New director for Assassin’s Creed, Sam Mendes talks Bond return and Joe Quesada on Marvel’s Defenders

In loving memory of Bob Hoskins, 1942 – 2014

2012’s Skyfall was one of the most critically lauded films in the Bond series so far (with five Oscar nominations and eight BAFTA nods including Best Supporting Actor and Actress for Javier Bardem and Judi Dench as well as Best British Film, Editing and Cinematography), and it was easily the highest grossing with over a billion dollars in the bank. It was no surprise to hear that its director, Oscar winner Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Revolutionary Road, Road to Perdition), was wanted to return for Bond 24 but he’s now revealed the reasons why. He claims that Skyfall left a “number of stories that were incomplete. I cast a new M, I cast a new Moneypenny, I cast a new Q. I felt there was a second part of a two-part story.”

Mendes also opened up the possibility of Bond 25, which star Daniel Craig is up for. “It helped when Eon agreed to wait a little longer and not go immeadiately – not go with two movies and instead go with one, which I felt very strongly about.” We’re expecting Daniel Craig (Munich), Ben Whishaw (Cloud Atlas), Rory Kinnear (Southcliffe), Naomi Harris (Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom) and Ralph Fiennes (Schindler’s List, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The English Patient, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) to reprise their roles while Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave, Serenity) and Penelope Cruz (Volver, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides) have long been rumoured for a part.

There’s been a long haul to get video game sensation Assassin’s Creed into cinemas in a film-adaptation. For a while, Michael Fassbender (300, 12 Years a Slave, Shame, Prometheus, X-Men: First Class) has been nailed in for the lead role of Desmond Miles while Swedish writer Daniel Espinosa (Safe House, Easy Money) was our favourite to become director. Now it seems that Fassbender has roped his buddy Justin Kurzel from his upcoming Bard adaptation Macbeth (also starring David Thewlis and Marion Cottilard) for the directing gig. Kurzel also brought us murderous drama Snowtown and is now in negotiations for the job.

Assassin’s Creed tells the story of Desmond Miles, an ordinary man captured by shady corporation Abstergo and forced to relive the memories of his ancestors. They, as Assassins, discovered secret artefacts and revelations about gods and aliens. This allows the players to cross numerous time zones, including renaissance Italy, revolutionary America and the swashbuckling Caribbean, and delve in the free-running knife-wielding antics.

Despite Agents of SHIELD’s on-off success, Marvel is confident enough to put forward a new set of shows. Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist and Luke Cage will all receive their own Netflix 13 part series before the four combine to make The Defenders. Producer of numerous Marvel TV flicks Joe Quesada has told us all about how these 52+ episode saga is forming.

There’s the initial issue of continuity with the rest of the Marvel universe, Agents of SHIELD’s most admirable feature. “They will exist within the cinematic universe again, so this is all the same world as SHIELD and The Avengers. There will be some interconnectivity, much like the movies.  Although these are superhero stories, this is different,” he elaborate. “This is the street level, noir side of the Marvel universe, probably more ground level than you’ve really seen in any of our Marvel movies.”

“The scripts are coming in,” says Quesada, “and they’re pretty fantastic: very emotional, very original. But at the same time, it is Daredevil; it is Matt Murdock. These stories take place in Hell’s Kitchen, and the fantastic thing is that we’re shooting at home in New York where these characters belong. We will hopefully start casting really, really soon.” Sadly there’s no word on potential plotlines or if classic Daredevil villains such as Kingpin, Bullseye or the ever-unforgetable Stilt-Man will feature but, with the show(s) fastly developing, we can’t be too far away from those kind of confirmations.

Daredevil – 2015 on Netflix

Iron Fist – 2015 on Netflix

Luke Cage – 2015 on Netflix

Jessica Jones – 2015 on Netflix

The Defenders – 2016 on Netflix

Assassin’s Creed – August 6th 2015

Bond 24 – October 23rd 2015

Bond 25 – 2017?

