Movies

There's no one like you, Covey -- and that's why she's heading back to the small screen. Fans of To All The Boys I've Loved Before, listen up, because it sounds like a To All the Boys I've Loved Before sequel is officially in the works. That's right -- Laura Jean Covey (Lana Condor) and Peter Kavinsky (Noah Centineo) may be reuniting on our laptop screens sometime in the (hopefully) near future. According to The Hollywood Reporter, a sequel is "one of the first movies being discussed" as part of Paramount Pictures and Netflix's newly minted multi-picture deal. While much still remains up in the air about how the second movie will unfold, the first's brief credits scene featuring the final recipient of one of Laura Jean's letters, John Ambrose McClaren, may hold a clue as to where the story will go. Director Susan Johnson's previous comments on a potential sequel seem to lead that way, too. "Relationships are hard to navigate and they'll find themselves in one. And they'll discover what the next person might bring in John Ambrose McClaren," she told ET back in August. "We're so invested in Peter and Lara Jean, that seeing them go through struggles is going to be hard but also something everybody can relate to," she continued. "The next shiny face comes in and you're like, 'Oh shoot, this guy's really nice too. What do I do?'" Plus, there's plenty of source material to work off of considering author Jenny Han penned a trilogy for the story of Laura Jean, including P.S. I Still Love You and Always and Forever, Lara Jean. As for the breakout stars of the first film, they're totally game to return to high school. Just days ago, Condor spoke on the topic of a sequel at the Vulture Festival. As she put it, "The whole cast would love to do it." You're preaching to the choir, Lana! (Eonline)

Cardi B Is Making Her Movie Debut as a Stripper in New Film With Jennifer Lopez. Cardi Bis making money moves! The rapper will be making her big screen debut when she stars alongside actresses Jennifer Lopez and Constance Wu in the film Hustlers. Not to forget the rest of the star-studded cast, which includes Riverdale star Lili Reinhart, Keke Palmer, Julia Stiles and Mercedes Ruehl. Per the press release, Cardi and her team of fierce co-stars play a team of former exotic dancers who "band together to turn the tables on their Wall Street clients." Interestingly enough, the plot of the movie is largely inspired by a viral New York Magazine article that detailed the true story of how a group of women conned the men they once serviced. In the film, which will begin filming in New York City on March 22, Lopez will play the ringleader of the infamous group, something that director Lorene Scafaria is overjoyed by. "There is no other actor who could embody this raw and dynamic character with such complexity, humanity and intelligence. It's always been her. She's f--king Jennifer Lopez," Scafaria previously said. The director isn't the only one who is jumping for joy over the impressive cast. Julia Stiles told her Instagram followers she is "So frickin' excited!" Cardi B has yet to comment on the exciting news, but fans are excited to see how the star uses her past experience as a dancer in her new role. Before she became famous on season six of Love & Hip Hop: New York the 26-year-old stripped professionally. Filming begins at the end of the week on the streets of New York City, so keep your eyes peeled for those star sightings! (Eonline)

Captain Marvel's hair was inspired by Stevie Nicks. Captain Marvel is the most powerful superhero in the Marvel Universe, and her hair was inspired by equally strong women in real life. Because the just-released movie takes place in the '90s, Camille Friend, head of the hair department for the film, and her team looked toward icons of that era for reference. "One thing about the '90s is that it wasn't really a great hair period," Friend told Page Six Style with a laugh. "For Brie [Larson, who plays the titular character], we wanted her to have a little edge. So, we looked at the women who were rockers of the age, like Chrissy Hynde and the women of Fleetwood Mac." For Larson's best friend, Maria Rambeau (Lashana Lynch), Halle Berry's iconic hair from the period was the stylist's singular reference. "I wanted people to instantly know and not have to guess at the time period. Especially when you're doing a movie like that, you don't want the hair to take viewers out of it." For beloved Agent Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), Friend referenced old pictures of the actor himself to craft his younger look. To achieve Larson's grunge-y aesthetic, Friend envisioned a wig that was as close to the actress's natural hair as possible. The hairstylist, who was in charge of hair for "Black Panther," "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" and "Captain America" as well, said that wigs are typically used in most superhero flicks, since the look can be easily duplicated on multiple stunt people. Not only did she have to style multiple wigs that looked natural on the star as both Carol Danvers and her superhero alter ego, she also had to manufacture Captain Marvel's iconic mohawk. "The mohawk was one of the hardest things we had to do on the movie! It was a lot of research and development," she said. "We did a lot of testing to get the right shape, the right color, the right cut so that it would move. It was a labor of love, that mohawk." The fact that Danvers -- who was an Air Force pilot before she obtained her superhuman strength and photon-blasting capabilities -- is the first female lead of a Marvel movie isn't lost on Friend. "I felt really honored to be picked [to head this movie] because, first of all, it is the first female lead and, second of all, she is the most powerful in the universe. So that made it really exciting," she said. "I always love when I get picked to do an origin story because you really get to put your stamp on it." And fans of the movie felt no different: "The greatest thing was when I went to the premiere and all those little girls were dressed up as Captain Marvel," Friend said. "It's an origin story, but it also has the message: You can do it, you can make it, don't let anything stop you. That's the greatest thing about it, and it makes people feel good." (PageSix)

