1997’s Con Air is a classic Jerry Bruckheimer-produced action movie that has only become more and more beloved over the years. The movie, which you can stream with a YouTube TV subscription, features an insane plot, over-the-top action, and, perhaps most importantly, an absolutely stellar cast. Nicolas Cage leads a group of award-winning actors, including John Cusack, Steve Buscemi, Ving Rhames, Dave Chappelle, Danny Trejo, Mykelti Williamson, and others.

The most inspired casting decision for the time has to be John Malkovich as Cyrus "The Virus" Grissom, as this was one of the projects that helped turn him into a household name. Thus, as it turns out, snagging Malkovich wasn’t as difficult as you might imagine.

Malkovich Barely Read Any Of The Script Before Accepting The Role

One might think an actor with the pedigree of Malkovich might scoff (at least at first glance) at starring in a summer blockbuster movie full of explosions and cheesy (but awesome) action movie dialogue. Maybe it would take some cajoling and a Brinks truck full of cash to get an Academy Award nominee to play a crazy convict like Cyrus the Virus. In fact, it didn’t take either. Malkovich was in right away.

Recently, Malkovich appeared on the podcast Club Random with Bill Maher and explained why he didn’t even need to read the full script before accepting the role. After letting a friend read the script before him, the friend told the In The Line Of Fire star that the script was terrible and didn’t make sense. The veteran actor saw the potential, though. Not only was there more to Con Air than silly action scenes, but there was depth to the script. And a lot of money to be made. Malkovich told Maher:

Malkovich immediately tapped into what made Con Air different than most action flicks of the era. There is something more to it than just plane crashes and explosions. The cheekiness is on the surface, but it’s also subtly pretty smart, with easter eggs like naming the prisoners after poets (they aren’t all Romantic-era poets, but we’ll let that slide). The depth of Con Air is a big part of what has made one of the best action movies ever so enduring. This isn’t Transformers.

The story also illustrates part of what makes Malkovich so enduring, as well. He isn’t a snob, even if he sometimes comes across like one. He’s willing to do any kind of movie if it appeals to him on any level, and that’s why we all love him in so many different kinds of roles.

One of Apple TV+’s best shows, Bad Monkey, already had major star power because it’s led by Vince Vaughn. However, it just got more because John Malkovich is joining Season 2. We also learned a bit about who he’ll be playing in the series, too, and it’s given me a dream for the upcoming episodes that involves the show’s leading man.

John Malkovich Is Joining Bad Monkey Season 2

While the first season of Bad Monkey was a book-to-screen adaptation of Carl Hiaasen’s novel, Season 2 will be an original story with Malkovich set to seemingly play a crime boss.

The Being John Malkovich actor will play a character named Spencer, per THR, and he’s a “leader of a big criminal organization in South Florida.”

Considering Yancy’s whole thing is solving crimes, I’d guess he will not get along with this Spencer. So, that means when Bad Monkey returns and we can watch new episodes with an Apple TV+ subscription, we’ll hopefully get to see some sort of silly standoff between Vaughn and Malkovich.

I Hope His Character Ends Up In A Hilarious Standoff With Vince Vaughn’s Yancy

Season 1 of Bad Monkey gave us some incredible action and some wild sequences – like the moment when Zach Braff’s character got covered in blood while sawing off Rob Delaney’s character’s arm. The show has a knack for balancing dark situations with comedy, and I have a feeling we’re going to get instances like that between Vaughn and Malkovich’s characters (or at least I’m hoping that’s the case).

While I am hopeful these two will go head-to-head frequently, my primary dream is that they have some sort of huge and really funny standoff at the end.

Just take a look back at Vaughn’s best work and Malkovich’s best movies, and you’ll understand what I mean. They are both such gifted comedic actors who, for lack of a better term, know how to commit to the bit. Therefore, seeing them go head-to-head in this wacky Florida-set comedic mystery sounds like a great climax for this new season.

Vaughn and Malkovich actually both starred in the 2020 movie Arkansas together, which is also a quirky crime thriller. On top of that, thinking about movies like Malkovich’s Being John Malkovich and even the action comedy Red have me very excited to see him and his comedic skills go up against Vaughn.

So, here’s hoping that we get some sort of epic and hilarious standoff between these two, because I’m pretty positive it’d be incredible.

Personally, I think it’s certainly possible for this to happen. However, at the moment, we really don’t know much about Bad Monkey Season 2. So far, we know the upcoming Apple TV+ series is moving production from Florida to LA, and we know that it will be executive-produced by Vaughn, Bill Lawrence, Jeff Ingold, Matt Tarses, Liza Katzer and Adam Sztykiel.

We currently don’t know when the show will come out or who else will join/return to the cast at this point. However, we do know Vaughn and Malkovich will be there, and I know I cannot wait to see how their characters interact whenever Bad Monkey Season 2 hits our screens.

After almost seventeen years after the conception of the Marvel Cinematic Universe timeline of flicks, fans finally got The Fantastic Four: First Steps, the first MCU movie featuring Marvel’s First Family. While the 2025 movie release has been getting good reviews, it’s hard not to feel a bit let down about some elements we didn’t see in the film. For example, John Malkovich was teased in the trailer but didn’t make it to the final cut. The movie's director is now opening up about how “heartbreaking” it was to remove the legendary actor from the final cut.

The impressive cast of Fantastic Four originally included John Malkovich, who was tapped for a secret role that turned out to be the supervillain Red Ghost. During a recent press event in Los Angeles, director Matt Shakman shared with Elite Daily that juggling all the different elements in this new Marvel movie was quite the challenge. Shakman talked about how tricky it was to keep everything managed with so much going on, saying:

Despite the deletion of Malkovich's Red Ghost, some fans still might wonder if a director's cut is in the cards. If you’re hoping to catch that scene in such a cut or via an individual scene release, you might want to lower your expectations. It wouldn't actually be possible for Matt Shakman and co. to release that footage and, as the filmmaker explained, there are VFX-related reasons for that:

But, fret not, because there is still the possibility that we could see Malkovich return in a future FF installment or Marvel project. When pressed, the director added:

John Malkovich’s scenes were reportedly in the movie early on, as they helped cover the first family’s superhero beginnings. This sequence shows the team of superheroes taking on the Red Ghost and his crew of Super-Apes, which might explain all the unfinished visual effects the filmmaker talked about.

Shakman's decision to cut certain scenes, such as Malkovich’s portrayal of the Red Ghost, makes a lot of sense, especially given that the filmmakers were working with a large cast. The film features Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm, Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm, Julia Garner as the Silver Surfer, and Ralph Ineson as Galactus. This extensive lineup made the filmmakers realize that including another villain would not align well with the overall story.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps opened in theaters on July 25. So be sure to check your local listings for showtimes and to see what other major new superhero movies are headed to a theater near you. Those who want more MCU action and other classic FF films can also stream those with a Disney+ subscription.

The latest of upcoming Marvel movies is just a week away, and that means we’ll finally get to see the sprawling cast of Fantastic Four: First Steps… minus one. Despite there being a tease for John Malkovich’s role in the MCU movie in the first teaser trailer for the blockbuster, the movie’s director has revealed the Oscar winner has been cut from Fantastic Four. And, as you might imagine, the decision wasn’t made without some anguish from the filmmaker.

John Malkovich Has Been Cut From Fantastic Four: First Steps

In a Variety interview, director Matt Shakman shared that John Malkovich will not have his MCU debut when the Fantastic Four release date happens next week. The actor was apparently going to play the role of Red Ghost, who is an early adversary of the team in Marvel Comics who has the ability to phase through solid objects after an experiment gone wrong in space. As Shakman explained,

Fantastic Four: First Steps, which is reportedly has a runtime a few minutes under two hours, will introduce the beloved team of superheroes to the MCU through the studio’s unique retro-futuristic vision we haven’t seen before from the franchise. However, as Shakman shared, all the ideas they had for the world just weren’t able to ultimately fit in the theatrical cut.

But it cannot be an easy decision to cut John Malkovich from your movie, and as Shakman shared, it wasn’t. He recalled the actor was “brilliant” in the role of Red Ghost, and “gave it his all.” Perhaps, we’ll get to see Malkovich’s work once the bonus features come out?

The Personal Reason Why The Decision Was Particularly Hard For The Fantastic Four Director

Matt Shakman cast John Malkovich after the filmmaker previously worked with the actor back in the first movie he ever directed, 2014’s Cut Bank. As such, it was particularly difficult for him to not have Malkovich in the movie. As he continued in the new interview:

John Malkovich spoke about joining the MCU back in February before he was cut from the movie. The actor recalled having a “fun” experience on the set even though he found it to be “quite odd” to make a movie with a set consisting of “giant screens and 18 epic cranes”. The 71-year-old also said Fantastic Four was the first time he’d joined the franchise because he didn’t like the “deals they made” to him before.

It’s too bad this tough decision was made, but given Malkovich’s role could perhaps have a chance in a sequel? You can see Fantastic Four: First Steps in theaters on Friday, July 25.

Here’s the thing: I love Con Air. I was blown away by the all-time great action movie when I first saw it as a kid back in 1997, and 28 years later, I’m just as obsessed with it. Even though some things will never make sense about the star-studded action flick, there’s so much to love. You’ve got one of the wildest Nicolas Cage characters, an amazing John Cusack performance, and quite possibly the most ruthless group of villains of all time led by John Malkovich’s Cyrus “The Virus” Grissom.

Though Cyrus is quite possibly one of the most charismatic, intelligent, and meanest bad guys of the ‘90s, I don’t think he’s the worst of the worst aboard the “Jail Bird.” Sure, he’s the ringleader of it all and adds more notches to his kill count than anyone else in the movie, but there are some runaways on the plane that are far more rotten. Let me explain…

Cyrus ‘The Virus’ Grissom

While it is true that Cyrus “The Virus” Grissom orchestrated the whole hijacking, killed an ungodly number of people, and has a rap sheet longer than just about anyone in Con Air, it’s argued in the movie that he’s a “true product of the system.” It doesn’t absolve this show-stealing villain of his crimes, but it’s all he’s ever known.

The 11 inmates killed during his stints in prison, three riots, and two escape attempts won’t put him on the “nice” list, but unlike some of his co-conspirators and fellow passengers, John Malkovich’s utterly insane character did at least have standards. Despite having “killed more men than cancer,” Cyrus despises assalters, has no time for white nationalists, and is incredibly loyal to those who have his back (just don’t turn against him).

Nathan ‘Diamond Dog’ Jones

Nathan “Diamond Dog” Jones, Ving Rhames’ militant domestic terrorist in prison for blowing up an NRA meeting, is nearly as charismatic and devilish as Cyrus, and he also has quite the bite. One of the orchestrators of the prison transport plane takeover, Diamond Dog is pretty much The Virus’ right-hand man. And despite being a very, very bad man, his charm, wit, and smile make it hard to hate on him too much.

Yeah, he kills a lot of folks, adds several more felonies to an already impressive list, and makes life a living hell for Cameron Poe (Nicolas Cage), but again, it’s hard to keep this dog down.

Earl ‘Swamp Thing’ Williams

Earl “Swamp Thing” Williams (M. C. Gainey) is one of the hijackers we learn the least about in Con Air. Outside of being a skilled pilot (and knowing how to properly remove a plane’s transponder) and fellow inmate, nothing much is said about him before or after he hitches a ride in Carson City. However, his crazy sense of humor, facial hair, and general disdain for authority put him in the middle of the pack as far as terribleness goes.

Joe 'Pinball' Parker

I miss the days when Dave Chappelle would randomly show up in movies like You’ve Got Mail and Con Air, because he had a perfect batting average in the late ‘90s. Though Joe “Pinball” Parker doesn’t get a whole lot of time in the movie before he gets crushed by the landing gear and ends up smashing through that old dude’s car, he does play a key role in taking over the plane.

The serial arsonist catching a fellow inmate on fire kickstarts the whole takeover of the plane, and him quickly grabbing a guard’s keys allows the more violent offenders to escape their cages. If he’d kept his mouth shut (and that balloon of fuel and matches) in his stomach, Cameron Poe would have made it home on time.

Francisco Cindino

Francisco Cindino (Jesse Borrego) is only in Con Air for a short while before he gets turned into a pile of ashes by Cyrus Grissom, but this guy had it coming. A South American drug lord and terrorist who helped finance the whole operation, Cindino made the mistake of trying to double-cross one of the most ruthless men to ever go through the United States Penal System.

William 'Billy Bedlam' Bedford

Okay, now it’s time to talk about the bad of the bad when it comes to Con Air villains. First up is William “Billy Bedlam” Bedford (Nick Chinlund), a man with absolutely no redeeming qualities. He’s not bright, he’s not funny, he’s not nice, and he has one of the most disturbing reasons for being in prison in the first place.

This guy didn't kill his wife after catching her having an affair, but instead drove four towns over to her family's house where he killed her parents, her brothers, her sisters, and even the dog before it was all said and done. Plus, he didn't put the bunny back in the box when Cameron Poe politely asked him to leave his stuff alone.