The Must Sees of November 2013

This one comes a few days late but we need a round up of November’s huge releases. First up, we’ve got the new film from Stephen Frears (two time Oscar nominated director famed for The Queen and High Fidelity). Philomena is the true story of a pregnant Irish teenager who’s child was stolen by nuns and put up for adoption in America. Decades on in the present day, the old woman’s (Judi Dench – Skyfall, Shakespeare in Love, Iris) story is found by political journalist Martin Sixsmith (Steve Coogan – Alan Partridge, The Look of Love, Despicable Me 2) and they set out to America to find Philomena’s son. This bitter comedy is sweeping up recognition from everywhere, BAFTAs are certain and Oscars are a possibility, and opens November 1st.

Eric Bana, Rebecca Hall and Jim Broadbent star in Closed Circuit. John Crowley is the director of this mystery thriller which sees a regular court case uncovering a huge terrorist plot (Nov 1st). Zac Efron, Marcia Gay Harden, James Badge Dale and Paul Giamatti play characters in their response to the death of President John F Kennedy in 1963 for the new drama Parkland from director Peter Landesman (Nov 8th). Last Vegas is the new big billing comedy. The premise is four sixty something guys (played by four Oscar winners – Michael Douglas, Morgan Freeman, Robert De Niro and Kevin Kline) hitting Vegas for the final bachelor party of their lives as the last on of them ties the knot. Jon Turteltaub (National Treasure) is the director (Nov 8th).

The biggest release of the month has got to be Gravity. It’s burst into IMDB’s Top 250 films of all time and sits at about 50th. Alfonso Cauron (Children of Men, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) is the director of what’s being praised as one of the most technically astonishing films of all time. Sandra Bullock plays Dr Ryan Stone, a medical engineer on her first trip to space. She’s on a spacestation with veteran Matt Kowalsky (George Clooney) when debris crashes into them leaving them stranded and tumbling towards Earth (Nov 7th).

Kill Your Darlings is the new biography drama set in 1944. A murder draws in great Beat poets like Allen Ginsberg (Daniel Radcliffe), Jack Kerouac (Jack Huston) and William Burroughs (Ben Foster). Also with Dane DeHaan, Elizabeth Olsen, David Cross and director John Krokidas (Slo-Mo) (8th). Shia LaBeouf (Lawless, Transformers) is the titular character Charlie Countryman. Rupert Grint, Evan Rachel Wood, Mads Mikkelson, Melissa Leo, James Buckley and John Hurt. Countryman is an American traveller who falls for a Romanian criminal. Frederick Bond is the director (Nov 8th).

The Counsellor is Ridley Scott’s new thriller. Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt, Penelope Cruz, Cameron Diaz and Javier Bardem star in this Oscar tipped feature about a lawyer getting too deep into drug trafficking (Nov 15th). Iain De Caestecker is currently starring on the small screen as one of the Agents of SHIELD. He’s also starring with Alice Englert for In Fear. Jeremy Lovering’s horror sees a young couple thrown into the tormenting of a dark forest after a night out (Nov 15th). Richard Shepard (The Matador) directs and writes his new crime filled comedy Dom Hemmingway where Jude Law has the role of the ex-con titular lead alongside Richard E. Grant and Emilia Clarke (Nov 15th) while Joseph Gordon Levitt (The Dark Knight Rises, Looper) directs, writes and stars in edgy rom-com Don Jon about a regular guy struggling to maintain a happy relationship. Also with Scarlett Johansson and Julianne Moore. Rounding off the stellar releases of November 15th is Blue is the Warmest Colour, winner of the Palme D’Or award earlier this year at the Canne Film Festival after being voted by an elite panel of judges including Steven Spielberg. This foreign language hit is from Tunisian director Abdellatif Kechiche and is tipped to be this year’s Amour.

Escape Plan sees the 1980s’ two greatest action stars,  Arnold Schwarzenegger (The Terminator, Predator) and Sylvester Stallone (Rocky, Rambo), teaming up for the first proper time, The Expendables wasn’t really about them. They play two prison experts locked away in the most secure cell on the Earth and devise a route out in this mystery thriller from director Mikael Hafstrom. Also with 50 Cent, Sam Neill and Vinnie Jones (Nov 22nd).

