Ice Cube is played by his son in "Straight Outta Compton" and the father/son duo tell us how they wanted the performance to be authentic; Guy Ritchie's "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." isn't your average, everyday spy movie; Star Wars Land and other Disney-related news from D23; Tracy Morgan to return as host of SNL.
D23 Expo: Star Wars Land to 'Captain America: Civil War' — 9 things Disney wants you hyped about
Disney held their biennial D23 Expo in Anaheim over the weekend, the fourth one thrown by the company. Imagine San Diego Comic-Con if it was run by one company, designed to promote Disney's upcoming slate of projects from films to theme parks.
The event drew a huge crowd, in part thanks to the increased popularity of Disney acquisitions Marvel and Lucasfilm with upcoming movies like "Captain America: Civil War" and "Star Wars: The Force Awakens." Here are some of the things Disney wants you to be absolutely psyched about:
Star Wars Lands
The biggest announcement to come out of D23 was Star Wars lands in at both Disneyland and Disney World. They promise that both will come in at 14 acres, and while the lands becoming reality is still years away, they also announced new Star Wars upgrades like Star Tours trips from the new Star Wars movies, a Star Wars season where Space Mountain will become Hyperspace Mountain and more. So, run down to Disneyland now, because the lines once Star Wars Land becomes a reality will likely stretch from here to Endor.
We also talked with Shawn and Carmelle Marshall from the Parks and Cons website and podcast about D23, Star Wars Land before the announcement), Disney parks around the world and how the convention changed in 2015; listen to the bonus audio here:
Star Wars movies
The Star Wars movies took a backseat, as they refrained from showing off any new footage. Fans had to settle for a shot of the "Rogue One" spinoff cast, along with the announcement that "Jurassic World's" Colin Trevorrow would be taking on "Episode IX." Sorry everyone, you're just going to have to wait a whole four more months before you get to see the thing.
Captain America: Civil War
"Captain America: Civil War" showed off its first teaser trailer, with fans so psyched about one of the reveals that it even led to a trending hashtag despite no one outside of the 7,500 people who fit inside the room having seen it: #YourBucky. The reason? An emotional moment where it's revealed that Bucky remembered Captain America despite the character previously seeming an amnesiac. "You know, he remembered you. Your pal, your buddy, your Bucky," villain Crossbones says in the trailer. Excuse us while we "awwwww" and quietly cry in the bathroom.
Finding Dory
Ellen DeGeneres has made it a long-running joke on her show that "Finding Nemo" should get a sequel based on its success, and her shilling for the movie where she voiced Dory has led to her getting her own semi-sequel/semi-spinoff, "Finding Dory." One thing about D23 is that it's a corporate event in some ways more similar to an Apple keynote presentation that a Comic-Con panel, so you can actually turn around and follow along with what the presenters are saying in many of the speeches. The script included spots for Ellen to make witty banter with other cast members, which she pointed out and made a joke of the effort to create forced witty banter, which the director tried to awkwardly laugh off.
Toy Story 4
Posters were shown for sequels to "Cars" and "The Incredibles," but one of the sequels to get the most excitement from fans was the next "Toy Story," with original director and Pixar/Disney animation head honcho John Lasseter returning to direct it. It's set to be a new genre for the "Toy Story" films — a love story between Woody and Bo Peep, inspired by Lasseter's own wife. So get ready for a date movie for all ages, even the boys first discovering girls. (There's also a Toy Story Land coming soon to Disney World.)
The Good Dinosaur
There are a lot of Pixar sequels in the works, but the one coming this November is "The Good Dinosaur." A clip shown from the movie focused on the main characters' dead parents — as they pointed out, it is a Disney movie, after all. The clip had that "Up"/"Inside Out"-type emotional resonance, so bring a Costco pack of tissues with you to the theater. (They also previewed their next all-original non-sequel, "Coco," based on the Day of the Dead.)
Moana & Gigantic
"Zootopia" is the first Disney animated film coming up, but the bigger news was on their other upcoming projects. One of the upcoming Disney animated films to get the biggest push, along with the Rock dropping in to promote it, was "Moana." It's an upcoming film set in the South Pacific, based on local legends, with the filmmakers noting that it was heavily researched. Sadly, the name of the film is pronounced "Mo-ah-na," not like Tony Danza yelling "Mona!" They've also got "Gigantic," set to tell a definitive version of the story of Jack and the Beanstalk. It's set in Spain, so feel free to talk about this one with a Castilian accent.
Frozen: The Musical
One area where Disney makes an impact that gets less attention is Broadway. D23 Expo featured Broadway performers singing songs at a variety of their panels, as well as giving them their own panel going through the history of Disney on Broadway with hit shows like "The Lion King," "Aladdin" and "Newsies." They also did an encore from the next Disney stage musical which is, of course, an adaptation of "Frozen." If you're planning a trip to New York City, get ready to have "Let It Go" stuck in your head all over again.