John ‘Johnny 23’ Baca

Danny Trejo may be a badass in real life, but his character in Con Air was one depraved sicko. John “Johnny 23” Baca, whose name would be “Johnny 600” if the authorities knew how many women he had assaulted before being caught, even has a tattoo representing each of his victims on his arm.

The serial assaulter, who mostly just looked scary and made multiple threats to Guard Sally Bishop (Rachel Ticotin) on the flight, showed not even a sliver of remorse from start to finish, which made him one of the worst of the worst on “Jail Bird.”

Garland ‘The Marietta Mangler' Greene

Steve Buscemi’s Garland Greene is introduced as “The Marietta Mangler” when he is brought aboard the plane like Hannibal Lecter halfway through Con Air, and instantly becomes one of the most insane and unforgettable convicts on the escape path. While the man responsible for countless murders does seem to be one of the nicer convicts on the flight (at least on the surface level), that's far from the case.

Despite his friendly demeanor, keen observation skills, and ability to point out irony in the worst of times, I can’t set aside the fact that Greene bragged about driving through multiple states wearing a victim’s head like a hat. But his successful escape at the end of the movie does have me bummed we never got a Con Air sequel.

So, Who's The Worst?

If Cyrus “The Virus” Grissom isn’t the worst of the worst from Con Air, then who is it? Well, after thinking long and hard about this, I firmly believe that it’s Billy Bedlam who is the sickest, most depraved, and unlikable convict aboard the plane. Not only did he kill his wife’s family (and dog) so that she would suffer even more, and not only was he a chicken shit throughout the movie, but he also messed with Cameron Poe’s attempt to do the right thing and ruin his surprise for his daughter.

Johnny 23 and Garland Greene weren’t far behind, but Billy Bedlam was just the worst…

Bonus: DEA Agent Duncan Malloy

Before I go, I just have to point out that DEA Agent Duncan Malloy (Colm Meaney) has to be the biggest jerk in Con Air and possibly in any ‘90s movie. It’s partially his fault that everything got chaotic in the movie, and his “AZZ KIKR” license plate gives off some serious inferiority complex like he’s Kirk Millhouse sleeping in a racing car on The Simpsons. However, his introductory line of “this is spectacular” when describing his car is one of the best parts of the movie.

I know Cyrus “The Virus” Grissom is a terrible guy who deserved to go out by getting crushed by some random piece of equipment off the Las Vegas Strip, but there’s no denying he’s one of the best villains of all time.

Marvel’s First Family is heading back to the big screen as the upcoming The Fantastic Four: First Steps is one of the forthcoming Marvel movies that has generated a ton of buzz ever since it was announced. While much has been said about the core cast, one particularly intriguing addition is legendary actor John Malkovich. His involvement has been shrouded in mystery, with no official word on who he’s playing. But, now, Malkovich is finally offering some insight into his experience filming the highly anticipated superhero movie release.

John Malkovich recently spoke with Variety at the Los Angeles premiere of his upcoming A24 movie release, the horror thriller Opus. During the chat, Malkovich pulled back the curtain—just a little—on what it was like working on the set of Fantastic Four. While he didn’t give away any spoilers about his character, he did admit that shooting a massive superhero blockbuster was a unique experience, explaining:

It’s unsurprising to hear that the Seneca star found the experience unusual. Unlike the more grounded and often practical sets of his past projects, working on a big-budget Marvel movie usually means acting in front of green screens, surrounded by towering VFX rigs and motion-capture performers. For an actor who has said no to Marvel until now and has spent much of his career in more traditional dramatic and indie films, stepping onto an MCU production must have been a pretty surreal adjustment.

Still, despite the unusual environment, John Malkovich had nothing but good things to say about his time on set. He added:

That’s high praise coming from the two-time Oscar nominee, whose body of work spans everything from Being John Malkovich to Dangerous Liaisons to Red and beyond. As for the cast he referenced, the core characters are being played by Pedro Pascal (Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic), Vanessa Kirby (Susan Storm/The Invisible Woman), Joseph Quinn (Johnny Storm/the Human Torch) and Ebon Moss-Bachrach (Ben Grimm/The Thing).

While the Man in the Iron Mask star remained tight-lipped about the specifics of his role, online speculation has been running rampant. Some fans still hold out for a Spider-Man connection, though I doubt that will be the case. Here are a few of the top contenders for characters the Illinois-born thespian might more realistically be portraying:

• Puppet Master - Few of the Fantastic Four's villains have a more personal vendetta than Philip Masters, the Puppet Master. Using rare radioactive clay, he can control people like marionettes. His obsession often leads to conflicts with Ben Grimm, aka The Thing (played by Ebon Moss-Bachrach), due to Masters' adopted daughter, Alicia, having a close bond with him.
• The Red Ghost - One of the more popular theories, which gained traction after the Color Me Kubrick actor’s brief appearance in the teaser, is that he might be portraying The Red Ghost. This character was first introduced in Fantastic Four #13 in 1963. Ivan Kragoff is a Soviet scientist who acquires the ability to phase through solid objects following an experiment gone wrong in space. Additionally, he commands a trio of superpowered apes.
• Nathaniel Richards – If Marvel Studios wants to lay the groundwork for the Fantastic Four’s future in the MCU, the Ripley alum could be an ideal choice for Nathaniel Richards, the time-traveling genius and father of Reed Richards. In the comics, Nathaniel travels across timelines, delivering cryptic warnings and pivotal revelations that change Marvel's history. Malkovich's talent for playing enigmatic characters makes him a fitting candidate and, with MCU’s multiverse in play, introducing Nathaniel could lead to exciting storytelling opportunities.
• Franklin Richards – Some fans believe John Malkovich might not be a villain but a future version of Franklin Richards, son of Reed Richards and Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby). Although the teaser doesn’t mention Franklin directly, his involvement isn’t ruled out. In Marvel Comics, Franklin is an incredibly powerful mutant capable of reshaping reality. With the MCU introducing mutants, having Franklin appear as an older version of himself could be a bold choice.

At this point, it’s all speculation, but that’s half the fun when it comes to new installments of the MCU. Whether Malkovich ends up playing a villain, a hero, or someone in between, one thing is for sure—it sounds like he had a good time on set which will only help him bring something memorable to the F4. With First Steps debuting amid the 2025 movie schedule on July 25 fans won’t have to wait too long to find out.

Now that Captain America: Brave New World is playing in theaters, there two more upcoming Marvel movies left for release this year, the second of which is The Fantastic Four: First Steps. It will follow a few months after Thunderbolts*’ arrival on the 2025 movies schedule, and while there’s plenty we know about The Fantastic Four: First Steps, there are still numerous mysteries left to be solved for the reboot, including the identity of John Malkovich’s character. What isn’t a mystery, however, is why Malkovich joined First Steps after turning down numerous opportunities to appear in the MCU, and I immediately think of one of the actor’s most well known quotes from his filmography: “Pay that man his money.”

Yes, the well-known line that Malkovich’s KGB said about Matt Damon’s Mike McDermott in 1998’s Rounders immediately sprang to mind when I read what the subject of Being John Malkovich told GQ about what he’s avoided Marvel movies until now. He started off saying:

Basically, it boils down to John Malkovich knowing his worth and not accepting anything less. I’m curious to learn what these other Marvel movies are that he’d ben approached for, but regardless, he didn’t think he was being offered a fair deal for half his year being taken up on a blockbuster production. Ironically though, doing The Fantastic Four: First Steps made him realize that working on it wasn’t that different than what he would have rather been doing if he wasn’t being decently paid. In his words:

Fortunately for MCU fans and the general moviegoing public, Marvel Studios finally channeled John Malkovich’s Rounders character and paid him an amount for The Fantastic Four: First Steps that met with his approval. As I mentioned, we still have no idea whom John Malkovich is playing in the first Phase Six movie, and it remains to be seen if that will be revealed in interviews or marketing ahead of time or if it’s being saved for the movie. I think it’s probably safe to assume, though, that he’ll have a solid amount of screen time if all this effort went into bringing him aboard

Malkovich’s cast-mates in First Steps include Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Joseph Quinn, Ralph Ineson, Julia Garner, Paul Walter Hauser, Natasha Lyonne and Sarah Niles, The movie, which is directed by WandaVision’s Matt Shakman and takes place in a different corner of the Marvel multiverse, opens in theaters on July 25.

Sometimes an actor just explodes on the scene with their first movie. Many of the people on this list have even been nominated and won awards for their first roles. Most, of course, have gone on to have long, successful careers, so let's look back at these actors who absolutely crushed it in their first roles. 

Lupita Nyong'o - 12 Years A Slave

It didn't take long for Kenyan native Lupita Nyong'o to make a huge splash in Hollywood. After a little time working on movie sets behind the camera, she studied acting at Yale and landed her seminal role in 12 Years A Slave almost immediately after graduating. The performance speaks for itself, and Nyong'o deservingly took home an Oscar for it. Amazingly, three years later, she won a Tony in her Broadway debut in Eclipsed.

Sean Penn - Taps

Sean Penn has had a long, storied career and while many may assume his breakout role came as the stoner Spicoli in Fast Times At Ridgemont High, but a year before cracking up audiences in that cult classic, he played a very different role as a would-be soldier at a military academy in Taps. Notably, Tom Cruise also made his breakthrough role in the movie alongside Penn. 

Reese Witherspoon - The Man In The Moon

Over the last 4 decades or so, Reese Witherspoon has not only become one of the most acclaimed actresses in Hollywood, but a major force behind the scenes as a producer. It all started for the Nashville native with her debut in The Man In The Moon in 1991. It's always impressive when a newcomer can lead a personal film like this, and Witherspoon showed early how good she is by doing so. 

Natalie Portman - Leon: The Professional

There are a few actors in Hollywood who broke big when they were very young. From the moment you see Natalie Portman on screen in her first role as Mathilda in Leon: The Professional, you know she's going to be big. Yeah, it's an uncomfortable movie to watch for obvious reasons - Portman was just 13 - but seeing how brave she was to take on a complicated role like that, it was clear she was destined for greatness. 

Edward Norton - Primal Fear

Has there ever been a more terrifying and convincing debut performance from an actor than Edward Norton in Primal Fear? It's one of the all-time great grifter films and Norton's performance is the major reason why. He's scary, both in character and in talent. 

Florence Pugh - The Falling

It's hard to believe Florence Pugh made her debut in The Falling in 2014. It seems like the actress has been around forever as she keeps picking amazing roles and crushing the performances, just like her first. 

Kevin Bacon - National Lampoon's Animal House

Every actor in Hollywood is connected to Kevin Bacon, as the game claims, and that's because for more than five decades he's been giving amazing performance and amazing performance. His first movie, the classic comedy National Lampoon's Animal House is certainly no exception as he plays a snobby, snarky, frat boy to perfection. There is nothing he can't do.  

Halle Berry - Jungle Fever

In 2001 Halle Berry became the first African-American woman to win the Best Picture Oscar for Monster's Ball. That was just 10 short years after she made he incredible debut in Spike Lee's Jungle Fever. The former beauty pageant contestant has been one of the most reliably great stars in the years since, starring in some of the biggest franchises in Hollywood including the X-Men, James Bond, John Wick, and much more. 

Jennifer Hudson - Dreamgirls

After finishing seventh in the third season of American Idol, we all knew Jennifer Hudson could sing. When she was cast as Aretha Frankin-like Effie White in Dreamgirls, it didn't surprise anyone. At least, we weren't surprised until we all saw just how her powerful voice was matched by her powerful acting. She took home the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in her big-screen debut. 

Eddie Murphy - 48 Hrs.

By the time Eddie Murphy starred in 48 Hrs. alongside Nick Nolte in 1982, he was already a bonafide TV star from his time on SNL. Known for his great characters and hilarious lines on SNL, it wasn't clear if he could carry a movie. 48 Hrs. settled that, he definitely could and he's been leading them ever since. 

Marlee Matlin - Children Of A Lesser God

Marlee Matlin has been breaking down barriers since the very beginning of her career. Deaf from the time she was a small child, there must have been many people who told her she could pursue her dreams. Instead, she became not only the deaf actor to win an Oscar in his debut movie, Children Of A Lesser God, but the youngest woman to take home the statue as well. 

Anne Hathaway - The Princess Diaries

From the very beginning, Anne Hathaway has been wowing audiences. Her first movie is still one of her most beloved, The Princess Diaries. She even got to star alongside true film royalty. Julie Andrews. She didn't seem intimidated then, and she never has been since. 

Tim Curry - The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Tim Curry's first movie has become the dictionary definition of a cult classic. The Rocky Horror Picture Show was a flop when it was released, but in the decades since, it's become one of the most popular movies of all time with a fanbase that is not just dedicated, but rabid in its love for the movie and for Curry's character, Frank-N-Furter.

