Blonde Arrives Howling; New Deadpool + Wolverine Movie; Bad Blade News

Blonde is here, and people are divided, and the director is OK with that; Hugh Jackman will return as Wolverine in the new Deadpool movie; bad Blade news; how to give and receive good feedback. All in today’s Movie News Rundown.

Out Today: Netflix is covering all the bases with Rob Zombie’s The Munsters reboot and the release of the much-anticipated Andrew Dominik and Ana de Armas film Blonde, subject of our new cover story.

‘A Howl of Pain’: Is how Dominik described Blonde to our Margeaux Sippell, and people who were expecting a Marilyn Monroe biopic have expressed shock on Twitter about how upsetting the film is. Dominik says he wanted people to be upset: “The correct response to the movie is to shake like an orphaned rhesus monkey in the snow,” he tells us.

How to Give (and Take) Good Feedback: Here’s some terrific advice from Kelci Parker, vice president of animation for Hulu Originals. If you view the feedback process as inherently antagonistic, you’re looking at it wrong, she suggests. She’s found a technique that avoids subjectivity and hurt feelings — she just asks good questions. You can drill down a little more by listening to our full interview in the latest MovieMaker podcast, available on Apple or Spotify or here:

Recommendation: I finally saw Pearl last night, and wow. I expected it to escalate into outrageous slasher horror, but it’s relatively restrained, except for a few look-away moments. What stands out is Mia Goth’s astonishing acting. Horror gets no respect, as I’m sure you’ve heard, but her incredible control, subtlety and power during very long takes makes the movie well worth seeing, whatever your genre preferences. Pearl is a glorious creative partnership between Goth and director Ti West, who co-wrote the film. She trusts him with her performance, and he trusts her with the entire movie.

Do Revenge: Jennifer Kaytin Robinson drew inspiration from Alfred Hitchcock, Clueless, and Scream while making her Netflix comedy Do Revenge, starring Maya Hawke and Camila Mendes. But when it came to designing the popular boy who would serve as the film’s main antagonist, she was mindful of not giving into the classic push-you-into-a-locker high school bully trope. Instead, she made him a “waifish, blonde misogynist hiding in the clothing of a politically correct, performative-feminist man-child,” in the words of Margeaux Sippell. Robinson talks about subverting the bully trope in this lively interview with Margeaux:

‘Hey, Hugh, You Want to Play Wolverine One More Time?’: If you prefer seeing things performed by A-list actors to reading about them, just skip to the cute video. If not, hi: Ryan Reynolds announced that Hugh Jackman will return to play Wolverine in the third Deadpool movie, slated for Sept. 6, 2024. In a new promo video, Reynolds jokes about searching for inspiration for the third Deadpool before giving up and asking Jackman a favor. “Hey, Hugh, you want to play Wolverine one more time?” Reynolds asks. “Yeah, sure Ryan,” Jackman replies. I know, there are a lot of superhero movies and it’s hard to keep track of them. But the Deadpool films are among the best.

Deadpool and Wolverine: The two characters go way back. An early incarnation of Wade Wilson, aka Deadpool, appeared in 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine, a movie that doesn’t work at all with the continuity of the X-Men or Wolverine films, as the Deadpool movies have jokily acknowledged. X-Men Origins: Wolverine features a big fight between Wolverine and Deadpool in which Wade’s lips are grotesquely fused together, which is what Reynolds’ “mouth sewn shut” joke is all about.

Meanwhile, at Blade: Things are not going as well. Blade, the half-vampire hunter of vampies, was the first Marvel character to prove the big-screen viability of a comic book hero when Wesley Snipes played him in three hit films, the first of which came out in 1998. (The third film, released in 2004, just happened to feature Ryan Reynolds.) Soon after Blade came the hit Spider-Man and X-Men films, and then, with 2008’s Iron Man, the dawn of the Marvel Cinematic Universe that brings all the Marvel characters together. Now Blade will be incorporated into that universe, this time with Mahershala Ali playing the lead character. Sounds good, right?

Except: Director Bassam Tariq has bailed out two months before the film was to start production. “Due to continued shifts in our production schedule, Bassam is no longer moving forward as director of Blade but will remain an executive producer on the film,” Marvel said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, which broke the news. “We appreciate Bassam’s talent and all the work he’s done getting Blade to where it is.” Bassam said in his own statement: “It’s been an honor working with the wonderful folks at Marvel. We were able to put together a killer cast and crew. Eager to see where the next director takes the film.” THR says the film has undergone “several rounds of script rewrites,” which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Anyway: We like Bassam Tariq and hate to see him go. Here he is giving very good advice on collaboration, sending notes, and proper diet and posture (no, seriously!) in this interview with Micah Khan. Micah is currently in the midst of shooting his own movie, so I may have to send this interview to him.

Deadpool and Wolverine Update: Reynold and Jackman just released this follow-up video with more jokes.

Main image: Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman discuss returning as Deadpool and Wolverine.