short cuts

The latest happenings in movieland…

TrevOr-Off

Colin Trevorrow will no longer direct Star Wars: Episode IX. The Jurassic World filmmaker had been attached to the Star Wars trilogy finale since 2015, but you didn’t need to be a Jedi to sense a disturbance in the Force when Jack Thorne was tapped to rewrite Trevorrow’s script. The news comes just three months after Phil Lord and Chris Miller were booted from the Han Solo standalone.

Hans UP

Paul Bettany has joined the cast of said untitled Han Solo standalone. The Brit actor is rumoured to be replacing Michael K. Williams, whose character was cut due to scheduling conflicts. Bettany previously starred in A Beautiful Mind and The Da Vinci Code for Ron Howard.

CHiP Off THe Ol’ BlOCk

Tim Story’s blaxploitation sequel, Son Of Shaft, has found its Samuel L. Jackson Jr. in Independence Day: Resurgence’s Jessie T. Usher. He will play the son of Jackson’s Shaft, while Richard Roundtree will return as the original Harlem PI.

QUiT JOkin’ arOUnd

Emboldened by the success of Wonder Woman, the DCEU will power forward… with two Joker spin-offs. Eh? The first will be a “criminal love story” starring Jared Leto’s Joker and Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn, while the second will be a Joker origin story directed by Todd Phillips, (possibly) produced by Martin Scorsese and (maybe) starring Leonardo DiCaprio as the Clown Prince of Crime. Funny stuff.