Emma Stone - Superbad

Superbad is one of those comedies that very really gets old, especially if you grew up with it as a staple of your DVD rotation. Emma Stone's character Jules is not the kind of character you'd expect to be as funny as she is, which makes Stone pretty much perfect for the role, as she is as effortlessly funny as she is effortlessly beautiful. She's gone on to tackle some characters with incredible depth, but she set the foundation in Superbad. 

Oprah Winfrey - The Color Purple

There is really nothing Oprah Winfrey can't accomplish. She was already on her way to becoming the biggest daytime talk show in history by the time she landed a role in Steven Speilberg's classic The Color Purple. It turns out Winfrey can do a whole more than coax the most out of guests on her talk show, she can act really act, earning an Oscar nomination in her film debut. 

Julie Andrews - Mary Poppins

It's really hard to believe that Julie Andrews didn't make her true film debut until she was nearly 30 years old, when she appeared as the legendary Mary Poppins in the film of the same name. Of course, Andrews was well-established as a stage actor at that point, but still, it was the golden age of Hollywood, you'd think she would have been cast in something well before Mary Poppins. At least we can be grateful she was cast here. 

Alan Rickman - Die Hard

Hans Gruber in Die Hard is, without a doubt, one of the greatest villains of the 1980s. Knowing that it was the film debut of the incredible Alan Rickman makes it all that more impressive. He plays the role with such confidence and panache, that it's almost too much to believe it was his first movie role, but it was. 

Anna Paquin - The Piano

Anna Paquin won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in The Piano. She was just 11 years old! Anyone who does that deserves a spot on any list like that. She's the second youngest ever to win an Oscar and in the years since she's continued to wow us with her work. 

Jamie Lee Curtis - Halloween

Jamie Lee Curtis basically invented the modern scream queen in horror movies in her debut in Halloween. It's a genre she's only returned to a few times in her long, impressive career, but we're sure glad it's where she got her start. 

Hailee Steinfeld - True Grit

It's a little remarkable how many young girls pop up on a list like this. One of the most recent examples of a teenager just crushing her film debut is Hailee Steinfeld. Not only did she have the pressure of playing a beloved literary character like Mattie Ross in True Grit, but she also had to act alongside legends like Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, and Josh Brolin. She doesn't just hold her own, either, she steals the movie. She rightly received an Oscar nomination for her work.  

Glenn Close - The World According To Garp

Glenn Close burst on the scene with award-winning performances on Broadway before transitioning to film with her debut on the silver screen in The World According To Garp where she picked up where she left off on the stage, getting nominated for an Oscar. She would earn Oscar nominations (but sadly no wins) for her next two movies as well, The Big Chill and The Natural. 

Robert Duvall - To Kill A Mockingbird

Robert Duvall's career goes all the way back to the 1950s, when he first appeared as Boo Radley in one of the most beloved movies about the American South, To Kill A Mockingbird. He only has a small role, as the character with an outsized effect on the plot who is only seen at the end, but he embodies the character so many kids learn to love when they first read the book in high school. 

John Malkovich - Places In The Heart

There is no question that John Malkovich is one of the finest actors of his generation. He's completely fearless in all the roles he plays and that's true going all the way back to his first role as a blind World War I vet in the Depression-era film Places in the Heart alongside Sally Field, Danny Glover, and Ed Harris. 

Lily Tomlin - Nashville

Though she was already a comedic legend on TV, having appeared on Laugh-In and The Carol Burnett Show, Lily Tomlin showed what range she really had as a gospel singer and mother to two in Nashville. She's continued to show those skills over and over in the decades since. 

Gal Gadot - Fast & Furious

Gal Gadot is best known as Wonder Woman these days, but she made her debut in another giant Hollywood franchise when she appeared in Fast & Furious, the fourth installment of the Fast And Furious series. The ex-Israeli army veteran has impressed fans of the movies in each of her 3 appearances by performing most of her own stunts.  

Kerry Washington - Our Song

Our Song is an underrated movie that is everything great about independent filmmaking. It's an intensely personal story about a unique moment in time for the characters and the audience. Kerry Washington simply blows audiences out of the water with her powerful and heartfelt performance. It's incredible how good she was in her first movie. 

Dustin Hoffman - The Graduate

So, technically Dustin Hoffman had already had a small role in a film before The Graduate (a movie called The Tiger Makes Out). For all intents and purposes, he introduced himself to the world with an Oscar-nominated performance in one of the most iconic movies in Hollywood history, The Graduate. It's a movie people still love talking about and lauding, even nearly 60 years later. 

John Cazale - The Godfather

The incredible and tragic story of actor John Cazale is well-known among movie buffs. Cazale only starred in five movies before he died of cancer at just age 42. All five of those movies won the Oscar for Best Picture The first, his first, was, of course, The Godfather. Though his character, Fredo, would play a larger role in the sequel, he still established himself as one of the greatest of his generation before we all lost him too soon.  

Gabrielle Union - She's All That

Actor Gabrielle Union has definitely made her mark not only on Hollywood but on the world with her stellar performances and her charity work outside of film. HE burst onto the scene in She's All That and she's never slowed down since. 

James Dean - East Of Eden

The great James Dean is one of the biggest "what ifs" in Hollywood history. Though he did have some uncredited roles in a few movies, the young actor starred in just three movies, including his first East Of Eden. For that role, he would receive an Oscar nomination, though he wouldn't live to see it, as he was killed in a car crash before being nominated. A feat that would be repeated the next year with Giant.

Jason Schwartzman - Rushmore

Though Jason Schwartzman comes from a prominent Hollywood family, that didn't guarantee success. Instead, he went out in his first movie role, in Rushmore, and absolutely embodied his character of Max. It's every bit as impressive as anything his mom Talia Shire has done, and that is no small feat. 

Keisha Castle-Hughes - The Whale Rider

When Keisha Castle-Hughes was nominated for an Oscar at just 12 years old for The Whale Rider, you knew she was one to watch for. She was, at the time, the second-youngest person nominated for an Oscar and not only was the nomination well-deserved, but she's continued to justify the voters' confidence in her with her roles over the last couple of decades. 

Accents are incredibly difficult and to be clear, this isn't knocking any of the people on this list's acting talents. Some of the best actors in the world often struggle with accents. In fact, everyone on this list should be praised for taking the risk and even attempting one. That said, this is still a list of actors with bad accents in a role. 

Dick Van Dyke – Mary Poppins

Quite possibly the most notorious of an actor messing up an accent is Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins. The Midwest native's take on a London Cockney accent is... rough. The rest of his performance is legendary, of course, but boy, it's rough to hear him talk sometimes. 

Keanu Reeves – Bram Stoker's Dracula

Keanu Reeves is an icon, but let's be real, some of his acting performances in the past haven't been the best. The most glaring example is his performance in Bram Stoker's Dracula. It's a stilled example of an English accent that comes across as really unconfident. He's much better in the John Wick movies, to say the least. 

Don Cheadle – Ocean's Eleven

Don Cheadle is one of the best actors in Hollywood and is proof that even the best get it wrong sometimes. His cockney accent in Ocean's Eleven is brutal. In a way, it can be excused, as everyone in the movie is just chewing the scenery the whole time, but still, you expect more. Especially because we've all seen him do amazing accents like in Hotel Rwanda, a movie so good you never want to see it again. 

Daniel Craig - Knives Out

This one might get some pushback from fans – and I am a huge fan of Daniel Craig and Knives Out – but the accent is distracting. Cajun accents are tough, so for even attempting it, Craig gets credit, but he's been much better at other accents, like his straight southern accent in Lucky Logan. 

Kevin Costner – Thirteen Days

Thirteen Days is one of the best movies about the Cold War we've ever seen, but Kevin Costner's Boston accent isn't what makes it great. Costner's performance outshines the accent, but it's still pretty distracting, as it's way off. Boston accents are hard to do, so we'll forgive him. 

Tom Cruise – Far And Away

Another one of the most notorious accents in Hollywood history is Tom Cruise's attempt at an Irish accent in Far And Away. The movie itself is a lot better than its reputation would have you believe, but Cruise, one of the biggest movie stars of the last few decades, has a rough go of it. He's not alone in that, either. 

John Malkovich – Rounders

John Malkovich's career is filled with amazing, and often over-the-top performances. Maybe his most over-the-top is that of the Russian "KGB" in Rounders. His accent is presumably supposed to be Russian, but wow, who knows what it really is? It's wild, that's for sure. He even joked to co-star Matt Damon that he is a "terrible actor," which, of course, is false, even here. 

Brad Pitt – Meet Joe Black

This one is on the list because it's a popular choice as one of the worst ever, but I'm here to defend it...sort of. His Cajun patois is not great, that's true, but, for one, that's a really hard accent to nail, and some have defended it. It also could be argued that it fits his character to not quite understand how to speak normally, as he talks about in other parts of the film. Pitt gets a pass here. 

Mickey Rooney – Breakfast At Tiffany's

In one of the most indefensible roles in the history of Hollywood, Mickey Rooney's bad accent is actually the least offensive part. You can argue about 1961 being a different time, but it wasn't that different, and having Rooney play an offensive caricature of a Japanese man was called out even at the time for how offensive it was. 

Julia Roberts – Michael Collins

The beloved Julia Roberts has been in some of the best movies of the last 30 years. Michael Collins isn't a bad movie, but it's also not among Roberts' best films. While she can usually be counted on for great performances, her Irish accent here misses the mark. 

Anne Hathaway – One Day

Anne Hathaway is an Oscar winner for good reason. She's consistently great in her movies, and in roles that range from rom-coms to comic supervillains. In One Day, she adopts a British accent...sort of. It's not bad when she nails it, but it's wildly inconsistent. 

Brad Pitt - Seven Years in Tibet

Seven Years In Tibet is an underrated movie in my opinion. In all honesty, I don't know if Brad Pitt's accent is truly bad, or if it's just really annoying. I tend to think it's a combo of both. Her performance otherwise is great, and the movie's visuals are stunning, making it well worth suffering through the iffy accent. 

Jack Nicholson – The Departed

This is one that might get some pushback, but I think Jack Nicholson's Boston accent in The Departed is terrible. Given all the great accents in the movie, some by Boston natives, some not, this one really sticks out as not being all that great. Nicholson is awesome as the menacing Frank Costello, but he should have just played it straight. 

Angelina Jolie – Alexander

Okay, what in the ancient world is going on here? Angelina Jolie's accent in Alexander is just wild. It's sort of Greek, sure, but we're not even sure what the ancient Greeks sounded like, so why even go here with this acting choice? Jolie is a wonderful actor and director, but this is not her finest moment. 

Emma Watson – The Bling Ring

Emma Watson's biggest accent sin in The Bling Ring is how inconsistent it is. Maybe the hardest part for an actor is staying consistent, but this one still needs to be highlighted here. A Valley Girl, Watson is not. 

Ewan McGregor – Black Hawk Down

Black Hawk Down has an amazing cast, many of whom are not American, all playing American servicemen. To be honest, all the accents in the movie, from Orlando Bloom, Tom Hardy, and others are a little dicey. It probably isn't fair to only call out Ewan McGregor, but it's not his finest work, either. 

Kevin Costner – Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

What can be said here? It's the bad accent that beats them all. Kevin Costner's accent (or sometimes lack of) in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves has been knocked ad nauseam over the years and there isn't much more to say about it. It's not just poor, it's not even there sometimes. 

Cameron Diaz – Gangs Of New York

Let's be clear, Cameron Diaz is not alone with her poor accent in Gangs of New York. Leonardo DiCaprio isn't at his best, either. It's maybe a little more striking in Diaz's case though. It's hard though, when you are going up with Daniel Day-Lewis, who probably spent months and months perfecting his American accent for the role.  

Blake Lively – The Town

If you're not from Boston, it had be a deceptively difficult accent to master. It's not as simple as dropping the Rs, though that is hard to do consistently also. It's also the long vowels and other more nuanced parts of the accent that make it very tricky. Blake Lively is great in The Town, but her accent leaves a lot to be desired. 

Vanessa Hudgens – The Princess Switch

In one of the weirder choices on this list, Vanessa Hudgens decided to go with what is ostensively a British accent in The Princess Switch when she easily could have just gone with her regular accent. Sure, she needed to differentiate herself from...herself as she was also playing the other role in the movie in this Parent Trap-like movie, but still, she was a princess of a fictional country, the accent could have been anything 

Scarlett Johansson – Don Jon

Scarlett Johansson is from New York, and is an excellent actor. That's why it's such a surprise that she missed with a New Jersey accent in Don Jon. Once again, it's an example of a great performance losing a point or two because of the dodgy accent.

Jared Leto – House Of Gucci

Most of the actors in House Of Gucci struggle a little with the Italian accents. Jared Leto, however, sounds like a cartoon character. It's more like Mario than Paolo Gucci. I give him props for trying, heck I give them all props for trying, but it just doesn't work. 

