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Post by franklin on Oct 14, 2020 19:40:43 GMT
So DiCaprio is one of the two scientists, as I suspected.
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Good God
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Post by Good God on Oct 14, 2020 20:02:11 GMT
So DiCaprio is one of the two scientists, as I suspected. Which means he is a co-lead alongside Lawrence, right? I thought Lawrence and Blanchett were playing the two scientists. Even this tweet makes it sound like DiCaprio, Lawrence, and Morgan play the primary roles, with the rest rounding up the cast in supporting or cameo roles. My feelings about McKay aside, that cast really is iconic. 5 actors that are generally considered the best actors of their generations (Streep, Blanchett, DiCaprio, Lawrence, Chalamet) and the rest are no slouches either.
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dazed
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Post by dazed on Oct 14, 2020 23:16:16 GMT
I have to say that I had no idea who Kid Cudi was, but I saw him in a movie called James White. Small supporting role, but he was very solid in it and I wondered if he had any serious ambitions for an acting career. He probably won’t have much to do here, but nice to see him land another role in something big like this. Kid Cudi is one of the greatest artists. Man on the Moon 1 and 2, as well as Kids See Ghosts are all time great albums. He’s a solid actor too. Apparently he’s really good in ‘We Are Who We Are’
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Post by mhynson27 on Oct 15, 2020 1:46:40 GMT
Only one source as mentioned Leo playing one of the two scientists. The rumour since like February has been that he's playing the President, and when Rob Morgan was announced a couple of months ago he was being touted as co-lead. We'll just have to see.
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Good God
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Post by Good God on Oct 17, 2020 1:02:10 GMT
McKay confirms the cast, starting 12:30DiCaprio: Scientist (lead role) Lawrence: Scientist (lead role) Morgan: Scientist (lead role) Streep: President (supporting role) Hill: Streep's character's son (supporting role) Blanchett: Political Talkshow Host (supporting role) Patel: Lawrence's character's boyfriend (supporting role)
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Post by mhynson27 on Oct 17, 2020 1:32:23 GMT
I stand corrected about Leo's role, my bad Franklin.
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Post by Pavan on Oct 17, 2020 7:23:56 GMT
Leo joined this? cool.
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Post by futuretrunks on Oct 31, 2020 22:22:42 GMT
Timmy tim watching Blood Diamond in his downtime
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Good God
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Post by Good God on Nov 19, 2020 20:18:09 GMT
Looks like this has started filming.
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Post by stephen on Nov 19, 2020 20:26:59 GMT
For some reason, this still doesn't feel like a real movie, but rather something that was auto-generated from a Mad Libs game.
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Good God
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Post by Good God on Nov 20, 2020 22:45:27 GMT
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Post by Billy_Costigan on Nov 20, 2020 23:22:08 GMT
Looks like this has started filming. Just noticed- it looks like Linus Sandgren replaced Robert Richardson.
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Post by Good God on Nov 24, 2020 22:58:47 GMT
Scriptshadow reviewed this. I'll put it under spoiler tags because it has a bunch of spoilers. My first impressions aren't good, but it reads like DiCaprio has an interesting character. There aren’t too many scripts I get excited for these days. I’ve read so many screenplays and so many writers that I pretty much know what to expect when I open a script. That all changes today. Today’s screenplay combines a guy who I believe is one of the most talented in Hollywood, Adam McKay, with a unique idea. It also has an interesting cast. I mean, who would’ve thought that Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence would ever work together? I can’t think of two people more polar opposite. All of this implies that we’re getting something special. Famous last words, right? Let’s jump into it.
Scientist Kate Dibiasky works for tenured Michigan State professor Randall Mindy. During a party, Kate does a little work and, while tracking a comet, watches it collide with an asteroid, which then sends the asteroid on a collision course with earth.
Kate tells Randall, who confirms with everyone in the department that, yes, this thing is going to hit and destroy earth in six months. So they call the White House and get a meeting with the president, but to their dismay, the president says they want to sit on this information for three weeks, as they don’t want to throw any wild variables into the upcoming election.
Since every second passed is one more second the world isn’t stopping this asteroid, Kate and Randall go on a publicity tour to warn the world, in the hopes that it motivates our government to stop this thing. Except the exact opposite happens. Nobody takes them seriously. Even on the big shows, their interviews don’t trend. Everyone thinks their story is cute but, you know, not likely to be true.
