How 'Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight' Expands Franchise
►Po's back. THR's
Abbey White went deep on this wonderful piece about DreamWorks Animation’s
Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight, the latest installment in the long-running franchise. Voice actors Jack Black, Rita Ora and James Hong, alongside art director Ellen Jin and EPs Peter Hastings and Shaunt Nigoghossian, spoke to Abbey about Po's latest journey as a celebration of where
Kung Fu Panda has been and where it's going.
The story. —
"Jay is an outlier." THR's Abbey is back once again, this time she spoke to
Westworld star and Hong Kong legend Daniel Wu on his character Jay's fate and why all humans aren’t responsible for the hosts’ “revenge” in season four. The actor also discusses how working on
Reminiscence helped score him a part in the HBO series, the origins of the human rebels and whether his character was always the one Bernard prophesized.
Warning spoilers. The interview. —
"Are you guys really going to kill Iron Man?" Jon Favreau, the man who introduced Robert Downey Jr's Iron Man to the world, wasn’t so sure the hero should have died in
Avengers: Endgame, according to the Russo brothers. In a new interview, Anthony and Jo Russo revealed they had to talk the
Iron Man director "off of a ledge" after he told them the hero's death would "devastate" fans.
The story. —
"It’s a very unnatural design." THR's
Carita Rizzo has a great piece on how Apple TV+'s breakout hit
Severance looks the way it does and how the office featured is designed to play tricks on viewers.
Severance production designer Jeremy Hindle reveals how he had to create a workplace that was both believable and discombobulating.
The story. In other news... —Disney+ releases
official Andor trailer for new Star Wars series —Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul unveil
bronze statues of Breaking Bad characters in Albuquerque —Lil Durk says he’s
taking a break to “focus on my health” after onstage mishap at Lollapalooza —Telemundo taps
Sandra Smester to lead programming —Gina Rodriguez
expecting first child, announces pregnancy on 38th birthday —
Fuller House star
Jodie Sweetin marries longtime boyfriend Mescal Wasilewski —Wheelhouse
opens “non-office” on Sunset for influencers to work and play —WIIP CEO
Paul Lee on why he opened hotel-inspired offices in Hollywood What else we're reading... —Yohana Desta interviews Gugu Mbatha-Raw on her intriguing new Apple show
Surface [
VF]
— Jason Schreier on how Rockstar Games cleaned up its frat-boy culture and how that will be reflected in the next installment of
Grand Theft Auto [
Bloomberg]
—Robbie Whelan analyzes
Thor 4's weak box-office in its second week, fitting a pattern for Marvel's recent offerings, suggesting superhero pics are showing signs of age [
WSJ]
—Andrew Lawrence writes that the recent racism incident at Sesame Place is part of a shameful tradition of excluding Black families from theme parks [
Guardian]
—Matthew Jacobs' oral history on Beyoncé's appearance in
Austin Powers: Goldmember is well worth your time [
Vulture]
Today... ...in 1973, George Lucas brought his nostalgic coming-of-age dramedy
American Graffiti to the big screen at the Avco Cinema Center in Los Angeles. Produced on a $777,000 budget, the film became one of the most profitable ever, making $140m at the box office.
The original review. Today's birthdays: Jason Momoa (43), Jude Hill (12), David Wain (53), Jack O'Connell (32),
Sam Mendes (57), Giancarlo Giannini (80), Demián Bichir (59), John Carroll Lynch (59), Kris Holden-Ried (49), Henry Lloyd-Hughes (37), Adrian Dunbar (64), Taapsee Pannu (35), Tempestt Bledsoe (49), Eduardo Noriega (49), Jennifer Gareis (52), Danny Kwok-Kwan Chan (47), José Padilha (55), Michael Penn (64), Coolio (59), Lauren Schmidt (44), Adam Duritz (58)