Dune: Part Two was one of the highlights of the 2024 movie schedule, so it’s no surprise that fans are thrilled about having a series to bridge the gap while we wait for more updates about Dune 3. The HBO prequel series Dune: Prophecy is set 10,000 years before the birth of Timothée Chalamet’s Paul Atreides and follows Valya and Tula Harkonnen as they establish the fabled sisterhood of the Bene Gesserit. Critics got a chance to screen four of the series’ six episodes, and they seem generally pleased with the origin story.

Dune: Prophecy premieres on HBO and streaming with a Max subscription on November 17, where Emily Watson and Olivia Williams will star as the Harkonnen sisters and Travis Fimmel as mysterious soldier Desmond Hart. CinemaBlend’s own Mike Reyes has seen the initial episodes and thinks with this cast and HBO’s penchant for world-building, it’s going to make the long wait for Dune Messiah a little easier. In his words:

Chase Hutchinson of The Wrap agrees Prophecy will be welcomed by fans of the franchise when it hits the 2024 TV schedule, but is also accessible enough for those unfamiliar with Denis Villeneuve’s expansive world. An early exposition dump allows for the sisters’ story to then unfold naturally. In conclusion, Hutchinson says:

Belen Edwards of Mashable also mentions that the series really starts to sing once you get past the exposition, and fans are treated to a deeper understanding of the Bene Gesserit and the world around it. Plus, don’t count out the occasional sandworm visit. Edwards continues:

Ben Travers of IndieWire grades the series a C, admitting that while the story is “strange and mysterious,” Dune: Prophecy feels like an attempt to replicate Game of Thrones, and it’s unclear if the series has any staying power. The critic writes:

Amy West of GamesRadar says while there are flashes of what made the Dune movies so popular, Prophecy largely falls short, despite a sensational performance from Olivia Williams. The series is weighed down by too many characters and an overly complex world that is — contrary to what another critic thinks — completely closed off to anyone new to the story. West gives the series 2 out of 5 stars, writing:

With critics having seen four of the six episodes of Dune: Prophecy, it sounds like there’s plenty here for fans to dig into as we wait for the franchise’s further expansion. Rotten Tomatoes currently has the series at 74% from 27 reviews, so there’s been an overall positive takeaway. Be sure to check it out for yourself, as the series kicks off at 9 p.m. ET Sunday, November 17, on HBO and streaming on Max.

The events of Matt Reeves’ The Batman saw crime lord Carmine Falcone being fatally shot by Edward Nashton, a.k.a. The Riddler, as part of his plot to expose corruption in Gotham City. But we’re not done spending time with this longtime Batman villain just yet, as Falcone is set to appear in the upcoming DC TV show The Penguin through flashbacks. However, instead of being reprised by John Turturro, Mark Strong is taking over playing Carmine, and showrunner Lauren LeFranc explained to CinemaBlend why this pivotal role was recast.

Our own Sean O’Connell had the opportunity to speak with LeFranc ahead of the Colin Farrell-led The Penguin premiering to HBO viewers and Max subscription holders this Thursday on the 2024 TV schedule. Although Strong playing Carmine Falcone was only just revealed to the public, Sean was privy to this knowledge ahead of time, so he asked the showrunner why Strong was selected to play Carmine and if Turturro was asked back. She answered:

While it would have been welcome seeing John Turturro getting to spend a little more time in Carmine Falcone’s shoes, it’s completely understandable that scheduling conflicts prevented this from happening. After all, The Penguin was filming around the same time as the second season of Severance, the Apple TV+ show where Turturro is a series regular alongside people like Adam Scott, Dichen Lachman, Christopher Walken and Patricia Arquette. With that and other projects taking up his time, it’s no wonder he didn’t have time for The Penguin.

Fortunately, Mark Strong is a talented actor in his own right, so I’m eager to see how he does playing Carmine Falcone in this The Batman spinoff series. This is Strong’s third DC role, as he previously played Sinestro in Green Lantern and Thaddeus Sivana in the Shazam! movies. Here’s how he’ll look as Carmine:

Carmine Falcone may be gone from The Batman world, but his criminal enterprise lives on, which includes his children Sofia, played by Cristin Milioti, and Alberto, played by Michael Zegen. Other major players in The Penguin’s cast include Clancy Brown’s Sal Maroni, Rhenzy Felix’s Victor Aguilar, Michael Kelly’s Johnny Vitti and Shohreh Aghdashloo’s Nadia Maroni, among others. Lauren LeFranc wrote both the premiere and the finale, and the miniseries’ directors include Craig Zabel and Helen Shaver.

Keep visiting CinemaBlend for more coverage on The Penguin. Also, don’t forget that Colin Farrell will reprise Oz Cobb in The Batman: Part II, which hits theaters on October 2, 2026.

Following The Batman‘s release March 2022, not only is there a sequel lined up for late 2026, what we now know as the Batman Epic Crima Saga has expanded to the small screen. The first of these $ tie-in TV shows is centered on The Penguin$ , who’s been the Caped Crusader adversary in the comics for more than 80 years. Although Robin Lord Taylor had played Oswald Cobblepot as an integral character in Fox’s Gotham, this show, which airs to HBO viewers and those with a Max subscription$, puts Colin Farrell’s version of the character front and center after his time as a side antagonist.

$ Among the things we know about The Penguin$ is it $ takes place mere days after the end of The Batman$ and follows Cobblepot’s rise to power in Gotham City’s criminal underworld now that his boss, Carmine Falcone, is dead. Needless to say that such a journey is fraught with perils and people looking to take him off the proverbial board, and that was evident in $ the first trailer for the Max series and the previews that followed. Keeping that in mind, let’s go over all the actors who’ve been announced or reported to be in the miniseries’ cast.

Colin Farrell

If you went into The Batman knowing nothing about it ahead of time, you likely wouldn’t have recognized Colin Farrell as Oswald “Oz” Cobb (that’s right, he doesn’t have the last name Cobblepot in this universe), with this being the character’s first cinematic depiction since Danny DeVito played him in Batman Returns.

While there was initially speculation that The Penguin could be a prequel to The Batman, and thus allow for a younger actor to play the character, Farrell will indeed be returning to the makeup and fatsuit (including a “Penguin pecker”) to explore Oz trying to seize as much power for himself following Carmine Falcone being shot by The Riddler. It’s unclear if Oz, who hates his Penguin nickname, will cross paths with Batman again in the series, although DC Studios co-head James Gunn has debunked the claim that Robert Pattinson could only appear as Bruce Wayne, assuming he shows up at all.

Cristin Milioti

If you’ve read Batman: The Long Halloween and Batman: Dark Victory, then you’re familiar with Sofia Falcone, Carmine Falcone’s daughter, who returns to Gotham City to help her father figure out the identity of the Holiday killer targeting members of the crime family. The Penguin will also see Cristin Milioti’s Sofia returning home after years spent locked away in Arkham following her reign of terror as the serial killer The Hangman (just like in Dark Victory), but with Carmine dead, she’ll instead battle Oswald Cobblepot for control of the criminal underworld. Milioti’s notable roles include Tracy McConnell in How I Met Your Mother, Sarah Wilder in Palm Springs and Hazel Green in Made for Love.

Michael Zegen

Sofia Falcone isn’t the only one of Carmine Falcone’s children appearing in The Penguin. Michael Zegen – of Boardwalk Empire and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel fame – has been cast as her younger brother Alberto. In The Long Halloween, Alberto took credit for the Holiday killings, although it’s later clarified that there were at least two of those serial killers, and that Alberto may have been lying about his role in those events. It’s unclear if Zegen’s version will also wreak havoc on Gotham as Holiday or if he’ll simply be by his sister’s side while she wars with Oz.

Clancy Brown

Although Sal Maroni never appeared in The Batman, it was mentioned that he was arrested in the GCPD’s largest drug bust, though it was later revealed that he was set up by Carmine Falcone and corrupt individuals in Gotham’s government and police force. Maroni is still behind bars in The Penguin, but evidently he’ll be an important player in the miniseries nonetheless. Clancy Brown has been cast as Maroni$, and this is a man who goes way back with DC as the voice of Lex Luthor in the DC Animated Universe and having played General Wade Eiling on The Flash, among many other credits.

Michael Kelly

House of Cards fans will instantly recognize Michael Kelly for playing Doug Stamper, while others may know the actor more from projects like Unbreakable, Now You See Me, Person of Interest and Jack Ryan. Now he’s jumping into The Penguin, where, Kelly told The Wrap, he's playing Johnny Vitti, the underboss of the Falcone crime family. In The Long Halloween, Vitti was Carmine Falcone's nephew, but it's unclear if the two have a familial connection in The Batman universe. This is Kelly’s second time performing in a DC project, having previously played Steve Lombard in Man of Steel.

Rhenzy Feliz

The Penguin trailers have made it quite clear how Rhenzy Feliz fits into the picture. The actor, known from Marvel’s Runaways and Encanto, is playing a young man named Victor Aguilar who starts working for Oswald Cobblepot as his driver, though the gangster won’t hesitate to gut him “like a goddamn fish” if he gets out of line even once.

Shohreh Aghdashloo

From House of Sand and Fog and Renfield, to 24 and The Expanse, Shohreh Aghdashloo has been around the acting block, and now the time has come for her to lend her talents to DC. Aghdashloo is playing Nadia Maroni, who is presumably Sal Maroni’s wife and has taken over his criminal operations while he’s in jail.

Dierdre O’Connell

Dierdre O’Connell is no stranger to the world of crime TV shows, whether we’re talking about her various different roles on Law & Order (most notably Dr. Valerie Knight in Season 20) or popping up in three episodes of Daredevil Season 3. You may also know O’Connell from her recurring roles on The Affair, The Path and Outer Range, and for The Penguin, she’s playing Francis Cobb, Oz’s mentally unstable mother.

James Madio

Along with various film credits to his name, James Mario is arguably best known for his roles as Bobby Lazzarini in USA High and Frank Percent in Band of Brothers, while more recently he played Carmine in The Offer, the miniseries about the making of The Godfather that can be watched with a Paramount+ subscription. Now we’re seeing him in The Penguin playing Milos Grapa, an enforcer for the Falcone crime family who used to be Carmine’s bodyguard.

Scott Cohen

Gilmore Girls fans know Scott Cohen for playing Lorelai Gilmore's love interest Max Medina, but as far as his more recent work goes, you might have seen him in Billions, The Americans or The Fix, among many other projects. He’s playing Sofia and Alberto’s relative Luca Falcone in The Penguin.

Theo Rossi

Hernan “Shades” Alvarez, Theo Rossi’s character from Luke Cage, has something in common with Colin Farrell’s Oswald Cobblepot: they both sought to make bigger names for themselves in the criminal underworld after their bosses were killed. But if you didn’t catch Rossi in that Marvel series, maybe you’re more familiar with him as Juan Carlos “Juice” Ortiz in Sons of Anarchy. Either way, catch him in The Penguin playing a doctor named Julian Rush.

Carmen Ejogo

We get a brief glimpse of Carmen Ejogo’s character In The Penguin enjoying a drink with Oz, and it was later revealed that she’s playing Eve Karlo. The actress’ other genre credits include Alien: Covenant and the first two Fantastic Beasts movies. Fun fact, one of the Clayfaces from the comics is Basil Karlo, so I wonder if Eve is of any relation to him in The Batman universe.

Mark Strong

Mark Strong already has major DC experience under his belt from playing Sinestro in Green Lantern and Dr. Sivana in the Shazam! movies. Now he's getting to contribute to Batman lore through The Penguin, by taking over as Carmine Falcone, who was previously played by John Turturro in The Batman. With Carmine having been gunned down by The Riddler in that movie, Strong’s Carmine will appear in flashbacks during the miniseries. This is the second Max series Strong has lined up, as he's also playing Emperor Javicco Corrino in Dune: Prophecy.

François Chau

You might not know François Chau by name, but with the number of credits he’s accrued, it’s a good bet you’ve seen him in at least one thing, if not several. Filmwise, he played Shredder in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze and also popped up in Beverly Hills Ninja, Lethal Weapon 4 and Birds of Prey, while in TV, he’s appeared in Lost, K.C. Undercover, The Expanse, Last Man Standing, and, most recently, Netflix’s live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender series, to name just a few shows. For now, his role in The Penguin remains a mystery.

David H. Holmes

Next we have David H. Holmes, who’s arguably best known for starring as Simon Miller in Hulu’s short-lived High Fidelity series. If you didn’t watch that, then maybe you caught his guest spots in shows like The Americans, Mr. Robot or Mindhunter. If not, then The Penguin will be as good as place as any to be introduced to him as a performer.

Jared Abrahamson

Finally, we have Jared Abrahamson, whom some of you might know from movies like Hello Destroyer and American Animals, while others might recognize from TV shows like Travelers and The Changeling. Either way, Deadline reports that he's been tapped for a "key recurring role" on The Penguin.

The Penguin premieres September 19 on Max. Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more news on the series, and don’t forget that The Batman: Part II is slated on the upcoming DC movies schedule for October 2, 2026.

Adam Sandler and his longtime friend, Jennifer Aniston, are collaborating once more in the latest Netflix film, Murder Mystery 2. The pair are on a hilarious press tour for the film, which is really showing just how great their chemistry is. Recently, the two teamed up to send a message to their other co-star, Mark Strong, and Sandler used the opportunity to hilariously call out the actor for accidentally punching him in the face while shooting a scene for the new film.

Mark Strong recently sat down with BBC’s The One Show to chat about his villainous role in the much-anticipated action comedy and discussed what it was like to work with the two leads. Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston sadly were not present for the interview in person. But thankfully, the BBC hosts surprised the Kingsman alum with that very funny video message that saw Sandler jokingly poked fun at Strong for the punch. You can see him share the humorous sentiments in the Instagram post below:

The Happy Gilmore is clearly being dramatic about the punch for the sake of comedy, and it totally works. I imagine it can be easy for someone to accidentally hit their co-star during a fight sequence, especially when you're trying to make the scene look as realistic as possible. While on The One Show (via NME), Mark Strong explained himself, describing the incident and how he managed to accidentally hit the comedy star. He said:

It happens to the best of us, and there's actually a long history of actors accidentally hitting their co stars when performing action scenes. Harrison Ford is an action movie veteran, and he still managed to mistakenly strike Ryan Gosling while shooting Blade Runner 2049. Additionally, Jonathan Majors also took a couple punches from Michael B. Jordan while filming the latest Creed film. Now that the Sandman has become somewhat of an action star with the last two mystery films, he may have to get used to taking an accidental jab from time to time. 

What we know about Murder Mystery 2 is that it reunites the audience with the Spitz couple, who once again embark on another mysterious vacation. Their trip goes awry when they become embroiled in an international investigation after their friend is abducted. Along with Adam Sandler, Jennifer Aniston, and Mark Strong, the cast also includes Wilmer Valderrama, Jodie Turner-Smith, and Scandal’s Tony Goldwyn. The group filmed on location in various parts of the world, and the flick is a part of a multi-picture deal between Sandler and Netflix. 

The new movie looks to be a labor of love and, considering he took a real hit during production, Adam Sandler would probably attest to that. But seriously, there's nothing but warm feelings between him and Mark Strong, and you have to love that the actors can poke fun at each other in such sweet and funny ways.

You can catch this iconic cast in Murder Mystery 2 when the movie starts streaming on March 31 for those with a Netflix subscription. For more information on other films headed to the platform later this year, make sure to consult CinemaBlend’s 2023 Netflix movie release schedule.

It has been more than a decade since the 2011 release of Green Lantern, the movie based on the DC Comics superhero of the same name that was, at one point, supposed to kick off the massive cinematic universe. And even though the movie was a critical and commercial failure that forced DC and Warner Bros. to change their plans (and cancel any future installments), the actors who appeared in the movie have gone on to have a great deal of success both in front of the camera and behind it.

I recently watched the movie with my nephews for the first time since its release, and I couldn’t help but be blown away by the number of great actors in the Green Lantern cast. One thing led to another and now I’m here, sharing with you what everyone, including Ryan Reynolds, has been up to as of late. Well, besides dogging on the movie at every opportunity.

Ryan Reynolds (Hal Jordan)

Ryan Reynolds led the Green Lantern cast as hot-shot test pilot Hal Jordan, who became the newest member of the Green Lantern Corps after being chosen by Abin Sur in the intergalactic peacekeeper’s final moments.

Though no stranger to fame by the time he joined the cast of the ill-fate superhero movie, Reynolds’ star power has only grown in the 11 years since its release, and it doesn’t look like that is going to slow down anytime soon. In the past few years, Reynolds has starred in Detective Pikachu, Free Guy, Red Notice, and action-packed and emotionally-heavy The Adam Project. And with Reynolds’ Deadpool joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the near future, it looks like he’ll keep on playing superheroes for quite some time.

Blake Lively (Carol Ferris)

Blake Lively appeared in the Green Lantern cast as Carol Ferris, the vice president of Ferris Aircraft who had a complicated history with Hal Jordan.

