The Curious Case of 'Cliff Booth': David Fincher’s Netflix Movie Is Getting a New Title — Will Its Release Date Follow?

Happy Thursday, folks, and apologies for the delayed send this week.

Today, THR confirmed what I reported last November — that Gareth Edwards was fully expected to return for Universal’s sequel to Jurassic World Rebirth. The problem is that eight months later, Edwards came to a creative impasse with the studio, and he has now walked away due to those creative differences. Universal is bringing back David Koepp to write the script (really?), and the studio is once again on the hunt for a new director. Part of me wonders if Steven Spielberg will turn to Adam B. Stein and Zach Lipovsky, who are developing Long Lost with Amblin and Universal, and writing Gremlins 3 for Amblin and WB. Then again, they have a ton of irons in the fire, and it’d be cool to see Brian Duffield take a stab at this franchise, as his upcoming movie Whalefall is generating great buzz within industry circles.

By the way, if you paid attention to WB’s earnings call, the studio tubthumped a bunch of upcoming movies, including The Batman Part II, The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, the Game of Thrones movie Aegon’s Conquest, and a new Matrix film. One movie that wasn’t mentioned was Gremlins 3, and that’s because it’s extremely unlikely to make its November 2027 release date. I know there was chatter that the sequel could start filming early next year, but I doubt that’ll be the case. Then again, we’ve been waiting since 1990 for a new Gremlins movie, so one more year won’t hurt anyone…

Elsewhere, on Tuesday night, I got word that Kit Connor (Heartstopper) was the choice for Cyclops, and I stupidly thought it might hold until today’s episode of The Hot Mic, but my pal at Justin Kroll at Deadline promised one of his patented #KrollBombs this morning, and sure enough, I got scooped. Drats! I hate it when that happens…

Naturally, now that the role has been cast, sources have come out of the woodwork to tell me how it all went down. Apparently, Drew Starkey was an early contender for Cyclops, and the “big brother” thing was a concern that Marvel ultimately looked past, but he wasn’t among the finalists who have been testing for the role since July 4th. I’ll have to have a word with one of my sources, who insisted he was the “favorite” last month.

Cooper Hoffman did test for the role… but I’m told that the test didn’t go so well, and in the end, believe it or not, it’s my understanding that the runner-up for the role was none other than Asa Butterfield (Hugo). How about that?

There are rumors flying all over the place for X-Men as reps try to position their clients for roles, and I’m not so sure about those Cailee Spaeny and Tom Pelphrey rumors anymore, either. I’m getting the sense that both are old info that’s simply resurfacing. I don’t even know if Rogue is in the movie at this point. If she is, she may have a smaller role than some are expecting. But as most of you know, I don’t know the X-Men comics as well as, well, you guys do, so I guess we’ll see…

Instead of brushing up on those comics, as I should, I’ve been busy watching a ton of stuff this week, so let me give you the rundown.

Matt Johnson’s Tony: I really liked this portrait of young Anthony Bourdain, who isn’t fully formed yet, which is why the film is called Tony. He hasn’t yet grown into Anthony, and this summer is when he grows. It’s when he gets hit in the face and experiences heartache, and most importantly, he falls in love with using food to make people happy. As a frequent visitor to Cape Cod, let me tell you that I could smell this movie. Dominic Sessa is good as Tony, but not quite great, at least compared to Antonio Banderas’ spry turn as Chef and Leo Woodall’s chippy turn as a kitchen rascal. I've been in those kitchens, having spent several years running the Waiters program at summer camp. Laugh all you want, but I had 33 15-year-old waiters serving 200+ people three meals a day. Ever try to run a restaurant, more or less, with 33 15-year-old waiters? Didn’t think so. Anyway, the problem with Tony is that it runs out of steam in its third act, as Bourdain can’t get out of his own way, and Woodall’s character resurfaces when he probably shouldn’t have. This is a very good movie, and Johnson continues to grow as a director. I would buy a ticket to a movie based on his name alone at this point. But Tony could’ve been a great movie, and it’s not quite there. But I’m down to watch it a second time, and I can pay it no higher compliment than that… Grade: B+

