which could be explored further in “Spider-Man: Brand New Day.” Keeping that in mind, here are a few brave souls who made a deal with the devil in the comics and some who still have a chance to make one in their live-action iterations.
Marvel Studios
Shalla-Bal, who is soon to be played by Julia Garner in “The Fantastic Four: First Steps,” made a deal with Mephisto in “Silver Surfer” #3 to reunite with her long-lost love, Norrin Rad, the Silver Surfer of Earth-616. The price was her total obedience to Mephisto, and by agreeing, she was sent to Earth to reunite with her star-crossed lover, only to be severely injured in the ship in which she was transported.
Thankfully, the board-riding hero helped Shalla-Bal recover, and after fighting Mephisto, they agreed to stay apart for each other’s safety and to stop the devil’s plans. Still, the red villain persisted in causing trouble for Norrin Rad and his love, including one instance where he dropped Shalla-Bal in Doctor Doom’s homeland of Latveria in “Fantastic Four” #157 before a rescue was launched, and he even forced the Surfer to venture into Hell to save her soul in “Silver Surfer/Warlock: Resurrection.”
Since Garner’s Shalla-Bal exists in a different reality than the MCU as we know it in the 1960s-set “The Fantastic Four: First Steps,” it seems unlikely she and Mephisto will cross paths anytime soon. That said, since the super team will be entering Earth-616 as revealed in the “Thunderbolts*” post-credits scene, could the main universe house Norrin Radd’s Silver Surfer and a variant of Shalla-Bal, thus setting up a possible encounter? Given that Mephisto made his Marvel debut in the “Silver Surfer” comics, it would be a hell of an homage to his origins and the two lives he has repeatedly tried to ruin.
Marvel Comics
The incoming big bad of the MCU might strike fear into the Avengers when he arrives, but even the ruler of Latveria has resorted to desperate measures to reach his goals, including turning to Mephisto to get the job done. Bound to the demon lord since birth after his mother, Cynthia von Doom, sold her soul, Doom made a deal with Mephisto later in life to bring her back from Hell, using Doctor Strange as a bargaining chip in “Doctor Strange and Doctor Doom: Triumph and Torment” #1.
At first, Doom offered his own soul along with the Sorcerer Supreme to rescue his mother from the underworld. However, the plan backfired when Cynthia rejected the offer after learning what her son had done to be set free, disappointed by his actions. Fortunately, Doom was not in a villainous mood at the time and had no real intention of handing Strange over to Mephisto, and as a result, Cynthia’s noble rejection to stay in the underworld led her to be released from her hellish prison and ascend to a better afterlife.
It’s a long shot, but we’re betting that when Robert Downey Jr. makes his debut as Doom, he’ll be too busy destroying realities involving both the Avengers and the X-Men to negotiate with Sacha Baron Cohen’s sinister villain. After that dust is settled, perhaps there might be time for Mephisto to share some screen time with at least one member of the von Dooms further down the line.
20th Century Studios
If there’s one person in the Marvel universe besides Mephisto with whom you should think twice about making a deal, it’s probably Wade Wilson. Among the many contracts crafted by the tricky devil over the years, he created a particularly dark one that Deadpool agreed to and eventually had to face. Luckily, there was a loophole in the paperwork that only the lovable lunatic would notice.
“Deadpool: The End” saw Wade revisiting a deal he made with Mephisto at the end of time that demanded he kill his daughter, Eleanor, to prevent his soul from facing eternal damnation. As (bad) luck would have it, Eleanor showed up to Wade as an elderly woman dying of cancer, just in time to stop him from killing Death, who he thought would save Eleanor from passing away. However, his daughter told Wade she welcomed the end and even brought a black hole bomb to kill both of them. The act essentially forced Eleanor to die because Wade gave her no other option, thus fulfilling the contract. According to the comic book crackpot, “While my baby girl was the gun, I pulled the trigger.”
It’s these kinds of wild mind games that might have worked in the early ideas for “Deadpool & Wolverine,” when Mephisto was initially considered as the film’s main villain. Now that both characters are in the MCU, we can only hope Ryan Reynolds’ and Sacha Baron Cohen’s sharp wit will get to face off at another point in the MCU timeline.