Besides killing it on social media with her former Green Lantern co-star and husband Ryan Reynolds and getting caught up in his ongoing "feud" with Hugh Jackman, Lively has spent the past decade doing much of what she did in the first part of her career: appearing in a variety of movies that showcase her versatile acting talents. In the past few years she’s appeared in movies like The Shallows, Café Society, All I See Is You, A Simple Favor, and most recently, the 2020 action thriller, The Rhythm Section.

Peter Sarsgaard (Hector Hammond)

Peter Sarsgaard showed up in Green Lantern as Hector Hammond, the intelligent yet easily corruptible scientist who turned into one of the movie’s main antagonists after being exposed to Parallax’s fear energy, which caused his brain to grow exponentially and give him deadly powers.

The Golden Globe-nominated actor (Shattered Glass) continues to be one of the more prolific film and TV actors in the years since Green Lantern’s release, appearing in recent small-screen and streaming series like The Looming Tower, Interrogation, and Dopesick. And that’s on top of his recent film work, which includes The Lost Daughter, The Survivor, and Matt Reeves’ recently released, The Batman, which saw him play corrupt Gotham District Attorney Gil Colson.

Mark Strong (Thaal Sinestro)

Mark Strong appeared throughout Green Lantern as Thaal Sinestro, Hal Jordan’s reluctant mentor within the Green Lantern Corps who was weary to trust the new recruit before making a dreadful decision of his own.

A few years after appearing in Green Lantern, Strong took on a more likable role in Kingsman: The Secret Service, portraying Merlin, a role he would reprise three years later in 2017’s Kingsman: The Golden Circle. More recently, Strong has appeared in Shazam!, 1917, and Cruella. He is set to appear in Adam Sandler’s upcoming sequel, Murder Mystery 2, on Netflix at some point down the line. Strong has also worked on other Netflix projects, including Home Game and The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance.

Angela Bassett (Amanda Waller)

Although not one of the best Angela Bassett movies, the Golden Globe winner (What's Love Got to Do with It) was outstanding in her portrayal of government agent Amanda Waller in Green Lantern, five years before Viola Davis portrayed the ambitious and cutthroat character.

Over the course of the past few years, Bassett has joined the list of other actors who have appeared in both DC Comics and Marvel movies with her turn as Ramonda in Black Panther, a role she will reprise in the sequel, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which is scheduled for a November 11, 2022 release. Her other recent film work includes Soul, Gunpowder Milkshake, and the 2021 Tina Turner documentary Tina. Bassett is also currently one of the stars of the successful Fox first-responder drama, 9-1-1.

Tim Robbins (Robert Hammond)

Tim Robbins showed up in Green Lantern as United States Senator Robert Hammond, the father of Hector Hammond and part of the reason for his transformation.

In the years since the release of Green Lantern, the Academy Award-winning actor (Mystic River) has gone on to appear in a number of film projects, including A Perfect Day, Marjorie Prime, VHYes, and Dark Waters. During that same stretch of time, Robbins had major roles on shows like The Brink, Here and Now, and Castle Rock (his second appearance in a Stephen King adaptation, the first being The Shawshank Redemption). Robbins is next set to appear on the upcoming Amazing Prime Video series, The Power.

Temuera Morrison (Abin Sur)

Temuera Morrison, who has one of the most recognizable voices and faces in science-fiction and comic book adaptations, took on the role of Abin Sur, the Green Lantern who crash-landed on Earth and gave his powerful ring to Hal Jordan before dying in Green Lantern.

Morrison, who first played Jango Fett in 2002’s Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones before providing the voice for his character’s clone Boba Fett in the special editions of the original Star Wars trilogy, returned to play the young bounty hunter on the Disney+ original series The Mandalorian in the show’s second season. After that, Morrison led a show of his own with the spinoff series The Book of Boba Fett. Outside of the galaxy far, far away, Morrison has portrayed Jason Momoa’s on-screen dad, Thomas Curry, in Aquaman and will reprise the role in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom and The Flash, both of which are scheduled for release in 2023.

Geoffrey Rush (Tomar-Re)

Academy Award winner (Shine) Geoffrey Rush popped up in Green Lantern as Tomar-Re, the bird-like member of the Green Lantern Corps who provided Hal Jordan with guidance throughout his early days of being an intergalactic hero.

A veteran of film, TV, and the theater, Rush has spent the past few years appearing in movies like Final Portrait, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, and Storm Boy, shows like Genius, and stage productions of King Lear. The two-time Golden Globe winner (Shine, The King’s Speech) is next set to appear in the Groucho Marx biopic Raised Eyebrows, which will see the actor take on the role of the famous entertainer, according to Variety.

Michael Clarke Duncan (Kilowog)

Michael Clarke Duncan appeared in Green Lantern as Kilowog, the massive drill sergeant for the Green Lantern Corps who whipped Hal Jordan into shape when the human first joined the group’s ranks.

Sadly, the Academy Award-nominated actor (The Green Mile) passed away at the age of 54 on September 3, 2012, just a little more than a year after Green Lantern opened in theaters. Duncan’s final film credits include In the Hive, A Resurrection, From the Rough, and The Challenger, all of which were released following his death. His posthumous TV credits include Ultimate Spider-Man and Fish Hooks.

Taika Waititi (Thomas Kalmaku)

Before he was making superhero movies of his own like the upcoming Thor: Love and Thunder, Taika Waiti showed up in Green Lantern as Thomas Kalmaku, a Ferris Aircraft engineer. 

In the past few years, the Academy Award-winning filmmaker has written, directed, and starred in movies like Thor: Ragnarok and Jojo Rabbit, while also appearing in The Suicide Squad, Free Guy (also with Ryan Reynolds), and several others. Waititi’s upcoming projects, outside of his return to the MCU, include Lightyear and Next Goal Wins, the latter of which he wrote and directed.

Clancy Brown (Parallax)

Providing the voice for the villainous Parallax in Green Lantern was none other than Clancy Brown, whose list of credits (both live-action and voice work) could go toe-to-toe with just about anyone out there.

In the past few years, Brown has appeared in movies like The Ballad of Buster Scruggs and Promising Young Woman, shows like Billions, The Crown, The Mandalorian, and Dexter: New Blood, and voice roles in programs like Invincible, What If…?, and The Patrick Star Show, voicing Mr. Krabs once again.

Jay O. Sanders (Carl Ferris)

Jay O. Sanders appeared in Green Lantern as Carl Ferris, the founder of Ferris Aircraft.

Recently, Sanders has made appearances in movies like Search for the Super Battery, The Assistant, and the A24 film, When You Finish Saving the World. The longtime actor has also shown up on shows like Blindspot, Sneaky Pete, The Sinner, and Manhunt: Deadly Games in just the past few years.

As you can see, the Green Lantern cast has mostly remained quite busy in the past several years since the movie released, so while it may not have set the box office on fire, it certainly didn't hurt any careers.

Considering how Christopher Nolan’s goal with his live-action Batman movies was to bring Batman into the real world, it was always safe to assume we would never see Mr. Freeze face off against Christian Bale. However, as Matt Reeves’ approach appears to be making Batman’s world real, it does not seem like too much of a stretch that we could see the chilling foe face off against Robert Pattinson.

The director of The Batman has even said that he sees potential for the tragic villain - whose real name is Dr. Victor Fries - to have a place in his grounded, new vision for the Dark Knight. If Mr. Freeze’s return to the big screen for the first time since Arnold Schwarzenegger’s very campy and punny portrayal in Batman & Robin is destined to happen under Matt Reeves’ watch, I have a few idea of who might be a perfect choice to bring the role to life, staring with someone well-versed in playing tragic figures already.

Bryan Cranston

Like many of the best faces in Batman’s rogues gallery, Mr. Freeze is a villain by circumstance - driven to crime in order to find a cure for his ailing wife, whom he has put under cryogenic slumber with the same chemicals that accidentally turn him, literally, cold-blooded. Another iconic example of a character whose desperate commitment to his family led him down a path of destruction is Walter White, played brilliantly in the Breaking Bad cast by four-time Emmy winner Bryan Cranston - who might also be good as a Marvel villain some day. If there is one person best equipped to portray Freeze’s tragic evolution, it has to be him.

Giancarlo Esposito

Bryan Cranston is not the only former Breaking Bad cast member to cross my mind when considering who could be the next Mr. Freeze. Ever since Giancarlo Esposito played drug lord Gus Fring on the hit drama and later on its prequel spin-off, Better Call Saul, he has become a reliable go-to for playing TV bad guys, from Moff Gideon on The Mandalorian to Vought CEO Stan Edgar on The Boys. I think it’s time his knack for portraying villainy gets the big screen treatment, and his potentially frightening Freeze he would be the perfect entry point.

Mads Mikkelsen

An actor known for frightening audiences on both the small screen (such as in the Hannibal cast in the title role) and the big screen (including as Kaecilius in Doctor Strange or the new Grindelwald in Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore) is Mads Mikkelsen. However, in his lighter roles - like in the Oscar-winning dramedy Another Round - the Danish actor has shown he can effortlessly tap into an audience’s fuzzier side and earn its sympathy. Channeling both sides of his acting range would be key to pulling off Mr. Freeze, making him an excellent choice.

Christoph Waltz

We have also seen Christoph Waltz play both honorable and unscrupulous characters, and to Academy Award-winning glory (each time in a Quentin Tarantino movie, too). However, between the charming bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz in Django Unchained and the dastardly Col. Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds, I think the latter remains his defining role and Tarantino’s favorite of the characters he has written. I think it also provides a glimpse at what a more cunning and calculating Mr. Freeze could look like, and that is an interpretation I would kill to see.

Ben Mendelsohn

You may remember all of Ben Mendelsohn’s great, antagonistic performances in Star Wars: Rogue One or Captain Marvel (which turned out to be a misdirect, of course) or his Emmy-winning role on Netflix’s Bloodline. What you might not remember is that he also played a bad guy in The Dark Knight Rises - namely a construction company owner who attempted to assume control of Wayne Enterprises with the help of Bane (Tom Hardy). I think it would be fun to see the Aussie return to Gotham City as a more prominent villain, and with his penchant for playing blood-curdling bad guys, nailing Mr. Freeze, for him, would be a breeze.

Benicio Del Toro

Another veteran of both the Star Wars movies (as DJ) and the Marvel movies (as The Collector) is Benicio Del Toro, who brought a distinct eccentricity to each of his standout roles in those respective franchises. Eccentricity is not a word often associated with Mr. Freeze, who has typically been portrayed as over-the-top silly (such as on the 1960s Batman TV series) or stone cold serious (most famously in some of the best Batman: The Animated Series episodes as voiced by Michael Ansara). I am curious to see an iteration that finds that sweet spot in the middle and the Academy Award winner might be able to make that work really well in Matt Reeves’ Batman universe.

Michael Fassbender

Another actor you may remember from the Marvel movies (just not of the MCU continuity), but may have forgotten was also in a DC adaptation, is Michael Fassbender. The German-born, English-raised actor’s villainous roles from each are entirely different, with the X-Men movies’ Magneto being very sophisticated and driven by a morally questionable sense of righteousness, and Burke from the 2010’s misbegotten western Jonah Hex being a sadistic freak. The former of those character traits is already essential when portraying Mr. Freeze, while the latter could be an interesting one for the Academy Award nominee to also experiment with for a new interpretation. 

Mark Strong

I will admit that this choice is almost a little too easy since Mark Strong already has extensive experience with comic book movie roles. In fact, two of them are notable DC villains - namely Sinestro (before going bad, that is) in 2011’s Green Lantern and Dr. Sivana in Shazam! from 2019. However, that and his physical appearance alone (I mean, does he not look exactly like Mr. Freeze from Batman: The Animated Series brought to life?) are enough for me to consider him as a fantastic choice for the role.

The mere idea of any of these tour de force actors cast as Mr. Freeze makes me even more excited and hopeful for his big screen return. If he is destined to be one of the potential villains in the sequel to The Batman, I cannot wait to see what ideas Matt Reeves has in mind.

Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston prove that they’re a deadly combination in more ways than one in Netflix’s Murder Mystery. The original Netflix film had Aniston and Sandler’s characters, Aubrey and Nick Spitz, unwillingly involved in a crime that they had to solve before it led to them being incarcerated. Now Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler plan to reunite for Murder Mystery 2.

With Adam Sandler films, fans can expect a degree of wacky comedy, over-the-top characters, and crazy situations. Murder Mystery delivered that and more, which is why it’s one of Netflix’s most popular movies. The film had one of Netflix’s biggest three-day streaming numbers ever, with 30.9 million households streaming it over its initial release weekend. By July 2019, over 73 million households had watched.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the streamer greenlit Murder Mystery 2 a few months after its huge release. Production has finally begun, so let’s explore what’s known about it so far.

Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler Aren’t The Only Familiar Characters Returning For Murder Mystery 2

Murder Mystery 2 reunites Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston for their third movie together. The first is 2011’s Just Go With It. In Murder Mystery 2, Aniston and Sandler reprise their roles as vacationing married couple Aubrey and Nick Spitz.

Fans are excited to see Aniston and Sandler return, but they’re not the only characters reprising their roles. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Adeel Akhtar and John Kani are the other cast members from the original confirmed to return for the upcoming sequel.

Adeel Akhtar plays Maharajah and John Kani plays Colonel Ulenga. Because many Murder Mystery 2 details are being kept secret, we don’t know if other characters and actors from the original film might make cameo appearances. We’re excited to see Aniston, Sandler, Kani, Akhtar, and potential other Murder Mystery characters' return.

The Netflix Movie’s New Cast Members Include Mark Strong And Jodie Turner-Smith

In January 2022, the Murder Mystery sequel announced the new cast members joining the project and they included a Shazam! star. The actor's names were announced but their characters were left a mystery. 

Mark Strong is one of the most well known names attached to the Murder Mystery 2 cast. Strong has been in many hit movies and TV shows, including Cruella, 1917, Shazam!, Zero Dark Thirty, and Kingsman: The Secret Service. French actress Mélanie Laurent also has a role in this sequel. Some of Laurent’s past projects include Inglorious Bastards, Beginners, Now You See Me, and 6 Underground.

Tony Goldwyn has a role in Murder Mystery 2, and Scandal fans remember him as Fitz on the ABC hit series. Goldwyn also had major roles in King Richard, Ghost, and the Divergent series. Jodie Turner-Smith is one of the actresses on the rise joining this project. She had her breakout role in Queen & Slim. Turner-Smith then joined Michael B. Jordan as part of the Without Remorse cast. In 2021, she took on the title role in the Anne Boleyn miniseries. She’ll also be in one of the highly anticipated upcoming movies, After Yang. 

Annie Mumolo may be best known for penning the script for Bridesmaids with Kristen Wiig. Mumolo also reunited with Wiig to co-star and co-write Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar. She's also appeared in Bad Moms, Queenpins, This is 40, and Afternoon Delight. The Murder Mystery 2 cast also includes Enrique Arce, best known to international audiences for his role as Arturo in Money Heist, Kuhoo Verma (Hulu’s Plan B and The Big Sick), and Zurin Villanueva, who has appeared in Detroit, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and Insatiable.

Murder Mystery 2 has assembled a very intriguing cast that we can’t wait to see in the film. 

No Release Date Has Been Set, But Filming Was Underway As Of January 2022

According to Deadline's report in August 2021, Murder Mystery 2 was supposed to film in “Paris and the Caribbean." The Daily Mail released photos showing Jennifer Aniston, Adam Sandler, and the cast of this sequel filming on the beaches of Hawaii on January 19, 2022. 

Netflix has yet to announce a release date for Murder Mystery 2, but because filming is apparently underway, there is a chance it ends up on the 2022 Netflix movie schedule.  If filming wraps by March, then we could perhaps see Murder Mystery 2 as early as late summer or very early fall. If I had to guess, I would expect this sequel to hit the streaming service sometime between August and October 2022. We’ll have to wait for Netflix’s official announcement to confirm the release date. 

Jeremy Garelick Directs Murder Mystery 2

Jeremy Garelick is directing Murder Mystery 2. He’s best known for directing The Wedding Ringer, starring Kevin Hart and Josh Gad, and The Binge, a Hulu original film that stars Skyler Gisondo, Dexter Darden, and Eduardo Franco. He’s also been a producer on Plan B, Sex Appeal, The Break-Up, and Big Time Adolescence. 

Kyle Newacheck directed the first film. It is a bit of a surprise that Newacheck isn’t returning to direct Murder Mystery 2, because soon after the film’s initial release, he was excited about the possibility of a sequel. The initial announcement about Garelick taking over as director doesn’t state why Newacheck left or wasn’t invited back for Murder Mystery 2. 

One behind-the-scenes crew member returning is James Vanderbilt, who wrote the screenplay for the original film. He also co-wrote the new Scream, The Amazing Spider-Man, and Zodiac.

Jennifer Aniston Sees Murder Mystery As Her Break From Serious Material

Jennifer Aniston has been doing a lot more serious films and TV shows over the last few years, including The Morning Show. Soon, she’ll be right back into the drama for The Morning Show Season 3. Films such as Murder Mystery 2 offer the actress some greatly needed relief from these serious topics and roles. 

