Kendall Succession John wick mel Gibson
A photo from the production of “Succession” in White Plains, N.Y., on Sunday, May 16, 2021. Photo: David M. Russell/HBO ©2020 HBO. All Rights ReservedCredit: C/O

Even Succession directors have anxiety sometimes; Mel Gibson joins the cast of Starz’s John Wick prequel; congrats to all the winners from Out On Film and Festival of Cinema NYC! All in today’s Movie News Rundown.

But First: On every episode of the Low Key podcast, Aaron Lanton, Keith Dennie and MovieMaker editor Tim Molloy talk about new films and shows — except this week, because Keith has made a movie of his own. We talk with him and producer Charles W. Bush (no relation to the guy who was president — remember that? Wild times!) about how they made the movie and overcame a ridiculous obstacle in post. You can listen on Apple or Spotify or right here:

https://shows.acast.com/low-key/episodes/the-moment-feat-charles-w-bush

‘Utter Paranoia’: Even a director of what is, in my humble opinion, the best show on TV gets anxious sometimes. Comforting! I spoke to Succession director Mark Mylod, who helmed the first two episodes of Succession Season 3, and he told me that he felt “utter paranoia” going into the highly anticipated new season of the HBO show about unhinged billionaires — because he was afraid that it wouldn’t live up to the wild success of Season 2. That’s understandable. But to be fair, he said he was also afraid that Succession Season 2 wouldn’t be able to match the wild success of Succession Season 1, either, but it absolutely did. So far, Season 3 reviews are raves!

Mel Gibson Joins the John Wick Universe: Ole’ Gibby Gib, a nickname for Gibson that I just made up, has signed on to The Continental, the upcoming John Wick prequel series to the popular Keanu Reeves films, Deadline reports. Produced by Lionsgate, it’s only going to be three episodes long and will premiere as a special-event TV series on Starz. The Continental will be set in 1975 New York and will tell the origin story behind the hotel for assassins that is featured in the films. The main character will be a young Winston Scott, played by Colin Woodell (The Flight Attendant). Gibson will be playing a character named Cormac, and Hubert Point-Du Jour (The Good Lord Bird), Jessica Allain (The Laundromat), Mishel Prada (Vida), Nhung Kate (The Housemaid) and Ben Robson (Animal Kingdom) have also been cast, Deadline reports.

Meet Derek and DaleThe Good Liars comedy duo of Jason Selvig and Davram Stiefler have a new docucomedy coming out on Nov. 14. It’s called The Supportersand the two star as a pair of best friends from Pennsylvania who desperately want to get their pro-Trump podcast, Derek and Dale, off the ground — and land their dream job at Fox News. Based on the trailer, which you can see below, the movie involves Borat-style pranks on public figures including Joe Biden, Andrew Yang, and Donald Trump Jr. — they even run into former president Trump himself.

Congratulations: Out On Film, Atlanta’s LGBTQ film festival presented by WarnerMedia, announced its winners, including Marley Morrison’s Sweetheart, which earned jury awards for Best Narrative Feature and Best Ensemble, and T.J. Parsell’s Invisible: Gay Women in Southern Music, which won both the jury prize and the Audience Award for Best Documentary. More details about the festival are here.

More Congratulations: More winners! The 5th annual Festival of Cinema NYC awarded Best Feature Film-Narrative to Holger Borggrefe and Stefan Hering’s Two is a Magic Number, while Samuel Tressler IV’s Leda won Audience Choice for Best Feature Film. Here’s more about the festival.

Did Someone Say ‘More Festival News’?: The SCAD Savannah Film Festival just announced a few more honorees for next week’s festival, which takes place in person and virtually from Oct. 23-30. Simon Rex from Red Rocket, who you might know by his other name, Dirt Nasty, will receive the Spotlight Award, while Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Power of the Dog) will receive the Discovery Award. On that note, I’ll be attending SCAD fest, so be sure to read the Rundown next week for more updates! Get your tickets here.

Emily Blunt Eyes OppenheimerThe Mary Poppins and Jungle Cruise actress is in talks to star opposite Cillian Murphy as his on-screen wife in Christopher Nolan’s next movie, Oppenheimer, Deadline reports. Murphy will star as J. Robert Oppenheimer, the scientist who ran the Manhattan Project from which came the invention of the atomic bomb.

If You Miss MoviePass: Those who miss the glory days of the ill-fated MoviePass will remember the joys of its short-lived unlimited movies for $10-a-month gimmick. Mubi, the movie-streaming service, has found a way to make a similar concept work. It’s launching a new service called MUBI GO that gives subscribers one free movie ticket a week to a newly released film (of Mubi’s choosing), valid at participating theaters. Starting Oct. 29 in New York, its first curated movie pick will be Netflix’s Passing, based on the book by Nella Larsen that I was supposed to read for my college ethics class but, regrettably, did not. After its theatrical release, Passing, directed by Rebecca Hall and starring Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga as two women of color who can “pass” as white but choose to live on the opposite side of the color line in 1920s New York, will begin streaming on Netflix on Nov. 10. New Yorkers can subscribe to Mubi here.

May I Editorialize: I know, I know, this isn’t movie news, but I am very glad that The Bachelorette is back on TV and am wishing Michelle Young the very best on her journey to finding love! Let’s all savor our remaining time with Tayshia Adams and Kaitlyn Bristowe as co-hosts before we are forced to watch another nondescript white man (no offense to Jesse Palmer; full offense to Chris Harrison) have heart-to-hearts with nervous 20-somethings on reality TV. Congrats to Nayte for getting the first-impression rose last night. Oh, and Reality Steve, if you’re reading this — don’t you dare spoil this season for me!

Main Image: Jeremy Strong as Kendall Roy in HBO’s Succession.

Mentioned This Article: