Scotland. It’s very cool to see two highly-trained stuntpeople going at it without the quick cuts and edits that are required in a theatrical release when an untrained actor is incorporated into a fight scene. It’s a fantastic video, even without the CGI and special effects. Why don’t we have a stunt category in the Oscars, again?
Behind-The-Scenes ‘X-Men’ Video Reminds Us How Lucky We Were To Get Hugh Jackman
With news slowing down a little bit, this week was video heavy. For the 20th anniversary of the first X-Men movie this week, Hugh Jackman released a behind-the-scenes video. It shows him as a much younger man on the set of that first movie 20 years ago, delightfully fighting with an action figure of Wolverine. It also serves as an excellent reminder that he only had three weeks to get ready for the original movie and we do not deserve Hugh Jackman or his dedication to playing Wolverine for almost two full decades.
Last but not least, check out our new Quick Hits column, which rounds up all the bits and bobs of news that don’t quite make the cut for a full article but are still interesting updates:
- Tom Holland shows off his Nathan Drake test hair
- Shia LaBeouf went full method again and tattooed his whole chest
- A great Easter egg within an Easter egg in Terminator: Dark Fate
- Daniel Brühl is pumped to wear the Baron Zemo mask
- Disney’s live-action The Little Mermaid gets a cute working title
- Vince Vaughn And Paul Walter Hauser Join Cast Of Queenpins
- The Russos on where they’d take Star Wars
- Horror film shot entirely during quarantine to debut this month
- The U.K. is allowing U.S. productions to be exempt from quarantine
- Zack Snyder says his Justice League cut will be uncompromised
- Colin Kapernick gets a first-look deal with Disney
- Cate Shortland promises Black Widow will be a proper sendoff for Natasha Romanoff