In an interview with THR, Aniston briefly spoke about Murder Mystery 2 and her excitement for the project. She had this to say about her upcoming projects:

Besides her enjoyment of fart jokes, Aniston must also be excited to reunite on set with her long-term friend Sandler. He even spoke about Aniston teaming up with his wife to make sure that he stays fit and healthy while working, and joked about her making him drink green drinks on set. 

Murder Mystery 2 should be just as fun as the original, and we can’t wait to see Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston on screen together again. Make sure to follow CinemaBlend for the latest news on this upcoming Netflix movie. 

For more than half a decade now, most of Adam Sandler’s new movies have been housed at Netflix, including Murder Mystery. The 2019 comedy re-teamed the Saturday Night Live alum with his Just Go With It costar Jennifer Aniston, and In October of that same year, four months after it premiered on the streaming service, a sequel was greenlit. Now Murder Mystery 2’s main cast has been assembled, with Sandler and Aniston being joined by a Shazam! star and many other newcomers, as well as a few familiar faces from the first movie.

Among the more recognizable actors from the first category that can be found in the Murder Mystery 2 cast are Mark Strong, who played Dr. Thaddeus Sivana in Shazam!; Tony Goldwyn, who starred as President Fitzgerald Grant III on Scandal; Mélanie Laurent of Inglourious Basterds and 6 Underground fame; and Annie Mumolo, who co-wrote and co-starred in Bridesmaids and Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar with Kristen Wiig. They’ll be joined by Without Remorse’s Jodie Turner-Smith, Plan B’s Kuhoo Verma, Terminator: Dark Fate’s Enrique Arce and Detroit’s Zurin Villanueva.

Then, along with Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston respectively reprising Nick and Audrey Spitz, Murder Mystery 2 will also feature the return of John Kani’s Colonel Ulenga and Adeel Akhtar’s Maharajah. Those two were among the guests Nick and Audrey met aboard the yacht in Europe where the events of Murder Mystery unfolded. It’s a good bet our main protagonists will cross paths with these two at a new event, but because no plot details for Murder Mystery 2 have been revealed, we can’t say that for certain just yet.

Naturally there will be more actors appearing in Murder Mystery 2 than just the people listed above, and maybe there’s a chance some other characters from the first movie could cameo. But as of today, we now have our main cast for the Netflix sequel assembled. Filming will take place in Paris and the Caribbean at a yet-to-be-revealed date, though considering all these castings, it’s reasonable to assume it will kick off soon.

Behind the scenes, The Wedding Ringer’s Jeremy Garelick is taking over as director from Kyle Newacheck for Murder Mystery 2, and he also revised the script from James Vanderbilt, who penned the first movie. Although Murder Mystery was met with numerous negative reviews, nearly 31 million accounts watched the movie over its first three days of availability, and it was viewed by around 83 million accounts during its first 28 days. 

Keep checking back with CinemaBlend for more updates on Murder Mystery 2’s progress. Other upcoming Adam Sandler movies include Home Team, Spaceman and Hustle, all three of which will also premiere on Netflix.

Becoming a key player in the James Bond franchise can take any actor or actress’s career to greater heights. Just look at the change in Daniel Craig’s career after becoming the beloved spy. But if you can’t be everyone’s favorite super spy, being a villain is even better. That was Cruella’s Mark Strong’s goal in the 1990s. Unfortunately, things didn’t work out for the actor partly due to Craig. Strong told a funny story about how the No Time to Die star ruining his James Bond audition.

Like many British actors, Mark Strong wanted his chance to be part of the James Bond pantheon. While Strong wasn’t aiming to play the suave super spy, he did read for a Bond villain. But unfortunately, the actor may have been a little too confident in securing the role. Strong said about the premature celebration before his audition:

Given the persona Mark Strong has cultivated in films such as Shazam! and Kingsman, it was surprising to hear him talk about a bad audition. But being a young actor in the 1990s, his story sounds like a typical audition story. His darker roles have shown the actor can tackle the sinister yet understated nature of a Bond villain. It would’ve been nice seeing Strong acting alongside Pierce Bronson in the 1990 era James Bond films, but I guess things weren’t meant to be.

The Cruella star continued to air out his frustration with the James Bond star. Mark Strong revealed to the panel and audience of the British game show There’s Something About Movies that Daniel Craig was his drinking partner the night before his botched audition. The revelation was somewhat surprising. Given Craig’s current run as James Bond, it was ironic that the No Time to Die star ended up contributing to Strong’s terrible audition. As he put it,

Mark Strong’s overwhelming hangover stunted his chance of becoming a James Bond villain. Later in his same appearance, the Cruella and Kingsman actor went on to explain exactly how he blew his chance. In his words,

Unfortunately, Mark Strong learned the hard way that drunken nights and high-profile auditions don’t mix. At least, he took a strong lesson about playing before the work starts. But the real story is a young Strong and Daniel Craig getting completely hammered. We need more details about that night if anyone involved can remember.

With Daniel Craig’s Bond tenure ending, it would’ve been exciting to see him play opposite Craig’s James Bond at least once. It would’ve been a nice form of payback. But Strong’s career hasn’t been too shabby since that disastrous audition. He can currently be seen in Cruella in theaters and on Disney+.

Mark Strong jumped off the set of Shazam! as the villainous Dr. Sivana and onto Disney’s Cruella to stand between Emma Stone and Emma Thompson’s nefarious fashionistas for the Disney origin story. The British actor has a strong background playing antagonists, including his role as Sinestro in 2011’s Green Lantern, Frank D’Amico in 2010’s Kick-Ass and Henry Blackwood in 2009’s Sherlock Holmes. So what’s up with all the bad guy roles?

Simply put, Mark Strong is clearly great at these types of roles. Although for Cruella, he takes a step back for the two Emmas to deliver villainous characters of their own as he plays Emma Thompson’s close right-hand man, John the Valet. When I spoke to Strong for CinemaBlend, I asked the actor what his thoughts are on playing antagonists. Here’s what he said:

Mark Strong was perfectly delightful as he shared how much he enjoys bad guy roles. Playing parts like Dr. Sivana or Sinestro are completely different than he’d ever act in his everyday life, and thus a blast to explore on a movie set. He clearly loves everything about it, between the iconic fashion fits to the quotable dialogue villains often deliver in between their evil plotting and so forth.

During the interview, Mark Strong spoke about his potential return to the Shazam! movies as the sequel, Shazam! Fury of the Gods, gets ready for production with Lucy Liu and Helen Mirren signed on as villains. Here was Strong’s response:

Mark Strong will once again be stepping back to allow for some female villainy in the near future. It’s exciting news for the DC film, but obviously we’re really going to miss the actor’s presence on screen alongside Zachary Levi. I’ll be honest with you, when Strong popped on to the screen in Cruella, I was half expecting the actor to continue doing the kinds of roles he has proved he can clearly nail over the years. However, he plays one of the most refreshingly humane characters in the Disney villain story.

Cruella debuted in theaters and Disney+ Premier Access over the weekend to a worldwide gross of $42 million thus far. It opened behind A Quiet Place Part II’s record-breaking first weekend, but also looks to be a relative hit. The movie also garnered positive reviews from viewers, even if the movie gets weird with its classic origin story.

Alongside Mark Strong, Emma Stone and Emma Thompson, Cruella also stars Joel Fry and Paul Walter Hauser as Jasper and Horace, respectively, and The Good Place’s Kirby Howell-Baptiste as Anita Darling. Along with going out to see or streaming Cruella, check out what other upcoming releases are heading to Disney+ this June here on CinemaBlend.

Following COVID-19-related delays, the Kingsman franchise will be launching its third series installment later this year – but it isn't a traditional sequel. Instead of continuing the story of Taron Egerton's Gary 'Eggsy' Unwin and Colin Firth's Harry Hart, Matthew Vaughn's The King's Man is instead a prequel that takes audiences back to the early years of the 20th century and play out a story that will serve as a kind of origin story for the eponymous organization. Beyond that, the future for the movies isn't entirely... but if it only takes one voice to see the stories continue with the original cast involved, let it be known that Mark Strong is definitely on board.

Strong is been doing press rounds as of late promoting the release of Cruella – which is now in theaters and available for Premier Access on Disney+ – and outlets have been taking opportunities to ask about his future with various franchises. He recently told CinemaBlend that he won't be back playing Dr. Sivana in Shazam!: Fury Of The Gods, but it was while speaking with JoBlo that he commented on his potential future playing Merlin in another Kingsman film. Said the actor,

For those who don't quite remember the details of Kingsman: The Golden Circle, the "dynamic end" to which Mark Strong is referring is the fact that Merlin doesn't actually survive the adventure in that film. Instead, the character opts to both sacrifice himself for his comrades and go out in a blaze of glory – doing so while singing "Country Roads" by John Denver (his professed favorite song).

You may now be asking yourself, "If Merlin is dead, what exactly is it that we're talking about here?" Well, as you may also remember from the first two movies, death isn't necessarily always super permanent in the world of Kingsman. Audiences watched Harry Hart take a bullet in the eye at near point blank range in the first movie, and that was a case where we actually saw the body hit the ground. In Kingsman: The Golden Circle, there is certainly the strong implication that Merlin is blown into a million pieces, but you don't actually see it happen. This is presumably done because it would have been gratuitous to show a heroic character annihilated in such a way, but it does keep a door open.

The problem with bringing yet another character back from the dead is that the series would effectively kill any stakes going forward (if nobody important can die, who cares?), but there are plenty of other ways that a Kingsman sequel could bring Mark Strong back. Flashbacks are always a possibility, not to mention pre-recorded videos. Hell, this is a franchise that is just goofy/spoofy enough to pull off a "this is his twin brother" bit.

We'll have to wait and see if a fourth movie winds up happening, but for now fans can spend time anticipating the third chapter. The King's Man, which stars Ralph Fiennes, Harris Dickinson, Gemma Arterton, Matthew Goode, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Daniel Bruhl, Stanley Tucci, and Djimon Hounsou, will hit theaters on December 22.

Alright, so we all know about Disney’s live-action films at this point. We’ve seen some of the good ones like 2015’s Cinderella, and we’ve seen some meh ones (looking at you, Lion King). Disney has also stepped into the live-action market when featuring some of their villains, with Maleficent and its sequel being a smashing success among fans. However, the one villain I never thought Disney would adapt would be Cruella de Vil.

But who would want to feel bad for someone who literally kidnaps puppies and use them for their fur. I know that as a child, I hated Cruella probably more than any other Disney villain besides Scar from Lion King. But, Disney decided to make the live-action Cruella, featuring the origin story of one of Disney’s oldest villains. In Cruella, we see amazing cast members like Academy-Award winning Emma Stone, all the way to some familiar faces from Game of Thrones – and you might have seen them around as well. Here’s where you might have seen Cruella cast before they donned those black and white coats.

Emma Stone (Estella “Cruella” de Vil)

If you haven’t heard of Emma Stone at this point in your life, I don’t know where you’ve been. Emma Stone took on the intense role of playing the titular villain in Cruella, showing just how many layers there truly are to this villain, one we never thought we would see before. But I mean, who else would be the perfect choice to show those layers off than Emma Stone herself?

The Hollywood actress has been in plenty of big-time roles and TV shows that you might have seen. Stone played the lead role in La La Land, for which she won the award for Best Actress at the Oscars. But she also gained acclaim for her roles in other dramas, including Battle of the Sexes, The Help, and Birdman – another role that she was nominated for an Oscar for.

As great as she is in dramas, Emma Stone is just as good in comedy as well. She’s had plenty of roles in some of the best comedic movies out there, including the hit Superbad, the apocalypse movies Zombieland and Zombieland 2: Double Tap, the memorable lead role in Easy A, and so many more. Even besides that, Stone has also stepped into the television world a little, having a lead role in the Netflix miniseries Maniac alongside Jonah Hill, for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe.

With how much she has done, I can’t wait to see what she does in the coming years. The future is bright for this one.

Emma Thompson (Baroness von Hellman)

My God, Emma Thompson. Truly an actress for our generation, the one before us, and so on. I think the moment we saw that both Emma Stone and Emma Thompson had signed up for Cruella, we were all on board. Baroness von Hellman, the head of the prestigious fashion house and Estella’s boss, is almost like a catalyst for the character of Cruella, and Emma Thompson takes on that role with pride and did a fantastic job.

Emma Thompson herself has done so much in the Hollywood industry, I would be stunned if you hadn’t seen her in something. She got her start in the '80s and rose to further success and fame in the '90s with films like Sense and Sensibility and Much Ado About Nothing, and in the last twenty years, she has given us some of the best performances, in my opinion.

In terms of comedy, Thompson has done plenty, including the popular Christmas film Love, Actually, the Mindy Kaling led comedy Late Night, and recently in 2019 Last Christmas, in which she starred alongside Emilia Clarke. Emma Thompson has also had plenty of experience in fantasy roles as well, having the main role in Nanny McPhee, as well as portraying Professor Trelawney in the Harry Potter movies.

Emma Thompson has done plenty of drama as well, with starring roles in films like Saving Mr. Banks and A Walk in the Woods adding to the impressive list of genres that she can tackle. Thompson herself has already had practice in a Disney movie before, starring as Mrs. Potts in the Disney remake of Beauty and the Beast, so it’s not a surprise that she rocked this other Disney roll as well.

Joel Fry (Jasper Badun)

To every villain, there is always the henchmen that stick around and try to help as much as possible, and that is where Jasper Badun comes in with Cruella (along with his other half but we’ll get into him later), played by Joel Fry.

Fry has done plenty of work in the industry, but you might recognize him the most from his recurring role on Game of Thrones during Season 5 as Hizdahr zo Loraq. Besides the popular HBO series, Joel Fry has done a lot of work in television, with a main part in Trollied, a British sitcom, as well as another main role in White Van Man, yet again another British sitcom. Joel Fry also had a prominent role as Rocky in the popular movie Yesterday back in 2019, showing his versatility as an actor. I’m eager to see what he has coming up soon, following his role as Jasper in Cruella.

Paul Walter Hauser (Horace Badun)

In Cruella, Jasper didn’t work alone, and because of that, he had his brother, Horace, by his side as his second thief, another accomplice to Estella. Paul Walter Hauser is the man behind the other half of the classic thieves, showing off that continued change to the comedic characters, giving them more depth than any of us were expecting.

Hauser has done many films, despite only being in the business since 2005. You might have seen him in the Academy-Award nominated drama film I, Tonya as Shawn Eckhardt – or, you might have seen him as Richard Jewell himself in the titular film Richard Jewell, another critically-praised film. It seems historical characters are a great option for this amazing actor.

But it doesn’t stop there. Hauser has also had parts in drama movies as well, taking on the part of Ivanhoe in the comedy-drama BlacKkKlansman, as well as portraying Simon in the Neflix drama Da 5 Bloods, so it’s clear that Paul Walter Hauser had some range.

Hauser has also been featured on the small screen, with plenty of guest appearances. Along with that, he had a main role in the American drama series, Kingdom, as Keith, as well as portraying Raymon “Stingray” in the popular Netflix series, Cobra Kai. Cruella is only an addition to the amazing films this actor has done, so it’s not a shocker that he rounded out the Badun brothers perfectly.

Emily Beecham (Catherine de Vil)

You know, I don’t know what it is, but in my opinion, when it comes to villains, there always seems to be that one person in their family lives that either makes them or breaks them, and that was what Catherine de Vil was, Estella’s impoverished mother who works as a laundrywoman. Emily Beecham took on that new role with flair, creating a great experience and a refreshingly original character to Cruella amongst the familiar faces from the original 101 Dalmations.

Beecham has a diverse portfolio of films and TV that she has done, including a role in the horror movie 28 Weeks Later, portraying the titular Daphne in the film Daphne, and a part in the British romantic-comedy anthology film Berlin, I Love You. But television is where Beecham has really shined.

While she’s had plenty of guest roles across several shows like Merlin and The Musketeers, she’s also had recurring roles like Caro Allingham on The Village, as well as portraying The Widow on the popular AMC television series, Into the Badlands. It’s always a pleasure to see new characters introduced to flesh out a well-known character, and fortunately, that was the case with Beecham’s Catherine de Vil.

Kirby Howell-Baptiste (Anita Darling)

I think we all appreciated Anita in the original film just because of how amazing her willingness and skills are to somehow take care of their dalmatians, but in Cruella, we really get to see a different side of her and see that friendship that she and Estella once had when they were children. Kirby Howell-Baptiste brings that charm to the big screen.

In terms of movies, Kirby Howell-Baptise, hasn’t done as much as some of her other costars on here, with some notable roles in A Dog’s Purpose as Maya and Maude in the 2021 black comedy thrilled Happily, so Cruella is a great way for her to really break out into the film scene a bit more.

However, she’s been in plenty of TV shows over the years, having several main, guest, and recurring roles, including shows like Comedy Bang! Bang!, the Netflix original House of Lies, Beth on the Netflix show Love, Nicole Malloy on Season 4 of Veronica Mars, Simone Garnett on The Good Place, Elena Felton on the popular series Killing Eve, and Taylor Harding on the dark comedy Why Women Kill. Now that’s a lot of TV shows. I wonder if she’s going to be on any of the 2021 TV shows. I wouldn’t be shocked.

