News Analysis India

Tag: series

  • ‘Rudra – The Edge of Darkness’, remake of British series ‘Luther’ was shot in 70 locations

    By IANS

    MUMBAI:Director Rajesh Mapuskar, who is awaiting the release of his upcoming series ‘Rudra – The Edge of Darkness’ recently spoke about how locations bring out the essence of the story.Talking about the choice of location for and the story behind it, the director said, “There were seventy locations we shot across. Some of them have not been seen before. These locations needed multiple recce and visits to understand the area, lighting, logistics. But most of our locations have been seen before – it is, after all, Mumbai meri Jaan!”He adds that it was imperative to expose the city in a different manner through the locations, “So the creative decision was to expose the city in a way it hasn’t before. I hope when you see many of your familiar landmarks, you see something intriguing and different in the shot-taking.”Sharing the thought that went behind choosing the locations to shoot, he said, “At VT Selfie Point, we had Ajay Devgn and Atul Kulkarni in the middle of that busy crossing at peak hours, enacting a key scene. We shot nine to ten pages there.”He got down to the technicalities of the sequence as he explained, “DOP Sanjay Memane set up eight cameras, from 2 AM the night before the shoot. It was a triumph of teamwork – camera, lighting, production, art, wardrobe, hair-makeup, direction. And hopefully, it looks like a VT you’ve never seen before.”The series, which is a remake of the successful British series ‘Luther’, presents a dark and riveting tale of a cop’s journey of uncovering truths and bringing victims justice.Produced by Applause Entertainment in association with BBC Studios India, the crime drama starring Ajay Devgn, Raashi Khanna, Esha Deol, Atul Kulkarni, Ashwini Kalsekar, Tarun Gahlot, Ashish Vidyarthi, and Satyadeep Misra in pivotal roles, is set to release on March 4 on Disney+ Hotstar in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Malayalam, and Bengali.

  • ‘Stranger Things’ to end with fifth season on Netflix 

    By PTI

    LOS ANGELES: Netflix’s smash hit sci-fi drama series “Stranger Things” will conclude with its fifth season, the show’s creators Matt Duffer and Ross Duffer have announced.

    The creators penned an open letter to the ardent fans and followers of the series and also revealed that the upcoming fourth season has been divided into two parts.The first part will drop on the streaming platform on May 27, followed by the second part which will debut on July 1.

    “Seven years ago, we planned out the complete story arc for ‘Stranger Things’.At the time, we predicted the story would last four to five seasons.It proved too large to tell in four, but  as you’ll soon see for yourselves,we are now hurtling toward our finale.

    Season four will be the penultimate season; season five will be the last,” The Duffer Brothers wrote in the letter, which was shared on the show’s official Twitter handle.

    “There are still many more exciting stories to tell within the world of ‘Stranger Things’; new mysteries, new adventures, new unexpected heroes.

    But first we hope that you stay with us as we finish this tale of a powerful girl named Eleven and her brave friends, of a broken police chief and a ferocious mom, of a small town called Hawkins and an alternate dimension known only as the Upside Down,” they added.

    The creators said they are grateful to fans and followers for their “patience and support” all this while.Talking about the fourth season, Matt and Ross Duffer said it was the “most challenging” of all.

    “It’s been a little while.With nine scripts, over eight-hundred pages, almost two years of filming, thousands of visual effects shots and a runtime nearly twice the length of any previous season, ‘Stranger Things’ 4 was the most challenging season yet, but also the most rewarding one,” they said.

    uoos noʎ ǝǝs pic.twitter.com/pJ71dRgmo1
    — Stranger Things (@Stranger_Things) February 17, 2022

    “Stranger Things” is set in the 1980s and takes a look at the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana, where a secret government lab accidentally opens a door to another dimension referred to as the Upside Down.The show features Winona Ryder, Finn Wolfhard, Noah Schnapp, Millie Bobby Brown, David Harbour, Caleb McLaughlin, Gaten Matarazzo, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Joe Keery and others.

    The new season is set six months after season three’s Battle of Starcourt, which brought terror and destruction to Hawkins.

