I Am Link

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--- Hero Worship - Now that he's Batman (try hearing that phrase in your head in anything but Christian Bale's rasp, I dare you) Robert Pattinson is abandoning the art-house movies that made us respect him, the sellout - he's dropped out of Joanna Hogg's sequel to The Souvenir, which is apparently a thing that's happening? (I'm just teasing Rob, by the way, save your hate mail.) On the Souvenir tip though I saw the film last week and thought it was fine but I don't really entirely get the rapturous responses it got earlier this year. It's certainly aware of its privilege (the main character expresses some guilt) but that didn't make the privilege of its world feel any less exhausting to maneuver as a viewer.

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--- My Commitment - This interview is a real long one so you'll have to set aside some time for it but if you haven't yet read Collider's long chat with our beloved character actress and saint Beth Grant then I recommend you do - give or take a couple of big star names its interesting folks from below the title like this who have quirks and are individuals that I'd much rather read pieces like this devoted to. Beth has stories and has lived and is a hoot.

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--- Jude Island - Jude Law is heading back to TV again, this time with nary a Popemobile in sight, to make The Third Way for HBO (alongside ITV in the UK) -- it's a six-part miniseries (produced by the guy who made the original Utopia) that sounds kind of like The Island of Dr. Moreau or maybe The Wicker Man, something like that, with an island and a bunch of isolated weirdos and hallucinations. Basically me on vacation. Speaking of vacations Jude was recently on his honeymoon (congrats!) in Sardinia and JJ got a bunch of pictures of him looking mighty fine a la that shot to the right, see them here. (Thx Mac)

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--- More Scary - When we listed our most anticipated movies of the remainder of 2019 one of the runners-up was the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark film that Trollhunter director André Øvredal has coming out in August -- well Rue Morgue sat down with Andre to chat about his next much anticipated by me flick, which is an adaptation of Stephen King's short story The Long Walk, read that chat here. TLW is kind of a teenaged They Shoot Horses Don't They, or maybe Forrest Gump meets Battle Royale. Okay I'm just saying movie titles now. You get the idea.

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--- Ears and Ears - I am a couple of episodes behind on Years and Years but Russell Tovey's already gone and signed on for another television miniseries in his homeland -- this one's called Flesh and Blood and it's another tale of a large sprawling family in which he's a sibling, this time about a trio whose old-age mum (played by Imelda Staunton) gets romanced by a dude (Stephen Rea) they don't trust. 

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--- Gesserit Who - Denis Villeneuve is currently shooting his Dune movie with Timothee Chalamet & Co -- see some pictures we shared a couple of weeks back right here if you missed 'em -- and that's probably going to be going on for awhile, and now an even longer while because he's also making a Dune TV series now too. It'll be about the Bene Gesserit, the female religious order of Frank Herbert's stories who predict all sorts of spicy shenanigans with their witchery. In the movie Rebecca Ferguson is playing Lady Jessica who's a part of the order, so perhaps she'll be a part of the television show too; Villenueve is only set to direct the pilot.

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--- Man o' Paradise - Josh Hartnett, so very good on Penny Dreadful, is returning to TV for a series called Paradise Lost, which apparently has nothing whatsoever to do with the Milton book -- it's about a married couple (Hartnett alongside Bridget Regan from Jane the Virgin) who return to the husband's Mississippi hometown only to "uncover shameful secrets that irrevocably change the lives of everyone involved." That is vague enough a description that I have absolutely no idea what this show might be, except they also call it a "Southern Gothic mystery" which helps a little. Barbara Hershey and Nick Nolte are also set to co-star. 

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--- Cue the Keymaster - It's become completely impossible to keep straight what's happening with the Ghostbusters franchise - I think where we stand is Jason Reitman is making a direct sequel to his father's films with all the original 'Busters in tow? Anyway Sigourney Weaver has let slip that she's returning for the movie as good ol' dog-lady Dana Barrett once more, so whatever it is I am there.

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