News Of The Week: Simu Liu Channeled 'Good Will Hunting' For 'Shang-Chi' Audition

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. Movie news is once again starting to flow, with us bringing you a few hand-picked stories we think you’ll like.

Let’s hop to it.

‘Fast & Furious’ Spinoff Following Cipher Is In The Works

In a brief interview with Variety during the F9 press tour, Vin Diesel let an interesting tidbit go, confirming that he has writers working on a script for a full Fast and Furious spinoff revolving around Cipher, Charlize Theron’s villain character of the past two movies. That’s a big step for the franchise, which, despite its diversity, hasn’t at all done right by its female characters over nine movies. Original star Michelle Rodriguez has famously been outspoken about her unhappiness with how women have been treated and urging the franchise to move in a different direction. It could be that this spinoff with Cipher is a chance to put the women front and center. Other cast members certainly seem to think so, with Ludacris saying last month in an interview with SiriusXM, “The girls need a spinoff. That’s who needs a spinoff. All of the badass, kickass women that are in this film. That’s who deserves it.” Jordana Brewster, who was also in that same interview, nodded and said she’d “heard those rumors.” Could this spinoff with Cipher be that long-needed female-centric Fast and Furious film? Time will tell.

Zack Snyder Developing Old Star Wars Idea As Original Movie ‘Rebel Moon’ At Netflix

The partnership between Zack Snyder and Netflix continues to bear fruit. THR broke the news that the director has his next project already in development, an original sci-fi space opera titled Rebel Moon. Reportedly, the story was developed from a Star Wars pitch Snyder made a decade ago but it never went anywhere. It turned into what it is now, a story about a peaceful colony on the far edge of a galaxy whose peace is suddenly upended when they’re invaded by a bloodthirsty regent named Balisarius. The desperate colonists send a girl with a mysterious past out into the galaxy to make contact with other civilizations in order to rally support for their fight. “This is me growing up as an Akira Kurosawa fan, a Star Wars fan,” Snyder said. “It’s my love of sci-fi and a giant adventure. My hope is that this also becomes a massive IP and a universe that can be built out.” Snyder and Kurt Johnstad started fleshing out the story right around the time he also began developing his recent film, Army of the Dead, and the pair are currently working on the actual script now along with AotD cowriter Shay Hatten. “I’ve spent the last two or three years building out this universe,” Snyder continued. “Every corner has to be painted in. I’ve been doing designs, constantly drawing and really cultivating its fertile ground to make this world fully realized.” With work on the project already being so far along, shooting on Rebel Moon hopes to begin early next year.

Lance Reddick Is Returning As Charon In ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’

Good news for those who weren’t entirely certain which characters would be returning for the fourth installment of the John Wick saga: Lionsgate has closed a deal with Lance Reddick for the actor to reprise his role of Charon, the concierge of New York’s Continental Hotel, in John Wick: Chapter 4. Deadline broke the news. Though loyal to Ian McShane’s Winston, who sold John Wick out in the last movie, Charon has also proven himself a stalwart ally of Wick, fighting at his side against the waves of assassins the High Table sent to take John Wick down in an onslaught against the Continental. Reddick returns to a cast that already includes Keanu Reeves in the titular role and newcomers Donnie Yen, Hiroyuki Sanada, Rina Sawayama, and Shamier Anderson. Michael Finch and Shay Hatten (the man is getting around) wrote the script and Chad Stahelski will return to direct. In a statement, Stahelski alluded to Reddick being an integral role in the John Wick franchise, saying, “Lance has been part of the franchise since the very beginning and has had an integral role in shaping the world of John Wick. I couldn’t be more excited to be working with him again.” The fourth chapter is set to shoot this summer in France, Germany and Japan.

‘Paddington 3’ Will Start Filming In The First Half Of 2022

And now for the softest news in this week’s news roundup: Paddington 3 will start filming in the first half of next year. The news came courtesy of Studiocanal, the studio behind the Paddington franchise, in an announcement made during a presentation at the Cannes Film Festival, which is currently underway. The movie was officially confirmed to be in development in February. The first two films were directed and co-written by Paul King and produced by David Heyman, and Heyman is back, but, while King helped develop the story, it’s unclear whether he’ll be back to direct the third movie with him currently in pre-production for Warner Bros.’ Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory prequel Wonka starring Timothée Chalamet. Mark Burton and Simon Farnaby also helped King develop the story, while Burton, Jon Foster, and James Lamont are penning the actual script. Nothing about the story has been revealed and it’s unclear who will be joining the cast, though it’s safe to say Ben Whishaw will return to voice the titular role.

‘Shang-Chi’ Director Had Simu Liu Read ‘Good Will Hunting’ Scripts For Audition

It’s a regular practice in Hollywood that actors will often not actually read pages from the script of the project they’re trying out for, particularly not with big tentpoles, both to keep the story secret and also because, quite often, the actor is cast while the story is still being polished. That was the case with Marvel’s upcoming Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. But director Destin Daniel Cretton’s choice of script for eventual lead Simu Liu to read was interesting, as, on the surface, it appears to be a movie that is in no way like a Marvel film: Good Will Hunting. But Cretton saw much in the character of Will and what he wanted for the character of Shang-Chi, explaining to EW, “The character of Will represents this mixture of masculinity and vulnerability. He also has a secret and a superpower that he doesn’t quite understand and has not stepped into.” Liu agreed, adding

“That movie is all about a guy going to extreme lengths to hide who he is. He’s a genius hiding in plain clothes. Shang-Chi is also somebody who is kind of putting on a mask day to day. It’s about Shang-Chi learning that even though there is a prescribed destiny that his dad has bestowed on him, he can also carve out his own path. It’s pretty Asian American.“

We’ll get to see what Cretton and Liu have made on September 3rd when Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings hits theaters.

Tom Hardy Is Getting His First Writing Credit With ‘Venom: Let There Be Carnage’

Tom Hardy may have done many things in his career as an actor, but there’s one thing that will happen for the first time with Venom: Let There Be Carnage, and that’s earning a writing credit on a screenplay. According to Empire, who spoke with screenwriter Kelly Marcel, who is penning the script for the sequel, both she and Hardy will be credited for the story. Marcel and Hardy have a friendship and creative partnership dating back almost 20 years, and she said he’s always been involved with the character. “This is new for him, to get credit, but it’s not new for him to be this involved. He’s absolutely 100 percent committed to everything that he does,” explained Marcel before continuing, “He’s married to Venom. He loves this character. He’s very involved in what he thinks should happen.” Marcel then went on to explain they had a somewhat unconventional method of hashing out the story and further expanding the character: “He doesn’t get a pen and write. We spent months breaking the story together on FaceTime, riffing on ideas, seeing what worked, seeing what didn’t. Then I took everything we spoke about and holed up somewhere for three months quietly, knocking out a script.” Venom: Let There Be Carnage is in theaters on September 24th.