After another unfeasibly long week where everything happened constantly and apparently infinitely, WWAC is here to filter the wheat from the chaff, the news from the nonsense, and luckily for me on my very first go-around curating this column: celebrating the achievements of Bong Joon-Ho’s astonishingly wonderful class war masterpiece, Parasite.
Movies
Speaking of Director Bong’s beautiful film, currently racking up nominations and awards everywhere — Twitter user Erik Anderson pointed out an “interesting” (read that as racist) trend in the Oscar’s treatment of films with predominantly Asian casts.
Parasite is the 6th film with a predominantly Asian cast to score 5+ Oscar nominations w/o a single acting nod.
Last Emperor: 9 wins/9 noms
Crouching Tiger: 4 wins/10 noms
Memoirs/Geisha: 3 wins/6 noms
Slumdog Millionaire: 8 wins/10 noms
Life/Pi: 4 wins/11 noms
Parasite: 6 noms— Erik Anderson (@awards_watch) January 14, 2020
Ironically after none of the cast getting nominated at the Academy Awards or singularly at the Screen Actors Guild awards, the cast of Parasite won the coveted Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture award, which could mean big things for the film as it heads into the Oscars with six nominations.
The cast of Parasite takes home the Actor® for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture! #sagawards pic.twitter.com/Shzk88xHzl
— SAG Awards® (@SAGawards) January 20, 2020
Outside of the BongHive other news was occurring including the “we can’t quite believe it’s really happening” Bloodshot movie, starring Vin Diesel which is based on a Valiant comic about a guy with tiny computers in his blood. It’s a silly as it sounds and in the opinion of this columnist it looks very, very bad. But hey, it’ll be the first full length Valiant movie that actually makes it to the screen since the company was established in 1989 apparently solely to establish IP to turn into movies and video games. Congrats guys, you finally made it. Please enjoy the entirely ridiculous trailer below:
Being in one movie called Ex Machina is apparently not enough for Oscar Isaac who will be producing and taking on the lead role in an adaptation of Brian K. Vaughn and Tony Harris’ searing political epic Ex Machina. Alas due to brand confusion THR reports that the film will actually be called The Great Machine–which is the former superhero moniker of the main character who after 9/11 becomes mayor of New York. The movie will be produced by Legendary and that’s about all we know for now. [THR]
It was literally just one line in an article but we couldn’t not share this joyous ass news:
BREAKING: Disney is finally making 'National Treasure 3'
(via @THR) pic.twitter.com/dw2e6bER7B
— Lights, Camera, Pod (@LightsCameraPod) January 17, 2020
Though it’s sad news for Matrix fans everywhere we were really digging this Time Out London interview where Hugo Weaving explained why he wasn’t in Endgame and why he won’t be in the new Matrix film, basically it’s cos he sticks up for himself!
"They’re pushing on ahead without me." ?️ https://t.co/fb2DcmWPSk
— Time Out London (@TimeOutLondon) January 21, 2020
After crafting a divisive finale to the Skywalker Saga looks like J.J. Abrams will be handed the helm to another strange and cosmic project as his new deal with Warner Bros. has begun and he is apparently going to be helming some Justice League Dark projects. This avowed TROS disliker and JLD lover has one comment: WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY????? [Deadline]
TV
Good news from TV Line as Hank Azaria has finally decided to step down as the voice of Apu… took long enough.
If @HankAzaria is indeed no longer doing the voice of Apu, I do hope they keep the character & let a very talented writing staff do something interesting with him. If not to better the show, then to atleast spare me some death threats.
— Hari Kondabolu (@harikondabolu) January 17, 2020
Some good TCA TV drama from The Wrap as they report that the showrunner of the long gestating and even longer delayed Snowpiercer show (you might have seen building wraps for the show at the last two San Diego Comic Cons) shared, “There’s almost none of the original pilot left in the show.” That’s probably not too surprising as the series has been in production hell, beginning life at TNT five years ago, losing a showrunner, and “being shuffled around the Turner networks” before finding a home back at TNT. Apparently the show will air on Wednesdays in May… but we shall see.
