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‘Dungeons & Dragons’ Trailer Features Regé-Jean Page, Chris Pine and the Gelatinous Cube

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“Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” kicked off San Diego Comic-Con on Thursday as the first panel held at the massive Hall H, and it came with a fantastical trailer and slew of A-list stars.

Chris Pine — donning chin-length blonde hair — Michelle Rodriguez, Regé-Jean Page, Sophia Lillis and Hugh Grant took the stage to rapturous applause. In addition to the trailer, the audience was treated to two clips from the unfinished film, shot in Northern Ireland during the U.K.’s COVID lockdown. Pine described the movie as having “a Spielbergian energy to it,” while Grant said it has a “Monty Python vibe.”

The trailer features Pine (as a bard), Rodriguez (as a barbarian), Justice Smith (as a sorcerer) and Lillis (as a druid) as a band of thieves attempting to rectify a mistake that unleashed a great evil upon their land. They encounter all manner of fantastical creatures — and Page, as a rakish paladin who (seemingly) joins their quest.

Unlike the solemn and intense trailers for recent fantasy series “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” and “House of the Dragon,” however, the trailer for “Dungeons & Dragons” has a much more freewheeling and lighthearted tone, typified by the final shot of Pine gleefully strumming his lute.

One of the lengthy clips (shown only at Hall H) involves the characters navigating through a maze as a few other teams try to make their way through. Writer-director John Francis Daley said the movie features dozens of monsters and creatures, as well as dozens of spells. The filmmakers worked with game publisher Wizards of the Coast to ensure the lore was on point.

The footage also showed a displacer beast — basically a panther that can project its own image — and the gelatinous cube — basically a giant cube that is gelatinous (and deadly). The directors teased that the film features at least one cameo from a well-known “D&D” player as well as multiple Easter eggs from the game.

“I wasn’t a big ‘D&D’-er, but my nephew, who’s 13, is a huge player,” Pine said, who plays Edgin in the film. He said the movie “feels open and light and buoyant.”

“It was an amazing thing to see all my family light up in that way,” he added about his whole family playing with his nephew. “It slowly snowballed and three hours in, you forgot that you didn’t want to.”

“[It’s] one game that should be played in every single high school in the nation,” Pine said. “You can get the bully and the jock — of course, I only speak in John Hughes terms — and I guarantee you no one will remember what class they came from.”

“I just wanted to spread the gospel of ‘D&D,’” he concluded.

Rodriguez, meanwhile, insisted, “You don’t grow up in Jersey without playing ‘D&D.’”

“It just brought back all these memories as a kid in a basement goofing off with my friends,” she said. “I think role-playing games are awesome and more people should do them.”

Rodriguez gained 10 pounds of muscle to play barbarian Holda.

Page, who portrays a paladin, Xenk, said he was always “D&D adjacent,” gravitating toward “Chrono Trigger” and “Diablo.”

“I basically grew up as Eddie Munson,” Page said, referencing the character from Season 4 of “Stranger Things,” a social outcast and “D&D” enthusiast. “I know a little something about escapist fantasy that gives you no limits.”

Page also endured intense training for the film, including stance and sword training.

“My thighs were killing me and I had the best ass in my life,” he said.

Lillis was such a hardcore fan of the game as a teen that she traveled 20 minutes back to her old high school, after moving, to play in the school’s “D&D” club.

When moderator Karl Jacobs said his notes indicate that Grant has always been a big “D&D” fan, Rodriguez quipped, “I think you mixed it up with S&M.”

“She’s not wrong,” Hugh responded, to rolling laughter from his castmates and the audience. “I’ve been an enthusiastic dungeon master for years. That’s a British pastime. National sport, almost. I believe that’s why the Jonathans thought of me for this.” Grant will play a rogue named Forge Fletcher.

Chloe Coleman, Jason Wong and Daisy Head round out the star-studded cast.

Jacobs, a Twitch streamer and co-host of the podcast “Banter With Sapnap and Karl Jacobs,” introduced a behind-the-scenes clip that played with multiple glitches before the cast came out.