Marvel Studios
He might’ve been out of the MCU for a while now, but Agent Phil Coulson was active for a long time in Marvel’s comic history and took a very different path than being the one good eye for Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson). During the “Secret Empire” event, in which it was revealed that Captain America had been a long-standing undercover H.Y.D.R.A. agent, Coulson was the first to uncover the conspiracy, but was assassinated by Deadpool (which is easily one of the worst things Wade has ever done).
Seeing a chance to stir things up a bit, Mephisto resurrected Coulson, who came back with a hatred of heroes and a thirst for vengeance. Phil made a deal with Mephisto to work for him and help alter the universe, which led to the “Heroes Reborn” event. As a result, the former agent became president, and the only hero left to “protect” the world was Hyperion. Luckily, our original heroes managed to set things straight, but for his trouble, Coulson ended up trapped in the Pandemonium Cube. Lesson learned, Phil.
While it would definitely be an interesting direction for the MCU to explore if Coulson were still around, unfortunately, Clark Gregg’s dedicated agent and hero supporter hasn’t been seen since “Captain Marvel” and shows no signs of returning to the franchise. That’s probably a good thing. Seeing Robert Downey Jr. return as a villain in “Avengers: Doomsday” is one thing, but bringing Clark Gregg back as a corrupt Agent Coulson would shake us to our core.
Marvel Studios
The legendary Black Panther is the ruler of a nation and one of the most intelligent people on the planet, so it’s surprising that Mephisto truly believed he could ever outsmart him. In “Black Panther” #3, King T’Challa faced a coup within Wakanda led by Reverend Achebe, who gained power and an extra edge from both the Russian Mafia and Mephisto. (Now that’s a wild combo.) To protect his nation, T’Challa agreed to give up his soul to the hellborne villain, fully aware that his legendary heritage in his bloodline would keep him safe.
Thanks to the power of the Panther God, T’Challa’s soul was surrendered to Mephisto along with the souls of all the Black Panthers before him. The mighty army of ancestors proved too much for the fiery foe, prompting him to ask for the deal to be quickly altered. T’Challa modified the deal in his favor and recovered his soul as part of the agreement, reminding Mephisto that if he comes at the king, he best not miss (especially when it comes to the fine print).
Of course, with Chadwick Boseman’s passing, such a bargain between the Wakandan king and the royal pain of the underworld can’t happen. That being said, with Shuri (Letitia Wright) still holding the title of Black Panther and her homeland still very connected to the afterlife, unlike other parts of the MCU, it’d be believable for Mephisto to toy with Wakanda’s new protector and infiltrate the Ancestral Plane. He just better be ready for what’s waiting for him.
the Batman controversy that had Tim Burton fighting for Michael Keaton, only for the public to do a massive U-turn when they figured out that Keaton is a multifaceted actor? Shocker. Yet, a similar cycle repeats itself and plays out online every few years for all our amusement.
Generally speaking, most comic book movies choose the correct actors for the roles. There have been times when the casting just didn’t work out, though. It could be a case of the film being a hot mess, the actor not being the right fit for the part, or a combination of both to create the perfect storm. Whichever way, it’s unlikely that there are too many people clamoring for the return of certain versions of characters on screen.
Now, it’s time to call up the nominees in the (dis)honor roll. To be fair, many of these actors are great in other roles, but as these superheroes, they were horribly miscast — and nobody is about to forget about these performances anytime soon.
Here are superhero actors who were horribly miscast.
Warner Bros. Pictures
A “Catwoman” project rumbled around in the Hollywood circles for over a decade after Michelle Pfeiffer’s Selina Kyle stole the show in “Batman Returns.” In fact, Tim Burton had an $18 million idea for a “Catwoman” spin-off. As is often the case in the studio system, the interesting concepts make way for whatever brain fart the boardroom has on the day, so a decision was taken for an all-new “Catwoman” film, directed by Pitof (yes, known by just one name) and starring Halle Berry as the titular character.
Berry doesn’t play Selina, though; instead, she’s the meek and mild Patience Phillips who works for an evil cosmetics company. After she discovers the dangerous side effects of a product that the company sells, she’s offed, only to be revived and given powers by a cat that’s actually connected to an Egyptian god.
On the surface, 2004’s “Catwoman” sounds like a feline version of “The Crow,” as well as a subtle social commentary about the dangers of cosmetic companies and their destructive role in the distortion of beauty. What “Catwoman” turns out to be is less cat power and more kitty litter. The film is a total disaster, from top to bottom, where even an Academy Award winner like Berry is made to look bad as what’s effectively Catwoman 2000. Also, the less said about the goofy costume, the better. Unfortunately, Berry’s Catwoman falls very much into the “we have Catwoman at home” category, and that isn’t a compliment.