Mel Gibson – Braveheart

I have a lot of problems with Braveheart. The history is notoriously poor, and the acting by Mel Gibson is so over the top, that it's comical, hence all the memes, right? Often lost in that is how sketchy Gibson's Scottish accent is in the movie. 

Quentin Tarantino – Django Unchained

Quentin Tarantino is arguably the best director of the last 30 years with nine (or ten, depending on how you count Kill Bill) great movies out of nine directed. Django Unchained is no exception, but you can't excuse the Australian accent Tarantino tries to pull off in his acting role in the movie. It's not good - and it's not like he's a bad actor, either. 

Harrison Ford - K-19: The Widowmaker

With all due respect to the Gods of the 1970s and '80s, I don't want to besmirch the great Harrison Ford. Sadly, I have to for his messy attempt at a Russian accent in K-19: The Widowmaker. We all love Ford's gruff voice, but it's better when he sticks with his natural accent. 

Nicole Kidman – Far And Away

Tom Cruise gets a lot of gruff for his Irish accent in Far and Away, but that shouldn't distract from Nicole Kidman's sketchy work. The Aussie struggles as much as the American in the film. 

Alan Rickman - The Butler

Alan Rickman, who is one of my favorite actors ever and responsible for some amazing performances, has one of his most uneven in The Butler as President Ronald Reagan. It's not just the accent, though that is part of it. He speaks weirdly softly and it feels like a shallow performance, which was unlike Rickman, most of the time.  

Michael Caine - On Deadly Ground

The great Michael Caine has but one accent – the Michael Caine Accent. It's so iconic, that it's as imitated as Christopher Walken's. When he gets away from it, it gets a little bizarre, as it does in On Deadly Ground. Now, the semi-retired Caine is co-starring in a Steven Seagal movie, so you can't blame him for really going over the top, even if he misses. 

Brad Pitt – The Devil's Own

In The Devil's Own, Brad Pitt makes a go at an Irish accent. I'll always applaud Pitt for going for tougher roles, but he really does struggle with accents, and here is no exception. It is distracting, but I appreciate that he goes for it. 

Jennifer Lawrence – Red Sparrow

As the winner of one Oscar and owner of three more nominations, Jennifer Lawrence is clearly one of the best actresses so far in the 21st Century. Red Sparrow is not her best work though. The movie is surprisingly boring, and her Russian accent, while far from the worst here, is in and out throughout the whole film. 

Ana De Armas – Blonde

Make no mistake, Ana De Armas made a bold decision to play not only an American actress but one whose voice is very familiar to movie fans everywhere, Marilyn Monroe. Blonde was a challenging choice for the Cuban actress and for that she should be celebrated, but when the brass tacks were down, her accent was not the best part of her performance. 

Charlie Hunnam – Green Street Hooligans

If you want to understand how hard accents can be, look no further than Englishman Charlie Hunnam's attempt at a cockney accent in Green Street Hooligans. While Hunnam is English, he's from Newcastle, not East London, and boy does it show. Hunnam was decent doing an American accent in Sons of Anarchy, but he doesn't kill the cockney accent here, in fact, he's so inconsistent it's distracting in an otherwise super fun cult classic. 

The Fantastic Four have had a rocky time of it on the film front. A movie starring Marvel’s First Family made in 1994 never even got released, the movies from the 2000s earned mixed critical reception and never made much of a splash at the box office, and the 2015 reboot was a dud all around. But it’s like the old saying goes, the fifth time’s the charm, right? Maybe not, but we do know that The Fantastic Four: First Steps will finally give audiences a version of this team that are part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise.

Plot-wise, little has been revealed about this upcoming Marvel movie, though it's been confirmed it will be set in another universe rather than the main MCU reality. What has been an open book is learning which actors are starring in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, which includes Pedro Pascal and Vanessa Kirby playing two of its heroes. So let’s discuss them and the others who have been announced or reported so far.

Pedro Pascal

Although Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness saw John Krasinski cameoing as Earth-838’s Reed Richards, a.k.a. Mister Fantastic, he’s not reprising the role for The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Instead, it’ll be Pedro Pascal bringing the stretchy superhero to life following Ioan Gruffudd and Miles Teller. In addition to having prior superhero movie experience from playing Maxwell Lord in Wonder Woman 1984, Pascal goes deep with genre projects overall, with that list including Game of Thrones, The Mandalorian and The Last of Us.

Vanessa Kirby

Unlike Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby doesn’t already have superhero movie experience, but she does know her way around the action genre thanks to Hobbs & Shaw and two of the Mission: Impossible movies, with a third one on the way. She’s also well known for playing Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon on The Crown as a series regular in the first two seasons, and a guest role in Season 5. She’ll succeed Jessica Alba and Kate Mara in playing Sue Storm, a.k.a. The Invisible Woman, in The Fantastic Four: First Steps.

Ebon Moss-Bachrach

Ebon Moss-Bachrach has already spent some time in the MCU playing David Lieberman, a.k.a. Micro, in The Punisher Season 1, but needless to say Benjamin Grimm, a.k.a. The Thing, is a much bigger role, one previously played by Michael Chiklis and Jamie Bell. The actor’s other genre experience includes NOS4A2 and Andor, but these days, he’s most famous for playing Richie Jerimovich in The Bear, which netted him an Emmy win and Golden Globe nomination, among other accolades.

Joseph Quinn

Joseph Quinn has been professionally acting for over a decade, but in 2022, he gained worldwide fame for playing Eddie Munson in Stranger Things Season 4. That paved the way for him to be cast in A Quiet Place: Day One and Gladiator 2, but The Fantastic Four: First Steps is arguably his biggest project yet. Like Chris Evans and Michael B. Jordan before him, he’s been cast as Johnny Storm, a.k.a. The Human Torch.

Julia Garner

If you’re a Netflix subscriber, then there’s a good chance you’re familiar with Julia Garner from Ozark and/or Inventing Anna. Film-wise, her body of work includes The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For and The Royal Hotel, but it’s safe to say that The Fantastic Four: First Steps is her biggest cinematic project yet. Garner has reportedly been cast as Shalla-Bal, who is the love interest of Norris Radd, a.k.a. The Silver Surfer, in the comics. However, apparently for this movie, Garner’s version of Shalla-Bal will be Silver Surfer instead, which begs the question of where thing with Norrin stand, assuming we even see him.

Paul Walter Hauser

From I, Tonya and Richard Jewell to Cruella and Da 5 Bloods, Paul Walter Hauser has acted in some major movies over the years, and he’s also been present throughout Cobra Kai as Stingray. As far the Fantastic Four reboot goes, his role is officially being kept a mystery for now, but we shouldn’t necessarily assume he’ll be on camera. Taking into account his voice acting work in Orion and the Dark and Inside Out 2, I suspect he may be the voice of H.E.R.B.I.E. the robot, who’s in the first official piece of concept art with Reed, Sue, Ben and Johnny.

John Malkovich

Arguably the most famous actor on this list, John Malkovich is jumping back into the superhero movie genre for the first time since he played Quentin Turnbull in 2010’s Jonah Hex, although he did also play Marvin Boggs in the RED movies, which were loosely inspired by the same-named DC Comics limited series. In any case, as with Hauser, Malkovich’s role in The Fantastic Four: First Steps hasn’t been disclosed yet, but our own Eric Eisenberg is hoping he’ll play The Vulture, as the actor was going to bring that villain to life in the scrapped Spider-Man 4. It's more likely, though, that he's been cast as someone like Franklin Storm, Sue and Johnny's father.

Ralph Ineson

Remember when Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer depicted Galactus as a cosmic hurricane cloud? Well, that won’t be happen with The Fantastic Four: First Steps, as Ralph Ineson has been cast in the role. Ineson, known from movies like The Witch and The Green Knight, confirmed this news on social media, though it remains to be seen if his version of Galactus will resemble his traditional appearance from the comics or be depicted differently. I also worry that Galactus’ inclusion in this movie could mean that the Fantastic Four’s Earth will be consumed by him, assuming this reboot does take place in another corner of the Marvel multiverse.

Natasha Lyonne

Whether you’ve been a fan of Natasha Lyonne stretching back to the days of American Pie and Scary Movie 2, or you became enamored with her from shows like Russian Doll and Poker Face, there’s no denying Natasha Lyonne’s talent. Now, per Deadline, she’ll enter the superhero genre by taking part in The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Her role is being kept under wraps for now, though it would be interesting to see her paired with Ebon Moss-Bachrach’s Ben Grimm as Alicia Masters, his blind, sculptor girlfriend.

Directed by Matt Shakman, and Josh Friedman having written the most recent draft of the script, The Fantastic Four: First Steps opens in theaters on July 25, 2025. Check back here for more casting additions, and remember that the majority of the Marvel movies in order and all of the MCU’s tie-in TV shows can be streamed with a Disney+ subscription.

Back in 2010, John Malkovich was is the process of preparing to make his first ever Marvel movie, but things unfortunately didn't work out as planned. Director Sam Raimi wanted him to play Adrian Toomes a.k.a. The Vulture opposite Tobey Maguire's Peter Parker in Spider-Man 4, but the project was scrapped prior to production, with the studio deciding to reboot the web-slinger franchise with The Amazing Spider-Man.

Now, almost a decade-and-a-half later, Malkovich is once again in line to join an upcoming Marvel blockbuster, as he is reportedly being added to the cast of Marvel Studios' upcoming Fantastic Four... and while there presently aren't any details about the part he will be playing, I find myself holding on to the thin hope that he will finally be getting his opportunity to play The Vulture.

The Fantastic Four casting update comes from Variety, which says that he has signed on to be in the Matt Shakman-directed film opposite Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Paul Walter Hauser, and Julia Garner. The trade doesn't offer any clues about the nature of his character or the size of the role... and when left with so much room to speculate, I find my fingers crossing that the film will involve some multiversal chaos that will allow Malkovich to play the villain role that got away.

There isn't anything publicly known about the movie that would necessarily count it out, and if it ends up playing with the idea that the titular team is from an alternate universe prior to becoming part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the presence of a version of a character we never got to see would be an amazing inclusion.

It's also worth nothing that there is already Vulture-related messiness in the multiverse, with Michael Keaton's Adrian Toomes magically being sent to Sony's Spider-Man Universe in the end credits scene of Morbius, so why not add to the fun by doubling down and introducing an alternate version into the mix? 

It's probably more likely that John Malkovich has signed on to play a role like Franklin Storm (the father of Sue and Johnny Storm), but I'm going to hold out hope that things get a bit creative and wild in the Marvel Cinematic Universe's first Fantastic Four movie.

The upcoming blockbuster remains shrouded in secrecy, but hopefully more details about the exciting project will be revealed as we get closer to the start of production, which aiming for late summer. We'll hopefully continue to hear about more casting additions that give us a clearer idea of what the film will be – and perhaps confirmation of some speculation. Stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for all of the latest news about Fantastic Four, and join us in counting down the days until it arrives in theaters on July 25, 2025.

Spoilers for the first two episodes of The New Look are ahead! If you haven’t watched the historical drama on the 2024 TV schedule, you can stream it now with an Apple TV+ subscription. 

One of the reasons why The New Look might be one of Apple TV+’s best shows in recent months is because of its remarkable cast. Following the iconic designers Christian Dior and Coco Chanel, who are played by Ben Mendelsohn and Juliette Binoche, the show’s roster of actors matches the legendary status of the fashion icons they’re playing. So, when I got the chance to chat with John Malkovich about playing Lucien Lelong, I had to ask about his collaboration with Mendelsohn, and he revealed which scene helped define their on-screen relationship.

For context, in The New Look, we see the rise of Christian Dior, who worked for Lucien Lelong during World War II before opening his own fashion house after the war. In the first few episodes of the series, we see the impact the Nazi occupation of France had on these designers and their families, and Christian’s sister Catherine (Maisie Williams), who was part of the resistance, is taken to a prison camp. When she’s taken away, Mendelsohn and Malkovich’s characters race to the train station to try and get her, but she’s already gone. 

For the Lelong actor, this was a defining moment for him and Mendelsohn as he told CinemaBlend:

It’s one of the most powerful and gut-wrenching moments in the first episodes of the show as Christian tries to save his sister and falls short. Lelong, his employer and friend, is there to support him through this tough moment, and what happened here radiates through the rest of the series. So, it makes sense that this was the moment Malkovich pointed out to me. 

Like when Ben Mendelsohn gushed about Maisie Williams and this show, Malkovich had similar compliments for the Bloodline star and this moment as he told me:

If you’ve watched Bloodline, the Marvel movies in order and the beloved Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, then you are very aware of Ben Mendelsohn’s range and power as an actor, and The New Look makes that fact even clearer. Added to it, his performance as Christian is nuanced, as Malkovich said, and it’s scenes like the one they shared at the train station that show this. 

Personally, I loved seeing Mendelsohn and Malkovich’s on-screen dynamic in The New Look, and learning about the respect they had for each other behind the scenes makes it even better. To see how Lelong and Dior’s friendship evolves from the moment the actor pointed out to me, you can stream new episodes of The New Look every Wednesday on Apple TV+.

