Starz and FremantleMedia North America (FMNA) began production this week on the 10-episode first season of “American Gods,” the adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s acclaimed contemporary fantasy novel. Shooting has commenced in Toronto, Canada and will continue in additional locations across America.
Joining the previously announced cast are Cloris Leachman (“Malcom in The Middle,” “Raising Hope”) as Zorya Vechernyaya, Peter Stormare (“Fargo,” “Prison Break”) as Czernobog, Chris Obi (“Snow White and the Huntsman,” “The Counselor”) as Anubis, and Mousa Kraish (“Superbad,” “Fast & Furious”) as The Jinn.
The cast includes Ricky Whittle (“The 100,” “Austenland”) as Shadow Moon, Ian McShane (“Deadwood,” “Ray Donovan”) as Mr. Wednesday, Emily Browning (“Sucker Punch,” “Legend”) as Laura Moon, Sean Harris (“The Borgias,” “Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation”) as Mad Sweeney, Yetide Badaki (“Aquarius,” “Masters of Sex”) as Bilquis, Bruce Langley (“Deadly Waters”) as Technical Boy, Crispin Glover (“Back to the Future”) as Mr World, and Jonathan Tucker (“Kingdom”) as Low Key Lyesmith.
Leachman plays Zorya Vechernyaya, the eldest of three sisters who watch over the constellations, guarding against horrors forgotten by modern man. Once accustomed to royal status, the sisters have learned to survive on far less in a country that has no memory of them.
Stormare plays Czernobog. A Slavic god of darkness and evil, Czernobog is reluctant to join the coming war, wary of Wednesday’s motivations.
Obi plays Anubis, the commanding ancient Egyptian god of the dead, gently guiding mortals through the judgment of their souls.
Kraish will play The Jinn, a mythical creature of the fire who understands a person’s deepest desires better than they do. He fears for his safety with the coming war, and considers fleeing America.
Cloris Leachman is an accomplished and beloved American actress of stage, film and television. An eight-time Primetime Emmy® Award-winner, Leachman’s career spans films, television dramas and comedies from the Golden Age to the hottest primetime hits today. Leachman most recently starred in the DreamWorks animated film “The Croods” with Nicholas Cage and Emma Stone and the “Wedding Ringer” with Kevin Hart. She recently finished shooting “The Comedian” with Robert DeNiro for director Taylor Hackford, “So B. It” for Stephen Gylennhaall and was the oldest competitor on the ABC hit series “Dancing with the Stars.” Additional TV and Film credits include “Lassie,” “The Twlight Zone,” “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “Facts of Life,” “Malcolm in the Middle,” “Raising Hope,” “The 11th,” “The Last Picture Show,” “Young Frankenstein,” “High Anxiety,” “History of the World: Part 1,” “The Muppet Movie” and “Spanglish.”
Swedish born actor/director Peter Stormare is best known for his breakout roles in “Fargo” and “The Big Lebowski.” Stormare has worked in over 150 films and most recently in “John Wick: Chapter Two” with Keanu Reeves and the upcoming Dimension Films release “Clown,” along with “22 Jump Street,” and “Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters”. He made his television debut starring on the first season of the hit Fox TV drama series “Prison Break” and has also had memorable guest appearances on “Entourage,” “Weeds,” “Hawaii Five-0” and “CSI.” Additional TV and Film credits include “Armageddon,” “8MM,” “Brothers Grimm,” “Minority Report,” “Constantine,” “Bad Boys II,” “Lockout,” “Inseparable,” “The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus,” “Premonition,” “Arrow,” “Manhattan,” “Graceland” and “The Black List.”
Chris Obi is an English actor, most recently known for “Snow White and the Huntsman” where he worked with director Rupert Sanders. Obi reunites once again with Sanders for the upcoming Dreamwords/Paramount Pictures release “Ghost in the Shell.” As well as being a successful TV and Film actor, Obi has also graced the stages of many theatres across the UK playing a variety of roles and has also lent his voice to numerous radio plays. Additional Film credits include “The Counselor,” “Burke & Hare” and “The Call Up.”