Warner Bros. Pictures
If you think about the Green Lantern Corps and which character Ryan Reynolds would be perfect for, the right answer would be Guy Gardner. Reynolds’ natural biting humor and sneaky snark fit the mold of the loudmouth Lantern with the bowl-cut haircut. As Hal Jordan, though? Nah.
This holds true in 2011’s “Green Lantern,” as Reynolds’ Hal feels off from the get-go, though this is only one of the various cinema sins committed in the Martin Campbell-directed movie. This version of Hal is like a ChatGPT summary of what every superhero origin tale needs to contain without any of the nuance of what makes Hal stand out from other Lanterns, such as Gardner, John Stewart, and Kyle Rayner. Unfortunately, this results in the character (and actor) never quite fitting in here, there, or anywhere. It’s almost as if no one read an actual “Green Lantern” comic book before making the movie.
Showing incredible self-awareness, Ryan Reynolds knows why “Green Lantern” failed, often discussing how not enough work went into establishing what the film was supposed to be in the first place. He also isn’t against poking fun at himself and performance, including his own meta assassination after receiving the “Green Lantern” script in “Deadpool 2.”
20th Century Studios
Spare a thought for Ben Affleck, who experienced a woeful 2003. Not only did he have the fallout of “Gigli” to contend with (which Seth Rogen could have starred in), but he also had to wash off the stench of “Paycheck” and “Daredevil.” To make matters worse, all three films saw him win a Razzie Award — a dishonorable trophy that he smashed up on “Larry King Live.” Hopefully, the millions he received in payment for the movies soothed the indignation.
It’s tough to lay all the fault of “Daredevil” on Affleck, but he isn’t faultless here either. He looks mighty uncomfortable in the tight leather suit that could easily have been the prototype for Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman, but he also never fully convinces as Matt Murdock. Whether it’s the script, direction, or his own acting, Affleck appears to be in another movie altogether. It’s even worse when you look back now and compare him to Charlie Cox’s version of the character, which is infinitely better.
Ben Affleck regrets “Daredevil,” though he admitted he still cares for the character deeply. He would have another turn at a major superhero in the form of Batman, but that didn’t exactly turn out any better as studio politics played a factor in his various appearances as the Dark Knight.
Warner Bros. Pictures
Let’s get this out of the way immediately: Joel Schumacher’s “Batman & Robin” is a two-hour commercial to sell Happy Meals and merchandise. Consequently, no one should expect this film to be deeper than the first step of a swimming pool. It’s shallow entertainment designed for marketing purposes and Batnipple aficionados. No matter which actor would have been under the cowl, it’s likely that they, too, would have sucked.
For George Clooney, it’s almost a double blow, because he was perfect for the part. Rich, handsome, and appearing with the latest model on his arm at social gatherings, he was a real-life Bruce Wayne in the ’90s. Yet all the charm and sophistication fade away in “Batman & Robin,” as Clooney plays what can only be deemed an “In Living Color” parody of the DC superhero. His lines fall flat. He has no grit nor conviction in the action. Face it, he’s more fruit bat than Batman.
Clooney has done the apology tour for his part in the movie, even reprising the role for a gag cameo in 2023’s “The Flash.” Does that mean there’s a chance he could feature in a “Batman Beyond” project or multiverse crossover project down the line? George Clooney has issued a blunt statement about his Batman future, saying, “I don’t think there’s enough drugs in the world for me to go back.”
Sony Pictures Releasing
At this point, Jared Leto should stay away from comic book movies forever, because he’s the one superhero actor who is always horribly miscast. Fresh from the hunka-hunka hubris of the Joker in 2016’s “Suicide Squad,” the man with a thousand method acting holds returned as Michael Morbius in Daniel Espinosa’s “Morbius.” As far as we know, Leto didn’t bite the head off a bat nor hang upside down in a cave for a month to prepare for the role, but he used crutches to get around as he tried to channel the movements of the character before his vampiric transformation.
Even so, this all feels excessive when you watch “Morbius.” There’s absolutely nothing serious about this movie, as it’s silly superhero fodder reminiscent of days gone by. Yet, Leto commits to it like a Shakespearean performer doing an over dramatic rendition of “Othello.” Did he stay in his trailer the whole time and not see the rest of the production apart from his own scenes?