Nicolas Cage has numerous tonal periods during his career. There’s the Method Actor Mic Cage. There’s the Oscar-worthy Nic Cage. We’re currently going through the Exaggerated-Comedic stage of Cage, with movies like Renfield and last year’s The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. These eras contain some of the best Nicolas Cage movies ever made. But the one that many of you reading this article grew up on was likely Action Cage, where the leading man appeared in movies like Face/Off, Gone in 60 Seconds, The Rock, and Con-Air (which you can watch tonight with a Hulu subscription). It was a seminal time for movies, for Cage, and for people like Cage’s Renfield co-star, Ben Schwartz.     

Our own Mike Reyes, who raved about Nicolas Cage’s performance in our Renfield review, compared Ben Schwartz’s character of Teddy plays more like Castor Troy, Cage’s homicidal criminal from Face/Off. But during an appearance on the ReelBlend podcast, Schwartz told a different story of another Cage classic, Con-Air, and the time he got to screen the movie with one of the film’s antagonists, John Malkovich. How incredibly cool is that? 

The way that Ben Schwartz remembers it, he was filming the Netflix comedy Space Force in Vancouver, and the hotel in which the cast was staying had a movie theater. Schwartz would occasionally rent the space out to show movies, and one night when he learned that Space Force co-star John Malkovich was attending, he decided to program Con-Air. As Schwartz recalled:

It still amazes me when actors star in major blockbusters that go on to become cult classics, or even some of the greatest action movies we’ve ever seen, but they watch them one time at the premiere and then claim they’ve never watched them again. If Malkovich is to be believed, then that special Con-Air screening set up by Ben Schwartz is the first time that he has seen the beloved action-comedy in decades, and I know that the movie holds up beautifully, so I hope he appreciated his performance as Cyrus “The Virus” Grissom, one of the many convicts aboard a prison transport that gets taken over by the bad guys. It’s a vintage Malkovich performance, one that ranked pretty high on our list of badass Con-Air characters. Watching Con-Air with him in attendance had to be a hoot. 

Watch our full interview with Ben Schwartz and director Chris McKay as part of this week's ReelBlend:

There are a few things about Con-Air that, even to this day, don’t make a lick of sense. But we still love it. I wonder if Renfield will have that type of impact. Buzz on the film is pretty strong at the moment, but we will see how many people grab tickets to the movie and check it out during its theatrical run. 

We all love a good cameo by a celebrity appearing as themselves for a brief, but fun, little moment. However, what I have always found more amusing is when a famous person portrays themselves in a more prominent starring role from a movie, or in a TV guest appearance that serves as the main focus of that episode (or episodes), or even as the lead of the whole story. With Nicolas Cage playing himself in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, we wanted to take a look at our picks for some more of the best performances by athletes, musicians, or actors who played themselves.

Neil Patrick Harris (Harold & Kumar Movies)

Future How I Met Your Mother cast member Neil Patrick Harris was still best known as the star of Doogie Howser M.D. when he stole the show in the 2004 stoner comedy classic Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle as a highly dramatized version of himself. The Emmy nominee would reprise the role in two sequels that more heavily blend the actor’s reality with increasingly absurd fiction, including getting kicked out of Heaven by Jesus in A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas after he was previously gunned down by prostitutes in Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay. 

Cate Blanchett (Coffee And Cigarettes)

Every vignette in Coffee and Cigarettes - Jim Jarmusch’s 2003 anthology of short films starring celebrities as themselves - is gold, but Cate Blanchett leads one of the more unique and thought-provoking of the bunch called “Cousins.” The segment is, additionally, one of the most profound testaments of the two-time Oscar winner’s chameleonic talent, as she makes it so easy to forget she is playing both herself and her brunette relative, Shelly, who struggle to relate to each other while catching up in a hotel lobby.

James Van Der Beek (Don’t Trust The B**** In Apartment 23)

In 2012, James Van Der Beek made his big return to TV as a series regular on Don’t Trust the B**** in Apartment 23 in a role very close to his heart: James Van Der Beek. The actor brilliantly pokes fun at his post-leading the Dawson’s Creek cast career and predicts his future Dancing with the Stars stint as the famous best friend of Krysten Ritter’s Chloe - the title character of ABC’s short-lived, but much-acclaimed, comedy.

Bill Murray (Zombieland)

Most people would consider Bill Murray’s surprise appearance in Zombieland to be one of the greatest cameos of his career (and there are several incredible examples to choose from). However, with only four other characters in the main cast of the classic 2009 zombie comedy, I think we can justifiably count the Oscar nominee’s iconic, hilariously dead-pan portrayal as his post-apocalyptic self as a starring role despite lasting mere minutes. 

Keanu Reeves (Always Be My Maybe)

Another example of a relatively brief appearance that still earns the right to be called a starring role occurs in 2019’s Always Be My Maybe when Marcus (Randall Park) is shocked to learn that his childhood friend (and crush), Sasha (Ali Wong) is dating none other than Keanu Reeves. The John Wick star pulls no punches in his partially improvised portrayal of a wonderfully absurd version of himself in the Netflix original rom-com, in which, during a restaurant double-date, he shows up wearing glasses with no lenses and asks the waiter for a dish that plays with “the concept of time.”

Heather Langenkamp (New Nightmare)

After playing Nancy Kerrigan in two Nightmare on Elm Street movies made her one of the top Scream Queens of the 1980s, Heather Langenkamp would give, arguably, her best performance in the franchise when she returned - not as Nancy, but as herself - in 1994’s New Nightmare. The cleverly meta thriller, in which the actress is taunted by a demon assuming the appearance of Freddy Krueger, also stars fellow horror icon Robert Englund as this new take on the iconic villain and himself as well as writer and director Wes Craven.

The Beatles (A Hard Day’s Night)

The cinematic phenomenon of famous musicians offering a fictionalized peek into their lives off-stage (such as Nick Cave in 2014’s quasi-documentary 20,000 Days on Earth or Foo Fighters in the horror-comedy Studio 666 more recently) arguably began with The Beatles. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr exhibit solid comedic timing and profound athleticism while running from a swarm of screaming fans in 1964’s A Hard Day’s Night - the first of a number of dramatized films the Fab Four made together.

LeBron James (Trainwreck)

Pro basketball star LeBron James has portrayed himself onscreen several times and most recently in 2021’s Space Jam: A New Legacy - a sequel to the hit Michael Jordan/Looney Tunes collaboration from 1996. However, the Los Angeles Lakers’ Small Forward received the most acclaim of his acting career so far for playing himself in Trainwreck - star and writer Amy Schumer’s 2015 rom-com which depicts him and Bill Hader’s “sports doctor to the stars” as best friends.

Stan Lee (Mallrats)

Before his heartbreaking death in 2018, Stan Lee perfected the art of the cameo by appearing in countless Marvel movies. One of his first and most prominent acting gigs (for which he was actually mentioned in the opening credits, too) was as himself in Kevin Smith’s 1995 Clerks follow-up, Mallrats. The comic book icon makes you a “true believer” in his acting ability when he shows up for a couple of scenes to give comic book-obsessed Brody (Jason Lee) some much-needed relationship advice. 

Larry David (Curb Your Enthusiasm)

It is no secret among die-hard Seinfeld fans that Jason Alexander’s deeply neurotic and troublesome character, George Costanza, was heavily inspired by the personality and life experiences of co-creator Larry David. On his follow-up to Seinfeld - the long-running, HBO original comedy Curb Your Enthusiasm - David has earned several Emmy Award nominations for playing a version of himself who makes George look like a saint, burning bridges with Hollywood heavies and alienating friends and average bystanders at every turn.  

Kate Winslet (Extras)

Star and co-creator Ricky Gervais’ Hollywood satire Extras is chock full of amazing celebrity guest appearances, but Kate Winslet made a damn good case to be considered the funniest in the Emmy-winning comedy’s history. The British Titanic star is seen playing a nun on the set of a film about the Holocaust (which she admits she agreed to star in purely to win an Oscar, having not yet won for The Reader) before later proving herself to be a master in double entendres when offering fellow extra, Maggie Jacobs (Ashley Jensen), phone sex tips.

John Malkovich (Being John Malkovich)

It is a bit rare for an actor to appear in a movie as him or herself while also playing the title character, but 1999’s Being John Malkovich - from from writer Charlie Kaufman and director Spike Jonze - is also a rare kind of movie, and in many ways, too. The two-time Oscar nominee is understandably shocked and frightened by the discovery that a Manhattan puppeteer (John Cusack) has been using a magical portal to be able to take a walk in his shoes for 15 minutes at a time in this wildly creative comedy.

Bruce Campbell (My Name Is Bruce)

Another rare example of an actor playing themselves in the titular role of a film is Bruce Campbell in My Name is Bruce, which is also the last film the B-movie icon directed himself. Campbell is hilarious in the 2007 horror-comedy as a boozy, washed-up version of himself who is forced to channel his iconic Evil Dead character, Ash Williams, in order to defeat a demon wreaking havoc on a small town in Oregon.

Oprah Winfrey (30 Rock)

Another example of a memorably, and often awkwardly, hilarious guest appearance on an acclaimed TV comedy is Oprah Winfrey on Season 3 of 30 Rock. Liz Lemon (star and creator Tina Fey) is delighted to find the larger-than-life media mogul seated next to her on an airplane and cannot help but seize the opportunity to received a dose of wisdom, but who could really blame her for that?

Kevin Garnett (Uncut Gems)

As much as I agree that Adam Sandler deserved greater awards attention for his lead performance in the relentless 2019 thriller Uncut Gems, I think we should be more angry at the fact that former NBA player Kevin Garnett received no awards attention at all. I would go so far as to say I’m glad the Safdie Brothers did not get the athlete they originally wrote the part for (the Knicks’ Amar’e Stoudemire) because Garnett is electrifying as himself (circa 2012), whose interest in a rare opal sets off a series of increasingly dire circumstances for the Sandler as self-destructive jeweler, Howard Ratner.

The This Is The End Cast

The whole point of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s 2013 directorial debut This is the End is to watch the entire cast (including Rogen, Jay Baruchel, Craig Robinson, and many, many more) as hilariously exaggerated versions of themselves who struggle to endure the Apocalypse and a merciless barrage of gags at their expense. Highlights also include an excruciatingly vain (and demonically possessed) Jonah Hill; a lewd, coke-snorting Michael Cera; an axe-wielding Emma Watson; and Channing Tatum employed by a cannibalistic Danny McBride as his sex slave.

You've got to love seeing a famous person let loose and introduce a different, completely fictional side of themselves to the world on screen. I cannot wait to see more examples of actors playing themselves in the future.

If you’ve ever heard of the name John Malkovich, it’s probably because he has been in Hollywood for many, many years. From starring in Academy Award-winning films to having major parts in TV shows, Malkovich has continuously proven he is a master at his craft. 

If you’re looking for the best John Malkovich movies and TV shows, here is where you can find them streaming, or available to rent, right now. 

Places In The Heart (1984)

The Academy-Award winning film, Places in the Heart, tells the story of a widower who lives in Texas with her two children during the Great Depression, and how she fights to provide for her family despite not having her husband anymore, using her own determination and the help of others. 

John Malkovich stars as Mr. Will, a blind veteran from World War 1, and for his performance he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. And, because of that, I can fully recommend this as one of his best films, as not only does he give a master class in acting, but his character is complex and amazing to follow. It’s also one of Sally Field’s best movies. 

Rent Places in the Heart on Amazon.

Ripley’s Game (2002)

Now this is a thriller that will surely, well, thrill you. Ripley’s Game, starring John Malkovich, follows the story of Tom Ripley, a criminal who offers a dying man the ultimate way to provide for his family after his death - assassinate a crime boss, and get paid blood money. And of course, he accepts for the sake of his family's lives.

This was one of the first films I ever saw where Malkovich starred, and it made me want to see him in so many other thrillers. Malkovich has had leading-man potential from his earliest roles, but seeing him in this film was like a completely different animal. I truly enjoyed it, as Ripley was a great character to watch. 

Rent Ripley’s Game on Amazon.

Being John Malkovich (1999)

I mean, with a title like that, you know that John Malkovich is the star. Being John Malkovich is a fantasy comedy film that tells the story of Craig Schwartz, an unemployed puppeteer who takes a job as a file clerk. One day, he finds a strange, small hidden door that leads into the mind of John Malkovich, the actor. 

This movie is hilarious. While John Malkovich plays a satirical version of himself, the way in which he does so just makes you want to re-watch this film over and over again. For many people, this was probably one of the first Malkovich films they saw, and it was one of my first, too, besides Ripley’s Game. The ending is crazy and makes you want to re-watch it immediately. Such a great film. 

Stream Being John Malkovich on Peacock.
Rent Being John Malkovich on Amazon.