While we do love a versatile TV actress, I’m waiting with bated breath to see what she does in movies after her great role in Cruella.

Mark Strong (John)

As our last entry on this list, John was a mysterious figure, someone who you didn’t really know if you could trust or not, even if he was just the valet for the Baroness. That sense of mystery was portrayed by Mark Strong, a veteran actor who has done plenty in Hollywood.

For the film, you have probably seen Mark Strong in plenty of movies. He had a role as Lord Henry Blackwood in one of the latest adaptions of Sherlock Holmes, portrayed the character George in Zero Dark Thirty, an Academy-Award nominated film, portrayed Stewart Menzies in The Imitation Game, and had a role in the series Kingsman: The Secret Service and Kingsman: The Golden Circle, both playing Merlin. Mark Strong also had a villainous role in the superhero movie Shazam! as Doctor Sivana, as well as portraying a captain in the war film 1917, as Captain Smith.

Strong has also had plenty of recurring and guest spots on TV shows, too many to write down here, as his voice is very prominent, including a voice role in The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. It’s not a shocker that he got a role in Cruella with how much he has done, and I can’t wait to see what else he has up his sleeve for the future.

Cruella was a great addition to the 2021 new movie releases, and it'll be exciting to see what these amazing actors and actresses have coming up soon in the next couple of years. It almost makes me want to go back and watch Cruella again just to see them once more. What did you think of the Disney villain film?

Over the past few months, David F. Sandberg’s Shazam sequel has been really coming together following the electric, big-screen debut of the comic book character in 2019. The movie, titled Shazam: Fury of the Gods, recently added some new and powerful blood to the cast with Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu being cast last month as Atlas’ daughters Hespera and Kalypso. We’d expected the new characters to star alongside Mark Strong’s chilling Dr. Sivana, but that will not be the case.

When CinemaBlend spoke to Mark Strong ahead of his role in Cruella, we asked him about Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu’s casting in Shazam: Fury of the Gods as the movie starts filming this month. The actor shared his reaction to their casting, along with confirming that Dr. Sivana will not return. In his words:

By the end of Shazam, the movie seemed to be setting up Dr. Sivana’s continued involvement in the storyline. The final few minutes teased a team-up between him and evil space worm Mister Mind, which likely would see them attempt to take over the seven magic realms. But as Mark Strong shared with us, the sequel has decided to go in a different direction and move the focus over to Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu’s daughters of Atlas.

We’ll certainly miss Dr. Sivana’s presence in the second Shazam movie, but Mark Strong doesn’t rule out the character ever returning to the DCEU. The actor sounds like he’s very excited to see Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu take on the villain mantle this time around and usher in their surely badass evil doings. While we would have welcomed all of the above in Fury of the Gods, no one likes crowded superhero movies, and it’s an exciting update from Strong.

What’s interesting about Mirren’s Hespera and Liu’s Kalypso is that their characters are not direct-from-the-comics villains like Dr. Sivana but their father Atlas is one of the six immortal elders that serve as the source of Shazam’s mystical powers. “Shazam” is an acronym for the sources that include Solomon, Hercules, Achilles, Zeus, Atlas and Mercury.

There certainly haven't been enough powerful, villainous women in the DCEU to stand their ground, so having two lead the epic sequel is an exciting moment for Shazam 2. Not only that, but Fury of the Gods also recently cast West Side Story newcomer Rachel Zegler in an undisclosed, but “key” role.

At present, Mark Strong stars as the Baroness’ valet John alongside Emma Stone and Emma Thompson in Cruella, coming to theaters May 28. Check out what upcoming movies are heading our way this year with CinemaBlend’s 2021 release schedule.

Prestige war dramas from acclaimed British filmmakers can often seem like a dime a dozen. While the stories they tell are certainly important, as it's always good to remember the wars and battles that define our countries and world, it can be hard to stand out compared to many other dramas in this packed genre.

To the credit of Oscar-winning filmmaker Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Jarhead, Skyfall), 1917 most certainly stands out. Shot as though it were one long, arduous continuous take (well, technically two, but let's not get into technicalities), this sweeping, exhilarating drama adamantly aims to make you feel as though you're caught in the action with these hapless and often helpless soldiers, experiencing each and every little moment of intense panic and dismay as our young protagonists hustle vigorously for their lives, particularly as they attempt to share the message that might save their country and finally put a long and tension-filled war to rest in the midst of heated panic.

Receiving 10 Oscar nominations at this year's Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and walking away with three wins for Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects, and Best Sound Mixing, it can be easy to forget how much the acting makes such an intensely visceral movie like 1917 work. (For all its nominations, the actors were overall ignored.) Certainly, in a commendable cast that includes both up-and-comers and established talents, this high-grade ensemble shouldn't ultimately be ignored. Now that it's been nearly a year since the movie made its way into theaters, what's the 1917 cast up to now? Well, let's take a look and find out!

George MacKay (Lance Corporal William "Will" Schofield)

As our central protagonist, Lance Corporal William "Will" Schofield, the solider who must travel to great lengths to send the message that might save the lives of thousands, George MacKay serves as our guide throughout this long, expansive wartime action-drama-thriller. While this leading role in this Oscar-winning prestige movie was certainly the actor's most well-known role, MacKay has been demonstrating his talents in a number of projects in the past few years. Most notably, he was seen in Captain Fantastic, Hulu's 11.22.63, The Outcast, Johnny and the Bomb, Tsunami: The Aftermath, Pride, Marrowbone, Ophelia, Sunshine on Leith, How I Live Now, Defiance, and Hunky Dory.

Most recently, George MacKay played the lead role in True History of the Kelly Gang and starred in Nuclear and the mini-series, Ataraxia. He also just filmed a role in Wolf and he's currently in production for Netflix's Munich.

Dean-Charles Chapman (Lance Corporal Thomas "Tom" Blake)

Playing the part of Lance Corporal Thomas Blake, i.e. Tom, who's ordered alongside William Schofield to deliver the all-important message to Colonel Mackenzie, Dean-Charles Chapman plays the second most prominent role in 1917, and a tragic one to boot. Best known for his role as Tommen Baratheon in Game of Thrones' final three seasons, Chapman was also the title role in West End's production of Billy Elliot: The Musical and he appeared in Into the Badlands, The White Queen, The Revolting World of Stanley Brown, Cuckoo, Before I Go To Sleep, Man Up, Will, Casualty, The Commuter, Blinded by the Light, The King, Breathe, Glue, Ripper Street, and Fungus the Bogeyman.

Most recently, Dean-Charles Chapman played the lead in Here Are the Young Men, alongside Anya-Taylor Joy and Travis Fimmel, earlier this year. He doesn't have any additional titles coming up at this time.

Colin Firth (General Erinmore)

In the role of General Erinmore, the commanding officer who sends our two small-scale soldiers on their very perilous mission seen throughout the film, Colin Firth played a key expository role in 1917's opening moments. An Oscar winner for The King's Speech, the English actor is also known for the Bridget Jones trilogy, The English Patient, Love Actually, Shakespeare in Love, the Kingsman movies, A Single Man, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Mary Poppins Returns, 1995's Pride and Prejudice, 1997's Fever Pitch, and the Mamma Mia movies. Firth was recently seen in The Secret Garden earlier this year.

Next, Colin Firth stars in Supernova, which comes out in the U.S. in January of next year. He'll be seen in Mothering Sunday next year as well. And he'll go from WWI to WWII with the upcoming war-based drama, Operation Mincemeat, which is expected to come out next year, too.

Benedict Cumberbatch (Colonel Mackenzie)

As Colonel Mackenzie, the commanding officer whom Will tells his urgent life-or-death message, Benedict Cumberbatch plays a small-but-critical role in this movie's rousing climax. Best known for playing the title role in BBC's Sherlock, Doctor Strange in the MCU, Smaug in The Hobbit franchise, and Khan in Star Trek Into Darkness, the Oscar nominee is also prominent for The Imitation Game, Patrick Melrose, Parade's End, The Fifth Estate, War Horse, The Current War, 2018's The Grinch, The Last Enemy, and 12 Years a Slave.

Most recently, Benedict Cumberbatch starred in The Courier, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Its wide release comes in February. His other upcoming roles include Prisoner 760, The Power of the Dog, and Louis, which are all expected next year. And he's reprising the role of Doctor Strange in MCU's Spider-Man 3, which is now filming, and Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness.

Mark Strong (Captain Smith)

In the role of Captain Smith, a British officer who offers some world-weary advice to our traveling soldiers, Mark Strong is one of a series of starry cameos seen throughout 1917. An accomplished British actor with several prominent roles in his resume, Strong is best known for the Kingsman movies, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Kick-Ass, Sherlock Holmes (2009), Stardust, Zero Dark Thirty, The Imitation Game, RocknRolla, The Eagle, The Guard, The Young Victoria, Body of Lies, Sunshine, Revolver, Fever Pitch (1997), Syriana, Tristan & Isolde, Robin Hood, Grimby, Green Lantern, Our Friends in the North, Low Winter Sun, Temple, and Shazam! He also narrated Who Do You Think You Are? and voiced a role in Netflix's The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance.

Next, Mark Strong stars in Disney's Cruella, which is slated for May 2021. He'll also play Captain Thomas Wade in the video game, Squadron 42.

Andrew Scott (Lieutenant Smith)

As Lieutenant Smith, an experienced war veteran who gives our lead characters some key bits of advice, Andrew Scott provides a charismatic turn in Sam Mendes' 1917. The charming Irish actor is best known for playing Jim Moriarty in BBC's Sherlock, for which he won a BAFTA, and the Priest in the second season of Fleabag. His other notable credits include Black Mirror, Modern Love, Band of Brothers, My Life in Film, Longitude, Locke, Alice Through the Looking Glass, Spectre, Victor Frankenstein, A Dark Place, Saving Private Ryan, Pride, Jimmy's Hall, John Adams, and Denial.

Most recently, Andrew Scott was seen in Three Kings. He also returns for a new season of His Dark Materials. His latest projects include Ripley, which he'll also produce, The Pursuit of Love, Oslo, and the short film, Cognition. Additionally, Scott lends his voice to an animated adaptation of Heart of Darkness.

Richard Madden (Lieutenant Joseph Blake)

Playing the part of Lieutenant Joseph Blake, the older brother of Will's companion, Lance Corporal Thomas Blake, Richard Madden's cameo provides an emotional coda to 1917's long and harrowing journey. Primarily best known for his role as Robb Stark in the first three seasons of Game of Thrones, the Scottish actor later gained notice and acclaim for his lead role in the BBC mini-series, Bodyguard, which resulted in a Golden Globe win for Best Actor — Television Series Drama. He was also notably seen in Disney's live-action Cinderella remake and last year's Elton John biopic, Rocketman. His other credits include Medici: Masters of Florence, Bastille Day, Sirens, Hope Springs, and Barmy Aunt Boomerang.

Next, Richard Madden stars in Marvel's upcoming The Eternals, which is scheduled to hit theaters on November 5th, 2021. He's also slated to star in the new drama mini-series, Citadel, alongside Priyanka Chopra.

Claire Duburcq (Lauri)

In the role of Lauri, a French woman with a baby whom our always-on-the-go protagonist temporarily bunkers with during a briefly quiet moment in the action, first-time actress Claire Duburcq made her screen debut in Sam Mendes' award-favorite war drama. Gotta say, this intense movie certainly isn't the most... stress-free film to kick off your acting career, though it's certainly a notable debut nonetheless. When your first movie is one of the most award-recognized movies of the year, you're bound to get some notice as your career advances forward. Nevertheless, it's still very early in Duburcq's career and 1917 is the only thing American audiences have seen her in thus far.

Earlier this year, Claire Duburcq made her acting follow-up with the drama film, Gold for Dogs, which premiered at a few film festivals. She currently doesn't have any additional roles lined up in the near future.

Were you a fan of 1917? Who was your favorite character or cast member? Be sure to let us know in the comment section below!

Disney’s been on a roll in recent years with its live-action adaptations of classic animated movies, most of which have been straightforward remakes. But some of these movies have chose a different creative route. For instance, rather than give fans a live-action remake of 101 Dalmatians (which was already done in 1996), the Mouse House instead pushed ahead with Cruella, a prequel starring Emma Stone as the title villainous fashion designer. Apparently, these sets can be fun too, as Mark Strong revealed in a recent interview.

Mark Strong, who starred as Dr. Thaddeus Sivana in last year’s Shazam! (and will be back for the sequel), is among the members of Cruella’s supporting cast, playing the character Boris. While recently plugging his TV show Temple, Strong talked about his experience on Cruella, explaining how much he enjoyed working with Emma Stone and director Craig Gillespie with the following words:

It’s nice to hear when an actor had a pleasant experience not just making a movie overall, but got along splendidly with his co-stars too. Strong’s presence in Cruella was revealed around the time the movie began filming in September 2019, with principal photography wrapping the following November. Clearly Emma Stone and Emma Thompson left a positive impression on Strong, so maybe there will be an opportunity for him to work with one or both again down the line.

Cruella is the second live-action Disney movie Mark Strong has worked on, the first being 2012’s John Carter, where he played Matai Shang. While Strong didn’t delve deeply into what we can expect to see in Cruella during his interview with Collider, he did tease how the movie explores Cruella de Vil’s origins, saying:

Set in 1970s London, Cruella follows the eponymous character as she rises through the fashion industry and becomes increasingly obsessed with dog skins, especially from Dalmatians. Along with the aforementioned actors, the cast includes Paul Walter Hauser, Joel Fry, Emily Beecham, Kirby Howell-Baptiste and Jamie Demetriou. Tony McNamara and Dana Fox penned the most recent version of the screenplay.

Those of you who are fans of the original 101 Dalmatians will know that there isn’t a character named Boris in that movie. So while we already know what Paul Walter Hauser’s Horace and Joel Fry’s Jasper will go on to become Cruella de Vil’s henchmen, it’s difficult to say how Mark Strong’s Boris fits into the picture. Perhaps he’s the right-hand man of Emma Thompson’s character, The Baroness.

Having originally been slated for next month, Cruella will now arrive on May 28, 2021, although we’ll be sure to let you know if the movie is delayed again. You can learn what other movies are being primed for next year with our 2021 release schedule.

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After being around for nearly 80 years, the superhero formerly known as Captain Marvel finally made his theatrical debut in Shazam!, with Mark Strong’s Dr. Thaddeus Sivana serving as the main antagonist. While Sivana was defeated at the end of Shazam!, it was made abundantly clear that we haven’t seen the last of him. Sure enough, Mark Strong has been kept in the loop on the upcoming sequel Shazam! Fury of the Gods… to a degree.

While recently promoting his new TV series Temple, Mark Strong briefly addressed Shazam! Fury of the Gods’ progress with the following words:

Shazam! scored enough positive reception within the first several days of its release that New Line Cinema didn’t waste anytime planning the sequel, with the official title being revealed at the “Hall of Heroes” portion of DC FanDome back in August. However, as Mark Strong informed Collider, Shazam! Fury of the Gods is among the many in-development movies that the health crisis has affected, resulting in the actor not quite knowing just where things currently stand.

Don’t worry, Shazam! Fury of the Gods is still coming, we’ll just have to wait a lot longer for it. Originally the plan was for the sequel to be released on April 1, 2022, thus basically arriving exactly three years after its predecessor. However, it was later moved to November 4, 2022, and as of last month, it’s been shifted to summer 2023.

But as the old saying goes, good things come to those who wait. And despite being largely kept in the dark on Shazam! Fury of the Gods lately, Mark Strong sounds like he’s eager to work on the sequel when it becomes safe to do so. Of course, Strong being a little older when Shazam! 2 rolls around isn’t as big of a deal as the younger cast members going through growth spurts, although director David F. Sandberg doesn’t seem too concerned by that.

When we left off with Dr. Sivana at the end of Shazam!, he’d been relinquished of the Eye of Sin, resulting in the Seven Deadly Sins all being recaptured. Now imprisoned for his crimes, Sivana desperately scrawled runes on his cell’s walls so he could return to the Rock of Eternity, but that didn’t work. However, he was then visited by the super-intelligent caterpillar known as Mister Mind, who informed Sivana that there were other ways to obtain power and proposed forming an alliance so that they could rule the “seven realms.”

While no plot details have been revealed for Shazam! Fury of the Gods yet, it’s a good bet that the story will involve Dr. Sivana and Mister Mind causing trouble for the Shazam family. And as the title indicates, somehow certain deities, whether they’re the ancient ones we’re familiar with or brand-new ones, will be pulled into the mix. But again, it’ll be a while before any specific information starts trickling in.

For now, you’re welcome to rewatch Shazam! on HBO Max, but make sure to keep checking back with CinemaBlend for updates on how Shazam! Fury of the Gods is progressing. Don’t forget to browse through our DC movies guide to learn what else this corner of the superhero movie genre has in the works.

