Weekly Round Up: Edgar Wright, Matt Smith, Vin Diesel

28th January 2019

Okay, so, I’m a big, big horror fan. As far as I’m concerned horror is the best genre. I don’t think there’s really much of a conversation to be had here. It’s the broadest genre by far, encompassing anything from gory, gloopy and terrifying all the way through to cheesy and hilarious. But look, this is a subject for a separate piece and I’m not going to go into the ins and outs of why I think what I think or whatever right now, it’s just context.

I’m also a big Edgar Wright fan. Edgar Wright is, for those of you who don’t know, the director of Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and Baby Driver. He’s had a couple of misses (Scott Pilgrim is fun but not much else and World’s End is… well, let’s just move on, shall we?), but by and large his output is always interesting, filled to the brim with references and, at the very least, visually engaging.

So, this week’s news that Edgar Wright is planning on directing a psychological horror film, inspired by Nicholas Roeg’s cult classic Don’t Look Now and Roman Polanski’s Repulsion no less, is something that’s really got me pumped. For anyone interested in what an Edgar Wright horror film might look like, you should definitely be checking out his trailer for the fake movie Don’t, which he directed for the Tarantino/Rodriguez epic Grindhouse. It’s a great little short and if this new movie is anything like as inventive and crazy as that then… well, I’m in. Let’s just say I’m in.

Speaking of horror news, everyone’s favourite nutter Nicholas Cage seems to be on a bit of a horror kick himself. What with last years underseen but critically adored Mandy and now, this year the announcement that he’ll be appearing in an adaptation of cult horror author H P Lovecraft’s The Colour Out of Space.

Curiously enough, Lovecraft’s The Colour Out of Space revolves around the concept of a colour humans can’t perceive, so quite how director Richard Stanley plans to piece this thing together is beyond me. Still, I’m interested.

Stanley himself is no stranger to horror, having previous directed the excellent Hardware, which is a movie you should all also be checking out, really, and, to be honest, I don’t know why you’re not. He also directed a film called Dust Devil, which I haven’t seen, but I hear good things about.

Meanwhile, news that isn’t strictly about horror movies but is definitely horrific, Sony seem intent on continuing on with their adaptations of Marvel properties. Last week saw the announcement that Venom 2 is somehow actually happening (seriously, why did you all pay to go see that, this behaviour can’t be rewarded) this week their long-planned adaptation of Morbius, starring Jared Leto as the vampire anti-hero, has a new cast member.

It seems Matt Smith is the man who fancies joining the project, for some reason. Smith, who is perhaps best known for his role as the eleventh Doctor in Doctor Who, has been cast in an as yet unknown role. Collider are speculating that he’ll be playing Loxias Crown, a friend of the scientist Michael Morbius, who is later transformed into a evil, bloodthirsty villain after he takes the same serum that transforms the hero. But honestly, who gives a shit? Did I mention Edgar Wright is making a horror movie?

Fast and Furious fans rejoice, the franchise is getting even more content with a second spin-off, after the much-anticipated Hobbs and Shaw, starring Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham.

Vin Diesel and his producer sister Samantha Vincent announced the project via Instagram, revealing that they have hired three screenwriters to work on a female-led Fast and Furious spin-off movie. The writers are Lindsey Beer, who co-wrote next years post-apocalyptic thriller Chaos Walking, Geena Robertson-Dworet, who co-wrote Captain Marvel, and Nicole Perlman (not related to Ron), who co-wrote Guardians of the Galaxy, Detective Pikatchu and is working on the Labyrinth reboot.

Admittedly, I’m a fan of the Fast and Furious franchise. It’s good, clean and absolutely stupid but also a hell of a lot of fun. It knows exactly where it sits in terms of entertainment value and enjoys playing up to its ridiculous concept (remember when it was a franchise strictly about street-racing, anyone?). So, I’m pretty much down for whatever this particular series has to throw at me at this point, and with a screenwriting trio that experienced and unique I am absolutely game for whatever they might come up with. Bring it on.

Also, did I mention Edgar Wright is directing a horror movie?

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