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WIRE Buzz: Tense new Dark Phoenix clip; David Lynch Oscar love; more
Tempers flare in a new look at Dark Phoenix, one of our most experimental filmmakers is honored, plus a brief word on Two Sentence Horror Stories, all in the latest WIRE Buzz.
As we count down the final few days to the arrival of Dark Phoenix, Apple TV (via Coming Soon) has shared a brand-new clip from the film. To be honest, it's not exactly new: This was part of the footage screened in March at WonderCon, which a lucky audience there got to see but which has only been made available to the rest of us now.
The scene takes place shortly after the X-Men have completed their successful mission to rescue the crew of a space shuttle attacked by the Phoenix Force. Although Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) absorbed the force herself, she's not yet showing the catastrophic effects it will have on her. Meanwhile, as Professor Xavier (James McAvoy), the team, and the other students at the school bask in the glory of the mission, Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) shares her concerns with Professor X in a heated exchange:
Mystique's pointed criticism of her mentor and friend — that he's letting his ego dictate the risks the X-Men are taking — foreshadows the tragic consequences ahead once the Phoenix awakens in Jean. Dark Phoenix is out this Friday (June 7), and we can only hope that this last X-Men movie of the current 19-year-old cycle completes its own mission successfully as well.
David Lynch has been a filmmaking force for more than 40 years, and while he's arguably a genre unto himself, some of his best-known work has dipped heavily into horror, sci-fi, and the avant-garde. Although he's been nominated for an Oscar four times — three of those for Best Director — he's never won, and the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences now aims to correct that.
According to The Wrap, Lynch has been named one of four recipients of the 11th Annual Governors Awards, a honor given out each year for overall career achievements. Lynch's achievements, of course, including groundbreaking and experimental cult classics such as Eraserhead (1977), Blue Velvet (1986), Lost Highway (1997), and Mulholland Dr. (2001), as well as his ambitious yet flawed adaptation of Dune (1984) and his masterwork, Twin Peaks, which has spawned two TV series and a 1992 movie, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me.
It's bold of the Academy to recognize such a unique and challenging artist, especially one who has had a major impact on the horror genre in particular while always skirting the edges of it. Lynch and his fellow honorees — Native American actor Wes Studi, director Lina Wertmuller, and actress Geena Davis (no genre slouch herself, with films like The Fly and Beetlejuice on her resume) — will be given their awards on Oct. 27.
With horror anthologies seemingly all the rage lately (American Horror Story, Into the Dark, etc.), The CW is getting into the game: The network announced Monday that it is developing Two Sentence Horror Stories, an original scripted series that will premiere on Aug. 8 at 8 p.m. with back-to-back episodes.
The series will feature a total of eight half-hour standalone segments and has its origins in a short-form digital series called 2SH that ran for five episodes, per Deadline. That series got its launch on the digital CW Seed platform last October, leading The CW to develop a full-length version for broadcast.
Each tale is inspired by a viral two-sentence premise, a form of fan fiction that has caught on among younger generations online. Think perhaps of creepypasta stories, only way shorter (you can find examples here). It's not exactly clear whether the show will adapt actual stories found online or if the writers will come up with original ideas of their own, but the idea is the same: a brief little vignette designed to freeze you in terror.
Nicole Kang (pictured above), who also appears in the upcoming Batwoman, will lead the cast, and we expect to hear more behind such story titles as "Little Monsters," "Squirm," "Gentleman," and "Only Child" in the weeks ahead.