Reshoots are pretty commonplace in filmmaking, especially for blockbusters. Big studio films are almost guaranteed to reserve a block of time for reshoots. Sometimes things change in the editing room and filmmakers decide they need to get the cameras back out. For example, that very same thing happened on Shazam! The fun superhero film reshot the intro scene for its villain, Dr. Sivana (Mark Strong), because the room he was in was a bit too sterile.

In Shazam!, Dr. Sivana is a man obsessed with breaking into the Rock of Eternity and freeing the Seven Deadly Sins, a group of demons who symbolize the worst traits in humanity. Technically, the first time we see Sivana is as a child in the opening minutes of the film, but the scene that was reshot was his intro as an adult.

The scene in question had Sivana overseeing the questioning of a person who visited the Rock of Eternity in the hopes that he could finally get a clue to return there. Originally, the room he was in was much more sterile with blank white walls, but director David F. Sandberg felt that this wasn't quite the right way to introduce his baddie.

Replying to a comment on Twitter, David F. Sandberg revealed that there wasn't enough extra footage to do a director's cut of Shazam! The footage on screen is exactly what he wanted and all of the unused footage is really just alternate takes of scenes in the film. As an example, he showed a pic of the original introduction for Sivana. It's still the same scene, it just takes place in a different room.

While I can't remember for the life of me what this conference room looked like in the actual movie, I think it was a good call to change the room. It's pretty boring looking, and while I'm sure it could have been spruced up in post-production, that wouldn't likely change much.

We don't know what else was changed in the film during reshoots, but maybe some of these alternate takes will be available on the digital and home release of Shazam! The movie has been enjoying a pretty healthy run at the box office, earning $322.8 million worldwide at the box office. That's pretty good for the first film in what is sure to be a franchise, and DC's hot streak still lives on.

If you missed out on Shazam! or just want to kill some time before Avengers: Endgame later this week, you can still catch the superhero film in theaters. For everything else DC has coming down the pipeline, here's our DC movie guide. If you'd like to know what else is coming this year to plan out all your upcoming theater trips, here's our 2019 movie release guide.

Mark Strong’s latest role as the villain Dr. Sivana in Shazam! isn’t anywhere close to his first rodeo in comic book movie adaptations. He’s been Frank D’Amico in Kick-Ass, Sinestro in Green Lantern, Merlin in Kingsman and he almost played a villainous mutant in an X-Men film. Here’s what Strong said of his role that never was:

How interesting is that. According to Mark Strong’s recent words to ComingSoon.net, he was in the running to play Sebastian Shaw in 2011’s X-Men: First Class. The character turned out to have an important role in the origin story of Magneto, as a Nazi in the concentration camp who guided Erik to manifesting his powers out of his rage and murdered his mother in front of him. He eventually showed up as the main villain the X-Men must take on when Erik is an adult. Kevin Bacon won the role and did an effective job as Shaw, but looks like Strong was originally an option the filmmakers seriously considered.

Because Mark Strong was a past collaborator to First Class director Matthew Vaughn for both Kick Ass and Stardust, he immediately thought of the actor to take on the role of Shaw – especially considering Strong could already speak German. But since the actor had done quite a few high profile bad guy roles recently, he decided against it. He would however take on the role of Sinestro during the same year of X-Men: First Class was released, though the famous DC didn’t quite get to live out his full potential in the famous superhero bomb.

Mark Strong now gets to be the DC villain he was meant to be as Dr. Sivana in Shazam! which critics have raved about ahead of its upcoming weekend release. The villain will go head-to-head with 14-year-old Billy Batson’s adult superhero alter ego Shazam, who is discovering his fantastic powers with his fellow foster kid friend Freddy in a hilarious and entertaining new superhero origin story.

Mark Strong recently expressed what attracted him to return to another comic book adaptation to CinemaBlend, by explaining he loves the crowd-pleasing humor of the hero and the dark, weird and creepy story of his newest bad guy character. You can check out Strong as Sivana in Shazam!, in theaters on April 5.

This weekend, moviegoers will find themselves uttering the true magic word: Shazam! Part of the DC's upcoming film slate will be the story of youngster Billy Batson, who with one simple word can turn into the superhero Shazam!, formerly referred to as Captain Marvel, an adult hero with powers ranging from super strength and flight to various forms of magic. For kids who pretend to be superheroes on the playground and around their house, being able to turn into one instantly is the ultimate wish fulfillment! Okay, let's be real, a lot of us who are adults would love this opportunity as well.

Captain Marvel/Shazam! has been fighting crime on the comic book pages for over eight decades (though he was put on ice for 20 years), and has been one of DC Comics' most popular characters since the 1970s. Aside from a film serial released in the early 1940s, this project will mark Shazam!'s full-length theatrical debut after years of appearances in cartoons, video games and even a live-action TV series. The film is now only a couple of days away, but there is still enough to chew on, both about what's already been announced, like Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson playing Black Adam, and what we may end up seeing. Here's everything we know so far about Shazam!

When Is The Shazam! Release Date?

Shazam! was originally expected to hit theaters on April 5, 2019. At the time, that was placing it right after the unnamed DC film being released on October 5, 2018, but before Justice League 2 was scheduled to come out on June 14, 2019. Even though the DCEU has gone through numerous scheduling (and content) changes since late 2014, we can say for sure that Shazam! has kept that spot. April is an unusual time for a big blockbuster movie to come out, but as Captain America: The Winter Soldier proved in 2014, that doesn't mean they can't be successful in that release slot.

That may not be as applicable to Shazam!, considering that Winter Soldier was a sequel and most people aren't familiar with Shazam! the character (the word, much more so). Originally, the release date was seen as being beneficial to Shazam!, as there wasn't much box office competition set, giving it plenty of room to stretch its legs. But, as we near the movie's debut, that has changed quite a bit. Captain Marvel opened less than a month ago, and with that movie recently crossing the $1 billion mark, there may still be folks who head out this weekend to take it in. Plus, Jordan Peele's Us has been stronger than expected, and in the next few weeks we'll see the Hellboy reboot and Avengers: Endgame open, meaning that Shazam! will have to find its audience quickly and/or stick around for a while to really make its money back.

What Is The Shazam! Rating?

Shazam! didn't get its official for a long time, as is customary, but we now know that the film will be rated PG-13. In mid-February 2019, the MPAA made its decision on the rating of the film due to "intense sequences of action, language, and suggestive material." Past DC movies, and for that matter, most modern superhero movies, get the same rating. With Shazam! being one of the lighter entries from DC, it was pretty much guaranteed to hit the PG-13 target. Another thing we can safely count on is that Shazam! won't come out with an R-rated extended cut for home media...I hope.

The Director

It was quite a while before Shazam! confirmed who would be directing the superhero flick, but in July 2017, it was announced that David F. Sandberg had officially obtained the job. Sandberg's moviemaking experience primarily rests in the horror realm with movies like Lights Out and Annabelle 2. Having him helm a movie about a boy who becomes a fully-grown superhero upon exclaiming a word sounds like a weird pairing, but it wouldn't be the first unorthodox pick for a superhero director. Remember, Aquaman director James Wan also has a horror background. And, Sandberg himself has said that he thinks he's the best person for the job since he didn't grow up knowing a lot about the hero.

Shazam!, Previously Known As Captain Marvel (Zachary Levi)

Billy Batson, a.k.a Captain Marvel, was created by Fawcett Comics in 1940, and at one point was considered the most popular superhero of the 1940s. Like most comic book characters, Billy's origins have been retconned several times, but the basic premise remains the same. Orphaned at a young age, young Billy was led by a mysterious stranger through a subway tunnel. Brought before the ancient wizard Shazam! in the Rock of Eternity, he is chosen to receive the powers of Captain Marvel because of the goodness in his heart. Whenever Billy says the word "Shazam!", a magical lightning bolt strikes him, and he becomes the adult Captain Marvel, though he still has Billy's intellect and personality. To transform back into Billy Batson, Captain Marvel just has to say the same word. Each letter in "Shazam!" corresponds with one of the magical abilities Billy inherited from various Greek and Roman characters: S for the Wisdom of Solomon; H for the Strength of Hercules; A for the Stamina of Atlas; Z for the Power of Zeus; A for the Courage of Achilles and M for the Speed of Mercury.

The recent name change for the superhero goes back to legal troubles the character faced in the early 1950s. Due to a copyright infringement lawsuit from DC Comics over Captain Marvel's similarity to Superman, Fawcett Comics agreed to stop publishing stories featuring him and the other members of the Marvel Family, and they weren't seen again for nearly 20 years. During this interim period, Marvel created their own Captain Marvel and trademarked the name. So when DC got ahold of Captain Marvel and his supporting cast in the early 1970s, although they could still call him Captain Marvel within their published stories, they couldn't publish a comic book called "Captain Marvel." As a result, the various series over the years starring him have had titles circling around the word "Shazam!"

When the character was rebooted in 2012 as part of the New 52, writer Geoff Johns decided to rename him Shazam! since many already associated that word with the superhero. Now Billy shares the same name as the being who gave him his powers, and now it's been retconned so that Billy has to say "Shazam!" with good intentions to become the superhero rather than simply say it. This eliminates the pesky problem of him accidentally transforming back into his child self when introducing himself in his superpowered form.

Though Armie Hammer had expressed interest in playing Shazam! following a social media post from The Rock, who is set to portray villain/anti-hero Black Adam, though not in this film (more on that later), we finally found out who would step in to play the odd hero for his first solo film in October 2017: Chuck star Zachary Levi. This isn't his first foray into the world of superhero movies, either. Levi also played Fandral in the last two Thor films, but this will be his first time leading a superhero movie.

Billy Batson (Asher Angel)

As we discussed in the previous section, you can't have Shazam! without Billy Batson, the teen who the Wizard entrusts with superpowers that allow him to become an adult hero. In early November 2017, the film finally cast the role of young Billy, and it found him in Disney Channel star Asher Angel. As for how Billy will be portrayed in the film, director David F. Sandberg has confirmed that the version of Billy most recently used in the comics during the New 52 era won't be in the movie. So, instead of "huge dickhead" Billy Batson, we'll be treated to a more traditional take on the character, with him being fun and happy-go-lucky this time around.

Shazam! - The Wizard (Djimon Hounsou)

The origins of the entity who gave Shazam! and Black Adam their powers are steeped in mystery. In a story from the 1980s, it was explained that 5,000 years ago, he was a shepherd who was chosen to be the ancient superhero the Champion. Centuries later, now going by the name Shazam!, the wizard passed along his power to Teth-Adam, but when Adam abused his powers, it wasn't until millennia later that he decided to trust another with his power. That person was Billy Batson, but soon after he transformed the boy into Captain Marvel, he was killed by a falling granite block. Though dead, his spirit remained connected to his lair the Rock of Eternity (where he safeguarded the Seven Deadly Sins and other captured mystical threats), and he served as a mentor to Billy and the rest of the Marvel Family.

In the New 52, the wizard is one of seven beings who controlled magic in ancient times. In the present day, he is the only member of the council who hadn't been killed by Black Adam, and knowing he was near death, he attempted to find a person with purity of heart to inherit his power. After going through several candidates, he finally chose Billy, who helped him realize that no one's heart is truly pure, but knew that the boy has potential to be good. After transforming Billy into Shazam!, the wizard passed away.

Now that Captain Marvel has been renamed in the New 52, he shares the same name as the wizard, so it's important whenever discussing these characters to clarify which Shazam! you're talking about. As for his role in the 2019 film, it will most likely be the same as in the comics, i.e., giving Billy and Black Adam their powers, as well as possibly serving as a mentor. Expect him to be a major (if not the most important) supporting character.

While casting for the wizard wasn't confirmed for a long time, January 2018 brought the news that Ron Cephas Jones, of This Is Us fame, was in talks to play him on the big screen. When this guide was originally written, the movie had been filming for a few weeks, making it seem likely that Jones was, indeed, cast in the part. To our surprise, though, we were wrong, as official word came down around mid-July of the same year that Djimon Hounsou, who was already set to reprise his MCU role as Korath in Captain Marvel, and was also playing one of the leaders of the seven undersea kingdoms in Aquaman, would actually take on the part of the ancient magic man who gives Billy's his powers.

Black Adam

Millenia before Billy Batson became Captain Marvel/Shazam!, the ancient wizard Shazam! chose another to be his champion. That person was Kahndaqian (previously Egyptian) Teth-Adam. Adam also shouts "Shazam!" to turn into his superpowered form, but the letters in the word represent the Egyptian gods: S for the Stamina of Shu; H for the Swiftness of Heru; A for the Strength of Amon; Z for the Wisdom of Zehuti; A for the Power of Anon and M for the Courage of Mehen. After he becomes corrupted by his power (in the New 52, Adam actually steals the power from its intended recipient, his nephew Aman), he is banished for thousands of years until he is freed from his confinement in the present. Originally, in the pre-New 52 universe, Adam's descendant Theo Adam said, "Shazam!" to transform into Black Adam, but it was then retconned so that Teth-Adam/Black Adam are their own individuals, though Black Adam rarely transforms back into his human form.

Although Black Adam was originally written as a stereotypical supervillain bent on world domination and all that jazz, over the years he has evolved into an anti-hero who wants to do what's best for his people, but his methods are more brutal than what most superheroes are comfortable doing. This is the characterization we will see in the DCEU. Dwayne Johnson has stated that like the New 52 version, the DCEU Black Adam will be a former slave, which has made him very angry. So while he will be a "bad guy" in the sense that he will battling the protagonist at some point, he can't be classified as evil.

Now, here's where some confusion comes in. It was originally thought that Black Adam would serve as the primary antagonist for Shazam! in this film, with the character also being spun off into his own film, which would see him transition from an antagonist to someone who is keen on doing the right thing, but who just happens to get in a lot of fights in the process. It was later decided, however, that Dwayne Johnson's Black Adam would actually not make his debut in Shazam!, but in his own proposed solo movie. That will leave some unknown future film to finally give audiences the battle of wills and superpowers that will result when the two beefy heroes meet.

The Story

It took around four years, but plot details have been revealed about Shazam!. With principal photography beginning at the end of January 2018, we were finally given an idea of what the overall storyline for the movie would be, and we're pleased to say that the story is a classic origin tale that features many aspects of the comics. Take a look at the synopsis released by Warner Bros.:

So, we'll see Billy playing around with his newfound superpowers to figure out just how crazy powerful he is, and then, hopefully, getting used to what he can do enough to take down Dr. Sivana and whatever minions (supervillains always have minions) he has causing trouble all over the place. Since the Wizard will play a definite part in this story, maybe audiences will also get some details regarding his background, and magic as a whole in the DCEU. After Wonder Woman, Shazam! is the next best film to go down this path.

Doctor Sivana (Mark Strong)

With Black Adam no longer a part of Shazam!, the superhero movie has moved on to the next logical character to pit against the World's Mightiest Mortal: Doctor Thaddeus Sivana, who first appeared in 1940's Whiz Comics #2, the same book in which Captain Marvel debuted. While Black Adam has the brawn to go toe-to-toe with Captain Marvel/Shazam!, Sivana usually relies on his scientific mind, sending his unusual experiments and creations to cause trouble for the hero. In the comics he rarely did physical battle because of how weak he was typically portrayed, but it was made very clear by Shazam!'s second trailer that this version of Sivana will be a physical force for the Big Red Cheese to deal with his first time out.

Mark Strong, who played Sinestro in the ill-fated Green Lantern film and Merlin in the Kingsman series, has signed on to portray Sivana in Shazam!. According to what Strong had to say about his training for the part in January 2018, it sounds like they're planning to adapt Sivana's New 52 reintroduction. There, Sivana was responsible for accidentally awakening Black Adam during his search to find a magical solution to save his family from unknown circumstances (perfectly setting up Black Adam for Shazam! 2), and he also gained some meta-human abilities after getting struck in the face with some magical lightning.

DC Extended Universe Connection

Shortly before Shazam!'s release date was officially announced, New Line Cinema president Toby Emmerich mentioned that the movie would have a "tone unto itself." This led some to wonder if Shazam! would exist separately from the other DC films. DC Comics eventually clarified the situation in December 2014 by confirming that Shazam! will exist in the DCEU, so we can expect to see the World's Mightiest Mortal flying in the same world as the other heroes. Given the character's history, though, we can also expect the film to be more lighthearted than most of DC's cinematic fare, and star Zachary Levi has likened the movie to the Tom Hanks classic Big.

Despite his connection to many DC superheroes, Shazam! did not appear in Justice League, even though he's a member of the team in the comics. And, since there's been no word on other DCEU heroes appearing in Shazam!, fans are wondering how this movie will connect to the other DC films that have come before it. The answer, it seems, lies mainly with an action sequence set in a toy store. According to news from a set report, this scene will feature stuffed toy versions of other DC characters like Harley Quinn, Wonder Woman, Batman and Superman. In addition, Billy's new foster brother Freddie will be obsessed with the world's heroes in the movie, giving us lots of references there.