Filmart: How Japanese Director Yojiro Takita Overcame Culture Shock with Chinese-language 'Silence of Smoke'. The Oscar-winning 'Departures' helmer co-wrote and directed the drama about a family of cake makers wrestling with a generational divide. Oscar-winning Japanese director Yojiro Takita believes the vast movie-going audience in China deserve more mature entertainment. "The film industry in China today is skewed towards the young audience," Takita tells The Hollywood Reporter. "But I think through life, there are many inevitable experiences, and I think the audience deserves the chance to watch films about them." Ever since Takita took home the Academy Awards for best foreign language film award with Departures in 2009, he has been bombarded by offers from Hollywood, China, and Hong Kong. He has been in talks with Hollywood studios as well as Netflix, but no deals have been sealed yet. With his latest release, the Chinese-language Silence of Smoke, presented by China's Magilm Pictures, Beijing Orange Letter Media, and Hong Kong's Media Asia, Takita has made his first film outside of Japan with a script that he co-wrote. The cast includes former K-pop boy band member Han Geng (So Young, A Chinese Odyssey: Part Three), and screen veterans Zhang Guoli (Back to 1942) and Summer Xu (The Founding of a Republic). With filmmakers everywhere eyeing the mammoth Chinese market, Takita considered a deep integration between the Japanese and Chinese film industries on a co-production to be unlikely. But with Smoke he feels he is helping to close that gap. "The Japan and Chinese film industries have very different modes of operation. I think the way to go forward for Japan to work with China in co-productions is to have a Japanese director overseeing a Chinese production, just like what we did on Silence of Smoke. The two industries coming together would be like a marriage." Adapted from a novella by Chinese writer Xin You, Silence of Smoke tells the story of a family that has been dedicated to making cakes for eight generations. It centers on a secret ingredient in the cake that the father doesn't reveal to his son, even when he passes his business to the son on his deathbed. The tension between accepting or rejecting tradition and legacy is the element that attracted Takita's to the project. "The 2008 Olympic Games in China is a big symbol for China making big leaps into modernity, and the modern and present taking over the traditional and the past," he says. "It means that a lot of traditions cannot be kept. It's happening all over the world. With the Japan 2020 Olympics it is the same thing. We are constantly struggling between keeping and learning from traditions or letting them go." With favoritism and generational difference as the film's themes, Takita says he was surprised by the cultural differences between Chinese and Japanese crews during the shoot. "In the film, the son runs away, and when he returns, he and his father reconcile without issue. It struck me as odd," said Takita. "When we were making the film, I found the younger people in the crew would speak their minds to their elders and expressed their opinions, which is a good thing. But that's not the norm in Japan, where the young people are more used to being deferential." Working in a language he doesn't speak a word of, proper communication was perhaps Takita's greatest challenge on set. "It makes me worry to think about whether my exact meanings and directions were getting through to the cast and crew through an interpreter, or if something was lost in translation," he says. "But working with the actors were not too difficult, as a good actor can convey the emotion. Since I co-wrote the script and knew the lines, I could see the performance through the tones and rhythms of their voice and their gestures and movements. Zhang Guoli and Han Geng are both very good actors. The good ones think of the whole scene, not just act their own parts." (Hollywood Reporter)

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