If Leto had hammed it up like his co-star Matt Smith did as Milo, he would have likely had taken less flack for this giggle-worthy performance. Instead, he’s now remembered as the actor who morbed a million memes. But hey, no one can argue that 2022 was truly the year of “Morbius.”
Warner Bros. Pictures
No one can dispute Shaquille O’Neal’s extraordinary ability on a basketball court, but as an actor leading his own superhero movie? Yikes! Based on the popular DC Comics character of the same name, 1997’s “Steel” sees Shaq suit up as John Henry Irons, who creates an armored outfit to fight crime.
Apart from the horribly designed costume that makes Steel look like a 1960s kettle, Shaq didn’t have the acting experience nor on-screen charisma to carry the film. It’s almost as if he’s learning how to be a leading man with each progressing scene, and it shows in the final product.
As it turns out, “Steel” director Kenneth Johnson agreed that Shaq was wrong for the part, but he had no choice in the matter. “Shaq is a nice guy, but he had done two movies, neither of which made any money or noise,” Johnson told Vice. “He’s not an actor. Yes, he was a big persona and a great role model for kids and all that, but he’s no movie star. But these people just wouldn’t budge a dime to place an actual movie star in the role.” In the end, “Steel” turned into the worst DC Comics movie, at least according to IMDb.
New World Pictures
Most Marvel fans forget that Dolph Lundgren played Frank Castle once upon a time in 1989’s “The Punisher.” While it didn’t have the Cannon Group logo slapped over the intro, it might as well have, since this low-budget affair cost less than half a dozen hot dog rolls. In tone, it nails the dark and broody elements of the character, as Lundgren’s Punisher tallies up a body count to make serial killers jealous. But how is this different to any other revenge film that Lundgren has been in? What about this makes him the Punisher?
Sure, he dyes his hair jet black and looks like he could have been drawn by John Romita Sr., but there’s no real connection to this being a “Punisher” film apart from the name. This isn’t strictly Lundgren’s fault, as Boaz Yakin’s script largely avoids the rest of the Marvel Universe — likely because of complicated rights issues — but would anyone put Lundgren’s version of the character above the interpretations from Thomas Jane, Ray Stevenson, or Jon Bernthal? Let’s be real, if we’re ranking every live-action version of Marvel’s Punisher, he has to be stone last.
HBO Max
“Titans” remains one of the strangest DC shows of all time. While it soars to incredible heights, it also can’t get out of its own way when it’s on a roll. In season 1, it’s clear that the show doesn’t want to develop a reliance on Batman — and it works, as the Dark Knight features largely in the shadows or briefly in blink-and-you-miss-it moments. Season 2 changes this by introducing “Game of Thrones” actor Iain Glen in the recurring role of Bruce Wayne in “Titans.”
Ironically, fans thought Glen was Alfred Pennyworth when he appeared on screen for the first time. Forget about the age factor, since this is a creative choice to include an older Bruce in the story, and consider the performance. While Glen is a tremendous actor, he does come across as a better Alfred than Bruce. Maybe it’s because we have blinkers on and remember him best as the supporting character Jorah Mormont in “Game of Thrones” rather than the undisputed hero.
Regardless, hardly anyone is about to mention Glen as one of the best actors to play a live-action Batman — heck, even Clooney might get more votes than him.
20th Century Studios
Remember the time in which Hollywood tried to turn Taylor Kitsch into an A-lister with projects like “John Carter,” “Battleship,” and “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” awhile back? That’s not to say he didn’t deserve it, because he’s a highly underrated character actor, but it did turn into a situation where studios attempted to put a square peg into a round hole, especially in terms of the X-Men role of Gambit.
“X-Men Origins: Wolverine” boasts many, many issues that are worthy of an entire book, but its biggest crime is shoehorning mutants into the movie. Case in point: Gambit, The Ragin’ Cajun, who didn’t need to be in this story at all, but hey, here he is! While Kitsch is blameless for the terrible dialog and lack of comic-accurate costume, he does himself no favors with the vanilla accent and underwhelming performance as Remy LeBeau. Hardly anything about him screams Gambit.
Taylor Kitsch’s Gambit only appeared in “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” and that’s more than enough for the average viewer. After seeing how Channing Tatum made a name for himself as the character in “Deadpool & Wolverine,” it’s unlikely that anyone would want to see Kitsch’s interpretation ever again. May this version stay dead and buried in Fox’s “X-Men”-verse, along with the silent Wade Wilson.
