The Hollywood Reporter has shared a fascinating new piece about the legacy of the X-Men franchise in the wake of a series of sexual abuse allegations against director Bryan Singer, and in there are plenty of jaw-dropping behind the scenes stories. It’s no secret that his behaviour on set was erratic, and that reportedly included late arrivals, mood swings, and explosive tantrums. 

The trade explains that it wasn’t uncommon for Rebecca Romijn to spend hours being painted up as Mystique before filming, only for Singer to decide on a whim he didn’t need her. Interestingly, it’s also said that Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige was “dispatched to ensure that someone was keeping Singer in line.”

Things got worse during production of X2: X-Men United, though. It’s said that Singer was incapacitated after taking a narcotic, and when producer Tom DeSanto attempted to halt shooting, the filmmaker insisted it continue. That led to a botched stunt on the X-Jet leaving Hugh Jackman bleeding. When the cast were forced to return to work the next day, they (minus Sir Ian McKellen and Romijn) approached Singer in costume and threatened to quit if DeSanto left.

It was at this point Halle Berry told the director, “You can kiss my Black ass.”

The trade’s story includes more damaging allegations about Singer sexually abusing or taking advantage of young men (in exchange for roles in the X-Men movies, for example), but producer Lauren Shuler Donner summed up his behaviour as a filmmaker perfectly. 

“He was very nervous and he would act out when he was insecure, as many people do. But his way of acting out would be to yell and scream at everybody on the set. Or walk off the set or shut down production,” she recalls. “You have to understand, the guy was brilliant, and that was why we all tolerated him and cajoled him. And if he wasn’t so f***ed up, he would be a really great director.”

What are your thoughts on these latest claims about Singer?

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The Flash director Andy Muschietti has previously said his movie features a “different version of Flashpoint than you’re expecting,” and the filmmaker has now dropped even more hints about what fans can expect.

During a recent interview, he confirmed those Flashpoint elements, while also specifically referencing one key plot point from that storyline. 

“It is a story of time travel: Flash travels back to try to save his mother,” Muschietti Orden 67 (translated from Spanish). “It is a spectacular action movie but it has a big heart.”

In Flashpoint, Barry Allen raced back in time to prevent the murder of his mother at the hands of the Reverse-Flash; however, he inadvertently creates a new timeline where Bruce Wayne was gunned down in Crime Alley, Superman’s rocket crashed in Metropolis instead of Smallville, and Aquaman and Wonder Woman were at war on behalf of Atlantis and Themyscira. 

It’s unclear how much of that will make it into Muschietti’s version of The Flash, but we know Barry Allen will meet a different Batman in the new timeline he creates: Michael Keaton’s version.

Check out the interview below:
 

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The Hollywood Reporter has learned that Netflix is in the very early stages of adapting Ubisoft’s cult classic video game Beyond Good & Evil as a full-length feature film and they’ve just found a director in Rob Letterman (Detective Pikachu; Goosebumps). 

No writers are currently attached, so it may be a while before it gets off the ground, but like Letterman’s previous directorial ventures, Beyond Good & Evil will be a hybrid live-action/animated feature.

Beyond Good & Evil takes place in the 25th century on a remote mining planet that is under alien attack. The military rulers that promised to defend the population may be in league with the invaders. In this environment, a young photojournalist named Jade is recruited to be part of an underground resistance movement.

The original game was released in 2003 and was widely considered a failure at the time of release, with plans for a trilogy ultimately abandoned. However, it managed to garner a cult following in the years since and after years of clamoring, Ubisoft finally announced that a prequel game was in development back in 2017. 

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It’s sure starting to look like Spyglass Media Group and Paramount’s upcoming Scream “reboot” may actually be the sequel we’ve all been waiting for as Deadline has learned that legacy cast member Courteney Cox (Friends; Cougar Town) has signed on to reprise her role as news reporter Gale Weather in the yet-to-be-titled fifth entry. 