Billions (2018-2019)

In this popular Showtime series, Billions mainly follows Bobby Axelrod, a hedge fund manager who deals in the world of finance, and gains power through his wealth one day at a time - even through illegal means. But, with his newfound wealth, there also are others who would do anything to take him down. 

Malkovich was actually on the third season of Billions, where he played Grigor Andolov, a Russian oil oligarch who has no problem chopping off an arm to get what he wants. And, he is so great. Malkovich as a villain never disappoints, and he certainly didn’t portraying Grigor. Who doesn’t love a murderous monologue? Only Malkovich can do them so well. Definitely one of the best Showtime shows yet.

Stream Billions on Showtime.

In The Line Of Fire (1993)

Moving on, we have the political thriller, In the Line of Fire. This film follows a former CIA agent who is planning to assassinate the president of the United States - and the agent from the Secret Service who is tracking his every move and trying to hunt him down before he succeeds. 

In the Line of Fire was another film that nabbed Malkovich an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, and for good reason. Him as Mitch Leary makes my skin crawl every time - in a good way, because his acting is just so good. His chemistry with Clint Eastwood is off the charts fantastic, and they create a great cat and mouse game that will capture your interest instantly. 

Stream In The Line Of Fire on Netflix.
Rent In The Line Of Fire on Amazon.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy (2005)

If you’re looking for an insane, fantasy adventure, check out The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. This film follows humans, robots, and aliens alike as they set off on a quest across the galaxy in order to find the meaning of life, all while having intense adventures along the way. 

John Malkovich doesn’t have a huge role in this film, but his part as Humma Kavula is one of the best of the film. The costuming? On point. The acting? Fantastic. Even just watching him eat is one of the most entertaining parts of this movie, as ridiculous as it is. He’s just so funny - as is the rest of the film, and it's certainly worth the time to watch. 

Stream The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy on Hulu.
Rent The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy on Amazon.

Death Of A Salesman (1985)

Based on the play of the same name, Death of a Salesman tells the story of Willy Loman, a traveling salesman who is going through a crisis, and looks back on his life to figure out where it all went wrong, while the present continues to fall apart. 

This version of the film was actually made for television, however I think it’s one of the best versions of this play there is and should have had a theatrical release, as it's so captivating. Both John Malkovich (who plays Biff) and Dustin Hoffman (who plays Willy) have some amazing chemistry and truly made this movie. This is one of those films where you only have to watch it once, but when you do, you’ll never forget it. Truly, one of Malkovich’s best. 

Stream Death of a Salesman on Pluto TV.
Rent Death of a Salesman on Amazon.

The New Pope (2019)

In this dramatic miniseries, The New Pope, we follow Pope Pius XIII from The Young Pope, as well as Pope John Paul III, the titular pope, who has taken over the role from the young pope when he suffered a heart attack. However, after the young pope wakes up, and claims he is the rightful pope, it throws their lives for a loop and shakes up the entire Vatican.

Let me say this here - Jude Law and John Malkovich should be in more shows or movies together because they were the best part of this series. While it is a continuation of The Young Pope and you should watch that miniseries before this one, it’s so good and the story is one of the best. John Malkovich is perfect in his role, as is everyone else. 

Stream The New Pope on HBO Max.

Eleni (1985)

In this movie based on a true story, Eleni stars John Malkovich as Nick, an immigrant from Greece who is now a successful journalist, and travels back to his home to figure out the cause of his mother’s death years ago during the Greek Civil War - including who he has to take down in order to avenge her. 

While this film isn’t one of John Malkovich’s most known roles, I knew I needed to list it here. Again, Malkovich is a leading man in every way, and he knows how to capture your attention, and that’s exactly what Eleni did. Paired with his acting, the story of a mother’s pure intentions for her child, and the revenge tale, it will have you intrigued from beginning to end. 

Rent Eleni on Amazon.

The Killing Fields (1984)

In this drama, based on the stories of two journalists, The Killing Fields follows the story of the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia, and the experiences of an American and a Cambodian reporting on the civil war. 

John Malkovich really brings real-life photojournalist Al Rockoff (whose pictures from the Vietnam War, Cambodia, and other areas of conflict were made famous) to life. The film was also nominated for several Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, and won in three other categories.

Rent The Killing Fields on Amazon.

Of Mice And Men (1992)

Based on the novel of the same name, Of Mice and Men tells the story of George and Lennie, two workers from a farm who work every day trying to make ends meet and travel constantly, while also dreaming of the day when they get to live on their own land. 

Of Mice and Men has is a great novel, and usually, the film adaptations are always great too, and this one is no different. John Malkovich portrays Lennie Small so well alongside Gary Sinise, and it tells a brilliant story of what it’s like to live during the Great Depression, and wanting to live the American Dream. If I could pick any adaptation of the novel, this would be the one. 

Stream Of Mice And Men on Tubi.
Rent Of Mice And Men on Amazon.

Dangerous Liaisons (1988)

While this is one of Glenn Close’s best movies, it’s also one of John Malkovich’s best films as well. Dangerous Liaisons stars Close and Malkovich as two high society members in France who come up with a plan to get back at everyone who has ever harmed them in the past, a scheme that not only will change their lives, but the ones of their enemies as well. 

This film is just ridiculous - in all the right ways. Dangerous Liaisons features some of the worst people imaginable that would do anything to get their way, but you can’t help but enjoy it. John Malkovich and Glenn Close are perfect together, and create a dramatic tale that is perfect for your movie night. 

Stream Dangerous Liaisons on HBO Max.
Rent Dangerous Liaisons on Amazon.

Space Force (2020 - Present)

Last but not least, we have Space Force. This series on Netflix, starring Steve Carell and written by Greg Daniels (of The Office fame) is focused on a new division of America’s military, called Space Force, and its goal to get back on the moon - led by the four-star general, Mark R. Naird. 

There are so many shows like Space Force out there, but the series itself is truly one of a kind and definitely for people who love a good political satire. This workplace comedy is so funny and John Malkovich’s character, Dr. Adrian Mallory, is unhinged in the best way and brings some truly hysterical moments of comedy that will have you wiping tears from your eyes. Certainly give this show a try. 

Stream Space Force on Netflix.

With everything John Malkovich has done, I wouldn’t be surprised if he had upcoming movies out soon for all of us to enjoy. But, until then, here are some of the best, and no matter what you pick, I’m sure that you’ll enjoy your time, regardless.  

Netflix is queuing up a creator-and-actor reunion that fans have long been begging for, with The Office's Greg Daniels and Steve Carell having teamed up once again for the new satirical comedy Space Force, which will premiere on Friday, May 29. Following a pretty solid pair of trailers that got viewers excited, reviews have now been released, and unfortunately, Space Force doesn't exactly sound like a giant leap for mankind's entertainment needs.

The series has a strange origin story, in that it was put into motion by Netflix months after President Donald Trump established the U.S. Space Force in 2019, despite the general lack of a central concept. Though only some reviewers single out the arguably forced creative process as blameworthy, many flatly claim (in relatively similar terms) that Space Force implodes upon blasting off. Though the show did secure some positive reviews from pleased promoters – with basically everyone agreeing that John Malkovich is as great as ever – the more widespread opinions are pretty dour indeed. Let's take a look at both sides of the government-minted coin after a quick summary.

Steve Carell plays Space Force's gravelly voiced Mark Naird, a four-star Air Force General who uproots his family after being tasked to head up the newly developed moon-minded branch. A hard-nosed military lifer, the constantly put-upon Naird can't properly balance his farcically stressful job duties with his unwisely rebellious daughter Erin (Diana Silvers) and his wife Maggie (Lisa Kudrow), who has her own issues to attend to. At work, Naird reckons with the highly pent-up genius Dr. Adrian Mallory (played the the), the mostly useless assistant Brad (Don Lake), the hyper-aggro rival Kick Grabaston (Noah Emmerich), the disastrous media manager F. Tony Scarapiducci (Ben Schwartz) and more. Characters who attempt not to screw everything up include Space Force pilot Angela Ali (Tawny Newsome) and Mallory's head scientist Dr. Chan Kaifang (Jimmy O. Yang).

While Space Force does make vague references to the real-world President through Twitter references and the like, Donald Trump's name is never mentioned, and the show isn't really concerned with any political targeting. Over at EW, the take was that Greg Daniels and Steve Carell (who made serious bank on this show) definitely made the wrong choice in choosing not to pick any sides when telling its story, and that the show fails to meet the expectations inspired by the A-list ensemble.

The review from THR also hones in on the perceived lack of focused comedic perspective as a foundation for its complaints about Space Force, calling out the earliest episodes in particular for failing to develop the solid footing that later episodes needed.

Within Nerdist's review, it was the all-around inconsistency of both Space Force's tone and character development that inspired the most negative opinions, as seen below.

To the above points, Space Force does sometimes feel like an unblinking reflection of Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove, where characters defend moronic standpoints with 100% confidence. Elsewhere, though, certain scenes from Naird's personal life are more akin to a Judd Apatow feature in how they attempt to add and remove layers to and from the character's personality. They both work well enough separately, but the combination seems to have thrown some viewers for the wrong kind of loop.

While a larger number of Space Force opinions skewed negative and concentrated on the reviewers' gripes with the show, there are definitely some kinder analyses out there from those who didn't view solely through the rose-colored glasses of expectations. Take this one from IndieWire, which acknowledges Space Force's missed opportunities while also embracing the winning qualities that are readily on display.

As well, this take from BGR (whose reviewer was so happy with the series that he watched the whole thing twice) spotlights Greg Daniels' approach to seemingly unexciting topics for TV comedies, as well as the out-of-this-world situations that Space Force sets up.

In the end, potential viewers can come away from Space Force's initial reviews with a few key things in mind. John Malkovich is fantastic, as is most of the recurring cast; Steve Carell is pretty great, even though his character's arcs don't do him any favors; and the creative team probably could have used more time locking down tonal synergy for its far-reaching storylines. So depending on how much your mileage varies with each of those points, you might adore Space Force's bizarreness, or you might think it deserves to burn up in the atmosphere. There's only one way to find out for sure, though.

Whether or not the above reviews swayed your future viewing, know that Space Force will achieve liftoff on Netflix on Friday, May 29, at 3:01 a.m. ET. Check out some other big shows that are coming to Netflix soon, as well as what the Summer 2020 TV schedule looks like as a whole.

Back in 2017, Spider-Man fans finally got to see the first-ever live action version of Adrian Toomes a.k.a. The Vulture on the big screen, played by Michael Keaton in Jon Watts' Spider-Man: Homecoming. As many of those same fans know, however, we almost got a different interpretation of the same character years ago in what would have been Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 4.

Prior to being cancelled by Sony, the never-made blockbuster actually made it deep into development, and this included casting an actor to play its lead villain: John Malkovich. Sadly, it's an interpretation of the Vulture that we'll never get to see, but Sam Raimi recently explained why he was so high on the idea 10 years ago.

While promoting the theatrical release of Nicolas Pesce's The Grudge (which he produced), Sam Raimi took to Reddit on Friday for an Ask Me Anything session, and one member of the platform used the time to ask a blunt, no-frills question about Spider-Man 4: "Why John Malkovich as the Vulture?" The filmmaker responded,

Casting is an artform by itself in Hollywood, particularly when it comes to finding the right performer to play a character with a pre-existing image in pop culture, but in this case it's not exactly a hard stretch to imagine John Malkovich working wonders with the part of Vulture. For starters, he probably would have had a look closer to the comics just because of his shaved head, but more important is the fact that Malkovich is an actor renowned for his intensity.

Michael Keaton is certainly no slouch when it comes to striking fear, as perfectly demonstrated in the scene where Adrian Toomes confronts Peter Parker after driving the teenager and his daughter to the dance in Spider-Man: Homecoming, but John Malkovich has a more "repeatedly pokes a finger in your chest as his voice gets louder" energy. He strikes a kind of fear where you hesitate to look away because you know that he could seriously lose it at any moment.

As Sam Raimi put it, you could totally believe John Malkovich's Adrian Toomes intimidating Tobey Maguire's Peter Parker even away from his technology and wingsuit, and that made him a great choice for the role.

A las, it's not a project that came together in the end. It was almost 10 years ago to the day - January 10, 2010 - that John Malkovich confirmed he was joining the cast of Spider-Man 4... and then one day later Sony officially cancelled the film and started working on what would become Marc Webb's The Amazing Spider-Man.

Malkovich (who is actually two years younger than Michael Keaton) has been in a few comic book movies since then, namely Jonah Hex and both Red and Red 2, but if you had to cast him as a Marvel Cinematic Universe or DC Extended Universe character now, who do you think he should play? Hit the comments section below with your ideas!

The latest adaptation of Agatha Christie's The ABC Murders has found its man -- its leading man that is, and not its clever criminal. Hollywood great John Malkovich has signed on to star as the brilliant detective Hercule Poirot in the new three-part miniseries adaptation for Amazon and the BBC. Audiences previously saw the Poirot character in last year's Murder on the Orient Express remake, where Kenneth Branagh played the role with the bushiest mustache known to man, and we're hoping Malkovich gets an equally impressive one.