We now have a trio of award contenders. Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer and Tommy Lee Jones star in The Family. Luc Besson (The Fifth Element) is the director and the story is the one of the Manzoni family, a notorious Mafia clan now hiding out in Normandy, France, but are soon noticed (Nov 22nd). A Most Wanted Man is the story of a Muslim immigrant in Hamburg caught  in the crossfire of the international war on terror. Rachel McAdams, Daniel Bruhl, Willem Dafoe, Robin Wright and Phillip Seymour Hoffman all star for director Anton Corbjin, famed for The American, (Nov 22nd). Nicole Kidman is the current Oscar favourite for Grace of Monaco. It’s the true story of legendary actress Grace Kelly who, at the age of 25, has just one her first Oscar and is the rising star of the moment, that moment being 1955. But she gives up her career just as it was taking off she marries the Monacan Prince Ranier III (Tim Roth). Director Oliver Dahan explains frequently that it’s not a biography but an exploration of the reasons behind a seemingly bizarre decision (Nov 29th).

Three other films will finish our November preview. Their all likely to make great box-office hits but two of them are in contention for Oscar noms. Carrie is one of them and I reckon stars Chloe Grace Moretz and Julianne Moore are in the running for an Academy Award shortlist. The story, based on the Stephen king novel and Brian De Palma film, is of the titular teenage girl Carrie who finds herself with strange abilities as she enters puberty. She decides to use them to gruesome effect against her tormentors. Kimberly Pierce (Boys Don’t Cry which won Hilary Swank an Oscar) is the director (Nov 29th).

Homefront boasts an impressive cast in the form of Jason Statham, James Franco, Winona Ryder, Kate Bosworth and Frank Grillo as well as screenwriter Sylvester Stallone and director Gary Fleder (The Express, Runaway Jury). A former DEA officer hopes to start a new life when he moves to a new quiet town with his young daughter but he gets on the wrong side of local meth dealer Gator and violence soon follows. We like to call it: Breaking Dad! (Nov 29th)

Destined for greatness is The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, the sequel to last year’s surprise sci-fi success and adaptation of the Suzanne Collins young adult novel. Francis Lawrence (I Am Legend) is the director this time as Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) realises that her Hunger Games victory with Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) may have sparked the ideals of revolution within the starving people of Panem. Confronted by President Coriolanus Snow (Donald Sutherland), she must dampen the rebellious fire before it causes a head on collision with the Capitol. Also with Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Jeffery Wright, Liam Hemsworth, Stanley Tucci, Toby Jones, Sam Clafin, Jena Malone, Willow Shields and Phillips Seymour Hoffman (Nov 21st).

Thanks for reading the whole of this one through. It means that you now have November 2013’s releases laid out in front of you for you to pick and that you have a much longer attention span than I d

Tuorhoth’s first predictions for the 2014 Academy Awards

October and November are seeing the releases of some of the huge contenders for the Oscars next year well before award season has begun. We’ve no idea how well any of these films are going to do critically seeing as none of them have actually been released to mainstream audiences. This isn’t an award by award breakdown but we’re giving you a brief guide as to what could be nominated in “the big six” awards at world’s biggest annual movie event. I’m also ranking the potential nominees by their likelihood of winning by colour: red means most likely to win, blue means second most likely and green means I’ve ranked them third.

Best Supporting Actress

Cate Blanchett – The Monuments Men

Cameron Diaz – The Counsellor

Julianne Moore – Carrie

Michelle Pfeiffer – The Family

Kristen Wiig – The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Best Supporting Actor

Barkhad Abdi – Captain Phillips

Benedict Cumberbatch – 12 Years A Slave

Jean Dujardin – The Monuments Men

Jonah Hill – The Wolf of Wall Street

Tommy Lee Jones – The Family

Best Leading Actress

Sandra Bullock – Gravity

Nicole Kidman – Grace of Monaco

Jennifer Lawrence – The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Chloe Grace Moretz – Carrie