Supporting Characters

Like most of DC's biggest heroes, Shazam!/Captain Marvel has a diverse group of supporting characters by his side, several of whom are superheroes in their own right. The two primary members of the Marvel/Shazam! family are Mary Bromfield and Freddy Freeman. Mary, originally Billy's long-lost twin sister, was also given her powers by the wizard Shazam!, meaning that she utters the same word as Billy to turn into Mary Marvel. The film will see Mary played by Annabelle: Creation actress Grace Fulton. In Freddy's case, he was given his powers directly from Captain Marvel after being critically injured by a supervillain, and as a result has to say "Captain Marvel" to become Captain Marvel Jr. IT actor Jack Dylan Grazer will play Freddie in the film; the character is Billy's best friend and (for a time, anyway) the only one who knows the truth about Shazam!.

The movie will also be including the rest of Billy's foster family from the New 52, which consists of Mary and Freddy, as well as new additions Eugene, Darla and Pedro. Ian Chen, of ABC's comedy Fresh Off the Boat, will play Eugene, while Jovan Armand from The Middle portrays Pedro. This Is Us actress Faithe Herman has also been confirmed for Shazam!, and although her character wasn't given, it's a safe assumption that she'll be playing Darla, the youngest member of Billy's siblings.

In the comics, each of Billy's foster siblings were briefly given powers during Shazam!'s fight with Black Adam (as seen above), but these were temporary. If Mary, Freddy and the others do become superheroes in the DCEU, that will probably be saved for future films, especially since Shazam! won't feature any tussles with Black Adam.

If you're wondering who's going to be in charge of all these foster kids, well, Shazam! isn't going to let them fend for themselves on the big screen. Cooper Andrews, from The Walking Dead, has been cast in the role of their guardian, Victor Vasquez, who will care for the large family along with his wife Rosa, who'll be played by Spanish actress Marta Milans. The film cast almost 80 roles, so it's good to know that Billy will have a solid foster family behind him to help him deal with his new, double life.

We can see how all of these intriguing pieces fit together when Shazam! opens in just a few days, on April 5, 2019!

If you’re looking for an imposing villain with strong features and a voice like smooth oak, Mark Strong is one of the best people you can hire for the job. Hollywood is certainly not afraid to admit that fact, as he’s been cast as the baddie quite a few times in the comic book world, most notably in Kick-Ass, Green Lantern and now as the vicious Dr. Sivana in Warner Bros.’ Shazam. And it’s in that last film that Mark Strong finally got to be the baddie he was always meant to be in the DC Universe.

The story of how Green Lantern went wrong is basic comic book movie history, with a lot of factors leading to the failure of the Ryan Reynolds film in theaters back in 2011. But one of the best things to happen to that film was Strong’s casting as Sinestro, a high-ranking member of the Green Lantern Corps who tried to whip smart-assed rule-breaker Hal Jordan into shape. Of course, this was only a prelude to the eventual fate of his character, which was shown in the film’s post-credits sequence.

Sadly, the big heel turn left Mark Strong rather bummed out when it came to showing his antagonistic chops, as Green Lantern never got the sequel it was gearing up for. While that DC character is definitely getting a reboot and Strong has made his peace with that, there’s still some regret as to how Sinestro was handled overall. And when CinemaBlend recently got to sit down with the actor as part of Shazam’s big junket day, he compared his two very different DC experiences as follows:

Shazam’s Dr. Sivana is definitely the DC villain that Mark Strong was always meant to be, as right from his character’s origins, there’s an energy about him that’s just waiting to turn sinister. Only, instead of promising such an event in a post-credits sequence, director and recent guest on our ReelBlend podcast, David F. Sandberg’s film goes ahead and shows us Strong’s dark side in the first act, and continues to let it shine throughout.

Now that’s not to say that being a villain is Mark Strong’s only claim to fame, as the man has racked up quite a resume. Even in the comic world, Strong has been seen as the charming and lovable Merlin, tech guru to the Kingsman organization in the two Matthew Vaughan-directed films we’ve seen thus far. But when it comes to actors we’d trust in the role of the person we can sympathize with, while simultaneously hating their every move, Shazam! picked exactly the right person to portray that very kind of person. You can feel it as you watch Strong talk about his role in the film, and the big difference between his two big DC Comics experiences, in the video below:

Having Mark Strong playing Dr. Sivana only helps anchor down the film’s lighter treatment of the themes of super powers, who’s truly worthy to possess them and what people do with those powers once they’ve gained them. With his side of the bargain fulfilled, seeing the kids of Shazam! squaring off against the deadly doctor is only that much more rewarding and crowd pleasing. And when it comes to the DC Universe, those are two of the best adjectives to be associated with their recent output.

Watch Mark Strong’s Dr. Sivana threaten the world, and some foster kids standing in his way, in Shazam! when it opens in early shows Thursday night.

Mark Strong will soon be seen in Shazam! playing the movie's villain, Doctor Sivana. However, this is the actor's second shot at playing a major role in a DC Comics superhero movie. Back in 2011 Strong played the role of Sinestro in the Ryan Reynolds-led Green Lantern. That movie was one of the few recent failures when it comes to superhero movies at the box office. If the movie had been a hit, we would have seen a lot more of Mark Strong in a sequel, but that movie never happened, something Mark Strong is still a bit upset about. According to the actor...

When we meet Sinestro in Green Lantern, he's the leader of the Green Lantern Corps when Ryan Reynolds' Hal Jordan finds himself somewhat unwittingly drafted. In the end, Sinestro believes the only way to fight the villain Paralax is with the power of fear, and he has a power ring forged that gives him that power. In the post-credits scene of the movie, we see Sinestro putting on the yellow ring and its power seems to overwhelm him.

If a Green Lantern sequel had happened, we almost certainly would have seen Green Lantern's greatest enemy, Sinestro, take center stage. Clearly that was part of the plan for bringing Mark Strong in to play the role in the first place. You don't cast somebody like him in a simple supporting role.

Mark Strong was certainly on board for the long term plan. It sounds like he still is, as he tells ComicBook.com that's still bummed he didn't get a chance to play the part at the level he knew it was capable of.

While Green Lantern was certainly a movie with some issues. Few would lay any of the movies problems at the feel of Mark Strong. He was a perfectly good SInestro and probably would have been a fantastic villain if the sequel had ever actually happened.

It did not, but now Mark Strong will have his second bite at the comic book villain apple in the form of Doctor Sivana. He'll be the force opposing Zachary Levi/Asher Angel as Shazam. The trailers have largely kept our villain under wraps, so we don't really know what to expect, but we can pretty much always count on Mark Strong to bring the energy necessary to be a great comic book supervillain.

As far as the future of Green lantern goes, plans for a new Green Lantern film set within the DC film universe have been announced, but momentum on that project is either moving very slowly, or not at all, as we've heard little to indicate we'll be seeing a new Green Lantern anytime soon.

Shazam! is something of a departure for the DC film universe in that it's a much more lighthearted story. This is fitting since the hero is ultimately a 14-year-old boy. However, just because our hero is a kid doesn't mean that he won't be faced with some grown-up problems. In the case of Shazam! that problem will come in the form of Mark Strong as Doctor Silvana. I had a chance to interview Mark Strong on the set of Shazam! last year and he feels that because the film has so much humor in it, it's that much more important for his villain to be terrifying. According to Strong...

In order to balance out the humor that comes with Shazam!'s premise, Mark Strong's job is to be a force of true, dark evil in the story. If he's not, then there's no real sense of jeopardy for the heroes of Billy Batson and his friend Freddy. In short, Shazam! is still going to feel like a superhero movie, as the hero will be going against a truly dangerous opponent.

We learned a great deal about who Silvana will be in the new Shazam! film while on the set. While he's still truly a bad guy, his motives will likely be understandable to the audience, even if his actions won't be condoned.

You can get the most recent look at Mark Strong's character in the newest trailer. Check it out below.

A character like Doctor Silvana would be dangerous to an adult hero, but to one who is technically a teenager, even though he looks like Zachary Levi, Silvana will likely be even scarier. Billy Batson will need to fight Silvana with powers he doesn't even completely understand, stacking the deck against him even more.

Properly combining comedy with moments of suspense or action that are designed to feel truly harrowing can be a delicate balance. Your villain can come across as too comical and thus not feel like a true threat, and make no mistake, while Mark Strong has played some vicious characters in his today, he's perfectly capable of bringing humor to a role when necessary. However, in this case, it looks like Shazam! plans to play to Strong's, well, strength, and make Doctor Silvana the sort of villain who could seem dangerous to any of DC's heroes.

We'll see the final result when Shazam! arrives this spring.

The time for getting gamers on board the fall season welcome wagon is fully underway. Companies like EA and Activision are going all out to lure in as many potential consumers as possible, including bringing in known Hollywood actors in order to appeal to the masses... sort of like Mark Strong joining the Battlefield V promotional campaign to help put more eyes on the game.

In preparation for a big reveal of the single-player mode in Battlefield V, DICE posted a teaser over on the official Battlefield Twitter account, announcing that "Mark Strong is ready."

The minute and a half video features Mark Strong, with the first 12 seconds being nothing more than Strong warming up his voice by dropping lots of 'F' bombs while telling the player to play the objective.

The expletive-laced warm-up prefaces a quick introduction to Mark asking about his motivation for the narration, which he basically sums up as the "Voice of God."

Despite it being a behind-the-scenes clip and being only a minute and a half long, it's actually rather fascinating. We get some glimpses into the audio direction given to Strong as he rattles off his lines in a number of different ways, and he even plays around with humming the Battlefield theme song.

It's only at the end of the clip -- around the minute and 10 second mark -- do we get a taste of what Strong's narration will be like in the full version of Battlefield V, as he puts on his serious voice and we get clips of the game's single-player campaign mode.

We see a couple of the characters in action, including a soldier about to take a shot but he ends up having his gun lowered by his partner. There's also a clip showcasing the aerial combat, which looks like a crazy collection of intense mid-air dogfighting.

All the clips will apparently be compiled and showcased in an actual full-length trailer for Battlefield V. The clips from the campaign mode relate to what's called War Stories. These were first introduced in Battlefield 1, where instead of having a streamlined campaign mode following a single story, it was a collection of stories featuring different soldiers from different regions, telling what their experience was like during the war. It was a huge departure from the typical campaign modes that had been featured in most first-person shooters up to that point, especially the more heroic, blockbuster-stories gamers were used to from Call of Duty or Medal of Honor.

For Battlefield V, there will be a collection of several new War Stories, following different groups of soldiers and resistance fighters across the war front. The new trailer drops tomorrow, but Battlefield V doesn't launch for the PS4, Xbox One or PC until November 20th.

Many of the great superheroes have an arch-nemesis, and while some may argue that Black Adam fills that role for Shazam, the fact of the matter is that Doctor Thaddeus Sivana is an equally worthy candidate, if not more so given that he debuted in Whiz Comics #2, the same comic book that introduced the hero previously known as Captain Marvel. So when it was revealed that Black Adam was no longer appearing in the Shazam! movie, many fans suspected that Doctor Sivana would fill in as the main antagonist, and sure enough, it was confirmed in January that Mark Strong was playing the character. The Shazam! trailer gave us a brief glimpse of Strong's Sivana, showing us that he physically looks more formidable than traditionally depicted in the comics. Shazam! is also making some adjustments to Sivana's backstory as well, as this version of the villain met the mysterious Wizard that gives Billy Batson his powers.

Just like in the comics, Billy Batson will be selected by the Wizard in Shazam! to inherit his powers and become his new champion. But it turns out that Mark Strong's Sivana also encountered the Wizard (also named Shazam) as a kid, but he was rejected from receiving those amazing abilities. In the years since, Sivana has been trying to gain powers like the one Billy now has so he can finally live up to the expectations of his "domineering father." Since Sivana was able to block one of Shazam's mighty punches in the trailer, clearly he's somehow accomplished this goal. Shazam! director David F. Sandberg also told EW the following about Shazam!'s Sivana:

Although Shazam! is pulling from various eras of the character's nearly eight-decade history, the overall story looks to be very much inspired by the Shazam New 52 origin story, and Sivana is no exception. As you can see above, one of Sivana's eyes is whited out, which calls back to when the New 52 Sivana gained the ability to see magic. However, in the comics that came as a result of trying to open Black Adam's tomb, and Black Adam will not appear in Shazam!. So where could Mark Strong's Sivana have obtained his powers? My guess is from the Seven Deadly Enemies of Man, demons that are the physical embodiments of Christianity's seven deadly sins (Pride, Envy, Greed, Anger, Sloth, Gluttony and Lust). They've been part of the Shazam mythology for decades and, like Sivana and Black Adam, were involved in the New 52 origin story. Perhaps in Shazam!, the Enemies are trapped and have given Sivana some powers in exchange for working to free them. Sivana thinks once he's done that, he'll become godlike, but in the end, the Enemies betray him and instead just try to wreak havoc and corrupt as many humans as possible around the world.

We'll learn what Doctor Sivana's whole deal is when Shazam! works its magic in theaters on April 5, 2019, so stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more updates. Don't forget to also look through our DC movies guide to learn what else is in development for the DC Extended Universe.

For a long time the Shazam movie seemed to be a somewhat abstract and separate concept from the rest of the DC film universe. But now, with a release date locked in, Shazam! is moving full steam ahead and the cast is beginning to fill out. As reported earlier, Mark Strong was in talks to play the villain in the film, Doctor Thaddeus Sivana, and that has been confirmed. The actor is no stranger to comic book movies, having played Sinestro in Green Lantern and Merlin in the Kingsman series. Mark Strong recently spoke about the role and getting the chance to tackle another DC villain, saying:

One bright spot in Green Lantern was the pitch-perfect casting of Mark Strong as Sinestro. The actor is excellent as a villain and it's cool to hear that the failure of Green Lantern did not daunt his desire to really have fun playing a DC villain. The role of Doctor Thaddeus Sivana should give Mark Strong all the villainous material he desires. The character is Shazam's oldest and most frequent foe. He is the prototypical mad scientist and similar to Lex Luthor; he takes a scientific approach to defeating his godlike nemesis. Playing such an evil bastard, as Mark Strong described him, should allow for a really fun performance and allow him to really revel in the villainy that was denied him when Green Lantern didn't spawn a sequel. Mark Strong also spoke about the training involved to become the character, saying:

Like pretty much every comic book character, Doctor Sivana has undergone many changes over the years. Originally relying simply on the power of science, Doctor Sivana has gained some meta-human abilities thanks to DC's recent New 52 comic universe reboot. So based on Mark Strong's comments to Celebretainment, it sounds like he will be playing the more souped-up and less frail version of the character. In the New 52, Doctor Sivana turned to magic when the scientific method failed and he takes some magical lightning to the face for his efforts. But now he can see magic and has a sparkly eye and a neat scar to boot. It sounds like here he will also gain further abilities to shoot lightning out of his hands while flying. That beats beakers and test tubes any day. With this film expected to be a Shazam origin story, hopefully we will get to see the genesis of this villain as well. Origin stories of super villains are often just as, if not more, thrilling than their heroic counterparts.

We still have questions about this film that we'll hopefully get some answers to as production ramps up. Shazam is a very different character with a unique mythology and that should allow this film to stand out in the genre and differentiate him from other cinematic superheroes. Shazam! is directed by David F. Sandberg and stars Zachary Levi as Shazam and Asher Angel as Billy Batson. Shazam! hits theaters on April 5, 2019; here's what else we know about the upcoming flick.

After decades of appearing in the comics, animated projects, video games and even a live action TV series, Shazam, previously-known as Captain Marvel, will finally make the jump to the big screen in the near future. The Shazam movie will be the next DC films universe entry after Aquaman, and last week, it was announced that Chuck star Zachary Levi will play the World's Mightiest Mortal. Now word is in that Kingsman star Mark Strong is being eyed to play the movie's main villain, Doctor Thaddeus Sivana.

According to The Wrap, Mark Strong is in talks with Warner Bros to jump aboard Shazam as Doctor Sivana, Shazam's oldest enemy. If a deal is reached, Strong would be the second actor to board the project. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson has already been cast as Black Adam, but rather than being Shazam's main antagonist as originally intended, the Kahndaqian powerhouse will instead be introduced in his own movie, saving his conflict with Shazam for a later date.

Assuming Mark Strong does end up joining Shazam, this won't be his first foray into the DC Comics universe. He previously appeared in 2011's Green Lantern, and while that movie was primarily met with negative reception, Strong's portrayal of Sinestro is considered by many to be one of its highlights. Mark Strong's other credits include the Kingsman movies, Stardust, Sherlock Holmes, Kick-Ass, John Carter, Zero Dark Thirty, The Imitation Game and The Brothers Grimsby.

Doctor Thaddeus Sivana has been around for as long as Shazam/Captain Marvel has, debuting in 1940's Whiz Comics #2. Unlike Shazam, who has numerous special powers, Sivana's formidability comes from his mind, as he uses his genius intellect to create weapons and gadgets to antagonize the World's Mightiest Mortal. However, in the rebooted New 52 universe, Sivana gained the ability to see magic after his right eye was hit by magical lightning. With Black Adam off the table, Doctor Sivana is the next best choice to serve as Shazam's main villain, and as you can see from the Mark Strong photo above, his physical appearance could match the character's pretty closely, albeit looking less weak. Outside of the comics, Sivana has appeared in Batman: The Brave and the Bold and Justice League: Gods and Monsters, although the latter featured an alternate universe version of the mad scientist.

