Weekly news round-up: Gleaming on the news pile this week like vibranium nuggets on a Wakandan hillside is word of Lupita Nyongo’s casting in Marvel’s Black Panther, a first glimpse at Ben Wheatley’s Free Fire – does this man never rest? – and a trailer for Ang Lee’s newest drama. In sadder tidings, we also bid farewell to TV’s Peggy Carter. We'll have the band play something slow, Peggy.
Aar-merican Sniper
The last time Aaron Taylor-Johnson donned US Army khakis it ended with a giant lizard trying to eat San Francisco. Hopefully Doug Liman's The Wall, a new war film he’s making for Amazon from a Black List script, won’t result in quite such a big clean-up bill. Taylor-Johnson will play a US sniper who does battle with an Iraqi sharpshooter. It’s described as a “deadly cat and mouse thriller” and will presumably tiptoe furtively into production once the director has finished up on his Tom Cruise drama Mena.
First Look at Free Fire
A new Ben Wheatley film is worth celebrating so this week’s first glimpse at his next, the Boston-set Free Fire, was pretty gosh-darn exciting. The movie, a ‘70s-riffing thriller, has a pair of Irish crims (Cillian Murphy, Michael Smiley) turning up at a remote warehouse to buy weapons, only to soon find themselves using them instead. The still showed the pair, along with Armie Hammer, Brie Larson, Sam Riley, Enzo Cilenti and some very questionable ‘taches. This one promises to be a doozy. Read more here.
Ang time…
If you’ve read Ben Fountain's book, you’ll be keeping an eye out for Ang Lee’s Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk. If you haven’t, you’d probably be wondered who Billy Lynn is and why he isn’t using Uber like everyone else. The answers were all in this week’s new trailer. Billy Lynn (Lee discovery Joe Alwyn) is an Iraq War veteran whose heroism, along with his fellow unit members, is being recognised at a halftime in a Dallas Cowboys game. With Ang Lee in charge and a juicy cast (Steve Martin, Kristen Stewart, Garrett Hedlund and, yes, Vin Diesel), it promises much. Check out the trailer here.
Black Panther gets a Lupita badge
It’s been a full week for Lupita Nyong’o. First the Oscar nominee popped up in the trailer for new Disney drama Queen Of Katwe, in which she plays the mum of a true-life Uganda chess protégée. Then, from across in the rather more fictional African kingdom of Wakanda, came news that she’s joining Chadwick Boseman in Black Panther. No word on who she’ll be playing yet but according to sources there’ll be sparks and chemistry between her character and T'Challa.
Farewell Peggy Carter
We have to admit, bidding farewell to Peggy Carter again is a heartbreaking prospect. Sadly, it looks like we’ll have to. US network ABC has pulled the plug on the show after two seasons, leaving the Peggy posse a bit bereft and Hayley Atwell off spearheading another show, Conviction. Reversing the current big-screen status quo, DC is finding more success on the small screen. It’s superhero shows are continuing, with Supergirl the latest to be renewed, albeit with a switch of channels in the US.