Neve Campbell drops out of Scream 6; Steve McQueen has two high profile WWII films in the works; the cast of Fargo Season 5 should grab your attention. All in today’s Movie News Rundown.
But First: Tribeca Film Festival opens tomorrow and Margeaux Sippell has the report on the short film “Bumblebees” whose director, Sebastian Sdaigui, sadly passed away — but his legacy will shine beyond the film.
McQueen Doubles Down: Director Steve McQueen seems to love WWII as much as my History Channel-watching older brother growing up. Four years after Widows and two years after the Amazon series Small Axe, McQueen’s next feature is Blitz, which will tell “the stories of Londoners during the Blitz of World War II” Deadline reports. McQueen is also working on a WWII documentary for A24 and New Regency and Film Four (quite the triple bill) titled Occupied City which is focused on Amsterdam from 1930-45. McQueen’s 12 Years A Slave won best picture in 2013 and Apple won best picture last year for CODA which they acquired out of Sundance, so the pairing is creating some too-early awards chatter.
Neve Out: After this year’s Scream “requel” introduced a host of new cast members while bringing back the old, original Scream queen, Neve Campbell has confirmed that she will not be back for the sixth film in the franchise due to a contract dispute, Deadline reports. “As a woman I have had to work extremely hard in my career to establish my value, especially when it comes to Scream. I felt the offer that was presented to me did not equate to the value I have brought to the franchise,” Campbell said. One wonders if there might still be time to get this sorted out. Scream star Jenna Ortega also made some noise this week when she promised a “more gory” Scream 6.
Last Night: I attended a screening of Betsey Brown’s feature directorial debut, the very funny Actors, which stars Brown, her brother (actor/director Peter Vack) and their parents (not actor/directors) playing exaggerated versions of themselves. It’s being released by the Ion Pack, the once-secret podcasting duo who were only unmasked a few days ago, just in time for their New York Times profile. The podcasting “fanboys” are known for their in-the-know film world memes but are getting into releasing and producing films as well. Check out that profile as well as my write-up on last night’s event, which was moderated by Sean Baker, here.
Rejoice: Tokyo Vice, which is executive produced by Michael Mann, is returning for a second season, The Hollywood Reporter notes. The first season, starring Ansel Elgort as a “gaijin” or foreigner working the vice beat for the largest newspaper in Japan, is available to stream on HBO Max.
Fargo Casting: Season 5 of FX’s Fargo will be lead by Jon Hamm, Juno Temple and Jennifer Jason Leigh, according to Variety, which also notes: “The new season is set in 2019 and asks the questions when is a kidnapping not a kidnapping, and what if your wife isn’t yours?” Last season was a major misstep for the Noah Hawley-created anthology series, so let’s hope for a return to form. My favorite season? Gotta be the Patrick Wilson-led Season 2.
Main image: Scream star Neve Campbell. Courtesy of Shutterstock