Sony Pictures Releasing
Hey, Siri, show me a video of sleepwalking in a movie. Is anyone surprised that Dakota Johnson’s performance as Cassandra Webb in “Madame Web” comes back as the number one result?
You can visibly see the moments in the movie when Johnson’s soul leaves her body and she officially gives up, as she puts in minimal effort into her line delivery or believability as the character. Judging by her comments after the release of “Madame Web,” it’s obvious that she knew this was a dud in the making, and there was little she could do to salvage it from the non-creative creative committee. Dakota Johnson is adamant she ‘will never do anything’ like “Madame Web” again, and who can blame her?
Look, it’s weird that Sony made a movie about a D-list Spider-Man character to begin with. What’s even stranger is how no one bothered to research and understand the source material. There’s nothing “Madame Web” here, so whatever character Johnson is playing here is anyone’s guess and certainly tangled us in its web of confusion.
Warner Bros. Pictures
The issues with “Batman & Robin” were covered earlier, and no one escapes the film with their reputation intact. However, there’s yet another superhero miscast that we can’t look past: Alicia Silverstone as Batgirl. So, first off, Silverstone isn’t playing Barbara Gordon, Jim Gordon’s red-headed daughter. Instead, she’s Barbara Wilson, Alfred Pennyworth’s very blonde niece. Why? Who knows! The entire origin story gets changed for the character to turn her into an orphan, because apparently those are the only people who can relate to Bruce Wayne/Batman, and someone read something about symmetry in a screenwriting book in the past.
Due to this change, Silverstone’s character already feels foreign to anyone familiar with the backstory. It also isn’t helped by the fact that Silverstone practically plays Cher Horowitz (“Clueless”) here, spending the bulk of the film pulling funny faces and coming off as uncomfortable in the part. You never get the impression that Barbara is actually superhero material, seeing her more as a third wheel to the duo of Batman and Robin.
It’s almost as if Batgirl was included as an afterthought in the film when someone high up at Warner Bros. realized there’s the potential to add more characters to the toy line. Sounds like a lot of “Batman & Robin” was thrown together at the last minute.
20th Century Television
In 1998, “Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.” debuted on television screens, aiming to be a backdoor pilot to a full-blown series. Well, it didn’t happen, because pretty much everyone hated it. In the lead role was “Baywatch” star David Hasselhoff, who does actually possess a striking resemblance to the original version of the character from the comics. Hasselhoff also hasn’t been shy of telling anyone who wants to listen how the Hoff’s version of Nick Fury is better than Samuel L. Jackson’s, while claiming that Marvel lied to him about having a ‘forever’ gig.
But honestly, Hoff’s Fury is the soap opera Nick Fury. He’s John Black in “Days of Our Lives” and Ridge Forrester in “The Bold and the Beautiful.” He’s a tough guy cheeseball who inspires more hilarity than heroics. While it’s all good that Hasselhoff takes pride in his performance and considers it great, anyone with a set of eyes can see that Jackson’s Fury surpasses the Hoff’s in every single department. Sorry, Hoffriends, but Hasselhoff is a superhero actor who was horribly miscast.
Now, as a big dinosaur nerd, I do have to ask you about the dinosaurs.
Yeah.
Whose idea was it to redesign the Spinosaurus into something more scientifically accurate, compared to the movie monster version we saw in “Jurassic Park III”?
I was worried that I’d steered it towards a movie monster version, and that it used to be really accurate. It’s like, imagine we are dinosaurs, the world is full of dinosaurs, we are dinosaurs, and they make a movie about some humans. And someone goes, “Hey, we’re going to have some Asian guy in this scene,” and you go, “But be more specific,” right? And they go, “Oh no, but it’s just an Asian.” It’s like, you can have a Spinosaurus, and then you can have a totally different-looking one. This idea that there’s only one type of dinosaur is crazy.
