CinemaBuzz

In this third installment of the adrenaline-fueled action franchise, super-assassin John Wick (Keanu Reeves) returns with a $14 million price tag on his head and an army of bounty-hunting killers on his trail. After killing a member of the shadowy international assassin’s guild, the High Table, John Wick is excommunicado, but the world’s most ruthless hit men and women await his every turn.

For Kevin Hart, Fatherhood provided a chance to do something different. An adaptation of Matthew Logelin's book Two Kisses for Maddy: A Memoir of Loss & Love, about becoming a single parent after his wife's sudden death post childbirth, the film finds the comedian stretching his acting abilities in pursuit of making audiences laugh hard, cry harder. "I've been doing this for a very long time," the 42-year-old admits. "You have to find new ways to recreate yourself and find new energy and purpose within the craft. So in this direction that I'm going now, it's giving you baby steps. I gave you The Upside to give you a glimpse that, 'Okay, well, this guy can act.' And now in Fatherhood, I'm giving you a higher level of what I gave in The Upside."

Sam (KAREN GILLAN) was only 12 years old when her mother Scarlet (LENA HEADEY), an elite assassin, was forced to abandon her. Sam was raised by The Firm, the ruthless crime syndicate her mother worked for. Now, 15 years later, Sam has followed in her mother’s footsteps and grown into a fierce hit-woman. She uses her “talents” to clean up The Firm’s most dangerous messes. She’s as efficient as she is loyal. But when a high-risk job goes wrong, Sam must choose between serving The Firm and protecting the life of an innocent 8-year-old girl - Emily (CHLOE COLEMAN). With a target on her back, Sam has only one chance to survive: Reunite with her mother and her lethal associates, The Librarians (MICHELLE YEOH, ANGELA BASSETT and CARLA GUGINO). These three generations of women must now learn to trust each other, stand up to The Firm and their army of henchmen, and raise hell against those who could take everything from them. Starring Karen Gillan, Carla Gugino, Lena Headey Directed By Navot Papushado