Emma Thompson – Saving Mr. Banks

Best Leading Actor

George Clooney – Gravity

Steve Coogan – Philomena

Leonardo di Caprio – The Wolf of Wall Street

Tom Hanks – Captain Phillips or Saving Mr. Banks (undecided)

Ben Stiller – The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Best Director

Alfonso Cauron – Gravity

George Clooney – The Monuments Men

Paul Greengrass – Captain Phillips

Martin Scorsese – The Wolf of Wall Street

Ben Stiller – The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Best Picture

12 Years A Slave

American Hustle

Captain Phillips

The Counsellor

Gravity

The Monuments Men

Out of the Furnace

Saving Mr. Banks

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

The Wolf of Wall Street

So, these are my beginning of season suggestions for who will be nominated at this prestigious event. We’re now going to talk through those films and actors that I haven’t included but could be major contenders. There’s a huge cast for The Monuments Men which I haven’t fully gone over. I’ve put George Clooney, who I’ve already selected for Best Director for this film, in for Best Leading Actor for Gravity not The MM but he could easily win for both. Stars of The Monuments Men like Matt Damon, John Goodman, Bill Murray, Hugh Bonneville and Bob Balaban could squeeze into the supporting actor position that I placed Dujardin in. Dujardin is already popular with the academy after his Lead Actor win in 2012 for The Artist and as likely could get a nomination for The Wolf of Wall Street instead of The Monuments Men.

Wolf of Wall Street could do very well. Jonah Hill may seem like a surprise nominee but remember that he got similar recognition at the 2012 Oscars for Moneyball. I’ve only put Nicole Kidman forward for this film but Grace of Monaco is a noteworthy contender for a Best Pic nomination. American Hustle is only in one award on my list but the stellar cast of Jeremy Renner, Jennifer Lawrence (whose already in for Hunger Games 2), Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper and Christian Bale. I think it will win Best Original Screenplay however.

Other potential nominees are the aforementioned Bale for Out of the Furnace, for which Casey Affleck and Zoe Saldana could also be in contention. Dame Judi Dench could get into the actress categories for Philomena. Robert De Niro stars in both American Hustle and The Family and could crack into the shortlists. Colin Farrel and Paul Giamatti came close to my lists for Saving Mr. Banks. 12 Years A Slave could through in Brad Pitt, Michael Fassbender, Paul Dano and Quvenzhane Wallis back into the award scene while The Counsellor could do the same for Fassbender, Pitt, Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem as well as it’s director Sir Ridley Scott. We can’t rule out other entries like All is Lost with Robert Redford, The Book Thief with Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson or Inside Llewyn Davis (the Coen brothers’ folk tale with Oscar Isaac, Justin Timberlake and Carey Mulligan). Spike Lee’s mysterious action remake Oldboy could creep in with it’s stars Josh Brolin, Samuel L Jackson, Elizabeth Olsen, Hannah Simone and Sharlto Copley.

It’s not too late to remove this year’s earlier hits like The Great Gatsby (Baz Luhrmann directing Leonardo di Caprio, Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan and Joel Edgerton), Blue Jasmine (Woody Allen directing Cate Blanchett and Alec Baldwin), Prisoners (Hugh Jackman, Paul Dano, Viola Davis, Melissa Leo, Terrence Howard and Jake Gyllenhaal in the directing of Denis Villeneuve) and Rush (Ron Howard’s biopic with Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Bruhl). Blockbuster action films like the upcoming The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Ender’s Game or 47 Ronin have been known to do well as the Oscars (see The Dark Knight, Inception and a few others) and there’s usually a surprise foreign language film in the mix (like Amour). There’s a whole variety of films that could be next year’s nominees but I think the leaders are: Gravity, Captain Phillips, The Wolf of Wall Street, The Monuments Men and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.

Find out more about these films at our Future Films pages for 2013 and 2014.

The 86th Academy Awards will be hosted by Ellen De Generes and will be on ABC on March 2nd 2014

Tell us in the comments who YOU think will win big at the 2014 Oscars.