Indiana Jones 5 Director James Mangold Discusses His Approach for Taking Over

Frank Marshall wants more directors to come in and shake up the Jason Bourne franchise. Jason Blum says there’s been movement on the long-in-the-works Spawn movie. Watch Legends of Tomorrow trap its heroes inside Friends and Downton Abbey. Plus, a preview of the Rick and Morty season finale, and Judy Greer gets a killer emotional support dog. Spoilers, away!

Jason Bourne

Bourne Identity producer Frank Marshall stated he’s looking for “different filmmakers to come in” and reinvigorate the franchise during a recent interview with Collider.

I do like the Bourne series, and I do think that’s an opportunity for different filmmakers to come in now. So, I’m hoping that we can find a new story for Bourne and a new filmmaker. We are looking.

Indiana Jones 5

During a recent “Quarantine Watch Party” of his film Logan, James Mangold discussed his approach to directing the next Indiana Jones movie.

But like in all my work, I’m always trying to find an emotional center to operate from. I think the most important thing is, in an age when franchises have become a commodity, that serving the same thing again. At least for me, in the dances I’ve had with any franchises, serving the same thing again, the same way, usually just produces a longing for the first time you ate it. Meaning, it makes an audience wish that they just had the first one over again. So you have to push something to someplace new, while also remembering the core reasons why everyone was gathered.

And to use Logan as an example of that, when you’re dealing in a world of a very pressured franchise — for all of the things, and there were many that I freed myself from in the canon, in the baggage, to try and make the best story— the core values of Logan, of Wolverine, and Charles Xavier and the X-Men, were something that I felt we never abandoned. The core ideas of their honor, their sense of duty, and the uniqueness of this particular set of characters that they were outcasts, oddities. Beings that had no home in this world, and yet we’re trying to do good. Were trying to do something right and find their way. Those core issues were at the heart of the movie. And in any franchise I take in, I’d always be trying to capture and make sure that we preserve those core ideas that are at the center, because that’s why these stories are more than franchises. They’re the fairy tales of our contemporary culture.

[Comic Book]

Avatar 2-5

According to producer Jon Landau on Instagram, production on the Avatar sequels will resume this week in New Zealand, so celebrate with some behind-the-scenes look at space boats!

Spawn

In a recent interview with Comic Book, Jason Blum revealed “there has been an enormous amount of [recent] activity” regarding the new Spawn movie.

There has been an enormous amount of activity on Spawn. No new news that I’m going to reveal here, I’m sorry to tell you, but the title Spawn, I’ve been uttering that word a lot in the last two or three weeks and we’ll have more news to come. I wanna make the movie so badly, I wouldn’t put that past myself, and it’s an excellent question, but in this case, I’ve actually been talking to other people about it.

Project Blue Book

Showrunner Sean Jablonski revealed he and series creator David O’Leary are hopeful a streaming service will rescue Project Blue Book from cancellation.

History has sort of opted out of the scripted series business. Which is in some ways good for us, because the studio that produces and ultimately pays for the show is committed to finding another home for it like on a streaming service, which we feel could present a larger audience for us.

Legends of Tomorrow

In conversation with TV Line, Marc Guggenheim discussed the challenges of mimicking the production techniques of Star Trek, Downton Abbey, Friends and Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood on tonight’s episode of Legends of Tomorrow.

It’s Friends, Star Trek [and] Downton Abbey, with a bit of Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood thrown in for good measure. What was so much fun about working on these little homages was we shot each one true to the spirit of those individual shows. For example, for Friends, the art department created a set that was like the proscenium, multi-camera set for a half-hour comedy, and we shot it like a multi-cam half-hour. We had three cameras working, and we staged it like you would stage an episode of Friends. With Downton Abbey, we favored long lenses, and when we’re in the kitchen with the servants, we go handheld.

With Star Trek, it’s a lot of dollies and sort of dramatic push-ins. So we really tried to not just make it look like the individual shows, but really make them feel [like the shows]. In fact, with Star Trip, we even shot the spaceships practically. We did miniatures instead of our normal CGI. So we built a Romulan ship, and we built the Faterider, and then we did a whole day of shooting against green screen. We did the old-school technique that, I think, ILM developed for Star Wars, where you move the camera, not the ships, and it creates the illusion that the ship is moving. So we brought out all the old-school techniques.

In the meantime, here’s a sneak peek of Zari punching a hole from the Friends dimension and into the Downton Abbey universe.

Supergirl

Melissa Benoist also spoke to TV Line about Kara’s relationship with William in season six.

What’s exciting for Kara is the amount of possibilities. She’s had quite a bit of time to herself without any love interests, so I think it’s great that there was a possibility at all in Season 5. I would anticipate it even going into Season 6, with complications arising, but I’m glad people are curious. What’s really fun on TV is watching slow burns with romance, so I think people can expect that.

Snowpiercer

The trial of the “Snowpiercer killer” causes Third Class to revolt in the synopsis for “Justice Never Boarded,” airing June 14.

Tensions between Third Class and First Class are boiling as Melanie (Jennifer Connelly) stages the trial of the Snowpiercer killer. Third Class threatens a work stoppage, demanding representation on the jury, and Melanie makes a fateful decision about which side to favor.

[Spoiler TV]

Into the Dark

Judy Greer poses with her killer emotional support dog in a new photo from “Good Boy,” the Animal Appreciation Week episode of Into the Dark — courtesy of Bloody-Disgusting.

JJ Villard’s Fairy Tales

Catherine Hicks voices the fairy godmother who brings Pinocchio (Tales from the Crypt’s John Kassir) to life in a clip from next week’s episode of JJ Villard’s Fairy Tales.

Rick and Morty

Finally, Rick uses an invisibility belt to escape another therapy session in a clip from next week’s season finale, “Star Mort: Rickturn of the Jerri.”

_{Banner art by Jim Cooke.}