Welcome to the latest edition of The Trades! As a reminder, this post will take a look at the news, casting, rumors, and general hullabaloo surrounding the studio each season.
Season 16 already feels a bit different with the introduction of two new institutions at the studio: LRF NOW and LRF News! While I love the addition of LRF NOW, there’s not much of relevance for this article as the releases/re-releases on the platform tend to be a surprise (much like when new films on drop on Netflix out of the blue). Meanwhile, as an avid follower of casting news, I’ve quite enjoyed LRF News. Of relevance here, it gives me more information to preview for the article! So let us begin…
A lot of interesting films are on the horizon for the studio, even if there don’t seem to be a lot of sure-fire hits. In this next round alone, we have three films that have building buzz but are quite different from each other. Heights, the first collaboration between John Malone and Alex Conn, will be Tom Cruise’s first non-action/sci-fi movie for the studio. It sounds like a very strong role on paper so it’s not a surprise to see Tom’s name already showing up on GRA prediction lists. But we won’t know for sure until the film comes out.
Speaking of Best Actor contention, Chris Pine in a biopic of a famous public figure also sounds right up the awards alley. Clint Eastwood’s last two films with the studio have been big hits with critics so it’ll be interesting to see if the nonagenarian can keep up his streak. And to finish off this round, we’ll see the first spin-off of the studio’s X-Men franchise. The second half of the schedule is relatively lite on superheroes so I’m sure the studio is hoping for a hit.
Eastwood is not the only GRA-nominated director who will be showing up in the second half. Much like Cruise’s next move, Matt Parker’s Coma will be the first time that we see Jeff Nichols take on more grounded material. Meanwhile, Roy Horne’s Excalibur is already gaining a lot of buzz around town. 3-time-nominated director Nicholas Winding Refn returns to the studio for the first time since Season 10 and he’s got a hell of a cast shaping up. He reunites with The Question actress Christina Hendricks, who demands eyes for any role she signs on these days. As if that’s not enough, also headlining are the always-great Daniel Craig and up-and-comer George MacKay. It’s hard to predict the commercial and awards appeal of a fantasy film of this magnitude but all the right pieces are in place.
Elsewhere, there is some unknown in the final stretch of the season. Zatanna will continue the DC Universe’s trek into the Dark side of the universe (and it’s always good to see more female-led films of that scale). Although not much is known about casting, Alex Conn has hyped up his epic family tragedy Haunted as one of his best and has been doing early work to get it in the minds of GRA voters. Additionally, I’ve heard that the likes of Eastwood, Fincher, Nichols and Refn aren’t the only big name directors on the slate for the remainder of the season.
In regards to current awards races, our current Best Actress race looks like it could be an all-star game of LRF greats. Larson, Hendricks, Mackenzie Foy, Margot Robbie, oh my. Actor is a little more interesting and open. Who would you say is the front-runner right now? I think there’s been a few interesting lead performances, I don’t think there are any clear favorites (again - Cruise and Pine are safe bets to shake up the race).
It should be a good, unpredictable second half of Season 16! I will check in with you all again at the end of the season for the annual For Your Consideration post. I’ll be going now.
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