No plot details for Shazam have been revealed yet, other than that it's expected to tell the origin story of Billy Batson and how he gained his magical abilities derived from the mythological figures Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles and Mercury. Lights Out director David F. Sandberg will helm the feature, while Henry Gayden is penning the screenplay.

Shazam doesn't have an official release date yet, though Sandberg expects the movie will be ready to go by April 2019. As we wait for more updates on Shazam's progression, take a look at our DC movies guide to find out what other projects from this franchise are coming down the pipeline.

After the surprise box office success of 2015’s Kingsman: The Secret Service , it looked like a sequel was always going to be pursued. However, the follow-up would only work if they got the entire cast and crew back, and with Taron Egerton, writer and director Matthew Vaughn, and Mark Strong all confirmed, excitement is already brewing for Kingsman 2. In fact, Strong has now admitted that Kingsman 2 will be partially filmed in the United States, in order to expand the scope and differentiate it from the original.

Mark Strong made this admission when I chatted to him over the phone on Friday, to discuss his work on the riotous Sacha Baron Cohen comedy The Brothers Grimsby. During our chat I asked him for an update on Kingsman 2, which is when he provided a starting date and the followingtease about where the action spy comedy would be set:

While having that information is well and good, I knew that Mark Strong could do better than that. So I pressed him for a little more by asking for an update on his character Merlin, one of the senior Kingsman who not only oversaw Taron Egerton’s Eggsy through his rigorous selection process, but also assisted him during his the final showdown with Samuel L. Jackson’s Valentine. And while Mark Strong refused to reveal if either Colin Firth would be returning or if Julianne Moore will be appearing as the villain, he admitted that Merlin will be a key cog in Kingsman 2, stating the following:

Fingers crossed that Julianne Moore does ultimately appear in Kingsman 2, because she would be the perfect addition to an all round esteemed cast. While the thought of her playing a villain in such an over-the-top comic-book film is truly tantalizing, and simply needs to happen otherwise the world’s not fair.

Kingsman: The Secret Service went on to gross $414 million upon its February release last year, making it the most commercially successful film of Matthew Vaughn’s career. Because of this triumph, Kingsman 2 has been rewarded with a summer release date of June 16, 2017.

But if you’re looking for a Mark Strong fix you only have a week to release until The Brothers Grimsby is released in the USA. You can click here to read my review for the comedy, while check back next week to read what Mark Strong had to say about shooting the film and working with Sacha Baron Cohen.

Even before the release of the most recent James Bond movie, Spectre, there was chatter that Daniel Craig may have had his fill of playing the famous spy. While some have suspected that Craig may be willing to return to the role after enough time away, one source has implied that the decision to walk away has already been made. Actor Mark Strong has said that his friend is likely done with the franchise.

Mark Strong was speaking with The Short List as part of the promotion for his new movie The Brothers Grimsby where he plays against his normal type, as something of a secret agent himself. Strong is best known for playing the villain, which led to a conversation about possibly playing a Bond villain one day. It was at this point that the actor may have let the cat out of the bag.

While Mark Strong does say "I think" when talking about the likelihood of Daniel Craig being done playing James Bond, he also speaks of it in the past tense, which implies that Strong, well, strongly believes his chance to star opposite his friend has passed by. When asked if Strong himself could talk Craig into returning, he said he would try, but he didn’t seem to hold out much hope that such a thing was possible.

While certainly not definitive, this may be one of the more reliable sources on the topic. People tell their friends things that they don’t always tell their employers. If Daniel Craig and Mark Strong were chatting as friends over a drink, it’s certainly possible that Craig might have said something to his "pal" he has yet to say to MGM.

Most recently, it has appeared that the studio is willing to be flexible and work with Daniel Craig in order to keep him in the role. Maybe they’ll also be willing to entertain Mark Strong as the next movie’s bad guy. It could be the thing to do to entice Craig back is let him work with a friend on the film. It might make the next outing more palatable for the actor, who was obviously exhausted after the last time.

Do you think Daniel Craig is done with James Bond? How much would you like to see Mark Strong as a Bond villain, with or without Craig in the lead?

We know what you're thinking, the world’s greatest spy is James Bond. Well, it turns out that isn’t actually true. The world's greatest spy is named Agent Grim, and he’s the lead character in next years’ The Brothers Grimsby. The other star is, well, yeah, it’s his brother, who is very much not a dangerous spy. He appears to be mostly useless. Fair warning, the trailer below is a red band, meaning it may not be something you want to flip on during your break at the office. Most of the trailer is fine, it’s only the end when things get...awkward.

Ok, so maybe the trailer is a tad bit misleading about the kind of movie that we’re in for. The Brothers Grimsby stars Mark Strong as one of Britain’s greatest covert agents, and Sasha Baron Cohen as his sibling, and the two will be forced to work together because of a new assignment. Based on the description of Cohen’s character, they must need to infiltrate a band of renegade football hooligans for some reason. This trailer certainly gives the impression that action movie fans will have plenty to enjoy here. If you’ve never heard of this film before now, you likely thought you were getting a straight up action flick, and the comedic...umm...climax probably came (dammit) as a complete shock.

While Sasha Baron Cohen is not a major part of the trailer, he is a major part of the movie. He co-wrote the script and is a producer on the project. The only thing Cohen’s movies have in common is that they rarely have anything in common. This one certainly follows that lack of a pattern, as we’ve never seen the man tackle action before. Strong isn't a complete stranger to comedy, though it certainly isn’t the place you expect to see him. Even in Kingsman: The Secret Service, which certainly had its share of laughs, Strong was the straight man.

Needless to say, this is not your average spy movie. Unless the movie you’re comparing it to is the movie Spy. Espionage comedies appear to be a thing at the moment, as the Melissa McCarthy comedy, which co-starred Jason Statham, was fairly successful in its own right. This one appears to be different enough from that one that fans will be able to enjoy both without feeling like they’ve seen it all before.

Now that we’ve been introduced to The Brothers Grimsby, we can’t wait to see how the two of them are going to work together. The film is currently set for release on March 4 2016.

Despite the 2011’s Green Lantern earning mostly negative reviews, one of film’s high points was Mark Strong’s portrayal of Sinestro. With plans for a sequel to this film being trashed in favor of a reboot set in the DC Cinematic Universe, Strong was asked whether he would be up for reprising the role. Unfortunately for fans of this version of the character, it doesn’t look like that will ever happen.

Serving as one of Hal Jordan’s mentors, the pre-villain Korugarian’s strict training and tough love helped Ryan Reynold’s Hal Jordan defeat Hector Hammond and Parallax. Speaking with MTV, the Sherlock Holmes actor admitted that it’s unlikely he will be asked to play Sinestro in any of the upcoming DCCU movies, believing that his Sinestro belonged strictly to the world seen in the 2011 film. Strong said:

Although Sinestro served as a force for good in Green Lantern, there was also foreshadowing of his fall from grace. The epilogue showed Sinestro putting on the yellow ring he forged earlier in the movie to combat Parallax. His eyes and suit subsequently turned yellow, setting him up as a villain for a future story. Now that the Emerald Knight’s film series is being rebooted, we’ll never see this Sinestro turn against the Green Lantern Corps and battle Hal Jordan, let alone form the Sinestro Corps, his army of fear-wielding soldiers. However, that doesn’t mean we’ll never see the character again.

First appearing in Green Lantern Vol. 2 #7 in 1961, Sinestro has been the the greatest enemy of not just Hal Jordan, but the entire Green Lantern Corps for decades. Although we’ll never see Strong’s Sinestro again, it’s hard to imagine the DCCU not introducing the villain in the Green Lantern reboot, or earlier. That would be like if none of the Batman films included The Joker, or if the Superman films never used Lex Luthor. Even if an origin story for Green Lantern is eschewed and we don’t ever see Sinestro go to the dark side, having him as an established threat wielding the fear-powered yellow ring (either on his own or with his Sinestro Corspmen) would make him a great first threat for the new Green Lantern, be it Hal Jordan, John Stewart, or someone else. That being said, considering how strong Strong’s (hehe) performance was, the new Sinestro actor will have a challenging time filling those shoes.

You can watch Strong’s full comments in the video below.

While it may be a long time before we learn whether Sinestro will be featured in the DCCU, fans can expect to see the Green Lantern reboot hit theaters on June 19, 2020, though the titular hero may end up debuting earlier in one of the Justice League films.

Low Winter Sun was a disaster. Not only was it an unmitigated, forced, and costly mistake at the hands of the AMC Network, it has also been an unfortunate stain on the career of its lead: the otherwise awesome Mark Strong. For an actor who's heyday seems to still be raging on, he's had an impressive range of roles and projects. Comic book movies, a couple of Ridley Scott pictures and even a voice-acting gig in an English dub for a Hayao Miyazaki picture have all have fallen under the umbrella of the commanding English performer. Now it looks like he's adding even more variety to his resume with a role that might bring him back up a couple of notches: he's going to play Sacha Baron Cohen's big brother.

Deadline reports that Strong has signed on for a role in Grimsby, a film in which he'll star as one of Britain's best covert operatives. Chaos and hilarity should ensue though, as his younger brother (played by Baron Cohen) is a rather dull football hooligan (Think Hot Fuzz meets Johnny English). In addition to co-starring duties, Sacha Baron-Cohen is credited as a co-writer, as well as a producer on the project, which should move things along rather smoothly into the production phase.

Mark Strong could use an opportunity to rebound from the failure that was his small screen starring vehicle, and in this sort of situation a comedy success is one of the better ways out of the doghouse - especially if this film holds even the slightest potential for the success of titles like Borat, or even Tallageda Nights: The Legend of Ricky Bobby. We've seen Strong play some serious leads, so playing the straight man to his co-star's antics should be a piece of cake. He's done it before alongside Colin Firth in the original version of Fever Pitch, and there's video to prove it.

Come to think of it, this might even be a good time to bring Will Ferrell in on the fun, even if it's in a short cameo role. His production schedule for the recently announced project, The Yank, might overlap in terms of scheduling and would definitely overlap in terms of locations. It'd be a crime for Sony to not try and have two of their biggest stars in the same movie(s), and this could create a bigger comeback wave for Strong to surf into safety.

For now, Mark Strong's got the comic book flick The Secret Service and possible awards contender The Imitation Game on his slate., while Sacha Baron-Cohen only has Through The Looking Glass, the Alice in Wonderland<.em> sequel, coming up.

One of the classic tropes that has been a part of Hollywood filmmaking for decades and decades is casting British actors to play villains opposite American heroes. It's hard to say exactly how the tradition started - perhaps its ultimately just a call-back to the days of the American Revolution? - but it's hard to deny its efficacy, as actors from the UK have given us some of the best sinister turns in the history of the medium. For their big commercial set to air during this year's Super Bowl game, the car manufacturer Jaguar has put this classic cliche in the spotlight, and has enlisted the help of stars Sir Ben Kingsley, Mark Strong, and Tom Hiddleston to do so.

While I can't say that that I like this commercial all that much - I'm not entirely sure I fully get the link between being a villain and driving a Jaguar - whoever did the casting absolutely nailed it. Kingsley, Strong and Hiddleston don't always play villains, but one could argue that all of them are at their best when they do. I will personally always think of Kingsley in his role as Don Logan in Jonathan Glazer's Sexy Beast:

How about Strong's role antagonizing the titular hero in Sherlock Holmes?

And Hiddleston, of course, will always and forever be remembered for his run as Loki in Thor, The Avengers, and Thor: The Dark World:

This certainly won't be the last star-studded commercial we see popping online over the next week or so. Companies have been known to pull out all the stops when it comes to getting A-list talent to star in Super Bowl ads, and in recent years those spots have found their way online days early just so that corporations can be sure that they're getting their money's worth. Stay tuned here on Cinema Blend as more of them come our way.

Opposite its behemoth series Breaking Bad, AMC premiered a brand new drama tonight starring Mark Strong and Lennie James. Low Winter Sun follows the murder of a cop and the subsequent cover up, set against the backdrop of a corrupt police unit where nobody trusts each other and no one is talking. The standard form of a pilot doesn’t always say a lot about where a series might be going, but if this is what we have to expect from Low Winter Sun, the series will offer an escape unlike anything else television has to offer.

We’re introduced to Strong’s Detective Frank Agnew in a tense moment. He’s clearly psyching himself up for something, and when he turns to break the third wall and face the camera, we know it isn’t something good. He meets up with another officer in his department. Joe Geddes (James) has a more colorful past, and between the two there’s enough anger and will to take down a corrupt cop and make it look like a suicide. It sounds like I’m spoiling a lot, but this is only the first five minutes of the series.

Unlike most police dramas, we don’t have a whodunit. Instead, we have a web of lies being spun in the unlikeliest places, a police department, a little a la Dexter. In fact, there are nods to many other series in Low Winter Sun. The setting and intimate moments inside the walls of a police department may remind viewers of The Wire and the anti-hero status of our two leads—but especially Agnew—harkens back a little to another AMC series, one that also airs on Sunday nights.

It may nod at several small screen endeavors, but Low Winter Sun is its very own program, first cultivated as a miniseries in Britain in which Strong also played the lead. The powers that be liked his performance so much that they invited him back for another round, and it’s easy to see why; the actor’s portrayal is a man who is thorough and steady-handed but also tense and clearly holding in anger. There are a lot of layers in the performance, helped by the fact that Agnew’s just involved himself in a moral grey area by killing his corrupt fellow officer (who supposedly killed a girl). Still, I get the feeling the rigidness is constant, carefully maintained by the detective on a daily basis.

Or maybe he’s just having a bad day. Suits actor David Costible pops up in the episode as an Internal Affairs officer, and he has his eye on Agnew, and James, too, along with other watchful eyes in the department. He’s hoping to sniff out the corrupt officers, and while Agnew’s seems intent on believing that killing was a one-time deal, we soon learn things may not be clear-cut as they seem. His partner-in-crime, Joe, might be hiding some dirty cop secrets of his own. Joe spends most of the episode playing the fast talker, but when it comes to his secret deed with Agnew, his real capacity to understand and empathize with blurred moral lines shines through.

The Internal Affairs stuff should keep our two heroes busy for the next few weeks, as should the cocaine that’s being sold across the city of Detroit, stealing across the city’s bars and empty houses. In the absence of a murder mystery to solve, the cat and mouse mystery seems to have gone inside the department, and we can’t wait to see how Chris Mundy’s tangled new web of a show will unravel.

AMC’s Low Winter Sun airs on Sunday nights at 10 p.m. ET.

The first preview for AMC’s newest drama, Low Winter Sun, offers us a glimpse at the murder of a cop by other cops that will be central to the narrative. Mark Strong is strangely silent throughout most of the preview, letting another cop (played by Lennie James) allude to the reasons for the cop killing, as well as noting that the two need to watch each other’s backs.

The preview doesn’t tell us much that we don’t already know about Low Winter Sun’s plot. The show is based on a British miniseries that also starred Strong, which means the man should be pretty comfortable taking on the character even if he has to put on an American accent this time around. We've already known about the cop on cop murder thing, but it is explored a little more vividly thanks to the preview. In short, the series looks like it will be worth a watch.

Low Winter Sun was picked up to pilot last May at the same time as Richard LaGravanese’s legal thriller. By the time Strong was attached to the American adaptation of his former TV endeavor, it seemed like AMC was really gunning to bring this one to air. Fans won’t have to wait too long to give this one a shot--Low Winter Sun will air in the summer of 2013 for 10 one-hour episodes.

Welcome to the Punch is a British import that arrives in theaters on March 27. It marks the second directorial effort of an up-and-comer named Eran Creevy, yet very little is known about it at this point despite the fact that it has James McAvoy (Atonement, X-Men: First Class) in the lead. What part does he play? And what is the story about? A number of those questions are answered in this new featurette for the crime noir, shared by Empire:

Empire drops a number of impressive directorial influences when it talks about Creevy’s approach to his follow-up to Shifty. They name drop Michael Mann and Andrew Lau, pointing at Heat or Infernal Affairs (which was remade as The Departed by Martin Scorsese). That’s obviously a high standard, and we can’t expect Punch to live up to such lofty expectations. But if it does …

McAvoy goes a little bit further to distance himself from what he refers to a “British” film, clarifying, “We’re not trying to go, ‘This is the real world.’ We're going, ‘Here's a fuckin' rip-roaring, really emotionally powerful piece of entertainment,’ you know?”

Yes, we do. And now we’re enthused. Punch casts McAvoy as a London detective who gets one last crack at a notorious criminal (Mark Strong) after he returns to town following a botched heist. It has real potential. We’ll find out how well it works in a few weeks.

Last spring, AMC greenlighted a pilot for the remake of a British miniseries called Low Winter Sun. The project would follow a cop who commits the perfect murder when he gets away with killing another cop, but is eventually sucked into the city’s underworld after the event. Such a dark and dangerous premise seems perfect for a one-hour drama on AMC, and apparently the network believes so, too. AMC has picked up Low Winter Sun to series, signing on for 10 episodes of the show.