Disneylands around the world
While we have Disneyland in our backyards, and the Disney addicts among us still take trips out to the larger Disney World, Disney also showed off the twisted angles on Disneyland you'll see around the world. There's a brand new Shanghai Disneyland opening up where the Pirates of the Caribbean get their own land for the first time — it was noted that Disney's Chinese audience has no idea POTC was a ride before it was a movie, so the new Pirate-land will take its cue from the film, rather than the classic ride. There's also a Tomorrowland with a "Tron" roller coaster and many more slightly different takes on the Disney experience. Hong Kong's even getting an Iron Man Experience ride. Sorry U.S. Disney fans, there was no announcement of a Marvel land this year.
'Man From UNCLE' director Guy Ritchie would 'quite fancy' making an animated kids film
Filmmaker Guy Ritchie made a name of himself directing stylish, often lower-budget British crime dramas like “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels,” “Snatch” and “RocknRolla.”
He has since graduated to the big-budget Robert Downey Jr. version of “Sherlock Holmes,” but he hasn’t made a movie in four years, since the last “Sherlock” sequel.
Now Ritchie is back with “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.,” a movie version of the TV series from the 1960s that has been kicking around Hollywood for years. The film stars Henry Cavill as Solo opposite Armie Hammer as Illya.
Ritchie and his "Sherlock" writing partner Lionel Wigram penned the screenplay, but the movie’s writing credits have four people listed. We were curious about how the writing credits for this movie worked out. Ritchie says:
We pretty much write everything. Everything we've done since the Sherlocks. I don't care about who's really taken the credit, but it was Lionel [Wigram] and I. It's a funny thing the world of credits. Once you've been in it a while you realize there are people taking credit left, right and center who have done absolutely nothing. There's no way around that system...With this script, we inherited something which had 30 writers on it and there was nothing we could do with it at all, so we just started again. Then we got told we have to share a story credit with two guys we'd never heard of, but because there was a relationship or someone was called the same name, or I couldn't remember what it was. They had to take a credit, that's just the nature of these things and also if you inherit them, there are people that, I think in their contract says they need to take a credit although it has nothing to do with what has been manifest on screen.
Ritchie came on The Frame to talk about the long time it took to get "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." to the screen and his secret love of animated children's films.
Interview Highlights:
This movie took decades to come together. There were several actors and directors involved. Was there any idea in your mind why it had taken so long to get all the stars to align into a movie that made sense?
There were so many cooks in the kitchen that there was nothing we could do with the script we inherited at all, it didn't make any sense and it wasn't worth making. What it needed was a team or someone to pick it up and go 'this is what we're doing." And to stop being lead by committee. It just needed someone to commit. When someone mentioned "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." to me, I had enough fun memories of what I thought "Man From U.N.C.L.E." was to commit. There were all sorts of different projects that were offered to us after "Sherlock," so we waited and waited and then "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." and within 30 seconds I said, yeah, I can do something with "The Man From U.N.C.L.E."
This is your first film in four years, what took you so long to get back into the director's seat?
It's hard to find projects. U.N.C.L.E. is the first one that came along. I'd like to make a movie a year is the position I'd like to be in. We make all efforts now to get that up to speed, but it's hard if you don't find the projects. And I can see directors that do do it, and there's a price.
Meaning that if you work on something you're not in love with you start doing things that aren't the best ideas, which is a different reason for making a movie.
Yeah they just shot something and you can tell their heart wasn't in it, you know? And that's kind of sad when you're doing that 'cause then you're thinking, are they just chasing a dollar? If you're going to go into the business of making money, you're just better off going into the business of making money and not into the business of making films. I've had hard times making movies and people have really not liked some of my movies, and some of the have been popular some of them haven't, and it's a whole process of evolution. And I feel more confident about making films now than I have done just because I suppose I'm more experienced, but partly because I've been burned. And I think the burning process is necessary.
You have gone back in time with this movie into the 1960s, you've gone back in time with "Sherlock Holmes," you're really going back in time with "Knights of the Roundtable"...Does that mean that the only challenge left is a children's animated musical?
Very funny you should say that, by the way. I'd quite fancy that. The other thing is out of my top 10 movies I think five of them are animated kids' films. I have five kids so inevitably it means I end up watching a lot of animated kids' films. I think "Incredibles" is probably my favorite of all the kids animated movies, not just, it's one of my favorite movies. I'm embarrassed to say "Frozen," but I have to partly, because I know every word of "Frozen" from the beginning to the end. If you have a small daughter, you will too. And I've got to tell ya, as you watch it again and again, it's pretty clever. Clever, not lazy, filmmaking. So, guilty as charged, your honor.