As Kate gets angrier and angrier, Randall starts to cozy up with the White House, despite the fact that they’re not doing anything. Which makes Kate even angrier! Eventually, even the president can’t deny that this asteroid is coming for them. And so they FINALLY come up with a plan to send nukes at the thing and knock it off course.
But during the launch, just as the nuke delivery guy has made it to space, he TURNS AROUND. What’s happening, Kate demands. Well, it turns out the Elon Musk-like Peter Isherwell has discovered over 4 trillion dollars worth of gold and diamonds on the asteroid. He’s made a deal with the White House to use a series of drone-nukes that will latch onto the asteroid at strategic spots, blow it up into small pieces, which they can then mine from the ocean.
The problem with this plan is that the asteroid is now so close that if something goes wrong, they won’t have another shot to destroy the thing. Will they be able to pull this mission off? Or is everyone going to die because no one will acknowledge that this great big asteroid is really going to hit us?
One of the first questions that popped into my head while reading this was, “Why did Leonardo DiCaprio agree to make this movie?” The character of Randall isn’t like anything he usually does. I don’t remember the last time DiCaprio did comedy. I guess he’s sort of comedic in Tarantino’s movies. But I don’t think he’s ever done satire, has he?
Anyway, it all became clear when I realized this movie was an allegory for global warming. It’s about the fact that there’s this giant asteroid coming at us but nobody wants to “look up.” They all stare at the ground and ignore it in favor of the latest tick tock drama or what sexual misgiving the newest supreme court nominee engaged in 30 years ago. Global warming is DiCaprio’s passion (even if he likes to fly private jets everywhere). So if you share DiCaprio’s passion for this subject matter, you too, will probably enjoy this.
As a story, though, I had trouble getting into it. Satire has never been my thing. So that’s part of it. But the bigger part is that I didn’t care about Kate or Randall. And isn’t that what it always comes back to? It doesn’t matter if you have a great plot. It doesn’t matter if you’re passionate about the subject matter. If we’re uninterested (or even casually interested) in your characters, it’s not going to work.
Kate is one-note. All she does the whole time is be pissed off. That’s it. She tells people about the asteroid and when they don’t take it seriously she throws up her hands and says, “I’m done.” When you repeat the same beat over and over again for a character, that character becomes boring quickly.
Randall is a little more complex. He’s got this cheating scandal going on and he eventually turns to the dark side by cozying up with the president. But I never got a handle on him at all. At least with Kate, I could designate her. She was “the angry character.” You could give me all the time in the world and I still wouldn’t be able to tell you what kind of person Randall was.
This is why I remind writers, early on in their script, to figure out your character’s defining trait. Joker wants to fit in with the world. Jordan Belforte is addicted to excess. In Run, the mother loves her daughter too much. I don’t have any idea what Randall wants. And that hurts the story because if you have one character who’s too thin and another who’s undefined…. You don’t have a movie.
I’m going to make a grand assumption here and guess that McKay was so set on exploring his theme that he overlooked the people delivering it. This happens to all writers. Whenever we start a script, we have a specific reason we want to write it. Maybe it was the concept, a character, a theme, we want to tell a breakup story because we just went through a devastating breakup. Whatever it is, it’s often specific. What happens, though, is we develop a blindspot to everything else in the story. Those other variables aren’t the reason we wrote the story so we don’t care about them as much.
The script does have some funny moments. There’s a whole thread about “impact deniers.” Congress doesn’t initially approve the “Save The Planet Bill” due to partisan politics. The woman Randall has sex with gets off on being told the specific scientific ways the asteroid is going to destroy the planet. And there was the occasional funny line, such as this exchange in an early interview on a news show – Kate: “Well, it became apparent that the large asteroid’s orbit was changed by the hit, the collision… and it is now on a course to directly and catastrophically hit earth in just over five months.” Newsperson: “Now how big is this rock? Could it damage say, someone’s house?”
Also, even though I wasn’t that invested in the story, I did want to read til the end. There’s something to be said about a strong hook and wanting to see how that hook is resolved. I genuinely did not know, until the last 15 pages, if McKay would have earth get its s%$# together or kill everyone off. So at least I was uncertain where the story was going, which is more than I can say for most of the scripts I read.