Eli Roth’s Ice Cream Man: I thought this might be a return to form for my pal Eli Roth, but I was sorely mistaken. Listen, if you’re a gorehound, a few creative kills in this movie yield some fun blood and guts, but the script and the acting are downright embarrassing. The only performance I enjoyed came courtesy of Dylan Hawco, who seemed to understand what Roth was going for here. This felt like a wannabe Terrifier movie, and if Roth keeps this up, he may not be making movies much longer. Grade: D

FX’s The Shards: Listen, I’m the guy who loved The Idol and Season 3 of Euphoria, so you may want to take my opinion with a grain of salt, but I loved half of The Shards, and I liked the other half of it. So what did I hate about it? It ends on an absurd cliffhanger it doesn’t earn. FX gave us critics access to 9 episodes, so I just figured that the network was holding back the 10th and final episode to keep the identity of the show’s serial killer a mystery. But I’m reading these trade reviews, and apparently, nope! That’s it! I thought this was a limited series, but apparently, EP Ryan Murphy has three seasons in mind, and we won’t find out who the Trawler is until Season 2… if we’re lucky. I’m sorry, but what? If that’s the plan, fine, but I must tell you then that the Season 1 finale is pretty unsatisfying, and thus, I can only recommend this series to diehard fans of author Bret Easton Ellis, whose disaffected voice is captured so perfectly by talented young actor Igby Rigney. The entire cast is, what do they call it? Delicious. Hayes Warner is a star. Sign her up for the royal treatment. Same with Kaia Gerber, who is the spitting image of her mother, Cindy Crawford. In no way does she resemble a high school student, but who gives a shit, right? Homer Gere — another star. Wes Bentley? Absolutely eating in this series. Owen Painter and Ivy Wolk? Interesting young character actors, and we definitely need more of those. Jordan Roth? Google searches about to skyrocket. This is a fun show that starts off hot and then dicks around while stalling until its non-conclusion. I kinda loved it… but now that I know this is how it ends… and now that I know that FX will cancel shows like this after one season (cough, The Beauty, cough)… I kinda hate it. Does that make sense? By the way, the fact that I haven’t interviewed Ellis yet, or vice versa, is insane, as I’m obviously the most interesting entertainment journalist in this godforsaken city, and I wear women’s shoes, which I think he’d appreciate. Grade: B

The Agency Season 2 on Paramount+ - I’m late to the game and six episodes deep, but John Magaro has really stood out this season. He’s always good, but it’s nice to see him get a juicy role like this one. Jeffrey Wright has also been excellent this season as a high-ranking CIA official wary of his authority being usurped, and I’ve always been a fan of Clayne Crawford, who radiates intensity and deserves to be cast in other mainstream projects. Michael Fassbender is still one of the best we’ve got. Grade: B+

I also binged the new season of FX’s It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, though that remains under embargo. And I’ll write about the new season of Ted Lasso in an upcoming newsletter, as I want to watch one more episode on Apple TV’s press site.

In terms of movies, I watched The Devil’s Mouth on Prime Video. It was about as good as I was expecting, which is to say, it wasn’t good. And I know the whole movie takes place in a cave, but did it have to be so dark in there? It was tough to see anything, though that may have been the point given the VFX budget that director Jeff Wadlow had to work with. Grade: C-

Finally, last night I watched Blumhouse’s Soulm8te, and I don’t really understand why this movie didn’t merit a theatrical release. It was better than some of the terrible horror movies I’ve seen on the big screen over the last few years, and with a modest marketing push, I think it would’ve found success. But what do I know? I’m just a guy who watches all of these movies and then writes about them for a living! Thanks for nothing, M3GAN 2.0. Grade: C+

Today, I take a look at my most anticipated movie of the year, which hails from my two favorite filmmakers — director David Fincher and screenwriter Quentin Tarantino.

Fincher’s follow-up to Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is bound for IMAX screens this fall before its final destination on Netflix, but we still don’t have a title or a real trailer, and I’m starting to worry about that release date, too, for as we all know, Fincher rushes for no one.

It’s The Curious Case of Cliff Booth, and it’s only for premium subscribers, who may now continue reading…

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