During a televised World Cup soccer game, time-traveling soldiers from the year 2051 appear on the field with an urgent message for the planet: Thirty years from now, mankind will lose a global war against a terrifying alien species unless thousands of citizens from the present are transported forward in time to join the fight. Among those reluctantly drafted is high school science teacher and devoted dad Dan Forester (Chris Pratt), who is forced to leave his wife Emmy (Betty Gilpin), their young daughter Muri (Ryan Kiera Armstrong), and his estranged father James (J.K. Simmons) behind. Sent to a post-apocalyptic Miami Beach on a perilous search-and-rescue mission, Dan and fellow draftees Charlie (Sam Richardson), Dorian (Edwin Hodge), Norah (Mary Lynn Rajskub) and Cowan (Mike Mitchell) battle the nightmarish extraterrestrials known as “white spikes.” Lightning-fast and armed with tentacles, multiple battle-scarred limbs and mouths filled with rotting teeth, the ravenous creatures slaughter most of the new recruits. But with the help of a brilliant military scientist code-named Romeo Command (Yvonne Strahovski), a wounded Dan and his comrades carry on the fight to save mankind. Recuperating at an army base, Dan learns that the only hope of defeating the aliens is if Romeo Command can use her expertise to devise a biological method of killing the female creatures. To do that, however, they first need to capture one alive. And unless a solution can be found before a horde of white spikes overruns their ocean-based lab, Dan’s family back home – and humanity as a whole – won’t stand a chance. The Tomorrow Waris directed by Chris McKay (“Robot Chicken,” The Lego Batman Movie) from a screenplay by Zach Dean (Deadfall, 24 Hours to Live). The film stars Chris Pratt (Guardians of the Galaxy, Jurassic World), Yvonne Strahovski (“The Handmaid’s Tale,” “Chuck”), J.K. Simmons (Juno, Whiplash), Betty Gilpin (“GLOW,” The Hunt), Sam Richardson (“Veep,” “Detroiters”), Jasmine Mathews (“The Rookie,” The Man From Toronto), Edwin Hodge (“Six,” “Mayans M.C.”), Ryan Kiera Armstrong (“American Horror Story,” Black Widow), Keith Powers (Before I Fall, “What/If”), Mary Lynn Rajskub (“24,” Night School), Mike Mitchell (“Love,” “Brews Brothers”), Seychelle Gabriel (“Falling Skies,” Sleight), Chibuikem Uche (“American Housewife”) and Alan Trong (“NCIS Los Angeles,”Paper Tiger). The Tomorrow War is produced by David Ellison (Terminator: Dark Fate, Mission Impossible – Rogue Nation), Dana Goldberg (World War Z, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol), Don Granger (Mission: Impossible – Fallout, Top Gun: Maverick), Jules Daly (The Grey, Boss Level), David Goyer (The Dark Knight, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice) and Adam Kolbrenner (Prisoners, The Christmas Chronicles). Executive producers are Rob Cowan (Aquaman, San Andreas), Chris Pratt, Brian Oliver (Rush, 1917) and Bradley J. Fischer (Ready or Not, Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse). Co-producer is Samantha Nisenboim (The Lego Batman Movie, The Lego Ninjago Movie). The director of photography is Larry Fong (Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Kong: Skull Island). Production designer is Peter Wenham (Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Mission: Impossible – Fallout). Costume designer is Betsy Heimann (Pulp Fiction, Green Book). The editors are Roger Barton (Titanic, 6 Underground) and Garret Elkins (Anomalisa, The Lego Ninjago Movie). Casting is by Deborah Aquila (La La Land, The Shawshank Redemption) & Tricia Wood (La La Land, The Spy Who Dumped Me). ABOUT THE PRODUCTION Director Chris McKay is a lifelong fan of the science-fiction, fantasy and horror genres, so when the script for the thrilling sci-fi action epic The Tomorrow War came his way, he instantly leapt at the chance to direct the film. “I was so excited by the concept of ordinary people fighting to save the world from a terrifying alien menace,” McKay says. “But I was particularly moved by the emotional elements of the story. The Tomorrow War is science fiction on a massive scale, but it’s also a bit of a character study, too, which was exactly what I was looking for.” Award-winning actor Chris Pratt, who plays the lead character Dan Forester in The Tomorrow War, felt just as strongly about the script’s multifaceted approach to genre and storytelling. “I just loved it from beginning to end,” says Pratt. “It’s a fantastic original concept filled with humor and heart, but it’s also a gigantic movie with a ton of action and visual spectacle. Best of all, it’s grounded in real relationships. I have to confess, making a film where I get to fight aliens and save the world while cracking the occasional joke is right in my wheelhouse. Chris McKay and his team of designers and visual effects artists pioneered some incredible new technologies to bring the creatures to life in this movie, and it was extremely cool to be part of that process and give my input as an executive producer along the way.” A Strikingly Original Script The Tomorrow War tells the story of Dan Forester, his wife Emmy, and their young daughter Muri, who are forced to confront an uncertain future when Dan is sent to the year 2051 to join the war effort against a deadly alien species. “Essentially, the film is Dan’s story,” says screenwriter Zach Dean. “It deals with his relationship with his family, and it looks at who he is as a man, a husband, and a father. Yet at the same time, it explores what the future might have in store for all of us, so it really tells two stories: One is very personal about the Forester family, and the other is a science-fiction action epic about humanity as a whole.” The inspiration for The Tomorrow War first came to Dean during a family vacation in Iceland. While exploring a glacial lagoon in a boat, the captain of the vessel pulled up a chunk of ice floating in the water and offered a piece to Dean’s son. “He asked him if he wanted to taste five-million-year-old ice,” recalls the screenwriter. “So there was my kid, eating this ancient piece of ice, and I was just blown away by the implications of that.” Dean asked the captain how long the lagoon had been there, and was shocked to learn it had existed for just 80 years. “I thought, my god, what’s going to happen when this entire landscape changes so quickly after having been frozen for millions of years? What type of nightmare could that possibly unleash?” With that thought in mind, he began crafting an exhilarating action thriller about an everyday guy caught up in the battle for human survival against an alien menace that is directly related to the real-life environmental threat looming over our world. “At the end of the day, I wanted to write a bold science-fiction movie that would fire up the audience,” Dean says. “Although The Tomorrow War tells a highly entertaining and exciting story, there’s a serious undercurrent to the film that talks about where we’re headed as a species. And that’s something we all need to think about right now, because we can’t afford to put it off until later.” A Futuristic Action Thriller With Heart After developing the idea for The Tomorrow War with producers Adam Kolbrenner of Lit Entertainment Group and David Goyer, Dean pitched it to diversified entertainment studio Skydance Media, the company behind such action blockbusters as World War Z, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, Star Trek Into Darkness, Mission: Impossible – Fallout, The Old Guard and Terminator: Dark Fate. Skydance took an immediate interest in the concept, recalls chief creative officer Dana Goldberg. “One of our VPs, Matt Grimm, heard Zach’s pitch and loved it. So he brought it to me, and I agreed it was fantastic. At that point we quickly bought it.” With Skydance on board, Dean dove headfirst into writing the script. “He spent a lot of time working on it, and many drafts later we took it to Chris Pratt’s representative,” says Goldberg. “Chris loved the material so much that he not only agreed to star in the film but also to make The Tomorrow War the first narrative feature he executive produced. Initially, the idea of soldiers traveling back in time to ask for help was what caught everyone’s attention. But as intriguing as that concept was, what truly hooked us was the script’s deeply moving family dynamics.” Don Granger, Skydance president of feature film production, agrees. “One of the things we look for are action-adventure and science-fiction movies based on original ideas, and it’s quite hard to find one that also has an incredibly emotional character arc at its center,” he explains. “So from Zach’s very first pitch through all the various drafts, our focus was always on the inner journey Dan takes, both in the present and in the future, and how he becomes a changed man through that process.” Producer Jules Daly, whom Skydance brought on later to work with the filmmakers on location in Atlanta and Iceland, was similarly struck by the story’s central human drama. “It’s rare that you see a big movie with this much heart,” she says. “Oftentimes, the emotional material suffers in a movie like this because of all the huge action scenes. But The Tomorrow War is rooted in what the Forester family is going through, which is enormously refreshing in a big, fun, commercial movie like this.” An Inspiring Leader With the script written and lead actor attached, the Skydance producers met with potential directors for The Tomorrow War, and quickly decided on McKay. “The thing we all found incredibly attractive about Chris McKay was that he approached the material purely from a character standpoint,” says Granger. “Of course he wanted to build an amazing post-apocalyptic world and design incredible action sequences and aliens, but what really won us over was when he said he saw The Tomorrow War as a sci-fi version of It’s a Wonderful Life. We immediately knew what he meant by that and were completely sold on his directorial vision at that point.” McKay, who made his feature-film debut with the acclaimed Lego Batman Movie, felt confident his extensive background in animation would be helpful when directing a live-action movie like The Tomorrow War, where the aliens are, for the most part, created using computer graphics. “We do a lot of pre-visualization work in animation, and a film like The Tomorrow War uses pre-vis in the same way,” he says. Additionally, his animation work often required him to coach voiceover actors about action taking place in scenes that hadn’t yet been fully animated — communication skills that would be essential when helming a visual effects-heavy sci-fi epic like The Tomorrow War. “What’s fun about making a movie like this is accessing the actors’ creative imaginations,” McKay says. “As a director, you have to communicate to the cast that there’s a terrifying monster over there, so they need to run this way and shoot that way, and then jump and hide. Getting those visual ideas across to them is a really playful process, and to me, that’s what’s fun about making movies. It’s like being a kid again!” Executive producer Rob Cowan emphasizes that McKay’s energy, innovation and humor were crucial to the movie’s success. “Chris has an amazing work ethic, and he really pushed the boundaries on this film to make sure it was the best it could be,” Cowan says. “He inspired everyone to bring their A-game, and the entire crew responded to him because he’s such a fun, charming guy to be around on set.” Pratt believes McKay’s animation expertise was invaluable to the success of the project. “Chris’ background was supremely helpful because there were so many elements of animation involved,” he says. “The Tomorrow War was his first big live-action film, and it was really fun to watch him take command of the set. He’s got the right temperament for directing because he never loses his cool.” The admiration is mutual, says McKay. “I couldn’t have asked for a better partner than Chris Pratt on this movie. He’s a very generous actor and human being. Obviously, he can credibly play a former military guy, which was something this role required, but he also brought a sense of honesty and vulnerability to his portrayal of Dan that was really attractive. I can’t say enough good things about working with him. He understood everything about this movie on a cellular level.” The Perfect Everyman Pratt describes the character of Dan Forester as an Army Special Operations Command veteran who is trying to find his place in the world when he’s suddenly drafted to fight aliens in the future. “It’s a story about second chances,” he says. “Dan is a guy who feels like he’s always been destined to do something extraordinary with his life, but hasn’t actually done it yet, and I think that’s a feeling a lot of people can relate to. At one point or another, we’ve all wondered if the life we’re living might not be the one we were meant for.” To infuse the character with additional nuance and emotional depth, Pratt incorporated elements from his own personal life into the portrayal. “As you see in the film, Dan has a really complicated relationship with his father, and I felt like that was something I could bring my own experiences to,” he says. “Although my situation and Dan’s are quite different, there were definitely a few aspects of this character that I mined from my own background.” Cowan describes Pratt as “the perfect everyman,” and says the star’s innate charm and likability made him the ideal choice to play Dan. “Chris brings a ton of genuine humor and a boyish quality to the role, like someone who hasn’t quite grown up fully yet. But then you put him into the film’s intense combat sequences and he effortlessly assumes the mantle of action hero, even though he’s got a lot of flaws that we can all relate to.” That relatability is one of Pratt’s biggest strengths as a performer, according to Goldberg. “Chris is such a loveable guy, and that’s what we needed to bring Dan to life,” she says. “For this movie to work the way it should, everyone in the audience had to feel like they could sit on a couch and watch a soccer game with Dan. And that’s why we needed Chris. He’s a normal, everyday guy, and he’s hilariously funny on top of it. He brings a genuine lightness to the parts he plays that very few other actors can match.” Serving as an executive producer on The Tomorrow War was a new experience for Pratt, but one he says felt surprisingly natural. “On the last few films I’ve worked on I’ve tried to be helpful when it comes to rewrites and casting decisions and things like that,” he says. “And here I was officially allowed to have a say in making the movie. So it was definitely more responsibility than what I was used to, but that’s exactly what I wanted. This project was basically the next step in my career toward becominga filmmaker.” Granger has nothing but praise for Pratt’s work in the expanded role. “Chris was very involved in the development of the script after he joined the project, and he also helped us set the right tone for the movie,” says the producer. “He generously encouraged everyone’s ideas on set and then he was deeply involved in the editorial and post-production process as well. Basically, he wore two hats on this movie and committed himself fully to both jobs.” Strahovski Takes Command For the role of brilliant military scientist and elite warrior Romeo Command, who represents Earth’s last best hope of eradicating the alien threat, the producers tapped Yvonne Strahovski. The Australian actress, perhaps best known for playing Serena in “The Handmaid’s Tale,” initially submitted her audition via video, which producer Daly feared would make it difficult to tell if she was right for the role. “Romeo Command is an integral part of this movie and we needed to make sure Yvonne had chemistry with Chris Pratt,” Daly says. “So after we watched her tape, we did a long-distance chemistry read, and even though Yvonne and Chris were on different continents, you could see right away that they connected with each other. As cliché as it sounds, something magical happened between them during that read. And once they met in person, it grew even deeper.” Cowan was impressed with Strahovski’s authoritative presence. “She really carries herself like someone who’s in charge of this massive global operation,” the executive producer says. “And when you see her fighting the white spikes, you really believe it. She’s basically the leader of the military science division and has a plan to save the world. Plot-wise, she’s a very important character.” Pratt sums up Strahovski’s performance even more bluntly. “Yvonne is a complete badass in this movie. She plays a tough, take-charge colonel, and she’s the lead research scientist trying to prevent the end of civilization. We got very lucky in casting her. The first time I saw her audition tape, I knew immediately she was the right choice for the role.” McKay was astounded by Strahovski’s intense physical commitment to the film’s numerous battle sequences. “Yvonne just threw herself fully into every action scene of the film, body and soul, and she was always game for the fight against the aliens. She’s just an incredibly powerful actor. I’m still blown away by what she brought to this role.” A self-described fan of action movies involving aliens, Strahovski couldn’t put the script down once she began reading it. “I was flipping the pages as fast as I could because it was just so exciting,” she says. “It’s the kind of story where you need to buckle your seatbelt once it begins, because it’s a ride that just doesn’t stop. It keeps racing forward until the very end, which makes it a lot of fun.” Strahovski was particularly compelled by how huge the stakes were for her character. “She’s living in a future where there are less than 500,000 people left alive on Earth, and she’s humanity’s last chance in a lot of ways. She’s desperately trying to find something that might save the human race before we become extinct, and she only has a limited amount of time to do it.” The intensive military training the cast went through in preparation for shooting was one of her favorite parts of the job. “There’s a certain type of physicality that comes with that type of training, and it definitely informed my characterization of Romeo Command,” Strahovski says. “It influenced the way I stood, the way I moved, the way I fought and the way I fired my weapons. I really found it invaluable.” The scene where she and her fellow soldiers enter a white spike nest to capture their queen was a highlight for the actress. “At one point, we were attached to ropes and dropped down into the nest from 60 feet up, which was really amazing,” she says. “I got to go up in a Blackhawk helicopter with real Navy SEALs, and although I was attached to a safety harness when I did my rope descent, the SEALs literally jumped out of the helicopter and did it for real, which was an incredible thing to witness!” Acting opposite Pratt was also a joyful experience, says Strahovksi. “I shared most of my scenes on this film with Chris, and he’s just awesome. As you might expect, he’s cracking jokes right up until the last second before they call action. He has a natural ability to be funny and improvisational, but then he instantly flips a switch and becomes this super action guy in the combat scenes, and he looks super cool while doing it.” J.K. Gets Jacked Oscar®-winning actor J.K. Simmons plays Dan’s estranged father, James Forester, a reclusive military veteran with a take-no-prisoners attitude. “It’s hard to describe how lucky we were to get J.K. in this movie,” says Daly. “In the lead-up to shooting, he and Chris Pratt spent a lot of time talking about the reality of their father-and-son relationship. And because both of them are dads in real life, they were able to draw on their own personal experiences, which helped make their relationship feel truly authentic on screen.” Pratt was excited to finally get a chance to work with Simmons. “J.K. and I had been circling one another for several years, almost working together on various things, and I’m thrilled that this is the project we’re finally in together,” he says. “Any time you have a heavyweight actor like J.K. join the cast you just kind of pump your fist in the air. It’s like winning a first-round draft pick.” McKay had a very specific vision in mind for Simmons’ character, one that highlighted his emotional as well as his physical strength. “Shortly before we cast J.K., I saw a press photo of him in a gym with a shaggy beard and huge, muscular arms, so when I spoke to him about being in this movie, I said I wanted him to look like that guy again. And he was like, no problem! He worked out for months to prep for this role. And it really paid off because he’s positively jacked in this film!” Simmons describes his character as “a bit of an enigma,” which fascinated him. “I’m always searching for some level of ambiguity in the roles I take because that’s what people are like in real life,” he says. “But I also look for parts that offer a journey for the character, and James definitely goes through a major one in this story. In terms of his relationship with Dan, it’s strained when we first meet them. They’ve been