But I don’t know, guys. I’m neutral on the script’s theme. The main characters were average at best. I didn’t laugh as much as I hoped to. And satire is one of my least favorite genres. When you add all those things together, you get my lukewarm response. It seems like a good movie to put on Netflix though. I’m not convinced something this off-center could have been produced for theatrical distribution. What do you think?
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Post by franklin on Nov 24, 2020 23:06:59 GMT
It must be good enough, otherwise McKay couldn't have lured this star-studded A-list to join in.
Plus, I trust DiCaprio's instincts, regardless whether you like him or not as an actor, he knows how to pick the right scripts and filmmakers.
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Post by Good God on Nov 24, 2020 23:10:32 GMT
It must be good enough, otherwise McKay couldn't have lured this star-studded A-list to join in. I think that's more a consequence of actors not wanting to sit at home, twiddling their thumbs, while theaters are closed and Netflix is beckoning. With Lawrence firmly on board and DiCaprio enticed by the not-so-subtle climate change allegory, no wonder the likes of Streep or Blanchett didn't mind signing on. Now, I might take that back after I've read the script or watched the movie, but that's what I feel going by McKay's previous work and the review I posted.
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Post by Good God on Nov 25, 2020 0:16:33 GMT
LOL, the script is available for download here. Viced, don't ban me if Netflix sues you over this.
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Post by mattfincher on Nov 25, 2020 0:20:21 GMT
It must be good enough, otherwise McKay couldn't have lured this star-studded A-list to join in. Plus, I trust DiCaprio's instincts, regardless whether you like him or not as an actor, he knows how to pick the right scripts and filmmakers. Meh. David Leitch just got Brad Pitt, Lady Gaga, and Michael Shannon for what sounds like a generic action movie. I like McKay more than most on here, but it's about supply and demand. Right now there isn't a lot of films shooting. McKay's last two films have generated awards success and he's very easy to work with by all accounts.
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Post by futuretrunks on Nov 25, 2020 5:08:46 GMT
Not impressed, as I elaborated on partially on AW. If this script is better than Soggy Bottom and Nightmare Alley (and it's possible, as it's better than Inherent Vice [the script, not the book, which was very good and fuck PTA for being so stupid he couldn't make that work] and I don't trust Del Toro at all), 2021 is still going to be a disappointing movie year for me.
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Post by Good God on Nov 25, 2020 6:38:22 GMT
Just finished reading the script. Not going to do a review, but some positives and negatives, in my opinion:
Positives: 1. Surprisingly believable until about 2/3rds of the way in 2. No explicit winking at the audience shit, from what I could tell, which McKay really sucks at 3. Some really good casting. Jonah Hill, in particular, will be an absolute hoot, I can already tell. I think Streep and Blanchett will also be a lot of fun. DiCaprio has an unusual role and I can't quite peg him in it yet. Will be interesting to see how he plays it.
Negatives: 1. Goes off the rails in the last third. Turns from being a mostly believable absurdist comedy into an out-an-out satire 2. Lawrence's character is boring and annoying, and Lawrence doesn't give boring performances, so she's going to make it an annoying performance 3. Adam McKay is directing
Overall, if McKay shows some restraint and executes well, it should be a fun and timely movie. I don't really see this being anything special though.
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Post by Pittsnogle_Goggins on Nov 30, 2020 23:16:01 GMT
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Post by Good God on Dec 1, 2020 18:08:34 GMT
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Post by iheartamyadams on Dec 2, 2020 11:59:59 GMT
lol Love Leo’s look here.
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Post by Pittsnogle_Goggins on Dec 10, 2020 18:45:21 GMT
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Post by pupdurcs on Dec 10, 2020 18:53:33 GMT
I keep saying, Evans is making very smart moves. First that thriller-two hander with Gosling, now getting himself in an ensemble with some of the most prestige actors in Hollywood. He's subconsciously letting people believe he belongs in that kind of company.
I feel like he might be the first Chris to get an Oscar nomination, even though Pine has been closer and trying more.
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Post by stephen on Dec 10, 2020 18:57:25 GMT
Adam McKay out here looking to out-A-list Endgame.
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