Long before Magnum P.I. came along, Hercule Poirot was sporting the famous facial hair as his signature. And we'll likely get to see some whisker-twirling for The ABC Murders, in which Poirot will be tasked with tracking down a serial killer whose reign of terror has 1930s Britain on edge. All Poirot has to go on is the clue that gives the murderer its name: The ABC Railway Guide left behind at the murder scene as a calling card.

No need to grab your magnifying glass, we have more details about the John Malkovich-led adaptation. Per Variety, filming on the miniseries will begin this June, and John Malkovich will be joined by Harry Potter star Rupert Grint, who will play the role of Inspector Crome. In the novel, Crome is not a big believer in Poirot's skills as a detective, which should lead to some interesting moments between the two actors.

Rounding out the cast of The ABC Murders is White Queen standout Freya Mavor and Game of Thrones' actress Tara Fitzgerald. Viewers can also expect to see Andrew Buchan, Eamon Farren, and Bronwyn James throughout. No one else had better think about showing up with a fancy mustache, though.

Producing the adaptation for the BBC is Mammoth Screen, which is the same company behind the popular costume dramas Poldark and Victoria. Fans of those series, as well as Mammoth Screen's previous adaptations, have reason to be excited about this latest installment in a string of Agatha Christie projects. The ABC Murders is the next of the storied author's novels to be adapted, while the previous one was Ordeal by Innocence, which aired earlier this year in Britain.

John Malkovich joins a long list of storied actors who have taken on the role of Poirot, and it will be interesting to see what he brings to it. A chameleon who has taken on feasibly every conceivable kind of role out there, Malkovich has the flair to make it a memorable outing, and with Rupert Grint to play off of, this is setting up to be something really exciting. The Amazon/BBC adaptation marks the second time the small screen has taken on The ABC Murders. In 1992, the mystery novel was tackled for Agatha Christie's Poirot, starring David Suchet.

There is no word on a release date for the miniseries or a size ratio for Poirot's upcoming 'stache, but The ABC Murders will air on the BBC in the UK and stream on Amazon in the U.S. Wondering what else is set to arrive on Amazon Prime? We have your answer. Check out CinemaBlend's guide to learn when new and returning shows are set to premiere on Amazon Prime. If you are curious about Netflix, we have you covered there too with the streamer's 2018 premiere rundown.

Having already co-written movies like Real Steel and The Bourne Legacy, Dan Gilroy made his directorial debut with 2014's Nightcrawler, which starred Jake Gyllenhaal as the sinister Louis Bloom. Nightcrawler was one of the quieter theatrical successes of 2014, its accolades including being nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe. Now Gilroy and Gyllenhaal are prepping for their next movie (which is rumored to be called Velvet Buzzsaw) together, which will stream exclusively on Netflix. It was already announced that one of Gyllenhaal's costars would be Rene Russo, but now the rest of the main cast has been revealed, and John Malkovich can count himself among those ranks.

This will be Jake Gyllenhaal and John Malkovich's first time working together, but with the two of them being among Hollywood's best actors, it will be interesting to see how these two play off one another. While most of you reading are already familiar with Malkovich's word, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention a few of his credits, such as In the Line of Fire, Of Mice and Men, Dangerous Liaisons, Con Air and (of course) Being John Malkovich. But he isn't the only new addition to Dan Gilroy's next movie. Variety also reported that Natalia Dyer, Tom Sturridge, Daveed Diggs, Toni Collette and Zawe Ashton have joined the cast of this Netflix movie, which will be about "big-money artists and mega-collectors who pay a high price when art collides with commerce."

Natalia Dyer is best known for playing Nancy Wheeler on hit Netflix series Stranger Things, while her big screen resume includes Hannah Montana: The Movie and The Greening of Whitney Brown. Tom Sturbridge has appeared in movies like Being Julia, The Boat That Rocked and Mary Shelley, and he was also nominated for a Tony for his performance in the Broadway play Orphans.

After rising to prominence for playing Marquis de Lafayette/Thomas Jefferson in the original production of Hamilton, Daveed Diggs has gone on to perform in movies like Zootopia and Wonder, as well as TV shows like Black-ish and The Get Down. Toni Collette's resume includes The Sixth Sense, About a Boy, Little Miss Sunshine and the TV series United States of Tara.

Finally, Zawe Ashton many TV credits include her being one of the lead cast members on the British series Fresh Meat, while on the movies side of things, she most recently appeared in Nocturnal Animals. With these six actors joining Jake Gyllenhaal and Rene Russo, Dan Gilroy's movie has the potential to be an intriguing ensemble piece for Netflix.

A specific release date for Dan Gilroy's next movie hasn't been announced yet, but with production now underway in Los Angeles, it's expected to be available on Netflix sometime later this year. To learn what else the streaming platform has on the way, scan through our 2018 premiere schedule.

It doesn’t get any more plain or simple: waiting for a highly anticipated movie to be released can seriously suck. We have known about major releases like Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, and Star Wars: The Force Awakens literally for years, and have been powerless to do little else besides sit and wait. While those waits may seem agonizing, Robert Rodriguez and John Malkovich have just created a new project that audiences won’t get to see for a very, very, long time.

Just how long will "we" have to wait to see this project? A report from io9 indicates that the film – aptly titled 100 Years: The Movie You Will Never See – has been placed in a special time-locked safe that will not unlock until November 18, 2115. The reason for the wait is that the film will serve as a promotion for Louis XIII Cognac. The process for creating the top shelf liquor involves aging it for an entire century, meaning people indulging on the expensive booze today are drinking cognac made during the height of the first world war.

Three teasers for the film have been released, challenging audiences to "imagine the future." Each one envisions a different future for our world, ranging from an apocalyptic scenario in the vein of The Last of Us to a Phillip K. Dick style dystopia to a bright, beautiful world reminiscent of the Tron films. Despite the emphasis on futurism within these promos, Rodriguez and Malkovich have both confirmed that the "emotionally charged" film will be set in 2015. Since none of these teasers show any of the film, it truly means that the mainstream public will not get to see a single frame of 100 Years until the safe unlocks.

The reason for choosing Malkovich, according to the big wigs at Louis XIII, comes as a result of his relevance to this time period. Ludovic du Plessis, global executive director for Louis XIII, has publicly stated that he believes Malkovich is "the greatest actor of his generation," making him ideally suited to take on this project.

Check out one of the teasers below to get a sense of one of the many ways Malkovich and Rodriguez have envisioned the future:

With continuous advances in medical sciences increasing our longevity ever day, along with ways to age liquor faster, perhaps it’s entirely possible that 100 Years won’t live up to it’s subtitle, and we will in fact get to see it – and maybe sip on some perfectly aged Louis XIII in the process. 100 Years will be released on November 18, 2115.

It is not unusual for actors to be become attached to particular types of parts. Certain films become iconic, or certain roles become so memorable that you can’t think of the character without thinking of the actor, or vice versa. But John Malkovich has them all beat. He doesn’t simply have a movie where his name appears before the title, be has a film where his name is the title. What does the actor think about Being John Malkovich more than 15 years later? Well, he compares the movie to the way bad sex, or possibly great sex, can affect your life.

Malkovich feels that the movie had a truly major impact on cinema, but that it had nothing to do with him. Instead, he says that the introduction of director Spike Jonze and writer Charlie Kaufman to the movie world is what the movie should ultimately be known for. For himself, however, he told Rolling Stone that the legacy of the film is like the legacy of oral sex.

So that’s a ...vivid metaphor. It’s not entirely clear what "your life becomes a blowjob" means, beyond being the greatest sentence I’ve had the chance to type in my career. As bizarre as it sounds at first, it may actually be a fitting comparison. How do you have a conversation with John Malkovich about a movie that has his name in the title? Even if you honestly believe it’s a wonderful movie, anything you say is going to come across as the conversational equivalent of a blowjob.

Ultimately the problem is that it’s difficult to talk about the movie without discussing the bizarreness that came from the its premise. You can’t talk about John Malkovich the character without also talking about John Malkovich the actor. Maybe it’s not so much a blowjob as it is a self-referential circle jerk.

We can certainly agree that the movie introduced Hollywood to two unique filmmakers that the movie business is all the richer for. Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman have gone on to make some of the greatest, and strangest, movies in recent memory. We’re glad they got the chance to make Being John Malkovich, even if it did rish turning the actors life into a blowjob.

Kate Hudson joins a stellar cast in a film about the BP Oil spill. Along with Kate Hudson and Mark Wahlberg, both Kurt Russell and John Malkovich are attached to the crew for what is sure to be an intense look into the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion and its aftermath.

The project, entitled Deepwater Horizon after the BP oil spill disaster that took place in April 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico is being directed by Lone Survivor’s Peter Berg. The cast is already turning out to be quite impressive for this real-life disaster turned cinematic thriller. Among the new additions of Hudson and Malkovich, previously announced on board include Russell, Dylan O’Brien (The Maze Runner) and Gina Rodriguez (Jane the Virgin). The story will follow the eleven crew members that were killed in the blast, and Berg has said that he want to tell the story of the “real heroes” who were working on the rig when the accident occurred, and their attempts to prevent the explosion.

According to Deadline, the plot of the film is based majorly on the famed New York Times article, “Deepwater Horizon’s Final Hour” which detailed the incredible courage of those who were working on the rig. It is documented as one of the biggest man-made disasters in history, killing 11 people and injuring 16. Hudson will be playing the wife to Mark Wahlberg’s character, an oil rig engineer at the center of the story. This will also be Hudson’s first time starring with her adopted father Russell in a feature. You may recall that Hudson’s mother, Goldie Hawn married Kurt Russell back in 1983.

Hudson is currently wrapping up with post-production for the rock comedy featuring Bruce Willis, Leem Lubany, Scott Caan, Zooey Deschanel, Bill Murray, and more. Rock the Kasbah tells the story of a has-been rock manager who takes his only remaining client on a USO tour of Afghanistan when he discovers a young girl with an incredible voice, and helps her through the Afghanistan version of American Idol. It is scheduled to release November 13th this year. Hudson is also rumored to be playing Jennifer Lee Pryor in the upcoming Richard Pryor biopic. But it is this particular project, Deepwater Horizon which could be the stand-out role Hudson needs in a consistent stream of more rom-com roles.

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill continues to be one of the most talked about disasters in American history. Following the explosion and subsequent sinking of the oil rig, a sea-floor oil gusher continued for 87 days. It is estimated that there was a total discharge of 4.9 million barrels which runs about 210 million gallons and while it was declared sealed in 2010, there are still reports that believe it continues to leak to this day.

Production is currently underway and Deepwater Horizon is scheduled to hit theaters September 30, 2016.

While the pillaging-filled life of your everyday high seas pirate doesn’t seem like the easiest subject matter for a television series to take on, Starz’ Black Sails has proven the small screen a fine medium for weekly adventures. This Friday, the drama Crossbones will wash ashore on NBC, anchored by a truly stellar performance from the Emmy-winning thesp John Malkovich as the legendary Blackbeard. Chance are you’ll spend the entirety of the show like I did, wishing that either the entire story was dedicated to Blackbeard talking to himself in a mirror, or that Malkovich was playing all the various roles. Alas, we’ll just have to make do with the swashbuckling adventure that we have, and having seen three of Crossbones’ ten episodes, I can say it’s quite a treasure indeed.

Developed by Luther creator Neil Cross, along with James V. Hart and Amanda Welles, Crossbones centers on Blackbeard’s time on the island of Santa Compana in 1729, but it isn’t really about Blackbeard proper. It’s about the brilliantly ruthless man behind the legend, Edward Teach, who is wont to leaving his nickname behind while on the island. (That’s also why he doesn’t actually, you know, have a big black beard in this series.) While it may just look like he’s content to rule a squad of outcasts and criminals, part of Teach’s master plan is stealing and understanding the Longitude Chronometer, a revolutionary invention that would allow sailors to figure out their exact location while in the middle of the ocean.

As you can imagine, only one man can possibly stop the nefarious mastermind. Enter Thomas Lowe (Richard Coyle), an English spy posing as a ship physician/surgeon, who is at first taken hostage along with the Chronometer, but uses his knowledge of the device’s cypher to earn himself some freedoms on Santa Compana. His sole purpose is keeping the chronometer safe, with a secondary mission of assassinating Teach if need be. We also meet the fetching Kate (Claire Foy) and Lowe’s new acquaintance Fletch (Chris Perfetti). Other characters include Teach’s lover and confidante Selima (Yasmine Al Massri), who soon gets a little too close to comfort with the murderous pirate ship captain Rider (David Hoflin).

