An exclusive look at the stories within stories of Three Thousand Years of Longing, directed by George Miller and starring Idris Elba as a granter of wishes; House of the Dragon loses one of its leaders; a salute to Camila Morrone. All in today’s Movie News Rundown.
Three Thousand Years of Longing Exclusive: “I’d love the audience to see the kind of effort that we put into the imagery in the theater,” says George Miller of Three Thousand Years of Longing, his very different follow-up to Mad Max: Fury Road. Thanks to this video, exclusive to MovieMaker, you can get at least a small sense of the effort that went into every detail – including the story behind the gold in the Queen of Sheba’s dress.
Camila Morrone: She’s is in the news today for personal reasons, but let’s take a moment to remember that she’s a hell of an actor, who was very good in 2019’s Mickey and the Bear, holding her own opposite the always good James Badge Dale. We’ll always appreciate her for being one of the first guests on the MovieMaker podcast. She was cool and not at all celebrity-ish. You can listen on Apple or Spotify or below, and no, we didn’t ask any Leonardo DiCaprio questions:
Okay, Maybe One Gossipy Thing, Though? Al Pacino was in a long-term relationship with Morrone’s mother, Lucila Solá. So when I think of Al Pacino’s Marvin Schwarz giving some friendly advice to DiCaprio’s Rick Dalton in Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, I always imagine kind of a father-in-law dynamic that adds, for me, a little poignancy to the scene.
Tallgrass: One of our favorite film festivals — and one I think about every day, while pulling weeds — has just announced its terrific 20th anniversary lineup. The Tallgrass Film Festival, in Wichita, Kansas, will take place September 28-October 2. Ravi Kapoor’s Four Samosas will be the Opening Night Gala selection, while other films will include Daniel Fetherston and Danny Szlauderbach’s We Were Famous, You Don’t Remember: The Embarrassment, Bryan Darling and Jesse Finley Reed’s All Man: The International Male Story, Bradford Thomason and Brett Whitcomb’s Butterfly in the Sky, and Camille Hardman and Gary Lane’s Still Working 9 to 5. Troma Films legend Lloyd Kaufman will receive the Ad Astra Award. You can learn more about Tallgrass here.
Nòt Film Festival: The festival just wrapped its fifth edition in Santarcangelo, Italy, handing out top prizes to The Civil Dead and Giving Birth to a Butterfly. It also included a very cool film competition in which three moviemakers had just six nights to make a film, inspired by the prompt: “There are only three days to the end of the world, and men are to blame.” Caleb Hammond, our man in Santarcangelo, has the details.
House of the Dragon: One of the co-showrunners of the new hit Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon is relinquishing his seat at the small table. This may sound weird after just two episodes have aired, but it all sounds very amicable: Miguel Sapochnik will remain an executive producer on the series, created by George R.R. Martin and Ryan Condal, who will now be the sole showrunner, a.k.a. sit on the Iron Throne, if we want to keep trying with these metaphors.
Why Is He Stepping Aside? “Sources say Sapochnik is exiting the show after pouring an exhausting three years of effort into the Game of Thrones prequel,” writes The Hollywood Reporter, which broke the news. Sapochnik, who also directed some of the best Game of Thrones episodes, told THR: “I am so proud of what we accomplished with season one and overjoyed by the enthusiastic reaction of our viewers. It was incredibly tough to decide to move on, but I know that it is the right choice for me, personally and professionally.”
Anything Else? Alan Taylor, a Game of Thrones and Sopranos veteran who also directed last year’s Sopranos prequel The Many Saints of Newark, will join the show and direct some Season 2 episodes. We talked with him last year about his rather dazzling career, and if you can bear another podcast, you can listen on Apple or Spotify or here:
Main image: House of the Dragon.
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