At the end of last month, Low Winter Sun had completed pilot production. Deadline is reporting Mark Strong is also on board to reprise his role as the lead in the AMC series as the detective, whom Strong played in the miniseries back in 2006.

Apparently, the pick-up came after the network saw the pilot. Executive Vice President of Programming Joel Stillerman is calling the pilot for Low Winter Sun “beautiful” and he also says the “incredible cast” contributed to the 10-episode order for Season 1.

If you’ve been keeping tabs, Low Winter Sun has had a bit of competition in the drama department over at AMC. Don’t lose hope, apparently the pilot from Richard LaGravanese and Tony Goldwyn is still being looked at by the network. The untitled pilot is also a thriller, but it’s a legal thriller, so it wouldn’t be stepping on Low Winter Sun’s toes, should AMC decide to air both. Still, that’s a pretty big “if.”

What if every morning when you woke up, you couldn't remember who you are? It'd be terrifying, right? Even if a man turns to you and tells you that you're safe, that you're his wife, and that you can't remember the last 20 years of your life because of a trauma that's caused amnesia, this would still be pretty disturbing. But this is not just the disturbing ending of the Drew Barrymore/Adam Sandler romantic-comedy 50 First Dates, it's also the premise of the upcoming thriller Before I Go to Sleep.

Based on S.J. Watson's critically praised novel, this thriller centers on a middle-aged Londoner named Christine, who wakes each morning forced to rediscover who she is. Her loving—if overbearing—husband Ben tries to assuage her fears and keep her stress-free by confining her to their home. But Christine doesn't want a life of infinite forgetting, and so seeks out a doctor's advice in secret. Her doctor persuades her to keep a diary of her days with a digital recorder, so she can play them back in hopes of retaining memories. The good news is this treatment works, the bad news is she realizes Ben is not to be trusted. So, it's basically 50 First Dates meets Memento.

Earlier this year Nicole Kidman signed on to star as Christine, and now Variety reports Mark Strong, who recently appeared in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, has committed to play her doctor. There is no word yet on who might play Ben, but I have to admit I'm disappointed Strong won't be given the duplicitous role opposite Kidman. Nonetheless, Strong is such a solid performer that it's always good news when he's added to a production.

Rowan Joffe, who wrote and directed the 2010 crime thriller Brighton Rock, will pen the adapted screenplay and helm. Before I Go to Sleep is slated to shoot in London early next year.

When reading coverage of various film festivals, there's occasionally a title or two that really sticks out. The Guard is one of those films. Having already played at Sundance, Tribeca and Berlin, the movie has already gotten an incredible amount of exposure and has earned rave reviews. Then again, what do you expect from a film starring Brendan Gleeson, Don Cheadle and Mark Strong?

Apple has released the first trailer for the film, which is set to be put into limited release come July 29. In the film, Gleeson plays Sergeant Gerry Boyle, a policeman in Ireland who is forced to work with an FBI agent (Cheadle) when an international drug smuggling gang moves in.

Check out the trailer below or in HD over on Apple.

It's been seven long years since Peter Weir has had a directorial effort in theaters. A six time Academy Award nominee for great films like Witness, Dead Poets Society and The Truman Show, the man has been sorely missed, but now he's back and taking us across the span of Russia.

The Guardian has posted the first trailer for The Way Back, a film based on the novel by Slavomir Rawicz in which a group of soldiers try and make their way home after escaping from a Siberian gulag. In case you never bothered to take notice, it's not exactly an easy trip, filled with some of the harshest terrain on Earth, from frozen tundra to the Himalayan mountains. The film stars Colin Farrell, Jim Sturgess, Ed Harris, Saoirse Ronan and Mark Strong and is currently scheduled for a limited release in January (though it will be premiering in Los Angeles on December 29th so that it can be eligible for Oscar consideration). Check out the trailer below.

Kick-Ass hasn’t even been released yet and already there are rumblings from parent groups who plan to protest the film. At issue is the character of Hit Girl, an eleven-year-old masked avenger played by eleven-year-old Chloe Moretz. Hit Girl engages in unspeakably brutal violence throughout the film, murdering bad guys in the most vicious, graphic fashion imaginable. Towards the end of the film, a great deal of violence is done to her as well and audiences will see an eleven-year-old kid brutally beaten and bloodied by the movie’s adult bad guy, played by Mark Strong.

So it’s no surprise that Kick-Ass might be too violent for some people. What is surprising is that it was also too violent for its cast. During his press conference this past weekend at SXSW, director Matthew Vaughn revealed that he was unable to make the film’s final fight scene as brutal as he wanted because Strong refused to cooperate.

Says Vaughn, “I wanted Mark to stamp on her head in the fight and really kick her around the room, but he refused to do it.” It seems Mark was as uneasy with the movie’s violence against children as parents are. Vaughn explains that Strong, “He felt uncomfortable about stamping on her head.”

It’s worth noting that Strong was not present to promote the film, so he couldn’t address his reasons for refusing to do the scene himself. But when it comes to violence against kids, there’s are lines that Hollywood almost never crosses. Kick-Ass crosses all of them and it makes sense that Strong would be uncomfortable with being the guy required to deliver the punishment.

There will be no shortage of big trailers released during the Super Bowl this weekend. I’m hoping for really big things from Toy Story 3. But no trailer, no matter how big, is likely to contain more shouting than this one, for Russell Crowe’s Robin Hood.

The spot is loaded with new footage, including a great shot of Cate Blanchett suited up and ready to do battle and a great scene featuring the appropriately ridiculous Prince John. Check out the spot below and check back with us as the weekend gets rolling for a complete breakdown of all the trailers you can expect to see during the Super Bowl on Sunday.

Till now everyone has pretty much assumed that Sinestro would be the villain of the upcoming Ryan Reynolds powered Green Lantern movie. In fact, when we learned last week that Mark Strong was on board to play the character, many reporters announced it as “Mark Strong to Play Green Lantern Villain”. Not so fast.

No one involved with the production has ever actually said Sinestro would be a bad guy, only that he’d be in it. In fact they’ve already announced the movie’s villain and it’s a psychic powered baddie named Dr. Hector Hammond, played by Peter Sarsgaard. That news broke last week here. So does that mean two villains? Probably not.

Coming Soon caught up with Green Lantern director Martin Campbell who dropped hints about the true nature of the character by saying, “we all know Sinestro, for an example, is a character who goes over to the dark side, and of course, Carol, played by Blake Lively, in later versions becomes a bad guy as well. I think people will be able to see forward to the characters that in the comic went on to (become bad guys)... but people will be ahead of us on all that I think.”

It sounds like Sinestro will only be in the film to set up a sequel where he goes evil. Not a bad move really, especially when Peter Sarsgaard is more than up to the task of handling the duties and obligations of pure evil.

There’s been tons of speculation around the cast of Green Lantern, particularly the role of the film’s villain, Sinestro. Even after Jackie Earle Haley debunked rumors that he was chosen to play the man in yellow, his name was continuously thrown back in the mix. Well, speculate no more because MTV got the goods from the man in charge himself, director Martin Campbell.

While promoting his new thriller Edge of Darkness, Campbell squashed Haley rumors completely. In fact, he revealed the actor they’re actually courting for the role, “we're in negotiations with Mark Strong to play Sinestro.”

Haley would have been great for the role, but have you seen Sherlock Holmes and The Young Victoria? Strong makes an excellent villain and guess what? Campbell agrees. “He's not only a wonderful actor, but he looks like Sinestro." Campbell added, "If you look up old pictures of Sinestro, he's very like him. The Jackie Earle Haley thing, somebody told me about it this morning; I had never heard it before in my life."

Strong has been around for quite some time, but it appears his career is going into superstar overdrive. He’s got roles in highly anticipated, star-studded films including Kick-Ass, Robin Hood and John Carter of Mars. Keep your fingers crossed that he can solidify this deal and add Green Lantern to that list.

As we’ve known for quite a while, the role of Hal Jordan belongs to Ryan Reynolds. Just a week ago it was announced that Blake Lively will be playing Carol Ferris. Peter Sarsgaard is in a similar situation as Strong and is in the midst of negotiations to play the film’s other villain, Dr. Hector Hammond.

Campbell also announced that we’ll see Kilowog, Tomar-Re and Abin Sur in the film. A casting call posted back in September informed us of Abin Sur’s involvement, but Kilowog and Tomar-Re are new developments. Kilowog is pig-like alien and Tomar-Re a creature resembling a bird. Both are members of the Green Lantern Corps.

If you've noticed Mark Strong in the movies lately, it's probably because you've been scared of him. From Stardust to Body of Lies to this Christmas's Sherlock Holmes, the experienced British theater actor is making a name for himself as a reliable villain, despite the fact that when I interviewed him over the phone last week, he was probably one of the nicest people I've ever spoken to. In Holmes, on the other hand, he's the ruthless Lord Blackwood, a power-hungry and secretive guy who's convincing the most powerful people in London that he has magical powers-- everyone, of course, except the ever-skeptical Sherlock Holmes.

Strong will be seen in some of the most anticipated movies of the next year, as a villain in both Ridley Scott's Robin Hood and Matthew Vaughn's Kick-Ass. I've excerpted our conversation about those films, including fighting a 10-year-old girl and massacring monks, at the beginning of the interview. After that you can read about why he keeps working with Guy Ritchie, what it's like to become famous in your 40s, and playing the straightforward villain in a movie as silly as Sherlock Holmes. The movie opens wide on Christmas Day.

In addition to Guy Ritchie, you've worked with Matthew Vaughn several times, and you've got Kick-Ass coming up together. It seems to have a similarly comedic tone to Sherlock Holmes and you're also playing the bad guy. Is that the same kind of thing you're doing for this, playing it completely straight?

Yes. That allows a little more humor. It's so violent all the studios turned it down. People who love graphic novels tend to be disappointed by the films that are made of them, and Matthew I think felt a real responsibility to make this as close in tone as he possibly could to the graphic novels, which he has done. Consequently it's extremely violent. What he's done to make it accessible and great fun is to inject a very humorous note using the soundtrack. The scenes play very wryly humorous, and there's just enough wit and humor in there to allow this world to exist in another place. Even though it's violent, it's not the real violence that you encounter every day. It's on another plane. I can play with [Frank, my character] a little more, because the tone of the film is very witty, very funny and very dark. I can allow Frank to be that as well.

Did you have to fight one of the kids in the cast?

[Laughs] Yeah, I did. Which is an extremely strange way to go to work, to spend two weeks beating up a 10-year-old girl. It really twisted my head.

Is that the same as in Sherlock Holmes, where the tone is the most important thing to keep in mind?

I think so, yeah. I think ultimately that's what makes a movie successful. You need an audience to immediately relax because they understand what they're going to see. Kick-Ass is very successful with that. I believe the opening scene did that for me. I watched the opening scene and said, OK, great, now I know what I'm in for. It makes you comfortable with what you're going to see, and it allows the filmmaker to play with that even more.

We saw the Robin Hood trailer recently, and we saw you in a bit of a battle scene. That's another movie taking an old character and putting a twist on him. Can you tell us what we should be expecting from that?

I haven't seem the trailer yet, so I don't know what tone they're setting with that. But I do know that Ridley has created a massive landscape in which he's shooting a story about a man on a personal discovery who exists in the time of Robin Hood. He's called Robin of Loxley, there's Maid Marian, the Merry Men are all around, it's a famliar environment that stems from the myths and legends of Robin Hood, but it's not the story that we think we know. It's basically, again, like Sherlock, a re-examination, a look at that period and that guy and the creation of a story around him. Most of it is to do with what was going on at the time and a guy's personal journey through that.

And your character exists in real life?

He's called Sir Godfrey, based on a true knight of old. But he didn't actually behave the way my guy does. My guy is a traitor who causes a lot of trouble and enjoys every moment.

Sounds like another fun villain role.

It was fun, I have to say, I enjoyed every minute of it. It was a lot of riding around masscring monks.

[Before this part of the conversation begins, we had been talking about working with CGI backgrounds and other special effects]

Even in a movie like Sherlock Holmes, you're on a bridge and you're supposed to be 800 feet in the air, that's an element of pretend as well.

Yeah, definitely. The immediate environment of being up there is we were wearing the Victorian gear, standing on a girdered bridge with all the little props and things nearby. It felt like being there. There was enough information to carry on with, and when I saw the movie it was breathtaking.

When you've got this huge shoot with big stars and Guy Ritchie being in the tabloids and you're in the middle of London, how hard is it to do your job? I assume there are crowds gathering everywhere.

It's the same, really. Whether you're doing a small intimate film with only a few people around or a big-budget movie with lots of people around, really the only important bit is when the camera is rolling and what your truth is. And that doesn't really change, however big. I've always wondered in the past, my god, what happens if you get to that level where you're doing that, how can you hold your nerve? But the fact is it's the same discipline that's required from doing a very small short film.

You've got this background with Guy Ritchie, and everyone always talks about how distinct his camera work is. Do you notice that when you're in front of the camera, how his style works as opposed to other directors?

No, because what Guy's fantastic at is taking the raw material that we shot into the edit, and that's where he creates the magic. Your job is not to anticipate that. What you've got to do is basically like you would on any other set, with any other director. What Guy is brilliant at is taking all of that and giving it something extra, which is his own style.

So what is it that makes you keep coming back to work with him?

I like him. He's a really nice man. He's an ego-free zone. I've never known anybody to have such a different evaluation in the press as the person they are in real life. It's very odd that he's seen the way he has been, beacuse he's incredibly easy to work with.

In this film you're the straightforward villain, but the movie has kind of an arch tone. Does that affect what you're doing, or do you call upon yourself to be as serious about your job as Lord Blackwood would be?

We had to know exactly what that tone was, and I think Guy certainly had an inkling of it, and Robert certainly had an inkling, and brought what he does to the film. He's very mischievous, Robert, and very mercurial. I think Guy also is a little like that, so they encouraged each other to make that tone. It therefore meant that I had to be very careful with what I was doing with Blackwood. If I'd made him smirky or a mustache-twirling villain, it would have been less interesting than what I ended up doing, which was basically playing him dead straight. If we'd all been wandering around being witty and slightly amused with everything, it wouldn't have been enjoyable I think.

You seem to know a lot about the mental state behind a lot of the directors you're working with. Is this a benefit of working with them multiple times, getting to know them on this level?

Yeah. I think the most important thing about the jobs that I do is the director, because ultimately the director takes the raw material and fashions it in the edit. You have to really trust them. You have to trust their intelligence, their appetite, their ability, their undrstanding of what they've got. If you trust somebody to do that, then I'll work with them again and again. It's very rewarding for me to think that those guys have come to me. It's not that I ring them up and say "Hey, I'm free, give me a job." It must mean that I keep doing something right.

And do they cast you as a villain because they know that's what you're good at?

Yeah. I've been doing this 25 years, and you discover as you go along what you are best at and what challenges you most and wht you enjoy most. I've found that recently the parts of the villain, psychologically, are more interesting to me. I'm being facetious, but once the good guys rescue the puppy and smile, what's left? Whereas with the bad guy, you always want to find out what the hell is going on in there to make him so evil. Obviously they've seen me do stuff in the past and they think, he can do that, he's good at that. In time I'll slowly leave those behind and do something else, but I'm enjoying them.

You've gotten to this point of stardom where you're in like four movies next year. Is it easier to reach this level now than it would have been when you were 20?

Theater is gold dust. It gives you an ability to learn how to relate to an audience, it teaches you timing, it gives you confidence. You watch actors of all ages, not only how they rehearse but how they perform, and how they behave between performances. And television gives you experience in front of a camera, makes you unerstand how to shoot stuff out of sequence. All the stuff that I've learned in theater and television is coming to fruition in film, which I've only been doing seriously for the last sort of four or five years. I'm very conscious of the fact that I'm choosing parts and scripts that I love, and I'm doing them. I've got no career plan. I'm just taking everything that I think will help me to learn and I'm doing it now, with a view to building up a body of work that will allow me later to pick and choose the things that I want to do.

And you're lucky that you're choosing who you work with, since a lot of actors never get to that point.

I know, and I suppose that's what you forget, isn't it. As you climb up the greasy pole, you forget how difficult it was a little further down.

It boggles my mind that Pixar is going to be involved in a live-action movie, even though it makes complete sense. These guys are masters of storytelling and imagine the stories they could tell with real life people. With Andrew Stanton sitting in the director’s chair for John Carter of Mars, just about anything is possible, even without the millions of options that animation offers.

Now, in addition to Taylor Kitsch and Lynn Collins, THR reports that Thomas Haden Church, James Purefoy and Mark Strong have joined the cast of John Carter of Mars. For those who don’t know, the series follows John Carter, a Civil War vet who finds himself mysteriously transported to Mars where he finds himself in the middle of a warring planet. Thomas Haden Church will play a warrior looking to become a ruler. James Purefoy will play a captain. Mark Strong will play a godlike ruler from Mars.