While I’m not quite sure what the endgame for this series will be – which is obviously a good thing – it certainly doesn’t take long to set its vicious, bloodthirsty tone. The first episode begins with Blackbeard’s crew bombarding Lowe’s ship in order to gain possession of the Chronometer, and they are just as quick to stab someone through the heart as they are to punch them in the face. And though not all the action sequences are as all-encompassing in scale, the fights remain rousing, and the violence is more widespread than I would have expected. Why wouldn’t I assume a deadly pirate’s saga is extremely violent? I have no idea.

“I am not the devil, Mr. Lowe. I have cast out the devil, that depraved distinction between rich and poor, great and small, master and valet, governor and governed.”

This whole series may have all been for naught, however, if not for Malkovich’s steely performance at the center. I’m pretty biased, as he’s one of my favorite actors of all time, but he’s spot on as the domineering Teach, whose leadership potential is just a slit throat away from being perfect. His ulterior motives for the Chronometer are kept hidden, and his calm demeanor suggests that he is not worried about his plans not coming to fruition; this isn't a guy who sees failure that often. Though it’s one of Malkovich’s more esoteric roles, he plays it with a wry detachment, rather than abundant zaniness. Add to that a series of unexplainable visions, and we’ve got what just might be one of the most interesting Summer Season television characters of the year. With battle-ready bells on, even.

Not for the seasick or faint at heart, Crossbones is a solid historical tale sprinkled with mystery and intrigue. Though the non-pirate characters could be more colorful, there is more than enough here to fill any viewer’s treasure chest with Malkovich booty. Pull out your telescope and see for yourself when Crossbones debuts Friday, May 30 at 10:00 p.m. ET on NBC.

After watching the dynamic trailer above for NBC’s upcoming adventure drama Crossbones, it’s obvious that my bucket list has been sorely missing the entry “watching John Malkovich play Blackbeard the pirate,” and is in need of an immediate amending. Thankfully, I’ll only have to wait a little longer than a month to catch the Oscar-nominated actor in a legendary turn as one of history’s most notorious villains.

While it shares the same time and place as Starz’s high seas drama Black Sails – the year 1715 on the Bahaman island of New Providence – Crossbones is a completely different take on the pirate life, presenting a fictionalized account of Edward “Blackbeard” Teach’s occupation and democratization of the well-known pirate refuge. Certainly Malkovich’s scruffy white chin doesn’t imply Blackbeard's titular description, but we all know that legend rarely subscribes to the same story as reality. He could have a Nike swoosh tattooed on his head for all I care, as Malkovich so completely embodies this character with a penchant for violence that dilutes every one of his seemingly innocuous smiles.

The conflict of Crossbones involves physician and assassin Tom Lowe (Richard Coyle), who is sent out on undercover assignment by the British government to infiltrate Blackbeard’s regime to bring him to justice. But it doesn’t take long for the pirate’s persuasive tongue to woo Lowe into this apolitical lifestyle that somehow remains civilized despite the absence of laws. From the looks of the trailer, it appears the two men get into a game of costume charades, and Blackbeard looks to Hellraiser for a solid Pinhead impression.

As it happens, more people are after Blackbeard’s head beyond just Lowe, so it’ll be interesting to see where the government agent falls when the swords are swung. Because Blackbeard’s death wasn’t recorded until late 1718, it isn’t likely we’ll see him die during the span of this series, but it’s possible series creator Neil Cross (Luther) isn’t the least bit tethered to how history ended up. So long as Captain Jack Sparrow is on the opposite end of the world, I’m game for anything.

Based partially on the book The Republic of Pirates by Colin Woodard, Crossbones will make its debut splash on Friday, May 30, which makes me think NBC isn’t that enthused by the project. But any series that puts out spectacular character images such as those below (via BleedingCool) has me ready to plunder and pillage right alongside it...the next day on DVR.

DreamWorks Animation is filling out the cast of its upcoming animated feature Penguins of Madagascar, and in doing so they have brought aboard two of the most gifted actors out there. Benedict Cumberbatch and John Malkovich, according to The Wrap, are now set to lend their voices to characters in the new animated feature.

The movie is being directed by Simon J. Smith, who last helmed 2007's Bee Movie, and is getting a script from Michael Colton and John Aboud. While there don't appear to be any plot details around, Malkovich is reportedly playing "the film's charming villain," while Cumberbatch will be "a high-ranking animal CIA agent hot on his trail." The article doesn't mention what species of animal either character will be, how the penguins fit into the conflict between the characters, or who else from the rest of the Madagascar universe will be featured in the movie (though we can at the very least assume that actor/director Tom McGrath will be back as Skipper). The film is currently in production and has a set release date for March 27, 2015.

Fans of Cumberbatch are set to have a lovely autumn, as the actor will be just about everywhere in the next few months. Not only does he have Bill Condon's The Fifth Estate, Steve McQueen's 12 Years A Slave, John Wells' August: Osage County, and Peter Jackson's The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug coming out in theaters between now and the end of the year, we will also soon see the start of the third season of Sherlock. Of all those titles, The Fifth Estate will be coming first, set to arrive on October 18th. You can watch the movie's trailer below.

He is also currently working on Stephen Wallis' fantasy movie Magik, has Guillermo del Toro's haunted house horror film Crimson Peak starting up early next year, and is attached to star in the Alan Turing biopic The Imitation Game. Not only are the next few months jammed with Cumberbatch, it seems we'll be doing just fine through 2014 as well.

And while Malkovich hasn't been as busy as Cumberbatch, he has been working. Just recently seen in Red 2, the actor is currently working with both Liam Hemsworth and his Warm Bodies co-star Teresa Palmer on the thriller Cut Bank, and he is also attached to star in the Austrian-made drama The Giacomo Variations. He will also be playing the dread pirate Blackbeard in the upcoming NBC series Crossbones. The series, which comes from Neil Cross (Luther), is getting a mid-season start and will be airing on Friday nights.

"What happens in the Kremlin stays in the Kremlin."

Really , the only thing surprising about that joke is that it hasn't somehow been made before-- it's been nearly 25 years since the Cold War ended, and yet there's still nothing more fun than putting some red-blooded American spies up against the chilly Russkies. Bruce Willis actually just finished mopping up the remains of the Soviet era in A Good Day to Die Hard, and now he's back behind what remains of the Iron Curtain in the new trailer for Red 2, which premiered at Yahoo!

Red 2 at least has a lot more promise than the last Die Hard film, reuniting the bizarre and wonderful cast of John Malkovich, Helen Mirren, Mary Louise Parker and Willis, and adding Anthony Hopkins, Catherine Zeta-Jones and David Thewlis to the madness. I did my best to make sense of the plot of Red 2 based on this trailer, but let's be honest, it does't really matter. Bruce Willis is dragged out of retirement by John Malkovich bombarding him at a Costco. Helen Mirren has been assigned to kill him. Byung Hun Lee gets involved. Catherine Zeta-Jones shows up to make out with Bruce Willis. And of course, a lot of things explode.

Though the original Red was a surprise hit, grossing nearly $200 million overseas on a $58 million budget and an inauspicious mid-October release date, the sequel is being positioned as a summer blockbuster, with a major July 19 release window. Director Dean Parisot has been brought in for the sequel, and his work behind Galaxy Quest has a lot of people hoping he can nail a similarly wry comic tone. Does this trailer give you hope? Sound off in the comments.

It's been a mixed year of franchise movies for Bruce Willis. The action star's year kicked off in February with the critically-reviled A Good Day To Die Hard, but things turned around a bit late last month when he starred as the original Joe in Jon Chu's G.I. Joe: Retaliation - a movie that perfectly fits the description "dumb but fun." Next up we'll see Red 2, and it will be interesting to see how it tilts the scales.

A brand new trailer for he comic book movie is set to arrive online this Friday, and to get you ready Yahoo! has released two brand new character posters featuring Willis and co-star John Malkovich, both of whom will be reprising their roles, as Frank Moses and Marvin Boggs, respectively, from the 2010 action comedy. Presumably we'll see more posters as the week roles on, but for now you can scope them out above and below.

Directed by Dean Parisot, best known for helming Galaxy Quest and Fun With Dick and Jane, the sequel will not only feature the return of Willis and Malkovich, but also Mary-Louise Parker, and Helen Mirren. New additions to the all-star cast include Anthony Hopkins, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Byung-hun Lee (who just starred with Willis in G.I. Joe), Neal McDonough, and David Thewlis. The movie won't be in theaters until July 19th, but be sure to come back later this week for the new preview, and, in the meantime, you can watch the previously released trailer below.

Red is one of those movies that was a surprisingly big hit when it came out-- $90 million domestic and another $108 million overseas-- but seems to be totally forgotten already, not even two years after it came out. And it was a fun movie, with a cast including Helen Mirren, John Malkovich at his weirdest, Morgan Freeman, Bruce Willis, and even Ernest Borgnine, may he rest in peace. So Summit is hoping to remind you both that this movie ever existed and that you probably liked it with Red 2, currently set to hit theaters about a year from now, on August 2 next summer.

Last we heard about the movie they were in the casting process back in May, adding Catherine Zeta-Jones in a role and courting Anthony Hopkins to play a villain. But now Russian site Kino Poisk has picked up on a poster for the film that we've confirmed was used for sales at Cannes earlier this year, that boasts none of the new cast members except G.I. Joe veteran Byung-Hun Lee. It's a pretty neat design, though, so take a look below.

If you remember what Malkovich looked like in Red, it's pretty easy to pick him out of this lineup-- use this photo for reference, and just imagine what kind of insanity he's cooked up for the sequel. Of course, this image is likely Photoshopped silhouettes of the cast, who haven't yet united to shoot the film as far as we know. But if Helen Mirren hangs on to that killer duster she's wearing, and especially if some of those potential new cast members pan out, there's a lot to look forward to here. And if you didn't catch Red back when it first opened, give it a look! It's a much more entertaining movie than you'd think given how little we've heard about it since.

Bruce Willis’s retired hitman movie RED was a lot more fun that expected, due in no small part to a scene stealing performance from John Malkovich, and it did surprisingly well at the box office too. I suspect its solid earnings may have something to do with elderly people showing up to see people their own age kick ass. “RED” stands for Retired and Extremely Dangerous, and when I showed up to see the movie a couple of weeks into its theatrical run I was by far the youngest person in its audience.

Old people love to see their peers shooting younger people in the head, apparently, so Summit Entertainment is churning out a sequel. MTV caught up with RED producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura who offered an update on what it’ll be all about. They plan to bring back the previous cast, which means you should expect to see Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, and John Malkovich back and packing heat at the least. I guess they’ll likely bring back Mary Louise Parker too. But di Bonaventura also says they want to “freshen” the cast up, which means adding new faces into the mix. He says, “We'll bring in one or two characters that'll play a really big part — maybe three, but definitely one or two.”

Once they work out the math, they’ll still keep the focus on the original movie’s primary characters. Lorenzo explains, “Sometimes there's a tendency to want to do too much of a good thing so you don't really service anything, so we're really trying to stay focused on our core crew with one or two new additions.”

So what’ll it be about? He’s not talking, I guess they’ll have to find some way to drag everyone out of retirement, yet again. John Malkovich is going to need another pig.

I suspect seventy percent of people rolled their eyes at hearing Simon West was all about doing a second Con Air, but honestly, fuck those haters. Besides, this news story isn’t for them. It’s for the other thirty percent that heard what was up and pumped their handcuffed-fists like champions. Con Air may very well be terrible in a lot of pronounced ways, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t simultaneously awesome. Anytime you can cram John Malkovich, Steve Buscemi, Nic Cage, Ving Rhames, Dave Chappelle, an Indian and some dude named Swamp Thing onto one plane, you have to go for it. You’d look like an idiot if you didn’t.

Now, I know what some of you are saying. What if I haven’t seen Con Air? Well, first of all, shame on you. Did you not live through the 90s? Titanic wishes it had Con Air-like cultural landmark status. Second of all, there’s an easy solution to that. Get on Netflix and pop all that badassness up to the top of your queue.

As for the thirty percent. Here’s something to hold you over. The comedy troupe Elephant Larry has put together an extremely explicit rap outlining the plot of Con Air. Honestly, I wish it had more Garland Greene, but at least Colm Meaney gets the credit he deserves. Once you get done recycling your sandals or some shit, take a look at the embed below…

Transformers 3 has added a couple new faces, and they aren’t robots. According to director Michael Bay, John Malkovich, Frances McDormand, and the Ken Jeong (the answer to what’s in the trunk in The Hangover and El Tigre on Community) have been added to the cast.

No word yet on what role these three will play in the film, here’s hoping Ken Jeong is naked. Michael Bay does have a thing for vaguely racists accents though, and Ken’s also pretty good at that. We’d know more about what they’re doing in the movie, but before he could get to that, Bay got distracted and started bragging about his association with Ferrari. He’s more Michael Bay than you could ever possibly imagine.

Bay did, however, confirm a full list of Transformers 3 shooting locations. Here it is: LA, Chicago, Washington DC, Florida, Texas, Africa, Moscow, and China.