leading separate lives, and Dan is angry at his dad, and rightfully so. There’s a reluctance on James’ part to admit to culpability for anything that happened between them in the past, which adds to the drama.” The actor developed an off-screen bond with his co-star during production. “Pratt brings a level of humor to whatever he does, which is important in a movie like this,” says Simmons. “And the way he talks about his wife, his kid, and the farm he lives on, you can tell he has a genuine love of life beyond all the showbiz stuff, which is a beautiful thing. If you have to spend 13 hours on a set with someone, he’s a great guy to spend that time with.” Simmons is equally effusive when it comes to McKay’s ability to motivate the cast and crew to deliver their best work. “I’ve been fortunate to work with a variety of talented directors from different backgrounds throughout my career, and one of the things the best ones have in common is an all-encompassing grasp of what the project is about, and a way to keep everyone on the same page. And Chris McKay does that effortlessly.” Richardson’s Gift for Comedy Much of the humor in The Tomorrow War arrives courtesy of award-winning actor Sam Richardson, who plays lovable novice draftee Charlie. “Unlike Dan, who has military experience, Charlie is just an average guy who’s drafted into this insane war,” says Richardson, the star of HBO’s Emmy-winning “Veep” and the hit feature comedy Good Boys. “He’s not a soldier, so he uses humor to calm himself down. But when he’s put in this impossible situation, he actually manages to rise to the occasion, and that arc really excited me.” Richardson had no idea what the aliens in the film would look like when he initially signed on to the project, and was amazed by how truly frightening they were when he finally saw them. “During our first table read, they showed us an animatic of the white spikes, and the way they moved was like a scorpion mixed with a snake mixed with a ferocious dog,” he says. “I got freaked out just looking at that preliminary version.” Shooting the jump to the future required the actor to do some of his own stunts, including one where he splashes into a pool wearing full military gear. “In the movie, the jump goes wrong and we end up falling out of the sky and into a swimming pool on top of a building. There was a camera filming me underwater and stunt guys landing all around me, and I had to hold my breath the entire time while making it seem like I was drowning. But after pretending to drown for 20 takes, your body really starts to panic! That was a tough day for sure.” Describing himself as a lifelong animation fan, Richardson was extremely excited to work with McKay. “I love the Adult Swim show he directed called ‘Titan Maximum,’ and I think his Lego movie was fantastic, so as soon as I heard he was directing The Tomorrow War, I was like, please let me be a part of this!” Richardson says. “Somehow he’s able to see the entire movie in his brain ahead of time, which is a great skill for a director to have, but he’s also open to deciding what’s best in the moment, which is kind of unusual on a project of this scale.” Filming on location in Iceland was an incredible experience for the actor. “I’d never been there before, and naturally it was extremely cold, but I’m from Detroit, so I’m no stranger to freezing temperatures. The interesting thing was that it really helped me in terms of acting. We shot on the largest glacier in Europe and there’s something about being a million feet in the air and shivering that makes you want to act harder. The fact that you can’t just leave the set and walk out the door in sunny California forces you to immerse yourself in the role.” Richardson thinks audiences will identify with the characters in the film because of how realistic and natural they are. “It makes you feel like you could potentially be a part of the story,” he says. “After all, most movies like this are about guys who’ve been training for combat their whole lives. They’re the best of the best, and they take no prisoners. But in The Tomorrow War, the soldiers could be your auntie. They could be your mailman or the chef at your favorite restaurant. So I think people will naturally imagine themselves in that situation.” Drafting Civilians and Soldiers Rounding out the impressive supporting cast is a rich ensemble of talent that includes Emmy nominee Betty Gilpin as Dan’s wife Emmy Forester, award-winner Edwin Hodge as tough-as-nails Dorian, Mary Lynn Rajskub (“24,” Little Miss Sunshine) and Mike Mitchell (“Love,” “Brooklyn Nine-Nine”) as fellow draftees Norah and Cowan, and Jasmine Mathews (“The Rookie,” “Blue Bloods”) as soldier-from-the-future Lt. Hart. According to Goldberg, pairing Gilpin and Pratt as a married couple paid off handsomely when the cameras rolled. “Betty and Chris really formed a wonderful partnership on screen,” the producer says. “They play two realistic parents who are just trying to make the world safer for their daughter, and Betty pulls that off with intelligence and wit. She and Chris make quite a combo together.” Hodge, who currently stars in the FX series “Mayans M.C.” and appeared in the sci-fi action film Bumblebee, describes his character Dorian as an intimidating warrior. “I mean, he’s got a giant shotgun and an alien claw around his neck, so he’s definitely someone that you don’t want to cross,” the actor observes. “But at the same time, you want him on your team when you’re in the thick of it because he’s a leader who knows how to kill these creatures.” Daly was delighted with the way Rajskub and Mitchell bonded on screen playing two average citizens who find themselves in over their heads when transported to the future. “I love the hint of a relationship that we see develop between their characters,” the producer says. “Mike and Mary Lynn are wonderful comedic actors and they brought a lot of levity to their roles.” The cast of warriors from the year 2051 includes Jasmine Mathews as Lt. Hart, Seychelle Gabriel as Sgt. Diaz, Chibuikem Uche as Lt. Ikemba, Alan Trong as Lt. Trang and Keith Powers as Maj. Greenwood. “I loved working with the future soldiers: Jasmine, Seychelle, Chib, Alan and Keith,” says McKay. “Keith was so good as Yvonne’s right hand man, and nailed the exact kind of soulful energy for his scene with Chris. Seychelle was the first person to fire the guns Gary Tuers created for our movie. She was such a badass and always game to try anything. That whole future crew was so much fun!” Piercing the Membrane of Time Time travel has played a role in countless films over the years, but The Tomorrow War offers a unique take on the concept, according to Pratt. “Our philosophy in The Tomorrow War is that time is like a river flowing in one steady direction, and the devices that the draftees wear on their arms allow them to jump between two rafts on that river of time,” he explains. “You can jump from one raft to another, but that’s it. So if I jump 30 years into the future and spend ten days there, when I jump back again it’ll be ten days after I left.” Gilpin believes the notion of time travel is well-suited to the film’s domestic drama. “There’s something about it that’s strangely conducive to telling a family story, because families sort of exist simultaneously in the past, present, and future,” she says. “After all, when you’ve got a family member in front of you in the present, you’re always picturing them the way you did when you first met them or when they were first born. And at the same time you’re also imagining growing old with them. So this movie literalizes that concept.” Award-winning VFX supervisor James E. Price (Aquaman, Pacific Rim) was brought on to assist McKay in achieving his goal of designing a fresh new way to depict time travel. “Chris wanted something more visually compelling than other time-travel movies had gone with before, so we took a lot of inspiration from astronomic photography,” says Price. “We looked at images of the northern lights and the view of Earth from space, and at one point I showed him a bunch images from the Hubble Space Telescope because there’s something kind of intimate and mysterious about those pictures.” Rather than offer a variation on the familiar wormhole imagery that other films fall back on to depict time travel, Price and his team invented a new method of launching humans into the future. “We wanted the time jumps to capture the sensation of physical travel, so in order to convey speed, distance, and momentum, we designed what we call the membrane, which is like a force field that forms above the draftees right before they jump in time,” he says. “The travelers slowly rise up, pierce this membrane, and begin their journey.” Overseeing the visual effects on The Tomorrow War was a dream job for Price. “Chris told me up front that he was interested in capturing realistic effects, which thrilled me because I love that approach to filmmaking. He wanted to make sure the visual effects were integrated with the rest of the story, not just added in later, and he didn’t want them to stand apart from the rest of the movie. So with that in mind, we started brainstorming each scene to determine how we could create effects with an eye towards realism.” The task of creating the dazzling time-travel look fell on the capable shoulders of Oscar-winning special effects supervisor J.D. Schwalm (First Man, Venom). “Chris really wanted the time jumps to look completely new and original, especially the jump at the beginning of the movie where more than two dozen people from the future appear out of thin air in a soccer stadium,” he says. To capture the effect, Schwalm and his team first ran tests using an underwater cloud tank to simulate the time-displacement effect. “But then we got the bright idea to use a practical wall of smoke instead,” he says. “We made the smoke thick enough so the camera couldn’t see through it, and then one of our stunt coordinators rigged the actors on wires and literally flew them through the wall of smoke. We added a bunch of CG electrical currents in post-production, and when you finally see it on screen it looks as though the actors are materializing out of thin air.” Building the Ultimate Creature The terrifying otherworldly threat in The Tomorrow War is a ferocious extraterrestrial species known as white spikes. Screenwriter Dean explains the origins of the moniker: “When I was developing the story, I needed to find a term for them that wasn’t too esoteric. I thought it made sense to come up with a visual reference, or some type of slang term you might hear on the battlefield if you were fighting them. The name ‘white spike’ is based on that terrifying initial feeling you get in your gut when you see them for the first time.” Ravenous monsters that hunt in packs like wolves, the white spikes communicate with each other using signals based on a mysterious biological hierarchy. Designing them was a yearlong process that involved some of the most talented special effects artists and creature designers in Hollywood. “We wanted to create aliens the audience had never seen before,” says McKay. “They needed to have a feral intelligence, along with some kind of organic weapons that could shoot projectiles at people. And they had to look extremely hungry, as though they’re constantly starving. Their texture was also very important to me. I wanted them to have a tough exterior, as though they’ve been around for thousands of years. Basically, they needed to be incredibly scary, but in a way that made you curious about them.” Production designer Peter Wenham says designing the white spikes was one of the filmmakers’ primary focuses during much of preproduction. “They’re fundamental to the story and if you get them wrong then everything else can fall apart like a house of cards,” says Wenham, whose numerous credits include Mission: Impossible – Fallout and Captain America: The Winter Soldier. “And it’s no mean feat coming up with a creature that isn’t reminiscent of anything that’s ever been seen on film before.” Cowan agrees. “Our goal was to find a creature design that served the movie and the characters, but also had a distinct personality, because that’s what all the greatest movie monsters have in common. It took us quite a while, but in the end, I think we came up with a creature that will stand the test of time.” In researching visual references, the filmmakers looked at rhinoceros and hippopotamus skin, studied cheetahs and leopards for the way their joints allow them to run quickly, and examined snakes for their ability to unhinge their jaws. Marine predators were also part of the search. “There’s this 300-year-old shark that was photographed off the coast of Greenland, and when I saw a photo of its black eyes and its mangled teeth, I knew we had to incorporate some of those things into our design too,” says McKay. “As for their skin, I envisioned it being raw and covered with psoriasis and pock marks and things like that.” Creature concept illustrators Ken Barthelmey (Godzilla vs. Kong, The Maze Runner) and Carlos Huante (Goosebumps, Blade Runner 2049) helped assemble the various components together in one nightmarish package. “Since the white spikes attack and eat everything they see, Chris McKay asked for a compelling design that conveyed their bottomless hunger,” says Barthelmey. “It was also important that they be extremely agile and able to move very fast.” Barthelmey incorporated many different scientific and zoological references into his creature designs. “I often use photos of real animals for inspiration, which I then mix with things from my own imagination,” he says. “I think it’s important to find a healthy balance between realism and imagination.” For the head of the white spikes, Barthelmey says he incorporated various references to deep-sea fish, especially the viperfish. “That was a big influence when I designed the creatures’ face. Shark eyes were my inspiration for their eyes, because there’s something very eerie about black shark eyes.” He also added elements from the insect world. “For example, the white spikes’ small front arms are based on praying mantis claws, and their back plates resemble the shell of a grasshopper,” he says. With the design complete, the special effects team constructed a full-size creature puppet, along with several smaller pieces used for specific shots. “We built a couple of animatronic white spikes because we wanted something physical for the actors to react to on camera, and we also relied on our talented stuntman, Troy Brenna, who brought the creatures to life in a motion-capture suit when the cast had to interact with them,” says Cowan. The final version of the aliens combines both practical and VFX work, according to SFX supervisor Schwalm. “Chris wanted to shoot practical effects wherever he could, and he only wanted to lean on visual effects for the bigger stuff if possible. Whenever the aliens interact with a large physical object, be it a car or a human or something like that, our practical effects team took over. So we relied on a blend of techniques to bring them to life.” The fact that the draftees in The Tomorrow War are, for the most part, not equipped to be soldiers affected decisions about everything from casting to preproduction training. “This isn’t like in the Vietnam era, or World War II, where you’re drafting young, strong men in their late teens or early 20s,” says Pratt. “Instead, the recruits in this movie are primarily middle-aged men and women of all shapes, sizes, and experience.” According to Cowan, the goal in casting Dan’s comrades-in-arms was to find actors who seem like ordinary people. “We wanted them to feel like someone you might meet during an average day, whether it’s a teacher, a dentist, a grocery store employee or whoever,” says the executive producer. “It also made weapons training tricky. Of course, we wanted the actors to know how to safely operate the guns and use them effectively, but we didn’t want them to look like they were any good at it. So we asked our military trainers to make sure they didn’t go too far with their instruction.” A Stunning Location Since the initial idea for The Tomorrow War was born during Dean’s family vacation in Iceland, it was only natural that the film’s spectacular climax should be shot there. In the story, however, the Nordic island nation stands in for Russia. “Shooting in Iceland gave the cast and crew a connection to the material that went far beyond the theoretical,” says Dean. “It affects your senses in a way that you just can’t experience in front of a green screen on a soundstage in Los Angeles. Everything feels much more extreme, and real, and palpable.” Cowan acknowledges the challenges of shooting in Iceland, but he felt the rewards were worth the effort. “Sometimes you shoot on location and you come away wondering why you bothered going there in the first place. But not Iceland. We left Iceland with some of the most stunning footage I’ve ever seen, and I’ve been in this business for 30 years. That said, it wasn’t easy to pull off. All the equipment had to be dragged up a remote ridge, including a massive techno crane that we had to build skis for and use outriggers to make sure it didn’t tip over on the way. But once we got up there, we realized exactly why we came.” For Pratt, shooting in one of the most beautiful and pristine regions on Earth was an eye-opening experience. “On the long list of amazing things that are part of filmmaking, being on top of a glacier as the sun is rising with helicopters and snowmobiles and dozens of crew people all around you is pretty high up there,” he says. “I remember Chris McKay and I looking at each other at one point and being like, is this really happening? It adds so much to the film’s production value. You just can’t fake that.” Along with the gorgeous terrain, however, shooting in Iceland came with certain risks, according to McKay. “Filming on the glacier in Iceland was a lot of fun, but make no mistake, it can be a very dangerous place to work. You definitely capture a sense of realism there, but there’s a lot of responsibility involved as well when it comes to safety. There are massive crevasses that go down for hundreds of feet, and if you fall into one, you’re gone. It’s also very challenging because the weather is constantly changing and you only have so much daylight available. We had about six hours of shootable time each day, and then the sun would just crawl across the horizon and go down, leaving us in the dark.” In a case of life imitating art, global warming in Iceland actually affected the work that production designer Wenham did on the project. “When we began scouting locations in Iceland, we looked at some really magnificent spots, including the Anaconda Ice Cave and the Blue Diamond Cave,” he says. “But when we went back there in the summer, they had almost completely disappeared. It was a bit unnerving to think that climate change had just melted them away. Ultimately, we found a large crevasse in the ice, and I was able to work with that instead, but we were operating on a wing and a prayer for a while.” The Best Eye in the Business To capture the look he envisioned for The Tomorrow War, McKay collaborated with acclaimed cinematographer Larry Fong. Having shot a number of blockbuster science-fiction and fantasy films in the past, such as Watchmen, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Kong: Skull Island, Fong was no stranger to shooting movies about aliens and post-apocalyptic battlefields. “Larry Fong is amazing,” says McKay. “Not only does he have the best eye in the business, he’s just a really fun guy to have around on set. As a director, you end up collaborating with a lot of different people on a film, and Larry was one of my favorites on The Tomorrow War. He creates jaw-dropping images, and he goes about everything so humbly! He’s a brilliant artist…and also strangely a really, really great magician! This is not a joke. In between setups he’d perform really clever magic tricks!” Because McKay wanted The Tomorrow War to feel as real as possible rather than hyper-stylized, he chose to shoot on location as much as they could and limit the amount of green screen used. “Larry knew exactly how to make things feel real and tactile by bringing out the natural colors of the world we created,” says the director. “He made everything feel lived-in, which was exactly what I was looking for.” Fong was surprised at how far McKay pushed him in terms of lighting and atmosphere. “He wanted more flares, more mood, and more contrast, and that’s the kind of thing cinematographers love to hear,” says the director of photography. “Although we shot The Tomorrow War digitally, Chris wanted the movie to have a classic vintage look, as though it was shot on actual film, so I used special modifications on our lenses and we shot anamorphic to give it a sense of grandeur and scope. We also made adjustments during the final color timing that made things look more visually dramatic.” While much of the film was shot on location, certain key sequences had to be filmed in a studio, Fong says. “For example, when the soldiers are going down that long, dark, circular stairwell in Miami, we