Ice Cube knew his son was right for 'Straight Outta Compton' — he just had to learn how to act
If you thought the actor portraying Ice Cube in "Straight Outta Compton" looks eerily similar to the veteran rapper/actor...well, that's because he's Cube's 24-year-old son, O'Shea Jackson Jr.
It's true that the younger Jackson had a singular insight into Ice Cube, but he had a major obstacle to getting the part: he had never seriously acted before. He spent two years working to prove to director F. Gary Gray that he could perform the part. The stakes were high — not only because he'd be playing his dad in a major motion picture, but Ice Cube was also a producer on the film.
When Cube and his son joined us on The Frame, they talked about O'Shea's path to being able to embody Ice Cube on the screen, the overwhelming success of "Straight Outta Compton," and what it's like to watch your son pretend to be you.
Interview Highlights:
Cube, to watch your son in this movie has so many different levels: the proud father seeing your son [nailing the role]; watching yourself as a young man and reliving that experience; and as the producer of a movie about this incredible moment in musical history. How do you separate all of those three things, or can you?
Cube: I've invented two clouds — you've got cloud nine, but I'm on clouds 10 and 11. [laughs] I just jump from cloud to cloud because I'm so ecstatic. It's so exciting that we were able to get this movie done, then to be able to see our story played out is like I'm in a "Back to the Future" movie. [laughs]
It's really crazy, and I'm most excited for this opportunity for my son ... he stepped up and he showed that he had the chops to pull it off. It's incredible vindication because I've been the one pushing for him to do this — not just because he's my son, but I just knew he was the right man for the job.
O'Shea, did you know that from the beginning? Or did you have to convince yourself and be persuaded by others, that you could play your father?
Jackson, Jr.: It took me about a day or so, really, to convince myself. I wanted this project to be right, so I thought about letting a seasoned actor get in there and do what he does. But at the same time, what could they do that you can't? A lot of people know [Ice Cube] for his scowl, but nobody really knows what's behind it, and I have a better understanding than anyone they could find.
In the making of this movie, did you learn anything more about your father that you didn't know?
Jackson, Jr: Just the fact that, when he left the group, he didn't just say that he was going to go solo. He had no plan, but he just knew his situation wasn't right and he had to go. It didn't matter that he was on top of the world with his friends — if he had to start from zero just so he could be right as a man, then so be it. That just speaks to his integrity.
Cube, this movie replays some of the great moments in your life — from NWA's formation to the group's meteoric rise to fame. But the movie also revisits some of the more troubling things that you went through personally. What was it like watching your son playing you getting beaten up, harassed and humiliated by the police?
Cube: You know, you can always tell your kids how it was, but here he was able to experience it in a safe environment, almost like a simulator. [laughs] I remember how my father used to talk about Louisiana and being in the backwoods, but until I visited and walked those backwoods, I couldn't really see what he was talking about. Hopefully, by playing this role, my son can see those stories that I used to talk about all the time.
Were there certain liberties that your son wanted to take in how he was playing you? Or did you try to keep him on a certain path?
Cube: I wanted him to play the role, but I didn't want him to act or mimic. I wanted him to embody and go with his instincts, so I gave him all the ammunition I could as far as what I was thinking in the past, and I just let him go for it. I wanted him to have the freedom to ad-lib or go off-script without feeling lost, that he could go with his gut. He knows me, and he did a magnificent job.
O'Shea, you've gotten great reviews for this movie, which is a huge hit at the box office. This is also your first film. Has the reality of all of that sunk in? Are you ready to do whatever's next?
Jackson, Jr: It still hasn't fully sunk in, but I'm definitely focused on picking the next project. I'm in a unique opportunity, so I have to make sure that the next one gets just as much praise and I'm able to show my acting chops a little bit more. I'm still in a surreal moment with "Straight Outta Compton," though.
Cube, my 15-year-old son wasn't alive to hear this music when it came out, but he listens to it now. What do kids of his generation need to know about what happened in this moment in history and what NWA represented in a larger sense?
Cube: Some of the music can be a little harsh. We talk about the good, the bad and the ugly, and we're not always 100% positive, but we're always honest. So I think that's where it starts, and that's the appeal to everyone that's into this music — they love the fact that we're honest, and hopefully they'll understand that we were just some young kids from Compton and we were constructive with our frustrations.
We just took a pen to a pad and we made art out of it. It's gotten us this far, and it's gotten a lot more attention than it would have if we had burned down a building or looted a store. So that's a lesson to the youth: when you don't like something, sometimes being creative is the best payback.