Comment on The Star Wars News Roundup - 11.14.14

Ridley Scott had a “nightmare” filming his hugely influential sci-fi horror movie Alien. As one of the greatest genre movies ever made, the 45-year-old film continues not only to influence other filmmakers, but is itself still a going concern and has two new projects on the horizon. However, for veteran director Scott, the original movie was made when he was not the renowned Hollywood mainstay he is today.

As the era of video game adaptations continues, another project has been announced, with Atlanta's Lakeith Stanfield eyed to star in the project. Video game adaptations have taken over the superhero genre as Hollywood's new go-to moneymaker, following the recent success of Netflix's Castlevania, HBO's The Last of Us, and Prime Video's Fallout.

While many sequel scripts have been scrapped in Hollywood, it seems that Brian Helgeland’s attempts to deliver a follow-up to the Heath Ledger movie A Knight’s Tale was scuppered by a Netflix algorithm.

Before he directed his first major feature, Memento, Christopher Nolan nearly directed a comedy, according to his brother and screenwriting partner Jonathan Nolan. Christopher Nolan has established himself as one of the most popular and acclaimed directors of the 21st century. The British director established his stellar reputation through his near-flawless filmography, which includes mind-bending thrillers (like the aforementioned Memento), big-budget sci-fi blockbusters (like Inception and Interstellar), and the beloved Dark Knight Trilogy.

The Shawshank Redemption star, Tim Robbins, recently revealed that the answer to a major plot hole in the movie is deceptively simple. Directed by Frank Darabont, and based on the short story by Stephen King, The Shawshank Redemption is commonly regarded as one of the greatest movies of all-time, and holds the top spot on IMDb's Top 250 Movies, sitting above The Godfather, The Dark Knight, and 12 Angry Men.

Johnny Depp may have ruled himself out of ever returning to the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise – even if there were to be an offer on the table in the future – after blasting Hollywood’s obsession with big-budget “dreck” that audiences just don’t want to see anymore. Depp’s comments came as he promotes his upcoming movie, Jeanne du Barry, a film that certainly doesn’t come with the multi-million-dollar spend of some of his previous films, but does, more importantly, signal his first movie release since his public court battles with Amber Heard.