Basically, I saw it as, “Okay, in the last movie, if that was Clint Eastwood, now we’re going to have Marlon Brando.” So it was more, “Okay, let’s just get that Spinosaurus and start to push and pull shapes and proportions and try to make more of a character out of it.” I don’t know, I can’t really explain, but I look at two images just like in nature, and you personally can go, “That’s more attractive” or “I find more interesting than that,” and sometimes you can’t articulate why, you just go, “That one. I prefer that one.” Then you take that one, that’s the new one, and you mess around with it and you make two children and you say, “That one.” And you take that one, you mess around with it, and it’s basically like nature. You’re trying to evolve an idea and it’s very much probably what happens in nature. So yeah, I did a bit of that with the dinosaurs as well, even though some of them have been established. Otherwise, you don’t really have your fingerprint on it. It felt like it’s one of the first things you do, is grab all the toys and you want to make them your own, kind of thing.
In “Jurassic Park” tradition, going back all the way to the original, it’s always been a mix of cutting-edge visual effects and practical effects. Correct me if I’m wrong, but it feels like “Rebirth” leans more towards the VFX side of things rather than puppets, animatronics, that sort of thing. What went into that decision for you?
Yeah, I mean, my background was computer graphics, visual effects. The thing you learn the hard way, I guess, on some of these movies, is you go to a lot of trouble doing something practical and sometimes you end up replacing it in the computer. And it can be really worth it, because it was a great reference. It gave the actor something to react to on set, and it can all be great. But we had a year and a quarter, and so it felt like we didn’t have time to do pre-viz, all that animation that people do of the stunt sequences and set pieces. It also felt like animatronics — like big, cool, crazy animatronics — were not going to happen in time. And it all would’ve been a lot of resources and time and we could probably not have got through this one with just puppets and stuff.
What we did do is, we ended up asking them to do what we called proxy puppets. Essentially, they create shapes and silhouettes that were full-scale, whatever the creature was, and then they could come into a room and puppeteers would come in and they play their animal, and that way we can compose the shot. They don’t look like dinosaurs, you know what I mean? But they’re enough to make the actors react to something, and they look scary. We had these Mutadon puppets and the whole scene cut together and worked perfectly with just the puppets in, because the guys who were operating them, like, I don’t know what makes you want to do that for a living [laughs], but they could tap into something pretty dark. Yeah, it was all mainly just proxy objects, stuff that could push doors open and things like that, but not actually — then it gets replaced with the real photoreal dinosaurs.
Ali Larter was cast as the free-spirited Angela Norris on “Landman,” she played Brooke Taylor-Windham in the comedy “Legally Blonde.” The character is a fitness instructor who gets accused of killing her elderly husband, but Reese Witherspoon’s Harvard law student, Elle Woods, believes that she’s innocent and decides to represent her in court. The truth comes out in the end, and Brooke avoids a stint in prison, meaning that she’s free to return in the long-gestating “Legally Blonde 3” or any other project set in this universe. What’s more, Larter is keen to reprise the role, as she told The Hollywood Reporter:
“I’ve always heard that [‘Legally Blonde 3’] was getting written, and that Mindy Kaling was doing it, so who knows. Now they’re doing the [‘Legally Blonde’] TV show, so that’s going to take the space of that for a while. But I think that what Reese [Witherspoon] has always said is if a great script comes and if they can really crack a reason to make it, then they will. And, of course, I’d love to play Brooke Windham again. I mean, come on! I need to get my high kicks back on!”
Larter revealed that “Legally Blonde” remains the project for which she’s most recognized, so it’s clear that plenty of people are familiar with her character. As such, it makes sense to bring her back into the fold in some capacity. That said, her version of Brooke might not be part of the aforementioned TV show, as the story will go back to the past.
Amazon MGM Studios
The “Legally Blonde” TV series, “Elle,” follows the titular character (Lexi Minetree) during her high school years — back when she was obsessed with boys, clothes, and had no serious ambitions about attending Harvard to become a lawyer. The ’90s timeline also suggests that Brooke won’t be part of the series, as “Legally Blonde” reveals that she and Elle became friends during their college years.
As for Ali Larter, she is set to return to Taylor Sheridan’s television universe in “Landman” season 2. The oil-worker drama sees her play the wife of Billy Bob Thornton’s Tommy Norris, who now finds himself entangled in some potentially messy drama with the cartel. This means that Angela and the rest of their family could be set to deal with more problems, which should make for some exciting television.
Being part of a hit Sheridan series is no easy feat, and “Landman” should keep Larter busy for a while. Still, it’d be great to learn more about what her “Legally Blonde” character is up to these days, but for now, the planned third movie appears to be stuck in development hell.