    “Struggling with the aftermath, our group of friends are separated for the first time and navigating the complexities of high school hasn’t made things any easier.In this most vulnerable time, a new and horrifying supernatural threat surfaces, presenting a gruesome mystery that, if solved, might finally put an end to the horrors of the Upside Down,” the official plotline reads.

    In 2020, the streamer had confirmed that Harbour’s Jim Hopper will return for the fourth season after the character had seemingly died towards the end of the third season, which premiered in July 2019.New cast members for season four include Jamie Campbell Bower, Eduardo Franco, Joseph Quinn, Robert Englund, Amybeth McNulty, Myles Truitt, Regina Ting Chen and Grace Van Dien.

  • Amazon unveils first teaser of ‘Lord of the Rings’ prequel series at Super Bowl

    By ANI

    WASHINGTON: The first teaser for Amazon’s ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ has finally arrived during the Super Bowl, giving a first good look at the upcoming prequel series, which brings the world of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth to life.

    The minute-long teaser for the show, which has been set thousands of years prior to Peter Jackson’s six feature films adapted from Tolkien’s novels, opens with footage that shows a closer look at Middle Earth, as a voice asks, “Haven’t you ever wondered what else is out there?”

    The words appear to be spoken by a harfoot, an ancient ancestor of hobbits, played by Markella Kavenagh. Further, icy mountains, ravaging storms and dangerous monsters are all teased in the captivating new footage.

    Amid these shots of scenic spectacle, there are glimpses of young versions of two familiar elven characters from Jackson’s movies, Galadriel and Elrond, as well as new characters for the series such as a dwarven princess named Disa and an elf.

    According to E! News, ‘Rings of Power’, which reportedly had a budget of over USD 450 million for its first season, is sure to expand the Lord of the Rings world we’ve come to know and love.

    WATCH

    As the title already gives it away, this show will shed light on the forging of the rings. Showrunner Patrick McKay told a magazine, “Rings for the elves, rings for dwarves, rings for men, and then the one ring Sauron used to deceive them all. It’s the story of the creation of all those powers, where they came from, and what they did to each of those races.”

    As per The Hollywood Reporter, the ensemble cast includes Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Robert Aramayo, Owain Arthur, Maxim Baldry, Nazanin Boniadi, Morfydd Clark, Ismael Cruz Cordova, Charles Edwards, Trystan Gravelle, Sir Lenny Henry, Ema Horvath, Markella Kavenagh, Joseph Mawle, Tyroe Muhafidin, Sophia Nomvete, Lloyd Owen, Megan Richards, Dylan Smith, Charlie Vickers, Leon Wadham, Benjamin Walker, Daniel Weyman and Sara Zwangobani.

    The debut season of the show will premiere on September 2 and will air in 240 territories around the world. New episodes will be rolled out on a weekly basis. 

  • Sian Brooke to lead BBC police thriller ‘Blue Lights’ 

    By PTI

    LOS ANGELES: Actor Sian Brooke is set to play the lead in BBC One’s upcoming police thriller series “Blue Lights”.

    The actor, best known for playing Sherlock Holmes’ evil sister Eurus in the final episode of the BBC’s “Sherlock”, will essay the role of rookie police officer Grace in “Blue Lights”.

    The six-part drama comes from “Salisbury Poisonings” creators Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson.

    The story centres on Brooke’s Grace who makes a decision in her 40s to leave her steady job and join the force.

    “Just a few weeks into her role, she’s making so many mistakes that her decision no longer looks like a winning bet,” the plotline reads.

    Actors Katherine Devlin, Richard Dormer, Martin McCann, John Lynch, Jonathan Harden, Valene Kane and newcomer Nathan Braniff round out the cast .

    “Blue Lights” is currently under production in Belfast.

  • There’s a tonal shift: Kevin Feige on Disney Plus’ ‘Moon Knight’ series 

    By PTI

    LOS ANGELES: Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige has revealed that the upcoming “Moon Knight” series is a lot more edgier than their other films and shows.

    The series follows Oscar Issac’s Steven Grant, a mild-mannered gift-shop employee, as he becomes troubled by blackouts and memories of another life.