shot that sequence in a studio because we needed to carefully control everything about it. There was so much gunfire and stunt work involved, we needed full control to make it all work safely.” The staircase sequence ended up being one of the DP’s favorite scenes to shoot. “I could tell as we were shooting in the stairwell that it was going to be really scary. It starts off so quietly, and then the music completely stops and you feel all of this tension begin to rise as they’re creeping further down the stairs. Then when the last guy looks up and thinks he sees something moving in the shadows, we used a long, slow zoom to stretch that out. Some people are afraid to use zooms, but Chris and I agreed it was the perfect moment to include one. It makes the whole sequence feel super tense, and it forces the audience to strain to see what’s up at the top of those stairs. I love doing things like that.” Fong had visited Iceland a few times in the past, and even shot a car commercial there, and his familiarity with the place helped prepare him for the difficulties the location presented. “The cold in Iceland is absolutely brutal on the camera equipment,” he says. “It affects all the electronics, and you have to keep the cameras warm because the lenses tend to fog up if you’re not careful.” Simply transporting the camera gear across the glacier was a major undertaking, says Fong. “We had to drive everything half an hour from the hotel to the bottom of the mountain, then we had to move it half an hour up to a lodge, and then transport it another half-hour in snowcats and four-wheel-drive vehicles to the very top of the glacier. People were completely bundled up and it was extremely hard to communicate, but that’s what you have to do if you want to get shots like that.” Weather was also a factor during shooting in Atlanta, where many of the film’s intense combat scenes were filmed. “The sun would constantly come in and out, and since we had two units shooting simultaneously over long expanses of time, it was hard to get the lighting to match correctly. I was definitely losing sleep over that, but because those scenes have so much action, fighting, explosions and aliens, it all just blended together and worked out perfectly in the final cut.” An Indelible Musical Score The evocative score for The Tomorrow War was written by Scottish composer Lorne Balfe, whose credits include Mission: Impossible – Fallout and “The Crown” and who had previously collaborated with McKay on The Lego Batman Movie. “Lorne is just one of those gifted artists who constantly sends you fresh ideas,” the director says. “He’s brilliant at coming up with indelible themes, and I adore the ones he wrote for The Tomorrow War. He actually started writing music for the film long before we began shooting, so I was able to play some of it on set to help create the right mood.” Balfe leapt at the chance to team up once again with McKay. “Chris was the primary reason I wanted to be involved on this project,” he says. “Working on The Lego Batman Movie with him was a joy, and I learned a lot from that experience, so I definitely wanted to be part of this film. But just as importantly, I’m a fan of science-fiction movies, and this one has all the traits of a modern classic.” The composer wrote themes for several of the main characters in the film, and the themes for Dan and his daughter Muri were purposefully written so that they would blend well together. “There’s a connecting DNA strand between them, so Dan’s theme and Muri’s theme could musically play at the same time,” Balfe reveals. “The concept we came up with was to make this a realistic score that focused on the internal life of these characters instead of what one might expect to hear in a typical Hollywood blockbuster.” The COVID pandemic made scoring The Tomorrow War far more challenging than usual because Balfe wasn’t able to be in the same studio with the musicians. “We recorded the score remotely over Evercast, which is a video collaboration platform that a lot of us used last year,” he says. “All the musicians had to remain socially distant, so we weren’t able to have all of them in together at the same time. We had about 80 musicians in total, and we recorded them in sections. So the strings had to be recorded separately from the brass, and so on. But that’s the magic of the internet for you!” When it came to scoring the film’s dynamic action sequences, Balfe and McKay both felt the music didn’t need to work as hard as it normally would because the visual effects and the sound design were already so impressive. “I felt like I could actually pull it back at certain times,” the composer says. That was particularly true when it came to the staircase attack sequence early in the movie. “The interesting thing about that scene is that it relies heavily on silence to build suspense,” Balfe says. “I worked closely with Chris and editor Roger Barton, and together we chose spots where less was more. The idea was that the audience didn’t need to be bombarded with a lot of music in the sequence. In a sense, using less music felt more psychologically disturbing.” The same was true for the film’s climax, set in Arctic Russia and filmed in Iceland. “The scope and the power of those images makes you think differently in terms of music,” says Balfe. “Again, it was a case of less is more. The landscape was already so rich and expansive, the music didn’t need to make it feel any bigger.” Balfe says action movies are always challenging to score because the audience needs to be able to relate to the characters even though the situations they’re in are not ones people have ever experienced. “For example, we don’t have the technology to be able to travel into the future, so musically you’ve got to find something that the audience can identify with, like the emotional bond between parents and children. So that’s what I latched onto when writing the themes for The Tomorrow War.” Since Balfe began composing the score long before shooting began, he relied on the script and early storyboards to give him an idea of what the finished film would look like. But when he finally saw the completed movie, he went back and tweaked certain things to better fit the material. “The truth is, the aliens were far more disturbing than what I originally envisioned, so I changed the music a bit as I began to see the footage. And the same thing happened with Chris Pratt’s performance as Dan. He really added another dimension to the character, which meant I had to rewrite portions of his theme.” In the end, Balfe was stunned by what McKay was able to accomplish on screen. “Chris has delivered a full cinematic experience with The Tomorrow War. It’s filled with emotion, excitement, and amazing action sequences, and that’s something we need at this particular moment in time. I think each of us could use a bit of escapism right now.” A Duty to the Future Finishing The Tomorrow War during the COVID pandemic required a major commitment from everyone involved, says Daly. “We shut down for two weeks when the country shut down in mid-March 2020, but then we delivered computers and Avid equipment to everyone’s respective homes and offices in order to continue working on the visual effects. And ultimately, we completed this huge movie at a distance, which is a true testament to the highly skilled crew we had.” Fong believes audiences are in for a great ride when they see the finished movie. “You’ve got the dramatic emotional ups and downs of the characters, but then there’s this amazing fantasy element that’s rooted in reality. Plus there’s plenty of suspense in the film, and a lot of unexpected comedy as well. And the climax is truly epic. You’ve got these incredible helicopter shots that add a James Bond-style scope to the film, which I’m sure viewers will appreciate.” For Simmons, the true appeal of the movie is the bond between each member of the Forester family. “Like all the best action sci-fi movies in history, at its core The Tomorrow War is a story about family, and love, and redemption. It’s as simple as that.” Reflecting on his journey to bring The Tomorrow War to the screen, McKay hopes viewers will take the film’s core message to heart. “The white spikes represent an existential threat to the future of mankind,” he says. “We have a duty to future generations to leave the world in a better place than we found it. The message of the movie is about taking responsibility for what we pass on to our children.” ABOUT THE CAST CHRIS PRATT (Dan Forester, Executive Producer) recently appeared in the record-breaking hitAvengers: Endgame, which grossed more than $2.7 billion worldwide. This was the conclusion of the climactic story begun inAvengers: Infinity War, which also made more than $2 billion at the global box office. Prior to that, Pratt’s Star-Lord led Marvel’sGuardians of the Galaxy franchise; the first installment was one of the top three highest-grossing films of 2014 with over $770 million in ticket sales globally.Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2trounced every other film that opened in the summer of 2017 and surpassed the first film’s total with over $860 million worldwide. Pratt will next be seen on the small screen in“The Terminal List,” based on the Jack Carr novel, for Amazon. He is also executive producing. In 2015 Pratt headlinedJurassic World, the seventh-highest-grossing film of all time, in the wildly popular role of Owen. He returned to star in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdomin 2018 and recently wrapped production on the thirdinstallment of the franchise,Jurassic World: Dominion,which is slated for a June 2022 release. In 2016 Pratt starred in the sci-fi romancePassengers, opposite Jennifer Lawrence. He also appeared alongside Denzel Washington in Antoine Fuqua’sThe Magnificent Seven,which opened the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival and closed the 2016 Venice Film Festival. 2015 marked the seventh and final season of the Emmy Award-nominated series “Parks and Recreation.”Pratt’s breakthrough role as Andy Dwyer opposite Amy Poehler, Nick Offerman and Adam Scott may still be what he is best known for. The actor’s other notable film credits include Oscar nomineeOnward, animated blockbustersThe Lego MovieandThe Lego Movie 2:The Second Part, Spike Jonze’s critically acclaimed dramedyHer, Kathryn Bigelow’sZero Dark Thirty(an Oscar nominee for Best Picture) and Bennet Miller’sMoneyball, co-starring Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill and Philip Seymour Hoffman. YVONNE STRAHOVSKI (Colonel Muri Forester) has garnered wide critical acclaim for her role in Hulu’s Emmy- and Golden Globe®-winning original series “The Handmaid’s Tale.” Strahovski netted an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, a Golden Globe bid for Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Miniseries or Television Film and two Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Award nominations for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble (Drama Series). Strahovski recently starred in “Stateless,” a six-part TV series that premiered on ABC Australia in March 2020, screened at the Berlin Film Festival in February and debuted on Netflix in July. The series was produced by and also starred Cate Blanchett, alongside Jai Courtney and Dominic West. For her performance Strahovski won an AACTA Award for Best Lead Actress in a Television Drama. In 2019 Strahovski appeared opposite Noomi Rapace in Kim Farrant’s psychological thriller Angel of Mine, which follows a woman’s descent into madness after she loses her daughter and becomes convinced that another woman’s child is in fact her own. Strahovski plays the woman accused of the girl. Strahovski also appeared in The Predator, a reboot of the 1987 sci-fi classic. The film, which grossed over $116 million worldwide, saw Strahovski star alongside Olivia Munn, Boyd Holbrook and Keegan-Michael Key. Strahovski’s other film credits include He’s Out There, All I See Is You, Manhattan Night, I, Frankenstein and The Guilt Trip. On the television side she has starred in critically acclaimed dramas such as Fox’s “24: Live Another Day,” Showtime’s “Dexter” and ABC’s “The Astronaut Wives Club,” as well as the popular NBC comedy “Chuck.” Born and raised in Sydney, Australia, Strahovski studied theater at the renowned Theatre Nepean, the prestigious actor-training institution within the School of the Contemporary Arts at the University of Western Sydney.Prior to her move to Los Angeles in early 2007 she co-founded a theater company called Sauna Productions, for whom she acted in and co-produced the productions “Kieslowski’s Neck” and “Finn City.”In 2012 Strahovski made her Broadway debut in the Lincoln Center Theater production of “Golden Boy,” which was nominated for a 2013 Tony Award®. The actor currently resides in Malibu with her son and her husband, Tim Loden. J.K. SIMMONS (James Forester) has appeared in a diverse range of projects spanning motion pictures, television and the stage, both on and Off Broadway. He won the 2015 Academy Award® for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of a merciless jazz instructor in Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash, which garnered five Academy Award nominations including Best Picture.Simmons’ performance in the film also garnered him a Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Award, a Golden Globe, Independent Spirit Award and a BAFTA Award, as well as many critics’ group honors around the world. He is also known for his memorable portrayal of an offbeat dad opposite Elliot Page in the hit comedy Juno and his role as J. Jonah Jameson in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy (as well as the recent reboot of the film franchise). Simmons recentlystarred in Hulu’s “Palm Springs,” alongside Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti. He also appeared in the Apple TV+ miniseries “Defending Jacob,” based on the 2012 novel of the same name. In 2019 Simmons starred in the second season of thecritically acclaimedStarz series“Counterpart,” created by Justin Marks. In2018 the actor starredin Brian Kirk’s action thriller 21Bridges, alongside Sienna Miller, Taylor Kitsch and the late Chadwick Boseman, and Simmons was alsoseeninJason Reitman’s The Front Runner, with Hugh Jackman and Vera Farmiga. He also co-starred in The Snowman, opposite Michael Fassbender and Rebecca Ferguson; Father Figures,withOwen Wilson and Ed Helms; Justice League, alongside Ben Affleck and Gal Godot; The Meddler, with Susan Sarandon and Rose Byrne; The Accountant, opposite Ben Affleck and Anna Kendrick; Patriots Day,with Mark Wahlberg; and I’m Not Here, which was directed by his wife Michelle Schumacher. He has contributed his vocal talents to films such as Kung Fu Panda 3 and Zootopia. Simmons’ other film credits include TerminatorGenisys, Jobs, Labor Day, The Words, The Music Never Stopped, Jennifer’s Body, Extract, The Vicious Kind, I Love You Man, A Beginner’s Guide to Endings, Contraband, Hidalgo, TheLadykillers, The Mexican, Off the Map, For Love of the Game, The Gift, Thank You for Smoking, Rendition, Burn After Reading and Up in the Air. On the small screen, Simmons’ breakthrough role came as Vern Schillinger on HBO’s acclaimed drama “Oz.” He also played LAPD Assistant Chief Will Pope on TNT’s hit series “The Closer” and had a recurring role on NBC’s “Law & Order.” Simmons guest-starred on NBC’s “Parks and Recreation” and had a recurring role on TBS’ hit comedy “Men at Work.” Also a distinguished stage actor, Simmons has appeared on Broadway in performances of “Guys and Dolls,” “Laughter on the 23rd Floor,” “A Change in the Heir,” “Peter Pan” and “A Few Good Men.” SAM RICHARDSON (Charlie) is an actor, writer and producer perhaps best known as RichardSplett on HBO’s landmark, Emmy- and Peabody Award-winning comedy series “Veep,” which aired seven highly successful seasons. Alongside his lifelong best friend, Tim Robinson, Richardson is also the co-creator and star of Comedy Central’s critically adored comedy “Detroiters.” Up next, Richardson leads the ensemble cast in Josh Ruben’s Werewolves Within, a horror comedybased on the Ubisoft game of the same name.The movie revolves around the shenanigans that ensue when a massive blizzard isolates a small Vermont town, causing simmering resentments to boil over as one by one the oddball townspeople are picked off by a mysterious creature. Richardson alsowrapped productiononApple TV+’s murder-mysterycomedy series “The Afterparty,” co-starring Tiffany Haddish,IkeBarinholtz andIlana Glazer.Created by Chris Miller and Phil Lord,the eight-episode single-camera comedy series is set at a high school reunion afterparty. Each episode will feature a retelling of the same night told through a different character’s perspective, each with its own unique visual format and film genre to match the teller’s personality. In the animated TV space Richardson voices characters in Marvel’s Hulu series “M.O.D.O.K.” and Fox’s new animated comedy “HouseBroken.” He will also lend his voice to the forthcoming TBS pilot “Kill the Orange-Faced Bear,” part of a cast that includes Sarah Silverman and Damon Wayans Jr. Richardson’s other small-screen credits include “The Office,” “Arrested Development,” “Portlandia,” “New Girl,” “Drunk History” and “Champaign Ill.” His film work includes Bootstrapped, Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising, Ghostbusters, Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates, Spy, Office Christmas Party, Hooking Up, Superintelligence,We’re the Millers, The House and Horrible Bosses 2. Richardson is an alumnus of the prestigious Second City Chicago Main Stage.Prior to joining the main stage he studied at Wayne State University and also performed at Detroit’s Second City and Planet Ant Theatre in Hamtramck, Michigan. In Chicago he wrote and starred in two revues:“Spoiler Alert: Everybody Dies”and“South Side of Heaven,” both of which earned him Best Actor nominations from the Jefferson Awards, the annual awards honoring the best of Chicago theater. A confessed “comic-book nerd” and sneakers collector, Richardson lives in Los Angeles. BETTY GILPIN (Emmy Forester) is a three-time Emmy nominee, two-time SAG Award nominee and three-time Critics’ Choice nomineefor her work on the hit Netflix series “GLOW,” from producers Liz Flahive, Carly Mensch and Jenji Kohan. Gilpin is currently shooting Universal Television’s “Gaslit,” opposite Julia Roberts and Sean Penn, for director Matt Ross. She was last seen in Craig Zobel’s Blumhouse feature The Hunt and Michael Dowse’s action-comedy Coffee & Kareem, opposite Ed Helms and Taraji P. Henson. Gilpin’s other film credits include The Grudge, Stuber and Isn’t It Romantic. JASMINE MATHEWS (Lt. Hart) will appear in Patrick Hughes’ forthcoming action-comedy The Man From Toronto, opposite Kevin Hart and Woody Harrelson.Mathews was previously a series regular on the Starz drama “Sweetbitter,” based on the bestselling book by Stephanie Danler. She was also recently seen in a recurring role on ABC’s “The Rookie” and her prior TV credits include roles in Paramount Network’s remake of “Heathers” and the CBS drama “Blue Bloods.” Also a skilled theater performer, Mathews has appeared onstage in several productions with the Nevada Conservatory Theater and the Baldwin Burroughs Theatre, including “Water by the Spoonful,”“Steel Magnolias”and “Five Women Wearing the Same Dress.” Born in Houston, the former Miss Morehouse College and Miss Historically Black College and University graduated from UNLV with a Master of Fine Arts degree in theater. She also attended the British American Drama Academy in London. EDWIN HODGE (Dorian) is best known for playing Robert Chase in the military drama series “Six” or for his roles in The Purge, The Purge: Anarchy and The Purge: Election Year. Hodge’s other television work includes “For All Mankind,” “Sleepy Hollow,” “Mayans M.C.,” “Genius,” “Secrets and Lies” and “Chicago Fire.” He has also been seen in the features As Above, So Below, Red Dawn and Bumblebee. Hodge currently resides in Los Angeles. RYAN KIERA ARMSTRONG (Young Muri Forester) recently joined Lily Rabe and Finn Wittrock in the cast of Ryan Murphy’s “American Horror Story,” now in its 10th season, and will next be seen in the Marvel feature Black Widow. She is also set to play the role of Charlie McGee opposite Zac Efron in the remake of Stephen King’s Firestarter. Armstrong’s other credits include the television series “Anne With an E” and miniseries “The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair” as well as features The Art of Racing in the Rain, It Chapter Two, The Glorias and Wish Upon a Unicorn. Armstrong was born in New York City on March 10, 2010. The youngest of five children, she began her professional acting career in 2015. Her first audition was her first booking, first recurring role and the beginning of a life on the road. The years to follow would allow Armstrong to collaborate with and learn from a “who’s who” of Hollywood including Julie Taymor, Julianne Moore, Alicia Vikander, Timothy Hutton, Bill Skarsgård, Amanda Seyfried, Milo Ventimiglia, Kevin Costner, Chris Pratt and Scarlett Johansson

