Need a quick recap of the past week in movie news? Here are the highlights:
Regina King picks a Bitter Root: Watchmen star Regina King has attached herself to another comic book adaptation, and this one she’ll direct. According to The Hollywood Reporter, King will follow-up her feature filmmaking debut, last year's acclaimed historical drama One Night in Miami, by helming a feature based on Image Comics’ Bitter Root. Working for Legendary Entertainment (Godzilla vs. Kong), she will also produce the race-themed movie — about a family of monster hunters in 1920s Harlem — alongside Black Panther writer/director Ryan Coogler.
Lord & Miller have a Premonition: Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, the duo best known for helming smart, yet silly animated films including The LEGO Movie and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and broad buddy comedies, like 21 Jump Street, are taking on such serious material as the COVID-19 pandemic. Deadline reports the pair will direct an adaptation of Premonition, a nonfiction book by The Big Short author Michael Lewis about the early days of and warnings about the coronavirus threat.
Idris Elba will Stay Frosty: Russo brothers protege Sam Hargrave, who made his feature directorial debut last year with the Netflix Original Extraction, will helm a Christmas-set action movie for Warner Bros. According to Deadline, the project is titled Stay Frosty, and it will star Idris Elba as a man who survives a bullet to the head in an assassination attempt and then sets out to figure out who wanted him dead while also trying to evade more threats on his life and return home for the holidays to be with his son.
Robert De Niro is My Father: Speaking of paternal roles, Robert De Niro will play the titular character in the comedy About My Father. Deadline reports that the movie will be somewhat based on the life of comedian Sebastian Maniscalco, who previously co-starred with De Niro in The Irishman. Maniscalco co-wrote the screenplay for About My Father and will also star as “himself” in the story, which depicts the awkward weekend when his Italian-immigrant father met his then-girlfriend’s all-American family.
Bong Joon-ho turns to animation: Oscar-winning filmmaker Bong Joon-ho, who wrote and directed the recent Best Picture-winner Parasite, is creating his first animated feature. The untitled project was previously announced, but it has just now been revealed to be a change in format for the Korean auteur, according to Variety. The plot, however, sounds more like familiar territory for Bong as it deals with sea creatures, though these are likely more natural than the river monster of his 2006 movie The Host.