    Steven discovers he has dissociative identity disorder and shares a body with Marc Spector, an elite soldier and mercenary who decides to fight crime after he becomes the human avatar of Khonshu, the Egyptian god of the moon.

    In an interview with Empire magazine, Feige said the Disney Plus show, based on the Marvel comics character, marks a “tonal shift” in the way the studio has perceived its content till now.

    “He’s brutal. It’s been fun to work with Disney+ and see the boundaries shifting on what we’re able to do. There are moments (in the series) when Moon Knight is wailing on another character, and it is loud and brutal, and the knee-jerk reaction is, ‘We’re gonna pull back on this, right?’ No. We’re not pulling back. There’s a tonal shift. This is a different thing. This is Moon Knight,” he said.

    Feige is attached as executive producer on “Moon Knight” series along with Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Brad Winderbaum, Jeremy Slater, Diab and Isaac.

    Mohamed Diab and the duo of Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead have directed the episodes.

    Jeremy Slater is credited as the head writer.

    Also starring Ethan Hawke and and May Calamawy, the show will start streaming on Disney Plus from March 30.

  • Claire Foy-starrer ‘Doomsday Machine’ lands at HBO 

    By PTI

    LOS ANGELES: British star Claire Foy’s upcoming scripted series “Doomsday Machine” has been acquired by HBO.

    The premium cable network bought the show after a multiple-outlet bidding war.

    The drama is a co-production between HBO and Anonymous Content and CAA-backed Wiip, as per The Hollywood Reporter.

    Foy will star as top Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg in the series, which is based on Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang’s New York Times bestselling book “An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook’s Battle for Domination”.

    It will focus on the relationship between the social media giant’s founder Mark Zuckerberg and Sandberg, who serve as the company’s chief operating officer (COO), as well as the obstacles Facebook has faced on its relentless quest for growth.

    The show has roped in several journalists to serve as consultants to ensure the plot’s accuracy.

    The aim behind the series is to put the viewers in the shoes of Sandberg and Zuckerberg as they shape the way billions of people communicate and consume information.

    “Doomsday Machine” will track the past five years at the social media giant, beginning with disinformation surrounding the 2016 election and leading up to recent revelations in The Wall Street Journal and the Times about some users being allowed to skirt the platform’s rules.

    Foy and Akhtar will serve executive producers for “Doomsday Machine” alongside Paul Lee and Josh Stern for wiip, David Levine and Doug Wald for Anonymous Content, Adam Berkowitz, Elyse Cheney and Adam Eaglin.

  • Disney+’s National Treasure  adds Catherine Zeta-Jones

    By Express News Service

    Catherine Zeta-Jones has been cast in the Disney+ series National Treasure and she will be joining Lisette Alexis, Zuri Reed, Jordan Rodrigues, Antonio Cipriano, Jake Austin Walker, and Lyndon Smith. The show will be a continuation of the film franchise of the same name according to reports on variety.com.

    National Treasure, the series will focus on a young woman, Jess (Alexis), who is a brilliant and resourceful dreamer. She embarks on this adventure of a lifetime to uncover the truth about her family’s past and save a lost Pan-American treasure. Production is set to begin in February in Baton Rouge, LA.

    The character that Zeta-Jones will portray is Billie, who is described as a billionaire, black-market antiquities expert, and treasure hunter. She has come a long way—from a penniless orphan to a shrewd, stylish businesswoman and adventurer. Billie’s used to getting what she wants—and she wants the Pan-American treasure.

    Rick Muirragui is the writer and also executive producer of the series. Jerry Bruckheimer, Cormac and Marianne Wibberley, Jonathan Littman, and KristieAnne Reed will also serve as executive producers.

  • The Horror of Dolores Roach series approved by Amazon Studios

    By Express News Service

    Justina MachadoAmazon Studios has announced that it has greenlit The Horror of Dolores Roach series with Justina Machado of One Day at a Time as the lead.

    The series, a thriller and dark comedy series based on a popular podcast of the same name, is set to tell the story of an ex-convict who is pushed to extremes to renounce her newfound stability.

    The series is based on the Gimlet podcast series, the title character was played by Daphne Rubin-Vega (In the Heights), who was brought in to produce the series.