There's no getting off this train. ❄️ pic.twitter.com/j8eYszNN9d
— Snowpiercer on TNT (@SnowpiercerTV) January 15, 2020
More TCA news saw NBC’s streaming service Peacock reveal their scripted slate. These include a drama about the invention of Twitter, a Norman Lear series about a trans character played by Laverne Cox and new projects from Mindy Kaling and Amy Poehler. The big question is will Peacock be able to beat the inevitable streaming saturation? [THR]
Another bit of news out of the Peacock reveal was the announcement of an Adventure Zone animated series which had fans both excited and worried about some potential Zone Cast over saturation as the crew move into yet another medium.
We’re beyond excited to announce that #TheZoneCast Balance arc will be an animated series on @peacockTV https://t.co/W5M2iNj0iA
— The Adventure Zone (@TheZoneCast) January 16, 2020
The best part of The CW Arrow-verse hath returned in a hilarious mockumentary style episode and this very tempting poster that teases just how fucking gay this wonderfully weird show is.
Saddle up, Legends. Things are about to get weird. pic.twitter.com/9TjT13Dg5u
— LoT Writers Room (@LoTWritersRoom) January 15, 2020
In an incredibly ironic move that seems almost like another decision made simply to troll Alan Moore, HBO has stated that they won’t pursue a second season of Watchmen without Damon Lindelof, who has no clear desire to continue. There’s obviously a lesson to be learned here about respecting creators who feel their story is finished but surely no one will learn anything from it. [USA Today]
Exciting time for fashion fans everywhere as Katy Keene gets ever closer to becoming the first ever fashion comic adaptation to make it to the screen.
The lights are never too bright ⭐️ counting down the days ! February 6 on The CW ♥️ pic.twitter.com/R8kFSgwWlJ
— Lucy Hale (@lucyhale) January 21, 2020
It’s been a long time coming but THE CLONE WARS ARE BACK!!!!! *five thousand crying emojis* you can check out the gorgeous trailer below.
ICYMI, The #CloneWars is back and headed to #DisneyPlus February 21pic.twitter.com/IpooX4Tg8L
— But Why Tho? (@ButWhyThoPC) January 22, 2020
In a very sweet moment Patrick Stewart proposed (a role in Picard S2) to Whoopie Goldberg live on the View!
.@SirPatStew officially invites @WhoopiGoldberg to join season two of #StarTrekPicard: “It was wonderful having you, and we cannot wait to have you with us again one more time.” https://t.co/f8u2wbJuik #StarTrek pic.twitter.com/mxOtyJxF63
— The View (@TheView) January 22, 2020
Hollywood Business
Exciting news for fans of Studio Ghibli everywhere (except North America and Japan) as Netflix announced that it had licensed the worldwide rights for 21 iconic Japanese animated films including My Neighbor Totoro, Ponyo, Princess Mononoke, and many, many more.
LES. 21. FILMS. pic.twitter.com/oErau9jsTO
— Netflix France (@NetflixFR) January 20, 2020
In a horrifying but desperately needed new survey from #PayUpHollywood it was revealed that many big budget TV shows denied assistants health care and paid then only $14 an hour, out of the 1500 people who were surveyed over 100 said that ” a boss had thrown something at them, and the majority said they made $50,000 a year or less.” You can read more from the shocking report over at the New York Times.
Calling all Wendy’s fans! Looks like this year’s Writer’s Guild nominees get a massive 10% off at their local Wendy’s! Can’t wait for 10c off a chocolate Frosty.
I was nominated for a couple Writer’s Guild Awards, because I’m easily one of the five greatest comedy writers of all time, and they sent the certificate and a letter today and… pic.twitter.com/ODh1mrJ8dV
— karms (@IanKarmel) January 16, 2020