DEVELOPMENT HELL

Your monthly glimpse into Hollywood’s hoped-for future

Here’s where Hollywood’s dreams turn to sparklers or cinders.

You only star twice! BOND 25

SPECTRE’s Léa Seydoux looks set to be the first Bond girl to encore in the superspy franchise since Eunice Gayson’s turn as Sylvia Trench in Dr No and From Russia With Love. The Daily Mail’s Baz Bamigboye claims director Cary Fukunaga himself says Seydoux will return as Madeleine Swann in the next adventure – alongside MI6 regulars Ralph Fiennes, Ben Whishaw and Naomie Harris. Fukunaga tells Inquirer.net that Bond 25 will continue to mine 007’s damaged psyche: “In his first Bond movie, Casino Royale, [Daniel Craig] brought an incredible amount of vulnerability and humanity to the character, which was a big shift from Pierce Brosnan’s run. Bond is on a character arc that started with Casino Royale, and I will be carrying that on… As in any story, a character has to change in order [to have] a narrative.” La La Land’s Linus Sandgren is on her majesty’s secret service as cinematographer.

Hush now! A QUIET PLACE 2

“I don’t even see it as a sequel,” says John Krasinski, writing the follow-up to the 2018 stealth-hit that found him and Emily Blunt exploring the notion of responsible parenting in a world where the slightest sound means instant death. “Emily actually blew my mind by categorising it the correct way after I pitched it to her. She said, ‘This isn’t a sequel at all – this is the second book in a series of books. It’s a widening of a world.’” As Krasinski tells Business Insider, he’s having to operate within the confines of that first film’s perfect elevator pitch. “I think what’s cool about the second part of this movie is the same set of rules have to apply. I can’t just introduce a world where you can make a ton of sound, and if I did, there would have to be a reason for it. So it’s figuring out if there are smart and clever ways to do it.” No word on whether Krasinski will return as director for A Quiet Place 2: A Baby, Are You Mad?

Meet the Beetle! BLUE BEETLE

The DC movie universe continues to fuel the merciless flames of Development Hell (can you hear the tormented wails of all those Jared Leto Joker projects? The agonised cries of the Flash movie? The embittered gnashing of the Cyborg solo film?). Let’s add another splash of kerosene to the fire: Warner Bros have hired Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer to pen a take on Blue Beetle. It’s set to focus on Latino teen Jaime Reyes, the third incarnation of the

character, who first appeared in Infinite Crisis in 2006, granted superpowers – and a powerful, armoured exo-skeleton – by an extraterrestrial scarab he discovers on his way home from school (there’s an alternate reality where he discovers a discarded, rainsodden copy of Razzle, but we won’t concern ourselves with that here). Jaime’s appeared in live action before, fact hounds: Jaren Brandt Bartlett played him in season 10 Smallville episode “Booster”.

SOME CANDY TALKING! CANDYMAN

Someone just whispered a certain name five times in the mirror… and that someone is Get Out helmer Jordan Peele, who’s set to produce what’s been dubbed a “spiritual sequel” to the 1992 horror classic. Inspired by Clive Barker’s tale The Forbidden, the original movie starred Tony Todd as the hook-handed urban legend. “The original was a landmark film for black representation in horror,” says Peele, who’ll co-write the screenplay with BlacKkKlansman’s Win Rosenfeld. “Alongside Night Of The Living Dead, Candyman was a major inspiration for me as a filmmaker.” Returning to the now-gentrified part of Chicago where the housing projects once stood, the new take will be directed by Nia DaCosta (Little Woods). “To have a bold new talent like Nia at the helm of this project is truly exciting. We are honoured to bring the next chapter in the Candyman canon to life and eager to provide new audiences with an entry point to Clive Barker’s legend.” Stay away from mirrors 12 June 2020.

OXFORDS, NOT BROGUES! KINGSMAN: THE GREAT GAME

The next instalment of the Kingsman franchise promises to bring ultraviolence to the golden age of gentlemen. Set a century ago, this finely tailored prequel will detail the clandestine origins of the British spy agency first seen in 2014’s Kingsman: The Secret Service. That means no Eggsy, of course, but the Taron Egerton-shaped gap looks set to be filled by

It’s figuring out if there are smart and clever ways to do it

Harris Dickinson as Conrad, a cocky young chap recruited into the service by his father, a duke of the realm played by Ralph Fiennes. Other names aboard the project include Daniel Brühl (Captain America: Civil War) and Charles Dance, with Matthew Goode in contention for a key role. Rhys Ifans, meanwhile, is the rumoured frontrunner to play malevolent mystic Rasputin, lover of the Russian queen, Russia’s greatest love machine and, yes, a cat that really was gone if the historical records are to be believed. Filming begins in the UK this month, targeting a 8 November 2019 release.

THEY GO LOW, WE GO “HAI!” SHANG-CHI

Marvel’s Master of Kung Fu is coming to the screen. The studio is fast-tracking a showcase for Shang-Chi, who’ll be the first Asian hero to topline an MCU blockbuster. First seen in the pages of Special Marvel Edition 15 way back in 1973, he’s the creation of Steve Englehart and Jim Starlin, a superheroic riff on the martial arts craze that swept the globe in the ’70s (they were all at it: Barry White, Reg Varney, Richard Nixon…). Marvel originally presented him as the son of Dr Fu Manchu, problematic antagonist in a series of novels by Sax Rohmer, but more recently daddy’s been retconned as Zheng Zu, an ancient Chinese sorcerer who discovered the secret of immortality. Splicing Bruce Lee action with 007-style international espionage, ShangChi became one of the most striking icons of the bronze age of comics. Chinese-American writer Dave Callaham – who’s also penned Wonder Woman 1984 – is handling the screenplay and the search is on for an Asian or Asian-American helmer.