This summer Dwayne Johnson will battle the world’s tallest building in the action-packed Skyscraper, and on today’s Nerdist News Talks Back we asked the film’s writer and director about sending The Rock on his biggest (literally) adventure yet, along with the latest look at the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series, the first image from the next Quentin Tarantino movie, and the latest controversy about Henry Cavill‘s facial hair.

Today (newly blonde) host Jessica Chobot, senior Nerdist editor Dan Casey, and Bizarre States’ Andrew Bowser welcomed the creator of Skyscraper Rawson Marshall Thurber to the studio to discuss his newest summer blockbuster with The Rock, but first they looked at the recently released intro for the upcoming Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon. Do we like this new version of the heroes? What turtle do we identify with the most? And what other Saturday morning cartoon should get a reboot next?

We also got a first look at the next Quentin Tarantino film Once Upon a Time in America, featuring Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt in all their 1969 glory. What do we make of it? Are we excited to see Tarantino’s take on the ’70s? This is ninth film, and since he’s said he’ll retire after ten what do we hope he does in his “final” one? And does his glib style have us worried about him making a movie based on the real Manson murders?

Speaking of worried, is it time to be concerned about Henry Cavill’s facial hair after someone discovered a magically appearing beard in the Mission Impossible – Fallout trailer? What the hell is this? Bad editing, strange lighting, or something else?

Hi I shared this gif with some friends of mine for thirst reasons and then one of them pointed out that Henry Cavill appears to spontaneously grow a beard and WHAT THE FUCK pic.twitter.com/gIyPLvSWfh

— Howard Ashman stan account (@MichaelChu7) June 25, 2018

Finally Rawson Marshall Thurber, the writer and director of Skyscraper, joined us to talk about how he got The Rock to tackle his tall task of fighting a building. Where did the idea come from? What other movies inspired him? Why was it important to have his main character and hero be disabled? Oh, and what the heck did a pineapple have to do with getting the movie made in the first? (Let’s just say The Rock sure knows how to sell a joke.)

A reminder–Nerdist News Talks Back is off tomorrow and will return next week, Monday to Thursday, on our YouTube and Alpha channels at 11AM PT. But to make it up to you our normally Alpha-only, hour-long entertainment wrap up Nerdist News What the Friday will be available this week on our YouTube and Twitch channels, at 1PM PT. So tune in with us to talk the biggest stories in pop culture, which these days includes the biggest star in Hollywood battling the biggest building ever.

What did you think of today’s topics? Talk back to us about them in the comments below.

Image: Paramount Pictures

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