Written by David Gordon Green & Danny McBride & Scott Teems, based on characters created by John Carpenter and Debra Hill, the film will be directed by David Gordon Green and produced by Malek Akkad, Jason Blum and Bill Block. John Carpenter, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jeanette Volturno, Couper Samuelson, Danny McBride, David Gordon Green and Ryan Freimann are executive producers. Ryan Turek is overseeing the project for Blumhouse. Directed By David Gordon Green Produced By Malek Akkad, Jason Blum and Bill Block Executive Produced By John Carpenter, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jeanette Volturno, Couper Samuelson, Danny McBride, David Gordon Green and Ryan Freimann

A Quiet Place Part II(Paramount Pictures)Release: 05/28/2021 Expires: 08/29/2021 12:00 AM Following the deadly events at home, the Abbott family (Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe) must now face the terrors of the outside world as they continue their fight for survival in silence. Forced to venture into the unknown, they quickly realize that the creatures that hunt by sound are not the only threats that lurk beyond the sand path. Starring Emily Blunt, Cillian Murphy, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe, Djimon Hounsou Directed By John Krasinski Produced By Michael Bay, Andrew Form, Brad Fuller, John Krasinski Executive Produced By Allyson Seeger, Joann Perritano, Aaron Janus

"The world’s most lethal odd couple – bodyguard Michael Bryce (Ryan Reynolds) and hitman Darius Kincaid (Samuel L. Jackson) – are back on another life-threatening mission. Still unlicensed and under scrutiny, Bryce is forced into action by Darius’s even more volatile wife, the infamous international con artist Sonia Kincaid (Salma Hayek). As Bryce is driven over the edge by his two most dangerous protectees, the trio gets in over their heads in a global plot and soon find that they are all that stands between Europe and a vengeful and powerful madman (Antonio Banderas). Joining in the fun and deadly mayhem is Morgan Freeman as…well, you’ll have to see." Genre: Action, Comedy Rating: This Film Is Not Yet Rated Country of Origin: USA U.S. Release Date: June 16, 2021 Running Time: 118 Minutes Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson, Salma Hayek, with Antonio Banderas, and Morgan Freeman, Frank Grillo, Caroline Goodall, Rebecca Front, Gabriella Wright, Alice McMillan, Kristofer Kamiyasu, Tom Hopper, Blake Ritson, with Richard E. Grant Directed by: Patrick Hughes Screenplay by: Tom O'Connor and Phillip Murphy & Brandon Murphy Story by: Tom O’Connor Based on Characters Created by: Tom O’Connor Produced by: Matthew O’Toole, Les Weldon, Yariv Lerner"

Spirit Untamed... Cast: Isabela Merced, Julianne Moore, Jake Gyllenhaal, Marsai Martin, Mckenna Grace, Walton Goggins, Andre Braugher, and Eiza González Director: Elaine Bogan Producer: Karen Foster An epic adventure about a headstrong girl longing for a place to belong who discovers a kindred spirit when her life intersects with a wild horse, Spirit Untamed is the next chapter in the beloved story from DreamWorks Animation. Lucky Prescott (Isabela Merced, Dora and the Lost City of Gold) never really knew her late mother, Milagro Navarro (Eiza González, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw), a fearless horse-riding stunt performer from Miradero, a small town on the edge of the wide-open frontier. Like her mother, Lucky isn’t exactly a fan of rules and restrictions, which has caused her Aunt Cora (Academy Award® winner Julianne Moore) no small amount of worry. Lucky has grown up in an East Coast city under Cora’s watchful eye, but when Lucky presses her own luck with one too many risky escapades, Cora picks up stakes and moves them both back with Lucky’s father, Jim (Oscar® nominee Jake Gyllenhaal), in Miradero. Lucky is decidedly unimpressed with the sleepy little town. She has a change of heart when she meets Spirit, a wild Mustang who shares her independent streak and befriends two local horseback riders, Abigail Stone (Mckenna Grace, Captain Marvel) and Pru Granger (Marsai Martin, Little). Pru’s father, stable owner Al Granger (Emmy winner Andre Braugher, Fox’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine), is the best friend of Lucky’s father. When a heartless horse wrangler (Emmy nominee Walton Goggins, FX’s Justified) and his team plan to capture Spirit and his herd and auction them off to a life of captivity and hard labor, Lucky enlists her new friends and bravely embarks on the adventure of a lifetime to rescue the horse who has given her freedom and a sense of purpose and has helped Lucky discover a connection to her mother’s legacy and to her Mexican heritage that she never expected. Spirit Untamed is the next chapter in DreamWorks Animation’s beloved franchise that began with the 2002 Oscar-nominated film Spirit: Stallion of Cimarron and includes an Emmy-winning TV series. The film is directed by Elaine Bogan (Netflix and DreamWorks Animation Television’s Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia) and is produced by Karen Foster (co-producer, How to Train Your Dragon). The film’s co-director is Ennio Torresan (head of story, The Boss Baby), and the film’s score is by composer Amie Doherty (Amazon’s Undone, DreamWorks Animation’s Marooned)

Space Jam: A New Legacy (also known as Space Jam 2) is an upcoming American live-action/animated sports comedy film directed by Malcolm D. Lee, from a screenplay by Juel Taylor, Tony Rettenmaier, Keenan Coogler, and Terence Nance. Serving as a sequel to Space Jam (1996), it will mark the first theatrically released film to feature the Looney Tunes characters since Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003), and like the previous hybrid films, it will be a combination of live-action and traditional hand-drawn 2D animation with some CGI effects. The film stars basketball player LeBron James (who also acts as a producer) as a fictionalized version of himself along with Don Cheadle, Khris Davis, Sonequa Martin-Green, and Cedric Joe in live-action roles. It also features numerous Looney Tunes characters such as Bugs Bunny, Sylvester, and Foghorn Leghorn (all of whom are voiced by Jeff Bergman), as well as Daffy Duck and Marvin the Martian (both voiced by Eric Bauza), Lola Bunny (voiced by Zendaya), and others.

The new Loki trailer is out!

