"Lion King" Revival Announces Cast

Your childhood memories are about to get Beyoncé'd.

Disney's The Lion King is getting the live-action treatment and previews for it have already shown great promise. Disney has now revealed the list of stars that will voice your most cherised prepubescent traumas. Standouts include James Earl Jones as Mufasa (he also voiced the original in 1994), Chiwetel Ejiofor as maybe-gay uncle Jafar, and budding singer/song-reader Beyoncé Knowles-Carter. The voices of the new King features great diversity that we hope is indicative of the crew behind-the-scenes. 

Check out the full main cast up next...

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Love is complicated for Keira Knightley

by Murtada

It seems that Jason Clarke has cornered the market on playing husbands whose wives look elsewhere in 2017. That is one of the plot threads of the Sundance hit Mudbound where Carey Mulligan plays his wife, who has eyes for his brother played by Garrett Hedlund. And now in the The Aftermath he’s a British colonel in Germany right after WWII, whose wife (Keira Knightley) forms a bond with the German widower (Alexander Skarsgård) who used to own the house they now live in. The film just finished shooting in Prague under the helm of James Kent (Testament to Youth). It might appear on the fall festival circuit.

Knightley was seen this week in London shooting scenes for that Love Actually sequel we’ve been hearing so much about...

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Doctor Strange, Alexandra Byrne, and Superhero Oscar Trivia

'Last one to Oscar is a rotten egg!'

Doctor Strange (1 time nominee Benedict Cumberbatch) and Baron Mordo (1 time nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor) are running from or towards something in this set photo from the forthcoming Doctor Strange which opens November 4th, 2016. Also in the cast are other 1 time Oscar darlings Tilda Swinton and Rachel McAdams and future Oscar nominees (well, maybe... eventually) Mads Mikkelsen and Michael Stuhlbarg. 

After the jump more set photos, costume design, and Oscar prospects...

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Chiwetel

'They had faces then,' yes. The famous Sunset Blvd appropriation is still accurate. But it doesn't tell the full story. They have faces now, too. (Hollywood just isn't as sure-handed about to frame them.)

Evidence: Look at this one. Were happy to keep looking at Chiwetel Ejiofor as long as Hollywood keeps casting him.

Photography by Greg Williams

Secret in Their Link

DListed - Ralph Fiennes breaks out the dance moves at the Venice premiere of A Bigger Splash
NYT Aretha Franklin suing to block festival showings of Amazing Grace, a recently finished documentary about the making of her album filmed in 1972.
Variety looks at the swift progress of new distributor Broad Green Pictures which surprised everyone with its acquisition of and good numbers for A Walk in the Woods. They also have Learning to Drive in theaters
The Globe and Mail an evening with Udo Kier (!)

 

AV Club in his continuing bid to not ever be remotely as cool / likeable as he once was Johnny Depp is joking about eating his dogs
WSJ Magazine "A day in the life of Danny Strong" a profile of the diminutive Emmy-winning ever busy actor/screenwriter of Buffy and Girls fame behind the scenes of Empire's second season
Yahoo Judy Carne (Laugh-In) dies at 76
MNPP Who Wore it Best: Luke Evans speedo edition 
Playbill Magic Mike ....the Musical may start its stage run in Las Vegas rather than on Broadway
Boy Culture Jean Darling of Our Gang silent serials has died at 93 
Comic Alliance on the "very serious" "no-jokes" "grimace" of Batman Vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice. Good conclusion
Variety Will Smith has replaced Hugh Jackman in Collateral Beauty and Rooney Mara has exited the project, too
The Broadway Blog looks back at The Pajama Gang which got a movie version in 1957
MNPP Jake Gyllenhaal gifs from Demolition. Sweet medicine. I'm seeing this Thursday night. woooo 

Oscar Season Cometh
Awards Daily on emergent Telluride Oscar contenders from Black Mass and a lot of praise for Spotlight
The Hollywood Reporter from Telluride: a lukewarm reaction to Carol (?), Black Mass's hilarious and haunting moments, great performances in Room, and not loving Suffragette

Image of the Day
How perfect is this photograph of Chiwetel Ejiofor from Interview by Sølve Sundsbø? Director Cary Fukunaga interviews him so it's double-handsomness).

FUKUNAGA: You have how many movies coming out this year?

EJIOFOR: Well, there's Secret and The Martian, and, next year, Triple 9. And then I'll be shooting the Doctor Strange movie.

FUKUNAGA: It's exciting. And I've done one thing that whole time. [Ejiofor laughs]