It’s a good time to be a horror fan, as the genre has been thriving for a number of years. Some of the best horror movies from recent memory have come to us from Blumhouse, including the campy M3GAN franchise. And as much fun as I’ve had watching the first two movies in theaters, I’ve got a problem with M3GAN that applies to horror as a whole. Because scary PG-13 movies simply don’t pack the same punch.
M3GAN 2.0’s box office has been disappointing, which is surprising considering how well the first movie did. The sequel seemed like an anticipated upcoming Blumhouse movie, but I guess interest waned with fans. Maybe some good old fashioned R-rated violence would have helped this problem? I’m just saying.
scary PG-13 movies in the past (A Quiet Place, The Sixth Sense), the M3GAN movies are slashers. So aside from the anticipation, much of the terror of these movies usually is focused on the grisly way victims meet their end. There’s a reason why the first movie’s most memorable scene is when the titular robot is chasing down someone with a paper cutter. Aside from the viral M3GAN dance, it was because seeing a robot with that sharp object ready for violence is legit horrifying.
the sequel is inspired by Terminator 2, the titular character is now basically a good guy. But I just want to see the killer robot be a… killer robot! Is that too much to ask for?
To be fair, this isn’t a M3GAN exclusive problem. I usually attend PG-13 horror movies with some skepticism, given how much less terrifying and gory the imagery is bound to be. And while I’ve been pleasantly surprised by certain titles, this rating with the genre is a red flag for me. I think it can work for supernatural movies or thrillers, but for slashers I’m going to need to see the gore. I mean, Scream is my favorite horror movie for a reason.
I’m personally hoping that the developing spinoff SOULM8TE. Horror legend James Wan said it would have more adult themes, and be inspired by Fatal Attraction. Rather than a kid’s robot, this erotic thriller will feature a grieving man who buys an AI robot to help his loneliness. If the themes are more adult in nature, perhaps we’ll also be treated to R-rated violence. Hey, a guy can dream.
M3GAN 2.0 is in theaters now as part of the 2025 movie release list. Hopefully plans for SOULM8TE aren’t deterred given how it’s performed in the box office thus far.
“F1,” as a result, was a big hit for Apple at the box office out of the gate. Unfortunately, though, one cast member who originally had a bigger role in the movie wound up having her screen time chopped down to almost nothing.
Simone Ashley, who many people will know as Kate Sharma from “Bridgerton” season 2, was originally set to star alongside Pitt, Javier Bardem, and Damson Idris in the racing blockbuster. However, her role was essentially cut from the movie, though she does briefly appear in a scene with no lines. So, what happened? In an interview with People, Kosinski explained that it all came down to refining the footage in the editing room:
“It happens on every film, where you have to shoot more than you can use. There were two or three storylines that ultimately didn’t make [it] into the final cut. But Simone, she’s an incredible talent, incredible actress, incredible singer, and I would love to work with her again.”
“I have a very small part, but I’m grateful to be in that movie,” Ashley previously said while speaking to Elle. “I got to experience many Grands Prix. I don’t think I’ll ever do anything like that again.”
Apple Original Films
It’s not as though Kosinski is being heartless or that this is out of the ordinary. Actors are removed from movies all of the time during the editing process. In fact, several actors were cut from Marvel’s “Captain America: Brave New World” just earlier this year. There are countless other examples as well. It’s just the nature of the beast, particularly when it concerns big-budget, blockbuster filmmaking. Lower-budget movies tend to have less footage to work with so it’s less frequent, though it can still happen.
As it is, “F1” is two hours and 35 minutes long. Something had to give. In any event, Ashley doesn’t seem to have any hard feelings about the whole situation. She even attended the film’s premiere in London and had some very nice things to say about it. Taking to Instagram, Ashley expressed joy in reuniting with the cast and crew, all while encouraging people to go see the movie:
“It was a joy to reunite with the cast and crew, and to celebrate — I couldn’t have been prouder watching everyone shine on screen and on the carpet, all while wearing my couture Balmain gown that made me feel just as radiant. I’ve come away with friendships and memories I’ll treasure forever. Go see this movie! — it’s a must see ride and speed like you’ve never seen before!”
Ashley’s career still seems to be a very good place, disappointing as this may be. Earlier this year, her rom-com “Picture This” became a streaming hit on Prime Video. She’s also set to return to “Bridgerton” next year and has the psychological thriller “This Tempting Madness” in the can awaiting release.
“F1” is in theaters now.