“Seeing your faces reminds us why we do this. Thank you for being here,” writer-director Jonathan Goldstein said at the beginning of the event.

“Both of us have a long history with ‘Dungeons & Dragons,’” Goldstein said, who used to play the first edition with his brother, who “always killed” him.

Daley learned about “D&D” because his character was a fan of the game on the cult series “Freaks and Geeks.” “It is not just a game, it is the feeling you get when you play the game,” he said.

Eddie Ibrahim, director of programming at Comic-Con International, opened the panel.

“It has been three years since we’ve been in this room together!” Ibrahim said before hyping the Paramount Pictures presentation.

The movie is based on the popular tabletop role-playing game that allows players to create their own wizards, fighters, monks and other heroes to take on all kinds of fantastical beasts, trolls, necromancers and countless more. The game has soared in popularity recently thanks to shows like Netflix’s “Stranger Things” and the web series “Critical Role,” which was turned into an Amazon Prime Video animated show called “The Legend of Vox Machina.”

In 2020, Variety dove deep inside a celebrity “Dungeons & Dragons” campaign hosted by Joe Manganiello that included Vince Vaughn, Tom Morello, “Game of Thrones” co-creator D.B. Weiss and more.

Goldstein and Daley, who helmed the 2018 hit comedy “Game Night,” and wrote “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2,” “Horrible Bosses” and “Vacation Friends,” directed the film. The screenplay is written by Goldstein, Daley and Michael Gilio from Gilio’s story with Chris McKay. The project is being produced by Jeremy Latcham (who was also in attendance), Brian Goldner and Nick Meyer, with executive producers Denis L. Stewart, Goldstein, Daley, Pine, Zev Foreman and Greg Mooradian.

Entertainment One and Sweetpea Entertainment produce “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves,” which hits theaters on March 3, 2023.

Watch the action-packed trailer below.



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TCM Sets Warner Bros. 100th Anniversary Program Slate Including 10 Restored Classic Films

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Warner Bros. will commemorate its 100th anniversary with a block of programming on Turner Classic Movies starting April 1.

TCM will broadcast remastered and newly restored versions of 10 classic Warner Bros. films, each featuring an introduction from a filmmaker or film expert culled from the network’s ongoing partnership with the Film Foundation, a non-profit preservation and exhibition organization. The program coincides with the April 13-16 run of the TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood.

On April 13, a new 4K restoration of 1959’s “Rio Bravo,” Howard Hawks’ classic western starring John Wayne, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson and Angie Dickinson, will premiere on TCM and serve as the opening night film of the festival. Dickinson will attend the in-person event, while Martin Scorsese will introduce the film on TCM’s small-screen presentation. Similarly, Warner Bros. will premiere a new 4K restoration of Elia Kazan’s “East of Eden,” starring James Dean, on both the big screen and the network, the latter featuring an introduction by filmmakers Wes Anderson and Joanna Hogg.

Other films planned for broadcast on TCM include “Land of the Pharaohs” and “Storm Warning” (both introduced by Scorsese), “Rachel, Rachel” (introduced by Ethan Hawke), “Safe in Hell” (by Alexander Payne), and “A Lion is in the Streets,” introduced by Daphne Dentz and Robyn Sklaren of the Warner Bros. Discovery Library.

TCM additionally plans to program trailers, archival interviews, documentaries and other ephemera from Warner Bros., complementing festival programs such as “Looney Tunes at the Oscars” and “Warner Bros. Coming Attractions,” panels exploring the studio’s extensive history.



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Jeff Goldblum Addresses His Jurassic Park Costar’s Cancer Diagnosis

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Jurassic Park star Jeff Goldblum has addressed his costar Sam Neill’s diagnosis of stage 3 blood cancer. Goldblum portrayed mathematician Dr. Ian Macolm in the first Jurassic Park film opposite Neill’s paleontologist Dr. Alan Grant. He returned to his role as Ian in The Lost World: Jurassic Park and in Jurassic World: Dominion, the latter of which saw him reunite with Neill in the franchise for the first time since Spielberg’s original film.