Mousa Kraish is a Palestinian-American actor from Brooklyn, New York. In his career he has had the good fortune to work with a number of acclaimed directors including Steven Spielberg (“Munich”), Mike Nichols (“Charlie Wilson’s War), Justin Lin (“Finishing the Game” and “Fast and Furious”) and Greg Mottola, for whom Mousa appeared in the Judd Apatow-produced runaway summer hit “Superbad.” In his most recent role he stars alongside David Schwimmer and Jim Sturgess for the AMC series “Feed the Beast.” Additional television appearances include “Homeland,” “Transparent,” “Chuck,” “Covert Affairs,” “Blue Bloods,” “Parenthood,” “Arrested Development” and “Men of a Certain Age.” Other film credits include “The Day the Earth Stood Still” and “You Don’t Mess with the Zohan”, as well as the independent features “King of California,” “Super Zeroes,” “Overnight” and “Echo Park.”
“American Gods” has been translated into over 30 languages and earned numerous accolades including Hugo, Nebula and Bram Stoker Awards for Best Novel. The plot posits a war brewing between old and new gods: the traditional gods of mythological roots from around the world steadily losing believers to an upstart pantheon of gods reflecting society’s modern love of money, technology, media, celebrity and drugs. Its protagonist, Shadow Moon, is an ex-con who becomes bodyguard and traveling partner to Mr. Wednesday, a conman but in reality one of the older gods, on a cross-country mission to gather his forces in preparation to battle the new deities.
“American Gods” is produced by FremantleMedia North America. Bryan Fuller (“Hannibal,” “Pushing Daisies,” “Heroes”) and Michael Green (“The River,” “Kings,” “Heroes”) are writers and showrunners. David Slade (“Hannibal,” “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse”) is directing the pilot and additional episodes. FMNA’s Craig Cegielski and Stefanie Berk are executive producing the series along with Fuller, Green, Slade and Neil Gaiman. Senior Vice Presidents of Original Programming Marta Fernandez and Ken Segna are the Starz executives in charge of “American Gods.” Starz retains all network pay TV and SVOD rights to the project. FremantleMedia is distributing the series worldwide.
Leachman is represented by Innovative Artists and Juliet Green Management. Stormare is represented by ICM Partners and Silver Lining Entertainment. Obi is represented by The Gersh Agency, United Agents and Untitled Entertainment. Kraish is represented by Stone Manners Salners Agency and Velocity Entertainment Partners.
“The Electric State,” now streaming on Netflix, is a science fiction adventure directed by Anthony and Joe Russo. The screenplay, crafted by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, is loosely based on Simon Stålenhag’s 2018 illustrated novel of the same name. The film boasts a star-studded cast, including Millie Bobby Brown as Michelle, Chris Pratt as Keats, and features voices from Anthony Mackie and Woody Harrelson. With a runtime of 128 minutes, the movie transports viewers to a retro-futuristic 1990s America, where a teenage girl embarks on a quest to find her missing brother amidst a landscape populated by sentient robots.
Despite its ambitious premise and substantial $320 million budget, “The Electric State” has garnered predominantly negative reviews from critics. Many have pointed out the film’s lack of emotional depth and coherence. For instance, The Guardian described it as a “bogglingly expensive dud,” criticizing its soulless storytelling and lack of artistic merit. Similarly, Vulture labeled the film a “$320 million piece of junk,” highlighting issues with direction, character development, and overall execution.
The narrative follows Michelle, portrayed by Millie Bobby Brown, as she ventures into a dystopian version of the late 1990s, accompanied by Keats, a smuggler played by Chris Pratt. Their mission leads them into an exclusion zone inhabited by defeated robots, all in search of Michelle’s younger brother, Christopher. While the film’s special effects have been acknowledged for their quality, these visual achievements are overshadowed by a storyline that many found lacking in engagement and originality.
Audience reactions have been mixed, with some viewers appreciating the visual spectacle and performances, while others echo the critics’ sentiments regarding the film’s shortcomings. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a critic score of 17%, reflecting the overall negative critical reception.
In conclusion, “The Electric State” presents a visually impressive but narratively deficient experience. Despite the high-profile cast and substantial investment, the film struggles to deliver a compelling and cohesive story. Based on the critical consensus and audience feedback, I would rate this film a 4 out of 10.
Nicholas Cage is not the Dracula we deserve, but the Dracula we need!
