News Of The Week: 'Parasite' Director Bong Joon Ho To Team Up With Robert Pattinson

We’re three weeks into 2022, and with Hollywood officially fully back after the holiday break, entertainment news is back in full swing. Exciting projects are on the horizon this week, with the headlines bringing big casting announcements, first-look reveals–and, unfortunately, one tragic and untimely death. As always, Atom Insider brings you a few hand-picked stories we think you’ll like. Ready? Let’s dive in.

‘A Quiet Place’ Spinoff Lands ‘Pig’ Director To Replace Jeff Nichols

When it was announced the elusive and lauded filmmaker Jeff Nichols (Take Shelter, Midnight Special) was set to helm the spinoff of A Quiet Place, it was an intriguing prospect. However, Nichols left the project in October as he plans to focus on another Paramount sci-fi project he’s developing for the studio. But it appears that Paramount has found a worthy replacement: Deadline broke the news that Pig director Michael Sarnoski has boarded the project as director and is also set to pen the script. Pig, Sarnoski’s wildly successful directorial debut, is set to rack up multiple awards nominations for Sarnoski and star Nicolas Cage alike, with both potentially even seeing Oscar nominations in their future.

As for the Quiet Place movie, Paramount has been clear it’s not a sequel or a prequel, but a spinoff, and one based on an original idea by John Krasinski, the director and writer of the first two A Quiet Place films (he co-wrote the first movie with Bryan Woods and Scott Beck). A Quiet Place Part II, which was the first theatrical-only release of the pandemic era, racked up almost $300 million at the global box office on an estimated budget of $61 million. It’s unclear how fast Paramount will look to move on the spinoff, but considering how hot Sarnoski is right now and the success of the first two movies, they’ll likely be fast-tracking this one.

‘Parasite’ Director Bong Joon Ho Finds Next Project; Robert Pattinson In Talks To Lead

FIlm lovers, rejoice, for the most exciting news in a while comes our way: Parasite director Bong Joon Ho, whose breakout 2019 film earned him three Oscars, has finally settled on his next project according to Deadline. After two years of taking his time deciding on what he’d tackle after Parasite, Bong is reportedly looking to write and direct an adaptation of Edward Ashton’s upcoming novel Mickey7 for Warner Bros. Even more exciting, the project already has The Batman star Robert Pattinson circling the lead role.

The book, which is set to be published early this year, follows Mickey7, who is an Expendable, a disposable worker sent as part of humanity’s mission to colonize the ice planet Nilfheim. When one iteration of Mickey dies, another one regenerates with most of his memories intact. After dying six times, the seventh version, Mickey7, begins to understand the terms of his suicidal role. As the director of Snowpiercer, dystopian sci-fi in an icy setting is right up Bong’s alley, and with movies like High Life and The Rover under his belt, Pattinson is also no stranger to dystopian survivalist flicks.

However, as is true for many of his adaptations, Bong may deviate significantly from the book. Reportedly, Bong saw an unpublished manuscript of Ashton’s book late last year and became intrigued by the story, with the director meeting with a number of Hollywood A-listers over the holidays. Pattinson apparently impressed Bong and his co-producers, who felt he was perfect for the role. Both Bong and Pattinson have exciting projects on the horizon and this team-up might be the crown jewel of their upcoming work.

‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ Resumes Production

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever has been the most troubled Marvel production to date for reasons ranging from former lead Chadwick Boseman’s untimely and unexpected passing to Covid concerns. The most recent halt in production was a two-month hiatus that resulted from Shuri actress Letitia Wright suffering a major injury while doing a stunt. Last August, Wright was injured in an accident with a stunt rig. Initially not thought to be that serious, Marvel execs revealed in November that Wright’s injuries had actually been more serious than first revealed. The severity of her injuries necessitated the shutdown while she healed; the production had done as much as it could at that point without her. “What we had initially thought were minor injuries turned out to be much more serious with Letitia suffering a critical shoulder fracture, and a concussion with severe side effects,” Marvel Studios execs Kevin Feige, Louis D’Esposito, and Nate Moore said in a statement at the time.