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The new trailer for Those Who Wish Me Dead

In No Time To Die, Bond has left active service and is enjoying a tranquil life in Jamaica. His peace is short-lived when his old friend Felix Leiter from the CIA turns up asking for help. The mission to rescue a kidnapped scientist turns out to be far more treacherous than expected, leading Bond onto the trail of a mysterious villain armed with dangerous new technology. Starring Daniel Craig, Rami Malek, Léa Seydoux, Lashana Lynch, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, with Jeffrey Wright, with Christoph Waltz and Ralph Fiennes as "M" Directed By Cary Joji Fukunaga Produced By Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli

MMA fighter Cole Young seeks out Earth's greatest champions in order to stand against the enemies of Outworld in a high-stakes battle for the universe. Director: Simon McQuoid Writers: Greg Russo (screenplay by), Dave Callaham Stars: Lewis Tan, Jessica McNamee, Josh Lawson

Boogie, to his friends — dreams of making it big in basketball. Determined to score a coveted spot in the NBA, a rarity for an Asian-American, Boogie pursues the college scholarship track while his overbearing mother (Pamelyn Chee) plots another path for him with the help of a Chinese recruiter. Honing his skills on the cutthroat basketball courts of Lower Manhattan while navigating high-school commitments, a burgeoning romance with his classmate Eleanor (Taylour Paige) and parental strife at home, Boogie finds himself in a relentless battle for his future — culminating in a New York City street ball showdown with the number-one ranked Monk, played by the late Brooklyn rapper Pop Smoke, making his acting debut. Written and directed by — and co-starring — Eddie Huang, whose best-selling memoir on Asian-American family life, Fresh Off the Boat, became a hit ABC sitcom, and whose Manhattan restaurant Baohaus and Vice show Huang’s World placed him in the food and travel zeitgeist, Boogie marks the filmmaking debut of a singular, frenetic and global talent. Focus Features presents BOOGIE starring Taylor Takahashi, Pop Smoke, Taylour Paige, Eddie Huang, Pamelyn Chee, Domenick Lombardozzi, Jorge Lendeborg Jr., Mike Moh, Perry Yung. Written and directed by Eddie Huang. Produced by Josh Bratman, Josh McLaughlin and Michael Tadross. Executive produced by Rafael Martinez. Original songs by Pop Smoke. Editor, Joan Sobel. Costume design, Vera Chow. Production design, Chris Trujillo. Director of photography, Brett Jutkiewicz. BOOGIE opens March 5, 2021.  ABOUT THE PRODUCTION From multi-hyphenate powerhouse Eddie Huang (Fresh Off the Boat, Huang’s World) comes a rousing New York story about basketball, young love, fractious families, and pursuing big dreams against all odds. Featuring a breakout central performance by first-time actor Taylor Takahashi — Huang’s personal assistant at the time he was cast — as a Chinese-American high-school basketball sensation yearning for an NBA contract, the film also features a diverse and eclectic supporting cast including Taylour Paige (Zola, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom), Pamelyn Chee (Princess of Nebraska), Domenick Lombardozzi (The Irishman), and the late rapper Pop Smoke, in his first and final screen performance as the best and most feared street basketball player in New York City. With its scenes of domestic friction between parents and children, Boogie is also a testament to the complexity of family dynamics, inspired by and deeply rooted in Huang’s own experiences growing up as the son of Taiwanese immigrants in Orlando, Florida. “I’m always unpacking my personal stuff in my work,” says Huang. “The reason why I wanted to make this movie is because I come from a family with a history of domestic violence.”  HOME IS WHERE THE HURT IS Trained as a corporate lawyer but laid off in the economic downturn of 2008, Huang’s career took off as a restaurateur with his Lower Manhattan Taiwanese sandwich shop Baohaus, which opened in 2010 to glowing reviews. But it was his 2013 book Fresh Off the Boat: A Memoir that placed him in the big leagues, landing on the bestseller list before being adapted by ABC as a comedy series, the first Asian-American-themed sitcom in 20 years. Boogie, like Huang’s memoir, is an intimate family drama with comic overtones retaining echoes of the writer-director’s tumultuous upbringing in a home where harsh discipline and violence were not uncommon. Bullied in high school, subjected to racism in his predominantly white suburban community and strict discipline in his Chinese home, Huang turned to hip-hop for solace during his increasingly fractious adolescence. Huang was 15 years old in 1997 when he watched Good Will Hunting at a relative’s house. “I had nothing in common with the main characters besides the fact that they grew up with domestic violence and they became deviant themselves and lashed out at the world,” says Huang. “This was a defining moment because it dawned on me that you could talk about this stuff. I decided everything I would do going forward would address aspects of my own family situation.” Boogie’s story is less caustic and Dickensian than Huang’s own — the story of a happy-go-lucky, confident and slightly stubborn Queens Chinese-American high school student who longs to play basketball in the NBA — but it’s autobiographical in its depiction of mother-son contention over the direction of Boogie’s future after high school. “Boogie’s situation with his mother was completely my dynamic at home growing up,” says Huang who remains very close to his parents despite years of household tension that often spilled over into violence. “I still have a lot to uncover and understand about my relationship to my parents and culture and how it contrasts with American values and society, and I think by continuing to examine this friction in my work, my audience will see a reflection of themselves.”  A BASKETBALL STORY Huang’s first foray into feature filmmaking wasn’t always about basketball. Like Fresh Off the Boat, which launched his entertainment career in multiple mediums, Boogie in its nascent form centered on family dynamics and the emotional ramifications of being “other” in America — in Huang’s case a first-generation Taiwanese-American coming of age in Washington D.C. and Orlando, one of four children growing up with a strict restaurateur father and homemaker mother. He started writing Boogie in 2016 as a means of reconciling Asian values with American values, trying to figure out his own identity while maintaining footholds in two very different cultures. But he got sidetracked, working in a series of jobs — attorney, stand-up comedian, fashion designer — before his restaurant turned him into culinary royalty. But basketball was always a through-line in Huang’s life. After Fresh Off the Boat became a hit on ABC and Huang moved to Los Angeles, he began playing in recreational leagues around the city, most of them Asian… to a degree. “We never liked the rules that our league was predominantly Asian, because two of our teammates were half Asian and there had been resistance to them as kids playing in Asian leagues,” says Huang. “That rubbed us the wrong way. Our team, while mostly Asian, has black people, Jewish people, Latino people. We’re the only super-mixed team in the league.” The sport was also a way for Huang to understand America, its different socioeconomic levels, and the discrepancies between race and identity that he sees as one of the country’s indelible and defining features. “I grew up in a very Chinese home, so basketball became that thing outside the home that made sense to me because it wasn’t traditionally Chinese,” says Huang. “My own American values I learned from watching and playing basketball — all of this plays out in Boogie as he tries to find his own place in the world.”  TEAM SPIRIT Flash-forward to 2018, when the Boogie script was more or less complete and Huang found himself in an interesting predicament. His San Gabriel basketball league needed another player. At the invitation of one of Huang’s teammates, 24-year-old Japanese-American Taylor Takahashi — a newcomer to Southern California — showed up eager to play ball. Takahashi grew up in Northern California, playing soccer, baseball and basketball in high school before he moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in performance training. He was working as a personal trainer in Los Angeles and living in Orange County when he showed up to try out for his childhood friend’s team. Huang’s fellow players saw right away that the Bay Area native excelled at the sport, offering him a spot on the team. Takahashi, who was moonlighting at night cooking yakitori in a Japanese restaurant, knew Huang’s work from his podcast and culinary endeavors — he was a fan, but never expected to meet him on a San Gabriel basketball court. “The first day I walked onto the court, I’m meeting everyone and the last person I meet is Eddie,” says Takahashi. “I felt like I knew him already as far as the personality he displays in his work. He was the same person he was on his shows, but I also saw this very real person in him.” As the season played out, Huang and Takahashi developed a friendship through basketball. From Huang’s perspective, Takahashi was one of the finest basketball players he had ever seen. “When you are Asian, nobody wants to pick you for the team,” laughs Huang. “Once we became friends and started playing pick-up games outside the league, nobody thought he would be any good. But after five minutes on the court, they think he’s the Asian Nate Robinson. Then he starts getting baskets and players want to fight.” Huang’s team later found out that Takahashi was the all-time leading scorer at Alameda High School — in no time, he was the best player on his recreational team in Los Angeles. “When he came into play, instead of being cocky and self-serving, he made plays for other people,” says Huang. “He also made sure he wasn’t stepping on anyone else’s toes. You don’t usually see people that talented come in with that much humility on the playing court. I knew this was a special kid.”  A PERFECT UNION In December 2018, Huang was asked to cook a holiday meal for the staff of Union, the famed streetwear boutique in Los Angeles owned by his close friend Chris Gibbs. He asked Takahashi to join him — along with Huang’s parents — to cook a homestyle Taiwanese dinner for the boutique staff. The foodie luminary found himself in awe of Takahashi’s precision in the kitchen. “When we were prepping and cooking, Taylor would slice everything to meticulous perfection,” says Huang. “He also understood and respected the formal relationship between chef and cook, which impressed me. My mom noticed how he did everything he was told, which is very Japanese. She told me to keep him around.” Huang knew that his friend, teammate and cooking partner wasn’t fulfilled in his job as a personal trainer, so just before Christmas he asked Takahashi to come work for him as a personal assistant. “I told him we could have a lot of fun together because we could wake up, play ball, lift weights, roll calls, take meetings and watch movies,” says Huang. Takahashi was reluctant at first, unfamiliar with the entertainment business, and fearful of change. But after thinking about it, he took the job. One of his first duties was to read Huang’s dream project, the screenplay known as Boogie, about an Asian-American high-school basketball player in New York City who dreams of making the NBA drafts. Takahashi felt an instant personal connection reading it. “This was a similar story to mine, as far as being an Asian kid dreaming of playing in the NBA,” says Takahashi. “Culturally it was different in that I’m Japanese-American and Boogie is Chinese-American, but Asian representation in the game of basketball has been so minimal historically that I instantly gravitated to the story. I knew how much it meant to Eddie to get it off the ground.” That year, Takahashi became involved in all aspects of Huang’s busy and multi-faceted career as a writer, TV personality, foodie, and filmmaker. Three months after taking the job, Boogie got the greenlight from Focus Features. Takahashi fell headlong into every part of the pre-production process, taking notes on script calls with the studio, scheduling meetings, liaising with producers. At night he was still cooking with Eddie at events. “It was the craziest year I ever had,” says Takahashi. “Eddie’s in so many different boats, and so many different markets — we had TV stuff, movie stuff. We’d host something for Adidas one day and do something for YouTube the same night. I was fairly organized with my own life, but taking care of someone else’s is another thing.” During this transformative year, Huang started seeing Takahashi in a new light — as a potential casting choice for Boogie, the central character in his script. “Taylor was with me all the way during the casting process, when there were one or two people who were interesting to us,” says Huang. “At the time I hadn’t pulled the trigger on my secret idea — approaching Taylor with the lead role in the movie — because things were going so well between us in pre-production. I still thought we could find someone through casting that had acting experience and basketball skills.”  THE EDUCATION OF TAYLOR TAKAHASHI As pre-production deepened, Huang found himself casually quizzing Takahashi on all aspects of the script and protagonist — what did he think of this scene? How do you think this sequence would play out? What would Boogie do in this situation? The duo made mood boards together for the film, and visited photography bookstores to get ideas on how to shoot the film. “Anything I could teach him about filmmaking, I did, because in the back of my mind I kept seeing him as Boogie,” says Huang. “I secretly knew I might need Taylor, even for an ancillary character.” By this time the pair had become close friends, often speaking to one another in basketball terms and comparing certain actions to star athletes on the playing field. “Taylor became like a brother to me when I had no one in my life like that,” says Huang. “My best friends and family were in New York. That’s when it really dawned on me that Taylor could be Boogie. I noticed the way he moved through the world, the values he had, and the way he saw things. But I didn’t want to make the mistake of so many other relationships in my life, seeing something that wasn’t there.” Instead of offering the role, Huang began assigning Takahashi books and movies to watch for personal growth, from Oscar Wilde, Sally Rooney and Malcolm Gladwell to Asian-American literary classics like Waiting by Ha Jin and No-No Boy by John Okata. “If you have a common interest with someone, sharing books can be a good way to communicate,” says Huang. “Taylor was educating his body a lot — and the body is a mind unto itself — but he wasn’t feeding his mind.” Takahashi found himself opening up to Huang’s suggestions and offering him training sessions in return. “We struck up a trade — I gave him workouts and he gave me books and movies to watch,” says Takahashi. “I helped him physically change his body while I mentally changed my mind by allowing new stuff to come to me. Once you buy into reading and educating yourself, it unlocks a lot of potential, giving you answers that help give you reason and purpose in life.” It was a movie recommendation that helped Takahashi unwittingly transform into Boogie, setting the stage for one of the great casting coups in recent movies. Huang recommended Shoplifters, the 2018 Japanese drama by Hirokazu Kore-ede’s about an unconventional family of petty thieves. “Taylor watched it, took to the movie, and came back with notes,” says Huang. “I could see how it helped him really put things together in a bunch of different ways.” Adds Takahashi: “There was always a reason behind anything Eddie gave me to read or watch. Shoplifters was the big one for me, because it put into perspective the fact that normal, everyday people could star in a movie.”  BECOMING BOOGIE As summer 2019 wore on, and production on Boogie loomed, Huang and the casting team had still not found their lead actor. “I was watching Chinese and Taiwanese movies while following every second- and third-division Asian basketball player in the world,” says Huang. “I would have considered any Asian male at the right age that could play basketball and look good on camera.” Finally, the casting team found a restaurant server on the Lower East Side of Manhattan who had a great audition and looked the part, but it was clear to Huang and Takahashi that he couldn’t play basketball. No matter how hard the duo prepared him, after three weeks of training sessions it was clear that he couldn’t effectively play Boogie. “Throughout training — Boogie bootcamp as it became known — everything this kid couldn’t do were things I knew Taylor could do,” says Huang. “So I told my producers I was going to put Taylor on tape.” In August, a few weeks before cameras rolled, Takahashi received the opportunity of a lifetime. He had three hours to prepare for his taped audition as Boogie, having never before acted in his life. “He had never even thought about acting,” says Huang. “I gave him his sides — Scene 44 — and told him from this point on, he was no longer assisting me — I’m prepping you to play Boogie.” Takahashi retreated to the production office at Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens and memorized his lines — reluctantly. “Acting was a foreign language to me,” says Takahashi. “I’d dreamed of becoming an NBA basketball player, scientist, astronaut, inventor, but never an actor.” A few hours later, Huang taped his former assistant and sent the audition to executives at Focus Features. Takahashi for his part felt no pressure to give a powerhouse performance. “I just did what I felt comfortable with, because I didn’t necessarily want the part,” says Takahashi. “I knew if I wanted it too much — or wanted it at all — then I wouldn’t be able to play Boogie in the right way.” Adds Huang: “Focus said we were nuts — it’s your first time as a writer and director and you want to cast your assistant in the lead? But they also knew it made a lot of sense. I genuinely believe in the power of chaos — sometimes when you drop people in a situation and they don’t have time to overthink, or over-tune it, you get a very real performance.” After being offered the role, Takahashi wavered but ultimately accepted the part, seeing in Boogie a lot of similarities in himself and his own trajectory in life. He also saw an opportunity to increase the visibility of Asians playing sports. “We’ve had Yao Ming but he had to be 7 foot 8 for him to register in America.” But it was the coming-of-age aspect of Boogie’s story that appealed to Takahashi the most — he knew that by taking the role he could grow as a person himself. “I could use the experience to step outside my comfort zone in the same way I used basketball as an outlet when I was younger,” says Takahashi. “I was familiar enough with the world of the story, and the stereotyping that goes on in the sport, that I could wrestle with it, represent it on screen, and hopefully spark some change. I never saw Asian people playing basketball on screen when I was growing up — I thought about what seeing Boogie might do for other kids.” Scenes at home between Boogie and his parents featured Chinese dialogue, and while Takahashi’s Chinese was negligible if not non-existent, with some quick preparation he was able to make his Chinese-language scenes come across as authentic before cameras rolled in September. “He got to the level where his Chinese at least sounded like American-Chinese teenager Chinese,” laughs Huang. “I still think he’s going to be the Asian Mark Wahlberg.”  ROUNDING OUT THE CAST With only 12 days before shooting commenced, Huang still had not found the right actress to play Eleanor, Boogie’s tough yet charming high-school paramour. He had originally cast rapper Princess Nokia in the role, but the performer dropped out. When his casting director suggested Taylour Paige, a light went off in Huang’s head. Not only did he enjoy her performance in the 2018 Detroit crime drama White Boy Rick, she also had basketball on her resume, having appeared in the VH1 series Hit the Floor as a cheerleader for the fictional Los Angeles Devils and even worked as an L.A. Lakers Girl for a brief stint. Paige, whose career is in rapid ascent after standout roles in Zola and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, initially turned down the role of Eleanor, believing herself too old for the part of a high-school student. But the longtime Los Angeleno came around and accepted the part, giddy about playing a New York girl for the first time despite having only three days to fly to the East Coast before cameras rolled. “I loved the way Eleanor was written,” says Paige. “She’s strong, assertive and grounded, but she also feels very deeply. Like Boogie, she’s coming of age in her own way, figuring out life and school and friendship. She’s at a fork in the road of her life — not quite an adult yet, but not exactly a kid either. That sweet teenage angst we all know. I’ve dreamt of living and breathing New York City for as long as I can remember, and I got to go back to high school again.” Paige also warmed to Eleanor’s ‘90s New York street style, a combination of hip-hop and classic preppy flourishes fusing Baby Phat with Ralph Lauren. The performer attended Catholic school as a teenager, making her high school sartorial experience worlds away from Eleanor’s free-spirited one. “I wore a uniform to school, and grew up a dancer so when I got out of school every day, I went to dance class,” says Paige. “My teenage life was pretty much school, dance, sleep, repeat. I was never able to express myself through clothing or hairstyles like Eleanor.” Paige had to quickly establish chemistry with Takahashi, a novice actor who was appearing on camera for the first time. “Taylour became like a big sister to him on set,” says Huang. “The other Taylor became humbler, wanting to play the subordinate one behind the scenes, whereas it became the opposite of that on screen as their romance blossoms. The dynamic is that Boogie needs to chase Eleanor — but Taylour did a good job off-camera making Taylor comfortable with her, getting him into a space where could be confident as Boogie pursuing her. She did it without me saying anything.” To fill out smaller roles in the cast, Huang cast six people from his recreational basketball league in Los Angeles. “When you play sports with people, you see who they really are deep down inside,” says Huang. “I’ve gotten an insight into every person I’ve played basketball with — you come to see how people operate in a setting where something is on the line, how they work with other people, and what happens when people don’t get what they want.”  CASTING MONK Nowhere was this more evident than in the last-minute casting of Monk, the New York City street basketball champion who is Boogie’s hero and nemesis. Huang had initially cast Dave East in the role, the Harlem-based rapper signed to Def Jam Recordings, and the performer had already shot several scenes when an accident in Las Vegas left him unable to perform the role. Huang needed to quickly find someone who was a solid basketball player who also exuded street savvy and moxie. “I didn’t see Monk as a villain in this movie, although he is effectively our bad guy,” says Huang. “He’s more like a mountain top Boogie tries to ascend. He’s the best basketball player in New York City — a better player than Boogie. And while we all love greatness and strive for it, when there isn’t a mountain top to strive for, life becomes boring.” Huang and the Executive Producer Rafael Martinez knew Brooklyn rapper Pop Smoke’s label head Steven Victor and immediately placed a phone call. The up-and-coming rapper had just released his debut single, which Huang recalls being ubiquitous in New York City as cameras rolled on Boogie. “All of us in the Downtown scene loved Pop Smoke, but we never thought about casting him until someone mentioned that he played basketball,” says Huang. “We found out that he was a Top 50 recruit in New York City before he started rapping. Pop came straight from a show in upstate New York and auditioned at my crib. We went to the basketball court and I ran him through drills — by the third take of his audition, we had our Monk.” Pop Smoke was cast on a Saturday and went before cameras two days later as production resumed. The rapper had never even read the Boogie script when cameras rolled because there wasn’t time. Instead, Huang prepped him on set before each scene, giving him Monk’s words verbatim, and describing the feelings the actor needed to convey. “Pop nailed it and made the character his own,” says Huang. “He was born to be an actor and he’s the greatest surprise in this movie.” Four months later, Pop Smoke died tragically after being shot during a home invasion in the Hollywood Hills. He was only 21 years old. His legacy lives on through the soundtrack and score of Boogie, a tribute to the Brooklyn Drill sound the performer helped popularize. The Boogie soundtrack, featuring new music by the performer is available on Victor Victor Worldwide / Republic Records.  