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WIRE Buzz: Lashana Lynch lands Matilda musical; Rhys Darby sets sail on HBO Max pirate comedy; more
Lashana Lynch (Captain Marvel, No Time to Die) will move on from playing Carol Danvers’ best friend to playing Matilda’s loving teacher in Netflix’s musical version of Matilda.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Lynch has been cast as Miss Honey in Netflix’s musical movie production of Roald Dahl’s beloved 1988 story, where a young girl named Matilda uses her supernatural abilities to put bullies in their place. Miss Honey is one of Matilda’s teachers, and forms a loving bond with the child during the course of the story.
The musical version of Matilda started out as a Broadway hit, and that production’s stage director, Matthew Warchus, is also on board to direct the movie. Netflix will manage worldwide distribution of the film, and Sony’s TriStar Pictures — which released the 1996 non-musical version of the story — will have exclusive theatrical rights in the U.K. (Netflix will stream the show in the U.K. after the film’s theatrical run is over).
No news yet on when the movie will go into production or be released.
Rhys Darby is walking the plank.
The Flight of the Conchords star is set to topline fellow New Zealander Taika Waititi's Pirate-themed comedy, Our Flag Means Death, for HBO Max.
Per The Wrap, the show will loosely chronicle the real life adventures of Stede Bonnet, an early 18th century Barbadian aristocrat who took to a life of crime on the high seas as the so-called Gentleman Pirate. Darby will play Bonnet while Waititi –– who served as a writer and producer on Conchords before becoming one of Hollywood's hottest filmmakers with Thor: Ragnarok and Jojo Rabbit –– will helm the pilot.
Darby previously shot to fame on Flight of the Conchords as Murray Hewitt, band manager to the New Zealand comedy folk duo both on their eponymous BBC radio series and when their sitcom premiered in 2007 on HBO, where it ran for two seasons.
The thesp's film and TV credits include the hit reboot Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and its 2019 sequel, The X-Files, and lending his voice to Trolls and Voltron: Legendary Defender among other toons.
He also worked with Waititi in his 2014 horror mockumentary, What We Do in the Shadows, and is slated to star in the director's upcoming film, Next Goal Wins, before Waititi starts work on his long-awaited Marvel follow up, Thor: Love and Thunder. Speaking of which...
The question we're pondering: What other Marvel Cinematic Universe veterans will be making a surprise appearance on Marvel's What If…?
Disney+'s highly anticipated 23-episode animated anthology is expected to offer up some awesome alternative storylines to some of your favorite big screen adventures, essentially reimaging those events in a parallel universe.
It also will feature the voices of many of the MCU's biggest stars reprising their iconic characters –– from Chris Hemsworth returning as Thor, Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/The Hulk, and Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, to Paul Rudd as Ant-Man, Sebastian Stan as The Winter Soldier, Tom Hiddleston as Loki, and the late Chadwick Boseman in his final appearance as T'Chala/Black Panther. Other Marvel alums set to appear on the series include Hayley Atwell, Michael Douglas, Karen Gillan, Josh Brolin, Natalie Portman, and Taika Waititi, among others.
But when asked on Twitter about who else might be dropping by, What If…? head writer A.C. Bradley couldn't resist teasing more to come.
"Spoilers! But I can say that there are more than a few surprising MCU cameos… and characters can and do pop up in more than one episode!" the writer-producer tweeted.
Marvel's What If…? Is slated to premiere on Disney+ this summer.
(via /Film)