With Nosferatu dominating the box offices with all its gothic, avant-garde glory you may need something a little more light-hearted to cleanse the palette. 2023’s Renfield is a fantastic recipe of dark comedy, satire, and not a small amount of heart (beating or otherwise). Renfield has recently been added to Netflix UK’s menu; for us all to feast upon!
Both Nick (Hoult and Cage respectively) give fantastic performances as master and long-suffering servant, proving that toxic relationships take many forms. Renfield (Nicholas Hoult) has been in the service of Dracula (Nicolas Cage) for ninety years. Renfield does everything short of cleaning the count’s iconic cape (it’s dry-clean only apparently) and he’s quite frankly sick of it.
After ninety years the duo’s options, and bank account, have become quite limited. This is why they are holed in an abandoned hospital in New Orleans. Renfield leaves most evenings to supply the ancient vampire with victims to drain blood, preferably of the pure variety. Hoult’s Renfield is a charming soft boy, a 6 ft 2 soft boy, who has some reservations about killing innocent people. He cleverly gets around this moral quandary by joining a support group for the victims of narcissistic abuse held in a local church and eh…dispatching the group members’ abusers to bring to his master. This works well until one night he gets tangled up with the criminal underworld on a ‘routine’ dispatching.
Awkwafina plays the pint-sized police officer with a foul mouth and a strict(ish) moral compass; Rebecca Quincy. Rebecca and Renfield cross paths and it’s up to them to save the city from both criminal and supernatural corruption. This results in many impressively choreographed fight scenes and not a small amount of blood, gore, and sarcasm! It’s strangely heartwarming to watch Renfield try to break the cycle of Dracula’s narcissistic abuse and create a place for himself in the world. As Rebecca states: sometimes you just fall under the thrall of a vampire for a few decades!
Nicholas Cage is every bit as fabulous and camp as you’d expect of a truly iconic Dracula performance. His delivery is as cutting and precise as his debonair velvet suits. One of the best things about the film is you can tell the cast is having fun with their characters, particularly Cage, I would bet my own soul that a lot of his lines were ad-libbed. Special shout-out goes to Brandon Scott Jones who played the painfully sincere narcissistic survivor group leader. Jones proves there is no part too small to make an impact!
Renfield takes the usual Dracula tropes and puts a hilarious spin on them. Asking the real questions like; do vampires need a verbal invite or will a ‘welcome’ mat suffice to enter a home? Quick someone page Buffy!
Even with the gratuitous gore and violence Renfield manages to be touching at times and ironically breathes fresh life into the reanimated corpses of both Dracula and Renfield.
Three and a half stars.
The much-anticipated film Arjun S/O Vyjayanthi, produced by NTR Arts and Ashoka Creations, is all set to unveil its official teaser on March 17, 2025. Featuring Nandamuri Kalyan Ram in the lead role and veteran actress Vijayashanthi making a powerful comeback, the film is expected to deliver a gripping action-packed family drama.
The Arjun S/O Vyjayanthi teaser launch event is scheduled for:
Date: March 17, 2025
Time: 10:00 AM IST
Venue: AAA Cinemas (Screen 1), Hyderabad, India
Fans who cannot attend in person can watch the teaser across YouTube, Twitter (X), and other social media platforms, as it will be released online simultaneously.
Pre-Teaser Hints at High-Octane Action
Ahead of the teaser launch, the makers released a gripping pre-teaser, which showcased Kalyan Ram in an intense look—seated on a boat, shirt bloodied, signaling an impending storm of action. Complemented by Ajaneesh Loknath’s electrifying background score, the clip has already generated significant buzz online.
Directed by Pradeep Chilukuri, Arjun S/O Vyjayanthi promises to blend action, family drama, and strong emotional elements, making it a highly awaited release for Telugu cinema fans. With Vijayashanthi portraying a powerful IPS officer, the film is expected to bring a strong narrative backed by stellar performances.
Nandamuri Kalyan Ram’s New Action Avatar Vijayashanthi’s Comeback in a Fierce Role High-Quality Production Backed by NTR Arts Intense Pre-Teaser That Has Raised Expectations
Stay Updated on Arjun S/O Vyjayanthi For the latest updates, teasers, trailers, and exclusive insights into Arjun S/O Vyjayanthi, follow NTR Arts’ official pages and stay tuned for March 17!
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