Welcome to B.H.โs Screen Time, where every week, weโll give you the cliff notes on whatโs happening in the entertainment industry. From various stages of development chatter and our take on the newest releases, to a fun throwback worth revisiting, think of it as an insiderโs digest meets movie club.
Coming Soon
With universally acclaimed adaptations already under the networkโs belt โ ranging from Fargo and Shogun to What We Do in the Shadows and Australiaโs own phenomenal Mr Inbetween โ FX has now ordered a limited anthology series based on the Far Cry video game franchise with Noah Hawley and Rob Mac of Itโs Always Sunny in Philadelphia fame attached (the latter of whom will also star).
According to the projectโs producers, each season will retain that signature Far Cry standalone storytelling format, i.e. fresh settings and a new set of characters.
โWhat I love about the Far Cry game franchise is itโs an anthology. Each game is a variation of a theme, the same way each season of Fargo is a variation on a theme,โ said Hawley, who famously adapted the original Coen Brothers movie into an FX hit (along with delivering the likes of Alien: Earth and Legion).
โTo create a big action show that can change from year to year, while always exploring the nature of humanity through this complex and chaotic lens is a dream come true. Iโm excited to partner with Rob and bring our shared irreverent, ambitious sensibility to the screen.โ
Nick Grad, President of FX Entertainment, added: โFX has had magnificent partnerships with Rob Mac and Noah Hawley for a combined six series and 32 seasons of television, and we couldnโt be more excited that they are teaming up for Far Cry.โ
โI have no doubt that they will tell this story in a way that is original, gripping and wildly entertaining. We also want to thank our partners at Ubisoft for entrusting us with this beloved property.โ
While the scope of the debut season has yet to be unveiled, Hawley and Mac have a rich catalogue to draw upon.
Unified by first-person shooter action in exotic and hostile open-world settings, storylines have ranged from freelance mariners stranded on an island where a mad scientist is conducting genetic experiments; several civil wars in fictional nations (both as a mercenary and a civilian who becomes embroiled in the conflict); to vacationers being captured by human trafficking pirates, a violent rural American death cult โ even the Stone Age and post-nuclear doomsday survivors.
In fact, Far Cry 3 notably starred Better Call Saul alum Michael Mando as the chillingly villainous Vaas Montenegro, while Far Cry 5 counted the involvement of Mandoโs co-star and Breaking Bad fan favourite Giancarlo Esposito as dictator Anton Castillo.
FXโs Far Cry series release date: TBA.
Seven years after his last feature-length project, Gus Van Sant (My Own Private Idaho, Good Will Hunting, Milk) has directed a crime thriller based on a real-life hostage situation.
In 1977, conspiracist Tony Kiritsis stormed the Indianapolis offices of the Meridian Mortgage Company with a sawed-off shotgun to hold its president hostage after a hiccup with the formerโs mortgage payments. Aside from money, Kiritsis demanded an apology.
Bill Skarsgard portrays Tony Kiritsis, while Australiaโs Dacre Montgomery has been cast as banker Richard Hall. The duo are joined by Cary Elwes as Detective Michael Grable, Industry alum Myhaโla as Linda Page, Colman Domingo as Fred Temple, and even Al Pacino as M.L. Hall โ ironic considering this is all very much Dog Day Afternoon (another biographical bank heist/hostage movie, for the uninitiated). Though perhaps no coincidence.
Dead Manโs Wire has been written by Austin Kolodney (Almost Friday TV) in collaboration with historical consultants Alan Berry and Mark Enochs.
This wouldnโt be the first time Van Sant tapped into a harrowing episode of American history, either: as you may know, he helmed the psychological drama Elephant in the early 2000s, which was inspired by the Columbine High School massacre โ it earned him the Palme dโOr and Best Director Award at the Cannes Film Festival.
Dead Manโs Wire release date: TBA.
In a somewhat hilarious revelation (which becomes concerning the more you think about it), US President Donald Trump has apparently been โpressingโ Paramount Skydance owner Larry Ellison to revive the Rush Hour franchise with Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker.
โTrump appears to want to revive the raucous comedies and action movies of the late 1980s to late 1990s. Heโs [also] passionate, for instance, about the 1988 Jean Claude Van Damme sports flick Bloodsport,โ writes Max Tani of Semafor in an exclusive report.
โConvincing the Ellisons to make a new instalment of Rush Hour, whose broad racial humour might have been unwelcome a few years ago (if not much earlier), may be one of the capstones of his cultural influence as president this time around.โ
Back in 2022, Jackie Chan alluded to the possibility at the Red Sea Film Festival:
โWeโre talking about Rush Hour 4 right now.โ
And just a few years prior, during an episode of ESPNโs podcast The Plug circa 2018, Chris Tucker also mentioned the prospect of this long-awaited sequel: โItโs happening. This is gonna be the rush of all rushes. Jackie is ready and we want to do this so that people donโt ever forget it,โ he told fans (via The Metro).
Around the same time, Chris Tucker was hinting that something was in the works, disgraced franchise director Brett Ratner had been publicly claiming he was attached to the project. Everyone else, however, stated otherwise.
โBrett has been walking around town telling people heโs going to direct a Rush Hour movie because itโs his only way back in. Heโs trying to make believe heโs employable,โ a studio executive told The Hollywood Reporter.
Rush Hour producer Arthur Sarkissian later confirmed Brett Ratner was โnot attached,โ before very diplomatically adding: โAll Iโm interested in is to make the best movie possible.โ
Shortly after Ratner received multiple #MeToo accusations regarding sexual assault, harassment, and general impropriety โ his victims ranged from former talent agency employees to Olivia Munn and Natasha Henstridge โ Warner Bros declined to renew their $450-million co-producing deal with the directorโs company RatPac.
Rush Hour 4 release date: TBA (donโt hold your breath, either).
Now Showing Streaming
Background:
Aussie great Joel Edgerton has made a case for his long-overdue first Best Actor nomination at the 98th Academy Awards with Netflixโs Train Dreams.
Adapted from the Denis Johnson novella by director Clint Bentley โ who penned the screenplay in collaboration with his Sing Sing co-writer/the prison dramaโs director Greg Kwedar โ it follows logger Robert Grainier (Edgerton), who struggles to find his place in the ever-changing world as he develops the railroad all across the United States.
Robert reckons with his spiritual isolation while physically isolated from his wife, Gladys (Felicity Jones) and their daughter.
Train Dreams initially premiered at this yearโs Sundance Film Festival to an extremely positive reception (98% across 40 critic reviews on Rotten Tomatoes | weighted average of 87/100 across 13 critics on Metacritic), and has been described as a โgorgeous meditation on Americaโ ably shouldered by one of Edgertonโs โvery best performances.โ