CHOREOGRAPHING BASKETBALL…AND NEW YORK Boogie is at its heart a sports movie, and it was always Huang’s intention to foreground the basketball scenes as the beating heart of his debut feature. It’s also a New York movie to its core — at once gritty and romantic in its depiction of a multi-cultural, multi-layered and multi-hued metropolis where a Chinese-American teenager can ascend to the highest ranks of basketball. Choreographing New York City street basketball became of crucial importance in creating a sense of authenticity and visual style in the movie. A cinephile with an encyclopedic knowledge of world cinema, Huang’s taste in movies range from Asian classics to the New American Cinema of the 1970s, including the works of Martin Scorsese. “From the beginning, when we sold this movie to Focus, I told them to think of this as a kung fu movie,” says Huang. “Basketball, like kung fu, is violent and physical and we were going to shoot it that way — but it’s also like ballet.” He turned to Scorsese’s Mean Streets as inspiration for Boogie’s shooting style, as well as the film series Yakuza Papers, known in the West as Battles Without Honor and Humanity. “The first Yakuza Papers movie came out the same year as Mean Streets, and they’re both failed coming of age stories about low-level mobsters and they’re both shot in the same way — which is crazy because the directors were working on opposite ends of the globe and didn’t know each other,” says Huang. Both works also employed a specific kind of tracking shot, using a second camera to capture peripheral characters and actions in the background. “When Johnny Boy walks through the bar in Mean Streets, Scorsese tracks him with one camera while another one picks off details on the periphery,” says Huang. “That was my vision for the basketball scenes in Boogie.” Director of Photography Brett Jutkiewicz came to Huang with a similar take on capturing action sequences in the movie. Using a Dick’s Sporting Goods commercial to illustrate multiple cameras “picking off” baseball players on opposite ends of the field, Huang quickly recognized the camera style from Mean Streets and Yakuza Papers. “I said to Brett, you’re hired,” says Huang. “We were of the same mind, and he knew how Scorsese and Yakuza had used tracking shots to such a potent effect.” Due to production delays, including the last-minute casting of Pop Smoke as Monk, the basketball sequences kept getting pushed deeper into the production schedule, often filming in the middle of the night in late September so the production team could gain access to city courts. Takahashi, who felt confident going into the production because the schedule would be starting with the basketball scenes, quickly found himself having to focus on more emotional scenes instead. During week three of the shoot, Jutkiewicz and Huang finally began shooting the basketball scenes, but they did not go smoothly. During the second day of filming scenes at The Cage, the Lower East Side courts where Monk and Boogie are pitted against each other in a kind of basketball kung fu — Takahashi injured his right wrist, the arm he uses for everything from dribbling to shooting. “Everything I was looking forward to in terms of representing the sport on film we had to suddenly work around because there was so much I couldn’t do as an athlete,” says Takahashi. “For the movie, I had to do a lot of left-handed moves because I couldn’t bend my right wrist. I learned so much about resilience playing basketball on camera with my non-dominant hand.” Orchestrating and choreographing the basketball scenes involved meticulous focus and planning on the part of cast and crew — one slight discrepancy during a game could throw the entire sequence off. “You can never really plan things out in basketball — you can only react to what’s playing out on the court in a given moment,” says Takahashi. “It’s the opposite in Boogie — you couldn’t really react, we could only plan things out. As a basketball player I had to flip this mindset, because the natural flow wasn’t always there. The scenes were scripted. Sometimes during the shoot, I just had to run around for five minutes on the court and freestyle while the camera crew captured whatever they could in those moments.”  DOWNTOWN COOL Boogie is also an expression of Huang’s reverence and passion for New York City street style, which dates back to his childhood interest in hip-hop culture and courses through his adult forays into clothing design in the form of his now-defunct street fashion labels Bergdorf Hoodman and Monica Monroe. While costume designer Vera Chow tended to the more conservative garments of parental figures like Boogie’s parents, the Chins, and school officials, including Coach Hawkins, Huang plundered his own stash of vintage Polo, Alexander Wang and Stone Island to dress his teenage characters. “I’d known what everyone was going to wear in the movie for a long time,” says Huang. “Same with the music.” His friends at Supreme and Aimé Leon Dore — the cult menswear boutique in Little Italy specializing in ‘90s-themed streetwear — loaned garments from the archives while friends in fashion circles donated pieces for various characters, including MadeMe garments worn by Eleanor’s sidekick Alyssa. Downtown retailer Brian Procell — whose namesake store on the Lower East Side specializes in ‘80s and ‘90s vintage streetwear — helped Huang pull outfits from various brands and labels to be worn by many of the young actors in the cast. Huang dressed himself in Alexander Wang pieces from his own collection before hopping in front of the camera to play Jackie. He gave vintage Polo and Timberland items, also from his personal collection, to Taylour Paige as she transformed into Eleanor. “Taylour is an L.A. girl, and she was very aware of that,” says Huang. “She quickly became a New York girl, sporting a classic hip-hop tomboy look.” One actor, who plays the assistant coach on Boogie’s high-school basketball team, happened to be one of the foremost collectors in the world of Ralph Lauren’s Polo label, dressing himself from his own stash of classics. Even Boogie’s father — a convicted felon — exudes street style, sporting bootleg Louis Vuitton and Gucci of the sort crafty shoppers can procure on the sly in the streets of Chinatown.  REFLECTING THE DIVERSITY OF NEW YORK Boogie shot from September 9 to October 16, 2019 in Lower Manhattan and on stages at Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens, bringing multi-culturalism to the forefront with its wildly diverse cast and crew, including Japanese-American, African-American and Chinese-American central characters, a Taiwanese-American writer-director, and Italian-American, Latin-American and African-American supporting players. In its story of an Asian-American teenager infiltrating a sport and succeeding against all odds to catapult to the front ranks of the game, it opens up possibilities for young people to shatter preconceived ideas about who gets to play and who doesn’t. “Boogie is about not limiting yourself to a boundary or a box that people might place you in,” says Takahashi. “You don’t have to be loud or exotic to get attention, you just have to be true to yourself and not let outside influences dissuade you from pursuing your dreams.” The film is also a continuation of Huang’s ongoing mission to heighten and amplify Asian-American representation in popular culture, in the case of Boogie and Monk, normalizing the vision of an Asian kid and a black kid playing sports together. “I’m a fourth-generation Asian American and Eddie is first-generation, and while we have different trajectories, Boogie highlights the dynamic of what an Asian American experience can be in this country. The movie brings together a lot of different people and gives voice to those who normally wouldn’t have a voice.”  ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS Eddie Huang (Director, Screenwriter, Jackie) is best known for his work as a writer, director, actor, chef, and television personality. Born in Washington, D.C. and of Taiwanese descent,his auto-biographical book, Fresh Off the Boat: A Memoir, was later adapted into an ABC television series of the same name, starring Constance Wu and John Cho, went on to successfully air for six seasons on ABC. Huang, who also has a foothold in the TV hosting world, can be seen on The Cooking Channel’s Cheap Bites & Unique Eats and Viceland’s Huang’s World. Huang continues to be a part of the cultural zeitgeist as he grows in both an on camera and off camera capacity. Josh Bratman (Producer) is a native of the Bronx, NY. In 2005, Michael De Luca tapped Bratman to help launch his eponymous Columbia Pictures–based production company. There, Bratman oversaw an eclectic mix of films including Paul Greengrass’ “Captain Phillips,” David Gordon Green’s “The Sitter,” and Robert Luketic’s “21”. After spending over a decade at De Luca Productions, Bratman founded his own film and TV production shingle, Immersive Pictures. Most recently, he produced “Boogie” for Focus Features and executive produced, “Violence of Action,” the Tarik Saleh-directed action thriller starring Chris Pine, with Thunder Road and 30West. Currently, Immersive is developing several best-selling book adaptions and prestige biopics, including Universal Pictures’ “Untitled John Lennon Yoko Ono Film,” alongside Ono, Bafta-winning screenwriter Anthony McCarten and filmmaker Jean-Marc Vallée. Josh McLaughlin (Producer) departed Focus Features in August 2019 to form his own movie and television production company, WINK PICTURES and has managed to put together a diverse slate of films. He executive produced Let Him Go starring Kevin Costner and Diane Lane, released in Fall 2020 to critical acclaim and enormous financial success for Focus. On the release slate, McLaughlin produced the Eddie Huang-directed Asian “coming of age” story Boogie for Focus Features with a March 2021 release. On the development side, he has set up the upcoming novel The Maid, with Florence Pugh attached to star and produce; a film project with Lulu Wang (The Farewell); an adaptation of the podcast Bagman with Ben Stiller directing; and a film about the relationship between Carol Burnett and her daughter Carrie, which he is producing alongside Carol and Tina Fey. On the television side, included amongst the many projects McLaughlin has in development, are a series with Hillary Swank, with directors Fleck and Boden (Captain Marvel, Ms.America) onboard to direct from a script by Chris Rogers (Halt and Catch Fire); and a series to be directed by Jake Kasdan, based on an original idea by McLaughlin and the Academy-nominated screenwriter Billy Ray. McLaughlin joined Focus in March 2012 as Senior Vice President of Production, after serving as Executive Vice President at Chernin Entertainment. He rose to become President of Production at Focus. While at President Of Production at Focus, McLaughlin was involved in the production of Spike Lee’s Blackkklansman, Kasi Lemmons' Harriet as well as many of Focus’ enormously successful slate of films such as The Darkest Hour and The Phantom Thread. While serving as an executive at Focus, he worked with a diverse series of filmmakers including Niki Caro (Mulan) on The Zookeeper’s Wife, David Leitch (Hobbs and Shaw) on the Charlize Theron film Atomic Blonde,and Joel Edgerton on Boy Erased. During McLaughlin’s time working at Focus, the studio produced its three most successful years at the box office of its 15-year history and and films that garnered 20 Oscar Nominations with three wins. Prior to his time at Focus, amongst the many projects McLaughlin developed for The Mark Gordon Company and Chernin Entertainment, included producing the critically acclaimed film Talk To Me directed by Kasi Lemmons starring Don Cheadle, as well as the Billy Crystal film Parental Guidance 20th Century Fox. Michael Tadross (Producer) has played a pivotal role as a leading figure in the film industry for the last thirty years. He produced the acclaimed Ocean’s 8, a Warner Bros. production starring Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway and Rihanna. In fact, Tadross has produced many Warner Bros. films including Sherlock Holmes starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law, Run All Night, starring Liam Neeson, Cop Out, starring Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan, Winter’s Tale, starring Colin Farrell and Russell Crowe, Arthur, starring Russell Brand, Helen Mirren, and Greta Gerwig, and I Am Legend starring Will Smith, one of the highest-budgeted science fiction movies to be entirely filmed in New York City. Earlier in his career, he produced The Devil’s Advocate, with Al Pacino and Keanu Reeves, Jack Frost starring Michael Keaton, and Eraser, with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Vanessa Williams and James Caan. Tadross’ producing credits also include Hitch for Columbia Pictures with Will Smith and Kevin James, Basic for Columbia Pictures with John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson, Rollerball for M.G.M. with Chris Klein, L.L. Cool J and Jean Reno, The Thomas Crown Affair for M.G.M. with Pierce Brosnan and Renee Russo, Indecent Proposal for Paramount Pictures with Robert Redford and Demi Moore, School Ties for Paramount Pictures with Brendan Frazier, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, Brenda Starr for Sony Pictures with Brooke Shields and Timothy Dalton, and Die Hard: With A Vengeance for 20th Century Fox with Bruce Willis, Jeremy Irons and Samuel L. Jackson – the highest grossing worldwide film of 1995. During his tenure as Executive Vice President of Feature Production at Paramount Pictures, Tadross shepherded such iconic blockbusters as Forrest Gump, Naked Gun 33 1/3, The Firm, Clear & Present Danger, the Wayne’s World franchise, Searching for Bobby Fischer, Beverly Hills Cop III, Coneheads, and Sliver … to name a few. Tadross’s made-for-television producing credits include When Will I Be Loved? for CBS with Stephanie Powers, and Deadly Illusion for Columbia Television, starring Billy Dee Williams. He was Unit Production Manager on Ghost, Coming to America, Black Rain, Trading Places, Death Wish III and Scream for Help, and was First Assistant Director on such features as Cocktail starring Tom Cruise and Masquerade with Rob Lowe, along with numerous other films and mini-series made for television. He’s also been awarded one gold and two platinum records. He began his career as a camera trainee and assistant film editor. He is now a member of the Producer’s Guild of America, the Director’s Guild of America, and the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences. Brett Jutkiewicz (Director of Photography) discovered filmmaking by commandeering his father’s Hi8 camcorder to make skate videos and short films as a teenager growing up in Long Island, New York. He studied film at Boston University where he met several young directors including Josh and Benny Safdie, whose debut featuresThe Pleasure of Being Robbed(Cannes ‘08)andDaddy Longlegs(Sundance ’10) Brett photographed shortly after moving to New York City. Since then, Brett has continued to shoot award-winning feature films as well as commercials, music videos, and television shows. The Civil War-setMen Go to Battleearned Brett a spot in The New Yorker’s Top 5 Cinematographyof 2016 listand his recent films include the Fox Searchlight thrillerReady or Not (2019), andScream (2022)for Paramount Pictures/Spyglass Media. Brett continues to live and work in New York City and wherever the camera takes him. Chris Trujillo (Production Designer) is a New York based production designer with a background in fine arts. He cut his art-department teeth in the world of TV commercials and music videos. He transitioned into feature film as an art director and set decorator on a number of critically acclaimed projects including Ti West’s House of the Devil and Lena Dunham’s Tiny Furniture. As a production designer, Chris has spent several years making films in New York City and on location all over the country, including Xan Cassavetes’ Kiss of the Damned, Sara Colangelo’s Little Accidents, Henry Joost and Ariel Shulman’s Nerve, and M. Night Shyamalan's Glass. His most recent design work has been on the award-winning Netflix series Stranger Things with Matt and Ross Duffer, for which he received an Emmy nomination in 2017. Vera Chow (Costume Designer) first began her foray into costume design back when she was a toddler. Her dad entered her into a children’s costume show for a company event and amidst the kicking and screaming, she secretly liked it. Vera continued through school designing every school play, won numerous art competitions and eventually landed a spot at Parsons School of Design and the European Institute of Design.Vera is now an established international costume designer. Her many credits include Big Fan, Kevin Can Wait, American Ripper, Shanghai Fortress, and Skyfire. On set you can usually find her hovering by craft services (especially when there is cheese), underneath a pile of smelly clothes in a costume shop, or tearing through stores and showrooms like the apocalypse is nigh. Vera is currently designing the hugely popular and iconic series The Walking Dead.  ABOUT THE CAST Taylor Takahashi (Alfred Chin aka Boogie) was born and raised in the Bay Area, one of the most diverse playgrounds in America, where he explored his identity through the avenue of sports. His love for the game of basketball taught him life’s basic lessons and ultimately, led him to the opportunity to meet Eddie Huang in a basketball league. Boogie is Taylor’s feature-film debut and he looks forward to continuing to use his voice in an industry that needs more people of color. He would like to thank Eddie Huang for this journey, guidance, and insight. Bashar Jackson (Monk) was a multifaceted Brooklyn-based artist known to the world by his professional moniker, Pop Smoke. The Canarsie native was christened "Brooklyn Rap's Homecoming" by The New York Times and was recognized for bringing "a sense of excitement to New York rap that had been absent for years" (Complex). Pop Smoke carried Brooklyn as the borough's next icon in the wings; his artistry ushered in a new era of music that will impact culture for years to come. His breakthrough 2019 mixtape Meet the Woo premiered to both critical and commercial success. He turned up at the top of 2020 with the Gold certified Meet the Woo 2 that debuted at #7 on the Billboard Top 200. His posthumous debut album, Shoot for the Stars Aim For The Moon, was released in July 2020, debuting at #1 on the Billboard 200, spent 22 weeks in the Top 5, had the most weeks at #1 in the history of the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart since 2012, topped the charts in Australia, Canada, Denmark, New Zealand, Norway and Switzerland, and became UK's biggest debut album of the year. His single, “Dior,” is recognized with a GRAMMY nomination for Best Rap Performance. As of January 1, 2021, Pop Smoke has amassed more than eleven billion streams worldwide and counting. Taylour Paige (Eleanor) is an actress andprofessionally trained dancer who is quickly making a name for herself in Hollywood. She made a splash at SXSW in 2016 with her feature-film debut,Jean of the Joneses,which opened to glowing reviews and put her on the map with the title role. Taylour then went on to star in Yann Demange’sWhite Boy Rick,opposite Matthew McConaughey, and then won the titular role in the upcomingA24 feature filmZolawith Riley Keough. Taylour stars opposite Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman in the Netflix filmMa Rainey’s Black Bottom,produced by Todd Black and Denzel Washington. Perry Yung (Mr. Chin) is an American actor and musician from Oakland, CA who received his breakout role as Ping Wu in Steven Soderberg’s Cinemax series The Knick. He quickly became a fan favorite and recurred for two seasons. He has guest starred on Gotham, The Blacklist, Blue Bloods, Royal Pains, Limitless and Law and Order: SVU. His film work includes John Wick: Chapter 2, Benji the Dove, Condemned and Jade Pendant; and he voiced the Puppet master in the English-language release of the Chinese animated feature The Guardian Brothers. In 2018 Perry landed the role of Father Jun in Cinemax’s Warrior, produced by Justin Lin (Fast and Furious), Shannon Lee (Bruce Lee’s daughter) and Jonathan Tropper (Banshee). This dream production allowed him to combine acting with his music career as an award-winning shakuhachi bamboo flute musician. His flute playing is heard on the soundtrack score throughout Season 1. Perry is a member of La Mama Theater's Great Jones Repertory Company of New York City and has appeared Off-Broadway and internationally since 1993. Pamelyn Chee (Mrs. Chin) is a Shanghainese actress born in Singapore and raised in NYC. She was last seen in the feature sequel Beyond Skyline, alongside Frank Grillo and Iko Uwais. She also guest-starred on Freeform's Stitchers. She played the titular role in HBO Asia's Grace, headlining the show with Russell Wong. This show was nominated for eight awards at the Asian Television Awards. She also starred alongside Joan Chen and Chin Han, Don Hany, and Michael Dorman in HBO Asia's Serangoon Road. The show was nominated for an AACTA for best drama series in Australia. Pamelyn was discovered on YouTube by Heidi Levitt for Wayne Wang's feature Princess of Nebraska. She speaks fluent Mandarin and Cantonese, and continues to travel between Asia and the US for work. Claire Hsu (Young Mrs. Chin) is a two-time award-winning trilingual actress born in Taiwan who has performed in Chinese, French and English both on stage and on screen. Upon graduation, she landed a part in Lynne Ramsay’s Cannes-winning You Were Never Really Here and shared the screen with Oscar nominee Joaquin Phoenix (Joker). That same year she became Disney’s live-action Mulan finalist, and was screen tested at Disney Studios.Claire has portrayed characters ranging from innocent (twice as victims on Emmy-winning A Crime to Remember) to badass (as a crime boss in Broken Badges). She can be seen in national TV commercials, as well as on the book cover of Soundless (by New York Times bestselling author Richelle Meade). Claire won Best Lead Actress for Nanny at First Line Festival 2017 and took home the same prize for Locked Alone at Northern Ireland YFIFF 2019. Jessica Huang (Shan, fortune teller) is Eddie Huang’s mother, making her feature-film debut. Alexa Mareka (Alissa) marks Mareka’s feature-film debut; she also recently played a small role in the independent feature Out and About. Currently residing in New York, Alexa was born and raised in Florida where she received her early training in theater. Since 2017, Alexa has been studying acting and filmmaking at NYU, starring in several student films. Jorge Lendeborg, Jr. (Richie) has proven to be one of the busiest young actors after making his film debut only three years ago. The Dominican-born Lendeborg was recently named to The Hollywood Reporter’s Next Generation 2018 list and is known for starring opposite Hailee Steinfeld in the Transformers spinoff, Bumblebee, for director Travis Knight, which has earned more than $460 million worldwide at the box office. Additionally, Jorge can be seen in Robert Rodriguez’s Alita: Battle Angel, produced by James Cameron and starring alongside Christoph Waltz, Ed Skrein, and Rosa Salazar. Jorge also starred in Greg Berlanti’s Fox feature Love, Simon alongside Nick Robinson and Jennifer Garner. Recently, Jorge wrapped production on Diego Hallivis’ independent film American Carnage, starring opposite Jenna Ortega and Eric Dane, as well as on Amazon Studio’s Bliss, starring opposite Luke Wilson and Salma Hayek. Jorge also appears in a leading role in John Leguizamo’s feature directorial debut Critical Thinking, starring opposite Michael K. Williams.In 2016, Jorge broke out in a starring role in Stephen Caple Jr.’s feature debut The Land for IFC Films, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, earning him rave reviews for his performance. He can also be seen in Dave McCary’s Brigsby Bear opposite Claire Danes and Kyle Mooney, which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in 2017 and sold to Sony Pictures Classics. Additional credits include Jon Watt’s Spider-Man: Homecoming and the independent feature Shot. Steve Coulter (Mr. Richmond) recently wrapped The Conjuring 3 as Father Gordon, also portraying the role in Annabelle Comes Home as well as finishing the feature El Tonto, directed by Charlie Day. He will next be seen in Warner Brothers’ Just Mercy opposite Michael B. Jordan. He can be seen recurring on Starz's P-Valley, Paramount Network's Yellowstone, Hulu's The Act, Syfy's The Purge, and a great guest-star spot on HBO's Watchmen. Before that, he had a recurring role on Hank Azaria's Brockmire for IFC, as well as a turn on the hit Netflix series House of Cards. He also portrayed Martin London in the HBO movie The Wizard of Lies starring Robert De Niro. He can of course also be seen in The Conjuring 1 and 2. He appears in a leading role in Insidious: Chapter 2, directed by James Wan, and can also be seen in Insidious: Chapter 3. Steve has also recurred on AMC's The Walking Dead and Cinemax's Banshee. Domenick Lombardozzi (Coach Hawkins) is an established actor known for his work on both the big and small screen alike. Most recently, Lombardozzi starred in Martin Scorsese’s critically acclaimed Netflix feature The Irishman, opposite Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Anna Paquin.Currently, he can be seen starring alongside Kathryn Hahn as a series regular on the HBO half-hour comedy Mrs. Fletcher, where he plays a struggling plumber taking care of his aging father. Lombardozzi also appears in the recurring role of Jack Maple, legendary New York City police detective, in HBO’s The Deuce. He appears in Universal Pictures’ Judd Apatow-Pete Davidson collaboration with Marisa Tomei, Bill Burr and Steve Buscemi, The King of Staten Island. Among his other television credits, he has appeared on Showtime'sRay Donovanand onCourtney Kemp's hit Starz seriesPower. On the big screen, he played opposite Liam Neeson inCold Pursuit. Perhaps his most notable credit is for is his leading role in the early 2000’s HBO hit series The Wire, in which Lombardozzi portrayed Detective Thomas 'Herc' Hauk, a Baltimore police officer turned P.I., playing opposite Michael Kostroff, Seth Gilliam, Dominic West and Idris Elba across five seasons. Other past television credits include Magnum P.I.., Yellowstone, MacGyver, Sneaky Pete, The Good Wife, Boardwalk Empire, Rosewood, and Breakout Kings, among others. Past film credits include Bridge of Spies, For the Love of the Game, Find Me Guilty, The Family, The Wannabe, The Gambler, Blood Ties, and Miami Vice, among others. Tommy Bo (Terry) is a recent graduate of Point Park University.Tommy recently shotHit and Run, on Netflix. Histheatre credits includeDead Bird Boys, Coram Boy, and Good Person of Szechwanat PointPark University.He is represented by HCKR and The Cooper Company. Shenell Edmonds (Tina) joined Daytime sudser One Life to Live in 2009 as college-bound teenager Destiny. Shenell’s maternal family hails from the island of Dominica (not Dominican Republic). Using every opportunity to represent the island, Shenell was invited to escort Mayor Toni Harp of the City of New Haven CT for International Women’s day, where she modeled the national dress of Dominica, the Wob Dwiyet, during the city’s Caribbean Heritage Festival; she wore hand-woven earrings portraying the island’s flag in People Magazine, and wore the traditional Madras cloth as a headband in an episode of Blue Bloods, among other occasions.Ms. Edmonds enjoys various types of music, dancing, and traveling, but most of all, she is passionate about acting, whether on stage, on camera, or in the living room.