She joins fellow original cast member David Arquette (Sheriff Dewey Riley), who joined the cast back earlier this summer. No word yet on franchise leading lady Neve Campbell, but last we heard, she was also in preliminary talks back in May, so it’s probably a safe bet that’ll she come onboard sooner than later. 

Ready or Not directors Matthew Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett are set to helm the new film, with a screenplay from James Vanderbilt (Zodiac; The Amazing Spider-Man) and Guy Busick (Ready or Not; Castle Rock).

In a statement, the Radio Silence filmmaking group said, “We can’t imagine Scream without the iconic Gale Weathers and are so incredibly thrilled and humbled to have the opportunity to work with Courteney. We’re absolute mega fans of her work and we’re so excited to join her in the next chapter of the Scream saga!”

Production is slated to begin later this year in Wilmington, NC, albeit when proper safety protocols are established, with a 2021 release date in mind. 

The first four extremely successful films were all directed by horror legend Wes Craven with Kevin Williamson writing three of them, including the game-changing first installment, and starred Neve Campbell in the lead role as Sidney Prescott with Courteney Cox and David Arquette also appearing in every movie.

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The Arrowverse is often considered one of the crowning achievements of the CW, and is highly regarded when it comes to DC television programs in general. Starting with Arrow, the universe rapidly expanded over the years to include the likes of The Flash, Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow, Constantine, Black Lightning, Batwoman, and the upcoming Superman and Lois and Green Arrow & the Canaries.

We recently spoke with one of the creators of the Arrowverse, who has been imprinting his creative fingerprint on the comic book television industry, Marc Guggenheim. When chatting with the executive producer/director/screenwriter in support of Tales of Arcadia: Wizards, we couldn’t help but ask a few questions about Crisis on Infinite Earths, Legends of Tomorrow, and Arrow.

Marc dishes on the death of Oliver Queen and whose decision it was, the tone of the series and Oliver’s journey, and bringing the show to an end. As always, if you’re interested in hearing the audio component of this interview, click play on the podcast player below. We chat about Arrow around 16:00. 

Literary Joe: Was Oliver’s fate your decision? I know Arrow is significant to you as it started it all. So, is that something that came from you, or is it something you had to learn to deal with?

Marc Guggenheim: I, from the jump, was always advocating for Oliver to die. And the reason for that is that if you look at who Oliver Queen is a person when you meet him in the pilot, he’s this spoiled jerk before he gets marooned on Lian Yu.

But even when he comes back from those five years in hell, he’s the equivalent of a serial killer, especially in the first season.

And I’ve always felt that the amount of blood he has on his hands has to be repaid with his blood ultimately. And it never really occurred to me that his story should end any other way.

Now, the original plan was that I always assumed he would die in the last episode of the show. But once we knew that Crisis on Infinite Earths was lining up with Arrow’s final season, we changed some things.

Literary Joe: Right, it kind of worked out perfectly.

Marc Guggenheim: I think so. I know that there’s a lot of fans who feel like Oliver deserved a happy ending. And I would say, for my money, that we gave him the Arrow version of one.

Arrow has always been a dark show, and I think the show has sort of thrived in its darkness. And that’s one of the reasons why the idea that he would get a traditional happy ending, where he gets to run off into the sunset with his wife, and his daughter felt in congruence with the tone of the show.

Literary Joe: Definitely, and I think that from a character standpoint and from Oliver’s point of view, I definitely think that the ending that he got is the ending that he’s always expected he was going to line up based on all the choices in his life and based on everything that’s led to this point.

Marc Guggenheim: Yeah, absolutely.

*This interview has been edited for clarity.*

What do you think of Guggenheim’s comments regarding Crisis on Infinite Earths? Did you enjoy the mega-crossover event?

Check out the trailers for Crisis on Infinite Earths as well as his upcoming project with Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth), Tales of Arcadia: Wizards, and be sure to share your thoughts in the usual spot!

Join our favorite supernatural heroes on a time-bending adventure to medieval Camelot. The magic continues the final chapter of the Tales of Arcadia saga, Wizards.

Tales of Arcadia: Wizards hits Netflix on August 7th.

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