However, it appears that Wright’s injuries are healed and she’s ready to get back to work, as production will resume in Georgia next week. Even with the significant delay in the production schedule, it’s still expected that the Black Panther sequel will still make its November 22 release date this year. However, that might change depending on how much shooting was left at the time of the most recent shutdown.

French Actor & Upcoming ‘Moon Knight’ Star Gaspard Ulliel Dies At Age 37

2022 is starting off how 2021 ended, with a number of unfortunate and heartbreaking deaths. This week brings the sad news that celebrated French actor Gaspard Ulliel has died at the age of 37. Ulliel was reportedly on a ski trip in the Savoie region of France when he suffered a collision on the slopes that resulted in a serious head injury. The young actor was life-flighted to a hospital in Grenoble on Tuesday after the accident, but he did not recover. The Haute-Savoie region, famed for its ski resorts, has seen a number of unfortunately serious and fatal accidents in the past few weeks due to hard snow and ice on the slopes creating dangerous ski conditions.

Ulliel, a two-time Cesar-winning actor, was one of France’s biggest stars and brightest talents. He won his first Cesar for Most Promising Actor in 2004 for his work in A Very Long Engagement opposite Audrey Tatou. In 2017, he won the Best Actor Cesar Award for It’s Only the End of the World. Ulliel also won two prestigious Lumiere Awards for Saint Laurent and Summer Things. To American audiences, he’s best known for portraying a young Hannibal Lecter in Hannibal Rising. The late actor is set to become even more known to U.S. viewers as he’ll soon be seen playing Midnight Man in Marvel’s highly-anticipated series Moon Knight alongside Oscar Isaac and Ethan Hawke.

Ulliel is survived by his longtime partner, the singer and model Gaëlle Pietri, and their young son.

Daniel Radcliffe To Portray Weird Al Yankovic In Biopic

Ever since leaving the Harry Potter franchise, actor Daniel Radcliffe’s career has been an eclectic mix of strange and daring choices and his newest project isn’t about to break that pattern. He’s now set to play musician and satirist “Weird Al” Yankovic in Weird: The Al Yankovic Story from Roku in conjunction with Funny or Die and Tango. Yankovic himself penned the script along with Funny or Die alum Eric Appel, who is also set to direct the biopic. Production is set to begin in early February in Los Angeles. Yankovic rose to fame by parodying the pop songs of his contemporaries, eventually becoming the biggest-selling comedy recording artist ever as well as a five-time Grammy-winning artist. His 2004 album Mandatory Fun debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top 200 chart, the first time in history that a comedy album had hit that apex.

As expected, the statements given by those involved with the project were full of the cheeky humor and self-awareness we can expect from the biopic. Said Appel, “When Weird Al first sat me down against my will and told me his life story, I didn’t believe any of it, but I knew that we had to make a movie about it.” Yankovic dropped his own deadpan and self-skewering statement:

“When my last movie UHF came out in 1989, I made a solemn vow to my fans that I would release a major motion picture every 33 years, like clockwork. I’m very happy to say we’re on schedule. And I am absolutely thrilled that Daniel Radcliffe will be portraying me in the film. I have no doubt whatsoever that this is the role future generations will remember him for.”

The biopic will reportedly cover everything from Yankovic’s childhood to his stunning rise to stardom and promises to hold nothing back. This will be a fun one.

Leslie Grace Reveals First Look At Her ‘Batgirl’ Costume

Last but not least, Batgirl star Leslie Grace revealed a first look at her costume for the upcoming movie. As suspected, it’s heavily based on the “Batgirl of Burnside” look from Brenden Fletcher and Cameron Stewart’s 2011 Batgirl comic book run with art by Babs Tarr.

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Reads the caption: “I use their expectations against them. That will be their weakness. Not mine. Let them all underestimate me…And when their guard is down, and their pride is rising, let me kick their butts. – Batgirl, Year One”