Sebastian Stan Joins 'The Batman Part II' as Kathleen Kennedy Prepares to Step Down Imminently at Lucasfilm

Happy Wednesday, folks! At least, it’s much happier than this time last year…

This week marked the one-year anniversary of the horrific fires that burned down huge parts of Pacific Palisades and Altadena, costing thousands of people their homes.

Fire must’ve been on my mind last night, as I busted out the old DVD player to watch Point of Origin, the 2002 HBO movie starring Ray Liotta as Glendale firefighter/arsonist John Orr, whose remarkable story was recently told in the Apple TV series Smoke. I bought Point of Origin over the summer but never got around to watching it before last night.

At just 81 minutes, the hyperstylized film wasn’t bad, but it felt very much like a TV movie cosplaying as a legit feature. John Leguizamo was very good, as always, and he must’ve been pretty interested in this story, as he also starred in Smoke.

Meanwhile, Point of Origin is also the only narrative feature directed by Newton Thomas Sigel, the famed cinematographer who just shot Avengers: Doomsday. I’d say his career worked out just fine…

Looking ahead, I plan on watching all those DVDs in my collection that I’ve never seen before, like Sidney Lumet’s The Pawnbroker starring Rod Steiger, Fred Schipisi’s western The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith, and Andrzej Żuławski’s horror thriller Possession.

A little scoop for all my subscribers tonight — though please consider purchasing a premium subscription: Vertical Entertainment has acquired Bobby Farrelly’s comedy Driver’s Ed, which stars Sam Nivola, Sophie Telegadis, Mohana Krishnan, Aidan Laprete, Lilah Pate, Molly Shannon, and Kumail Nanjiani.

Thomas Moffett wrote the script, which follows a group of teens who steal their school’s Driver’s Ed car to go on a road trip to help a high school senior (Nivola) track down his college-freshman girlfriend (Pate) to win her back.

Jennifer and Jonas Pate produced Driver’s Ed, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival last fall, backed by AGC Studios and BondIt Media Capital.

No word on a release date, but I imagine you’ll see Driver’s Ed in the first half of the year. Stay tuned for official confirmation from the trades…

Tonight’s top story examines the latest bombshell casting story out of Gotham City, as well as Puck’s Monday night report about the future of Lucasfilm and its outgoing boss, Kathleen Kennedy.

There are also items about this morning’s SAG Award nominations, Lionsgate’s sequel to The Housemaid, Gal Gadot’s new Paramount movie, Ludacris’ return to Universal, Nic Pizzolatto’s new Netflix series, and a ton of TV renewals. Plus, a look at the trailer for New Line’s genre mash-up They Will Kill You, which finds Zazie Beetz trying to survive a cult.

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