  • Limited series on Anne Frank family’s protector Miep Gies ordered by Disney+

    By Express News Service

    Disney+ has ordered a scripted National Geographic limited series about the Dutch woman who risked her life to shelter Anne Frank’s family from the Nazis for more than two years and then preserved Anne’s diary.

    Titled A Small Light, the project is produced by Grey’s Anatomy alums Joan Rater and Tony Phelan, Susanna Fogel, ABC Signature and Keshet Studios.

    Written by Rater and Phelan, the story follows the twenty-something Miep Gies, who din’t hesitate even for a moment when her boss Otto Frank came to her and asked her to hide his family from the Nazis during World War II.  For the next two years, Miep, her husband Jan, and the other helpers watched over the eight souls (Otto Frank, his wife Edith and daughters Anne and Margot as well as four others) in hiding in the Secret Annex. And it was Miep who found Anne’s Diary and kept it safe so Otto, the only one of the eight who survived, could later share it with the world as one of the most powerful accounts of the Holocaust.

    Gies died in 2010 at the age of 100. The title of the series is inspired from something Gies said late in her life: “I don’t like being called a hero because no one should ever think you have to be special to help others. Even an ordinary secretary or a housewife or a teenager can turn on a small light in a dark room.”

    A Small Light is produced by ABC Signature in partnership with Keshet Studios. Rater, Phelan and Fogel executive produce alongside Keshet Studios’ Peter Traugott, Keshet International’s Alon Shtruzman and Keshet Media Group’s Avi Nir.

    Casting for the seven-episode series is currently underway. Filming is slated to begin in Europe in the upcoming months. Notably, the project marks the second Nat Geo scripted series for Disney+ after The Right Stuff. 

  • Apple’s highly anticipated drama ‘Pachinko’ to premiere on March 25 

    By PTI

    LOS ANGELES: Apple is set to premiere its highly-anticipated drama “Pachinko” globally on March 25.

    The new series, which marks the international debut of popular South Korean star Lee Minho, features an international cast and will be told across three languages– Korean, Japanese and English.

    The series will debut with the first three episodes followed by new weekly installments each Friday during its eight-episode season through April 29, 2022.

    The series is based on The New York Times bestselling, acclaimed novel by the same name.

    Epic in scope and intimate in tone, the story begins with a forbidden love and crescendos into a sweeping saga that journeys between Korea, Japan and America to tell an unforgettable story of war and peace, love and loss, triumph and reckoning, according to the official logline shared by the streamer.

    ‘Pachinko’ is written and executive produced by Soo Hugh of ‘The Terror’ and ‘The Killing’ fame.

    Hugh created the series and serves as showrunner.

    ALSO READ | ‘Foundation’ renewed for season two at Apple TV Plus

    Kogonada, known for his film “Columbus” as well as famous videos analysing film classics, has worked alongside Justin Chon as executive producers.

    They have directed four episodes each, with Kogonada directing the pilot.

    Michael Ellenberg and Lindsey Springer executive produce for Media Res; Theresa Kang-Lowe executive produces for Blue Marble Pictures; and Media Res’ Dani Gorin co-executive produces, along with Richard Middleton, David Kim and Sebastian Lee.

    “They say there are those projects that come along and change the very core of who you are as a filmmaker and a person. Undoubtedly, ‘Pachinko’ is that project for me,” said Soo Hugh.

    “Not only is this a story of my forebears, it’s my tribute to them to all of the Sunjas’ buried deep in all of our family’s history.

    It’s been an incredible honor to bring this series to life with this dedicated and gifted cast and crew.

    ” The series stars Soji Arai as Mozasu; Jin Ha as Solomon; Inji Jeong as Yangjin; Minha Kim as teenage Sunja; Lee Minho as Hansu; Kaho Minami as Etsuko; Steve Sanghyun Noh as Isak; Anna Sawai as Naomi; Junwoo Han as Yoseb; Eun Chae Jung as Young Kyunghee; Jimmi Simpson as Tom Andrews; Yu-na Jeon as young Sunja; and, Academy Award-winning actress Youn Yuh Jung as older Sunja.