hollywood Q&A
Q: I just watched “The Banshees of Inisherin,” partly because of all the awards buzz it’s getting, and I loved it. I thought the stars had a great dynamic — have they done anything else together?
A: OK, stop whatever you’re doing right now and see “In Bruges” (2008).
If you only came to 2022’s “The Banshees of Inisherin” because of all the awards attention it has gotten, you won’t know that it was originally billed as a reunion for stars Colin Farrell (who played good-hearted but “dull” Padraic) and Brendan Gleeson (who played Colm, his former best friend who is now calling him “dull”).
The pair previously starred in “In Bruges,” a similarly chatty tragi-comedy, but this one about hitmen exiled to a quaint Belgian town.
“Working with him again on this, after 14 years, was a dream come true, it really was,” Farrell told IMDb.com.
They were also reuniting with Martin McDonagh, who wrote and directed both films.
And because the creative force was also the same, the two films share a lot more than just their stars. There’s a similar sense of humor, a similar sense of place, and a similar love of landscape shots that can make them feel as much like travel diaries as dramas.
All this is to say that if you loved “Banshees,” you’re likely to love “In Bruges,” too.
Q: When can we expect a new season of “Forged in Fire”?
A: Much like the elements that its bladesmiths deal with in each episode, it seems as if History wants you to treat “Forged in Fire” itself like a force of nature.
That is to say, the cable channel has developed no real predictable pattern for when new seasons come and go. And they don’t share a lot of information ahead of time when new seasons are ordered.
And so, we don’t know when, or even if, a 10th season will come.
The ninth season just ended a few weeks ago, so it’s likely there will be at least a bit of a wait.
But even that’s not guaranteed — only three months passed between the end of Season 7 and the premiere of Season 8, and just two weeks between the sixth and seventh rounds.
I can’t even say with absolute certainty that Season 9 is even finished. Months after what seemed like the Season 8 finale, it returned with the “Judges Takeover” series of special episodes.
And so, we have no choice but to wait and let the show sort of happen to us, in its own time — like a very entertaining, televised force of nature.
Q: Are they going to make another season of “The Recruit”?
A: It’s never a sure thing until the announcement comes, but a second season of Netflix’s “The Recruit” is likely, at least.
For starters, the spy-themed action comedy, about a rookie CIA lawyer who is manipulated into being a sort of accidental field agent, was a hit for the streaming service. Debuting in mid-December, it was at one point Netflix’s No. 1 show and was one of the most-streamed shows in general for a while.
It’s also on-brand with a lot of other original Netflix content — the best examples being the smash-hit spy films “Red Notice” (2021) and “The Gray Man” (2022). Netflix is clearly interested in being in the spy TV business, and having “The Recruit” as an ongoing thing certainly builds its content bank.
It also helps that the show isn’t breaking Netflix’s actual bank. “While the show may film internationally at times, it is not overly laden with CGI as a grounded spy thriller rather than a pricey fantasy or sci-fi series,” Forbes magazine’s Paul Tassi writes.
Tassi also pointed out that the cast is made up of relative unknowns, which further keeps the costs down.
The biggest star is lead Noah Centineo, who plays young lawyer-tothe-spies Owen Hendricks. His bestknown work also came on Netflix, as a romantic lead in the rom-com “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” (2018) and its two sequels. Indeed, a significant amount of his career has happened on Netflix — the service is clearly invested in Centineo’s career, and therefore in “The Recruit.”
There’s also the fact that the writers have a pretty fleshed-out plan for a second season if and when it comes.
The show ended with a pretty serious cliffhanger, and the events were pretty tough on Hendricks. Creator and showrunner Alexi Hawley said Season 2 would be largely about him dealing with the repercussions.
“Now he’s dealing with some reality,” Hawley told ScreenRant.com. “So, the question is, does he deal with it or does he suppress it?”
Again, we don’t even know if the show will be renewed. Given that the show just came out in December, we may not know for a while.
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