Daniel Craig Has Dropped Out of Luca Guadagnino’s SGT. ROCK Film
Bummed? Distraught? Flat out sad? I’m trying to find the right words to describe how I’m feeling about the news that Daniel Craig has dropped out of playing Sgt. Rock in Luca Guadagnino’s SGT. ROCK film in the updated DC Universe. My favorite movie of 2024 was Queer, which was directed by Guadagnino and starred Craig, so the potential of the two of them teaming up again had me excited; the subject didn’t matter to me.
With Craig dropping it out, Guadagnino and DC have moved on to find his replacement. The name that continues to pop up to play Sgt. Rock, the fictional World War II infantry Sgt. who rose to authority in Easy Company and fought in the European Theater, is Jeremy Allen White. Do I hate it? No. It’s fine. White’s a fine actor, but when you go from Daniel Craig to White, I’m going to be bummed out.
If I’m being completely honest, I still don’t even know if this movie will happen. Guadagnino has a plethora of projects that have been announced but never got made. Whether it’s his Scarface remake, Lord of the Flies remake, or Audrey Hepburn biopic, there’s a chance SGT. ROCK doesn’t get made. With the recent news of Craig dropping out, I’m not hoping for this, but it wouldn’t kill me.
Chloe Zhao’s HAMNET Will Likely Premiere This Fall
A headline that brightened my week was seeing that Chloe Zhao’s HAMNET would make a likely premiere this fall. Zhao, who’s a two time Oscar winner for Nomadland, will release her first film since Eternals in 2021. HAMNET is about Agnes Shakespeare, the wife of the world’s most famous writer and her struggles to come to terms with the loss of her only son, Hamnet. Jessie Buckley is set to play Agnes Shakespeare and Paul Mescal will play William Shakespeare. Also in the cast is Joe Alwyn, Emily Watson, and Jack Shalloo.
I wouldn’t be shocked to see HAMNET debut at the 2025 Venice Film Festival in late August. Oscar winning Nomadland debuted at the 2020 Venice Film Festival so this would be a familiar debut spot for the young director. There’s a lot of consistent bad news in the movie industry. It’s finally nice to get some good news for once.
Ryan Murphy In Talks To Adapt Bret Easton Ellis’ The Shards
While it’s upsetting that we won’t get another collaboration between Luca Guadagnino and Daniel Craig, it’s far from the most tragic news that I read this week. The most disheartening headline my eyes saw was that Ryan Murphy was in talks to adapt Bret Easton Ellis’ book, The Shards, my favorite book ever (which is like being the tallest midget, it’s not stiff competition) into an HBO miniseries. The Shards is a stylish semi-biographical account of Ellis’ high school days in Los Angeles. It centers on Ellis and his friends being tormented by a serial killer stalker and a cult. It’s a WILD ride and I’m bummed because Murphy won’t do the book justice.
Murphy, who is responsible for the TV series’ Monster and American Horror Story is a hack. There’s no nicer way to put it other than he’s a hack. He relies on absurd sexual relationships and glorifies legitimate villains to the extent that he sexualizes them. It’s fucking disgusting and he shouldn’t be the one to adapt such a complex and gripping novel.
My pick to adapt it would be Danish director, Nicolas Winding Refn. His ability to capture the neon essence of Los Angeles is second to none and he captures suspense so well. If it can’t be Refn, which it won’t be, I’d take anyone other than Murphy. Give me Luca Guadagnino or Kristoffer Borgli or Osgood Perkins or Todd Haynes or even the corpse of William Friedkin. Just not Ryan Murphy.
What’d I Watch This Week?
Flow (2024) dir. Gints Zilbalodis
With the Oscars approaching, I’m trying to watch as many nominated films to get a better grasp on awards season. One of my recent viewings was Gints Zilbalodis’ Flow, which is nominated for Best Animated Feature and Best International Feature. It’s cute, concise, and beautiful how it shows animals putting their differences aside to survive a dire situation. At times this feels more like a Nat Geo doc that should be narrated by a British guy, but in other portions, it’s tender, which sets it far apart from other animated films of the 21st century. It’s not my vote for Best Animated Feature (I’m picking Adam Elliot’s Memoir of a Snail), but I won’t be devastated if it wins.
3.5/5 Stars
Captain America: Brave New World (2025) dir. Julius Onah
It isn’t the worst movie that Marvel has put out, especially as of late, but it’s far from the best. There are silver linings sprinkled throughout that I enjoyed like Danny Ramirez’s presence and Tim Blake Nelson’s performance, despite his horrible character design, but those silver linings don’t outweigh the fact that at times, this doesn’t feel like a real movie. The dialogue doesn’t work almost ever because no real conversations are had. Instead, it’s quippy one liners and smug responses. While I didn’t like the movie, I left the theater more disappointed than anything. Not disappointed that the movie wasn’t good, but disappointed because seeing Harrison Ford, a legit legend, bounce around in this CGI mess was sad.
2/5 Stars
To Live and Die in L.A. (1985) dir. William Friedkin
On Twitter, a commonly asked question is “What’s a time when a director went God mode?” and William Friedkin directing To Live and Die in L.A. is a great example of that. It’s a stylistic masterclass from the florescent, neon lighting to accentuate the Los Angeles crime scene to the Wang Chung soundtrack, it rules. But To Live and Die in L.A isn’t style over substance. It’s a gritty crime thriller with big balls, which is only enhanced by the performances from William Petersen, Willem Dafoe, and Dean Stockwell. It’s currently available to stream on Amazon Prime and I can’t stress enough how much everyone should go watch this while they can.
4.5/5 Stars