Mike Moh (Melvin) is known for captivating audiences with his versatility and charisma, Mike Moh’s repertoire of humanistic portrayals have garnered him critical acclaim in film and television. Moh will was most recently seen in Sony’s, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, in which he plays the iconic Bruce Lee opposite Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio and Margot Robbie. The ninth film from writer-director Quentin Tarantino pays tribute to the final moments of Hollywood’s golden age. On television, Moh starred as ‘Triton,’ a skilled assassin who has the ability to live underwater in Marvel’s Inhumans for ABC. His other television credits include Castle on ABC and Empire on FOX. Additionally, his was applauded for both his dramatic and action abilities for his performance as ‘Ryu’ in Street Fighter: Assassins Fist.Moh also owns Moh's Martial Arts in Madison, Wisconsin.

Ben Davis (Josh, St. John’s Scout) is a Tony Honoree whose credits include the upcoming The Woman in the Window with Amy Adams, Julianne Moore, and Gary Oldman; The Magic Flute, directed by Kenneth Branagh, and the Award-winning film of Samuel Barber’s A Hand of Bridge. Television credits include Law and Order: SVU, Blue Bloods, 30 Rock, and Numb3rs. Broadway credits include, Baz Luhrmann’s La Boheme, Dear Evan Hansen, Violet, A Little Night Music, Les Miserables, and Thoroughly Modern Millie. He is represented by CESD in NYC.
 Ezra Knight (MLK Coach) was seen most recently off-Broadway as Woody in the world premiere of Toni Stone at the Laura Pels/Roundabout Theatre. On Broadway he appeared in Mean Girls, Pretty Woman (original cast), and in Lincoln Center’s production of Cymbeline. Regional work includes Ivo Van Hove's
A View from the Bridge at the Goodman Theatre. Television work includes Wu-Tang: An American Saga, Murphy Brown, Daredevil, Random Acts of Flyness, Quantico, Billions, The Blacklist, The Following, Orange is the New Black, Law & Order, and the forthcoming Starling. Ezra’s film work includes ADDicted, The Abandoned, Lost Cat Corona, Straight Outta Tompkins, Table One, and the short film Symposium. Ezra resides in Harlem, NY. 

Margaret Odette (Principal Kodal) is a native New Yorker and graduate of the famed NYU Tisch School of the Arts with her MFA in Acting. While still in school Odette made her big screen debut opposite Jason Sudeikis in Leslye Headland’s Romantic Comedy Sleeping with Other People. The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and was the runner-up for the Audience Award. Odette’s television appearances include the popular CBS series’ Instinct alongside Alan Cumming and Elementary with Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu. It is on stage that Margaret really shines and continues to impress all in and out of the business in her young rising career. Odette performed with the Chautauqua Theatre Company for their 2016 season which led to Hal Brooks casting her in his production of Figaro at the Pearl Theatre. Her performance in Dominique Morrisseau’s Skeleton Crew for director Awoye Timpo garnered her a Berkshire Theatre Award nomination. This led to the lead role in Paradise Blue at Long Wharf Theatre. Previously, she starred in Daniel Talbott’s Off Broadway staging of Jessica Dickey’s play The Convent at A.R.T. She most recently completed a successful run of The Public Theater’s Much Ado About Nothing, directed by Kenny Leon for Shakespeare in the Park. Odette also completed filming the pilot for the Showtime anthology series How to Make Love to a Black Woman, directed by Naima Ramos Chapman and starring Cynthia Erivo. John Orantes (Cage referee) was born and raised in San Francisco, California, the youngest of three siblings.He became interested in acting when he was 14 after watching Johnny Depp’s performance in Pirates of The Caribbean: Curse of The Black Pearl, and from watching actors such as Robin Williams, Danny Glover, and Jack Nicholson. His first major feature role was in Douglas Miller’s independent feature, Repatriation, alongside Ryan Barton-Grimley. Since moving to Los Angeles, can be seen in numerous projects including Christopher Nolan’s Tenet for Warner Brothers. On television, he can be seen on CBS’ S.W.A.T., NBC’s New Amsterdam and the Apple TV+ series Truth Be Told. In Loving Memory of Bashar "Pop Smoke" Jackson July 20, 1999 - February 19, 2020 FOCUS FEATURES presents an IMMERSIVE PICTURES production “BOOGIE” Written and Directed by EDDIE HUANG Producers JOSH BRATMAN JOSH McLAUGHLIN MICHAEL TADROSS Co-Producers SHANE MUNGUIA CHARBEL YOUSSEF Executive Producer RAFAEL MARTINEZ Production Designer CHRIS TRUJILLO Director of Photography BRETT JUTKIEWICZ Score by ADRIAN YOUNGE and ALI SHAHEED MUHAMMAD Costume Designer VERA CHOW Edited by JOAN SOBEL, ACE Unit Production Manager CHARLES ZALBEN First Assistant Director NICHOLAS R. BELL Second Assistant Director SCOTT FOSTER CAST Alfred “Boogie” Chin TAYLOR TAKAHASHI Eleanor TAYLOUR PAIGE Monk BASHAR “POP SMOKE” JACKSON Mr. Chin PERRY YUNG Mrs. Chin PAMELYN CHEE Melvin MIKE MOH Richie JORGE LENDEBORG JR. Coach Hawkins DOMENICK LOMBARDOZZI Mr. Richmond STEVE COULTER Fortune Teller JESSICA HUANG Uncle Jackie EDDIE HUANG Alissa ALEXA MAREKA Assistant Coach DESPOT Young Mr. Chin REN HSIEH Young Mrs. Chin CLAIRE HSU Patrick LENARD "CThaGOD" MCKELVEY Barracks MC AC CASCIANI Arthur (Dragon Team) MING WU Terayle (Dragon Team) TERAYLE HILL Memphis Houston MITCHELL ITO Dennis Thompson (MLK Team) FARNOLD DEGAND Oracles Cook BERNARD CHANG Joy SAMANTHA EBERLE Terry TOMMY BO Tina SHENELL EDMONDS Josh (St. John’s Scout) BEN DAVIS MLK Coach EZRA KNIGHT Principal Kodak MARGARET ODETTE Todd SAM JULES Cops ED ARISTONE ARIEL ELIAZ High School Ref KAREEM SAVINON Cage Ref JOHN ORANTES David (Young Basketball Player) TY PAULEY Bronx Basketball Player MICHAEL DURADOLA Man on Bus PHILLIP S. SOTTILE Stunt Coordinator KEIL ZEPERNICK Stunt Players JEREMY SAMPLE RANDALL TRANG KENNY WONG PAI-SEN WANG DERRIC STOTTS GUISEPPE ARDIZZONE FRANK ALFANO JR. DAVID F. CHEN STEVE MASON Art Director NAOMI MUNRO Graphic Artist VANESSA RIEGEL Storyboard Artist WES SIMPKINS Art Department Coordinator NATALIE LIZBETH MONTOYA Set Decorator OLIVIA PEEBLES Assistant Set Decorator PAIGE MITCHELL Leadperson MIKE MURPHY Shop Foreperson CINDY FAIN-VREELAND On Set Dresser MIKE MARCEL Set Dressers MIKE CONSOLMAGNO DIANA DONOVAN FABRICE CARRIER MARK RODRIGUEZ Property Master MONICA JACOBS Assistant Property Master AUDRA KLAIR Props Assistant NAEEM DAVID A Camera Operator STANLEY FERNANDEZ B Camera Operator CHRISTOPHER MESSINA A Camera First Assistant JAMES SCHLITTENHART B Camera First Assistant BAYLEY SWEITZER A Camera Second Assistant JORGE DEL TORO B Camera Second Assistant RACHEL FEDORKOVA Digital Imaging Technician JAIME CHAPIN Video Assist ADAM SMELIN Loader ADAM SCHLARB Gaffer MICHAEL MORTELL Best Boy Electric BRANDON MORGAN Company Electrics KENNETH MARCH MITCHELL PERRIN HECTOR HERRERA Basecamp Genny Operator COURTNEY DENK Key Grip SCOTT DeANGELO Best Boy Grip ELI MORALES A Camera Dolly Grip JASON LOPEZ B Camera Dolly Grip JULES CORTEZ Grips WILL MENA JUSTIN HONEY TOKUHISA TOYODA Production Sound Mixer ANTONIO L. ARROYO Boom Operator DMITRI VOLOVIK Utility JOE SAVASTANO Special Effects Coordinators JOSEPH GALIONE JOSEPH SACCO Assistant Costume Designer WENDY YANG Costume Supervisor JESSICA ZAVALA Costume Coordinator CHRIS MAHNKEN Key Costumer MARY CAPRARI Set Costumer MARQUIS BIAS Tailor KATIE PATZEL Make-up Department Head ANOUCK SULLIVAN Key Make-up Artist ADELINA ATASHI Hair Department Head DANIELLE CRAWFORD Key Hair Stylist DUANE MOODY Location Manager DANIEL McCARTHY Assistant Location Manager BRAD REICHEL Location Coordinator SEAN TRAYNOR Location Assistants TRAMAINE RENEE ANTHONY HO Parking Coordinator JON JOHNSON, SR. Script Supervisor RACHEL COLE Production Supervisor CHARBEL YOUSSEF Production Coordinator BETTY CHIN Assistant Production Coordinator MEREDITH METCALF Production Secretary TREVOR LAUFER Assets Manager DARREN E. JOHNSON Additional Editors SCOTT CUMMINGS SUSAN E. MORSE, A.C.E. Post Production Supervisor ISABEL HENDERSON Assistant Editors MICHAEL WOOLDRIDGE KENNY DUCLOS LARA KHACHOONI BETHANY ORLEMANN Post Production Assistant GRIFFIN BRUCE Second Second Assistant Director MARA TULEUTAYEVA Additional Second Assistant Director THERON T. ALFORD Production Assistants DANNY FAUCETTA KIRA LIVA MAGGIE GRABER YANNI SOFILLAS BOBBY ROSE CHARLIE LIAO PHIL FRANCE JOSHUA TAYLOR LOREN HERBERT CICELY VASTA BRANDON KAPLAN JACKIE KIM EMMA DEKOONING VILLENUEVE TONY GONZALEZ DAPHNE MIA ESSIET Assistant to Mr. Tadross KIM PAULEY Assistant to Mr. Huang ANNA POLLACK Production Accountant JENNIFER GATES First Assistant Accountant KAREEM O’NEILL Second Assistant Accountant PARMJOT GIRN Accounting Clerk ANTHONY PENCZNER Payroll Accountant ERIC BELLAMY Payroll Clerk STEVEN RICARDO Post Production Accountant KELSEY SCHULER Background Casting MEREDITH JACOBSON MARCIANO Casting Assistant ERIKA DEMEZA Unit Publicist NICOLE KALISH Still Photographer NICOLE RIVELLI Construction Coordinator PIERRE ROVIRA Key Construction Grip STEVE FRATIANNI Shop Electric HARRIS COHEN Camera Scenic YUKO NAKAO GERALDINE POPE Charge Scenic KATELYN SMITH Scenic HEATHER PIPER Transportation Captain TIM WOOD Transportation Co-Captain BRETT MICHEL DOT Compliance Administrator ASHLEY LaBUTTE Clearances ASHLEY KRAVITZ Production Counsel DAVID BOYLE ADAM MACY JULIANNE PATTERSON LAUREN HANSSON Translation Consultant MIN DING Security REGIN ASSOCIATES INC. Health Safety Manager ADAM TACKETT On Set Medic BOB BRODER Catering FIRST PRODUCTION CATERING Head Chef RODOLFO MACHUCA Craft Service MARSHARK CRAFT Aerial Director of Photography BRIAN HELLER Helicopter Pilot AL CERULLO Re-recording Mixer / Sound Supervisor RUY GARCIA ADR Supervisor MARISSA LITTLEFIELD Dialogue Editor LUCIANO VIGNOLA Effects Editor ISAAC DERFEL Assistant Sound Editor AILIN GONG Foley Artists ALEKSANDRA STOJANOVIC VLADIMIR KERKEZ Foley Recordists VLADAN NEDELJKOV ALEKSANDAR RANCIC ADR Recording Studios POSTWORKS NY SOUNDTRACK NY ADR Mixers MARK DESIMONE CHRIS WHITE ADR Recordist KRISTIN CATUOGNO Re-Recording Assistant JEVON JOHNSON Sound Project Manager CHRISTINE ANDREWS Post Production Sound Services POSTWORKS NY ADR Group Coordinators DANN FINK BRUCE WINANT Loop Group DONTE BONNER KALISTA BREWSTER JUSTIN DAVIS DANN FINK AMBER JUNAI KENNETH LEE STEPHEN LIN POPPI LIU JADA MAYO REYNALDO PINIELLA BRYAN REYNOSO ARMANDO RIESCO SHIRLEY RUMIERK MYLES TAYLOR BRUCE N. WINANT LYA YANNE Visual Effects by BRAINSTORM DIGITAL Visual Effects Supervisor ERAN DINUR Visual Effects Producers GLENN ALLEN RICH FRIEDLANDER Matte Painter BEN ZYLBERMAN Compositing Supervisor YUNSIK NOH Digital Compositor UNGGYU CHOI Additional Visual Effects by CADENCE EFFECTS Visual Effects Supervisor CRAIG CRAWFORD Visual Effects Producer JEREMY BEADELL Digital Compositors PETER STEFFAN MAX AUSTIN Dailies GOLDCREST NY Title Design TEDDY BLANKS End Titles ENDCRAWL.COM

A couple years ago we got some friends together to film a zombie short. And I got to play a Zombie cop. You may recognize Randal Reeder from Dead Pool, Sin City, 21 Jump Street, and some other amazing movies.

On one incredible night in 1964, four icons of sports, music, and activism gathered to celebrate one of the biggest upsets in boxing history. When underdog Cassius Clay, soon to be called Muhammad Ali, (Eli Goree), defeats heavy weight champion Sonny Liston at the Miami Convention Hall, Clay memorialized the event with three of his friends: Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir), Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr.) and Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge). Based on the award-winning play of the same name, and directed by Regina King, One Night In Miami… is a fictional account inspired by the historic night these four formidable figures spent together. It looks at the struggles these men faced and the vital role they each played in the civil rights movement and cultural upheaval of the 1960s. More than 40 years later, their conversations on racial injustice, religion, and personal responsibility still resonate. Starring Kingsley Ben-Adir, Eli Goree, Aldis Hodge, Leslie Odom Jr., Joaquina Kalukango, Nicolette Robinson with Beau Bridges & Lance Reddick Directed By Regina King Produced By Jess Wu Calder, Keith Calder, Jody Klein Executive Produced By Regina King, Kemp Powers, Paul O. Davis, Chris Harding

About the movie... While swimming free in the ocean, a young dolphin gets caught in a trap and severely damages her tail. Though she is rescued and transported to Clearwater Marine Hospital, her tail cannot be saved, and the prognosis is dire. What the dolphin, now named Winter, needs is a miracle. She gets that miracle in the form of a marine biologist (Harry Connick Jr.), a prosthetics designer (Morgan Freeman), and a devoted boy (Nathan Gamble), who find a way to help Winter swim again. Cast: Nathan Gamble, Cozi Zuehlsdorff, Morgan Freeman, Ashley Judd, Kris Kristofferson Director: Charles Martin Smith Rent the movie at Amazon: https://amzn.to/3m1oUhq

In the sequel to DreamWorks Animation’s Oscar®-nominated blockbuster comedy, the Templeton brothers—Tim (James Marsden, X-Men franchise) and his Boss Baby little bro Ted (Alec Baldwin)—have become adults and drifted away from each other. Tim is now a married stay-at-home dad. Ted is a hedge fund CEO. But a new boss baby with a cutting-edge approach and a can-do attitude is about to bring them together again … and inspire a new family business. Genres: Animated Comedy Starring: Alec Baldwin, Jeff Goldblum, Ariana Greenblatt, Jimmy Kimmel, Lisa Kudrow, Eva Longoria, James Marsden, Amy Sedaris Directed By: Tom McGrath Produced By: Jeff Hermann

It’s been over 25 years since the death of lead singer and flamboyant front Freddie Mercury, yet the music lives on. Freddie redefined and transcended stereotypes, just as Queen’s music refuses to be slotted into any traditional genre. Perhaps that’s why the band is such a cross-generational, multicultural and global phenomenon.