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WIRE Buzz: LEGO enters Mos Eisley Cantina; Juliet Landau bites on A Place Among the Dead; more
You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy in LEGO's newest Star Wars set: a detailed recreation of the Mos Eisley Cantina from Episode IV - A New Hope. Comprised of more than 3,000 pieces, the product comes with the expected cast of minifigures: Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, C-3PO, and Greedo.
After all, this is the iconic location where Luke and Obi-Wan first meet Han and Chewie. Now you can stage your own Han-Greedo confrontation and figure (get it?) out who shot first! Fans of the galaxy far, far away can also get their hands on eight characters who have been turned into LEGO figures for the very first time like Ponda Baba, Dr. Evazan, Garindan, and more. A dewback; "Wanted" posters for C-3PO and R2-D2; and hidden kyber crystals are included as well.
"The first time I watched the cantina scene in Star Wars: A New Hope, I was just 12 years old. I remember thinking, ‘this is where the adventure starts!’ Years later, when I then became a LEGO Star Wars designer in 2016, this was the first set I built," set designer Cesar Soares said in a statement. "With this design, we’ve added external buildings like the Jawa shop, refined the details, and chosen an impressive 21 minifigure characters, including all-new alien figures. I love that all Star Wars characters have cool backstories, no matter how briefly they appear, it wasn’t easy to decide which characters to include in the set, but we hope fans will love the entire model and its line-up of heroes and villains."
The set becomes available for LEGO VIP members Wednesday, Sep. 16. The rest of the world can order it Thursday, Oct. 1. Get more info here.
Juliet Landau, who played Drusilla on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, is returning to the world of bloodsuckers in her directorial debut: A Place Among the Dead. Per Deadline, Modern Films will distribute the film worldwide, with a preview event taking place on Halloween (Saturday, Oct. 31). The movie is slated to arrive on PVOD Monday, Nov. 9.
Landau also stars in the film, which features genre vets like Gary Oldman (Harry Potter), Ron Perlman (Hellboy), Robert Patrick (Terminator 2), Lance Henriksen (Aliens) and, most interestingly, Buffy's creator Joss Whedon. If that's not strange enough, here's another unexpected casting choice: Vampire Chronicles author Anne Rice in her acting debut.
Deadline writes the project "uses the vampire genre to explore the repercussions of growing up under the sway of narcissism and evil. In a revealing and terrifying meld of fact, fiction and the fantastical, the film follows an actress/filmmaker by the name of Jules, who is driven by the demons of her past as she embarks on a journey at the potential cost of everything she knows and loves."
Bad news, Stephen King fans. Hulu is no longer pursuing an Eyes of the Dragon TV adaptation from Seth Grahame-Smith. The Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter confirmed the unfortunate news on the latest episode of The Kingcast.
"There was a regime change at the worst possible moment at Hulu," Grahame-Smith said. "When regime changes happen, the incoming people, as great as they are, take a look around and don't necessarily want to inherit the projects of the people that just got replaced. In our case, I think we had a lot of goodwill at Hulu because people were really excited about the script and they had had success with Castle Rock and this was this was perfect building off of that."
The author went on to say that while Hulu liked the pilot script, the show would've cost a king's ransom: "upwards of $100 million a season." Because of the overarching deal, the streaming service had to either order an entire season or pass. They ended up going the latter route. "From a financial standpoint, I certainly don't blame them; it's a big bet," Grahame-Smith continued. "But I was so crushed because I had gotten so excited about the idea of making this show because I really thought it was going to be something so different in the Stephen King adaptation world."
He described his vision for the series as "this darker, weirder f***ed up Game of Thrones, minus the nakedness for the whole family to enjoy together." Published in 1984, The Eyes of the Dragon is King's contribution to the high fantasy genre and features Randall Flagg, the magical antagonist in The Stand. The book marked a notable deviation for King, who had, until that point, established himself as a master of horror-related fiction.
Since Sony owns the rights to Flagg (who will show up in the new Stand miniseries at CBS All Access), the axed Hulu adaptation was forced to change his character's name and backstory a little bit. Grahame-Smith admitted that he had "a Sam Rockwell-type" in mind for the role. Interestingly, Rockwell has already appeared in a Stephen King adaptation: Frank Darabont's The Green Mile (1999).
