Film News Roundup: Kristen Schaal, Holland Taylor Join ‘Bill & Ted Face the Music’
By Dave McNary
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – In today’s film news roundup, Kristen Schaal and Holland Taylor have joined the cast of “Bill & Ted Face The Music”; Gravitas sets a pair of release dates; Alamo Drafthouse unveils its “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” plans; and Peter Weir is set for an honor.
CASTINGS
and have joined the cast of “Bill & Ted Face The Music” as characters from 700 years in the future.
Schaal will play a messenger while Taylor is set to take on the role of The Great Leader, the most powerful person in the universe. Keanu Reeves will again portray Ted “Theodore” Logan, and Alex Winter will reprise his role as Bill S. Preston, Esq. Other cast members include Scott Mescudi – best known by his stage name Kid Cudi – William Sadler, Samara Weaving and Brigette Lundy-Paine.
Amy Stoch and Hal Landon Jr. have signed on to reprise their original roles for “Bill & Ted Face the Music” with “SNL” star Beck Bennett also joining the cast. “Bill & Ted Face the Music” will follow up 1989’s “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure” and 1991’s “Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey.”
Dean Parisot (“Galaxy Quest”) will direct from a script by original creators Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon. Orion will debut the movie in the U.S. through the United Artists Releasing banner on Aug. 21, 2020. The news was first reported by Deadline.
GRAVITAS RELEASES
Gravitas Ventures has acquired Ilana Rein’s psychological thriller “Perception” for a digital release on Aug. 6.
The film is Rein’s feature directorial debut and stars Wes Ramsey, Meera Rohit Kumbhani, Caitlin Mehner and Max Jenkins. Ramsey plays a successful real estate developer, who must evict a mysterious small-time psychic struggling to provide for her young son only to develop an obsession to reconnect with his dead wife.
“While creating this film, I was fascinated by the struggle between one’s beliefs and one’s ability to question them” said Rein. “Using the template of a psychological thriller, ‘Perception’ weaves a story of moral complexity that audiences may experience differently. Just as the characters’ interpretations of events inform their actions, audiences may be surprised to find their interpretation of the film’s events is by no means universally shared.”
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Halfway Crooks Entertainment and Gravitas Ventures will release writer/director Nick Richey’s drama “Low Low” theatrically and digitally in August.
The cast includes Ali Richey, Alexis Raich, Kacie Rogers, and Montana Roesch, portraying working class teenagers navigating their last days of high school through a haze of sex, drugs and violence, all while trying to find their way into the next phase of life without losing everything.
Producers are Nick Richey, Zach Mann, Zack Blinder and Trevor Lee Georgeson. Co-producers include Phoenix Vaughn and Ruth Devereaux.
35MM RELEASE
Alamo Drafthouse Cinema will screen Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” on 35mm at 19 locations across the country.
The chain said Thursday that it was the widest 35mm run of any theatrical circuit for the film. Most exhibitors display films digitally rather than on motion picture film.
The locations include the new Alamo Drafthouse Downtown Los Angeles along with showings in Brooklyn, Yonkers, Austin, San Antonio, Denver, Kansas City, Raleigh, Phoenix, Dallas / Fort Worth, Lubbock and El Paso.
The film, starring Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio, will also have a 70mm run at Alamo Drafthouse New Mission in San Francisco, one of five in the nation to play the film on the widescreen celluloid format.
HONOREES ANNOUNCED
The Location Managers Guild has named Peter Weir as the recipient of the Eva Monley Award, which recognizes industry members who support the work of location professionals.
Location manager Michael J. Meehan will receive the organization’s Lifetime Achievement Award. The trophies will be presented Sept. 21, 2019 at the Eli and Edythe Broad Stage in Santa Monica, Ca.
Weir earned Best Director Academy Award nominations for “Witness” (1985), “The Truman Show” (1998), “Dead Poets Society” (1989) and “Master and Commander” (2003). He also directed “Picnic at Hanging Rock,” “Last Wave,” “Gallipoli” and “The Year of Living Dangerously.”
Meehan has worked on over 38 movies and scouted more than 40 countries.
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Studio Movie Grill is presenting Paramount executive Pat Gonzalez with its Opening Hearts and Minds Award.
She’s being honored for her work with the Variety Children’s Charity and the Variety Boys and Girls Club of Boyle Heights. She will be honored at ceremonies on July 30 at the chain’s Monrovia facility.