Speaking with Evening Standard, Goldblum opened up about Neill’s diagnosis of stage 3 blood cancer, which the Jurassic Park actor revealed in his recent autobiography. He quietly spoke about Neill’s remission, hopeful that the actor would recover soon. Read what Goldblum had to say below:

SCREENRANT VIDEO OF THE DAY

“He shared it with us early on. He’s been in constant touch with me and, well, he looks fantastic, he sounds great. Hopefully, he’s as healthy as a horse now. I just adore him.”


How Jeff Goldblum & Sam Neill’s Jurassic Park Roles Defined Them

Having starred in Jurassic Park in 1993, Goldblum and Neill have continued to be friends since taking their roles in the dinosaur franchise. During the production of Jurassic World: Dominion and while dealing with the Covid pandemic, the duo began singing and posting cover songs online. The pair are good friends, which makes Goldblum’s well wishes for Neill’s recovery process all the more heartwarming.

Goldblum and Neill are also the only actors whose Jurassic Park characters visited Isla Sorna on the big screen. Ian Malcolm went to Site B in The Lost World: Jurassic Park to document the dinosaurs, while Alan Grant visited the island in Jurassic Park III after being hired to find a lost boy. Their return in subsequent Jurassic Park sequels underscores their roles as the heart of the franchise, made all the more prominent because of their reunion in Jurassic World: Dominion.

Thankfully, Neill’s cancer has been in remission for the last eight months, indicating the treatment he went through has been working to save his life. The talented actor is already filming a new project as well, having reassured his fans in an Instagram post earlier this week that he is doing well. Goldblum’s concern for his friend is one of many well wishes the Jurassic Park star has received as he continues to recover from his diagnosis.

Source: Evening Standard

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Vanessa Hudgens Sets Philippines Travel Documentary Exploring Her Family’s Asian Heritage

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Vanessa Hudgens, the Asian American actor whose career kicked off in Disney’s “High School Musical” series, is set to shoot a travel documentary in the Philippines, the country of her mother’s birth.

The untitled project will shoot in Palawan and Manila in March. Paul Soriano is attached as a director, producer and executive producer. Mark A. Victor of TEN17P will also serve as executive producer. No distributor, broadcaster or streaming platform has yet been disclosed.

Soriano’s recent credits include directing the 2019 film “Mañanita” and Manny Pacquiao biopic “Kid Kulafu.”

The documentary is said to showcase the relationship between Hudgens and her Filipino mother, Gina, who emigrated to the U.S. at the age of 25, as well as Hudgens’ sister, Stella.

Since “High School Musical,” Hudgens has notched up key roles in “Spring Breakers”, “Gimme Shelter,” “Bad Boys for Life,” and the Oscar-nominated Lin-Manuel Miranda-directed musical “Tick, Tick …Boom!” Hudgens executive produced and starred in the film “The Knight Before Christmas” and all three installments of “The Princess Switch” series for Netflix. Hudgens is next set to star in the upcoming films “French Girl” and “Bad Boys 4.”

“I feel like ours is such a relatable story to so many women all over the world,” Hudgens said in a statement announcing the documentary. “The more that we can share, the more we can lift each other up.”

“We are honored to work with Vanessa for this film project. It’s inspiring to note that with everything she has achieved in life, she wants to discover her Filipino roots and pay homage to her mother’s country. Hopefully, this opens doors for many more collaborations to come,” said Soriano in a statement.

Soriano previously produced “A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery” (2016), which won a special film award at the Berlin International Film Festival, and “Transit” in 2013, which was selected as the Philippines’ entry for the foreign language film category at the Academy Awards. He is also a presidential creative adviser to the Philippines’ government.

Hudgens is repped by CAA, Untitled Entertainment, the Lede Company and Ziffren Brittenham.



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