That’s right—not one but two hotly anticipated sci-fi epics headline today’s Movie Morsels:  Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Ready Player One. Plus, we have the latest on Fast and Furious 8 and Trolls, along with the new trailer for Natalie Portman‘s western Jane Got a Gun. Giddy-up, Morselers!
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
With less than a year to go before the first Star Wars spin-off film, Rogue One, hits theaters, details about the film’s characters has begun to leak out. Please keep in mind that this info hasn’t been officially confirmed yet by Disney. But since it comes from Making Star Wars—a source that has time and again proved reliable in its intel—we think there’s a good chance it’s accurate.
Here’s what the site has to say about Mads Mikkelsen’s character…
Mads Mikkelsen (Galen appears to be his name in the film) is kind of the key to the film in a way. He is a scientist that took over the Geonosian Death Star project. He solved several of the flaws the Empire could not and is sort of a revered person in the Empire for his contributions. However, Mikkelsen’s character is a Robert Oppenheimer-type character. Oppenheimer helped design the atomic bomb only to say, “Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.†The guilt “Galen†feels for his contributions to the Empire become too much and he defects, attempting to make things right. In order to do this, he enlists the help of his only daughter…
That “daughter”? Yup, she’s Felicity Jones’ lead character, who joins the rebels to thwart the Empire’s plans.
Ready Player One
Speaking of Rogue One, one of the Star Wars spinoff’s cast members may play the baddie in the Ready Player One movie. Bloodline star Ben Mendelsohn (pictured above in Lost River) is, in the wake of Olivia Williams’ casting as the film’s heroine, is currently in talks to play an evil Internet tycoon in Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of Ernie Cline’s acclaimed science-fiction novel. The film is still looking to cast its male protagonist, the orphan treasure hunter Wade Owen Watts (a.k.a. Parzival).
Fast and Furious 8
Throughout the seven entries in the franchise, the Fast and Furious movies have done as much globe-hopping as James Bond, with each film’s locale outshining that of its predecessor. So where will new director F. Gary Gray take Dom and the gang in Fast and Furious 8? Would you believe Cuba? The next chapter in the saga might be the first big Hollywood production to shoot in the longtime embargoed island country since the ’60s.
According to a new release from the studio, “Universal Pictures is currently in the process seeking approval from the United States and Cuban governments to explore shooting a portion of the next installment of the Fast & Furious series in Cuba.”
[Variety]
Jane Got a Gun
Natalie Portman is poised to sling some hot lead as a widowed mother out to avenge her husband and save her daughter in the latest trailer for the western Jane Got a Gun. Co-starring Joel Edgerton, Noah Emmerich, Rodrigo Santoro, Boyd Holbrook, and Ewan McGregor, the film arrives on January 29th.
Trolls
Dreamworks has just announced the entire voice cast for its upcoming animated epic Trolls, based on the perennially popular line of dolls. The film will feature Justin Timberlake, Anna Kendrick, James Corden, Russell Brand, Gwen Stefani, YouTube personalities GloZell Green and Meg DeAngelis, Kunal Nayyar, Ron Funches, and Swedish pop duo Icona Pop (a.k.a. Caroline Hjelt and Aino Jawo). Trolls lands on November 4th. Most of the cast broke the news yesterday via Twitter…
Hair we go…I’m officially a #Troll. #TrollsMovie #MeetBranch #HairPuns #ItsJustTheBeginning pic.twitter.com/IOhNvDqok7
— Justin Timberlake (@jtimberlake) January 6, 2016
Hair we go! Meet Poppy! #DreamWorksTrolls #HairGoals #NewYearNewMe pic.twitter.com/3CUNSVYtsK — Anna Kendrick (@AnnaKendrick47) January 6, 2016
Hair we go! Meet the Fashionistas! #DreamWorksTrolls #TwiceAsNice pic.twitter.com/wmey2OQaNs
— Icona Pop (@iconapop) January 6, 2016
Hair we go! Meet Guy Diamond! #DreamWorksTrolls #ShineBrightLikeGuyDiamond pic.twitter.com/feIWDdNmNt — Kunal Nayyar (@kunalnayyar) January 6, 2016
Hair we go! Meet Creek! #DreamWorksTrolls #LetYourHairUp pic.twitter.com/DSZDhqF7W8
— Russell Brand (@rustyrockets) January 6, 2016
Hair we go! Meet Cooper! I’m a Troll!!! #DreamWorksTrolls #FunchyTroll #FunchesofTrolls pic.twitter.com/q5fR72TjUS — Ronald Funches (@RonFunches) January 6, 2016
Hair we go! Meet DJ Suki! #DreamWorksTrolls #RockinTroll pic.twitter.com/6eOdaLKXuo
— Gwen Stefani (@gwenstefani) January 6, 2016
Hair we go! Meet Moxie voiced by @MegsDeAngelis! #DreamWorksTrolls pic.twitter.com/8WdeCFjHTr — DreamWorks Animation (@DWAnimation) January 6, 2016
[Twitter]
The Jungle Book
Finally, in case you missed it, yesterday we showed you the latest poster for Disney’s live-action adaptation of its animated favorite The Jungle Book. Check it out here!
Images: Disney, Universal, Dreamworks
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